Selwyn House School - Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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33.43 6 1 -V 4 36 M Royal Empire Society Awards. ,av- Q 2,4 X Queen's Scouf A wards. g dors in Sir Francis Drake . Col, Bourne a f Remembrance Day Service

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24 SELWYN HOUSE SCHOOL MAGAZINE The fossils made David Laing think of real shells, and he brought in a beautiful scallop shell, four cockles, a sand dollar and a starfish. Daniel Javitch was good enough to bring a sword to show us at this time. He had acquired it in England. It had been used in the Crimean war in the British navy, and was so enormous that it was difficult to lift. This was fortunate, as otherwise we might have had some casualties. During the month of December 119551 the books were cleared from the shelves upstairs and packed in cartons preparatory to the move to the shelving in the new dining hall. On January 6th 1956, six of the older boys transported the books to their new destination. The loads were extremely heavy, and many thanks are due to the boys who accomplished this work so well. The shortest route to the dining hall was down the icy steps of the fire escape, yet not a volume of the nearly 4000 books was dropped on the ice. The boys who accomplished this move were Maxi Ferro, David Phillips, Robin Gilbert, Robert Hallett, Brian Dodd, and Bill Pedoe. Special thanks are due to the latter as he is now at Upper Canada College and was on a holiday in Montreal, and generously gave us his time. Maxi Ferro was of great assistance during the Christmas holidays in helping to arrange the books on their new shelving. January 11th. was the first day the library was opened downstairs. One of the very fine display cases was used to exhibit a valuable collection of stamps belonging to Maxi. This exhibition was outstanding and was much appreciated. A 'Ship' exhibit was opened on January 26th., when the second display case was ready. We were fortunate enough to have models ranging from the native, almost pre-historic 'dug-out' canoe to the modern battleship, even to the nuclear submarine. The first ship shown was made and painted by Peter Terroux. It was an excellent example of a P. T. boat with four torpedoes, three oerlikon mountings, and two double anti-aircraft guns. This ship can travel with great speed, and has high manoeuvring ability. Robert Johnston lent a splendid model of an aircraft carrier. Peter Martin and Eric Garland both brought models of the U.S.S. Missouri. Peter lent also a torpedo boat. Ross Brydon appeared with a destroyer and Geoffrey Fisher with an aircraft-carrier. lt was specially interesting to have John Harding's small, but perfect model of the three-masted schooner Flying Cloud , the fastest ship of its time 118501. He also lent a model of 'dug-out' canoe, the original of this is made from the mahogany tree and still used in the Dominican Islands. As a contrast to this tiny model with the small figure and its paddle, was the great model of a 'Dreadnought', a battleship of the Lion type of 1910. This ship was on loan to the exhibit from Stephen Wells, whose grandfather had made it. it was constructed of wood and iron, and very well built. The length was 2 ft. 8 in. and it was 7 in. wide. The height of the mast was 2 ft. 3 in. This type of ship was used in the Great War, 1914-18. The ship was manned by a crew prepared by Peter Terroux, originally soldiers, they were converted into sailors for the express purpose of giving the proper scale to the ship. They were most satis- factory. This ship was so perfect in every way that it was difficult to keep from examining the equipment in detail. Fortunately, it fitted into the new display case and was thus protected.

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26 SELWYN HOUSE SCHOOL MAGAZINE Robert Bruce generously lent a threefmasted schooner. lt was three feet long to the end of the bowsprit, and so perfect in detail that the only safe place to exhibit it was on top ot a high shelf where it could not be handled, but it was greatly enjoyed in the distance. Many other interesting models of ships were shown in the cases. Robert Bruce also provided a Chinese iunk - lending a fine touch of colour to the exhibit - and a Viking ship, complete with warriors and sail. There was another Viking ship lent by Andrew McNaughton, so that period was well covered. In fact, in this display the period of history from the tenth century to the present time was illustrated with boats and crafts, though it must be admitted that the eighteenth century had no model in the exhibition. John Beament's gift of a large model of the Santa Maria belonged to the medieval times. The l7th. century was represented by Lawrence Hibbert's beautiful copy of the Mayflower , The l9th. century was covered by the Flying Cloud of John Harding, and the large three-masted schooner lent by Robert Bruce. The 20th. century was not only represented by ships of war, but also by Billy Evans' nice model of a fishing smack from Gaspe. There were, too, a good example of a passenger ship of this century shown by lan Taylor, and an interesting copy of the Royal Yacht 'Britannia', lent by James Caird. William Dupont exhibited a very fine wooden launch which he had made. It was carefully inspected and much admired. Ships were also shown in bottles. These were lent by Billy Ballantyne, David Brown, and Michael Guite. They were intriguing. The most puzzling was Guite's, as his bottle had a long and narrow neck. The 'Ships' inspired a desire to show other modes of transportation, and Michael Hearne made a very good example of a covered wagon with its out- riders, ready to cross the continent. Gordon Peters showed the development of the motor car with good models dating from 1900 to 1953. This created so much interest that it was quickly followed by models of modern cars lent by Robert Bruce, John Harding, and David McMaster. The ships and cars led naturally to our fastest form of travel, the aeroplane. The first contribution was Murdoch Laing's 'Jap Zero' It was very well made by himself. This was followed by Peter Terroux' D C 7, Mainliner, and a B Jet Atomic -Bomber. The latter occasioned a great deal of interest, as well as his B 25 Mitchell Bomber, carrying six rockets. James Caird showed a B 26 'lnvader'. David Brown wos very generous in lending a large model of a B 29. This had several flights down the length of the large library. lt had the grim interest of being a model of the plane which dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima. Michael Shaughnessy exhibited an excellent model of a B 25 called the 'Dragon'. Christopher Roulson added a model ofa Sabre Jet, C D 605. Jonathan Birks lent a 'Panther Grumman', F 9, F 8. This was a very unusual plane. On February 22nd., the birthday of Baden-Powell, an exhibition was arranged in his honour, by Mr. Tees, who procured a loan of a special exhibit from Scout Headquarters. This had reference to the Jamboree which took place recently in Australia, and to which a delegation was sent from Canada. Intense interest was shown in the 73 badges displayed, which might be won by a good scout. We were all grateful to Mr. Tees for this unusual exhibit. Michael Gwinnell had painted a very good picture ofa Wolf Cub on his way to a Scout meeting, and this was used in the background. Peter Terroux lent and arranged a British Scout camp, helped by Kerry Martin. lt was most successful, and very appropriate as it followed the Australian exhibit. Trees and grass gave a sense of reality to the scene, as British scouts carried on their work in the camp. They were seen chopping down trees and lighting a fire. There was a 'casualty' being carried away on a stretcher. It was, in fact, very interesting and realistic.