THANK YOU

from Peter 'Min' Vincent

To all who helped plan, stage and run the event - and to the 229 people who turned up, including the Guest of Honour, Harry Mees.

You all made the day a resounding success!

Special thanks to: Katie Finch

for not talking me out of the original idea, lots of enthusiastic support and humour - and, for all her work as researcher and producer of
"Chris Ents 2001" - the cover name for the surprise event:

"This is your backstage life - Harry Mees"

It was amazing to realise the actual event that had been planned entirely 'in cyberspace'. Katie and I had not met for over 30 years until arriving at the school to set things up during the morning of December 9th - along with Richard Bunt, Dave Buckley and Sim Hill.

We all had so much to talk about; concentration on the many jobs that had to be done was very difficult. Luckily, Beryl Chase and Leon Loberman arrived to speed things up!

The purpose of the day was three-fold:

• To provide a relaxed atmosphere to meet up with those involved behind the scenes - old boys, girls, staff and parents - in the school's rich history of drama;
• to put some life back into the tired old stage with another (the last?) "Chris Ents" production;
• and, to acknowledge Harry Mees for his commitment and leadership in coaching generations of 'Behind the Scenes' apprentices.

At the stroke of noon, a horde of people appeared at the Registration desk, each person collecting one of Geoff Lambert's special edition 'Behind the Scenes Reunion' name badges ... and, the rest is history. Francis Matthews, as the consummate presenter of "Chris Ents 2001", was superb. John Allen's work as official photographer throughout the day was very much appreciated. Dave Buckley also produced a video record of the event.

Only sorry that I missed being able to chat to several old school friends during the day; I had not even realised some of them were present until after the event when looking through the 'attendance register' !

Much of the planning time had been spent trying to make contact with all those involved backstage over the entire history of Harrow County. Alex Bateman, Archivist, supplied me with many of the old drama Programmes; Rod Clarke and David Lloyd-Jones were indefatigable in their efforts to help locate many of the 1000+ names with backstage credits. Jeffrey Maynard also provided a great deal of crucial support, as well as the publicity via his impressive HCS Web site that proved a significant factor in the excellent response achieved.

Finally, thank you to Harrow High School: Christine Lenihan, Headteacher, (see also her letter of thanks for the funds raised by the reunion) who was sorry not to be able to attend but offered the full support of her staff and provided the use of the school 'New Hall'; Ruth Dennison, School Administrator, for her help throughout the planning; Mario Panayiotou, Catering Manager, for an excellent buffet; and, those staff members who helped on the day - Hazel Paterson and, Joanne Hunt.

I'm definitely looking forward to being a guest rather than an organiser at the next(?!?) Drama reunion. Any volunteers ready to organise another bash??? What about something for the centenary!!!

Peter 'Min' Vincent

Site Contents

• Intro & Thanks
• Programme
• Production Team & Helpers
• Chris Ents 2001 Script
• Picture Gallery
• Index to photos
• Can you help?
• Video for sale
• Photo prints for sale
• Attendance list
• Fund raising
• Related Web Links

HELP!

The many messages already received from keen-eyed 'Spotters' stating names of people appearing in photographs have been very helpful.

The full set of official photos that John Allen took during the day have been scanned and indexed on this site; only a few caption queries remain to be resolved.

? ? ?

If you can help, please email me with caption details for the following images:

595-17; 596-14; 597-04; 597-09; 597-10; and, 597-15.

Those who do not have access to the Internet have not been forgotten: A printed 'mini catalogue' of small versions of the scanned images shown on this site will be posted to our 'snail mail' contacts; they can either choose to order prints or ask someone to print the larger images from the Web.

Meanwhile, if you know of someone missing from the contact list who would like to see the pictures, please let them know about this site.

Photos available from John Allen

To avoid confusion, when ordering a print of an original photo, please ensure that the Reference Number of the image is quoted (eg 512-02). Order direct from:

Prices:
£4.50 for a 6"x4" print;
£6.00 for a 5"x7" print.
Price includes:
UK p&p and a £1 donation to the Performing Arts fund for each reprint.

Cheques payable to
John Allen please.

Prices for delivery outside the UK - or for other print sizes - available on request.

Phone 01279 861124
or visit John's Web site
or email him at:
johnallen@johnallenphoto.com

Related Web Links

• Jeffrey Maynard's Harrow County School for Boys site - including many more Behind The Scenes reunion pictures.
• Friends Reunited - where we found many of the contacts for the reunion.

Gosh!

Is this the image of a man shocked ... amazed ... alarmed

... or,
could it really be
a virtuoso performance of the

William Tell Overture
- arranged for CHEEKS !?!

Timetable for the day

(As the day seemed to develop its own momentum - almost 'running itself' - any correlation between what actually happened and the published programme was merely fortuitous.)

Chris Ents 2001
Production Team

Helpers

Video now on sale

A video record of the Backstage Reunion held on 9th December 2001, including "This is Your Backstage Life - Harry Mees", is now available.

The tape runs 1h 15m including 7 minutes of archive footage of drama productions shot by Hugh Skillen in 1960/1.

The cost is £7 per tape including UK p&p.

For other countries, please add:
Europe - £1 ;
America - £2 ;
Far East - £2.50.

The tape is available in any world TV standard.

To order, send a cheque for the appropriate amount, made payable to
D.S.Buckley,
Jasma House,
Sandy Lane, Locharbriggs
Dumfries, DG1 1SA

Fund raising
for
Harrow High
Performing Arts

£95 was raised as donations for the printed Programmes.

All staff, and their guests, were admitted free; everybody else paid £10 each. After expenses the net profit was £439.

The total amount raised on the day - £534 - went to Harrow High School to support the Performing Arts Fund.

To those who were unable to attend but wish to make a donation, please make cheques, payable to Harrow High School (write Performing Arts fund on the reverse), and send direct to: Ruth Dennison
School Administrator, at

See also letter of thanks from Harrow High School.

Letter received from Harrow High School Headteacher, Christine Lenihan:

I would like to thank you, on behalf of the current staff and students, for the very generous cheque you sent to the school. I am delighted that 'old boys' are meeting together at school and I do know your reunion was well attended and successful. It is hard work organising this type of event and I do hope you will consider another reunion in the future. When do we start planning for the centenary?

As you may know we recently advertised for a Head of Drama and this week appointed Toby Langdon who starts in April. The donation from Behind Scenes is to be split equally between Drama and Music (Joanne Hunt's department). They are both keen to organise school productions and I am certain they will be in contact with you to gain from your expertise.

Ruth Dennison will keep in touch with you regarding any further donations** received and to report on how the funds benefit the school.

Thank you once again.

Christine Lenihan
Headteacher
February 2002

** Several people who could not attend the reunion expressed an interest in making a contribution to support the Performing Arts at Harrow High. Any further donations should be sent direct to the school, addressed for the attention of Ruth Dennison. Cheques should be made payable to Harrow High School (write "Performing Arts Fund" on reverse).