A Letter from Margaret Ellis
She agreed to come in and be interviewed on behalf of her brother, who was now in a retirement home and too frail to make a visit or be interviewed himself. Olivia ‘rang’ her back, in role as one of the research team, and organised for her to visit us in the afternoon.
WRITING IN ROLE
Next we went in to role as members of the 1954 Elizabethtown community. In role we wrote letters to Cyril Ellis thanking him for his life saving actions on the night of the Tangiwai disaster with reference to family members or friends that he had saved.
We had to think carefully about writing with a formal tone and our choice of words.
Here are excerpts from the letters we wrote in role.
Dear Cyril Ellis
Thank you so much for saving my husband Bruce in such a heroic way. My two kids Alice and John almost lost their father on that dreadful night but thanks to you they didn’t. I will never forget what you have done.
RUPERT
Dear Cyril Ellis
Thank you very much for saving my son Banjo. Banjo and I really appreciate what you did, you’re a hero! My family was lucky to hear he was alive.
BEN
Dear Mr Ellis
I need to thank you for saving my mum who was on the train at Tangiwai. On the night of the accident I was waiting at home by myself, my aunty had been looking after me while she was gone but she had already left because she knew my mum was coming home on the train soon. I was waiting at home for a long time and I was really scared. Until finally the door opened and she came in. Me and my mum are so grateful, you’re a hero.
ROSE
Dear Cyril Ellis,
[…] in this tragic event you only thought about the passengers safety, not once yours, you didn’t do it for your popularity or so people would like you more, you did it for them, that’s why you were awarded the George Medal. I can’t thank you enough for saving my grandad’s life.
JARED
Dear Mr Ellis,
I can’t thank you enough for saving my brother Sam. My family is so grateful for your heroic efforts. At my home I was waiting to see my brother and if it hadn’t been for you I wouldn’t have seen him again.
HANNAH
Wednesday 13th of July 1954
Dear Cyrl Ellis
I want to thank you formally for saving my parents’ lives. We were waiting for our parents to come for Christmas. When we heard the news on the radio we were extremely frightened. We thought we would never see them again.
LOUIS
Dear Cyril Ellis.
You have saved so many people, we can’t thank you enough! It was very heroic for you to save all those people.
OLIVIA
Dear Mr Ellis,
I am called Rebecca and I am 12 years old. […]
One of the lives you saved was my mother called Julia Aston. My mother and I are very grateful for that. I am writing this letter for the unforgettable action you made. If it wasn’t for you many people would not be alive today including my mother. […] you put everyone’s lives that were in that train before yours!
ZARA
10 January 1954
I am writing to thank you for saving my father. It is his birthday today and I could not celebrate it with him if you had not done your heroic deeds and waved down the train … My father was a guard and was checking tickets in car y and was only saved by waving your torch.
Yours thankfully,
John Oscar Syiks.
KIERAN
Dear Mr Ellis,
My name is Penelope-Kate Smith. I am writing you this letter to give you all my thanks for saving my younger sister Dehlia in the third to last carriage in that horrid tragedy of what they’re calling “The Tangiwai Rail Disaster”. My family and I want to express our extreme gratitude for you bravery, determination, your quick thinking, and most of all your warm heart. You deserved the George Medal.
EMMA
Dear Cyril Ellis
Thank you so much for saving my grandson. He was on the last carriage. If you had not waved the train down he would have died.
OSCAR
Dear Cyril Ellis
I would like to thank you for saving my brother in the train accident, we are so thankful for your heroism on that train. To thank you we would like to send a parcel full of goods.
DAVID
RESEARCH WORK
Next we sorted through some of the research we had done last week. We highlighted the pieces of information that we felt were more useful than others and identified information that needed checking for accuracy. Next week we will continue with our research to build an accurate and clear record of what happened in the Tangiwai Disaster before embarking on our documentary design.
WORKING IN ROLE
In the afternoon we met Sarah Marino, a Wellington drama teaching specialist. Sarah came to work with us in role as Margaret Ellis. We talked about how to get into role and how to build belief in our roles, her as Margaret and us as the research team at NZ Documentary Designs.
We then interviewed Sarah in role as Margaret Ellis.
Interviewing Sarah in role as Margaret Ellis
Margaret talked about how Cyril had been affected by the events of that night and how it had affected the whole family. As we interviewed Maragret Ellis we recognised the letters we had written in role in the morning that she shared with us, thank you letters that Cyril had kept all these years. While we had prepared questions ahead of time as the interview progressed it was great to see everyone coming up with probing questions on the spot to find out more about details Margaret shared. There was a lot of careful listening and building on what each other, and Margaret, was sharing. Margaret gave us lots of information that we will be able to use in our documentary as well as information that she wished to keep private but was happy to share in order to provide some more background to the Cyril Ellis story. Next week we will have to think carefully about what information we use and how we use it.
After interviewing Margaret we had a discussion about what we thought Margaret was like.
It was great to see everyone picking up on body language and noticing the things that Margaret didn’t say as much as what she did tell us.
Her nervousness was noted by the way she sat forward on the chair, the way she corrected herself a few times. Her age was noted by the way she moved and needed help getting out of the chair. It was noted that she was very protective of family matters. A lot of us felt some emotional response to what she shared and felt as if we were part of a real interview.
We then had a go at being in the hot seat ourselves. Louis, Jared, Emma, and Rose had a go at being interviewed in role as townspeople from Elizabethtown, who knew of Cyril Ellis and his heroic actions. In the hot seat they were able to develop their character and share how they felt about the Tangiwai Disaster and how they felt about what Cyril had done. This was a fun challenging activity, responding and staying in role in response to the questions, and everyone did really well! The rest of us are keen to have a go at being in the hot seat next week.
Louis in the Hotseat as someone from Elizabethtown
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