Ashbury College - Ashburian Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

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T281 THE ASHBURIAN THE SCHOCL DANCE l-lE l944 School Formal Dance was held in the gymnasium on Friday the nineteenth of May. We could enlarge upon this subject almost indefinitelyhwe could mention the mad rush to get the lights and decorations placed in time, the excited and collar-strangled boys pacing the floor below the ladies' dressing room, and Mr. Saunders' indomitable orchestra. We could tell how all the events planned for months past slipped by in seconds, about the refreshments so welcome to the dancers, about the ingeniously-made bandstands, about the kindness of those friends and diplomats who coura- geously dared to lend their flags for the decoration of the front hall. And we could dwell at length upon the gaiety of the scene on the dance floor-the bright-coloured array of the long evening dresses contrasted with the more conservative blues and blacks of the boys. Instead we will merely say how much we, the boys of Ashbury, enjoyed the dance, and how sincerely we hope that our guests-among whom were several members of the staff, many Old Boys, representatives from Lisgar and St. Pat's, and of course the ladies-enjoyed it as much. One of the charming girls who came wrote graciously about the dance: For a month before the nineteenth there was something in the air. Something that started with a murmur of are you going? and ended in a feverish pitch of day-long discussions of new dresses, hair-do's and long fingernails. All this shows that a boy knows nothing of a dance, for he merely collects the finished product of weeks' work, and dances. l-low horribly dull! From a female point of view it was the piece de resistance of the spring. You could see this in the faces of all those gathered in the the Infirmary as they shrieked with joy over each others' dresses and talked in voices that sounded as if they were competing for highness. The gym was barely distinguishable through United Nations' flags and a ceiling of Ashbury-coloured streamers, and on entering one got the feeling that it felt as happy as the couples gliding across the floor. After an hour or so the orchestra received reinforcements amidst cheers of approval, and the dance went on at a renewed pitch, until a crocodile-like Conga line led out from the gym to the school for refreshments. These were as good as ever and were met with the usual ravenous approval. After eating the time seemed but five minutes and then before anyone knew it the strains of God Save the King sounded, and all came to attention with faces that were a mixture of sadness and happiness. Sadness because it was over, but who could be entirely sad after such a wonderful evening? l wonder if anyone left without the thought 'l wish I could come back to the Ashbury formal every year as long as l live' The Dance Committee would like to extend their sincere thanks for the hard work done by all the boys concerned with the dance. And we must thank even more the Dance Committee itself, Boutin and Pilgrim, for their skilful planning and painstaking efforts, lt was the leadership of this Committee and the cooperative spirit shown by the boys that contributed so much to making the dance the great success that it was. MAS, Vlb.

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THE ASHBURIAN mi played with skill by Harben ll, and the confusion caused by his eritrurice provided the greatest comedy of the play. Pegram as the detective recitefi his lines, but in his part this was lust what was required Although some of the dialogue could not be heard the audience were laughing almost continuously The mayor port of the evening's entertainment was lan Hay's The House- master, also known as Bachelor Born, The difficulties of producing a light and subtle comedy of this type were well overcome, and in spite of the limited rehearsal time and the strain placed on the actors by the length of their parts the play went off extremely well. It is the story of a housemaster of an English public school who has his privacy altogether shattered by the sudden arrival of an old friend and her three young nieces, who proceed to get themselves and their friends into all kinds of adventures-and misadventures. The difficult and long part of Charles Donkin, the housemaster, was played with exceptional ability and understanding by Chapman. No one better could have been chosen for the part, and much credit is due to him for the hard work he did. Shenstone as Hastings, the witty and sarcastic maths master, gave a first-class performance. The thankless part of the Reverend Edmund Ovington, the school's conceited and narrow-minded headmaster, was played by Hooper, who managed to be extremely funny. Sablin played Beamish, Mr. Donkin's sporty young assistant, very well, and Bautin, showed much feeling as de Pourville, the music teacher. Woodward as Barbara Fone, Donkin's old friend, Atherton as Rosemary, and Warburton l as Chris, all overcame well the difficulties of their feminine parts, but Price ll as Button stole the show, many of the audience wanted to know who that little girl was. Spencer as Bimbo Button's twin brother was the perfect schoolboy, while Winser as Flossie Nightingale gave a good performance as an older boy. The man- nerisms of Nelles as Sir Berkeley Nightingale, the astute and slightly pompous politician, were both convincing and funny. Mr. Archdale is to be congratulated on the excellent job he did in casting both plays, and both he and Mr. Belcher should be thanked for their good work in producing the plays. We would also like to thank Miss Gordon and Dr. Renny for making up the actors, our stage managers, Bulpit and Price, and also Tony Lee, who very kindly came down and helped us, and our ushers, who did such an efficient job. The general opinion was that this was a very entertaining and successful evening, We were able to turn over S240 dollars to the Red Cross. SCHCDOL PARLIAMENT FTER some false starts a long cherished dream of the Headmasters' really began this year. A representative body, at present called School Parlia- ment in default ofa better name was elected. It consists of the Prefects, one elected monitor and a representative from each form in the Middle and Upper Schools. The Headmaster, at present takes the chair. lt is hoped that from being as it is now, an advisory body, and a sounding-board of school opinion, the School Parliament will take unto itself more responsibilities as time goes on. lt is intended too that the Junior School should have a similar body to represent them.

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THE ASHBURIAN l29l THE LIBRARY HE Library has had an immensely successful year and has really got somewhere, it thinks. The Library must be taken as meaning a body of boys headed by the writer of this article who is a master and the chief Librarian. The Library has been thought to be remarkably unscrupulous by various members of the School, who have been inclined to suspect that the money paid by them in fines for the late return of books has been later consumed in the purchase of coca cola and other drinks and fruit cake for the Library feast at the end of the term. This information is not however correct, though we are proud to say that the collection of fines has been remarkably ruthless and successful and has resulted in boys being very much more careful about the books than they were twelve months ago. The writer is also proud to say that the boys who have assisted him as librarians this year have been conscientous and efficient. We started off in September by extracting a grant of S5000 from the Headmaster which gave great pleosure and this action on the Headmaster's part has done much towards the success of the year as it inspired a great deal of enthusiasm. Books were bought in two instalments and the bookshelf doors were as far as possible locked so that books could not be extracted at ony time by the less scrupulous members of the school. ln addition owing to the return of a number of English boys to their homes across the sea, the Library has inherited a great number of books in almost new condition which have been willed to it by those departing boys. There are books for boys of all ages. ln the spring term alone there were more than l4O entries in the books out book and this represents a very big increase in the reading over recent years. One cannot say that more boys are reading more but at all events they are patranising the Library and not relying on what books they may happen to own themselves, or borrow from other people. There will always be o good deal of trouble with the books as long as is is not possible to lock ALL the books up. This might seem a trifling task and you may be wondering why it has not been done long ago. The fact is that certain of the shelves are so made with sliding doors that it is very difficult if not impossible in war time to find any lock of the right kind to deal with them. Consequently we still find books all over the school that have somehow found their way out of the shelves without being noticed, but on the whole the members of the school are very helpful and conscientious about bringing them back when they find them, and we are duly grateful. For the purposes of the record the Library has been open at the following timeszat break lll.l5l every day and at 8,30 pm. every day, Monday to Friday inclusive. After chapel on Sunday morning for fifteen minutes There has been no opening an Saturday. The boys who have acted as assistant Librarians during the year are as follows. Atherton, Birchwood, Eliot 2, Lighthall, Matthews, Nelles, Plowden, Winser. GJKH.