A Message from Mrs Hatfield

I would like to take this opportunity to say good-bye to The Hammond - my work home for a very long time. It’s strange, but my drama teacher, June Lancelyn-Green, was the first Drama teacher at The Hammond - Betty Hassall said to her she wanted her girls “to speak” and June went to Reliance House on a Saturday to take classes. So, when Brenda Last, Head of Dance rang me to ask if I could help out on a Saturday, the circle seemed complete.

Polly Dangerfield was determined to widen the gene pool of the Hammond and mooted the idea of a Drama scheme - we introduced it in 1998 with a Theatre Arts group on a Saturday. Polly and Chris Mason were material in the growth of this new strand of education at the Hammond and I was grateful for their help and support. Drama GCSE and A Level were introduced and the first Drama production was in HB2 as was - now studio 9, capacity 80 per performance - “The Crucible” - in the round - for 3 nights and this pattern continued for four years until we moved to The Gateway Studio and then the final off site production of “A Canterbury Tales” at St Mary’s Centre.

It was then back to The Hammond in our own theatre for “A Christmas Carol” and I must thank Nicki Andrews for her collaboration at this time. Ten productions later I was sad to cancel “Alice” but Covid 19 was bigger even than the power cut that struck us during Phantom. We did triumph on that occasion! I am so sorry we did not get to Wonderland - the cast has worked really hard and deserved their success on the stage. Fortunately we did have “Seussical” - a magical production for us all to remember. Thank you Miss Maddocks.

Maggie Evans was another great supporter of the Drama Department and under her tenure we introduced the Senior Drama Course and I have been thrilled to watch our students make careers for themselves whether as graduates from drama school or university. They have done so well with many students at the top drama schools in the country and we are proud of their often diverse achievements.

The department will no doubt continue to create and produce wonderful work and, under the leadership of Jennifer Roscoe, will go from strength to strength.

Orignally a one person band, I have gathered some fantastic colleagues along the way and now hand over the torch to Anna Thomas and Louise Maddocks, both incredibly creative and innovative and two very safe pairs of hands. There have so many other staff who have helped and supported me, cheered me along and bought me chocolate when the days were long - Linda, Toni, Marcus, Mr T, Erin, Sarah ,Martine, Mandy, John and everyone else too! The Hammond is blessed with amazing staff and I could not have done any of this without you. Thank you!

And, finally, of course, the students. I have been privileged to work with so many students - and we all have happy memories of the work you created and the crazy times together. Thank you to all the students who surprised me with the most wonderful Zoom call - it was incredible and very moving to see so many of you, even if in little squares and not in the Sheilagh Fowler!

Thank you for all those amazing experiences we have all shared…….deep breath!

TheCrucibleGrimmTalesJaneEyreAnimalFarmLimboWhattheDickensTrioGoingWildeCanterburyTalesChristmasCarolSnowQueenGoodnightMrTomOliverTwistToadofToadHallShockheadedPeterTheLionTheWitchandtheWardrobeGrimmandGrimmerTheRailwayChildrenPeterPanGodspellLesMiserablesCabaretPhantonSweenyToddBillyLiarMemoryofWaterHowtoDisappearTeachersCompletelyFiveKindsofSilenceThatFaceOurTownDancingatLughnasaInspectorcallsSparklesharkOutreachsEverybrilliantThing…And……..Almost………Alice…………….

Good luck to everyone at The Hammond - I wish you all bright futures and much happiness…

In the words of Winnie-the-Pooh:-

'How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.'