Peter Madams of Embassy CES Oxford writes:
On May 29th, two coaches of students wearing their finest ball gowns, suits and masks travelled to Heythrop Park near Chipping Norton for the end of term ball. Heythrop Park is a massive country hotel, golf club and conference centre set amidst beautiful parkland and provided an elegant setting for the evening.
Most outlandish costume of the evening must go to dark horse Nijat Rahimli (pictured below), who transformed himself into the caped avenger, Zorro. Only the brave (or the drunk) could stare into that masked face.
Staff and students enjoyed a lavish buffet, a drink or two to get the dust out of their mouths before settling down to some entertainment. The evenings attractions included CIT teacher Peter playing guitar and singing a song which implored students to ‘be young, be foolish and be happy’. We asked Peter how he came to choose that song:
“Well, it’s an old Northern Soul song which I’ve stripped down and given my own treatment. I wanted to sing a light-weight song of hope for the students at this very busy exam period, and remind them that this was a time to enjoy yourself”.
Later Peter accompanied teacher Geoff as he waded bravely through the muddy waters of the song ‘Man Who Stole the World’ – an old David Bowie classic. This was warmly received, but the musical high point of the evening was Ruth Otitio (pictured, right) singing the soul classic ‘You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman’. Ruth sang with a maturity beyond her years – her talent was evident for all to see and hear.
Dasha (pictured, left) showcased some belly good dancing – showing off her skills, and grabbing men from the audience to whisk them onto the dance floor – one of them being Pa Ousman. He and Dasha were voted sexiest boy and girl of the evening accordingly.
The theme for our ball was masks. Perhaps the most elegant and fetching of these was worn by Vanessa Harrison, Academic Director of Embassy. She duly won the award for best dressed teacher.
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