Boys Receiving Apples from the Prime Minister of British Columbia - April 1950
This photograph was contributed by Mike Walton, who writes:
This was taken on the occasion of a visit from some Canadian embassy dignitaries (?), the highlight of which was a distribution of apples to the pupil population (can’t remember if everyone got one). I seem to recall that was one of only three occasions when “Square” Simpson made a joke. He was flanked by two buxom young ladies in somewhat brief costumes, there to distribute the apples. He said, “Well as you can see, we have some Canadian pippins here this afternoon....” I have a feeling we got a half-day’s holiday out of it. Must have been a Friday – one or two cadet uniforms evident in the background – or some cadet force event was going on – but there’s also a couple of scout uniforms too. Note the still unfinished new buildings around the back of the inner quad – can’t remember how many years we had those round us (out-of-bounds, of course, but what a challenge!). Note the majority of first years (actually called year 2 for some quixotic reason!) are in short trousers. How times change!!!
(See the names below the photograph.)
Personnel: across the back on the left are staff – I recognise Dickson
(History), Snowden, Skillen, Crinson, Killer King, Venn..... and there’s Tim
Millward in uniform, behind, too
Pupils from the left: Possibly Stuart Rawes (third row), Crump (second row),
Clark (front), Brown (front), William Deeth (front), John Roche (front – see
the apple!), Perrin (second), Neville Killick (front), Newton (second), Keith
Williams (front), Lawford(?) (second), Symons (front), Barnett (second), Drake
(front), Chambers (second), Boultwood(???) (front), Smith (second), ?????(front
– putting his apple in his pocket), Frost (second), Phil Edney (third), Geoff
Fisher (front – with another apple), Colin Watson (second), Norman Sutton
(front – apple in pocket – but he may be eating a bite!), Porter (third),
Mike Walton (second), Austin (front – with apple), Burgess (second), Gordon
(front), Stan Solomons (behind Burgess and Gordon), Cheesman???? (second),
Corrie (front), Gulliver (third), Roger Freeman (second), ????? (front – more
interested in his apple than the pippins on display!)......