The Headmaster's Diary - 1950. Victoria School - Kurseong. |
||
5/1/1950
[Note: I believe that it was a Linx. At least I seem to remember that John, the carpenter, sat up for several nights waiting for the animal, with a gun. Editor.]
Agape L., Crump, Edwards, February R., Footman, McKenzie, Warner, White.
I went down to Kurseong at 3.30 pm. to attend a Tea given in honour of the Hon. Minister for Transport and Railways. On my return at 6.30, Mr Ross came up and made the folly. report.
A Staff meeting was held to decide on entries for the Cambridge exams. The 10 boys of the J.C. were all considered fit to appear, but of the S.C. 3 boys were considered almost certain to fail because of their extreme weakness in English – one is our own boy, an Indian, but the other two joined us last only year. We decided to test them again in August.
“Smiling Through” was shown this evening. The Cricket mat and wickets were scarcely off the ground when the football posts were erected and all three fields were besieged with enthusiastic football players.
Little David Maelzer made his First Holy Communion this morning. A lovely morning.
Editors Note: Another paragraph deleted by me.
We heard via the Hospital, the tragic news of Mr V.C. Prins’s death by lightening (or thunderbolt?) in Dacca while out camping with Scouts. No details. He and his wife (Matron of our Hospital) and younger son were to sail for England on the 22nd of this month.
One of our milkmen did not turn up. His house has been damaged his cattle killed. News of houses collapsing and very serious and innumerable breaches on road and line between this and Darjeeling. Cut off completely from Darjeeling - not even telephonic communication. We registered 15 inches of rain but it was obvious this was not correct as St Mary’s had collected 20.8 inches. Neither the Forest Office nor the T.A.B. Sanatorium had accurate measurements. Rain all day again though not quite so heavy as yesterday.
News reaching us of extensive damage, particularly in Darjeeling where there are supposed to have be en over 100 casualties. No electric current, nor are we likely to have any for weeks, the power house having been badly damaged. Evening Study has been put on to 7.15 pm. But as the evening turned out so clear and bright there was no evening study at all.
No posts up or down.
Attempts are being made to open up the old Military Road to motor traffic, for Darjeeling is cut off completely and the rail and road are likely to be unusable for weeks. I hear North Point were without meal, bread and milk all yesterday. They have sheltered 300 refugees rendered homeless by the cyclone. Telephonic communication with Darjeeling restored today.
There is restricted car traffic on the road to Siliguri, but the old military road is still unusable.
It is very rare indeed, to hear the cuckoo once in the monsoon break. But it was heard very clearly both yesterday morning and this morning. Very heavy rain and a high wind again since yesterday. No electric light yet.
8/7/1950 Mr Burnett, English Master, left today after being with us for 2 1/2 years. We are therefore, one short and likely to be for some time. 9/7/1950 The electric lights came on very dimly for a couple of hours tonight. They were very welcome. 10/7/1950 Our joy was short-lived: some defect in the Power House left us in our accustomed darkness all night, and we were unable to to show our educational films. 11/7/1950 A fine day, so a holiday was given. The educational films were shown this evening. 13/7/1950 R. February and A. Edwards, both of Std VIII were appointed prefects. 15/7/1950 "Mt PAl Trigger" arrived by air and was shown this evening. A couple of very fine educational films from the Govt of India, Delhi, also were shown. The first of a contest of best of three football matches was played today, between Dhobis (ours and Dow Hill),and sweepers ended in a victory for the latter. 16/7/1950 A meeting of the Debating Society which has not met, owing to the failure of electricity, for over a month was held this evening and a topic selected for debate on July 30th. 20/7/1950 The House tournaments in football commenced this evening. Thought he evenings have usually turned out fine all this week, the mornings did not allow of a fair weather holiday being given. 22/7/1950 "The Green Man" was shown this evening but the film was evidently old and worn and the performance was very unsuccessful The second of the Dhobi - Sweeper match was won this time by the dhobis (1 - 0). So we have a real final next Saturday.
