Clothing and other items: labelling

I was looking at the list of clothing in the 1963/1964 Trafalgar prospectus. The boarder’s outfit clearly states that every article must be plainly marked with owner’s name.


The notice on Camp Ouareau’s web site states plainly - all articles must be labelled or marked. No trunk or luggage over 15” - they must fit under the camp bed. I do remember that note from my time at camp - I wonder if they are the same beds.

A suggested extra - stuffed animals can go to camp. I have photographic proof that Ruthie Rabbit went to both Traf and Camp Ouareau.

At camp no electronic devices are welcomed. At Traf I had a small radio and also a record player - that certainly dates my time there!

At Greenbelt there are many horses and many horsy items all around. Lockers and brackets for holding saddles are well labelled. Even so things sometimes go missing but they most usually turn up again soon and hopefully in good condition.
Abracadabra has some of her items labelled - the clips to hold her winter blanket, her warm weather blanket and her halter. It is quite a safe place to keep stuff even though there are lots of kids around.

Traf memories: some more

One of the wardens in the boarding school was English from Bury where my dad was born. I never visited there until after he died.

There was a large dinner gong in the hallway outside the dining room. Who got to ring it? I am sure it was not the students.

At one time there were 2 cooks in the kitchen. Both made chocolate chip cookies. Of course one made much better cookies than the other and cookie experts could always tell who had been baking that week.

We had regular fire drills in the boarding school. There was an old type of fire escape that had to be lowered to the ground. One of the larger boarders was assigned to go down first to do just that. It was never me.

Boarders trunks were put in storage in the basement. It was a sign of school ending and summer coming that we were allowed to go down there to retrieve them.

School magazines

I was looking again recently at my pile of school magazines. It was prompted by notices in my email about planning for the 125th anniversary of Trafalgar.


For some reason I have a copy of the Trafalgar Echoes for 1963 - the 75th anniversary of the school. I did not start attending until the fall of 1964.

I also have a copy of the 1968 Lampada - the last issue for Lachute High School. That was my class but I graduated from Traf.

It is interesting to look at the ads in the magazines. In the Lampada the ad for Ayers where my dad worked always had a prominent place. It was a prominent employer in the town.

Names of students and teachers come back to me as I read the magazines.

Looking backward - way, way back

I have been part of several 100th anniversary celebrations in the past - SSJD, St. John’s Anglican Church, Trafalgar School for Girls.

Now there are starting to be 125th anniversary celebrations. I much enjoyed last year’s at the convent in Toronto.

Now St. George’s Anglican Church which I attend on Wednesday morning is celebrating 125 years. They are planning a dress up event and a meal with recipes from that era.

When I thought about the date I realized that in 1885 my mom’s mom was born. She died 25 years ago at the ripe old age of 99 - just a few months short of her 100th birthday.

Music from my past

I see in the news that Mary of Peter, Paul and Mary fame has just died.

I liked to listen to their music. I am sure it was required listening when I was at boarding school in the 1960s.

July 7, 1917

My dad was born in Bury, Lancashire, England.

I visited there with my mom after my dad died.

One of the matrons in the boarding school at Trafalgar was from Bury.

Snow and winter in the past

There were kids outside playing on a pile of snow outside my house just as Kathi and I and the other neighbourhood kids did years ago. There was an open field near our house where the snow was dumped in large piles after being cleared off streets and driveways. It was a great place to build snow castles.

Not too long ago I heard some kids singing - I am the king of the castle and you are the dirty rascal. This expression has been around for a long time because I remember it when I was young.

*****

One of the neighbours built a skating rink on their property. It was small but a good place to start out. Behind the dairy in town there was a more formal rink. The dairy is still there and it still has great ice cream.

There is another skating connection with the dairy. The family name was Lowe and Kevin Lowe - a NHL hockey player - was from Lachute.

When I was at Trafalgar in Montreal there was a skating rink in the back garden.

We went skiing at Carling Lake Ski Center which has been closed for some years now. Now there is a resort hotel across the road with a fancy restaurant. When I was growing up it was a private facility owned by Ayers Limited the company that my dad worked for. (See Father’s Day post for a picture of my dad relaxing there.)

I think there were toboggan runs as well at the ski center. I also remember tobogganing down the hill towards the North River in Lachute near our house.

*****

I gave up skiing when I started to ride horses in the winter of 1965 or 1966. I could ride all winter and at that time we rode outside in the snow.

I probably did not skate at all for the 6 years I was at university. Then I moved to Ottawa and I lived downtown close to the skating on the Rideau Canal. The canal was just down the street from where I lived for 15 years so I had no excuse. When I moved to my house going to the canal and parking etc. was somewhat of a challenge so eventually after several years of not using them I gave away my skates.

I still ride in the winter but in the indoor arena. I think Abra would like to be ridden in the snow. I am thinking about that.

*****

My dad skated and skied. My mom had done cross-country skiing when she was younger.

From the letters my dad sent my mom during the war.

Jan. 1943: You can go to Lachute and borrow my skis; but remember they have been educated to do some very fancy turns.

