centenary tapestry, Mrs. Diane McBeath was incorrectly referred to as Mrs.

McPhee.

It took 32 women, 1,290,240 stitches, and 5040 square inches of needlepoint to complete the magnificent centenary tapestry now hanging in the Queen Elizabeth Hall of the Bermuda High School for Girls.

If ever there was a labour of love, this eight foot nine inch by six foot two inch work of art is it.

From the moment the idea was conceived until the final assembly was complete took two full years, hundreds of hours of creativity, more than a little eyestrain and burning of the midnight oil -- and no doubt, a few headaches too -- to capture 35 elements of the school's life and laughter in colourful wool pictures.

The idea of a commemorative tapestry began with Mrs. Carol Ashton, then a trustee of the school and ultimately chairman of the 100th anniversary tapestry committee, who approached Mrs. Barbara Henry, a BHS old girl, and Mrs. Ruth Dunch, a former BHS home economics teacher, and asked them to undertake the project.

The two women, who are expert needlepointers as well as business partners, agreed in principle, and immediately set about organising the team who would help them.

The first step, of course, was to formulate ideas for each of the squares.

"We had a brainstorming tea at Mrs. Diane McPhee's home, and there were jillions of ideas,'' Mrs. Henry recalled.

By that time, she had also drawn up the list of needlepointers whom she felt would be perfect for the job.

"With one exception, all of them had some connection with the school, be it as former pupils (Old Girls), teachers, or parents with a child or children at BHS,'' Mrs. Henry said.

And the exception? Lady Waddington, wife of the Governor who, like the others, is also a talented needlepointer.

From the "jillion'' ideas, 35 were finally chosen to reflect features and facets of BHS life. Some were whimsical and humorous, others serious.

One square, for example, commemorates the arrival at the school of evacuee children from Britain during the Second World War; another records how students were once detected smoking in a locked lavatory; still another shows mystified pupils hunting for their terrified teacher, who cowers beneath her desk during a bird's unscheduled flight through the classroom.

The much-loved, giant rubber tree -- a fixture of the playing field for as long as anyone can remember, and affectionately known to all who have played in or sat under its branches as "the grandfather tree'' -- is brilliantly captured in all its verdant glory.

Sports played at BHS, civic attachments, field and foreign excursions, are also depicted, as well as house shields and trophies, school buildings, the school bell and swings, and even the forms of transport used by students down through the ages.

One square records all of the school heads from inception, another commemorates the new wing dedicated in the name of Mrs. Frances Tucker Zuill, whose long association with BHS began as a student and ended as head mistress.

"We had decided at the beginning that there would be no personalities, but Mrs. Zuill was so very special that we made an exception,'' Mrs. Dunch explained.

All facets of the student curriculum (science and nature, art and literature, music and drama among them) are recorded, along with the presence of boys (at kindergarten level) from 1904 to 1968.

"The classroom scene is taken from an old photograph, and the little boy at the blackboard in a pinafore with his slip showing is actually the late Sir John Cox,'' Mrs. Dunch noted.

The Victory gardens of the Second World War are remembered, as are the school's Heritage Day floats, which won first prize four times.

The school crest, with its distinctive Easter lily and motto, Purity and Strength, takes pride of place in the centre of the tapestry, and a charming interpretation of the flaming torch, which is passed down ranks of Old Girls, faculty and students in an annual ceremony, recalls the symbolism of passing the search for knowledge from one generation to another.

Research for each square was carried out by Mrs. Dunch with the assistance of former BHS Old Girl, teacher and deputy head, Miss Natalie North, while the actual designs were devised by Mrs. Henry, who also transferred them onto to the needlepoint canvases.

The wealth of detail in each square is testimony to the thoroughness with which each woman undertook her task, a process which included everything from determining the correct scale of each element, to what colour yarns would be used for overall harmony, and even selection of the most appropriate needlepointer for each square.

To Lady Waddington fell the task of completing what would ultimately become the number one square in the finished tapestry. It features the school's silver rose bowl filled with a colourful array of Bermuda flowers.

Other squares were completed by Kindred Parratt, Jennifer Woods, Nancy Pitman, Janine Lines, Shirley Asbury, Dot Peniston, Jean Conyers, Sharon Vesey, Sheena Hunter, Jean French, Cindy Young, Betty Kinsley, Barbara Cooper, Peggy Couper, Barbara Henry, Suzy Wainwright, Elizabeth Parker, Margaret Caton, Anthea Cox, Daryn Martin, Diane Wozniak, Margaret Collis, Jeanne Masters, Ruth Dunch, Sally Gibbons, Rosemary Collier, Marianne Collier, Peggy Thompson, Nancy Murphie, Betty Hutchings, and Pat Young.

Along the way, Mrs. Henry held a "progress party'' at her home.

"Everyone was told to bring their square, regardless of its progress, and I put them all up on a board in my dining room,'' she recalled. "I thought the women would wander in, have a look, and move on to the living room, but everyone crowded around and stayed. They were so interested in each other's work and so enthusiastic.'' Finally, a year after they began, the needlepointers completed their mission.

Some had done one square, others more than one.

It was time for Mrs. Henry and Mrs. Dunch to get down on their knees -- not in supplication, though no doubt a silent `Thank you' did go heavenward! -- but to decide the order in which the 35 squares would be assembled.

"It took us two and a half hours of switching them around before we finally got the right balance,'' Mrs. Dunch noted.

Because joining the squares and binding the borders are specialist skills, arrangements were made for the project to be completed by two professional finishers in Louisville, Kentucky -- Patricia Barber and Patricia Douglass -- under Mrs. Henry's supervision.

"The squares never left my hands going up there,'' the designer said. "I carried them onto the aircraft and kept them in my lap the whole way. I also delivered them to the finishers myself.'' In Kentucky, Mrs. Henry was given the use of a condominium owned by Mrs.

Sherry Bluck Wakefield, another BHS Old Girl.

Today, following its unveiling by Lady Waddington in a special ceremony, the finished tapestry hangs from a cedar pole on a main wall of the school auditorium, a vivid record of BHS life, and a proud tribute to 100 years of progress and perseverance.

Nearby, a cedar plaque will commemorate the work of the 32 needlepointers and 62 sponsors who generously underwrote the cost of the project.

Mrs. Henry at Rubarb will prepare a needlepoint kit, on request, for any square in the tapestry. Orders may be placed either through the BHS Development Office or Rubarb, who will donate a share of the profits to the school.

STITCHES IN TIME -- Each panel in this colourful needlepoint tapestry, now hanging in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, depicts memorabilia and milestones from the 100-year history of the Bermuda High School for Girls. Thirty-two women took a year to complete the tapestry, which contains 1,290,240 stitches.