Selwyn House School - Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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20 SELWYN HOUSE SCHOOL MAGAZINE The Library The Library has been used more and more this year, resulting in a circulation of more than 3,550 books, from September to early in March. Many hours of research, among our fine reference books, have been spent by the boys looking up material for essays, debates and speeches. Many new reference books have been acquired in the last year. These include a new set of Encyclopedia Britannica and the Britannica Book of the Year , a set of En- cyclopedia Canadianau, and a set of the Golden Book Encyclopedia . As of early March, there were over 4,840 books registered in the Library proper, which does not take into account all the books stored elsewhere in the school. The School has purchased 24 new story books this year, the money from fines has bought 38 books, and 77 books have been donated. Some of the donors were: Murray Whipps, l8 books, Kim Eaton 30 books, Ian Fisher 10, Michael and David McMaster 3, Michael Martin 3, David Esdaile 2, Robert Graham 2, John Angus 2, plus donations from Jamie Fitzpatrick, Jamie McGregor, Pete Rider, Freddie Southam, Jeffrey Smele, Tommy Fisher, Shaun Mclntosh and Mr. Gardiner. Seasonal decorations for Halloween, Remembrance Day, Christmas, St. Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day and Easter, have proved a source of pleasure to the boys and staff. The Library being such a spacious, well-lighted room, lends itself easily to decorations and displays. The boys have proudly exhibited their treasures, which have run the full gamut from genuine African war shields, spears, Haiti Drums, ancient swords, models of ships, planes, rockets and rocket launching platforms, art work, stamps, coins, rocks, shells, to nests, lobster claws and traps and sets of hockey cards. ' The plastic covers, which by now are on most of the books, have proved to be money savers as well as beautifiers. Books emerging from snow banks or mud puddles have quite often only needed a good rubdown instead of a sad discard. Also, the enhanced beauty has been an incentive to circulation. There has been an added element. The boys have tended to be more proud and careful of the books, much less mending has been necessary and fewer discards have taken place. All in all, a successful and happy year for the Library. E. Pick, Librarian. i- Ti

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Y 4 J 9- gg., voun attic! This year's Christmas Entertainment was one of the best, and certainly one of the largest we have had for some time. Four choirsgl believe an almost unprecedented number at this school performancehand three plays were presented. The first event at the afternoon performance was the singing of three Christmas carols by the Junior Choir: A Child's Song of Christmas, O Little Town of Bethlehem, and All my heart this night rejoices. The members of this choir should be congratulated for their ex- cellent performance. The singing of the soloists, Jan Wyllie, Robin Davies, John Kent and John Gwinnell, especially deserves mention. The second choir, composed of the best singers in Form I, started the evening per- formance, for the Junior Choir sang only once. This choir sang: Villagers all, this frosty time, Shepherds in the fields abiding, and a traditional Wassail Song. Once again the choir, and particularly the soloists, Victor Vickers, Pembroke MacDermot, John Pike and Bobby Tennant, deserved the greatest praise. The third choir, chosen from the boys in Form ll, also merited much gratitude and exhibited great unanimity in their singing of The Twelve Days of Christmas, See amid the winter snow, and I Wish you a Merry Christmas. The soloists, carefully selected from their fellows, proved their worth, and the rest of the choir did well also. These soloists were: Ian Robson, Rory Forbes, George Galt, Terry Hutchinson, Richard Dobell and Tommy Bourne. The fourth and final choir was the Senior Choir, which triumphantly ended the choral proceedings with four Australian carols. Sung apparently effortlessly, these carols from the other side of the world, with their mention of hot summer days, supplied a bright change from the thought of frosts and snowbanks so likely to arise from our own carols. The Day that Christ was Born on, Sing Gloria, The Oxen and Merry Christmas were all sung very successfully. Here, more than anywhere else, the soloists - Peter Wright, Ivan Ralston, Graeme Tennant, Jimmy Brunton and Jimmy Sedgewick-were of the utmost importance to the success of the choir. In the field of Dramatics, three plays were presented by the boys of the Senior School. The first was Le Cafe Cognac, a little comedy in French written by Strachan Turnbull and produced by Mr. lversen. The scene was the interior of a French cafe, where Les Quatre Escrocs met, These men, the villains of the piece, were acted very well by Michael Dorland, who adopted with ease the part of a defiant leader of bandits, Christopher Skoryna, George Hebert and Aleca Kairis. The atmosphere had a note of realism, partly due to the efforts of John Pike, le garconha very typical one! Humour was added by a few lines of English, ably spoken by Duncan McMartin and Gordon McNeil. Christopher Hoffmann as un petit monsieur, silent behind his newspaper, yet listening all the while, Peter Fialkowski as le chef, and Hugh Roberts as l'agent de police, all acted admirably. The second play, For Homework Tonight, was written and produced by Mr. Moodey, our Maths master. The play afforded unbounded hilarity for the audience, thanks to the excellent performance of the actorsg yet it was crowded into two brief scenes. The story was a homely one and the characters were a normal family - Ma, Pa, an aunt and the