All was revealed on World Book Day yesterday when the Library staff dressed up as their favourite book characters. Miss Frude went left-field and came as Harry Potter's Patronus, complete with antlers and very effective white make-up. Her costume was very simple but it worked, especially when a couple of dementors turned up in the Library at lunchtime! Miss Kleiman played to type as a very lady-like Mary Poppins, complete with carpetbag. Mrs Godden was Aravis from the Horse and His Boy with an enviable golden cloak and Ms Shepherd was The Cat in The Hat, complete with whiskers (drawn on by Miss Frude) and a swishy tail. I channelled my inner Cruella de Vil and was very chuffed to discover that staff in the Finance Department had dressed up as Dalmatians!
Much fun was had trying to guess the identity of two staff members dressed up as Gandalf and Dumbledore respectively. We figured out Gandalf (Deputy Head) but the identity of Dumbledore eluded us until after lunch when we saw a photo of the PE and Games Department who all came as characters from the Harry Potter books. There, in the middle, was the elusive Dumbledore, none other than the Director of Sport! The Headmaster was a very dapper Sherlock Holmes, complete with violin and the Director of Sixth Form was Dr Doolittle with toy animals sewn to his coat. We also had a staff Hiawatha, Little Red Riding Hood, Alice in Wonderland and many more characters.
The students (especially the 6th form) really went for it and some of their costumes were tremendously inventive. There was a chilling Hannibal Lecter, an Arthur Dent from The Hitchhiker's Guide, a flood of Oompah Loompahs, a great looking Katniss Everdeen and a Legolas and mini-Gandalf. We also spotted Littlefinger and Rob Stark (The King in the North) from The Game of Thrones. In my opinion, the Head of School stole the show when she arrived dressed as the wardrobe from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (complete with a hand-painted depiction of a snowy Narnia scene on the back). There are more pictures available on our Twitter feed to the left of this page.
The fiendishly difficult 'Book Starts' quiz proved very popular, especially with our younger students. The Year 7-9 quiz was won by Sammy (Y8) and Jack (U6) won the Year 10-U6 quiz. They were each awarded a very large chocolate bunny which should keep them busy for quite a while!
The day was a resounding success and we hope to have raised lots of money for the school's chosen charity, Age UK Bristol (total to be revealed in due course). What will we come as next year? Watch this space!
Mrs Osafo