Saltus Grammar School - Yearbook (Hamilton, Bermuda)

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10 Our congratulations are offered to Mr. and Mrs. H. J. Hallett on the birth of a son. This took place on Feb. 21st. On Feb., 25th. His Lordship the Bishop delivered a lecture to the Sixth Form on English History in Sh ikespeare. Everyone who heard it was very impressed by His Lordship ' s knowledge of the subject and by the acquaintance with the author which he dis- played. During the last year the lower forms have been visiting the Nicholl Institute for Manual Training as part of their regular syllabus. There is also a voluntary class for the older boys on Saturday mornings. On Armistice Day a Schoolboys ' XI from Hamilton played football against a team from the rest of the Island. The S.G.S. was well represented; the following took part: — P. S. Welch, Spurling i, Spurhng ii, Leseur, Critchley, Barnard, Cox i, Cohen, Pantry, Moniz. On the 19th. of December a very successful dance was held in the School Hall. In spite of the blackout it was well attended and proved thoroughly enjoyable. The Choir gave its usual carol concert on Dec. 18th. and in- stead of the Easter carol concert performed a selection from Han- del ' s Messiah on March 30th. Progress of the War Talks At fairly frequent intervals during the past year the first quarter of an hour on Tuesday morning has been devoted to a brief talk on some aspect of the war. Very little can be said in the time, naturally enough, but the speakers have all talked about matters of which they have special knowledge or personal experience. The following speakers lectured on the subjects given: Captain Jeffreys, Staff Captain, Bermuda Command, took us on a rapid tour of the world, summarising the position to date and estimating the advantages and disadvantages of each side. The Rev. Keith Harmon told of a voyage to England in con- voy as an illustration of the excellent work done by the Royal Navy. We hear of a certain number of sinkings, but the vast majority of our shipping proceeds on its way and reaches its destination in safety. Lieut. John Bett, A.D.C. to His Excellency the Governor, spoke of his experiences in a variety of ships from the early days of the war onwards. The most active period in his service was at the time of the evacuation from France and the subsequent taking over of a number of French warships. Lieut. S. E. Jenner, R.N.V.R., had won the George Medal for his work in taking apart submarine and land mines of all types, contact, magnetic, time and, most recently, acoustic mines. It

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9 Conditions of life on board a submarine were peculiar; they could only come to the surface at night, and so they turned night into day and had break ast at 8 p.m., lunch at midnight and supper at 4 a.m. They had special food to compensate for these conditions and to provide the vitamins necessary for good vision. The crews were all carefully picked volunteers, whose morale was high and who worked together as a team, a most important consideration in modern war. These men were all inspired by the spirit animating the Duke of Montrose when he wrote in the seventeenth century: He either fears his fate too much, Or his deserts are small, Who dare not put it to the touch To win or lose it all. Sir Andrew Cunningham kept a copy of this as his motto on his desk. It was not the principle of ' Safety First ' that brought victory, but the refusal ever to consider even the possibility of defeat. School Notes This year we were more successful than usual in the Cambridge Exams: all our candidates passed. For the first time a candidate, was entered in the Higher Certificate and he passed. D. E. Camp- bell was, to the best of our belief, the first boy educated entirely in Bermuda to pass this exam. Besides this success the following passed the School Certificate; — Barnard, Brooks, Burland i, Burland ii. Darling i, Greenman, Lough, Motyer i, Motyer ii, Misick, Phillips, Petty, Welch; and in the Junior: — Cohen, Covel, Critchley, Gilbert, Hallam, Hallett, Malloy, Masters, Nicholson i, Nugent, Selley, Spurling i, Trimingham i. Tucker i. To cele- brate this success we had a whole holiday on Thursday, May 14th. In January we began to use the new building. This has pro- vided us with a new form-room and new lavatories, and the old lavoratory has been converted into a very fine Class-room. At the same time the corridor upstairs in the old building has been con- tinued so that it is now possible to go from the senior part of the building to the junior without disturbing IV b. The architect was Mr. George Hutchings and the contractor Mr. Beek. Mr. W. B. Welch ' s ' ' Experiments in Literature was pub- lished a few weeks ago. All the material was contributed by boys in the school and the type was set and the magazine printed and bound by the boys under Mr. Welch ' s direction. The production wa sold in the town in aid of war charities. Last October, when there was a danger of a typhoid epi- demic, arrangements were made to inoculate those who desired protection. For days parties of boys were conducted to the hos- pital by one or another of the staff. Very few were seriously af- fected, and there was singularly little interference with the games.

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11 was work where the smallest mistake would not only blow him to fragments, but might devastate a district for nearly a mile round. Sub-Lieut. Burney, R.N.V.R., gave a talk on submarines. Lieut. Darlow, R.E., went over the various theatres of war and showed the special importance of each. Lieut. Stewart Smith, U.S.N, creating a precedent as the first American officer to address the School, stressed the vital need for Anglo-American co-operation, and used the U.S. Bases here as an example. Bermuda was in a peculiarly suitable position as a base for operations off the coast of America and relations between the British and American forces had been very cordial. Capt. R. G. Robinson, B.V.R.C., an old boy of the School, gave a general talk on the progress of the war, and stressed the necessity for everyone to do his part; even those who were still at school could do something by contributing liberally to the War Fund and by buying War Savings Certificates. Incidentally, the School ' s total to date for the latter is £225. A. R. P. During the year we have been gradually learning what per- cautions we can take against the danger of enemy attack on these islands. It has not been altogether easy for a variety of reasons. At first it seemed strange that there was no unanimity of opinion even among those who had come from England after personal experience of the blitzkrieg. But England herself had to learn by the method of trial and error, and many methods were tried at different times and in different places, so that our informants naturally did not agree. Consequently instructions were at first changed with bewildering frequency; two sets of typed regulations were, as a matter of fact, cancelled even before they were pub- lished. By this time, however, the A.R.P. Commissioners for the Island were developing their organisation, lectures were arranged and official rulings on debatable points laid down. A further diffculty has been the general shortage of labour, materials and equipment; much of what we have been advised to do has been a counsel of perfection, though we should probably discover undreamed-of abilities in the direction of improvisation if the real thing suddenly descended on us. Still, what we could do we have done; we have arranged for moving the boys out of the most dangerous parts of the building; we have acquired a certain amount of equipment for dealing with fire, whether caused by incendiary bombs or otherwise, and demolition work; wherever a form is moved, the register accompanies it, so that, if any boy is missing, his absence will be noticed; and the school has had such practice in moving that the whole operation can be carried out without confusion in less than three and a half minutes.