Page 24, Whitby Fre. Pros, Wednesday, May 10, 1995 "WUibis e- as t May Qucen originaliy represented Ideal Woman' By Brîin Wlnter Towu cf Whitby Archiviet On Saturday,, May 27 at 1 pm. the public in invited ta attend the 89th annual May Court Festival at Trafalgar Castie School. This time-honoured. tradition had its o** hs i a movement to re-restablih the old May Court festivals <f the Middle Ages, hoadod b~y English writer John Ruskin in the 1880a. I Canada, Governor-GenoMa Lord Abordeen, his wife 'and daugter Lad Majore Cordon, workod A esabitheMaly Court fesivals in private achools. On Oct. 191, 1898, Lord Aberdeen and bis farnily vimited Trafalgar Castie. School, thon known as Ontario Ladies' College. Lady »m ijore Cordon'sp"ok f the May Court f"estasduing this visit and in 1902 wmote an article for the- school magazine, Voxc Collegii, about the 1899 May Court Festval at Whiland's School in England. It was not, however, until 1907 that a May Court Club was formned at the Ontario Ladies' College. The May Queen was supposed ta epresent the "Ideal oÎman" and for many years this was the subject of the speeh by the gueste <f honour at the May court festivals. The student body votes on -who should ho the MaLy Queen each year. On one ocason early in the festival'. history, the principal had ta break a die. The first May Court Festival at the Ontario Ladies' ýCollege wa held on Victoria Day, May 24, 1907. Ontario County Judge Neil McCrimmon read the address on 'The Ideal Woman," tmacing the, histomy <f hMay Court festivals from pagan Rom. through THE MAYPOLE dance at the flrst May Court Festival at Trafalgar Castie School, 1907. Whitby ArchIw8s photo Engliuh modem histoiy. A dozen ballots had ta ho cast, before a May Queen was selectod. The winfter was Anna Harley of Brantford, an 18-year.old senior student. In 1913, Harley married R. Gordon Grobb% a pceaing agent with Mass-e&rs ý returned ta, live, in Whitby aller Grobb'Wetieetin 1937. Aller Mrs. GroWb' death in 1971, her- daughter, J.W. Anderson has each year presonted a Bible in her mothor'. memory ta succeeding Mlay qu1eens. Following the coronation, which for many years was on th. stops <f the Loggia, beaide the cornerstone ofFPranoes Hal, there was adisplay of gmatcand dances, followedobybothe traditional 'Maypole dance b.y studonts. hI the early days, the ceremony on the lawn was followed byaà bay rack ride ta, Corbett's bnt (now Thicksons Pcint) for a picnic and flreworks display. Th. flrst Whitby girl ta hoe elected, May Queen was Olive Hofliday (later Mrs. George Franklin Denyes) in 1914. Sh. was a frequent %ioitor to, the May Court festvals in later ypars w hen sh. Iived at Fivo Lodg. eh died, in 1980 at age 98. 8h. was the flmst May Queen ta weam the May QuSens pin, in the shaLpe of a crown, containing a gold nugget fropm the Klondike. The pin, a gift from the 1912 May Queen -Meda Watt, ha. been presnte toevery succeeding 7ni 1917, the Alurnnae Asslociation, thon known as the Trafalgar l)aughters, provided a pi hich each May Queen coud keep as a souvenir of her élection. Formerly, ail sho got was a ponnant To1921 May Court Festival was <f spocial M"gniflcane for two reasons. The May Qusen that year was Cort Reynolds, a, rnd- daiughter of Sherf Nelson rbt ]Rsynolds, who built Trafalgar Castie as Ie home in 1859-62. It became Ontario Ladies' Colegoi 1874 and was renamod Trafalgar Castie Scl i in 1979. The occasion was also memorable,, for it was the st time Lev. Dr. John James Haro, principal <f the school from 1874 to 1915, was to return to déliver the address on the "Ideal Woman.- Ho 'died the following year at age 74. During the 1930.s, the principal, RLv. Dr. CIL Carucallen, took movies of the May Court festivals The fims, are stAI located somewhere in the school. Starting in 1954ý, the May Queen was crowned in the affernoon instead <f the morningu to accommnodate gestwho had a long way t rvlt attend the omneS. DmD YOU KNOW, That Thickson Road was named in 1948 after Oshawa resident. James Normn Thickson (1884-1967)1 who purchased Thiekson'a Point in 1919 and subdivided it for cottages. The pont and the r-oad -leading ta it were on- ginally called Corbetts Point, and Corbett's Sideroad, after John Corbett who settled at the point irn.l83O. C.R.T.C. Registered ~ImuLWOPM Com uffcatons(Whitby) Ime. 4$'Y45 Brock St. N., (Whitby Lanes) Whitby e 430U831 or 430.821 THIS NEWSPAPER AD IS BROýUGHT To YOU WIT'HOUT COMMERCIAL INTERRUPTION, Illxit's the bcauity of news,.ýpipcr advcrtising. Whcin you've reachced a readýr wiîth your message, you*vc got their attention and their con- centration. Their compicte concentration. Nobody ever dustcd furniture whlile thcy rcad the newvspaper. Can radio and television advertising miake suchi a claimi? No way! 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