Eve Pettinger MBE Open day.
By Alison Simpson.
On May 13th we held a reunion at the school to mark the wonderful achievement of Eve Pettinger’s MBE in the Queen’s New Years Honours . Eve very kindly agreed to be our guest of honour.
Our guests started to arrive promptly at 12.00. Vera Finn and Alison Simpson greeted them in the entrance hall. After labelling with names- married, maiden and “nick”, they were greeted by Stefan Anderson, the principal, and Sue Busby, Director of Development. Guests were then free to wander about the school with bucks fizz in hand, abley served by the remaining committee members Kim Logan and Andrew Newland. Many took time to sign and leave messages in a personalised guest book, which Eve was later given to read at leisure. By this point of the proceedings the Entrance Hall and adjoining rooms were buzzing with conversation and shrieks of recognition as old girls and staff revisited their days at Tring, and in some cases their time at the previous school sites around the country.
Into this melee Eve quietly slipped, but was spotted and formerly announced as Guest Of Honour in a short welcome speech by Stefan.
Lunch was a buffet of poached salmon, avocado and brie, stuffed mushrooms, salad and new potatoes, laid out in the assembly Hall. Our thanks go to catering supremo Celia and her team who did us proud. A glass, (or two!) of wine later and a Pavlova dessert and it was time to make our way through driving rain to the theatre. Another “thank you” here, to Ron Busby, for organising the school mini bus to relay some of the guests from the mansion to the show.
At 2.30 the theatre was full to capacity with almost 200 guests. The atmosphere was tremendous. When Eve took to the stage for her speech the standing ovation, cries of “bravo”, and cheers, were deafening. There followed a wonderful speech by Eve where she professed to being nervous and would have preferred us in our “ballet things” so that she felt more at home! She reminisced about her admission to the school, (a quick look up and down by Ms’s Cone and Ripman,) and the numerous and various sites that the school moved to, driven by the war and the increasing numbers of pupils. The names came thick and fast: Antoinette Sibley, who lodged with the little ones at a farm, Gilpin, Dolin, Markova etc. Miss Pettinger knew them all. She told us about being drafted into the chorus when the company was one short, and how the dancer behind her hissed instructions as to the next step and when to “go”. Nutcracker is enduringly associated with Miss P. and it all came about when someone suggested that using children in the production had proved most successful in Europe. An amazing 44 years later and Eve is still an integral part of The Nutcracker every Christmas. One of the things Eve treasures most is her ability to “give” to a child the magical experience of appearing in The Nutcracker. After many questions from the audience, which included dancers from Eve’s performing days, the speech ended with Eve poignantly saying that she had thought a lot about her life and how she would do things differently, and truth be told she wouldn’t change a thing.
How to follow that? With a specially prepared performance of Sleeping Beauty’s prologue, that’s how. Eve was escorted to a throne on the stage and as each dancer came on they danced to Miss Pettinger, and curtsied or bowed. Eve was then guided to a front row seat to enjoy the full performance. The standard of the dancers was amazing and enthralled us all. The final Half-hour of the schools presentation was a reprise of act 2 of a recent school production of The Sandman. This production signalled the first time the dance and drama departments had worked together in a show at the theatre. If the result is as staggeringly successful as this, it will not be the last time.
To finish, The Society presented Eve with a bouquet of flowers and a Lladro figurine of a ballerina. We all agreed that an M.B.E. was never more deserved. Cue the cheers and applause again.
Our day ended with tea, coffee and lemon cake back at the mansion. Or it should have done but no one seemed to want to leave. Miss Pettinger was holding court; old friends were exchanging names, addresses and e-mails. We had such a wonderful time we didn’t want it to end. It will be two years before we organise another reunion, make a date in your diary to catch up on old friends and revisit the school that has played such a remarkable role in so many of our lives.
Our thanks to all those who brought in or sent photographs and albums, for our “memory” board. We managed to scan some of these and placed them in a “keepsake” box together with cards and messages from members and friends who could not make the day. We are sure Eve will treasure the memories that it holds. Thanks also to the school, Stefan, Sue and Celia and her team and to the pupils for taking time out from exam revision to put together such a marvellous tribute to Eve. The day could not have happened without their support and enthusiasm.
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