Special musical to mark 80th Liberation Day

Pupils at St Mary's School have been enjoying rehearsals for Make Do And Mend

A Jersey primary school has started rehearsals for a special musical to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Liberation Day.

St Mary's School pupils have been learning the lines and songs for Make Do And Mend which was originally written to mark the 50th anniversary of Liberation Day.

It follows the story of a character called Collette who keeps a diary stating in 1939, showing what life was like during the Occupation in the Second World War.

The play has been adapted to include more children and the pupils will perform the musical at Jersey Arts Centre on 6 May in the build up to Liberation Day.

Annabella (left) and Mia have lead roles in the musical

Annabella, 10, is playing the lead role of Collette while Mia, 11, is playing the role of Collette's mother.

She said: "It's been really fun. It's a lot of words to learn but I think with time and effort that I can learn them all."

"The play has definitely helped me understand the Occupation and what ordinary families had to do to survive."

Mia added: "I've really enjoyed rehearsals because you know you're going to be performing on the Arts Centre stage."

Headteacher Maria Stegenwalner said the pupils were excited about the musical

St Mary's School headteacher Maria Stegenwalner adapted the musical from the original and has been helping with rehearsals.

She said: "I worked for the headteacher who wrote this in 1955."

She said the writer had been "worried that lots of the stories from that time would disappear and children wouldn't know what happened".

Ms Stegenwalner added: "We are really early in rehearsals but the pupils keep finding new little things that crop up that they hadn't considered before about the Occupation."

The school had asked for help making the costumes for children playing German soldiers and costume designer Denise Renoulf has offered to help.