There’s a photo that I wish I could show you. It captures perfectly the essence of a rather fantastic evening. Sadly, it’s out of blog bounds, so I’ll have to set the scene for you instead.
There were a few clues: a prematurely empty school car park, several limousines parked up on my route home. It could only mean one thing – our school’s prom night.
Proms have been around in this part of the world for a few years now, but, like the students, this was my first. Actually, the last Y11 leaving event that I attended (several years ago) was a disco in the function room of a local sports and social club, so things have changed a bit!
Our prom was held in the illustrious surroundings of the Cutler’s Hall, a magnificent building complete with a rather grand staircase up to an equally grand hall. Ideal for arriving in style and showing off fabulous prom dresses and smart suits, also ideal for the process of eating, not drinking (the students are only 16) and making merry.
Actually the eating part didn’t live up to the general splendour of the surroundings: the food was OK, but nothing special, which at the best part of £30 a head was a little disappointing.
The students were fantastic though, it’s hard to describe the sheer exuberance of the evening. Some of the boys were doing the conga around the room before the dancing even started; by the time the DJ started playing a selection of surprisingly old songs there was a fair amount of madness on the dance floor.
It was all good-natured silliness though, we were all on our best behaviour. Which might explain how I resisted the almost overwhelming temptation to misbehave when the official photographer arranged the teachers into a carefully posed group for a photo. There was something about the way they grouped us, with the men in the front row asked to kneel on one knee with a hand resting proudly on the other, that was a bit, well, Monty Python. It was all I could do to stop myself from breaking into a chorus of “I’m a Lumberjack”, I don’t know how I resisted it.
Anyway, back to my photo, the one I can’t really show you. The song being played was from Dirty Dancing and the students were most definitely having the time of their lives. One of the lads is being held up by the others, flying above them in the pose made famous by Jennifer Grey. In the foreground are some of the girls from my form, looking fantastic in their amazing prom dresses, laughing and smiling and enjoying the moment.
It was a magic moment that encapsulated the spirit of the evening for me. The time of their lives? You bet.
Cutler’s Hall ey? I have never been in there. Most schools have their proms in far less ilustrious surroundings so now I have all the information I need to deduce that your school must be either Birkdale or Sheffield Girls High!
Oh my – actually that’s way off the mark YP! Although alphabetically speaking, my school is very close to one of those.