Glenlyon Norfolk-By-The-Sea

At some point during the latter part of the war years of 1939-45, Major Ian Simpson, Headmaster of Glenlyon Preparatory School, asked for a school song. His wife, Florence, inspired by the Glenlyon waterfront, seen here as it was in those years, and a fairly prolific writer and poet, created an amended version of the last stanza of Sussex by Rudyard Kipling, a poem he wrote in 1902. 

 Coincidentally, Ivan Watson, GNS alumni 1991-98, wrote a splendid article in the Winter 2015 edition of Tweed about Kipling and his visits to Canada and on one occasion to Victoria, staying at the Oak Bay Hotel. This building was deconstructed in 1965 and replaced with the Rudyard Kipling Apartments on the corner of Beach Drive and Windsor Park providing a connection to this visit. Mrs. Simpson’s choice of poem may have been influenced by Kipling’s association to Victoria and her knowledge of that visit. 

Thomas Jenkins, music teacher at the school from 1944-48, composed music to the words produced by Mrs. Simpson. The last verse of Kipling’s poem was:

God gives all men all earth to love,
But since man’s heart is small,
Ordains for each one spot shall prove
Beloved over all.
Each to his choice, and I rejoice
The lot has fallen to me
In a fairground—in a fairground
Yea, Sussex by the sea!

Mrs. Simpson’s version was: 

God gave all men all earth to love,
But since our hearts are small,
Ordained for each one spot shall prove
Beloved over all.
Each to his choice, and I rejoice
The lot has fallen to me
In a fair ground—in a fair school—
Glenlyon by the sea!

This version remained in place until shortly after the amalgamation of Glenlyon and Norfolk House schools in 1986. The only change while the Beach Drive campus remained boys only varying from Grade 9 to Kindergarten through the next 16 years, was to the last line – 

Glenlyon-Norfolk by the sea!

In 2003 Reconfiguration brought about a Grade 5 to Junior Kindergarten, co-ed campus creating a further edition:

God gave us all, this Earth to love,
But since our hearts are small,
It’s up to us to work and prove
Beloved over all.
Each to their choice, and I rejoice
Fortune has shone on me
In a fair ground, in a fair school,
Glenlyon-Norfolk by the sea!

Soon after, Judy Newman, Grade 2 Teacher 1998-22, introduced a sign-language version as an extension of her PYP unit on Disability. And then Inge Illman, PYP Music Teacher 1998-22, together with Grade 3s and the focus on their IB Culture theme, wrote this 2022 version:

We’re thankful for this earth to love, 
But since our hearts are small
It’s up to us to work and prove
Beloved over all
Each to their choice, and I rejoice, 
Fortune has shone on me
In a fairground, in a fair school, 
Glenlyon Norfolk by the sea.
Waves of kindness flood our school
Flow out from friend to friend
The tide takes a loving act
And brings it back again 
We will include, and not exclude
Kindness is the key
In a fairground, in a fair school
Glenlyon Norfolk by the sea.

Now the first verse of the 2022 version continues to be sung at Friday Morning Live assemblies – with sign language of course!