Epsomian Magazine 2002

Transcription

The Epsomian 2001-02
Volume 132
BAINES design & print 01707 876555 Printed on environmentally friendly paper A15886
Epsom College, Epsom, Surrey, KT17 4JQ Tel: 01372 821234 Fax: 01372 821237
e-mail: [email protected] website: www.epsomcollege.org.uk
epsomian
2001-2002
MAGAZINE
epsomian M A G A Z I N E
Lent Term
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41
Rocking for Rio
Jimmy Page takes a Stairway
to Epsom
For some, March 4th 2002 was a day they would never forget, for
this was the day that Rock God Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin took
time out from his busy rock star life to spend a day with his fans
at Epsom College. This once in a lifetime opportunity was
gratefully embraced by everyone at the college, giving everyone a
chance to see a living legend do what he’s best at, and for some of
the luckier ones, perform alongside him.
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The purpose of his visit was to help raise money for this year’s
charity, Task Brazil, raising money for the street children of Rio and
giving them a better chance in life. Being a huge fan of Led
Zeppelin I jumped at the chance of being involved in such a unique
event, and now I present to you the story of my involvement and
my experiences with “The Pagemaster”. (But seriously now, no one
calls him that, it’s not a cool name, I just made it up.)
The idea was for members of the college to put together bands to
perform songs at the concert, alongside Mr Page. This seems a
relatively simple concept, but due to a distinct lack of drummers
much of the proposed music never made it to the final night. I too
was a victim of this vicious drummer famine, and on the night before
the final show, my initial musical line up disintegrated like a rotting
corpse left in vat of enzymes. I was left in a distinct state of turmoil,
as if a crow had pecked my eyes out, as in that film, Omen II.
Anyway, like a phoenix rising from the dying embers, I fought
against this tragedy, found myself a new set of musical
ingredients, and just like The Naked Chef I cooked up a fresh tasty
musical treat in just under an hour. PUKKA TUKKA!
However, to be honest, on the night of the dress rehearsal I had
doubts about the quality and range of the music to be portrayed in
the impending show, and I wondered whether Jimmy would think
Epsom College to be a school of talentless layabouts. No I’m only
joking, I was just worried about the song I was due to perform, as
the distinct lack of preparation was painfully obvious, and was
about as entertaining to watch as a game of Countdown. Anyway,
that was all very dandy, but you’re not interested in that, so I’ll
move on to tell you about Jimmy and
what he did, as opposed to bore you
with the facts of my personal lack of
self-esteem and wholly tragic life.
The first time I saw Jimmy was through
a pane of glass about 10cm wide,
looking from my seat in the concert
hall, through to the foyer where he
stood with Father Paul, shortly before
he was due to come in and host a
guitar workshop. I don’t actually play
the guitar, but like a stowaway hiding in
a barrel of rum on a medieval tall ship, I
snuck on board the workshop main
deck and was able to savour his
awesome presence despite my lack of
talent. Jimmy is great. No really, he’s
unique, very friendly. I asked if he had
ever thrown a TV out a hotel room
window, and he replied in a quiet,
slightly intimidating voice, “Errm yeah,
many times actually. Whoops.” What a
rock star.
The workshop proved an enjoyable
chance to spend a bit of time with
Jimmy, without hundreds of other Led
Zeppelin minions hanging around trying
to catch a glimpse of their God. I felt
special. It was also a golden chance to
get him to sign one of my Led Zeppelin
albums, which I brought along with me.
He actually stole my pen but I forgive
him because I have more pens at home.
The show began with a huge round of
The Author in action!
whooping and cheering as Jimmy made
his entrance. The overwhelming excitement was pulsating through
everyone in Big School. Before the actual concert began there was
a question and answers session, with questions for Jimmy ranging
from intelligent queries to moronic rubbernecking. After this was
over a signed box set of Led Zeppelin CDs was put up for auction,
which was finally sold for the phantasmagorically large sum of
£1000. While this was taking place on stage, back in the green
room a debate concerning the possibilities of a woman giving birth
to a chorus of doves was being discussed, along with other topics
too rude and obscene to be printed here. Also Steve-Dave thought
it would be funny to glue us to the carpet, but it wasn’t very funny
so we beat him up.
An interval followed, in which fans were able to queue up to share
a few precious moments with Mr Page, and get him to sign
anything ranging from CDs and foreheads to shirts and shoes.
It was in the second half of the evening that Big School turned
from a place of quaint and formal school events to a hive of loud
rock music, swarming with mosh-pit friendly punters. This was a
place where rock-stars rocked, and fan-boys, err, rocked as well.
The music began with aural treats from various bands of musicians
made up of members of the college, performing various classic
rock songs, new and old(ish), including tracks by Incubus, Green
Day and Red Hot Chilli Peppers. I was lucky enough to perform as
well, although I admit wholly it was probably the worst
performance of the whole show, seeing as I sang holding the word
sheet, making me look like a short-sighted philistine doing Friday
night karaoke at the local YMCA, as opposed to future heavy metal
legend as I had previously hoped. However, I don’t regret it
because a) it was actually quite respectable considering we only
had an hour’s practice and b) I was in a concert with Jimmy Page;
how many people that you know can say that?
7.30pm and the show was about to
begin, all those involved sat nervously
backstage, everybody double checking
they knew their various guitar parts,
drum rhythms and song lyrics, except
for me of course, who was learning the
lyrics for the first time. Jimmy and his
bald minion, Steve-Dave, came in
through the green room door, and after
we all wished each other good luck for
the evening, Jimmy went up on the
stage to start the show, while SteveDave proceeded to put wax on his shiny
hair-less scalp and get Jimmy’s various
guitar pedals ready for later.
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I would also like to mention that following
on from this year’s show, next year a
charity concert in aid of forgotten pop
icons from the 80s and 90s will take place,
hosted by Geri Halliwell with performances
from Ace of Base, Spandau Ballet and The
Art of Noise. Please give generously, as the
only income these drop-outs make is from
the £23 royalty cheque they get each year
after their music gets sampled on Saturday
night compilation shows on Channel 4.
Raise the Titanic!
Alex Hoban
“Thanks mate, I think I’ll need it!” said he.
Oh yeah! I’m mates with Jimmy Page! Well,
for a brief moment I was… oh well, at least
it’s something to tell the grandchildren
about. As he slung his guitar over his
shoulder the crowd went wild like pack of
hungry hyenas, desperate for their helping
of rock and roll, and as the music began
the atmosphere intensified. Even SteveDave was doing a little jig at the side of
the stage. Further and further through the
set, after each solo of increasing
complexity, more and more people made
their way out of their seats to the front of
the stage. By the beginning of the final
song an authentic mosh-pit situation had
arisen for the first, and probably last, time
on the floor of Big School. On stage Jimmy
was visibly enjoying himself, the small
venue and the intimate feeling adding to
the impact of the music and the flowing
energy. Those who had been in the show,
including myself, joined him on stage to
do what ever you felt like, in some peoples’
case it was dance, in others it was bow
down to their idol, and in my case it was
take a running leap off the edge of the
stage into the feisty crowd below, and to
my amazement, not get dropped but to
continue being held above the mass of
sweaty bodies jumping and jiving to their
musical hero.
Once it was over, the people had left, and
the room temperature had dropped back
down to a suitable level, there was no
doubt in my mind that the evening had
been an outright success, even though it is
still hard to comprehend it ever even took
place. As a result of the concert, 600 or so
people were able to enjoy a unique night
with a unique icon in rock history, and at
the same time help raise around £8000 for
TASK Brazil.
I, on behalf of everyone at the college,
would like to thank Jimmy for the time he
gave up for us, and would like to recognise
and respect the immense scale of work
and effort he has put towards TASK Brazil
and the street children of Rio who benefit
from it.
ROCKING FOR RIO
The Sheehan View
On Monday 4th March Led Zeppelin
guitarist Jimmy Page spent most of the
day at Epsom College talking to young
guitarists, thanking the school’s charity
representatives for their work for the Task
Brazil, and playing at a concert in the
evening to raise awareness and money for
the homeless children of Rio.
Epsom College’s official charity for the
year was well underway before they were
contacted by Jimmy Page who revealed his
interest and involvement. Generously,
Jimmy offered to help in raising people’s
consciousness about the situation for
children in Rio. A concert had already been
planned for March to raise money, so
Jimmy agreed to join in.
The day began with Jimmy Page attending
a “guitar workshop” at the Music School
where he listened to young musicians and
discussed various aspects of learning and
playing guitar. Jimmy’s message was
consistently positive as he urged them to
“Keep playing; form bands with your
friends; enjoy the guitar and don’t stop
learning.” He described how he found his
first guitar in the family home, learning by
playing along to records and soon teaming
up with the only other guitarist at school.
Jimmy explained how he started working
as a session musician in the sixties, giving
valuable insights into how to cope without
sheet music and how to get the best drum
sound. Apart from technical information,
Jimmy answered questions on the
influence of “Lord of the Rings” on
Zeppelin lyrics and revealed his favourite
composition is “Kashmir”, his favourite
guitar players are still Jeff Beck and Bert
Jansch, and that throwing televisions out
of hotel windows became very expensive.
As Jimmy Page is a local, having grown up
in Epsom, there was a sense of returning
home or of recognition. Frequently links
with the community and local musicians
were made. There is also an element of
celebration when someone who reaches
the top of their profession returns. His
three main intentions were to raise
awareness about Task Brazil, to connect
with the young and ultimately to have fun,
which certainly happened that night.
The evening’s concert began with a
statement by Mrs Page on the plight of the
homeless children of Rio. She explained the
need for help and how she and Jimmy
became involved in Task Brazil. This was
followed by a thirty minute question and
answer session, which covered such topics
as the existence of unreleased Led Zeppelin
material, his favourite guitar, (the sunburst
Gibson Les Paul that he used for all
Zeppelin recordings and that he played that
night), and other often amusing revelations
about life in Zeppelin. A boxed set of Led
Zeppelin albums was auctioned for £1,000
and Jimmy kindly signed all manner of Led
Zeppelin memorabilia during the interval.
The concert began with two of the school’s
rock bands and a solo guitarist;
performances which Jimmy obviously
enjoyed. However, the audience had come
hoping to hear the world’s greatest living
rock guitarist and from the first note he
struck they were gripped. The first number
was a heavy pumping version of Dylan’s
“Subterranean Homesick Blues” and Jimmy
played some effects laden wah wah. After
an awesome solo, Jimmy encouraged
seventeen year old schoolboy guitarist
James Shaw to follow. It must have been a
memorable moment for the younger
musician. A Robert Cray blues song,
“Grinder”, followed and Jimmy looked at
ease with the musical form that began his
career playing virtuoso blues guitar. The
“band” consisted of three teachers and six
pupils, the singers sharing duties, who
gave a solid backing, creating a well
balanced sound. A reggae version of
“Wherever I Lay My Hat” reminded the
audience that this concert was to find
homes for the abandoned children of Rio,
while Jimmy’s guitarwork reminded us
what an extraordinary talent he is. The
concert ended with a rock ‘n roll song that
brought the audience to their feet and the
younger members rushed the stage to join
in the celebration.
At the end of the final number, Jimmy
Page wiped the sweat from his face and
smiled broadly at the crowd. The night had
rocked. He had helped raise money and
awareness for a charity close to his heart
and had a lot of fun. He shook hands with
the young musicians thanking them for
their involvement, and then went back to
signing more memorabilia for fans. We will
certainly recall a great night for charity,
but we will also remember Jimmy Page
and his wife for their kindness, wit and
generosity. Thank you both.
Mr RA Sheehan
But, despite the immense high quality of
all the music put forward by the pupils
that evening, once they were gone they
were indeed forgotten, in favour of the
evening’s final act. The lights came up, the
three amigos, Mr Sheehan, Mr Henson and
Mr Irvine walked on stage and began
plugging in various instruments of the
musical variety, while Steve-Dave brought
on the board of guitar pedals he had been
so lovingly protecting with all his tender
care and attention for the entire evening
prior to this moment. Jimmy went to the
side of the stage where I had been
watching…. “Good luck Jimmy!” I beamed
like a bemused six year old…
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Jimmy Page reflects on his career and Task Brasil
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The Trials and Tribulations of Being A Charity Rep
This year Epsom tried something different for Charity; something
hugely ambitious, yet evidently plausible. Last year, the College
raised an unprecedented £20,000 for the purchase of a Kosovo
school; this effort required a massive extra commitment from all
the charity staff at Epsom, involving many extra events.
Yet this year, Miss Chandley, Felicity Parker, Natalia Martin
Villendrup and James Kent returned from a Michelmas half term
break fixated on Brazil, and Epsom College farm specifically. Having
witnessed the appalling conditions that Rio’s street children must
endure, and equally how much the purchase of nearby farmland
would help them, these four provided Epsom with a charity target
for the year. The sum? £30,000 for Task Brazil, an organisation
dedicated to helping impoverished street kids.
To raise this sum of money in such a short time period was a
tremendous challenge, and only possible with the support of all
the students. To that end a pledge scheme was introduced and
almost all the students supported the cause. Yet there were other
memorable events through the year, notably a Jimmy Page
exclusive concert attended by many parents and students. Mr Page
and his wife are strongly involved with Task Brazil and the Led
Zeppelin legend agreed to host ‘Rocking for Rio’ in March.
Unfortunately he did not play solo, but did join in with various
Epsom bands and teachers. This was a once in a lifetime experience
and we must thank Mr Page for his time. The night raised almost
£10,000 and a signed Jimmy Page guitar fetched around £5000
over an internet auction.
These events put us firmly on track to achieve our target, and the
other regular charity events passed as ever, with effervescence and
enthusiasm. The Charity Show, most notably, was sold out after
two days of ticket sales.
The role of the house Charity Rep through the year was well
defined. Attending fortnightly meetings with Miss Chandley, Father
Paul and Mr Thompson, we discussed upcoming events, suggested
alternate fund raising avenues and talked about any other
problems regarding the aim. Perhaps the most important job,
though, was to collect in the student pledges. Various events had
raised around £20,000, yet the College was bound to purchase the
farm, leaving the final few weeks to take on a somewhat frantic
feel as we battled to collect pledges. Eventually they arrived, the
target was reached, and a collective sigh of relief breathed. Thanks
are due to all students who pledged, your support was essential.
To be involved as a Charity Rep this year at Epsom made more
demands on time than the job ever had done before; this was
comfortably the most ambitious task the school had ever
undertaken as a charity project. But we did it. This year has been
an immensely rewarding experience to all reps involved, and we
wish our successors next year good luck so that Epsom can
achieve similar things in coming years. The results far outweigh
the trials and tribulations.
Amil Shah
From the desk of Michael J Parry
For the love of my neighbour
If being considerate of others is the first building block of human
relationships, it is particularly important in a school like Epsom
College, where girls become young women, and boys, young men
in their formative years. How we treat each other may not seem
that important when one thinks about a particular individual, but
we should remember that hundreds of individuals make up this
school.
Every time we put ourselves first, we are putting someone else
behind us. If we are agreed that selfishness is bad and altruism
is good, is it not our duty to remind ourselves and each other
when we are committing these faults of negligence? And is it
not also our duty to deliberately look for ways to brighten the
lives of those around us?
Humility, courtesy, respect, obedience and discipline are not the
enemies of enthusiasm or creativity, they safeguard them.
Whether we like it or not, we are responsible for upholding these
values in our school. This burden must fall particularly heavily on
the members of the Sixth Form. They are the most visible of all;
the juniors and newcomers naturally look to them for an example.
If the example is inconsistent, or if some of them are setting a bad
example, the repercussions will be very real. And long-lasting.
This is a community, where every fellow student is a brother or
sister, every teacher a guiding uncle or aunt. We have the
opportunity and the obligation to strive to be better. “It’s not a
perfect world,” is not an excuse for going along with our
imperfections. To accept what our conscience tells us is wrong
would be cowardice. To make a stand under threat of being
unpopular and to confront our own shortcomings at the same
time – that’s courage. That’s heroic. Be heroes!
The essence of humility is to cease to think about oneself and be a
person for others. We are all guilty, at one time or another, in this
department. Our lives have become so hectic, so saturated with
things to do and ways to amuse ourselves, that it is all too easy to
forget about other people. If we could only stop for a second and
think about others, be they fellow students, teachers or family
members, we would make a difference in their day.
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charity
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show
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Drama
The Marriage of Figaro
Some of the most accomplished voices of Epsom College pupils
enthralled audiences in a full length opera with an outstanding
performance of an 18th century masterpiece - Mozart's The
Marriage of Figaro.
The cast members were dressed in elaborate period costumes and
wigs and were accompanied by a 13-piece orchestra. 17 year-old
pupil Craig White (Rosebery) assisted Mr Graeme Lodge in the
musical direction.
Head of English, Mr Stephen Oliver, who directed the opera said:
"The initial impulse to do an opera came from the pupils
themselves. They have shown tremendous commitment, discipline
and creativity and have clearly enjoyed the ensemble aspects of
theatrical performance and the opportunity of singing together.
Their performance represents a remarkable achievement and it has
been of enormous educational benefit to all those involved.
Undoubtedly the experience for all those involved in performing
The Marriage of Figaro should be unforgettable."
A Drama Critic
M4 Lake Garda Visit
It was shortly after Easter when I began to ponder the meaning of
life. “What am I doing here?” “Where am I going?” “Who are these
people?” Yes, six days with 39 M4 students can do that to a man.
To be fair we had already crammed in 5 Drama workshops,
covering mask-making, dance, and music; visits to Venice, Verona,
Bardolino and Sirmione; an evening at a leisure centre and a whole
day at Gardaland, a huge theme park.
The four-act comic opera, first performed in Vienna in 1786, charts
the infidelity and jealousy of the Count Almaviva, and his valet
Figaro's attempts to prevent him forcing his attentions on Figaro's
intended bride, SusannaThe four principal leads, who delivered the
highly complex vocal lines to an appreciative audience, were
played by sixth formers; Tom Glass (Fayrer) as Figaro; Miranda
Malins (Raven) as Susanna; Michael Holiday (Rosebery) as Count
Almaviva and Samantha Reynolds (Wilson) as the Countess. They
were supported by a further 7 solo performers, the youngest just
14 years old, Katie Moss (Wilson), as well as 13 supporting roles.
Ah, the Rialto, Juliet’s balcony, Lake Garda itself, the castle
overlooking Sirmione and the rich palette of colours - grey, darker
grey, charcoal grey, slate grey and more grey. My how it rained
while we were there.
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In truth, we did have one lovely sunny day which coincided with
our trip to Venice. For the rest of the week, however, the swimming
pool adjacent to our accommodation merely taunted us and
echoed what everyone kept telling us that ‘the temperature was in
the 30s for the two weeks before you got here’.
It has to be said that the group more than made the best of
things. Despite the dismal weather everyone enjoyed themselves
and it was an exhausted but happy group who touched down at
Stansted Airport around midnight on April 11th enthusiastically
relishing the prospect of a two-hour coach ride back to Epsom.
