Bowmanville High School - Screech Owl Yearbook (Bowmanville, Ontario Canada)

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CHRISTMAS PARTIES Another tradition which began in the 1930's was the annual Christmas Party. On the last day of the fall term, classes met in the morning determined not to work, so teachers came prepared with contests, games, and sometimes even treats. Jesse Knox CMrs. J. Slemon? remembers Mr. Wagar bringing sweets to V form, and Miss Wagar CMrs. H. Jeffery? remembers supplying her Art classes with gumdrops, jelly beans, and toothpicks for the creation of animals, etc. which could be taken home or eaten if unsuccessful. The Senior students spent the morning decorating the assembly hall, trimming the tree, and rehear- sing their skits. The afternoon activities began at two, usually with the V form literary program. In 1930, a Debate was staged: 'Resolved that Santa Claus is real'. Bob Corbett produced this memorable line about department store figures in red suits -- 'they are only subordinate clauses'. The 'real' Santa appeared at the close of the main program with a bag of gags, ap- propriate or otherwise for staff members and other fall guys. Sometimes a treasure hunt followed before supper in the gym and an evening of dancing. THE SCREECH OWL The Screech Owl, begun with such elan in 1922, celebrated its 10th anniversary in the 1931 copy by publishing a dedication to, and picture of the original staff and a guest editorial by one of the'original editors. The staff had grown from 18 to 31. Of course, the school had grown in numbers and classes 6Jr. and Sr. Com- mercia1?. The two plate, 3 colour cover was continued this year in gold and black on red but hard times were beginning to close in. 104 pages shrank to 90 in '32, to 88 in '33. By 1934 the expensive and beautiful M. Lunney cover was replaced, using only the owl from it. There were 100 great pages that year but unhappily these were the last printed until 1949, publication interrupted by hard times and war. The early Screech Owls, including of course the issues in the 20's, are a marvelous store of school history as well as showcases for the talent of the time. With Jr. and Sr. prizes of- fered for poetry and stories, competitors flooded the editors who printed anywhere from 15 to 22 pages of student literature . In 1934 they persuaded Mazo de la Roche Cof Jalma fame? to judge the stories, E.J. Pratt, M.A., Ph. D., Prof. of English, Victoria College, U. of T., to judge the poetry, and C.J. Klinck, M.A., Ph. D. - Professor of English at Waterloo College, U. of Western Ontario to judge the dramas. The latter in a message to the students, said in part -- My message to these young people is simply this: Canada's best must find expression in her literature ...... Nothing can be a substitute for masterful ex- pression and high thinking. These come only by incessant practice and by deep consecration to the noblest of arts -- the art of noble living. The winners picked were, for short stories: Sr. Robert Clark and Clifford Hall Jr. Ruth Ives and Betty Knox for poetry: Sr. Evelyn Mackinnon Ceditor of the Literary section? Sr. Selma Bartlett Jr. Beryl Thompson and Ruth Logan fOr dfamai Sr. E. Mackinnon Jr. B. Knox The Literary Society that year provided special prizes for a school song CBetty Rowe?, Cartoons CLouise Cole and M. Smith? and for linoleum cuts KC. Wright and I. Ha1lman?. Each issue included a French page, a Latin page, pictures and lists of prize winners, and a page of Exchange notes on 18 or more other school yearbooks. The pictures, though few, improved in quantity and quality but of course can't match today's output. Advertisers were mainly lumped together at the back Cwith one or two at the front? sometimes interspersed with bits of student humour-such as Cfrom 1932? Miss Smith Ccommenting on a Comp. paper? - Elford, how do you spell 'noticeably'? Elford Cox - Did I get it wrong? Miss Smith - Yes. Elford - I don't know how to spell it then. or Betty Morris - Bradley may I take your pic- ture?

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Mr. Ainsley Commercial Teacher C34-'40J Miss Wagar at II Form Picnic 1938 The New Math Teacher 1938 Mr. Lucas First plate for the Morgan Lunney two-plate Screech Owl Cover. Discovered by the Canadian Statesman and contributed to this issue.

