In the autumn we had changes again, at half term Miss Marcus came in place of Miss   Rickards and Mile Foisil came for a short while in place of Madame Leake. At the Christmas entertainment we did The Twelve Days of Christmas and on that same occasion three of them, Antonia as the Wind, Rosemary as the Sun and Valerie as the Travellcr acted Aesop's fable versified. This should have followed on after the last item but just as I was about to draw the curtain Valerie said to me 'Miss Joce, I've forgotten my words'. Unfortunately I had for the moment forgotten my prompt book so I said, 'Oh you'll be all right when they begin,' and began to draw the curtain but looking across at Valerie saw her lower lip drop ominously so I put my head between the curtains and said to Miss Lawless who was sitting at the piano below the stage, 'Put the violin solo on now.' Then while she accompanied her cousin who played the violin I went through Valerie's part with her. The solo over the curtains were drawn back and the Traveler responded admirably to the motions of the Wind and the Sun. Her parents sitting in the front row had also seen the dropped lip but thought that Miss Joce would probably be able to cope.

One item at Christmas was usually the Preparatory with their percussion band and I think it was the following year the leader of the band with his drum was Jeremy, beloved by all the little girls. Jeremy seemed to have some trouble with the straps of his drum so at the conclusion of the performance I said, 'Now we will put Jeremy's drum right and do it again,' and the audience with one voice said 'Oh, so that's Jeremy" Several years later I met Jeremy again, a devastating young Naval Officer.

The various changes came to an end at the beginning of the summer term 1937. Miss Linday left at the end of the spring term to teach at St Albans High School and my great friend Dorothy Stevens, who had been a Kindergarten Mistress at Maidenhead when I was teaching there, came to take over the Preparatory Division. Also we were glad to welcome back Mrs. Dibdin for gym and sports.

1936 was also a year of changes nationally. Early in January the news was broadcast of the illness of King George V. He died on the 22nd which was the day on which the Spring term began. We listened to the Proclamation of King Edward VIII. The Christmas term ended with his abdication. Eleanor and I had our usual invitation to the Southey Hall pantomime which the boys performed every year. On this particular occasion at the close the Headmaster announced that the boys would be listening to the King's speech and if any wished to stay and listen they would be welcome to do so. Eleanor and I were sitting with Mrs. Oliver from South America whose little girl, Denise, had been a boarder with us in that year while her brother was at' Southey Hall. We decided to stay as there wouldn't be time to get back to our own radio. So along with a number of other people we just sat in the hall with the boys and listened while the uncrowned King, whom I still half thought of as the Prince of Wales, made his speech to the nation, giving his reasons for abdication in favour of his brother George. He ended with the words 'God Save the King.' There was silence and then someone said: 'Now I suppose we all go home.' Thus a revolutionary change in the monarchy took place without any revolution.