“Run on the lines of the best
English preparatory schools
adapted to produce: good Cana-
dian citizens."

- 1926 advertisement

for North
Shore College.

By A.P. McCredie
News Reporter

AS OUR current education system
continues to grapple with answers
“to efernal questions of motivation
and discipline, a half-century re-

union of a school steeped in the
“traditions of “turning boys into

men" will be taking ‘place later
- this month.

The. North Shore College Old
Boys’ Association (NSCQBA) may
be anathema to the politically cor-
rect, but to students of the
defunct North Shore College, it

_Tepresents a connection to the
past. ;
In 1925, Paul “F. Dale and

Lance C. Storr — both masters at
Kingsley, a North Vancouver
private school —. were approached
by an‘ influential parent. who was
looking. for -a- smaller ‘private
school atmosphere for his own
” children... >.’
In January of the next year, the

North. ‘Shore /College joined —

Kingsley.» and“ Chesterfield - as
alternative . education options on
the North Shore. :
_’ The, college quickly. grew to a
«maximum ’ attendance of 65 boys
(12 boarders) at. the ‘address in the’
300-block. of West Queens Road it
would ‘occupy for’ the next three
. decades. ;
“According
definitive. history - of .. private
schools in the province, Growing .
‘up: British in ‘British _Columbia,:
“the. allure of a: North Shore
‘ private school education was not

‘of Chesterfield, | Kingsley,
‘North Shore . College, ‘all
: high up on a mountainside, took

to Jean’ Barman’s

eyed ae adhe

a err

tad

‘hi Wi

PHOTO courtesy of tho North Vancouver Museum and Archives :
THE 1942-43 class of the North Shore College. The school’ 's founder and headmaster, P.T. Dale, is

pictured in the middie of the second row.

solely educational,

~“A son’s health: could also
necessitate a decision in favor of
private education,’’ Barman

writes. ‘Two leading Vancouver '

pediatricians regularly recom-
mended, in this age before sulfa
drugs and penicillin, that children
with asthma or bronchial condi-

tions be’ removed from the damp

coastal climate.
The North Vancouver schools
and
fairly

pains'to make it known that they
were above the fog line.”*
* For current NSCOBA secretary

David Howden; however, his
mother’s choice in school
more typical of the times than
that of promoting student health.

“T'was quite a handful as a
child and my mother thought the
best thing’ for me would be a
strong, disciplined educational en-
vironment,”’ recalls Howden.

Indeed, the image of spoiled,
tich heirs attending private schools
was the exception at North Shore
College. .

Howden describes the student
body at the college as ‘‘students
from split families, troublemakers
and difficult kids.’

To this day Howden does not

was”

know (how. his mother paid for
him ‘to attend the school, though
he believes tuition was based more
on the means of the family rather
than a set rate. ;

While the majority ‘of the. stu-
dents that attended the college liv-
ed-at home, a number lived at:a

boarding house on Queens Road. |

Today it is a heritage home.

’ Following the Second World
War, during which’ time Storr
moved on, the school was dealt a

‘major setback when headmaster

HunterBouglas

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Dale died in 1947, |,
The college was purchased by

“an elderly) Canadian  Classicist

named A.D, Winspear. It was the
sole remaining private school on
the North Shore in the *50s, but
Winspear could) not make ends
meet,

The North Shore College closed
its dors in 1956. A year tater the
building was burnt to the ground
by the cry fire department asa
training exercis,

“What made my experience at
the schoo! so memorable were. the
lriends | made during that time,'’
said Howden, ‘Most of our
schooling in the late '30s was

geared around preparing us to’ go °

to. war, and) under such ° cir-
cumstances, strong bonds of
friendship are formed.’’

The NSCOBA was formed after
the school closed, and it continues

to draw former students to its an- -

nual meeting — though meeting is

- perhaps too formal a word for the

yearly get-together at a downtown
hotel. ;

“Thirty-five members attended
our. 1992 meeting, and we are
hoping to make it 50 for the an-
niversary on. Feb. 27,’’. Howden
said. :

In the. spring of 1992, the
association gave’ the: North Van-
couver Museum and Archives its
collection of school memorabilia,
allowing future. generations to
have access to the history of the
vibrant '. private school . environ-
ment : that once existed on. the
North Shore. |.

For more information about-the -

upcoming 50th anniversary of the
North Shore. College Old Boys’
Association, call David : Howden
at 261-1700.

Hunter Douglas

Colorbur

“up to

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WA blinds

892-5857 .

Whistler 932-6617

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