MERRY CONCERT

Taranaki Daily News, 7 November 1935, Page 7

MERRY CONCERT

“WEDDING” CEREMONY AT OAKURA Y.W.-Y.M.C.A. BRANCH EFFORT. A merry concert that ended in novel fashion with the audience becoming “wedding guests” and being served with a “wedding breakfast” was staged? on Tuesday night in the Oakura hall by members of the Y.W.-Y.M.C.A. Oakura rural branch. The hall was crowded to capacity and the proceeds, to be devoted to association funds, amounted to £5 3s 4d. The concert opened with several short items excellently presented. They were a pianoforte solo, Miss S. Price; recitation, Miss P. Bell; impersonation, Miss J. Beale; vocal duet, Miss M. Russeling and Mr. J. Russeling; Highland fling and sean triubhais, Mr. H. Staveley with Mr. McKinnon accompanying on the bagpipes; recitation, Miss P. Beale. Junior members acted an absurdly amusing wordless story about the murder and burial of a lighthouse keeper and the sorrow of his bereft family. A one-act comedy about an inexperienced charwoman who makes ludicrous mistakes, “Amelia Obliges,” by B. Byard, was cleverly acted by a small cast consisting of Mrs. J. Beale, Misses F. Bell, P. Beale, I. Allen, N. Staveley, M. Russeling and Messrs. C. Price and J. Russeling. The performances of Mrs. Beale and Miss Staveley were outstanding, but all took their parts capably. Miss Beale possesses a good stage maimer. The cream of the programme, however, was provided by the “solemnising” of an unusual wedding at which Mr. L. Russeling made an attractive bride and Miss N. Staveley a somewhat nervous bridegroom. The proposal and a few lovers’ “tiffs” were enacted before the final ceremony. Then a number of masculine “bridesmaids” and flower girls, some effeminate pages and groomsmen headed by Miss I. Allen, best man, assisted Mr. J. H. Ledgerwood, the parson, to perform his onerous task. The bride s and bridegroom’s mothers smoked throughout the service. After Miss Staveley had following much searching produced the ring—one understood it had adorned the nose of a Jersey bull—and the parson had delivered his sermon, the whole party, followed by everyone in the hall, moved into the supper room. There the bride sat behind a handsome cake “she” had made and iced herself. Numerous telegrams of goodwill from well known people in the district were read, peculiar presents arrived, “toasts” were honoured and speeches made. After the “wedding breakfast” the guests danced in the hall to music played by voluntary pianists.