The Raven House Play
“Elemental”
Mrs Davies, Mrs Lane and Mr Cooper had worked tirelessly
throughout the trip to ensure that no one came to any harm and
that they arrived in the right place and at the right time. It was
With such an experimental concept, “Elemental” was regarded in
both a hopeful and expectant light, particularly since Raven House
is well known for its diverse range of talent. There were some
impressive individual scenes, but at times there was perhaps a
break in the continuity formed between them and the rest of the
show.
From appearance, each act was organised by the participants and
then classed into one of the four divisional acts (Air, Earth, Fire,
and Water). A backdrop of crackling flames, for example,
represented the advent of fire, which did serve to remind the
audience of the theme. Certain scenes seemed to drift away from
the element of which they were representative, keeping the
audience on their toes!
However, this does not diminish the fact that there was a great
deal of talent on display and I feel very strongly that the gifted
young women of Raven House should make themselves available
for future school productions. The concerts, Charity Shows and
School Plays of the future are sure to be in need of such
accomplished singers, actors, dancers and musicians. In organising
each sketch amongst themselves, the girls showed an admirable
level of intelligence and maturity. Congratulations to the entire
cast for their contributions! Particular credit to Nicole Magoon,
the only member of the U6 to perform, for her wonderful singing
in this, her last performance at Epsom College.
ouse
Raven H
Daniel Aspel
they to whom I now turned seeking guidance. I asked my
questions again. Their reply: ‘Shut up, I’m trying to catch up on
my sleep.’
Mr P Henson
rch 2002
a
M
h
t
4
1
Thursday h March 2002
5t
Friday 1
ol 7:45
Big Scho
presents
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AGI March 2002 Part 1
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53
Young Enterprise
for young people to undertake business
activities, useful for everyone, but
especially for those aiming for careers in
management or similar.
Epsom has traditionally organised two
Young Enterprise companies, and this year
Matt McLuckie was elected Managing
Director of Openeye, while I took on the
same role for Phoenix. Each Company was
made up of 14 people and for the second
year in succession demand far outstripped
supply. YE staff organised an interview
and application process, further adding to
the authenticity of the experience. Some
were disappointed, but the 28 selected
began in early October eager to live up to
the YE motto, “Learning by Doing”.
A quick introduction to Young Enterprise.
It is an opportunity to gain practical
business experience in the Lower Sixth
form, with stipulations that a proper
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bank account must be used, correct tax
returns be completed, and general
business practice be correctly observed.
In short, it is an excellent opportunity
Openeye this year concentrated their
efforts on organising a ‘Gangster Night’. A
year of planning was needed, and extensive
marketing utilised. This was a parents’
event, and Main Hall was transformed into
a scene of 1920s America, albeit without
the Prohibition. A live Casino was the main
attraction as contestants competed for an
array of fantastic prizes, including
Playstations, holidays and mobile phones.
The scale of the event was impressive, and
the hard work left Openeye exhausted, but
proud afterwards.
Phoenix decided to pursue three individual ventures this year.
Firstly we provided a range of refreshments at the school play.
Our main Michelmas project was to produce caricature
calendars, featuring Housemasters and Housemistresses, and
Mr Rice too! The quality of the artwork was excellent and the
calendars sold well. However, after Christmas, we focused on
providing personalised hoodies and polo shirts, with a name
and number on the back. These also sold tremendously well,
leaving us with healthy profits for the year.
Both companies met twice weekly through the year with our
Link Teachers, Mr Stout and Mr Postle, and our Business
Advisers. Thanks from Phoenix and Openeye to Les, Lionel and
Ian for all their help through the year. The Advisers sat
through our Monday meetings to help us with business
essentials like cashflow, planning and marketing. These tips
were invaluable to 17-year-olds with no experience! This was
no easy task; arguments were had, disputes raged, and at
times both companies thought twice about the wisdom of
Young Enterprise. But we got through the year, it can’t have
been that bad!
The final acts of the year were at the Young Enterprise
competition, where companies submitted a report, erected a
stand and gave a presentation. The best would progress to the
county finals and maybe further. Sadly neither of Epsom’s
companies made it through the first round but
commiserations to Phoenix who were the “people’s
champions”. Also commendations to Openeye whose effort
was all the more impressive having had only a day to prepare
it, due to their event.
Young Enterprise is hard work, involves time and effort but it’s
a hugely worthwhile and rewarding experience. I thoroughly
recommend it to prospective Sixth Formers and wish next year’s
companies good luck.
Amil Shah
Choral Society
As far as I am aware, this is the first time Epsom College Choral
Society has attempted Mozart's monumental C minor Mass, so it
was a pleasure to hear such a polished and deeply felt performance
of this very fine work under Michael Hampshire's direction. Balance
between choir, soloists and orchestra was most successfully
managed throughout and the enthusiastic secure singing of the
choir was complimented by some sensitively shaped orchestra
playing (leader; Brian Gaulton).
David Stout completed the quartet of soloists in a most moving
and expressive performance of the "Benedictus".
The soloists, Debra Morley and Brenda Meek (Sopranos), Brian
Chapman (Tenor) and David Stout (Bass) were excellent. Debra
Morley coped admirably with the taxing coloratura writing in
"Laudamus Te" and "Et Incarnatus Est", managing to make it sound
effortless and her voice blended well with that of Brenda Meek in
the equally demanding duet "Domine Deus". Brian Chapman and
The concert began with a joyous performance of Haydn's exuberant
"Te Deum", a late work composed at about the same time as "The
Creation", and here, as in the mass, the choir sounded extremely
well trained, singing with firm attack and clear diction.
The tempi adopted were generally on the broad and majestic side,
slower than is often the case in performances of this work, but on
this occasion they worked to advantage, heightening the emotional
impact of the work; the detailed preparation and commitment of
everyone involved was never in doubt.
Gilbert Rowland
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Sport
Cross Country
House Cross Country
After the cancellation of last year’s event, it
was decided to move the House Cross
Country to the Michaelmas term in hope of
better weather- it certainly seemed to work.
Fayrer were again the odds-on favourite for
the boys and they didn’t disappoint, winning
all three categories and therefore the overall
trophy with a winning score of 155. Propert
than twenty pupils had opted - it looked as
though that we might be able to put out an
Intermediate team, which hadn’t happened
for quite a few years.
Alex Hayman and James Shaw were good
captains and led by example, notably in the
first fixture at Lancing. The rain lashed down
and gales howled as they set off from cliff
tops just above the College. Those without
spikes skated around the course and
finishing times indicated that many had
obviously got lost- the whole event was
rather Pythonesque to say the least!
On the county side, Luke Hearne and Richard
Hodge were selected for the senior Surrey
team in the inter-county championships,
whilst Gareth Needham was selected for the
junior team in the same event. Luke
impressed so much that he was also selected
and ran in the English Schools’
Championship - no mean feat!
came second with 363 and Granville third with
370. On the girl’s side, Raven won the Junior
Girls’ and Wilson the Senior Girls’ Trophy.
Notable performances and winners in each
age group included Gareth Needham (G),
Matt Brown (G) and Luke Hearne (Rn) with
Holly Howson (Rv) and Alannah Tollworthy
(Rv) for the girls.
Hurst Penny league
I was astounded (!) when I received the
options list this year and found that more
56
Harrop ran well for the Inters, the latter being
awarded the Rhodes Cup for most improved
runner. A tremendous season with the senior
team coming second out of sixteen and the
inters achieving fourth place.
Luke Hearne ran in all events and became
accustomed to the taste of victory (except
whenever Winchester appeared!) Richard Hodge
snapped at his heels and seemed to stay free of
injury for the majority of the season. Andrew
Heap, Nick Berry, Andrew Fernando and Duncan
My thanks go to not only the pupils, but also
to JRLH and PJI for turning out so regularly.
Some might say that to take up cross
country as a sport requires a certain mental
instability - I am thankful that we have our
fair share of lunatics in the College!
Mr C de L Mann
Football
1st XI Football
This was perhaps a slightly disappointing
season on the whole, but it was
punctuated by some fantastic highs and
spirited performances. Given the talent
in the squad, a good set of results was
expected, and the start could not have
been better; an emphatic 4-1 victory
over Eastbourne underlined our intent.
picking up again, including an excellent
second half display to net a 3-1 victory
against Ewell Castle. A combination of
slight complacency and extremely bad
luck left us with draws in matched we
should have won, but the performance
levels were good.
The annual match against Corinthian
Casuals was great fun, even if we were
well beaten by Alec Stewart’s team. It
was great to see Gigsy and Becks (Mr
Wilson and Mr Day) get involved in the
second half, but unfortunately Mr Day
had to depart injured; that’ll be those
metatarsals again…
Praise is due to Phil Peddar who
captained excellently through the season
and David Ives, whose goal scoring
instinct was a great weapon. Good luck
to Anthony Portway as Captain next
year, and thanks to Mr Wilson and Mr
Day for a brilliant season.
Amil Shah
football sides in the area, and although
valiantly eliminated at the semi-final
stage, there were some heroic displays of
skill, goal scoring and determination.
Special mention must go also to David
Ives, whose 6 goals were to set the tone
for a prolific season.
The low point of the season came a
couple of weeks later with a 2-1 defeat
by Tonbridge; the score line was
extremely flattering to Epsom. However
that match seemed to provide the spur
that we needed and the results started
All in all some results could have been
better but the general standard was
excellent and training and matches
thoroughly enjoyable. Also, the number
of Lower Sixth formers in the squad
bodes extremely well for next year, when
the College’s first ever football tour
departs for Barcelona (hopefully).
The next game did not go to plan; St.
Paul’s were better and showed it with a
comfortable 3-0 victory, but the day
after produced possibly the most
memorable day of the season. The
Wellington six-a-side tournament
brought together the best Lent term
The season finished, as it ended, on a
high. Having already dominated
Cranleigh at home (2-0), we played some
sparkling football to beat them 6-2 at
Cranleigh; David Ives’ five goals is a
College record for goals per game.
57
Fencing
New members have joined this term as well, showing mixed
potential. During our last school match against Tonbridge, these
new members got a chance to fence for the school in a novice
Foil team.
Results from school matches were mixed this term, with some
won and others lost and 1 drawn against Eton. More positive
however were results from national competitions. In the
nationals on February, Will Haworth came 23rd but Abilius
Wong unfortunately could not make it to the competition.
Abilius was able to come to the Public Schools Fencing
Championships but was injured on his first of 2 days. Despite
this, he came 27th in the Intermediate Foil and 17th in the
Intermediate Sabre. Young Min Kim went on all 3 days and
came: 44th in Foil, 27th in Sabre and 14th in Epee. Max Abram
and Josh Shinerock, both M4s, got into the 2nd round in the
Junior Sabre. Other 6th form entries from Epsom College were
Dan Hall (Epee) and Hing Lim (Foil, Sabre).
For Young Min, Hing and Izni Mosli, this will be the last term of
fencing. However, this does not mean they will never be able to
fence again - there are plans for a Fencing display on Founder's
Day and a one-off fencing session before the Annual Fencing
dinner and of course, there are chances at university.
58
1st XI Hockey
P 11
W8
season. Adam was outstanding all season, scoring many of his goals
from short corners that scared even the toughest of goalkeepers.
D0
L3
Other midfielders to feature in the side included Alex Stansfield;
his distribution in the centre of the pitch was vital in opening up
the flanks. Paul Ventris, also a Lower Sixth showed supreme pace
down the left and had some tidy skills to match. Alex Robinson
battled with illness and injury for many weeks and never rekindled
the form he showed on tour; his best performance was against the
Old Epsomians; unfortunately it was our last game!
The snow and ice hampered any chances of pre-season training.
Many still wished they were back in the humid temperatures of
Malaysia and Australia, the places in which they had last picked up
a stick. Team spirit was high due to the successes on the summer
The defence consisted of Ben Sears on the right who enjoyed the
freedom which accompanies that role. He developed into a class
player and deserved his Major colours. Adam Maurice used his flat
stick tackle effectively all season and was rarely beaten. Jesse Tam
on the left struggled with injury but when on form was a great
asset to the team as he was never shy to get forward. Sam Francis
in goal was exceptional all term, the team has to thank him, as
many of our 2 – 1 victories could have been very different. His
shot stopping was magnificent and he was never afraid to slide
out and rugby tackle forwards.
A deserved call up for Chris Cocks brought a special dimension to
the forward line linking well with Matthew Francis. However it was
not the forwards who provided most of Epsom’s attacking prowess.
No, a certain right midfielder always seemed to find the perfect
positions to score: Adam Howard netted 20 goals through the
Thoughts from Mr. Head – a final word should be added regarding
the captain and sweeper Oscar “Treggars” Kingsbury. He was
exceptional in defence all season, tackling being his best asset.
Once the tackle had been made his distribution would give the ball
back to the opposition where another tackle would follow. I would
like to thank him for his enthusiasm as captain as he led from the
front all term. Well done. It should also be noted that Oscar
Kingsbury, Adam Howard, Jesse Tam, Matt Francis and Alex
Robinson all represented Surrey U18s during the season.
The statistics indicate how good a season it has been winning 8
out of the 11 games. Many thanks to Mr Head for his enthusiasm
and drive to succeed which rubbed off on all of us. I also would
tour and the first game gave an opportunity to see the fire relit. It
was to Epsom’s delight that they led 4 – 1 soon after half time:
however, the story was soon to turn sour, eventually losing 6 – 4!
Fortunately the team morale remained as strong as before. Slight
changes in tactics and lots more of Mr Head’s infamous fitness
sessions groomed the side for harder matches to follow. Close
fought victories against Whitgift and Wellington were examples of
our extra drive to succeed and there was never a chance of a
repeat of the opening game.
59
2nd X1 Hockey
P9
W4
L5
D0
In order to put the emphasis fairly and squarely on attack, only
three played across the back instead of the more conventional
four. Although vulnerable to the counter, the advantage of this
formation is greater fire power up front endorsing our preference
for high scoring, "cavalier" hockey even if it meant losing rather
than eking out narrow wins or draws. And that is exactly what
happened! There were no draws and plenty of high scoring games
including four convincing victories. The defeats cannot, I believe,
be blamed on the tactics so much as the rather unpredictable
character of the players who occasionally failed to capitalise on
decent possession and then found themselves having to play
"catch up" having conceded a lead. Nonetheless, a really
personable and enthusiastic squad to work with; PJW and I thank
them for their efforts during an enjoyable campaign of nine
matches.
like to thank Mr Laing and Mr Williams for their persistence
throughout the term.
Major colours were awarded to Matthew Francis, Adam Howard,
Ben Sears, Chris Cocks and Oscar Kingsbury.
Full Colours to Alex Robinson, Tim Abbott, Jesse Tam, Paul Ventris,
Alex Stansfield, Adam Maurice, Ian Barrett, Sam Francis and Hugo
Penny.
Whitfield-Jones: reliable, unassuming goal minder who made
many good saves.
Marjoram: strong, determined defender and committed Captain.
McLuckie: composed and comfortable on the ball, he kept it tight
on our left.
Webster-Smith: seldom ruffled, another calm and capable
defender.
Hook: good team player, loyal and never over ambitious with the ball.
Penny: kept his attacking tendencies in check pretty well and gave
his best as the holding player in midfield.
Patel: indefatigable, he was always eager for the fray.
Epp: skilful and did much unselfish running.
Terry: another unselfish worker who slotted some valuable goals.
Johnstone: also scored several good goals and often showed some
nice touches.
Tanna: lacked a little confidence in front of goal at times but
never stopped trying for the team.
Glass: seldom put a foot wrong when called upon to play.
Mr NPM Laing
3rd XI Hockey
P
7
W
3
D
1
L
3
F
13
A
11
Team : Onabanjo* : Shin ; Permanand*(1) ; Pretsell ; Samoon ;
Hayford ; de Sa*(6) ; Lewis*(Capt.) ; Zaidi ; Chartikavanij ; Wright(1) ;
Blake Thomas(3) ; McDuff(2) .
Also played : Naik ; Lee ; Sood .
* denotes XXX's colours. No. of goals scored is in brackets.
RESULTS
60
Charterhouse
KCS Wimbledon
Whitgift
Cranleigh
Wellington
King Edward’s
Trinity
Reed’s
Caterham
Old Epsomians
Tonbridge
lost
won
won
won
won
won
won
lost
lost
won
won
4–6
5-1
2–1
4-2
2–1
4-0
2–1
1-3
1–3
3-1
2–0
Oscar Kingsbury
With only two of last year’s team remaining, and only small
numbers opting from the Sixth Form, this was bound to be a
season of rebuilding. The team played with enthusiasm, however,
and exceeded expectations. Only one game was lost to the
weather, and results improved steadily through the term.
The season began with the heaviest defeat 0-5 against a very well
drilled and competent Charterhouse side. Further defeats against
Whitgift and Caterham followed, but only by one goal in three.
Between these defeats came an encouraging win 1-0 against
Trinity. There followed a very good performance to draw 2-2 against
Tonbridge, after having been down by two goals at half time. In a
new fixture, played on the Astro, the team showed its potential,
beating RGS Guildford 6-0 in convincing manner. This success was
repeated in the next game with a 2-0 win over Cranleigh.
In goal, Onabanjo played with skill and dedication and made many
excellent saves to deny the opposition. At the back, Permanand
was tireless in his role of sweeper and made frequent runs to
support the forwards as well. The other defenders, Shin, Pretsell
and Samoon, grew in confidence as the season progressed and
became a formidable force by the end of the term. In midfield,
Lewis and de Sa showed their experience and skill, and were well
supported by Hayford, Zaidi and Chartikavanij. The forward line,
which consisted of Wright, Blake Thomas and McDuff, found goals
hard to come by to start with, but developed a good
understanding by the end, and were a force to be reckoned with in
the latter part of the season. With so many young and
inexperienced players in the team it was pleasing to see the
improvement over the term, and the growth of a real team spirit.
The promise for the future is considerable.
The weather was not always kind to us in practices, and the
beginning of term was difficult for many reasons, but my
congratulations go to what has proved to be a successful side, and
especially to the captain, Ed Lewis, who has led throughout with
enthusiasm. My thanks go also to APT for all his help and
encouragement throughout the season.
An ability to score goals was the major problem in the team. Lee
and Cama had great pace, and the latter in particular developed a
happy knack of being lethal from one yard, but neither could
consider themselves natural goal scorers. Newman and Marjoram
offered much to the team, both being extremely skilful on the ball.
Newman became twice the player once he took the ball down the
Mr BJ Ainge
Colts A Hockey
The Colts As enjoyed a good season, both in terms of their results
– winning 8 out of 10 matches - and with the improvement of the
quality of their performances as the term progressed.
After a frustrating pre-season decimated by a frozen Astro, the
first match against Charterhouse showed the strength of the team.
