Click on images to enlarge
 The Old 1929-2015 |
 The New Photo by Ron McMicking |
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55th Reunion, Class Of Sixty With some memorabilia |
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Back Row: Frank May, Dave Foster, Brian Wilson, Mike Fairweather, Peter Kerr, Brian Hitchens, Ron McMicking, Phil Johnston, Craig Mearns, Rob Farquhar, Eileen Lugossy, Diane Dyer, Richard Goodall
Middle Row: Bronwen Harmston, John Youson, Gerry Porter, Kent Elliott, Hugh Rothe, John DeBourcier, Donna Vaesen,
Front Row: Lynda Faulks, Maureen Sawkins, Lianne Hunter, Martha Downing, Tammy Hinch
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On September 11, 12, 13, the Oak Bay High School Class of Sixty held its reunion to celebrate 55 years since graduation. It was a wonderful opportunity to be taken on a guided tour of the new school, a facility so outstanding and so far removed from anything we have ever known. Words could not begin to describe the massive and complex building where 54 million was spent to create the most advanced facility one could imagine. Picture your average shopping mall and you are pretty close to the size. We hope the photos taken by some of the class will give you an idea what it is like but you would have to actually be there to fully absorb the fact that very little of school as we remember it, exists. There aren't desks with ink wells as we knew them, but tables and four comfortable chairs for each. Black boards are gone. Text books are gone. Instead, the student has a tablet where books are downloaded and classroom interaction is displayed on a huge monitor in the front of the room. The gym is huge with a sprung floor and there is even a room complete with sprung floor and rails for students studying ballet. There is a theatre for live performances and scenery that can be moved swiftly between acts. The layout of the school is simplified for the new student by means of a huge monitor at the front entrance displaying a map of the school. It would be totally impossible to attempt a full description of the new Oak Bay in these pages. For those of us who signed up for the tour, we were very fortunate to have been afforded the opportunity to see it first hand. As they say, it was something else. |
| September 11th
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At 5pm we went to the Oak Bay Rec. Centre for a social evening. An excellent selection of hors d'oeuvres and finger food accompanied by wine, were enjoyed. A group photo was taken and tables with memorabilia provided a 40s, 50s and 60s theme along with music of the day. Gifts were given to the organizers along with a special presentation to Peter and Lilian Kerr, thanking them for their hospitality in organizing a barbecue for the following evening. A framed print of the old Oak Bay Boathouse was presented by Richard Goodall whose father had painted the original in 1952. Everyone signed the back.
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| September 12th |
| The weather was clear and warm for a
gathering at the residence of Peter and Lilian Kerr. Appropriate
refreshments that accompanied a steak barbecue were much enjoyed. Class
president John Youson cut the large cake and gave a well presented talk to
those present. It was a great finale to another fine reunion and
unfortunate that so many were either unable or chose not to attend, since it
may well be the last major gathering of the class.
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| September 13 |
| Nine of us met for a Sunday brunch at The Oaks. A nice finale. The Oaks was originally the Oak Bay Grocery, then the Blethering, The Bistro and now the Oaks. A little bit of Oak Bay history on the corner of Monterey and Oak Bay Ave. |
| We had a lot of photos submitted for this event and have attempted to display as many as possible without too much repetition. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Please note that we are using maiden names for the women in the class
Please scroll down for some memorabilia. |
 Chair from the old school And finally, the chair and the stool that Tammy managed to get from the demolition site of the old school. Seen here in my very cluttered workshop, I want to use the wood from the chair to make something to remember the old building by. The stool will get a re finish and anyone is welcome to it. The chair is maple, lots of patina with the mandatory wad of gum stuck to the underside. What part of the school where it spent its life is anyone's guess. I will take it apart and mill all the useable pieces. From there it will be a matter of deciding what to make from it. I will not be keeping it, but where it goes will have to be decided somewhere down the road. I will post more pictures to record its transformation as time goes on.
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 Knocked apart. Most of the curved pieces will not be used.
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 Trimmed and run through the planer
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 A box seems to be the best choice |
 Taking shape |
 Getting close to completion. School crest lasered on the top. |
 Finished |
 Lined inside with school colours. |
The box is now at the new school in a display cabinet. |
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hope to create a number of memorabilia windows here. Many of these
photos were kindly submitted by Gail Randall Brighton. A lot of
memories here. If you have anything from this period of time that has
not been already posted on the site that you would like to contribute,
please email them to me. Click to enlarge. |
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Susie, Alan, John & Roz
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 Rob McAdams' hot rod, 1959
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  Richard's 47 Merc. rod
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 Gary standing outside his customized 49 Pontiac. |
 Brian Wilson's 1931 Model A Ford cabriolet.
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 Sandy Halkett (left) & Diane Wilson on Prospect Place approaching Beach Drive. Photo by Bill Halkett.
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Lee Gould's 1930 Ford hot rod. "Vitamin A" |
| A few photos from the first reunion in 1980. Courtesy of Jill Boorman Slagboom |
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