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STAFF CHANGES
After two years without departures, the posting season is on us again. Major J. N. Wright, who has been Housemaster of Trenchard House for four years leaves us at the end of this term for an appointment in Edinburgh.
The House has been his main duty here outside the class-room, but he has also been in charge of miniature-range shooting, and with the assistance of Major Wilson, and members of the uniformed staff, he has greatly extended the use of the range, to boys in the first year secondary, as well as their seniors. On Wednesdays he has organised the activities of those secondary boys who are too young to be in the A.C.F., and he has been in charge of the School cinema-projector and the programme of Sunday evening films for the winter terms. For some years he has also given considerable help at the Aviemore Summer Camp. In school he has taught English and
general subjects to several forms, but generally concentrated on one younger junior secondary form as its form-master, taking it for as many subjects as possible.
Another to leave us this term is Captain A. F. P. Petrie. He has been here for five years, teaching Maths with great success to secondary classes at all levels. Outside the class-room he has been very active in school games : rugby and cricket particularly. He has also been running a golf-school for interested boys as a winter hobby. Those who have been coached by Captain Petrie may then join the Dunblane golf club as junior members and go to play golf in games periods and free time. Captain Petrie is himself a notable all round games player, though his activities have sometimes been restricted by an unfortunate tendency to break or dislocate limbs even in the course of such ordinary activities as dressing and undressing. The former Commandant once suggested that he ought to marry a nurse and live at the gate of a hospital. There was something prophetic in this remark, for Captain Petrie did marry into the hospital service, but into the administrative and not the medical side. If for nothing else, he will always remember Dunblane as the place where he found a wife and where he had his first experience of house-ownership and its problems. He is now moving south to the R.A.E.C. depot at Beaconsfield.
The best wishes of all here go with Major and Mrs Wright and their family, and with Captain and Mrs Petrie.
Another change recently has been the departure of Mrs Wilson, Wavell House Matron, and the arrival to take her place of Miss M. Bayliss. Mrs Wilson was a vigorous personality with good experience in schools, and she instituted some routine arrangements in Wavell House that were useful applications of her experience elsewhere. Miss Bayliss is much travelled. She was born in Shanghai, has spent four years in British Columbia, worked in California, taught English in Portugal, and worked in various schools
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in Scotland and England. She came to Scotland in 1957, and her home is now in Auchterarder. When speaking of Wavell House matrons, we must pay tribute to Mrs Martin, who has done a lot of work with the junior boys and has deputised as House matron, very successfully, in the period between departure and arrival of permanent matrons.
DISTINGUISHED VISITORS TO THE SCHOOL
llth February—Major-General F. C. C. Graham, C.B., D.S.O., Visiting Commissioner for the term.
24th March—Major-General I. I. A. Robertson, M.B.E., M.A., G.O.C. Highland District.
20th May—Mrs Mulley, wife of the Deputy Secretary of State for Defence (Army), and Lady Gordon Lennox, wife of the G.O.C. in C. Scottish Command.
9th June—Norman W. Graham, Esq., C.B.E., Secretary of the Scottish Education Department and ex officio a Commissioner of the School.
SCHOOL CAROL SERVICE
For a number of years there has been a carol service in the School chapel at the end of the Christmas term. Until Christmas 1964, it has taken the form of carols sung by a choir or by choir and congregation together, and a series of lessons read by boys of different ages and by representatives of staff and families. At the end of last Christmas term we had a change. Instead of the readings there was a Nativity Play performed by boys from forms up to the second year secondary and masters' daughters. There were one or two technical difficulties. Part of the action had to take place at too low a level to be clearly visible all through the Chapel ; and the Archangel Gabriel had to be very careful not to dislodge his wings getting in and out of the pulpit. However, the play was a great success. The lines were firmly and clearly spoken, especially by the main characters, Andrew Hill and Sian Wilson ; and the short readings which formed part of the play were done with confidence.
The carol service has come to be taken for granted. So it is time we paid a tribute to Mr Bruce and his choir, who again gave us an excellent performance. The boys taking part do so voluntarily and give up much of their time to practice for the carol service. In this they show a very good spirit.
Below we print the details of the service, and of the choir and those who took part in the production of the Nativity Play.
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