Having had a mere 45 minutes’ practice on Astroturf before the
game the boys secured an impressive victory against the odds.
What became clear early on was that, although there were a few
talented hockey specialists in the squad, a core of the team were
able sportsmen whose natural determination, athleticism and
game sense carried them through against sometimes technically
superior opponents.
The fitness training we did showed that virtually the whole squad
had magnificent stamina and speed and this was to prove vital in
the tiring last periods of matches as the season went on.
Working on this sound physical basis, the squad listened carefully
and trained hard once it was pointed out to them that they still
had much to learn both in individual skill and team play. A hardfought draw with Whitgift and a well-deserved victory over
Wellington kept the momentum going.
The profligacy in front of goal was rescued by miserly defensive
performances – 6 clean sheets out of ten games. Richardson
emerged from Francis’ shadows to grow in confidence in goal,
making several crucial saves. Mulvey swept well, rescuing
dangerous attacks with well-timed tackles, whilst Shephard and
Stebbings were extremely fit and effective man-markers. With a
little more emphasis on ball control and distribution, both could
be very good all round players. Joe Moore offered a great deal
on the right, supporting the midfield and reading the game well.
The midfield can be a team’s weak spot. Much relies on industry,
fitness in supporting attacks and tracking back, and on individual
flair. In this sense the team was superbly served by vice-captain
Lammiman who turned defence into attack on countless occasions
and read the game intelligently, switching play where necessary.
Rowles and Hofstede grew in stature as the season progressed,
opponent’s weak side more, but still needs to ensure that he
passes earlier and does not question EVERY decision. However,
neither weighed in with as many goals as their talent merited.
Indeed, after seven games the team had scored just 9 goals.
Warren King more than compensated for a few rough edges with
his lust for goals and his addition to the side improved the goals
tally significantly.
61
to land him in trouble with umpires but
otherwise he showed a desire for victory
that was second to none. He is to be
congratulated on his efforts.
A thoroughly enjoyable season (thanks
Rowlesy – keep practising those back foot
shots!) I believe that the squad have
developed into better ‘hockey’ players
rather than just the able sportsmen they
were at the start of the season. I would
like to thank all the players for their
efforts and also the parents who
supported the boys throughout the term
both home and away.
Mr AJ Bustard
showing exquisite ball skills, understanding
of the play and a consistently high
standard of hockey awareness. The
performance of these three often decided
whether the team was successful and
much credit for the successful season
must be given to them. Laidler, too showed
energy, enthusiasm, fitness and much skill
throughout the season.
A crazy defeat at Caterham apart, where
we camped in their half throughout the
game, the rest of the season saw excellent
victories and, perhaps more pleasingly,
performances against Tonbridge, RGS
Guildford and Cranleigh whilst a poor
Reed’s side did not deserve to be on the
same pitch as us.
A defeat in the final of the Surrey County
62
cup to a strong Whitgift side in miserable
weather was disappointing, but there were
no other occasions where the team was
outplayed.
James Marjoram’s stirring captaincy of the
side fired the team to victory with
inspirational personal performances, and
his continual encouragement of others at
key moments was vital. He must learn that
he is too valuable to allow his aggression
Colts B XI Hockey
The sporting excellence of this year group
was evident on the hockey pitch during
the Lent Term this year, and this team
deservedly recorded an unbeaten season.
One of the problems when coaching
successful players, in any sport, is that it is
that much harder to identify the players
who really merit their place in the starting
line up, and twenty players represented
the school on different occasions. When I
looked back over the teamsheets, I found
that only two players were on the starting
XI each week, and both deserve special
mention. In the middle of the field, Charlie
Pountney ran his socks off and was the
engine of the team, and his goal against
Tonbridge was the goal of the season. Up
front, Segun Ogunsheye scored seven
goals from the right wing, but far more
importantly he was the chief provider for
Scott King (9 goals), Kieran Permanand (6)
and latterly Sean Standerwick (7). No
defender ever really mastered his pace, and
as games developed and space became
available, the goals tended to flood in. The
squad was also noticeable for other assets.
There was always a determination to
compete, and on those occasions when
stretched this spirit came through; above
all, in the draw against Tonbridge, the
much depleted team deserve credit for a
fighting performance. This fighting spirit
was most evident at the back – Doug
Hastings initially, and later Ed Gray and
Andrew Furze, were the players who
communicated effectively with those
around them, and the combination of
Gray’s pace and Olly Sequerah’s unerring
timing were vital in central defence.
Caroline Lamey and Furze made the right
and left back positions their own, and gave
the team balance in attack and defence.
The midfield quartet of Reza AmiriGarroussi, Hastings, Pountney and James
Lowe improved over the course of the
season as a unit, and their creativity was
most noticeable in two excellent
performances. In the second half against a
decent Guildford side we scored four goals
to nil in an outstanding display, and in the
first half of the last game of the season
we scored three goals without reply,
playing good passing hockey. Up front,
Ogunsheye was accompanied initially by
the excellent King (who averaged over two
goals a game for us and earned
promotion) and Permanand on the left. The
loss of King to the A team was a blow, but
all credit to Sean Standerwick for learning
the skills required so quickly. If there was a
fault with the squad, it was that sporting
success has left some players complacent,
and unwilling to pass the ball. At their best
however, they were able to play a good
passing game at pace, and the unbeaten
season was fully merited.
Played: Mao, Sequerah, Hastings (1 goal),
Gray, Standerwick (7), Pountney (2),
Shiundu (1), Amiri-Garroussi (2),
Ogunsheye (7), King (9), Permanand (6),
Furze (3), Sood, Pooley, Braham, Lowe (2),
Cama (2), Lamey, Carr, Ives (1).
Mr MC Conway
Junior Colts A
Hockey
P
11
W
7
L
2
D
2
F
28
A
9
This was a marvellous season featuring
some vibrant hockey, frequently against
vastly more experienced opposition and,
despite being shorn of last year’s captain
(transferred to Ardingly for a fee of one
fruitcake), the results were extremely
pleasing. In fact the first five matches were
all won, a remarkable feat bearing in mind
the odds against this happening at this
stage against oppositions’ strongest teams:
consecutive victories against Charterhouse,
Whitgift, Wellington, Trinity and Caterham
(one goal conceded in all) were then dented
in controversial fashion by Tonbridge. The
last few matches were all excellent affairs.
Two draws against Cranleigh and Reed’s
were wonderfully entertaining: both
oppositions were more skilful but in both
matches we created more chances.
Henry Williams played in goal and made a
strong contribution. Insanity is a prerequisite
for any hockey goalie and Henry possesses it
in droves, or so his shrink tells me! Ever
positive, this part time disc jockey (very
reasonable rates) made some vital saves and
provided a reassuring presence in goal.
Maybe our trump card was Edward Blake
Thomas (BT2), converted to sweeper. What a
remarkable contribution he made, naturally
gravitating to that vital position and
instinctively understanding when to time
tackles, often emerging from interceptions
in possession and then distributing tellingly;
his play was virtually faultless. The true
measure of Edward’s contribution to the
In front of BT2 stood Ramin Moghaddam at centre back, recycled
from right back last year. Ramin possesses a brain: not only that but
he uses it on the pitch. He organised the defence, ensuring sound
marking, and tackled low. He was even seen counter attacking on
some occasions. Mr Reliability, he once appeared from his death bed
to play, proving his commitment to the team.
The third conversion was James Fisher, who played at right back all
season. Promoted from duty in the U14 B team, McFish (to his mates)
gave the impression of having played in that position all his life.
Playing with great panache and verve, he displayed a willingness to
overlap in attack, linking up well with the right sided attack. Living in a
dream world of scoring memorable goals, he was prone to an
occasional eccentric outburst commentating on his own efforts:
probably stems from watching QPR too often! Looks cut out to be a
teacher in later life!
The final piece in the defensive jigsaw was the formidable and selfproclaimed ‘godlike’ Richard Mortimer at left back. Some of his
performances (e.g. Whitgift, Wellington) were of the very highest
calibre, saving a defence almost single handedly at times under
extreme pressure from attacks down our left side: a modern day
successful Canute. His timing of tackles was exquisite, distribution
assured; not bad for one who tried hard never to run in a practice!
Playing with great maturity and composure, Richard claims still to be
just 14 years old but I find that hard to believe. Perhaps he is really 32
and taking part in a Channel 4 'Back to School' documentary.
At centre half could be found the skipper, Richard ‘Smudga’ Smith. I
could not have wished for a better captain. Richard led by supreme
example both in terms of utter commitment to the cause, running his
heart out for the team, and also in terms of being seen to do the right
thing. He has an innate understanding of the difference between right
and wrong and he has been ever willing to encourage or lambast the
team to pursue the former option. Even in practices he insisted on
doing things the correct way and putting in maximum effort. He
commands such respect that his players have no difficulty in
accepting rebuke or encouragement from him. Converted into a
centre half, he played outstandingly all season. His influence from the
middle of the pitch was pervasive and he cajoled remarkable results
out of this team, despite the absence of last year’s key player. He
scored a number of vital goals, hitting the ball with great ferocity. He
is a natural leader and a superb young man of great integrity.
Alongside Smudga at joint centre half could be found James Beatt. He
soon became a first choice member of the team and, by the end of
the season, one could not imagine the team without him. He
continued to develop into a fine player thanks to his enthusiasm for
the game, willingness to learn, his natural ability, athleticism and
stamina; put simply, the Beatt went on! He played a pivotal role in
central midfield, scoring several useful goals (a superb brace against
Cranleigh) especially with the return ball to him as injector.
Ross Alexander possesses a precocious talent. Playing at left half (and
clearly influenced by Arsenal’s Ljungberg!) he made many penetrative
runs deep into enemy territory, having to attack the more difficult side
which gives defenders a natural advantage. He possesses a rare ability
to get behind enemy lines where it hurts, one example being his mazy
dribble into the D against Cranleigh which resulted in James Beatt
converting the centre: brilliant goal. Sometimes he was prone to
overdo the left wing run rather than make diagonal runs to the right,
but he is very much a natural player and is an exciting prospect.
Dafydd Evans played at right half for most of the season, latterly
gravitating to a more attacking position. His pace and power troubled
many left backs and left halves and all that is needed for him to
become a formidable hockey player is a touch-up on the stick skills!
One reason why Daffyd was given a more attacking role was the
emergence of the robust Hugo Williams into the A team, becoming an
automatic choice. He possesses much pace, a sound positional sense,
works hard and is temperamentally sound.
The attack was led by the mellow Jon Hugo, the David Gower of
the hockey field. Jon possesses a latent ability although he will
need to crank up the effort in future to capitalise on his natural
ability. He has a predatory instinct; his four goals against Whitgift
were truly memorable. Alongside Jon was the ever enthusiastic
Tom Richardson. Tom worked hard but was often let down by his
touch in the opponents’ area: a case of the yips in front of goal.
Later in the season, however, he was converted into a left half and
he revelled in this change, working hard and making incisive
diagonal runs: this could well be where his future lies.
Nick Barsby, the legendary ‘Bars’, played a number of cameo roles for
the team, often shoring up midfield and allowing Smudga freedom to
attack. Bars has much skill and great enthusiasm and will no doubt
flourish in future years. Ed Collins was in a similar situation. He reads
the game well and lays the ball off intelligently. A bit more strength
on the ball as he develops and he will fulfil his great potential.
This group of players was one of the most enjoyable to take for a
season: keen to learn, disciplined, talented, competitive. At a time
when my beloved Leicester City were ‘flat lining’ at the foot of the
table, their success proved to be therapeutic.
Mr GJA Simpson
Junior Colts B Hockey Team
At the start of this season I was slightly concerned. During the first
training session I was told that during their U14 season the B team
had not won a single match. I was determined not to let this
happen again so we set off into our first fixture, which Big Ken
took and they won 2-1 against Charterhouse. At least the season
was going to be better than the last.
I then umpired the next few games against Whitgift, Tonbridge
and Trinty, which we lost. It was clearly about time we got Big Ken
back to umpire another game, this time against Caterham. It
worked again as the boys won 2-0.
By this point in the season the boys had grown in confidence and
went into every game expecting to win. After a disappointing draw
against KCS Wimbledon the season turned on its head. A gutsy
performance in awful conditions on the gravel at Cranleigh ended
in a 1-0 victory. The season finished with the teams finest
performance against probably their best opposition of the season.
A 2-1 win against Reeds showed exactly what this team were
capable of when they really put their minds to it.
As I have already said the boys grew in confidence and ability
throughout the term. They always approached training with a
positive attitude and a good sense of humour. This resulted in an
excellent season. Special mention must go to Elliot Awin for his
captaincy. Jack Allen for his excellent stick control and passing.
Hugo Williams for running his legs off every game and never
getting as much possession as he should and also to Anthony
Urwin who was solid in defence.
Final thanks go to the parents who turned up to support. Their
presence was appreciated by both the team and myself.
Mr AK Copsey
team’s success was evident in his one absence from a match – how
he was missed! His stopping of the ball when we had short corners
looks so easy and led to a record number of goals scored from this
set piece.
63
U14 A XI Hockey
P
10
W
3
D
1
L
6
F
18
A
24
After a promising winter term of some Wednesday afternoon
activity hockey and the indoor club, I was quite optimistic about
the chances of the side this season. Although the A XI results are
not particularly special, the A game as a whole with the B XI
results is really very good for a first season ever of hockey and
promises much for the future. The tidy players with nice stick skills
kept their places until about half term, when the more athletic
players started to make more of an impact and gained A team
places. However, there was often very little to choose between the
players that were used during the season.
In our first match, we had an exciting draw against Charterhouse,
which very nearly could have been a win but for a fine save late in
the game from their keeper. Our next three matches are always a
challenge since the opposition are either bigger schools and/or
they start at a much younger age. However, we equipped ourselves
well in the Wellington and Trinity matches, but were comfortably
beaten by Whitgift. As a measure of how the boys were improving,
we managed to reverse the Trinity loss with a fine 3-1 win in the
Surrey cup tournament. At half term, we lost players to ski trips
and the like, but still played with much spirit against Tonbridge.
The 1-0 loss on the day was perhaps a bit unfair in hindsight. After
half term, we had pleasing wins against King`s and St Bede`s
before just losing against Cranleigh in what was a fine game. A
draw would probably have been fair on the day. Our last match
saw us lose to a fine side from Reed`s, probably the best side we
played all season.
64
Overall, James Bryant led the side well and kept the distribution
going from mid field quite well. In defence, “Freddy” Lindberg in
goal looked comfortable with shots in the air, but needed to work
on some of the ground shots, Marshy swept very well, whilst Matt
“Fairy Cake” Davis reveled in the “Neville” wing back role. James
Haville was a most steady central defender and Gareth Needham
improved greatly throughout the season. This allied to his
astonishingly competitive nature earned him the Woodward
trophy. Cooky “The Welshman” showed just how good a natural
sportsman he is by producing some outstanding play on the wide
right and will be a superb player in the future. Andy “The Gimp”
Ventris played a mixture of mid field and up front scoring well
from short corners. Again, Andy has much potential. Wide left, we
tried Ghim, Bosh, Ginga and Shurley, all of whom gave of their
best, with perhaps Ginga and Shurley coming on the best towards
the end of the season. Up front, we used “Aussie” and “Sudge”
along with Fergs. Fergus certainly has some fantastic skills as he
showed with his goal away at Wellington. He just needed to put
himself about a bit more to be very dangerous. All in all I would
have liked a few more wins as a truer picture of the progress
made, but I suspect once “Simpers” starts to weave his magic next
year, the side will really come together. I greatly enjoyed their
company and their willingness to find a bank to train on whenever
they could. Many thanks are also due to NSAP for his considerable
input to both teams. His knowledge and coaching skills have
greatly helped everyone this season.
The squad was: E.Lindberg, D.Marsh, M.Davis, J.Haville, G.Needham,
D.Cook, J.Bryant (Capt), A.Ventris, J.Ghim, M.Abbosh, J.Gillespie,
S.Hurley, M.Sutherland, S.Watts, F.Flanagan
Mr MC Oliver
Charterhouse
Whitgift
Wellington
Trinity
Caterham
Tonbridge
King`s
St Bede`s
Cranleigh
Reed`s
D
L
L
L
W
L
W
W
L
L
2-2
0-5
2-3
2-4
3-1
0-1
2-1
5-0
1-2
0-5
We started the term as we finished it, with enthusiasm and a
strong team commitment. All the netball opters were receptive to
new ideas, and practised to make them work. The results did not
fully reflected the progress the teams made in co-ordinating their
play, but injuries and the inevitable clashes with other
commitments have taken their toll!
Netball
2ND VII
3RD VII
9
2
1
6
10
2
1
7
3
0
0
3
Lucy Misch, Lara Bantoft and Chloe Kingham, as the three team
Captains, have been efficient and well-organised throughout the
term, and I thank them for all their enthusiasm and help.
19 girls signed up for netball this term, and, thanks to a few more
volunteers, we were able to field 3 teams on a few occasions,
enabling everyone to play in matches - well done to them all.
Full Colours: L. Misch, L. Carr, P. Sattianayagam, J. Taylor.
Half Colours: Y. Chiang, J. Crooke, L. Feaver, H. Quttaineh, Z. Rice,
A-M. Vaughan.
Mrs C Rice
Played
Won
Drawn
Lost
1ST VII
65
AGI March 2002 Part 2
66
67
Rugby
WORTH VIIs
Lent Term results – 2002
St Bede’s
Eastbourne
Worth
St John’s
Hurtwood House
American School
Cascais (Portugal)
W
W
W
W
W
10 – 7
17 – 7
50 - 0
17 – 5
6–5
W
W
42 – 0
26 – 7
L
12 – 31
W
L
W
26 – 10
10 – 14
26 – 12
W
W
D
W
19 – 5
10 – 7
5-5
26 - 0
W
31 – 7
L
12 – 24
Quarter Final
Brighton
SURREY VIIs
The combination of the squad is very much a lottery each year as
we await the selections for hockey and soccer to be made. The end
result is usually a squad top heavy in forwards and the odd, very
rare, threequarter. This year proved to be no exception and a fair
amount of imagination had to go into selection, as previously
uncompromising forwards had to come out of the closet to be
turned into creative, free thinking backs.
The end result somehow worked and a very enjoyable term ended
with the team finishing unbeaten.
Tom Doran continued his march up the representative ladder and
played for Ireland U18 Clubs in the Four Nations tournament over
Easter starting two matches against England and Scotland. He is
following in the footsteps of another old boy, Paul Burke, now
playing for Harlequins, who also gained International honours for
Ireland. Alex Cama played for London & S.E. U16 against the South
West U16.
AW
Rugby Sevens
The season struggled to get going initially but eventually a
competitive side came together. Having got over a certain
apathy from some potential players, two sides went down to
Worth and performed very creditably. The ‘A’ VII defeated
Eastbourne and St Bede’s before going down to Brighton, while
the ‘B’ VII defeated Caterham and Worth before running out of
players and fitness and losing to Bedales. The confidence gained
seemed to galvanise the squad into action for the Surrey VIIs
and although we were without Mat Francis, Chris Cocks and
Scott King the return of Tom Doran fresh from his selection for
the Ireland Clubs XV boosted the confidence still further.
