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

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l Lpieu 3 Jsft ipieu 5 rtoude The year 1958-59 was a decidedly good one for Ripley ' s. In the great majority of school activities Ripley ' s boys made a full contribution, earning many distinctions, not all of which are mentioned here. The spirit of the house was good. We started the year with Peter Armstrong as our school prefect, and Simon Wade, Gerald Haddon and Sandy Foster as house prefects. Tony Archbold was made a house prefect during the course of the year. Armstrong, Haddon and Foster will be returning next year, so Ripley ' s should not suffer from inexperienced leaders. In the swimming competition we came a close second to Groves ' . We more than held our own in the under-sixteen and under-fourteen events and supplied the two junior champions in the persons of Charles Pentland and Ian Martin, but our seniors were outswam by Groves ' — although Forrie Angus did win the diving. The inter-house track and field competition was chiefly remarkable for the bad luck which dogged Groves ' , and we offer them our sympathy. As things turned out Ripley ' s lost the cup to Copeman ' s. In the senior events Gerald Haddon ended up as champion, and we put up a new record for the relay race. In the under-sixteen events Geoffrey Archbold came second in five events and Kemp Leith and Christopher Ross also did well. In the under-fourteen events we owed nearly all our points to Ian Martin. David Macdonald was the under-twelve champion. In the Lent term our teams won the basketball trophy by a small margin, thanks mainly to our under-fourteen team which won both its matches. In the cross-country competition we did not do very well; it was one of the few inter-house competitions in which we were not first or second. We retained the inter-house squash cup with convincing victories over Lake ' s and Groves ' , and in the summer term Simon Wade won the individual squash cup. At rugger Armstrong, Foster and Angus played for the 1st XV and we supplied our fair share of boys to the other school teams, but we failed to retain the inter-house cup. We ended the year very well indeed. By an extremely narrow margin we won the academic trophy from Groves ' . This is a trophy which we shall try very hard to retain. It may not be the most glamorous but it is obviously the most important competition, and it is a competition in which all the boys in the house can — and in fact must — play their part. Several of our boys gained individual academic prizes, and we were delighted that Charles Pentland should be the first winner of a new trophy awarded to the boy gaining the most academic points during the year in Grades 9 to 12. We also did well in the athletic line. At rowing it is true that our crew seemed more anxious to have a get-together with Copeman ' s than is usual in the best row- ing circles and finished third or fourth, but we won back the cricket cup from Cope- man ' s, and our juniors also beat Copeman ' s in a newly instituted competition for junior cricket teams. In other departments of school life Ripley ' s boys played their part. Peter Arm- strong was a right good captain in H.M.S. Pinafore, and Charles Pentland did well as Banquo in the Dramatic Society ' s presentation of Macbeth. But our greatest contribution to the drama was Christopher Ross ' performance as Lady Macbeth, particularly in the sleep-walking scene. In the Cadets Tony Archbold and Bill Hibbard were P.O.s and Gerald Haddon won an award for the best guardsman. At shooting we came second in both senior and junior competitions. Karl Anderson collected still more distinctions, and James and Alistair Macdonald won gold pins. Finally, we should like to make it quite plain that we do not assess the merits of a house by the number of trophies that it wins, nor the contribution a boy makes to the house by the number of times he is mentioned in these notes. We should also bear in mind that Ripley ' s is only one of four houses at a numerically small school, and that what seems good here might easily be classed as mediocre if judged by more exacting standards. —20—

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Jhe rrt ouded —19—

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Luroves ' rrt oude In academics, sports, and a host of extra-curricular activities, the House had a very busy and successful year. It was a year in which we won the rugger cup (for the first time in ten years); watched from the dormitories the terrible glow of fire; renovated the senior common-room; adopted a modified and greatly improved design for the House crest; produced Kimies and school papers; sold pop and buns; built forts and sail-boats; listened to music, argued about music and made music in the dormitories and common-rooms with guitars and ukes, in the streets of Victoria and Vancouver with bugles and drums, and in the stone-vaulted spaces of the great cathedral in Victoria; a year in which we murdered Duncan (and sleep — poor Mr. Galliford); fished in the Lake, in the rushing waters of Shawnigan Creek and under the shadow of freighters in Cowichan Bay; danced under the soft lights of a beautifully decorated Big School; crept to bed on Saturday nights late from the relaxation of Duncan or Victoria; rowed, and sailed and swam, shot and passed, ducked and volleyed, and triumphantly called check and howzat! In between times w read a few books, did some problems, and cleaned our boots and webbing! In the academic competition we led for the first term, fell behind in the second to Ripley ' s, crept back up in the summer term but just failed, at the end, by a few points in over a thousand, to beat Ripley ' s, to whom we offer our congratulations. Christopher Hicks made an outstanding effort by amassing over forty points by Christ- mas time, when, unfortunately, he had to leave the school. We were very sorry to see him go, as in his five terms at Shawnigan, he had won the regard of everyone for his outstanding spirit and character. Some consolation for losing the academic shield, which we had held for two years, was the fact that all our matric students passed all their papers in the departmental examinations in June. The most exciting event of the year was undoubtedly the winning of the House rugby cup. The matches this year against Lake ' s and Copeman ' s were very keenly fought, the spirit and skill of the players being matched by the enthusiasm and enterprise of the spec tators, who, banners waving, cymbals clashing and bugles and voices uplifted, must have made Father Beasley, our visiting referee from Yorkshire, wonder what on earth he ' d got into!! Malcolm Burke captained the team from inside- centre. The year gof off to a good start in September with the swimming competition which we won for the second year in a row, though this year not without a struggle. Our outstanding performers were Ross, who gained twenty-two points, and Mowat, who won the point race and placed second in two other races. In the under 16 division Smith did well in gaining two seconds, and Arnt dived well. Closely following the swimming came the track and field competition, but here we did not fare so well. We came second in standards (148 to Copeman ' s 153), but in the meet itself we lost two of our stars, Burke and Pelling, who were sidelined for most of the week due to injury, and we had to be content with third place. Those who did well included Ross (11 standards); Burke, who came on the field towards the end of the week to win both the discus and the shot; Pelling who did likewise to come second in the shot, and Beddall who placed second in the hop, step and jump. Under 16 contributors were Larsen (first in discus, second in shot), Don Cromie (second in 880 yards), and Arnt (second in discus). Our only under 14 point-getter was Tony Foster, who came second in the broad jump and third in the hop, step and jump. In basketball we came second to Ripley ' s in a very exciting competition, our top scorers being Macrae with twenty-two points and Ross with seventeen. In the cross country races an excellent effort was made, and, on the basis of the scoring system newly adopted, we came second to Copeman ' s. Particularly fine efforts were made by Cromie mi. and Larsen, who placed first and fourth respectively in the under 16 division, and by Johnstone and Bird who placed second and fifth respectively in the under 14 divi- sion. In squash we defeated Copeman ' s but lost to Ripley ' s in the final. In shooting our juniors came third, but our seniors retained the cup they had won last year with a superb team score, McKechnie and Halse both scoring 100, and Ardagh and Martland shooting well in the 90s. In cricket we had Ripley ' s worried for a while when their score stood at 25 for 6, but they went on to make about 100 and then quickly rattled us —21—