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

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ELLIS HOUSE Head of House: Brian Hawksworth Assistant Head: Greg Hood House Prefects: Ross Morrison, Brian Thorne, Jamie Watt ,Roly Wood House Council: Brian Hawksworth - Grade 12 Jim Russell - Grade 11 GeOf Butler - Grade 11 Chuck Wills - Grade 9 This has been another excellent year in Ellis House. With a good nucleus of old boys to show the way, the new ones soon came to terms with Mr. Prowse ' s way of doing things. Under the firm but friendly guidance of Brian Hawksworth and his prefects the House was quickly both cheerful and tidy and running with smooth efficiency. However, God forbid that a House should ever be judged solely on efficiency. It is a build- ing made up of people and their attitude, to- wards each other as well as towards their en- vironment, soon tells us whether they are living happily together or in a number of isolated, antagonistic cells . From the very beginning of the year a number of factors were apparent which showed that Ellis House was indeed a successful experiment in community living. Rooms were tastefully and lovingly decor- ated, all facilities were treated with care and re- spect, consideration was constantly shown for others by keeping the volume of radios and rec- ord players down, prefects, (the house adminis- trators), prefaced all requests with ' please ' , people rarely shouted at each other, the House Council were full of constructive and useful sug- gestions and were listened to by both the Housemaster and the students, punishments were done, for the most part, cheerfully, with a smile on the face of the culprit, everyone was addressed by their christian name and the Housemaster always found a cheerful and re- laxed welcome in every room that he visited. Everyone knew and understood everyone else 18

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life in a boarding school: the resolution off con- flicts with other students, the ability to give and take with good grace, the wisdom to re- gard staff members as neither the repositories of all wisdom nor yet the arch-enemies of all students. Throughout this process many of the minor regulations in the house suffered some bruises, but I am happy to say that both the students and the regulations seem to have sur- vived the collisions. The spirit was generally good and most people were happy in the re- laxed atmosphere at the south end of the school. The house was very well served by its Pre- fect body, Peter Chettleburgh, Mark Rosebor- ough, and Eric Paul, all of whom were instrum- ental in generating this controlled atmosphere of ease. Their task was an extremely difficult one, and, on reflection, I think they handled it commendably well. I would like to pay special tribute to the House Captain, Paul L acterman, who demonstrated a remarkable talent for handling difficult situations and dealing with many of the routine matters which appear all too frequently in an environment such as ours. He must certainly be counted amongst the best Prefects ever to reside in Senior House. Paul Joins me in wishing every member of Senior House an enjoyable vacation as a pre- face to a healthful and productive future. A.C.C. 17

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and consideration was the key, unspoken word. I loved being a part of it, and really enjoyed the time I spent in the boys section of the House. Credit for a marvelous feeling of togeth- erness that existed this year must go not only to the prefects for doing such a responsible, low key job, but also to all the members of the House for putting others before self and work- ing to make community living a happy reality within these four walls. All this is the more remarkable when we stop to consider that the House was made up of sixty totally different human beings having but one thing in common - they were all male! But strange though it may seem, whether we were thirty-four years old, (guess who?), or fourteen, (take your choice) from Umatilla, Oregon, (Rob E.) or Lethbridge, Alberta, (Bill B.), city dwellers, (Montreal), or remote Is- landers, (Alert Bay, B.C.), white, (ethnic orig- ins various), or Indian, ((Iloastal Salish - Cow- ichan Band), rich, (those who played the pin- ball machine), or poor, (those who washed the Housemaster ' s car for $1,) capitalist, (ask the Housemaster), or socialist, (ask the House), big, (Greg H.), or small, (Val McC), track star, (Brian H.), or stroke of the 1st VIII, (Jeff A.), painter, (Jamie W.), or singer, (David S.), sick, (Housemaster), or healthy, (the House- master ' s temporary acting, unpaid, overworked substitute), noisy, (Randy B.), or quiet, (Alex S.), flyer, (Wayne S.), or scuba diver, (Stewart C), tidy, (Robbie F.), or untidy, (Steve C), talkative, (Geof B.), or silent, (Bob McF.), smo- ker, (?), or non smoker, (??), in trouble, (Rod W.), or out of it, (Kevin H.), played rugby, (Doug L.), or badminton, (Bruce C), enjoy the rain, (Tom B.), or the sun, (everyone else), run a lot, (David H.), or remain sedentary, (Todd H.), work all night, (Gary W.), or enjoy sleeping, (Randy F.), on a brief visit, (John S.), or due for a long service medal, (Roly W.), etc. . . . etc., . . . , we all got on well together, and it was a great feeling. The highlights of the year included win- ning interhouse rugby, track and field and soc- cer and I am sure many more not yet decided, having a house council that worked, a much used ping pong table, an evening pizza parlour, Brian and Gregg ' s record of thirty-four free games on the pinball machine, fuses blowing periodically because of the large collection of capitalistic, energy hungry noisemakers, the plague of flies, Rod Washburn falling asleep in the bathtub at 11 p.m. and then keeping the House awake with his terrible snoring, the ' endless clutter ' in Dorm 16, the Housemaster ' s extended four month vacation, ( How can I get ' IT ' , sir? ), 58 successive ' needles ' in the Common Room, Dorm 10 scrubbing the eve- ning away, Dorm 13 becoming proud fathers . Randy Fennings coming ' standby ' from Prince George whilst his housemaster waited up all night for him, Pat Durban proving that he was stronger than his Housemaster, Mike Pad wick agreeing to run in the 400m at a track meet, Dave Levell returning from Nanaimo with a most unmentionable wall poster, the bevy of beautiful girls that sprung up all over the House then were as suddenly gone ... oh well, such is life - in Ellis House at any rate! Finally my apologies to the House for my long absence and my thanks to them for their consideration and helpfulness in those difficult months, and also to my assistant Mr. Keble and my substitute Mr. Queen for doing such a marvellous job in by absence. Maybe I was not missed after all! Above all my thanks to all my prefects for doing such a fine job and especially to Brian - a truly outstanding Head of House. N.R.B.P. 19