If school days are meant to be the best days of our lives, then you may as well just sign your kids up for a Blacon school and be done with it.

What seemed to be the entire child population of the Chester suburb told the city fair and square that Blacon is top of the class as they played their part in Theatre in the Quarter’s Best Days of our Lives at Chester Cathedral.

Taking her inspiration from Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood, writer Helen Newall has woven tales from school days into one ‘moment’, spanning a school year but nipping back and forth from the 1960s and warm milk to the loom bands of the present day.

Theatre in the Quarter's Best Days of Our Lives project
Blacon children perform at Chester Cathedral

Working with professional actors Judi Jones, Rachael Rae and Francis Tucker, the youngsters from the Arches, St Theresa’s, Highfield, J H Godwin, Dee Point and Blacon High School, took us through Harvest school trips, the Nativity, playtime, home time, sports day, and the long, summer holidays.

I learnt the provenance of the two birch trees in the grounds of Dee Point Primary School and that most people’s school life was in fact a mirror image of my own. That even with changes in Government policy, the shepherds in the Nativity are always indifferent to a shining star and that it is never you who wins the raffle.

Theatre in the Quarter's Best Days of Our Lives project
Actors Judi Jones and Rachael Rae in the production

The show, directed by Matt Baker, lasted only just over an hour, but the joy radiating from the children’s faces could have sustained a full length musical.

A fabulous film by Andy Davies, Dee Video, provided the back drop to the piece, constantly reminding us that we weren’t in fact in the city’s medieval cathedral but in the centre of a vibrant community where children play, learn and dream.

My only gripe was that I couldn’t hear all the words of the songs, which was a pity because you can bet your bottom dollar they were meaningful and well sung.

The performance was a delight but getting 300 children on song was no mean feat.

Artistic director of Theatre in the Quarter Matt Baker
Artistic director of Theatre in the Quarter Matt Baker

Theatre in the Quarter and Homegrown Dance Theatre have been working with the Blacon Education Village for almost a year on the project, collecting stories, rehearsing movement and learning the songs.

As Dee Point headteacher Dave Williams, who chairs the collaborative educational group said: “Cut us in half and like a stick of rock, we have Blacon running right through us.”

Theatre in the Quarter's Best Days of Our Lives project
Theatre in the Quarter's Best Days of Our Lives project