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Bradley - What for? Betty - Because Miss Ogden wants some crazy pictures for the Screech Owl. ATHLETICS Of course, each Screech Owl had pictures of boys' and girls' teams with accounts of the games. Ed. Devitt, P.T. teacher, 1933-'36, send us these memories. MEMORIES-OF GAMES WON AND LOST These memories go back to 1933-36 when, as usual, B.H.S. had outstanding athletes and teams, as a result, most of the games were won, but a few were lost. There were at least four memorable football games. The first two were final league games with Cobourg on the new football field behind the school. B.H.S. won the last scheduled game by plunging for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, but Cobourg argued that the ball-carrier had been at least temporarily stopped before he crossed the goal-line. The referee had ruled it a touchdown and all the the B.H.S. coach had to do was to agree with the referee, in whom he had full confidence, however, in this one par- ticular case, the coach felt that he could not honestly agree. As a result, Cobourg was able to win a protest - the game was replayed- - and RE-WON BY B.H.S. by a bigger score --- to the great satisfaction of all Bowmanville sup- porters. Following these league games, B.H.S. played off with Lindsay for the district championship. Lindsay was reputed to have a particularly heavy, powerful team - strong enough to in- timate anybody! On the opening kick-off in the first game in Lindsay, the highly-dependable B.H.S. full-back, who had not dropped a kick all season, fumbled behind his own goal-line and Lindsay fell on the ball for a touchdown. Even that bad break did not upset the B.H.S. team that fought Lindsy on even terms without any further scoring until the final play of the game. On that play, quarter-back Boyd Slemon threw a fifty-yard forward pass that was picked off by Tony Mcllveen, in full stride, who ran another fifty yeards for a touchdown. B.H.S. had held the powerful Lindsay team to a tie on Lindsay's home field! Prospects looked good for the return game at Bowmanville - but they did not quite work out - B.H.S. lost the round by one touchdown. To paraphrase a well-known saying So B.H.S. won and tied and lost BUT HOW THEY PLAYED THE GAME! This was a period of highly talented families in sports, 3 Slemons, 5 Mcllveens, 2 Colmers, 3 Colvilles, 2 Bagnells, cousins, 2 Depews, 2 Fagans, as well as many singles like Don Williams, Bob Kent, Hub. Hooper, and many more. These boys were all round fine athletes in the sense that they were track stars., foot- ball team stand outs, basketball heroes -- you name it, they played it. I remember an interschool track meet bet- ween CI think! Bowmanville, Uxbridge, Port Perry and Whitby, held at the Cream of Barley Camp. Things were neck and neck all the way until the outcome was riding on the final event-- the Senior relay race. Depending on the stan- ding in this race, three schools had achance to win the day. Such excitement! When Bowman- ville runners made it, we were the winners by 6 points. The runners were, I think, Don Williams, Bill Bagnall, Boyd Slemon, and Monk Colmerf' Our rugby teams played in various leagues which seemed to change each year. Pat Paterson, local citizen, gave excellent coaching for several years and the teams improved. Don CDuncJ Williams was captain of the Sr. team for 3 years. In 1933 C.O.S.S.A. is first mentioned and in this League we entered both a Jr. and a Sr. team, the seniors winning the cham- pionship, completing the season without the loss of a game-- but the juniors failed to win any. Bill Bagnall, Boyd CCyJ Slemon, Frank CTonyJ Mcllveen, Harold fMonkJ Colmer, and Bob Courtice are mentioned as heavy scorers in the final 52-0 game v.s. port Hope. The cap- tain was injured that year in an early game v.s. Peterboro. 1930 SPECIAL MEMORIES 1939 When the first addition was made Cwas it in 1929J?, the new section was not completed when classes began in September, so the fourth form was lodged in the old third floor assemble hall. When it came time to move to the new section, the boys had to carry the desks down the well worn, creaking stairs, across the