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

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RIPLEY’S HOUSE

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oude It was generally expected that Ripley’s would have a good year, and we did, though there were a number of disappointments. We had hoped to retain the academic trophy but we were beaten by both Groves’ and Lake’s, and we lost the junior cricket cup. On the other hand there were a number of pleasant surprises and we supplied the school with an unusually large number of its leaders. A considerable factor in every successful year is the lead given by the senior boys, though this year they would be the first to acknowledge that they received enthusiastic support from the rest of the House including those members of the Junior House who were attached to Ripley’s. We staned the year with three school prefects: Peter Arm- strong was both head of the House and head of the School, Gerald Haddon ranked sec- ond to him in both capacities, and Sandy Foster was the third School prefect. Before the year was over Robin Douglas and Bill Hibbard had also been appointed School prefects. The House prefeas at the end of the year were Forie Angus, Charles Pent- land, Karl Anderson, David Phillips and Geoffrey Archbold. Angus, Pentland, Phillips and Archbold are due back next year, so the House should not suffer from inexperienced leadership. It might here be stated that Armstrong was also the captain of rugger, Fos- ter the captain of basketball, Hibbard the captain of cricket and chief petty officer in the corps, and that Haddon won the senior efficiency prize each term and was open champion in the Mid-Island track meet. The first of the inter-house events was the swimming. Last year we were a re- spectable second; this year we managed to win for the first time since 1952. The track and field sports were very closely contested and it was only after some use of an adding machine and Mr. Bullen’s slide-rule that Ripley’s were declared the winners by the very small margin of four points. Ripley’s seniors did well, but it was in the under sixteen events that we really excelled; Geoffrey Archbold was the champion in the under six- teen class in our sports and Christopher Ross was the champion under sixteen performer in the Mid-Island Track Meet. At rugger Ripley’s boys were prominent. In addition to Armstrong, the captain, the following played regularly for the 1st XV : Foster, Angus, Haddon, Hibbard and Pentland. Armstrong, Foster and Haddon played for the school’s successful seven-a-side team. We were also well represented on most of the other teams. In the house matches we won the finals against Groves’ by an unconvened try to nothing. At basketball five of the eleven members of the school’s first team were in Ripley ' s and we managed to retain the inter-house cup. Sandy Foster was a fine leader for our senior team while our other teams were captained by Bob O’Callaghan and Richard Anderson. At cross-country we did not shine as a House but Tommy Coldi- cutt and Mark Osburn performed very creditably for the school. Our other obvious weakness in the athletic line was rowing and Karl Anderson was our only representative in the school’s first two fours. We were prominent in cricket however, and Hibbard, Angus, Archbold, Pentland and Osburn played regularly for the 1st XL Ripley’s beat Copeman’s in the final of the inter-house cricket in a game which showed up to per- fection the xmcertainly of cricket and the wisdom of batting first. Ripley’s opened quite confidently and, thanks to Hibbard (39) and Angus (12), had reached 58 before the second wicket fell, but after that were all out for 84. John Brierley and Creighton gave Copeman’s an even better start and when Brierley was eventually bowled having scored 42, Copeman’s with five wickets to fall needed only seven runs to win, but they were all out for a total of 81. This account of how Ripley’s fared in athletic events has taken up a good deal of space, but even so it is far from complete. It is profoundly to be hoped that we shall not be accused of attaching undue importance to athletics; they obviously should not be the most important part of our lives at school — but they are certainly the easiest to write about. In the choir, in plays, and in practically every other department of school life Rip- ley’s boys made their contribution. In the academic field we had a rather disappoint- ing year but we were cheered up on Speech Day by learning that both the foundation scholarships had been won by members of the House, Glen Seeds and Richard Ander- son. The chief contributors to our points in the inter-house academic comj etition were — 17 —

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the Andrews brothers. Seeds, Coffey, Sauer and Pentland. Mr. Robinson is giving up his housemastership after seven years. proves oude A very good year of solid achievement in academics, sports, music, and extra- curricular activities was enjoyed by Groves’ this year. Quietly and ably led by Bruce Housser, the House developed a good spirit, and in a happy atmosphere pursued a great variety of aaivities with purposeful energy. Unselfish conformity in the sphere of co-operative living was fruitfully wed, by an encouraging number of boys, to a vigorous non-conformity in the sphere of thought and free creativity. There were many examples of initiative and enterprising service. For instance a new group of boys in grades 8 and 9 took over aaive operation of the Ritz, and were backed up by the experienced hands in grade 12 who formed a sort of Board of Direc- tors; the S.C.M. (Music Club) received much of its impetus from Groves’ boys, and over the year so improved its standard of music-making that it was able to present a well-appreciated programme at the school dance in May; the aggressive carpenters of the J.C.R. completed the work of transforming the common rooms, on the semi-private principal, into most attraaive and comfortable rooms; the artistic efforts of David Ross and E avid Gooderham were much in evidence in the beautifully decorated gym at the summer half-term weekend; a number of boys built boats in the hobby shop, Ian Ap- pleton in particular doing a fine piece of work on his smart little run-about; McKechnie machined a beautiful model cannon out of solid brass; Geoff Foster continued excel- lent work in the natural history club; Woodsworth gave an illustrated talk on his trip to Russia and Scandinavia; Charles Russ helped out on the organ at Cliffside and St. George’s Church in Victoria; almost a half of the House sang in the chapel choir and under Mr. Galliford’s superb direction were richly rewarded for their service; a large number of boys performed in the band and guard of the cadet corps; the Dramatic So- ciety brought out the talents of Julian Greenwood, John Martland and Harold Munn in the production of Twelfth Night;’’ three or four boys pursued the gentle art of ang- ling, delighting themselves amid the beauties of nature, wonderfully absorbed in an activity which generally disturbed the fish hardly at all — though occasionally a trout was impelled to co-operate and was brought triumphantly to the breakfast table the next day; Greenwood and Munn won the two reading prizes presented by the Arch- bishop; the greatly improved library was used by quite a number of boys; and num- erous boys took advantage of many trips and outings during the year — to symphony concerts in Duncan, to the Vienna Boys Choir and Virgil Fox recitals in Victoria, to the Ice Capades, to Hurricane Ridge for a weekend of skiing, and to the Dominion Astro- physical Observatory on Saanich Mountain. In the academic competition the House managed to bring back the academic shield after a close struggle with Lake’s. Many boys made fine contributions in this competi- tion, particularly Greenwood. Greenwood, too, during the Lent term won the junior citizenship cup for all-round contribution to school life. In sports the House had a very enjoyable year, winning both the junior rugby and junior cricket cups, the senior marksmanship cup and coming a very close second in the swimming, track and field, and cross country competitions. In addition, David Ross won the individual squash cup. The House contributed its share to the many school teams of the year, including a number of excellent leaders: Ross as vice-captain of the 1st XV, Larsen as captain of rowing, Bruce Johnstone as captain of the junior colts XV, and Sam Davidson as captain of the under fourteen basketball team. Rendering valuable assistance to Housser as House prefects during the year were: David Ross, Rodney Felling, Jon Ardagh, John Martland, John Larsen and Bill Mc- — 19 —