shirburnian - The Old Shirburnian Society

THE
SHIRBURNIAN
MICHAELMAS 2 0 0 1
Editors: P. A. G. R. Hedderwi ck. D. C. M. Hoey. J . N. Mieville. A. C. Morley-Smjth.
M. J. Pauerson, N. M. Pothecary. C. Q. R. Pushman. C. J. A. C. Roberts.
H. R. L. Rushton, P. J. C. Shaw-Brown, R. H. Stone, J.P. A. Watson, E. J. C. Westropp. N. A . D. Zarb
Art Editor: T. H. Williams
Photograph!\ by :
T. I. Ahlmann : PI' 4 , . 46
S. R. C. Bennett : p54
G. Briere-Edney : rr 12.1. 121
C. E. Brock: pQI
C. Douch: r 11
E. D. I. Findlay: r 90
C. G. B. Hamon : pp 9. 11. 1s. 1 . n
D. C. M. Hoey: pS 9
J. N. Micvillc: 1'1' IC\0 1<•1
K. L. Mill ar: r 158
Artwork by:
M. A. P. Balfour: w 1. 1 . K
S. Bul suk: P 10-l
G. J. W. Bunkall : w ! . H >. m7
J. D. W. Church : w IIKI.ux.
0 . J . R. Clark : rr n <•. ms
4. 26·43. 142
W. J. Murphy-O'Connor : p 6 8
M. J. Pauerson : r •><>
C. Q. R. Push man: rr . R
H . R. L. Rushton: "" 11-1s. 121. 129. 140. 1s
P. J. C. Shaw-Brown: pp7. 1C.. 7375. 122. 11 S . I lh.I< S 157. 164. 1 65
H . W. Steel: p 9
P. A . L. Thorn: r •n
J. A. Thompson: rr'lil.'l l.95·97
T. H. Wynn-J ones: p SI•
Development Office: r•r 49.5 1
Mr. Russell: PI' r r 1. 1rs
R. A. Dowdall: pp56. 85
P. J. Franklin: p 102
H. ter Haar: w 104. 10s
H. N. L. B. Hunt: r 101
C. H. Hurlbatt: r 1o3
T. H. William s: pp&. l9. 2:!.
Typing by: Mrs. Lorraine Clarke
Prmted by Sllelleyl The Primers
Sketches of New York contributed by:
M.A . P. Balfour
G. J . W. Bunkall
0 . J. R. Clark
R. A. Dowdall
T. H. William !>
E d i to rial
After recent world event;; it is difficult this year
to write an editorial dealing with school issues
without seeming peuy. The terrorist attacks in
America shocked us all very early in the term and.
like much of the world, we were all transfixed by
television as the event unfolded. Several boys had
urgently to try to get hold of parents or relatives
who were living or working in New York or
Washington, but luckily no one at present in the
School was directly bereaved. l l was only a few
days later that we were to discover that an Old
Shirbumian, Steven Lawn. formerly of The Digby,
had died in the World Trade Center at the age of
28. A special service in the School Chapel was
held in his memory soon afterwards, and it was
deeply moving for all those who attended.
Once every one had seulcd back intu sehoul life
it was good to see t hat despite recent events there
was no rac ial tension, and that we can
acknow ledge each other as individua ls. without
stereotyping by religion or race in this time of
world crisis. We must always be concerned to
ensure that we do not fail to recognise
individuality. In many Shirbumian editorials over
the years it has been observed that pupils of the
same nationality fonn their own group. This isn't
necessarily a problem. as it is natural behaviour
for people who perhaps are not especially
confident with their English, or just want to talk to
people from their homeland with whom they have
much in common. Such segregation normally
becomes much less pronounced as the years go by.
as everyone becomes more mature and confident,
and the friendly Shirburnian begins tO emerge
from what was perhaps a slightly frightened
thirteen year old.
A concern felt by the School at the moment is
that one individuality seems in danger of being
lost nowadays: the individuality of the boarding
houses. It is its idiosyncrasies which distinguish
one house from others: th ings such as traditions.
privileges and duties. Of course it is untrue that
boys in a house have to fit a stereotype of that
partic ular
house, but
it
is
obvious
through experience that environments innuence
people. Parents choose a house according to
whether it would suit their son and whether it
meets their personal standards. This decision is
made. partly as a result of meeting with the
housemaster. partly as a result of the accounts
of other parents· experiences, and by talking
with the boys and old boys.
The housemaster·s role in a parent"s choice of
house should not be underestimated, for he is to
become a guardian to their son, and parents must
feel able to place their son in the housemaster's
hand • confident thaL he personally will be looked
after. What parents want b for their son to be
treated as an individual by the Housemaster, and
not as just another boy in the School. Currently,
boys are dealt with at the hou. emaster·::. discretion
in most matters. which works well. as the
housemaster knows what will encourage the
desired response from the boy.
However,
there
i
increasing
pressure nowadays
on
housemasters
to
homogenise policies and practices. When they
have to decide, for example. what privileges are
to be granted to their senior boys, whereas
in the past housemasters had slightly different
policies on the punishments which the Upper Sixth
are allowed to give to younger years. they are now
under pressure to regularise them. This can be an
especially sore point because in t he period of
change many of the Upper Sixth who were on
the receiving end of various types of punishment
in the Lower School cannot but feel they should be
allowed to use those puni:.hments which are
now
looked
upon unfavourably. It is
impossible to say whether a particular system of
punishment is the best or not. but we feel there is
a danger that. as a result of these changes, there
may not be the same rapport and mutual respect
that once used to exbt between the year groups
within houses.
With such homogenisation of the houses may
come the gradual erosion of the character of the
house and the atmosphere of the house. Houses all
have different capabilities in term!> of music and
sport, and by removing other smaJI differences the
road is being paved to the removal of these
qualities. Houses will no longer attract a particular
type of parent interested in a particular type of
social education for their child.
There are many good reasons for making the
houses more similar. It makes it easier for parents
to choose a house i f they bel ieve that they are
most ly the same. It prevents a sense of injustice
arising over treatment of boys in different houses.
Tb is is amplified when parents have two sons in
different boarding houses. and they are allowed to
do different things. It is unfair on boys to be
treated differently just because of the house they
are in. But. i f the choice of house is wisely made,
such differences can be a benefit. The Green may
have, for example, a strong sponing tradition. and
Abbey House a strong musical one. This is not to
say by any means that all musicians go to Abbey
and all sponsmcn go to The Green. but it is true
that a boy with a panicular talent will thrive if he
is placed among others of similar talents.
2
Problems can arise. of course, when a boy is
placed in a house that is unsuitable. and there may
even be times when it wou ld be beneficial for a
boy to change houses, although not before a great
deal of serious discussion between the concerned
parties.
Meanwhile things at Sherborne are looking
bright for the future, with most houses fully
booked for the next few years. We were sad to say
goodbye at Commem. to the School's retiring
Ch airman of Govemors. Mr. Michael Barnes, who
has worked so hard for us all during his time in
office, as governor since 1977 and Chairman since
1996. His regular, friendly presence at school
events - plays, concerts, and sporting fixtures has
been greatly appreciated. One of his
last appointments, our new Headmaster. has
now completed a very successful first year. on
which he reflects in his interview with us. The
Lower Sixth
have had to come through the experience of the
new AS Level examinations. Though many remain
sceptical about the academic value of this latest
educat ional experiment- and of its administrative
efficiency - boys have certainly welcomed the
presence of girls in lessons in some main subjecLo;
for the first time. Drama and music continue to
flourish. In sport, the promise of a new all-weather
pitch, generous ly donated to the SchooL and the
success of our present teams. are most
encouraging. Among our many social activities,
RocSoc continued its series of excellent concerts,
most notably lhe Concert in The Courts. RocSoc is
a shining example of what can be achieved by the
boys for the boys with a Iittle graft and initiative.
As is, of course, this year's Shirbumian.
Nick Zarb
David Hoey
3
T h e Chronicle
Academic
Oxford tmd Cambridge Place:,
The following have gained places at Oxford and Cambridge on the ba!>i!i of their A level results.
Name
College
Uni1•ersitv
Course
g
l ver Ahlmann
Girton College. Cambridge
Engineering
d
Charles Gammell
St. Catherine's College. Oxford
Histol)
f
James Kierstead
Corpus Christi College. Oxford
Cla..,sicl>
d
Christopher Kober
Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
Physics
m
Rowley Merricks
New College, Oxford
Classics
e
Andrew Peevor
Magdalene College. Cambridge
Natural Sciences
Those
listed
below
were awarded King's
BugbirdCollege.
Prizes for
gaining three or more
A grades at A level
b
Robert
Willington
Cambridge
Medicine
Name
A
Le
vels
House
Mathematics, Physics, Chem istry. r:urthcr Mathematics, German,
lver Ah lmunn
"
Electronics (AS)
f
Christopher Champion Mathematics, Spanish, Chemistry
Biology, Mathemat ics, Chemistry. Further Mathematic!. (AS)
m
Christopher Chow
Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Further Mathematics Latin.
Bob Dickens
e
Greek, English. Spanish
f
James Kierstead
Mathematics. Physics. Chemil.try. Further Mathematics (AS)
d
Christopher Kober
German. Spanish
Mathematics. Physics, Chemi >try. Further Mathematics
b
Michael Kusnetsov
Latin. Greek, History, French
Rowley Merrick!.
Ill
g
Mathematics. Economics. Bu..,iness Studies
Akin Okeshola
g
Mathematics, Physics, Chemi<;try. Further Mathematics
Andrew Peevor
f
Economics, Mathematics. Chemistry
Derek Ro...ewell
b
Music. Geography. German
Christopher Verne)
f
Economics. Mathematics. Spanish
Tom Williams
b
Biology. Mathematics. Chemistf). German
Robert Willington
Hou se
1;1
Thol-e listed below we re awarded GCSE prizes
(*These boys also recorded A* on a short GCS£ course)
Number of A * grades Name
10
9
8
7
6
4
L. E. Harvey ([)
C. W. Pill Ford (m)
S. J. Fox (m), J. N. Pearson (m)
D. W. Angus (d), A. R. H. Boyd (g). T. Huang (g), E. R. Posnett* (c)
J . J . Bu lley* (f), R. G. Coates (m), H. F. Kwong (d), A. J . Leakey (b),
P. Tokiat- rung-rueng (a), R. W. Ward (e), A. J . Woolston (e)
P. R. B. Boshier (c), A. G. Cameron (a), T. P. Cracknell (m) A. D. C. Hardie (c),
D. R. Poraj-Wilczynski (g), L. J . G. Truluck (d)
Lower Sixth /me mal A1rard.1·
A1.a result of their GCSE grades. the following were awnructl Exhibitions.
Name
Hou.1·e
James Bullcy
f
Thomas Huang
g
Alexander Kwong
d
James Leakey
b
James Pearson
m
Palarp Tokiat-rung -rueng
a
School Prizewinners 2000-2001
Waller Heads of School
Nicholas Cook
Christopher Verney
Peter Franklin
Tony Nitiprapa
Henry Rushton
Robert Willington
Tom Procter
Robert Gosling
Robert Halliday
Tim Ackroyd
Richard Fox
Alex Drew
Angus Macdonald
Sam Mason
Alex Drew
Jason Hutt
Simon Arden
Andrew Peevor
Henry Mitchell
James Kierstead
James Kierstead
Sam Mason
Rowley Merricks
Tom Procter
George Bramble
Award Tom Procter
Andrew Morley-Smith
Chris Tavender
James Morfee
Simon Arden
James Kierstead
David Poraj-Wilczynski
Adam Hanis
Alasdair Boyd
Chris Peck
Charles Gammell
Andrew Peevor
Neil Batson
Luke Harvey
Robert Sworder
Matthew Hope
Christopher Champion
Christoper Filbey
James Leakey
Christopher Verney
Matt White
Tom Bridegroom
Oliver Hankinson -Parr
Alistair Hardie
Alistair Hardie
Chris Stripp
Naresh Verlander
Tom Huang
Nicholas Arden
Edward Ball
Edward Ball
School Drawing
Longmuir Art
Ridout Biology Senior Seminar
Ridout Biology
School Business Studies
Edwin Davis Services
Wingfield Digby Senior CDT
Wingfield Digby Junior COT
Driver Chemistry
Leweston Ancient History
Marson Greek
Whiuingdale Classics
Palmer Ancient History
Wildman Latin
Steward Community Services
Marsh Cricket
Duke of Edinburgh Gold
Stuart Hargreaves Drama
School Economics
Sixth Form School Electronics
Fifth Form School Electronics
School English
Francis flies
School Geography
Geography Fifth Form
Geography Project
Alison Blenkinsop History
Senior Plumtre Mathematics
Kirby Mathematics
Fletcher German
Aston-Binns Spanish
Bert ny French
Harley Woodwind Junior
Harley Brass Sen ior
School Music Technology
Clive Carey Vocal Senior
Clive Carey Vocal Junior
School Strings Junior
Composition
Harley Woodwind Senior
Junior Percussion
School Keyboard Junior
Harley Brass Junior
School Keyboard Senior
School Strings Senior
5
Senior Percussion
Juni or Guitar
Senior Guitar
Kitson Vocal
Paddy Whelan Physics
Turing Physics
Tom Bugbird Award for Sailing
Morcom Mathematic and Science
Smithwick Shooting (5 bull)
Smithwick Shooting (10 bull)
Hew James Shooting Cup (outdoor)
Lyon- Pan.ons Divinity
Harold Blair Di vinity
Harold Blair Runner Up
David-Weston Missionary
Oliver Clark
Sebastian Fox
Toni Nitiprapa
Andrew Westwood
Edward Earle
Andrew Peevor
Andrew Morley-Smith
Jvcr Ahlmann
Freddie Lewis
Charlie Maltby
Charlie Maltby
Harry Beattie
James Syke.
Charlie Hurlbatt
Patrick Shaw-Brown
Timothy Wynn-Jones
Jonathan Collins
Afolabi Okeshola
John Patterson
Gordon Scott
Henry Farris
Max Vere-Hodgc
Nichola s Zarb
Sport
House Competition Winner.\
M ichaelmas
Senior Rugby
Ul6 Rugby
Plate
U1-l 7-a-side Rugby
U 14 Plate
The Green
Abbeylands
Abbey Hou-,c
The Green
Abbey land!.
Lem
Junior Leagues Hockey
6-a-side Hockey
U16 Hockey
Plate
UIS Hockev
Plate
·
Senior Soccer
Senior Cross-Country
Junior Cross-Counu-y
Senior Pairs Shootine
.Junior Pairs Shooting
Individual Squash
(Macintosh )
Senior Squash
Juni or Squash
Individual Fives (Richard Green)
Senior Fives
Juni or Fives
Swimming lnter-Hou. e Spons
U 14 Basketball
Inter-House Quiz
School House
The Green
Lyon Hou!>e
Harper Hou se
Harper House
Abbeylands
Lyon House
The Green
The Green
Lyon House
Abbey House
Abbey House
6
Abbey Hou c
Abbey !louse
Abbey land\
The Digby
Abbey House
Abbey land
ICSS
Wallace Hou<>e
Trinity
Senior Cricket
Junior Cricket
Athletics: Senjor
Intermediate
Junior
Overall Cup
Athletics Relays
Senior lnruvidua l Golf (Kemp)
Tennis Senior Pairs
Tennis Junior Pairs
Sruling
7
T he Digby
Abbey House
Abbey lands
The Green
Abbey lands
Abbey lands
Abbey lands
The Green
The Green
The Green
Lyon House
Tony H a r r i s
When Tony Harris <lJTived at Sherborne in 1972
as H ead of COT there was no COT for him
to head. He had been appointed by David
Emms. him se lf newl y appointed. to set up
a
COT department. The story of hi s
appointment is, in many ways, typical. He had
applied for the post of head of COT at Cran
leigh,
Headmaster
David Emm s. Between
application and interview he had learned that
Emms was coming to Sherborne. He duly went
for an interview and was made an offer, which be
turned down, on the grounds t:hat he didn 't
wish to work under a new headmaster who would
be an unkn own quantity to him! As soon as Emms
came to Sherbome the whole process was
repeated and Tony was duly appointed here. In thi s
way Sherborne came by one of its longest serving
and
most
distinctive
masters,
under
whose energetic and idiosyncratic leadership
Craft, Design ,
and
Technology
have
grown and flourished.
I t is equally typical of Tony that when asked
what he rememb ers most fond ly about hi
s classroom years he says, without pause
or hesitation. 'F ifth Form, 1985: sixteen As and
one B' , as though teaching were some sort of
race or competition,
the
'trac k'
stats.
which any respectable practitioner should have
at his finger tips.
Beyond the confines of hi s own department
Tony has been an extremely active examiner.
coursework moderator, examining team leader,
and leader of in set courses. He has kept absolutely
up to date with the latest thinking on matters
edu cational in hi s field, which has been o
f immense benefit to his department and his pupils.
Excellent teach er and head of departm
e nt though he has been , it is not for that that most
boys or co lleagues will remember him, nor
is it
primarily in tenns of thallhat Tony would want to
be remembered. First and foremost Tony is a
runner. Competitive athletics has been hi s life
since hi s late teens, back in the days when sound
wireless, powered flight. and the inte rnal
combustion engine were in their infancy. On
cinder tracks the length and breadth of the United
Kingdom Tony competed successfully as one of
our most talented middle-distance runners , gaining
selection for Great Britain in the 800m in the 1962
European AtWetics Championships, and running
for Wales in the CommonweaHh Games in the
same year. Hi s most memorable performanc
e came in an invitation mile at the White City
in 1965. when, in competition with the then
Olympic gold, silver, and bronze medallist s
from Tokyo '64, and in a field which included
9
the legendary
Peter Snell, whom he beat, he broke the four
minute barrier for the mile. becoming the first
Welshman to do so .
At Sherborne hi s coaching of athletics and
cross-country runnin g has been nothing short of
inspirational. Of course. he thinks of it in tern1s of
achievements:
'1980: rwo
ftnalists, Small
and Pocock. in the All Eng land.' The rest of us
think of it in terms of the thousands of hours of
coaching,
advising,
stop-watch
watching,
ye lling,
threatening, consoling, and encouraging that he
has poured into Sherborne. And. in the process of
doing all of thi s, he has left an indelib
le impression on his charges, - and on one or
two astonished masters and parents from other
schools. who have never experienced anything
quite like Chopper in full flow.
The sound
of Tony
describing
to
some bewildered new boy the route from 'the
bench ' (long since removed!) round Plum Pud,
down the cutting, through the iron gate, up
Lovers Lane, right at 'the bi g tree ' (in the
middle of a wood!) and back down
'the
diagonal'
is unforgettable; likewise, Tony 's
capac ity
for remembering
hi s own and
everyone else's time on every training
course and track he has ever been o n. H is
enthusia m hru. never nagged. and he takes it for
granted that everyone involved will participate
and like it. I n this way. in Jean years and fat he ha'i
managed to
produce
highly
motivated
and
\uccessful
cros!.-counLr)
teams.
With
Tony's
team!>
nevertheany
moaning
whining.
matter there
how is
tough
going.
He or
infuses
ne,er any
or brand
excuse
making.
activiry
with hfoot-dragging
i
n inimitable
of optimism
the
no
and determination. He i
a truly splendid
coach, and. i f he can no longer lead from the
front in training and on race days. one can be
sure that he will be found doggedly bringing
up the rear. bellowing an endless stream of
advice
and encouragement. I n Tony's set-up
everybody trains and everybody trie . from
the smallest Third Former to the col lection of
staff cripples and grey beards he employs on h is
coaching team.
I think the moment that will stick in
my memory longest occurreu at the end of
the Kingswood Road Race some six or seven
years ago.
It is an exceptionally gruelling
race. The
competition that day had been licrcc. We were al l
exhaust ed . The rain was coming down. The
c;corer<, linally announced the re!-.ults, reading
times and lists of names from their sodden c lip
boards, now running in )otreamlet\ of ink.
The Sherborne team had narrowly been beaten
in a race we had expected to win. and which
we thought we fwd won. The bo):. and I were
utterly dejected. I looked around for Ton).
surprised that. for once. I could not locate him
by ear alone. There he wa.'>. ga7ing intently over
the shoulder or the chief scorer. • ·Ang on a
minute: he piped up. ' You've added the -,core),
\HOng. Our fourth runner finished sevemecnth.
not eighteenth.· The corers
huddled
round.
Records were checked.
Finishing tickets, now a pulpy mass in .,omeone's
waterproof pocket. were compared wit h names.
And, needle!.!. to say. Tony was perfectly correct.
We had won. Our fourth runner had, indeed. come
in seventeenth. ' I didn't ask Tony what time he had
done, but he'd have known the unswer.
0''
B.J.H.
G e o r g e Ta t h a m
George joined
the M u!.ic Department
at Sherborne in 1978 after a number of years i n
the book trade. He has now decided to forsake
the plectrum for the garden hoc. whic h may not
have
been a difficult decbion for him. The colleagues
he leave!> behind regret the loss of suc h a gifted
schoolma ter.
Both his strength and his weakness were to
have been !.UCh a modest fellow. rf George had
sung his own prai!>es with the skill at which he
created sounds from the guitar he would have
demanded more attention. He always preferred a
seat at the back of the choir stal ls and shunned solo
per formance!. which searched for the spotlight. I f
ever there was a worker at the chalk-face i t was
George.
He made other peop le feel good and important.
He always had time. He was never rushing off to
the next appointment and yet he probably
completed more tasks than most. H is satchel was
used as a fashion accessory and provided a fund of
information. One sensed that it m ight also contain
secrets
irnilar
to those
u1st of the
Summer
Wine.in Compo's matchbox
. in
There
was
a
steady
now
of
l iterature photocopied (usually) from The
Guardian, or from an ancient copy of The
Shirbumia n w h ich appeared in the pigeon-hole
of anyone to w ho m George considered it
might be of interest. Researching t opi c wru.
a joy for George and he
was acknowledged as an unoflicial walki
ng reference library. Goodne !. knows how
many articles on cricket he produced for me. Most
were requests
checking
fact!.
that
were
conlirm ed within hour!.. He rarely misl.cd the
opponunit) to convey features on activitie of the
opposite sex.
His di<.tinguishcd w o r l as a Council Member of
the Devon H istory Society and as master
responsible for school archi,es allowed free rein
for his inqui itive nature. The Beckett Room had
for long remained unu ed until George spent many
tedious hours sorting the items of value. and the
items of h istorical interest which may be all
so relevant to the School in the 2 1st century.
George was a keen and able sportsman. He
coached rugby. soccer and cr icket at all levels in
the School. I en joyed several years in partnership
with George when he took charge of the 2nd X I
cricket team. He made sure al l those in h is charge
enjoyed the game and discreetly added practices
that he had leamed on coac hing courses. I recall
the introduction of a tennis racket and tennis balls
to improve sl i p catching. Not only did it improve
individual sk i l ls but proved enormous fun and
everyone wanted to experience it.
George was a fine batsman and rarely missed
the chance to demonstrate the left-hander·s
penchant for the cover-drive ru one might expect
of a schoolboy reared on the grounds of M ilton
Abbey School. He represented many prestigious
lO
clubs such as the lncogniti, Devon Dumplings and
Dorset 50+. As in all he did, he gave
total commitment.
He would
drive
many
miles to represent a club of which he was
proud to be a member.
This commitment was forever evident in all he
did at Sherborne: teaching the guitar, spiritual
tutor, games coach, organising house concerts,
assisting at The Leavers· Ball until the early hours,
teaching
Genera l
Studies.
organising
team photographs. playing music in the Chapel
and the Abbey, and supervising th e school
archives. George was someone you cou ld ask a
favour and know that the response would be
positive. There were never hesitations. excuses.
or evasions in response to a request and he
was the one who would travel on a long away
trip on a wet exeat weekend with a C or a D
team.
I know Lbat George owed much to Nicola in the
somewhat turbulent years that followed their
marriage in 1994. They will spend more time
together and enjoy the fellowship that will be
sorely missed by us all upon George ·s
fu ll retirement from the staff at school. For he
more than most demonstrated the words of
William Morris to be so true: 'Fellowsh ip is
heaven. and a lack of fe!Jowship is hell;
_fellowship is life, and
lack of fellowship is death; and the deeds that ye
do on earth. it is for fellowship's sake that ye do
them.'
M.D.N.
There 11•ere glowing lributes from a number of
boys. These are just two: thefirstform Oliver Easl
a11d 1he second written jointly by Ed Harder and
Douga l Gordon. Mt: Carli11g also wri1es his
appreciation of GeOI;I{e Tatham: contribution to
Westcott House.
George Tatham has been an excellent and
inspiring guitar teacher and a dedicated house
tutor of Westcott. He has organised many
a successful
school
and
house
concert
mixing classical and contempary music to a
highly enjoyable effect. ln addition to this he has
helped many boys to take part in and enjoy
performing in these concerts. As a tutor in
Westcott. he was a vital part of house life and
for individuals he tutored. Always friendly and
willing to help in any way he could, be it
musical or other aspects of school and house
li fe, George was always approachable and
acted as a great friend and a teacher.
Ollie East
II
George was sought after as a tutor because he
fulfilled the role of 'philosopher. friend and guide'
with sensitivity and imaginative nair. H e had the
knack of discovering what really made his charges
tick and finding ways and opportunities
of bringing an interest, passion or talent to
the surface. He would find a spot in a H ouse
concert for a budding guitarist; he would hunt
for an old newspaper clipping about an artist or
writer for someone's project or he'd have
scouted a cricketjng talent unspotted by others.
Universally referred to as 'George' by all the boys
as a mark of respect
and
indicatOr
of
approachability, he was enormously loyal to the
Westcott community. He took the 'dog watch'
of Friday evening in the H ouse, a night often
grabbed by house staff for R
& R before the rigour of the weekend. Yet week
after week George managed this period of with its
febrile anticipation with a gentle ness and balanced
latitud e which often defused the greater excesses
of behaviour. To the end h e was a Westcott man
and many, both student and staff. associated with
the House owe him a debt of gratitud e.
To some students at Sherborne, music is more
important as a pastime than as a means
of achieving examination grades. Although
Mr. Tatham offered the opportunity of both, he
taught people as they wanted tO be taught; with
patience, enthusiasm and a huge amount of skill.
Students could either bring in their own CO's to
learn 'that riff' off The Hendrix Experience. or
draw from Mr. Tatham's exten!>i'e library of
classical and acou!.tic pieces.
Whatever
music
they
chose
he
expertly conveyed the kills necessary to perform
a piece. Evidence of this is in the remarkable
number of students of his who have performed
in classical, rock. and j a u . concerts.
Mr. Tatham was a keen and accompljshed
historian, as well as a fount of knowledge on man y
other fronts. su ch as Portu guese. history of the
guitar and especially the history of Sherborne.
Lesson s could never be without interest. as people
were introduced to new musical genres and styles
such as blues. funk and jazz. A friend to many,
George Tatham will be sorely mi ssed by all,
especia lly those who h ave had the plea sure and
honour of being taught by him. We wish him every
success in the future.
Paul Carling
Dougal Gordon
Edward Horder
Tr e v o r B o y d
The Sherborne School Art Department has
always been mall. Prior to the Second World War.
Art had a low priority both nationally and
educationally, and Sherborne was no exception:
there was only one Arl Master, and he was known
as the 'Drawing Master '. At the start of the war
when a sudden vacancy occurred. Ruth Gervis. the
wife of a master in the School, stepped into the
breach. She was a well-known illustrator in her
own right and an arti st of talent. She had great
enthusiasm for th e Arts and sh e communicated
this with passion. She is stil l remembered in
Sherborne and , over the years, a number of her
pupils have distin guished themselves, notably
John Doy le who retired on ly recently as President
of the Roya l Water Colour Society. Ruth was
followed by on e of her ow n outstanding pupils,
Bill Anstice Brown, who was a Slade-trained
pain t er.
under!>tood
Ruth' s
standards .
and maintained them. Severa l of his pupils have
also had notable careers, such as Tim Clifford
(who is currently the Director of the National
Gallery of Scotland) and Peter Nahum and Rupert
Maas who arc both gallery owners and much
sought-after experts.
When
Bill
Anstice
Brown retired to
pursue his own career. the status of the Art School
declined !-harply and it wa!> at about this time that
the Art Room itself, purpose built with space and
light, was moved away from its traditional home
near the centre of the School to make way for new
laboratories. Coincidenta lly this move was also
accom panied by some unhappy appointments and speedy departures! For a short period there
was no Art Master at all ! It was no surpri se
therefore that Robin Macnaghten , enlightened and
knowledg eab le about the Arts him self , was
determin ed to stren gt hen the Art Department.
After th e retirement in 1980 of Eric Baker, who
had filled the post with distinction. the field of
applicants appeared depressingly limited until the
very la st candida t e an·ived. This was Trevor Boyd.
He was head of a large and nourishing Art
Department at St. Bartholomew's School.
Newbury and had already come very close to
appointment at Winchester. It was obvious within
minutes that the eareh for a new Director of An,
who would revitali e the Department, was over. At
interview all the characteristics which we h ave
come to know in Trevor sh one
throueh immediately. Here was a larger-than-life
characler
12
with
unbounded
enthusiasm,
exceptional
communication
skills.
and
considerable
knowledge of nineteenth and twentieth century
painting. No other candidat e could rival
him: moreover he had not submitted any of his
own work. a ' other candidate!> had done.
Throughout hi!> career Trevor Boyd's artistic
energy has gone into in!.piring and encouraging
other!>: serious practising anists arc seldom the
bestTrevor
teachers!Boyd made his mark almost
immediately, encouraged by a Headmaster who
was delighted by h i appointment, and a wind of
change began to blow through the Art School.
eat little pictures gave way to large colourful
expressionis t images and a wider range
of techniques and media were introduced.
However, it wa:-. already clear that more
accommodation and space would be needed,
together with a budget in line with visionary
horiLons. A degree of persistence was
needed and initially a few eyebrows were
raised! Pictures began to be displayed around
the School, and boys. who had hardly known
where the Art School was, began to talk about,
and also to !-mile about, the new Art
Master!
One o r Trevor Boyd's outstanding innovation!>
in his first year was the introduction of a Lent
Term Art Tour at half tenn. This idea had been
formulated in hi'> previous school and the tradition
was immediately e!.tablished here at Sherborne.
Few An M a t e would have devoted a whole half
term period to taking fifty boys to Amsterdam.
Pari!>, or finally ew York: fewer still may have
trusted their p o w e of discipline and organisation
in the. c cities, but Trevor Boyd's tours were
different: the organisation was idiosyncratically
impeccable and the Trevor's own
infectious enthusiasm communicated itself to
everybody. Other visitors to galleries, fortunate
enough to be around at the time, would follow in
the wake of the Sherborne group and listen intently
to this unusual guide. 'What is this party?' some
would ask. and
·co me again, please' was the recurring message
from the galleries! The half term tours came to be
regarded as the central pivot of a whole
year's work, as boys recognised that there is no
substitute for
seeing great
pictures
and
sculpture at first hand. Some boys attended two
or even three such Art Tour!. during their
Sherborne career. Not surprisingly, A level
results soared to previously unknown height>..
Which other candidates could possibl) have
been better prepared for questions on Monet.
Van Gogh, or Mondrian? Visiting examining
adjudicator!. expressed their surprise and delight
at the variety and quality of work produced.
Trevor Boyd· succes" has been underpinned
b) two ouhtanding qualitic'> which may not have
been universally appreciated to the full. First. he
was devoted to hi s subject. to his job. and also to
the School. and !tecondly. he understood boys.
They may have smiled at him privately. as may
some of his colleagues in the Common Room. but
Trevor wal> a true friend to the School and to
manyboy" and he certainly rescued the careers of
a number of b o y who found that school life was
not entirely to their taste.
Trevor Boyd ha' left us. and we shall not see
his like again, but he bequeaths an Art School
which is nourishing and which will continue to
nourish. In addition. it will :.honly return ro its
original home with an enhanced ambience and
unrivalled reputation. Thank you. Trevor.
W.A.C.
P a u l R ya n
J am not sure whether or not it is the thought of
the master in charge of The Shirburnian. or Paul
Ryan himself reading t h i piece that makes me feel
the more anxio u . Both care deeply about
the accuracy of written English but the fonncr i!>
more subtle and supportive in hi'> correction of my
split infinitive:- and incorrect usc of the words
·ress' and 'fewer' than Paul Ryan ever was!
Paul thoroughly enjoyed his four years
at Sherborne
but
the
temptation
of
a
double appomtmcnt for htm and his wife, Sarah.
at The OnttOI), Reading. proved too much
when he finally discovered that he would finally
be mo' ing into
Re ident
Tutor
accommodation with a shower! They moved
from Dorset to be clol.cr to their
beloved
Oxford, where they had met as undergraduates
and where they still have many friends. and to
the bright lights or London. Those who were
exposed to Paul's sartorial peccadilloes will not
be surprised to hear that he has already taken
some boys from The Oratory on a field trip
. . . to Saville Row and Jermyn Street. Having
acquired a 'sportsman'::.· - sorry that shou ld read
'musician's' - degree from Magdalen, Paul acted
as a housemaster at Westminster Cathedral Choir
School for one year before deciding that teaching
was the career for him.
He firM ca!tt his long shadow across The Couns
in September 1997. having completed his PGCE at
Cambridge.
Being
naturall}
enthusiastic.
and surprisingly energetic for one so large,
Paul quickly immer!>ed himself in the life of our
School and found that it wasn't a teacher he
wanted to be. but a schoolma.-,ter. H e ' ' a first
and foremost an accomplished
teacher
of
Mathematics.
who always pushed h b cla ss e
hard and tried to make the rnatenal relevant to
them not only in the
14
allempt to achieve examination success, but also
to inspire mathematical confidence which would
last beyond t.he academic study of the subject. H is
high expectations of his students led to his
developing novel deterrent s for those who would
have otherwise failed to meet these expectations,
such as his famous ·fill in the calculator ' sheet
given as a Blue for those forgelling their real
c a l c ulators.
Paul
was
a dedicated
and conscientious teacher who often gave
selflessly of his free time to offer extra help
to
those that
needed
it.
'Tall Paul' as those in School House knew him,
was Resident Tutor for three years and Senior
Tutor for two. He was invaluable to the new
l-lousemaster following the Ferrario years and was
a well-respected and popular tutor with the boys.
H is love of music and his appreciation that public
performance ought to be enjoyable for all of those
assemb led led t o his organising four House
Concerts of high quality. and. at times. high
comedy. Paul really believes in the positive values
of a boarding school life and was always keen to
impress on the boys a sense of community and
tolerance.
both here and abroad. Perhaps it was the
successful re-launch of the House Singing
Competition that will prove to be his most lasting
musical legacy to the School. This proved to be an
evening of great fun and invaluable communal
competitiveness hosted in truly camp and
burlesque style by Paul himself. Under his careful
stewardship The Upper Vlth Dinners and the
Epicureans Society were greatly enjoyed by boys
and their guests alike. He often encountered the
UV Ith in another of his guises - that of Proctor
though I often felt that boys caught by him can
have offered little in response to the criticism that
they should have seen him coming! Paul also
served as a vital link between the School and St.
Anthony's, Leweston, so that Catholic boys could
attend Mass regularly and be prepared for
Con.ftrrnati on.
Apart from all of these contributions, what
most typified his attitude to life in a boarding
school was his involvement in sport. Paul assisted
with cr icket and rugby every year. not bad for a
self-confessed non-sportsman whom Mike Davis
once described as a 'waste of height' . He enjoys
helping boys to achieve their potential and always
sees through the unif01mity of teams. or classes . or
House to the individual boy underneath.
I have already consumed my allocation of type.
and I know that Paul never approved of my chosen
font anyway. Needless to say. he is missed by
those boys that he taught and those colleagues who
knew him welL He. of course, had his weaknesses.
He crashed cars and computer networks, and he
was a renowned gossip. And did you hear about
the time that he . . .
P.J .W.
Music was another major commitment. were it
organising
and
accompanying
boys
to
Boumemouth to hear the Symphony Orchestra or
performing with the School's Choir and Orchestra
15
Henry Price
Martin Boulton
A recent graduate of New College. Oxford. and
with eighteen month · teaching experience at
Sydney Grammar School, Henry was ideall y
suited to till the Classics vacancy that arose in
1999. A formidable sporting background was
matched
by classroom
expertise
and
enthusiastically championed areas of academic
interest- Homer , and, imponantly for Sherborne,
Roman History. A self-critica l and exacting
approach yielded impres..,ive result!> at all le\·els.
notably in teaching for GCSE Latin in his first
year, and in Oxbridge preparation Henry's
impatience with those pupils who valued
themselves too highly or traded too much on
potential was very salutary.
Henry is an accomplished sponsman and his
involvement ran deep, especially in cricket and
rugby, wherein he shared the coaching of the 2000
1st XV. It was a major blow to him when a
snapped Achilles tendon ruled him out of
panicipation for several tem1s. and his morale was
visibly affected by crutches and the constant round
of hospital and physiotherapy appointments. He
continued to work unMintingly though: in
panicular, he was a highly valued tutor in The
Green. Marriage in July nece5sitated a move to a
school nearer London, and we send Henry and
Mary every good wish for their future at Rugby.
M.J.B.
A friend of the American writer Robert
Bcnchley once asked him "How is it that you
manage to work so hard and still look so
dissipated?' One felt the same about MarLin . He
crammed an extraordinary amount of activity into
his work at the School but always managed to find
time to have fun while he did it.
After deciding that his previous allempt at a
career in mining engineering and management
con!>ultancy had been a mistake, he turned his
back on the world of business c l a s travel, expense
account'> and huge salaries without a single regret
(well, perhaps the odd one) and arrived at
Sherborne School in September 1997 to teach
Physics.
Lessons with Ma11in were a white-knuckle.
roller-coaster intellectual ride which drew on a
vast ran ge of interests encompassing phi losophy,
literature, films. modem art, photography, weird
contemporary music and. intermittently. the
Physics syllabus. Boys were challenged. engaged.
infom1ed. entertained and. looking at their results.
bcllcr prepared for the examinations than they
were sometimes willing to give credit for.
Itinerant tutoring around the School in his first
two years preceded his settling down in the lavish
apartments provided for the Resident Tutor in the
new Green, which then received the distinctive
Bou lton touch. Austere minimalism in the large
16
to the South Bank for a fascinating performance of
a Steve Reich piece in the presence of the
composer remains for me the musical highlight of
recent years. Finally. there was the production of
Golden Gordon as the Green House Play; Martin
brought his style and verve to the choreography of
the football match, producing one of the most
imaginative drama pieces the School has seen.
He had a stereorypically Northern bluntness,
often just put on for effect, which did not
always endear him to those more accustomed
to the minced words of the South but l11is was
always offset by effervescent good humour and
a total lack of selfishness. Deadlines, memos , lists,
forms and other adm inistrative impedimenta of
school life were not things merely to be ignored
- they were to be trampled bmtally underfoot
in his headlong quest for the next big idea.
While this may have been inconvenient
sometimes, a schooldocs need people with a
greater enthusiasm for ideas than syllabuses and
they came from Martin in a torrent - big and
small, reali stic or wacky, sensible or deranged,
sometimes exhausting but always energetic and
innovative. (Many of them even became
translated into action.) Given his interests.
London is in some ways his natural
environment and Wesuninster School an obvious
move for him but I don'tthink that 1 shall be alone
in regretting his departure. In his four years at
Sherborne he gave of himself fully. borh in the
classroom and beyond , educated the boys in the
broadest sense, added to the school's stock of joie
de vivre. earned the respect and affection of his
friends and enjoyed every minute of it - what
more could anyone want?
drawing room, Jamie Oliver style anarchy in the
kitchen (in which he installed a state of the art
cooker, the cost of which I am still embarrassed to
disclose), expensive bicycles parked dangerously
around every corner, a top quality stereo. valuable
modern. oriental art on every wall, and designer
clothes crumpled in a heap on the noor . . . For
someone who affected a touching concern for the
environment whenever he was allowed to get
away with it. he had a great gift for consumerism.
Boys in The Green were always welcomed into the
nat , whether for tutorial advice, to join him for
supper, to borrow a CD. to use his AppleMac for
their art projects, or ju st for a chat, and were
always appreciative (as indeed were the Reynold s
family. young and old) of his friendliness. warmth
and good humour.
In partnership with Mike Davis and then Henry
Price he was soon coach ing rugby to the highest
levels in the School, always expecting high
standards but with his characteristic amiability and
lack of pretension. Paradoxically , despite his
involvemem in major sport, he was always very
anxious to avoid being pigeonholed as a
sportsman. In fact, he rather used to enjoy creating
paradoxes: his distinctly left of centre political
views did not prevent him taking command of the
Royal Marines section of the C.C.F. where his
rather non-military attitudes were viewed with
amused tolerance by the boys. What he lacked in
soldierly bearing he more than made up for in his
highly qualitied and enthusiastic leadership of
expeditions up mountains and across moors.
We worked together in a number of cultural
activities that have produced some of my happiest
memories in School. On Art trips he inspired boys
with his interests aod accomp lishments in
photography , led educational tours of the red-light
district of Amsterdam. unearthed obscure galleries
in the Marais , created Jiving works of art by
getting thirty boys to form a human pyramid in the
centre of the Place du Tertre (to the bemusement
of the tourists and street artists) and joined me in
long vigils at the hotel watching over stroppy si xth
formers. In New York we managed to bring the
Metal Exchange at the Commodities Market to a
halt and watched late at night as the building next
to the hotel bumed down. (Listing these, it does
occur to me that without him future trips may be
somewhat safer). An interest wh1ch we shared in
contemporru·y classical music produced in Mrulin
an almost
evangelical
zeal
to
look
for opportunities to share this more widely, a
zeal which was undimini shed by the fact
Sherborne
largely
continues
to
place
that
contemporary music alongside cannibalism as a
field of human endeavour; his efforts in inspiring
a group of sixth formers during an evening's visit
D.H
.Jonathan R i c k e t t s
Jonathan Rickett s joined the staff directly from
International College. where he was responsible
for running th e Chemistry Department and was
also Resident Tutor. He put his previous
experience to very good use in a busy and
dedicated two years at Sherborne School.
Having just been involved in the upgrading of
Chemisu-y faci lities at International College, he
was ideally placed to advise on the development
of our new laboratories. After the move, with his
proficiency in IT, Jonathan made full use of the
additional resources available. Those he taught
were presented with expertly produced word
processed work sheetS and experiments where
data logging and CD ROMS became a familiar
pan of lessons. Jonathan was principally,
however. a traditional teacher of the best kind,
17
whose lessons were carefully prepared and well
delivered, reinforced by thorough notes. In his
relationships wi th students, he developed a
reputation for firm but fair deaJing. He took a
personal interest in all his pupils and a regular
stre::un of visitor!> outside lessons was proof of
that.
Outside the classroom he was very committed
to the life of a boarding school. As senior tutor at
Lyon House, where he became an extremely
popular figure. he crammed in more than most in
a very active two years. Whether it was as a patient
and sympathetic counsellor. an energetic organiser
and trainer of the Ten Tors team. (a tractitional
Lyon House specialty), or as a convenor of late
evening Chemistry seminars, his contribution was
unstinted and much appreciated.
Jonathan believes in using every minute of the
day to the full, and, despite all that has been
mentioned already. he also found time to make a
considerab le contribution to the C.C.F.. He ran the
Army Section with great enthusiasm and skil l,
derived from his time in the Territorial Army. He
also led the shooting team to success at Bisley. It
was his role in this aspect of school life which led
to his affectionate nickname 'Combat Wombat'
and he is sorely missed.
With all that has been said above, Jonathan is
first and foremost a family man. His wife Nicky
continued to teach Biology at International
College and supported him in all that he did. He is
also the proud father of a new one-year-old
daughter, Charlotte . A move to the East Midlands
suited all the Ricketts family. and Nottingham
High School. an academic school of high
reputation. engaged him without hesitation. Our
loss i certainly their gain and we wish them all
very well in the future.
R.C.F.G.
challenge before her. Elizabeth coped brilliantly.
always well-prepared for her lessons and initiating
an AS level course on the New Testamen quite
apart from slotting into the well-established
courses already on offer. She also found time to
help run the Community Service with her Head of
Department while fulfilling the demands of her
NQT training under Mr. Elliott. Later in the year,
she was involved bachtage with The Wind in the
Willows (she has at various times considered a
possible acting career) and was Finance Officer
overseeing the considerable sums raised during
Red Nose Day. She tutored several boys in Lyon
and they will no doubt feel the loss of a really
caring and intuitive counsellor. Maybe. too. the
Elizabeth N e w t o n
Elizabeth Newton served her newly qualified
teacher year with us before moving to The
Rending Bluecoat School where. as the only
fulltimc RE teacher, under the oversight of the
School Chaplain. she may probably find herself
doing a lot of the running of the RE Department.
She had come 10 us from Homerton College,
Cambridge where she had completed an excellent
Post-Graduate Certificate in Teaching Theology.
She already held an Oxford BA gained from Christ
Church and offered New Testament and Buddhism
as her specialisms.
It would be true to say that someone newly
qualified taking over from an experienced. long
serving. and wide-ranging old hand has a powerful
sudden overwhelming enticement of her Theology
AS level course to which one fifth of the year
group was initially drawn will never quite be
repeated, nor will the sound of her sweetly sung
airs filter down the formerly dark stairs of the
Theology Department; but the theologians will
remember being encouraged by her enthusiasm
during her pleasant, i f brief, sojourn among them
- not least those who gained 100% marks in her
AS level New Testament. or those with A and B
grades at A level and GCSE, for whom at least
something tangible is left.
D.J.D.
18
M athieu Garnier
Mathieu Garnier was no run-of-the mill French
assistant, as he was not, like his predecessors,
destined for a teaching career but for The Upper
echelons of the French Civil Service. Educated at
the prestigious Paris School of Political Science,
he went on to complete an officers ' training course
before joining the Modern Languages Department ,
at the beginning of the Trinity Term 2000. He
stepped into the job at short notice as he
was
looki ng for an opportunity to improve his Eng lish
and become better acquainted with the Eng l ish
way of life. A keen sportsman. Mathieu had a
genuine passion for rugby football and he was able
to discuss the niceties of the game with t
he technical precision of a professional coach and
the lyrical prejudice of a die-hard supponer. His
vast knowledge of French hi story and institution s
led him to observe and ana lyse English altitudes
with the cool detachment
of the well trained sociologist.
His
six
months'
experience
of apparently continuou rain.
through last autumn, certainly helped him to
understand Montesquieu's comments on the
adverse effects of the English
climate. Yet, come rain or shine, Mathieu never
looked downhearted as he made every effort to
make new friends and pursue his conscientious
study of Engl ishness through the reading of the
daily papers and the occasional dip into popular
television programme s.
His academic contribution to the School proved
an extremely positive one as he provided his A
level students with a unique blend of
witty
enthusiasm and intellectual rigour, stretching their
mind s beyond their unquestioned assumptions and
challenging them into defending their well
entrenched beliefs. He undoubtedly brought an
extra dimension to learning French as he expected
students to show an interest in ideas as much as in
the language itself. The teaching profession may
have lost a natura l pedagogue but I know that,
whatever walk of life Mathieu decides to follow,
be it journa lism or PR, he will always trea.'>ure his
English experience and that, for our part. we will
always be delighted to have him back amongst us.
J-M.P.
19
'The Prologue,' 2 0 0 1
by t he H e a d s of School
Believe it or not we're back at Commem.
The end of the year has come once again.
Perhaps the sun shines. perhaps the storm billows
The one thing we're sure of is The Wind in rhe Willows.
And as custom demands at this juncture in time
We Head Boys commit a poetical crime.
We've come to the end of a wonderful era:
Though we have to admit the place couldn't be dearer:
The time bas come round to say goodbye and scarper
From School, Abbey, Green. Digby. Abbeylands. Wallace. Lyon, and Harper
We started the year with a brand new Headmaster.
Extremely well spoken. he came from Winchester;
A man whose curriculum vitae impresses:
H e wasn't the one who invented ASs.
Their loss was our gain when you upped and you ran.
We know it's the manners that makyth the man.
Enough of these terribly tedious yarns:
We have to be saying 'Goodbye Mr. Barnes',
The soul of politeness, quite lacking in roughness,
Retiring today as the Chair of the Guvnors.
We wish him a happy retirement and restin'
And greet his successor: 'All hail, Sir John Weston·.
There·s no need for silence: there's no need for still lips
Our speaker to greet. Canon Anthony Phillips.
Who was the Headmaster of King's Canterbury
And. if l am right, married Tony to Cherie
And gardens and beachcombs in Falmouth in Devon.
He bas sat on the Board of Governors since 1997.
But tears ftll our eyes as we think of the staff
Who are leaving today- and we try not to laugh:
At least when considering Boulton and Ryan
There's part of us Jaughin', there's part or LIS cryin'.
Mr. Ryan 's a titan, of statu re absurd.
Who works like a Trojan and sings like a bird;
Dr. Boulton' s a man who enjoys a few Ginsters.
The money thar'U pay for them now is Westminster's.
Although there will be no backs to coach,
There surel y will be more women to approach.
And with th em goes Nottingham-wards Mr. Ricketts
Who's happiest when leading his men through the thickets.
The wombat of combat, an expert in shootin '
Goodbye Mr. Ricketts; farewell to Mi ss Newton
Who leaves us for Bedford after only a year Quite soon will there still be anyone here?
20
Farewell to Fernando. Matthieu. and Celinc
Goodbye to Dr. Robens - you·ve all of you been
A great inspiration - but greater than the e
Is Ben who pours drinks at the Cro. s Keys,
And Pricey. the man of the single eyebrov..
Is leaving us more miserable than him now.
Of Trevor and Chopper the School's very proud
They work very hard and they shout very loud But Trevor's superior to everyone e l s e - he
Played cricket for England and football for Chelsea.
He' ; friends with Bill Clinton: he's 30 years o l d
Enjoy your retirement- well baued. well bowled.
And Chopper 's away: his departure has shocked us
We're lost without him as the Head of the Proctors:
No one can escape him; he's crafty and cunning
And puti ent and practised in cross-country running.
And speaking of sport. rugby didn 't go that well,
Th e season began with a short winning spell.
But later in the season. my colleague got crabby.
When his thumb was bust by the almighty Abbey.
Of the whole thirteen fixtures, we on ly won four.
But we beat the South Africans. here on their tour.
The hockey team was better. but only very mildly.
·cos most of them were bjning the ball quite wi ldly.
Henry Mitchell was pleased because everyone paid us,
To send him away with his team to Barbados.
Charlie Gammell was made Captain of Cricket,
And Will Fegen got the most runs and wickets.
The team did well. winning four, losing three.
They are playing one more. Will they win? We'll soon see.
But tim e's nmnin g o ut and at last our speech ends,
So th anks to our teachers. our tutors. and friends.
Thanks to the housekeepers, the matro n s, and Custo
Thanks to the cleaners , and the proctors who bust us
The groundsmen. the sisters who work in th e San
And th e Department of Works in th eir lill ie white van.
The caterers who feed us and everyone here,
We thank you whole-heartedly- we'v e had a good year.
So goodbye from us both and all those of our age.
As the speech starts to close, we are a new page
In what has become our School's hi story book .
Goodbye from Chris Verney and Nic h olas Cook.
21
Sixth F o r m Play
Dealer's Choice
This production of Dealer :s Choice by Patrick
Marber was postponed to Lent from Michaelmas
and dedicated to the memory of Stuart Hargreaves.
who would have directed the play in
its earlier slot. The casting was Stuart 's,
as. characterist ically, was the choice of so
demanding and boldly provocative a piece. The
result. under the direction of Giles Robinson.
wa. a memorial on which Stuart would surely
have been proud to read his name.
in their failures. Failure. ultimately. is the play":
theme. Everyone, in the world it depicts. is a loser.
The great and surpri sing virtue of the play i!. the
humane sympathy with which it approaches this
conclusion.
At first it seem::. that there is only one real loser.
Mugsy's very name declares that he is the · mu g·
the inevitable dupe - at the restaurant's weekly
staff poker games. Mugsy places great
and misplaced confiden ce both in his grasp of strat
egy
Dealer :v Choice, in the Jirst instance, is a play
about poker - a game redolent with the glamour of
high stakes raised in low dives. But Dealer :r
Choice is in no way a glamorous play. The dive in
question here is not espec ially low - not a Chicago
speakeasy but a London restaurant with
unachievable pretensions. an d the
stakes. correspo ndingly. are only such as its
employees may aspire to. This i., not quite Ia boue.
nor would it in vite anybody':- nOJwlgie. Rather.
the inability of the environment to ri e either
above or below the level of humdmm nearrespectability reflects the inability of the
characters to achieve anything spectacu lar either in
their successes or, more often.
and in his 'lucky ' poker shirt : in fact he is so
inescapably unlucky that he can never even win the
call on the toss of a coin. Hi s great ambition to ri se
above the lowly status of a waiter is based on a
comically doomed plan to open hi s own restaurant
in a derelict public lavatory on l11c Mile End Road.
There was true relish in Charlie Cox's pcrfom1ance
as Mugsy. con vey ing the type of doomed naivety in
a manner occasionally heart-rending but more often
properly irritating. His battle cry of ·oe-mon!'.
repeated ad infinitum during the third act poker
game. had clearly stmck a chord with the Third
Form on the morning after. He is a very likeable
actor. and his performance was rightly enjoyed.
23
Contrasted with Mugsy"s flighty innocence is He is. after all. Mugsy's panner in the Mile End
the affected world-weariness of his fellow waiter
Road enterprise and already a com pulsi ve gambler
Frankie (Adam Harri-;) and the wry stolidity of who. following early experiences with slot
Frankie\ natmate. the chef Sweeney (H machine:.. hall been playing for higher stakes
enry Mitchell). Sweeney"s attitude towards
behind his father's back. Ash i!> owed by Carl a
Mugsy, though tea!.ing, is almo t patemal, and tidy sum of mone). which he owes in tum to
Sweeney is, in fact, a farher, divorced. and
fellow gambler!>. and so it is arranged that Ash will
looking forward to a
rare
meeting
next join the evening\ game in the hope of winning
morning
with
his
little daughter Loui!.e.
back his debt. Ash outclas es the restaurant staff
Maturity is suggested initially b) his refm.al to take \\ ith ease. but in thi!. play he too must be a loser.
pan in that evening ·sgame so a ' to have sufficient He reveal that what might appear a glamorous
money to take his daughter to the 100 . but profession pay!. only for the l.hoddic!.>t of life tyles.
maturity in Sweeney extends onl y as far as Moreover, it eme rg e that he is in some pcr onal
knowledge
of
his
own
weakness.
He danger a a result of hi!> debt. and mu!.>t go on to a
capitulates all too easily in spite of himself. and game with his creditors a the play ends - a game
in which, he admit:.. even he may be the ·mug'.
loses everything. In a process articulated
Thi!> was an evening of vintage Pease and a litting
!>enl>itively by Mitchell, he i:. reduced to a self
pityi ng drunk, accompanying Mugsy"s pitiful ·De culminati on to hi s dramatic career at Sherborne
mon!' with the patheti c chorus. ' I have n't seen a School. With relat i vely few lines of hi s own, he
card all ni ght !' Hi s downfall is only hastened by nevertheless maintain ed an astonishing sense of
men ace
throu ghout
the
play
Frankie's weak insen sitivity. Having failed even to brooding
remember lillie Louise ·s name. Frankie agrees to and especially during the final game. when
keep back fifty p o u n d for Sweeney with Ash's extreme!> of concentration were suggested
a
only by the movement of the match betwee n hi s
rc ignation which leave). the audience in little
teeth. It is rare to find th is degree of conviction in
doubt that he will hand it over as soon as Sweeney a teenaged
need:-. it for a stake. The hopes he entenains of actOr and a privilege to sec it on the Sherbome
gambling
professionally
in
Las
Vegas stage.
are exploded the moment he i
faced by
Perhaps the most complex character in the play
a real
is Stephen (Jamie Thomas). Carl'!> father and the
professional.
owner of the re-.taurant. A '>Ome\\ hat patriarchal
The real professional, Ash (John Pease). is figure. he maintains his moral authority longer
introduced to us b) Carl (James Fowle), the
re!.taurant owner's son and another obvious dupe. 24
almost even than Ash. but is himself revealed as
not just a compubive theorist of poker but an
addicted gambler unable, when challenged by
Ash. not to place a bet on the fall of a coin. He is,
as becomes clear. merely the centre of a co
dependent network: h i generosity to
others merely enables them to continue to pia) the
game. This is a difficult part. and Thomas did
well with it. Despite some false stre ses. he
maintained hi character's dignity and achieved
genuine pathos in the scene in which he eventually
lets down Mugsy over the Mile End Road. His
own solidity, along with the impression of feckless
youth conveyed by Fowl e contributed well to a
very impressive sense among the ensemble of
the difference in ages among the characters - a
sen e achieved almost entirely without the aid of
make-up.
