The Leas School,  Hoylake

Evelyn  GREENHALGH

b 21 Feb 1903,  Birkenhead, Wirral, Cheshire, England

d 30 Jul 1984,  Birkenhead, Wirral, Cheshire, England

Evelyn's parents were George Alfred Greenhalgh (1869-1934), glass and china buyer, and Emma Maria Hartley (1871-1946), daughter of Anthony Hartley, greengrocer. Evelyn never married.

Though she also took music pupils privately, Evelyn was dedicated to the Leas for many years. She taught elementary music theory to whole classrooms, so everybody at The Leas knew the treble clef from the bass clef, though maybe fewer picked up on the quirks of the appoggiatura and the acciaccatura. And she taught piano-players individually, some to a very high standard, seeing them through various piano Grades.

She played the electric-blown organ in the school chapel, for choir practice and for Sunday services; her range of Sunday hats was striking, from all corners of the chapel you could often see tall feathers swaying to the music. She played the pedal-powered harmonium in the Dining Hall for whole-school singing practice, when Kenneth Sutton would try his damnedest to get us all to sing strongly and accurately. And she played the piano in the theatre for musical numbers in end-of-term shows, some of which she herself directed, designed and costumed.

Evelyn's involvement was not restricted to music, she would also busy herself with production, scenery, makeup and costumes for shows. Every Monday evening she was Bagheera to Nora Laxton's Akela in the school's Cub troop: "Dyb! Dyb! Dyb!" "We'll dob! dob! dob!" She ran the Music Club, actually a more general-interest club, which would meet a couple of times each term; and she would give or introduce scripture-focussed slide-shows.

Evelyn was never known to the boys by her firstname, she was always Gerty.

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