My mum kept certain things and threw lots of things away. Two artefacts from an event at Nightingale survived the sands of time and mum’s occasional “mad-on” clear-outs across the decades.
The above clipping from the Jewish Chronicle is dated 27 May 1966.
Children of the Yavneh Jewish Kindergarten [based at Brixton Shule], presenting fruits for Shavuot at the Home For Aged Jews, Wandsworth [now named Nightingale House]
What a wonderful way to entrench the Jewish festival of Shavuot into the hearts and minds of the little children. Except, that, as history showed 50+ years later, it didn’t work on me and at least one other of the attendees:
The Play’s The Thing…
The document below provides more detail about the event, which was presumably held a few days before the date of the newspaper notice:
A better quality picture, clearly from the same event. But Reuben Turner’s note hopes that people “will enjoy the play”. My guess is that he used a picture from the Shavuot event in his promotion letter for a play that was put on some days or weeks later.
I can only wonder at what the play might have been – perhaps a depiction of the traditional Shavuot story – The Book of Ruth.
But in any case, what a cast!
The picture with Mr Turner’s letter has survived better, enabling me to identify several of the youngsters. I cannot name the adults in the picture – I’d hazard a guess that the man is Reuben Turner. The picture of the woman looks disconcertingly like my dad in drag, but I don’t think that was the case.
I am pretty sure I can name several of the kids, working from right to left…
…oy, so I must have learnt something at Yavneh…
- Sara Monty [fairly sure] (standing);
- Me (standing);
- Sandra Corbman (sitting);
- Maxine [Camlish?] (sitting);
- Eve Cedar (standing);
- Boy I cannot name (standing);
- Girl I cannot name (sitting);
- Jonathan Davies (standing);
- Girl I cannot name (sitting);
- Girl I cannot name (standing);
- Jonathan Gold [fairly sure] (sitting);
- Half a girl I can barely see, let alone name (standing).
Any help that a reader might offer to help fill in the gaps and/or pass this relic on to those who were in it would be much appreciated.
If anyone out there remembers anything at all about the show, I’d love to know. But it might well be that my love of theatre started there, 58 years ago as I write in 2024.
“My First Girlfriend”
I have very little recollection of my time at Yavneh Kindergarten, other than an impressionistic sense that I was happy there most of the time and that the experience did its job of preparing me to start school that autumn.
My only tangible memory is one that has been handed down to me by my mum, who used to take great pleasure in relating the following story in circumstances that might cause me maximum embarrassment.
One day, when my father asked me, as oft he would, to “report on the events of the day at Kindergarten”, I proudly announced:
I’ve got a girlfriend. She’s called Sandra.
When asked for more detail about my girlfriend, I stated that:
…we roll in the barrel together.
Whether my parents were able to keep a straight face at the time, and if so, how, I’ll never know.
As it happens, Sandra and I never did go out with one another, but we spent a fair chunk of our youth together through BBYO in Streatham and are still very much in touch to this day. Indeed Sandra was one of the Shavuot avoiders at our 2017 regathering and I expect to see her at the 2024 regathering about 10 days after this piece is published…
…if she is still speaking to me by then!
Update: Sandra Responds…
Brilliant stuff Ian. I also have some memories of being happy there but unfortunately I don’t remember the barrel.
