Ashbury College - Ashburian Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

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inherits something from the magic girdle the ugly but worthy Hephaes- tus, god of goldsmiths, jewellers, blacksmiths, masons, and carpenters, made for Aphrodite his lawful wife. Aphrodite, of course, wore the girdle whenever she wanted to make anyone love her madly. Hence in the ninth labour King Eurystheus, acting on behalf of his wanton daughter, commands Hercules to go and bring him the magic girdle belonging to Hippolyte, Queen of the Amazons. Mark Joyce gave a thorough performance as Theseus, and Macdon- nell leapt suitably about the stage as Hercules. Hippolyte, towards the end of the play in short tennis frock, and the blacksmith Hippobom- ene, truly a Stakhonovite, were nicely played by Jacqueline Heard and Janet Urie. Servants and others were restrained and reliable, though difficult to hear at the back of the hall. The commentators Zeus and Hera did not reach the standard of the rest of the cast. We are grateful to the headmistress of Elmwood for the enjoyable evening. Cadets are a tricky problem — here as elsewhere — and many would like to do away with them. Drills can b e a bore, though useful training, and do not easily fit today ' s emphasis on the person as an individual. If the regular army could lend more interesting equipment and an in- structor or two give more time to the Ashbury unit, training might be more inspiring. It does not help when we see so many famous regi- ments disbanded. The present issue of rifles looks much like those seen in the older, sepia photographs about the school, remarked one cadet lieutenant. Just so, but how new should the weaponry be? It is a little disconcerting when the deputy chief scientific officer of the Royal Aircraft Establish- ment at Farnborough (Desmond King-Hele, FRS) writes that half a kilogram of botulinum toxin (type A), if suitably distributed, would suffice to snuff out everybody in 20 minutes. One more point to Shaw ' s quip: ' It was reading that made Don Quixote a gentleman, it was believing what he read that made him mad.! ' The school was inspected by the Ontario Department of Education in February, and the headmaster was able to congratulate boys and staff on the report the inspectors made to him. The housemaster of Connaught continues as often as not to be music critic of the Ottawa Journal. Michael Aden ' s son, Michael J. Arlen, who spent some of the war years at Ashbury, began some reminis- cences in The New Yorker of 1 1 April. Nicolas A. Pilavachi, who edited last year ' s successful Harvard lampoon on Time magazine, also spent some time at Ashbury. Staff leaving this year in the Senior School are Mr. Egan, Mr. Somerville, Mr. Parker, Mr. Sullivan, Mrs. Wood, Mr. Fordyce, Mr. Petty, and Mr. White. Mr. Egan may return to Ashbury in a year or

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NOTES We record with regret the death on 28 February of Bishop Reed of Ottawa. He was a governor and a good friend of Ashbury. The school closed on 1 1 June and prizes were distributed by Mrs. G.F. Henderson, Mrs. Edith Moore, and Mrs. Donald Maclaren. The chairman of the Board of Governors mentioned the improvement to the school surroundings with the thinning out of trees and shrubbery. The main entrance hall, too, has been changed for the better — new floor and ceiling, improved lighting, and covers over the heating pipes. It is understood that these works are gifts to the school by Mr. Grant. Mr. Pickering, who set up the Pickering Foundation last year, was introduced by the chairman. The closing service in Chapel was fairly well attended, rather better than the morning track and field meet. Athletic performances were quite good, but no records were broken. Dr. Ian Grant-Whyte, father of the winner of the open-mile, presented the ribbons. The 8-A form prize is now known as the John Michael Hilliard memorial. It has been given by Mrs. Jelenick in memory of her son (1952-56), who was lost and died in snow last winter. The Ashbury Ladies ' Guild have instituted a new award for Grades 9 to 13: $75 cash annually to a boy in each of these grades whom the staff consider worthy of significant recognition. Two boys took part in the sailing regatta at Lakefield in September. They won the first (sailing dinghy) race. Driver training continued this year with an instructor and an instructress, and Jane Martin from Elmwood was a pretty member of the Ashbury class. A large number again took part in the Miles for Millions walk; George Harlley (from Ghana and a fine athlete) should find it hard to explain his absence. Two shows not mentioned later which gave pleasure were the visit of Paul Riddell ' s Hell Drivers last September — Paul was here 1950-55 — and the parade of the Parachute Regiment at the British tournament in October. Most generously every penny of the Hell Drivers ' gate money was given by Paul Riddell to the Tiny Hermann memorial fund. After the last performance of Patience this year the stage people were given a party by Mr. and Mrs. J.M. Coyne. Mr. Coyne is a governor and a former governor of the Bank of Canada. We are sorry that last year ' s Ashburian failed to thank Mr. and Mrs. F.H. Sherwood for so kindly looking after us when Ruddigore was over. Mr. Sherwood is a god-father of the master-in-charge of the Junior School and was a submarine commander in the last war. In May, Elmwood and Ashbury put on Benn Levy ' s Rape of the Belt at Elmwood. The play is based on Hercules ' ninth labour. This in turn

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two after taking his mastership. Mr. Parker returns to King ' s College School, Windsor, Nova Scotia, whence he came to Ashbury two years ago. This year ' s Ashburian is being printed by a lithographic process instead of in the traditional (but expensive) letter- press. The order in the published prize list has been changed slightly: we hope that it is clearer. THE ROOM CAPTAINS Back Row: A.J. Stiles, M.R. Duguay, H.J. Ronalds, R.H.D. Halupka, R.G. Ramsay, H.S. Went. Front Row: P.J.S. Graham, C.H. Maclaren, J.A. Glover, Esq., Housemaster of Woollcombe House, D.R. Hallett, N.C. Macdonnell. Absent: G.W. Thomson, Esq., Housemaster of Connaught House, R.F. Elkin, M.P. Kelly, L. Rosenhek.