Branksome Hall - Slogan Yearbook (Toronto, Ontario Canada)

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27 The Branksome Slogan Vice-President, Marilyn Chamandy, Secretary-Treasurer, Gail Gowie, and Library Representative, Isobel Long-field, did a great job throughout the year and we thank them very much. Margaret Ann Riley, President of Five Commercial, and her supporters, Vice-President, Joan Evans; Secretary-Treasurer, Joan Ashworth; and Library Representative, Barbara Redpath; will always be remembered for the last words each day: “Don’t forget to clean up the classroom, and DON’T forget the wastepaper baskets in the Typing Room.” They were wonderful Form officers, and we wish them luck always ! It goes without saying how much our Form Teachers have contributed to make this year such a success. Mrs. Partridge deserves a medal for her great patience and understanding, and most of all for her most helpful guidance. Our lives depend on ourselves most of the time, if we succeed, but it will be through her guidance, that our success will last. Mrs. Perry, with her “Bit of Wit”, her accent, and most of all her understanding, has made this year a most enjoyable one for us all. Many thanks go to her from Five Arts. Miss MacMurdo as Form Teacher of Four Arts receives most hearty “thanks” from one and all. FIFTH FORM REPORT Let us catch a glimpse of the Fifth Form class room at Branksome Hall during the lunch period. The room is like a beehive . . . Buzz, Buzz, Buzz. Two people argue vehemently about the Basketball Team. Two other kilt-clad lassies recoil painfully (result of gym class), as they are approached with an appeal for funds. The stampede of boarders released from lunch brings girls absorbed in letters, who are interrupted by the Head Girl, popping her head through the door to remind the class of a meeting. Yes, we are a busy group, but not only at lunch time. The play, “Little Women,” produced under Ruth Pidgeon’s able direction, was supported by various up-and-coming actresses of the Fifth Form. Our Basketball Team was defeated by only a slim margin in the semi- finals. Elsewhere in the field of sport, Marg Wansbrough and Eve Cassels shone brightly as badminton stars. Mary Lue Farmer and Carol Jean Merritt were first-rate debaters in the contest against University of Toronto Schools. Mary Morgan shone in the Verse Speaking Contest, and with other members of our class made us proud of the school play. From far away places come Peggy Fitzmaurice, Betty McNiven, Barbara Goodyear, Betty Lapointe, and of course our two favourites, Lena Liu and Stella Chang. We have two very capable Presidents in Audrey Budgeon and Cate Findlay. Under the guiding hands of Miss Phillips and Miss Sime, and with the co-operation of the ever-ready staff, we have had a happy year that we shall not readily forget.

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26 The Branksome Slogan whose hue and cry is “Ramabai,” or “Will the monitors please dean the boards at least once this week?” and Library Representatives, Rita Barr and Lou Carnahan. Two very entertaining plays were produced this year: “The Spinsters of Lusche” and “The Bathroom Door” under the direction of Judy Jephcott and Shirley Mair. Starring in these attractions were Vyvyan Frost, Joy Logie, Mary Barnett, Anne Vale, Joan Archer, Sonya Snyder, Peggy Porter, Nancy Lyle, Georgina Laing, and Lou Carnahan. We are also proud of Mary Barnett, Rita Barr, Vyvyan Frost and Ann Vale for their perform- ances in the school play, “Dear Ruth.” On Friday, April 9, we held our form party at the home of Vyvyan Frost. Now Strawberry Festival time is close at hand and we know it will be a wonderful affair (especially the strawberries!) We would like to wish Mary Barnett a “bon voyage” on her Garfield Weston trip to Britain this summer, and a special get-well wish to Vyvyan Frost. See you next fall, Branksome ! ARTS AND COMMERCIAL Here we are, the mighty three — Five Arts, Five Commercial and Four Arts. Our activities for the school year have been so many, a page gives scarcely enough room to record them. (Oh! how did that get in there?) However, through the Home Economics Class we have found sporting strength, and through the Commercial Class, Guidance. (In business matters, that is) . At the beginning of the year we played basketball a great deal. Although we did not come out on top, it was a lot of fun, and we tip our hats to the winners. Our Gym Demonstration, held in April, brought forth some of Five Art’s and Five Commercial’s hidden talents. The Scottish and English dances and Apparatus Display created quite a commotion. The classes deserve a lot of credit and are to be congratulated, but it is Miss Gilbert who deserves the “pat on the back,” and we most certainly thank her. On Parent’s Night, Five Arts displayed Interior Decoration and History of Art in Five “A” and “B”. Handicraft work was exhibited also, and the food eaten at the Dinner was made by the Arts Forms. Not only Five Arts worked on this project. Four Arts had an excellent display of Sewing, Posters, and Cooking. The Form Officers of Five Arts: President, Janet Dale; Vice-President, Peggy Watson; Secretary-Treasurer, Margaret Bresnan, and Library Representative, Susan Illingworth, were a great asset to the Form. Five Arts came first in the Lenten Collection, getting the money in on the first day, thus earning a free period (which they never received). Four Arts came second, therefore deserving much credit, which we give you. Our President of Four Arts, Bunnie Thomson, and her executive,

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28 The Branksome Slogan Branksome Notes THE NEW BUILDING How true it is that no group of people can stand still — it must move forward or decline. It is a foregone conclusion, therefore, that Branksome as usual forged ahead this year. Probably the most no- ticeable sign of this progress was the slow but sure erection of a new building to house the first and sec- ond forms. It is a long low structure at- tractively tucked behind Harrogate House facing the garden (lucky people!) The rooms are very mod- ern with the latest type of ceiling insulation, lighting, and arrange- ment of windows. Everything is glisteningly new and trim. Alto- gether it is an addition of which Branksome may be justly proud. DID WE GET USED TO IT? Your editor has been reading an article in last year’s “Slogan,” optimistically entitled, “We’ll Get Used to It.” “It” refers, of course, to the new traffic artery, the Mount Pleasant Extension, which has extended itself between two of our school properties. Well, the mud is gone, and the pneumatic drills. The explosive sound of machinery has been replaced by the dull roar of cars, the irate blast of horns, and the scream of tortured rubber as a rush-hour driver loses his duel with the motorist next to him. The “cheerful gangs of workmen” have been replaced by cheerful gangs of policemen ; motorcycling about in the maelstrom, waving their little black books. When the “perilous passage” was finally opened and the pack of machines unleashed, something obviously had to be done about the street crossing. Miss Read’s battle to get the traffic lights, her conferences with the Traffic Department, her trips to City Hall, will long be remembered by the contending parties. We complain about waiting for the lights to change, but think of the good practice for the mathematics students, in trying to calculate how many vehicles go by per minute. Seriously, what has the new road meant to Branksome? The Junior School has acquired a new home on the spacious Readacres property. Forms I and II are housed in a new and up-to-date building. Advantages, really, and the disadvantages are negligible. “Getting used to it” has been no problem at all. We can sincerely agree with last year’s “Slogan” that there is no reason why changes necessary to progress should affect “Brank- some’s traditional tranquility.”