The School Year
 

House but has assumed the mantle of drama producer this year. The production will be an enterprising one in that we are working together with the Beacon School on a presentation of Sandy Wilson's musical The Boyfriend. Miss Strathdee, who has taken over as Matron of Cunningham House, affords a striking example of continuity in that her father was the first master chef in Queen Victoria School. Captain King has replaced Captain Bull in the Junior School and as the master in charge of the Sailing Club.
With so much to report about staff changes, there is not much room for comment on other events, but mention must be made briefly of some. This is a suitable time to take stock of our first year under the new House system. Inevitably, some snags have been revealed but there is no doubt that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. A particularly notable achievement by Haig House was to enter for The Scottish Daily Express Schools Debating Competition and to reach one of the regional finals.
The School Choir has reached new heights this year and has received several invitations to sing in churches outside the School. On 28 December, BBC Radio broadcast an Evening Service that had been recorded earlier in our own Chapel. It went out on the World Service, which included every country on the face of the globe except England. Even the most ardent latter-day supporter of the Declaration of Arbroath may feel that this is a rather severe snub for our southern neighbour.
We have had a full quota ot interesting and important visitors this year, including lecturers, dramatic actors, and so on, but two visitors merit a special mention. In October, Major-General Bredin, the Director T&AVR, paid us the signal honour of carrying out in person the first annual inspection of our newly constituted Combined Cadet Force Contingent. The exceptionally good report that he awarded us reflects great credit on Major Reid and his officers. Then, in February, the General Officer Commanding Scotland, and the Vice-President of Her Majesty's Commissioners, Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Leask, spent a day with us as our Visiting Commissioner for the term.
In March, we held another successful Old Victorians Association Weekend. This year, we have made a drive to enrol new members and have succeeded in adding over sixty. We are grateful to Mr E. V. C. Hayes for sending us his reminiscences of the early days of Queen Victoria School and we want to encourage as many Old Victorians as possible to emulate his example. We should be delighted to publish contributions of this sort in every future issue of The Victorian. We are sorry that George Stirrat has not been on hand to write his usual newsletter. He is in hospital in London, recovering from an operation on his hip and, sadly, we have to record that this will be the first Grand Day that he has missed

It has been a long, hard winter. As these notes are being written, the sky is overcast and threatening, although there is just a hint of some sunshine to come.
That is a fair description of the school year. How else could one describe a year in which we have suffered the loss of an unusually large number of stalwart members of staff and in which each term has been marked by an epidemic of one sort or another?
You may read elsewhere in these pages the tributes to our departing colleagues and it is not my purpose to duplicate that in these notes. Yet in a report such as this, it would be misleading to omit all mention of them. They have all made their contribution and left their impression on the School. As the years pass and new generations of boys come into Queen Victoria School, no doubt their memory will grow dim, but the value of what they have done will remain. So, whatever praises are accorded to them individually, it is fitting that a collective tribute should be paid to them here.
Miss Bruce, our Hospital Matron, was the first to leave us, when she married Captain Woodhouse at the beginning of the summer holiday last year. Only a few days after that Major and Mrs Hughes set off for the sunshine of Malta. At Christmas, Miss Chalmers retired after serving for 13 years as Matron to Cunningham House. Captain Bull retired from the Army at Easter to take up an appointment as Headmaster of a primary school in Garlieston in Wigtownshire. Within recent weeks we have had to bid farewell to Major Kislingbury, our Administrative Officer; to Mr Girvan, from the School kitchen, without whose support the Aviemore camps will never be quite the same again; and, most recently, to Mr Brown, our Senior Master and Principal Teacher of English. Finally, at the end of term, Mr Robertson, our Principal Teacher of Mathematics, plans to retire and to set off for a long holiday in New Zealand; Mr Wright will leave us for fresh fields and pastures new; and our headmaster, Lieutenant-Colonel Harrison, is to depart on his retirement from the Army.
Not all is gloom, however. The hint of sunshine is real. The School has withstood the changes with remarkable poise so that, although our new Headmaster, Lieutenant-Colonel Evans, will find a number of his colleagues are as new as he is, he can feel assured that Queen Victoria School will remain on an even keel. Several new members of staff have, of course arrived, and are so well settled that it is hardly appropriate to think of them as new. Major Athey has not only taken up the reins in Trenchard