is>outf)'&frican ifloeiiean JllagaMne .69 ffftap, 1954 '37/654, f,:X . ( -'44 tKfje African ^oetean jHagajmc JSo. 69 itlap, 1954 ®ie is>outI) African i\ of bean Jflaga^ine CONTENTS Speech Day-Headmistress's Report Farewell to Mrs. Freer Inter-House C ompetitions Achievements and Distinctions School Officers, 1953 Schoo l Benevolences, 1953 Gifts to the School Building Fund Roedean School (S.A.) Jubilee Fund Acknowledgements Foundation Day, 1953 The Grandchildren's Party Items from the Log Book Looking Bac kwards The Arms of Roedean School (S.A.) ............. Girl Guides, 1953 Musical Activities, 1953 Senior Science Club Report Junior Science Club, 1953 Dramatic Society Report Photographic Society Report Hockey Report, 1953 Lacrosse Report, 1953 Tennis Report, 1953 .. Swimming Report, 1953 The School Play, 1953 The Social Study Conf erence Wide Open Spaces Chase Mary Macgulloch of Fife A Thunder Storm Basutoland Dominica .. .. Langs die Murmelende Stroompie Dit is Weer Lente The Sea at Night Lea rning to Drive Fragment on Swimming in the Gala Voels The Wrong Man Our Visit to the Mine .. .. .. Junior School Parents' Day St. Margaret's Day................................. Things I Like News of Friends S.A.O.R.A. Officials S.A.O.R.A. Committee for 1954 S.A.O.R.A. Directory .............................. Reference List to Married Names Page 1 6 7 7 9 9 9 10 10 11 11 13 14 15 17 18 18 19 20 20 21 21 22 22 23 24 24 25 25 26 27 27 28 28 29 29 30 30 30 31 32 33 34 34 35 36 42 42 43 69 Clje l§>outf) African &oebeatt iHagajtttt SPEECH DAY HEADMISTRESS'S REPORT 7th November, 1953 Mr. Chairman, My Lord Bishop, Ladies and Gentlemen, While echoing most sincerely the welcome that has been given you, My Lor d, I should like also to convey to you, Sir, our great satisfaction in h aving you as Chairman of our Board of Directors. It is many years now si nce I first met Mr. Sinclair on the Board of a Sub-economic Housing Soci ety in Johannesburg and when it became clear that Mr. Whitmore Richards was adamant in his decision to resign his Chairmanship of the Board, it was most comforting to find that Mr. Sinclair was prepared to succeed hi m. I am guiltily conscious that I am inclined to leave a great deal of d ifficult and tiresome detail to my Chairman, but if I do, it is because I have come to rely implicitly on his kindness, his generosity, his down right common sense. Not only to the Chairman, but to the whole Board mus t I express my gratitude for the way in which they have given us their t ime and thought in a year of expansion and consolidation such as this has been. A tremendous tribute is due too to you parents whose attitude towards the School is such a helpful one. It has seemed to me particularly this year that the School is not merely the place to which you pay enormous fees f or the so-called education of your children: it is a living entity with w hose hopes and fears, whose failures and successes, you have somehow iden tified yourselves. It is that which gives great heart to us who have to w ork out the details of our daily life. I refer, of course, to my colleagues, both on the Senior and Junior staffs whose patience is apparently inexhaustible: in spite of the heavy demands that are so often made upon it. Most particularly, I want to congratulate Miss Lewendon and her Staff for the valiant way in which they have kept u p morale during the alterations to the Junior School. The work has gone on quietly and steadily in spite of interruptions, by plumbers, painters, el ectricians, bricklayers and, most difficult of all, the banshee screaming of the circular saw. 2 THE SOUTH AFRICAN ROEDEAN The tremendous amount of work put in by our Staff and Senior girls for th e Fete so near the end of last year made me wonder whether I should have to strike an apologetic note when I came to the examination results of 19 52. Fortunately, however, we were able to prove that busy people do the b est work and the results are as follows: of our thirty-three Matriculatio n candidates, thirteen were placed in the first class, twelve in the seco nd, two in the third. Four girls who obtained School Leaving Certificates in December converted these to full Matriculation Certificates in March. Distinctions were gained in English, French, Afrikaans and Biology. For the first time we had Distinctions in the Laer Taalbond Eksamen, two passing in the Hoer Graad met lof, eleven others in the