Dec. 1943: You ought to do a little skiing then you will be able to pull me out of the drifts instead of vice versa.

Traf reunion: part 2 (Montreal)

I met up with her on my short walk around the McGill campus. She has been there a long time. What was Royal Victoria College - the women's residence - is now the Music department.

She was there in my mom's days at McGill and I certainly remember her from my time there as well.

I travelled by bus to my school reunion. Coming into the city I wondered where exactly the train tracks were. Windsor Station that we came into from Lachute is now closed. The view from the bus looked quite familiar and it was along the same route.

I took the Metro from the bus terminal - now Gare Centrale - to the stop near my Bed and Breakfast accomodation. I had to cross Sherbrooke Street which was very busy.

I easily found my B&B on a side street just going up the mountain. It was an old house that had been renovated. It was quiet and quite convenient for where I wanted to be. Traf was a 10 minute walk away.

I walked around the McGill campus. Many of the buildings looked to be the same - at least from the outside. The students looked to be younger.

I also walked down to Rue Ste. Catherine to the Anglican Cathedral. The outside of the Bay looked very familar. I walked through the building which was once Eaton's. I wonder what Timothy Eaton would have thought of the new boutiques in the building.

*****

I walked over to Traf for the morning event. The streets were much the same and the walk up the hill on Simpson Street was just as steep as I remembered.

Actually the streets are not quite the same - as McGregor is now named Doctor Penfield. Strangely enough across the street from Traf there was an old street sign with McGregor still on it.

I walked around the area and remembered very well the boarders walks. I also remembered the restaurants we used to frequent when we were let out on our own without being supervised by a teacher. We were not supposed to cross Sherbrooke Street on our own but of course we sometimes did.

*****

Saturday morning I walked over to the Metro station to go back to the Gare Centrale to take my bus back to Ottawa. Stepping into the station, there was a very distinctive smell which I remembered from many years ago. Was that the smell of the rubber tires?

Traf reunion: part 1 (the school)

I had signed up to go to this not expecting to meet too many people from my class of 1968. I did not meet too many but I was still glad that I went. The encounters were good and it was good to be in Montreal again.



*****



The first event was a talk at the school. There were 3 of us for that. The talk was excellent - on Montreal's old buildings and how they have been renovated. The Powerpoint pictures added to the talk. It made me think of Ottawa's old buildings and how they have been renovated.



Then we went for lunch at the Café des Beaux-Arts at the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal. There were 2 more classmates there. It was interesting to hear everone's life journey since we graduated 40 years ago.

Then in the evening it was back to the school. Again there were only three of us from the class of 1968.

There were displays from various class years. There was wine and cheese. There were tours of the school. That was interesting as I had not been there in over 20 years. Trying to remember how things were was sort of fun but a challenge too.

The library used to be the gym. On the wall there were listings of McGill graduates as the school has always had close connections with the university. My name was there as I graduate with a B.A. in 1972.

Then it was time for dinner and picture taking of the graduating class. It was nice to see almost 15 folks from the class of 1958. Maybe when we get to our 50th reunion we can do better on the numbers.

Places: Traf pt.2

So I promised you the music from the gym dem at the school. I do think it sounded quite like this but this is fun.

Places: Traf

Popular name: Traf – not Trafalgar – spelled backwards – raglafart – oh dear.

Why there: My mom and dad wanted my sister and I to have better teachers especially in French. We got that. Madame Brouillette was very strict with the grammar. Madame Garrett liked to talk about her dogs – French poodles I think.

Other Traf graduates: I was wearing my school ring when teaching Sunday School. A colleague asked me whether that was a Traf ring and I said yes. She had attended as a boarder as well – some years before me.

In casual conversation with another friend something was mentioned about skirt and tunic length. She remembers kneeling on the floor and having the ruler to mark no more than 6 inches from the floor. This did not prevent anyone from hiking up the tunic over one's sash to make it look shorter.

Friends old and new: My best friend from home spent 2 years at Traf but only 1 year as a boarder.

I made a new friend whom I still keep in touch with. She liked to ride horses too and would come to Lachute for weekends.

Boarding school: More rules and regulations; milk and cookies at morning recess; walking to St. George's Anglican Church downtown. Booth Kathi and I were confirmed there. I learned later that my mom's mom and dad were married there.

Cubicles and private rooms: I had a cubicle in the dorm for 2 years. I had a private room my last year and the year before as well. A friend from my class liked to come to study there as it was a lot quieter than at her home.

Walking: Boarders walk morning and afternoon – sometimes up the hill from Sherbrooke Street; to the park across the street with yapping little dogs. (I still do not like them); up the mountain.

Studying: I had to learn how to study but I think now that was because of the transition to high school. I always had my Latin homework done. I enjoyed helping others with their Latin homework.

It is not surprising that in my final yearbook one of the statements was:
Can you imagine Vicki not doing her Latin homework?

Athletic: I was never too athletic. Others in my class were much more athletic. Every year there was a gym dem. We all marched into the gym to some music.