In honour of Remembrance Day, the entire school gathered in the Bryan Jones Theatre to pay tribute to those who serve our country in the military. The annual Remembrance Day Service, which historically took place in the A.W. Mackenzie Chapel, was moved to the theatre to accommodate performances prepared by the students to pay their respects.
More than 170 students from Grades 9 to 12 produced the hour-long ceremony – including all Grade 10 and 11 Drama classes, dancers, Rock Choir, Concert Choir, Lorelei Consort and the Senior Music class. Lighting and sound were produced by Seniors- in-Charge. Students were involved in every aspect of the service - they wrote the scripts for (and performed) theatrical plateaus and poetry based on interviews they conducted with veterans and non-fiction resources (articles and letters). The service also included creative original videos and a moving interpretive dance piece choreographed and performed by the students.
LCS welcomed a group of Old Boys and guests to the ceremony – members of the recently formed Military Project Committee. The volunteers (including the school archivist and alumni from the 1950s and 60s) are working together to celebrate and commemorate the school’s rich military history.
The Old Boys, many who are relatives of the alumni and staff the school honoured today, were touched by the ceremony. “It was the most moving Remembrance Day ceremony I have ever seen or experienced and I don’t expect that I will ever see anything like that again. I thought it was fabulous,” shared Alick Ryder ’55.
“What I loved was that all the arts were brought together, different types of music, painting, film, writing and dance…the dance was wonderful…it brought the artistic traditions of other types of other times and places together. It was just over the top,” Brian Hull ‘63
At the end of the service, History Teacher Bruce McMahon read aloud the names of the LCS alumni who died in each of the two world wars. The reading of the names is a tradition for the annual service where a student or staff member stands for each of the fallen. It gives a small perspective to the number of members of the community who paid the ultimate price.
Jim DeWolf ’58, who also stood for one of the fallen, was quite moved. “I just have to say that it was absolutely amazing to me to watch the students stand for a person especially since I knew something about every one of those guys. It was something else to experience. I will never forget it. Never.”