Party Pieces
We had a special reason for looking forward to the WI Christmas Party this year as Marion Baldwin was coming to entertain us so we knew from past experience it would be a good evening. First she joined us for our buffet supper with its usual delicious spread and was particularly impressed by the superb puddings made by our members.
Marion grew up in the West Country and then attended drama school in London. Her theme on this occasion was the Christmas entertainment enjoyed by the village communities with which she was familiar. There were only seven cars within a ten mile radius of the hamlet in which she lived and there was no mains water until she was at college. (Her mother refused to drink the new tap water unless it had been boiled!) People created their own amusements around traditional and seasonal activities and Marion’s first performance was Laurie Lee’s description in “Cider with Rosie” of the Parochial Church Tea and Annual Entertainment. His local villagers performed their party pieces and the author as a boy played his violin, racing his accompanist to get to the end of his music which entitled him to gorge himself on all the delights of the tea laid out on trestle tables in the schoolroom.
Presents were home-made and Marion’s family all received cardigans made by Auntie Blanche from wool which Marion used to help her unravel from old garments. There was the tale of Jenny who learned to love the very ugly home-made doll she received one Christmas and then we heard about the school nativity play in which Brian played Joseph, proudly watched by his mother. He knew all the words and took his part very seriously, leading the stuffed animal on wheels on which Mary sat, waving to all her friends and relatives in the audience. Whether this annoyed him his mother didn’t know but when the inn keeper told him there was no room at the inn, he seemed to lose patience with his role. “No room at the inn! NO ROOM AT THE INN!” he shouted, “But we’ve BOOKED!” The little inn keeper’s bottom lip began to quiver as he tried in vain to steer the couple towards the stable, until he thought perhaps he should join in this improvisation. “Tell you what,” he said triumphantly, “I can let you have the honeymoon suite!” Satisfied, Joseph led Mary through the inn keeper’s door and brought the play to an untimely end, much to the fury of the headmaster and the shame of Brian’s mother.
This and other tales which Marion told created much merriment but also nostalgia for simpler times and pleasures. She recounted Laurie Lee’s description of the church choir’s carol singing all round the village and added her own memories of when, as a teenager, to be asked by a boy to “do me the honour of sharing my hymn sheet at the Carol Service” was seen as the first stage in ‘going out’ with him. As usual Marion will donate her speaker’s fee to the Women’s Land Army Tribute which is to be erected at the National Memorial Arboretum. In two years £48000 has been raised towards this of which £4700 has come from WIs with Marion’s help.
Our Treasurer announced that the raffle had raised £77 for the Air Ambulance and we ended a lovely evening with “Olde Lang Syne”. Our next meeting is on January 8th when Alan G Hopkin will speak on “The Changing Face of Modern Music”. Visitors will be very welcome and further information can be obtained from our President, Penny Bailey, through the link below.