Selwyn House School - Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR 1951-1052 is second to none in the XYorld. I have seen them in battle myself. I have fought beside them on many occasions. They have set you a great example and estab- lished a wonderful tradition of bravery and courage in battle. This, you younger Canadians will, I know, never forget. You can be very proud of their achieve- ments. I am a Scotsman and have spent my life in a Scottish Regiment. I was brought up in Britain and most of my ties and connections are there. I believe in her strength, her future and the greatness of the British Empire. Yet of all the lands I know, there is none in whose future I have greater confidence than Canada. You young Canadians have a wonderful prospect before you. In your Country you have a great prize. You have freedom here. See that in your lives you prepare yourselves to guard and hold this prize against all who may try to take it from you. You owe this to those whose memory we honour to-day. RERIEKIBRAXCE DAY SERVICE, 1051 GENERAL SIR NEIL RITCHIE .XIJIJRESSING THE SCHOGL l 15 I

Page 14 text:

SELWYN HOVSE SCHOOL MAGAZINE Remembrance ap Qhhress By General Sir Neil Ritchie, K.C'.B., D.S.O., NIC. To-day, here in Selwyn House, you are observing RemembranCe . VVhat does it mean for us ? Why is this custom followed each year in November? Why is it practised throughout the British Empire, and many other countries too, such as the I'nited States, France, Belgium and Italy? For us it means simply that at this time we look hack, not only to the First, but to the Second VI'orld War too, and lay one respectful tribute to those who gave their lives in these two wars, lighting for the cause of freedom. And we have got freedom because of their sacrifice. This Canada of yours is a free country, where people are free to think as they wish, to say what they like and to live their lives as they want to. Freedom of this sort is a really wonderful thing, and we owe this prized possession to those who fought and gave their lives for it in two great wars. To-day we must think of them, we must understand what the giving of their lives has meant for us, and we must say to ourselves that in our lifetime we must never lose the freedom that they have passed on to us. At eleven o'clock in the morning of the eleventh day of November twhich is the eleventh monthh, in 1918, lighting stopped, and that was the end of the First XYorld XYar. Ever since then the 11th of November every year has been the day that has been observed as the special one, when we remember those who gave their lives in both XYorld Vyars, in the cause of freedom. It is recognized in every part of the British Empire and by all the Allies who fought along with the British in the two wars. The symbol of this day is the Red Poppy, which was chosen because it grows in great abundance in Flanders in Northern Europe, where a great many of the hardest battles of the First War were fought, and where much Allied blood was shed. It is amazing how many of them there are there, growing wild amongst the corn in july and August, and, as a very young Oiiicer, these poppies impress themselves more than anything else on my own memory. VI'henever I see poppies now, my thoughts go back to those days of long ago. They put me in mind of so many of my school friends who were killed in battle. I was at school still when the First XYar started in 1914, and it will give you some idea of how dreadful the losses were when I tell you that out of the 1913-1914 foot- ball team of my school, there were only four of us left alive by the end of that war. So you see that to those, who, like me, went almost straight from School to the battle fields of Flanders and lost there so many of our childhood friends and companions, the scarlet poppy means a very great deal. There can be few in this room to-day who have not had close relations --grandfathers, fathers or elder hrothersfwho fought with the Canadians in one or other, or both the wars. I would just like to tell you that the reputation made by these relations of yours as great lighting soldiers. sailors and airmen, 1141

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SELWYN HOUSE SCHOOL M.-XG.-XZINE jllilemurial Serbia tu ing Geurge Bl Un Friday, February 8th, 1952, a memorial service was held in the school to his late majesty King George VI. The service was conducted by the head- master, the scripture lesson was read by Billy Timmins and the memorial address was delivered by the Very Rev. F. Scott Maclienzie, D.D., D.C.L., immediate past-moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Canada. The complete service was recorded and broadcast on the following Sunday afternoon over Radio Station CFCF. The following is the text of Dr. iXIacKenzie's address:- Two days ago an event occurred, quite unexpectedly and for which no- body was prepared, which has shocked and stunned the whole British Common- wealth of Nations and indeed all the free nations of the world, and which has cast a deep shadow of sorrow upon us all. lt was the sudden death of our beloved king. A few months ago, when he was obliged to undergo a major surgical oper- ation, there was great anxiety everywhere until the critical period in his con- valescence had passed, but with the good news of his steady progress back to health that immediate anxiety had been in large measure relieved: and then, without warning, death struck its cruel blow, and a mighty Empire is bowed in mourning, deeply conscious of the great loss which it has sustained, and knit together at this moment in a fellowship of common sorrow. This universal grief, and the warm sympathy which goes out from all hearts to the widowed queen, now the queen mother, to Elizabeth who is now our queen, and to all the members of the Royal family, is something which stems from a deep and genuine affection for the man who has now been taken from us: for King George did enjoy the affection and love of his people in a remark- able way, and he enjoyed this because he had so richly earned it. His people loved him because he first loved them. Throughout his reign he was constantly giving proof of that fact,--practical proof of it in his own self-sacrificing devotion to their interests which were always his first consideration. Hur late king accepted the crown contrary to all his own personal inclina- tions, but from a high sense of public duty, accepted it amid circumstances of peculiar difficulty and delicacy, without any particular preparation for this high office, because there did not seem to be any likelihood that it would ever fall to him, and with natural handicaps also to overcome,-all of which, when we think of it, serves but to add new lustre to what he has achieved. Supported lovingly and loyally by the queen, he has been indeed a king in the best sense of the term. The years of his reign have been turbulent and troubled years for the world. They included the dark years of the war, when the very fate of our civilization hung in the balance, and when the king and queen and their family, equally with their subjects, shared hardship and privation, and lived daily and nightly in peril even of their lives. Through it all the king and the royal family l16l