Unfortunately, our ‘gas man’ Tim Abbott had strained his
hamstring training the day before and was unable to run
comfortably. This proved to be the team’s undoing in a tough
group game against Latymer Upper as their winger escaped
twice for tries against the run of play. However, in all three
games played the side showed great commitment and skill and
worked very hard to create openings for tries. The defence was
also excellent, with the opposition nearly always under pressure
when they got the ball.The National Sevens at Rosslyn Park were
the highlight of the term. The first day of group games was
played in persistent heavy rain and the pitches were heavy and
waterlogged. The conditions suited our style of play, and by the
end, the team looked the sort happy to spend their holidays bog
snorkelling in the Lincolnshire fens.
Undefeated, with four wins and a draw, we went through to the
last 16 for the second year running.
68
Unfortunately, day two turned out dry. We were drawn against
Harrow and eventually went down 24 – 12. The game ebbed
and flowed and was only decided in the very last minute. We
had plenty of chances but couldn’t quite finish them. Overall, I
was extremely proud of the side who gave everything they had
and who developed a wonderful team spirit over the two days.
RGS Guildford
Latymer Upper
Christ’s Hospital
National VIIs Rosslyn Park
Oratory
Gresham’s
King’s Bruton
Sharnbrook
Play off
Milton Abbey
Last 16
Harrow
Squad from:
T. Doran, S. Kuwana, R. Meadows, T. Abbott, R. Briegel-Jones, R.
Staveley, C. Dawson, C. Cocks, M. Francis, R. Harding, E. Moberley,
B. Maxmin, C. Evans, S. King, R. Epp, M. Jesman, M. McLuckie, A.
Vernon, J. Nicol, S. Francis, M. Lee, J. Laidler.
Mr A Wolstenholme
Boys’ Squash
A very successful season ended with the 1st V regaining the Surrey
and South Bank Cup for Schools, the 2nd V convincingly winning
their Surrey League, the U14 teams winning all 17 of their
matches, and the U15 and U16 teams losing only 2 of their
matches. The overall record of 88% of matches won was the best
achieved for several years, and reflects much credit on the boys
who played squash, often after long hard rugby and hockey
practice sessions.
The U14 teams once again showed great enthusiasm for their
squash. Occasionally led by James Bryant and Fergus Flanagan, the
U14A team won all 13 matches played. The team recorded excellent
wins against Holmewood House (3 - 2), Chinthurst (4 - 2), Reigate
GS (5 - 0) and Trinity (4 - 1). Mark Abbosh won all but two of his
matches, David Cook won all 9 of his matches, and these players
were well supported by Tom Liddell (6/7) and Chris Keeling (8/10).
Dr Brian Summers retires this year. He has looked after the U14
teams for 12 years, during which time he encouraged many M4s
to play squash. He could often be heard with the refrain, “hit it
down the wall” as yet another M4 played a shot to the middle of
the court. There are many former M4s who will remember Dr
Summers’ words of consolation for a match lost and constructive
criticism for a match won.
The U15 team was entered in the National Cup for the first time. If
we expected special treatment from the rugby and hockey coaches
we were soon disillusioned, and some matches against high quality
opposition took place with a very tired (and often frozen) team.
Whilst the team lost to Heathside and Berkhampsted, they recorded
excellent wins against Charterhouse (5 - 0, 5 - 0) and Eton (3 - 2, 3 2). The U15 team won all their remaining matches. Excellent squash
from James Bryant (7/9), Fergus Flanagan (10/13) and Alex
Richardson (15/17) ably supported by Nick Barsby (12/16), Luke
Lavender (14/17) and Razaaq Shah (9/9) brought convincing wins
against Harrow (5 - 1, 6 - 0), Tonbridge (5 - 0), Trinity (4 - 1), St Paul’s
(5 - 0) and Cranleigh (5 - 0). The U16 team was led by Joe Moore
and four of the talented U15 team; all 4 matches played were won.
1st Team: Individual Playing Records
The 2nd team players were certainly amongst the most
enthusiastic; mainly squash opters, they were often practising
from 2.30 p.m. for a 4.00 p.m. match! Based on the experienced
players from last season: Amil Shah (8/8), Alex Baker (12/17),
Ashok Mittal (12/16) and William Butler (15/17), the team won 20
of its 21 matches. The 2nd V won its division of the Surrey and
South Bank Cup for Schools with fine wins against the 1st V teams
from Reed’s (3 - 2), St John’s (4 - 1) and Westminster (5 - 0). The
only loss recorded was a resounding 5 - 0 defeat by Eton’s 2nd V.
Steady improvements by the Lower Sixth players Peter Asaad,
Neelabh Goenka, Kentigern Wong and Daniel Lee indicate that next
season’s 2nd team could be as successful as this season’s team.
Brighton College
Charterhouse
Cranleigh
Eton College
Harrow
KCS Wimbledon
Lancing College
RAC Epsom
Reigate GS
RGS Guildford
Sevenoaks
St Paul’s
Tonbridge
Trinity
Whitgift
After last season’s inconsistent performances, I cannot say that I
was optimistic about the prospects of the 1st V. In the Surrey and
South Bank Cup it looked as though the 3 - 2 defeat by KCS
Wimbledon had ended that campaign. But this year the 1st V
came back with wins against Cranleigh (3 - 2), Reigate GS (4 - 1),
RGS Guildford (4 - 1), Trinity (4 - 1) and Whitgift (4 - 1), and
narrowly won the Cup ahead of KCS Wimbledon. There were some
good wins against moderate opposition, but against strong
opposition the 1st V were generally outclassed. I must record my
thanks to Simon Gregory, Captain of the 1st V, for playing No.1 for
most of the season, Robert Weatheritt, who won 19 of his 21
matches at No.3, and Jack Glass for his contribution at No.4. Mark
Webster-Smith (12/21) at No.2 and James Bryant (13/15) at No.4/5
played some excellent squash and form the nucleus of next
season’s 1st V together with Joe Moore, whose late season
improvement gained him a place in the 1st team.
The Annual match between the Common Room and the College
ended in a 9 all draw. We recall some heroic performances by the
Common Room: Mr A J Wilson beaten by the No.2 Mark WebsterSmith in the fifth game, Mrs J E Britton’s win in the fifth game
against the No.3 Robert Weatheritt and Mrs F C Drinkall’s gallant
comeback from 2 - 0 down to 2 - 2, only to lose 9 - 7 in the final
game to one of the College’s top juniors Fergus Flanagan.
Once again I should like to thank Ms C L Creevey for her support
throughout the season. Mrs M Lane, a Surrey County player,
joined our coaching team. The success of our junior teams and
improvements in the quality of squash played by many senior
players is largely a result of the excellent coaching from our
professional coach, Neil Frankland.
Captain of 1st V: Simon Gregory
Captain of 2nd V: William Butler
S Gregory
M Webster-Smith
R Weatheritt
J Glass
J Bryant
J Moore
A Shah
4 wins / 19 matches
12 wins / 21 matches
9 wins / 14 matches
4 wins / 4 matches
6 wins / 10 matches
1st V Results
Awards
Major Colours:
2-3
5-0
3-2
0-5
3-2
2-3
2-3
3–3
4-1
4-1
4–1
3–2
5–0
4-1
4-1
3-2
2-3
2-3
3–2
5-0
4-1
Simon Gregory
Robert Weatheritt
Full Colours:
Jack Glass
Mark Webster-Smith
Half Colours:
Alex Baker
William Butler
Ashok Mittal
Amil Shah
Colts Colours:
Joe Moore
Alex Richardson
Player of the Year:
Junior Player of the Year:
Most improved Player:
Robert Weatheritt
James Bryant
Joe Moore
Internal competitions
Open Final
Winner:
Runner up:
Mark Webster-Smith
Simon Gregory
Junior final
Winner:
Runner up;
James Bryant
Nick Barsby
Dr DL Misell
1st V
2nd/3rd V
U16
U15
U14A
U14B
P
W
L
D
21
21
4
14
13
4
14
20
4
12
13
4
6
1
0
2
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
Girls’ Squash
This season must be recorded as one of potential unfulfilled. With
a nucleus of girls from last year, it should have been a more
successful season.
Early wins against Cranleigh (4 - 1) and City of London Freemen’s
(3 - 2) gave some cause for optimism, but later in the season the
PLAYING RECORDS
69
1st V were comprehensively beaten by St Catherine’s, Brighton
College, Sevenoaks and Woldingham.
Target Rifle
It was very rare that it was possible to field an unchanged side as
injury and the increased interest in playing rugby took their toll.
Again we lose most of the 1st V, with only the No.2 Clare Naudé
forming the core of a team for next season. Success in future years
can only be achieved if we encourage some of our junior girls to
play squash and make available opportunities for them to practise.
Captain of Squash:
Rebecca Thorne
Awards
Half Colours:
Rebecca Thorne
Clare Naudé
Melanie Orchard
Summary of results
P 16
Brighton
Cranleigh
City Freemen’s
St Catherine’s
St John’s
Sevenoaks
Westminster
Woldingham
W6
0-5
4-1
3-2
1-4
2-3
3-5
4-1
1-7
4-1
3-2
2-3
3-2
1-4
L 10
0 - 5 (2nd V) 2 - 3 (2nd V)
0-5
Dr DL Misell
Swimming
The term started with the news that Matthew Read had been
selected to represent the Great Britain Cadet Rifle Team, ‘The
Athelings’ on their summer tour and he and Ricky Bhargava were
awarded Major Colours. Paul Efthymiou was later selected to tour
the Channel Islands with the Uk Cadet Team, with Fred Beadle as
70
This term we entered a reduced team for the Surrey Trials with only
Michael Parry (Fa) representing the County in the annual Kent V
Surrey Gala and being part of the winning Senior boys’ team.
The girls swam against City of London Freemen’s School with good
swims by Holly Skousbo (Rv), Sophie Dick (Rv), Lizzie Day (W), Karen
Fong (W) and Lucy Carr (Wh). Though we lost overall the senior girls
managed a draw keeping their 3 seasons’ undefeated record.
Mrs TD Pearson
RG bags another clay during our break from The Target Rifles
The Country Life team worked really hard and was unlucky to just
miss a number of targets on the landscape target. This nullified the
excellent group, rapid and snap shooting of the earlier rounds and
the team came a credible, but disappointing fourth in this national
competition. Easter camp was enjoyed by all, excellent weather and
the first real introduction to full-bore target shooting for some.
Beating a strong field in the Malvern Cup, including Greshams,
really buoyed spirits and it was a strong and happy squad that
disbanded for the Easter Holidays.
Mr JRW Postle
Volleyball Report
Played
Won
Lost
BOYS
GIRLS
5
2
3
6
2
4
Success in closely contested matches with Rikkyo School during
the first week of term gave both teams a boost. Our second fixture
was the last in a series of 4 Sussex League tournaments. This has
been a high standard competition which has been challenging for
our students.
Although our teams played in all 4 events, and some others did
not, the boys were placed 4th out of 6 and the girls 6th out of 8
teams. The boys’ matches were mostly fairly close in their
outcomes, whereas the girls had not the experience of most of the
other teams they played.
In their last match the girls had a comfortable win, playing a newly
formed Ashcombe team at the new volleyball centre in Dorking.
Well done to all the players who have trained regularly and played
in the matches; and particular thanks go to Mel Orchard, Marie
Inns and Gary Lau for their assistance and enthusiasm as Captains
throughout the term.
Mrs C Rice
reserve. Matthew represented England Schools A for the fourth
successive year - a super achievement. Jonathan Kent, John Park
and Fred Beadle all shot for England B, whilst Paul Efthymiou and
Andrew Smith were in the C team, the latter beating every
individual in the A, B and C teams shooting two 99’s!
71
Ben Lee
Lucy Furnival
Mark Furness
Ben Biswell
Kirsty McAllister
72
Tiwi Urquart-Stewart
Mark Furness
Mark Furness
Rupert Faircliff
Alexa Hohenberg
73
Poetry
Untitled
Departing
On a yellow-green slope,
Stuttered with light from the tongues of
butterflies
In a myriad of the colours of peacetime,
and bright
With the glow and the flow
Of the soft lilting sun;
All the glory of heaven,
Spilled over onto earth.
The fallen there shall eat angel’s food
And burst their hearts crying
In a pool of the shimmering
Tears of the fallen, the fathom-less few.
Her face, a sea of memories long forgotten
Waiting patiently to be remembered;
Memories of her life, her family…
And you shall see me there;
Running, in naked beams, acres wide
Of pure white.
Down and beyond and faster and free
With my arms and lips and my eyes in
the air,
Trailing with my tears behind me,
In a blaze of toil,
Behind me,
And lost to the passing glide.
Anonymous
Ex tenebris in
lucem:
She closed the door
softly but firmly behing her.
Something had changed inside.
We both knew that.
We’d shared the dreams
of innocence.
A rainbow bubble of
laughter, secrets and
hopes, floating on
shallow waters.
Suddenly sunlight smothered
the room, and the heady
smell of jasmine sweetened
my thoughts.
Tomorrow I’ll be grown up.
A searing siren as nurses rush about.
I watch in the corner and ask myself
What did I do to make her slip away?
As the bed returns I see her within it
Alone but lonely, weak but not broken.
The doctor walks slowly towards me,
I listen but I cannot hear.
Bethany Gale
It’s eighteen years since granddad’s death,
Emphysema pumped and penetrated his
chest with puss.
The ugly Japanese captain, yellow toothed
with acidic breath
Led him kicking and screaming from his
bed; from us.
I’ve pictured the scene of that stale
bedroom,
Dappled light through curtains which hang
like broken moth wings,
Fred spluttering his lungs into a willow
pattern chamber pot,
The family gathered round to say their
special things.
Gran trimmed his white whiskers with her
nail scissors,
Reluctantly lit his last fag
Then they shoved a plastic gas mask in his
face:
Use it dad, breathe! Breathe! His daughters
would nag.
But he couldn’t breathe, he drowned in his
bed
Clasping the shaking hand of his wife.
They watched him go under. They watched
him sink.
The final adieu, as he departed from life.
“Well wasn’t it nice that everyone was
there”,
The ignorant mourners said,
But poor granddad, think of the pain he
had to bear
Leaving all those he loved gathered round
that bed.
I was there in the death room, in the
damp, dull death room,
I don’t remember, I’ve only been told.
A toddler with a red balloon, laughing
beside a deathbed,
The young succeeding the old.
But now our emotions
were like tiny stones
being dragged out by
a turbulent tide.
74
Eyes that don’t open, for me or anyone.
Are they keeping something away from
them
Or perhaps hiding something within?
Arriving and
Departing
Krysta Munford
His death is a knot, which I cannot pick.
A sticky memory like the lung-consuming
tar.
As he left, I arrived.
I’ve taken the place of my own grandpa.
Barnaby Flower
75
Introduction
Special thanks to Mr. John Odell for his
prolific photography which appears
throughout this edition, and Mrs Angela
Laing for her patient and meticulous proof
reading. Our thanks also to all of the
students and staff who contributed in so
many ways, without whom this publication
would not be possible.
Amil Shah
(Sagacious analyst & Pundit)
Editor: Mr. JRW Postle
Kunmi Onabanjo
(Research and investigative
journalist)
Assistant Editors:
Alex Hoban
(Journalist in the field)
Dharini Bhuvanendra
(Literary Editor & Pundit)
Neerav Malde
(Text Editor & I.T. Consultant)
Michael James Parry
(Drama Editor & Columnist)
Richard Hodge
(Art & Photography Editor)
1
2
Epsom College Academic Prizes 2002
Upper Fourth
Genevieve Glass
Jasmine Jagger
Clare Morgan
Carr Divinity Prize
Dodd Speech Prize
Claude Calthrop English Essay Prize
Prosser-White French Oral Prize
John Ingram Junior Poetry Prize
Krysta Munford
Fifth Form
Frederick Beadle
Daniel Braham
Alexander Brett
Tessa Brisbane
Adrian Chapman
Rupert Faircliff
Craig Shephard
Harpreet Sood
Sunderland Classics Prize
Ely Webster Junior Computing Prize
Dodd Speech Prize
The David De Vile Prize for Musical Composition
Junior Art Prize & Sunderland Classics Prize
Junior Design Prize
Sunderland Classics Prize
Lower Sixth
Peter Asaad
Dharini Bhuvanendra
Hey Long Ching
Christopher Evans
Lucy Feaver
Tom Glass
Richard Hodge
Edward Johnston
Ralph Gooding
Jun-Young Kim
Ming-Li Lee
Tom Lucas
Kunmi Onabanjo
Anish Patel
Edward Pretsell
Amil Shah
Tess Tsang
Anna-Maria Vaughan
Upper Sixth
Olayemi Akingbade
Rikin Amin
Religious Studies Prize
Drama Prize
Music Prize
Latin Prize
Information Technology Prize
Sterry Divinity Prize
Chemistry Prize
History Prize
Information Technology Prize
Civics Prize
Dodd Speech Prize
John Ingram Junior Poetry Prize
Design Technology Prize
Physics Prize
Mathematics Prize
Art Prize
French Prize
Spanish Prize
English Prize
Biology Prize
Geography Prize
Sterry Divinity Prize
Crawfurd Commonwealth History Project Prize
Prosser-White French Oral Prize & German Prize
Ralph Gooding Chemistry Prize
The Harvey Prize
Glyn Hughes Physics Prize
Smith-Pearse Natural History Prize
Business Studies Prize
Physical Education Prize
Ronald Raven Religious Studies Prize
Engledue European History Essay Prize
Smith-Pearse Natural History Prize
Chemistry Prize
Thomas Mathematics Prize
Glyn Hughes Chemistry Prize
Lower Sixth Biology Prize
Cunning Nutrition Essay Prize
Warren Pickett Award
Vivian Military History or Biography Essay Prize
Political Essay Prize
Politics Prize & Cunning Nutrition Essay Prize
Thomas Mathematics Prize
Cunning Nutrition Essay Prize
Ely Webster Economics Prize
Dodd Speech Prize
Watts Science Prize
Wood Physics Prize
Chamberlayne Prize for Outstanding Academic Advance
Irish Medidcal Schools’ Biology Prize
The Charities Award
James Aslet
The Aberdour Prize for Music
Daniel Aspel
Jensen Drama Prize
Abigail Barton
Marcelle Rowe Drama Prize
Alok Beckaya
Heath Mathematics Prize
Sarah Campbell
Newsom Choir Prize
Lucy Carr
Dame Kathleen Raven Award
Philip Dart
Crawfurd Commonwealth Geography Prize
Tom Doran
National Sporting Award
Sebastien Ellis
The Aberdour Prize for Music
The Gardiner Prize (Science)
Barnaby Flower
Rosebery Literature Prize
John Ingram Senior Poetry Prize
Ralph Gooding Botany Prize & Wakeley (Harvey) Award
Sue Foong
Irish Medical Schools’ Biology Prize
Gregory Froome
Newsom Instrumental Prize
Barbers’ Company Biology Prize
Paice Scholarship
David Heinemann
German Prize
Michael Holiday
Headmaster’s Choir Prize
The Shipwright’s Peter Tudball Memorial Prize
Adam Howard
All-Rounder Award
Soroush Javidi
Wood Mathematics Prize
Jason Jun
Ely Webster Economics Prize
James Kent
Barford Literature Essay Prize
Young Min Kim
Ely Webster Computing Prize
Sealey Physics Prize
Chloe Kingham
The S R Piper Award
Oscar Kingsbury
Physical Education Prize
Michelle Lam
Wood Mathematics Prize
Gary Lau
Dr Kiernander Medical Prize
Hing Lim
Martin Mathematics Prize
Watts Science Prize
GA Davies Bequest Biology Prize
John Facer Chemistry Prize
Nicole Magoon
Radcliffe History Essay Prize
Miranda Malins
Newsom Choir Prize
The Rosebery Prize for History
Shona McKinnon
Fielding Senior Art Prize
Lucy Misch
Newsom Choir Prize
Theatre Studies Prize
Dodd Speech Prize
Pendlebury Essay Prize (Classics)
Paice Scholarship
Ashok Mittal
Rowe Computing Project Prize
Christopher Muktar
Watts Science Prize
Felicity Parker
OE Citizenship Prize
Matthew Read
National Sporting Award
Jane Reyersbach
Mrs Major Geography Prize
Melanie Orchard
French Prize
Barbers’ Company Biology Prize
Propert Prize for Oxbridge Study
Philip Peddar
Spanish Prize
Paice Scholarship
Edmund Poon
Waterfield Biology Prize
Christopher Roberts
Martin Classics Prize
Helen Sadek
Premila Sattianayagam
All-Rounder Award
San Ming Tan
Business Studies Prize
Politics Prize
Chamberlayne Prize for Outstanding Academic Advance
Rebecca Thorne
Dr Kiernander Medical Prize
Craig White
Instrumental Music Prize
Propert Prize for Oxbridge
Toby Williams
Erasmus Wilson Senior Design Prize
Heads of School
Christopher Roberts
Alex Hayman
Adam Howard
Brande Award
Brande Award
Brande Award
Middle Fourth
Mark Abbosh
Max Abram
Katharine Alexander
Richard Allan
Margaret Aslet
Olaoluwa Akingbade
Clare Briscoe
Philip Canby
Benjamin Ching
David Cook
James Furnival
Bethany Gale
Adam Green
Robin Howatson
Jin Woo Lee
Jodie Mak
Rishi Patel
Jessica Rinland
Elizabeth Szanto
Theo Taylor
Adam Terelak
Anna Wolstenholme
3
Snippets
Mrs Angela Drew arrived from Mary Erskine’s in Edinburgh as the new Director of Studies and as a member of the English Department. Mr.