I t was as an ensemble-piece that this play was
most satisfying. After a somewhat slow beginning.
it gained pace, and had developed a real energy by
the third act. Especia ll y well-paced was the
artfully written scene in which simu ltaneous and
mirrored arguments arise in a fugal crescendo
between Stephen and Carl in the restaurant and
Sweeney and Frankie in the kitchen, ineffectively
interrupted by the hapless Mugsie: there was
clearly very close understanding between cast and
director here. The final card game was convinci ng
and riveting, even to those of us unversed in the
simplicities. let alone the intricacies. of poker.
The set. finally, deserves its own special
mention. Split between the grubby white of the
kitchen - compl ete with sinJ.. - and the navy
painted brick of the trendy restaurant. Mark
Friend's design lent this production an unusual
elegance, and a visual style somewhere between
Vermeer and Hopper. All this was enhanced by the
subtle co-ordination of the costumes, the placing
of the actors. and the imaginative detail of the
props. Once again, close teamwork was obvious.
between the director, the designer. and Pat Harri s's
production team.
But if this production had its beauties, they
were accompanied by horrors. I t is a credit to the
cast that one felt such genuine engagement with all
six characters throughout the play when there was
so much scope for revulsion at the self-obsessed.
self-destructive lifestyles portrayed: also, that they
achieved this without in any way glamorising the
centra l theme of addiction. Sinner were loved.
sins condemned. and proof offered that the bold ly
provocative need not preclude the maturely
humane. The linal accolade must come. again,
from the Third Form on the morning after:
'Wouldn't it be horrible to be addicted to gambling
like that, Sir?'
D.G. .B.
T h e Wri t i n g G a m e
Benjie Dudgeon is known for his acting talenL\ on
the Sherborne School !>tage. However. on Friday 2-!th
November I was among t the tmmy who were
privileged to witness hb first directed piece. He
wisely chose The Writing Game by David Lodge. a
farce containing innuendoc galore, and lots of fun.
Benjie had clearly managed to get to grips with this
tricky piece. This was demonstrated by the way in
which the set and the pre-set of the play enhanced the
story performed to the audience. Great lighting and a
superb soundtrack machine also com-plemented thi s
production (as well as a crafty use of tJ1e l>moke
machine).
Leo Rafkin wa\ played by the formidable Charlie
Cox, who led the cast with style. presenting the
character of a stubbom and chauvinistic American
writer extremely well. His accent never faltered once
and Charlie really allowed the audi ence to feel an
uncertain mixture of sympathy and dislike for hi s
character.
Ollie Luard displayed great range. managing to
transfonn hi s own massive and boisterous figure into
the nervous and affected stature of Jeremy Deane.
Ollie had the audience in stitche with his camp and
fussy gestures.
Alice Dodge. on her acting debut. played the part
of the very forceful Penny Sewell. Many of the men
in the audience could not help but wince as Alice
boomed around the stage portraying accurately
Penny's temper and attitude.
Steph Myan graced tJ1e stage as the dithering
Maude Lockett. attracting ympathy and laughs.
Steph showed great control and superb timing with
her entrances and speeches. in a part reminiscent of
Alice in The Vicar of Dibley.
It was fitting that Tom Walsh shou ld play the part
of St.Clair in this produ ction. Tom really enjoyed this
part. especially as I saw him many times in the Din ing
Hall fficking cups up and catching them behind his
back until be had it to perfection. He managed to play
this role with the suave and demure mmmer that it
demanded. 1l1is was Tom's la t major pcrfonnance
and one for which he will be remembered.
Finally, Andy Bridger, nonnally known for his
exploits on The Upper. had the opportunity to come
into his prime as the telephone voice of Henry
Lockett Like the rest of the cast, he made the
audience laugh spontaneously with his desperate and
grimly funny voice asking his wife over the phone to
help him with the household chores. There is
defmitely a future there!
The play was a great success with some of
Sherborne's finest actors coming together to work
excellently as an ensemble under Benjie's direction,
which was his first. but hopefully not his last.
production.
Nick Cramp
25
Commemoration Play
T h e W in d i n t h e W i l l o w s
Owing to the introduction of AS levels and
bordered on the arrogant Charlie Bond as Albert
because of the existing A level and GCSEs. a cast
the Horse, whose dry sarcasm was hi ghly amusing
of Third and Fourth Fom1 only performed this
and excellently delivered. and Nicholas Francis as
year's
Commemoration
Play. Th e other Badger also gave noteworthy performances.
year groups were all involved in public Simon Kene as Otter. and Chief Weasel Fergus
examinations. Versions of the chosen play. The
Thompson stood out despite their re latively small
Wind in the Willows, have doubtless been roles. I was impressed by the bravery of Harry
Lucas. Jack Milln , and Henry Butt. who not on ly
performed
countless times
since
Kenneth
agreed tO dress in drag but also did an excellent
Grahame wrote the story in
1908, bu t rarely on such a grand scale. This stage
job. The vermin disco dance provided
adaptation by Alan Benneu was an audacious
great
production considering the age of the cast, but
many of the actors showed some considerab le
maturity in their perfom1ances.
Upon entering the Powell The:ure one
was struck by the stunning set which clearly
evoked the idyllic country atmosphere of the
river-bank
and the dark, mysterious Wild Wood where Third
and Fourth Formers became unruJy and badly
behaved weasels. stoats and fenets. The set was
truly spectacular with its bright and gaudy co lours
and threatened even to overshadow the actors. The
costumes and make-up were of a similar standard.
The gaiety of the overall effect of the production
must have appealed great ly to th e younger
elements of the audience, as one would hope in a
play adapted from a book for children.
The play opens with the contented riverside
charac ters in their natural habitat. We are soon
introduced to the ostentatious Rat and the shy yet
inquisitive Mole. Meanwhile we learn that Toad's
latest obsession with motor cars has resulted in his
incarceralion. With Toad H all standing vacan t , the
Wild Wooders soon move in and disrupt the
peaceful existence of the riverbank creatures.
Toad's bo ld escape from prison ends in outrage as
he discovers that his beloved home has been
overrun by vem1in. Under wise old Badger's
supervision the heroes carry out u daring operation
to liberate Toad HaJJ. After a brief skirmish the
vermin are evicted and, to celebrate the success,
Toad de lights in holding a garden party at which
he is once agai n the centre of attention.
With an enom1ous cast of thirty-seven, the
production
boded
well
for
future
dramatic ventures. with several very convincing variety and first class entertai nment. although
individual performances. Edward Elgood played perhaps it seemed a little out of place. Matthew
the shy. retiring Mole and effectively captured Hutt 's contribution was what stood out for me by
the essence of his character. Reuben Aitken and virtue of the ostentation he brought to the role of
Alexander Russell played Rat and Toad. Both the rather camp Stoat Cyril. It was these small
showed their acting prowess and carried off touches throughout that made the play such a
their roles well. Howe ver Toad was not quite delight.
the irrepressibly enthusiastic loveable character
we have come to expect. and Rat's selfconfidence at times
26
Once again Mrs.
Harris showed her
extraordinary talent for working with youngsters.
Here she was aided and abeucd by !he A sistant
Producer. Andrew Morley-Smith. The production
was !he farewell how for a familiar face: Ben
Lewis assisted his final Sherborne School
production. However, the younger Morley-Smith,
Alex. led a new team of bachtage crew into the
fray. and thi s is certainly encouragi ng for the
future.
It was a masterstroke to u!'e the garden of the
thcau·e to stage the final scene of the play. the
party. the first time this has been done. I ts
ingenuity was reminiscent of the similarly unusual
use of the Theatre in the 1999 Commemoration
Play Billy Budd. in which the scats were pushed
back in the theatre to maJ...e way for the execution
of Bill). The garden was lavishly decorated with
balloons and streamers and provided a memorable
and festive end to an excellent evening ·s
entertainment.
Nicholas Pothecary
27
School H o u s e Play
Biloxi B l u e s
Nick Cramp set himself quite a challenge when
he decided to put on Biloxi Blues. Trying to
recreate the humid atmosphere of the Mi ssissippi
swampland in the bitterly cold depths of Dorset in
the Miehaelmas Term was ambitious. However
thi s proved t o be a very entertaining
and successful play. which marked Nick's
second venture in the role of director.
The pia} is based on Neil Simon's experience
going through boot camp in Biloxi, Mississippi,
during World War II. It is not his experiences in
the m c lve ' which make the play stand out from
other 'ba!>ic training· stories. Most of the play's
clements seem to come from a checklist. The
hero \ unit contain s a sadistic bully, a racist. an
intellectual. and a nice gu y who in the end turn s
out to be gay. The loud drill sergea nt is bordering
on insanity. There is the mandatory scene when the
hero is assaulted, a scene about Am1y food, a
scen e about rugged training marches. and. of
course, a scene of sexual initiation with the local
prostitute, and another of love at first sight with a
local belle. But the very fact that this play is so full
of cliched characters and ituations made it a good
choice for a house play.
At the top of the play, Simon·!. protagonist
narrator Eugene. played by James MieviUe with a
fresh-faced innocence that literally glowed.
announced his three goals for wartim e to become a writer. to stay alive. and to lose
bjs virgini ty. The principal action is concerned
with the sensitive Eugene being shaped and
moulded into
a :.oldier by the slightly
unbalanced drill in<;tructor
Sgt. Merwin J.
Toomey.
Rory MacFarlane played Toomey
in a delightfully aggressive and intolerant
manner. His mix of ignorance and violence
make the scenes in which he appears some of the
most comical of the play. The mal e ense mble
scenes were also a sheer delight. There was a
kind of comi c grace to their clowni ng and the
tensions and affections between them sparked .
Tom
Edwards
ex uded
a
sour. resistant
dignity as Epst ein , the inte llectual Jew who has
become the butt of anti-Semitic pranks and
Toomey's bctc n oire. H en ry Grundy-Wheeler
portrayed the bigoted Wykowski as a macho man
wi th little time for those around him. His scathing
wi ui cism!> and menacing physical presence
assured the other characters that Wykowski was
very used to having things his own way. Slight
and energetic . with an expressive face
and explosive comic gestures. Alex Beattie as Roy
had the bounding phy icality of an excited puppy.
28
As the ever-singing Don Carney, J ames Hood
brought a laid back. easy going. aod acce sible
character to the stage. one whom we could not
help feeling sorry for during the 'press-ups· scene.
R ound ing off the barracks. Henr y Farris
as Hennessey was a quiet enigma: the scene where
he was mustered out for a homosexual encounter
was chilling. The com ic scenes with Rowena
the prostitute (Eieni Gran!.den) in a seedy
brothel (where Nick
Cook
made a cameo
appearance) are nicely contra tcd with Eugene\
nervous wooing of Dai sy Hanni gan. J ames
Micville and Henrietta Cummin g were really
superb in these scenes, effectively illustrating
the tense and na"lve nature of you n g love.
Their pain sta kin g politen ess toward s one anot
her was endearing as well as amusing.
The play's overall polished appearance owed
much to its sharp production team. Josh Howe had
a difficult task in designing a set for this play,
having to provide the right setting for
scenes ranging from an army barracks, to a
brothel. to a conservative southern ball. The set
changes were snappy
and
even
made
entertaining
by the shrewdly selected John
Lee Hooker rhythm and blues tracks. The
lighting was also versatile and complemented the
set in every scene, whether it was the slightly
mottled red light of Rowena 's room, or the
stark and bright illumination of the parade
ground.
Neil Simon would have been pleased by this
production as it remained true to Simon's own
views on the comic: 'The way I see things, life is
both sad and funny. l can't imagine a comical
situation that isn't at the same time also painful.'
This approach to humour. one that seems to be
neatly borrowed from Ben Jonson, did not seem to
intimidate the director or his actors. Nick Cramp
managed to take a relatively inexperienced group
of actors and mould them to fit Simon's play. The
audience recognised the 'painful' in the racism and
anti-Semitism. set against the back-drop of the
most bloody war in history. Yet we were also
strangely amused by the profane banter in which
these ideas were expounded and the C<u·icatured
characters who uttered them. Ll was pleasing to
watch a house play that, while being amusing. also
had a slight sardonic edge to it.
James Board
Wa l l a c e H o u s e P l a y
The Real Inspector Hound
As an evergreen and hugely entertaining play,
this Wal lace House production of The Real
Inspector Hound (postponed from the end of last
year owing to programming difficulties) could
hardly fai l to be a good evening out. A masterpiece
of intricate design, Tom Stoppard 's parody of the
country-house mystery is hugely complex: theau·e
critic sit on stage throughout. watching a play
within the play. But the characters shift between
realities: in one reality, they are actors and critics
taking their respective roles in the theatre; but in
another.
they
are
individuals.
free
of
the constraints of their careers. Directed by
Andrew Morley-Smith, the actors grasped this
complex
structure with apparent ease, despite occasional
difficulties.
As Moon (Luke Vassay), a theatre critic, sat for
just under five minutes in the closely lit 'stage
audience·. reading his programme. the audience
sat in stunned silence in the darkness listening to
themselves. and observing on the stage a corpse.
half hidden by a chaise longue. lt was certainly a
different (Birdboot observes later, 'You can't start
[a playj with a pause!') and, I think, very effective
start to the even ing. Birdboot joins Moon, and, in
true Stoppard style, the main plot is introduced in
the space of about a mi.nute. And even at this early
stage in the play Messrs Vassay and Male were
29
shining in their roles; making vivid sense of much
of
Stoppard's
apparently
randomly
wrineo speeches.
While the critics led much of this play. the
charwoman at Muldoon M anor. a certain Mrs.
Drudge (Alia Addo) seemed to me to dominate
mo!>t of the rest. Her stage presence was always
imposing and her array of five or. perhaps. six
differently
coloured
dusters.
were
expertly deployed. Her dismal stupidity was
effectively portrayed.
as
she
vigorously
dusted
corpse, furniture and audience. and
covered the evidence of the first murder with the
chaise longue.
The action in the country house on the stage
within a stage develops as Simon (Alistair Brooks)
unexpectedly comes to stay. As it wrns out, he has
had a rclation hip with one of the other guests t h e saucy Felicity
Cunningham
(Hen rietta
Corlett, dressed for much of the play in
perhaps the sma llest garmen t ever seen on the
school stage) - but has recent ly ended that
relationship, opting in stead for the widowed Lady
Cynthia Muldoon , a great friend of Felicity's.
played powerful ly by Alice Macklin . Things are
co mplicated when the wheelchair-bound Major
Magnus
Muld oo n (Rich ard Ward ), a long-lost
half-brother of the late Lord
Muldoon
now
pursuing Cynthia as well, enters at quite some
pace. knocking Simon over. The company settle
for a game of cards. But as one might expect (and
here, at least. things turn out as
30
one
would
expect),
the
atmosphere
becomes distinctly frosty: death sentence are
exchanged, all overheard by Mrs. Drudge and
mentioned by her to the
police
later.
Meanwhile the radio is being regularly switched
on for news broadcasts (read, in a special
gue\1 non-appearance.
by Patrick
H aigh).
informing those present that a madman is loose
in the vicinity of Muldoon Manor
- and they arc cut off by fog. A fairly average
country-hou!>e murder mystery. it might seem.
In the intervals between the scenes of this
mystery.
the
critic
continue
their
apparently random
discussion:
and
comment on the
performance !>O far - thi!> was subtly done by
Messrs Vassay and Male, especially effectively
through some difficult quickfire one-liners.
And the mystery i
o l ved - Inspector
Hound (Joff Dickens) makes a triumphant
entry, discovers the corpse. and . . . Simon is
also shot
dead. This is where the 'fai rl y average country
house mystery' collapses. Moon answers a ringin g
telephone on stage. and it is for Birdboot. Moon
resumes hi s scat, but Birdboot starts speaki ng to
hi s wife on the set. But Felicity's lirst entry is then
re-enacted: and it becomes apparent that like
Simon, Birdboot has recently started a
new relationship. now choosing the actress
playing Cynthia rather than the actress playing
Felicity. The shift between realities was
confusing bm effective: Birdboot is now
Simon. After the
moment of tran sition, everything seemed very real
but
surreal
at
the
same
time.
and
excellent direction and acting superbly contrasted
this with the first enactment of the scene: from
Cynthia and Birdboot's passionate kiss. to
Felicity's coldness and the now intense and
fevered card game, full of previou sly mysterious
suggestions. every thing was upped a notch .
Birdboot
thought
he could avoid Magnu
s· wheelchair as it careered onto the stage; but,
no. it entered from the opposite side
(accompanied as before by a theatre- shaking
sound effect created by stage manager James
Morfee)
knocking
Birdboot
over. Giles
Male's stage fall was superb - I only hope he
didn't get hurt.
And then to the moment at which Simon was
shot - and Birdboot is shot in his place: but not
before mystifyingly telling Moon and the audience
that the corpse on stage is. in fact, Higgs, a fellow
critic. In a curious mixing of levels of reality. both
the character Simon and the ·actor' Birdboot are
now dead. Strange. But su-anger is to come. Moon
comes on stage to see hi s friend, and discovers he
is dead. Upon the return of the other characters,
Moon now assumes the role of Inspector Hound.
and tries to work out what is going on. Everyone
is accused of murder. as Mrs. Drudge recalls the
death threats issued earlier in the play.
But somehow Moon become s the accused. as it
turns out that the police officer that he is now
playing in the play is an impostor. (By this time
the actors playing Simon and Inspector Hound
have assumed position in the critics· chairs and are
making helpful comments on the play's progress.)
The climax of both rea lities comes at the
same time: Magnu s suddenl y ri ses from his
wheelchair and removes a disguise. revealing
himself (in the murder-mystery) as the Real
fnspector Hound and as Cynthia's long lost hu
sband Albert. Meanwhile Moon
has
now
recognised
the actor playing Magnus as
Puckeri<.lge. a fourth critic. Magnus (Puckeridge)
shoots Moon - both in his capacity as a critic.
and as a player of Inspector Hound.
It turns out that Puckeridge has been u sing th is
murder-mystery as a medium for destroying his
rival critics; he h as killed Hi ggs. Birdboot
and Moon , and now is the only one of the four
rivals remaining. Complicated? Well , yes.
But
the brilliance of thi s play is that (as
illustrated here) to
enjoy tbe evening one does not have to understand
the plot entirely. And as the second of three boy
directed plays during the Michaelmas tem1. it
certainly did Wallace House proud.
Dougal Gordon
31
Abbey H o u s e
Play
A m a d with
e uhis
s affec tionate but
The Abbey House play of Amadeus entertained
two full houses in the Powell Theatre a few weeks
into the Lent term . It was certainly an ambitious
choice as a House play but this production showed
it to be a highly suitable one. It has a few strong
central character parts, a large supporting cast. and
can be managed effective ly with fairly simple sets.
David Hedison·s production invo lved over £\vent)
boys from Abbey House and four S.S.G. pupil s.
The play dramatises the life of Antonio Salieri
and , in particular, his relationship with Wolfgang
Amad eus Mozart . Salieri, Court Composer of the
Viennese Emperor is disgusted by the newly
arrived young prodigy's personality and character.
In resentment against God for giving such a
creature such ublimc gifts, he is determined to
destroy him. The play shows how he achieves this.
While M ozart's wonderful co mpositions fail to
impress for long the courtiers or the Emperor
Joseph himsel f. Salieri wins recognition and
acclaim for pieces. which. as he alone seems to
recognize are, in comparison to those of Mozart.
devoid of vitality or worth. Political in-fighting at
the Emperor 's cou rt keeps Mozart from
the patronage which composers of the period so
relied upon , and he descends to a life of genteel
poverty
feckless and flighty wife.
Con st ann .
Their
e\entual
separation
leaves Mozart at Salieri's mercy. He accelerates
Mozart's illness by appearing to him as the
cloaked figure which Motart. confiding in him
as a friend, has told Salieri that he regard as an
omen of hi s death.
The action of the play is narrated by Salieri.
whose commentary shows powerfully both the
obsessive working of hi s own mind and
the
farcical and touching demise of Motart himself.
Toby Nutley managed superbl y the demanding
role of Salieri - apart from anything else, he had to
rema in on stage for v irtuall y the whol e play.
Despite a few missed lines and an occasiona l
tendency to tran spose the order of the scenes
- wh ich tested even those repn:scnting the
stolidit y of the Austrian court - he e loquent ly
expressed the hatred and contempt whi ch Salieri
feels for the you ng Mozart. His part dominates
the play , and Toby Nutl ey'!. perf orman ce
from the outset commanded the audience's rapt
attention. Freddie Lewis was appropriately ch ildish
in contrast as the play\ ob!.cenely juve nile M
ozart. He gave a real sense of Motart·s decline t
owards the end of the play and hi !.
re lationship with Constanza. a diffic ult role
played con vi ncingly by QJjvia
32
Jacobsen , managed to be both vu lgar in rumour-spreading
Viennese
public
its inception and moving in its decline. presented here, in a neat device, by a large choral
Mozart's character, as imagined
by Peter group of Abbey regulars - the caslin g gave
Shaffer, is unattractive , to say the least. Perh aps expression to a real sense of the unified
there was a shade too much
(merc iful) involvement of a large team. Behind the scenes,
softness in this
too, lhe work done to represent the performance
of Mozart's music both li ve on stage and from
production ·s treatment of him. It was crucial for
recording, principally aided and advised by Ian
the audience to feel the force of Salieri 's claims to
be considered a victim of God's gross injustice in Davies, was very successfu l in reminding us of
the miraculous
powers
which Sal ieri so
having given such tremendous gifts to someone
resented.
whom Sal ieri regards with some justification a an
production.
Amadeus
. Abbey House gave us a stylish and
·obscene child'. The causes of Salieri's jealousy chalInlenging
John Patterson
and hostility towards Mozart were n ot con veyed
entirely convincing ly by the action between lhc
two
main characters.
admirable
though
their
individual performance s were.
The action of the play resembles a series of
tableaux whi ch come briefly to life in each scene.
This was well brought out by the attractive
picture-frame set, designed with the help of Ben
Lewis and consu·uctcd largely by members of lhe
House, and the sumptuou s wigs and costumes.
There were pleasing performances by many of
those representing the secondary characters.
Rupe11 Lane was splendidly Germanic as the
mu sicologically challenged Emperor Joseph. who
thought Mozart's operas should have fewer notes.
His
fawning
cowticrs
includ ed
Harry
Stewart Moore as Van Swieten, Justin Gulston as
Orsini, and
Dougal
Gordon
as
the
marginally more intelligent Von Strack. With
the support of the minor court character parts,
and the Venricelfi , the
33
Ha r pe r H o u s e Play
T h r e e S h o r t P l a ys f o r C o a r s e A c t o r s
Coarse acting is based on cliche. Old people
must limp. maids be stupid and policemen tread
like elephants in diving boots: much amateur
drama exploits these cliches to their full. Michael
Green has written this collection (originally Four
Plays for Coar e Actors) partly as parody of
amateur drama and partly as parody of different
dramatic stylel>.
Srreurh is th e c lassic whoduni t and was
performed with Green's parody of the style and all
the traditional detective story c liches in mind . As
H olst's Mars from The Planets drifted cu·ound the
auditorium in the darkness. the cast shuffled on.
The lights revea led the start of the scene:
the Police
In spector
(Rupert
Osborne)
pointed hopefully at the lloor: 'The corpse ... ' he
stuttered . But there was no corpse. H astily, the
stage was blackened once more as Mars was
played, being rewound; and the lights tried again.
Disasters befall the ultra-amateur cast from
every direction: Majors (Nick Beattie)'s
shin sticking suggestively through his trousers,
Oliver D' Arcy
(David
Hoey)
played
incompetently fast; Huben D"Arcy (Harry Steel)
unable to remember his lines; J ames (George
Bunkall). the butler. in a
ridiculous wig, holding the set together:
a prompter (Mrs. Priscilla H orsey) dashing onstage from t i me to time to cue actors and
technicians. with the Inspector doing his best to
keep the action intelligible. The humour of the
style lies in the contrast between the grim
!.truggle to keep the play going and the absurdity
of the situation. But so much of coarse acting
depends on comic instinct and the rea lisation or
what is funny and what is not: when everyone
is outrugco u s. nobody is funny. Perhaps thb is
what had befallen the piece by the end. To
play the part of a bad actor con vi n cingly
requires considerable acti ng talent; bad actors
are exceptionally bad at coarse acting. George
Bunkall played the butler particularly well.
with effective dimwittedness and slot h , and
supported the other roles we ll.
For the second of the plays, II Fornica;;ione, a
·one act opera·. the orchestra were unfortunately
absent:
director
Chris
H amon
a
conductor excitedly
led
Mrs.
Alison
Tremewan on her triangle through the score. As
a brilliant parody of operatic style this w a
definitely the best of the three plays. The story
traces the affair of Alfonso (Charlie Brock) and
the comely Countess (Claire
34
McEvoy), complete with trusty Maid (Lucy
Bowditch) , through the bi-tonal recitative of opera
minus orchestra. The Countess poisons the
Count's mushroom pie and he dies; the operatic
intensity of the moment was explored by the team
of Attendants who chanted vociferously at
appropriate points as an opera's Chorus might do
in Verdi. But the Count somehow comes back to
life to contjnue his scripted part, demands to see
his widow's lover, and is thus reunited with rus
long-lost son when this wish is granted. Alfonso
then kills the Countess to avenge his father's
murder, -realises he's killed his lover. and kills
himself to be with them both. All in all, a nom1al
son of opera, really. Hearty performances a.IJ
round and a good development of the parody of
opera gave thi s second play a quality which the
first seemed to lack.
The third of the plays was All's Well Theil Ends
As You Like If ('by Michael Green. from an idea by
William Shakespeare'). The director had the cast
take thi s at a good pace which thankfully made
some of the (scripted) repetitive jokes less heart
wrenching. The plot was simple: the deposed
Duke Frederigo (Oily Luard) wishes revenge on
his brother Bronchio (Will Ru ssell) who has
usurped him. The snag is that Bronchia 's daughter
Delia (Henry May) is mad ly in love with
Frederigo 's son Dronio (Charlie Brock). and yet
she cannot see him for fear of execution by her
35
father. But no fear: the good Friar Crucible (Harry
Lucas) and Nurse Dracula (Fergus Thompson , be
breasted with really quite large balloons of which
the Nurse is exceptjonally proud) hatch a plan for
the young lovers to meet in the forest This they
do, and all looks well - but the evil Broncllw
arrives with an army. A fight ensues, but the forest
god Pan (Simon Kene), attempting (and failing) to
tly, dispenses forest magic on the situation and all
hatred s are forgotten. And everybody lives happily
ever after.
The acting was generally good and often
excellent, and the cast made a good attempt at
parodying the elements of the fairly average
ama teur company's production of a Shakespeare
play. The Shakespearian clown (George May as
Testiculo, kitted out with an enormous weapon
like phallus) and the stock fight scene of amateur
Shakespeare both bad a showing. There was even
the unfortunate actor with five part s - and not
quite enough time to change costume between
roles (Ed Worthingt on as Mud , Grot, Lute Player,
BoUo and Messenger).
Three
Plays
made
for
an
The
enjoyable evening's entertainment for a wellfilled Powell Theatre. And thankfuUy the cast
did not end up making a parody of their own
production. Not too much, anyway.
Andrew Morley-Smith
Sherborne School
Musical Society Concert
Messiah
satisfaction glow 10 the countenances of those
present. as on this occasion· . And cnthusia!-.m for
the Me.\siah remained undimmed throughout the
nineteenth centu ry. In 1857 a choir of 2o0o and an
orche:.tra of 500 performed it to 48,000 people in
the Cl)'>tal Palace. In 1859 an audience of more
than 81.000 attended three concerts there to
celebrate the centenary of Handel'!> death. Every
three years the London Handel Festival had a
choru s of 4000 mo tly amateur singers com ing
from every pan of the country to perform to
87,000 people. At Wells in 2001 the ch oru s and the
audience were doing their modest best to fill the
available space in the Cathedral and o keep up the
tradition, but it was at on ce clear that the orchestra
was un aware of the n eed to fill all the space
between choir and audience. A m ere twenty-three
players were to take th e place of the 500 in 1857:
and to the tru e music lover among us it was soon
obviou!> that the reason for this reduction must be
more than the need to save money. (though the
need to raise money was obvious throughout the
progra mme). On the front of the programme the
orchestra w a described a 'Baroque·. :.uggesting
a special treat. or pcrhap::. that in Handel's day the
forces he expected would be far fewer than those
of the nineteenth centu l) (and ometime later)
and that we \hou ld follow this in our day.
Cenainl)' the balance between orchestra and solo
s i n g e was unstraincd. allowing great clarity in
each part. The arrival of the rather more
thunderous choru produced a different effect and
one that Handel might have welcomed. so that we
had the best of both worlds. But it wa!> noticeable
and especially cred itable that the chorus was able
to produce subtl er effects than would have been
possible w ith larger orchestral sound - for instance
the quiet chora l start of the huge final Am en. On
the other hand th ough , the orchestral introduction
to Behold the Lamb of Cod, with its dotted notes
and the power of the ch oral entry, seem ed weak.
The chorus had trained themselves well (perhaps
that should be 'had been trained') through the
winter up to the variou s demands that Handel
makes of them th e dance rhythm:. of 0 Thou that
tel/est good tidings to Zion and For unto liS a child
is h o m . the thunde r of Surely he hath borne 011r
g r i e f· and the triumphant rejoicing of the
'Hand el i-. the master of us aU.·
}Meph Haydn
Walking from the bm. and rounding the comer.
we were faced by one of the unique sights with
which Britt!>h Chri!>tianity has confronted Europe.
the WeM Front of the cathedral. no dominant tower
or spire, row upon row of sculpture. tactfully
noodlit: and in:.ide. the white splendour of Wells,
brilliantly lit and containing at the east end the
Mus Soc choru s. spread well out and looking
reasonably comfortabl e. some even rejoicing in
the hope of hcin g uhlc to ce th eir conduct or, when
thin gs got st arted : all of this is not what a ha lf
century of Mus Soc had led me LO expect. There
had been severa l M essiahs in that time; an incident
in one of them has remained with me as a
revelation of th e heroic attitude required of the
cho r u ingers: in the Abbey. at ground level as
usual and so unable to enjoy a view of the man in
charge owing to the abominable number of
females in front of him. a boy had got up on a
chair: he was a fairly hefty boy and he really took
to Handel. especially the loud bits. When the
Ha/lelujalr Clrnru arrived. he hurled himself and
all he had into it, soul and especia lly body, leaping
about on the restricted space of chair seat: but
when the inevitable happened and he missed his
footing and cra hed to the ground. entangled wi th
the ch air. the rigid discipline held: no one rushed
to his aid. no cou n.ellor from the Social Services
obtruded himself. the Hallelujahs continued
unbroken and in a moment he was himself back on
his chair contribu ting his bit tutra Ia for a. He is
probably a comfonable father of five now, and you
may like to guess what House he was in then.
The numbers in the choir seemed. as usual.
comfortably large. A nd the audience were piling in
in sati sfactory numbers. In the eighteenth,
nineteenth. and early twentieth centuries, England
was obsessed by Oratorio, which was to a large
extent invented by Handel. The Messiah was
given in 1784 in Westminster Abbey to mark the
25th anniversary of his death; in his account of this
performance Charles Burn ey, the musical
h istorian. wrote: ' I h ave long been watching the
operati on s of good music on the :.ensibility of
mankind but never remember. in any pan of
Europe where I attended musical exhibition s. in
the Chu rch. Theatre or Chamber, to have observed
o much curiosi ty excited. attention bestowed or
Hallelujah.
And so to the -.oloi:.ts: and about time too. The
ladies were on my side of the Cathedral and so
36
conveyed more immediacy than the gentlemen on
the other side of the conductor. Emma Kirkby is
probably the best known of the four singers; after
all she has been president of the
Classical Association. the natural result of
reading Classics at Sherborne School for Girls and
at Oxford and a post of great prestige. The
clear. pure, bell-like sound of her voice is wellknown in a huge range of music from
Hildegard of Bingen to the eighteenth
century: she is, to those of us who went to wanime
concerts in Manchester in a circus-ring melling of
elephants, the lsobel Baillie of her day: we will
not now forget M iss Baillie nor Miss Kirkby, we
who were going to concerts t11en. On this
evening she put an inspiring imaginative
excitement into her music: this was not just the
music we all know. it was new and refreshed. This
enthusiasm was reflected by the contralto, Louise
Innes. a most attractive voice with a true sense of
what she was singing about. Although the two
male soloists were further away from our pan of
the audience and so, through no fault of their own,
did not sweep u:c. away to the same extent, they
were very much more than adequate throughout
the evening and were never merely singing. A fine
quartet. much appreciated. ( I did however feel that
the famous stan of the tenor's Comfort ye my
people seemed too loud and roo confident for a
voice calling on a people exhausted by war and
guilt and needing sympathy.)
Do we tend to take Mr. EIJjs too calmly? 1 was
sorry that rhe music telling of the shepherds on the
hillside was very much shortened: the mystery and
senl\e of the tremendous behind the scenes is real
Handel. Bm as usual when one has voiced one·s
little grievance, he wac; entirely reliable and far
more than that: you know that you are going to get
your money's worth when he raises his arms and
smiles. The Messiah was not the only very notable
music which
he
was conducting
this
year;
Stravinsky and Bruckner were to get his attention
in March and much more. And next year it will be
Gerontius again. And what else is there to ask for?
R.S.G.
37
Sherborne Schools'
O r c h e s t r a Tour t o T h e C z e c h
p uat blunchtime
l i c we boarded enjoying Kol Nidrei by Bruch and the Dvorak's
On SundayR1steJune
our two coaches and, amid general excitement and
good spirits, started our marathon journey to
Eal'.tern Europe. For some obscure reason we had
been separated into a boys· coach and a girls·
coach. We made an early evening crossing of the
Channel and then drove. with on
ly a few stops, to
the Czech border where we were held up for quite
some time, before being al lowed to travel on to
Plzen where we stopped to sample some typical
CLech cuisine at Tesco"s! The boys' coach arrived
roughly
on
time
whilst
the
girls'
coach (typically . . . ) &ot hopelessly lost and
arrived at
Uherskc Hradistse well after 8.00 p.m.
After breakfast on Tuesday we embarked on
our journey to Hradec, this time being allowed to
choose our coaches. Obviously Mr. Jenkins and
Mr. Ellis believed we could control ourselves for
such a short journey. On the way to the venue there
was a proper opportunity to take in some of the
spectacular scenery of the Czech Republic as we
headed up the mountains. The landscape is very
different from England's rolling green hills, with
great swathes of forest hugging the sides of hills
and mountains in the higher areas and huge,
expansive open plains in the lower regions. We
were destined for a castle on the top of one of
these hills which was where our concert venue
was. It abo had a lot of musical associations.
Whilst we were there we also visited an interesting
art exhibition. Unfortunately at the concert only
ten people turned up and. owing to some boys
leaving their concert dres on the coach. the
concert turned into more of a rehearsal. We then
had supper in the castle restaurant which turned
out t o be chicken and cheese. Once back at the
hotel, some of us went out to try and soak in some
of the local culture and atmosphere of Uherske
Hradistse and after some investigation found that
the town, although quiet, had a lot to offer!
On Wednesday the weather was glorious, with
plenty of sunshine and so our visit to cast le at
Buchlovice was very enjoyab le. We were able to
explore the impressive gardens before being taken
on a short tour of the castle in which we were told
about its substantial history. as well as being able
to see some exceptiona l ly ornate furniture and
wonderful eighteenth century paintings. After this
we then crossed the Slovak border to get to our
concert venue in Teplice which turned out to be a
spa town with lots of holidaymakers. Here the
concert was extremely we ll attended and the
audience were very enthusiastic. especially
38
Slavonic dance . Supper was surprisingly . . .
c h i c k e n and cheese again. But perhaps no
one minded after Tom Bridegroom·s rendition of
the American National Anthem on the way back in
the coach!
On Thursday some of the orchestra went to visit
the B ishop's Palace at Kromeriz while the rest
stayed behind in Uherske Hradistse due to being
so exhausted from the previous night"s exertions!
In the afternoon the orchestra played in another
spa town. The concert was again very successful in
which Schumann's Piano Concerto was played
beautifully by Chloe Loo to a very appreciative
audience. Once again we were greeted by a supper
of . . . chicken and cheese! A conspiracy?
On Friday, nearing the end or the tour, we were
uprooted from the familiarity of Uherske
Hradistse and set off for Brno which is the second
largest city in the Czec h Republic. Once we
arrived we were given a guided tour of the town,
allowing us to ee some pec tacular architecture.
After this most people sought out the sanctuary of
McDonalds to get some respite from the heat and
chicken and cheese. The concert was held in a
beautiful church but the acoustic did not lend itself
to the size and volume of the Symphony
Orchestra. although the Haydn Trumpet Concerto
made a good imprcs ion on the audience. After the
concert we continued to Prague where we arrived
at about 11.30 p.m.
Saturday turned out to be the hottest day yet.
with temperatures in the nineties! Nevertheless we
set out in the morning to do some :-.ightseeing.
Prague has a rich architecwral heritage that dates to
the Ninth Century, but by far the most impressive
building we visited was Prague Castle situated right
in the heart of the old pm1of the city. It was with the
castle as a backdrop that we played in our last
concert, in scaring temperatures, in the castle
gardens. The H:tydn Tmmpet Concerto was again
very popular as well as the Dvorak Slavonic Dance,
but the concen was sh011er than the others owing to
the extremely puni!>hing conditions we were
playing under! Afterwards, group photos were
taken before we were free to shop and sightsee.
Some of us took the opportunity to hire a
pedalo to navigate the River Elbe, whilst others
dared to have boa constrictor snake put round
their necks! We met again late in the evening at a
riverside restaurant where once again we were
greeted by chicken and cheese! It had become
something of a pattern. In the first break in the
fantastic weather we'd had up to this point. our meal
was accompanied by the most almighty
thunderstorm. It was therefore with some reservation
that we left the relative sanctuary of the restaurant
and ventured out into the driving rain scantily clad in
shorts and t-shirt!>! We made our way (quickly!) to
the Prague metro and after a short journey we
trudged through the mire before reaching the hotel.
Good spirits were revived, though. in the hotel bar
with some particularly energetic dancing to Britney
Spears. before most people returned to a room to
sleep! No one, however. missed Tom Bridegroom's
rousing and 'pm.sionate' spcechc in the early hours
of the morning!
Sunday was free for re!>l and recuperation
before everyone met for an afternoon boat trip
which was declared by the staff to be ·on the
house· because we·d behaved so well! Then after
our last meal (which wasn't chicken and cheese)
we embarked on the long journey back.
On Monday we had to make a sl ight deviation
to Stullgarl airport to drop off Luise Breyer, before
travelling on to Calais where the boys' coach
(again ....) left behind the girb. Had it not been for
some luck the coaches would have ended up on
different ferries which would have been
illegal! Two boys (who shall remain nameless)
almost managed to get left at Dover as well!
Although when we got back to Sherborne we
were all very tired. everybody had had a fantastic
time and took away some fond memories!
Man) thanks must go to all the music Maff from
all three Sherborne schools for making the trip
such a success. and for being !>O tolerant and
helpful. Special thanks muM go to Mr. Ellis and
Mr. Jenkins who did so much of the organi<>ation
for the tour. Without their tireless cffom before
and during the tour the trip wouldn't have gone
nearly so well. Personally it was certainly one of
the best trips I have ever been on. Culturally,
musically. and socially it was superb. I very much
look forward to the next one!
James Leakey
Commemoration Music
Those familiar with the work will know of its
Once again
2 0there0 was
1 a feast of music to be many
technical challengel>. not least for the
enjoyed by those who attended Commemoration.
I f there was a general sense that fewer parents than
usual were vi iting Sherborne, then this was
confirmed by the audiences at concerts. which
were noticeably smaller than in other years. The
decision by Sherborne School for Girls also to
hold their Commemomtion over the final weekend
should have guaranteed a larger than usual
audience at Friday evening's orchestral concert.
How many school!>. I wonder. can boast a
symphony orche!.tra of the standard to which, in
recent year:-, we have all become accustomed and
which can offer a full and wide-ranging
programme. bringing together the combined
talents of our three schools? What a pity, then. that
so few - no more than two hundred - heard this
year's musical fare, predominantly of the
nineteenth century. but with a twentieth century
concerto thrown in for good measure. The fact that
three of the works were concertos is testament t o
the depth of talent which Sherborne music can call
upon. Only a few month!> earlier, the orchestra had
made irs third visit to St. John·s. Smith Square.
London. where it gave another fine perfonnance.
Much of the music which was played then was
repeated
on
the
Friday
evening
of
Commemoration.
Cloe Loo (S.S.G.) played the first movement of
the Schumann Piano Concerro on the Steinway
Grand which she had grown to love during the
weeks she visited the BSR in order to pmctise.
orchestra. and the audience\ enthusiastic reaction
justified the many hours of rehearsal which had
preceded the concert. Cloc i'> surely one of the
most accomplished piani!.t to have come out of
Sherborne School for Girls in recent years and her
diminutive form belied the power and strength of
character which marked her convincing and
39
imaginmive performance. While not as technically
ecurc a in her previous perfom1ance at St.
John·l>. her playing neverthele:.s revealed great
wam11h, particularly during the first movement's
lyrical second subject.
Emily Walker. abo from S.S.G.. took to the
platform next and '>howed two very different sides
10 her mu ical character. (one ensitive, the other
pas.,ionate) in the beautiful Knl Nidrei by Max
Bruch. From the first bars. her playing
immediately caught the music'l> Jewish spirit with
a wonderful resonance of tone and beautiful sense
of phra c. The orchestra too. under the expert
guidance of John Jenkin!>. matched Emily's vision
of this work and produced a good range of
dynamic. the strings. especially fine this year.
excelling 1n their controlled playing.
Those in the audience who had made the
journey to London in March will have recalled the
fact that Chris Verney had then been unwell and
unable to perform the Gordon Jacob Trombone
Conc:er10. Now, fully recovered and fresh from h is
A level (he achieved three A grades), though
undoubtedly omcwhat shell-shocked from that
whole experience. he somehow found the energy
10 take 10 the stage for a performance of the
complete work. Unlike some concertos. where the
orchel>tra is present mainly as support to the
soloist's pyrotechnics. this concerto often throws
the spotlight on the different section!\ of the
orche'>tra itself and allow., them to show off a little
themselves. The orchestration in this work is
particularly colourful and woodwind and brass
were able to come into their own. this lime under
the baton of Paul Ellis. As any wind or brass
player will testify, you need a tremendous amount
of stamina and only the fully fit will survive.
Perhaps C h r i \ prowess on the sports field may
have played ...ome part in helping him easily to
overcome the numerou\ physical challenges
which the concerto pre cntcd, for he seemed to
take them in hi'> \tride. making light work of the
cadenzas which intersperse the first and third
movements. bowing a fine range of 10ne. and
proving that b m player in fact can play quietly.
The Scher:o from Tchaikovsky's Second
Symphony. aptly nicknamed the Lillie Russian.
and one of the more "'ell-l..nown Slawmic Dances
by Dvorak, finally allowed the orchestra to come
into i t own and elicited from the audience a
deservedly warm reception. Less than forty-eight
hours Iuter, the orchestra set off in two coaches on
a tour of the Czech Republic, the first of its kind.
and long overdue.
Earlier in the day the Abbey had once again
resounded to the varied ound!. of the Chamber
OrcheMra, the Brass En,emble and Chamber
Choir. which also included soprano and alto voices
from St. Antony· Lcwcston. The fanfare which
opened the concert wa!> written for ·a dignified
occasion· and the l.Caffolding tower. which cast its
shadow over the performer' and audience alike.
40
certain ly added someth ing extra this year. The
Sonata pian e forte by Giovanni Gabrieli is one
of
the
first
works
to
include
performance directions
and
the
Abbey's
acoustic contribut ed enormous ly to the engaging
performance by the two contrasted
groups
of brass. Next, the Chamber Choir. under the
direction of Jane Stein, with only a week to go
before her well-earned retirement. produced a
characteristically
fresh approach to one of
or
Mozart's early masses. The Spa1zen
Sparrow Mass lacks the rhythmic vitality and
melodic interest of many of Haydn's smaller
scale
mass
settings.
though
the
performance brought out some of the richer
harmonic subtleties characteristic of the youthful
Mozart. The accompaniment was provided, not
by orchestra this year, but by the imaginative
realization on the organ by John Padley, who
played no small part in helping to keep a tigh t
rein on the en semble.
To
con clude,
the
Chamber
Orchestra, accompany ing at various stages no
fewer than four soloists. presented a programme
of works by Telemann, John Williams (Jaws.
Star Wars. ET) and the perennial Vivaldi. whose
Concerto in G minor for two 'cellos received
least.interpretation
a little romantic
of performance.
an
whichin its
wasstyle
suitably
spirited, if.
Thethis
theme
from at
the film Schindler List had been
for
reviewer
arranged for this orchestra by Richard Kershaw.
whose own experience as a ·cellist
proved invaluable. as his choice of scoring for
solo violin and divided strings clearly showed.
The soloist was the orchestra's leader. Giles
Male. and his musical imagination was allowed
full rein in d1e wonderful long-breathed melodic
which revealed a warmth of tone and good
intonation, save for a few lapses in the highest
register. For the first item. the resident
conductor, lan Davies, had allowed two of his
proteges to take centre stage, one as soloist.
the other as conductor, in Telemann's
Concer1o for viola in G minor.
Acknowledged as the most prolific composer of
any age, this relative ly minor figure of
the Baroque era has, in recent times. benefi ted
from a huge resurgence of interest from
scholars and performers alike. While the
concerto in question has relatively little to
recommend it. there are many other excellent
and fascinating works w llich reveal a fecundity
of idem•. They have until recently been largely
ignored, owing undoubtedly
w the rather simplistic viewpoint that someone
who has written so much cannot have produced
anything other than poor and uninspired work.
This criticism is certainly true of, say, Salieri,
whose only claim to fame was to have been the
person who, until recently at any rate, had been
closely l inked with the untimely death of
one Wolfgang Amadeus. (Now. it turns out, it
was a local Viennese butcher who played a larger
part in procuring an early death for Mozart.
The Satw·day is traditionally given over 10 the
Commem. Service. Speeches, House Lunches and
sleep-inducing hospitality- particularly if one is
fortunate enough to be entertained chez Wallace.
Whatever the weather, but especially when it's
warm and soporific, the Chamber Concert usually
plays (eventually) to a large and appreciative
gathering
of
music
lovers. This year
was exceptional in that the nu mbers attending
were (throughout) depressingly small, though
the perfonnances were, as usual, exemplary, due in
no sma ll measure to the careful preparation of
each item by Jenny Cou ltas. The music on offer
was as varied as ever and included music by
Bach. Chopin.
Schumann,
Handel ,
Sondheim and Wieniawski.
Come tea time, many had emerged and taken up
residence in the gardens adjacent to the New
Music School, where they continu ed to eat and
d1ink, whilst being entertained by Barbershop, all
manner of percussion, trumpets, and bands
of various kinds. A ll in all, a filling end to
Commem. 2001!
s
P.C.E.
41
C h a p e l C h o i r To u r t o
Italy
The prospect of a 4.00 a.m. start daunted most
of the party of thirty lx>ys. staff. wives and friends.
yet the now traditional BBQ. or ' How to feed
thirty people as cheaply as possible·. went ahead
and some managed to find the energy to stay
awake all night. This bravado did not last long.
since it soon became apparent who had been
fooli h enough to do o ru. they snored on lhe Go
flight from Bristol to Rome. We were off on our
fiflh Choir Tour!
We had been booked in to Rome Youth Hostel
for three nights and everyone soon came to terms
with this arrangement and the complexities of the
Rome tran!.port system! One exception was
Gordon Scott. who at midnight nobly ran from St.
Peter's to the hostel in order to beat the curfew.
The Youth Hostel was built to house lhe athletes
for the Rome Olympics and it still had the
distinctive smell of changing rooms. Suffering for
one's sport is very honourable but we were here
for music and a few gags ! Some or us almost left
the hostel in disgust in order to find more
salubrious surrounding . especia lly when we
awoke in the morning to find an illegal immigrant
in one of the beds next to us! Needless to say,
GB-E quickly summoned the Carabinieri and the
day was saved.
Our first engagement , a great honour, was to
sing M ass at St. Peter's Rome. We arrived half an
hour before the Mass. managing to get past the
mafia-Myle security. but were not allowed to
rehearse and had to leap blindly in and hope for
42
the best. With a little guidance from three tenors
(local shopkeepers who seemed to be the St.
Peter's choir). we got through it and sang in all the
right places. The service went extremely well.
thank!. to the skill of the Choir and
itS accompanist. David Bednall. who mastered
St. Peter's organ in seconds. which was all he
was allowed!
Our
closing
anthem was
Balfour Gardner's £1•ening Hymn which took
advantage of the amazing acoustics. This
certainly was an occa ion that we would all
remember becau e of the sheer scale of the
building and being pan of a service in probably
the most important Chr istian building in the
world.
Our next venue was San Marcel lo del Corsa, a
very fine church quite close to the Pantheon.
Again, we were fortunate in having a wonderful
acoust ic. organ, and an enthusiastic audience. Our
repertoire ranged from Byrd to Stravinsky. Most
concerts in Italy start at9.00p.rn. (if you are lucky)
so by I I .OOp.m. our only recourse was to raid the
local
McDonald's
in
search
of
something 'wholesome'.
After three days in Rome we were all quite
relieved to leave the heat and mosquitoes (or were
they neas?) Ye . the hostel was that bad! We
swiftly swished north to the magical hilltop town
of Conona. We travelled in three minibuses but
even the l lalians had problems keeping up with
PMR and his !.evcre lack of lane discipline on the
autostrada. We had no idea that the streetS of
Cortona were all alx>ut a-. narrow as the entrance
year
and they
had
invited
us
back
again. Radicondoli
cannot
be
much
bigger than Yetminster. H owe\'er it manage:. to
stage a full blown Music and Arts Fe:-tival for
two months in the summer! A music school is
also to be opened by
a
Swiss
music
foundation, to teach local children to play
instrument:.. including the organ in the local
church. Music education at school in Italy is
deficient. so this should be an enormous bonus
for all involved. The church w a packed for the
concert and the c h o i r ' pcrfom1ance was
excellent, spurred on by the enthusiasm of the
audience. Again. we won't in a hurry forget this
concert and also possibly some of the best pizza
we have had ever tasted!
Our final day had arrived and some of us, as
'kindly' arranged
by PMR. returned
to
the cathedral in Cortona to sing 8.00 a.m. Mass for
the Feast of the Assumption. We did wonder why
we had agreed to do this at this early hour,
especially after having had to sit through a halfhour sermon in Italian! After this, even Paul
Ryan cou ld not cope with the compliments
that he received!
Our return to the UK was tinged with some
sadness. not on ly at leaving such wonderful
countryside. but also because it was time to say
goodbye to many leavers. both staff and boys. as
tbey go on to new challenges. M y thanks go to all
J.P.
involved in the tour and I look forward to the next
one.
to George Street in Sherborne. This caused some
interesting manoeuvres, and JGW felt car ick on
one particularly steep and narrow hill (we were
only doing 5 mph!) but. hopefull). the minibus
clutches survived!
The views from Cortona arc fanlaStic and the
town is beautiful. The Cathedral very kindly
allowed us to sing Mass for them and to give a
short recital. Our repertoire of Palestrina and Lotti
was
absolutely
right
for
the
urroundings. Performing these compo er'>·
works in such magnificent building!. really does
bring them alive.
From Cortona, we travelled to Assisi for a
concert in the first cathedral of Santa Maria
Maggiore. The plendid sight as we drove towards
Assisi made a lasting impression on all of us. The
town itself has recovered very quickly from the
devastating earthquake and the restoration h ac;
been done extremely well and with great care. Our
concert was again at 9.00p.m. and there was a
small but appreciative audience. One of the things
about touring is that the venues and organs are
unknown factors and this was no exception . I had
included in the programme a first performance of
a work by Denis Bedard for 11ute and organ.
Andrew Westwood played the 11utc part extremely
well. accompanied by myself and David Bednall
in a hal>tily adapted duct version. as the pedals on
the organ were unfathomable!
Our last venue w a a mall village
called
Radicondoli near Siena. We had sung here last
43
Sherborne Concerts
Once again Sherborne has been lucky enough to
welcome some of the country's finest musicians in
the 2000-2001 season of Sherborne Concens held
in the Big School Room. Among them. we heard
the Gaudier Ensemble in February and their
presence wa., mo t definitely appreciated from the
very opening of the concert. The evening began
with an early work of Mozart (written when he was
only sixteen). the Dil•enimento for Strings in D.
K.l 36. The sense of ensemble was outstanding:
their first chord emerged as if played on a single
instrument with perfect intonatjon and togetherness.
The next item was indeed a great contrast: the Octet
for Wind and Strings by the French piarust and
composer Jean Francaix. written in 1972. delighted
the audience with its characteristically jocose
nature. created through a combination of
meticulous dynamics and articulation. Of particular
interest here was the beauty of tone produced by the
clarinettist Richard Hosford (an Old Shirbumian),
whose technical agility and musicality were first
rate. The second half began with perhaps one of
Beethoven's most popular chamber works: the
Septet in £flat, op.20. The ensemble managed to
bring out the composer's intentions fully with a rich
and mellow quality of l>Ound whilst retaining the
light-hearted mood.., more akin to Mozart's
Dil •ertimemo. The En!.emble members' vast wealth
of experience acro'>s other musical genres is always
apparent in their playing. from their ability to
interpret the music b} promoting the variety of
textures from the tring quartet in the Tempo di
menueuo of the Beethoven. to the almost orchestral
Myle of the Francaix. A thoroughly excellent and
enjoyable recital.
The Gould Piano Trio gave the next concert
held in the Lent term. 1am qualified here to deliver
a whole new perspective on this particular concert.
since on arrival I was asked to tum pages for the
pianist Benjamin Frith. Sitting next to one of the
performers enabled me to gain a true picture of
just how much effort had gone into the
performance. even though to the unsuspecting
audience it seemed almost effortless. The concert
began with Beethoven's Variations on Wenzel
Muller's song lch bin der Schneider Kakadu,
(op.l2 la). The instrumentalists here managed to
capture the genius of Beethoven's inventiveness
with Muller's trivia/theme so that each of the ten
variations seamlessly emerged from the previous.
The second item was Ravel's Trio in A minor,
arguably one of his greatest and most challenging
chamber compositions. The Trio conveyed aJl of
Ravel's subtle nuances and delicate themes with
the utmost degree of dexterity - from my point of
view, every page wa!> awash with black plus the
addition of the odd extra stave 10 imprison the
sheer volume of notes! Beyond all this, the most
refreshing part of their playing was the emotion
they conveyed and the enjoyment they were
evidently experienci ng in performing the music.
After the interval came Dvorak's Trio i n £ Minor
or Dumky Trio, op.90. The composer's love of
Czech folk music i'> very much apparent here: the
Dumka is a form of folk music originating in
Russia in which the mood alternates between
extreme melancholy and vivacity, a feeling
masterfully portrayed in the Trio and superbly
conveyed by the performel'l.. In all it was yet
another thoroughly professional and admirable
recital (even if slightly nerve-racking for some!).
Chris Stripp
C o n c e r t in T h e C o u r t s
'All's w e l l t h a t e n d s w e l l '
We started the summer term full of oprimjsm as
our band Fictoan (consisting of Kennerdeigh Scott
on guitar. Simon Hayden on bass. Naresh
Verlander on dnum. and Ben Massey on vocals).
had an audition for the much anticipated Concert
in The Courts. We knew thi concert would be far
bigger than any of u!. had ever experienced . with
an e!>timaLed one thousand people corning from
Sherborne School. the Girls' School. St. Antony's
and The International College. And there was to be
a large sound '>ystem to boot!
The previous term. we had originally missed
the ·cut' during preliminary auditions. but. after
much pestering, we persuaded the event organ iser.
Mr. Briere-Edney. to give m. a :.econd audition
slot. We all practi!>ed eagerly over the holidays in
anticipation of becoming super!>tal'l. for the night
and all the glory and glamour a.<.sociated with such
an event.
When the beginning of the ..,ummer term
arrived, we were told that our audition was the
first Wednesday of term and that our pmctice slots
were already organised. We started practising as
soon as we could and our chosen songs began to
take shape. When the day of the audition came, we
all strolled into the RocSoc room to meet our
destiny! We tried not to show it, but we were
feeling nervous. Our chances weren't greaL and
we knew we would have to play outstandingly to
be given a set on the main bill. We started witb my
personal favourite. Viemam by RATU. which went
well. The next songs Butterfly, House of the Rising
Sun (adapted) and Know Your Enemy all went
perfectly. We were full of hope and we now felt we
had a great chance.
