THE City of Oxford Schools’ Music Festival was one of the major events of the year.

Hundreds of children gathered at the Town Hall to perform to audiences of parents and friends after weeks of rehearsal.

A programme for the 1954 festival was found by Rosemary Maud, of Hereford, among the belongings of her late mother, Agnes Jacobs, a former Oxford nursery nurse.

That year, the programme stretched to four days, with senior, junior and infants schools taking part.

The 13 senior schools taking part were South Oxford, East Oxford, St Clement’s, Headington, Temple Cowley, Milham Ford, Sunnymeade House, Summertown, Bayswater, St Faith’s, West Oxford Girls, Southfield and St Denys.

They were split into two groups and provided entertainment at two evening concerts.

Children from eight junior schools – St Christopher’s, Donnington, East Oxford, St James, St Denys, Our Lady’s, Iffley and Headington – performed songs and dances on the other two evenings.

Infants from SS Mary and John, Headington, St Clement’s, Cutteslowe, St Barnabas and East Oxford had their moment of glory one afternoon.

The festival president and chairman were, respectively, Thomas Armstrong and Harold Spicer, both well known in Oxford music circles, and the musical directors that year were Cyril Winn and Una Gwynne. Other programmes found in Mrs Jacobs’s collection include one for the Ritz cinema, in George Street, for February 1946.

The month’s offering included Road to Utopia, starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour, and Step Lively, with Frank Sinatra.

Among the advertisements in the programme were ones for Bretts School of Dancing, Hatt and Co, wigmakers and hairdressers in Magdalen Street, and Chas Gee and Sons, fruiterers, and Alec Butterfield, butchers, both in the Covered Market.

Another programme advertised Oxford Education Week in 1946, during which numerous city schools opened their doors for visitors to see the varied work pupils were tackling.

Mrs Maud would be happy to pass on the programmes to anyone collecting memorabilia relating to these events. Call her on 07588 615667.