There were two differences in the presentation of 10 debutantes to the Mayor, Mr Ashby, and Mrs Ashby in the Farmers’ Trading Company’s banquet hall last night. One was that the girls were escorted to the moment of their curtsy by their partners, and the other was that they faced the Mayor, and not the spectators when Mr Ashby spoke to them.
Because each of the debutantes was deaf, these small changes in procedure had been arranged.
The girls walked from the lounge at the back of the hall to the foot of the dance floor, curtsied, and grouped themselves in front of the Mayor in order that they might lip-read his words to them. Then they were led, one by one, into the debutantes’ waltz.
GuestsThe ball was organized by the Adult Deaf Society of Auckland. The official guests were the president, Mr W. Williams, and Mrs Williams, the secretary, Mr S. Smith, and Mrs Smith; Mr D. Nathan, president of the Friends of the Deaf, and Mrs Nathan; Mr C. Allen, principal of the Titirangi School for the Deaf, and Mrs Allen were in the official party. Mrs Allen acted as chaperon for the debutantes. A party from Christchurch was also present.
Decorations in the hall consisted of green bunting and strings of coloured lights around the walls of the hall. A floor show of a duo balancing act took place during the evening.
The debutantes were Misses Glenice Barnett, Josephine Burke, Patreena Barningham, Lucy Giros, Nita Mellow, Freda Taylor, Valerie Williams, June Oram, Della Coulter (Morrinsville), and Diana Jackson (south Waikato).
Photo captions: It was an important night for these 10 girls entering society. They are (from left): Misses Lucy Giros, June Oram, Valerie Williams, Josephine Burke, Nita Mellow, Diana Jackson, Glenice Barnett, Freda Taylor, Patreena Barningham and Della Coulter.