Ten scouts in the charge of Mr Higgins camped out at Leila Hall. 24/7/1950 A fine morning so a holiday was granted. House Matches were played in the morning. 25/7/1950 Another fine morning; and as the school has been behaving itself very well I gave another holiday. There is great enthusiasm this year over the House Matches. The Houses are a wonderfully even: every evening sees a draw over all three divisions. We are having an extraordinary break in the weather - extraordinary for the time of the year. Beautiful sunshine, with thunder and rain in the late evening. 28/7/1950 House Boxing Tournament starts tonight. Kellas won the House (Football) Tournament narrowly. "Big. Store" was screened this evening. As both schools are now out of quarantine Dow Hill was able to attend the pictures here. This is a great relief, for it is a nuisance having to send the projector to Dow Hill. 30/7/1950 A debate, "The atom bomb should be internationally controlled" was held this evening. This was the first big debate of the year; for, the breakdown of electricity prevented meetings being held, and Mr Burnett's departure delayed the resumption of debates. 5/8/1950 "Romeo and Juliet" was shown this evening. Hockey has not started yet as neither the hockey sticks ordered from Calcutta by air, nor any from Darjeeling have as yet come. Transport difficulties and food shortages make life far from easy these days; and the pst of course, can be written off as a means of communication with the outside world. 8/8/1950 With the arrival of the hockey sticks, the hockey season commenced this evening. 12/8/1950 An attempt was made to show "Silver River" this evening, but a fuse in the main building threw the place into darkness, and the screening of the picture had to be postponed. 13/8/1950 A debate was held tonight on "It is better to be a day scholar than a boarder". [No mention of who won the debate. Editor] 15/8/1950 Independence Day - a holiday. The scouts dressed and were ready to go down to a rally in Kurseong when the rain prevented their attending. Stds II & IV attended a social at Dow Hill from 4 pm to 6 pm; and a dance was held here for Stds 4 upwards, Dow Hill attending. At 7.45 pm while the dance was in progress an earthquake shock was felt. Though it was severe and lasted a minute or two there was absolutely no panic; in fact the dancers scarcely noticed it. We were surprised, therefore to learn from the papers that it was a very severe shock - the severest since 1897, severer than either the Bihar (1934) earthquake or the Quetta (1935) one both of which caused considerable damage and loss of life. 19/8/1950 "In Hollywood" was shown this evening. Further reports indicate severe damage in North Assam where floods caused by the earthquake have disrupted communications. It appears that nearly every day since Aug 15 there have been one or two earthquake shocks though we have not felt any ourselves. 21/8/1950 The Second Term exams commenced today. Continuous rain for the past week. Bookings to Calcutta are suspended and we cannot return the cinema film 25/8/1950 Exams give over today and a number of boys leave for three days holidays. 21 scouts leave for camp at Woodcot 26/8/1950 "Night and Day" shown today. After a fortnights continuous rain there was a slight break. 27/8/1950 The whole school went to the cinema in town at 10 am. to see "Scott of the Antarctic". The weather remained fine. 28/8/1950 Boys returned from their month end. Scouts back, two Educational films shown. 29/8/1950 Cambridge Certificates received today. 1/9/1950 Boxing Finals at 5 pm. 12 bouts judged by Rev. Beech S.J., Rev. Fr Murphy S.J., and Rev. A Nestor. Very keen, clean contests. Senior Div: Most Scientific Boxer - C Antrim (Std IX) Best Loser - R Avery (Std IX) Junior Div: Most Scientific Boxer - R Morrison (Std V) Best Loser - R Blake. A wet and windy evening. 3/9/1950 The little Catholic First Communion (4) of Dow Hill and all the Dow Hill Catholics attended Mass here this morning. 5/9/1950 "The Sea of Grass" was shown this evening. Class Elocution Competitions commenced yesterday. 8/9/1950 We played the Y.M.A. in hockey this evening. The score was 1 all. A wet evening. 9/9/1950 "Good Earth" was screened this evening. The sun appeared for a short while this evening after being hidden for months. 10/9/1950 A nice bright morning with the snows visible. Clouded over later though the day remained fair on the whole;e. A letter from St Helen's at 10 am today to say the music examiner would be arriving today and would examine the pupils as soon as he arrived. Our three candidates - C. Barraclough and D W Avery (Junior) and N Sweeney(Adv Prep) went down with Mrs Nestor after lunch. At 7 pm the Sister Superior sent the results up - all three passed. 11/9/1950 A heavenly day: bright, warm sunshine all day. A holiday was given. Everything points to the end of the monsoon, but it is rather too early for this. So? 17/9/1950 "Marie Antoinette" did not arrive yesterday, so had to be shown this evening. 21/9/1950 Held a Dress Rehearsal for our concert this evening. 22/9/1950 A full Dress Rehearsal was held this evening at 5. Goethals and Dow Hill Juniors attended. It was an awful flop. 23/9/1950 The Concert in spite of uncertain weather was very well attended and greatly enjoyed. Everything went off splendidly. 