It was the fact that our audition went so weiJ
that the news that we had not made it came as such
a shock to us. We were all devastated, but also
angry. Why? Later we found out that Hockey Tour
boys and RocSoc leavers had been given priority
before we started, so effectively we had little
chance even before we set foot in the audition
room! I felt hurt and angry and a feeling of
rejection was at the core of this. How could
months of hard work be blown up in a minute?
The Friday before the event. I received a phone
call from Andrew Morley-Smith, to say that we
were on stand-by to play, as 'The Company· were
threatening to pull out. It was probably
desperation more than anything that built up my
hopes but I was soon to be knocked down again: a
couple of hours later, 'The Company' decided they
45
were going to play. I was then told that Charlie
Gammell had damaged a finger and that his band
'Touchwood' , for whom he plays guitar, might
have to pull out. Once again. my emotions went
sky high, but once again we were downcast. The
scale of the injury had been exaggerated. It was
only a minor graze!
By now, f was feeling thoroughly annoyed,
upset, and angry but. after deciding sabotage
wasn't the best option, set about working out the
time arrangement s to sec if a free slot could be
found, even i f only for five minutes!
By tbe day of the concert, and after much
thinking, we worked out that fifteen minutes could
be saved and so we decided to approach Mr.
Briere-Edney. We sprinted to his room and asked
him about it. After a brief chat, he agreed to let us
play! We were delirious and al l our hopes andjoys
now met as one at the prospect of playing that
night. A hasti ly arranged sound check was done. It
went wel l and so it was only a matter of waiting
for the main event.
The concert itself was awesome. We had our
fifteen minute slot and managed to play three
songs; Break Stuff by Limp Bizkit, Know your
Enemy by RATU , and Dead Cell by Papa Roach.
The crowd response was great, and the rejection
and despair that I had felt earlier only helped to
make the experience even more enjoyable!
Ben Massey
RocSoc
This year, members of RocSoc have been lucky
to pert"orm in a number of concerts which have all
been a great success. This is thanks to capable
bands, receptive audiences, and all the hard work
that comes from the members of the crew behind
the scenes.
Two talented bands leave us at the end of this
year. The Company have played a wide range of
music and have been always very entertaining on
stage. Red Shift have played predominantly
classic rock and indie songs to which audiences
have responded. I t is a shame that both these bands
are leaving. but, at the same time, new bands are
forming and last year saw the first pert"ormance by
a girl band. The range of music now being played
is steadil y growing in djversity.
Thanks must go to Andrew Morley-Smith and
Mr. Skinner who do so much behind the scenes
and without whom RocSoc concerts would not go
ahead.
Ed Wesn·opp
46
Interview with the H e a d m a s t e r
b y J a m e s Wa t s o n
that the school at Winchester never meets
together. l l doesn 't feel like a community in
quite the same way as this School does,
because there 's no building in which you can
get the whole School together so life seems
more disparate and diffuse at Winchester. Here.
there's a bit more of a corporate spirit. And the
third difference is that at Winchester there 's a
very strong General Studies programme
throughout the School which is called Division,
or Div, where everyone does History and
English and Current Affairs in general, in
addition to their other subjects, so you might be
doing four or even five AS's but you still do a
full Div programme, without an exam at the
end. And it's taken very seriously - in some
Q Headmaster, what are the main differences
between Sherborne and Winchester?
A Well, I think in many ways there are more
similarities than there are differences. l feel l
should mention the similarities first. Sherborne
and Winchester are both ancient towns, with an
abbey in one and a cathedral in the other, and
they are both socially similar. The schools are
both primarily academic. But there are three
differences. First, the Houses at Winchester are
much more like little baronies on their own,
mainly because of the eating arrangements, for
each House ears in its own house rather than
centrally. So that's a very important difference.
And that, actually, is rather added to by the fact
49
ways more seriously than the public exams and that is different and it'!> something that very
few other chools are able to do. It's not
something that we could import here, sadly. I t 's
very important for those who do it. butT don't
think it's possible for many schools to do it.
Q What changes have you made to the School and
what plans do you have for the future?
A I don't think f ve made many changes. T've
been here only just over a year and r v e spent
most of that time ob erving and consulting and
trying to find out how the place works and one
of the things I particularly want is, i f there are
to be changes - and there may well be changes
more of emphasis than anything very radical that everyone, particularly the staff, should be
behind me. There's no point in trying to
introduce changes for the sake of it and
especially not if people who know the School
much better than I do and have lived through
many periods of its existence believe that those
changes won't be for anyone's good, or not for
m:lny people's good, and so I certainly am not
coming in to change the School in a huge way.
There arc one or two things that no doubt we
need to change and every school has to move
forward. It can't stand still whilst the world
changes. Certain things arc unchangeable and
those things one holds on to very dearly. There
are traditions of any school which are
worthwhile. but tradition in itself isn't very
important i f that tradition is in any way
harmful. But I perceive the balance of the
School. say, between extra-curricular activities
and the academic ::.ide - about the emphasis on
pastoral care and so on - to be about right as I
found it. It's a tremendous school now and
what we need to do is just make it even better.
So plans for the future will depend a good deal
on raising the School to an economic plateau
and a po ition where we can afford to do some
of the things that we would like to. At the
moment it's quite difficull to afford to do all the
things one would like to do. without raising the
fees to a level that would be unacceptable. But
there are certain development plans which are
being taken forward and the Carrington
Building is going to be very much at the centre
of those with a new A n School moving in in
J muary. I hope it will be a very exciting space
and be a sign of the value which we place on
the Arts as a school. Then there'll be a move to
enhance the School's music and its drama.
Similarly. on the Spons side. the facilities will
be upgraded as we go along and can afford it.
So. tho!>e are the kind of changes- but I don't
want to change the School from something
that's going well into something very different.
I want just to continue what's been going on
and to improve it.
Q Arc you still concerned about bullying?
A I think every head teacher i!> concerned about
bullying. just a!> anybody who runs a battalion
or an office should be concerned about
bullying, becaul>c these things happen. It's a
question of how one deals with bullying that
really matters and to make clear the attitude of
the School towards it. And I hope we've done
thai.
Q How do you think the boy · attitude to bullying
has changed? How would you want to change
it?
A I suspect that Shirburnians as a whole
disapprove thoroughly of bullying and always
have done. But maybe the definition of
bul lying has changed somewha t over the years
and, whilst physical bullying has always been
understood as bullying, I think the teasing,
name-calling and so on, can spi l l over into
bullying very easily. The problem is that some
people feel that what they are saying to an
individual. or group of individuals, is
something that they ought to be able to cope
with but they are not always in the best position
to judge. And !>O we try to define bullying
rather more precisely and to make that clearer.
And it's not new: this ha!> been going on for
some years but we've put a particular effort
into that this year and I don't particularly want
to change anything we've done so far. I think
that what I 've tried to ay about buiJying is
something that. if you talk to any thinking
individual. he'll agree with. I
believe passionately that no boy. or pupil at this
School. should be in fear of another pupil or
member of staff at any stage. and that everyone
should feel safe and secure to pur ue their
interests. I f, in some way, their life is made
unhappy then I regard that, in a way, as the
most dangerous thing of all and I don't feel
that the School is doing its job if it's not
anxious at all times to make that situation as
unlikely as possible.
Q Is the School's policy still dead tgainst co
education, and are you personally?
A I'm not sure there i!. a school policy on this. As
it's a single-sex school it provides something
which parents want. But the great advantage of
Sherborne as opposed to other single-sex boys·
schools is that we have two girls· schools
nearby wit h whom we co-operate in various
ways. Co-education itself is one way of
educating teenager!> and there are lots of
50
schools which offer it. What we do
is something just slightly different and we
believe that the combination of singlesex
with considerable links with girls'
schools is a val uabl e one and one that parents
I'm not
opposed to co-education at all but I
seem
to like.
that · for Sherborne, certainly for the time
think
being, it 's not the right way forward.
as much as the way in which we respond to them.
I think a lot of exaggerated responses
were featUJed in the press during the summer.
There were problems in this first year and we knew
there would be, but if you read the papers and
everything that was said in them you 'd reckon
believed
most schools have ground to a halt ,
which certainly they haven ' t. It's a matter of how
we treat the AS levels and how we make them
adapt to the things in education tbat we really
believe in. wh ich is not just examining. Examini
ng is just a part of it.
Q Will the School 's approach to AS levels change
after the first year?
A AS levels are still very much under review.
There has already been one government review
of it in June which was extremely sensible. It
says that there were problems in setting it up in
th e first year. which we al l acknowledge, but
that it can be made to work as a system. What I
believe is: a) we've got to wait for the next part
of the report. which comes out in December
200 I , to see what proposals the government
make and b) to make the most of these exams
and to be positive about them rather than pure ly
negative. I think that if we' re flexible and
imaginative in our approach to public exams
we can make them work for us, rather than see
them as a rod for our back. The school's
approach will change in the sense that it will
be flexible. But it's unlikely that there will
be a great deal of change this year and it will
depend on nati onwide changes in policies
Q How would you like to develop sport at the
School?
A Well, I think sport is a very important part of
Sherborne, as it is in many schools, but I think
it's
particularly
important
here
alongside everything else - and I believe that
what we want is for people to develop
themselves , physical l y as well as in other
ways, to the best of their abilit y. So there
are two important strands to this: to make
sure that everyone has the opportu nity to take
as much exercise as possible. because that 's
important to them, and t11at there are enough
opportunities for sport for everyone; and to
pursue exce ll ence. Not everyone can be
excellent at sport, just as they can' t necessari
ly be excellent at music or academical ly,
but everyone can try their best.
51
Q Yes, I saw you at Wincanton. Headmaster.
T'd like to see the development of facilities
which will help to improve our sport both in
tenn s of opportu nity and results, and also to
continue to employ top-quality coaches and to
encourage some really good athletes to come
into the Third Form. which will help to boost
the standing of our very top teams.
What music do you like and what do you listen
to?
A I like opera very much. Pre-twentieth century
opera I enjoy and orchestra l and choral works
of various period s. I'm afraid I'm not mad
about anyt hing post-1970. I sti ll like the
RoUing Stones and the Beatles. the son of stuff
I grew up with as a teenager. And I like what
they call nostal gia: Fifties. Forties, Thirties and
some jazz. Nowadays they probably call the
Sixties nostalgia .
Q Do Shirbumians drink too much?
A Some no doubt do; some probably don't drink
at all. I think the problem is a much wider one
than one peculiar to Sherborne. I think it is a
pity that British teenage culture regard s
drinkin g - and very often drinking to e x c e s s
as a normal part of teenage life. IL's not true of
the Continent. And it's not true of many other
countries. That attitude isn't a very positive
development. lt"s occurred over the last twenty
years, T suppose, and ir s something that needs
to be watched very caref ulJ y. I think that
alcohol needs to be treated with care and people
need to be ed uca ted in its effects. including its
benefits. But, it's something we have to be very
carefu l about w ith regard to the law, since it's
quite clear that anybody under the age of 18 is
in a very different category from those who are
over 18. Drinking is a matter wh ich is of
concern to virtua lly every school in the country.
I couldn't possibly give a general answer to
thi s. I think it"s more a question of whether
teenagers drink too much. Some d o and some
don "t.
Q What sports do you enjoy?
A Well , as I've already said, r enjoy watching
horse racing. I'm afraid that the sports that l
enjoy are those that I observe rather than take
part in . I like watching rugby, soccer, golf, and
tennis. And I do play a little bit of golf. and I
sw im fairly regularly during the term -time ju st
to try to keep relatively lit, although l' m not
sure I can describe that as a sport.
Q Did you have a ni ckname at Winchester?
A I probably had several. but J was never really
very aware of them and I think you would
probably have to ask peop le there. So
1 can't really answer that question.
Q Do you have any plans to produce a play at
Sherborne?
A I'd love to produce a play. but I honestly am not
sure that I cou ld ever find the time. My
experience of producing plays bas told me that
I have to be completely com mitted to it and
other things inevitably get side-lined - I'm not
sure that I could allow this to happen in this
job. [f there ever comes a time when I have got
the opport unit y to do it I will grab it with both
h ands, but I fear that it may be rather difficult.
Q What do you like tO do in your spare time?
A Of course. I don ' t have very much spare time
during term time, but l like reading, and
listening to music. In the holidays I enjoy going
away, particularly when we're all together as a
family. I enjoy watching sport and I do have
one particular interest (well, two perhaps).
which I' ve had all my life. One is the theatre,
both being involved in it and going to the
theatre. and secondl y there is horse racing. I' ve
enjoyed watching
and
knowing
people involved in it.
52
D u k e of Edinburgh Gold Aw a r d Study
for Community Ser vi ce
The Prize for Community Service this year
went
to
Tom
Procter
for
his
outstanding performance in visiting people at
home
and teaching/coaching in the Abbey
Primary School over nearly three years from the
Fourth Form to the end of the Lower Sixth
and his (expected) achievement of being the lirst
in C.S. to gain D of E Bronze in the Fifth Form,
Silver in the Lower Sixth, and Gold in The Upper
Sixth successively.
He writes here of his experiences:
The key to it was putting myself in their shoes
and so understanding why certain activities were
perceived as too hard and why certain game!> were
not fun to them. It was unbelievably rewarding to
see them tackle sports in a different light, making
the sport not just more enjoyable. but surprisingly
making them become better at them! We even
started sports such as badminton. which the boys
originally saw as a girls' sport but soon came
really to enjoy. A few of them become actually
quite good, playing in their free time as a hobby. A
few of the children who, it has to be said, were not
particularly gifted at any sport, felt a lot more
confident with this style of game and after a bit of
practice proved to be much better than the others.
I t was great to see the smile it could bring to their
faces to beat a better sportsman , as they felt muc h
better about themselves!
At the end of the year, we were given a new
placement. Ollie Murray and 1 were both asked to
go and teach at the Abbey School opposite the old
Westcott. Unfortunately, it all seemed at first
somewhat different. No longer were we 'Sir', nor
did we have anything like as much respect as
previously. But it seemed an interesting challenge.
We were working alongside another teacher, as in
the case of Trent. who was extremely welcoming
as well as helpful. We were told about the children
to keep our eyes on and also those to be aware of.
The place cenainly didn't have anywhere near as
much charm a!> Trent did but instead a lot of
character, which turned out at lir t to be quite hard
to put up with. The children would often barely
recognise our presence and could also be qujte
rude. And
if you
feel quite neglected
and unappreciated you don't go out of your way to
get to know people. We real ised tl1at this could
well have been the problem. If we made an
effort to have a more personal relationship
with them, would they appreciate it and respect
us for doing so?
We gave it a go and before long we were
becoming increasing ly popular amongst them,
often being asked to come and coach them at their
matches on Sundays. Once or twice we even did
so, as they turned out to be a really great bunch of
kids. The difference in this placement was that we
didn't automaticaJiy gajn respect from the children
for being older. but instead you had to earn it by
gaining their trust.
Before long we had been teaching them every
Wednesday for almost two and a half years. Then
we found out that in fact the Abbey School was
Teaching Sport is Training People
Having joined up for Community Service, it has to
be said that I really had no idea what to expect.
Would I be spending an hour every week talking to
an old person, followed by mowing his or her
lawn? Perhaps working in Oxfam? To tell the
truth, I really wasn't fussed as long as I was
helping someone. ln a way, I was expecting to
have to push around town people who had lost the
use of their legs. I i seemed quite appeal ing to learn
about these people who often have so much to say
but regrettably. as they grow older. fewer people to
say it to.
I t turned out that for three weeks I would have
one of these placement in which I just sat and
chatted to an old man, who was in fact fascinating.
I would listen to s to r ie of the Stalingrad siege. at
which apparently he was a hero. H e had so much
to tell me that in fact all 1 did was pretty much
listen to endless stories. We felt reaUy at ease in
each other's company and. although I said only a
couple of things each week. I could tell how much
he genuinely appreciated my company, and having
someone to tell his whole week's thoughts to,
someone he could tell wanted to learn from him.
Unfortunately it was not long before I had been
persuaded into another placement. teaching sport
at Trent School. At first it felt a little strange being
addressed as 'Sir', but it was nice that they showed
me respect, since they had never met me. The
ch ildren were de lightful, never rude. incredibly
appreciative,
and
always
keen
to
learn. Throughout my year's placement we
tackled a range of sport s including hockey,
basketball. netball, and football.
I t was unbelievably challenging at lirst. You
expect children to be capable of much more than
they seem to be and so you push them reaJ!y hard
only to receive worse results. I t is all
about realising what they arc capable of and to
push them only to that point. As the year
progressed, they noticeably improved. displaying a
wide range of talent in different sports.
53
moving location to an improved site further away
from our School. We realised that realistically we
could not teach them there as it would mean we
would have to be dropped off and picked up every
Wednesday. We informed the School that we
would be leaving oon. and. although they seemed
sad to be losing us, they were all incredibly
appreciative and we had a few more sessions with
them until we had completed the Community
Service part of the award.
It really was not only great fun but also very
rewarding. We shall both take away with us very
fond memories of the placement and hope perhaps
to do further work with schoob part time during
our gap years.
Tom Procter
The Old School Society
The Old School Society. or TOSS as the boys
like to call it, but perhaps the staff would rather
not, was the br< inchild of four young men of the
class of 2000. Their aim was to create a debating
society run by the boys for the boys and to be
en tire ly independen t of sta ff involvement. And so
it was that R ory MacFarlane (Chairman), Henry
Farris (Secretary), Tom Wal sh (Janitor) and John
Pease (Treasurer) took up the reins of what has
proved to be now one of the most popular and
successful of current school societies.
The first debate tOok place on Thursday 21st
September 2000. The motion was 'This House
Beli eves that Sport is more damaging than
Smoking·. Opposing the motion were Nick Cook
( Head of School. Captain of Rugby, never touched
a cigarette before) and Henry Mitchell {Ist XV
player, dillo) both fresh from a rugby match that
very afternoon. They faced the proposers Nick
Cramp (comedian and apparent rugby player) and
Mr. John Brooke, allegedly fresh from a cigarette
that very even ing. After some strong arguments
from both sides, the debate was opened up to the
noor. Mr. Briere-Edney made the most
memorable contribution here saying: 'Guys, guys,
guys. surely it all depends on what you are in fact
54
smoking'. In the end an overwhelming majority
this obviously wasn ' t enough to sway the votes of
rejected the motion .
the
majority
and
th e
motion
was
News of the success of the tirst debate filtered narrowly defeated.
through the School and so an even bigger crowd
The Society reconvened three weeks later to
arrived three weeks later, eagerly anticipating the discuss the motion
'This House
Believe s
next encounter. This time the motion was This That Political Correctness has Curtailed Our
Hou se Believes that Prostjtution Fulfils Both a Freedom of Speech'. Proposin g the motion
Social and Economic Need'. Lirung up for banle were Charlie Gamm ell and Jacob Britten , facing
to propose the motion were Ross Angell and Ha1Ty the opposition of
Edward
We stropp
and
Beattie. Their opposition were in the form of James Nich o lls to combat claims that women
David Poraj-Wilczynski and Alex Beattie . I are unjustly treated as inferiors. Jake delighted
t seemed to turn into a squabble of the siblings the chauvinists of the crowd by reminding u
at one stage but the Beatties composed themse lves s
all
that
' it's
called mankind , not
to deliver first-rate arguments, so much so that womankind·.
After
some
rather heated
when the debate was opened to U1e floor they comments from the floor the mot ion was carried
had managed to silence the entire audience. by 27 votes to 23.
With a hou se of 88 participant s the moti on was
As the end of the year approached the
narrowly rejected by 46 votes to 42.
time came for the last debate to be organi zed
Having not yet done a 'serious ' debate, the by the founding committee. They decided to
committee then decided to arou se som e deeper choose the motion 'This House Be l ieves That
feelings by putting forward the
motion No-One Takes Britain Seriously Any M ore'.
'Th is House Does Not Support the Release of Proposing the motion were Monsieur JeanJamie Bulger 's Killers ' . Proposing the motion Marc Pasca l and Charlotte Stimpson. Opposing
were Joss Simson
and Oliver Luard and the motion in their full glory and patri otism were
opposing were Charlie Pu shman
and Tim John Brooke and Bridget Ti lley-Gyado. They
Wynn-Jone s. As expected the debate brought insisted that they took Bri tain very seriously
controversy and strong views. In fact Mr. indeed and questioned Mr. Pasca l 's reasons for
Luard's opening statement was that he was living here if he doesn't take it as seriously as
disgusted that we shou ld even be debating his homeland, France. The motion was opened
the treatment of the killers. The debate served to the floor and in a rare show of intelligence
as a real eye-opener to many and in the closest Edward Worthington (a.k.a. Moley) questioned Mr.
contest in the short histOry orTOSS the motion Pascal as to why, if Britain is such a laughin g
was carried by 34 votes to 32.
stock. members of th e European Community
The next meeting was in January 200 I . In the desperately want us to introduce the euro. The
wake of Christmas drinking and New Year 's pub
votes were cast and the motion was rejected by
braw ls the house put forward the motion that 'This
40 votes to 26.
Hou se Believes That British Yob Culture can be
Following this debate a new committee to take
Directly Attributed to the Strictest Licensing Laws
TOSS into the new academic year was announced.
in Europe·. Proposing this motion were Jason Hull This honour was bestowed upon Tim Wynn-Jones.
and Mr. Peter Watts, the first member of staff to Charlie Pushman , Edward Westropp, and John
speak and the first speaker to be over th e age of 18. Brooke. Our first challenge was to com e up with
They faced Henry Grundy- Wheeler and Peter the next motion, which (believe me) is not easy.
Langly-Smith. In what ended up being We eventually decided upon 'This House Believes
a somewhat one-sided contest the motion That Contemporary Music is Largely Responsible
was rejected by 50 votes to 14 despite Mr. Watts' for the Rise in Teenage Vi olence'. The founding
best efforts to buy votes by handing out free committee were determined to go ou t with a bang
beers.
and so it was that our predecessors took the floor
The next motion was 'This House Believes to be the house's speakers. Rory MacFarlane and
That Women Should Not be Allowed to Fight in Tom Walsh proposed the mot ion leaving Henry
The Front Line '. Proposing the motion Farri s and John Pease to oppose the motion. Both
were George May and Millie Cumming. sides delivered speeches and the new best speaker
Their opposition were Linley Lewi s and Afia award went to Mr. Mac Far lane. The motion was
Addo. This was the lirst time that females had defeated by 49 votes to 17.
spoken at TOSS. and Afia certainly didn·t endear
We look forward to what lies in store for TOSS
herself to the Commitlee in literally tearing the in the course of lhe coming year. It is a society that
motion apan by ripping up their poster. The I can see carrying on for years to come and T look
highlight of the evening was ce11ain ly when forward to reading further reviews of it when I
George rerrunded all o r the gentlemen in the open The Shirbumian many years
Timothy
Wynn-Jones
from
now.
audience what a disaster it would be if his
colleague, Millie, were to recei ve any sort of
55
injw·y thus ruining her looks. However,
N e w Yo r k
In October 2000, during M ichaelmas haJf-tem1.
a large Sherborne contingent 'isited New York.
Half the boys were A-level Art students and the
other half were studying A-level Economics: a few
of them studied both.
We woke at seven fifteen each morning to be
ready for an early breakfast at one of the several
diner
ncar our sh ort-stay
'hoter
on
notorious Time Square.
Sb:mo was Group
Leader Mr. Boyd's most popular breakfast
venue due to the magnificently huge porti ons.
Payment
for our heaped plates wa:, made by
coupon. handed out to us before each meal by
Mr. Boyd or one of his co lleagues. Quite a few
boys preferred to savour a slight ly more Big
Apple-sty le breakfast, and indu lged in bagel s
could
o f. ng
There
fi
lled withink
th everythi
theywas. however. some
controversy over the word 'hotel' being used to
define the place we stayed at. Some preferred the
word ·zoo' ow ing to the rats at play on
Mr. Hcd ison 's noor. Others believed 'water
works· a more suitable tcnn owing to the
facility with which the taps could be removed
from the wa ll. allowing water to shoot out in its
place.
After our gargantuan breakfasts. our days were
divided between activities related to Economics.
during the morning. and (after a break of
a
56
couple of hours), activit ies related to art. when the
artists
within
the
group would
be
finding inspiration in some of the greate t
museums and ga lleries in the world.
The economists. and any boys wishing to
join the group. admitted to the FederaJ Reserve
after stringent security checks. We were shown
the way go ld was handled. the vault and its
securi ty measure . and we watched a film about
how money circled through the mark et. as well as
being told how amazing the Reserve was. When
we left, we were each handed approximately two
thousand dollars: however the money was in a
shredded form, and so of no usc , except for its
nostalgic va lue.
Each day the artists went to mu seums
all around the city. from the Guggenheim
and Mu seum of M odern Art , to
the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the ' Hip-Hop·
exhibition at the Brook lyn Museu m . M ost of the
artists found walking through the street s of Queens
and Harlem in threes and fours a soul -searching,
and prayer inducing experience, of which even
the Chaplain would have been proud.
The Guggenheim was different from the oLher
museums
owing
to
the
Armani
Collection Exhibiti on, ce lebrating 25 year:. of
Annani design.
Davidson Cafe, severa l teachers swore blind that
all the people erving were biker . Most of
the boys did not care what the women . erving
were. and were more interested in urging other!> to
have their picture taken with the waitress
serving. H owever. only one boy succeeded,
with a furiously blushing waitres . and a Harley.
Probably the most intere ting wake-up call was
on the penultimate day of being in New York.
when Mr. Boyd amid fits of hysterical laughter
discovered that the building next to the 'hotel' had
caught tire. When the fire finally cea!>ed to be a
problem. nothing could be heard except for the
monotonous beeping of horns from Time Square,
and our art teacher giggling uncontrollably.
Events of September 200 I mean that visits to
the
different
museums
and
to
the
British ambassador, as well as to the UN, IOthe
financial centres of New York. and cafe . arc likely
not to be as easy as they were for us. Even more
security checks and continuously suspicious eyes
will be following tourists for a long tim e owing
to the terrorist attacks on September lith. Our
vi il to the US was made so enjoyable because
of the people we met and talked to on the street
and in the diners. Those who went there in
October 2000 feel all the more sympathetic to
New Yorkers' sense of loss.
Mishal Islam
The building itself made u large impression on
several of the boyl>. with its design of a massive
towering spiral tapering to a point several floors
above: gauging its height of it was difficult owing
to the continual slope of the lloor.
The Stock Exchange, Commodity Market, and
the
financial
di trict
in general
were
architecturally awe-inspiring, and surpassed the
other buildings of New York City. However.
Economic!> and Art were not the only areas
explored during our visit. One cannot visit a
foreign culture without investigating its people ·s
sports and hobbie . The World Serie!. baseball
tournament had come down to the final two teams
from New York, the Yankees and the M ets. The
number one sport in the US caused the city to turn
into a passionate m a s of people rooting either for
one team or the other. This event put even the
arrival of rhe President. his wife. and daughter into
the background, even though they had arrived to
boost the Senate election polls, as well as to
celebrate Mrs. Clinton's birthday at the Hudson
Club. The Empire State Building was also on our
list of things to do. and so we a cended it to view
the City that never sleep:-.. The contours of the city
were of simple rises and falls. except for the
financial diwict. an outcrop of glittering lights
that
looked
utterly
surreal,
looming
over everything else.
Dinner!> in New York were very interesting due
to the tour leader!>· choice of venue. In the Harley
57
S t a v r o s S N i a r c h o s - Tall S h i p s R a c e 2 0 0 1
first started thinking about going on a Tall
Ships Lrip about a year ago when a friend of mine
suggested it. We had met through yacht sailing and
were planning to do a trip together. She persuaded
me that Tall Ships would be worth it. and I set
about raising the money. With generous donations
from the Sidbury Tntst. the Sir John and Lady
Amory Heathcoat Trust. and my parents. I was
able to re erve my place and join the rest of the
party at Dover Hoverspeed Terminal on 6th JuJy.
We duly hover ped acros to Calais and finished
the journey to Antwerp by coach, arriving on
board the good 1.hip Stavros S Niarchos at about
IOp.m.
The Stavros ( a she is known) is one of two
new tall ::.hips built by the Sail Training
Association tu replace the Malcolm Mi l ler and Sir
Winston Churchi l l which retired earlier this year.
She is a two masted brig. 195 feet long with over
I I ,000 square feet of sai I. Each mast is 116 feet
tall. We were in class A. Because she was one of
the smallest ships in the class, and had an amateur
crew, many or whom had not sailed before. we did
not have much of a chance of winning by virtue of
speed. Our only chance of victory was by tactics.
Much of the skill of long range racing lies in using
weather forecasts to position yourself to make the
best usc or the winds. so our captain took the
decision to stick to the British coast on the way up
the North Sea so that we didn "t have t o tack when
the wind veered round from the west to the
northwest later on in the fortnight. Unfortunately
this didn"t pay off as the wind changed too soon.
and we ended up coming in 15th in class out of 23
- the la t of the fini hers. However it was
an
excellent experience nonetheless. and one I would
be eager to repeat.
There were 45 trainee crew on board, spUt into
three watches. I w a in red watch. number 6. We
were on watch for four or two hours at a time, on
a rotating system that meant we had six hours for
two days, and twelve hours on the third. A
guaranteed four hour watch every night also
ensured that there were a good few grumbles
during the first few clays, with yawns a pem1anent
feature at breakfast and afternoon naps not
uncommon, but everyone soon settled down. A
typical day went something like this.
At some time during the night, just before
midnight or four, I would be roused from my
slumbers by a torch-wielding figure from the
previous watch. I would hurriedly dress and
harness up and then make my way to the mess
where six people would be assigned jobs on the
bridge. The re t would stay for the next hour in the
58
mess. sustained by an abundance of toast and hot
drinks until summoned to swap place with otJ1cr...
A session on the bridge entailed being either on
lookout. on the helm, acting as scribe or
messenger. This was. for the most part of tbe
voyage. in weather conditions of rain or drizzle,
and winds of force three to six. However. it was
actually good fun, unlikely though that sounds,
and it was not unu ual for people to be up for the
whole four hours. Although there was no land in
sight. there were usually orne oil rigs and a
stunning sunset and sunrise between two and three
o'clock. Breakfast was at either 7.30 or 8.10, and
consisted of porridge, cereals. toast and a cooked
meal - all necessary. bel ieve me. After breakfast
came Happy Hour. when the enti re ship was
cleaned every day. This meant either cleaning
companionways. cabins. or heads (toilets). Music
was played over the tannoys to cheer us up. After
this came the captain·s daily briefing, when we
were informed of our position nnd plans for that
day.
For the next few hours until lunch at 11.50 or
12.30, i f not on watch. there was an opportunity to
get some more sleep, or go up the mast, or just
chat w ith the other crew. We also had various tasks
for the inter-watch competition.
uch
constructing
a device to stop food and drink
as
spilling when the ship heeled over. so that kept us
busy. Also during the afternoon there were
sometimes talks about seamanship for us to attend
which were relevant to the Competent Crew
certificate, which we all received at the end of the
voyage. I would be on watch for some of the
afternoon as well. Supper was quite early. about 6
o'clock, and then a lot of people would go off to
bed, to get some sleep before their night watch.
There was a television and video on board and at
some time in the evening someone would put on
one of the five (including a karaoke) videos we
had.
There were of course many memorable
moments of the voyage. The most enduring
memory of the trip for me was when a force 9
wind blew up, and I went up the mast to get some
of the sails down. ft was dark. and two of us had to
try and pack away the second topmost sai l, which
proved quite a task. Surprisingly enough, it
actuaJ!y seemed quite quiet and calm up there. and
I felt as though l was in no danger at all. Another
memorable time was when the entire crew was
roused from their bunks at 4.15 in the morning to
help brace the yards as we went about. This was a
complicated procedure, and lasted about twenty
minutes. so just as everyone had woken up
properly it wa!> time to go back to bed again !
However. it provided the theme for our song in the
inter-watch competition. Bracing in rhe
Moonl ig Itr.
A personal mileMone that I passed on board was
my 17th binhday. It w a a measure of how nice
everyone in the crew w a that J had one of the best
binhdap. ever. Three friends decorated the mess
during l lappy Hour with balloons and streamers
they'd dug out from omewhere. whilst the rest
tried to keep me bu y with jobs up the other end of
the ship. It i'> difficult to keep secrets on a ship of
that size for long, so when I noticed what was
happening I J..ept well out of the way. When 1 was
finally called. even though I was expecting it. I
wa!> !)till really touched. Everyone was there
singing Happy Birthday, and I even got a rendition
of i t on the sh ip's gu itar. A speech was demanded,
and then a cake placed in front of me thm I did the
usua l t h ings t o. It was my first birthday away from
my family, and it was really special.
Other incident:-. that deserve a brief mention
are: the debate to decide the fate of two pigeons
that hi tched a ride from the Orkneys to Alesund:
the whale sighting: the amating experience of
being at the top of a mast when sailing through an
oilfield: two Bath University rugby players
dressing up in drag for karaoke: and of course the
perpetually blocked heads (loos) without which no
voyage is complete!
I enjoyed the voyage a lot. and would like to
think that I have come out of it changed for the
beller. I have certainly made -;ome excellent
friends and leamed a lot. I would like to thank the
Sidbury Trust and the Sir John & Lady Amory
Heathcoat Trust for giving me the opportunity to
go on such a great trip.
Dav id Hoey
60
W o r k i n g w it h C h i l d r e n
This is the text of a talk in the Big School Room
Chris Hallam, j(mnerly
in March 2001 by
of Harper House
I left Sherborne in 1995, with A level s in
Religiou s Studies, English, and Geography. When
I graduated from Edinburgh in 1999, I had to stop
and gather my thoughts. I had been to school and
university , attaining a degree. but where did it
actually leave me? What direction did I want to
take? What job did 1 wam to do? To be brutally
honest. I had not got the foggiest idea what I
wanted to do. In the last year of uni. I had seen my
friends go to what are known as milk rounds:
lectures g iven by well known companies to gather
young recruits. One by one they were wooed by
the promi se of the City, big wage packets. and life
in the fast lane of London with Baines and Ernst.
HSBC , Credit Suisse, to name only a few. I didn't
know what I wanted to do but I definitely knew I
did not want to go to the City just to chase money.
For me the hustle and bustle of the cou ntryside is
exciting e n o u g h - not everyone's cup of tea, but
cer1ainly mine.
Then in September '99. I saw an advert whilst I
was in Cumbria, for a job working for Barnardo 's.
The job was concerned with the Ban·ows Green
Project just outside Kendal on the top of a hill. The
views from the windows were wonderful. and
when I saw the selling 1 was immediately taken
with the prospect of working there.
I t is impor1ant to point out that Barnardo's is no
longer only dealing w ith orphans. but is a charity
for aU disadvantaged children. The children can be
abused. neglected , disabled or in situations of
poverty.
This project was to provide a holiday centre for
children with severe physical and mental learning
difficulties. We provided twenty-four hour care for
the children. and at the same time we did activities
with them. These ranged from canoeing, climbing.
potholing, swinuning, to walks , rides on train s and
boats , and playing footbal l. When Lheard that this
was the idea of the project I was puzzled. How can
ch ildren with physical and mental learning
difficulties take part or enjoy such activities? I
later learnt that anything is possible with thought
and planning, and that is why the BarTows Green
motto is ·caring, Sharing and Daring'.
The job itself had many different facets. I had to
work shifts either from 7.30 to 15.00 or
from
14.30 to 2230. This meant that 1 had life away
from work and could do other things. This was
very important to me. I also occasional ly had to do
sleep-ins. Each day would consist of gelling the
eigh teen children out of bed. washed and changed
for the day, then breakfa st, a morning activity.
back for lunch, out for the afternoon, back for tea.
Then we would watch TV, get them showered. and
ready for bed. J know it doesn't sound that
remarkable , in fact not too different from a day
here at school.
The difference comes when you start talking of
Down's Syndrome. Mosaic Down's
Syndrome. autism, cerebral palsy. muscular
dystrophy. auention deficit disorder, epilepsy or
non-specific brain damage resulting from
meningitis as a chi ld. The Jist cou ld go on,
but I'm sure that you understand. 1 went into
this job knowing that I would be working with
children who. let's face it. 90% of people,
including me. have made fun of as a child. or
who walk past them in the street and
stare. I don't think it is wrong now. I think it's
natural, it's curiosity, and a lack of understanding.
I had however grown up with a best friend who
had muscular dystrophy, so I thought I would be
all right. I was wrong.
My first day at work was an education. My
induction consisted of being beaten up on a mini
bus. The child was 16. He was severely autistic.
couldn't speak, was called Big Eddie and was
eighteen and a half stone. 1 learnt very quickly th e
importance of communication. Eddie was a very
physical guy. The only way he could communicate
how he felt was to hit out. I l was some eight
months later. having spent a great deal of time
with Eddie. that I found out why. Every time I took
him to be showered he became very upset and
physicaL Although I thought that I was privy to all
the knowledge there was about Eddie, hi s social
worker had neglected to tell us that Eddie had been
sexually abused by a care worker in a previous
home. It was of course no wonder Lhat he became
so upset.
Other parts of the job consisted of a lot of
training. Health and safety, first aid. assessment of
risk. and therapeutic crisis intervention. This is to
deal with violent chi ldren in a way which keeps
them , you. all in the surrounding area, and the
fabric of the surrounding area, safe. I did training
in canoeing, climbing, minibus driving. We were
also trained to feed people. Sounds simple, but
give it a go with someone. Not in central feeding!
It is amaz.ing how uncomfortable it is to be fed.
The art of geLLing someone's neck at the right
angle and giving them liquid so that they don't
aspirate it is quite a skil led one.
Although these aspects of the work do sound.
and are. undoubtedly bad , they weren't the worst.
The worst came when you had a quiet moment to
61
renect on what the children and their families had
to go through. The most moving conversation I
had wa!-. with a Glaswegian 21-year-o ld called
Chri!-.. He !>offered from muscular dystrophy. This
is a condition which slowly wastes the muscles.
Eventually the sufferer will have no movement
and will stan to have difficulty breathing as the
body fails to suppon itself. Chris had already had
a steel rod in crted along the length of his spine to
help !-.Upport him. He was an extremely intelligem
lad. knowing all about topics from politics to
Rangers Football Club. When J spoke to him. I
asked him what he wanted to do. He was very
matter of fact and suggested that he hadn't much
longer to do anything as his life expectancy was
short. A l l he wanted was a girlfriend, not for any
sexual reason. but just because he wanted
someone who he knew would truly love him for
who he was. Ilc wanted someone who would not
care about how he looked or what he had, but who
would ju st enj oy his company and try to
understand him. When I asked him what was the
worst thing about it. all he said was that it was the
frustration of not being able to make people
understand. and that the people who stared at him
in the street were probably never going to
underMand what was wrong with him, and he
knew if they spoke to him it would be in a
condescending way. I don't think that Chris was
bitter about the situation he was in. He wa<; a
normal 21 year old in the body that really
shouldn't belong to him. He had the same desires.
the same dreams as a regular 21 year old. When I
looJ... back on this job. I think this is the saddest
point that I experienced.
Of course there were magical days for example the look on a child\ face when they
had jus t completed their lirst wheelchair abseil, or
the shriek of joy when we were canoeing and
decided to have an impromptu water light.
There were many points in this job which now
looking back on
them don't
seem that
remarkable, but for the children who achieved
them and those of us who helped them do so it
brought a great feeling of pride.
In January 2000. l was offered a place as a
Holiday Centre Worker. This j ob entailed
responsibilities for medication, bookings and
finance. It also included the wellbeing of the
children to a greater degree and the planning of
which activities were suitable for which children.
This was very important, as obviously some could
achieve more than others, but you wanted all to
have the same feelings of achievement when they
left.
I greatly enjoyed this job and built up a great
deal of happy relationship w ith the children I met,
and also \\ ith the other staff. Unfortunately. the
62
project wall terminated - a hamc for me and those
of us who lost our jobs, but more so for the
children that can now no longer go there. All the
children we looked after had been referred to us as
they required either too much personal care or
behavioural attention for other projects. Barrows
Green wa!-. one of only two projects of its kind in
the country that could offer uch a high level of
care and offer the out door activitie!. as weU.
Anyway Bamardos needed to make savings and
we were judged to be too expensive to run
effect ively.
In the December of 2000 l saw a job advertised
in the local paper wor (...ing as a House Tutor at a
school called Appletree . It said that the children
were
demanding.
and
had emotiona l
and behavioral difficulties. I felt challenge
and intrigue. Oddly
1 had never heard of
it, though it wa!-. only 400m past the gates of
Barrows Green.
The School takes up to fourteen boys and girls
from any education authority. The children are
aged between 7 and I I . The cost of keeping a child
at the centre for a year is £70.000. The home is
privately run, and nms on the basis that the
children we look after nrc there until they are I I .
There is no exclusion policy. The children are on
52 week placements which means that, although
they can. and do. visit family or foster carers, it is
only for a short period. and i f they want they can
stay at the centre every day of the year. There is a
school on the premises in which the classes are of
four children and three staff. The children learn a
full curriculum. The modem language which they
learn is Chinese. e\'en though they are not up to
the standard that one would expect from their age
group in mainstream education.
Now on to the job that I have. As a house tutor.
the role of the job is different from the job of a
house tutor here at school. I have very little to do
with the educational side of my tutees, which I'm
sure that Mr. Patter on and M r. Dunning are
thinking is a good thing. I deal with thing:. a!> easy
us buying u toothbrush and the more difticult jobs
of organising home leave with social workers and
parents, and dealing with the children when they
have memories of bad exper iences.
The children themselves arc wonderful and
absolutely tcn·ible. I know that !>OUnds strange . but
it's true. I'm goi ng to ask you t o think again. An
aspect of criminology that I was interested in at
university wal- the idea of which was more
important. nature or nurture. Arc people bom with
a natural instinct for crime? Is it something that
comes from genes. and therefore can't be avoided?
Or do you think that people develop in the way in
wh ich they arc brought up? Am I who l am
because of what my parentl- are and the way they
brought me up. or am I who I am because of the
genetic make up of my parents and what they gave
me biologically ? Since Marting thil> job I have a
new keen interc t in this t opic. You will
understand why shortly.
The reasons why the children are there are
varied. but tend to follow a certain pattern. The
children have been taken into care under the Child
Protection Act, and arc at the l>Chool for their own
protection. These children are under section 28 of
the Act. which means that they are not safe in their
home environment. They arc on the whole al lowed
a comrolled amount of contact \\ ith home. They
don't conform to standards that ociety w i ll expect
them to, and they arc at the home to be given the
care they lack from their parents and to help them
fit into the wide world when they have to.
The children have no regard for property.
themselves, or other people. This showed itself
only a fortnight ago. On a Sunday evening when
the children had come back from an exeat,
everything ju st went wrong. David, whose father
is a convicted burglar, incited Ben. whose father is
doing time for armed robbery, to smash a window.
Then he got Adam. whose father died when he was
four, to pick the glass up and threaten staff. Then
the power points were pulled off the wall. and staff
threat ened with electroc ution, and on it went. We
eventually had to dial 999. We were all unsafe. and
the siruation was out of our control. Gang- tyle
tactics from a group of seven to eleven year olds
are scary stuff, especially when you think that they
have yet to grow up.
So how do these children become like this?
Well, you have to look at their home
circumstances. Bradley's is a good case in point.
an extreme one, but by no means unusual. Bradley
is now nine and he has been in care since he was
five. H is mother is a prostitute. He has three white
brothers and sisters, yet he is coloured. He doesn't
know who his father is. because he was a client of
his mother. H is granny is in prison for
manslaughter, and his mother is currently pregnant
by his eldest stepbrother. If all this isn' t bad
enough, Bradley lived with his aunt and uncle for
a while and it has emerged that they used to lock
him in a closet for up to 16 hours a day. A sad story
indeed. A s a result the product is a nine year old
with the emotional maturity of a two year old. f he
does not get his way he will literal ly drop to the
floor, k ick, and scream. and yell. As much as l
would like to, l can't hold Bradley accountable.
When he is happy. he is a deeply caring.
emotional, frai l child: he is jus t a product of h is
situation. Bradley has no concept of ' no·. To
compensate for a horrible childhood. he has been
spoilt. He is incredibly materialistic and
possession-orientated, probably due to the fact that
possessions have replaced the normal care and
63
love that a child needs. So when he doesn't get his
way he yel ls. This behaviour comes from the fact
that he ha-; never been shown how to ask for
someth ing. or to show gratitude or love or indeed
any emotion, in any way other than to hurt and
cause pain.
Bradley ha<> been in the :.ystcm for so long that
he now knows how to play it exactly. He make!> at
least three or four allegation!> of sexual and
physical abuse a week - l>Omcthing that hal> to be
documented exactly to protect us as the staff.
There are the good moments. when the children
actual ly open up to you for the first time and you
know you have their trust: taking them wimming
and watchi ng them jump in the water and become
children with no emotional baggage just for half
an hour: seeing children with a loved one that they
have not seen for a long time, and knowing that
you·ve actually been a part of the operation to get
them together; finding something that the children
enjoy and helping them focus - with one child it
has been painting. with another it has been helping
him to hold a bat and hit a ball, using techniques
straight from the Nurton hand-book.
Being realistic. I don't know if what I am doing
is helping these children. Arc they already t oo far
gone? Have their minds been so corrupted that they
won't be able to get back to what we would like to
think of as nonnality? One or two of them may get
into mainstream education, but all they have to do
is lose their cool once and they will be put in a
secure unit. The others. I think. will be locked
away for the majority of their lives, or starring on
Crime Watch in the near future. It doesn't detract
from my job as I would like to try to help them
forget what has happened, and enjoy what they can
of a fractured childhood.If they do learn something
for the future then that would be a bonus.
I ' m nearly finished now. l would just like to say
that i f any of you feel like offering some time there
are many organisations that would grateful ly
receive your help. For children with disabilities or
emotional problems, ju st to know that someone is
willing to taJk to them, to give them a chance they
have already been denied, wil l make a huge
difference in their lives. It might also in yours .
Lots of people T have spoken to about this work
say they admire me for doing it. To be honest, I
a d m i r e people who sit at a desk for eight
hours a day. I couldn't do it. You will never be rich
in this job , and you won't find the fame and
adulation of a pop star, but you will make a
difference to children's l ives.
Always give people a chance, don't write them
off. Be grateful for what you have. use it as much
as possible. but most importantly en joy everything
you do.
Thank you for l istening.
Obiter
this point,D
imagine
i c tJohn
a
MDN: "To demon tratc
Patterson on Chris Tarrant's Who Wants To Be
A Millionaire programme.
C hris Tarrant: •·John. you've done very well so
far. Sixty-four thousand pounds and one life
left. which i
phone a fri end . The
next quel-.tion will give you one hundred
and twenty-live thousand p o u n d if you
get it right. but if you get it wrong you will
be out of the game and will go away with
thirty-two thousand pound . Are you ready?'"
John : ··sure I am. Chris'·.
Ch ris: ··on the screen is a photo of a current
Manchester United player as a baby. Which
M anches ter United player is it? - Now think
about this caref ully, John. It"s worth one
hundred and twenty-live thou sand pound s,
meaning that you are only three questions
away from a million ."
.John: " I think I know who it is but I am not a
hundred per cent sure. No I ' m sure it
's Beckham , but can I phone a friend, Chris, ju
st to check?"
C h ris : "Yes J ohn . Who do you want to phone?"
J ohn : " I'l l phone Charlie Dupont."
"Hello?"
C hris : " Hello Chari ie. It's Chris Tarrant h ere from
Who Want.\ To Be A Millionaire - I have J ohn
Patterson here and he's doing really well. He's
already won l>ixty-four thousand pounds. but
needs your help to get to one hundred and
twenty -live thousand. Charlie. are you next to
a fax machine? - thil> is a visual question 1 am
faxing you. The next voice you hear will be
Jo h n \ - he'll explain the question and you
have thirty seconds to answer. Fire away.
J ohn ."
J ohn: ··charlie. that photo il> a picture of which
current Manchester United player? ! think that
it"s Beckham. what do you think?"
Ch arlie: ·'It's never Beckham. It's obviously Paul
Scholes."
John : "You think so, Charlie'?"
Charli e: ··1 am sure:·
John: "Thanks. Charlie."
C hris: ··what a difference of opinion. Do
you want to stick on &ixty-four thousand
pounds. or play on for a hundred and
twenty-five thousand pounds. John ?"
J o hn : " I want to play on. I 'rn so sure that it's
Beckham that I 'm going to ignore Charlie's
advice and go with my first answer. I think it's
Beckham ."
Chris: ' 'Is that yo ur final answer?"
John: ''lt is."
C hris : "John . . . you had sixty-four thousand
pounds, and you said Beckham . I f that is the
correct answer you ht vc just won a hundred
and twenty-live thousand pounds. However, if
it's wrong you go away wi th thirtytwo thousand pounds. John (dru m ro ll) Ooh!
. . . it was wrong . Sorry, J ohn." "Here is
your cheque for thirty -two thousand pounds
and you have been a great contestant and a
real gambler. Audience. please put you r
hands together for John".
John: "Before I go. Chris what was the correct
answer. It's killing me"
Chris: "Andy Cole.'' ·
Lin ley Lewis: T d like to play for an Italian club.
like Barcelona:
Harry
ter
Ha a r
(captai n
of
footbal l): 'Fortunatel y, Charlie Cox's injury
wasn't as bad as we'd hoped for.'
GDR : 'If history repeats itself. I should think we
can expect the same thing again .'
Boy: 'Can I borrow some nail -clippers?'
Boy 2 : ' What for?·
P.JW:
David
PJW:
David
'What are the dimensions of the core?'
Hitchings : 'Big '
'What d'you mean ·'big'"?'
Hitchings: ·Large.'
DJD: ·The problem is you ' re arguing from the
point of view of Miles Wright and you're
going miles wrong.'
64
E x t r a c t s f r o m a B . S . R . Talk
by M . D . Nurton
After that introduction I can hardly wait to hear
my;,elf '>peal<. There cern to be fewer boys today
- word obviou ly got around that I was giving the
talk. The iO\ itation came the day after the
Michaelmas Term when I was looking forward to
relaxing after my la.'>t official duty of the tenn. It is
always a nerve-racking experience to have the
responsibility of being Father Christmas.
Physically. I wa1. ncar to cxhaw.tion and mentaJiy
too because you h;l\ c to read out so many names
and the image of Father Christmas i!. ruined if he
b wearing glasses. After all, who would call a
child Cerys. Fennell a, Miranda, Oscar. and lndea
well, Sherborne School Staff do, I promise you.
Anyway, it was after thb momentous event when I
was most vulncruble that Mr. Eliot asked if I
would do " BSR talk. I was simply not in a
position to argue.
But the topic I have been a1.ked to speak on is
my career or rather my experiences. Perhaps Mr.
Eliot wanted to usc me before I popped off perhaps he thought I hadn't been looking too good
recently . So !thought I would talk brieny on some
of the things I ha\e learned from experience and
that I would pas' on to any young person growing
up in toda} '1. world.
We all respond to praise. Don't ever denigrate
another individual. I cannot claim to be blameless.
and indeed. as human beings. we are naturall y
jealous people. But always try to think of others
try to think how they might feel and make an effon
to pick them up. Encoumge them and try to give
people the opponunity to succeed.
The clo e\t relationship that you will have will
almost certainly be with you r parents. This
relationship is followed in most cases by marriage
which I will return to later. Value that relationship
with your parents and rc. pect it. And don't be
frightened to tell them how much you appreciate
their sacri !ices for your wellbeing. Most of them
will have made major sacrifices to give you the
opportunity of com ing to Sherborne School. My
mother often said, and she meant it, that she would
have scrubbed noors if necessary to give my
brother and me a good education. Some might
argue even that would have proved unsuccessful.
She didn't quite ha\e to do that but she and my
father did work extremely hard to give us a good
start in life. So communicate with them.
Communication i!> so important. As a parent. I can
tell you what a truly wonderful occasion it is to
receive a leuer or a card from your children. One
or my preciou-, pol-session\ b a good luck card
from my !>On when he wa!> four years old and I was
65
swanning off to play cricket in Eal>t Africa: ·Dear
Daddy. Hope you enjo) your cricket tour. Don't
get eaten by the lions. Come back afely. Love.
James.'
I have a recent one which is equally pecial.
·Dad. Can you lend me a grand. I need to pay a
deposit and a month· rent. If you could pay it into
my account today. it would be great. Andy.'
Those v. ho continually criticise and belittle an
emhusiastic child can be horribl) destructive to
ambition. while those who encourage and inl>pire
can have an effect that -.tay' with us right through
to adult life and even warrant . mention at major
award ceremonies.
I really h ope teachers like that are sti ll in
abundance in our school s but I have a horrible
feeling that, due to increasing work pressure and
lousy pay, it is becomin g less l i kely teachers can
find the time to give a pupil that all-important
personal attention.
You are luckier than most that there are teachers
like that in abundance at Sherborne - de pite the
lousy pay and increasing work pres ure! And for
the mo'>t part they de pcrately want you all to do
well.
That is why the fir t chapter of my book is titled
Praise Youth and It ll'ill Pro.\per taken from an
lrish proverb. Probably the most imponant thing
in my life. both as a bo) and a young man, was
involvement in sport. When I look bad, I can
appreciate that much of it was made possible by
the encouragement of m) parent'> and the staff
who coached me at school.
Even more ).0 toda) ucccs:Jachievement only
comes with hard work. And don't be mblcd by the
image people present . And here I begin to name
drop. It was my good fortune to pia) cricket
against both Jan Botham and Viv Richards when
they were in their prime at Somerset. Take my
word. they both practised harder than anyone else
on the staff. Peter Robin son who was the County
coach at that time once said t o me that he wished
all the young professionals were as dedicated a.'i
Viv Richards. And a for f an Botham. you don't
walk from John O'Groats to Lands End and eros!>
the Alps on foot raising money for charity without
a desire for hard work. Botham is not everyone·
favourite but his record is indeed telltimony to the
saying · o great achie,ement i!. po !.ible without
persistent work'. It is indeed rare to reach the top
of the tree without hard work and often personal
sacrifice. One recalls the words of Gal) Player
when he wa.<> winning major golf champion hips
·The more I practise - the luckier I become·.
But unfortunately work doesn't end when you
leave . chool or univer.-.ity. There used to be so
called jobs for life. When I started my career
people would ay about teaching. banking. even
the service!> - at least you have the security and a
job for life providing thut you don't do anything
stupid. But not any more. Very few can be sure of
'>laying in the same career for the whole of their
working life. Working hard doesn't guarantee
sccuril) but it will help and this conscientious
approach to work will be an enormou advantage
if you ha\ e to try something else - and the chances
arc that you will have to re-train in some way in
the ever-changing world of the work place. Or you
may hit what is now being called the quarter-life
cri is:
'But now there i
a growing group
of precocious twenty-somethings who are
enduring their personal traumas years before they
are due for a classic mid-l i fe crisis. They a r the
victims of w hat has been tagged the qua rter-l
ife crisis. Typica lly they have sailed through u ni
versity into plum jobs wi t h high salaries and
would appear to have the world at their feet. But
suddenly these men and women decide that.
despite their material succes!., life il. not all it b
cracked up to be·.
A th1rd topic l would like to talk briefly about is
the quotation by Kahlil Gibran at the start of the
\econd chapter of my book, Conjuring Runs: ·we
choose our joys and sorrow long before we
experience them·.
I discussed th is at some length with my wife.
And what we both agreed upon wa!. that marriage
i-. a good example of what this quotation is about.
Far be it to me to preach to you this morning on
ethics but I fear that respect for marriage and
lifelong partnerships has rapid!) been eroded in
my lifetime. It was still taboo to live with a female
friend before getting married when I wa a young
man - but don't get me wrong. we did have fun in
the Sixties - but certainly deciding to wed was
regarded as a lifetime commitment. r am deeply
concerned about the hurt that has already been
caused to my you nger son, and by my younger
son . in rel ationsh ips th at were seemingl y
permanen t and certa inl y intense un t il things
started to go wrong. Perhaps it is these experiences
that will sc.:rvc him we ll in the e n d - I hope so.
But make no mistake. when you enter the
marriage stakes. you choose your j o y and sorrow
before you experience them. Very very few people
can claim that a union between two people does
not produce its joys and sorrows in abundance.
There arc the joys of parenthood. othing that I
had ever done before. or will ever do since,
provided me with as much pleasure as witnessing
the birth of my two sons.
And that is the next stage. Most of you will
choose to accept the responsibilitie of fatherhood.
There are incredible joy' but there may be sorrows
too. You will want the very be!.t for your children:
you will !>hare every moment of their successes
and their di. appointments. I wish that I could pass
on a foolproof method of rearing children but r
can't. All I can !lay is that what I found works best
is to alway!. encourage: alway!. be fair: allow them
their independence and offer advice but don't
dictate: above all. don 'tletthem think that they are
the best at e\crything (even though you would like
them to be). I have listened to too man) parents
who mistakenly think that their 'on. or even
daughter. b the best thing '>ince -;Jiced bread. And
don't give your son a mobile phone if he is in the
cricket team so that he can ring you to tell you the
approximate time t hat he is likely to bat! And
don'tthen immediately leave the game when he is
out. It doesn't1-.end the rig ht signals to the boy and
certainl y not w the other participants in the game.
