Pickering College - Voyageur Yearbook (Newmarket, Ontario Canada)

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Our next bus trip was the trip to the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto at the Coliseum in the Exhibition Grounds. We broke up when we got there after arranging to meet atacertain spot and at a suitable time for the return trip. We saw cows, horses, sheep, pigs, and poultry as well as such things as tractors, automobiles and farm implements. Back at the school we had a discussion about the things we saw. On Saturday nights the Prep boys are allowed to go to downtown New- market to see the movies. They work very hard and are on their best behaviour to earn this extra privilege because sometimes if we do something wrong we lose this privilege and are not allowed to go to the movies. During the winter we sometimes had the choice of going to the movies or skating. Some of the pictures we saw were In the Heat of the Night , The Taming of the Shrew , and UA Man for All Seasons . We have a house committee in Firth House. They work with the staff to solve problems concerning the house and help make decisions in some areas of activity. They do things such as collecting skates from the hockey team and taking them downtown to be sharpened. Each one ofthe five members is associated with one of the masters and acts as an assistant to him on duty days. When school first opened the staff chose five returning boys to act as I-louse Committee until Thanksgiving. They chose five boys who had been here the year before. They were Gary Peterson, chairman, Jim Lush, David Pottruff, Tom Shipley and Bob Spadafora. We then had elections at Thanksgiving, Christmas and after the spring holiday. The next three committees were: Gary Peterson, chairman Jim Lush, chairman Jim Lush, chairman Scott Hammond Scott Hammond Simon Fraser Jim Lush Bill Packham Scott Hammond Dave Pottruff Dave Pottruff Bob Spadafora Bob Spadafora Bob Spadafora Richard Zakoor Early in the fall term, based on daily work, boys were chosen to be placed on the Headmaster's List. This list gives recognition for those boys who receive honour gradings in a majority of their subjects, or they may be placed on the list for putting forth a great deal of effort in their school work even though their grades may not be particularly high providing they have had no failures. During the year Gray McWilliams, Tom Shipley, Norman Beal, Jonny Diamond, Simon Fraser, Jim Moses, Bob Spadafora and Richard Zakoor had the honour of seeing their names on this list, some of them a number of times. Mr. Leach who teaches us arts and crafts, also teaches us literature and composition. One day he got tired of the classroom routine and decided to do something different. In class we discussed what to do. At first we thought of putting on a play but changed our minds when one boy suggested they we try to make a film. The subject chosen was A Day in the Life of Firth House . Mr. Leach was the producer and the boys in grades seven and eight were the actors. The first film dealt with what goes on in Firth House after lights out . Twenty- four

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Our next trip was a hayride. One afternoon Mr. Jackman took us down to the barn and introduced us to Mr. Howarth, the farm manager. Mr. Howarth talked to us about the farm and told us a great deal about raising cattle and operating a farm. Then he took us for a hayride all around the farm, showing us the places we should and should notgo, and telling us of the things we should and should not do, if we were to have the privilege of enjoying our school farm. We all thought it was a good afternoon and we had a lot of fun. Since then we have spent much of our free time down there and most of the time we have kept out of mischief. Every once in awhile theboys put out a little newspaper called the Pickering Prep Press . In it you will find stories about our school its people and what goes on around it. Mr. Jackman tells us that the Press has been published periodically since 1940. Almost every boy writes articles to be published. In fact, this account of the Preparatory Department was written in a similar manner by many boys writing articles on various topics which were then combined. At Christmas time the boys of the Prep had two parties, one given by the Headmaster and the other by Mr. Jackman. At both we had a wonderful time, a good snack and delicious punch. In June we had a party with Mr. Jewell as the chef. We had hot-dogs, potato chips, drinks, cookies and ice cream which we all enjoyed very much. That was the final party of the year. Despite the injuries and suspensions we had a fairly successful hockey season due to good coaching by Mr. Mike Peet and Mr. James Wright. Our team won four games, lost four games and tied two, which is a good record for a small school. We travelled to various cities and towns to play St. Andrews, Upper Canada, The Grove in Lakefield near Peterborough, Appleby College in Oakville, Hillfield in Hamilton, and St. Georges in Toronto. Crescent School and some of the others came to play us in Newmarket. Our regular players were: Lush, Spadafora, Fraser, Zakoor, Lockhart, Grimshaw, Beal, Hammond and Peterson. The goal-tending was done by McWilliams and Westra. The spares who played one or more games were Pottruff, Shipley, Fish, Packham and Aiken. Another winter sportwas skiing. Someofus skied on the farm on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. We made a ski-jump. Gary McWilliams went over the jump and landed on his head. There were some trips to Honey Pot for skiing where we had a lot of fun. On Valentine's Day Leonard Connelly had an accident and broke both his legs. By the first of June he was just learning how to walk again. Early in the fall we began practising soccer. Mr. Mucy and Mr. Leach coached us. We played a number of games with schools such as Appleby and Lakefield which were some distance away, and some with St. Andrews. A team lost all their games except one which they tied, while B team did win one. However, we enjoyed them all and we enjoyed the bus trips. Twenty- three

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This film did not turn out very well so we tried another. This one showed grade eight pupils sneaking outside during class time to romp and play. We enjoyed making those films and will long remember them. In the spring at Pickering we play baseball. The Prep had two teams which they called the Jets and the Sharks . Although the Jets put up a good fight as a rule, the Sharks managed to win all of the games. Another spring activity at Pickering is the Quaker Relays when this year forty-eight different schools took part. Gary Peterson of the Prep was on one of the teams. All the boys at Pickering are divided into four teams for intra-mural games. Each of the teams is again divided into Midget, Bantam, Junior, Intermediate and Senior. The Prep of course are Midget and Bantam as a rule. These teams compete throughout the year in the off-seasons such as after soccer and before hockey. Most of the games are played in the gym. Sports Day in May is the final day for intra-murals when parents and friends are invited to watch an afternoon of track and field events. Some of the Preps were proud to know that they had helped to make the Red team become the winner for the year. This year some boys whose work was good enough throughout the year did not have to write final examinations in some subjects. Of course, exams are easy providing you study for them. Just before the examinations we had the final official event of the year, the closing dinner. After good food and good speakers a number of awards were made. Terry Fish, Jody Grimshaw, Scott Hammond, BillPackham, Gary Peterson, Dave Pottruff, Tom Shipley, Bob Spadafora and Richard Zakoor received their Prep athletic colour awards. Other important awards were made, the most important one to us was the Rogers Cane which is given to the boy who, the staff feel, contributed most to the community living in Firth House. This year it was awarded to Robert Spadafora. Twenty-five