Saltus Grammar School - Yearbook (Hamilton, Bermuda)

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Headmaster ' s Notes Mocklow Photo On March the 31st, 1976, the final cheque towards the Government Debt was paid. In just under five years, we have managed to pay the total debt of $289,681.67, with $45,807.73 interest, a total of $335,489.40. Not much of a sum, perhaps, in the face of some of the figures flying aro.ind these days, but for a school like Saltus, a great load to have removed. It is important to remember that what we were paying for was the Government contributions towards the building of the Junior School in 1965 and the Science Building in 1969. It is good to know that they are ours now. For most of the Saltus family, all the agonies and heart searchmgs ot gomg private uve ycaij agu aic forgotten, thank goodness. The first class to enter vSaltus Senior School as a private school took ' O ' levels this July. But, for the Trustees and myself, this debt has always been there to remind us of the step we took and of the challenge. Its removal seems to finish off the process, in a comforting way, and bolsters our con- fidence. If all pledges come in, the Library Building is paid for, much soone r than we dared hope. Total cost, equipped and furnished, was $240,000 and worth every cent. Downstairs made a full Senior Year possible and contributed to its success, and the Library has done everything we hoped it would. The number of books grows steadily. People have been very generous. The theme of this year ' s Founders Day was, as it usually has to be, gratitude; not just saying thank you but making it change one, have results, bear fruit, as the prayer has it, not only with our lips, but in our lives. I like to think of a school being perpetually refounded, not just by gifts and new buildings, though they matter, but by interest and service; donors, parents, oldboys, the Saltus Association, Trustees and teachers, all makes a school each year what it is; if the boys can feel this, not just acknowledge it, then they too, in lime, will have something to contribute, not necessarily to Saltus, but to the community, any community. Having a Senior Year helps. A great deal has been said about Senior Year, its successes and its results, but one of the less dramatic by-products of having more senior and mature people in the school is that this sort of thing is realised. .The third dimension of the Saltus Association, that of doing as well as socializing and giving, is growing remarkably. From a modest start in resurfacing desks, we have had assembly halls, gyms, and the Junior School quadrangle painted, and this holidays bathrooms are to be tiled and a new lay-by constructed at Caven- dish. Far too much happens in a Saltus year for me to be able to summarize — or ' even to need to; as much as possible appears in this year book. But, if I had to select one event, it would be ' Tiddler on the Roof; the standard of the scenery, costumes and especially the acting and singing, speaks for itself, but most noticeable was the zest and enjoyment which went into all the hard work and was quite obvious in the performance; surely, a symbol of what one hopes for in a school.