Diary
Mrs Lawrence
Friday, November 24, 2006
Mrs Lawrence, who was a performer appearing at the Ritz, came into the school and answer questions we had all prepared.
She told us how lovely it was to appear on the stage. There were 20 of us in all, including 2 pianists. I have brought my diary and I can tell you I was paid £5.50 a week to appear and it costs me £2 a week for my ‘digs’ (this is a room in a house). Mrs Lawrence was only 17 when she sand and danced at the Ritz.
It was called the Ritz because they used it as a cinema during the day and a theatre in the evening when Mrs Lawrence performed.
During the war the wounded were housed at the Ritz.
There had to be a minimum of 12 people to put on a show. So once when there were only 10 we kept encouraging no one else to turn up because we didn’t want to perform to such a small number.
A show had just ended before it burnt down, which the Mayor went to. She saw black smoke in the distance and when she asked what the smoke was someone told her it was the Ritz burning down. The old Ritz was made of wood, which was why it burnt down so easily.
Dorset History Centre
We remember going into the strong room where all the old stuff is kept in boxes and big shelves with wheels on them to move them. The strong room they have to make cold and take the moisture out of the air to help preserve the documents. On the oldest piece of paper (actually it wasn’t paper as such) there was a big seal; this document was 1,000 years old.
We looked at a number of old photos of Weymouth seafront. These were copies of the originals, because we have oil on our fingers that would destroy the paper over time. We saw two trains in one photo that went through the town to the harbour. In another we saw the old pavilion, the Ritz, which wasn’t as big and the shape was different.
Also they all wore hats in the old days even on the beech!
They put all the newspapers together and made a big book out of it.
We saw people looking at text with a microscope.
In the past pirates came onto Portland and kidnapped people and held them for ransom.
Mayor and the Mayoress visit
Friday, November 03, 2006
Today we meet the Mayor and the Mayoress when they cam to visit us and find out more about this project. The Mayor had a short chain of Office on and the Mayoress had a longer chain of Office on. The Mayoress told us how every time there is a new Mayoress they add a new link to the chain with the new Mayoress¹s name on.
We asked the Mayor if he had any memories of the Pavilion and he told us how he had attended the last show at the Ritz before it burnt down. He said he must have been only 7 or 8 years old when he¹d been to this show.
We then asked him about the Royal Box at the Pavilion, he didn¹t know that they had a Royal box there. He said he usually sat in rows E or F where he gets the best view.
We learnt about the past from the mayor and that he travels with 2 guards to protect him, who are also his drivers.
We then went out and had our photo taken for the Echo with our banner we had made for the occasion.
