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

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a whaler had to go to its rescue. Millar fell into the water when his boat went over but almost immediately he had righted his craft and continued on his way in quiet dignity. Although this sudden gust of wind spoiled the line-abreast formation of the boats, it did serve to demonstrate to the Inspecting Officer and to excited parents that members of the Boats Club had become quite profici ent in handling their craft under stormy conditions. As the weather both before and after Inspection Day was generally fine and warm, there were many opportunities for club members to get out on the lake. Summer Term, 1956, in regard to sailing, was one of the best. ti ft ti Jke f aturai rridtoru L lub This club, more active than it has been for several years, increased its membership not only in boys but also in insects. During the year students in captivity numbered ten and by the end of the year insects in the collection had risen to over ten thousand. A report of the club ' s activities, arranged in chronological order, should state that the butterfly and moth hunting in the Michaelmas Term was better than usual until it was suddenly brought to an end by the cold snap in November. During the winter months the club sent boxes of insects to the Provincial Museum for the identification and the re-arranging of the collection. In April the club received a bird-banding permit from the Canadian Wildlife Service and a request from the Department of Zoology at U.B.C. to help in its Bird Nest Recording Scheme. Members of the club did engage in a certain amount of bird-banding but were unable to help in nest-recording as the Easter holidays came in the middle of the nesting season. At the end of Lent Term a new section, dealing with snakes and amphibia, was begun. For the developing of this new department members caught snakes, frogs and lizards which had to be tended and cared for. By and large, insect collecting during the last term was not so good as usual, probably because of the severity of the winter which had preceded. To one of the more enthusiastic naturalists in the school, R. C. Malkin, the club is indebted for his donation of one hundred Mexican insects. In brief, it has been a good year, mortifying for a large number of insects but profitable for the club members. r £ £ ZJIte 1 9 laaazine lub Under the editorship of Boyce it was possible to carry on with the publication of The Stag, the monthly paper, for a second year, and some five copies were printed, each averaging about twenty pages. The format remained unchanged from that of the previous year and included general news, an editorial, a literary section, reports of games, reviews of movies, and a page or two about music. The editor was assisted by McKechnie I, chief typist; Vincent, editor of the literary section; Janke, sports reporter; Lecky, writer of the features, and McKechnie II, film critic. Mr. Galliford kindly contributed a series of articles on music which balanced Platter Pops, written by McAlpine and Vandersluys. Once again the pages of The Stag were enlivened by the fine and often amusing cartoons done by Roaf, who could quickly and deftly draw anything from a dog ' s paw to a P.O. being thrown into the lake. Without question, the most exciting moments for the staff members of The Stag occurred in the bursary when they were running copies off the ditto machine which grew increasingly temperamental as the year passed. Despite this difficulty in keep the press rolling, everyone seemed to enjoy himself, the club did not go into the red, and the various editions soon were sold out to a news- hungry public. it it i? IKlpteu J htouse I lotes Counting one ' s chickens before they are hatched is notoriously an unwise performance, but as soon as we get back to school in September we realized that, at all events on paper, Ripley ' s were due for a good year. We certainly hoped so, and fortunately our hopes were not dis- appointed. 1954-5 was undoubtedly Lake ' s year, and we think we can claim that 1955-6 was Ripley ' s. We were proud to have a Ripley ' s boy, Brian McGavin, as Head Prefect, and to have in the House another School Prefect in the person of Michael Kaye. We started the year with John Armstrong, Sam Perry, Farrel Boyce and John Roaf as House Prefects. At Easter Armstrong was made a School Prefect, and Ian Beardmore a House Prefect. Much of our success during the year was undoubtedly due to their enthusiasm and efficiency. Page Eighteen

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y. Club membership remained high and two litters from the sow gave ample livestock. The fall in the price of pork in the autumn caused a loss to the club from which, at the time of writing, it has not recovered. It is hoped to remedy this by the sale of the latest litter in September. A number of rabbits were kept in the school and great interest in these animals was shown by their owners. ft ft OL fL CU This club, one of the most popular in the school, had a total of fifty-eight active members who managed to use up several kegs of gunpowder during the year in trying to hit the bull ' s-eye. Some of the club became quite proficient for altogether twenty-seven won Dominion marksman- ship awards. Twenty-two earned their Bronze Maple Leaf Buttons; three received Silver Buttons, and two, Wade and Shaneman, collected Gold Buttons. The keen interest in the House competition resulted in fine scores. The senior trophy was won by the Grove ' s House team, McKechnie I, Millar, Money and Neal, who had an average of 97.25. Ripley ' s team of Andrews, Douglas, Shaneman and Wade was victorious in the junior competition with an average of 90.75. The members of the Rifle Club extend their thanks to the masters who undertook the supervision of the range and who with the poet echo this belief — Delightful task ! to rear the tender thought, To teach the young idea how to shoot. ix ft ti Jhe rrobbu S kop For the Hobby Shop and the many boys who spend busy, constructive hours there, the high- light of a most successful year was the Hobby Show at Duncan when the school won a total of six ribbons and a trophy for having the best school entry. Individuals who distinguished them- selves for their entries in this show were Scott-Moncrieff, who won first prize for his sailing dinghy, and Clarke I, who took third place for his exhibit of furniture that was judged with all entries in the Hobby Show. It was not only the boys who profited from Mr. Can ' s skilful guidance and instruction, for one evening each week members of the staff used the Hobby Shop and Mrs. Whitney, Miss Clunas and Miss Marie all made furniture, of which they and the Hobby Shop are proud. Jne f notoarapnu L lub The Photo Club, under Mr. Robinson ' s direction, did not have the same number of devotees as in previous years. Three or four former members and Mr. Robinson were the only ones to enter the little room, lighted dimly by means of dark red bulbs and smelling evilly of chemicals. The club, however, became busier than a city department store the week before Christmas, when early in June Larry Bortles mass-produced five-by-seven prints of the pictures of school teams and of the Cadet Corps. It is rumored that this energetic member of the Photo Club is planning to buy the Hobby Shop building as he cleared more than one hundred dollars. v Boah CU As usual, the Boats Club did not really begin to hum with activity until early in the summer term when, for two weeks, members of the club became frenzied in their efforts to ensure that their boats be seaworthy and trim for the sail-past on Inspection Day. On that day the breeze was fitful — light at first and then squally. Slowly all the boats and dinghies moved into formation to sail past the float where the Inspecting Officer was to take the salute, when suddenly, about halfway through the manoeuvres, a squall blew up. One boat tipped over and Page Seventeen

