Deirdre Travers (Wasleys)
For almost ten years, from 1954 to 1965, our family lived in Wasleys where our father, Wilfred O’Dea, was the school principal of the small two-teacher school. I was one of five girls and two boys in the O’Dea family who lived in Wasleys for those eleven years. We all have many memories of events at the Wasleys Institute, which was the centre for most of the social activities in the town. Three of us are in the photo below – Judy, Terry (front row, 7th from left), Judy (middle row, 11th from left) and me (same row, 4th from left.
Only the oldest in the family remembers being a member of the library and borrowing books there. But we all remember going to the annual Harold Raymond show, called The Blind Concert with Harold Raymond, who was sight-impaired and played the violin. The show also featured someone being hypnotised on stage as part of the entertainment, something that would not happen now, I suspect.
There were also Amateur Hour concerts where members of the local community performed. Brian and Margaret Lines were two leaders in the community who encouraged and directed these concerts (and also ran the dancing classes). Paul remembers being part of the performance of the song 7 little girls sitting in the back seat with Fred. Judy remembers being White Dove in the rendition of the song Running Bear who loved Little White Dove, particularly being dragged into the teepee at the end of the performance.
Crowds of people attended. The entertainers then toured to the nearby towns of Hamley Bridge and Freeling, no doubt performing in institute halls.
Each year all the students were on the stage for the end of-year-school concert with the proud parents in the audience. We can all remember some of the items, most particularly singing Little Mr Baggy Britches. I think this must have been sung at every concert. Terry remembers the Christmas Tree at the edge of the stage and I remember the excitement of gifts handed out by Father Christmas at the end of the evening.
We all remember the occasional picture night held in the Institute. In those innocent days, there were just a few people who were fortunate enough, and rich enough, to travel to England. The occasional ‘slide evenings’ were an opportunity for those who did travel to share their holiday memories.
The Strawberry Fete was a much-anticipated annual event in Spring, put on by the CWA ladies we think. Strawberries and cream would be prepared and sold, if my memory serves me correctly, for six pence a bowl.
Our final event in the Wasleys Institute, was the farewell to our family. We moved from Wasleys as my father had taken the position of school principal at Saddleworth.