'A consistent man believes in dest iny. a
capriciou s man in chance· . I t is interesting that
many of my friends and acquaintances wo uld
probably put me in the first category but I would
like to think I am more akin to the second
category. Don't be afraid to take a chance speculate to accumulate. a!. an economist would
say. But of cour e don't be reckless. My only real
regret is that I didn't take the opportunity of
playing regular first class cricket. Alithe advice at
the time I left chool was ·Don't take the risk of
playing cricket for a living. What will you do if
you get injured? What can you fall back on when
you ret ire and remember it is a shon career? You
may not be good enough!' Well I will never know
and that is why I look back and wonder even
though I eventually had the best of both worlds
an opportunity to play against orne of the best
cricketers in the world and a good career in
teaching. So it was sen::.ible advice by those who
probably knew be11er than me. But T shall alway:.
wonder whether it was an opportunity missed.
A few years ago I decided t o train as a Lay
Reader. Thi s is a new ch n llenge and one t hat w ill
keep me bu sy for n few more years yet. And if
there is on e message to leave you w it h . I su ppose
a poem by John W e ley may be something to
remember
Do all the good you can
By all the means you can
In all the places you can
At all the times you can
To all the people you can
As long as eYer you can
NOW THERE'S A CHALLENGE!
66
H a r g r e a v e s D r a m a P r i z e Trip
t o Edinburgh a n d L o n d o n
Fringe theatre is the lifeblood of British theatre these were complete turkeys: a spectacularl
today: the fringe is where names are y unfunny James Bond take-off is one case in point.
made, playwri ghts are tested. and designers are A lot of the comedy
was disastrous. Some
born. The London fringe is always throbbing - all supposedly powerful shows were laughable. But
one needs to do is buy Time Out to see pages of others were masterpieces of theatre. One of
fringe shows in addition to West End and the
these was set intricately on a tiny stage in the
quaintly half-way
comer of a seedy downstairs pub on a diny
·off-West End· performances. But for one month backstreet; costumes or props for the twelve-strong
every year the city of Edinburgh is ovenaken by cast could not have been simpler. But this was the
festivals, the largest of which is the Edinburgh most powerful theatre I have ever seen. Another
Fringe Festival. Started in 1947 as a cultural was a brilliant performance of Equus by Peter
manifestation of peace in Europe. the Fringe Shaffer that stru1ed at 11.30 p.m. Few shows could
Festiva l can now claim to be the largest festival of have kept me awake for over two hours until near
live perfom1ing ar1s in the world. Where better to 2 a.m.: but the originality and vitality of the
see the fringe than here, with over 1500 shows in production was intense.
Four days in Edinburgh left me exhausted but fu ll
hundred s of different venues all over the city?
of theatre; the range of ven ues. companies. shows.
The £250 of my Hargreaves Drama Pri ze was
not enough to cover more than a few days at the and entertainment was amazing. The coach back to
Edinburgh Fringe so in the sp irit of savin g money London brought me to another world entirely. I
I went to Edinburgh on the coach. Overnight. For stayed with Mark Friend, who designs sets for the
eight and a half h ours. And at 6.30 a.m. there is School, and who is presently working with world
noth ing happening in Edinburgh. As I walked famous designer A lison Chitty in the Royal National
towards the Caslle, silence was broken onl y by the Theatre. Mark took me to Alison's studi o in East
passing of an occasional bus. morning birdsong, London, where I saw designs for cun·ent shows in
and the stray drunken howl of an over-whiskyed the National, and where some of the complicated
Scotsman. The hostel where T was staying was design process was explained to me.
And what of the London Cringe? It was bank
about n hundred metres from the Castle at the top
of the Royal Mile, and with Scots, Americans, holiday weekend - and 1 hadn't realized that the
Gennans, Austrians, New Zealanders. Russians, London fringe shuts down for this. So no
French. Englanders, Slovenians . . . and many fringe theatre came my way in London. ln
more,
this
was
a
seri ously recompense, Mark took me backstage at the RNT,
into the maze of
design
and
costume
international community with a great atmosphere.
rehearsal rooms, offices and
The Edinburgh Fringe keeps L.A. hours and as workshops.
a result nothing really starts to happen until 10 scenery stores (bump ing into stars of stage and
production
RestorationAnd
comedy
in of
thethecorridors).
then The
we Relapse
saw in
a.m. at the earliest. but more often not until screen
by JOlivier
ohn Yanbrugh
(with OS
James Purefoy, (d ·n
the
RNT Trevor
Nunn·s
midday. But when thi s time comes it is
'80)): this could not have been a starker contrast
almost impossible to decide what to see.
with the theatre at the Fringe. Elaborate period
Browsing through The Guide. the free daily
guide to the Fringe, there are lists and lists of costumes. vast stage space, hu ge Jighting ri
g, arrays of big theatre names, complicated but
shows starting at
every minute of the afternoon. Walking anywhere, slick scenery changes on the enormous set,
you cannot avoid having flyers forced into your stage pyrotechnics and special effects - these are
hand by enthusiastic thespians whose show is but a few of the obvious contrasts between
starting shortl y, or seeing snippets of musicals on this and Edinburgh. And both types of theatre
the
Fringe
was
the street. This. accompanied by dozens of street have their charm : but
acts. from singing to bagpipes. and from ju ggl ing wonderful for its powerfu l simplic ity and this I
machetes on a unicycle to stand-up co m edy on the reall y appreciated.
In just under a week . 1 saw the two exu·emes of
street, provides a fantastic atmosphere wherever
modem British theatre, neither of which 1 had
you are in the city.
really experienced before. but botl1 of w hich I
It is almost impossible to tell if a show is going
to be any good before you've seen it. Hearing in enjoyed. And I returned home with theatre in my
the hostel that a particular show was brilliant. I blood. bad jokes in my head, and with less money
went to it and found either d1at this was in fact that I started with - but impressively, not too far
apractical joke, or that I needed to have read over-budget.
Andrew Morley-Smith
a speciric collection of poetry to understand it. I
saw five or six shows a day for four days.
67
Some of
A Cardinal in t h e
Fa m i l y
To visit Rome at any time of the year and for
any reason is one of the great pleasures of Lravel:
to visit it in early spring to see your uncle elevated
as one of the new card inal!> of the Roman Catholic
Church i an experience my wife and I will never
forget.
It wa1. in February 2000 that Cormac was
appointed the new
Archbishop of
Westmin ter and,
almost a year to the
day. the Pope chose
him to join the
band of men who
wi ll form the next
conclave to elect
the fuwre Pope. We
experienced an
overwhelmin g
sense of pride that
one of the family
had been given
such a great
honour. particularly
as we arc a very
close family and
because we were
brought up
surrounded by men
and women who
have served the
Church: Com1ac is
one of my father 's
three brothers who
took Holy Orders.
and three of their
uncles had done so
before them.
The weather in
Rome was blissful
for the three days
we were there b e a u t il'u l sun
shine and not a
cloud in
the sk y. The week was full of events. but we were
there for two essential services, the Red Hat
Ceremon y and the Ring Mass which were held on
consecutive days. The first service was held in St.
Pet er's Square before forty four thou sand people.
Fortunat ely Cormac had secured good seats for us
at th e front. so we had excellent views. It was quite
an occasion - forty-four new cardinals received
their red hats from the Pope. Each cardinal had
brought his own group of family and friends to
support him in Rome so there was a wonderful
atmosphere of singing. rejoicing and thanksgiving
- a n d , as these men came from every corner of the
globe. there was a true sense of the universality of
the church.
The second service took place also in
the Square on the next day. During the mass.
which the new cardinals concelebrated. the Holy
Father
gave each of them a
ring ('the ring of St.
Peter') as a symbol
of their new oftice
and duties. Part of
the reason why
cardin als wear red is
to symbo lize the
blood which they
must be prepared to
shed in the name of
God. When one
reads the stories of
what some of these
men had done on the
way to receiving
their red hats, it was
clear that such
sacrifi ces were sti 11
being made today
for example, the new
Cardinal of Vietnam
had spent twenty
years in solitary
confinement for not
givi ng up hi s faith.
The mood at this
service was deeply
prayerful and
reflective.
Throughout the two
services, Pope John
Paul himself came
across as strong of
mind and not as the
frail figure we
sometimes see on
televi sion . The se servi ces are, it seem s, hi
s
favourite duties.
Ali son and I were especially privileged to have
been a part of that week - and, althou gh we missed
out on a private audience with the Pope as we had
to get back to our own children and the reality of
Abbey House, we flew home w ith a sense of
wonder and prid e.
W.J.M-O'C.
68
Fashion S h o w
The fashion show was a charity event
organil>ed by the girls of East (S.S.G.). The theme
of the fashion show was 'clothe!> throughout the
year·. With ever increasing links between the
School and S.S.G.. East provided Lhe female
models and several Sherborne School houses were
represented. In fact. every year group had a
catwalk representative. meaning that everyone in
the crowd had a good chance t o laugh at one of
llteir friends as they pranced up and down.
The show was held in S.S.G. Spons Hall.
which proved a very suitable location . The
proceedings were opened by Ms. Henny
Brakewe l l
and
M r.
Rossiter Angell.
Henny's broadcasting
skil ls
were
clearly
apparent as she led the models down the
catwalk and Rossiter's sense of humour was
once again brought under
question.
One highlight of the show was undoubtedly Lhe
appearance of Benjic Dudgeon as a rather
attractive woman, a role that, disturbingly, suited
him.
The fashion how was held as a charity event,
raising £ I000 pounds for the Ann Douglas
Pennant Fund. The charity supports research
towards combating cystic fibro. is.
69
Library Report
When asked to write this report I was not quite
sure where to stan, as I haven't written an article
about the Libra!) l-ince 1998. so I decided to read
the first article I wrote three years ago. As I read,
a smile spread a c r o s my face.
In the first article I had set down my ideas for
the development of the new School Libraf}. My
main aim was to exploit the Library to its full
potential. and one of I l l ) main aims 'to transfer the
catalogue on to computer. which would enable
staff to print off subject UsLs. establish how many
books arc i:-. ued and pinpoint areas of stock in
need of improvement'.
Well. the past few year:. have been chaotic.
hectic and exhausting, but above all extremely
rewarding. The journey
has been a long
and arduous one, but finall y this September
we l aun ched the new computer system. for which
we have received a gen ero u donation from
the Foundation , and nt last we can step back
and breath a sigh of relief. We can hardly believe
we have achieved our goa l after all this time.
Looking back. it's not only the new compurer
system whi ch has brought change to the building.
The arrangement of the Mock has been allered
dramatically. which has led to a vast improvement
in the stock representation in the Library. Tbe
History Department no longer dominates the shelf
space: other department have sent books to the
Library \O that all subjects have adequate helving.
All computers on the Intranet now have acces!>
to the Library catalogue allowing pupils and staff
to brow c the Library's collect ions from
the comfort of their hou,es or departments. They
are a b o able to reserve a book online and
this information i
downloaded by the Library
staff several times a day. There are also two new
online public acces'> catalogue!> :.ituated in the
Undercroft and housed in specially designed desks.
These are purely for catalogue searches. and
pupils may search for items using an author's
name. a title, or a keyword. They can obtain
printouts from these catal ogues, read a short syn
opsis of the book, and sec u map sh owing where
the book is acrually sitting on the shelf. We
will also be able to cma l oguc u seful web
sites
related to
specific topics and even
catalogu e course notes. which at some point in
the future will allow a boy access during holiday
periods.
Th b year has also ),een the arrival of a new atlas
stand. new display stand s, and a CD spinner to
house the new collection of music CDs we have in
the Library. We also received a kind donation of a
display cabinet from Petronella MacNaghteo in
memory of her husband Robin. H eadmaster of
Sherborne from 1974 until 1988.
H owever despite the fact that we have been
working flat out during the la!>t twelve months we
did find time for several events this year. The
large!>t and moM succes ful of thc<.,e wa.\ the Book
Fair held last
Febru3r)
in the BSR.
Eight publishers sent tock and representatives
to the e\ em but Lhe biggest supplier and
supporter \\as WH Smith. Book sales were
e n o r mo u
and reached the grand total of
£7500. It was a good opportunity for the bo) s
simply to browse and take their Lime !.elect ing
somethi ng to read.
The English Department in conjunction with
the Library organised a well-attended Sonnet
Evening. Staff and boys gathered to enjoy a glass
of wine and read Shakespearean sonnets. Jean
Marc Pasca l. a member of the Library Committee.
organised a Lyrics Evening on behalf of
the Library. Boys gathered in the Westcott room
to read out some of their favourite lyrics. It
gave everyone who auendcd a real insight into
what mad e certain boys tick. The staff attending
were dragged scream ing and kick in g into the
world of hip-hop and rave. A most enlightening
event.
The staff in the Library h ave worked tirelessly
thi!. year. Several new faces have appeared on the
scene. Mrs. llelen Foot wu_.., employed on a full
time basis to help with the cataloguing and has
70
brought with her a wealth of library knowledge
from her previous post at Yeovil College Library.
Helen succeeded Mrs. Amanda Barker who bad
also helped with the catalogu ing for two terms,
before leaving to prepare for the birth of her first
child. The latest acquisition to our Library team is
Mrs. Nikki Cornell who has been employed to
assist with staff cover dUJing Library opening
hours. Mrs. Douch, the longest serving Library
Assistant. is also in the process of studying for her
C ity
and
Gu ild s
Library
and
Information Assistants Certificate.
This strong new team has enab led myself to
focus on professional duties. as I know the day-to
day running of the Library is now in good hands.
This has also proved iJwaluable with my new role
elsewhere as officer in-charge of the new recn1its
in the C.C.F.. all I05 of them.
We are at last achieving the aims and objectives
I set out over three years ago. This year has been a
very rewarding time. The next steps in the grand
scheme are to get more pupils in the Library and to
get them using the facilities and resources to the
full extent. to promote services to teaching staff.
encouraging them to bring classes in t o
do research and project work. We can move
only onward and upward from here and the
Library staff ru·e ready to face new cha l lenges
as they come along. These are exciting times and
we are enjoying every minute of them.
Y.A.C.
Operation 'Sneaky
e a k ywas' my
'Sneaky BBeaky'
and hands,
Operation
most
exciting experience at Sherborne School.
The mission started at 2300 when we met Mr.
Ricketts for a briefing. Nine of us, comprising four
members of the Army section and five members of
the Royal Marines section, listened as we were
told the outlines of the situation and our objecti ve.
We were informed that an ammunition box had
been dropped from a plane at a farm in close
proximity to our present location. The box was
next to a burnt out car about two miles away. Our
objective was to obtai n the box without coming
into contact with the enemy. I.f we came under
enemy fire, we would abon the mission
and tactically
withdraw,
returning
to a
designated rendezvous point
We were given two minutes to ·cam up' and
'bomb
up'.
·camming
up'
is
making
yourself camouflaged. and involves breaking up
your body outlines by attaching pieces of
vegetation to your clothing, and getting rid of
any light coloured areas easily visible to the
enemy, such as your face
which is done by applying brown and
green camouflage cream. 'B ombing up' is simply
loading a magazine with rounds. For this mission
we were each suppl ied with 30 blank rounds.
We drove one mile to a position a mile from the
farm. Here we left the bus and advanced silently.
with Mr. Ricketts speru·headi ng our arrowhead
formation. We had to negotiate various fences and
hedges before the farm came into view. Moonlight
allowed us to see the farm which was about 500m
away. We continued forward to a gap in a hedge
which would be our rendezvous point. Here the
Marines split from the Army. The Am1y would
remain at the rendezvous and would provide
covering fire if the Marines came under attack
from the enemy.
Sound u·avels a long way at night, so a silent
approach was essential. The next 500m to the farm
was to take forty-five minutes to cover.
The majority
of the distance was covered
crawling. Voices from the fam1 made us aware
that people
71
were awake and any noise from us would alert
them to our presence. We eventua l ly arrived at the
farm in two groups. One group of two people
located the car and began to search for the
ammunition box. The other group of three moved
into a barn. Fingen. were on triggers and we were
ready to fire as we were aware that someone could
appear at any moment. We were between two
minibuses, parked in the barn, when a dog began
to growl. We pres!.ed our backs against the
minibus. Mr. Thompson had woken and walked
outside, two metres to our r ight. We would
definitely be seen when he walked back in so we
had to move quickly. A noise from someone woke
M r. Wade who was asleep in the minibus. He saw
us and hit the horn. We !>tarted to fire and
withdrew from the barn to tind the other two
M arines, who had been searching the car.
Covering lire poured down from lhe Army who
had been waiting at the rendezvous point. We
retreated in two groups, each taking turns to give
covering tire and to move back ten metres at a
time. We returned to the Army in four minutes
having taken forty-five minutes on the approach.
We retreated to a point out of sight of the farm
where we informed Mr. Rickett\ of the situation.
We returned to the minibu and drove back to our
camp exhausted.
We had not managed to obtain the ammunition
box. but that did not poi! an incredible
experience. Thanks must go to Mr. Ricketts for
organising Operation Sneaky
Beaky it
was briIIiant.
Those involved were: (Royal Marines). R ichard
Fox, Robert Halliday. Sam M ason. Edward
Westropp, (A rmy), Charlie Roberts, William
Russell. Matthew Paulson-Ellis, Patrick Shaw
Brown.
Edward WestJopp
A Medieval Feast
The Old School Room provided a perfect venue
for the medieval feast, its antique interior
providing the event with an atmosphere and
aUihentic feel that would have been difficult ro
produce el<.ewherc. The feast took place on lhe Jrd
of May and wa), a col laboration between our
H istory department and that of Sherborne School
for Girls. with Sixth Form stude nts from bolh
schools invited. At the back of lhe magnificent hall
w a an exhibition of students' work which
had been inspired by reading Chaucer 's
The Cwuerbury Tales and a display of precious
late medieval books. which provided an insight
into Sherborne' > own early history.
An amusing lecture given by Dr. David
Carpenter on 'The Engl ish Aristocracy from 1066
to 1400' proved extremely enjoyable, as well as
instructive to all. Dr. Carpenter discussed. with
some graphic illustrations, how people managed to
be killed. or to avoid being killed. in medieval
battles.
The feast w a the kind of food that one would
expect to cat in King Richard l l 's court. and had
been prepared to medieval recipes. Eaten were
'brestes of capoun in mylke and hony (chicken
breastl> cooked with honey. herbs and milk) with
·white bred', all washed down with a glass of
·rcde wyn·. No vegetable were served a lhe
nobility dismissed them a commoners · food, but
72
at the time red wine was the health food of choice;
·11 doth quycken a mannes wyttes and dolh
comfon the henc·. This ironically meant lhat the
peasants ate healthier food than the aristocracy
did. and it was rare for a member of the nobility to
have clear skin and more than a few teeth ...
Fruit however was eaten. but only in pies or
preserved in honey, a!> it was bel ieved to be bad for
you raw. and we were presented with 'frutours'. a
fruit pie which was :-uitable for Lent as it contains
no meat. After this ·marchepane roseye· (rose and
violet coloured marzipan balls) was served, a
delicacy avai lable to England in those times once
trade routes from Arab countries had been opened
up.
After our meal the evening was infused with a
touch of medieval Spain when we l istened to some
Spanish
medieval songs skilfully sung
by
Geraldine Haz71eton with guitarist George
Tatham. The Spanish theme was continued with
reading from the medieval Spanish £/ Poema de
Mio Cid, and reading!> from Chaucer as wel l as
other Middle English poet). took place.
In true medieval fashion the evening ended
with everybody singing together Sw11er is !ntmen
In (summer has arrived). The event was a huge
uccess and will no doubt be repeated next year.
ick Zarb and James Watson
Photographic Quiz
How can we be sure that we actua lly see the objects that fill our visual field? Recent experiments
carried out by psychologists suggest that much of what we think we sec is actually composed from our
memory. The Photographic Editors want to test your visual awareness by asking you to identify the
precise locati on of the following detailed images. There is a prize for the first person to provide us with
the correct answers.
Henry Rushton and Patrick Shaw-Brown
73
P r i n g l e Tr o p h y 2 0 0 0
SQUAD! Squad . . . SHUN! Right. listen i n The
Sir Stell'art Prin :le Trophy Competition is an
annual competition for Royal Marine C.C.F.
detachmems from all Ol'er the cmmtry: of 1rhich
there are se1•enteen. It lakes place a/ 1he Royal
Marine Training Base (// Lymps10ne and is a \'et)·
arduous compelilion.
A
captain of the team, I was very
nervous about
the competition
but
an
excellent drill practice immediately upon arrival
on Friday night set me at my ease. Having
ironed our lovats and stone shirts and polished
our boots till we could see our faces in them, we
were ready for Saturday, the main day of the
competition. We were rudely awakened at 5.00
a.m. by another team departing for their breakfast,
and so we got up and prepared ourselves for the
day. AL6.30 we marched down to the drill shed
to be examined on our drill. Everything
went smoothly and we went on out to Woodbury
Common for a round robin of stances.
Mr. Ricketts and Ed Westropp kept us in high
spirits with their bantering while Rob Halliday and
Rich Fox maintained the seriousness required. The
team performed reasonably on most stances. Ed
Posnett did very well on camouflage and
concealment. Rory Bulger's technical expenise
was essential in the leadership task. until he
managed to throw a piece of equipment. vital to
completing the ta\k. straight into the water we
were attempting to traven..e. Charlie Pitt-Ford's
work rate was incredible and he performed well
throughout. The section attack was particularly
successful but very painful. since I managed to fall
headlong into the gor. e half way through. We had
a slight setback during our first aid wb.ile
removing the casualties to safety, when Sam
Mason dropped the stretcher and then accidentally
clubbed the casualty over the head with his rifle!
By late afternoon we were returning to Lympstone
for more of the phenomenal food served up there
and then some well-deserved 1>leep.
The final day of the competition dawned and
we prepared ourselves mentally for the ordeal that
faced us, the endurance courl.e. Sam Mason led
half the team on the orienteering course, while
Rich Fox, Ed Westropp, Matt Hopk ins. and I
negotiated the tunne ls, marshes, hills, and lakes
which made up the endurance course. This is
undoubtedl y the hardest part of the competition
and is very exhausting. However, the feeling of
triumph when you have finished ill quite
exhilarating. The result of the competition was
that we had finished 12th overall but. to our
amazement, we had won the drill trophy. We
returned to Sherborne, tired but contented.
SQUAD . . . To your dillies . . . Fall OUT!
Nichola Pothecary
S k i Tr i p
In the Easter holiday!> sixteen boys were lucky
enough to go l.kiing. Our destination was to be Val
Thrones. France. It was the first skiing trip 1 have
ever been on but it was one of a very rare nature.
Sixteen boys, three teachers, and not a single limb
broken! Remarkable! So, except for my stolen
snowboard. it was a complete success.
The journey seemed to take years: a coach to
the airport at some ridiculous time in the morning,
a normal !light with its normal complimentary
meals. and then another coach journey from the
airport to the reson. On the coach from the airport
to the rcson the noise levels eemed to drop
further and further a the hours passed. A small
murmur sounded at the first sight of snow. which
soon quietened. and then, as we finally came to a
halt outside the hotel. an eruption of noise
bellowed from the coach. After checking in and
finding our rooms. we walked outside to the snow
slopes and reali.t:ed we were finally there.
The skiing was excellent moM day . with a
number of challenging i.lopes. The progress or tbe
beginner was, remarkably. faster than lthought it
would be. By the end of the first day. most of us
were skiing or boarding comfonab ly, except for
Tom. who seemed t o take a little longer in
mastering the technique. By the end of the second
day those snowboarders who hadn't mastered the
right t urn did so while the others continued to
grow in confidence. And by the end of the third
day, most had enjoyed being knee-deep in powder
snow. The lower years obviously had an extremely
good time, as I never actually saw them. except at
meals.
The advanced skiing group opted out of the ski
school and instead tried to do all the runs possible.
Some of these were mapped. some not. All the
advanced group had their minds set on finding
huge jumps to launch themselves into the snow
covered views with steep slopes to conquer, and
76
moguls to test our skills. Their days required a lot of
speed and agility. Most of the group finished with
snow-filled jacket s from losing balance, or aches
because of all the muscles used to try and stop
themselves
falling
over.
The
teachers
who accompanied them (trying just as hard as the
boys) ended each day aching all over from trying to
keep up with them or having wiped out. When we
finally returned to our hotel at the end of the day,
there were only two things we had in mind: first, a
shower and , secondly, a drink in the pub across the
road. Sadly Mr. WiUTen could not partake in
much skiing or apres-ski becau se he fell ill for most
of the trip.
As for the apres-ski: we already knew about the
metre of beer (also known as a ·giraffe'). TI1is is
exactly what it sounds like, a metre high rube full
of beer (norma lly) with a tap at the bottom , and
four glasses. One of these, after a good
day's skiing. was hard to beat. The c
lub
was disappointing, except when the live
band played. lt was like a sauna jammed with a
mass of bodies around a sma ll stage where a
band, who were actually quite talented, played.
I had great fun on the ski trip and
would recommend it to anyone. Also on behalf
of all members of the party I would like to th
mk Dr. Hamon and Mr. Warren for a fantastic
uip, which was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone.
Pix Hedderwick
International L a w a n d Diplomacy C o u r s e
2001
Towards the end of their Lower Sixth year,
boys have the opportunity to go on an
lSCO course aimed at helping them choose a
caree r or a subject to study at uni versity. Some
cou rses are over subscribed and hard to get
into . We were lucky enou gh to be able to go to
The Hague with twenty-six other European
students for four jam packed days to learn an
incredible amount about the lives of lawyers and
diplomats.
Day 1, Wedn esday
We arrived at Heathrow to j oin the other
students along with our lSCO gu ides for the trip.
After checking into the hotel, and dinner, we had a
walk down to the sea front. We enjoyed a quick
drink at a bar. then headed back to the hotel to get
a decent night's sleep for the day ahead.
Day 2, Thursday
The day started with breakfast at the hotel,
followed by a short bus journey to our
first destination, the European PateDL Office. As
we arrived we were greeted by a very strange
Belgian man, who had obviously been well
versed in English culture as he announced, ·
When I heard
you were English, I had to rush and get some
coffee as r know the English must have coffee
before a meeting! ' ln the lecture which followed,
we learnt bow patents were made and the laws
governing them. I don't think lingerie was our
host's specia lty but it was definitely hi s ma.in area
of interest as he kept the group for thirty minutes
over the scheduled time to show us his favourites.
Next was Europol's main headquarters. Here
we were given name-tags. in exchange for our
passports, to get through security and led into an
ex tremely
modern -looking
and
sophisticated
77
meeting room. All twenty-six members of
the group sat around a huge square table and
were offered a drink. Our lecturer turned
on his m.icropbone and proceeded to tell u s.
from the head of the table, what exactly Europol
does. This was the fu·st baJf of the lecture. In the
second half. a large German man attacked the
subject of drugs in Amsterdam in a very stern
tone and declared 'Can nabis is not legal here.
only
tolerated.'
After this en lightening
introduction he Iilled our heads with facts and
figures about drugs in the UK and the
Netherlands, some of which
were very
disturbing.
It was now time to go for a lunch at Shell
International
which
had
everything
from beautifully cooked beef to salmon and
caviar. We also ate what we were told was a
national delicacy which the pony riders of the
group did not find amusing later as we were
told it was made with horsemeat. So. there we
were,
lunching in
a private function room,
courtesy of Shell, talking to two of Shell's top
lawyers and learning about what kind of things
they do every day.
After this refuelling at Shell, we headed for our
last destination of the day, the British Embassy.
This was a standard hour of 'This is what we do·
lectures but nevertheless quite interesting. We
were presented at the end with a goodie bag,
·100
including
a
book
entitled:
questions answered
about
the
United
Kingdom. ' This includes the answers to question
s such us 'What is British humour?'
Supper was hardly needed after lun ch. so now
it was time to hit the town. We found a fantastic
little bar with a very friendly atmosphere, which
we cou ldn 'tleave. Back LO the hotel to sleep.
Day 3, Friday
Today we visited the World Peace Palace. This
consisted of a tour of the building and a lecture
about what the World Peace Palace was, and why
it was created. The American speaker didn't make
the lecture and talk the most exciting experience in
the world. However we all gained a little more
knowledge.
Our next !>lOp was the Organisation for the
Prevention of Chemical Weapons. another place
where passpom had to be exchanged for name
tags to pass security. We were led into a huge
semi-circular conference room. Here we listened
to what the organisation does. What followed was
a film pretty much summing up all that he had
said. We left the OPCW building and took a brisk
walk to a business hotel where we stopped to have
lunch.
After lunch the group crossed the road to the
War Crimes Tribunal. We passed through the x
rays and sat behind the bullet -proof glass
protecting the courtroom. A few days later
Milosovich's t rial started in that very room. Agajn
we listened to another lecture about what
happened in the building. To finish off the day, we
had a tour of a prison in the town centre, which
was a kind of change from law and diplomacy.
The lecture., for the day finished. all that was
left was to get ready for the ball at the end of the
pier to which the ''hole group had been invited. It
\
just so happened that at the end of the pier there
was also a slingshot ride. which shot two people
into the night sky with hungies. or course this had
to be done. t wice! We raced back inside for a last
couple of dances, until finally going back to the
hotel, via the pi11a shop. to finish off the party in
our rooms.
Day 4, Saturda y
We had only one lecture today. A lawyer from
one of the top five London law firms told us more
about the life of a I<\\\ yer. with special attention to
theInternet and I.T. sector of law: which was very
interesting because it wru; part of a fast developing
sector of law.
The rest of the day was free for shopping in
town and seeing the sights of The Hague. In the
evening. our little group of friends visited the little
bar for the last time before returning to England
the next day. At the airport we said our goodbyes
to our new-fo und friends und returned to school.
A ll in all the trip was fascinating and we would
both recommend it to anyone who is interested in
law. diplomacy, or both as it is a fantastic trip to
learn a lot about the E.U. and international 1ffairs.
and meet lots of weird and wonderful people.
Pix Hedderwick
Will Yates
Extracts from
T h e Shirburnian
of 1 0 0 years
ago
No. CCVl/1, March 1901, Vol. XX
February 1st and 2nd 1901
2nd
1st
Forth from her Palace gate
Down to the wintry shore
Bear her with Royal state
Who comes no more.
Speed her with all her train
Of Kingly potentates
To where once more aga in
Her London waits.
Within her sw ift ship's side
Lay her down solemnly;
Thus when the Vikings died
They sought the sea.
And let the unnumbered throng
In this sad pageant see
As slow it sweeps along
Her Jubi lee.
Glide phantom-l ike. glide slow,
Down the long line and far
Where range in dreadful row
Her tleets of war.
A Jubilee of life
Lived welL and therefore blest;
Care. then. at times and strife.
Now peace and rest.
Glide solemnly, glide by
Oh silent ship, and lhread
Her ironclads, where they lie;
Bearing the dead.
Let her loved soldiers brave,
As when a soldier dies.
Make for their leader's !!rave
Due obsequies.
For this was she their Queen
Who three-score perilou s years
Fronted whate'cr has been:
Hopes, sorrows, fears - - -
The nags. the muffled drum;
The dead, where lay the gun:
Not here her feet shall come;
Her service done.
Whom lhey. four brief years since.
Acclaimed with thunders loud;
Mute now the shouts. the cheers.
The applauding crowd.
Lay her beneath lhe shade
Of Windsor 's royal towers
Where in sad widowed hours
Her tomb she made.
Guard her. strong ironclads, well
Safe to her further shore,
For hark the tolling bell
She comes no more!
Lay her beside her dear!
Oh faithful lovers twain!
In Heaven above. as here,
Re-knit again!
Leu·is Morris
79
In memoriam
QUEEN VICTOR rA
Quae te tam laeta tulerunt
Saecula '! qui tanti talem gem1ere pare me.\ ?
Aeneid 1.605-6
Lay her to rest. 0 hour of grief and awe!
We say not England's happier day!. arc done:
But who with that magnetic touch <,hall dra''
And weld our world-spread Empire into one'?
May He. who gave the mother, grace the :-.on!
So simply noble that almost she made
or eanh-bom sovereignty a thing divine.
Love was her law, by pu1ity she swayed,
A power nor grief nor age could undermine
Her throne an altar. and her hearth a hrinc .
Queen , wile and mother peerle ss: even so
And this shaJl be her fame in after years:
Or alien or akin, or friend or foe.
Old jea lousies forgot. old feuds and fears.
The whole earth wrote her epitaph in tears.
Lay her to rest. Her memory shall be blown
Like pure sweet air upon a tortured clime.
She made for peace. and pa., es to her own
With those who reign - 0 recompense 'ublime! Beyond the folding gate' of -,pace and time.
111111<'1 Rlroacft·•
SCHOOL NEWS
On Saturday. February 2nd. a Memorial Service for the late Queen wa), held in the Abbe). the School
attending. The Corpl- joined with the Yeomanry and Volunteer'>.
The following wa<, the order of the service:
Funeral March in C minor
Opening Sentences in the Burial Service
Psalm xc.
Lesson. I Cor. xv. 20
Anthem
Chopin
H. W Cluuer
Address by the Head Master
Hymn
Scntem:es. Lord's Prayer, and Collects from the Burial Service
Thank:-.giving and Prayer for His Majesty the King
The Grace of Our Lord
Funeral March
BeetiiOI'en
Hymn
Benediction
March in E minor
Mendel.fsolm
80
CORRESPONDENCE
To the Editor of The Shirbumian
Dear Mr. Editor,
May I enquire through your columns whether any scheme has been started for perpetuating the
memory of the late Queen ? I am sure that any such proposal would meet with a ready response in the
School, in which loyalty to the throne has always been most sincere and marked .
Yours sincerely.
LOYALIST.
Dear Mr. Editor,
I was astonished to find early in the term , that the School had acwally no intention of sending a wreath
to the funeral of Queen Victoria. How can we expect to get on if we don't even show our loya lty?
Yours in surprised indignation.
CORONA.
N o. CCI X, Apri/1901, Vol. X X.
EDITORIAL
Since we last took up our parable, events have taken place that h ave stirred the empire, and indeed the
whole world. and ourselves as part of that empire; and also others that have been of interest to a narrower
circle. We thought t hat such poor phra ses as we could indite would be better left unsaid , whi le the first
great grief for that Queen who was more of a Mother to each one among u s was strong in our heart s. and
therefore forbore, leaving the beautiful lines by Mr. Rhoades and Sir Lewis Morri s to be our only overt
- a s they arc the beautiful - expressions of mourning. The death of Canon Young too was noticed by an
abler pen. We would, though somewhat late. express our loya l wishes for the long life and prosperity of
King Edward Y lf.
JULY 1901
On the evening of F riday, July 5th, Mr. A. Capper gave us a very enjoyable
Entertainment. Beginning with some very clever tricks of freeing hi s hand s when tied together with
knots, he went on to the more important item of 'Thou ght Reading· which was truly very wonderful.
O.S. NEWS
Mrs. Rawe. writes from Bradford Rectory. Brandis Comer, N. Devon, sending an extract from her
son 's letter. which she received on July 6th. containing the following: 'The Boers used a lot of explosive bu llets ; you could hear them going "zap-zap" all round. We had
one of our officers and a sergea nt murdered in cold blood. Lieutenant Spring was wounded in the thumb,
and Sergeant Finlay was binding up hi s wound when a Boer came up and shot the one through the eye
and the other through the throat.·
The following have been playing cricket: J.E. Stevens
For M.C.C
Oxford Aut hentics
P. Eglington
Surbiton
P. Egl ington
Wilts
J.E. Stevens
Gentlemen of M.C.C.
C. HeadJam
Dorset
J.A. Lush
J.E. Stevens scored 148
For WilLs v L.C.C ..
H .R . Dean represented Oxford in lhe Water-po lo and team races.
81
CORRESPONDENCE
Dear Sir,
May I call attention to lhe dangerous condition of the School Bath ? Besides the fact lhat one can
hardly move a step on the boards without being lacerated by numerou splinters. the \tones. especially
at the edges. are always chipping. with lhe result that they are l>trewn with needle-like fragments. on
"h ich a :.tep is fatal. Could this not be remedied before next year?
Yours. etc ..
SPLI TER .
Dear Mr Editor.
I wm. !.urprhed a few day ago. to fmd whaL a mournful \tate the Libra!) Photograph Album is in.
Surely it was originally meant to contain more than three photographs . Some energetic member of lhe
School might devote himself to ga therin g photographs of all O.S.S. who had distinguished themselves
here in any way. Then the album would be of interest to all. instead of a disappointment and eyesore to
whoever o p e n it.
Yours trul y.
FO-TO.
Dear Sir,
Why cannot som e enterpri si ng soul get up a society for the purposes o r psychi ca l research in thi s
School? I ha ve it on good auth ority that the country is literally swarmin g wi th ghosts, whose hearts are
yearning - if ghosts have hearts. and are capable of yearn ing - to be investigated. We know ourselves
that
'Dark cow led Benedictines
Haunt the pillared shade.'
These might with advantage be laid: a serious danger would then be removed from tho e who roam
the Couns at night. Hoping this will catch the subliminal eye of some psychically minded person.
I remain.
Yours my teriously.
KOOPS.
To the Editor of The Shirbumian.
Dear Sir.
Might I .,uppon the suggestion of Decani . which appeared in a former i'>sue. relative to a surpliced
chapel choir? Even if the) wore the surplices only on Sundays. it would be a great impro,ement. I have
heard many vi itors who have come here say that they consider surplices would add greatly to the
brightnes of our services. and express their surpri se when told that there i no )>Urpliced choir. I have
enqu ired. and find that a good many of our public schools have surpliccd choir:.. Is there any other reason
either in the way of ritual or otherw ise which prevents us following their e>.ample? Hoping this will catch
the eye of ihe authorities.
I remain, yo urs,
"VESTIS LINTEA RELTG IOSAQUE ."
Dear Mr Ed itor.
Seeing that Kin g A l fred the Great w a an O.S. and that we c laim to be founded by him. doesn't it seem t
o be our duty to send in a subscription. in the name of the School. for th e King Alfred M emorial? H oping
that Shirburnians wi ll be loyal.
I remain.
Yours. etc..
M EA DY RONEY.
82
Dear Mr Editor.
May I enquire through your columns, why in so fairly managed a body as the Cadet Corps of
Sherborne School, one section shou ld be al lowed to keep its rilles in its own House, and so be enabled
to drill at any time, whether the Armoury be open or not. whilst the rest can only drill when the Annoury
chances to be open? Surely this is hardly fair. Also 1 am under the impression that the rifles. being
government property. may not legally be kept away from the Armoury at all.
Yours very truly,
" A DISINTERESTED NON-MEMBER.''
Dear Mr Edi tor,
Might I be allowed to trespass on your columns to make a brief , but perhaps usefu l. suggestion that
all members of the School might have a blazer for going down to footba ll , as the ordinary black coat left
on the wet grass or a muddy ground does not come up looking the better for it. A plain black flannel (or
the apology for it) wou ld be most suitable. House caps might have trimming with ribbon of their House
colour; members of teams winnin g Leagues could also have the league badge put on the pocket. Hoping
this may catch the eye of the authorities,
Yours truly,
PRAETEXTA.
Dear Mr Ed itor,
Why has the good o ld custom of boxing matches been given up of late years? Some time ago there
was great keenness shown over these competitions, both among the competitors and also in the School
in general. Could not some really serious effort be made to re-organize the School boxing? As we h ave
not now been represented at Aldersbot for two years, or are we become too effeminate to have our
complexions spoilt by another's fist?
Yours,
PUX.
No. CCX IL, November 1901, Vol. XX
EDITORIAL
It is hard to find anything new to say in an Editorial. for the very simple reason that hardly anything
ever occurs worth mentioning. As usual. football is practically the only thing which will interest our
readers, and this season , owing tO the happy readiness of the weather to rain when it ough t to, football
was started on the first Saturday of term. and we were not forced to resort to the somewhat tame
amusement of hockey. The match card is a well-fi lled one as usual. and , though the Honiton match has
been abandoned, important additions have been made in the shape of matches with Llandovery and
Wadham College, Oxford. By meeting Llandovery at Cardiff. four schools will be met this year, an
unprecedented number. we believe. The XV have started in a manner which augurs well for the School
matches. Adamson has adopted the unwonted place of inside three-quarter, and though his absence in the
grovel must be severely fell, he strengthens the three-quarter line so greatly that the change has
undoubtedly been for the better. On the right w ing Grevi lle and Ross work splendidly together, and the
three-quarters are strong throughout. As usual the grovel is light , but dash and neatness in the open
compensate for this in some degree. As has been said above, the XV have done well so far and have won
three out of four matches played. their easy win over Wadham College being particularly creditable.
During the next fortnight or three weeks they have a full list of matches.
Except for football. there is nothing to record. However, we must really mention some most excellent
articl.es which have lately appeared in the Public School Magazine about the School. A description of
Sherborne, sixty years ago. is extremely interesting to all , and it shows what vast changes have taken
place since then in the shape of the School , while it also records many ancient customs, some of which
have died out. bu t which for the most part leave behind traces in our present customs. the origin of which
are known by practically none of us.
83
Then again, we must congratu late Sir Godfrey Lagden, one of the most distinguished O.S.·s alive. on
being appointed Native Commissioner of the Transvaal.
Lastly. we have to welcome both Mr. Phillips and Mr. Costley-White , who fill the places of Mr.
Crosthwaite and Mr. Portman. Mr. Phillips has already proved a great acqui ition by kindly refereeing in
school games and matches. while Mr. Costley-White has been most kind in his as istance to the School
Literary Societies.
DECEMBER 1901: PENNY READING.
These Institution!> are in many ways excellent, and we were glad to see their revival in a good
performance given after the Eastbourne match. Ley opened the proceeding with a pianoforte piece.
which showed good execution. while Northey's violin solo was also a good performance . Next came an
Irish ong by Fletcher, which went with a good swing. though at times the wo r d were hard to catch.
Hodges favoured us with The Vicar of Bray. and he sang very clearly and correctly. and this song was
much appreciated, it being encored. Wilson followed with a very good recitation called The Phantom
Actress. which was extremely amusing. The reciter was quite audib le everywhere in the room, and
betrayed no signs of nervousness. He gave a short and amusing recitation a an encore. Down among the
dead men. was nex t rendered by the powerfu l voice of Holmes, after which Mr. Costley-White gave a
very good recitation, H ow Bill Adams won the battle of Waterloo, which was quite the feature of the
evening. The entertainment was conc luded by a banjo duet by Horsfall and Horton.
84
L o w e r S i x t h S t u d y Visit t o M a r l y- l e - R o i
There can hardly be a boy in the School who
remembers a lime when the Marly exchange did
not take place. Every year the Lent term is
punctuated by the arrival of a mixed group from
the Lycee Louis de Broglie. Their ten day visit to
us ends, and all goes qu iet for another year. A
grave misconception, of course, but by no means
an uncommon one, for only the happy few - those
who study French in the Lower Sixth - are lucky
enough to take part in the return visit.
Barely has the Lent tem1 ended when we are
whisked to Paris in high-speed. air-conditioned
splendour on the Eurosrar. A shor1 bus journey and
we are soon taking the local train to Marly in the
western suburbs. which is our base for the next ten
days.
Time is spent in lessons at the School and on
coursework preparation. By now our contacts in
Marly are quite used to d1e research interests of
Shirburnians and are eager to help by arranging
interviews. providing documents and - purely in
the quest for academk excellence, you understand
- offering a chance to test the bed in the cells at the
f{endarmerie. ('Better than school' is the verdict) .
Our day visit to Paris is a similar treat for the
initiated only. Who but this year's group knows
where to find a Jewish delicatessen wi d1 bullet
holes in the wi11dow? Or the best ice creams in
Paris? Or a restaurant in a mosque? My thanks as
ever to JAT. for his understated skill at wielding
the video camera, and to all those who took part.
for the zeal with which they widened
their knowledge of French civilization.
A.R.O.
A W e e k in
a r cand
e l we.
o nthea
summer B
evening
It was a pleasant
three amigos. embarked on what promised to be a
week
of
cultural
delights
and
revelations.
Eventually
arriving
ar
Bristollmernational Airport after a bumpy car
ride in which Tim just about managed to
overtake a cyclist. we set off on our Go flight,
destina t ion Barca!
Everything was going to plan. The tlight was
on time; we picked up our bags with minimal fuss
and even managed to get a taxi to get us to our
hostel for the first night. During the taxi ride Chris
assured
us
that he
had
booked
rhe
hostel personally, and that even his dad had
checked the booking. Exhausted, and safe in this
knowledge, we looked forward to reaching the
hostel and crashing out.
However. upon our an·ival at the hostel, a rather
bewildered manager greeted us by saying that
there was no room and that he had no record of our
booking. The fact that this man spoke not a word
of English,
together
with
George
and
Tim's limited
grasp
of
Spanish.
made
communication somewhat difticult.
After at
least
an hour
or arguing in Spanish. he
eventually let us have a room for the night, on
the condition that if the people whose room it
was turned up. we would move out. Thankfully,
they never showed up, and we crashed out in a
room that felt like a sauna. wilh George sleeping
on the tloor.
The next day we found we were miles from the
centre
of
Barcelona,
and
promptly
checked straight out of our hostel in the hope
of finding somewhere better.
Our
first
experience of La Ramb/a was lugging our
rucksacks down the street trying to find a bed for
the night. After inquiring in about five hostels.
who all said they were eilher full or that we were
to come back later, we found a hostel with a
room for three, with en-suite
85
bathroom. TV. an d the all important air
conditioning. for about £14 a night each.
Although this was a lillie more than we wanted to
pay. it was a pleasant hostel with friendly people
and good facilities. so we booked into the Hostel
Paril> for the reM of the week. After this very
exhausting hostel-hunting trip. we treated
ourselve!> to there t of the da) on the beach!
On Friday, we decided to get on with some
l>ightseeing. Looking like the typical Brits abroad.
we headed off lir.,tl) to the Caredral. which w a
ab-,olutcly magnificent. Del>pite only ha' ing to
tra' el a fe" hundred metre!> from our hostel to the
Caredral. we 'till someho'' managed to get
complete!} 1oM. but did eventually find it and it
wa' well worth the visit. We then jumped back
onto the Metro and travelled to the Nou Camp, the
home of Barcelona FC. The sheer size of the
120.000-seat stadium was truly amazing, and one
cou ld imagine the atmosphere during a match
would be unbelievable. Stil l wit h time left i n the
day, we went to the Sa mda Familia, whi ch was
and sti ll remainl> tod< y one of Gaudi's most
impressive feats of architecture. And (despite
being momentarily distracted by Pizza Hut) all
three of us were astounded by it'> sheer size and
magnificence. It is still under construction . so
there io, lots of machinery everywhere, but it
doesn't prevent you from seeing what an amazing
conMruction it b.
In the evening. we walked up and down Ul
Ramhlt1 and paid !'lome well-earned 'isits to the
bar..! We discovered that Ln Ramblt1 is equally
pad..ed with people regardles\ of ,.,haL time of day
tt ts. There were plenty of small sideshows on the
1.treet to keep us entertained.
The next day, we embarked on a journey on the
Metro. train!>. trams, and a funicular railway. to
take u!. up to the top of the Tibidabo. which gives
an amating view of the whole of Barcelona and i t
urroundings. At the ummit of thi!> glorious
hillside there stood an enormouo., statue of Christ
which. after waiting for about half an hour for the
lift attendant to actually do anythinJ!,. we ru.cended
to enjoy \Oille ama£ing 'iC\\l> over the
Meditcrr.mcan and the city. Upon our descent we
found a o.,pot to cnJO} the o.,ccnef) ''here we wrote
postcards and experienced some more Spanish
beer.
After a late Saturday night. it wa., n slow start
on Sunday morning. After grabbing some pain
tw-chocolar for breakfa:.t. we decided to go and
visit the Olympic Village. After taking another
funicular railway. we then walked completely i n
the wrong direct ion. anti found oursel ves at a
mi litary muse u m. o we stayed there for a whil e
and looked at the castle and the upcrb views all
around it. This t ime consu lting a map. we headed
off for the Olympic Village. which we found
without too much trouble. We were not allowed
into the actual main stadium. so we went to look at
all the other buildings. We entered what we
thought was the !>wimming pool. onl} to find a
crowded arena. with people attending the Annual
A!.'>Cll1bl}
of
Jehovah·.,
Witne.,-,e.,.
Eventually realising what we had accidentall)'
stumbled across. we made a quick exit. e
caping a man beckoning U'- to 'join him·. and
tried to find the
86
switru11ing pool. There were two Olympic-size
pools, one of which had a major competition going
on within it. so after staying to watch a few races
we set off on the return voyage back to our hostel
for a11 early night.
On Monday we got up early in order to get to a
water park. which we had read about. We started
what we thought would be about a half hour·s
journey, and Lbree hours later we arrived at the
water park. after a chaotic journey Lbrough the
outskirts of Barcelona. We then had a brilliant
day, spent zooming down slides and relaxing in
the surrou nding restaurants.
On our return from the water park, we spotted
from the u·ain some lovely beaches far
less crowded than Barcelona beach itself. So,
Tuesday saw us get back on the train out of the
city, and visit one of the quieter beaches. which
was far more relaxing than being with the
swarms of people on the Barcelona beach.
By Wednesday, we were all getting very tired.
and were thinking about getting home, but had the
whole day to spend waiting for the plane. We
didn't have to leave for the airport until about
8.00 p.m., so spent the day around the centre of
Barcelona. We looked at lots of the tourist shops,
and took time to find small gifts to bring home.
After eventually sorting the best route to
the airport we left our hostel for the final time.
and spent the short train journey listening to
Chris's protests that we were travelling in
completely the wrong direction. George and Tim
were too tired to argue, so stayed quiet, and sure
enough we arrived at the airport in plenty of time
for our plane home.
A ll three of us would recommend Barcelona to
anyone and everyone. I t is a unique city, with so
much atmosphere and so many friendly people.
Overall , our trip to Barcelona was a huge success.
During our stay there. we experienced
the atmosphere of the bustling city. and
managed a
good balance of relaxation and sightseeing . We al l
enjoyed
ourse lves
immensely,
and
are
very gratefu l to the School's Travel Grant
Committee for giving usGeorge
this opportunity.
Dalton , Chris Hart
and Tim Wynn-Jones
The Old Vicarage
Sherborne R oad, Milborne Port, D orset D T9 SAT
T h e Old Vicarage
situated at the edge of the village of Mil borne P o r t,
two miles from Sherborne,
offers accommodation with breakfast during the week
a n d d in n e r, bed a n d breakfast at weekends
Both accommodation a n d food are of the highest standard
and are recommended by
The Good Hotel Guide and The Good Food Guide, a mo n g others.
For more information please look at our web site www.milborneport.freeserve.co .uk
or ask for a brochure on telephone (01963) 251117 or facsimi le (01963) 251515
M o o r i s h Tr a v e l G r a n t i n An d a l u s i a
We were awarded a travel grant to enable us to
explore the remains of the Moorish civilisation in
Spain, the hi ghlights of which were the wonderful
Mezquita in Cordoba and the proud Alhambra in
Granada. Afler the Arab invasion of 7
11, Andalusia became the centre of the Saracen
and Moorish
civiliza tion . The cities
of
Granada, Cordoba, Seville. and Jaen were seats
of Is lamic culture, industry, and commerce.
Students from all parts of Europe attended
the
great
Muslim uni versities. Andalusia,
establis hed as a Moorish emirate in 756, later
developed into the caliphate
PY R t N U S
IOur Rout e )
87
ofC6rdoba. Lower Andalusia was recaptured from
the Moors in 1212 but Upper Andalusia survived
as the kingdom of Granada until 1492, when it was
conquered by Ferdinand V and Isabella. the
sovereigns of Castile and Aragon.
The plan for our travelling was to begin in
Southern Andalusia and work up through Cordoba
and Granada to sample the cultural remains of the
Moors before seeing the July festival in the
sprawling city of Valencia. This involved a fair
amount of travelling by bus and train, which was a
steep learning curve for us and inevitably sapped
our energy reserves. The Rough Guide served us
very well in parts, and was often invaluable given
our low level of collective independent travel
experience and our admittedly poor grasp of the
Spanish language. Our packs were unbearable to
carry
in the humidity of what were often
polluted cities. so as a rule we hurTied to our
hostels before continuing.
On our arrival in Malaga. we were faced by the
thirt y degree cerlligrade heat that would continue
for the whole of the two weeks. The Costa Del Sol
stretched before us in its full high-rise-apartment
glory so we escaped to the Moorish Alcazabar
which stood proudly above the port and beach of
the city. The bus journey the next morning allowed
us to speed hastily through the beach resorts of
Torremolinos and Fuengirola until we reached the
more upmarket Marbella with its characteristic old
town and a roaming Mercedes at every turn. A
swim in the era. hing waves at the beach and an
evening !.pent in the local ban, sampling tapas
(fishy snacks to accompany our San Miguels)
provided us with refre!.hmem after our sweaty
travels.
A train journey later and we were in Ronda.
which wa!. set in undoubtedly the most dramatic
situation for a town that we had ever seen. It sits
surrounded by mountains and is itself split in half
by a gaping river gorge which drops for over 100
feet on three !.ides. We spent much of our time
there wandering around this culture-rich town, the
highlight of which was the Casa de Mondragon,
the real palace of Moorish Kings. Ronda is a place
of pilgrimage for lovers of bullfighting, for its
bull-ring is one of the oldest in Spain. but
unfortunately it was not staging any action on that
day.
Cordoba was the most exciting place we
visited. The awesome Mezquita gripped our
imagination. although the recent restoration had
perhap!. been too quickly conceived with rather
too bright colours being painted on the
magnificent archc . It bore the indelible marks of
the Christian conquerors. with a cathedral plonked
in the centre and gaudy chapels arranged
haphazardly around its perimeter. The calmness of
this building could not contrast more sharply with
our advemure the next day. We decided to visit
palace ruin!> called the Medina Azahara. seven
kilometres out of the city - an easy walk. we
thought. h turned out to be a very tough walk. with
the breezeless air allowing the beating sun to
reflect the tannac on to our burning faces quite
effortlessly. Our stay among the ruins therefore
proved to be short before we collapsed back at our
hostel after a welcome bus ride back.
The Alhambra was as impressive as it was
packed with hordes of camera-flashing Japanese
tourists. It thoroughly deserve its reputation as
the most sensua l building in Europe, and boasts
brilliant usc of light and space in the Palacios
Nazaries. with the relaxing sound of the water
trickling and spurting from the fountains and pools
as evidence of the M oors' prized irrigation
techniques. The c ity itself was rather
uninteresting, and pretty heavily polluted towards
the lower parts where we were staying, and so we
departed on a ten-hour bus journey to Valencia.
keen to experience staying in 'the city that never
sleeps'.
The cooler and overcast mornings in Valencia
allowed us to explore the attractions of this major
Spanish city, necessitating lots of bus journeys
everywhere we went. The cathedral was more
imere!.ting for it!. exterior. a'> was the Palacio del
Marques de Dos Aguas, designed by Hipolito
Rovira. who died insane soon afterwardl.. The
Museu de Belle Artes allowed us to see the works
of Goya, El Greco, and Ribera with the largest
park in the city opposite providing a perfect picnic
spot. The Festival exploded. quite literally. on our
second night with firework displays and crowds of
partying Spaniard:. pulling and pushing us
everywhere. We sampled the local paella quite
extensively, although enjoyment of the taste of
Spanish lager was beginning to wane!
Our tlight back home left us thinking back on
the enduring memories of the two weeks we had
spent immersed in Span ish culture and meeting
very interesting and different people on the way.
Our experience was worth the effort we had made
apply ing for a travel grant nnd organising our plan
of action
before departure,
and
I
would recommend anyone at the School to give it
a go.
John Patterson. Pat Le Flufy
and Danny Torrens-Spence
88
Peaceful Praha
We were dropped at 1.00 a.m. at Stan.<>ted. on
what later turned out to be a rather overcast
morning. for what was about to be the most
illuminating eight days of our lives l>O far. We had
quite vague expectation.., of our advenrure: we
assumed it would be enjoyable and that we would
gajn invaluable in\ight intO a Culture Vel) rufferent
from our own.
B) the fir'>t evening we approved our choice of
cit). We were ca...ually stlling by the banks on the
Vtlava. dumb..,trud.. by the beauty of the
wonderful cit) of Prague. To the left of us was the
splendour of the Gothic Charles Bridge. whilst
acros!. the ri vcr v. ere architectural masterpieces
!.uch a!. the breathtakingly ornate National
Theatre. We ro<tmed around the t reets and found
a charm ing litt le re\taurant where we enjoyed a
good meal and were restored after all the hu stle
and bus tle of term time as we chatted to the
waitresses and were absorbed by the strangeness
of
the
music
being
played
the
Czech interpretation of The Bon.w Dog DoDah
Band .
