Notes from
Cardigan
Nonprofit Organization U.S. POST AGE
PAID Canaan, N.H. Permit No. 1
Cardigan Mountain School Canaan, New Hampshire 03741
Volume 3, Issue No. 4
January-February 1975
Parents' Weekend 1975 and the three-day holiday which followed were wonderful! The largest number of parents in the School's history were here for a very busy weekend. It is reported that parents visiting classes Saturday morning were well behaved, didn't ask questions that would embarrass either the teachers or their students. Although the list of activities over the weekend covered a wide variety of interests, the name of the game primarily is 11 education 11 , and it was gratifying to see the high degree of interest shown by parents visiting in the classroom and in conferences with teachers throughout the weekend. Those of you who could not be here missed two delightful plays by the Cardigan Players. The longer one entitled 11 Refund 11 was about a man who returns to his old prep school demanding a refund of the tuition fees he paid because he says he learned nothing. This theme, of course, delighted both parents and students in the audience. To be sure parents had an opportunity to enjoy cool, fresh air, there were two hockey games and both Nordic and Alpine ski meets. The rope tow was open to all for family skiing, and there was plenty of opportunity for ski touring and snow shoeing all around the campus. A variety of exhibits was open indoors making it possible to keep busy and also to warm up. Mr. Burt put on a demonstration of water color technique; there was an exhibit of student art; various projects were on display in the woodworking shop; there was an exhibit of Mr. Burt's paintings in the auditorium; and in Clark-Morgan the typing classroom was devoted to showing off a wide variety of skills and crafts reflecting the varied interests of the staff and faculty. A sample of the Cardigan Chair was on display there. Priced at $50, these chairs are still less than most other school chairs that are advertised. Following two rather disappointing years, this Winter has been ideal for outdoor sports. Skiing is excellent and the ice in the hockey rink has never been better. There has been real opportunity to make the most of the snow cat in keeping the slopes on the Pinnacle groomed to perfection. How great for the boys not to have to spend time packing slopes and to be able to spend all of each afternoon skiing. The snowmobile has been invaluable in keeping cross-country trails in perfect condition, ·and is also helpful in packing snow on the rope tow hill. After several warm days in December and early January, which frustrated all attempts to make ice in the rink, good cold weather settled in. How exciting it was the first day the Zamboni was used to shave all the rough spots off the ice. The invitational hockey tournament at St. Paul 1 s School in Concord, New Hampshire, took place earlier this year than last. Pl~ying against eight other teams from all over New England, CMS took third place. Taking into account the small number of days they had been able to practice, the team committed themselves well indeed. Since then, however, the varsity team has had a fine season posting a record of 13 wins and only 1 loss to date. For the first time this year they competed in the Annual Pomfret Invitational Hockey Tournament in Pomfret, Connecticut. What a thrill it was when they returned with the victory bowl as top divisional champions, and team Captain, Scott Powers, with his award as the Most Valuable Player in the division. Only two goals were scored on them during the entire tournament. Good skiing conditions have been an inspiration to ski teams also. The Alpine team has lost only one meet to date, and the Nordic team is undefeated. Cross-country Captain, Tad Macleod, finished first in every race this season. Steadily increasing interest in Nordic skiing has helped produce the best team in many years with outstanding individual performers in crosscountry and jumping, backed up by many very good skiiers which give the team exceptional depth.
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The era of silent movies has returned to Cardigan. The current portion of the Community Progam features a series of classics from the early days of Hollywood. Do you remember any of these? : Willi am S. Hart in "The Return of Draw Egan" Lon Chaney in "The Phantom of the Opera" John Barrymore I s 11 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 11 11 Chari ie Chaplin in The Gold Rush 11 11 Buster Keaton in The General 11 Others to come include the Keystone Cops, W. C. Fields, Shirley Temple and the Three Stooges. This year 1 s Community Series is supported in part by a grant from The New Hampshire Commission on the Arts. Student ingenuity is at work on campus! Inspired by a desire to see different movies from those offered on Saturday nights and/or to see more movies, and/or to have an excuse to leave study hall an hour early one night - or by some combination of all these motives or others which have not yet come to light, a group of students have promoted 11 The Wednesday Night Movie 11 • The films will be selected by a student group (with some faculty supervision and guidance to eliminate the X and XX rated choices) and enough admission will be charged to meet the film rental costs . This is not designed as a profit-making venture. The first one was Buster Keaton 1 s 11 The General 11 held over one night from the Tuesday evening community program . 69 people (including 4 or 5 faculty) paid $1 apiece to see this classic film comedy. This provided more than enough capital to fund rental of the next film. If attendance keeps up at this rate, admission may be reduced in the future. The Wednesday schedule with more free time than usual in the afternoon should allow boys who are really interested in seeing these movies to finish their homework before study hall. If Thursday morning classes have large quantities of uncompleted homework, however, the program will undoubtedly grind to a halt by executive order . Fifteen boys are planning to use nine days of their Spring vacation for a cultural and educational tour of London and Southern England. The trip will be led by Mr. and Mrs. McNeish, who so successfully guided last Spring 1 s tour of the Mediterranean, and also by Mr. and Mrs. Fahrner. The all -i nclusive cost of $670 must be a good buy because two members of the staff are going along as passengers - Mrs. Lary, the School Bookkeeper, and Mrs. Randall , Alumni Secretary . The daily itinerary, which would intimidate anyone but a 15 year old boy, includ es tours o f the usual historic sites in London and day bus trips to Oxford, Stratford-on-Avon, Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, Canterbury and many other places of int erest . Mr. Fahrner is planning to record intere sting moments on video tape and after their return will edit this into a program which can be shown for the rest of us who weren 1 t fortunate enough to be along. A quick note about the Annual Fund. Total received to date is $55 ,11 8 which is almost 80% of the goal of $70,000. Particularly encouraging is the marked increase in the number of alumn i donors which is about triple last year 1 s number. The Fund closes on June 30th. Notes from Card i gan 11 is published monthly by Cardigan Mountain School. Third Class postage paid at Canaan, N.H. 03741 11