Walkerville Collegiate Institute - Blue and White Yearbook (Windsor, Ontario Canada)

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BLUE AND WHITE BRITISH GUESTS Front Row: Beryl Robinson, Betty Ramsay, Maureen Lonsdale, Barbara Hughes. Back Row: John Lee, Margaret Pike, Noel Carew, Peter Daniels, Dorothy Burdall. “LETTERS FROM HOME” I started corresponding with Winni- fred Allam during the summer of 1937. Winnie is an average girl from an average English home, living n the ever splendd city of London. Although she has just turned seventeen her services have been required by the government for war purposes. She has two brothers and one sister. Many letters have crossed the ocean. Then the war came and with it letters that I feel are worth repeating to you. Her own words can describe her feel¬ ings much better than I can. I quote: “We have been rushed home from school to give notes to our parents about a meeting to-night. In case of war we shall be sent to a place, which our parents will not even know, and we shall not be able to write.” Then she was evacuated! Again I quote: “It’s surprising how I miss my home. The arguments we have had all seem so silly now I wonder why I was so ‘wild’ at things they said. I appreci¬ ate the love and tenderness I then took for granted. I pine for my home, my Lovely home!” In England the women and girls knit a great deal, supplying their own wool. Winnie was very surprised to hear that we don’t buy ours. After a time Winnie went back to London, stopped school, but continued with a night course and then she went to work. At noon she would walk around the tower of London. Often she has met some of our Canadian soldiers. In the same letter I heard that her sister’s boy friend had been killed in ac¬ tion. The next letter goes on: “Our home is still intact although there are some places near that have been affected by bombs and land mines. The only thing that has happened to us is that a balloon broke loose and gave us a fright when we suddenly saw a great silvery thing tapping at our win¬ dow about 12 o’clock one night—a few tiles and bricks came down with the bal¬ loon but that isn’t much to worry about. “Our church was bombed, and the ground underneath our shelter shook. Page Thirty one j

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BLUE AND WHITE Well, I should like to say a few words about this. Thinking is a great art. One must know how to think. If you attack a pro¬ blem intelligently, nine times out of ten you will find its solution. All subjects we take at our school teach us how to think for ourselves. We have no time to lose. Our road of life is only so long; we cannot turn back. Once we cross the barrier of youth there is nothing we can do about it. We simply must go on. So, now, when our power of learning is at its best and our fathers are still willing to pay the bills, we should work hard at our lessons. To me school means everything. To some of us, school is a sort of prison. Well, all right, let it be a prison. Finish your five year sentence and then, who knows, maybe you will be one of the greatest persons of our time. Even if education fails to give you that wonderful position you are plan¬ ning to get, do not worry; it will pay for itself. The dictionary says that ed¬ ucation is strengthenng of the powers of body or mind. So, it is. High School is one of the best remedies for weak minds. It gives us better understanding of the world, so that we can enjoy things thoroughly and find that “beauty is a joy forever”. A. P. II-B England at War In England to-day, there is no .fev¬ erish excitement or panic, but people go about their business as if nothing has been going on. The people themselves have not changed, but England has. Buildings have been sandbagged, win¬ dows broken, and bomb craters scatter¬ ed here and there, and houses blown down by the blast of bombs. Many men have given up jobs to enlist in the Air¬ raid Precaution, commonly known as the A. R. P. The men can enlist in its numerous branches such as the Auxil¬ iary Fire Service, as air-raid wardens, and for the women there is the casualty nurses corps. The Government took steps to pro¬ vide for the safety of children by organ¬ izing an evacuation. There were two ev¬ acuations. The first was not a success, but the second, which was several months later, seemed to be better. The children were taken into the country where they were billeted among the townsfolk. This was a great idea, but many of the children got homesick. The government provided for those who earned under 5 pounds a week by giv¬ ing them air-raid shelters free. The shelters were made of galvanized iron and afforded good protection. Air-raids were then becoming more numerous, though they were really few as compared with the number to-day. When an air-raid siren went off there would be no panic or terror, but people would go calmly to the shelters. On one occasion there was great excitement when a ’plane came zooming out of a cloud and was promptly shot down. Many people said it was a German, but later it was officially announced it was a British ’plane shot down by mistake. For protection parks have been turn¬ ed into anti-aircraft batteries or search¬ light and detecting emplacements. As there was a menace from German para¬ chutists an armv of civilians was organ¬ ized to combat this. Each man was given an army uniform and a rifle and so ano¬ ther step was taken to protect the Brit¬ ish people. In the parks also, public air¬ raid shelters have been ercted so that people who are caught out in an air¬ raid or who are without shelter, may go in there. The British morale is beyond words, as they spend most of the day in air¬ raid shelters without a word of com¬ plaint. I think that every British sub¬ ject should do his part in the war, for over there they are fighting for us and for democracy. Noel Carew, 9-C. Page Thirty

