Appleby College - Argus Yearbook (Oakville, Ontario Canada)

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440 Cadet Corps The Corps continued to uphold its fine tradition of Cadet training by producing an excellent standard in the Church Parade to Knox Presbyterian Church, and in the Inspection. Such has been the increase in the strength of the corps that, for the first time in the history of the Cadet Corps, it enjoyed Battalion Status with sixteen Officers and one hundred and sixty cadets. The retiring commanding officer, Major R.M. Kenney, CD, took the Salute for the Church Parade, and for the May 5 inspection, L. Col. P. Fairclough, Commanding Officer, The Royal Regiment of Canada, inspected the Ranks and complimented the cadets on their uniforms and especially on their discipline, which he observed not only in the ceremonial, but also in the Display. The Inspection was followed by a Cadet Ball which ended a busy day on a re- laxing note.

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Public Speaking Contest The Edin Heward Memorial Public Speaking Contest never differs from year to year in several respects. The evening begins when the contestants file on stage and sit nervously in their appointed chairs, some displaying a thin veneer of calm, others of sweat. Their eyes wander around the gym- nasium in search of something, any- thing to avoid the 1000 other eyes peering at them. They watch in dreadful anticipation as the Head- master strides to the podium to make his introductory remarks and welcome the judges. This year the judges were Mr. R.J. Smye, an Appleby Old Boy and former winner of the Public Speaking Contest, Mr. J. R. Guest, grandson of the founder of the school, and Mr. P.M. Little, son of the Vice- Chairman of the Board of Governors. All too soon he concludes his remarks and the first quivering speaker is brought before the assembly. It is here that the similarity ends. The ensuing few minutes determine the success or failure of the speaker. All of the speeches of the 1973 Contest were undeniably successes. Some were more successful than others but none were failures. No doubt it was with apprehension that his fellow contestants listened to Tim Menzies charm, coddle and humour his audience. His topic, The Art of Public Speaking was un- expectedly interesting. He illustrated every characteristic of the poor speaker and most especially Tim amused the guests with clever mimi- cry of a speaker ' s gesticulations. What might have been a rather dry speech was transformed by his tren- chant wit into a refreshingly appeal - Baseball in Toronto? This was the question posed by Charles Havill to the audience, and by the end of his remarks they would probably agree that Toronto could and should have its own professional baseball team. Indeed, for the sports fans present, so well did he get his point across that they may well have included a $20 million stadium in their concensus. Shockingly chauvinistic was one opinion of Rob Macfarlane ' s address which queried the ' benefits ' of Coeducation at Appleby . What Rob lacked in reliable evidence he made up for with humour, particu- larly appealing to the students. The Beaver People a speech in- spired by a unique personal encounter with a family of beavers was pre- sented by Daniel Peat. It was much like a fresh breath of air, from the North. Dan told some little known facts about this Canadian creature and included several humourous anecdotes. In contrast to the narrative format of The Beaver People , Dave Cannon, the fifth speaker for the evening, chose the topic of Communicating which forced one ' s mental machinery to work- He demonstrated the need for more effective person-to-person communication, not through the median of technological wonders but through the use of Man ' s God-given talents. Elgin McMurchy spoke on a subject of which we are all familiar, Nostalgia . . . . His introduction was very un unique as he related some of his boy- hood experiences yet in such a way that each thought it was his own past that Elgin was recounting. He managed to maintain this contact with the audience and therefore cap- ture their interest. The final speaker. Bill Dietrich, won the Public Speaking Contest. Bill talked about Convention and the Non -Conformist in an informal, fluent and engaging manner. (The adjectives which could be employed here are numerous and all in the Superlative). The content of his speech was as well -prepared and original as his execution of it. Amus- ing, but convincingly real, spoofs on the impulsive ' non-conformist ' added humour. So, too, did his clever physical illustrations and movements (In the course of his address he loosened his tie, took off his jacket, and adopted several ' non-conformist ' postures with the aid of a chair he carried on to the stage). All the speeches were deserving of praise and Bill ' s unanimously, of the prize.

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