Murray Tod journeyed south from the highlands of Scotland where he was teaching at Rannoch School, after a spell at Glenalmond. He
joins the growing History and Politics Department and is a resident tutor in Fayrer House. Joining him in residence in Fayrer is Mr. Naveed
Barakzai, who is no stranger to Epsom having been in Robinson 1992-1997. He will be working in the new I.T. suite above the Careers
Department. Miss Joanna Hall joins the Biology Department from Edinburgh University, and Mrs Maureen Odendaal who arrived in January
2002 from Zimbabwe to replace Mr. Scott Whitlock will be staying to teach full time in the Chemistry Department. Mr. Robert Marsh
joined the College as the new Development Director.
A number of new appointments for September 2002 were announced this year:
Joining the Senior Management Team in newly created positions were:
Mr. Roger Gill as Director of Staff Development.
Mr. Eric Huxter as Director of Extra-Curricular Activities.
Mr. James Postle as Director of Admissions.
Mr. Neil Laing took on a new role within the SMT as Director of Administration.
Other appointments include:
Mr. Paul Green has been appointed Deputy Director of Studies and Head of Science.
Mr. Mick Walker retired from Robinson House to become Head of Biology.
Mr. Charles Conway succeeds him as Housemaster of Robinson House.
Mrs Sarah Williams was appointed Head of Chemistry to replace Dr. Brian Summers.
Other announcements for September 2003 include Mr. John Hartley succeeding Mr. Norman Rice as Deputy Headmaster, Mr. Andrew
Wolstenholme replacing Mr. Hartley as Housemaster of Propert House, Mr. Ian Holiday becoming Housemaster of Holman, whilst Mr.
Andrew Bustard takes over from Mr. Mike Hobbs as Housemaster of Forest House. Mr. Graeme Lodge will become Director of Music.
Crawfurd Girls’ House opened in its new location in the Terrace after extensive building work in the summer. Raven House moved into the
premises vacated by Crawfurd Boys’ House, who moved to new accommodation for their final year in the top of Newsom.
4
Leaving Staff
When David Young entered the Victorian iron gates of Epsom
College for the first time his favourite soccer club Fulham were a
force to be reckoned with, apples grew on the site of Sports Hall 1,
all pupils (boys) wore grey suits, casual clothes being kept for the
holidays. As new resident house tutor of Wilson boys’ house, David
quickly became established as a knowledgeable, interested young
person whose youth, both in dress and looks, brought favour with
the late sixties rebellious residents. His teaching in those early
days, brim full of undiluted university academic excellence and
detail was honed to high school value by his colleagues Chris
Trewhella and Peter Biggs.
For the majority of this Queen’s reign the ‘Doc’, as he quickly and
affectionately became known by all pupils (sixth form girls joining
in the mid 70’s), naturally developed into a teacher of many
talents. In the confines of the laboratory his knowledge attracted
the weakest member of the Middle Fourth and stretched the most
able Oxbridge aspirant, of whom there have been many passing
through his capable hands. When ‘young Dempster’ (H leaver ‘69)
returned to visit the college recently he asked not to see the
modernism of the Library or the magnificence of Mackinder but to
meet up with his old teacher, David. That same day a ‘lost’ member
of the present Lower Sixth, slow to pick up on preparations for
writing the personal statement, sought academic guidance from
David having been advised by other thankful candidates of former
years. Throughout his career, DJY’s top priority has been the
welfare and advancement of all pupils and this remains the
defining quality of his all round teaching.
DJY’s contribution to the life of Epsom pupils has been as much
outside the laboratory as it has been within it. His great loves have
been drama and opera. Working in tandem with Stephen Oliver, a
legendary partnership, his contribution to school productions, from
Shakespeare to Brecht, unseen by most, has been supporting and
immense. The organisation of players and props behind the
scene, not to mention the building of innumerable sets and
countless hours of supervising waiting actors and actresses have
all left their mark. Maitland and Goulds’ successful entrances
into the spotlight are clearly due to DJY’s assertive training in
preparation for the unforgettable ‘Dream’. Throughout his career,
David has lived on the ever increasing diet of opportunities
afforded to him in London’s theatre world. In a less prominent
but nonetheless memorable role he was always in the Chair in
our own General Knowledge quizes that were fashionable in the
80’s. Phoning friends or asking for audience support were not
necessary for this role model. He is charged with inventing ‘ I
have started so I will finish’, taken up by a laterday follower. He
brought unique knowledge to the Chair, keeping all answers to
botanical, theatrical, historical and sporting (round ball)
questions in his head.
Supporting the CCF but not signing up permanently was very
much in keeping with his approach. His support, be it in the
mountains of Scotland, the lakes, or North Wales was ongoing. His
preparedness to step in to help CCF campcraft on summer
Wednesday afternoons was less well known but equally valuable.
His walking took him far afield in the long summer holidays. With
other members of the common room he scaled the Pennines, the
Pyrennes, the Tatras in Poland and even stepped into North Africa
on one occasion. Early in his career he started an Estates group,
running parallel with the CCF. A lasting feature of the group was
the laying of paving stones in front of Granville in the form of
ladder ledges. One quiet Wednesday afternoon the Bursar’s
telephone went dead. An investigation found that the landline had
been severed; rumour had it that the Esates group were
responsible. Perhaps that was an early example of downsizing!
In the space of 33 years, in excess of 5,000 pupils have left Epsom
College, about 1/12 of them from Rosebery House. Of them, those
who left in David’s time remember with affection his leadership,
the external iron staircase, the mould-breaking introduction of a
female tutor into a boys house and the grooming of tutors for the
role of ‘house parent’ and even Headship! They remember his
special interest in them individually, his follow up of their career at
university and beyond. His attendance at rolls, both evening and
morning, when he could chat daily with parents, getting early wind
of any car park chatter and nipping in the bud endless embryonic
concerns. We remember his support for sport, for the seemingly
less important junior leagues rugby (invariably won by Rosebery)
to the individual excellence of David Henwood (England XV) and
Richard Stannard (just selected for the Triathlon team at the
Commonwealth Games). His house teams were difficult to beat,
their drama (one remembers Black Comedy with great affection) as
evenings of total involvement, the community presence in College
one of prominence under the guidance of the ‘Doc’.
College will miss David’s good sense, knowledge and wisdom but
most of all his encyclopaedic knowledge of the role of Director of
Studies. Examinations, invigilation, timetables, subjects, subject
teachers and Heads of Department; DJY has a masterful control of
all of them. His experience shows up no better than in Heads of
Department meetings. A vigorous supporter of the SMT
discussions, his shrewd decision-making has been a big influnece
on the running of EC in recent years. It is of no surprise this year
to find that the College has thought fit to introduce an Assistant
Director of Studies and other new SMT jobs! We shall miss him as
a helpful colleague, wise authority, generous host and longstanding friend.
Mr DN Rice
Dr David Young
5
Dr Brian Summers
His first appearance at Epsom was in 1969,
an enthusiastic organic chemist and an
enthusiastic rock climber, straight from his
Ph.D. thesis at King’s, London. The short
northern ‘a’ of ‘glass’ and the slurred ‘ayr’ of
‘sulphate’ rang entertainingly in southern ears
then, just as they continue to do now but in
1972 he returned to the north, Kirkham
Grammar School being not just a notable
academic institution but one that was only
an hour from the Lake District mountains.
Kirkham had established a good reputation
for supplying Epsom with Heads of
Department during the 1980s and added
to it when BMS returned to Epsom in 1990
as Head of Chemistry. His considerable
experience with examination boards and
examiners, together with his zest for
practical chemistry kept that cramped
building crowded even as, nationally, the
pursuit of the physical sciences was
declining at an alarming rate and the
trend towards ‘dual award’ and ‘single’
science accelerated.
a Kent Grammar School but for Brian, new
challenges on real mountains will bring
out the best in him now and his will be a
far from armchair retirement.
Generations of Epsomians and his many
colleagues will wish him well.
Mr JC Potter
Mr Chris Mann
With laboratory space at a premium, he
achieved the conversion of the old
lecture theatre to a new junior laboratory
and worked hard to improve the space
and facilities available to both teaching
staff and his faithful and invaluable
laboratory staff.
Beyond the laboratory, his background as a
Queen’s Scout, with his involvement in the
Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme was
put to non stop use: Wednesday
afternoons would find him on the assault
course or the climbing wall, while school
holidays would find him at CCF camps,
adventurous training or Duke of Edinburgh
expeditions. Similarly, his coaching and
support of lower school tennis and squash
teams has helped to lay the foundations
for the high standards now shown by
teams at the top of the school.
Brian with EAH on another expedition
6
Numerous Epsomians and O.Es. will recall their
meetings with BMS. Lost, wet and fed up on
your practice Duke of Edinburgh expedition?
Bravado turning to doubt on top of the abseil
tower? Squash or tennis team in need of a
boost? Stumped by the Mole or grappling
with the mechanism of electrophilic
substitution? In every such case it would be
more than likely that Doc Summers would be
the one who would appear to restore
enthusiasm and self confidence or to provide
clear and patient instruction.
In recent years BMS has divided his time
between Epsom, the Lake District and the
volcanic peaks of both the Andes and
equatorial Africa. While it has been
inevitable that a rapidly expanding range
of A-Level subjects in the College
curriculum has led to a shrinkage in the
number of sixth form sets in his
Department, it is the flow of government
‘initiatives’ and the volumes of paperwork
that have begun to dim his enthusiasm for
modern chemical education - but not for
his real enjoyment at being in a laboratory
(where he could still generate a louder
explosion than any of his colleagues would
risk) or offering a demonstration, not least
in Chapel where, in his last year, he nearly
claimed the Head of School’s eyebrows.
It must be of great satisfaction to him that
his son - an active member of Rosebery
and the School in years gone by - is now
running his own Chemistry Department in
Chris joined the College in September 1998
after a successful teaching spell at Brecon.
He quickly settled into the Department and
asserted his firm but fair teaching style on
the Epsom pupils! As many will testify, he
likes to run an effective classroom with a
positive and lively learning environment.
In addition to his skills within the Biology
Department Chris has developed into an all
round school master. His commitment on the
games field have been significant. In the
Michaelmas terms he has run the U14 Rugby
‘B’ XV, with considerable emphasis on fitness
and skills development. In the Lent terms he
ran the Cross Country at the College with
some notable success. His interest in running
extended into the Summer Terms when he
helped out with athletics.
He was promoted to a Senior Tutor in
Propert House in September 2001. Chris
proved to be a most effective and
committed House Tutor, getting involved
with the UCAS references and weekend
duties. Many pupils will have been grateful
for the time he has given to them.
Around the College he has had a significant role within the Careers
Department. In charge of medical careers and the fifth form
‘Trident’ Work Experience programme has taken up much time. He
has proved his talents with faultless administration in this area
and as master in charge of staff INSET. Indeed many have noted
that if an emolument is available CDM will be your man (excuse
the pun!).
It is with some sadness that we will see him go. He will clearly be a
great loss to the College, but is looking forward to taking on new
challenges at Harrow. Before he leaves he will be adding one more
‘tour’ to his travel repertoire as he will be going to Namibia with
the College Namibia Expedition in July. I hope he enjoys this as
much as his successful Ski Trips!
May I take this opportunity to wish him all the very best in the
future from everyone at Epsom College!
Mr PED Green
Mrs Jacki Dibden
helping to develop these experiments. Nothing was too much
trouble for her, and she has always been ready to give assistance
whenever the pressure was on any of her colleagues. As a house
tutor within Wilson, she also made a notable impact, her friendly
approach helping to ensure that the girls quickly settled in at the
college. On the sports side she also made a notable contribution,
particularly within the rowing teams where her coaching
experience was invaluable. Her contributions extended far further
than this though, with input to M4 activities on horseback, to
Duke of Edinburgh trips by helping supervise camps, as well as
helping with hockey and the more traditional sports.
Whilst the advent of her daughter Robyn inevitably curtailed her
free time, Jacki has continued to give of her time generously. The
way in which she put together a staff review whilst in the
advanced stages of pregnancy said much for her determination.
Her musical contributions to the college will also be missed,
whether it be within the choir or with her double bass in the
orchestra. Her recent appearance with other professional
musicians in the college production of the Marriage of Figaro says
much about her talent.
We will all sadly miss Jacki’s willingness and vitality, whether it be
within the staff room, house or department. We all wish her well
in her career at Hampton, and hope that she, Gary and Robyn will
visit us from time to time.
Jacki Joined the staff here three years ago, very quickly becoming
involved in a wide range of activities. The students taught by her
were quickly impressed by her simple explanations and clear
concern for them as people. It was this latter characteristic which
in particular endeared her to the students and ensured that she
became one of those to whom the students were ready to turn to
for advice.
Within the department she took on a number of roles, looking
after the postal displays in all the labs, writing new practical
experiment worksheets for the new style AS and A2 courses and
Mr DR Poore
7
Interview with Dr David Young
By Michael James Parry
What do you intend to do during retirement?
I think that for the first few weeks or months I’ll probably just
sleep. (Laughs) But no, I’ve always been quite interested in
What will you miss most about the College?
The pupils. I think if you were going to ask me what I’ll miss least
about it, it would be the paperwork. Because really the thing that
has changed enormously, partly obviously with a promotion but
partly just the nature of education is the huge amount of
paperwork you have to do now at every term through everything.
It’s very easy to lose sight of the fact that there are actually kids
involved in schools if you’re not careful. And I think it’s the
interaction with kids of all sorts of backgrounds and interests and
so on that you will miss the most.
If you could go back and do it all over again,
would you do anything differently?
Oh dear, would I have done anything differently. (Moment of deep
contemplation) I think probably not, no. Hindsight is a very
valuable tool, but only really to inform what other people might do
if they follow you, I suppose.
What do you see as some of the faults or
shortcomings of the school and how it is run at
present?
I think it’s a very good school for virtually everybody in the college.
It does offer a huge amount of chance to develop all sorts of
things. You’re here for quite a lot of the day whether you’re a day
boy or a boarder and that means that if you make use of the
facilities, you can develop almost anything, be it your sporting,
musical, your drama, your interests. What I think we need to do
and certainly something we’re trying to do at the moment is to
encourage those people who are less naturally inclined to develop
their talents and need to be given a little bit of a push but at the
same time not feel they’re being pushed into too many things. I
think that’s a very difficult thing to do. Some people don’t have
the obvious natural talents of others; they’re not necessarily a top
sportsman or an orchestral musician or a leading actor, but they
will have talents and I think we need to develop those talents just
that little bit more. But I would not want to take away our degree
of choice from people. You’re bound to be regimented to some
degree with classrooms so there’s got to be some degree of choice
outside that, otherwise you come out at the other end having
never made a choice in your life. I think we are pretty good at
giving kids chance of developing responsibilities and in all sort of
ways one sees a lot of pupils responding to that and developing
their skills as young adults very well. Whether or not AGI day is to
everybody’s liking, and whether joining the CCF is to everybody’s
liking, I think if you watched a quarter of an hour or so of groups
or house groups going round competitions, all sorts of people were
showing a lot of leadership and initiative. It’s something they
might not have wanted to do but I think we’re quite good at
providing a lot of chances like that.
Tell me about some of your views and experiences
of being a Housemaster.
8
environmental conservation groups of one sort or another, so I
think I’ve got one or two feelers out there so that I might do a bit
of voluntary work for them. I’m a traditional keen English
gardener, so I think I should get my garden in order. I’m looking
forward to travelling to places in May and June, which is the best
time of year to go on holiday and you never can as a schoolmaster.
I shall enjoy holidays at times of year when I’ve never been able to
go abroad or even to parts of England, so I expect I shall find every
moment filled.
