Balmoral Hall School - Optima Anni Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

Page 9 text:

Balmoral Hall, june, 1955. My dear Girls, Having read the very excellent editorial which precedes this letter, I feel that this issue of our Magazine may well be dedicated to our mothers. They indeed deserve this tribute. I choose, however, to tell you senior girls how great has been your contribution in making Balmoral Hall what it is today. In 1950 when we opened you were little girls not responsible for the difficulties that arise with an amalgamation and yet not unaware of them. Each year you have made contributions of ideas which have created traditions worthy to be passed on to those younger, who in turn will enrich what you have begun. Some of you dreamed with me away back in 1950 of our new building-in 1951 some of you helped to support a Common Room Fund which was opened by the Prefects that year. You added to this Fund in 1952, in 1953 at the Coffee Party, in 1954 at the Smorgasbord, and this year at the Village. Even though you who are graduating wi-ll not study in this New Building it will be yours in a way that it can never belong to those who succeed you. May you always feel that you are very much a part of it and return as often as you can until the new halls are as familiar to you as these where you have grown up, Now co-me with me little girls and 'big ones into our New School which is to be a reality when you return in the fall. We go out the side door of the W'hite House through ia glassed-in passage above a stone patio, into the Senior School Building. There are two storeys and we'll go downstairs first and visit the rooms on the River side. Come in to the Science Laboratory. See the new demonstration desk and the equipment room. Now come to the next room, the Home Economics Laboratory which is still more up to date and conveniently arranged than our new room of two years ago. Still on the river side come to the next room and hold your breath. Here it is-your long-waited-for Common Room. This room will give the Seniors a pleasant spot for recreation and lunch periods but it will have many other uses. With acoustic tile on the ceiling it will be ideal for singing classes and small recitals and a built-in cupboard will contain a'l'l the visual education equipment so that the room can readily be prepared for movies. This is the room which your 'fund will help to furnish and which some of you have helped to pilan. Opposite the Common Room across the corridor is the Art Studio. Wlhiat joy to have a place for Art supplies at last, for ea-sels, where you can leave unfinished paintings and go back to them when time permits. Now back towards the main door we walk and pass the Senior Locker Room and the Staff Room. Up the stairs we go, again to the River side, and here I shall have my office and be ready to welcome new girls and old girls in a very much more conveniently located spot. Opposite the office there will 'be a lovely new library which should inspire you to make excellent use of your free time. And then there are five large classrooms for Grades VII, VIII, IX, X, XI and a smaller classroom for Grade XII. Our tour is over but the organization of this new venture with the Junior School all housed in the present Senior School building, and with the Senior School in the new wing will be a challenge for you Senior Gi-rls in September. There will be many oppor- tunities for you to show initiative and leadership but let us never forget that a school is a place of learning. It will be good to have space but may it be space that is dedicated to the promotion of Christian learning that you who grow up here may develop sound minds and worthwhile standards -of life. Now away you go for a happy holiday while the hammers are banging, anid may God bless you all. Affectionately yours,

Page 8 text:

fiLBti3:1f3sif W? EI' I 5. 4 Sv T . May 9th, 1955 One sod- The symbol of a newer school A better Thing Wlhere girls Shall see this sun, this sky And live their youth- Become a part Of this, our school Whose countenance The light of kindly stock Emits still more Enkindled by This sod. sr . 4 JA' 4332: sn.

Page 10 text:

glean! Quia VALEDICTUHY Dear Girls, Eleven years ago, when I entered Grade I, I certainly never thought it would be my privi- lege to write a valedictory for the graduating class of 1955. Five years ago, when this 'school became Balmoral Hall, we began talking new build- ing , and now, just as this building becomes a reality, our year must say good-bye. What a lot of friends, fun, and memories this good- bye covers. I hope, as you who are s-taying use the Common Room, you will remember, as we shall, the candy sale, and the countless tables of sticky oUR HEAD GIRL-DOROTHY RICHARDSON but beautifully boxed candy, all of which soon will result in chairs and sofas for this new room, the Smorgasbord, when we all became sailors, and the water pipes bursting just before the guests arrived, and finally this year's Christmas Village-an exciting climax. We have had fun earning our share but I think we owe most grateful thanks to our Mothers, whose sincere efforts have made our new building possible. ' Although we are sad to leave B.H. just when there will be a new building, we are all happy to leave behind a growing and better school, and we are especially glad that the new laboratory will make it unnecessary for Miss Sharman to carry back and forth her pet box full of rocks, bones, pulleys and occasionally the odd dead owl. But the rising generation will never know the fun and excitement of the old lab. All that happened there could never be told, but the well-meaning student who mixed the wrong chemicals, with amazing results, the meat-eating water beetle and the specimens that got overlooked and very whiffy, gave it an unforgettable charm that I shall always remember. This year has been full of new experiences and has had its hard moments too- a year we could never have managed without the constant 'help and understanding of Miss Murrell-Wright and all the Staff. To them, go our grateful and affectionate thanks. And now as I close, I think as all of you will be thinking, of next year's Head Girl - to her I give my best wishes, and the assurance that if you are as wonderful to her, as you have been to me, her year will be one to remember all her life. Love, Dodo.