Chardonnay! You've got to have some crazy thoughts. Think crazy! Have a good idea! But it was Miss Cavendish's turn.
We've got to be careful, girls. At the teachers' meeting the head teacher warned us of possible groups of girls doing indescribable things, real bad things; and I've been given the job to find them. So where do you think I might find such a group of girls?
We sandwiched Miss Cavendish and Brenda between us – oooooooo – we are not looking for girls – we have found all the girls we need.
We were sitting in Miss Cavendish's room around the open coal fire toasting slices of bread on a long fork. This is a fairly useless thing to do – the toast often falls in the fire – an electric toaster is easier and faster – but somehow we like doing this.
Got any ideas? Anybody?
Miss Cavendish picked up the mandolin from the shelf and played a cheerful little tune. Big surprise – we had all thought that it was just an ornament.
She played it again. Doreen and I started to sing and Brenda clapped hands. We sang of being pure and waiting for the right moment and finding the right young man and being innocent and...
What a laugh! But Miss Cavendish said no. We've got something here. Let's do it again. We played and sang and Brenda wrote down the words.
After several weeks of practice the D&C Abstinence Band was formed. The perfect reason for three girls and a teacher to spend time together. No one could think that we were doing indescribable things, real bad things, with songs like ours.
We did two songs at the weekly congregation in the school great hall. Miss Cavendish on mandolin, Brenda on drum synthesiser and Doreen and I sang. Great success.
Four songs at the Xmas party and five on parents' day. The parents thought that we were sweet, the teachers thought that we were wonderful, the other girls thought that we were crazy. Why wait? Why not have a good time? What did they know?
Miss Cavendish taught part-time at other schools; so we performed at the other schools in front of girls and boys and sometimes both together.
We got better and better, more songs, some of own songs and some old soppy fifties and sixties numbers, and a script. Yes, we talked to each other between songs – really silly. We always finished our act by singing the “Sandwich Song” – all four of us.
Very silly – a lot of fun – it kept us out of trouble – and what we didn't know – the future surprise.