Appleby College - Argus Yearbook (Oakville, Ontario Canada)

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Pumpkin Night ' 78 On the night of October 22, just after the boarders had returned from a weekend, a freak tornado hit Appleby. This tornado had picked up a number of pumpkins from a farm and dropped them at very carefully selected places only on the school grounds. It is believed that this tornado stayed at Appleby for about 3 hours, and for the most part totally silent. During the 3 hours the tornado was very active; it scattered furniture from most of the classrooms, re-assembled a classroom out of doors, piled high the hymn books in the foyer of the chapel and scattered canoes and toilet paper in many places. It even spread the contents of a jar of analgesic balm throughout a certain classroom. Even though this tor- nado had enough power to open locked doors, lift canoes and desks, and scatter hymn books, there was no loss or damage of property. In face, the entire campus was put back to proper order within a few hours the ne.xt morning. Similar pumpkin-earring tor- nadoes have hit Appleby in the past, most often on the eve of Halloween. However, 2 years ago the tornado did not pay for the pumpkins and so last year ' s tornado was prevented by the protective measures which were insisted upon by the school. Un- fortunately, this year ' s un- predictable weather produced a freak tornado before Appleby could renew their damage insurance. APPLESv i1 Dr. AAcClure On the evening of March 6 this year, Doctor R.B. McClure paid Appleby College a visit to give us a lecture. The idea sounded pretty doubtful to some students, but Doctor McClure quelled any doubts as soon as he began to speak. Dr. McClure is a fascinating man who has had a biography written about him called, The China Years. Dr. McClure has, in fact, spent much of his life in the Far East, and was able to regale his audience with several interesting anecdotes from his years there. Dr. McClure spent much of his youth in the Far East before returning in his late teens to take his final two years of school in Toronto. After graduating, he studied medicine. By the time he was 21 he was a doctor. Dr. McClure returned to China in time to become caught in the Sino- Japanese war. From there, he went on to work in places where he hobnobbed with headhuniers and other such characters. In telling some of his adventures. Doctor McClure also revealed much to us about humane nature, and on Canada ' s role in a changing world. When Doctor McClure concluded his speech, he let others toss their two cents in by questioning him. All in all, Doctor McClure provided a richly informative hour for those who came to listen. Xhanks for coming, Doctor McClure. Mark Baker

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It is not often when the opportunity arises for father to just b e one of the boys . Nor is it too often that the guys spend their Saturday nights in the company of their fathers. So once again this year Appleby invited the fathers in for our annual father and son night. The night was a great success, making missing a Saturday night not quite so painful. The crowded dining hall was filled with laughter and smiles as the sons showed their fathers the school spirit that Appleby possesses. After the banquet the old boys rolled in to prepare themselves for the lesson they all swore they would teach us. The two sports which were heavily visited by spectators proved to be so close that fans from both sides never left their toes. The Appleby squad managed to finish off the old boy basketball team only with the assistance of an overtime. Our hockey team, up against a bench and a half of mean looking former stars, also managed to squeeze out a victory. I ' m sure both teams of old boys will be looking for revenge when the school again offers the challenge. A great time was had be all and I hope all the fathers will look forward to joining our ranks again next year. Father and Son Night

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Debating This past year has proved to be yet another active and enhghtening year for the Appleby College De- bating Society. Hardly a weekend went by without a debating tourna- ment as our debating teams com- peted all over Southern Ontario. We started early in the fall by hosting Appleby ' s Fulford Cup Tournament, the first in a new format whereby each school sends a different 8-man team to each of the year ' s 3 Fulford Tournaments. Appleby ' s Tournament, in November, replaced our regular Invitational Tournament and by all accounts was a roaring success. The other two Fulford Tourna- ments were held at Trinity College and St. Andrews College. Overall, Appleby finished fifth of eight in the senior division, and fourth of eight in the junior division - a cre- ditable performance for a relatively small school in a fiercely competi- tive league. Appleby also did well at the Halton Regional Finals, dominat- ing the tournament. Chris Thompson went on to the Ontario Provincial Finals in April, held in London, and placed about half way up the field. We were also in- vited to a great many tournaments during the course of the year. In FRONT ROW: Mutimer, Follows, Haldane, Gordon, Bonfield, Woolley. SECOND ROW: Duncan, S. Baines, Speich, Dorion, King, Samuel. THIRD ROW: Allen, Pollock, Stoneham, Linton, Ricketts, Campbell. BACK ROW: Baker, Newell, Baker, 2; Thompson, Harmer, Leggat, Mr. Humphreys. these we held our own, particularly in Toronto, where the calibre of debating is very high. For these successes and other services render- ed, present Debating Tie holders decided to extend the franchise to Chris Ricketts, Michael Speich and Adam Gordon. Perhaps the Debating Society ' s greatest achievement this year has been its development of very strong and enthusiastic debaters in Grades 9 and 10. Many of these boys started with the Society by participating in our weekly in- formal impromptu debates with St. Mildred Lightbourne School. Thanks to the co-ordinating efforts of Chris Ricketts and Bruce Corley, every Tuesday evening from October to May, featured one of these debates, where inex- perienced debaters could practice and develop in a fun, unpressed at- mosphere. Thank you St. Mildreds for the enjoyable shared times. Ou r development of the younger debators was continued by Ap- pleby ' s (first) interhouse debating competition, the first time it has been run in three years. These debates were organized by Mike Speich, and only the houses ' junior debators were allowed to partici- pate. Colley House won the com- petition, now keeping the Caribou Cup until next year. I would now like to particularly thank Mr. Bill Humphreys for his tireless devotion to debating, not only as our tenacious coach by al- so in his capacity as Treasurer of the Ontario Student Debating Union. Mr. Humphreys has brought the valuable activity of de- bating to a great number of fortu- nate students. All of us in the So- ciety want him to know that we really do appreciate his Trojan- Like hard work of this year and all the years past in what is an im- portant, yet essentially unthanked position. And so another year of debating draws to a close. Thank you Mr. Humphreys, for five good years, and the best of luck in your next ' Five- Year Plan with a Society of such promising young debators. Chris Thompson