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

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awarded the Trophy for the best band and our Guard came second. During the Naden week- end in May our Corps won the aggregate Shield for the best overall performance of all the Sea Cadet corps on the Island. These results, coupled with the outstanding performance of the Cadets in the Annual Inspection speak well certainly for the practical side of our Cadet training; with regard to the theoretical side, it is noteworthy that in their examinations re- cently all our candidates for Petty Officer 2nd Class passed, and nineteen out of twenty passed for Leading Cadet - with Marks achieving the highest result in B.C. This overall record, I feel, speaks extremely well for the officers, for the Cadets, and-, in fact, for the spirit in the Corps. I should like to mention also in this report a marked rejuvenation which has taken place in our Scouting activities this year. With the coming of Mr. Archbold, who has taken over the Group, the enrollment has doubled, and the number of activities has increased con- siderably. These included a troop camp of three days, two camps of two days each, a number of one-day hikes, and a good deal of interest and effort on the part of the Scouts as a whole in qualifying for their various proficiency badges. At the end of the season the Group now has five First Class Scouts - all of which are wearing All Round Cords and are the first in our history to have this honour — six fully qualified Second Class Scouts and some twenty who are nearly there. I am pleased to report that of the 53 proficiency badges now held by our Scouts, 23 are Community Service badges and this I consider to be a very important point. In our various activities I believe it is essential that we should continually keep before us the determination to serve, as a school, and when we can, the community in which we live. Again on the athletic side the School has had a good year; and I am not basing this conclusion on the number of wins which our teams have achieved — although the record in this regard is particularly good — but on the approach to games which our boys are showing. While they approach their games with tremendous enthusiasm, I am particularly pleased with 1% MJk m vx WM S iil r

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thank you to them and to underline their generosity can in no way adequately express the tremendous gratitude which we feel. This act was one of faith in the importance of educa- tion to our future, and was one of outstanding generosity. We can only hope, and strive to the end, that our purposes and efforts here at Shawnigan will ever be worthy of their faith. In this connection, also, I am pleased to announce that we are now able to go ahead during the summer with our plans to instal a language laboratory in the new building. Shawnigan will in fact be the first school in B.C. to embark upon this new approach to the teaching of languages — and this, of course, is one of the primary purposes in education which the independent school can serve, that of taking a lead and experimenting - always in search of better and more effective methods of teaching. The language lab. technique has, of course, proven itself an unqualified success and is now established in most of our universities; but we believe that it will produce even more effective results if it is brought in too at the secondary school level where the ground work is being laid. In the other spheres of school life we have continued to encourage as wide a variety of activities as time and numbers would allow - our purpose being always to widen the interests of the boys and to extend their capabilities. In approaching these other activities I would first of all like to extend the thanks of the School congregation to Mr. Galliford and to the Choir for the magnificent work which they have done during the year. The whole philosophy of our choir singing as developed by Mr. Galliford is not that they should put on recitals, but that they should lead us in our worship; it is not their purpose to sing for the greater glory of the choir, but that through devotion and hard work they shall produce sacred music which will represent the most worthy offering to God of which this community is capable. Thus, we do not offer our con- gratulations to them as a recital group, but our gratitude to them for their service to the community in God. Another aspect of our school life, with which I have been particularly pleased, has been the greater interest shown this year in music, drama, and speech arts. So that everyone gets a chance to contribute something to the community in line with his particular talents - as well as for many other reasons of course — it is important in a school that activities like these should flourish. In this connection I would like to congratulate the directors and all the boys who worked so hard and produced such a good, standard in November in both Trial by Jury and that interesting play Dawn Will Come ; and also I would congratulate all those directors and boys who did so well in February and March in the Cowichan Drama Festival and the Cowichan Music Festival — to name a few, Mr. Josselyn, the director, and Fraser, Sharp and Grauer, the actors, in The Proposal , which was judged as the best pro- duction in the Festival; Greenwood ma. winning the Open Class for piano and Ladner winning the Under 14 class for piano; Sharp winning the Open Class for Shakespeare reading and Hunter winning the Under 16 Class for Prose reading; Arndt winning the open class for Bible Reading and Redpath winning the Under 16 Class for Bible Reading; and Sauer win- ning the Open Class Public Speaking Contest. While these were the winners, there were many other boys who entered and who worked extremely hard on their particular assignments. I think that all of these boys, and particularly the staff members who worked with them so effectively, should be congratulated and encouraged in every way possible — because only in this way can we help to develop the culture in Canada which is so badly needed. Over to another side of our school life, I can report that our Sea Cadet Corps has had one of the most successful years in our history. At the annual Tri-Service Cadet Competi- tion for all corps on the Island, which was held in April in Duncan, our Cadet Band was 13

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the good sportsmanship which is generally shown by Shawnigan boys in competition. There are many traditions which institutions can well do without; but this is a tradition which over the years we must cling to and be proud of. In rugger, after the unprecedented successes of the past two years, we considered this as mainly a building year. At the same time, our 1st XV split its matches with both St. George ' s and University School, and with them is certainly considered as one of the top schoolboy teams in the province. I must say that I was delighted with the fact that the com- petition in rugger between these three schools was so close this year; I think this is a good sign. More basketball was played this year than usual due to the weather and also the fact that for once we had a team which could hold its own against any of the high schools on the Island. I might add that the starting five averaged 6 ' 2 (due undoubtedly to the healthy food, the regular hours and the climate!). Cross Country continues to become more and more popular in the School. There are, of course, many boys who still dislike it because of its difficulty; however, there is a grow ing body of enthusiasts who train regularly and who are, by persevering, beginning to appre ciate the tremendous values to be derived from being in top shape physically. In any event, our team is to be congratulated on winning the Independent Schools Cross Country Meet, involving both St. George ' s and University School, for the fifth time in six years. In cricket too there has been an increased interest throughout the School, and this has shown itself in the results produced. The 1st XI has had an undefeated season, beating University School twice, St. George ' s, and the Vancouver Juniors. There was a very good team spirit, and in fact they were a team in the true sense of the word. Nobody was particularly outstanding, except that John Creighton proved himself to be a very good captain both on and off the field. The Rowing Club too has flourished this year due in large part to the enthusiasm and interest of Mr. Grey. On June 2nd an International Regatta was sponsored here by the School and we had over 130 oarsmen participating, representing U.B.C., Lake Washington R.C., Greenlake R.C., Kelowna R.C., and Victoria R.C. In the Junior Eights, which was the main event at the schoolboy level, our Eight managed to beat a strong contingent from Greenlake, although our coxed Four ended up in second place. We are very anxious to make this Regatta an annual affair, hoping that senior crews will look upon it as an opportunity for much needed competition, and that as a result the junior crews will be inspired by the standard which they will be enabled to witness. In track and field, under the able guidance of Mr. Hyde-Lay, the School has again had an outstanding season. Suffice it to say that the team won with the help of Strathcona the Mid Island Track Meet, which included six high schools, for the third consecutive year, and they also won the Independent Schools Track Meet, which included both University School and St. George ' s, for the third consecutive year. I should add a footnote to this, however, that they only managed to beat St. George ' s by two points and that it was a very interesting meet. In addition to these many activities to which I have referred, there are of course many other pursuits which boys are actively engaged in, such as squash, shooting, gymnas- tics, woodwork, model building and sailing. While the numbers of participants in these may not be so great, this is certainly balanced by their enthusiasm — and it is only time which prevents me from reporting on these activities as well. At this point, however, I must emphasize this:— that none of these activities could be as successful as they are if it were not for the staff of this School. It is all very well for me to stand up here and list our good results — but the men responsible are the men sit- 15