'Pageant-minded'

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Date:1938

Description:

Gwen Lally and the pageant committee worked hard in the preceding months to whip up enthusiasm amongst the Birmingham public, although Edgbaston was slow to become ‘pageant-minded’, and there was a threatened boycott by the residents of Yardley who were angered by the council’s decision to turn the green meadows of Marshall Close into a housing estate, as well as feeling that the history of Yardley itself was longer than that of any other part of Birmingham. The boycott never occurred, however, and the residents participated in the seventh episode, The Visit of Queen Victoria.


There were also a few disgruntled letters from members of the public in the weeks before the Pageant took place; these were mainly about the cost of costumes, seats and travel to and from rehearsals. The organisers stated in their reply that this was necessary as a loss could not be contemplated. Booking fees were slow to start, mainly due to adverse weather at the beginning of July, but also because they were seen as expensive. However, after the Pageant was extended for a further week and tickets prices were slashed, seats were very hard to come by, although the Pageant still did not make a profit, indeed, far from it.