Our mission to find our accommodation had
been fairly amusing. After a confu1.ing
convcr-;ation of sign language and blank
expres!.iOn) we found the room. The apartment
v. as perfectly situated near to a tram line but in a
district where. as we found. it wa.' 'cry cas) to get
lost. We became attached to our surroundings: the
dancing
irritating!)
music.
and the
local
cafe.tothe
sight of loud
some'techno·
crazy guy
frantically
\\eird sound on the tram of the announcement that
we were nov.. in amesti Mtnt. But this was Praha
and we became accu tomed to not being surprised
by the l>lightl) bitarre goings-on. We highly
recommend any 'i-.itor to Prague to stay in Stop
City. For an apartment for ten pounds a night on
the edge of the city centre. it was a very good deaL
Food (or. at lea\t, getting food) in Praha was
ulway' intere ting. Euch morning we took it in
turn > to jump out of the window (we were on the
ground noor) and go and fetch our customary
breakfast in bed. Our morning delights included
nut yoghurt. cereal without milk. and croissants
containi ng raw !.ausage. On the whole. most
restaurants had been westernised so we ate much
piua and pasta. Eating out wall amazingly cheap:
we had a two course meal with wine every night
and never paid more that three pounds a head.
Most of our time wal> !>pent roaming around the
city. By the second day we eerned to be going
everywhere with a !.trange local named David. He
was one of the rno).t unusual people you can ever
hope to meet. He wall a medic for their Ci,·il
Sen ice and '>0 had to v. alk eve!) where in hi'>
white lab coat. Dave w a an eccentric and was
never afraid to <;hO\\ ht-., fondncs" or us which he
demonstrated b) walking up and down the trams
singing love .,ong' to U). 111 Ctech. But. anywa}.
we had a guide .
Prague b the world C<lpital of bu:-.king and we
listened to some fanta).tic j au, hut after the fifth
day we were feeling a little broke. and just in need
of an adventun.!. Benjie and Han·y had recently
been studying A Mid.\111111/ler N i g h t \ Dream and
decided to perform Pyrwn11.1 a11d Thisbe on
Charle!> Bridge - the c it y\ capital site for tourists.
As the thespians strode up on the side of the
bridge. George disarmed them by disappearing but
they soon attracted a rather large crowd. An
amusing spectacle.
We may he giving the impression that we did
nothing much in the way of sightseeing or that we
did not learn anything. This was far from the truth.
We spent one day at Prague Castle. or at least
Benjie and George did: Harry forgot to climb
aboard the tram. Thb fortres!. occupies a large area
of the city and is historically and architectural ly of
huge interest. We had a wonderful time walking
around and looking at '>uch '>plendour' a." St.
92
Vitus· Cathedral. We walked into a side bu ildin g
of one of the many churches there, and
were fortunate enough to happen
upon a
rehearsal of one of Praguc·s finest choirs, so we
cou ld walk around exploring the ch urch as the
sa me time as listening to astonishingly beautiful
singing.
ln Praha one is always surrou nded by breath
taking architecture and by walking the streets we
picked up a good sense of the culture . Throughout
the week we saw so me amazing sights. such as the
Dancing
Hou se
the
height
of
modern architectu re. We also found many small
modem an galleries which were all full of cuttin gedge art.
When our eight days in Praha came to an end. I
don ·r think any of us really wanted to go back to
Eng land.
Praha
had
overwhelmed
an y
expectations, we had met some wond erfu l people
and became attached to this special city. We highly
reco mmend that Shirburnians pay it a visi t. We
would like to thank Mr. Eliot and the Travel Grant
Comm ittee for giving us such a great opportunity.
Benjie Dudgeon, George Bunkall
and Harry Steel
M unich, Vienna a n d P r a g u e
Questions were asked during the course of our
interview with the Travel Grant Committee as to
why we thought visiting all three cities. Munich ,
Vienna. and Prague wa1, a good idea. Indeed. we
were aware that there was a risk of not fully
appreciating the diverse art and architecture ,
which was to form the focus of our trip, that these
cities had t o offer. The response to this question
was that o ur destinations formed a neat
geograp hi ca l tria ngle thus making it very
con venient. both in cost and Lime. to visit these
cities by train. Another advantage was that these
cities had very different historica l backgrounds
and would therefore provide an interestin g
comparison in terms of art and architec ture.
Having arrived in Munich in driving rain, and
with nowhere to stay. we made our way to the city
where Mozart once l ived. Salzburg was a late
addition to our itinerary. We felt this was a city
that required no more than a day's stay. We spen t
almost two days there, which perhaps explains
why we left feeling less than inspired. although
admitted ly the terrible weather did not he lp.
Having said that, St. Peter 's Abbey and the other
churches including the Franciscan Kirchc that we
saw
provided
classic
examples
of
Gothic architectu re.
Making our way east we moved on to Vienna
for two nights. After the quietness of Salzburg,
Vienna prov id ed a pleasantly busy atmosphere. In
addition to the famous pa laces of the Habsburg
family. we were able to visit the Museum of
App lied A rts, the highli ght of ou r stay in Vi enna.
It contained countless objects of interest stretching
from the Romanesque pe1iod to the twentieth
century. It gave a useful insight into the way the
city had developed both in terms of art and
architecture. On the two nights that we spent there,
we visited what is called a ' Heuri geur' a wine
cellar w here the local s go to taste the year's wine;
93
tradi tiona l food, compri sing mainly of cold meats
and cheeses was also served there. The Hellligeur
that we v isited was situated in the suburb of
Nubdorf and we were welcome gu e s t . probably
because we were the first people under the age of
sixty that they had seen in there in a long time. On
the second evening we were shown the vast cellar
beneath and given a bottle to take with us.
Prague was the next stop. Arriving in thi s c it y is
not a pleasant experience; it seemed that the dregs
of Europe collected in this one station. Despite
these first impressions. we discovered that Prague
was an exceptiona lly beautiful city offering a vast
range in architecture. Unfortu n ately we could fi nd
no accommodation since it was Easter weekend
and so were forced to spend on ly one ni ght there.
In order to occupy ourselves during the lon g night
ahead we went to the >tate opera to watch Karol
Veis·s The Polish Jew the first opera that we had
ever seen: we couldn't have asked for a better
introduction and as a result I have become very
interested in opera. The rest of the night was spent
in a jazz bar. a rather seedy club. and a 24 hour
cafe. We we re able to cover a lot of the city by
foot. v isi ting all the sites of notab le
interest including the old town dating from the
thirteenth Century
and
Ty n
cathedra l.
Dominating the city was the Hradcany Castle,
fonnerly home to the Bohemian Kin gs and at
present to the president of the Czech Republic.
The next day, suffering from lack o r sleep, we
made our way back towards Munich. However.
not w illing to risk having no accommodation there
eith er. we decided to stop in a sma ll town north of
Nure mberg called Marktredwi tz - a son
of German equiva len t of Crewkerne. We were
the first people to h ave stayed in the youth hostel
that year and I wouldn't be surpri sed if we were
the last. but we were exu·emely grateful to wash
and get some sleep.
We completed our journey to Munich which
was certainly the most industrial of the citiel. that
we visited and there was a real sense of purpose to
the place. We visited the Alte and Neue
Pinakothek which were conveniently opposite
each other. The Aile housed a series of historical
paintings collected by Wilhelm [V in 1530, and
included works by Van Dyck and Rubens. The
building of the cue Pinakothek was impressive
in itself, combining nco-renaissance and post
modern inOuences typified by rows of arched
windows and inset walls. We also visited the
BMW museum and at the same time saw the
famous headquarters which, for me, was the
highlight of our time spent in Munich. Next to this
was the Olympic Stadium. home ground of Bayern
Munich. Bayern in fact had a local derby that day
against neighbouring city Stuttgart: perhaps one of
the most memorable and impressive moments of
our trip was \eeing Bayern and Stuttgart fans alike
having good humoured post match analysis.
despite countless beer. having been consumed in
the vast beer halls we visited. Bayern had lost 3-1.
James Sykes
and Henry Rushton
Madrid 2 0 0 0
In half-term of the M ichaelmas Term, a group
of intrepid fourth and fifth formers set off for a
week in Madrid, under the guidance of Dr Such,
Mr. Thompson, and M iss Hazleton. Little did we
know what we were were letting ourselves in for.
We stayed in pairs with Spanish families,
doued around the Madrid suburb of Alcobendas.
The families were welcoming. but the deficiencies
of our Spanish soon became clear. From these llats
it was only a short walk to 'La Gran Manzana'.
where we not only caught the bus each morning,
but also entertained ourselves in t:he evening.
Each day held a new experience for the group.
from eating suckling pig in Segovia to admiring
the art of Dalf and Miro in the Reina Soffa Art
Gallery. For most, the awe- inspiring visit to the
Valle de los Caidos wa:-. the real highlight of the
trip, but other experiences which stick in the mind
include the endless shops selling medieval knives
in Toledo. and the grandeur of El Escorial.
Eating through the course of the trip became a
risky affair. Boy:-. were treated to such delicacies as
tripe, pigs' cars, and sopa castellmw. a garlic soup
whose ingredients we are still not entirely sure of.
It is best t o describe this trip as an adventure
into the weird and wonderful culture of Spain and
its people. but one which was thoroughly enjoyed
by all.
Robert Boughey
A lasdair Boyd
Leon 2 0 0 1
The first question we asked ourselves was how
we managed to be on a bus surrounded by boys
heading for Luton. We still haven't answered t:his!
Several hours later our plane landed in Madrid.
Our first experience of Spain was trying to
organise taxis to the hotel and surviving Spanish
driving! Even at eleven o'clock, the temperature
was in the high thirtiel> which was a welcome
change from England. After eventually finding our
rooms and dumping our bags, we met everyone in
the bar nex t door for traditional Spanish food,
burgers and chips. The next morning we were up
early for another coach journey, this lime to Leon.
We missed the introductory lecture (which Dr
Such :-.aid was not too much of a loss). but luckily
we were in time for the welcoming drinks! Having
arranged to meet later, we were introduced to our
hosts before traipsing across the city of Le6n, but.
being girl!., we had packed far too much and our
host grudgingly found a taxi. After a large meal
(five course . including lasagne to start with), Mr.
Oates gave us a tour of the city. At eight o'clock
we met up with everyone in the Plaza San Martin
for drinks and tapas. For Dr Such and Mr. Oates.
this was their first exposure to us after we had had
a jug of sangria. (They didn't see us later . . .) We
returned to our hosts before hitting the Barrio
Humedo.
Dragging oursclvc out of bed for lessons the
next morning was not easy. When we got to the
university we were greeted by a ' test ' so that we
could be put into groups for the next two weeks of
lessons. Trying to fit in with the Spanish lifestyle,
we had our much needed siesta before visiting San
lsidoro. T h i i a Romanesque church which
bas beautiful paintings on the ceiling and
which houses the tombs of many of the earlier
monarchs of Spain.
Over the next few days, we had lessons on
spoken and written Spanish. The boys were
delighted to find out that both our teachers were
female and all seemed to find at least one of them
'fit'! We think everyone in the group came back
with a better understanding of certain grammatical
94
points. During this week, we also visited San
Marcos which has been converted from a pilgrim
hostel ro a luxury hotel. Dr Such took us into a
museum where he showed us a favourite work of
art, an intricately carved ivory crucifix.
One morning after lessons, while Christo and
Dougal were impressing us with their singing
t alent. a journalist and a photographer approached
Christo for an interview abour the cou rse at the
university. When the article appeared in print , we
a l l noticed the sudden improvement in hi s
grammar!
One afternoon we went on the university trip to
a reservoir. On the bus, the Sherborne boys
managed to impress the Ru ssians on the course by
sing in g their sch ool song! The scen ery
was stunning. We also visi ted a hydro-electric
power
station in the mountain s before being taken to a
bar for drinks and tapas.
On Saturday. there was the opportuni ty to go to
Astorga, where there is an impressive building , the
Bish op's Palace. designed by Gaudi. which is
open to the public. This was also a chance to look
around the first chocolate factory in Europe, the
main attraction being the tasting at the end!
Another highlight of the day was seeing Dr Such
running down the bus to stop the driver for
the benefit or certain people who h ad been held
up!
Dr Such had arranged for us all to have lunch
together on the Sunday in Plaza San Martin. The
waiters kept bringing out m ore plates of tradi tional
Spanish food which were delicious. IL was a nice
chance to eat as a group.
With lessons con tinuing in the mornings, the
boys spent most of the afternoons in the swimming
pool but on Tuesday we looked around the Le6n
cathedral. I t is a beautiful Gothic building wl1ich
has some of the best stained glass in Spain and the
sun to shine through it.
On our last night, after dragging our bags on to
the bus that would take us back to Madrid , we
went back to the centre of the city to be typical
tourists and have a group photo on the Le6n sign'
We met Dr Such and the bead of the course for an
amazing feast. Certainly from our point of view, it
was the best meal we had had in Spain. and one of
the most enjoyable evenings.
During the two weeks we had the chance
to interview experts on ou r coursework topics
which was a great help.
Thank you to Mr. Oates for the few days that he
was with us and especially to Dr Such for an
amazing two weeks that we shall never forget.
G illy Forward
Stephanie Hebblethwaite
95
Wa t c h i n g t h e Tr a f fic
Traffic puts the current debate in Britain over
the legislation again t cannabis into a wider
perspective by giving an insight into the drugs
problem experienced by our neighbours across the
pond. This fast moving film presems the world of
narcotics in an honest. refreshing, and hard-hitting
manner not unlike the nineties cult film
Trainspolting. The film was shot entirely by
camcorder with inventive photography using a
blue m ist for the action in the streets of
Washington and a hot orange and yellow for
Mexico. The three plots present contrasting stories
and experiences of those caught up in the world of
cocaine and heroin with its falling prices and
steady demand. l ndividuab are powerless to
control their own fate or impose their authority on
the situation, the power of the drug cartels exerting
the forces that really matter. This is certainly what
Senator Hudson (M ichael Douglas) discovers as
he is appointed the position of the new American
drugs tsar with the task of 'winning the war on
drugs'. But while he struggles at this impossible
task he comes to realise thai his own daughter, a
leader of her class at private school. is using
cocaine and heroin with her friends. The focal
point of the whole film is the imposing statistic
whic h he faces - that twenty -live percent of high
school seniors habitually use drugs. If he were
even to halve that number, whic h would be in
itself a remarkable achieveme nt, there would still
be a massive number of kids on the streets.
looking for their next score of drugs. All the talk of
protecting children from drugs is rendered rather
futile by the fact that they have no wish to be
protected from the pleasures of drugs , but want to
try them.
A few startling facts came from watching this
film. The prices of cocaine and heroin have
dropped, but purity has increased. so all that law
enforcement has achieved in America is that
children are now gelling better stuff, for less. The
cartels can achieve a higher level of intelJjgence
and easi ly out-budget a country even like America
simply because they make astronomical sums of
money. On a more psychological level, this film is
particularly interesting. The drugs in cities come
almost invariably from black suburbs, mostly
because thousands of white people walk around
them asking ·Do you know where I could score
some drugs?'. Someone asks Senator Hudson to
'just think of the effect that h a on the psyche of a
black person· and whether he think!. that o many
white kids would still be going to law school if
every day a hundred thousand black children
walked among their tidily mown lawns asking for
drugs. The drugs business has created the
economist's dream market with three hundred
percent protits from sales. Ln a couple of minutes a
black per!>On can make five hundred dollars, and do
whatever he or she wants with the rest of their day.
Catherine Zeta Jones plays a pregnant woma n
whose husband Carl is suddenly arrest ed for
selling drugs on a grand scale. The key witness
against her husband is his friend Edward Ruiz.
who is caught doing a deal involving him. Two
America n police officers protect Edward. They are
doing their job but because Ca rl ' capture was in
fact engineered by a rival drugs dealer wishing to
eliminate him. The pol ice force arc in effect
working for a drugs dealer too. This kind of
compl icated situation. which makes a good
policeman act professionally as an aid to a
criminal, is typical of the kind of irony which
makes up Traffic. The world of drugs changes
people into untrusting and ultimately money
centred individuals. Nothing is ever clear-cut,
mostly because the war on drugs is a war fought
against your own people, a war agains t your own
family.
John Patterson
98
C r e a t i v e Wr i t i n g
Wa i t i n g
The door closed quietly behind me. I urveyed
the room: a h<mid, wretched place. I was in pain
but I firmly believed tl1at overnight U1e swell ing
would go down; in the end, it did.
Before fully realising the utter trivia lity of my_
injury, I was directed to sit in a chair at the back o1
the room. From here it was possible to view all
those people already sitting and waiting. The e
were two or three elderly persons who,
It appeared,
had suffered
falls of some
sort. Awkward parts of their frai l bodies were
cut and bruised. One old woman's forehead was
marked by a large, dark red gash. She was in gr
at pain. She sat. pressing ice to her forehead,
rockmg back and forth. Her stick-thin. wrinkled
legs trembled violently beneath her thin dress. It
reminded me of the time my granddad fell
whilst dusting the bookshelves; but we were
there to comfort him. This old lady rocking on
the pale green plastic chair in the co ld. sombre
room seemed to bave no one.
Had tl1e weather not been so bad. I would have
chosen to wait outside. The room had
an extremely low cei ling. held up by thin
concrete pillars. As little expense as possible had
obviously been expended in the construction of
t e ro m. The walls were covered in a coat of
whtte pamt which intensified the monotonous
glare of the strip Lighting. Archaic. yellowing ·
eallh' posters hung from the walls. They were
lamm ted and t h plastic coverings reflected the
nauscatmg glow of the strip lighting.
The chaotic scenes unfolding in front of me
soon became too much: babies crying, phones
ringing, receptionists thump ing the keys on their
computers.
The
whirr
of
the
coffee
machme pcncu·ated deep into my mind. I could
stand it no longer. I made a swift dash for the
door. A
l reached the car park a breeze cooled
my sweaung face· it had come too late. I
proceeded to be sick on the pavement, to the
disgust
arriving.of new patients
.
When I re-entered the wai t ing room I was agam
directed to sit on one of the seats, mere pieces of
pale plastic positioned on a thin metal pole. The
bmise around my eye was just starting to surface.
I was not in much pain but I decided it prudent to
play up a little and give the impression of great
d iscomfort. A group of youths had just entered
with sliced faces and cut hands. Images of a pub
brawl t1ooded my mind. They took the seats
surrounding mine. Tbecame very anxious. They
cursed one another for nor helping in the fight.
Their wounds dripped on to the sordid. heavily
marked Ooor; and there l was, a young boy injured
in a game of rugby, my only obvious discomfort a
slight bruise forming below the left eye. My
anxiety intensified as I noticed one or two of them
staring at me. l lifted my hand to adjust my tie, and
then I remembered. l was still in my suit. A wave
of panic gripped me. What would they think?
I must have looked out of place among the rest
of the patients; I knewIlooked out of place! I was
trying to kid myself that the other patients we1:e
paying litt le attention to me. but I could eel the1r
icy
stares
and
sense
them
pondenng
my background. I stayed calrn ... i t h some
difficu!ty.
In an audience or gathenng, there are often
unpredictable moments of near total silence. These
seem almost always to coincide with an action of
mine which draws attention to me. That eventful ,
over ast October day was no exception.
As my name was read over the loud speaker,
total silence settled around the room. Whether
owing to the mispronunciation of my long d
comp lex surname. or to a general lull
tn conversation, silence had prevailed. I walked
the twenty metres to the consultation room
with sweaty palms and fearful steps. Then , as I
reached the halfway point of my treacherous
journey, my worst fear became reali!y. With each
connection to the hard tiled floor. the steel
heeled shoes my grandfather had given me
that
c;hristn as resounded with a loud and
embarrassmg noise around the room. My pause
in the journey further emphasised this sound. It
was. to them, the sound of a young snob. in a
tailored suit, walking w i t his nose pointing
skyward. I could feel thetr contempt and spite.
I clutched my face as 1entered the room, not only
to draw their attention to my wound but also to
hide away from their intrusive stares.
I found myself standing in a small square
shaped room with two chairs and a computer. A
middle-aged nurse greeted me. This was the only
pleasantry she would bestow on me in ouT short,
inane encounter. She sat me down and proceeded
to tamper with my face. Her objectives seemed
unclear. I told her 1 w a in a lot of pain but
I believe she thought it best to see for herself.
A series of very disagreeable prods followed.
I yelped and squealed with the last few drops
of energy I could muster. After
a brief
consultation T was again sent back to the daunting
waiting room, th is lime in twice as much pain as I
was in before but at least with the promise of an
x-ray. In sheer agony 1 sat. my worries about
those around me
99
dispelled. My thoughts were now on my injury
and all its misery. It was now that I got my first
look at the nurse. The only word to describe her is
and the possibility of a six week recovery period.
By this point it had been nearly two hours since angelic. She had a broad smile, blond hair. and an
the match had ended. My body was stiff and many affectionate air. She was not particularly anractive
parts ached . Wave after wave of cramp added to but she seemed warm and caring. Mystified by me
my misery. I screamed as each onslaught became soft. kind tone of her words, I did not take in what
worse. This seemed either to annoy or amuse those she had said. She told me again and it registered. I
around me. Unfortunately, as I moved to straighten would be fine. I was in such relief. She checked
the part of my body in pain, I developed a rather me over for concussion. which wa<;, in the end,
careless habit of knocking against those in t11e only m ild, and told me I could go .
I left Cubicle Nine with great joy. As I reached
seats immediately to the side of me. These, as I
waiting
room
door, the happiness
have mentioned, were very badly hurt and still the
seemed to be in a lot of pain. The smell of stale and contentment did not leave my face; the
alcohol crept from their mouths as mey either unwise idea of playing up my injury was not
laughed at those in contact w ith me or displayed in my thoughts, my steel-hee led shoes were still
their discomfort at being touched. Luckily, within firmly on my feet. Oblivious of the effect of my
moments of this. I was called for an x-ray. As I left jaunty gait and cheerful grin, I entered the
the waiting room again, 1 muuered to them mat 1 waiting room . . .
David Poraj-Wilczynski
was sorry. They made no reply.
The separate waiting area for the x -ray
department was practically empty. Wimin minutes
I was being seen and before I knew it I was back
in the main waiting area again. Much to my
delight, my seat near the youths had been taken. I
found a quiet comer of the now teeming room.
Here 1 sat drifting in and out of sleep until I was
summoned for what would be my final journey
into the depths of the hospital.
Cubicle Nine's door was difficult to open
. Whether it was due to my lack of energy or
to sheer incompetence 1am not sure, but
nonetheless the person behind me had to assist
me. I did not bother to look up in
acknowledgement, I merely fell into the chair
and waited to be told that my cheek was
fractured. As the person in front of me peered at
my x-rays I surveyed Cubicle Nine. I t was not so
much a cubicle as one section of a large room that
had been cordoned off into nine
·cubicles· by
the
use
of
strategically
placed curtains. many of which were not drawn ,
giving me an insight into real suffering. I looked
out on to old people hooked up to machine s that
kept them breathing. They stared vacantly into
space. They were near death and their eyes
showed
it. Relatives wept at bedsides and
nurses comforted those there without family. I
felt real admirati on for the nurses. Their jobs
were dreadful. As 1. sat there miserably, I heard
sounds of panic coming from wit in cubicle
seven. Lu ckily curtains enclosed this; the
events inside were disturbing. Nurses darted in
and out with drugs and needles. There was a
calm
after
about
three
minutes
of
pandemonium. The trolley bed was rushed out.
Was the man
in it dead, or was he
being transported to another part of the hospital ? I
would never know.
The person looking at my x-rays drew
the curtains. shutting me off from the rest of the
room
100
T h e Point of N o
Return
to their objectives and at the same time showeri ng
the entire area with an avalanche of lead. Osmond
was at the forefront of the attack, but when he
arrived none of his vast military experience cou ld
A thousand sets of eyes surrounded the tiny
have prepared him for what he discovered. There
Vietn amese stronghold . every eye fixed upon one
was nothing left of the village. Burning heap!>
objective and one objective only: the destruction
were the only memorial to those innocent families
of every li v ing organism in sight. The menacing ly who were butchered in the name of war. As the
low drone of the nearby Apache helicopters, or
soldiers traipsed through the desecrated landscape,
' Hornet s· as they were
better
known ,
not a single voice could be heard save those of the
the
anticipation of destruction and the
unlucky few who were not killed instantly by the
pointlessness of thi s whole war were weighing on a ir strike. The trigger-happy soldiers who were
the con science o f every apparently war-h ardened expecting
ch allen ging
opposition
soon
and bloodthirsty American paratrooper who was extinguished the groans of overriding despair and
wai ting for the order to advance on to the enemy pain that reverberated from every obliterated
position.
home. Every corp e was checked for
Among them was one of the most experienced enemy inteiJigence or ammu niti on and every
and best natural-born leaders the American army hut left standing was sea rched thoroughly. then
had ever seen. Sergeant Charlie Ol>mo nd. Fifth burned to the ground.
Regimen t, Paratroop Divi sion , was an exceptional
Osmond's deeply rooted racial hatred for the
soldier and had fought more wars for his country Vietnamese people suddenl y became forgotten as
th an any other in the entire Eastern platoon. After he lifted up a f'allen palm leaf from the floor to
receiving the Medal of Hon our for his courageous reveal a small girl, little older than his own
efforts earlier in the Vietnamese war, where he had daughter, trying to rev ive her dead mother. The
sing le-handedly managed to drag to safety seven g irl"s look of utter desperation pi erced
of hi s injured section after a ni ght-time ambush, into Osmond's mind and triggered a feeling deep in
Osmond had decided to go back to Vi etnam to
hi conscience that he never even knew he had: that
finish what he had started. Osmond was a racist of immense pity. He knelt down next to the
through and through. and the thought of being mother"s breathless body and knew that it was
capt ured by th e VietCong made his teeth ache and too late for both her and him. There was never
his blood boi l with fury. o yellow-!>kinned half going to be any way he could forget what he
breed wa... going to take his freedom away.
had done to the!-e innocent civi lian s. and the
The toothpick hanging out of Osmond's mouth recurrin g image of murder would haunt him for
snapped a!- a sudden voice crack led over the radio the rest of his days.
from the platoon commander to prepare for a full
As he tri ed to comfort the distrau ght child ,
air strike. A faint smile came over hi s face as he Osmond sudd enly became aware that the familiar
realised that the time for ju stice to be imposed was shuffling of clumpy anny boots had comp letely
drawing nearer. The torrential rain lash ed down ceased and that the onl y noise to be
onto the ca mouna ged and exhausted American heard throughout the whole vi llage was the loud
bodies lying on the sodden forest noor al> the rustling of trees within the !>urro und ing forest.
message was pal>sed down the lines. The low 0:-mond turned slowly around and looked
drone of the Apache helicopters became lou der up to the watershed at the top of the valley.
and louder until it was almost unbearable. Within A throng of yellow face:. stared piercing ly down
a '>econd the horizon was obscu red by a swann of towards the thirty or :.o men at the bo ttom.
Hornets darkening the sky. Showers of napa lm fell Osmond froze on the spot and his u sually
on to the primitive straw and wood huts in the steady left ann started shaking vio lent ly. From
small v ill:lges which had been found ed in his initial vantage point on the top of the hill
clearings in the forest. Osmond' s eye did not Osmond could hear the low crackle of the radi o
flicker as he saw innocent civilian s runnin g in he left there. with onl y one word standing tall
desperation from their burnin g homes. Almost as above the rest. 'A MBUSH! '
quickly as the low hum of the swarm arrived in hi s
There was no delay this time. A
ears. it left. Still with his gaze transfixed upon the
single Vietnamese bu llet whistled across the va lley
burning population Osmond eagerly lifted the
noor. maiming an America n Para loading his
transmitter to his ear, but the si lence was too
rine. A wave of gunfire ensued and within a few
unbearable to withstand. He kne\\ what the next
minutes. the majority o f the American resistance
order was going to be from the air. and no one was
had been elimi nated. A seemingly endless wave of
going to delay hil> moment of glory.
guerrilla:. poured down the hill into the burning
Osmond placed the rad io on the grou nd and
encampment and
proceeded, just
as
the
gave the order to his lieutenant to lead the advance
Americans had. to search the village thoroughly.
into the ca mp. The so ldiers approached
Osmond could hear the gu t-wrenching screams
the burning village, sprinting wi th military
101of his counterpart s.
precision
and held th e girl tight in hi s arms protecting her
from the noise as his men were discovered and
brutally slaughtered. After !.everal minute!> of
silence. Osmond was convinced there was no one
else left and he knew deep down what he must do.
The
heavy breathing of ao approachi n
g Vietnamese militia alerted him to the fact that
any sound or further movement wou ld trigger
off another cluster of bullet!.. no matter who it
was from . Co,ering the frail and tearful body of
the young girl , he lay on the ground and placed
his dirty. bloodstai ned hands over her ears and
eyes. protecting her from any more torment. The
loud scu ff of military boots against the ground
grew closer and closer. and Osmond. with a
solitary tear rolling down hi !. cheek. at least was
safe in the knowledge that his moment of glory
had given someone else the opportunity to li ve. As
the bullet blast rang out and reverberated around
the valley. a smal l flock of bird s disper >ed and new
high into th e skies above the treetops. Osmond
gave hi s final breath and slumped onto the girl for
whom he had ju st given hi s life.
T h e Fi r s t C h a p t e r
of m y
Au t o b i o g r a p h y
I was born on the 15th February 1985 at St.
Mary's Ho.,pital in London. This eve nt doesn·t
seem important to me as I cannot remember any
detaib at all. although m) mothe r had an awful
time. so llhe tells me. as. rather than come out head
first. I decided to try and come out leg ftrst which
was very unsuccessful. E'entuall}. my mother
under local anaesthetic. I was born by Caesarean
Section. M) mother since then ha.) said to me it
was the worst experience of her life!
I n early life I feel I j uM drifted along with the
flow of life not really being in<;pired by anything,
but moving wherever the army took my father.
whether it was Cyprus or Germany. I felt life
hadn ' t really fully laun ched me .
Then. when I was six years o ld . we moved to
Yorkshire, whi ch I th ought, from what I had h eard ,
was just full of lots of farms and a few sleepy
Gervase Cox
villages. H ow wrong I was. Yorkshire for some
reason really opened my eyes to the wor ld ; thls
time was one of the best parts of my life.
I first began to appreciate the beauty of the
country side. which I still love now. We used to go
on long wal ks, walking on the moors for hours on
end. with me picking up the different-coloured
used <;hot-gun cartridges. of which I still have a
huge collection at home. In the woods around
where we lived. in Catterick, there were brilliant
bike ride!. and lots of secret 'dens· my father. my
little brother and I made on long weekends pl aying
in the woods. Indeed. although my brother Edward
cou ld be ann oying at time:.. mo t of the tim e we
got on really well together. Twice on special
occa:.ions my father took me to the tank ranges to
watch the tanks !iring. which I a lways found
exciti ng . Once I even got a ride on one of these
tank s. which was very enjoyable but which at the
same time also terrified me! One thing I'll always
remember from my time in York hire was that l
was, and still am, imm ensely proud of what my
father did. After all, it could get me tank rides !
The school I went to in the nearby town of
Ri chmond was a Catholic school , St. Mcu·y's. I
remember having a great time there and I found
m aking friends was easy. H owever, there is
one day that will always st ick in my mind . Because
the sch ool was Catholic. they used to have a mass
in the school occa..;ionall y. and although I wasn·t
a Catholic I had to go, which I didn't mind at all.
However it turned out tO be quite an embarras. ing
experience. I was told that when I went with the
others to tal..e communion I muM cross my arms
over my chest to show that I wa.<;n't confinned,
and the prie'>t would give me a blessing. Of course
102
when I went up to the priest I forgot, and it was
only when he was ju t about to give me the bread
that I remembered. A i f I wa:. warding off some
demon I suddenly crossed my anm. The priest
being quite an old man was so shocked that he
dropped the rest of the bread on the noor! On
renection it eems an amusing incident, but at the
time I \ \ a very up..,et and had to be carried away.
crying, b) one of the teacher' who tried
unsuccessfully to calm me down. I was then, and I
suppose no" too. very sen itive and quite easy to
annoy or up et.
Whilst on the ubject of being \ensilive. l was
very attached to my parents, and in Yorkshire the
thought of not seeing them for more than a day
terrified me. Indeed on one occasion I had been
invited over to my best friend' house. und it took
almost a week of persuasion from my parents to
make me go, but 'only as long us I can take my
Lego ship along with me'.
I think it was also in Yorkshire that I started
appreciating history, which was mainly inspired
by the local Yorkshire legends and the spectacular
castles. such as Richmond, in Yorkshire. Indeed on
a school trip we went to Richmond Castle and then
walked the route of a legendary secret passageway
that \\US said to run underground from Richmond
Castle to Fountain Abbey. Thi:-. wa:-. based on the
legend of 'The Drummer Boy". which was a tale
that really captured my imagination. So. at six
year:-. old, I found my time in Yorhhire for the
mo t pan happy. It was there that many of m)
interests sprang up and where my life seemed to
have awakened.
I would cal l the time I spent in Yorkshire
·carefree days· where nothing very important or
significant mattered to me. This all changed when.
at seven years old, I went to prep. school.
When my father got hi'> new posting. it was to
Germany. and I was told that I was old enough to
go
to
prep.
schoo l
in Sussex, just
outside Chichester
near where
Pop and
Peg
(my grandparents) lived. Although they
explained the situation to me quite careful ly. I
don' t think I really took it all on board.
The full magnitude of the situation only struck
me when I fini. hed unpacking all my things at
school and my mother said that she had to go now.
I asked her where and she !>aid 'To Germany'. I f
someone had shot .me I don't think that it would
have hurt me as those two words did. I broke down
completely and my mother had to carry me into
the matron':> room. There. with my duvet in my
arms. my mother said to me through tear of her
own. 'I've got to go now. I love you !.O much. r11
see ) O U at the end of term.' And !>he was gone.
That scene will always remain in my memory. For
me, who had only been away from my parents for
two days ever. this was the most agonising and
upsetting point of my life.
To stan with, I made no friends as I became a
very upset. confused. and solitary person. I
thought life couldn't be worse. Luckily two things
helped me to come to term!. with my situation.
One was the onl) friend I seemed to have,
Barnaby Large. H i" support helped me become
more confident. and he often persuaded me to play
with the rest of the year group. Then I got the
opportunity to start an in trument, the flute, and
music proved to be inspirational. It helped me
restore confidence in myself as well as helping me
think over my situation.
So after a fairly unhappy and depressing Mart to
prep. school things looked up. I made friends.
started playing !>quash more seriously. and music
was fast becoming very important. I felt after six
weeks of misery. I was linally starting to enjoy
what I realised was an opportunity, and that I was
more lively and happy. After the first term. on the
plane back to Germany, l realised that I had
genuinely enjoyed Westbournc House. Looking
back. I feel that Yorkshire and the change to prep.
school and the prep. school itself were :>omc of the
most important parts of my life. They enriched and
developed me as a per<>on and built my character,
though at the time, I may not have appreciated
their significance. Then I was more concerned
with what the holidays and the ne.xt tem1 had in
store for me.
103
James Leakey
T h e T h o m a s of S w ynne r t on
History Prize Competition
2001
The fol/owin : e.u ay. 11 ri11e11 under timed
co11clitiom, won jint [lri:.e in the Thomas of
S'':m11ertcm Histon· Pri:e Competition 2001.
Have the major \\ars of the 20th century
achie\'ed anyth ing?
The First World War achieved a lot of things in
many areas. Fir tl), technology boomed during
and after the Great War. This was because more
research needed to be done into cenain areas to
create weapons to win the war. New inventions
included the machine gun, the plane, and the tank.
Planes are today the quickest way of travelling
long distances and are very widely used. I f
intensive re!>earch had not been done in this area
we might now still be a long way behind in this
tec hnology and would not be benefiting from it so
much. Planes are only one of the countless
examp le of technological advancements.
The Fir t World War w a the first step forward
in women's right!.. As all of the men were away
fighting in the war. there wa!> no one left to dojobs
)IUCh as farming and working in factories. This
meant that women did those jobs. so women
earned a -.alar) enabling them to become
financially independent. giving them a much
higher role in \OCiet) \O the) were recognised for
their \I..ill-. and usefulne!.s. Nowadays. women can
do 'inuall) an)thing apan from fight on the front
line. Without the war. women would have been
fighting for their right!> till much later. And we
would not have the more equal society thar we
enjoy today.
The Great War also achieved the defeat of an
aggressor who tried to make other nations
conform to its wishc by force. If the aggressor.
Germany. had not been defeated war would have
been thought a good, efficient way to son things
out and this would be the first step to tyranny and
occupation of nations against their wishes - in
short, to imperialism. Empires can be beneficial. I f
a country, for example, Lithuania as ruled by the
Russian Empire and the thirteen countries ruled by
the British Empire. is technological ly and socially
less developed than the nation which rules i t its
being ruled can be a good thing. i f it is granted its
independence at its own wi!.h. But if. as was the
case with the German). in 1914. imperial powers
arc occupying countrie' alrcad) dc,eloped, and
occupying them again-.t their wi!lhe . it i-. a bad
thi ng.
The Second World War also achieved a lot
techno logically. probably more than the First. lt
brought about jet engine,. again improving
commercial airlines nowaday!.. But it brought
about much more accurate and deadl) weapons.
This may seem bud but it is actually good. If a
country wanted to tan a war thereafter. the threat
of an intercontinental ballistic nuclear missile
landing on its capital would have deterred them.
Since the Cold War, most countries which
possessed weapons of mass de >truction have
agreed to only usc them defensive ly or as a
deterrent, so it was safe to live in thi:. world.
The Second World War crushed Nazism and
tyranny. It would have been very bad if the Nazis
won because, just to take one example, they would
have murdered a whole race of European Jews.
They nearly did.
The two wars helped to bring about a sense of
international rcspon.,ibilit) \O n o ' organisatio ns
exist to keep world
such as ATO and the U
peace and \ lOp tyrann). acting against. for
example. the Serb-.· ethnic clcan!>ing of Kosovo.
One counter-argument . , not to deny that the
wa r achieved anything but to ai>k the question was it wonh it'! It -.eem-. that million of people
died and almost all concerned lost !.omeone they
knew during the two wars. And all the wars
achieved was the increase of weapons. The good
that comes out of a war seems not to outweigh the
bad.
But I disagree. Even i f the wars had not
produced
any
technological
or
social
advancement, the fact is that justice was done to
the country or countries concerned who started all
of the bloodshed. I f they had been allowed to get
away with what they did, people would be living
in fear of tyranni cal wor ld dictators and life would
not be happy as it is for many people now and no
one would be there to help the NATO and the UN.
I am certain that the majority of allied soldiers
who died in the two great wars would believe that
they lost their live!. for a wonhy c tusc .
James Dutton
106
The B o w e n History Essay Competition 2 0 0 1
The following
essay,
written
under
timed conditions, won first prize in the Bowen
HistOtT Essay Competition 2001.
Ideas, not wars , are the true
locomotive of history
I agree with thi s statement to a certain extent,
but I think that wars themselves come about as a
result of ideas, as welJ as simply being conducted
to gain land . .Ideas and opinions clash, and lead to
wars, and actua ll y probably cause the more
significant wars. There are many examples of
ideas which have resulted in war. such as the
battle s over ideology in the Russian Civil War and
the J apanese campaigns in World War
II. However, ideas can be more subtly infl uential
in causing war. R eligion, I think , is one of the
best examples of this. Religion is an idea. perhaps
one of the stronges t, an ideology, and of
course a philosophy.
Ideas force people into action if they truly
believe in them. Wars happen for a reason, and
reasons are often ideas. Take, for example, the
America n War of Independence. The idea behind
this war was that the American colonists had rights
and should be treated as they saw fit, not ruled by
a seemingly foreign king from the other side of the
At lantic. The British fought because of
the underlying idea that the colonies were
British: they fought because of their feeling of
ownership and monarchica l control.
Ideas change society, and ch ange the
way people th ink. The Ancie nt Greeks believed
in a form of democracy but also in an oligarchy.
Roman s
favoured
Republicanism
and
The
Imperialism.
Western
Europe moved
on
to monarchy and religious imperialism during
the Middle Ages. Gradually parliaments such
as Simon de Montfort's began to spring up,
following events such as the signing of the
Magna Carta. Power changed its form, with
many kinds of government. left and right dictators or Leday's federalist presidents.
fdeas do not necessarily need to be consolidated
in positions of power, as can be seen from many
famous philosophica l writings that have changed
the way people think. Plato's Republic, the works
of Aristotle and other ancient philosophers have
shaped opinions, even though never put into
practice. Thoma s Aquinas has had
a
great influence on religious thinking, and More's
Utopia heralded a new sty le of thi nking that was
not to be furthered until Karl Marx and Engels
came along 300 years later. Das Kapital and The
Communist Ma11ijesto have never been properly
realised ( I
regard Lenin's Russia as wholly incompetent) yet
d1e subsequelll problems they have caused have
been huge.
Yet above all these ideas that h ave had great
implications, there are two great ' ideas' that have
made the world what it is today, and these are the
ideas recorded in the Christian Bible and the
Muslim Koran. The effect which dlese two works
have had on people, society, kingdom s, states, and,
important ly. wars h as been immense. The last two
thousand years have shown this. The spread of
Christianity throughout Europe has altered human
history, reshaping the Roman Empire and acting as
a funda mental influence upon the development of
Western Europe. with the rise of Charlemagne and
in the Crusades. Other fom1ative phases
in religious thought followed: the impact of
Luther, the Spanish Inquisition. Protestantism
and the forming of tlle Anglican Church. Splits
such as that between the Russian and Greek
Orthodox churches have resu lted in upheavals,
wars, and discontent. Is lam has been a lm
ost
equally influentia l, from the Moors '
conquests of Northern Africa and Spain, to the
events today in Iran and Afghanistan.
Each idea. as it comes along. twists and turns
hi story. more so than wars. The wars that usher in
one hi storical period and close another, th e best
example being
the Second
World War.
are them selves the result of ideas. The last fifty
years have
been
completely
unrecogni
sable
by comparison with any other period
in history. Never before has Emope passed so
long without some sort of war involving its
states. Oddly. th is itself can be related back to
Adolf Hitler and his ideas set out in M ein Kampf.
Wars , especially in Eu rope, are recun·ent. Some
have argued, as a case against entering monetary
union with 'Euroland ' that the natura l state of
Europe is to be at war. Yet I believe that ideas can
change
this. and ideas have ch anged
history before. Today 'Eu rope ' is the big idea. It is
hard to
see why people are not ready to embrace such new
ideas. ft is impossible to try and control history by
preventing or ignoring ideas. Even if this were
possible. war will take over and force another
change.
Ideas will always result in ch anges. History
cannot be made without argument over ideas.
Wars can result in change. bur do not always: they
can be pointless and stupid and not
change anyth ing. The situation in the Balkans is
the best example of this, both in the past and
today .
Seb Bennett
107
Rugby
1st XV
The 2000 season began and ended with stylish
victories in front of a large crowd on The Upper.
These do not disguise a disappointing season in
which the Ist XV won just three regular schools·
fixtures including a run of eight straight defeats,
but there were good days amidst the gloom.
Indeed the XV started the season very strongly,
building on a successful trip to the south coast
where we won warm-up games against Brighton
College and Eastboume College. The fact that
Eastboume went on to enjoy a very successful
season on their circuit serves as a reminder that it
was often not a lack of quality on our part, but the
strength of the opposition, which led to
our undoin g.
Our three victories came in the first
four fixtures. The results against Canford (38-3)
and King's Taunton (29-5) were comprehensive
and the performances a pleasure to watch. The
match against Bishop Wordsworth 's (24- 14) was
a far tougher encounter against a motivated side,
which we were lucky to win. Amongst these wins
was a loss to Downside ( 16-23) that said much
about our season. Having conceded an early
score, we played our best rugby of the season in
the first half
and shou ld have been two scores up at half time.
Just before the whislle, however, we conceded a
penalty and, expecting Downside to kick for goal,
we watched as their hooker ran in a
try. unopposed. This naivety cost us the game as
we played into a fierce wind in the second half
against a kicker who pinned us down and never
missed a place kick.
Playing
away
to
Wellington
(6-37)
and Millfield (6-50), on successive weekends,
is a daunting prospect for any school side
and it proved the watershed in our season, from
which we
never
truly
recovered.
At
Wellington. our forwards were magnificent and
could fairly say that they bad matched their
counterparts, but an opposition back line of real
class cruelly exposed our lack of pace and
experience in the backs. The less said about the
trip to Millfield the better, other than that they
were the best side we faced all term.
These losses set in motion an unwelcome string
of defeats that was final ly ended on the final
Saturday of term against the touring Kloof High
School from South Africa (46-5). It is worth
menti oning how impressed Kloof were by the
rugby we produced that day and it was small
consolation to be told by the Blundell's coaches
109
that many on our circuit felt we were unJucky not
to win more games. So why walt this the case?
We lacked trike runner. and a strong kicking
game. and as a re!>u ll had to work very hard for
territory . Again!>! Clifton. we managed a
remarkable twelve phases of possession. yet could
not cro ., the line. A lack of confidence also
became a factor: at Bryanston (8-27). we
comfortably won the second half. but our earlier
nervousness had alread) cost us the game. Finally.
when things are going badly they can always get
wor e. After a long break for an injury at
Cheltenham. leading 10-8 with two minutes to go,
all we needed to do was not give away a penalty.
We lost 11-10.
Those who did not watch the XV play may ask
why the 2000/200 I season was n ot more
successfu l.
This Upper Sixth year, who had had little
success in their time through the School , were
teamed up w i th a Lower Sixth wit h a good dea l of
promi se but lacking the experience of senior
rugby: probably th e most important factor was that
the side cam e up against some extremely strong
oppo ition: Wellington. Millfield. Bryan ston and
Kin g's Bruton were fielding some of their best
l>idel> for many years.
In fairne .... a successfu l season for an
inexperienced side. the majority of whom were in
their fir.,! full sea\On. would have been six
victOries. The los\e., to Cheltenham and Downside
were particularly di!>appointing. having done
enough to \\in the games. It i\. however. a tribute
to the boy' that as the results and weather
deteriorated. morale and commitment at training
and on match day' remained admirably high. For
this. Nid.. Cook should be singled out for special
praise. Not only did he lead the side on the pitch
with skill and pride. but he also consistently set the
highest standards at practice. It was a great shame
that he was on the sideline for the final game of the
season.
However. to concentrate on the number of wins
and losses is rather missing the point. The
experience gained in pl aying against quality
opposition taught our players more about rugby
than they could ever have learned in an unbeaten
season again t weak opposition . This was the real
success of the season . The Lower Sixth players
will go into their final year of the Sch ool with a
great deal of experience of tough rugby. A number
of them developed into ttuite talented players:
Lawren ce Edlmann in particular shows the
promise of becoming a very exciting back row
forward and -.hould play a crucial role in next
year·., 'ide. Nick Cook. Henry Mitchell, Max
Vere-Hodge. Nick Cramp and Ja-.on Hull can
lca,·e. having played against good quality
opposition up a fantasticall) steep learning curve:
this can be only of benefi t to their game in the
future. Another plea ..ing but unpublicbed success
of last season wa<; Max Vere- Hodge captaining the
Count} A-side. Success i'> also meal>ured by what
happens next and Sherborne can approach the
200 1 cason with confidence. The experience of
the Lower Sixth will be crucial. with eight regulars
returning and several others with 1st XV
appearances. Amongst these. Jake Britton.
Lawren ce Edlmann. Oliver Luard, and Ross
Angell should prove particularly effective.
The important aspect of sch ool rugby that is
only seen by the players and coaches is the
training session s on four afternoons of each week.
The experience was th oroughly enjoyable and
extremely rewarding. We ha ve both now moved
on to pastures new and will greatly mi s:. Sherborne
rugby. The promise of next year's team will
hopefully be realil.ed, with the wealth of
experience that AMD and DAS have to offer.
Finall) thank you to all the parents and staff
who '>Upported both the boys and U'> O\er the
.,ea.<;on as well as to Mike Da' i., and Mike urton
for their invaluable ad\ icc and experience. The
boy'> were a plea.,urc to coach and we would like
to wi'h them all e'ef) succes-. in the future.
Results: Pla)ed 13. Won ·t Lost 9.
Canford
Bishop Wordsworth's
Downside
King's Taunton
Wellington
Millfield
King's Bruton
Radl ey
Bryanston
Clifton
Cheltenham
Blundell's
Kloof High (Australia)
110
W
W
L
W
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
W
383
2414
16 -23
29- 5
6-37
6-50
10 -41
8 - 18
8-27
0 - 17
10 - II
12 -H.P.
37
M.A.B. and
460
2 n d XV
Thi > cason \l:lrted a!. promising!) a a cason
can ever stan. when we won the lir!-1 four games.
Mr. Nurton even dc cribed the forwards' play after
the first match a ' the best rucking that he had ever
seen. This complimentary remark came after a
promising beating or Can ford. where. although we
only won
19-5. our potential as a ide
was certainly evident. The highlight!- of the match
were the
forward•; capability
and
two
immaculately taken Lric'> b) James Micvillc.
who after this displa) wa'i fast -tracked into the I
'it XV.
This winning Mreak. which included \ ictories
over Bishop Wordsworth\, Dowm,idc and King's
Taunton. wa:... however. halted by a powerful
Wellington side. who were actually to win the
game by the narrow margin of 11-20. which
naucred them somewhat. and started the chain or
irritating narrow defea ts. Millfield were an
extremely strong side, with evcral representative
players. They were probab l y the only . ide who
outplayetl us. Their quality showed the p r o and
cons of offering scho larships: while it obviously
strengthens a side. it must frustrate many
individuals who feel they deserve a place in the
higher sides. but arc forced to play in lower teams
and perhaps give up. The next l>Ct of games proved
to be extremely fru<>trating . We went on to lose all
live of them. but each game could ha\e gone either
way. as most of the -,core., !>uggest. The team
morale and confidence were dented after
a succession of defeats. and sadly thi:, wa<; to
our detriment in the matches. We usually conceded
the first score. which again was not good
for conlidence. becau:,e it u ually took u until
about the last ten minutes when we actually
realised that we could'' in the game. and by then it
was too late. Our losing !.treak was. howe\er.
put behind us against Cheltenham. our last game
on The Upper. We went out real bing that we could
win right from the start. and the pcrfonnancc wa:-.
reminiscent of the beginning of the season. and
perhaps made us realise how good the season
cou ld have been. During thi s game there w a
real magic. Rory Macfarlane ran the w hole
length of the pitch with blinding pace that even
Farris would have been proud of. Unfortunately
he w a not carrying the ball, and had run to
join the fracas that was building up in the far
corner of the pitch. This showed the great
character of the man, and if he had run like that
all season then it would have sorted out many
problem., for us. The season could not \adly finish
on thi'> high. and again we came off worse in a
hard fought battle with Blundell's.
During the cason twenty-four different
indivi uals all played at least one game. Probably
the b1ggest <;ucccss story was that of Fred
Ill
Corlett. who had been kept out of the side at the
beginning of the sea on owing to the
fierce competition for back row places with
Franklin, Mckillop. and Hood who all made
their place., seem secure. He. however. took hi<.
chance when it came and claimed a secure place
in the back row and eventually even in the l t XV.
There was hioh competition in the front row.
Nicholls. Hope a d Brock all being very able.
with the po ition sometimes being contested
by Gnmdy- Wheeler. who. "h en he played.
added extra o;trength and power. Mall Balfour
offered the con!-istency needed from a hooker.
and some of the most amazing wriggling ki l l
e \e r seen. lie would just slip into the ruck with the
ball at one end and then glide out of the other
with the ball <,till auached. The strong pack
was however weakened after Rupert Lane broke
his thumb. Chris Hart . whose massivenes
managed
to terrify even the strongest of
oppositions. took his place. Hart and Board
formed a strong partnership in the locks with
Board occasional l y being needed to fil l in for the
lstXV.
The backs had all the potential to core a lot of
tries. Scou claimed the no. 9 shin. but. owing to a
niggling knee injury. did not play a.-. many games
as he or we would have liked. Dupont did well to
hold his position at fly-half. forcing Gammell into
the centres. Gammell. when we were graced with
his presence, played !>Upcrbly. adding an extra bite
into the centres, and scored and created man) tries.
However. it was not long before he was called to
the I st XV. and his place was filled by a liery Jo:.\
Simson. who. like Gammell. carried the ability to
slip through defence with ea<;e. Sage. Bramble.
and Wynn-Jones played a lot of game . had the
ability to adapt to other positions with relative
ease. and between them played every po'>ition in
the backs. The pace of Farris and the agility of
Hedderwick on the wing!. were magnilicent. with
H edderwick being able to find a gap in the smallest
of spaces and Farris being able to elude any man
put opposite him. Macfarlane added strength and
voice to the team. The team often responded to the
way Rory played. wi th so many of his crunching
tackles upliftin g the spirit of the team.
T wou ld also like to thank Mr. Nurton for
coaching the side, and for sharing with us hi s good
humour, which came consistently through the
season irrespective of the results. While his jokes
came thick and fast. laughs were fewer and further
between. I would suggest that Mrs. Nurton buys a
new joke book for him thb Chrh.tmas. The season
sadly turned out to be a ma'>!. of 'if only' games.
which was a real shame because it could h:n e been
so different with the talent that it contained. but it
was. truly. a pleasure 10 be captain.
Linley Lewis
The Captain of the 2nd X V has to be a special
pen,on. He has to lead his troops in school
matches and motivate h is team to provide
opposi tion for the l:.t XV eac h Tuesday and
Thursday. He also has to be selector. nanny,
counsellor, humorist.
arbitrator and a good player himself. Linley Lewis
was excellent playing all these roles. I shall recal l
hi!. contribution to the 2nd XV with respect and
remember him as a person with great affection.
M.D.N.
Next came Wellington. the final test before half
tem1. Like us, they went into the match defending
an unbeaten track record. However the absence of
various key player:., who had other irons in the
fire, put u:. on the back foot. We had felt that thi!>
would be counterbalanced by the driving rain and
bitter wind. which would disrupt their tenacious
handling and would allo' ' our more mobile pack
to run them off the park. We led 6-0 at half time
courtesy of two trikes from the golden boot
of
Charlie Pushman (who went on to score 151 points
3 r d XV
i n the season, making him the top scorer in the
School). Within a minute of the restan they scored
A strong squad was a solid foundation that was an unconvencd t ry in the corner. It was a game in
to be edified by the coaching capabilities of the both 22s. long passage!> of which were dominated
Chaplain. This ensured that despite various by the dogged ellm of George M ay. Despite
injuries and the regrettable loss of players to
v ictory dangling from a panicularly thin thread
h igher teams. the side remained potent in attack dangerously close to the 1>napping jaws of defeat,
and unshakable in defence.
a penalty kick unleashed from ncar to the half way
The team relied on natural talent and zeal
line crept over the bar and strengthened the thread.
nurtured unwaveringly by the Chaplain. He was drawing the victory securely into our grasp. This
able to combine the bulldog breed of the forwards epic feat was lik e sweet apple pie to the players
with the wizard ly sk i l ls of the gazelle-like backs.
who rejoi ced for the fu ll two-and-a-halfThe team gel led quick ly and the morale increased hour
after every victory.
journey home.
Having unmercifully dispatched our first few
A busy match schedule including a h ighly
opponents. we arrived in conf ident spirits to take
physical mid-week fixture against Clayesmore on
on the Gi llingham 1st XV. We commenced our
The Upper allowed time for recovery before the
pre-match rituals featuring the Rev's trademark
second major away match against Radley. The
ape manoeuvre in the abse nce of the adversaries.
pressure was on, since both teams were
Confidence plummeted when a convoy of C-Reg
unconquered and as a re ult preparations were
Ford Escorts roared into the carpark and was ten e and there was quibbling amongst the ranks.
vacated by a horde of beasts complete with facial Heads dropped as uncharacteristic !>loppy play led
hair! Our hopes of maintaining our unbeaten status to a Radley interception resulting in a try. Potential
and leaving w ith our bodies intact reached their was not fulfilled and we became more and more
nadir when they scored in the first ten seconds. bogged down
by
relentlesl. at!ack
by .