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BLUE AND WHITE But others have had it worse so we mustn’t complain. Our Vicar had been inducted the Sunday before and was glad that the school opposite was not bomb¬ ed, because there two to three hundred homeless people were sheltering” Her brother Fred has recently been ordained, now he works hard all day and night doing A.R.P. work. Now let me tell you what they do with some of the money. At work there is a Red Cross Fund and also a Spitfire Fund. At home they put so much away each week hoping that one day their church will be rebuilt. Also they have Safety First Money. To save waste paper many English people now use their envelopes more than once. Winnie has received a letter end of the shelter down if the door gets blocked. We are hoping to have bunks put in our Anderson and perhaps we may be lucky enough to have it concret¬ ed out as well. The letter goes one, “I am now go¬ ing to get a few minutes sleep as I only had three and three-quarter hours yes¬ terday and I do not want to be a mess in the morning, for that would please Hitler, and I’d hate to do that. We over here in this safe country should be glad that we do not have to put up with the merciless bombings that our bulldog friends do, but we should help them with every ounce of energy we possess. Nancy Dayus, XI-B with the envelope thicker than the letter itself—that particular envelope had been used ten time. Then Will joined “His Majesty’s Ser¬ vice” and he was married shortly after. I even received a sample of the mater¬ ial the dresses were to be made from and later a picture of the wedding group Then her letters about air raids. She wrote one letter in the corner of her garden, her feet resting on their Ander¬ son on which vegetables grow. She has often been awakened during the night, has dressed quickly by candle¬ light, gathered their gas masks, scram¬ bled hurriedly for the shelters. The men remain outside until gun firing is heard because they have to be very careful of the limited supply of air. Here is a plan of their shelter. I quote: “At the front there is a huge tank of water, then nearer to the shel¬ ter is an anti-splinter blockade. A wet blanket is right in front of the door just in case there is a gas attack. The And¬ erson is entered by a small pair of steps. On the floor is a mattress on which the MY HOBBY - STAR GAZING No, I wasn’t dropped on my head when a baby, at least, I don’t think so. Nor did I at an early age dsplay remark¬ ed precocity. No, star-gazing is my hob¬ by, not because of some hidden mutual quirk, but because I like it. Because I like it—why? Because I find in my hobby relaxation, pleasure, opportunities for thought, study and dis¬ covery. When you first trace out the outline of Taurus you feel what Colum¬ bus felt so many years ago—the pride of discovery. When you realize the im¬ mensity of the universe, when you learn that it takes hundreds of years, yes— years, for the lght from many stars to reach our world and contrast this know¬ ledge wi ' th your own insignificance, your egotism flattens out like a pancake, and a very thin pancake, at that. Star-gazing is like saving pennies in a piggy bank—the more you put in, the more you get out. The more you read astronomy books, the more you study those “diamonds sparkling on the black velvet of the night”, the more enjoy- lady from next door and her baby are ment you will get out of this hobby. Un¬ sleeping. There are two forms on oneSii like many pastimes, astronomy for the side on which we are resting and oppos-Li-Jkamateur is not expensive; a library book ite these are small stools. Around theMMof star-charts, a flashlight, a flexible side of the shelter are very brightly col-HQneck (for craning backwards) and a oured rubber covers. We can push one great deal of patience—these are the re- Page Thirty-two