Branksome Hall - Slogan Yearbook (Toronto, Ontario Canada)

Page 18 text:

CHOIR REPORT Zing, zing, zing a little zong for me. And so the choir has this year, for sure. Their first engagement was at St. Andrew ' s United Church on Bloor St. in October, when the girls replaced the regular choir and sang two anthems. Before long, December came along, bringing the Carol Service with it. The Carol Service was especially exciting this year, as it was held in a new church, St. Paul ' s Anglican Church to be exact. Some three thousand people came to hear Branksome at its best. The choir sang especially dulce ; this was proven by the fact that Dr. Peaker, who is the organist at St. Paul ' s, asked them to return and sing for a Sunday morning service. As of now, a date has not been definitely set. Two days before school ended for the Christmas holidays, the choir hopped on a bus which was to head for the T.D. Centre. For the second year, at Christmastime, they filled the ears of bank tellers and bystanders with carols familiar and non-familiar. But fear not, friends, for ' their singing has only just begun , for the spring will bring more music, as the annual Spring Concert will take place in April. Now I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs. Coutts, Mrs. Cook, the executive, and the choir, for doing such a great job this year. I should know; I ' ve been there! ' Keep singing, y ' all, Lindsay

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THE BRANKSOME AND SHERBORNE TRADITION The Beginnings: June — September 1940 Don ' t worry. Canada will never let you down , and how right he was, that former Prime Minister of Canada, R.B. Bennett, who in June 1940 sent us off with these encouraging words. The Editor-in-Chief of The Slogan has asked me to write of the trials and tribulations of that time, but as I re-read my diary the only trial and tribulation I find having mention was the, to us, intense heat and humidity, but I find also that even Miss Read said she had never been so laid out by the heat before ! What has far more frequent mention is the tremendous kindness of everyone we met, from the Headmistress Miss Read (as she was then known) and members of staff who gave up time in their holidays to look after us or entertain us in their homes, to members of the school and their parents who also opened their homes to the English arrivals. At one time in the summer of 1940 it looked as though a large number of girls would be coming from Sherborne and that the first party of 27 girls and three staff was but the advance guard going ahead to prepare the , way. As it turned out, however, only indivi- duals followed, and the numbers never ex- ceeded 47. The uncertainty with regard to how many were coming made planning difficult, particularly as on our arrival in Toronto we were thinking in terms of at least one hundred and trying to find accommodation for that number. From the start Branksome Hall gave us a wonderful welcome. Miss Read had immediately opened the school at the beginning of July (term having ended in June) to be a transit hostel for war guests from Britain, and we found ourselves taken there on arrival. Awaiting us were many invitations to homes of Branksome parents and to summer camps, and in a very short time all the girls had gone away with their hostesses, leaving the three Sherborne staff to set about finding accommodation for the autumn. We looked at hotels and golf club houses and explored empty houses of many shapes and sizes, helped all the time by Miss Read, our indomitable hostess. From her we had the assurance that if there were sufficient Sherborne girls and staff to run a separate school, we might have the use of the Branksome library, swimming pool and games and winter sports facilities. However, by the end of August it became obvious that our numbers would remain small and that we would be wise to accept the generous offer of the Branksome alumnae to furnish a house for us, the girls to attend Branksome as day girls. A large house at 40 Maple Avenue was offered us, and directly we moved in a continuous stream of furniture and equipment, both new and loaned, poured in. So much was provided in this way that little had to be bought, and by the beginning of term all was ready. Although we moved later on into another house (now called Sherborne House) the pattern was to remain the same for the next three years with all the Sherborne party living together, but attending Branksome Hall daily and Dame Diana Reader Harris Page 1 8 The Branksome Slogan