(Laughs) I think being a Housemaster for fifteen years is too long;
twelve years would probably be better, by that time you probably
need a change. I think probably some of the most rewarding
moments of teaching come through running a house and also
some of the most harrowing moments. You can have one moment
everything’s going marvelously and you get lulled into a sense of
false security. My last couple of years in the house had
particularly good sets of kids, and we won an enormous number of
competitions and that was great. Whether that’s the greatest
experience, I don’t know. Personally I think that the greatest
How do you feel you have made
an impact as Director of
Studies?
Have I? I hope so, but I think it’s very
much a matter of trying to get everybody
to work together and to implement new
ideas in teaching. I still get a lot of
pupils who will come and talk about
things at various times, so I feel that I do
still have that sort of input, but it’s very
much an administrative job. So much of
what we have to do just like any sort of
school in this country is determined by
what our education system allows us to
do, but within that framework I would
feel that I’ve been able to at least
encourage people to experiment with
how they run their departments and deal
with their departments. Impact?
Difficult to know. I think history judges
you in that sense.
DJY with Mrs. Drinkall and Miss Jardine-Young at the Leavers’ Ball
How do you hope to be
remembered by your students?
Doc, I should think probably, most of them
call me that. Someone who gets annoyed
with them on occasion but is generally
prepared to listen.
It’s taken as a given that your
students learn from you. How
do you feel you’ve learnt from
your students? How has
teaching benefited you as a
person?
Enormously! I think I’m now much more
aware of the whole range of humanity,
really. My first few years I learnt more
biology than I learnt in six years at
University I would say, basically because all
of a sudden you have to actually put what
you’re saying across to someone and in
the past you’ve sort of assumed you’ve
understood everything, so I think probably
that teaching has actually taught me quite
a lot of biology. I think it’s certainly
taught me a lot about human nature and
about people and I think we are in a
privileged position in that we get to see
people from an enormous range of
backgrounds. Going back to one of your
earlier questions, I’d have to say that one
of the strengths of Epsom College is that
we are a pretty harmonious and very
ethnically mixed society, and I think the
majority of pupils gain an enormous
benefit from working and learning
alongside people from this very diverse set
of cultures all around the world. And I’m
sure I’ve benefited from teaching pupils
who have been able to share with me
experiences from all sorts of countries all
around the world. And that’s been a huge
change since I’ve started. It was relatively
unusual when I started to have people
from outside the UK in the college. When
I first started, boarders came from
Nottingham and Newcastle and other
places in England, and of course children
of expatriates abroad, and the number of
pupils from the whole diverse human
family abroad was very, very much
smaller. When I first started as
housemaster of Rosebery, it was a
predominantly European-based house.
The change in our local society and in the
fringes of London is enormous. There are
huge numbers of people from all sorts of
ethnic backgrounds now live and work in
our society as parts of our British
community, and you hear a lot of bad
news about that in the press, but I think
Epsom stands out as an example of a
place where, really, we are very good at
getting people to work together. I’m not
saying everybody doesn’t say something
nasty about somebody else occasionally; it
wouldn’t be human if they didn’t, but I
think we are very successful at that.
Looking back on your time in
the College, what are some of
the memories that you recall
with most fondness?
(Deep, deep contemplation) There are so
many things… I’ve spent a lot of my time
working with Mr Stephen Oliver on plays,
experience is all those occasions where
you feel that somebody who’s gone
through very difficult periods of time has
come out at the other end as a success.
The most harrowing times were probably
a boy in the house dying of cancer and
that’s a very difficult situation for the
whole house to face. Over my time I’ve
known two or three people who’ve died
at school and also a boy who died in a
car accident between leaving the school
and getting his A Level results and
having to deal with parents and families
at that sort of time is very difficult, as
you can imagine. I do remember being
supremely confident at about this time of
year, having dinner with several exhousemasters and so on. “Oh, it’s going
pretty well.” Says I and within forty-eight
hours, one member of my house had
knifed someone in Fayrer and another
had knocked out a member of the
Common Room stone cold. I thought to
myself that I’ll never again say things are
all right when there’s only ten days until
the end of term. They can always spring
surprises. But I think by and large there’s
been an awful lot of good surprises and I
think it’s seeing them develop. I’ve kept
in touch with a number of people over
many years to see how they’ve developed
as people and to find out that they’ve
even occasionally listened to anything
you’ve said outside of the classroom. If
they come and talk to you about their
futures and their lives, without being
arrogant about it, I think that you do
have quite an influence on them
sometimes, hopefully for the good. If I
had to advise people I think that the
thing to go for in teaching would be to
run a house. A lot of people say, well
what a load of hard work, and it is. But I
think that the rewards are there in terms
of getting to know people at a formative
time and hopefully giving them some
advice that they would take.
9
and I think I shall remember some of the great school productions
with an enormous amount of fondness. I think if I had to put my
finger on two, it would probably be The Alchemist and A
Midsummer Night’s Dream, but then I’d probably be wrong
because then I’d think of some of the great musicals we did. I
shall remember the great successes we’ve had within the biology
department having run it for many years. I will remember a lot of
great friendships within the common room enormously. For all
our occasional arguments and inevitable rub-ups, I shall certainly
remember all the great comradeship of the common room. I shall
remember all the great successes over the years that Epsom has
achieved nationally, in things like our recent sporting
achievements. Being an honorary Epsomian myself, I shall
remember all the things that have shown Epsom up as a great
school over the years with immense pride and fondness.
Dr Young, thank you very much.
10
Editorial
By the age of eighteen, the ‘average’ pupil will have taken fiftytwo separate examinations. If he or she proceeds to university,
assessment will most likely continue – perhaps on a yearly basis –
for at least three years. If applying for a respectable job in the City,
they may be required to undertake further assessment to
distinguish – supposedly – capability. During forty years of work,
they will rapidly lose their personality, looks, charm, physical
alertness and mental capacity. On retiring at the age of sixty-five –
that is assuming there is no change in the retirement age – they
will at last be offered time for respite and reflection, as they are
allowed to take advantage of the overwhelming kindness of the
state (a lifetime of commitment and dedication being worth the
grand sum of £75 per week).
All this begs the question: what are we doing with our lives?
Surely there is more to life than stress, anxiety, and competition?
Admittedly, the above analysis may be a gross generalisation; but it
clarifies a fundamental dilemma facing our society today: how
should achievement and ability be recognised, without
dehumanising children? If more and more assessments are based
solely upon exams, children will rapidly degenerate into overstressed, over-anxious individuals, driven into despair by parents
willing them to excel. A saturation point will inevitably be reached.
It was not always thus. Before the advent of mass examination,
there was a golden age when children went to school to learn. At
present, education is a mere subsidiary – it has been eclipsed by
the much more important (in the eyes of the present government)
necessity of coaching children for examination. This should not be
what education is about: surely a breadth of knowledge is worth
more than a certificate?
But not anymore. Certificates are what matter; knowledge is
merely recreational. This introduces intolerable stress on
impressionable children who, as a consequence, are often driven to
outright despair.
And what of the government in all of this? Their focus is always
short-term; after all, they have to fret over elections, and feed
their insatiable appetite for power and popularity (anyone spring
to mind?) To appease the troublesome media and sweeten the
public they introduce dubious targets – based, of course, on
examination assessment – to illustrate their ‘success’. I wonder why
GCSE results have steadily improved over the years?
Now is the time to act. Teachers must be instructed to impart
knowledge; exams should be cut back; and the syllabus should be
broadened. Emphasis should be placed on some form of ‘continuous
assessment’ whereby progression is monitored throughout the year
by the teacher in charge, and a report formulated at the end of the
year. In this way children will be inclined to work more diligently
throughout the year, rather than slacking off until the great ‘cram’
before the pivotal exam. Those who are most conscientious and able
will succeed as they will no longer be subjected to the cruel
uncertainties of ‘one-chance only’ examination.
If the government remains intransigent to the problem, future
generations will suffer. Already reports appear in our national
newspapers of how those in the less developed world are
frequently happier than those in the West. Consumerism has
engulfed our nation, replacing compassion with naked selfinterest. Unless we stem the tide now, it may be too late: children
will become automata, slaves to the doctrines of capitalism. The
Labour government appears unwilling to pre-empt; but – correct
me if I am wrong – was it not Tony Blair who memorably declared
the importance of ‘Education, education, education’?
Richard Hodge
11
12
Michaelmas Term
13
House Choral Competition
14
15
Drama
Twelfth Night
How often, in a school or anywhere else,
do you get to see a Shakespeare classic
with a gay kiss, and Ali G in it? Not very
often, but in Mr Richard Sheehan’s
masterful reinterpretation of Twelfth Night
by the great bard himself, that is precisely
what audiences were treated to. That, and
some impressive acting by some of our
school’s most accomplished actors and
actresses, including Daniel Aspel, Abigail
Barton, Barnaby Flower, Alex Hayman, Lucy
Misch and Chris Roberts.
Highlights included: Doc
Young’s final guest
appearance (as a friar) in a
school production before
retirement; Abigail Barton (as
Viola)’s on-stage change of
clothes, which I think I saw
every male adolescent in Big
School lean forward for; Lucy
Misch (Olivia) appearing on
stage in her white-skirt outfit
(cue every jaw in Big School
dropping to the floor with a
resounding clang), and
Olivia’s seduction of Viola
(which included the lovely
lesbian kiss and some other
moves I probably shouldn’t
mention in such a respectable
publication). Furthermore, I
don’t think I will ever again
see gender bias issues so
entertainingly confronted as
when Chris Roberts (Antonio
dressed as a Jean-Paul
Gaultier advertisement), the
then head of school, kissed
Alex Hayman (Sebastian), his
imminent successor, on the
lips in front of the entire
school body. Full marks for provocative
and controversial entertainment value!
Finally of course, I must mention Jennifer
Hay and Sungo Kuwana’s diva/rapster duet
on the final song which brought the
production to a close. Bravo to both of
them!
GCSE students often complain that
Shakespeare is not funny, particularly when
studied in class, but this production brought
16
to life the humour that exists within the
script. The comic trio of Mr David Stout,
Jack Poupart and Ben Maxmin were like a
troupe of clowns with their extraordinary
physicalisation of the roles. The scene
where Malvolio discovers the fake letter,
composed by Susanne Smith’s amusing
South London Maria complete with large
earrings and accent to match, was
hilariously realised through absurd statues,
bas reliefs and animal life. Stout and
Poupart’s rapping to the music of Leftfield
gave great authenticity to
Malvolio’s offensive
interruption to the party.
The set, designed by Mr Ian
Newman and built by Mr Phil
Shephard, was a beautiful
outdoor pool area with
flaming torches at night and
lounging surf babes during
the day. A pre-Raphaelite
style created a sympathetic
background for the human
dramas being played out,
while the lighting was
tastefully unobtrusive but
always complementary. The
costumes enhanced
understanding and looked
great at the same time. Nice
work Mrs Davies! In fact one
striking feature of the
production was the harmony
of design, suggesting a very
strong team.
identify. They used modern dance music (which I forgave them
for), costume and design elements, as well as having Men-InBlack-esque bouncers, Jenni Hay (as Feste) singing in the style of
Macy Gray, and Dan Aspel’s Malvolio strut on dressed as Ali G. Eat
your heart out Baz Luhrmann! All this went a long way to making
the foreign students and those laymen amongst us who aren’t
Shakespeare buffs enjoy the evening that much more. And yet at
bottom, what we have is an honest depiction of the relationships
between men and women, the deflation of pomposity, the human
capacity to love, and above all, the power of love to transform,
making this year’s school play a moving, funny and tremendously
entertaining evening for everyone.
Michael J Parry
The show owed a large part of its success to the way the director
and cast managed to re-reveal Shakespeare’s classic in a relevant,
modern way, by associating the language with contemporary icons,
symbols and images with which the audience could more readily
17
Crawfurd House
Play 2001
in every case and the set ingeniously
suggested movement, incorporating
some impressive full-size street lamps
and a spectacular painted backdrop.
“Death” by Woody Allen
Matthew Tindall as Kleinman was onstage
throughout the evening, being woken up
at the start, dressing himself, and then
encountering a number of strange
characters before ultimately becoming the
victim of the homicidal maniac who is
hunted throughout the play. He carried
off his role extremely convincingly,
bringing out the subtlety of the dialogue.
Other leading roles were equally well
taken. James Clayton was a formidable
mother and Neerav Malde projected an
obsessive quality in his portrayal of the
Doctor, who also faced a gory end. Tim
Abbott’s appearance as a prostitute
Staging a House Play in Big School in
the first few weeks of a new academic
year is always a challenge. Selection of
the right script is crucial: nothing too
long to be learnt in time, nothing with
too complicated a set, etc.. With “Death”
Crawfurd made an excellent choice, also
giving every member of the House an
opportunity to appear on stage.
Such a production involves far more than
acting, and in all respects this was a first
class effort. The costumes were effective
18
brought the house down on the evening I
attended, and Adam Howard incorporated
much comic detail into his portrayal of the
Policeman. Such detail was also evident in
the cameo appearances of Nikin Tanna and
Edward Stacey-Clear during the final scene
as Spiro the Psychic and his assistant. The
rest of the House appeared as tough
gangsters, led very effectively by Jonathan
Kent, Paul Efthymiou and Simon Coster,
with their costumes cleverly differentiating
between the two groups.
The evening was extremely entertaining
and the audience certainly left Big School
smiling. Crawfurd’s House Play was a
genuine team effort and all involved should
be very pleased with their achievement.
Mr GA Lodge
Trips
The trip was organised quite early during
the Michaelmas term, (October 2nd 2001)
but everyone seemed prepared for the
battle ahead (probably glad it meant one
whole day away from school). The journey
into the heart of Britain’s ancient institute
began at 08:30 hrs. The troops gathered at
Epsom Station eagerly awaiting the arrival
of our very able leader General
C.B.Bucholdtius (he had our military
rations). His arrival and prompt distribution
of the rations was quickly followed by a
celestial tribute to one of our fallen soldiers
Natashus Panaetius (who sadly couldn’t
make the journey). A ration was laid in
memory of her. The trip involved
commuting by train, which took us from
Epsom Station to London Waterloo and a
further trip using the London Underground
tubes. Eventually via the Northern Line
from Waterloo we ended up at Holborn.
The next part of the trip involved a daring
walk through no man’s (sorry person’s) land
(the streets of London). We had some
doubts if we would ever make it, but Gen.
Bucholdtius led by example from the front
with determination. The ladies (sorry
soldiers) were however unimpressed by the
frequent honking and whistling they got
(from builders mostly) during the walk. The
destination was reached at about 10:05 hrs.
General Bucholdtius briefed us on our
mission, which was to view and take notes
on information concerning the history of
the development of sculptures, as well as
observe the range of different styles
architecture from the ancient world.
•
On entering this magnificent landmark,
what struck us all was the new central
court way, which had recently been
completed. We briskly made our way past
security (or unspotted by the enemy I
might add) and proceeded to the gallery
(the enemy zone). It was here our
inspirational leader decided to split us up
into pairs. I (fortunately for me) got paired
with an experienced veteran, Commander
Bennevento Jerome whose technical
knowledge (from previous wars) would
prove vital in my survival. Being difficult to
remember precisely all the priceless pieces
and structures encountered along the way
in the various rooms (danger zones), I have
drafted these from the General’s diaries:
•
The “Treasury of Atreus”,
Mycenae (Danger Zones 1 and
2)
•
The Lion Tomb from Xanthos,
Lycia (Danger Zone 3)
•
The Early Temple of Artemis,
Ephesus (Danger Zone 3)
•
The “Harpy” Tomb from Xanthos,
•
The Temple of Apollo Epikourios,
Bassae (Danger Zone 6)
•
The Nereid Monument from
Xanthos, Lycia (Danger Zone 7)
•
The Parthenon, Acropolis, Athens
(Danger Zone 8)
•
The Erectheum, Acropolis,
Athens (Danger Zone 9)
•
The Temple of Athena Nike,
Acropolis, Athens (Danger Zone
9)
•
Payava’s tomb from Xanthos,
•
The Mausoleum of
•
•
Halicarnassaus (Danger Zone 12)
The Lion Tomb from Cnidus
(Danger Zone 12)
The later Temple of Artemis,
Ephesus (Danger Zone 12)
Temple of Athena Polia, Priene, W
Asia Minor (Danger Zones 72 and
78)
With the help of my companion
(explanations and crucial details) I was
able to pull through unscathed.
Our mission was however thwarted by the
enemy (apparently a shortage in the
number of staff meant that parts of the
building were inaccessible to members of
the public). However this was partially
made up for in the video which tried to
give us a limited reconstruction of the
Parthenon. Also deserving a special
mention were the metopes depicting the
famous battle of the Labyrinth and the
Centaurs. As explained in the General’s
diary, it both symbolised the battle
between civilization and Barbarianism and
alluded to the battle between the Persians
and the Greeks (which was to be
encountered in future battles). Our mission
a partial success, the General called for a
retreat and we all sat for lunch in a park in
Russell Square with our equal shares of
military rations (though most went to
shop for alternative meals). The troops
now fed and rested, the journey home was
gratefully received. After all who won’t be
glad to make it home from war. Like to
take this opportunity to give special thanks
the Classics Department and the school
authority who organised the outing
(though they charged us for it).
Kunmi Onabanjo
Classical Studies
visit to the British
Museum.
19
Choir Visit to Salisbury Cathedral
20
During the first week of half term we returned to Germany for the
return leg of the exchange with an unusually small group of seven
pupils and two members of staff. We all set off for the Märkische
Gymnasium in Iserlohn with varying degrees of enthusiasm. We
departed from Gatwick and arrived in Düsseldorf after a short
flight, to be immediately greeted by Wolfgang Eggemeier and taken
to meet the host families at Hagen, with whom we would be
spending the next week.
The next week was a mixture of family days, group excursions, and
of course school (even though we didn’t understand much of the
lessons). After one or two extremely early mornings, we all began
wishing we were back at Epsom. However, after memorable
excursions to Münster and other local areas, we didn’t really want
to leave. We were even privileged to meet the Bürgermeisterin
(Lady Mayor) of Iserlohn at the town hall. After being shown a
video of the town and being laden with gifts to remember our stay,
we were taken on a guided tour of the town.
We all enjoyed the experience of Germany immensely and, on
behalf of the whole party, I would very much like to thank Mr
Curtis, Mrs Keevil and Mr Ellison for organising this trip. However,
special thanks must go to the host families and all the staff at the
Märkische Gymnasium for being wonderful hosts and ensuring
everything went smoothly.
Alex Hayford
German Exchange to Iserlohn
21
Art
Mark Furness
Alexa Hohenberg
Shona McKinnon
Jessica Taylor
22
Rhiannon Collins
Amy Li
George Hope
Richard Hodge
Stephanie Mansfield
Mark Furness
23
Flashbacks
Old Epsomian Peter Dodd
remembers Life at the College
during the Second World War.
minutes by bike to school, 35 minutes home
again while the bus journey took about
25/45 minutes depending on whether I got a
good connection at Banstead. As nobody had
a car, we all cycled, walked or came by bus or
train to school. Crawfurd and Rosebery both
had large, racked bicycle sheds
We had Chapel every day at 8.30 conducted
by the Rev. Robertson, 2nd Master known as
Pomp. I think he had a wooden leg as he lost
it in the first war and he walked terribly
badly.
