Brentwood College School - Brentonian Yearbook (Mill Bay, British Columbia Canada)

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Brentwood College Magazine I am still at the London Hospital and have completed more than half the ap- pointments required for examination purposes. At present I am on a second medical firm and am enjoying the work very much. In August I commence Midwifery and so have to take up residence at the Hospital. Little of note has happened during the last year. In July and August I was up at Cambridge attending the course in Bugs and Drugs, and I was fortunate enough to pass the examination in these subjects in October. Apart from this I have had no examinations, but in January or April, 1936, I hope to start my finals — not a pleasant event to look forward to! For recreation I took up rugby again and played for the B XV. The chief drawback is that our ground is three-quarters of an hour ' s journey from the Hospital, and when playing away from home, in some cases, one has to allow about an hour and a half for the journey each way. Nevertheless, rugby provides a means of keeping fairly fit. I have also been playing a little squash on the courts situated on the roof of our new Hostel. London is at present quite a Gala City with flags and decorations in every street in celebration of the King ' s Silver Jubilee. On Jubilee Day, I was one of thousands who lined the route from Buckingham Palace to St. Paul ' s Cathedral where a Thanksgiving Service took place. Many had spent the previous night asleep on the streets in order to have a good position. The Procession was a most impressive sight and one which can occur in but few countries other than England. By standing on tiptoe I was able to see quite well the King and Queen, other members of the Royal Family, the Prime Minister, Pre- miers of the Dominions, the Horse Guards, Artillery and the Life Guards, and many others. The welcome given to the King and Queen was amazing, and loud cheers could be heard at quite a distance as Their Majesties approached. No doubt many people in B. C. listened-in to the ceremony despite the early hour. In the evening everyone went mad though remained orderly, and huge crowds thronged the streets dancing and singing. Every night during the week thousands crowded London to see the many buildings illuminated by powerful, and in some cases, coloured lamps. On Jubilee Night, 1750 huge bonfires were lit on the higher parts of the British Isles, after the King had set alight the bonfire in Hyde Park by pressing a button in the Palace. I am afraid I have no news of Old Brentonians. I saw Stubbs a few times while he was at Greenwich in the latter months of 1934, but since he went to Portsmouth I have lost track of him. Weir is somewhere in China, hunting pirates I suppose, and Yarrow, Sharland and R. Lawson are somewhere in England, though where I don ' t know. The latter incidentally was in one of the Cambridge Trial Eights for the Uni- versity Boat Race. However, we all seem to lack the art of correspondence so I don ' t know what they are all doing. The termly reports as to the School ' s progress are an excellent institution to my mind, and I for one, read them with interest. I am glad to see that the prospects are brightening. May I suggest that in the School Magazine, the names of boys in team photographs should be printed under the photographs as we Old Boys do not know who ' s who, and consequently do not know about whom we are reading? With kindest regards and with every good wish to Brentwood and Old Bren- tonians, I remain, Yours sincerely, MAURICE D. YOUNG. Page Twenty-five

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Brentwood College Magazine H.M.S. Frobisher, Montser rat, March 7th, 1934. Dear Mr. Ellis: Thank you so much for your letter received at Barbados. It sure was good to hear from you again. I am always very interested, as you know, to get any news of the College and those there who were so good to me and who took so much trouble to get me into the navy. The crew for the year looks bad, but no worse than we did, I suppose, when we first started. It is only to be hoped that you find an oar as good as Akin in the new boys; anyway, knowing what kind of crew you made out of us, I am sure that any crew you train will not be poor at the end of the year. I am glad to hear that you and Mrs. Ellis are planning to go for a cruise on a yacht. I would love to be going with you. While we are talking about sailing, I was a member of one of the cutter ' s- crews that sailed from Barbados to St. Lucia, a distance of 120 miles. Three cutters left the ship at 1730 one evening, with orders to sail and arrive in due course at St. Lucia. I was signalman in the 1st cutter which was the flag ship. We had eight cadets and two officers, ten hammocks, two-dozen beer, three day ' s food ration which, incidentally, would feed a zoo for a week, and divers instruments. The first signal hoisted after we left the ship v as check com- passes. Well, if you have ever checked compasses by semaphore, when you can only see the ships you are checking with half the time, you will have an idea of the fun we had. At about 2000 the first sea came inboard, and from then till about 0500 the next day the sea was continually breaking over us. I have never spent such an unpleasant night in all my life. It was rather funny observing the stages we passed through. The first time a sea came over we all laughed; then after it had come over a few more times we were just giving disgusted grunts; then we swore a little; then we swore lots; then we tried to sleep, and interrupted our own sleep by swearing more every time a sea came upon us; and finally, we just turned over and went to sleep, too tired and wet to say anything. We were making a good eight knots. After six- teen hours sailing we arrived at St. Lucia. We unloaded our gear and hung it up on trees to dry while we swam and got really sunburnt. It was 0930 when we arrived and the ship was not leaving Barbados till 2100, and not arriving at St. Lucia till 0700 the next day, so we spent the day being lazy and the night in some old army barracks which were occupied by the Canadian reserves during the war. We joined the ship at 0730, everyone sound in body — except for sunburn and one case of slight sunstroke — and mind. I hope your trip will be as much fun as ours but not quite as uncomfortable. We are leaving this joint to-morrow, thank goodness! It is one of God ' s forgotten places I think. While we were in Barbados I spent a lot of time with the Canadian ships which were in with us. I asked Sub-Lieut. Grubb if he knew you. He said he knew the name but couldn ' t place you so I gave him a description and he recalled that he had once had a lengthy discussion on war with you which you had promised to con- tinue on next meeting. Is Miss Egerton still with the School ? If she is, please remember me to her. Well, I must go on the quarterdeck and dance with some of the Captain ' s guests. Please give my love to Mrs. Ellis and the very small daughter. Yours always, GEOFF. Clubs ' Union, London Hospital, E. 1., England, May 21st, 1935. Dear Mr. Ellis: Once again the time draws near for the publication of the School Magazine. Last year I took up a good deal of space with my Tetter and this year I hesitate to repeat the dose. Page Twenty-four

