This film documents the 40th anniversary celebrations for the Bradford Ukrainian School, held at Bradford Club. It was made by the Ukrainian Video Archives Society (UVAS) but there is no credit to them on the film. The film is date stamped 21st November, 1993. The sound is slightly out and the language is a mixture of English and Ukrainian. The film begins with an image of a flier which is all in Ukrainian and reads Ukrainian School Bradford Taras Shevchenko 40th anniversary,...

This film documents the 40th anniversary celebrations for the Bradford Ukrainian School, held at Bradford Club. It was made by the Ukrainian Video Archives Society (UVAS) but there is no credit to them on the film. The film is date stamped 21st November, 1993. The sound is slightly out and the language is a mixture of English and Ukrainian. The film begins with an image of a flier which is all in Ukrainian and reads Ukrainian School Bradford Taras Shevchenko 40th anniversary, 1955-1993. This design appears several times during the film in various contexts, including on the celebratory cake and as a decoration hung on the back curtain of the stage in the main hall. After some external views of the school buildings and club complex, the scene switches to an exhibition of old photographs displayed on the walls inside the school building. Guests begin to arrive to the school hall. They are greeted by teaching staff and representatives of the Parent’s Committee and invited to view the display of old photographs and school archives. Amongst the guests are the Lord Mayor of Bradford Councillor Robert Sowman and the Mayoress, and Dr Roland Franko from the Ukrainian Embassy. The guests enjoy drinks and conversation whist browsing the exhibition. The scene then fades to show a buffet which has been laid out on tables in the hall, complete with a celebratory cake in the shape of a book. The left hand is decorated with a picture of Taras Shevchenko, and the right side has a copy of the text used in the anniversary flier. A woman is carefully adding candles to the icing at the edges of the cake. The scene then switches to the main hall where the school pupils are assembling ahead of the celebratory concert and the guests are taking their seats in the audience. The mayor and invited guests enter the hall, walking down the central aisle in the hall to take their seats as the guests stand to receive them. All the children who perform are wearing embroidered shirts and blouses. The camera then focuses on the stage where Andriy Chymera, chair of the Parent’s Committee, makes an opening speech in Ukrainian and English to welcome everyone. Also on the stage is the Dibrova choir. After the speech, the conductor enters stage right and the choir sings A Prayer for Ukraine (Boze Velikij Yediniy). The concert begins and the programme includes: a speech about the history of the school by an unidentified man in Ukrainian which is summarised by Andrij Chymera in English; a choir of school children accompanied by a pianist who perform three songs; a speech about the importance of the school from the second and third generation perspective and its work as one of Bradford’s supplementary schools and this impact this has on the pupils in Ukrainian and English; a mixed dance performed by adults who are ex-pupils; a choir of children from kindergarten (sadochok) or preschool (peredshkilya) who perform three songs complete with actions; a speech by (possibly) the head of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain (AUGB) congratulating the school on its anniversary; a hutzul dance performed by a group of boys and girls; a presentation of flowers to the Lady Mayoress and a speech by the Lord Mayor congratulating the school on its anniversary; a hutzul dance performed by a quartet of girls; a speech by the Head of the Ukrainian Teacher’s Association congratulating the school on its anniversary; a short comic play performed by two boys; the departure of the Lord Mayor to another engagement; a dance by third generation girls who sing along to the music; a hopak dance performed by kindergarten (sadochok) and preschool (peredshkilya) boys and girls; an introduction given by the Director of the school to the Bradford City Councillor with responsibility for supplementary schools, who talks about the importance of supplementary schools and draws parallels with his own Welsh background and the importance of bilingual skills, and also congratulates those pupils who have achieved GCSE Ukrainian; a play performed by a number of adults / ex-pupils about naughty children in class and the teacher is played by a third generation girl; a speech by Dr Franko about the importance of education and learning the Ukrainian language and culture; a performance by the Dibrova mixed choir of 2 songs; a recital of a poem entitled Learn, Child by V Mashiyak in Ukrainian in front of the choir; a performance of hopak by the oldest pupils / adults. The film ends at 2hrs 22 mins 43 secs. Part of the final dance is missing and the sound drops out.