Sarnia Spy School
On Liberation day 2015, a mysterious tent appeared on the Crown Pier as Sarnia Spy School opened to the general public.
For those entering the tent, first port of call was the wonderful display showing the diary of Mrs E.M. Ellershaw who was the Headmistress of The Ladies' College when the school was evacuated. Each diary page had a comment and reflection written by a current Year 7 girl.
Also on display were 15 Bronze Crest Awards, earned by girls from Remove to Upper Four as they had worked on spying projects throughout this term. These projects were on display and had interactive elements to allow the residents of Guernsey to participate.
The first stall involved listening in to conversations, with up to eight people listening in at one time. Unfortunately some of our equipment blew under the bottom of the marquee and at least two string telephones floated away into the harbour!
The next stall involved writing a secret message using bicarbonate of soda solution and spraying it with red cabbage in ethanol to reveal the hidden words.
After this, the intermittent sound of buzzing was heard throughout the afternoon as people sent Morse code messages to each other using our very own Morse code machine.
Other popular activities included:
- making a spiral code which could only be decoded using a toilet roll
- making parachutes to provide a soft landing for our crystal radio
- making a pinhole camera to take photographs of our secret messages
- face painting
- posing for photographs in military uniform
Thank you to all involved in making the day a success, especially: Mrs Ledger; Mr Hale, Mrs Moore from the PTA, Mrs Henderson, Mr Turner, Mr Bolt, Miss Chmiel, Miss Pretorius and Dr Marshall.
And of course a big thank you to the girls (and boys) who helped on the day: Adele Le Page, Esme Barrett, Amandine Harris, Céleste Chandler, Molly Simpson, Anya Tee, Marie-Claire Benoist, Eden Latter, Abby Luxon, Emily Howat, and Sixth Form helpers Anna, Sam, Phoebe, Matt L, Matt C and Jacob.
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