The tuming point came minutes later at the first the opposition. compounded by a partacularly
serum when. much to the team's disbelief. M all
zappy winger. which was the final bolt from the
Paulson-Ellis hooked against the head aided by a
blue. As Ol i East crashed over for a try. some
huge surge from the pack, driven by the bear-like
dignit) was
Charlie Robem. There was no tuming back from
restored as we lost hy three tries to one.
this point and w ith the help of two masterful tries
In the King's Taunton game that displayed the
from Patrick Shaw-Brown we romped home with
true col ours of this mighty 3rd XV side. we proved
a respectable score.
that our confidence had not been dented. Acrobatic
Our nex t opponents were Milton Abbey 's Jst
play from Oli C lark complemented by savage
X V, u team whose competence we were unsure of.
force from Chris Tavender and the omnipresence
We started poorly. having been rather perturbed by
of Sam M ason ensured that our winn ing streak
the raucous shouting that greeted us as they came
was revived. The highlight of the game was
on to the pitch. Eventually we managed to level
our heads and the score at the break. The first half provided by a textbook drop goal from
performance warranted a coup le of changes W ill Russell.
T he success
throughout
the season
including the arrival of the impact player. Henry
was reflected ofT the pitc h and a 3rd XV player
Rushton. The defence was exemplary led by the
could be easi ly identified because he had a smi
physical presence of Oli East in the centres ..Our
le from
narrow victory was celebrated generously wuh
ear to ear and a skip in his stride. M uch credit for
a chilled Grolsch awarded to us by our
this should go to Mr. Aitken who ensured that our
opposite man.
intensive training was not only exhilarating but
also bore fnait. Thank mu'>t also go to the loyal
supporter:. who l.eemed prepared to travel any
112distance to watch the team despite tempestuous
weather conditions on variou!> occa1>ions. We were
lucky to have the top two try scorers in the School
present in the side; on one wing the odd but
extremely effective gallop of Chris Filbey. on the
otl1er the very excitable but extremely prol ific
finisher. Andy Westwood. The 3rd XV were lucky
to be guided by the superb captaincy of Ed
Westropp under whom the team blossomed into a
triumphant and entertaining side who relished
every challenge. Thank you to every one involved
for a most enjoyable season and one that will be
hard to match.
Results: Played 14, Won 13, Lost I . Points for 421,
Points against 87.
Henry Rushton. Patrick Shaw-Brown
and Ed Westropp
4th XV
It was a season of three thirds. The side that had
run in twenty-two tries in its first two games, and
played particularly well to defeal a strong
Gryphon team , began to lose impetus as long-term
injuries claimed several players, and the rain made
the favoured running and handling game less
effective. The spirit was never in danger of being
extinguished . though. and when the Prin
gle
Trophy and the demands of other teams made
selection a complex and lengthy procedure, the
replacements for the testing phase of the season
were of a high calibre. We were never short of
able, willing players to step up, and that is a tribute
to the depth of talent in the School, and the way it
is nurtured by Messrs Cameron and Patterson.
Three consecutive matches were lost at Wellington.
where the opposition
was
formidable. as is customary (I think we gave
them a good game); against a powerful Sexey's
XV with some outstanding individuals; and at
Radley, where we only began to play properly in
the second half, by which time we were already
36-0 behind.
The remaining four games were a triumphant
vindication of the side's faith in its own principles:
in often unpromising conditions and situations
they showed that they were determined. come
what may. to enjoy their game. Tl1ey kept it fluid
and suppo11ed each other, with never a hint of
selfishness or cynicism.
Not the least heartening aspect of the season
was the abundance of vibrant talent on offer in the
Lower Sixth. and it was an excellent blend that
also made use of the more mature enthusiasms of
the senior players.
My thanks to Charlie Cox. Will Goodhew and
Rowley Merricks, who shared the captaincy, and
to everyone who contributed in so many ways to a
happy tenn.
I 13
Colours were awarded 1 0 : Charlie Cox.
Will Yates. W ill Goodhew. Chri!>to Albor,
Jamie Thomas, Hugo Dodge. Ben Berraondo. Ed
Horder. Richard Fox, Mickey Bickford-Smith.
Rowley Merrick!.. Nick Beattie. Frank Drew. Rory
Bulger. Sam
Lockhart-Smith.
Henry
Rushton,
Tim Marget!>On. John Patterson.
Dominic O'Connor.
Rewlt : Played 8. Won 5. Lo t 3.
w
Canford
Gryphon Ist XV
Wellington
Sexe) 's Ist XV
Radley
Bryanston
Clifton
Chehcnham
w
19
L
L
w
w
w
104- 0
+l-
0 -2 8
5-53
1 0 -4 8
550
45W.A.M.B.
12
580
5 t h XV
The
tumng of
the appearance of
Shirbumian couldThe
not be worse as far as L am
concerned. Everyone about whom I am going to
write has now finil!hed playing rugby at
Sherborne. Those in the Upper Sixth left in June.
and tho e in the Lower Sixth played their last
matches a.-. Upper Sixth la<,t week. Obviously, all
the coaches of sixth form teams are in a similar
position. but mine is more acute, since I am tasked
with re:-uscitaung and su-.taining interest in rugby
as a fun social acth ity at a stage when boys don't
ha\e to play it i f they really don't want to. I am not
<;O idealilllic as to think that all of my target
audience in the present Fifth Form will read what
I have to say and then eagerly await trials in
September. However. i f any of those who have
played on pitch 8 on games day!. in the rugby term
were to have a word with their juniors and
persuade them to come along, I'd be most grateful.
The composition of this term's Lower II was
mainly Lower Sixth, but I was pleased to see some
Upper Sixth returning for a second year, and
delighted that some other Upper Sixth took up
rugby again for the first time ince the Fourth or
Fifth Form and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
Comments such a ·we don't have to play if
it's raining. do we. sir?' didn't fool me into
thinking
that they weren't committed. One disappointment
wa!> a couple of Lower Sixth who came along to
two or three practices and then went off to other
!>pons when they didn't recehe instant promotion
to higher team . Some others who persevered
became <;taiwan-. of the .tth XV by mid-season.
Of course. it would be easier to retain interest
and maintain momentum were we to have more
matches. For the most part. other schools appear to
have fewer boys playing rugby in the Sixth Form
than we do, !>O de pite AM D's &terling effons. we
had only three fixture . one of which
was cancelled by the opposition. much to our
chagrin. We played well in our two matches
against Clifton and
Wellington.
losing
narrowly in one and winning handl.Omel) in
the other. Work out for yourselves which rc ult
wru. again!>! which school.
What of the future? I can imagine us playing
against some schools' higher side i f our 4th XV
beat:-. them ea!.ily. and I can envisage U!> playing
both home and away against good local
opposition. However. we will always have many
session& where we are not really training for a
fixture, but just playing for the love/fun of it. RGP
and I enjoyed ourselves immensely and the boys'
enjoyment and appreciation were constantly
evident. That is why we will be there next season.
Team: I . Chiu, P. Tingay, T. Mackay-James,
J. Brooke, T. William!>, J. Sykes, H. Schreier.
L. Vassay, G. Dalton. N. Pothecary, J. Patterson,
A. Gore. R. Hoogcwerf. A. Harris, G. Male,
R. Brook. P. Le Flufy, D. Torren!>-Spence. J. Pease,
H. Poraj-Wilct.ynski. R. Jordan
D.B.C.
Colts A XV
Thill was a side that enjoyed each other 's
company and wanted to improve. They wanted to
attack throughout the whole team. so they had to
make decisions to make sure that they had a fine
balance in attack. Their deci!>ions became most
mature as the cason progressed. but this was not
surprising, as they had an impressive captain in
David Poraj-Wi lcL.ynski and a pair of half-backs,
Will Dawson and Tom Cracknell, who controlled
the game. Piers Boshier, Matt Hurst and Alex Gold
were elusive runners and Andy Windle and Tom
Maber had the ability to set up these runners.
James Robinson and Charlie Quick were most
direct and hecame more subtle as time went on.
Apan from being a born leader, David Poraj
Wilczyn!>ki was an outstanding No. 8. and the
back row was most potent a!> a unit with the
rugged skills of Kevin H<v.ell and the suppon play
of Mike Clapp making sure that the back row
made an impression in attad. and defence.
Malcolm Scott. Ed Scott-Clarke. and Charlie
William-.. thrived on thi!> foundation and James
ll.t
Harding, Malcolm Lyne, Tom Edwards.
and Kennerdeigh Scou grafted throughout, so
there was plenty of po!;ses ion gained throughout
each game.
Apan from auacking in a variety of exciting
way!>, this team prided themselves on their well
di!>ciplined defence. Thi.., fruwated the opposition,
forcing them imo error.,, which the school team
gratefully turned to their ad,antage. Games were
lost. but only Radley took the \Chool team apart.
There were many ught matches against good
teams. and this Sherborne te;lm always gave a
good account of themselves.
The cason :.taned well with comfonable wins
against Canford and Bishop Wordswonh's. but the
schoo l team found conditions at Downside
difficult to cope with.
Dogged defence allowed the school team to
hang on t o a 3-0 lead against King \ Taunton unti l
a disputed try in the last t wo m inute s too k away
the lead and the match. Wellington and Millfield
had both inllicted heavy losse& on the School the
previou year. Both matches coul d h ave been won
this sea!.on. Wellington were rattled, being worried
that they could be beaten by. as they put it 'a load
of fanners'! 1\ straightforwa rd penalty in the last
minute would have drawn the Millfield game.
which the school team deserved to win.
The !.chool team bounced back well against
King\ Bruton and they had to bounce back again
against Bryan\ton af ter the pounding that they
tool.. against Radley. Weather conditions at
Bryan-;ton \\ere unpleasant: driving min on an
alread) muddy pitch meant that the school team
had to play \ensible. dbciplined rugby .
They responded magnificently.
A comfonable win againM Clifton gave the
boy!. confidence before playing their last two
fixtures against formidable opponents. The school
team attacked Cheltenham throughout the first
half but could not break down their defence. A
three points to nil lead had tO be clung to as
Cheltenham tried to win the game in the second
half. Aga in , great con tro l of the ball an d
disciplinetl defence made sure that the School
came away with a victory. The same was wanted
for the Blundell 's game. The School raced into a
nineteen points l ead. on ly to be pegged back to
19-12. Charac ter and maturity won the day for the
School.
As individuals. these boys have realised that
they ha\e skillio to make them good players on The
Upper next season. Mr. R eynold!> has worked hard
with the threequarter . with great success. giving
them all-round kill\. Mr. Thompson gave the B
team an identity and pride. so practices
in preparation
for the games \\ere always
purposeful.
We were also grateful to Mr. Willows for gi,ing so
much enthusiasm and advice to the C and D team
players. Many boys from this Fifth Form year are
ambitious about their rugby. There has been so
much enjoyment this season.
Team: D.R. Poraj-Wilcqnski (captain). P.R.B.
Boshier. M.J. Clapp. T.P. Cracl..nell. W.R .B .
Da\\Son.
T.S.
Edwards.
A.L.F.
Gold.
J.A.L. Harding. K .M. Hazell. M.J.H. Hurst. M.J.E.
Lyne,
T.J.
Maber.
C.W.H.
Quick,
M.J.O.
Robinson.
K.M. Scott. M.T.D Scott. E.J.S. Scott-Clarke,
Results:
Played 12,
Won Windle
7. Lost 5.
C.F.P. Williams.
A.C.G.
Canford
Bi shop Wordsworth's
Downside
King's Taunton
Wellington
Millfield
King's Bruto n
Radley
Bryan ston
Clifton
Cheltenham
Blundell's
W
W
L
L
L
L
W
L
W
W
W
W
3 5 - 14
30 - 0
5 - 15
3-
7
5 - 17
10 - 13
19 - 0
7-36
12 0
48 7
3A.M.D.
0
1 9 - 12
Colts B XV
After coaching with the Mini -C o l t for se,·en
years the prospect of moving up two year groups
to work
with
a Colts \ide prompted
some contemplation on m) pan. Memories of
working with this year group in the Third Form
served to
dispel any apprehension I may have felt. r was not
to be disappointed .
There was a great deal of competition to get
into the side, though there were individuals who
failed to realise thi::. and had an approach to
trainin g that was not what we were aiming for.
After some discussion and a good example set by
others in the team. we quick ly seul ed into a side
with an attitude to training. practice, and games
that made for a enjoyable season. Our one problem
was the lack of an obvious captain for the side.
After one or two experiments we settled for Rob
Boughey, who pro\'ed to be a great success.
The first game was again\l a big Canford ide
who forced us to do a great deal of defending. This
we did weiJ. conceding the decisi\e trie'> only in
the last quarter. £O lose 5-19. Our ne\t game .,., as
a 5 -20 home win against a poorly organised
Bishop Wo rd wo n h \ ...ide in whkh the
score
115
flattered
our
performance.
The
twenty
points scored against u
were an indicator
of poor defending. The next three games
were to be against chool Colts first teams.
Unfortunately the two easier games were to be
cancelled. This left us to play a trong Milton
Abbey side. Though we gave a very credible
performance, we lost to a bener side. The next
game. versus King's Taunton. was our lir t away
game and resulted in a narrow defeat 5-7.
October brought some big games at scenes of
some big defeats for last year" Junior Colts. Our
lirst game against a very competent Wellington
side proved to be no change from the previous
year, a 0-48 defeat. However. we played well and
we came away convinced
that we had
an improving ide and there was better to come
at Milllield with a massive turn around from a
big defeat in '99 to a 17-10 win. A very good
Corfe Hills side brought us down to earth.
Though we played well, the team went down
20-22 . The Thomas Hardyc si de that came nex t
proved to be too good. Our performance was
hearteni ng and we remained confident about our
poten t ial, though we went down 0-29. Another
big defeat in '99 was against Radley. This year
we had to travel and one or two anticipated a
ll1rashing. Good discipline nnd determination
ensured a very convincing win by 19-15 against a
good Radley side. who spoilt their chances by
trying to intimidate us. We played away to
Bryanston and earned a satisfying win against a
side that tried to beat us into submission. Clifton
were not a good side and gave us the room we
needed to express ourselves. There were some
very good examples of excellent open rugby from
the team but Henry Goldschmidt was man of the
match in a 60-0 win. Cheltenham arrived with a
poor record. but proved very good opposition. We
really did have to work hard for a well-deserved
22-7 win. Our last game of the season was away to
Blundells's again. Sherborne played well and a
31-0 win to us was well-deserved.
I wou ld like to think that it was a successful
season and due to a great deal of effort from the
team and excellent coaching from AMD and GDR
to whom I wou ld like to express my thanks.
Team: Richard Ward. James Bailey. A lexander
Gold, Tristram Marchinton, Gavin Thow, Chi
Hang H ung, Andrew Windle, Tom Edwards, Rob
Boughey. Simon Arden. Charley Maltby, George
Stratton. Alexander John!.ton, Sholto Thompson,
James Pearson. Ed Scot-Clarke, Freddy Lewis,
H enry Tinne. Henry Goldschmidt. Alexander
Crutcher, Torn Fox-Davies, Alasdair Boyd and
Jack Richards.
Results: Played 13, Won 7. Lost 6.
Colts C XV
When you reali!.e that the team that you are
coaching are talented, it i disappointing to
out
lind that they will play only live matches.
Our first game wa!. against a Downside ·s·
Team. The energy levels and determination meant
we secured an 18-0 victory. A good start to our
campaign.
Wellington College presented us with different
problems. Over two h o u r on a coach and
a reputation to play against. re ulted in a
few injuries cropping up and flu victims coming to
the fore. With no replacements and Pearson
trying to
find his mouthguard. we were forced to start the
match with 14 men. Tremendous back-to-the-wall
rugby followed and we lost the match 42-0.
Our third game was against C layesrnore Colts
A Team . A huge test for the team after the previous
testing match. this challenge turned out to be a
close tuss le as rcnected in the 29 all resul t.
Considering that we were trai l ing 22- 10 at half
t ime, it was a t remendous fightback. In the last
movement of the match, Clayesrnore managed a
converted try to share the spoils.
Some commentators wonder why we play the
game of rugby. Having seen the commitment and
desire in this game, I felt that very few players
would
experience
such
a
satisfying
match throughout their !.ports career.
Travelling to Radley i always difficult because
they seem to obtain good results even when
fielding average teams. Not many teams come
away from Radley with victory. We managed to
pas!. this severe test by running out 22-17 winners.
It wa<; very exciting, with Radley camped on our
line for the last few minutes of the match but we
held out for a thoroughly deserved victory.
Our last match was against a weak Cheltenham
College team. From the kick-off we scored an
continued
to
impressive
try
and
dominate throughout the match and ran out
comfortable winners.
To sum up our season, we had so much to be
thankfu l for. W ith Mr. Davis. Mr. Reynolds and
Mr. T hompson, we were bl essed wi th fine
coach ing t alen t. It is a pleasure to w itness the
coaching ability of someone like Mike Davis. I
would like to thank Messrs Watts and Reynolds
for taking the t ime to referee.
Well done lO Ben Massey for leading the side
with style (a mixture of Vinnie Jones and M artin
throughoul.
posses
ionexcellent
with
Johnson springsmaintaining
to mind!) The pack
were
impeccable defence. Arden and Peel- Yates played
every game while Church and Pearson exchanged
roles in the front row. The tOwering Reif
Dclguidici played well in the second row
P.T.
116
and also took the kicks at goal. Boyd wa-; sol id
in the second row while Southwell, Massey
and Pear!>On were outstanding a!'. back row
players.
When called upon. Crutcher and Posnen also
made their contributions felt in lhe loose trio.
Wood and Lamb were a \ C I )
good
halfback pairing. The :.ilky :. ills of Mead
and tough tackling by Fox gave u'> penetration
in midfield wilh Harvey standing by as a good
replacement.
Fox-Davies and Touenham scored \'ital tries from
lhe wing and Hung was alway:. enthu iastic about
playing when given the chance. lrby was our
fullback - and who could ever forget that tackle
against Wellington?
My only wi!.h is that most of the Colts C team
will play rugby again next year. Maybe it won't be
too long before we see some member!. of this team
running ou t on The Upper for the I st XV.
A.W.
.Junior C o l t s A X V
'If A is SUCCC!.S in life.
then A = x + y + z
where x = work
y
=play
and l
=keeping your mouth shut'
Albert Einstein, 1950
Sponing success seem!. to breed success. When
a team is playing well and has confidence. ·luck·
alway!> !.eem!. to fall on lheir !>ide. We are not
suggesting that the large number of defeats
suffered by lhe Junior Colts A side this season was
due to bad luck but the close fixture:. against
Bishop Wordsworth's, Milton Abbey and King's
Taunton could easi ly have been our victories . The
fact that these winnable games were lo t had a
profound effect on the already fairly low self
esteem o f a team who had won only two fixtures
as Mini -Colts. Much time was spen t during
trainin g trying to lift morale and to convince the
boys that. when they played to their strengths and
weren't prepared lo let lhe team down by missing
tackles. lhey were a reasonable side. This process
was not aided by the back-to-back routs by
Wellington and Millfield. who were really in a
different league in terms of ability and size. As a
panicularly !>mall year group. bolh in numbers and
tature. tackling wal. the key to whether this was to
be a l'uccessful side or not. It is pleasing lhat many
boy:. learned to tackle. and even to enjoy it. over
lhe cour e of thi!. Michaelmas Term. The team as
a whole made con idcrable progres and we are
sure lhal lhey staned to enjoy their rugby as the
term progressed. We would paniculnrly like to
draw attention to the development of both Alex
Simon and Simon Dawson throughout the season.
The reason they were elected may have been their
physical size at lhe :.tan of the term: at the end. it
was their skill and dedication.
The quotation at lhe :.tan of this repon alludes
to the adverse effects that an unwise or poorly
timed word can have and there were times lhis
season when di!.agreement!. between players and a
lack of belief in others· talents threatened
completely to fragment the team. Much
psychological intervention wal> employed by lhe
two captains. Jamie Holdoway and Adam Reid.
and the coaches to prevent thil> from happening.
Mrs Clayton's hot dogs helped considerably too!
The victories against Kings· Bruton and Blundell's
showed that when conf id ence and tru st was
working, and only words of encoura gemen t were
exchanged between team-mates, we were capable
of playing fast and auractivc rugby. By December
we hoped that, with another eight months of
growlh spurts to come. this team can continue the
progress that they made t h i year and enjoy a more
successful season as Colts.
Team: S . J. R. Dawson. 0 . K. S. Hankinson-Parr.
P. J . T. Houghton. A. C. F. Simon, M. D. Barber.
P. B. Foster. J.
M . Milln. J.
W.
Weterings. R . J. R. Blake. 0 . W. Gargrave. S.
D. O'Dwyer Ru ssell. A.
B.
Reid. J .
T. Holdoway.
E. M. Radcliffe. M. E. Snudden, E. J. Ward.
S.
Golden. D. S. E. Holborow.
Minter.
T. C.
A. G. Gabbey.
N. D.Thanapoomikul.
H.
R. H. D. Yates. A . Walford,
E. Butler.
J.
M. T. B. Pope.
Results:
Canford Played 16. Won 5. Lost II.L
L
Bishop
L
Wordsworth's
W
Milton Abbey
L
Gillingham
L
King's Taunton
L
Wellington
W
Millfield
Corfe Hill s
W
King·s Bruton
W
Clayesmore
L
L
Radley
L
Downside
L
Bryanston
L
Clifton
W
Cheltenham
Blundell's
117
53 - I0
25 - I0
0- 5
17 - 7
14 - 19
0 - 80
0 - 42
3 1 - 24
26 - 12
29 - 17
34 - 0
47 - I0
42 - 0
31 - 0
47 - 0
27 - 10
S.J.C.IP.J.W.
'-'unior C o l t s B X V
As the results l>ho'"· thi-, was a disappointing
season. In many of the matche1. the team was
mailer. slower. and less talented than the
opposition and wal. saved from total annihilation
only by the shortening of matches. Despite this
rather gloomy picture. the team did possess many
positive attribu t es. They tack led feroci ously,
regardless of the size of the opposition: they
played with total commitment until the final
whistle irrespective of the score: they worked hard
(and successfully) at improving their skills
throughout the season. They were also a cheerful
and amiable group, and were a pleasure to coach.
The forwards in particular developed
considerably over the season but were almost
always dwarfed by the opposition. Alec Russell.
the hooker. epitomised the problem: determined,
brave. and technically sound but not big enough.
Michael Hutton-Ashkenny. the tight-head prop.
scrummaged quite well and Reuben Aitken at
loose head made up for hili lack of power in the
serum by being effective and determined in open
play. Both locks. James Titley and Joost
Weterings, developed into good 'B ' team players.
Titley ran powerfully and tackled well (if rather
high) and Weterings won the team a lot of line-out
ball.
In the back-row. Nick Thanapoomikul was a
fast and elusive runner and made a number of
good breaks from the back of the serum. He was
less effect ive in rucks and mauls and may play on
the wing next season. Tom Blanthorne was also an
effective nmner and summed up the spirit of the
team when he insisted on playing against Clifton.
despite being clearly unwell. Robert Blake played
effectively in the loose and reached the break
down quicker than mo!>t. Ollie Gargravc was the
best player in the forwards and deserved his
promotion to the As at the end of the season. He
tackled ferociously, was often in a position to
:.upport the ball carrier, and cajoled the others to
raise their game.
·
The backs were (with two notable exceptions)
fairly strong defensively but. James Butler apart.
lacked pace and were rarely able to exploit the
little ball that the forwards won for them. Matthew
l lutt was a tenacious and fiery serum-half but was
injured frustratingly often. Edward Radcliffe wa
a skilful fly-half who kicked well and was an
elusive runner. Given his skill and innate ability, it
is a pity that he had <;uch a marked aversion to
tackling.
Four boys played at centre over the season. The
best but most frustrating was Jame1. Butler who is
a powerful runner but comes !'rom the shirt-pullino
school of tack ling. Of the others, Andre;
Ostroumoff made some good breah but lacked the
pace to exploit them. James Jenkins wa!> very solid
and did n o miss a tackle all sea-,on and finally
Guy Stebbmgs played with great detennination
and bravery despite his often expressed desire to
spend his games afternoons on the golf course.
Hugo Blott at full-back had a thankless task but
he tackled bravely. His best match of the season
was against Blundell's when he scored three tries,
running through most of the opposition in the
process. Ollie Jennings on the wing was in the
unf?rtunate position of continually being up
agamst boy. who were at least twice as big. He
never shirked a tackle but did tend to be brushed
aside. Charlie Minter on the other wing was
perhap::. the best tackler in the side and made a
number of heroic crash tackles on large opposition
forwards.
Team: R. A. K. Aitken, A. J. Russell, S. J. A.
Kennon, M. D. D. 1-lutton-Ashkenny, 0. K. S.
Hankinson-Parr, N. J. Francis. E. R. A. Selfe, N.
Thanapoomikul. R. J. R. Blake. T. C. Blanthorne,
0 . W. Gargrave. R. J. R. Blake, J. F. Titley, J. W.
Wetering >, E. J. Ward. M.S. Hutt, E. M. Radcliffe.
J . M. A. Jenkins. J. E. Butler. G. C. Stcbbingl>, A.
B. D. Ostroumoff. 0 . J. Jennins, H. G. R. Slott. C.
G. Minter. C. W. Habershon. F. A . H. Thompson.
Re.m/1.1: Played 12. Won 3. Lost 9.
R.W.B.
M i n i - C o l t s A XV
It is fair to say that this team was not one of the
large.,t on the circuit: however this did not deter
them in the Jca t from playing a brand of football
which illustrated to all who watched how
schoolboy rugby can be the most entertaininn
form of the game. The ball was won quickly f ro t
both set and loose play and w a then fed on to a set
of backs who were prepared to move the ball
efficiently and effectively. as shown by the
number of tries scored by the wings.
The first lixture, a win over Canford, showed
the style to be adopted. with Seamul. Crawford
captaining the side and directing operations from
inside centre. He !let up rwo tries just throuoh his
ability to time a pass to a player in pace.
Un_fortuna.tcly his t e r was cut hort by injury.
Tht!> ccrtamly was a btg loss to the :-.ide. though to
their credit they coped without him extremely
well. Alex Willis tilled Crawford's place and his
tackling and ball carrying were out of the top
118
drawer. Although hi!. future may not be at number
twelve, he certainly will he a feared opponent
wherever he play::.. To score six tries in your
opening fixture, especially when playing away
from home. certainly did bode well for the future.
Excellent 'icrories again::.t Bishop Wordsworth ·s
and away to King·., Taunton showed us at our
best. Tim Tollast was scoring tries on the left
" i n g and the ever smiling Kolatomi Doherty was
also running at the opposition on the other ide.
The former w a always happy to take the
long route pal>t an opponent, whereas the
laller managed to score via the long route or
just by sheer strength. They will
be a
formidable combination
in
future
years.
especially when they learn the technical side of
defence.
Good backs always need a set of forwards to
provide the ball. Two solid scrummaging props in
Rhys Brennan and Jack Little allowed Archie
Mackay-Jame at hooker to gain more of the
limelight as h e popped up all over the pi tch,
u sually to good effect, though. I must say. not as
a serum ha l f. Behind the front row David Park
and Rupert Howland-Jackson played the majority
of the season at lock. David proved to be a very
effective ball winner at the front of the line out
and also extremely athletic around the pitch.
Rupen·s difficulty was hill height which affected
his ball retention. When he masters a
low position at rucks and maub he will
improve immeasurably. At number eight or
lock, Eric Heath ::.howcd up well both with ball
in hand and when defending. A very capable
and athletic forward. he made a considerable
contribution to the season. There i ' always room
for a small eil Back type forward and H arry Fry
definitely fitted that role. He was inevitably to
be found at the bottom of rucks and mauls, his
ability to latch on to the lool>e ball was often
the reason why the backs received such quick
ball. To say he was fearless would be an
understatement.
Mark Erskine. although not
the quickest of players, certainly made up for
this with hi\ strength on the ball and hi s ability to
wrcMic the ball away from an
opponent.
Possibly he is more suited to num ber six
where his attr ibutes wi ll be seen at their best.
The match ugainll t Wellington showed how
well a side can defend even when under the
greatest of pres ure. The greate!lt problem in this
type of match i!> to ensure that, when you exert
pressure. you come away with some points.
Although we had our chances we were unable to
maintain attacks and -,core. Wellington probably
had fewer chancel., but made the best of what they
had. I must say defensively this was a match of the
highest quality. The loss of Seamus Crawford at
Millfield certainly had an effect on the team,
though in the end it wa!. the opposition's pace,
especially that of the serum half. which beat us.
With the loss of both the captain and Giles
Maber not always at peak fitness. Nicl. Howe had
to play most of his rugby at outside centre. With
his pace and strength in the tackle. he should
certainly have a bright future. Radley was another
of those tight matches when Michael Saunders
scored and convened to get us back a lc\el onl}
for their serum half to get over in the last minute.
Generally. the half back combination of David
Nicholls and Michael Saunders proved to be not
only sound. but a b o inventive. A quick passing
serum half is a great attribute to an outside half.
Saunders proved to have the ability to do the
unexpected and quite often to ::.ucceed. With his
acceleration and vi:.ion he has the ability to be
more than just a competent number ten.
Without doubt the best performnncc:-. of the
tenn were away wins at Clifton and at Blundell's.
At both venues the interaction of both backs and
forwards was of the highest qua l ity, and the
handling was slick. with contact being kept to a
minimum. U 14 level, team performance often do
not blossom until late in the term. It is very much
a learning and developing year for both a team and
the individuals. None of thi., team· !>kills wa:-. seen
in
the
defeat
at Cheltenham
where
the (waterlogged) pitch was certainly the worst I
have ever come across. Rugby wall very much the
loser.
A most enjoyable season to be involved in.
primarily thanks must go to all those who played
and to JMOC for all his help and wise counsel.
Team: J. M. Little, A. A. Mackay-James. I . R. H .
Brennan. E. R. P. Heath, D. M. Park, G. R. F. Fry,
M. P. Erskine. R. A. H owland-Jackson. D. 0 .
Nicholls, M. H . Saunders, T. R. N. Tollast, S. A.
Crawford. N. J. T. H owe, K. Doherty, A. M. d 'A.
Willi!., G. A. Maber, P. F. J. H ames, A. T.
A. Seymour. C. J. Nou.
Results: Played 12, Won 7, Lost S.
Canford
Bishop Word sworth \
Gillingh am
King's Taunton
Wellington College
Millfield
King's Bruton
Radley
Bryanston
Clifton
Cheltenham
Blundell's
W
W
W
W
L
L
W
L
L
W
L
W
34 - ()
41 - 12
505
287
012
5 - 19
I 0
17 - 2 4
3 - 18
2D.A.S.
2 - 15
0 - 19
49-
119
5
M i n i - C o l t s B XV
After a promising stan to the season. when
victories were recorded over Canford, Milton
Abbey ·A' and King's Tawllon , the side ran imo
some very hard fixtures and never really recovered
from the loss of confidence which these defeats
inflicted.
They were quite a talented year group but need
to work collectively and with more grit when faced
with difficult situations. 1 am quite sure that their
record will improve over their time at Sherborne.
Team: E. J. Harris, 0 . J. Madley, P. F. J. Hames.
P. T. Kennard. H. J. Butt, D. P. Combes.
B. J. A. Leach, A. T. A. Seymour,
C. J. Wilyman. E. G. F. Gold, S. J. L. Kene,
T. C. Stamford, C. J. Non, T. H.
Speller.
T. E. de Souza, E. C. J. Sweet, E. J. 0 . Wicks,
P. E. H. Collins, T. E. Pitt Ford.
Results: Played 11. Won 5. Lost 6.
G.T.W.R.
120
Hockey
To u r t o B a r b a d o s
4.00 a.m. - this was the last time at which we
would see rain for the next two weeks. We were to
leave for Barbados after a two-hour delay
at Gatwick, but we felt the delay would
inevitably prove worth it. And so it proved. Eight
hours later we were in the Caribbean with
sun, beaches. cocktails and our hockey sticks. H
aving said good bye at the airport to Gary
Lineker, who was there to play in a pro-am golf
tournament , we left for the hotel with George
Bramble whinging in the back of the minibu s,
complaining about the heal.
Ten metres from the beach and thirty from the
liveliest street, the hotel appea red to be in the ideal
location. All that was needed to confirm the fact
that we were on a hockey tour was an Astroturf.
The next morning we were mdely awakened by
the captain's alarm clock. The catch was that it
was still set on English time (four hours behind).
This however enabled us to catch the sunrise over
the island, which in itself was a spectacular sight.
Our
first
Barbadian
hockey
experience commenced at 3.00 p.m. We found
the much discussed astro, and, yes, it lived
up to its reputation extremely bouncy.
We played Comberme re School and came
out
with
a respectable 0-0 draw. We had two
opposing forces, a hockey team and the blazing
sun. This was the only game in which we had
the excuse that we needed to adap t to conditions.
We cou ld not afford to spend the whole tour
blamjng the weather for average performances.
121
The second
game
the
following day
against Grantley Adams School brought a
formation change, and with it a victory of 3-0.
They were arguably a weaker team than
the previous opposition, but nevertheless there
was a noticeable improvement in the team's
performance. We had more
competence ,
structure,
and
increased confidence. We
returned to the hotel for a post match analysis
and swi m and went out to sample the local beer
. . . Banks' .
What people did at night varied . but on the
whole we went out together. The usual routine
would be to buy some local cuisine at one of the
many
restaurants
along
St. Lawrence
Gap, followed by visits to various bars including
Cafe Sol, The Reggae Lounge, Harbour Lights
, The Ship Tnn , The Boat Yard, The Bacardi Inn
. Oistin's and others.
The next day we toured the island with none
other than Shalton. the most enthusiastic and
charismatic man
on the island. Sadly.
Guy couldn't make it. (He had obviously had a
bit too much to drink the night before.) We were
driven round the whole island viewing some
spectacular sights, including the most northerly
point on the island
imaginatively
called
North Point; we viewed the area of ocean
with the hi ghest concentration of sharks arou
nd Barbados twenty metres below the impressive
cliffs on which we were standing. The tour
ended on Miami Beach, with many preuy beachgoers strutting their stuff, which was an aesthetica l
ly pleasing way to end the trip.
Following a day of solid relaxation, where most
of Lhe squad spent their day on Acra Beach
following some American girls, we went on a
catamaran trip. We spent the lime over lunch
swimming with turtles and soaking up the sun
before we had to return to the hotel. The following
day we went to the Roya l Westmoreland Golf
Course to watch the tournament in which Gary
was involved. He was amongst friends such
as Vinnie Jones and Jasper Carrot. When asked
on lhe II th hole whether Vinnie ever used to
play hockey. he replied , ' No, but I used to
have a hockey stick to bash people with.·
On the same day as the golf, our third match ,
against Combermere Old Boys. brought a 3-0
defeat. Fegen captained the side against this, Lhe
top men's side on Lhe island. and it was noticeable
Lhat they had both high er ski lls and greater
experience. The touring side lost Lhe game in Lhe
first half. with Jack of communication and baU
pace, but thanks to a f unastic performan ce by the
defence who had been solid yet unlucky through
the whole game. no goals were scored in
the second half.
Friday brought a visit to Lhe Kensington Oval:
West Lndies against Soulh Africa, the second day
of the Third Test. With South Africa resuming play
on 240-5, Lhey were in the driving seat and
steamed ahead to reach a total of 452 all out. with
Pollock scoring a brilliant centwy There was
so me compe lling play, and it wa::. great to be
present within the loca l crowd. This was the last
Test in which Courtney Walsh would play. and
there
was
a
ceremony
to ce lebrate
his achievements and talent.
That ni ght we visited Oisten 's. the local fish
market. where we ate local food and experienced
the carnival atmosphere that Barbadians seemed
so good at providin g.
The next day brou ght our fourlh match against
Fururama Hockey Academy. With Bishop in
charge. the team played with patience. vision and
structure against a tea m that weren't a strong as
the men's side. Toward s the end it turned out to be
a bit of fun as Brambl e and Angell swapped roles.
along with Walsh appearing at right half. A 6-0
vic10ry was thorou ghly deserved with goals from
Fegen (3), Simson and An gell (2).
Garrison and H arrison College provided little
to stop the rampant squad the following
day. Britten in charge thi s time. With the fourth
formers Walford and Holdaway growing in
confiden ce. the plan LO develop the squad
for
future
years appeared to be working
successful ly. Another 6-0 victory was possibly a
bit nauering , bUl we didn't co mpl ain.
The last match of the tour the following day
was
the best
display of
the
tour.
Against
Combermere School once again, whom we played
in our first match. we showed as a team how much
of a dramatic improvement we had made. In
sweltering conditions, a deserved 2-0 victory was
secured with goals from Mitche ll and Brambl e.
The feeling on the way back to the hotel
was elated and joyful. We had come to
Barbad os an1ongst other things to play good
hockey, to develop Lhe squad for future years,
and to have a fantastic time. and that had
all been done successfully.
On o ur last night we were left to celebrate what
had been a marvellous trip for all twenty members
of the tour. The final meal was held in Boomer 's
(the local burger bar ). After twenty boomer
burgers and beers the awards ceremony took
place. Jake Britten, voted as player's player of the
tour. receiv ed a Barbad os cap: Gavin Thow was
the most improved play er of the tour and George
Bramble ugliest player on tour. Mahoney , Hatchy.
Guy and Nog (the coaching staff) received local
necklaces and shandies for taking such good care
of the squad. We spent Lhe rest of the night in Lhe
company of Pollock. Boucher, Gibbs. and other
members of Lhe South African cricket team, who
happened to be on our dance floor.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank
the coaches for all the time and effon they put into
It
was
a
organising
the
tour.
memorable experience .
124
Will Fegen
Jake Brinen
1st XI
I con sider that my first priority as a coach is to
instruct my team in how to play hockey well. In
this respect Lhe season has been a huge success. As
the Pilgrims discovered, thi s team is able to play
some devastating hockey. M y second priority is to
win matches. Well , one out of two is not bad and
results have been a considerab le improvement on
last year.
After two yea rs of trying, I managed t
o convince Rob Hill to help me coach the I st
team . It was clear at pre-season training that
he was going to have a large impact. He ha s been
hugely enthusiastic and
the players have
responded to him we ll. The first week of training
was exciting and 1 was very optimistic about
our chances against King's Bruton. However. the
team did not perform up to the potential they had
been showing all week and King' s Bruton were
able to squ eeze a v ictory. Th e Occidental s tumed
up with a good
side including Rob himself, and the eleven raised
their game to compete at the appropriate standard.
They followed this up with an encouraging draw
against Dean Close, a side we lost 9-0 to last year.
This game provided a clear indication of how far
we had come in one year. We were tenacious in
defence, where Harry Steel came of age. n the
first haJf he was totally outplayed by a quick and
skilful right winger. but by the second half he had
learnt from his mistakes and his opposite nwnber
never made a break. The draw was secured by a
superb poacher's goal by Will Hay ler and Tom
Walsh pulled off probably the be!>t save 1have ever
seen from a Sherborne School goalkeeper.
They were unable to maintain their momentum
against Exeter and, for the second time. lost to a
team they should have beaten. They started
strongly, Joss Simson hitting the post from a well
worked move within the first tive minutes. But for
a couple of inches the game could have followed a
different path. There then followed a sequence of
games in which poor umpiring decisions by
appointed umpires affected the outcome. We
should have gone 3-0 up inside the first half
against Taunton, but had a goal incorrectly
disallowed: we had two questionable flicks
awarded against us against Bryanston at the
County Cup and a questionable goal awarded to
Bryanston in the school fixture. Although there
was a morale-boosting 5-0 vic tory against
Clayesmore at the County Cup, this did not
compensate for the failure to gain the scalp of
Bryanston. A good performance against
Wellington College resulted in a narrow loss,
meaning that half tenn was reached with only one
victory but with much learnt and morale high.
The next few games would be a steep learning
curve. King's Taunton were blown away by a Will
Fegen hat trick, including the goal of the season.
Jake Britten gained large amounts of possession
from in front of the defence. When the baH did get
behind him, the defence looked well organised
around George Bramble, who hit sixteens with
remarkable accuracy. This set up a tough
encounter with Canford on their water-based
pitch. They proved t o be a better side than us,
although we still competed for much of the game.
Yeovil and Sherborne produced n team consisting
mostly of their l st team. including two ex
internationals. They were impressed by the
standard of hockey played by the School and the
only real difference between the two sides was the
finishing. Millfield were again in a class of their
own and the best team we played by a
considerable margin. Sherborne worked hard for
the full seventy minutes and competed for long
periods, but leaked goals at regular intervals.
The final two games saw some flowing hockey
being played.
The victory against Wells
was eventually comfortable, although for much of
the
125
first half the game was even. The turning point
was a remarkable solo goal by Ross Anoell. The
i l g r i m made the e ror of giving us oo much
lime on .the ball, whtch we duly exploited with
dev tallng consequences. George Bunkall. in
parttcul r, found himself in a great deal of space
on the nght hand side where he was able to bring
Tom Bishop into the game. Tom mounted
numerou s attacks. as he had done all season
.
\\ ith a combination of speed and evasive skills.
With more clinical finishing this could
have been a cricket score. As it was, some
glorious goals were scored.
The hockey tour to Barbados was the icino on
the cake. which
has helped
make
this
se:so n
such a memorable one. The sq uad was
one where th e emphasis was very much on
the future. with nl y four from the Upper Sixth
and two outstandtng Fourth Formers. De spite
high te mp eratur es. a bouncy
pitch
and
constant substitutions the results were good
and the standard of h oc key was high.
At
times next year's potential I st XI were on the
pitch and a good outfit th ey look too.
In summary, it has been a year of building.
We have plared son e excellent hockey
and faced many htgh quality oppositions. We
have competed
with
the
best
and
everyone has thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
I have been th?roughly impressed by the
captaincy of Henry Mitchell. who has been
largely responsible for
the excellent attitude and work ethic of
the player s. I had the feeling that the players
would have j.umped off a cliff if Henry had asked
themalready
to. Withcommitted
!.even outtoofcoaching.
the twelve
Hill
theretumino
team is
next reator, bea. outstanding
good
crop
r cannota
going
next of
year. Colts.
coupie
of mnovauons
hope to
guarantee
victory
against thethat
likes Iof Millfield.
implement
and is
Rofair
b game.
but anyone else
Man y thank s to Rob Hill and Ali Hatch for
their
consta nt
e n couragement
and
support thr u gho ut the seaso n. Finally, to
all thos e dedtcated parents who have supported
their sons whate.ver the weather. 1 hope
you enjoyed watchmg them as much as I did.
Team: H . Mitchell (Captain)*, G. Bramble *,
T. Walsh*. T. Bishop*, W. Hayler*, J.Simson*,
W. Fegen*. H. Steel*. J. Britten , R . Angell.
G. Bunkall
Also played: C. Gammell, P. Langly-Smith.
A. Bartlett, R. MacFarlane. L. Edlmann, T. Wynn
Jones. D. Poraj-Wilczynl>ki. H . Lamb. M. Clapp
*=Colours
Results: Played 15, Won 4. Lost 9, Drawn 2.
King's Bruton
Occidentall>
Dean Close
Exeter
Taunton
Bryanston (County Cup)
Clayesmore <County Cup)
Bryanston
Wellington
King's Taunton
Can ford
Yeovil & Sherborne
Millfield
Wells Cathedral
Pilgrims
L
L
D
L
L
L
w
D
L
w
L
L
L
w
w
I - 2
2 -5
2 -2
1 - 3
2 -3
I - 2
5 - 0
2 - 2
I - 2
5 - 2
2 - 4
I - 4
0 -7
4 - I
6 - 0
J.J.B.W.
2 n d XI
Talent is innate, ski ll achieved through hard
graft, and luck - we ll , Lady Luck always seems to
have her own agenda . You need to have all three of
the e elcn en t to be a succes > and the degree to
whtch
tht
team
possessed
them
is
perhaps debatable. But what defines a successful
2nd XI season? Is it the w o n - lost ratio. the
manner and tyl.e .of play adopted. the progre s
made by both mdtvtduals and the team. or is it
simply the level of enjoyment had by player
. coaches and supporters alike? Whichever of
these criteria is taken,
i s season's 2nd XI
had a good go at succeedmg at all of them and
for that they can not be faulted. The only side to
College
certainly
deserves some credit.
"'
win against
Wellinoton
In g al, Lawrence Edlmann produced some
outstandmg saves based on very good footwork. I
am . ure thal his tech ique and ever-growi ng
conltd nce wtll serve htm well as he chall enges
for a ftrst team place once again next season. At
the back, five play ers chal l enged for the four
places on offer. and in the first ha lf of term they
formed th e foundation rock on which the results
were bui lt - that is, once we had got over the
cus omary shak y first few minutes (for example
agrunst Taunton and King':, Taunton, where early
goals cost us d arly). Lack of pace did ultimately
start to tell agamst the beuer, more athletic sides.
such
as
Millfield
and
Canford.
and
this unfortunately knocked our con fidence and
led us to commiuin g suicidal dive tackles
rather than relying on defence as a unit to
stine an attack. Goals were leaked when no
real daneer was apparent; but then. top sides
don't need ; second
126
imitation to make a clean lini11h. Nonetheless. the
work put in on the training ground will hopefully
see the steel defence of Matt Paul on-EIIi . Ed
Westropp. Rupert Lane, Nick Cra mp. and Henry
Hunt become a little more galvanised in the future.
Finding the right combination of midfield
proved to be a little problematic. Alec Ban leu and
Charlie Gammell. both on loan from the 1st XL
provided that extra bit of skill necessary to unlock
defences as they ran at them. It ill a credit to
Charlie that when he played well. controlling the
play and spreading the ball swiflly around the
flanks. the team played well. On either side of
these two. Tim Wynn-Jones. AI Beattie. and Alex
Budge worked hard to offer width and options
both in defence and auack. Each had their
strengths and played big games. but unfortunately
the collective unit never fully emerged and rarely
did they all perform on the same occasion.
The forward line certainly had the potential to
strike, with R ory MacFarlane. Tim Ackroyd.
Andrew Westwood. and captain Pete Langly
Smith posse sing the size and presence to worry
any back line. Unfortunately the good movement
and build-up was all too often wasted by poor
linishing. especia lly in the big games when
chances inevitably were few. lf one of the e had
emerged as an eight goal a season performer. then
result s would have been very different. As it was.
their total contribution was 10. Tim's exquisitely
taken goal against Wellington just showed \\hat
might have been.
So has the season been a uccess'! Certainly the
tenor of this report is a little gloomy. but I am sure
that a lot of this comes from the disappointment of
the won - lost ratio. Expectations were high.
perhaps too high at times, but the desire to succeed
remained to the end. Even against strong sides
such as Canford and Millfield, the opportunities
were there for some excellent results. Skill and
hard training can reduce the role of l uck. and thi s
team did not have the best of luck, but then neither
did it possess an abundance of innate talent.
Despite this, the commitment to trying to play
good, attractive hockey was excellent, a
indeed
was their spirit and effort. For this their Captain
Pete Langly-Smi ih can take a lot of credit.
To close, I can safely say that at the end of my
first term at Sherborne I have thoroughly enjoyed
the company and good humour of t h i team. and
for that I thank them all. As for the return journeys
in the minibus. we ought to leave our MC Rory to
explain!
A.M. H.
127
3 r d XI
4 t h XI
This was a truly great side. unbeaten against 3rd
XIs but more imponantl y offeri ng fast and skilful
hockey in every game, whatever the surface.
whateve r the conditions. Team spirit and selfless
com mitment were alwa)S in evidence. and credit is
due to everyone who played. but I would single out
the ru.tute captaincy of Max Vere-Hodge as a
decisive element. Imposing stature and strength
made him a formidable defender. but his stick work
and intelligent dbtribution also caught the eye and
drew compliments from at least one fonner 1st XI
coach. A moment of unappreciated importance in
hockey is the opening ritual. with handshake s
between umpires and captains. and the throw of a
coin to determine ends.As Max strode purposefully
toward the centre circle I would watch the
mounting alam1 in the eyes of th e opposition, a goal
down . mentally, b .:forc the game even began.
Not that th e rest of the defen ce and m idfield
was exactly fragil e or waif- li ke. Matt Hope, a
veteran of three seasons at this level. and Henry
Grundy Wheeler compl eted a muscu lar and feisty
back line, and together with the magnificent
goalkeepi n g of Alex Drew, ensured that goals
again st were spectacu larly rare. Chris Cook was
left half. unflinching in the tackle and a perceptive
passer of the ball. while at centre-half Jimmy
McKillop was a dynamic presence. ubiquitou. in
lin king attack and defence and. this season. even
scoring goals. Matt Balfour also combined tireless
effon and real nair, mo tly at right half. though. a\
he occasionally reminded me. his one outing at
centre-forward saw him scoring a hat trick. How
Alex Budge missed out on a permanent place in a
higher team is a my'>tery. but to every game he
played he brought vision, superb stick skills and a
matchle eye for goal.
Like Matt Hope, the right wing Chris Filbey was
completing hil- third season in the tcan1. Over the
years so many goab have resulted from hls pace
and close control. and hi s detennination never to
miss a tack le. There arc wingers in higher XI s who
never seemed to do half as much work for the team.
For the rest. youth was to the fore. Charlie Dupont
and Henry Rushton were a speedy and skilful pair
of forwards, scoring freely, while Gordon Scott
accepted the unfamiliar role or left wing with good
grace, initinting atta c h but. equally importantl y.
stifling the opposition right side.
Injuries and absence are ine.,itable. and the
final component in an outstanding season was the
readiness of squad members such as Peter Tingay.
ick Lee. Ed Harper, and Sebastian Bennett to fit
in where required. Anna and I are most grateful.
M.J .B.
This was the most successful season on record.
Not everyone - Chris Tavcndcr and Charlie Brock
come to mind - had a thoroughbred hockey
pedigree. but. as any discerning coach knows. The
Lower is the cradle of heroes. And o it proved.
Two gamCl- approach legendary st atus. In a 3-0
demolition of a wong Bryanston team. it fell to
Charlie Brock to open the scoring against the run
of play. but opposition heans were broken by Ed
Worthington ·s first goa l of the season. a shot
unerringly placed and derisively slow. The
characterist ically modest and understated
celebration that followed kindled new spirit, and
Nick Lee produced a run and shot of tumultuous
power to round off the proceedings. A future
archivist might catalogue the result against
Clayesmore under cricket. !.O high was the
eventual score. but on a bleak March aftemoon it
was plain to sec that Oliver Luard 's goal keeping
kit had for many years concealed a forward of
pertina city and nair.
ivan Chiu in goal defied the coaching manual
but was an out standin g sh ot -stopper, ably
protected by Oily Gosling, Charles Hoare and the
excellent Peter Tingay. Midfi eld featured the
aggression of Chris Taven der, the calm assurance
of Nick Lee. and the untiring energy of Nick
Beattie. with Seb Bennett and Charlie Hurlbatt
patrolling the nanks and contributing \ ital goals.
Eddie Harper was a class act at right wing, small
of stature but committed to every tackle. while Ed
Worthington's talismanic presence at centre
forward and Charlie Brock a. a second. deep-lying
attacker were enough to generate many fine
victories. I am grateful to Oily Luard and Ed
Findlay for filling in. often at exceptionally short
notice. My thank!. abo to IR E and RCFG for all
their help with coaching and umpiring some
highly memorable matches.
M.J .B.
C o l t s A XI
The results throughout the term do not give a
true picture of all that took place. The boys who
represented this age group ccnainl y proved that
pride, hard work . and pure cussed ness can achieve
a great deal. Under the captaincy of David Poraj
Wilczynski, who really did lead from the front.
they proved to be a team with whom it was a
pleasure to work.
An early "in over King·s Bruton ''as followed
clo<.el) by a fixture again t a Bryanston side who
128
found defending to be very hard work against
persistent auackcrs. The introduction of Jamie
Holdoway from the Junior Colts had certainly
added to both the skill and pace of the front
runner!.. To have someone who can score goals is
wort h its weight in gold. (Th is is not meant to be
a pun on the name of the other auac
ker.) Regardless of what you may offer in
attack, of
theany team has to be strong.
spine
N ick
Southwell in goal and Gavin Thow at the back
gave confidence to the rest of the ream. I think it
would be fair to say that they were the most
improved players over the course of the season.
The conversion of Sholto Thompson from
a midfield to a defending role proved to be
a success. Although not the fastest player over
the ground, he made up for this by his amicipation
and improved tackling. The hardel.t thing to
learn in hockey is not to be drawn into a tackle
whilst the attacker is completely on balance. It is
surprising how often a ball is given away without
an actual tack le being made.
The away game at Taunton proved to be rather
frustrating. Chances went begging while the
opposition popped in their opportunities. This was
followed by the County Cup tournament at
Bryanston: a comfortable victory over the hosts
and Corfe H il ls led us into the final against
Canford. Before we serrJed down, they attacked
three t imes and came away with three goals. all
excel lently taken. although we did rather watc h
them advance into the circ le and then leave Nick
fairly exposed. Two fur ther goals were leaked
prior to half time. Credit then must go to the
captain who inspired us into a superb !>econd half
fight back, unfortunately all rather late.
The performance in our away trip to Wellington
was difficult to explain. We played extremely well
in a high pace game. but ended up two goals down.
As I said to the team immediately afterward . their
defeat ccrtainl} did not do them justice. Henry
Lamb on the right of the defence was in excellent
form. tackling well. a l w a y avai lable for a pass
and showing hi!>distribution ski l ls. From thb point
i n the term, he showed a cons istency
of performance whic h real ly was very pleasing.
M i ke Clapp was also showing up wel l . though
he did have the tendency to give the ball away
with his favourite sweep pass. To his credit, he
did ))core the goal of the season at Bryanston with
a reverse hit which rocketed into the
top corner.
The highlight of the season was the home win
again'it Canford which not only rever!>ed the
County Cup defeat. but also showed t h i side
at their best. Even a penalty stroke late in the
game could not deny them a win which was
certainly full of character.
Thelast game of the season at Millfield saw our
backs to the wall for most of the first half.
Millfield scored in the first minllle and then
expected u to crumble. Jn the end they were very
fortunate to win. As the game progressed, we
became stronger and stronger. but just could not
convert our chances . Disappointed as we were, we
did show how to frustrate a very skilful unit and
then begin t o Llominate. Excellent contributions
were made by l lenry Goldschmidt, Shane Daniel ,
and R ichard Dowdal l . who should certainly al l
benefit from the experience.
This was a most enjoyable season and a very
pleasant group to work with. Thanks to al l the
players but especially the captain: David P-W. M y
thanks also to GDR for his help and
wonderful demonstrations of stick skills.
Team: Richard Dowdall, Henry Goldschmidt.
Mi k e Clapp.
Henry
Lamb, Ed
Posneu,
Nick Southwell. Andy Windle. Alex Gold.
Sholto
Thompson, Jamie
Holdoway. Shane
Daniel . Gavin Thow, D avid Poraj-Wikzynski
Results: Played 9. Won 5. Lost 4.
King's Bruton
Bryanston
Dean Close
Taunton
Bryanston
Wellington Col lege
King \ Taunton
Canford
M i l l f ield
w
w
3 - 0
L
L
0 - 3
0 - 3
w
3 - I
4 -0
w
w
0 - 3
I - 0
I - 0
L
0 - I
L
D.A.S.
C o l t s B XI
This was a rather tnmcated season that did not
start until 27th January and ended on 3rd March as
Millfield were unable to field a Colts B team the
next week. In those live weeks we showed that our
choice of opponent:. was spot on. With one minute
of the season left. we had a penalty nick that could
have made the season's results Won 2. Dre\\ 3.
Lost 2. We missed i t and lost 4-3 to Canford in a
splendid game that showed Colts B hockey at its
best. Another game against Bryanston was
similarly thrilling. They scored with a minute and
a half to go to make it 3-2 to them; we ambled
back tO the centre spot and scored with thirty
seconds to go to level it.
129
We played three U 19 teams - a challenge as
we contained a few players who were certainly
underweight even for U6, but our skill level
enabled us to compete. A 4-4 draw against Milton
Abbey 3rd team was disappointing and we
were outmuscled on grass by Sexey"s Ist X I.
always a good fixture. Our two wins were
against Dauntscy's 3-0 and King·s Taunton
4-2. an excellent performance. We held Wellington
to 3- 1 over there - all in all. it was a gutsy
season.
The great joy of this year group was the number
of b o y keen to play a the team list at the end will
show. There were some who ended in the A team
like Richie Dowdall. Shane Daniel and Andy
Windle. but others like George Stratton and
Malcolm Scou. who both played outstandingly,
were of similar standard. Han·y Clifton was the
leading scorer with nine goals: Freddie Mead
made a great impact in the seco nd half of the
season. The other backs, Charlie Maltby and
Freddie Lewis gave their all. the midfield was
solid and would have been more so if it had
contained James Bulley, Ed Posncll, Will Dawson.
Andy Windle and A li Johnston on the same day.
Giles Smallwood and Richard Coates cont1ibuted
goals up front and the oU1ers who played all
showed that they had plenty to offer. Charlie
Williams showed that when he put his foot down
he was an outstanding keeper.
The fun that the team had extended to practices:
for that DAS b to be thanked for trying to make
the whole Colts squad better. rather than just the
As. Thanks too to all the parents who braved the
traditionally chilly weather to see their son in
action.
