Well! Here is a turn-up for the books. This newspaper article has a photo of Irene Mawer. I have never seen this photo before and it is an extremely rare occurrence to see Mawer’s photo anywhere at all. And guess what? I have failed to note which newspaper and what
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Birmingham Gazette, 17 September 1937 1937 – it was two years before the start of World War 2 and Irene Mawer was flying high. In this newspaper article, we learn that she visited Birmingham. As mentioned in the article, Mawer already had close connections with the Birmingham School of Speech
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During the Second World War, the Ginner-Mawer School evacuated from London to the tiny village of Boscastle, on the north coast of Cornwall. The school year followed the normal academic year, with the usual long summer vacations. Presumably the war made it difficult, or impossible, to hold the annual
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Mystery surrounds the National Trust car park in Boscastle. The car park came to my attention when I was told that the original land – Valency Fields (a green and unspoiled area of grass), had been donated to the National Trust by Nancy Sherwood, longstanding member of the Ginner-Mawer family.
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Theatre Pie An unusual title, and one that I have never liked, but I think was suitable for the times. There is no date on this flyer, but the blurb states that the Ginner-Mawer School is in Chaltenham, so it was around 1950. Theatre Pie was a title which Ginner-Mawer
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For some time, I have been struggling with how to tell you what Miss Mawer’s mime technique was like. I have been looking for ways to describe it in words. I still haven’t found my answer, but I think the following critical review of one of her performances might go
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The Link, July 1934, p.6 Very sadly, I have been able to find out NOTHING about Wallace B. Nicholls, save for his dates (1888-1967) and the fact that he was educated at Westminster School in the heart of London. The person who wrote the foreward for his book, however, has
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Among Irene Mawer’s papers left after her death, there are two photographs of a small, white dog. His name was Nobby and I think he was probably a breed of terrier called a Sealyham. It is interesting to think of Miss Mawer as having been a dog owner. I have
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In previous blog posts, I have discussed Miss Mawer’s love of using imagined fairies and mythical creatures as a way for teaching movement to little children. However, when those same children grew into adults, they, like all young people, rebelled. Out went the fairies, and in came the murderers! One
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In 1931, Irene Mawer wrote an article in the Ginner-Mawer School magazine about a play that she had been to see. The play was called Rahere and was performed in a magnificent Mediaeval church in the Smithfield district of London. Officially the church is called The Priory Church of St
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