Pickering College - Voyageur Yearbook (Newmarket, Ontario Canada)

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Preparatory Department When school opened in September, those of us who were not new to Firth House found it more or less as we left it except considerably cleaner. As we looked around we found that in accordance with the 10-year plan for Pickering, the assembly hall was larger, a new stage with plenty of room in the wings had been added, with an art room and a craft shop underneath, behind the Prep dining room. The craft shop had been newly equipped with tools and many interesting things can be made there. The old craft shop has been moved down near the barn and is to be used, so we are told, as a chicken coop. Looking a little farther, we also discovered that the Headmaster's house had been enlarged. Early in the fall Mr. Howarth, the farm manager, took us on a tour of the school farm, which consists of about 250 acres. He told us of the various uses of the land and which crops he grew in which fields, and ex- plained how we could have a great deal of pleasure on the farm without interfering with the working of it by remembering simple little things like closing gates after us and not chasing the pigs. This year we had more tutors than usual. We- started out with Ralph Simons, and Jim Gardiner, who left us at Christmas and was replaced by Hugh Ferguson. At the same time Peter Harper joined us as a tutor. The tutors have been most pleasant and friendly and, while they have been firm in enforcing the rules of Firth House, they are also ready to help you with problems and to play games with you. Five times during the year we have special week-ends, or 'flong week- endsu. The week preceding is filled with anticipation and little else is thought of. On the Friday at noon we leave for home and with mixed emo- tions we come back on the Tuesday morning. Halloween was a little different this year. Everybody, teachers, nurse, tutors and students piled on a bus and were off to the city to see f'My Fair Ladyn. Only one boy was lost and he showed up before it was time to go home. We all enjoyed the show, the trip, and, of course, the food when we got back to the school. fwenlv-ezglvt

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Punctual arrivals and mass enthusiasm gave the extra touch to the splendid beer-garden setting of the formal. The orchestra pumped its notes over the small crowd from the excited beginning to the nostalgic end of Pickering's gala night. Merely the highlights ofthe P.C.socialcalender have been pointed out and only a drop in the bucket at that. Our year at Pickering is peppered with student participation in a spectacular drama, an operatic glee club production, energetic pep-rallies, crisp football games, Sports Day, and, of course, the farcical spring festival. A highly compact and exclusive Chairman's Ball, and a recital by Mr. Schaus also leap to the memory. Naturally, the great success of these occasions has been largely a result of the toil put in by the students in their own time. All that I can say now is Hoorah Pickering and in the words of the late Bayne Cummer, t'We will remember these thingsf' Rob Grande ,I 5-. Q s ? I M. W. . W ,n . t 2? f. Q' .11 A ,Q ,A t ww

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In Firth House we have a house committee, a group of five boys with one of them acting as chairman. They are elected by the boys of the Prep. They assist the masters in running the house, each one having a duty day when he helps the master-on-duty. They also take heads of tables when masters are absent. At the beginning of the year Murdoch Curry, Barry Dennis, Ron Farber, Peter Hopkins and Rene Watson were on the house committee with Barry Dennis as chairman. The next term Peter Hopkins and Rene Watson were replaced by Paul Fitzgerald and Ted Richardson, and after Christmas Tim Syer replaced Murdoch Curry. For the last term Paul Herman replaced Tim Syer, and Paul Fitzgerald replaced Barry Dennis as chairman. They all accepted their responsibilities and did their best to carry them out. Most Pickering students visit the infirmary for an aspirin or a band- aid. Some suffering from fakitis are admitted to the infirmary for a well-earned rest from classes. Occasionally, students have even obtained a crutch for no apparent reason, or a trip to the hospital, or a small snack to prevent them dying of hunger. The fortunate few have even been granted aglimpse of a T.V. show. Many strange happenings occur in the infirmary. One very amusing sight we shall never forget was Lloyd Greenwood drying his hair with the nurse,s electric hairdryer. We had afairly active year in sports. As a small school playing against larger ones we didn't have too many wins but we had some good games. In soccer, coached by Mr. Simons and Mr. Taylor, we had two teams. Barry Dennis was captain of the A team and David Beattie was captain of the B team. In the winter we had two hours a week of skating in the arena down- town. We had one hockey team with Barry Dennis as captain and Tim Syer as his assistant. The team was coached by Mr. Colin Beaton with assis- tance from Mr. Taylor. We had games with Upper Canada Collegein Toronto, Appleby in Oakville, Hillfield in Dundas, The Grove at Lakefield and St. Andrews at Aurora, as well as our home games in Newmarket. Although there was no formal instruction, many of the boys, some for the first time, did a fair amount of skiing on the school farm. In between seasons we played intramural games in the gym, and of course the Prep made their con- tribution to the various teams, Red, Blue, Silver and Gold in a number of events on Sports Day. One or two of the boys took part in the ceremonies of the Opening Ball Game and thereafter, although we had no team, we had a great deal of fun playing baseball. Every year the boys in Firth House produce a paper known as the Pickering Prep Press, to keep parents and friends informed of the happen- ings in Firth House, and also to provide a reading public for their jokes, poems and short stories. This year we had two editions, one in November and one in February. Since Mr. Taylor was staff adviser, we were able to get silk-screened pictures on the covers. Mr. Taylor,our art and English teacher, is a member of an antique auto club. He has a 1933 Buick, and an Austin limousine, and to save these from the salt and snow he drove a '49 Buick during the winter months. Many of us envy the fun Mr. Taylor gets from his old cars, and his mystery auto tours. Twenty-nine