Pictured here is the cast of the original comedy, "The Cup", performed by the students of Craven School for Girls for the benefit of the Sick and Wounded Soldiers Fund. From left: Nita McHardy, Helen Hewett (later Mrs Tom Abraham), Betty Joske, Betty Abraham, Molly Russell, Esther Armstrong (later Mrs Edwyn Wilding). The Craven School for Girls was a boarding and day school for young ladies, mostly from Palmerston North but some of whom came from as far as the South Island to board at the elite school.
Theatre and variety show performances were one of many ways that local people gathered funds for patriotic efforts. The reviews for the show were very positive and a total of £46 10 s (over $6500 in today's money). The script for "The Cup" and several of the musical numbers were written by Miss W Fraser, one of the head mistresses at the school. It was about a statue (played by Mr Stephens) that comes to life in a girls school - no other performances of this play could be found in the newspapers of the time.
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