A note & photos from Natalie Silke:"Hi there! It was such a great idea to create a Selkirk Blog. It's so nice
to hear that although Selkirk is gone, it'll live on! So, who's going to
start planning the reunion? Wouldn't that be such a great event? Sign me
up for the planning committee :)"
Ah, the bell. Remember the sound of the bell? If it rang three or four times it was the call to a meal. And then there were the line ups to get in? Some creative counsellors made their cabin members sing to get in the dinning hall. But what if the bell rang and rang and rang...what did that signify?
And then there were the logs. This was a feature of our time. They came from the Utilities Company in Brantford, and were used to keep people from driving their vehicles across the grounds. Not everyone appreciated the reason behind that. For some reason there were always people who felt that the campgrounds was kind of like going to the mall, and they should be able to park beside their cabins. The thought that this was "a camp for children" seemed to be lost on them.
We had so many logs that we used them for a variety of things including seating around the campfire.
11 comments:
The bell!
The object of many waitress disagreements when I was on staff! With all the meals of an entire summer though, there were enough bell ringing turns to go around.
As you rang it, the calls of "flip it, flip it" would begin. Of course, they had to be answered! Then a chore boy would have to climb up an put the rope back in place!
As for the question, several rings signalled an emergency, and everyone was to gather at the flagpole--at least in my time.
Does anyone remember who was responsible for throwing the bell over the fence? I think it happened back in the '60s or '70's, and resulted in the big crack...
What would camp be without the pranks??? We need more prank stories!!!
I have a few prank stories from when my dad Dale Haskell went to camp.Two cars were moved from the parking lot down into the tunnel.One was put on the flag pole wooden stand and the car had a for sale sign on it.Hub caps were taken off and put on the roof of the old dinning hall and they spelled HELLO.
I can tell you that Cathy (Ivany) Koehnen was involved in that one! I remember the stories about how people were not impressed with that one!!
I do remember participating in one little joke regarding the bell: we stole the striker on the last night of camp (and hid it under the boys staff building in an attempt to frame them)...Debbie Williams came out of the kitchen the next morning, banging a pot to wake us all up....
The year was 1985. The place was Cabin 4 (second oldest boys cabin). Our counsellors allowed us, after devotions in the common room, to have a pillow fight. It was all the St.Catherine's/Niagara Falls boys, who slept on one side of the cabin, against the rest of us. Sean Battram and I were fighting it out for the title. He had a pillow that felt like there was a huge rock in it. He beat me, just as Les Dix was doing his rounds. We all jumped into bed fully clothed. Les' caught us, and I thought we would all be thrown out of camp or something. However, we weren't.
I do remember getting into somewhat of a fight with Trevor Dix over a girl I was already dating at camp. We ended our fight by spraying tubes of toothpaste at each other, and it made a huge mess. Les walked in, caught us, and made ME clean it up. I know that's not a prank, but, I had to tell somebody!!!
I do remember a story, that my dad told me, about Charlie Eden being tied to a flagpole, and being forgotten. He was there the whole night. And, to top it off, it was pouring rain all night long.
Some of you might recall in the early 80's (i think) when Rhonda French was thrown into the Lagoon. (The Marshall's were DYS's then) That was pretty disgusting.
The ultimate prank?? Everyday of music camp, at 4:30pm. Anyone??
You got it: CAMP CHORUS!!!! Yay!!
Hrmmmm we just might have to start a new thread on camp pranks, there are some dandies out there ... I can certainly think of a few from 1991 for which whom Jeff Vize seemed to take the brunt of them in boys staff?
Jeff you reading this blog? Which do you remember??
=)
The cars on the flagpole stand happened a long time before Kathy Ivany was ever on the scene - way back about the 60's, I would think. Col. Ross might have been DC.
There was the night that Some of the male counsellors snuck out on the last night of our camp to meet up with the girls our kids were well asleep and it was just afterthe new cabins were up because there were dump truck ruts that Tim Campbell tripped in and broke his ankle. Lucky for us Capt. Waters really liked us and invited us back the next year. I think if I remember right Natalie chose to risk trouble and stayed with Tim while I Got the nurse and stayed with her daughter.
Farmer Sean
Ah yes Sean...you are correct. Tim's accident happened directly behind my cabin. I stayed with Tim (as he was turning green and practically fainting) in his cabin while you ran for Nurse Wendy. I got in so much trouble for that. I think that was also the same night I snuck into boys staff. Guess I figured I was already in trouble, so why not? If I remember correctly, Capt Waters threatened to bar us from the year-end staff trip too. Good times, eh?
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