Footnote to Nineteen Eighty-Four

I'm just back from the annual Christmas drama performance at Tuke
School in Peckham, a school for children with severe learning
difficulties. The children always do an amazing show that lasts for
the best part of an hour and involves every pupil.

This year it was *London Calling*, a version of Dick Whittington set
in the present accompanied by music from *Waterloo Sunset* to *Strange
Town* and *Parklife*, but with a timeless extra dimension.

This came especially from the most disabled children, in wheelchairs
and incapable of doing anything active, who performed *Oranges and
Lemons* with some of their adult helpers. They played bells and sang
along where they could. We got lots of the lesser known verses, with
back-projection colour photographs of the tongs (St John's), the apple
(Whitechapel), the fritters (St Peter's) etc.

The deep bass metallophone note for the Great Bell at Bow was very
striking. All the London resonances were powerful too. GO's intuition
was dead right -- it's a very moving song when you hear it recalled by
those for whom the act of memory itself is a huge challenge.

Tom

On 9 Dec 2003 09:01:39 -0800, all.DeleteThis@devesons.demon.co.uk (Tom Deveson)
wrote:

 >I'm just back from the annual Christmas drama performance at Tuke
 >School in Peckham, a school for children with severe learning
 >difficulties. The children always do an amazing show that lasts for
 >the best part of an hour and involves every pupil.
 >
 >This year it was *London Calling*, a version of Dick Whittington set
 >in the present accompanied by music from *Waterloo Sunset* to *Strange
 >Town* and *Parklife*, but with a timeless extra dimension.
 >
 >This came especially from the most disabled children, in wheelchairs
 >and incapable of doing anything active, who performed *Oranges and
 >Lemons* with some of their adult helpers. They played bells and sang
 >along where they could. We got lots of the lesser known verses, with
 >back-projection colour photographs of the tongs (St John's), the apple
 >(Whitechapel), the fritters (St Peter's) etc.
 >
 >The deep bass metallophone note for the Great Bell at Bow was very
 >striking. All the London resonances were powerful too. GO's intuition
 >was dead right -- it's a very moving song when you hear it recalled by
 >those for whom the act of memory itself is a huge challenge.
 >
Sounds wonderful. Could you post the "lesser known verses"?

--
Don Aitken

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