Shawnigan Lake School - Yearbook (Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia Canada)

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SHAWNIGAN LAKE SCHOOL MAGAZINE School Notes CONSTRUCTION of the new building started on Febru- ary 16, from plans drawn by Mr. Douglas James of Duncan. Our old friend, Mr. Boniface, undertook the work, and, with his brother as foreman, has carried on through the entire scheme. Bert ' s never failing energy and cheerful- ness in the face of obstacles was a valuable factor, and Charlie has endeared himself to all of us by his remarkable ability to make everyone with whom he conies in contact work hard and yet be cheerful. They began the work under great diffi- culties, and the most searching critics are compelled to admit that the work has been well and truly done, and at a low cost which surprises them. Five old boys have worked on the building at different times, A. G. Crisp staying most steadily and putting in six months ' work on it. The extraordinarily unselfish and loyal work of the entire staff was a wonderful stimulus to the success of the project. The School has been built entirely from lumber supplied by the Shawnigan Lake Lumber Company and was of an uniformly excellent grade. Games, of course, suffered considerably, but our Junior Boys managed to win the Wilson Cup again for the fifth time, and one or two matches were played in Victoria ; but our First Eleven were never able to get together. A little cricket was made possible after our return to Shawnigan, by the kindness of the Cowichan Cricket Club, who allowed us to use their grounds on Thursdays. This season we are using our own grounds. We were fortunate to be able to hear most of the Gilbert and Sullivan Operas when they were played in Victoria ; also Amundsen ' s lecture. We returned to Shawnigan on May 13, and by the end of the term the entire School was housed in the new build- ings, and on Speech Day practically everything inside was finished. One disadvantage of having finished is that we miss the cheery countenance of Mr. Allen, who did the plastering,

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SHAWNIGAN LAKE SCHOOL MAGAZINE Editorial IT HAS been suggested that a Phoenix should become the School Crest. We have never seen one, and such repre- sentation of this rara avis as we have seen does not seem to be a suitable emblem for the architectural result of Mr. Douglas James ' fertile brain. Still, we have emerged from the ashes of the old building, and the general appearance of the new shell may be gauged by the pictures in this number. The weeks and months immediately after the fire were so crammed with the business of life that the nightmare of December 16, and the event immediately following, have be- come rather hazy in our minds. The following day our diffi- culties seemed to be much less, on receiving a very generous offer from Dr. and Mrs. Woodman, offering us the use of the Island Hall at Parksville for temporary quarters. After due consideration we decided that it would be more convenient to take the Cadboro Bay Hotel, where, despite the cold and the lack of conveniences for school life, we were able to carry on during the Lent term without undue disruption. The Senior Boys, with Captain Levien and Mr. Skrimshire, remained at the Hill House and were of the utmost value in helping in the construction of the new buildings. That their school work was not too much neglected is proved by the Examination Results. The result of the past few months ' work has given us a more suitable and more attractive building than the old one. We have greater comfort and even luxury. W T e have many more boys than ever before, and every prospect appears to be a pleasant one. But, while the ordeal by fire has resulted in the strength- ening of some characters, we must strive to continue with an even and subdued spirit of quiet confidence and genuine en- deavour. We have experienced extremes of pessimism and optimism, and we should like to see the more even balance in favour of quality.

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SHAWNIGAN LAKE SCHOOL MAGAZINE and helped us in many small ways. Also Fred Woods, that Prince of Plumbers, who never seemed to mind how much leg-pulling he received, and whose work was so efficiently and, incidentally, reasonably done. Surely he must have lost money on painting the pipes, as gold and silver paint has been found most valuable for bicycles, tobacco tins and many other com- modities not strictly connected with the plumber ' s trade ! The Pancake Greeze was held on Shrove Tuesday in the gymnasium, the delegates from Cadboro Bay coming up by car. It was won by Ripley. The new prefects are Lake (Head of the School), Roch- fort, Piddington, Green, Larsen and Best. The scheme of furnishing the Big School Room with chairs given by old boys is proving a great success. Prefects ' chairs are being given by various schools. At the moment those actually given are by Glenalmond, Malvern, Mill Hill, The Leys, Cambridge and Trinity College, Port Hope. These are Glastonbury chairs of English oak, bearing the Coat of Arms of the School which has given them. A very fine solid oak desk and chair were made and presented to the Head- master by ten of the carpenters engaged on construction. A very nice picture of the Entrance to Westminster was pre- sented to the School by Some Old Westminsters. We have made two additions to our staff this year. Mr. Knight, who is rilled with the ideas of Sanderson of Oundle, tempered by the influence of Cambridge. Also Mr. M. H. Ellis, who played soccer for Shrewsbury, and stroked the Oxford boat. He has been teaching for the last three years at Westminster and therefore the more welcome. A great deal of interest has been taken in the new build- ing by boys, parents and friends. The School, however, re- mains the same, and we sincerely hope that the tone of the School and the good work of the School will in no way suffer on account of our change of coat. Our numbers keep up. We have started this year with twenty more boys than we have ever had before, and it will keep us all very busy doing our