St Johns Ravenscourt School - Eagle Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

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KJM This year, for the first time, the school had a Drama Club, whereas in the past, only those associated with the School Play had an opportunity to participate in and learn about acting and the theatre in general. Under the direction of Mr. McLeod, the club started off early in the year by electing an executive, who were as follows: President: Aaron Schwartz, Vice President: Muir Meredith, and Secretary and Treasurer: Doug Mac¬ Donald. During the year there were read-through’s of various plays, followed by open discussions. The Adding Machine” by Edgar Rice, an expressionistic play, was given the most detailed analysis. In November, Mr. Edward Gilbert, from the Manitoba Theatre Center, presented an interesting and well-received talk on the forth¬ coming production of Andorra.” One evening, members of the Club went to see the play. The show was fol¬ lowed by Chinese dinner at Chan’s. The latter part of the year was spent mainly on working with the school production of Murder in the Cathedral.” Every member of the Drama Club took some part in helping with the production: some boys had roles in the play, others helped with costumes, make-up, lightings and props, while yet others took part in ticket sales promotion and advertising. Thus all members of the club had an opportunity to take part in an actual theatrical production, some of them for the first time. We feel that the Drama Club got off to a good start this year, and hope it will continue with increasing suc¬ cess in future years. The members of the Club wish to extend their sincerest thanks to Mr. McLeod for the time and effort he put into it. EImUoim The electronics option is an extension of last year’s electronics club. Its primary interest is the education of students in the field of electronics using a learn-while-you-work ” technique. In this direction the group has had a great amount of assistance. Quite a number of radios have been donated in a working or semi-working state. These have either been repaired or dismantled completely and used for parts. With these, a high voltage direct current power supply was built by George Black which will prove useful in future projects. The group has also received three television sets, of which one is in working condition and is now in use. The remaining television sets have been salvaged for working parts and there is talk of building an F.M. radio with them. The club is financially independent of the school and has its own treasury from which money is drawn to buy tools and other necessary equipment. The initial membership fee is five dollars and is made to go a long way. Operating from the school as the club is advantageous in a number of ways: there is a vast number of prospective donators of radio equipment; the club receives a fairly substantial discount on all equipment pur¬ chased brand-new. The group just recently received some amateur radio or ham” equipment and work is underway to set up a small radio station. As soon as one of the members becomes a licensed radio operator, the station will go into action. . . , Although the group is primarily interested in electronics, it does do the occasional electrical work, such as re-wiring the ovens in the lab, and, occasionally, designing electrical equipment that would be useful to the school. The school has been fortunate in having a plant laboratory with artificial lighting. Students have been using the lab to start many new projects. During the coming year, plant breeding experiments are to be started with a view to producing new varieties of some plants. Much of the material produced will be used in the future to beautify the school grounds. In the spring term it is hoped that at least two classes will visit the Pinewood Forest Nursery. Also, a new outdoor experimental plot is to be prepared where further work will be started. Growing plants and trees is a slow projectwhich takes time. The results of the work which has been started this year will become much more evident in the years which follow.

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Vk Spedm The Spectres, that famed rock-n-roll group of great note, closed ranks again this year to form a new band. Well known drummer Lee choker” Trouth joined up, along with bass guitar virtuoso Dennis ' The Twitch” Riley. Guitarists Dave lightingfast” Everett and Doug I’m busy after school” MacKay reached new heights this year. Despite public demand, the Spectres played at the Football Dance, at the Winter Carnival Dance, and also managed to fight their way into the yearbook. k Oku CM The Chess Club has been highly successful this year, as the events have been varied and interesting. We started off with a Round Robin Tournament, which Peter Lemon won by defeating Wayne Mitchell and Jack Murray in a play-off. A new chess trophy will be the trophy for a school-wide tournament to be held in April. The trophy with the winner’s name on it will remain in the school, while the victor will have a knight-figure for his personal trophy. A great honour will be accorded us in late March when Mr. Abe Yonofsky, present Canadian Chess Cham¬ pion, Grand Master and former British Empire Champion will visit the school and demonstrate his abilities. He will play a large number of boys at once, and we will be pleased if anyone can manage even a draw with him. Other events coming up are a series of challenge matches with other schools and a challenge match between masters and boys. It is hoped that the foregoing events will become annual highlights of an interesting and popular Chess Club. yU (twiM Option Each Monday at three-forty five, the Current Affairs’ group assembled in the A-2 classroom. Here, under the supervision of Mr. Wellard, the group analyzed the problems of the world. Prepared topics were presented and discussed, and sometimes, conclusions were made. In the course of the year, the Current Affairs’ group met with some success in learning something about today’s world. An even better year is expected to begin in the fall.

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LITERAIV