Telml: C. Williams. C. Maltby. F. Lewis, S. Arden,
R. Dowdall. G. Stratton. S. Daniel, M. Scott,
J. Bulley. E. Posneu. A. Johnston. W. Dawson,
A. Windle, G. Smallwood. H. Clifton, M. Sudlow,
R. Coates. C. Gratebrook. R. Grazebrook,
F. Mead.
Resul1s: Played 7, Won 2. Lost 3, Drawn 2.
Dauntsey's
Sexey's
Bryanston
Wellington
King's Taunton
Milton Abbey 3rd XI
Canford
W
L
D
L
W
D
L
30I - 3
3- 3
I - 3
42
-l - 4
3G.D.R.
4
J uni or C o l t s A XI
A
ever, the hockey season tarted full
of optimism about what lay ahead and the
Junior Colts were keen to show what they were
made of. Whilst rc!.ults indicate that our season
was not successful, it is fair to say that al l of the
boys who represented the A team showed
promise and enthusiasm for the game.
The first game of our cason againM our local
rivals, K ing· Bruton. w a typical of Junior
Colt!> hockey. It w a fa t and furious with
the ball moving from end to end and no one
quite good enough to get the linal touch into
the goaJ. However. with one late breakaway. we
conceded a
goal and managed to lose 1-0. Ability to fashion a
string of pa scs which ended with the ball beating
the goa lkeeper for a goal eluded U!-1 throughout the
season and it is fair to say that the written record
would be somewhat different i f we had taken more
of our chances.
To lose our lirst !>ix games was disappointing,
especially considering t hat we were outplayed
only in two of them - by Wellington and Canford.
Against Exeter, Taunton. and King's Taunton we
conven
this with
had goodopportunitic!>.
passages of Combining
play and again
failedour
to
granting the opposition freedom in the ·o· meant
that our scorelines often failed to do us justice.
Our match against Taunton School was a
valiant effort and to lose 2-1 havio!! lo!>t the
goalkeeper in the opening three minute to injul)
reflected the <;pirit of the team. However. we could
and should have won the game outright and were
denied only by their ·keeper and the woodwork!
The game with Bryanston \\a. one of the lowest
points of the term and everyone was rightly
disappointed with the final scoreline. At one stage
in the second half. we were leading 2-1 and were
easily the more determined ..,ide. However. having
had their captain !.ent off with live minutes to go,
Bryanston rallied while we went to sleep,
conceding not one but three l<tte goals. This clearly
proves the adage that it b much harder to play
against ten men. Ironically, after an earlier injury,
the Ist X I were due on the astro immediately after
us and we had considered cutting rive minutes off
the game. If only we had!
Canford came and conquered and we were left
having played seven and lost seven. The Team of
the Month award was certainly not coming our
way.
After these defeats we all travelled to Millfield
knowing that the only way that our season could
be saved was by beating this most illustrious of
sporting schools. An hour later. with a !>core of
1-0 to us. even after having mis ed a penalty
stroke. we were triumphant. Millfield may claim
130
victories. we need to think carefully about how we
approach the season. It is easy to glo!.!> over fact!>
but the devil lies in the detail. The Mini-Colts A
team exemplifie this wonderfully a!. a number of
factor helped tum an excellent sea!.on on the pitch
into a mediocre one on the scorecard.
For example. the opening fixture versus King's
Bruton took place after two hours· practice on the
astro. Two hours is not long enough to select three
teams from II 0 boys. Bruton and others Millfield mo:.t notably - are given time with the
boys in the·Michaelmas tem1 if only to assess their
ability and pencil in possible teams. As a
consequence. in the firM week I selected the "rong
teams and it was thanks only to heroic1-. from Tom
Hillard in goal that we snatched a 0-0 draw from a
team we could have whippet!. With application
and consistency there is no doubt that Tom could
become a superb player. At his best. he proved to
be an awesome and in!.pirational last line of
defence.
The very low level of pcr onal fitness
Results: Played I0, Won 3, Lost 7.
demonstrated
by the boys well into the term was
0
I
King's. Bruton
L
apparent not only in their uncompetitivencss in
Exeter
L
l - 4 their early matches but abo in the recurrent theme
1 - 2 of muscle injuries - often !>Ustained whibt not on
Taunton
L
the hockey pitch. In consequence we never fielded
2 -4
Bryanston
L
1 - 5 a full strength team and three or four key players
Welline:ton
L
were injured for O\'er half the ca!>on. Currently.
1 - 5 the Michaelmas tenn has no time allocated to
King·s Taunton
L
0 - -l fitne s for hockey. and rugby training is apparently
Canford
L
I- 0
entirely skills-orientated. This may be satisfactol)
Millfield
W
1 - 0 for a sport demanding stamina and occasional
Claycsmore
W
bursts of speed from !.poradically used backs.
I-0
Well!. Cathedral
W
When hockey starts. boys arc woefully ill prepared
M.A.P. for the demand:-. placed upon them. as sustained
speed of movement. particularly off the ball. ill
essential throughout a seventy minute period.
M i n i - C o l t s A XI
Talking to opposition coache!-. lead!. me to believe
that we will rarely compete at this level unless we
Much hal> been ...aid in recent months about the can level the playing field in a way that other
state of :-.port in the School and there is no doubt schools already consider the norm. Against
that things can be done to improve mauers after a Canford we were run off the park losing 9-0 in the
period or decline. A1-. far al> numbers are County Cup. but a month later and liuer we
concerned. things certainly appear healthier. After competed effectively. going down 4-1 in a closely
last year's small intake. the Mini -Colts had a fought contest.
seeming embarrassment or riches with 110 boys.
Of course, from time 10 lime one comes up
including many self-proclaimed hockey players. against superior oppo ition and this year
In reality thi!-. allowed B. C anti D teams of
Clayesmore had gathered a good number of
roughly equal ability to be fielded but only a
coumy players and de erved their 5-0 victory in
handful of boy., of genuine A team 4uality. That
the Cup early on in the season. However. this
said. all those who represented the School did so
proved a useful benchmark a., we met them again
with detennination. good grace. and exemplary
in the final fixture of the sea-,on. Fielding all but
temperament. all qualities we arc trying to
one fir t choice player we !>howcd the level of skill
encourage from the outset in !>Chool hockey.
that this year's boys were capable of. The firM
A" ah\ays \\ith the Minis. it takes time for the
time Clayel>more touched the ball w a for their
b o y to gel and for many 11-a-sidc i'> a new
keeper to pick it out of the net - six minutes into
concept in thi !.port. That said. if we want to have
the game. This was excellent hockey played by
that they were resting players for the Colts
Divisional team. but all of their 'stars' come on
when it looked as if they might lose. In the end.
there was going to be only one winner and it was
the highlight of the :.cason to sec the boy!.· reaction
after such a momentous victory.
This result transfonncd us and we went on to
beat both Claycsmore and Wells Cathedral School.
Unfortunately we were still shy in front of goal
and both of these victories should have been by
wider margins but. having lost many games earlier
in the tenn. we did not care - a win was a win.
It was amazing to sec how confidence grew
once we started to win. I hope that the boys aU
learned from this and I would like to give my
thanks to them all. particularly Alec Russell the
captain. for all of the hard work that they put in.
My thank!> mu:-.t also go to Chris Palmer, our
gap year student. who helped with the A team and
ran the B team.
131
confident young men who know they can do it. In
a fascinating struggle against excellent opposition
(who had beaten Canford in the Cup) we earned
our 2- 1 win thanks to guts, detemunation and the
will to win. This was the highlight of my season!
Oddly enough, our season started to improve at
M illfield. of all places. But once again we
conspired to shoot ou r.;elve!> in the foot. On this
occasion our coach was late and in consequence
the oppo ition had fony minu tes to warm up and
drill whill.t we were given none. No surprise
therefore to lind ourselve::. 3-0 down after seven
minutes as they worked the short corners from the
bench. Working on the principle of 'What is sauce
for the goose . . .· I used a brief injury to explain
the numbering sy > em of their bench calls. From
then on they had a light on their hands and it took
a few :·.trange decillions. the post, and a suspect
foot to allow them a 5-0 win. After Lhe game it was
the opposition coach raving about Sherborne's
individual players that told me all I needed to
kn ow. Millfi eld 's ·professionalism· had won the
match but they'll be in trouble at Junior Colts
level, next year - and they know it.
Elsewhere. boys injured playing Rugby 7s.
others excused matches by their housemasters particularly on exeat weekends - and some hioh
quality opposition conspired to ensure that the
li1 al tally of results was very disappointi ng. But
th1s team was a good outlit with some talented
players. Alex Willis is a natural leader who. with a
little more speed. can become a solid man in
midfield. Zeddy Seymour has masses of nair.
'"'hich must be converted into winning and
retaining po. se:-.sion. Alex Webb is one
the
hardest grafter.. on any pitch. who needs merely to
learn that he is alway-. worthy of his place. ed
Kelly can only get beuer as he adds size to his
undoubted kill'>. and Eric Heath has pace that can
be e ploited as hi'> :-.tick work improves. Paddy
Horsmgton need:. more pace but also has the skill
and vision to go far if his distribution improves,
whibt Archie Mackay-James needs to channel that
excellent Mri ke into pulli ng the ball exactly where
he wants it. Ed Wicks also has fire power, but
need s to k eep his positional play tight at left back.
and James Grundon mu st learn the an of shielding
the goa l at right back. Giles Maber will do well
when the strikers give more support and finally the
promising Michael Saunders needs to son out his
injury prone body and usc his excellent sporting
and goal '>COring instinct to become a top cen t r
forward.
There is a lot to be done, but these boys and the
others who made their contribution can. and will.
ee the glory days of first cla:.s hockey return to
Sherborne when they play for the 1st X I - but they
have to work for it and believe it will happen. I do.
of
Results: Played 9, Won 2. Lost 4, Drawn 3.
Cup Competition: Played 3, Lo. t 3.
G.B-E.
M i n i - C o l t s B XI
The Mini-Colt!. B played eleven games this
season. unfortunately only winning three games.
drawing one and lo ing even . But I don't believe
this really renects the improveme nt which took
place this year. The beginning of the year saw the
formation of a team who had only really played
nine-a-side half-lield hockey. By the end of the
season the boys were playing an open !-lyle of full
field hockey that any coach would have been
proud of.
One of the weaknesses of this team was an
inability to put together consistent performances.
After pl aying a good game they would come out
and play an average game Ihe following week. But
I do believe thi s also improved as the season went
on, as the boys realised that the result from the
previous week really didn't affect the result for
this week.
There were two very memorable performances.
The first was my first game as coach , after taking
over from Dr. Wade. The game w a at home on
The Upper against King's Taunton. The boys
P.layed a.bove themselves against a good King's
s1de. Olhe Madley played an outstandino game in
goal. making a number of good saves. The rest of
the t am played an impressive passing game.
marking well to shut the Kin!!.'s side down. The
other memorable game wa'i. against a ver)
impressive Milllicld '>ide. Thi), was our last game
of the season. The boy-. :-.tarted with a hiss and a
roar. dominating the opposition. They again
pac;sed well, e'>pecially up front with Toby Evans,
Sam Cooke. John Barber. and Ed Sweet. Dan
Combe:-. played solidi) in the middle of the lield as
Pete Hame mar:-.hallcd the team well from the
back. Ollie Madlcy had another good game in
goal. After having played so we ll in this game. we
were unfortunat e not to h lve the result go our way.
Other players who impressed me thi s year were
f-!cnry Bull , .with his ability to hold up the right
s1de. Jack Lilli e, Rob Gore. and Chris Ball. who
were always reliable in defence. while Mark
Erskine was alway). dominant on the left hand side
of the field.
These boys were a pleasure to coach this year
and I am very gratefu l for the way t11ey played and
behaved throughout the season. I will take many
fond memories of the team back home to ew
Zealand.
Callum Walker
132
Football
1st XI
The occer fixture liM has become stronger over
the past few years. as the majority of schools that
we play now are footballing <;chools. Our results
this sea!>on are a clear indication too all that
Sherborne is developing a strong footballing unit.
At pre ent we ma) not be able to beat strong sides
such as Millfield but rm sure that in the ncar
future we will be a force to be reckoned with.
We Marted the season unsure about what to
expect as we had only three player who had
played first team football before. These fears soon
disappeared after we beat Downside 5-0. This
vict ory was followed by a disappointing 3-3 draw
against Bristol Grammar School. when we clearly
deserved more. We then surpassed our own
expectations in taking an curly lead. before losing
narrowly to an impressive Clifton side.
With half our team missing we completel y
outplayed King's Taunton and they were very
lucky to equalise with their only shot of the game
in the closing minute!>.
We then played Millfield in whm was our first
ever fixture against them . They arc a team who
generally don't play schools but clubs and
academies. Only midway through the .econd half
did they take control and win comfortably.
A hard fought encounter against a strong and
aggressive Gryphon side was the most
disappointing game of the l.eason. Sherborne had
the better chance. but failed to take them and
eventually a defen ive error coM us the game.
Warminster came to Sherborne with a
reputation of being a strong football -.chool: we
put five goaJs past them in the first half. The game
finished 7-0 which wall an outstanding re!.ult.
reflecting how far we've come this sca!-on.
Charlie Cox has been an outstanding player for
the School over the last two year and has excelled
this season, scoring ten goa ls. Linley Lewis's
striking ability proved to be far more impressive
than his present haircut! ll is strengt h opened up
defences and he too scored ten goa ls. This
partnership of pace and power was invaluable to
the whole team and caused havoc umong even the
strongest of defences. The midfield pairing of
Jason Huu and Hugh Poraj-Wilczynski
comributed to the succes of the team not only in
creating numerou chances but when defending as
welJ. The pace of David Bridger and Charlie
Pushman down the nanks provided a useful
133
service to the front men. Their ability to cross the
ball and beat their opponent gave the strikers
man} opponunitie to score. With three penalties
and one own goal conceded. a lesser man might
not have recovered from a catru.trophic game at the
stan of the season. but to Tom Traves this was
simply a minor etback. Since lhj . he has come a
long wa} thi!. season hardly ever faltering. except
from coring just one more own goal against
Milfield. He i!> our mo!>t experienced and reliable
defender and has performed superbly over the
course of the !>ea!>on controlling the defence and
pro' iding an excellent service from free kicks.
Fin ally. Torn Chamberlai n 's commitment and
ability to read the game in combination with rus
shot stopping forms a great asset to the team.
Despite a mixture of success and failure in
rather unexpected form thi" season. it h as been an
enjoyable one.
Mr. Willow s h as
been
a
terrific
coach motivatin g, teachin g and developing
football at Sherborne School. Mr. Nurton has
organi sed all the fi x tures and has been very
encouraging throughout the season. l would like
to thank both
of them on behalf of all of Ul>.
Harry ter Haar
2 n d XI
This -.cason\ 2nd X I football team encountered
many ...ucces!>C'>, both in tenus of resu ltS and
excellent perfom1ances b} all players. We faced
many '>trong teams who play football all through
the year: these successes we re all the more sweet.
We lo-.t only one match (away to Millfield)
tbrougholll the \\hole cason. a record whi ch is an
improvement on last \cason, shO\\ ing that football
at Sherborne is growing in reputation and
popularity.
Our strengths a a team were solidarity in
defence. a dynamic auack. and a great team spirit.
Our last match against Warmin ster showed all of
these qualiti es, coming back from 2-0 down at half
time, to win 3-2 in a l>piritcd performance.
On behalf of the whole team. I'd like to thank Mr.
Cameron , the m anager, for hi steely hal f-tirne talks.
and to Mr. Willows, for hi" excellent coaching.
Team: D. P. Rol>ewell (Captain). C. J. S. Hart.
A. Fatayer. J . R. Hood. J .
. Mi evi
lle.
G. T. W. May. A. D. Wood. S.Gad, R. W. Jordan.
N. M. Pothecary. J. F. Helliar. 0 . J. C. Murra}.
Result.\ : Pia) cd 9. Won 5. Lo-.t 2. Drawn 2.
Derek Ro ewell
134
Rugby Sevens
Seniors
Unfortunate ly, owin g to the foot and mouth
crisis. the seniors did not have their u ual warm-up
at the Blundell's tournament. so it was straight into
the prestigious Chri!.t College B con tournament
with teams invited from far-rangrng places.
The School put up a spirited performance
aoainst good opposition. After beating Harrow.
h th St. Joseph's and Wellington College had to
dig deep to overcome Sherborne's aggressive
defence. Llandovcl) and Millfield had too much
pace .
A holders of the West of England trophy. the
School were treated with respect and efficient!)
beat Wellinsnon School and Richard H uish.
However t h e muddy conditions did not !:.Uit our
style of play and Monmouth won in the deciding
group match. This m ea nt that. . th e Sch?ol
completed in the plate competition , bcat111g
Downside in the semi-final but losing to a very
nood Blundell's team in the final.
e
The Surrey Sevens at Richmond was the
low point of the season. The School played the
seven that they were capable of onl) in their
final game against Worth, but they had
squandered chances before. and did not progress
further than the group matches.
The National Sevens was a different story. The
School simply outclassed their opponents in the
group matches. Patience in attack and defence
with a hunger for any loose ball made sure that
there was plenty orpossession for the schooltea!n.
Only Mill Hill inconvenienced the School wtth
their physical play. Barnard Castle. Worth and St.
Paul s were left chasing c;hadows as the !.upport
play of the School changed the focal point of the
pia) \O quick!). The lir"t round of the knockout
<,tages of this competition drew Christ College
Brccon as our opponent!.. Christ College·, -,y.,tem
of U',ing a sweeper left gaps in their defence which
the School eaocrly exploited. However. the
School's presS"u re defence. stoppin g th ei r
opponents' talented runners work ing o ve rl a p s
left
them exposed to the kick ahead and ch ase. In the
end. Christ Brecon had too much pace, but it was
a cracking game. and supporters from both teams
had ' ' itnes.ed a . kilful and passionate encounte r.
The School left the National Sevens with their
reputation intact.
Senior Squad: N. K. Cook (Captain ), J. C. Britten,
N.J. E. Cramp, L. R. R. Edlmann, H. W. Farris, C.
P. W. Gammell. H. N. L. B. Hunt, J .D. Hutt . 0 . W.
Luard. H. T. Mitchell. D. R. Poraj-Wilczyn ki.
Seniors
Result. : Christ College, Brecon
beat Harrow
lost to Llandovery
lost to St. Joseph's Ipswich
1oM to Wellington College.
lo t to Mill field (quarter-fina l)
West of England
bet ! Wellington School A
beat Wellington School B
bem Richard Hu ish
lost 10 Monmouth
beat Downside (plate semi-final).
lo-.t to Blundell' (plute linal).
Surrey Sevens
beat Worth
lost to Tiffin , Cranleigh
Natio nal Sevens
beat Barn ard Castle
beat Worth
beat Mill Hill
beat St. Paul's
lost to Chril>t College. Brecon (last 2-l)
Juniors
This year's group showed that they had t alent. but
they also showed poor deci!.ion making and a lack
of vision. In attack. one more pa s wou ld have put
somebody in pace and stret ched the defence. In
defence. certain individua ls were not conlident
and this put pressure on other . However. there
were those who tackled every th ing in sight and
they were the players who ended up playing in the
linal games. It was then that the character typica l
of Sherborne sides came out.
At the West of England Sevens. the School
looked impressive again<.. the less talented
Queen's Taunton and Devizel. teams, but came
unsruck against the hustle and bustle of Bryanston
who just J..nocked the School out of their stride. So
it was the plate competition for the School. Having
watched the seniors give a most inspiring exa mple
on how to play competitiv e sevens as they beat
Down side comprehensive ly, at last the U 16s
realised what was necessary to win matches. and
the) played a most disciplined and aggressive
game overcomi ng Blundell's in the plate emi
linal.
In the plate linal, they played well. but wasted
chan ces, narrow ly losing to the Welsh side
Birchgrovc.
It was a tough draw in the Nmional Sevens. but
bad decision-m aking in the first game wasted three
scoring opportunities in the lirst half. Wallington
just hung in there until the School became
135
desperate and frustrated and Wallington eventually
took advantage of the School's mistakes. For lhe
next game again t a talented Campion side. the
Schooll.elected a team of triers who nearly pulled
off a glorious win. The final game was against last
U 16
year's
winner!.
of
the
competition. Manchester Grammar School. The
same team of workcn. were pitted against M.G.S.
and the School won b) five trie\, pia) ing
attractive and sensible rugby.
It was felt that t h i squad had learnt a lot this
season. doing most of lhe learning the hard way.
U16 Squad:
P.
R.
B.
U 16 Results: West of England
beat Queen's Taunton A
beat Queens's Taunton B
beat Devi1es
lost to Bryan!.lOn
beat Blundell's (plate semi-final).
IO!>t to Birchgrove (plate final)
Natio nal Sevens
beat Manche tcr Grammar School
lol>t to Campion. Wallington.
U 15 Results: Blund ell's
lost
lost
lost
lost
Boshier
(Captain).
M. J. Clapp. W. R. B. Dawson . R A. Dowdal l.
K. M. Ha1ell. M. J. H . Hurst. M . J . E. Ly
ne.
T. J. Mabcr, C. W. H. Quick. M. J. 0. Robinson,
M. J . D. Scou . A. J . Waring, A. C. G. Windle.
to Millfield
to Glantaf
to Taunton
to Plymouth
A.M.D.
Cross-Country
The !.cason was full of promise. We knew from
their pcrfonnances last year lhat we had a Colts
team thut wou ld take -,omc beating. and our Senior
team. bolstered by the presence of Piers Boshier.
looked a competiti\e outfit. Early succes
es confirmed expectation . At Downside we
won handl.omely in both uge groups.
ew
c o m e in the Third Fom1. David Nicholas in
panicular. acquitted them'>elve ' c r y well. The
Senior team was far wonger than we had thought
it would be.
At Millon Abbey. a fixture we always look
forward to for the friendliness of the welcome and
lhe keenness of the racing over difficult and
interesting
ground.
we
did
well,
the
Seniors winning. and the Colts losing by only one
point. It seemed that nothing could pre,cnt our
having an exceptional cason.
The House Cros -Country Competit ion was the
most successful in recent yea.-... There was an
excellent tum-out of Senior and Lower School
136
runners. The general standard of competition was
high. Walking was down to a minimum, and only
those at their la.\t gasp up the hill resorted to it.
Everyone made an honest effort. The Colts race
was a thriller. Ale>. Crutcher using his pace over
the last couple of hundred metres to narrowly beat
James Bailey. The 2002 race wi ll be worth
watching: Piers Boshier will doubtless be seeking
revenge, and Charlie Pitt Ford is already in
Lraining!
And then came Foot and Mouth. All fixtures
were cancelled. including the Sherborne Trophy.
the Terraces were closed. and the season
effectively ended. Training continued on Carey's,
but it wasn't the same. Running round a grass
Lrack is a poor substitute for Lover's Lane. the
Castle Run. or hill reps. We tried to arrange a few
competitive meetings to take place on the playing
fields. but schools were understandably reluctant
to travel in the face of advice to cut journeying to
a minimum. We resigned ourselves to 'ticking
over· and have set our sights on Lent tem1 2002.
The best piece of newc; i') that Tony Harri . who
retired from teaching in July. will return to coach
and manage cross-country running next Lent tenn.
thereby completing thirty glorious years. Rumour
had it that he was about to replace Thora Hird in
the stair-lift advertising campaign. We assume that
that commitment has given way to the more urgent
business of seeing Sherborne triumphantly
through next season.
B.J.H.
Basketball
Basketba l l at Sherborne is still one of the m ost
successfu l sports played here and the School lost
only one match during the season. However, last
year the season was severely cut short owing to the
foot and mouth crisis and as a result our usually
extensive fixture list wa!> cut to only eighteen
fixtures.
It is very rare that the senior teams lose but they
came across a slightly stronger team at
Marlborough thil> year and unfortunately went
down 77-57. This was to be the only defeat for the
School but there were many highlighti> during the
season such as the demolition of K ing's Bruton
and the cliffhanger against Stanbridge.
Whilst the U 17s were notching up their third
unbeaten season, the U ISs were marking up their
fir t (of many) unbeaten season!> and the U I-ts,
Mill learning the game. managed to win all four of
their games.
The senior team nc>.t year should be one of the
strongest that we have seen for some time and
hopefully we will be able to revive some of the
fixtures that were cancelled last year.
U14 Results: Played 2. Won 2.
Warminste r
Stanbridge
w
w
43-24
45-42
King Anhur·s
W
Huish Episcopi
W
66-57
(aet)
80-43
U 15 Results: Played 2. Won 2.
U I 6 Results: Played 5. Won 5.
Stanbridge Earb·
King's Bruton
Huish Episcopi
Marlborough
Shaftesbury
W
W
8 5 - 37
61 - 3 5
7 4 - 33
42-40
W
99-45
U / 9 Results: Played 4, Won 3. Lost I .
Won
All Stars
Won
Warminster
Won
King's Bruton
Lost
Marlborough
77-57
S.J.C.
U16 Basketball
With what must !>urdy be a record for any
Sherborne sports team. the U 16s enjoyed a third
successive undefeated sea on.
This is a very good group of players. with three
of them regularly playing for the Fir::.ts. but what
delighted me was not their con iderable pe onal
skills but their ::.en'>e of teamwork, their
communication, and their re-.ilience in defence .
These auributes were particularly evident in the
enthralling fixture at Marlborough against another
undefeated side. After a first half dominated by
two players. our own Tinne and Hughes of
Marlborough, who both seemed unhindered by
eith er m an-to-man or 1.0ne defence . Sherborne led
24- 14 at the break. Bu t , at what cost? Bot h pl ayers
and Golden, ou r other main scorer. had picked up
four out of the five permissible persona l fou ls. The
umpiring was fim1 but fair and it was indicative of
the sen e of shared re!>ponsibility within this team
that Tinne and Golden lasted the match whereas
Hughes did not. With our main shooter') re!>ted for
periods in the second half. it became imperative
that the rest of the team started to shoot and con:
and Tokiat-rung-rueng. Hung. and Okano won us a
well-deserved victory.
As the other result., !>ugge!.t. none of the other
fixtures came close to the Marlborough match in
W
137
W
4 5 - 17
42-27
6 1- 3 5
terms of excitement but they did allow us to play a
more expansive game with a full-court press
defence being employed to great effect for the first
five minutes of each match. With the fieet
footedness and quid. reactions of the first five,
opposing team . were often shocked to have the
ball tolen repeatedly and to find themselves with
a large deficit to redrcs!> after only a few minutes.
This method of defence relies on the fitness of the
whole team as they constantly rotate position
around the court and the movement of players off
the ball was the <L\pect of the team's performance
that showed most progress this season. One area in
which there b sti ll a weakness is rebounding and it
was frustrating at times for such a La lented team
not to regain more possession. Tokiat-rung-rueng
had just started imposing himself within the key at
both ends as the season drew to a close. It is a
shame that Golden h as subsequentl y returned to
the Un ited States as hi s partnership with Tinne was
delightful to watch and often mesmerised defences
and spectators alike.
I would like to thank David Poraj -Wilczyn ski
and Henry Tinnc for their captaincy of the team
and all of the players for their dedication and
attention during our short training sessions. There
is much more pressure for team places in the Sixth
Forn1 and I hope that all of the players continue
with basketball as their Lent Term option.
U14 Basketball
As ever. the initial l.how of interest was far
greater than the number of players \\ ho
consistently arrived for practices - perhaps the
loss of Friday afternoon free time was too great a
sacrifice!
There were always ten men to call on. though.
Despite a wide range of ability. which is often the
case in the Third Fonn, all were keen and usually
aggressive players who. more often than not.
passed to each other and mostly in the right
direction! Much progres:- was made during the
term; we remained unbeaten, even against a
depleted Shaftesbury team. Thb match is one I
shall remember well :-ince I had to time-keep and
score after the clock. scoreboard, and scoresheets
remained locked in the cupboard to which no one
had a key (apart from SJC who wa:. with the U 19
squad. playin g away).
Talent spotters mi ght like in future to keep an
eye on Kolatomi Doh erty: a predatory player if
ever there was one who would rebound repeatedly
until he scored. I f onl y we cou ld get him to
understand the three second rule . . .
Team: 1. Homer (Captain), F. Curry. P. Collins.
K. Doherty, A. William!>, S. McEvoy, H. Butt.
S. Crawford. R. Howland-Jackson
Team: H. Tinne. S. Golden, D. Poraj-Wilczynski.
J .S.
P. Tokiat-rung-rueng. E. Okano. C-H. H. Hung,
C. Quick. S. Bu l!>uk. G. lnomata, D. Angus,
A . Kwong.
P.J .W.
Squash
This was an encouraging season. ot only was
it fairly !.Ucces!>ful. with the I st V winning five of
its six games and the CoiL V four of its five
games, but the boys who played were enthusiastic
and dedicated. It was particularly encouraging that
th ere were many keen Third Formers as it bodes
we ll for th e next few years.
The two ou tstand i n g players of the season were
Justin Gu lston and James Leakey. Seeded one and
two, th ey both won all their matches against
school opposi tion. which is no mean achievement.
Gul!>ton hit the ball with tremendous power and is
deceptively quick around the court. He will
become an extremely good player if he can
improve his sh ort game. Leakey's game is the
complete opposite of Gulston's: he has lovely
touch and possesses an excellent lob but at present
lack\ power. It i!. re<L<>11uring to know that Gulston
still has a year left at the School and Leakey two
yearl>.
Freddie Coriell wal'. the mo!.t improved player
of the sea on and de!>crved his colours. He made a
particularly important contribution against Clifton
where he won the deciding match 9-7 in the fifth
game. Charlie lloarc, unfortunately, started
playi ng squash regularly only after half-term and
so did not progre ss as mu ch as he might have
done. He does however have excellent timing and
a sound techniqu e. and will be an inva luable
member of the team next season . Finally, Will
Mackre ll played quite well in most of his matches,
but was never fit enough and struggled towards the
end of the comests.
James Harding played as first seed for the Colts
and won all but one of hi-; matches. He is a
Lalented player who wi ll improve considerably
over the next two year11 if he can work hard on
improving his technique which is fairly
unorthodox at presen t. Richard Round-Tu rner was
the number two seed. He is a third former and
138
unsurprisingly was overpowered in some of the
games. He does however have excellent touch and
a sound tactical awareness and will improve
rapidly over the next couple of seasons. Crispin
Vollers also improved considerably over th e
season which was a just reward for his enthusiasm
and dedication. Seamus Crawford had not played
before coming to the School but by the end of the
season was giving the others in the team a close
game. Finally Nick Howe played with a bustling
competitive style which brought him a number of
convincing wins.
Colours were awarded to Justin Gulston and
Freddie Corlett.
R.W.B.
Fencing
Surprise. surprise. It was another unbeaten
season for the First and Second fencing teams. l n
the
Michael mas Term
we crushed
Bryanston·s First and Second teams. A simi lar
fate awaited King's Bruton, though this time the
victory was a perfect 9-0 for our first team,
consisting of Rob WilJington, the pacy and
unconventional Jonny Collins, and younger
member J ames Jenkins, whose good use of
compound attacks often gave him the advantage.
The second team, captained by Chris Chow. and
combining the talents of Robert Symondson and
James Titley also won. These performances
were repeated in the retLtm matches in the Lent
Term.
There is nothing extraordinary for the club
about the above: this is the seventh unbeaten
season for the Firsts, an impressive record.
However, there are two achievements of which we
should be especially proud this year.
Firstly. this is the first year in my memory in
which we have been able to field a Third team
consisting entirely of Third Formers. They were
captained by Jason Barnes, and consisted of Owen
Skinner and Jon Tremewan. This team performed
adrrurably, especially since they always played
against opposing schools' seconds, as no other
school in the area can put up a third team. Of
special note was our first match against King's
Bruton, in which the third team, with only a few
weeks' experience of the game, beat Bruton's
second team.
Secondly. this was the first year in which the
club has been able to send two fencers to the
national finals. These were Rob WilJington and
139
compete only on one of the two days. but this was
a successful day, with the South West foil
team beating all other teams except the South
East.
In short. this has been yet another good year for
the Club, and I am plea sed to hand over
the captaincy to J onny Collins. Thank s also
go to FraUlein Dedek once again for all
her time organising the matches and budget of
Rob Willington
the Club.
Jonny Collins. This wa<> a tough competition,
where we were in competition against the best
fencers in the country, so it was with great pride
that we both finished in the top 30. with Jonn y
achieving 18th place. This is tntly impressive, and
he also has one more year at school in which to
improve in this.
On a personal note. l was proud to be asked to
represent the South West as part of a team of three
in the inter-section championships. f was able to
G ol f
The past year has been a most enjoyab le and
successf ul one for the School. Numbers joining
the Society have been as good as in previous
years. with over forty members playing in the
Trinity Term. the majority of them from the junior
part of the School. The weather this year has been
very good with very few days bei ng cancelled
because of the course being closed.
Once again Sherborne Golf Club has been most
accommodating, providing us with a line course.
excellent catering, and a very friendly welcome. I
must stress again tha t it is vital that all members of
the School Society observe the dress code and
golfing etiquette and maintain a good relation ship
with the Club.
ln the Michaelma s Tem1 matches were played
against Milton Abbey, Canford, Bri stol Grammar
School and the OSGS. Unfortunately we were
never able to field our strongest side because of
rugby commitments and injuries and so we were
defeated in all these contests. When it came to the
HMC Foursome s (the team was at full strength!).
two excellem victories against Cheltenham and
QEH Bristol advanced us into the semi-finals of
the SW Midland s Divi sion to play against King
Edward's Bath in the Trinity Term. For the first
time
ever.
the
West
of
England
Schools Competition at Burnham and Berrow
Golf Club was called off at the end of March
because the course was flooded.
The Trinity term fixtures all have to be played
in the first three weeks of term because of the early
start of exanlination s and the impossibility of
playing any school matches on Saturdays. The
matches against Canford and Milton Abbey were
both lost , King's Bruton were defeated. halves
against the OSGS and the Staff were cunningly
pieced together! The semi-final of the HMC
Foursomes was lost 2 1h - 112, but special menti on
must be m ade of Nick Lee and Leo Thom who
halved with the King Edward's Bath first pair, one
of whom played off a handicap of two. The parent s
once again just pipped their sons 5 1h - 4 1h. The
parental handicaps will have to be even tougher
next year!
I mu st give my sincere thank s lO
Tom William s for his enthu siastic captaincy
and dedication to golf over the past five years,
and
Leo
and to the sta lwarts Nick Lee
Thom . Jt is pleasing to note that only two
members of the Upper Sixth were in the team. so
next year should be successfu l. Thanks mu st
go to all my colleagues who have helped with
matches. driven minibuses to Sherborne Golf
Club, and allowed boys to miss their lessons.
Team from: T. C. B. Williams, N. H. A. Lee,
P. A. L. Thorn, L . W. Vassay. A. C. Drew,
E. M .
Radcliffe, C. 0 .
M. Mullineux ,
W. P. D. Yates. G. W. Ball , F. C. Berthon,
J. R. G. Barber, E. J. Ward.
140
M.J.C.
Fives
This has not been an easy year because only
three courts have been operation al. In spite of this
difficulty. it has been a most successful season in
many ways .
In
November
the
Briti sh
Universities' Championships were held at the
School with last year's captain Michael Taylor
playing for Durham
University. ln early Janu ary Ben Wood reached the
semi-final of the West of England Open Schools'
Colts Singles, losing in three games to a strong
player from Bradfield. The Lent Tenn
saw victories over King's Bruton and Marlborough
for the 1st IV. Blundell's should have been
defeated, but too many unforced errors cost us
the match. C li fton, The Pil grims, The Old
Tonbridgians and The RFA Club were too
strong for us, but top quality sing les play
from Ben Wood kept the School in touch on
many occasions.
Ed Hord er is a very good captain , leading by
exa mple and showing concern for all members of
the squad. His ow n play is rapidly improving,
show ing power and guile. More consistency is still
needed. Ben Wood is one of the best players in his
age group in tbe country, as his resu lts in The
National Championships show. He reads the game
so well. places the ball where he wants and makes
very few unforced errors. Sam Mason has one of
the hardest left hand shots of any schoolboy, but is
inclined to rely on that power rather than both
bands. J ames Sykes has continued to improve
showing great detennination in all aspects of the
game. Varun Singh also played for the I st IV but
shoulder problems limited his appearances. We
hope that he will be fully fit for next season.
There is great depth in the junior part of the
School with the Third and Fourth Forms providing
some exciting prospects in David Kirk, David
Park, and John Barber. It is very pleasing to see
that on Friday afternoons throughout the Trinity
Term The Courts have been busy with both staff
and boys playing.
In April, Sherborne again went to the National
Championships at St. Paul's, with high hopes
especially for Ben Wood in the Colts Singles. Ben
progressed easily through the group stages and
eventually reached the final after hard fought,
three game matches in both the quarter and sem i
finals. In the final he came up against
an exceptional player from St. Paul's, whose
power was too great, and he went down 11-5.J 1-6
but not without steadfast resistance. Ben ·s
potential
is enonnous and. once the
Championships are held at a different venue. who
knows what may happen? Ed Horder and Ben
Wood lost in the plate final of the Senior
Doubles, while J ohn Barber defeated David Kirk
in the U 14 plate final and then teamed up with
him in the doubles final which they narrowly
lost. A most successfu l four days were spent in
London.
Finally my thanks go to all those involved in
coaching Fives at Sherborne - Paul Car
ling, Richard Bool, and Ri ck Brewer for
he lping players of all standards to improve
their skills, tactics and all round performance.
Thank you to all parents who have followed us
round the country in all weather condit ions!
I sr IV Squad: E. J. Horder. 8 . J.
Wood.
S. A. Mason, J. R . W. Sykes.
Also played: V. Singh
2nd
I V Squad: V. Singh. M.
A. J . Brooks, G. A. N. Dudley.
D.
Barber.
Colts IV Squad from: M. D. Barber. A. J. Brooks.
G. A. N. Dudl ey, D. N. Kirk. D. M. Park
.
J. R. G. Barber, J . R. Barnes.
House Senior Cup: The Digby
House Junior Cup: Abbey
M J.C.
The Richard Green Trophy: Ben Wood. Abbeylands
Sailing
Racing
Under the captaincy of Robert Gosling this
season 's sai ling teams had mixed success: the
senior team enjoyed victories over Bryanston,
Millfield. and Clayesmore. However. the team's
arch-rivals at Canford had several lucky ventures
and one clear one over us. The Sherborne 1st V I
has greater depth than Canford. but Canford has
several very experienced helms who race regularly
in Poole Harbour at weekends.
The Dorset Cup Senior Competition ream was
unfortunately weakened owing to examination
pressures, but the team fmished third. The Dorset
Cup Junior Competition team was more successful
and finished second. The team's performance at the
B.S .D.R .A. (British Schools' Ding h y R acing
Association) area finals in May was excellent in the
opening stages and the team finished top of their
group. We were then beaten by Canford and ended
as plate fmalist - fourth of the nine teams entered.
14l
The School's entry to the National Schools'
Competition at llchenor proved
to be
ve ry successful. f ver Ahlmann and Jamje
Seymour finished ninth out of forty three. This was
a superb acruevcment as they were competing
in an old boat and they easi l y won the prize for
the 'best older boat'. One race was sailed in a
Force Eight and some new boats fell apart while
the Sherborne boat kept going. After one
capsize and feeling exhausted. our crew turned to
see two girls planin g pasr them . Perhaps it was thi s
which gave them the determination to right the
boat and continue the race.
It was good of lver 's parents from Germany to
stay in Chichester to see the racing before takjng
him on to the Commemoration Ball. J ver and
Jamie stayed in ltchen or with Murray and Liz Fox,
parents of Chris Fox (f, 83-88). Chris is a former
Captain of Sailing and with Ian Walk er he won the
World Internationa l 14 Championships.
Mu ch of the success of the team must be
attributed to the coaching of Simon Skinner and
David Thomson on Sutton Bingham Reservoir.
This has often been in wild, wet , and windy
conditions when Simon must have wished to be
back in the Music School and David must have
wished he was teaching rus Yacht Masters Theory
classes in the warm.
The teams are very grateful ro them for their
hard work and fortitude.
Cruising and Training
The Mkhaelmas tenn 2000 was spent at Sutton
Bingham Reservoir, which fortunately remained
full. This was hardly surpri sing after the poor
summer weather and the weuest sai ling camp on
record !
We try to involve as many third formers as
possible in their lirst weeks in the School.
Bob Macdonald organized another splendid
boys' week end in the Solen!. Dinner as usual was
at Gins Farm on the Beaulieu Ri ver. It was good to
see Angus Cater with his new boat 'St. Just'.
The Lent term is only for the detennined all
weather
sailors
and
activ ities
were
large ly restricted to team training, until the
foot-and
mouth crisis closed the reservoir.
As the summer term approached. it seemed the
sailing would reall y suffer because of foot-and
mouth restricti ons. English China Clay did not
renew our licence to sail at Arn e becau se we have
to travel over farmland 10 reach our
beach. Fortunately the Sutton Bingham Club
opened in mid-April becaus e Dorset. and most of
Somerset, h ad escaped.
We are extremely grateful to John Heppell of
R ock ley Boat Park for allowing us to keep six
470s and the 'James Auckland' safety boat in his
enclosure for May and June. We can launch from
there at any state of tide and the boats are safe in a
locked compound at ni ght. Tackjng out through
142
the moored boats at Rockley Point presented our
helms with a real challenge and there were some
occasions when the masters-in-charge were glad
that no-one was aboard their boats as they became
targets for out-of-control 470s. We received help
from Rockl ey Point Sailing School and Bryanston
School wh ile we were there. The number of boys
sailing was very good with all six 470s our on
many occasions and with Sutton Bingham open
or racing and training it proved to be a far more
successful term than expected.
The boys missed the camping at Arne and it
was not possible to hold a Sailing Club Camp.
Next summer, with tJ1e pressure of GCSEs, AS
Levels and A Levels affectin g the boys in their
final three summers in the School, it remains to be
seen whether Arne can return to its full use
- sailing late on Saturdays. camping overnight
and full days
sailing on Sundays
with
cruises to Studland and Shell Bay.
The futw·e is very encouraging. We are buying
six new 470s and the insurers have bought us a
brand new Hobie 16. on a 'new for old' basis.
when the old one was destroyed by a powerboat in
Poole Harbour. Could thi s be something to do with
the fact that one of the partners in the brokers is a
keen Hobie sai lor? Our next purchase will be
aRJ.B . to increase our safety boat cover. This will
cost about £I 0,000. A rigid inflatable is the ideal
boat for coming alongside capsized dinghies.
Two new members of staff, Andrew Millin gton
and Peter Chillin gworth, are both keen on sail ing
and now that John Mitchell 's family is older, he
has kind ly offered to help next summer at Arne.
Chris Hamon continues to run the Sai ling Club
and Simon Skinner the racing. David Thomson of
Sulton Bingham S.C. helps on Thursdays with
training and Andrew Yorke assists with driving
and maintenance. We are hoping LO run courses
with Sutton Bingham S.C., which is a recognized
R.Y.A . teaching establ ishment. The future looks
bright.
Andrew Yorke
Swimming
The start of the 2001 swimm ing season looked
to be rather problematic in term s of
finding enough team members . Many of our
experienced senior team had left school in 2000,
and our junior team was severely reduced as
many members moved up to swim at the senior
leve l. This also brought the problem of our
new
senior
team having to swim further
distances than at junior level. testing both Lheir
speed and stamina.
All my worries eventually
proved
to
be unfounded. The senior team worked hard
underall
the but
captaincy
of Anton
Borozdin and
went
win
one of
th eir fixtures.
Notable
on to
performances
were contributed by Tom
Bridegroom in backstroke and i ndi vidual medley,
Will Goodhew in breaststroke, Mish Islam and
Anton Borozd in in freestyle and Ollie Luard an d
143
Pix Hedderwick in butterfly. Pix narrowly missed
out on breaking Lhc sen ior butterfly record.
The junior team was less successfu l in terms of
results, but gained much in tem1s of experience.
With only one experienced team member, Met
Heangtrakul, it was important to find n ew
members from Lhe Lower School.
Three
third formers came into th e squad to fill the gaps:
Ben Leach, who wi ll be a strong force within the
team for the future, Owen Skinner, who swam
butterfly, and James Grundon. who came into the
squad for the last match.
There is much talent and commitment within
the squ ad, an d 1 look forward to the 2002 season
under the captaincy of James Hood.
K.L.M.
Cricket
1 s t XI
·A sportsman is a man who does n?t boast;.nor
quit; nor make excuses when he falls. He IS _a
cheerfu l loser. and a quiet winner. He play fatr
and as well as he can. He enjoys the pleasure of
risk. He gives his opponent the benefit of the
doubt and he values the game itsel f more highly
than the result.'
Anonymous
·Just as businessmen get ulcers through business.
sportsmen must expect to suffer the strain of
their work in sport.·
Ken Barrington
!.O
If the 2001 cricket season is judged by these
criteria then it can be considered a success. I t may
we ll h ave produced a few u lcers and it has
certai nly created a dea l of st ress. I spe k from
pe rsonal experience. I am aware that the 1ssue of
sport at Sherborne is being discussed widely. Here
I simply raise a few question and suggest some
answer!..
The standard of cricket at the school we play
has chanoed considerably over recent years. There
was a ti.;e when we were the biggest school in this
area and automatically attracted the most talented
boys. The former is :,till the case (blll not by a!>
much); the latter is certainly not the case.
On the cricketlield this season. playing against
Kino's Taunton and Mill field was like playing
agai st a Test tean . whcrc s playing. against
King's Bruton was akm to play111g the Jumor Colts
B team.
One Colt player was cho!>en for the Ist XI. He
is a competitive and talented young man b t had
not produced outstanding perfonnances m t e
junior school. H is left arm unorthodox _spm
bowlino :.uogested that he was an exc11111g
prospeci rath r than the finished article. T e _most
talented cricketer of the Colts was InJured
t hroughou t the term. There was very l itt c obvious
w lent , as opposed to rather enth us1asm and
commitment. for the game in the Lower Sixth
year. Hence the bulk of the X I was chosen. from
the Upper Sixth. Thil. particular year had enJoyed
some success on the cricket licld at junior level but
were not considered a )>trong ) ear.
And here I pose my fir!.t questions. Do we
categorise too early? Do we make assumptions on
individuals and year group before most have had
time to develop? Do we as teachers and coaches,
give up too soon on raw material? Do we only
expect to work with the mo!>t talented boys on the
games field? Are we living in the past? When
Sherborne was a larger school in term!. of numbers
and with some boys staying on for an extra term
after their Upper Sixth year and we were recruiting
the moM talented boys in the area, successful
teams were inevitable. Maybe some reputations as
games coaches w ere enhanced. A good
coach/teacher getS the bes t out of the ability
available. This applies as much to the classroom
as the games
field. Do we a_lways
appreciate/recognise this? I have always sa1d that
the C team boy in the Mini-Colts who progresses
to play I st X I cricket is a success story and renectS
well on the system. Perhaps we shoul be satisfi d
that this b not uncommon in most maJor games 111
the School.
The Duke of Edinburgh once said ·we take
sport much too seriously and for all the w ro n
reasons'. W hat is our objective at Sherborne? Is 11
to si mply prod uce a talented l si X I (which, one
hopes, is successfu l) and a llow the game to suffer
in the lower reaches? Or is it to provide an
opportunity for all to experience the benefits
as!>ociated with team games and endeavour as
individuals towards the common goal'?
·some local education authorities actually think
competitive sport is bad for children. They'd be
tellino u next that water doesn't suit goldfish'. As
a sch ol I think all wou ld agree that we stand for
excellence. But do we offer excellent
opportunities for all the boys? Only tw_o o¥s in
the I st xr this year claimed to have had IndiVIdual
tuition at batting before this season. Cricket is a
game where individual coaching is essential. s
the England one-day side have discovered. there IS
no substitute for genuine clas!> but there are
techniques thaL should be learnt at county level.
These skill!> should more readily be transferred to
the international stage. Likewise at school basic
technique!. should be taught lov.cr down the
school. and cricket at senior leYeb should be n
opportunity to hone those skills and gam
experience.
.
.
We lack facilities to coach or practice dunng
the wi nter months. There is too great a demand on
the indoor facil ities for it to be pos ible easily to
organise cricket coaching session and those staff
able to help are already committed to other sports.
We lol>e out to other schools who run regular
indoor -.ession<. but it is difficult to quantif) the
effect thi!> ha-. on performances in the ummer. A
!.ugge:.tion that an indoor ricket a r c could be
incorporated into the refurbl!.hment ol the Upper
Pavilion immediately evaporated because of lack
of fund-..
Should we offer incentivei> for talented games
player to choose Sherborne? But at which
144
particular sport? It is interesting to note that one of
the very few games won by both the hockey and
rugby teams was against King'!; Taunton. At
cricket they were in a different class from us,
largely due to the pcrfom1ances of two players one who already has a contract at Somerset CCC
and another who left at half term to join the MCC
Young Professionals. Conversely, we were beaten
by King's Bruton at rugby (by over 30 points) and
at hockey and yet they struggled to compete with
us on the cricket field.
School cricket is co mpetiti ve and judging by
the behaviour of some individuals at the cricke t
festival (from members of the oppos ition teams, I
may add) some might say it is too competi ti ve. All
school matches at the festival were played as
timed games. During the term we play matches on
a limited overs basis. Arguably against much
stronger opposition , we drew two of the th ree
games at the fest ival but lost to weaker schools in
the traditional term time fixtures. T his is refl ected i
n the results where there are fewer drawn games
than in the past.
Maybe we must acknowledge, 'Sport has long
since passed the stage when it was only a pastime'.
I record my sincere thanks to all those who
have helped with cricket this term. I hope that I
have conveyed my gratitude in a personal way. A
sportsman ·enjoys the pleasure of risk·. Most of
this term was either lived in the fast Jane or
rottering on a knife's edge.
Clifton 245 for 3 (55 overs)
1st X I 244 for 7
(W. Fegen 56. J. McKillop 42,
M. Hope 46 not ou t)
Lost by I run
1st XI 68 (37 overs)
Millfield 70 for I (14.3 overs)
Lost by 9 w ickets
I st XI 24
Taunton 26 for 2 (6 overs)
Lost by 8 wickets
Won by 89 runs
1st XI 148 (54 overs)
(C. Gammell 31)
Blundell's 59 (19.3 overs)
(A. Westwood 3 for 19. W. Fegen 3 for 5)
MCC 177 for 9 declared
Ist Xf 178 for 9
(P. Langly-Smith 86)
Pi lgrims 187 for 7 declared
Ist Xl I 8 I for 8
Hail eybury 260 for 5 declared
l s t X J 113
Won by I wicket
Match Drawn
Lost by 147 runs
Sherborne 204 for 7 declared
Marlborough 184 for 6
Match Drawn
Cheltenham I 89 for 9 declared
Sherborne 123 for 7
Match Drawn
Resttlrs: Pl ayed 15, Won 5, Lost 7, Drawn 3.
Lost by 4 wickets
Ist X I 126
(L. Lewis 19)
Sherborne CC 127 for 6
Ist X I 152 for 6 (55 overs)
Won by I0 runs
(W. Fegen 4 1, L. Lewis 33 not out)
Canford 142 (50 overs)
I st XI 192 for 7 wickets
Won by 6 wickets
(G. Bramble 48, L. Lewis 24.
W. Hayter 24 not out)
Free Foresters 193 for 4
King's Bruton 65 (33 overs)
(W. Hayter 3 for 11. C. Du pont 3 for 15)
Ist X I 66 for 0
Won by I0 wickets
(P. Langly-Smith 30 not out.
G. Bramble 28 not out)
King's Taunton 203 for 4 (45 overs)
(W. Dawson 2 for 27)
Ist XI 70 (30 overs)
Lost by 133 runs
(P. Langly-Smith 35)
Lost by 5 wickets
lst Xl 184 for 7 (55 overs)
(W. Fegen 51 not out)
Pilgrims 186 for 5 (46 overs)
(W. Fegen 3 for 28)
145
M.D.N.
3 r d XI
It has been a pleasure to coach these boys this
year. This ream was made up of a bunch of guys
who are talented cricketers and brilliant people.
The year started off with our first team practice
cut short by snow. All did not look well
for comp leting our quota of games for the seasons
but to my su rprise we managed to play aJJ of
our fixtures .
The first game of the season d id not go our way.
After a disappointing innings with the bat, only
managing 54, we were easily beaten by nine
wicket s. Our second game, however, saw the team
bowl extremely well to bowl Canford out for 64.
Adam Harris managed to pick up four wickets for
just nine runs. [n rep ly we made the runs while
only losing six wickets. In the th ird game of the
season the opposition balled first and scored 182
before the boys managed to bow l them out. The
task of scor i g so many runs was always going to
be hard, but 1t was made harder by a steady loss of
wickets. Alex Drew balled well to make 3 1 before
being bowled, but unfortunately we recorded our
second loss of the season, stumbling to 119 all out.
The final game of the season was aga in
st Clifton. For this game we could not field a
full strength team and the result was predictable.
On the other hand this was our most promi sing
batting performance. Nick Foster scored a very
solid 40, making it possible for us to make 128.
AI Beattie bowled very well to have only I 0 hit
off his seven overs. Nick Foster took one wicket
and conceded only
10 runs. Despite these
bowling figures we had to rely on part-timers to
carry us home and it was too much to ask.
Clifton reached the 129 needed in the final
over to comp lete a disappointing season for
the 3rd XI.
Despite the lack of success on the field, J think
the boys enjoyed their season and I do hope they
carry on thei r cricket into the future. They have all
been a great bunch of lads, a pleasure to have
coached .
Ca ll um Walker
4 t h XI
Another year and another crop of willing and
able young men joined Callum Walker and me in
the nets for senior cricket. As luck wou ld have it ,
the boys divided themse lves quite naturally into
the Upper 6th who represented the School at 3rd
XI level and the Lower 6th who happily settled
into the 4lhs.
After last season ·s unbeaten
fixture
card. careful notes had been made from the outset
as to the 'likely lads' who wou ld achieve further
glory for the School. In the end, some 16 boys were
used (with
va rying degrees of
success)
and
the opposition hardly troubled such a
professional outfit.
It would be invidious to single
out
performances - so here goes! With the bat. G.
Scott, B. Dudgeon , C. Pushman and J. Hood all
made notable innings. whilst with the ball , R.
Brook, A. Bartlett , R. Hoogewerf. G. BunkaU , and
B. Dudgeon aU chipped in wickets at crucial
moments. Fielding was crisp. catching consistent.
and team spirit second to none.
Most satisfying was seeing off Millfield despite
their need to promote a couple of West of England
Colts players. Who says spo11 is on the wane at
Sherborn e? My thanks to all the boys for their
contribu tion and for making coachi ng a major
sporr such a pleasure. A lso special L11anks to
Charlie Pushman for undertaking the thank less
task of being captain. Roll on next year!
Resulrs: Played 4. Won 4.
G.B-E .
Colts A XI
Af ter a gm elling Easter holidays of intense
revision in preparation for our forthcoming exams.
cricket was by no means at the forefront of the
team's minds. This was evident in our first match.
a home fixture against an average Mcu·lborough
side. A lack of practice also contributed to ou r
below-par performance, particular ly in our
batting. With the loss of Torn Cracknell through
injury and the promotion of Will Dawson to the XI
we had lost, in Tom, one of our strike bow lers and
batsmen, and, in Will, one of ou r few spin bowlers .
From our defeat by Marlborough it was obvious
these roles had to be filled. The next week's
training was crucial; especially as our next match
was against Canford, the only team to whom we
had lost the previous season . Sherborne opened
the game with a famastic display of batting.
despite Henry Goldschrnidt"s early departure.
James Harding scored a half century and Dave P
W got forty-n ine. The team therefore had a large
total to play with. Canford couldn't match our
total. The game was therefore won and special
mention should be made of Andy Windle who took
a magnificent catch deep on the boundary.
Then th e Bruton match.
Having had
comfortab le victories over them in the past , the
team needed this to boost morale and confidence.
With a strong start from Henry Lamb scoring a
146
half century, we had a strong total to defend. The
team bowled well enough to earn another
comfortable win.
King\ Taunton followed on The Upper.
Despite our injury-:.trickcn team looking
diminished. we wem on to complete another
necessar) victory. Then we went on to confront
Clayesmore First XI. who elected to bat and built
a strong total. The team's morale wa!.low. A slow
start meant the middle order had to perform. By
the end we were a mere 16 runs short.
The might of Millfield meant that the match
against them was a tough game. Sherborne batted
first. Again, after a slow start from the openers,
Harry Clifton and David P-W put on a hundred
partner hip. Harry scoring 70 not out. This gave
the team a hefty total to defend. The bowling
made a good start but the opposition size and
strength was overwhelming. Many a delivery was
hoisted over the rope to the next field-28 off Mead
in one over. It was a bitter defeat.
