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

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THE CONFIRMATION CANDIDATES: E. Amy Frampton Nancy A. MacDonald Anne L. McFarlane Mark Appleton Ian Back Paul Baylis Peter Boyd Bruce Clark Daniel Coffey Thomas Coldicutt Peter Culter Richard Farrally Dougal Fraser Dal Grauer Stephen Jeynes John Larsen James Milne Kirk Nordstrom Thomas Orr Richard Pyke Russell Quinn Alan Roaf Michael Robinson John Simpson David Tryon John Turvey Richard Williams John Wright — 28 —

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lie C liaf ei UP — on a height, built upon a rock stands the raison d’etre” for the school. It is within these walls of sacred import that we must find our right and proper beginning — and end. To attempt a less important aim would ultimately engender the nurture of the twin evils of secularism and materialism so feared or loathed by the men of thought of this age. ■Whether we always remember this at the school or even remotely succeed in ful- filling our destiny will often be a matter for speculation. And so it should be. Once we become satisfied we fail. We have endeavoured weekly and daily to realise our talents before God as stewards of His creation. In the Eucharist — said or sung — the altar of our God has been tended and the fire of the love of God and for our brothers has been fed and cared for. We have done, and do, this as a community of fellowship within the world — not as an isolated instance of ratified worship in an insular situation. The whole community of the three schools pray for, work for and worship the ideal of the Triune God in the WORLD. The missionary activities of intercession and material offerings are part of our worship, and, we hope will become an increasingly important part of our Christian endeavour. The work amongst our brothers in other areas of the world and of different race has been p art of our special concern this year and will continue to be so. The Community of the Resurrection and its life and effort in the Barbados will be our constant care. Apartheid and prejudice of colour or creed will not be part of our life here and from this House of Worship we bear, or attempt to bear, the love of Christ for all the world of God’s creation. The chapel collections bear testimony to our concern for the primary of this part of our religion. The major part of our offerings has been allocated to the work of the Community of the Resurrection and to the World Refugee needs. The daily offices have been said and the weekly services have been followed within our school life. This will always be so and we hope that it comes to be part of the natural and easy habit of our life here and that it will become a discipline beyond the school for each boy. His Grace, the archbishop of the diocese has been the advisor and father-in-God to all. His annual confirmation service was held on Passion Sunday and twenty-eight candidates from Strathcona and the boys’ school were confirmed. We have had as well kind visits from clergy within the diocese for whose help and guidance we are grateful. To the Servers’ Guild a great deal of credit and thanks must go for the smooth working of the machinery of worship. Early in the cold morning and late in the evening these boys have prepared for the services of the day. Without public knowledge much of this has been done and now publicly their help should be acknowledged. Ian Reid as senior server, and Charles Russ and Christopher Ross as sacristans have done a thorough and quiet Christian work. Thank you. To the headmistress of Strathcona and to the headmasters of Cliffside and Shawni- gan I humbly offer my thanks and gratitude for their kindness, indulgence and patience, especially in allowing the chaplain to be a priest free from all pressure usually found in schools of this type. It should be known by all parents present and prospective that here the Christian faith and chapel worship are not just an extra frill offered by these schools; — that the chaplain is not merely seen and unheard. The aim of the schools — all three — is to be Christian in growth and learning. I pray that all chaplains present and future may be worthy of such trust placed in them. — 27 —

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DL Ck oir For the first time in its history, the chapel choir this year gave a performance of a complete cantata: Theodore Dubois ' The Seven Words of Christ from the Cross.” Not- withstanding some occasional over-melodiousness, this widely used work is a moving and dramatic meditation on the redeeming passion of Our Blessed Lord, and its prepara- tion was for the choir a richly rewarding experience. The cantata was sung in March at St. John’s Church, Victoria, before a large congre- gation, and we were fortunate indeed to have as soloists Margaret Abbott, soprano, Peter Yelland, tenor, and John Bray, Baritone, all of whom gave musicianly and satisfying performances. We are grateful to these busy singers for their interest and whole-hearted co-operation. Many letters from members of the congregation testify to the devotional effective- ness of this presentation, and we hope it may set a precedent for further similar under- takings. For a number of years the choir has been an affiliate of the Royal School of Church Music, whose headquarters are in Surrey, England. While generally following the princi- ples of the Royal School, we have avoided any scheme of organisation” on the con- ferring of special distinction within our ranks as being irrelevant to the purpose of a church chior. In May we enjoyed a long-awaited visit from Dr. Gerald Knight, the Director of the Royal School. He heard a rehearsal of service music, and then gave us a blunt frank and useful adjudication. He expressed much satisfaction with the sound of the choral ensemble, and singled out for special remark the quality of the soprano tone. Afternoon tea in the Big School followed the rehearsal, and the boys chatted informally with Dr. Knight. in November the choir travelled by bus and ferry to sing at a largely attended service of Holy Eucharist in Brentwood Chapel. After the service we were served lunch by the ladies of the parish. An invitation has been received from the Victoria Musical Arts Society to present a programme of Christmas carols at their December meeting, and we are also asked to sing the service of Solemn Evensong in St. Barnabas Church, Victoria. The date of this service has not yet been arranged. The visit to Victoria of the Vienna Boys Choir gave our own choir a delightful encounter with the special type of choralism for which the group has long been famous. Many of the choir attended the Duncan concert of the Victoria Symphony Orches- tra in which Glen Gould appeared as soloist. Under the direction of its permanent conductor, Hans Gruber, the orchestra’s im- pressive performance proved it a thoroughly worthy partner for the genius of the re- nowned Canadian pianist. An otherwise splendid musical evening was marred only by Mr. Gould’s notorious and eccentric indifference to his audience. The last concert heard by members of the choir in the past year was played on the fine new organ of Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, by Virgil Fox of the Riverside Church in New York. This recital afforded a thrilling experience, made doubly enjoyable by the happy accord which Mr. Fox quickly reached with his enormous audience through his apt and enlightening comments. His own obvious joy in the instrument and the music com- municated itself irresistibly to his hearers, and there is no doubt that any subsequent visit by Mr. Fox would be enthusiastically welcomed. A WORD TO THE CHOIR: We all know the rather silly and over worked saying about choirboys looking like angels and behaving like demons.” It may be a matter of opinion whether the accom- panying photograph gives support to the first part of the remark; happily, the deport- 29 —