“Go on Charlotte,” they all said, “it doesn’t matter if you don’t pass.”
This really knocked my confidence as I don’t like singing on my own.
“I can’t, I can’t,” I said desperately, “I can’t sing on my own.”
So as I couldn’t bring myself to join the choir my friends took part without me!
Around came Sunday again and I had the shock of my life. After church my Aunty came up to me.
“Charlotte,” she said excitedly, “do you want to be part of Stanmore Scenes?”
I was gob smacked! Why would she ask me? Anyway I accepted the offer. I went into the hall with her and everyone stopped talking. We sat down. Then Janet started to address everyone.
“Today we will go through the play and make sure everyone knows their part,” Janet calmly told us.
So I was given a script and we went through the play. I was given a part. It was when the local boys went off to war and their families were left behind. There were about six families and mine was two parents a brother and me. When the men were brought back by nurses all but my brother returned. They said he must be dead and we had to get upset and walk off with the nurses.
I went to practice after practice. These were every Sunday. Then after a month we started having practices in the church so we could work out the best way to get on and off stage. People came from the back, sides and front. When we had all sorted coming on and off stage we ran through the play again.
Shortly after a few weeks of more exhausting and long practices in church we tried on costumes. It took ages!
“This doesn’t fit,” came the comments.
“I can’t wear this!” exclaimed another.
“Yuck this is horrid!” was said in disgust.
Eventually it was all sorted and everyone had a costume. We all settled down and were told Stanmore Scenes was being put on 3 nights in July.
This was the 11th, 12th and 13th July 2000. The week of the church’s 150th birthday! We had 2 weeks left to prepare, in which we would have 2 more practices together one of which was to be a dress rehearsal.
The day of the dress rehearsal came. We all had some make up on (even the men) to make our eyes stand out,0 so people at the back could see our faces better. When we were all ready we started. My part was very short and in the middle of the play therefore I had to wait a long time until I came on. At the end we sang 2 songs as everyone would come onto the stage and bow. This is where my school would come in. They would be at the back of the stage singing with us.
After the rehearsal we all clambered out of the costumes and back into our own clothes. When we were out of our costumes they collected them all in and left them in the tower room. We were all told to practice hard, so that we knew all our lines off by heart and to come 1 hour before the start to become transformed. After the rehearsal my Aunty took me home.
She said, “See you on Tuesday Charlotte,” then left me with my mum.
At school on Monday I told my friends that I was going to be in Stanmore Scenes after all.
They all exclaimed, “How come, if your not in the choir?”
When I told them I was acting in the play they were even more astonished! The rest of the day went quite quickly but Tuesday seemed to go on for ever. Maybe it was because we were all anxious about being in Stanmore Scenes. It was the first night though!
After school I tried to do all my homework as I knew I wouldn’t be able to do much the 3 evenings of the play. I had to be at church by 7 pm as the play was starting dead on 8 and not any later. When I arrived only a few people were there, so I could start getting ready in peace! By 7:50 lots of people were sat, fidgeting in their seats and we were all ready behind the scenes.
I had butterflies. What if I forgot when I was supposed to come on? I had to remember, I told myself. The next 10 minutes where really slow. It was like waiting for a time bomb to go off. I hated waiting! But then the time came. It was 8 o’clock on the 11th July 2000 and everything was due to start. Then it happened.
Richard Whitmore came out, he was a retired news reader, and it all started. He welcomed everybody, and off it went. Stanmore Scenes had started. The first bit went quickly and everyone seamed to enjoy it. Then my part came.
I was a bag of nerves. We all came on chatting amongst ourselves and saying things like have a nice time, come back in one piece. Little did we know what war would be like. There was a sergeant there and a clerk to get the boys to sign a book. They were called up one by one. My brother was last. Then the sergeant lined them up in twos and they marched off. All the families huddled together and talked with each other. The spot lights went down and the narrator took over.
He spoke to the audience about how all the families waited patiently to hear from the soldiers. As the men were brought back by nurses a tape was played. On it was a list of men from Stanmore who were on the war memorial because they had died in the war. After each member of a family was brought back the rest of the family helped them hobble off. At last the nurses came back, but without an invalid. My brother had not been brought back. They said they were sorry. We hadn’t thought that he might die. It wasn’t fair. All the other brothers had returned, why not mine? Then the nurses ushered us off stage. We got upset. My part in the play was over for one night.
At the end of the play I came from behind the stage and stood behind my school choir. We all sang the songs, took a bow and lead off from the way we had come onto the stage. The lights came on. The audience started to move. Then we all changed back into our normal clothes. The first night had gone well. I couldn’t wait for the second one.
The next day at school my friends came up to me.
They all said excitedly, “You were brilliant Charlotte, we didn’t realise exactly what you were doing.”
The rest of the day went quite quickly and the second performance went off without a hitch. After the performance I was asked if I would do something really special in the final performance. So I and a couple of others agreed to help them on Thursday.
Thursday went as quickly as a firework explodes. When I got to the church Sarah, Abby and I where ushered into a corner. Richard told us what he wanted us to do. Then as my part was before the other’s last parts I waited where Abby would come off stage. We sat outside making daisy chains. They were extremely long! Then Sarah popped her head out the door and we went down to wait in the vestry. Finally it was time for our special part.
At the end of the play, after everyone who took part was on the stage and had finished singing. Then George Altman, my grandpa, made an announcement.
He said, “Please could Janet Davis, Daphne Johnson and Pat Stevens come down to the front.” When they were at the front he said, “Now could the 3 young ladies come out and give the presentation to them.”
So Sarah, Abby and I came out in turn with a massive bunch of flowers for all 3 of the people who made Stanmore Scenes work. After they had received the flowers we sang Laudate Dominum for the last time. When we had finished we all came off the stage and got out of our costumes for the last time. It was brilliant!
