News Archive

Headmaster C.W. Lonsdale reported to the Board in 1928 that the year saw a new innovation: a drawing school “very ably instituted and conducted by Mr. [Robert] Rose, who has spent a good deal of his own money and endless time and trouble, in order to make the drawing school attractive and useful.” Drawing was made compulsory throughout the School, up to Form VI (Grade 12). In addition, any boys who wished for more, could have individual teaching from Mr. Rose for $15 per term. A former student recalls that the art room had articulated models of the human form, busts of famous people, and a model of a Corinthian column. Mechanical drawing was included in the curriculum.

This letter was penned by a very homesick nine-year-old boy in September 1925. Shawnigan Lake must have seemed a million miles away from Billy’s home in Vancouver. In those days, boys would know that the first opportunity to go home would be at the end of term at Christmas, after four months at School. Certainly, this young boy's experience is not unique; through the decades, many students and parents have experienced the pain of separation expressed in this letter, especially in September when goodbyes are fresh and the new, unfamiliar surroundings are daunting. It is very encouraging to know that Billy did adjust – and stayed at the School for six full years. A framed version of this letter hangs in the Museum and reminds us of the courage it takes for some to leave home to attend a boarding school.

Packing for boarding school can be daunting, especially since boys in the first few decades of the School’s history returned home only once or twice during the school year. Parents were given a list to help guide them in choosing what their son would need. The photograph depicts such a list from 1919, the earliest example in the School archives. It reveals a much simpler time – when school fees were only $175 per term. The dress code did not include uniforms, but boys were given guidelines for clothes to purchase at home. Early students spent their school days wearing “khakis.” A grey flannel suit was worn when attending church and for formal occasions. A dressing gown and slippers were critical for the unheated dormitories. Work boots were essential for all, because the boys did quite a bit of manual labor clearing the land, maintaining the grounds, and chopping firewood. Slickers, gum boots, and sou’westers were needed for the typically wet weather.

The “Hobbies” building was an innovation of C.W. Lonsdale, built in 1934. Lonsdale placed high value on a “creative educational system” that developed a boy’s ability to fashion things out of the materials at hand. It originally housed a small museum of natural history, a printing press, a falconry club, rooms for manual training in both wood and metal, a drafting classroom, a large open room used to store cadet equipment and, later, outdoors club equipment.

In 1962, the School received a very generous donation: one of the School’s science teachers, Cyril Craig, and his wife, Geraldine, donated a new science building – the “Craig Block” – including most of its equipment. The building contained a well-equipped physics laboratory, a lecture room, a well-stocked science library, and a special room for a new language laboratory. Generations of students will remember this building near the south edge of Lake Omar with its distinctive bubble skylights covering most of the roof. 

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, displaying hunting trophies was common practice. The trophies were symbols of wealth, social status, traditional masculinity, and a connection to the “wild.” Typically, these mounted animal heads, antlers, and hides were displayed in homes, clubs, museums – and, apparently, in some boarding school public areas.

When the School took on the challenge of rebuilding after the 1926 fire, support came in many forms. One symbol of encouragement came in the form of a bell, gifted from Corchester School in England, C. W. Lonsdale’s former school. Lonsdale wrote this in response: "It is many years since love of the Profession was first instilled into [my] mind [while attending] Corchester, a North Country school in very beautiful surroundings, where efficiency was demanded and where genuine sportsmen were developed…. Shawnigan Lake School is in many ways the fruit of that zeal, implanted by Corchester, so that we are all the more grateful to Corchester for the gift of our new School Bell." Corchester School was established in 1882. 

With the School property bordering a lake, it is natural that boats are a prominent part of School activities. The current boathouse has had a few predecessors. Photos from the early 1920s depict a small boathouse and dock. 

When the School buildings were lost to fire in 1926, some furniture was saved, but new furniture was also needed. The December 1927 Shawnigan Lake School Magazine notes that “the scheme of furnishing the Big School room with chairs given by Old Boys is proving a great success.” An alumnus could commission a chair with his name and dates of enrollment at the School carved into the back of the chair. In 1934, it is mentioned that the cost to order a chair was $10. We read, “The Secretary [of the Old Boys’ Society] would like to remind Old Boys that in addition to making themselves immortal, they are also helping the Red Cross Workshops by giving chairs.” By 1934, 97 chairs had been commissioned.

In the Closing Week of the school year, major awards are handed out for distinction in leadership, academics, sports, the arts, and citizenship. The names of recipients are recorded in gold on special boards in the Main Building foyer and central staircase.

Built with German pipes in 1929 by Chandos Dix, the original organ was a gift from Mabel Lonsdale, sister of CW Lonsdale and music teacher at the School. The organ loft was above the choir stalls on the west (left) side, with a few pipes showcased above the choir stalls. This original organ consisted of 10 ranks, or about 640 pipes. The instrument was played from a console located in a small room at the side of the Chapel, and the wind pressure was supplied from bellows pumped by two boys!