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In the athletic line we started the year rather quietly, coming third in the Swimming Sports and second in the Tennis. We then won the Track and Field Sports by quite a convincing margin. We were lucky in having some very good natural athletes, but it was the number of points we gained for Standards (a good example of House Spirit) which really clinched matters. Nothing but a major upset of form could have prevented us from winning the Inter-House Rugby Cup, as we were lucky enough to have eight of the 1st XV in Ripley ' s and some very useful players from the 2nd XV and the Colts. In the actual matches our team — fortunately not over-confident — played hard and won by comfortable margins. W T e should like to con- gratulate Brian McGavin, Michael Kave, Sam Perry, Burke Cuppage, John Armstrong and Ralph Vandersluys on having their School Colours. In junior teams, Ripley ' s was well represented, so the prospects for the next few years seem quite promising. In the Lent term we managed to win, by a very small margin, the Inter-House Basketball Competition in which our Under 16 team was outstanding. We also won the Boxing, in which Ian Beardmore, Murray McAlpine, Brian Witt, Peter Armstrong and Sandy Foster won their respective weights. And we ended the term by winning the Cross-country, with Sam Perry coming first in the Open race, and Murray McAlpine first in the Under 16. In the Summer Term our disappointment at having to return the Cricket Cup to Grove ' s House was balanced by our pleasure in seeing Ripley ' s the first winners of the newly-revived sport of Rowing. So much for games. In the academic sphere — more important than games, but possibly less exciting, and certainly less easy to write about — we also had a very good year. For the Academic Shield we just managed — by the tiny margin of 2.7 points — to hold off a tremendous last- minute spurt by Grove ' s House, and we were very proud of Farrel Boyce and John Armstrong when they were awarded their School Colours for their academic achievements. This is a newly-instituted Colour and one of which we heartily approve. Farrel Boyce ended the year as Head Student, so for 1955-6 Ripley ' s can claim both the Head Prefect and the Head Student. In other departments of school-life Ripley ' s boys made their contribution. The Junior Citizenship Prize was won once by Peter Armstrong and twice by Charles Pentland, and Brian McGavin won the Efficiency Cup in the Michaelmas and Lent terms, and tied with Colin Crisp (Grove ' s House) in the summer. We were also well represented in the choir and in most of the clubs, and supplied the school with its best shots in John Shaneman and Simon Wade. Finally we should like to thank Mr. Robinson and our hew Matron, Miss Mar ' .e, for all the interest they took in us during the year. ti ti cJLahe 5 rroude I loles We returned in September to welcome an unusually large number of new boys, who soon got accustomed to the high altitude, and have made their various contributions to house and school. As Housemaster we were fortunate to receive Mr. Orpen, direct from that other place of learning. Oxford, and we were delighted at the return of Mrs. Whitney as Matron. Our Head of House was an old stalwart, Bob Cooper, ably supported by Colin Kyles and Larry Bortles, and joined by Jeff Keate and Barry White after Easter, when Colin was made a School Prefect. There was, unfortunately, no need to extend one shelf in the dining-room, as our silverware has been depleted during the year, but this is largely explained by the youth and lightness of most of our members. There was no lack of enthusiasm for many varied activities, so we feel we have had a successful year. We began with a bang, by winning the Swimming Cup, which we owed mainly to the efforts of our frogmen, Cooper and McLean, and we ended the year by triumphantly carrying back from Grove ' s the Efficiency Cup, which we had lost to them at Christmas. Although we were not conspicuously successful in the Inter-House sports matches, we were well represented on school teams. Cooper captained school rugby, basketball and track sports, and we were also represented on the rugby team by Kyles, who won his school colours, and by Bortles I and White. Keate and White won their school colours for basketball, Cooper, White and Bortles I represented the school in track sports, and Clarke I and Mcintosh I in cricket. In the house rugby final, we put up a fine fight against a very superior Ripley ' s team, and in the inter-house boxing, Mcintosh I and Lonsdale won their weights. A failure to take advantage of the great circle course enabled Ripley ' s to win the rowing cup from us by a small margin. We obvious ly have some budding Carusos and Irvings in our midst, as well as some skilled carpenters. Mr. Hyde-Lay was the grateful recipient of a seventeenth century style fireside-stool, cunningly carved by his successor as Housemaster, and guaranteed to stand a weight of 200 pounds. We wish every success to our dozen leavers, and hope to see them all again soon. With the five oldest boys in the school we look forward to an even more successful year. Page Nineteen