Dining Room (1927)
The School Archives has no photos of the original dining room used for 10 years before it was lost to fire in 1926. This photo depicts the dining room in the newly rebuilt School (Main Building) in 1927. It was located on the north side of the hallway at the east end of the building and shared its western wall with the “Big School” room. This new dining room accommodated 150 students, a light-filled space with widows lining the north wall. At this time the House system had just been created, and the boys ate at tables grouped by Houses. Trophies won by a House were proudly displayed on a House table until lost to a different House.
Former students recall that the food was basic, but adequate. Breakfast was usually porridge; milk and pork came from the adjacent Hartl farm. The menu varied little, but it is reported that Captain Palin shot quite a few deer in defense of his tulips, so occasionally venison was added to the menu. It is interesting to note that there was a separate dining room for staff – with a slightly better menu.
In the early 1940s, the kitchen staff would set a stack of bread on each table in the evening for the following day’s breakfast. No boy wanted to eat the top slice, which they had dubbed the “flywalk,” imagining the night crawlers on its surface. Eventually, hunger would overrule hesitation, and someone would brave the top slice. The rest of the pile disappeared in seconds.
Another student remembered small groups taking turns on dish washing duty. Dishes and utensils for over 100 people had to be washed, dried and set on tables before classes began after lunch. He claimed that their “record” was 15 minutes, adding, “The breakage rate was quite high.”
What a challenge it must be to feed so many young, active, growing youths. One alumnus recalls consuming, along with his classmates, 110 loaves of freshly baked bread in one sitting. Feeding the masses is further complicated by trying to appeal to individual pallets. One lad wrote home, reporting that “the food here is offal”!
When Copeman’s House, with its own kitchen and dining room, burned to the ground in 1968, the dining room was quickly expanded to accommodate 100 more students. Later, it was expanded again to accommodate the growing School. This dining room was used for 75 years, until 2002, when a new dining hall – Marion Hall – replaced it. The vacated dining room was used as a student centre, unofficially called “The Ritz,” until major renovations on the Main Building in 2013 converted the site into what is now a lovely outdoor courtyard between Mitchell Hall and the Friesen Centre.
The information presented in this write-up is based on current information available in the School's Archives and consultation with key people who have some relevant connection to this "object." If you have further information about this "object" that you would like to contribute, please contact the School’s Advancement Office at alumni@shawnigan.ca.
In the early 1940s, the kitchen staff would set a stack of bread on each table in the evening for the following day’s breakfast. No boy wanted to eat the top slice, which they had dubbed the “flywalk,” imagining the night crawlers on its surface. Eventually, hunger would overrule hesitation, and someone would brave the top slice. The rest of the pile disappeared in seconds.
Another student remembered small groups taking turns on dish washing duty. Dishes and utensils for over 100 people had to be washed, dried and set on tables before classes began after lunch. He claimed that their “record” was 15 minutes, adding, “The breakage rate was quite high.”
What a challenge it must be to feed so many young, active, growing youths. One alumnus recalls consuming, along with his classmates, 110 loaves of freshly baked bread in one sitting. Feeding the masses is further complicated by trying to appeal to individual pallets. One lad wrote home, reporting that “the food here is offal”!
When Copeman’s House, with its own kitchen and dining room, burned to the ground in 1968, the dining room was quickly expanded to accommodate 100 more students. Later, it was expanded again to accommodate the growing School. This dining room was used for 75 years, until 2002, when a new dining hall – Marion Hall – replaced it. The vacated dining room was used as a student centre, unofficially called “The Ritz,” until major renovations on the Main Building in 2013 converted the site into what is now a lovely outdoor courtyard between Mitchell Hall and the Friesen Centre.
The information presented in this write-up is based on current information available in the School's Archives and consultation with key people who have some relevant connection to this "object." If you have further information about this "object" that you would like to contribute, please contact the School’s Advancement Office at alumni@shawnigan.ca.
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