Hoer Graad; all the rest, except one, passed in the Laer Graad. In music all our candidates passed, two with Distinction in Grade II, one with Honourable Mention in Grade IV and one with credit in Grade VII. Dr. Anne Cleaver Scholarships were won in the Entrance Examination by Clare Brayshaw and by Judith Plumpton, both already members of the Sch ool. Two girls already holding scholarships in the School are to be gi ven the status of Dr. Anne Cleaver Scholars- Anne Murray and Wendy Sta llard. While on the subject of examinations, I want to say a word about the Join t Matriculation and its value as a qualification for University entrance. It is accepted by English Universities as the equivalent of the General Schools Examination on the Ordinary Level; it does not exempt candidates from taking at least two subjects on what is called the Advanced Level, n ormally taken at least a year after those on the ordinary level. It is in teresting though to hear that Claudie Flamand who matriculated here with a First Class last December, took English and French at the Advanced Leve l in England in July, passing in English and gaining Distinction in French. Turning now to the physical training of the School, I have to report tha t our tennis team though steadily improving, has just not managed to wor k its way out of the Second League. I am always sorry that no other scho ols play Lacrosse which is a beautiful and satisfying game. In the Life Saving Examinations we gained seventeen Intermediate Certificates, seven teen Bronze Medals, seven Bronze Crosses, five Silver Medals and two Ins tructor's Certificates. At the risk of appearing to boast, we have brought some of our sports tr ophies into the Hall today for you to look at. The Inter-High School Shi eld for Hockey became ours at the end of the winter, but will not be for mally handed over till the beginning of the New Year. There you see the Reliance Cup for the winner of the Inter-High Schools Girls' Swimming Ga la and the Shield for the best of the schools whose numbers are less tha n three hundred-the inference being that so small a school cannot hope t o win outright. Roedean won the Distin Cup for the Under 16 THE SOUTH AFRICAN ROEDEAN 3 Relay, the Lavenstein Cup for the Under 14 Relay, and Margaret Mackenzie is responsible for the Asher Swede Cup for the 100 yards Freestyle Open. It is gratifying to come home with a cup for individual prowess, but I am proud to say that it was in the relay races with teams of three or six g irls that we gained most points in the gala. It was a great day and many of you have already shown your interest in th e most practical way by the highly efficient filtration plant that makes our swimming bath a thing of cerulean beauty. Its former turgid waters ha d caused more concern and anxiety for the health of the School than I was aware of. Just as my own anxiety had reached its peak, I was greatly rel ieved to learn that on the 25th anniversary of an agriculturally famous e xperimental farm run by Imperial Chemical Industries in Berkshire, the im portant discovery was made that the dried algae of a stagnant pool contai ned fifty per cent protein content, equal to twice that of a pork chop or herring. It may be, that this accounted for the abnormally good health e njoyed by the School during the exciting weeks of preparation for the gal a. I do not often make personal references, but perhaps I may be allowed this one: Mac was a Bear, The Bear was bulgy, The Bulge was Algae, Two pork chops and a herring. So, I come to the wonderful gifts that the School has received during the year. The filtration plant then is the outcome of much strenuous work on the part of the Coronation Gift Committee and some of the more technical ly-minded of our fathers have given and are still giving tremendously of their time in supervising the electrical and chemical sides of the projec t, making all the delicate adjustments to its complicated machinery. We a re indeed grateful, although there are moments I am told, when our former ly intrepid divers hesitate to plunge from the top stage into the pool wh ose bottom has so long lurked in obscurity and is now so clear and appare ntly so close. Last Speech Day, I reported the Jubilee Fund as having reached £12,000. Since then there have been no major efforts, but contributions have con tinued to come in and have brought the total up by almost another £2,00 0.