26/9/1950 Some of the boys complained to me this morning of the Games Master) robbing them of victory in their House Match last evening by poor refereeing due, not to partiality but ignorance. I am told there was quite a demonstration on the flat at half time last evening, and later ugly remarks were passed about the refereeing. this is not the first time have had complaints on this score [What a pun! Unintentional I'm sure .Editor], both from the boys and the staff. I spoke to the Games master - and told him he must try to maintain better discipline both on the playing field and at P.T. The misfortune is he is not able to, and the discipline of the whole school is suffering in consequence. I have had to ask other members of the staff to referee the remaining games. 28/9/1950 A whole holiday. Group photographs of the school by divisions were taken this morning by Rev. Fr. W. Clement, S.J. These were followed by the remaining matches in the House Tournament which Mallory narrowly won. In the afternoon the whole school saw "Hamlet" on the screen in town. A debate, the last of the year, was held at 7 pm. 29/9/1950 Std V and upwards attended a concert at Goethals. 30/9/1950 The following boys were confirmed at 3 pm today by the Metropolitan of India: C Adams I Anthony D Avery DW Avery R Brindly R Falloon W February J Feltham - See a copy of my Confirmation Certificate. A Fisher S Fisher R Hardy D Kelman R Kilburn R King N Moore K Pathe A Twiddy M Whaling C MacDonald Educational films shown at 7 pm. 2/10/1950 We are having lovely weather. ONly 9 inches in September instead of the average of 30. "The Yearling" was shown. A heavy shower during the pictures. 8/10/1950 The Final Debate of the year was held this evening. The Headmaster presided and three priests (Fr Farrell, Fr Beech, and Fr Donahue) from St Mary's judged. The subject was not disclosed to the boys until 1 1/4 hours before the debate was timed to start. The motion was "That in the opinion of this house more attention should be paid in school to Mathematics and Science than to English, History and Geography" After the debate the house decided by 40 to 38 in favour of the motion. G White was declared the best debater in the Senior Division and W Boardman, in the Junior Division. 9/10/1950 The Heats were run off today in warm sunshine. 12/10/1950 Goethals Sports. Our Relay team was beaten easily. 14/10/1950 Dow Hill Sports. 16/10/1950 Our Sports were held today in lovely weather. The usual dance was held after the sports. Poojah holidays commenced this evening. About thirty boys have gone home. Lt Col L Hannagan E.D. of Margarets Hope T.E. presided at the Sports and Mrs Hannagan gave away the prizes. 18/10/1950 Twenty Catholic boys went with Fr Varz (?) to Woodcot for a picnic. 20/10/1950 Mr Ross took the cubs to the Chimney for a picnic. 21/10/1950 "Till the Clouds Roll BY" was shown this evening. Rain during the show. The first rain we have had for weeks. 22/10/1950 Heavy rain. Boys returned from Poojah holidays. 28/10/1950 "High Barbara" was shown this evening. Lovely weather again. I do not remember so fine and mild an October. 30/10/1950 A Standing Committee Meeting was held this morning in Victoria, when the accounts (Private) for the quarter ending September 30th were tabled. 2/11/1950 The finals of the Education Competition were held at 2 pm today. Miss HArley, Fr. Farrell S.J., and Fr. Daly S.j. judged. Competition was very keen. The results were as folly. Juniors: 1. D Johnstone. 2. B St. George. Middles: 1. K Pathe 2. L Hardy Seniors: 1. G White 2. R Avery 4/11/1950 Dow Hill Speech Day - Our boys attended. 5/11/1950 Mr Staynor inspected Victoria. (Inspected E.V. Staynor. Insp (?) WB) 8/11/1950 The Autumn Governing Body Meeting was held at Dow Hill. Very few present. 10/11/1950 Speech Day, with Mr Staynor presiding. After the distribution of prizes there was an exhibition of Art followed by a P.T. display. Our glorious warm sunny days continue. We have been very lucky. 11/11/1950 At Mr Staynor's request a holiday was granted. Mr Staynor left for Calcutta at 11 am. Our good weather seems to be deserting us. Clouds made it cold today. "The White Cliffs of Dover" was screened today. 15/11/1950 The dressing room of A and B Dormitory was visited by thieves last night when the clothes worn by several boys during the day were stolen. The night guard knew nothing of the robbery. The Police were called in17/11/1950 School Final Examinations and the Middle School Exam for Std 5 commenced today. 22/11/1950 A picnic for Stds II and III was held today. The afternoon was cloudy. 24/11/1950 Examinations gave over, and books were taken in. 25/11/1950 Bonfire and Farewell Dinner held, followed by an impromptu concert, were held this evening. 26/11/1950 The First Party in the charge of Mr Higgins, left school at 7 am. Their train left at 8 am. They are going via Pakistan. Trucks from the Railway came up to take boxes and bedding down to the station. A much better arrangement than having coolies. 27/11/1950 The Second Party, with Mr Bloud in charge, left at 7 am. The Cambridge Exams commenced at 9 am in magnificent weather. 28/11/1950 The Senior Cambridge went down to the pictures. 2/12/1950 After a couple of cloudy cold days the weather improved again. Both Seniors and Juniors went down to see "Robinson Crusoe" in the town cinema. 7/12/1950 Cambridge Exams gave over this evening. 8/12/1950 The Cambridge party, with Mr Ross in charge, left at 8.30 am via Pakistan. Coolies to carry the beddings did not turn up, so servants were mustered at 8.45 and beddings taken down i time. A change from our lovely weather. |
||