The artwork “Into the Light” was created by Kwagiulth artist Rande Cook and gifted to the School in 2006. 

In the artist’s own words: “The reason why the black border is only on the left side and along the bottom is that it represents the past and any negativity, which may have come from the past. The red is the power of us as people, not only as First Nations but all races. The Stag leaping away from the black and into the light of the moon and being surrounded by the power of the red is to show renewal. This shows that we are all connected one way or another and we, as mankind, can always take that leap of faith.”

Majestically set on a slope surrounded by playing fields, the Hyde-Lay Pavilion was opened in June 1998. The facility includes changing rooms, a spacious Great Room for socializing, and a wraparound deck for viewing the action. It was the gift of John M.S. Lecky ’57 (Groves’), named for Derek Hyde-Lay, who had been Lecky’s rugby coach while a student here. The plaque reads:

Wisteria is a woody, twining vine with long, fragrant clusters of purple-blue blossoms. They are vigorous climbers and usually bloom in early spring. Long ago, someone (unknown) planted a wisteria vine on each side of the entrance to the Main Building. The vines are large enough to be detected in photographs as early as 1929. On the south-facing building, they thrived, climbing over 35 feet to the very peak of the building. At some point, the more easterly wisteria must have died, but its companion lived on. When the wisteria was in bloom, it offered a heady fragrance to anyone passing through the front doors.

After the 1926 fire, several major donors stepped up to make the new School, what we now call the Main Building, possible. The 1927 Shawnigan Lake School Magazine includes a pen and ink drawing with the caption, “A very handsome door and window which form the main entrance to our new building. This entrance was presented by various friends of the School who wished to show their appreciation in some concrete form. The design was the work of Mr. Douglas James of Duncan. Our most grateful thanks are due to the many friends who so generously subscribed for this.” We speculate that the donors consisted of parents of Shawnigan students, community members, and staff members, all willing to help the School succeed.

“Lantern shows” are mentioned in the 1928 Shawnigan Lake School Magazine as a favorite event of the students. The School Chaplain, Rev. E. Willis, was a frequent provider, but there were also guest speakers, such as a renowned botanist, who presented these lantern shows. In 1941 it is noted that during a mandated “blackout” (due to perceived threats during the war), students did prep in “a lecture room which was provided with blinds used to darken the room while lantern slides [were] shown.”

Creating the garden adjacent to the drive leading into the School grounds was a challenge right from the start. The low ground may have originally been a gully that channeled water into the lake, and the road running around the north end of Shawnigan Lake probably blocked drainage. Efforts to make improvements are noted in the 1929 Shawnigan Lake School Magazine: “A feature of the School which has elicited praise from all visitors is the garden and approach to the Main School. Those who remember the rather unedifying swamp between the buildings and the road will be astounded [by] recent developments, in great measure due to Mr. R.J. Cromie’s generosity.”

This lovely ledger gives us a glimpse into the simple beginnings at the School. We see entries for enrolled students handwritten with a fountain pen by the Founder of the School, C.W. Lonsdale. A new list was created each term. Michaelmas Term ran from September until the Christmas break; Lent Term ran from mid-January until mid-April; and the Summer Term ran from mid-April until early July. How exciting it must have been for Lonsdale to write those first six names!

In the early days of the School, each grade was assigned a classroom, and students stayed in that classroom throughout the day, while the teachers rotated to different classes. Desks were arranged in rows, and the teacher’s desk was at the front on a slightly raised platform. This photo is from the late 1920s. It is interesting to note that in the original school building, each room had its own small stove that burned wood and coal. Boys had the job of lighting the fire each morning – and thawing the ink bottles!

The Mark Hobson Hatchery serves the dual purpose of student education and enhancement of the local salmon population. It is named to honour Mark Hobson ’70 (Groves’) who returned to the School in 1974 to teach science. In 1980, the Grade 9 science curriculum was changed to include the Federal Fisheries Salmonid Enhancement Program, and Mark built a “mini hatchery” next to the Craig Block. Eggs and milt were harvested from adult salmon taken from the Goldstream River; they were successfully incubated, grown and released back into Goldstream. After some time, permission was granted by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to obtain brood stock for the hatchery from the entirely “man-made” coho run on Shawnigan Creek – one which has grown to be one of the most successful runs on all of Vancouver Island and has certainly benefited from the Mark Hobson Hatchery’s productivity.