I seem to remember that we had five periods
in the morning and three or four in the
afternoon. Most of the masters were elderly
except the housemasters who appeared to
have exemption from military service. I think
they all belonged to the Home Guard and
had to do night duty as
well as running a house
and teaching.
My memories of food are a bit vague. The
outstandingly awful meal was Irish Stew
which seemed to consist of emaciated chops
with scrap of meat adhering to them
together with chips of bone, the odd potato
and carrot all floating in a greenish liquid
with fat floating on the top. They never
removed the fat as we were short of any sort
of fat, butter and margarine being rationed.
Puddings consisted of blancmange, a
powdered concoction involving milk which
finished up with a rubbery skin on top
(which you could flip with your spoon at the
next table when you thought nobody was
looking). There was also barley pudding
which was not too bad. There was of course,
no rice. The only fruit we had were apples
when they were in season. Butter, eggs,
meat, margarine, cheese tinned foods,
sweets, milk were all rationed.
There were two day
houses, Rosebery and
Crawfurd, and six
boarding Granville,
Propert, Carr, Wilson,
Fayrer, Holman and
Hart-Smith.
When war broke out in 1939, I was at a prep
school at Milford-on-Sea, on the Solent and
opposite the Needles.
We had a peaceful and undisturbed first
winter until the early summer 1940 when
the Germans invaded the Low Countries
and France. They started bombing
Southampton which was used as a major
supply port for the BEF. Aerial navigation in
those days was basic and they used the
Needles, which are white chalk, as a beacon
which meant that they flew over the school
every night on their way. We slept for a
couple of weeks in a trench dug in the
ground and then gave up and the school
closed about the middle of June, re-opening
in Westmoreland (now part of Cumbria) in
mid September.
My parents decided it was safe to bring me
south at the end of 1942 and I started at
Epsom in U IV A in January 1943. I was in U
IV A for five terms as I had missed the
Michaelmas term 1942.
24
I cycled to school every day from Tadworth
or, if the weather was really bad I was
allowed to go by bus – this involved catching
an 80 or 80A from Tadworth to Banstead
cross roads where I had to change and catch
a 164 or 164A down Firtree Road to outside
the school gates. It took me a bout 20
Granville, Propert and
Carr ate in Main Hall,
Rosebery, Crawfurd and
Wilson ate in what is
now the laundry. I think
Holman and Fayrer ate in
the Newsom Building where they also lived.
Hart-Smith which was the junior house, lived
and ate in what is now the Art Department
As there were very few domestic staff, we
did our own washing up – not a happy
experience as there was a shortage of
soap. Detergents hadn’t been invented at
that time.
You walked between classes and had papers
in files – slightly smaller than today as paper
was cut into “quarto” or “foolscap” – smaller
and larger than A4 respectively.
I think we had more text books as I seem to
remember piling them on my file to carry in
two heaps of four. Nobody had bags or
satchels as you couldn’t buy them and
plastic bags didn’t exist so it was a bit of a
balancing act.
We all joined the Corps, known in those
days as the JTC (Junior Training Corps). I
cannot remember there being a Naval and
RAF section. I don’t think there were Corps
camps until after the war in 1946. I never
went to Corps camp as I elected to go on
courses – I did one with the Royal Artillery
at Larkhill and one with the Royal Engineers
at Newark on Trent.
There was a Signals Platoon which had “18
sets” which consisted of an enormous radio
slung on one man’s back while the
operator walked along behind twiddling the
nobs. No light weight transistors in those
days, just valves.
We were drilled in the Quad on Chapel Pitch which was not levelled as
it is now and, as our corps boots had leather soles with hobnails in, it
was a fairly slippery, hazardous proceeding. We also spent a
considerable amount of time on our stomachs practising 15 well
aimed shots a minute with a Lee Enfield rifle – known as “pokey drill”.
The open range was used daily. At 16, you were expected to volunteer
for the Home Guard and take your share of fire watching from the
top of the Tower and patrolling the grounds at night.
was the Short Triangle which was up Longdown Lane South, left into
Burgh Heath Road, down Firtree Road to Driftbridge and back over the
hill. The Long Triangle went along Burgh Heath Road to Great Burgh
then back down Reigate Road to Driftbridge. We were not allowed on
the Downs which were all a military area occupied by a Canadian
Division. There was no roundabout at the top of the hill and
Longdown lane went straight up over the two roads to Old London
Road. There was, and still is, an enormous underground shelter on the
right going up Longdown Lane. I believe it was a hospital.
Geography was taught by a Mr Parsons who rolled the top of your ear
– a particularly painful torture when done properly! Mick Walker,
Housemaster of Wilson taught Latin in the classroom under the
Chemistry labs. Taffy Jones taught Chemistry and was constantly
under threat from Mick as we used to pour iron filings and dilute
sulphuric acid down the drains which at that time went down Mick’s
classroom wall in a sort of cupboard which made a very satisfactorily
revolting smell!
“Camel” Raymond, Housemaster of Propert taught Physics and Sydney
(Sammy) Weare and Rev. St. Thomas Maths. “Abna” Nash,
Housemaster of Granville taught Greek and terrified me. “Horse”
Wallace, Housemaster of Holman taught English Literature in a
classroom on the first flow of the Crawfurd building and was one of
the most knowledgeable people I have ever known. In those days,
Crawfurd was in two rooms on the ground floor and the first floor
was reached by an iron staircase up the back of the building.
Rosebery also had one classroom on the ground floor and one
upstairs. The day rooms were also upstairs which again were reached
by an iron staircase up the outside. Pete Warburton, Housemaster of
Rosebery, taught dynamics on the ground floor and a septuagenarian
called Dodgson French upstairs.
In 1944, the flying bombs (V1s) started in the spring and we had to
put up with them the whole of the summer term as the launch sites
were not over run by 21st Army Group until August. I seem to
remember that they gave up sounding air raid sirens as the things
were coming over all the time and life was being totally disrupted. We
used to carry on lessons unless we heard the engine stop – then it
Communication was by post, such as it was. Telephones were rare
and, of course, dials had not been invented. There were no TV sets and
the only instant news was by radio – the nine o’clock news became a
daily ritual. Newspapers were down to one or two sheets. I cannot
remember about magazines. I cannot remember whether there were
any refrigerators in the kitchens – there were certainly none anywhere
else. At home food was kept in the larder and in the summer milk
bottles were stood in cold water to try and stop it going sour. We kept
rabbits in the garden at home for food and I had to feed them before
leaving for school in the mornings and clean out the hutches at
weekends which took a couple of hours.
It was quite a feat to equip a boy with adequate clothes to come
to Epsom as they were rationed. We were supposed to wear an
awful grey suit - a sort of tweed which resembled fine hessian,
grey shirts like sandpaper, black ties and shoes – I never did wear
them which occasioned a nasty letter from Henry Franklin, the
Headmaster, to my mother.
All the windows were criss crossed with brown adhesive paper to
prevent the glass flying about and the buses and trains had netting
stuck over all their windows.
One afternoon a week we cultivated the College potato crop which
was grown on the land where Holman, Forest and Robinson now
stand. They were particularly bad as there was only about two inches
of topsail over the chalk and you got about two miserable, shrivelled
little offerings off each root.
If the weather was too bad and playing rugby would have damaged
the pitches (there were practically no groundsmen, just somebody
who cut the grass in the summer) we were sent off on runs. There
I went on the first overseas school holiday trip – to Switzerland. We
went by train in coaches with wooden slat seats and notices where
the advertisement usually go saying “do not put your feet on the
seats, they belong to Uncle Sam”. All the carriages were on Lease-Lend!
When you finished at school, unless you were going to university,
and very few were, you were called up for the armed forces or the
coal mines.
When I went for my army medical, I weighed in at 9 stone which, at
6ft 2 ins, which says something for the diet.
Mr Peter Dodd
was under the desks! The V2s rockets started and finished later. They
weren’t the problem of the V1s as you couldn’t hear them coming also they didn’t do the same amount of damage.
In 1946 we started going to Bisley to shoot. We travelled in vehicles
hired from Epsom Coaches – army 3 tonners which had had the load
carrying part replaced with coach bodywork which stuck over the back
wheels so that when it went over a bump, the back tended to jump in
the air – guess where the rifles were carried!
25
Sport
Cross-Country
Competition
Epsom College
Fencing Club
26
Fencing at Epsom College takes place on
Tuesdays and Thursdays between 2:30 and
4:30. On Saturdays, there are usually
school matches but the fencers if not,
have a practice session fencing each other.
Fencing is a Games option available in
Michaelmas and Lent Terms. Usually there
are about 8-12 fencers each term, allowing
the Fencing Club to have a family
atmosphere. Most fencers do not have
their own kit and the Club provides them
with all necessary equipment for all 3
weapons. Two external coaches come every
week to train the fencers: Mr Ian Keeble on
Tuesdays and Mr Joe Shackle on Thursdays.
There are always a few laughs every
session thanks to the light-hearted,
humorous criticisms and comments of
these 2 coaches.
This year, M4 Fencing re-started on
Wednesdays because to a new member of
staff was able to take it - Mr Ian McClure.
The first M4 fencers enjoyed it so much
that Mr McClure started up another M4
Fencing session on Friday 2:00 - 3:00.
Scheduled straight after this session is
another initiative taken by Mr McClure –
Girls’ Fencing. Regular club members have
been involved in both sessions to give
demonstrations. Both these new sessions
have promoted Fencing in the school as
more people opted to do Fencing as one of
their Games options.
The Fencing Club itself has seen changes
too. The Games sessions are now spent
doing individual lessons after warming up
and footwork instead of a group lesson.
This has made more time for people to
gain experience by fencing each other with
the electric equipment. Specialisation is
another change, so that members do not
feel they are wasting their time on a
weapon they don’t like. This has resulted in
the newer members showing good
potential in their chosen weapons in
school matches as well as in regular
Games sessions.
Outside school affairs, the Fencing Club
has entered competitions this year. In
particular, after a Sunday of fencing at the
South East Regional U16 and U18 Sabre
Competitions, Abilius Wong and Will
Haworth qualified for the British Youth
Championships finals to be held on 8-9
February 2002.
Young-Min Kim
Girls’ Ireland Tour 2001
After a short flight we arrived in Limerick in high spirits,
enthusiastic about the coming week. We started off with a
gruelling training session, displaying how well (or not) we had kept
in shape over the summer holidays.
The next morning we faced our first challenge; a match against
the Crescent 1st XI. Having never played as a team before, we
unfortunately lost 0-3, but put up a valiant fight and despite the
loss, it was a positive start to the tour.
In our second match, against Crescent As, we began to come
together as a team, with Charlie Joseph and Jenna DuPlessis
proving very valuable up front. This was backed up by a strong
defence, resulting in a 4-2 win.
Immediately afterwards, still in our sweaty match clothes, we
boarded a bus to travel to Galway. This year, we were fortunate
enough to be able to stay in the Imperial Hotel. (A definite
improvement on last year’s youth hostel!)
Bright and early on the day of the GCSE results, Mrs Keevil took us
on a long early morning run around Galway. We then had the rest
of the morning off for a go-karting competition, which was much
enjoyed by all, especially by a few mad drivers including Sarah
Campbell, who went on to win it!
After go-karting we faced our third match, which was against
Connacht 1st XI. Defence was strong in this match, notably Sam
Reynolds and Sarah Campbell who worked well together. The final
result was a well-deserved 1-1 draw.
Our final match was played against Renmore U17s. All of our
training had paid off, and many of the players performed
excellently, especially Clare Naudé whose sweeping hits set up
many goal scoring opportunities, and Premila Sattianayagam,
whose dribbling skills got the ball into the circle more times than
we can remember.
our next couple of matches consisted of two convincing victories
over Charterhouse and City of London Freemen’s 2nd XI. The
midfield and attack outclassed the opposition, and we managed to
successfully convert our possession into goals.
In the annual District Tournament, we returned as defending
champions. Again, the midfielders and forwards gave positive
performances, and there were some impressive saves from our
goalie, but unfortunately we ended up a close second to St John’s.
Later in the season, I unfortunately had to retire through injury for
the rest of the season, but Sarah Campbell, our vice-captain, took
over the responsibility of captaincy with flair, and the team won
the next match against Lancing 3-1.
In the three matches after that, however, the defence faced tough
opposition, including several county players, which proved too
We finished our tour with a prize-giving meal to remember, in
which everyone won one form of award or another (occasionally in
the form of a bucket), chiefly Miranda Malins, who collected the
prize for most improved player, and Charlie Joseph, who was our
top scorer.
We would like to express our thanks to Jenna DuPlessis, who
scored many goals and kept us entertained all week, to Mrs Keevil
for her excellent morning runs, and to Mrs Drinkall for her brilliant
coaching, fun attitude, and great moves on the dance floor.
A great tour that was enjoyed by all.
Nicole Magoon and Katie Greenwood
1st XI Girls’ Hockey
W5
L7
Following our successful tour to Ireland, we started the season full
of enthusiasm and with a solid foundation of skills. This showed in
our first match, which we won 2-1 against King’s Canterbury ‘A’.
However, with the next two matches against extremely talented
teams, we had to improve our game even more. The defence
played well, and with good organisation managed to stop many
goal-scoring opportunities, but unfortunately we couldn’t get the
goals that we needed and perhaps deserved. Despite the losses,
however, we felt that we had played well. With renewed optimism,
P 12
27
Full Colours: Katie Greenwood, Sarah
Campbell, Nicole Magoon, Premila
Sattianayagam, Nadia Khoury, Emma
Oldfield, Charlotte Joseph and Clare Naudé
Hockey Trophy: Katie Greenwood and
Sarah Campbell.
Shaw Trophy: (most improved) Sam
Reynolds and Tiwi Urquhart-Stewart.
much for us. But, with fighting spirit, we
faced our last match determined to win,
and did so, 4-1, with some spectacular
play, and a memorable goal from Miranda
Malins, a defence player!
Charlie Joseph, Emma Oldfield and Premila
Sattianayagam gave positive performances
throughout the season, Emma using her
speed and agility to outstrip her opponents
and pass balls into the circle, and Charlie
and Prem skilfully converting these balls
into goals. My particular thanks to Charlie,
our top goal scorer, and to Prem and Clare
Naudé, who also set up and scored many
goals. Playing with Nadia Khoury and
Clare Naudé either side of me in midfield,
my job became a lot easier!
Nadia has the ability to always be in the
right place at the right time, and Clare’s
huge sweeping clearances set up many
opportunities for the forwards. In defence,
Sarah Campbell’s enthusiasm and eye for
the game proved useful, and Miranda
Malins, Chloe Kingham and Sam Reynolds
28
were very valuable in clearing balls out of
danger areas. Nicole Magoon, our little
but very able goalkeeper, was consistent,
and made some outstanding saves
throughout the season. All positions were
covered by our ‘super sub’ Charlotte
Constantine, and occasionally by the skilful
Kirstyn Bailey, so we were never short of
enthusiastic players.
The last match of the season was a
memorable one against the staff, which
unfortunately ended with a loss, despite a
couple of excellent goals. My appreciation
goes out to all involved with the 1st XI
team, but especially to Mrs Drinkall, for all
her enthusiasm and support.
Team: Premila Sattianayagam, Charlie
Joseph, Emma Oldfield, Nadia Khoury, Katie
Greenwood (Capt.), Clare Naudé, Chloe
Kingham, Sarah Campbell, Miranda Malins,
Sam Reynolds, Nicole Magoon, Charlotte
Constantine, Kirstyn Bailey.
Katie Greenwood
King’s Canterbury
Brighton
Eastbourne
Charterhouse
City of London 2nd
King Edward’s, Witley
Ardingly
Lancing
Cranleigh
Christ’s Hospital
St John’s
Wellington
Common Room
W
L
L
W
W
L
L
W
L
L
L
W
L
2–1
1–2
0–3
4–2
2–0
0–1
0–2
3–1
1–5
1–6
2–3
4–1
2-3
2nd XI Girls’ Hockey
P9
W4
L4
D1
Squad: Lara Bantoft, Abigail Barton, Katie Forster, Yayganeh
Chiang, Sarah-Jane Douglas, Sarah Rose, Tiwi Urquhart-Stewart,
Anna-Maria Vaughan, Anne-Marie Tong, Jenny Hay, Zoë Rice,
Natalia Martin-Villendrup, Helen Sadek, Kirstyn Bailey, Zahra
Mohammedbai, Sarah Bridge, Nicola Hayman, Natasha Cook.
U16 Girls’ Hockey
Next came Sevenoaks, a team
in which we all dreaded due
to their speed and ability.
However, the mids, usually,
Naty, Anna Maria and Anne
Marie, would make incisive
runs up the middle, pass the
ball to the forwards, Jenny,
Zoë, Helen and Kirstyn and if
all worked the ball would
occasionally go into the goal!
We came away from that
match all smiling as we won 1 – 0.
However that winning streak soon ended when we encountered a
fresh-faced Eastbourne. It was clear as we approached half time
that we were not fulfilling our potential. Although backs S-J,
Yayganeh, Rosey, Tiwi (when the 1st XI didn’t pinch her!) and Lara,
kept a cool head and battled until the bitter end.
Caroline Lamey captained the team. She has much potential, clouts
the ball powerfully and is adept when running from midfield. Katie
Ebbs was probably the most improved player. Her attitude was
admirable in every respect and others could learn from her
example: she played superbly at left half. Kirsty McAllister,
encouraging the troops with shouts of ‘Come on, ladies’, showed
much promise as a left attacker, learning to play the ball on her
strong side: just needed to adjust her bearings to get more of
those shots on target. Sophie-Jo Walsh added pace to the attack.
Laura Watkin was a key player adding strength on the ball and
power to the attack; she was much missed when injured. Helen
Longridge forced her way into the team and played with much
vigour. Alannah Tollworthy threatened to become a significant
force in midfield which she could be if she develops her stick skills
further and shows extra oomph. Suzanne Smith provided an
exuberant presence at centre back: when she learns to play the ball
to the right she will be even better. Helen Myers, Fiona Fung, Lara
MacLellan and Libby Sheehan all played solidly in defence. Lizzy
Day has much ability in goal but needs to be more alert, on her
toes when danger looms.
Next we faced the brutal sticks of City of London Freemen’s.
However, the team made space and passed the ball intelligently.
Our finishing sometimes let us down, but the sheer determination
showed when we scored the one and only goal of that match. This
win was helped by the excellent goal keeping of Abi and Katie who
stylishly shared the most important role on the pitch.
All in all, a most agreeable group of girls who could develop into
highly competent hockey players if they collectively show
commitment to the cause. Good luck!
Three losses followed against Hurstpierpoint, Christ’s Hospital and
Ardingly, but we ended the season on a high by winning 2 – 0
against Cranleigh.