The next game was against Canford. lt seemed
they wanted another go at us but their effort was to
be in vain. Sherborne's batting matched the
splendour of The Upper. Clifton was to score a
successive half century but the late order also
contributed to the show with Mead and Maber
proving the tail could wag. The rain constantly
threatened but Sherborne managed to grab the
victory, bowling the opposition out.
To conclude. what was to be the last of the
team·s three successfu l years a!. a unit stood the
players in good stead for competitive Sixth Form
cricket. Henry Lamb captained positively and
successfully, scoring many runs and providing a
strong base for the team. Henry Goldschmidt also
was an admirable opening batsman and excellent
fielder. James Harding, whose bowling and
batting has grown in confidence. took ma11y
wickets at vital time!.. Harry Clifton was strong
with the bat and contributed two half centuries.
He was also renowned for his fielding in the slips.
Dave P-W, although possessing an unorthodox
style showed the team how 10 run between the
wickets. He also added much with the ba ll.
Charlie Willi::tms inspired the team w i th much
spirit and voice. Rich Dowdall was not only a
skilfu l wicket-keeper but wa!> useful with the bat
and this was shown at Blundell'!. in a senior team
at the end of term when he scored a su·ong half
century. Ben Massey was unorthodox but very
effective ami made several useful contributions.
Andy Windle. a talented batsman. had few
opportunities to shine but still provided tability in
the middle order. and was also a u·usty fielder.
Freddy Mead. undoubted!) a very talemed pace
bowler, was hampered by injury but, despite this.
still put his heart into the team. He also showed
talent with the bat in the late order. Tom Maber
was not only erficicnt with his scoring and his
fielding. His batting was. as suspected. not a
matter of grace and fines1.e but based on brute
strength. Other credit should go to Malcolm Scott
who featured on several occasions and Nick
Southwell who appeared once. to everyone's
delight and amusement.
Special thanks go to Mr. Bool who provided
energy and zeal to our fielding practice. He is also
widely renowned now for his demon bowling in
the nets. We all wish to extend him our greatest
thanks for a most pleasurable season.
H.
P.
Lamb
(Captain),
H. M. G. Goldschmidt. J. A. L. Hardin g.
D. R. Poraj-Wilczynski, H. D. I .
Clifton,
B. Massey, R. A. Dowdal l, C. F. P. Williams,
A. C. G. Wind le, T. J. Mabcr, F. 1. Mead,
J. Han1ilton. N. W. V. Southwell. M. G. Sud low.
Team:
147
Harry Clifton
David Poraj-Wilczynski
Junior C o l t s A XI
Despite the fact that many practice sessions were
lost to the weather in the early weeks of tenn. it is
pleasing to note that every game this season except
one was completed. However, there were
occasions. particularly early in the term, when all
associated with the Junior Colts A would have been
glad of the Aptil showers that often last well into
June.
There are two ways to judge a season: the first is
to look at results. the other is to monitor the
progress made by both the team and individuals.
Here the results were not overly impressive but the
improvement made i n all aspects of the game was
marked in every game. Never. in my time in charge
of the Junior Colt , has a team practised so hard and
as diligently and l a m sure that this will bear fruit
later on.
To look at individual games would not do the
team justice , and perspective may only be attained
by recognising that. this year. Millfield were
probably our fourth strongest opposition behind
King's Taumon. Marlborough. and Canford (whom
we played twice!). This does nor mean that
Millfield were particularly weak but goes some way
to showing the strength of the opposition we now
play against.
Our opening two games - against Marlborough
and Canford- exposed our bowling and thi s was to
be a recurrLng theme throughout the tenn. Too many
runs were conceded for our batsmen to have chance
and boys had to bat knowing that the run rate a s
a l w a ys increasing. Cricket can often be a onesided game and it was a u·ue test of character to
recover from two heavy defeats.
Everyone continued to try and performances
improved as we started to see potential being
realised. A nail-biting game at Bruton , where we
tried our hardest to lose, eventually gave us our first
win and showed the boys the true excitement of
limited oven; cricket. We then managed to perform
well against a well-drilled King's Taunton team but
were never in the chase aga inst a high total.
After a first half of term where we played against
three highly competitive schools our record did not
look very impressive. Despite this, lessons had been
learnt and it was a credit to the team that they all
tried their hardest to put things right.
The second half of term saw us playing much
more competitive cricket. We lost again to Canford,
this time in the Dorset Cup, but performed well
against Millfield, where a battling half-century
from Paddy Houghton was undoubtedly the innings
of the season. We comfortably beat Blundell's and
were able to experience the pleasures of winning as
well as those of taking part.
Our greatest disappointment was our defeat in
the last over against Clifton. We batted well, but
did not set oursel ves high enough standards with
our bowling and fielding. To be fair, Clifton took
their chances well, but they would be the first to
admit that these opponunities were given to them
rather freely.
Some individuals need to be mentioned for
their contribution over the course of the term.
Paddy Houghton was a revelation with the bat. He
combined natmal stroke play with determination
and I am sure that he will continue to improve next
year. Edward Radcliffe bowled tenaciou sly all
season: he set himself high standards and was also
a very useful 'pinch hitter ' when batting at number
six. Alec Russell managed the Alec Stewart role of
batting in the top four, keeping wicket, and
captaining the team. He did all three of these well.
even though he had to combine them with having
a major part in the Commemoration Play.
Howeve r, it is the team as a whole which
deserves the credit. They Learned a lol this year
and I hope that they all continue to enjoy their
cricket as Colts next year.
Results: Played 8. Won 2. Lost 6.
Marlborough 194 for 5
Sherborne 94 for 7
Sherborne 98 for 6
Canford 99 for I
Sherborne 159 for 6
King's Bruton 157 for 9
King's Taunton 224 for 3
Sherborne 98
Sherborne 150
Clifton 152 for 7
Sherborne 98 for 8
Canford 99 for L
Sherborne 128 for 8
Millfie ld 129for3
Sherborne I for 0
B lundell's 50
Sherborne 51 for I
Lost by I 00 runs
Lost by 9 wicket s
Won by 2 runs
Lost by 126 runs
Lost by 3 wickets
Lost by 9 wicket.
Lost by 7 wickets
Match abandoned
Won by 9 wickets
M.A.P.
Junior C o l t s B XI
Viewed in terms of results alone. thi s would
seem to have been a mediocre season; and yet as
the short term reached its close we were left with
the impression that this team had progressed most
encouragingly, had started to play very well
together. and, if it had been given more time and
opportunity. could have learned to test our
toughest opposition.
148
This was a group ' ' hich 10ok its practice
seriously and benefited accordingly. Some
batsmen who in April seemed unlik ely ever to
reach double rigurcs went on to play some
important innings and some whose inc l ination was
to heave indiscriminately across the line !.howed
that they could play straight and waiL for the bad
ball. The auack developed well and by the end of
the -..ca-,on had gained considerabl}' in consistenC}
<lnd looked likely to threaten good batsmen . The
arriva l from the A team of Oily Gargrave and Tom
Gabbcy in mid-season did much to strength en the
team . If our full strength side had played against
Canford, for example. there is lillie doubt that a
heavy defeat coul d have been reversed .
There were good earl) wins against
Marlborough and K ing\ Bruton. the second of
these owing much to an exhilarating innings by
Mall Snudden. We were outplayed by Milton
Abbey and by a stron g King's Taunton !>ide, but
against Clifton a splendid batting performance
throughout t11e ord er brought us a heartening win.
We were soundly beaten by Millfield. but this was
not a result which left a bad taste: ''e applied
our ehes well after the loss of early '' ickcts and.
had we not dropped both openers in the first two
overs. the outcome could well have been very
different.
Catching, indeed. was not our strength - i n
pitc of the time spent on practice. Stntistics arc
not usually kept for such things. but we belie' e
that this side missed more chances (not least those
"hich found outfielders leaden-footed) than an}
that we have known. We also suffered from the
absence of a confident wicket-keeper and of an
accurate spinner. As captai n. Richard Pcrowne
understand s the game very well and has a lot of
talent , but he was perhaps rather too sclf-eff<Jcing.
It would be wrong for U!- to carp at the le s
uccess ful aspect s of the season. There are several
good cricketers here who "ill go on to pluy to a
very good standard both at Sherborne and beyond .
We greatly enjoyed working with thil> team and
wish them mu ch enjoyment of the game in the
future.
Team Ui·om): R. H. Perowne (Captain ).
T. C. Blanthorne. A. J. Bro o h. G. A. N. Dudley.
C. J . D. S. Emmett . G. D. T.
Findlay.
H. T. A. Gabbey. 0 . W. Gargrave. C. P. Goldman.
F. H. S. l'>les, J. M. Milln. S. D. O'Dw}er-Ru ssell.
A. B. Reid. M. E. Snudden, J. W. Weterings.
Results: Played
oned
I. s
Sherborne
I02 8, Won 3, Lost 4. Aband
Won by
19 run
Marlborough 83
Lost by 6 v.icket
Sherburne 55
Can ford 56 for 4
King\ Bruton 80
Sherborne 81 for 4
(Snuddcn 60*)
Sherborne I04
King·l>Taunton 105 for 2
Clifton 138
(Gabbe) 4 for 20)
Sherborne 139 for 7
Milton Abbe} 134 for 7
Sherborne 69
Sherborne 93
Milll'i eld 94 for 3
Poole Grammar School 21 for
Won b) 6 wickets
Lost by 8 wick ets
Won by 3 wickets
Lost by 65 run!.
Lost by 7 wi ckets
I
Match Abandoned
R.C.F.G./P.T.S.
M i n i- C o l t s A X I
lt is in many ways true to say that this was a
perfect season. The firM game of the season
against Marlborough illustr:ucd the fact that timed
cricket doc!. not work well at thi-, Je,el. The side
barring . econd always ha'> the option of seuling for
a draw at any stage. From that point on we pl ayed
limited over cricket. The team won ten matehel.,
but lost to Millfield, so th e feelin g of complacency
that an unbeaten season breeds did not develop.
There were obviously some one-sided games.
especially in the Dorset Cup aga inst schools for
''hom crid.et i!> practised one lunchtime a week.
but it enabled U \ to give some of the players down
the order orne opportunit) . On the other hand
there were also some really clo:.-e games, which
m ade the team sh ow its character. Finally the sun
shone a lot and it rained at t11e right time (when we
weren't playing).
The period before half term presented us with
three easy wins against Canford. Bruton and
King's Taunton and a Dorset Cup win over the
Gryphon . After half tern1 other ca'>) ,.,.ins again t
Clifton, and in the Cup over Poole Grammar and
Sturminstcr N ewton followed. Two excellent
victories were secured. We recovered from 42-4 to
overhau l T<lunton 's 141 and we defeated a
pre viously unbeaten Blundell's team by 7 wicket!..
The Dorset Cup Fin al against Femdo" n showed
us at our best. We scored at nearly nine an over to
post 313-2. Archie Mackay-Jame" hit a chanceless
176 not out and put on I 90 with Seamus Crawford
for the first wicket. both certainly record s at thi!>
level in my memory. A lex Willis and Freddi e
Bcrth on then bowled th em out for 70 with
Mackay-Jamt:s com pleting a fairly satisfactory
day by taJ.. ing four catches and winning £15
million on the Lottery.
149
The only defeat was at home against Millfield.
in a match that we hou ld have won. They were
66-1 off 14.before a combination of great bowling
(George Jerram 7-1-1S-1) and tight fielding
rel>tricted them to 131 off their 35 0 ' ers. We were
cruising at 60-1 off 14. in trouble at 65--t. back in
it at I I S-7 and all out for 116. with four precious
over!. Mill unused. It was a great game and one
from which we learned much. above all about the
need to stay calm in tense games.
The stmistic!. tell something of the season but
they fail to capture the excelleilt spirit in the team.
In the main the team delighted in doing things
together and worked well as a uniL Obviously
there was much individual talent but credit must
go to Scamu!. Crawford for leading quietly but by
example, showing that success cannot occur
with out hard work. He batted with great technical
accompli!.hment throughout the season scoring
live half-ccn wri es and also bowled very quickly
on occasions, including a h at trick at Blundell 's.
A lex Willi s was the other leading all-rounder
w hose command of lin e and length was highly
impressive at thi s level and who was capable of
some explosive balling, saving us at Taunton.
Charlie Clifton sometimes made the batting game
look effortle s and bowled with control. He could
do even better next year. Michael Saunder'>.
despite a slightly unonhodox technique produced
some stunning innings. including 45* in the cup
emi-linal off less than seven overs. Archie
Mackay-James reserved his best for the final but
ah,ays gave the innings a positive and quick stan.
The team was aJwa) s looking for runs, and scored
at five and a half an over over the course of the
whole \Cason. The other bowlers included Freddie
Berthon " ho secured a team place at haJf-term and
did m. proud. and Ned Kell) who took eighteen
wicket with his leg !>pin. batted through the
inning against King':\ Taunton, and will tum into
a super cricketer if he can become more of a team
player. George Jerram took four wicket s against
Bruton wi th hi !> chin amen . and wrns the ball a
long way.
Inevitably there were going to be players who
did not get a much of a chance as others, but the
attitude of Ben Trcpess said much about the team
- excellent in the field and always in the action.
John Barber and Patri ck Horsington ·s
opportunities were li mited to M ini-Colts games,
both being senior citizens, but they. in their
contrasting ways. contributed well when called on.
Gile. Maber will be a key bowler in years to come
if he can tighten his line and length. The fielding
w a harp and phy ical development should add
pace and !>trength to it next year.
It was a happy team. alway<> keen to learn and
with a healthy competiti\e spirit. Much credit
must go to Mr. Hatch for his expertise and
enthusiasm in his first year with the team and to
Mr. Willows for his high volume technical
knowhow and inva luable coaching. It was a
plea.,ure to !.ee l>O many parents at so many games.
Their !>On certain ly appreciated it. although
equally certainly would not have told the parents
so. The team mover. next year into the national
section of the Lords' Ta,emers Competition and I
will be watching it'> progre\l. with interest.
Results: Played 12. Won I0. Lost I, Drawn I .
Runs for I799 (av 40.89/rpo 5.59), Runs against
1061 (av 9.91/rpo 3.38).
Match Drawn
Sherborne 147 for 5
(Clifton 46. Saundcr!> 41 *l
Marlborough I35 for 5
(Willi!>4 for 23)
Canford 74
(Kelly 5 for 15)
Won
Sherborne 78 for 0
(Mackay-Jam es 40*, Kelly 30*)
Won
Sherborne 194 for 3
(Crawford 89*)
Bruton 51
(Jerram 4 for 26. Willis 3 for 3)
Won
Sherborne 189 for 3
(Crawford 79. Kelly 61*)
King"sTaunton 70
(Kcll) 3for4)
Gr)phon 25
(Clifton 4 for 5. Kell} 3 for 0. Willis 3 for 9)
Won
Sherborne 29 for 0
Won
Sherborne 217 for 7
(Saunde 64. Clifton 52, Willi 27*)
Clifton 80
(Willis 5 for 18. Crawford 3 for 14l
Poole Grammar School 81
(Crawford 4 for 9 )
Won
Sherborne 85 for 3
Millfi eld 131 for 7
(Crawford 38)
Lost
Sherborn e I 16
Taunton 141 for 5
Won
Sherborne I43 for 6
(Wi llis 40*. Kelly 33)
Won
Sherborne 168 for 2
(Crawford 59*. Saunders 45, Clifton 34)
Sturminster 87
(Berthon 3 for 7. Willis 3 for 23)
Sherborne 313 for 2
Won
(Macka)-Jame!> 176*, Crawford 75)
Femdown 70
(Willb 4 for 12. Benhon 3 for 9)
150
Blundell's
(Crawford
Sherborne
(Crawford
116
5 for I I . Clif10n 3 forl6)
120 for 3
55)
G.O.R.
Mi n i -Co l ts C XI
How we wi hed we could have reiUrned to
Marlborough to show what we could really do! We
had looked so promi.,ing and Myli!>h in the nets
but, on a pitch the con!>istency of a bread and
butter pudding. every batfoman :.urrendered tamely.
Marlborough were not much better and only 20
more runs on our total might have been enough to
win. From then on, there wall only one way to go
-up!
Our visit to Wttrn1instcr was a mirror image of
the Marlborough match. A woefully weak
Warminster side capitulated just as we had done
the week before, and our confidence was restored
for the more testing times to come.
The match against King's. Taunton. on a
beautiful afternoon, epitomised all that was best
and worst about Sherborne cricket. Tom Speller
and Jack Torrens-Spence got us off to a solid start.
and after a brief but lu ty inning from Tom
Stanford. during which I feared for the safety of a
nearby greenhouse. we were treated to a display M
quality batting by David Park. Hb 50 was well
deserved and our total looked impressive. In little
over an hour we reduced King·s to 93-9 and then
showed the killer instinct of a mouse. Their linal
pair got within just two .coring l>hot. of our ligure.
and the last wicket fell by accident when one
batsman forgot that Rory Wilson was a leg-spinner
and was bowled behind his legs without offering a
stroke. He stranded a crestfallen number I I who
had been the butt of his colleagues' humour but
who was left wondering why having made second
highest score. he had been let down by his
tormentors.
Wells Cathedral. having a<oked to play a timed
match. then announced that they had to return
home by 6.30. leaving far LOO little time to get a
finish. Rhys Brennan was t h i time the Mar
batsman, but defensive play from the :-;tart of their
innings ensured that Wells secured a draw which
they didn 't real ly deserve. Perhups in the
circumstances we should have gambled and
fielded first, contrary to rny usual strictures.
Park and Brennan again balled well against
Millfield. and an unbroken partnership between
WiJson and Felix Curry. in hil. only innings for the
side, took us to a total which we hoped would
suffice. This turned out 10 be one of Milllield's
·Dr. Jekyll· sides and Eric HcaLh played the
starring role in dismi!.!.ing them cheaply.
151
Results: Played 7, Won 5, Lost I . Drawn I .
Another 50 from Park assured us of victory
against Taunton School. with James Batchelor and
Wilson doing the business with the ball.
The final match saw us in Marlborough mode
again, and we were fortunate that only Blundell's
fifth wicket partnership looked threatening. We
had learned from our experiences at King's,
however, and kept the pressure on to round the
season off with a well-deserved victory.
Park was easily the pick of the batting. with
Toby Ovens's enthusiasm and Heath, Brennan,
and Wil. on·s explosiveness lending support when
needed. Speller. the capta in , and Torrens-Spence,
the reliable wicket-keeper. opened the batting. and
if they did not do themselves justice numerically.
they helped to see off the most fearsome elements
of our opponents' attack. Batchelor and Dan iel
Lee. our pace bowlers, both swung U1e ball, the
difference being that Batchelor was phlegmatic
and Lee mercurial. Rupert Howland-Jackson, a
refugee from the B team, was stalwart. Heath
could do damage on occasions, but our classiest
bowler was Wilson, whose leg breaks always
bamboozled. He has a llipper as well, but no
googly, which he tells me he lost after breakjng his
arm snowboarding. Criminal! Thanks also to
Edward Elgood, James Grundon and our
enthusiastic resident Spaniard, Jaime Borrero.
This was a great side to manage. and I look
forward with interest to reading about their future
exploits.
Sherborne 39
Marlborough 40 for 5
Lost by 5 wickets
Warminster 22
(Wilson 3 for 2. Batchelor 3 for 3)
Sherborne 26 for 2
Won by 8 wickets
Sherborne 161 for 7
(Park 51. Torrens-Spence 28)
King's Taunton 154
(Wilson 5 for 21)
Sherborne 135
(Brennan 26)
Wells Cathedral 40 for 5
Won by 7 runs
Match Drawn
Sherborne 186 for 7
Won by 133 runs
(Park 41, Wilson 23*,
Brennan 23, Cun-y 20*)
Millfield 53
(Heath 5 for I I . Howland -Jackson 3 for 17)
Sherborne 142 for 4
Won by 95 runs
(Park 61, TotTens-Spcncc 21)
Taunton 47
(Wilson 3 for 3, Batchelor 3 for 6
Won by 8 runs
Sherborne 99
(Heath 23)
Blundell's 91
(Heath 3 for 24)
J.A.T.
Te n n i s
1st VI
The season offered much, with three
experienced members of last year's team
remaining and Steve Evans returning for one final
time to the grass courts of Sherborne, to coach the
I st VI. The staggered return of schools in Ule area
from the Easter vacation posed problems. as it did
last year and in a very busy season, the match
against Downside had to be cancelled. Next year
the begi nn ings of the Trinity terms coincide and
the fixture should provide a useful warm-up to the
season.
Motivation was high. but the Downside
cancellation meant that Millfield were the fLCst
school opposition for the VI. Miraculously, the
fine weather held throughout the early practice
sessions to allow for pairings to be finalised and
tactic.<. to be polished.
Last year's Millfield School side had proved
too daunting an opposition, but this year, under the
strong captaincy of T. Matthews. the pairings
gelled more effectively. 0 . Murray and
Matthews
showed their worth as tactically-minded
T.
and accurate first players. A. Harris proved that, as
a doubles player. he was second to none. Fine
ground strokes and smashes paved the way for him
and P. Shaw-Brown , a new-comer to thelst VL, to
win their rounds comfortably. M. Clapp and E.
Posnett came into the squad in their Fifth Fom1
year. Though facing older. larger and more
expetienced players, they were able to stand U1eir
ground and help the side to a very comfortab le
first match win.
Aspirations for d1e season were high and
Canford. the next opposition. went the way of
Millfield. 0 . Mun·ay and T. Matthews produced
consistent. intelligent and creative play to give
finn grounding for the rest of the team. A. Harris
and P. Shaw-Brown were promoted to second
pair where they were beuer suited to their
opposition and were able to gain an all-important
second round two set victory to make the match
safe.
152
The doubles strategy was paying dividends.
Commanding net play appeared to be successful.
but against Bryanston, playing away on astro-turf
in appalling weather conditions, the psychology of
the team was undennined. The game had run away
from them as the heavens opened and third round
wins could not bring back the score line to equal
terms.
From here on in the season began to be more
variab le. Whilst the tirst pairing 's play continued
to be gritty and tenacious, consistency in the
second and third pairings was harder to find. The
age difference between the third pair and the
opposition also became more of a contri buti ng
facwr to the first team's lack of success, especia lly
at Marlborough where all the players were Upper
Sixth.
In light of the physical advantage and match
play experi ence gap, it was not al together
unexpected that Marlborough perfonned so well
thi s year. There is much about the you
ng Shirburnian side, however, to look forward to.
M. Clapp and
E. Posnett
have gained
tremendou s experience and should be at the
core of future sides. New talent is evident. T.
Wynn-Jones (c) improved his own play to become
a regular I st VI player in the matches towards the
end of term , and had an integral part to play in
earning the side a draw against what was. as
always , a strong King's Taunton squad.
The match against the Pilgrim s at Commem
was a thorough ly enjoyable end to the year. It is
pleasing that so many old boys wish to return to
their tennis roots and that so many are
recent graduates of Sherborne tennis.
Many thanks, as always, go to the groundsmen
for providing an impeccable grass surface. courts
that are envied still by most schools on the
circuit.
Thanks also must go to Steve Evans. our local
tennis professional, who directed the abi lities of
individual and team play so enthusiastically. He
returns to full-time education in October and will
be missed greatly on the tennis circuit.
Re.wl1s: Played
Cancelled I .
Downside
Millfield
Canford
Bryanston
Marlborough
Clifton
King's Taunton
Pilgrim s
2 n d VI
The abiding memory of th.is year wi ll be the
attitude of the players. Everyone desperately
wanted to play in the team and most remained
keen w train even during the depths of exams. This
was a team in wh ich it really was the tak ing part
that counted, not necessarily the winning. We
employed a Manchester United style rotational
selec ti on policy, whic h ensured that everyone had
a go and resulted in fifteen different people
playing for the team. This did not make for
a wonderf ul set of results but everyone enj
oyed playing tennis and improved their game.
The season got off to a flying start with a win
against Millfield. Although we do not play their
strongest tennis players, a victory against Millfield
is always pri zed. The first pair of John Lax and
Harry Stewart-Moore played particularly solidly.
Our next opponents, Canford. turned up with only
two pairs and were quickly d ispatched by our
second and third pair. The big serving
Chris Tavender and the unorthodox Will Mackrell
were in outstanding form, losing on ly three games.
The entire match against Bryanston was played in
very cold conditions and persistent rain . The
players maintained their l eve l of concentra ti on
remarkably well and the game went to the
last two sets .
8, Won 2, Lost 4. Drawn I
.
Cancelled
w
w
L
L
L
D
L
7 112-1 1h
6 -3
4 -5
0 -9
3 -6
4 1h -4 1h
4 -5
., "
.
.-
'
- . .
D.J.R.
153
.
- -
Unfortunately, these were both lost and with them
the match.
Marlborough produced an outstanding team,
which would have given our lst vr a good game.
A member of their second pair had the fastest
serve you will ever see from a schoolboy player
and it also went in more often than not. The score
of 0 - 9 was inevitable after the first round, despite
hard battling by Harry Steel and Charlie Hurlbatt.
I st VI provided
much
Mi lton Abbey
more appropriate oppos ition and we should have
been beaten comfo rtab ly. The third pair of
Sam Lockhart-Smith
and
Rupert
Lane
managed to secure two points. However. the
fact
that
the second pair gained no points
resulted in the match being drawn.
It was with trepidation that we undertook the
match against Cli fton. as they had bea ten us 9 - 0
the previous year. This year was a much more even
contest and. as with the Bryanston match. turned
on the last two sets. Unfortunately, the result was
also the same as the Bryanston match. Our fina l
match. against King's Taunton, was another close
encounter. £t was a fam iliar story. as the last two
sets were lost. meaning that we were unabl e
to draw the match.
I t has been a most enjoyable season. A ll our
matches were competitive, except for the one
against Marlborough. Many thanks to Steve Evans
for his informative coaching. He managed to keep
the players interested and playing plenty of tennis.
as well as in structing them in some of the more
intricate tactics of doubles.
Team: F. Drew, W. Mackrell, C. Hoare, R. Lane, J.
Lax, H . Steel. C. Tavender. T. WynnJones.
C. Cox, F. Crowther, J. Gulston. C. Hurlbatt,
S. Lockhart-Smith , C. Kober. H. Stewart-Moore.
Results: Played 7. Won 2, Lost4,
Millfield
Canford
Bryanston
Marlborough
Milton Abbey
Clifton
King's Taunton
Drawn
W
W
L
L
D
L
L
5I . -4
6
-2
3112- 5
112
0 -9
4 1h -4 112
3
6
2 1h- 61h
J.J .B.W.
.Junior C o l t s V I
Our prospects for the season were trengthened
by the appearance of several new faces at the we ll
supported trials at the stnrt of term. Last year's
Mini-Colts team was supplemented by three
players of much aptitude and potential.
The first match, away to Millfield, threatened to
be a stern test. But though it started unpromising ly,
in steady rain, and on one court fewer than we had
players for, it ended in triumph . The boys were
delighted
th at
the
weather
necess itated
an adjournment
to
the
splendid
indoor
courts (generously provided by the LTA),
where they secured a narrow victory over steady
opponents. lnjury deprived us of the services of
Holdoway in the home fixture against Canford,
but our failure to get more than a draw had more
to do with the loss of all three tie-break sets.
Our visit to Bryanston took place on one of the
more wretched afternoons of the British summer.
and the team played commendably in enduring
the continuous
rain. losing to strong opposition 3-6. Marlborough
were stronger still, though we might have made
things closer if we had adjusted our game to the
slowness of the surface. Though we managed to
lose all three tie-break sets once again in the match
at home to Cli fton , we squeaked a victory which
should never have been in doubt. The resounding
win over King's Taunton pleasantly rounded off
the season.
The first pair, J amie Holdoway and Fredrik
Hallgren, should develop into a very strong pair.
They have excellent shots, but their temperament.
in rather
contrasting
styles, undermined
performances. H enry May and Robert Eglington
have le::>s impressive techniques, and adopt tactics
which will get them into difliculty against a strong
pair, but
no coach could
wish
for
grittier compet itors. Robert Bain and Charl ie
Minter will become better players in the next few
years, with stronge r physique, and when the
opposition will force them into a quicker style of
play which suits them. Matthew Hutt missed a lot
of play because of injury. Reuben Aitken was
being Ratty, but played steadi l y in practice and
did well in the match sets which he took part in.
T eam.: R. Aitken. R . Bain, R.
Eglington,
F. Hallgren, J. Holdoway, M. Hull, H.
May,
C. Minter.
Results: Played 6, Won 3, Lost 2, Drawn I.
Millfield
Caoford
Bryans ton
Marlborough
Clifton
King's Taunton
D
45 h -- 43 1h
W
3 -6
(oneLset unfinished)
2 -7
L
w
w
5
-4
9
-0
R.G.P.
154
M i n i-C o l t s VI
The standard of play at this year's trials was
high, and those chosen looked promising. And so
it proved in the first match at Millfield, where
despite the weather, we were never in difficulty
against
rather
disappointing
opposition.
Marlborough were much stronger, but we could
have done rather better than the 3-6 result. The
final match aga inst Cl ifton ended in a fairly
straightforward 7-2 win.
The team al l practised steadily despite the
fewness of our fixtures. Richard Round-Turner
shows considerab l e potential, but he needs
to develop a partnership which is more
consistently aggressive if he is to use his
shots more effectively. Charles Wilyman was
steady.
but needs to be more mobile and
anticipatory. Sam Cooke was keen to play his
shots, and will learn in time to be more selective
with them. Jim Foster
155
has a well coached technique, but should not be so
polite about being hun·ied into error. Nicholas
Howe played with spirit, and w ith tbe right partner
should be a solid perfonner in the Junior Colts.
Tom
Fineman,
Jack
Little,
and
Tom
Hillard competed for a place in the team, all
showing different measures of accuracy and
aggression. I look forward to seeing their progress,
with a fuller fixture card next season.
Team: S. Cooke, T. Fineman, J. Foster, T. Hi llard,
N . Howe, J. Little, R. Round-Turner. C. Wilyman.
Results: Played 3 , Won 2. Lost 1.
Millfield
Marlborough
Clifton
w
6 (one set unfinished)
2
L
w
3 - 6
7 2
R.G.P.
At hl e t i c s
This has been one of our best seasons for
a number
of
years
and
many
boys
achieved representative honour'>. The senior
boys· team. ahhough
predominantly
Lower
Sixth.
had
an unbeaten
cason . . . except
against Millfield who once again. for the tenth
year running, beat us in our own competition at
Yeovil in the Lutra Shield. Indeed, the event has
become
uch a foregone conclusion that
Millfield have this year provided a 'runners up·
trophy - very magnanimous , and I hope that
they will enjoy placing it in their trophy cabinet
next year! This renewed optimism comes largely
from the boys who realise that next year as the
Upper Sixth they will be stronger and fitter and,
remember. they have never lost to Millfield
within their own age group. Additionally the
present U 17 t eam was unbeaten this season and
should make powerful allies for n ext year's Upper
Sixth . T he U 15 boys were a little un der-powered
in terms of depth but have some real quality in
Tollast and Doherty. They won most of their
matches. notably the eight schools meeting at
M illfield which included beating all our top
competition by quite a margin.
Athletics. though. i very much an individua
l
!.port and as such one cannot merely base one·
!.uccess on team performances. Sherborne boys
usually perform collectively with much grit and
detennination and achieve much together but we
have had fewer individual champion!> over recent
years. We must continue to strive for national
championship honours and try to ensure that boys
appreciate and fulfil their potential. With tbis in
mind we arc now training team athletes twice a
week at Yeovil and all home meetings are at the
Yeovil Arena. Without an enthtTsiastic and
committed staff this simply wouldn't be possible
and r would very much like tO pay tribute to them
and in particular to AJH who h a given much
of
his time and energy to the sport. We wish him well
in his retirement. Chris Vcmey h a captained
the side well and has been instrumental in
motivating the boys to excel, as well as producing
one or two excellent performances himself. Face
change but we look forward to the new season
and hope that it will be our most successful ever.
Boys chosen w represem North Dorset: M icky
Bickford Smith. Henry Farris. J ames Mieville.
James Sykes, Ed H order, Chris Vemey, Piers
Bosh ier, Tom Fox -Davies. Sam Golden, Ed Gold.
Ross A nge ll, George Armstrong, Mat H urst.
Henr y Rushton . Wi ll More. Hu gh Yates, J ames
Bailey, Lawrence Ed l mann, Adam Reid, Hugo
Blou, Ashley Walford, Dom O'Connor, James
Pearson, Nick Pothecary. Gavin Thow. John
Patterson, Alex Crutcher, Ed Harris. Kolatomi
Doherty.
The follmvinf: boys ll'ere clw.\e/1 to represem the
County at the South West championships
( including Somerset. Dewm. Gloucs, A1•on. Wilts
and Connra/1): Henry Farris - winner of I OOm
and 200m. H ugh Yates - winner of triple jump
(achieving
national
qualifying
standard).
Chris
Verney, Sam
Golden,
Will More.
Kolatomi
Doherty.
156
S.J.C.
Stonar Schools' O n e D a y
Event
On Saturday 22nd September my brother,
George and I represented Sherborne School in the
British Schools' One Day Event Championship.
Having arranged for quite some while to go to this
event, we were both looking forward to it.
Neither of us had too early a start. Both our
dressages were at around 11.30am. My dressage
was first. I was riding a six-year old whom I have
brought on myself called Kiwi Lily. It was not the
best dressage test we had ever done, as she was
quite excited and managed to gallop a circle
instead of cantering it.
George, however, performed very well and got
a very respectable score. He was riding Monty, a
seven-year old Conncmara pony whom he had just
begun to ride in the spring.
Bearing in mind we had different judges, after
dressage. George's score was 45 and mine was 41.
The lower your score the better.
Between the dressage and show jumping we
both had a gap of an hour which gave us enough
time to walk the cross-country course.
In the show jumping I got a clear round, even
though it was not terribly preuy. George, however,
had one run out and a couple of poles down. The
effecls of not having been able to ride for three
weeks because of school were definitely
showing. In the cross-country George absolutely
flew around having brilliant fun and getting a
clear round. H is pony. Monty, is a crosscountry specialist and he made up for his
average show jumping pcrfonnance.
My cross-country went a bit pear-shaped! lL
started off really well but when we came to the
warer jump. my horse saw the water and stopped
dead in her tracks. throwing me over her head.
Luckily I just fell short of the water. Kiwi Lily is
still fairly inexperienced when it comes to water.
Meanwhile the horse behind me had caught up by
the time 1 was back on board and so I managed to
get a lead through the water. Although thi:s person
helped me at the water . he was now a complete
nuisance because my horse now thought it was a
race and tried to catch up with her. So we were
now going at about a hundred miles per hour over
the fences and when it came to the comer fence.
another incident occurred. I was going the longer,
safer route but the person in front did the shorter.
faster route. This meant that my horse tried to .:ut
inside a fence that was not part of our course, but
because she couldn't make it she scrambled over
the fence instead. This jolted me out of the saddle
and on to the ground again. J did get on again but,
in accordance with the strict rules, I had to retire.
As you can probably guess we both finished out
of the prize money but we thoroughly enjoyed
ourselves and cannot wait to go back next year
where we will, hopefully, be in the pri1e money.
I ' d like to say thank you to M iss Millar for
organising such a fun day and to the School for
allowing us 10 compete in the event.
157
Harry Fry
SchoolHouse
The past t welve months have been a very busy, eventful. and most of all enjoyable time for School
House. We have enjoyed sporting, academic. and cultural success in every activity in school . and beyond.
Our influence in sport w a notable. Robert Gosling captained the school sailing team to many
an inspired win. Anton Borotdin was appointed Captain of Swimming where, together with James
Hood. he led the senior team in a great season which saw them lose only one match. Our \Cry own Nick
Cook was appointed HOSCOR ( Head of School: Captain of Rugby). He was joined by Nick Cramp
(who recei,ed his rugby colours). Henry Grund)- Wheeler and James Micville who all represented the
I st XV. Alex Beauie also represented the Hou e in the 1st X I cricket while James Hood claimed a spot in
the I st X I soccer team. Captained by Freddie Mead, we once again won the Junior League' hockey.
and were narrowly defeated by The Green on penalty nicks in the final of the Senior hockey compet
ition. While our house football team was packed with footballing aces such as Ed Dudley, we were
again denied the trophy through penal t ies. House cricket saw a memorable game agains t a much
stronger team from The Green. Rhydian Hoogewerf came in on the last ball of the match 10 hit the
winning four. We then went on to lose to the eventua l winners of the competition. The crowning
moment of the house's sporting prowess came in the '>pec tacular first place ach ieved by John Brooke
i n the Inter-house Cross-Country.
Academically, the House have once again ach ieved high standards and results. A l i t h e leavers of 200 I
performed well in their A levels and as a result were accepted to the university of their choice. Palarp
Tokiat-rung-rucng received an internal Exhibition to the Sixth Form as a result of h is excel lent GCSEs.
A long with this, the first set of AS examinations was impressive.
Culturally, the House has had a particular ly memorable year. Under Nick Cramp's direction, the
House play. Biloxi Blues. set standards for plays throughout the School. James M icvil le stunned
audiences with his charm and good look!. :1:, the lead role. Eugene M . Jerome, while Rory MacFarlane
amazed the cast with his inability to learn lines and the audience with his powerful perfom1ance as Sgt.
159
Toomey. This year 's House Concert was yet another entertaining event. A duct from Sherif Gad (guitar)
and David Kirk (violin) along w ith Lhe House Band featuring Rory MacFarlane. Nick Cramp, Simon
Haydon. Kcnnerdeigh Scoll. James H ood. and Sherif Gad made the event special once again. despite our
los<, of so many talented musicians last year. I n the same vein. boys in lhe hou'>e continue to comribute
to the highly successful events put on by ROCSOC. The past year has seen Simon Haydon. Kennerdeigh
Scott. Ben Massey. Tom Edwards, Ol i East, Harry Beattie. and Serif Gad all perform in these concerts
including the Concert in The Courts.
The past twelve months has also seen two members oflhe House, Rory M acFarlane and Henry Farris.
help to found the school debating forum. T.O.S.S. (The Old School Society). This responsibility was then
passed on t o our own "Janitor· John Brooke and our own 'Singing Peach' Tom Edwards. James Hood
w a also awarded an Army Scholarship for the Sixth Fom1 and university. while Oliver East passed the
Regular Commissions Board and as a result has a guaranteed place at Sandhurst.
Along with all these achievements, Lhe House has seen a large re-shufne in personnel. Our dearest Pat
left us after fifteen loyal years in the House hygiene/engineering team. The tall Paul Ryan left the House
to teach at the Reading Oratory and has been replaced as head tutor by Ms Sue Melvin. Big Dave
Edwardl> has stepped in and out as resident rutor and we arc now delighted to have the cheery presence
of Rupen. and of course h is owner. M r. Padley, as the current resident tutor. We have also acquired a new
matron in Mrs. Jenny Mason. who always seems to have a smile on her face.
In a house with two sets of three brothers, Lhe Popes and the Gosling!.. and three non-related
William\CS there is never a dull moment. Many thanks to all the house. Henry Grundy-Wheeler. AI
Beattie. and of course M r. and M rs. Watts for making last year such a memorable one for all involved.
Jame Hood
160
Abbey H o u s e
2000-2001 was, for Abbey House, a resounding success, with individual achievements combining
with an extremely eventful year for the House in general. There were new arrivals in the varied shapes
of a new Third Fom1, in addition to Sophie Murphy-O'Connor's entrance into the world and a
consequently slightly grumpier housemaster adjusting to sleepless nights! The atmosphere was relaxed.
yet detennined, as lllree year groups faced llle onslaught of public exams, with the new AS course
wreaking panicular havoc with the Lower Sixth, as llley tried to recover from celebrati ng generally good
GCSE results. and getting down to work. The Upper Sixth set a good overall tone for the House willl
their approachability being particularly appreciated by llle younger boys and something for future sixlll
formers to live up to.
It was a strong year for spon general ly in the house. Although in some inter-house competitions we
were outnumbered in tem1s of school team representation, we made up for it with determination and a
surprising amount of concealed talent. The Inter-House Football Competition was a good example of
this, as, despite having few committed footballers, we won llle bronze, shocking several teams perhaps
over-confident of their chances. Strong perfonnances and enthusiasm were also abundant in rugby, fives,
tennis. and squash competitions. We won the squash convincingly, led by Justin Gulston. repeating his
successes in the last two tournaments.
Away from sport, Abbey nourished once again, with consistently high numbers in the Choir and
Orchestra, as well as RocSoc. The remarkable amount of musical talent was revealed at the House
Concert at the end of the year. I t was a truly memorab le event with performances worthy of a school
concert. delighting boys and parents w ith its fusion of classical and modern music. Special mention
should be made of Ken Shiozowa and Jason Barnes, who gave completely different but equa lly
memorable pcrforn1ances.
The high point of the year for Abbey, however, was the Hou se's production of Amadeus. The decision
to take on such a demanding and challenging play was not taken lightly. but there can be no doubt that
the gamble paid off. David H edison put togelller a fine spectacle. managing to extract every ounce of
talent out of all involved. Freddie Lewis was remarkable in the title role, displaying the arrogance, genius
and vulnerability of his character with-the flair and intelligence that we have come to expect from th.is
fine young actor. Toby Nutley followed up his success in The Illusion with a pcrfonnance which
beautifully maintained llle now of the play. Barely leaving llle stage once during his whole perfonnance,
he surpassed any expectations we could have possibly had. and brought Salieri to life in llle Powell
Theatre.
The second half of the school year brought us a Head of School in the form of Chris Verney. who
passed on his position as Head of House to Rupert Lane. In tum. both were hugely successful Heads of
House, supponed well by the prefects and Upper Sixlll. making decisions with consideration, and acting
as a good link between housemaster and boys. Chris captained the athletics team and was in the I st XV.
while Rupen was in llle 1st X I for cricket and hockey: they were bolll founts of enlllusia. m that the
whole house soon felt, creating perhaps the best house spirit in recent years.
There are too many individual achievements of Abbey House boys to put into writing here, but mutual
pride was taken by all as we ended the year in high spirits, leaving with anticipation of what the next
year may hold.
Dougal Gordon
161
The Green
H aving said goodbye to the first Upper Sixth of the New Green, we looked forward to a year without
'Rebel Army Warnings'. The year went very quickly and was exceptional ly successful for the boys of
The Green. Benjie Dudgeon directed the S ixth Form play. The Wriring Game, which was very well
received. Charlie Cox perfonned in both this play and the school play, Dealer's Choice, in which he was
the star of the show. Charlie then went on for an audition at RADA , where. despite his youth, he reached
the final 150. Congratul ations to him.
Our cultural life didn't stop here. The H ouse Concert was seen by all as a success, wit h a delightful
performance of Three Liule Maids and Many White's (aptly named?) Armadillo In vasion .
For the third year in a row the boys competed fiercely for the honour of wooden spoon in the House
Singin g Co mpetition. We pe1formed You've Losr Thar Loving Feeling. and a glamorous Eddie Tuckett
joined us on stage to get the pulses of the audi ence racing. The boys were thoroughly delighted
to discover th at we had won a hat trick of wooden spoons, although our thanks must go to Abbeylands
for giving us such a close run contest.
The year was extremely successful for The Green on the games field. Despite having had five boys
represent the XV. injuries made us underdogs in the Senior Rugby Competition. However, in awful
conditions. the ten boys (including George 'The Pitbulr Dalton) managed to pull out all the stops,
beating Lyon 8-5 in an epic final, thanks to the late try from Lin ley Lewis and rhe 'Go lden Boot'. The
Green also won other competitions: the Junior Rugby, Seni or Hockey (with Tim W-J the goal saving
hero), Senior and Junior Cross-Country, Intermediate Athl etics, Seni or Golf. Senior and Juni or Tennis
and of course the globa lly recognised 'Best Designed Spaceship Award'. Although it appears that we
were the most successf ul sporting House this year (in fact we were), the boys were dejected not to have
won the House Fives Competitio n !
Congratulations are also due to Harry ter Haar who was Captain of Footba ll.
Once again soccer in 'The Gash ' was of the highest quality, with James Nicho lls being proud that he
had done so many te1Tible toe-punts during the season that his toenail did in fact fall off.
Thanks must of course go to Pete Lang ly-Sm ith and Tom Procter, the two Heads of House. I think
everyone wi ll miss this year's Upper Sixth and our departing House tutors Mr. Boo l, Dr. Boulton. and
Mr. Price, who served the House wi th great enthu siasm. We all hope that next yea r wi ll be as successfu l
and enjoyable.
Charlie Pushman and Patrick Shaw-Brown
162
Harper House
Lmpressively unimpressive. owing to certain circumstances (the weather and the referee ) not under
our control. we were prevented from !>eerningly inevitable success in major cup competition!>. However
with the ceaseless effort!. of the Schoors favourite furry animal (Ed Worthington) the morale of the
House was kept exceedingly high.
Proof of this wall the most horrific cross-dress ing (apart from the fabled G.C.A. exploits) epi!>ode this
house has ever had the misfortune to sec. This was made legal only on the pretext of The Hou!>c Singing
Competit ion. in which we came third!
The individual sporting talents of the House were displayed throughout the year in many different
forms. In rugby the Hou!>e managed to get five players (Max Vere-Hodge, H enry Mitchell, Oli Luard.
Charlie Gammell and Jo s Simson) into the I st XV. Of these Max Vere- H odge displayed such talent that
he captained the Dor;et U 19 rugby team. which a b o featured Oli Luard. In hockey, we dominated the I
stteam with six out of eleven from Harper, including Henry Mitchell captaining the <;ide, and four out of
the six getting their colour!>. However. in the H ouse competition we were eliminated after penalty
nicks. We were wcll-repre ented in the !>chool cricket XJ. with Charlie Gammell captaining Sherborne.
Harpoons could also be seen in school teams sports such as football. fencing, Lenni!>. swimming and
sailing. All in all, we were a'hamed that even though we were such a sporty house we couldn't get our
hands on any silverware.
H arper House didn't excel itself just in sport. With the new AS levels we now had three year groups
out of five taking exams in the summer and we produced results that we are proud of. Duncan Angus,
Laurie Tru luck and A lex Kwon g produced a fair few A*s on their GSCE results certificates. Two or the
Lower Sixth gath ered 4 A grades. H owever the best results came from The Upper Sixth. with Chri stopher
Kober and Charlie Gammell going to Oxbridge and great result s from H enry Mitchell. Matt Hope. and
Ed Worthington (who came back after getting his results to apply to more demanding universities).
This year we also produced Three Short Plays for the Coarse Acwr in which most of the house could
be seen on stage. Many have remarked the comical feast that had all the Powell Theatre laughing on all
the nights. The production featured many actors who will in time replace the line actors leaving at the
end of this year, including Adam Harris and Henry Mitchell who starred in the school play. Dealer's
Choice, and Tom Walsh in the Sixth Form play. The Writing Game.
The H ouse had an excellent year. and was more than ably Jed by Joss Sirmon and the hou!>e prefects.
The Upper Sixth will be a hard year to follow. But that is what Harper will have to do. with Charlie Brock
leading us into the next year.
Charlie Roberu..
163
Ab b e y l a n d s
If the community of lhe House were described in terms of ecology it would be as follows: the
population (House membe ) is made up of all different species (year groups) of organisms lhat live (ru1d
work) in the same place at the same Lime ru1d interact with each olher. Communities may remain fairly
!.table, or they may be in the process of change. The Iauer can be seen in the House·!. present state of
metamorpho!.i!>. Like the caterpillar in its cocoon . the ecological unit (the building) is taking its new form
by means of systematic renewal (a slow process involving planning, builders and much noise at early
hours). Once finished. however, the community can really show its true colours.
As in any communjty, our inhabitants are interdependent and complex interactions (we were winners
of the Inter-House Quit competition) are often achieved. Although a close-knit dependence can be
maintained, lhis does not in any way quash the variety and individuality of species such as. for example.
the Canadian pond weed. (James Kierstead gained a place at Chorpus Christi, Oxford to read Classics.)
The advantages of variation within an ecosystem are numerous. One such advantage is that it is in tum
able to support a greater niche. (The Upper Sixth A-level results were particularly impressive). What is
perhaps so remarkable about this particular ecosystem is that such variety through all species is retajned
within an entirely inclusive community.
The food web of the community requires firm links between various trophic levels and in this
particular case. team work has proved to be very successful. (We won the Inter-House U 16 Rugby. Junior
and Senior Athletics, Swimming, and Relays!). There are however many trophic levels to any advanced
ecosystem and in order to function to its full potential, the system must receive input at every level. (Two
boys played in the national championships in Fives.) Other trophic levels also play an important role in
maintaining a variant culture. (The House Concert was a display of the House's most talented musicians
and in addition raised over £400 for charity.)
Competition between communities is essential and this can take many forms. For example,
sparrowhawks e tablish territory through hideous noise signals. (We didn't come last in the Inter-House
Singing Competition this year.) Communication is anolher essential process of ecological development.
This can often be very advanced, so much so lhat it occasionall y cannot be utilil.ed. (Naresb Verlander
and James Bulley created the house web site. but it has yet to be integrated into the school network.)
Finall y. scientiSt!. often decide to investigate particular characteristics of community interaction,
deploying various !>ampling techniques. (The House underwent ill. annual check by the Social Services.)
There are certain disadvantages in these sampling techniques in that they are not entirely repre entative.
Nevertheless. thi!i particular community provided sufficient data to prove that there was a positive
correlation between energy input and output. (A lot goes into the running of the house and a lot comes
out of it.) Scientil.ls are able to draw fim1 conclusions from data collected. (They left satisfied and
described it as a very happy place.) As wilh all surveys of communit i c (particularly the more advanced),
certain organism escape discovery but conlinue to play an active part in their community.
Henry Rushton
164
Wa l l a c e
The last year has been an eventful one for the small community in Wallace. We have had the House
Play, won the Hou se Singing Competition, and put on another exceptional House Concert and sti ll
managed to squeeze out some remarkable examination results from the School's finest pupils.
After the regulation mourning period for last years' Upper Sixth, the House Play was the talk of the
town. as Andrew Morley-Smith went out on a limb in directing our production of The Real inspec tor
Hound on his own. Luke Vassay, Giles Male. Rich Ward. Joff Dicken s . and Ali Brooks all gave superb
performanc es and confused and an1used a full house on each night in one of the best plays put on by the
School this year.
After the stunning rev iews of the play, Wallace took on the rest of the School in showing off our
musical talent in the Hou se Singing Competition and won, even though we are by far the smallest house
(and did only two days' practice ) Giles Male led us to victory with a colourful rendition of The Cross
Dressing Lumbetjack Song (no question s asked, Giles). The large silver trophy stands proudly on a shelf
in Mr. Haigh 's study. Now all we need is a trophy cabinet.
And the House 's sporting achievements must not be overlooked: Wallace has contributed exceptional
players to school teams across the School. Tom Stanford played in the Mini-Colts B rugby. and Ed Ward
and Oliver Hankinson-Parr played Junior Coils A rugby while our head of House, James Board. even
played for the First XV at one point.
Cricket in the House has also thrived , with countless games of bargeyard cricket helping Piers Foster
and Ed Ward get into the Junior Colts A team. Varun Singh also played Second XI cricket and we have
great hopes that he will represent us next summer in the First XI.
Hockey is played at house level and in School teams but the House tends to opt for things like
football, swimming, shooting, Cross Country. fives, and squash. This goes to show the great number of
our sportsmen all doing different sports.
There have. of course, been countless members of the house in B teams across the board. but the list
is just too long. The beloved patch has also seen many moments of sporting excellence but then not in
any official school team and so overlooked in this report.
The co ld harsh winter which brings with it the hockey season was a time of quiet within Wallace. The
Fifth and Sixth Forms studied laboriously while the new Third Form (who have proven to be our most
exciting and colourful for many years) kept the atmosphere light in House with their constant scraps and
high pitched giggling.
We had another splendid House Concert, with notable performances from third formers Hugh
Worskett, Tristan De Souza, Alex Morley-Sm ith, and Hajimc Perry, with some of the older more
experienced house musicians such as Ali Hardi e and Richard Perowne. And Mr. Haigh even joined in
the Hou se ensemble by playing the piano.
The public exam results for the Hou se were also good: Nick Foster and Bobby Dickens should be
singled out for mention for their A level results, and Rich Ward , Adam Woolston and Ali Hardie all did
exceeding well at GCSE.
On the whole the House had a quiet year but also a successful one and as the School adjusts itself to
new exam procedures and a new Headmaster. L have no doubt that this next year will be even more
productive and fruitful for Wallace.
Stuart Kennon et al
165
Lyon H o u s e
With the !>uccess of the previous year. Lyon Hous e had much to prove and they did this admirably.
The Lyon family is close-knit. This provides a spirit which perpetually allow-, the House to perform
beyond expectations in spon. plays, music. and in academic pur uih . The year taned with a trophy
cabinet ::my House would have been jealous of. The Michaelma.'> Term yielded no trophies. However. as
the year progressed the content of our cabinet grew. The defences of our tttle-. in both sailing and
shooting were succc\sful. The U 16 hockey players reached the final of that competition where they faced a
side containing eight members of the A':.. Against the odds. they \\ere victorious and another troph}
wa'> retained. A number of keen football players who normally get an opponunity to express their talent
on l} in the Spom. Hall. used the H ouse football competition to hO\\ their true colours. We reached the
final. It was goalless and penalties were taken to decide the winner\. It went down to the la\t penalty and.
in a nail-biting finale. we were once again v ictorious.
The cance llation of Ten Tors meant that Lyon ·s record of continuous participation since 1980 has
unfonunately been broken. Let's hope we can compete next year and maintain the tradition of bealing
the C.C.F. team!
We entered the House Singing Competition with very high hope . We had not on ly chosen a
contagious song Build Me Up Buuercup which the whole School was n ow consta ntl y singing but Mrs.
Francis has also carefu lly choreographed the piece - how could we lose"? We were disappointed not to
win. but devastated not even to come in Lhe top three. especially after Mr. Padley had been so
complimentary. Cheers, Mr. Ryan!
The biennial Red Nose Day saw us on Carey's for the ·spuce Ship Race'. We had a title to defend
once again, but bed l:un on the start line meant we were last out of the starting blocks and. despite rapidly
makin g up territory, we were narrowly defeated.
The Houi.e concert showed off Lyon's musical talem. the pinnacle of which must have been Mall
Balfour's '>Oio voca ls. closely followed by Rob J ordan on the tenor hom. Warmth radiated until. at the
close. the atmosphere was an inferno!
There was no Hou),e Play this year. but Lyon were respectably represented in school productions.
There is obviously talent and we look forward to the Hou-.e Play next year.
Th a n h must go to George Bramble and Angus MacDonald for running the House with panache and
we are ..ad to <,ee the rest of The Upper Sixth leave. Thank you also to Mr. Franci'> who give), Lyon its
indi\ iduality and i'> behind all the aforementioned successes of the House.
Ed Westropp
166
The Digby
As we emerge from our bunkers and don our protective suits. The Digby looks back on a terrible year
for Mr. Morgan. IL was am1us horribilis. the Year of Second Places: second in both age groups in Cross
Country. second in Athletics, second in Junior Shooting and second in Swimming and - d a r e I say it ,
even whispering?- second in the House Singing Competition, despite the now u sual excellence of our
own House Concert. There were some who escaped the general fallout. Alex Crutcher ran to glory in the
Junior Cross Country. The Senior Cricket Cup, i f little radioactive, is still ours. and sitting alongside
this relic is the Senior Tennis Cup and Senior Fives Cup. Jamie Thomas and James Fowle had run off to
Hollywood to star in Dealer :f Choice, the school play. after rising to fame in The Digby play (Elton
John :1· Classes) last year (and it has been reported by our spies that they received Oscars for their
performance). Unfortunately we also lost some of our oth er members. Having been mutated by the
radiation. there was truly no prospect of saving them but their final appearance at least deserves a
mention. The boys. last seen as woodland creatures starring in The Wind in the Willows. are, (or were).
Thomas Patterson. Alex Webb. Matthew Hull. Jonathan Homer, Owen Skinner, Hugo Blatt, Theo
Crutcher. Edward Baker and Simon Dawson. More optimistically. this definitely shows there may be
much to look forward to in future school and house productions of Animal Farm and Watership Down.
Inside our bunkers the absence of electricity has led to an unprecedented phenomenon: work. The
Fifth Form worked their way to success in GCSE. Charles Pitt Ford attained 9A*'s and I A. and both
Sebastian Fox and James Pear on achieved 8A*s and 2As. The (apparently) much disputed AS levels
went ahead with similar accomplishments to those gained in GCSE: Patrick Le Flufy, David Hitchings
and Nick Pothecary all gained straight As. The departing Upper Sixth all secured the grades needed to
take them on to the next chosen stage of their education. We wish them well.
Richard Coates
167