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Brentwood College Magazine H.M.S. Hermes, 824 Squadron, R.A.F., Kai Tak, Hong Kong, China, March 4th, 1935. Dear Mr. Ellis: Many thanks for the letter telling of the School ' s activities, as usual, it was most interesting. Since I last wrote I have changed my abode some- what and have taken to living in an aircraft carrier which is an amusing if cramped life. At present we are leased ashore doing anti-piracy work and loving it. Two weeks the Tung Chow, a British ship of 2500 tons, was taken by pirates who threatened to murder her load of schoolchildren if the Captain did not obey their commands. For- tunately they came south with her, and we managed to spot them before much dam- age was done. It is so difficult because we can ' t bomb or shoot until the pirates are clear of the ship, and they, of course, take hostages to prevent our killing them when they are leaving the ship. However, we frightened them to such an extent by just diving over the ship that they left, only killing two guards. China is not a good country for flying owing to the shortage of landing and forced landing grounds. If an engine fails, the sea is the only safe resting place and even sharks are liable to make it uncomfortable. An old Brentonian, Ted Curtis, is up at Canton, and I have heard Thorne is here, too, but haven ' t managed a meeting with either yet. Wishing the College the best success in work and sport. Yours sincerely, C. T. WEIR. Monument, Grant Co., Oregon, Dec. 7th, 1934. Dear Mr. Ellis: After numerous futile attempts to construct a properly worded letter I am going to plunge desperately ahead. I spent the summer hitch-hiking my way to Toronto. I started with the high and noble purpose of taking a walking tour up the Caribou to Banff, through the Rockies and down to Oregon. Alas ' for my good intentions, for I doubt if I walked more than fifty miles the whole summer. A brief resume of my trip would be as follows: Boat to Vancouver; bus to Chilliwack; walk (three miles); hitch-hike; camp; hitch-hike; sleep; freight-ride; eat; and so forth. A frightfully obscure scrawl isn ' t it? I will try to do better. By a combination of a lot of hitch-hiking, a little freight-hopping and less walk- ing I arrived at Golden. There I met an Ontario schoolmaster with whom I spent the rest of July and half of August, exploring mines, mountains and fossil beds. A little fishing and swimming filled in the gaps between mines. We visited four different hotsprings, saw innumerable mines, camped in a forest fire, visited Trail for a day and a half, and rested peacefully at Kaslo on the Kootenay Lake. Then we left for Toronto, loafing along, seeing this and that. We stopped at Chicago and saw the World ' s Fair. I stayed in Toronto for about three weeks and then Mr. Charley Woods, form- erly at the Normal School, Victoria, brought me back in a new Dodge. I had a very excellent summer didn ' t I? In good hands all the way. I have now adopted a passion for mineralogy, one of the few things I haven ' t pined for. Travel is also another besetting sin. I never received the Brentwood Magazine. Could this be remedied? I would be grateful if it could, as I do not wish to lose touch with the College. I hope numbers of the School have increased. That would give it a better rugby team would it not? Waiting anxiously for a reply, Yours truly, JOHN NEWCOMB. Page Twenty-six