Dorothy Cunningham - Devon on Ashburton, 1959

What an amazing experience. I went from Newcastle. I represented my school. I was 4’10” and had a difficult time with mountain climbing because my legs were so short. I did it. We were woken up in the middle of the night, arranged into groups, given a code to our next stop where we picked up instructions to our continued walk back to school. We had a talent night. I dressed as a sailor from the movie South Pacific. I got a mop from the kitchen, dressed it as a woman, and belted out a song called Honey Bun. I won the contest. Thank God for that time. It gave me the courage to take a plane when I was 18 and leave my family for a life in the United States.