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

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LOWER SCHOOL HEADMASTER’S FOREWORD On a typically wet, overcast, gloomy day in London, England, I met Mr. Gordon for the first time in the lobby of the Cumberland Hotel. There were two aspects of this first encounter that impressed me. The first was his predilection for curry which became apparent as soon as we ordered a meal and the second was the complete absence of pomposity in his make-up. Too many men make themselves small by puffing themselves up. Dick Gordon is not one of them. In the course of the next ten years, I found out much more about him—he believed in a boy’s inalienable right to develop his own character and hated the idea that a school might “mould” it. In a word, he believed to a greater degree than most headmasters, in the essential freedom of staff and boys to act on their own responsibility. No boy was ever sacrificed on the altar of expediency and no blanket judgements were made whilst he was headmaster. He believed in the sanity of treating individual boys differently, in giving them the maximum freedom to act on their own initiative, and if necessary, to learn by making their own mistakes. It was in the pursuance of these ideals that Mr. Gordon showed his strength. Flexible in his dealings with boys, he was nevertheless inflexible in the observance of these principles where running the school was concerned. He was not interested in running a well-oiled machine, since this would pre-suppose that boys were mere cogs in that machine; but cogs have to rotate in a prescribed manner, and any suggestion that boys should thus rotate was to Dick Gordon an anathema. When you meet men who were at St. John’s-Ravenscourt School between the years of 1952 and 1968, you will meet men who have held their own destiny in their hands during their school years. They will not in their youth have been wet-nursed and they will not have been bludgeoned into shape, if you find there is an ease in their manner, individuality in their thought, and openness in their expression, it will in no small way be due to the liberal education that they received at the hands of Mr. Gordon. C. B. Kiddell, Head of Lower School. HEAD BOY’S REPORT This year has been a very busy one for most boys. Apart from the usual academic pursuits, there are still numerous interest clubs, the most popular of which are the judo, rifle, and model railway club. Our thanks go to Mr. Wilson, Mr. Beare and Mr. Bevis for these options. The Lower School play for this year, “King Patch and Mr. Simpkins” has been a great success, and is the product of weeks of rehearsals under the direction of Mr. Shepherd. Once again the choir has been formed from boys of grade four to twelve. Under the firm direction of Mr. Shepherd, it has performed excellently before numerous audiences. The 1969 edition of the S.J.R. Winter Carnival also made a great hit, starting the day off with skating races right up to a delicious dinner. On behalf of the Lower School, I would like to thank all people who have helped to make this a prosperous and enjoyable year. I would also like to thank my fellow monitors for all the support they have given me. Allan Beech 66

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LOWER SCHOOL

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FORM VII EW FRONT ROW: Chris Dornan, Fred Young, Wesley Christie, Gary Jacob, Douglas Clark, Mark Bredin. BACK ROW: Frank Jakovac, Alan Gervai, Graeme Barrit, Gordon Finlay, Richard Klassen, Allen Beech, Kurt Barkman, Mr. Beare. FORM REMOVE FRONT ROW: David Ramsay, Jim Ross, John Edwards, Grant Ubell, Joel Kobrinsky, Norman Barton, Donald Guest, Brian Ramsay, David Morse. BACK ROW: Richard Krueger, John Layng, Scott Matthews, Peter Wood, Mark Flett, Tim Freeman, Ken Taylor, Craig Miller, Jim Hjartason, Mr. Shepherd. 67