• P Laskowski, P J McKinney and A E Woods, as the Witches, clearly relished their parts. They had practised their falsetto cackling throughout the term. They looked and sounded extremely weird, but, in spite of their enthusiasm, it was difficult to hear what they were saying. It was, however, clearly perceptible that it was something most unpleasant. On the other hand, the Apparitions preserved the same weirdness, but were at the same time easily heard.

J F Rowland, as Duncan, spoke clearly and was the soul of graciousness. lie was the perfect gentleman and was greatly pained at the news of Cawdor's treachery. M B Feeny, as the Captain,was very impressive, and he might well have been Pheidippides bringing news from Marathon as he brought news of the rebellion to Duncan.

•   J Wood was well-cast as the bibulous Porter, after his part as Rainbow in 'The Happiest Days of Your Life'. He appealed very much to the audience, but it was difficult to hear what he said, so befuddled was he by the night's carousing. The Murderers, E Want and 3 Jeffries, looked a convincing couple of thugs. They appeared to enjoy their parts, especially the murder of Young Macduff

Baggott as Ross, spoke very clearly, particularly in his scene with the old Man. He was good too when questioned by Macduff about the fate of Lady Macduff. He gave a competent performance, but he may have been over-deliberate at times.

voice and did very well with the awkward dialogue with Young Macduff (P D Scott). The pathetic bouncing of the boy's ball at his murder was a good touch and Scott put over the boy's precocity very well.

T P Hardy (the Scottish Doctor) looked a commanding figure, and his whispered scene with the Gentlewoman (P J McKinney) was very effective. One had to consult the programme to identify J A Forbes (Old Man), so good was his make-up. An aged if J Davies (Old Siward) appeared and spoke resonantly, his son (M T Hurley) acted well in his fencing bout with Macbeth, and Lennox (3 J Killoran) and Angus (J M Lowe) gave competent performances. J M Mott (Donalbain), P J Trinham (Fleance), M J Hughes (Caithness), other actors who doubled up and have already been mentioned in their other parts and all the other Servants, Lords and Attendants combined to make this play remarkable for its great team-work.

Macbeth's throne had a large serrated red back-rest edged in gold, while Lady Macbeth's was appropriately smaller and in green. We are indebted for these and other properties to Father Stewart. Our thanks too are due to Father Piercy for his work on the stage, to

Sister Mary Garvey for her help and to the Sound Effects men, the Property Manager and the Lighting men. The final word, however, must go to Father Armishaw for all the tremendous work he put into this play to make it such a great success.

The play, as last year, was acted on four separate occasions. Painsley School, Cheadle, witnessed its first performance, then it was put on for the School and the Alton boys and nuns. The members of the Parish, the Old Age Pensioners from Cheadle, Oakamoor and Waterhouses, the Catenians from the Stafford and Stoke Circles and the Rotarians from Cheadle saw the third

performance, after which Mr R A Eccles, OBE (President of the St Wilfrid's and Parkers' Society) addressed the audience. On Association Day, Old Boys and parents came to the play, when the guest of honour was ills Grace the Archbishop, who spoke to them afterwards.

LITERARY AND DEBATING SOCIETY

Looking back on this session, three months after it has finished, perhaps it is fair to say that this was better fare than we had in the past two years. Speakers appeared, for the most part, to be conscious of the necessity of preparing carefully what they had to say

and this improved matters considerably. Not that everything we had to listen to, was lively or interesting but at least we were spared the embarrassment of some of the worst of last year's exhibitions. Mr II Davies seemed to have taken over the mantle of Mr Finn, with some justification, and Mr Wood proved entertaining when he chose to speak. Many of those who made their first appearance did so with great credit and with a good deal of assurance: Mr Feeny was perhaps the best of these. Mr J Rowland organised the meetings with admirable efficiency.

7 October 1968

This house approves of the two-tier postal system

Mr Kavanagh began by praising the efficiency of the postal service and described some of its machinery. He quoted some impressive figures, which, he said, proved that the Post Office was efficient. The first Opposition speaker, Mr Wood, spoke at length, and to the great amusement of the House. Mr Wood does not need to speak at all if the object of the exercise is mere amusement. Mr Clancy had a sobering effect on the gathering, explaining In some detail the working of the new system: the 5d post was, in his opinion, reserved for those people who were expecting quick delivery. Mr Browne thought that the aim of the new system was to make Ireland bankrupt. The motion was defeated by 52-0 with 6 abstentions.

14 October

The School should be run on a more democratic basis

Mr Forbes, seeming to think that everything traditional should be scrapped, urged an immediate uprising to shake off the oppressors. lie bitterly denounced the 'few chosen ones', a category that included not only himself but the other three speakers also. Mr Conry took for his text the Declaration of Independence (American) with one or two amendments and viewed with concern the prospect that members might find themselves being ruled by the likes of Messrs Woods and Denieffe. Seconding the motion, Mr Guyler said that he was taking a more conservative line than Mr Forbes; the present system was capable of improvement in many ways, he said, but failed to make one concrete suggestion. Mr Killoran thought that after the first flush of enthusiasm any idea of a Cotton Parliament would soon die a natural death. Motion defeated by 42-6.

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