FURTHER PERFORMANCES BY THE GUARDS COY.

Camp News, Volume 1, Issue 27, 14 June 1940, Page 4

FURTHER PERFORMANCES BY THE GUARDS COY.

For patriotic purposes and for the sake of variety and good fun, selected members of the National Guards Coy. took part in tableaux and dance numbers during the programmes of two recent Sunday night concerts at the De Luxe Theatre Acting on instructions from Major Eric Reeves M.C., 0.C., Area 5, Pte. L. M. Buick-Con-stable who has had considerable stage experience in civilian life, arranged that the following Diggers, in co-op-eration with pupils of Miss Hazel Martin’s Studios and members of the St. John Ambulance, were' able to give a very good account of themselves: L/Cpl Pat Smith, Ptes. McKnight, Russell, Goldsmith and Ritchie. In. one advanced dressing station tableau, staged in connection with the local Sick and Wounded Fund, the boys were clothed in old uniforms that had been plentifully besmeared with orange mud, and torn to represent wounded just in from the field of battle. L/Cpl. Pat. Smith, who was supporting himself quite professionally on crutches, looked a sorry sight with a “shattered leg” beautibandaged by capable Red Cross sisters; Pte McKnight grinned cheerily from a “blood-stained” and tattered tunic, with his left arm in a sling; Pte. Goldsmith calmly smoked a fag whilst a nurse bandaged an arm and Pte Russell, whose face could hardly be seen, appeared to be a chronic case of “shrapnel in the head.” Altogether it was a brave but grim reminder of what the men* of the B.E.F. are putting up with in France. These Sunday night concerts are always popular and it was a large and extraordinary enthusiastic audience that continually applauded the work of this small band of Home Defence boys, some of whom have been on active service since the outbreak of war.