Community Panda of the Month: Branksome Hall
Each month WWF will be featuring an individual or group that has gone above and beyond to support WWF’s conservation efforts. Through WWF’s Community Panda program, these incredible people have organized events and activities in neighbourhoods across Canada in order to raise funds for WWF. We are very grateful for their support and incredibly proud of their accomplishments.
This month, we are thrilled to feature Branksome Hall, an all girls private school located in Toronto, Ontario. The students and faculty at Branksome have been long-time supporters of WWF’s conservation work and are true leaders in environmental stewardship. Over the years, Branksome has organized a number of fundraising initiatives and raised over $6,500 for WWF. Read about their latest exciting event below.
As an International Baccalaureate World School, Branksome Hall’s mission is “to challenge and inspire girls to love learning and to shape a better world.” Action is an essential element of our Primary Years Programme. Every student is encouraged to extend their learning by taking action in a thoughtful and responsible way. The students make a personal commitment to service and to making a positive difference in the lives of others and our environment.
Last year the school held a special concert that involved all of the Junior School students, a choir and orchestra from the Middle and Senior Schools and several professional musicians. It involved many months of planning and preparation in music and art classes. While the purpose of the concert was for the musical enrichment of the students and their audience, we also wanted to turn the event into something that would help others. Below is a description of the event and the reason why we chose to direct the proceeds from it to WWF.
Students at Branksome Hall performing “A Medieval Bestiary”.
In 2009 Branksome Hall commissioned local composer Dean Burry to compose a piece of music for all the students in the Junior School. He chose to combine a child’s natural love of animals with history, and came up with the idea for “A Medieval Bestiary”. Mr. Burry took his inspiration from the books of beasts, or bestiaries, that were compiled in the Middle Ages. These books described what the authors knew (or imagined was true) about the animals of the day and were often used as the basis for allegorical teachings. Burry chose to compose pieces of music about unicorns, crickets, gryffins, dragons, panthers and a mysterious, mythical bird called a caladrius.
Students at Branksome creating art for the event.
On May 15th and 16th, 2011 the students performed the world premiere of “A Medieval Bestiary”. The students sang songs, played instrumental pieces and created dances with giant puppets. They designed and created over 40 stunning woodblock prints depicting the beasts. Over 250 students were involved and they performed to an audience of over 600 parents, relatives and guests.
The lyrics of the finale went like this:
Here ends the book of the nature of beasts
But not the story of nature, it goes on and on, and on and on, and on.
We are all children of the Earth, none greater, none smaller, but equal.
We are all children of the Earth.
We directed our ticket proceeds to WWF because the central idea of the cantata was that we are all creatures of the earth and should try to live in harmony. How fitting for us to create a beautiful concert about the idea of harmony and then take action, by supporting WWF’s efforts to shape a more harmonious world by protecting animals.
