Victoria High School, Vining Street Entrance

November 10th, 2011 at 10:15am

Vic High will be holding a Remembrance Day ceremony tomorrow to rededicate the row of red maples at the Vining Street entrance to the school to students and staff members who died in the First World War.

The row of maples in autumn of 1975. Courtesy of Vic High Archives.

Trees were originally planted in this place in 1917 to commemorate the 2nd anniversary of the Battle of Ypres. The maples were planted as a tribute to the school’s 82 students and 3 teachers who were lost in WWI. Over the years, some of the original trees had to be removed due to disease or age and earlier this year the last of them were removed.

You are invited to attend the public portion of the ceremony.

April 20, 1917. Premier H.C. Brewster plants a memorial tree on the Vining Street approach to Victoria High School. He is assisted by VHS Cadet William McMichael, later a principal of Central Junior High School. Courtesy of Vic High Archives.


More information is available here in this Times Colonist Story.