1965

Chairman: B.A.B.Martin Vice-Chairman: R.N.Johnson
Secretary : J.A.Weinstein
As in other years the School Council has suffered from the usual crop of somewhat trivial motions and an unfortunate preoccupation with the constitution. As a result, meetings tend to degenerate into long, boring and inconsequential sessions with many Councillors becoming more and more apathetic. Despite-this, the School Council has more than justified itself with some very real and worthwhile achievements.
At the beginning of the year the perennial motion urging the total abolition of caps was at least partially accepted in that the Headmaster ruled that Fifth Formers need no longer wear caps. It was also upon our initiative that Friday morning journal periods should now be spent with tutorial rather than form masters. We feel that this is a right step in giving some meaning to the Tutorial House system.
Above all, however, is the Social Services Committee which was first established in September but which has only just started to function efficiently. The Committee has distributed the OXFAM Christmas Appeal Family Boxes while also helping with the Polio appeal envelopes.
We feel, however, that there is more to charity than even the most generous donations of money and it was for this reason that the School Council was pleased to associate itself actively with the work of a local Estate Agent, Mr. Glanville. He has already bought two Chingford houses, converting them into a number of self-contained flatlets for elderly people, and he hopes to extend the project throughout Waltham Forest. The function of Monovians is not so much to provide money for the scheme but rather to make personal contacts with the people, see to their various needs, do small jobs around the house and garden, or just keep them company. We have already established this personal contact for, immediately after the end of last term, two of us visited each flatlet with a substantial "Easter Box" largely made up of groceries including luxury goods as well as the basic necessities. We were. naturally enough, very well received.
Over the Easter holidays a large number of boys, many of whom are not members of the Council, volunteered to give up some of their time to prepare some more houses for future use.
In fact when the Headmaster appealed for eight volunteers we were very agreeably surprised when over 20 boys offered their services. Such a generous response indicated that by the time this report appears, the Social Services Committee will be playing a very important, and necessary, part in the activities of school life.
J. A. Weinstein. 6TLit.

Chairman : C. Glyde.
Vice-Chairman : M. E. Beresford.
Secretary : N. Dyson.
Under the leadership of Glyde the Council has become far more formal, a move which has met with general approval. An air of greater efficiency has been created and better attendance should produce better results. Unfortunately, owing to pressure of work, Weinstein was obliged to resign from his position as Secretary, early in this term. The thanks of the whole Council are due to him for his conscientious and efficient service during 1965.
Mainly dependent on Weinstein, the Social Services Committee has got off to a reasonable start since its foundation, instigated by the Headmaster, in November of 1964. This Committee has performed a few works of note such as the decorating of a flat and doing the shopping and gardening for some elderly or housebound people. We even helped the Chingford Lions Association, a greater organisation for Social Service, in the construction of a Carnival Float. With the establishment of the rota system this section of the School Council should become much more extensive and efficient. However, there is still a shortage of volunteers and, strangely enough, of work for them.
N. Dyson, VI 2G.