The School uniform has changed many times over the last century. Boys in the beginning only remember khaki shorts and white shirts. For Chapel on Sunday, they wore a grey wool jacket, long pants and an Eton collar with tie. The 1918 School Prospectus – the earliest one in the Archives – does not include a clothing list, but the 1919 Prospectus does, which includes mention of a “School tie,” to be purchased at the School. Early photos are in black and white, so we can only see that the tie has a wide stripe, and we assume it is like our first samples, with stripes of black and gold as seen in the above photo. This basic design continued until the mid-1990s with varied widths of stripes, and of the tie itself, over time. The use of grey flannel jackets and pants for formal photos and occasions continued for many decades.

Shawnigan has welcomed students from outside Canada nearly from the beginning. As early as 1918 records show that there were a few students from the United States, Hong Kong, and Chile. It appears that the boys from Hong Kong and Chile were Canadians whose parents worked abroad. 

The School first formed an ice hockey team in 1974, using the ice rink at Kerry Park Community Centre. Practice time was quite limited and did not always fit well into a Shawnigan schedule, which limited the team’s development. Eventually, the building of an arena on campus was inspired by, and made possible through, a leadership donation from Andrew Purdey, as well as other generous donors, and is named to honor Andrew’s brother, Charlie Purdey.

On March 17, 2020, while Shawnigan Lake School students were enjoying their Spring Break, British Columbia’s Public Health Minister, Bonnie Henry, announced the province’s first COVID-19 death, prompting the closure of schools. Immediately, Shawnigan assembled the COVID-19 Response Team to manage logistics and ensure the safety of staff and students.

The first mention of a School cricket team is in the 1924 Shawnigan Lake School Magazine. The School teams played other schools, such as Brentwood College School and other independent schools in Victoria and Saanich. They also played community cricket clubs, such as Cowichan, Chemainus, and Victoria. When playing these clubs, the School team was often supplemented with two or three adult players, including the Headmaster, CW Lonsdale, Myles Ellissen, E.D.W. Levien, & J.Y. Copeman. Overall, interest in playing cricket was high, with the School fielding a 1st XI, 2nd XI, and, occasionally, a 3rd XI, plus a Colts XI. 

When the entire School campus was lost to fire in 1926, we don’t know what – if any – dinnerware they were able to save, but likely this event led to purchasing the custom-made china pictured here, which we know was in use by the 1930s. In 1998, a senior alumnus sheepishly returned an egg cup from the set, which he had taken as a memento when he graduated in 1932. We are grateful for this donation, as we have only a few pieces of this china in the archives and museum.

When the School began in 1916, the boys slept in large dormitories with approximately 10 beds in each. After fire levelled the School and a new School (the Main Building) was built, the large dormitory format continued. Initially, boys did prep in the dining room; later they did prep in their house common rooms, and later still in the Classroom Block. 

The Quiz Master asks the trivia contestants: Name a country that starts with the letter ‘Q.’ One overly-eager contestant slams his hand on the answer buzzer too soon and spits out Cuba! This was the scene at a recent round of “Reach for the Top.” Instantly realizing the folly of his answer, the respondent’s face grimaced in embarrassment and regret for pressing the answer buzzer too soon. He knew better, but the excitement of the competition got the better of him.

February 1928 was a major turning point for the School. Since its founding in 1916, the School had been a private enterprise, owned by the Founder and first Headmaster, C. W. Lonsdale. After a fire destroyed the campus in 1926, he raised an astonishing $150,000 to rebuild, and the new facilities were finished by September 1927.

The above 1927 photo depicts the Founder, C.W. Lonsdale, sitting at his desk in the headmaster's office in the newly built school building, occupying the south end of the east wing. This office has remained in the same location over the years, the seat of eleven Heads since Lonsdale. It is remarkable to realize that Headmasters (now called Heads) have shared the same view out of these office windows for nearly 100 years.

Many early student stories include memories of the salt water gargle – a strong association with ANY visit to the School nurse, whether it was for a sore throat, tummy ache, stitches, or broken arm. Everyone was given this treatment as long as they were within arm’s reach of the “surgery” (health clinic), “just in case.”

The Sportsplex consists of two gymnasiums and bleachers, three weight rooms and six squash courts. The original gym (1927), along with the lockers and changing rooms, located on the ground floor of the west wing of the Main Building, was replaced in 1966 by a new gym built near the old Classroom Block, which has since been removed and replaced elsewhere on campus. In 2009 a second gym was added to the existing gym structure, along with additional squash and tennis courts and a weight room to make up today’s Sportsplex. 

The above photo depicts the Grant of Arms made to Shawnigan Lake School in 1981 by the College of Arms in London. Key parts of the armorial bearings are described below, paraphrased from the words of Graham Anderson as cited from the 1982 Yearbook.

The “coat of arms” refers to the shield and all that is displayed on it. The overall design follows very closely the one which C.W. Lonsdale adopted and used for many years for the School. The maple leaves are a reference to Canada, and the wavy diagonal “bend” is a nod to Shawnigan Lake. The shield’s quadrants and the mantling (the ribbon-like forms to the sides) are in the School colours, black and gold.