U15 Girls Hockey
Lara Bantoft
Mr GJA Simpson
Overall it has been an excellent season for the U15 teams. It had been
difficult to select an ‘A’ team from a group who are so able, keen and
competitive; and by not being selected there was an initial demotivation shown by some of the stronger players, which affected the
results in their early matches. The enjoyment of playing together and
the improvement in team co-ordination and success, however, soon
overcame feelings of disappointment. Our ‘B’ teams are just as
important as our ‘A’ teams, and we had several evenly matched games
between them in training.
The ‘B’ team won convincingly 2-0 against St. Georges’, drew 0-0 with
Sevenoaks and 2-2 with King Edwards’ and lost by one goal to Kings’,
Canterbury and Brighton College and by 1-3 to Ardingly.
The ‘A’ team had wins over CLFS 3-1, Brighton 3-0, St. Georges’ 2-1,
King Edwards’ 7-2 and 3-2 in a thrilling match against Reigate
This season could have been described as a mixture of two halves.
After a disappointing first defeat against Mill Hill, the practices
during the next week seemed to consist of fitness, fitness and
more fitness with few ball skills! Our confidence started to grow
and we went on to the pitch for the next match with a determined
head and were ready to run rings around Brighton College. This
strategy proved beneficial as we finished with a superb 3 –1
victory, after Jenny scored within the first minute of the match.
This was a most frustrating season. Two permanent absences of A
team players, a disproportionately high number of injuries and
several unnecessary absences resulted in the team gaining modest
results. Only once was a defeat one-sided, against a superb
Cranleigh team, ironically when we had eight players missing: yes,
reader, eight! Otherwise matches were close but an inability to
score sufficient goals resulted in several close, fiercely contested
defeats and only two victories, one of which was 5-0. In the
district tournament (back to a mere two absent players, ‘which was
nice’), we nearly won but had to settle for a laudable second place.
The group of girls was spirited and positive and definite progress
was made; the message that they must learn, however, is that
absent players make an enormous difference, at least when
Solskjaer is not available as a reserve.
29
Grammar, where the team fought back from 2-0 down at half time.
They drew 1-1 with Cranleigh, and lost to Kings’, Canterbury 1-3,
Sevenoaks 1-2, Eastbourne 0-10, Ardingly 0-2 and Christs’ Hospital 02. The many goals scored were mostly the result of co-ordinated
teamwork between the forward and mid players, with a strong
defence feeding the ball through - the ‘networking’ of players
improved as the term progressed with just an occasional ‘off’ day!
‘A’ Squad - Krysta Munford (Captain), Gabrielle Patterson, Clare
Morgan, Louise Meadows, Rebecca Szanto, Kate Pretsell, Kathryn
Maher, Jasmine Jagger, Lucy
Johnstone, Lucy Fletcher,Francesca
Tilley-Gyado,Charlotte Wood,
Stephanie Mansfield, Genny Glass.
‘B’ Squad - Sophie Dick (Captain),
Ciara Janson, Katy Amos, Kate
Waltham, Becky Misch, Minji Kim,
Elizabeth Dilks (most improved
player), Elizabeth Yates (most
improved player), Chloe Handley,
Sophia Price, Emma Powell, Emily
Chance.
The girls remained undeterred throughout all their matches and
they must be commended on their unfailing spirit. They will bring
to the next season a greater understanding of the game and, with
tighter marking in defence, improved anticipation of play and
stronger stick skills, let us hope that next year they will meet with
greater success!
Mrs C Rice
Miss AR Peak
U14 Girls’ Hockey
P 13
L 13
Regularly facing strong opposition and with many matches played
away from home, this has not been an easy season for the U14 Girls’
Hockey Team. Few members of the team had much previous
experience and, as such, they lacked awareness of position,
coordination on the pitch and the necessary stick skills to cope with
the grass pitches on which they frequently played. However, whilst
this may have been a disappointing season in terms of results, there
can be no faulting the continuing team effort and the enthusiasm
displayed by every member of the squad. Certainly, over the term,
the girls have learnt to play in a more structured format, varying
30
and improving the
accuracy of their
passes. In
particular, their
game on Astroturf
has developed
notably, and,
although winning
seemed an elusive
outcome, towards
the end of the term
they succeeded in
scoring goals and
reducing goal
difference; indeed,
they put the first
goal of the match
in the net on more than one occasion.
Already possessing good hockey skills when she joined the team,
Emily Cama was an effective player at centre defence. Continuing
to develop her stick skills over the season, she moves well into
space after winning the ball and, with a strong hit and excellent
distribution, she frequently diffused an attack from the opposition.
Behind her, goalkeeper Emily Hughes had an active season, gaining
considerable experience and rescuing the squad from otherwise
overwhelming defeats, while Katy Moss at sweeper grew in
confidence as her tackling improved. The effort devoted by
Bethany Gale in defence could not be faulted and she also
admirably stepped in as goalkeeper on occasion. At right midfield,
Charlotte Johnston used her speed to link well with right forward
Elizabeth Szanto, and Holly Howson at centre forward developed
her distribution to both left and right.
The lack of luck was sadly to continue as
not only did the ball not bounce for us but
we made key decision errors costing us a
number of games, many by the odd score.
Lady Luck did not help us with injuries
either as several experienced and important
players received injuries keeping them out
of the team for a number of weeks.
When you combine these with a strong
fixture list, especially in the first part of
the term, against schools that are either
single sex or have a far larger boy intake
than Epsom, it makes it very difficult. Had
we had a bit of luck against lesser schools
like Cranleigh, we would not have reached
half term with 6 losses. The Reigate
Grammar fixture was transferred to the
second term. If it was played in the first
half of term it would have helped us
create at least one victory.
U14 Team: Katharine Alexander, Margaret
Aslet, Emily Cama, Bethany Gale, Ginny
Handley, Holly Howson (Captain), Emily
Hughes, Charlotte Johnston, Stephanie
Lamey, Stephanie Morley, Katie Moss,
Elizabeth Szanto, Anna Wolstenholme
Also played: Josie Day
Dr PLI Skelton
Boys’ Hockey
Opters
A change in coaching staff for the
beginning of this opters season as Mr Payne
took over from the departing Mr Allan. The
squad possessed many potential 1st XI
players, who had recently returned from a
tour of the southern hemisphere. With this
core of players, the opters’ soon found their
feet and battled hard in the first game,
coming back from a two goal deficit to draw
against Whitgift. This was backed up with a
competent victory over Charterhouse. This
good start lost momentum towards the end
of term; ending up P 6, W 3, D 1 and L 2.
The season saw great improvements from
Jack Waltham in defence, Kunmi Onabanjo
in goal and top goal scorer Adam Johnstone.
from the training we were given a strict
refreshment diet limited to two free nights.
On one occasion, someone needed “a
drink of water” very desperately, which
could only be found in one of Limerick’s
lesser tourist attractions, returning to the
bus with us slightly late. If I remember
correctly it is called “Le Chic” for those
who may also need further similar
treatment. Matches included Connaught,
Brough and Munster where we lost the
first two but beat Munster, the strongest
of the three sides. We were on a high and
kept rolling down the slope managing
comfortably to beat Uppingham.
Unfortunately, back home seemed to be
the problem. Our wheels and power
disappeared against Dulwich straight from
the kick-off. With very little 1st XV
experience in the starting line-up nerves
crept in. Morale was down but not fargone. This was clearly shown by a great
effort up the pitch against Harrow, to
which we were only down by 10-8 then
eventually losing closely. Harrow had an
unbeaten season with the Epsom result
being one of their closest.
Victories bring confidence. Defeats the
opposite. The very extended half term did
not help us as when a training session was
arranged, it was badly attended. Sevenoaks
gave us our second successive win. Two wins
seemed like a new life, but obviously it was
not to be the case. We should also have won
the Merchant Taylors’ match but we were
again short of players and time to warm up
with only fifteen minutes to get changed
and prepared. The RGS Guildford fixture was
there for the taking but we failed to take it.
We had a disappointing two wins in ten but
the score line does not always show
everything. It certainly does not show the
commitment Mr Wolstenholme, Mr Stout,
Mr Hobbs and many players put in. If
everybody was as committed as them, who
knows what might have happened.
From a very good start as M4s, I don’t think
we really fulfilled our potential. I hope
everybody continues playing when they
leave Epsom and gets as much fun out of
the game as we did at school. Thanks to
everybody for your efforts. Congratulations
to all those players who gained
representative honours for Middlesex,
Surrey, etc. At least this proves we have a
number of very good players. Good luck to
all and thank you for your support.
Tom Doran
Oscar Kingsbury
The season started with the traditional
pre-season tour to the sunny depths of
Ireland. A promising squad of thirty-four
on the tour looked as if we might hit the
ground running. There was a strict
training routine of early morning strolls
along the banks of the Shannon with
“Swerve” and his constant commentary. Apart
1st XV Rugby
31
RESULTS
Dulwich
Harrow
Eastbourne
Eton
Cranleigh
St John’s
Sevenoaks
Reigate
Merchant Taylors’
RGS Guildford
L
L
L
L
L
L
W
W
L
L
MAJOR COLOURS
Tom Doran
1st XV Rugby
The annual preseason tour to Ireland produced some encouraging
results, the highlight being a win over Munster U18. This was
supported by a convincing performance to win another ‘warm up’
game against Uppingham School on our return.
The team went into the first match against Dulwich in good spirits
but all expectations were shattered as we leaked 21 points in the
first quarter of the game. To their credit the team did rally and
halfway through the second half were back in contention as
Dulwich grew increasingly anxious. However it proved to be too
much of a mountain to climb and Dulwich pulled away at the end.
The next week brought another tough match against an equally strong
Harrow side. Some of the hard lessons from the week before had been
learned and the team fought hard before going down to a late score.
By now injuries had begun to affect the side, including the severe
loss of the captain Tom Doran for several weeks with a leg injury.
Eastbourne took full advantage of a disorganised side to win easily.
Then came Eton, incredibly three players dropped out with injuries
in the warm up! Another, Richard Briegel-Jones departed with
concussion after the first play of the game to be followed by
scrum half Chris Cocks. The team stayed in contention till late in
the game despite the problems.
By now struggling with confidence the team put up a tremendous
fight with Cranleigh but missed too many chances to score before
eventually losing to the last kick of the game. St John’s soon felt
the fragile confidence and after we started brightly they gradually
took control to win comfortably in the end.
The long half term break allowed the team to recover and recharge
ready for the second half of the term. The result was a comfortable
win over Sevenoaks followed by another over Reigate. These were
the highlights of the term, as after this, illness and injury came back
to haunt the team. Merchant Taylors’ took their chance to exact
revenge for last year’s thrashing to win a very tight game. The
following week a competent performance by their pack saw RGS
Guildford home by a narrow margin in the last game of the season.
32
Captain Tom Doran came back strongly towards the end of the
term and he has done well to get an Ireland trial as well as playing
for Middlesex U18. Tim Abbott, Richard Staveley and Sungo
Kuwana played for Surrey U18. Edward Moberly played for Surrey
U17 along with Richard and Sungo.
My particular thanks go to Mr Hobbs and Mr Stout for their
support and encouragement throughout the term, and to Mark
Dodd the Groundsman for producing such excellent pitches.
Mr A Wolstenholme
FULL COLOURS
Tim Abbott
Ben Holland
Will Terry
Adam Howard
Matthew Francis
Sungo Kuwana
Alex Hayman
Andrew Vernon
Kent Hui
Richard Meadows
Fraser Rankin
Scott King
HALF COLOURS
Paul Ventris
Chris Dawson
Richard Staveley
Edward Moberly
Hugo Penny
Chris Cocks
Nick Wade (reawarded)
PALLADINO AWARD (most consistent player)
Matthew Francis
SANGER TROPHY (most improved)
Edward Moberly
County Honours
Surrey U18
Tim Abbott
Richard Staveley
Sungo Kuwana
Middlesex U18
Tom Doran
Surrey U17
Sungo Kuwana
Edward Moberly
Richard Staveley
2nd XV COLOURS
Ed Lewis
Matthew McLuckie
Mark Dallamore
Simon Marjoram
OsamuYamagata
Barnaby Flower
SMITH - BALEWA TROPHY
Fulton Shiundu
Surrey U16
Alex Cama
Matthew Lee
Sam Francis
James Marjoram
Warren King
13-42
11-18
7-30
11-32
25-27
5-20
41-8
31-7
11-17
13-19
2nd XV Rugby
33
3rd XV Rugby
At first glance one has to confess that the results tally does not
read well. Played ten, won one, drawn one and lost the rest. So
much for the new coach and master i/c Second side! It wasn’t all
bad though. The majority of results were close, well within a range
of 14 to 57 points, while an average difference of 20 could easily be
justified by a talented statistician. Unfortunately the coach is not
very good at that either. Let’s concentrate on the positive. After the
usual long journey to Eastbourne the lads did a convincing job of
holding on to a seven-point lead under difficult circumstances. A
well deserved win and Eton to look forward to the following week.
On home soil the lads played out of their skins and recorded a
superb 12-12 draw. Eton were not great but a draw is a draw, and
against schools like Eton, in my book that’s a moral victory!
Onwards and sadly not upwards…too many of our key players were
seconded up to the 1st and 2nd XVs, week in week out at the last
minute. It leaves a disjointed yet still spirited side trying to find
form with ‘new players’ in at the eleventh hour. Always a difficult
task, yet the lads stuck at it and battled through every single match.
They deserved to achieve more but sadly they didn’t quite have the
finishing skills, and at times the gaps in defence matched the
diameter of the Dartford Tunnel. There is one overriding factor in
what was a disappointing season in terms of results, the lads
enjoyed playing, they worked hard in training and always gave their
best on match days. So what is that factor? Pride. Every single one
of the lads that turned out for the 3rd XV had pride in the shirt on
their backs and for that they should be commended. Well done to
all who played and good luck for the future.
XXX CAPS (3rd XV)
Richard Eversden
Paul Harraby
Howard Doyle
Jason Jun
Mohamed Abdel-Rahim
Mr M Day
5th XV Rugby
34
Despite the enormity of the task, having to
take on big and powerful schools with the
last remnants of the second side squad, the
5th XV played with great heart and
determination and can be pleased with their
efforts over the season.
On most occasions, the team included
volunteers from outside the squad – mainly hockey opters – and
this actually strengthened the side. Thanks must go to Jack Glass
and Ben Elmslie, who acted as student team managers, helping
to co-ordinate the recruitment of these volunteers and making
what would have been a difficult job easy.
Mr AJ Wilson
Colts A XV Rugby
It was always going to be a struggle trying to compete with the
terrific achievements of this age group last year. My priority was to
deflate any swollen egos and to establish an appreciation that a lot
of progress had to be made this year if they were going to enjoy
similar success in the years to come. I am pleased to report that
the vast majority took this on board and were prepared to work
hard in training sessions, if not as quietly as I would have liked
(Chris Newman!). In particular, they embraced the extra intensity of
the physical contact that Colts rugby brings with gusto.
A good set of forwards form the foundation of any successful
side; it is as true today as it ever was that the forwards determine
who wins the match and the backs by how much. The front row of
Phil Richardson, John Lee and Craig Shephard were a solid
combination and meant that we were able to provide the excellent
attacking platform of scrummage moving forward. James
Houghton and Richard Pooley were in the ‘boiler house’ and were
a major physical presence as well as picking up the new line-out
laws remarkably quickly. In the back row Sam Francis, Warren King
and Fulton Shiundu relished the physical aspects of the game and
not only had the essential ball winning skills but were either the
instigators, links or finishers of much of our best rugby. The
progress of Fulton, in particular impressed me and he got my vote
as the most promising player of the season.
The backs were a little frustrating in that some of them proved to
be a little fragile and training opportunities with a full squad were
very limited and we rarely, if ever, fielded the same back line two
matches running. As a result, whilst individual skills progressed we
were unable to work on some of the more complicated team play
that was planned. At scrum half the existing problem of the choice
between Reza Amiri- Garroussi’s quicker pass or the extra physical
dimension of Chris Newman’s game remained; both benefited from
the competition. The season started with some debate over the
roles of Matt Lee and Alex Cama. In the end, I went for Matt at no.
10; in these days of well organised defences the last thing the
opposition want to see is a fly-half coming at them with real pace
off the mark; it disrupts them and even when a clean break isn’t
The best centre pairing was probably Jamie Rowles and Alex Cama.
Jamie was the most consistent back all season, he relishes the
physical aspect and, when not taking on players just for the sake
of it, his distribution skills are excellent. Alex had a season
continually disrupted by injury. He is an excellent player and his
rapier thrusts in midfield coupled with his organisational skills in
the backs were always missed whenever he was absent. On the
wings, Joe Moore and Shegun Ogunsheye proved a contrasting
pair. Shegun is still a raw but exciting talent with his excellent
pace (but limited defence!), Joe with his power and strength keeps
the ball in play and proved a good finisher but I would still like to
see more confidence to really threaten the opposition with his
physical presence. Last, but not least, James Marjoram at full-back
had the pace and footballing skills to be the threat that a No. 15
should be and he vied with Matt Lee to be the top try scorer.
At the start of the season I had said that it was the strength of the
‘B’ team that impressed me most about this group of players. The
strength in depth was outstanding and we were nearly always able
to cover injuries with players of almost equal ability. Robert
Lammiman was one of the hardest workers and just as adept in
the midfield or second row! Ed Gray, Jon Nicol and Rupert Faircliff
would have made a top class back-row in any year and Kang Shin,
despite his loss of weight, is an ‘A’ standard prop.
The good news for Epsom and the bad news for their opponents is
that despite their progress all these players still have weaknesses
and I hope that I made them fully aware of them! If they can work
on these and continue to improve then more of the exciting rugby
that led to 6 matches having to finish early because fifty points
had been reached, will be played. Also more importantly the two
defeats can be avenged!
Finally, many thanks to my coaches, Pete Irvine, Andy Copsey and
the visiting expertise of Ian Pickup. Thanks, too, to the players for
an enjoyable season.
COLTS COLOURS
Philip Richardson
John Lee
Craig Shephard
Richard Pooley
James Houghton
Warren King
Sam Francis
Fulton Shiundu
Chris Newman
Matt Lee
Jamie Rowles
Joe Moore
James Marjoram
Robert Lammiman
Mr JM Drinkall
made the defence is disorganised. Besides, Matt even kicked three
times this year!
35
Colts B XV Rugby
As I was told that I was taking over the school’s only
unbeaten team I was in two minds. Firstly these boys
must be talented and secondly what happens if the
unthinkable does happen and they lose.
The first match went exactly to plan with a conclusive
win over Dulwich during which the game plan to be
used for the season was clear from the start. The phrase
‘pass to Segun’ was heard many more times during the
season as he produced an average of three tries a game
until he was moved up to the ‘A’ XV.
Then the unthinkable did occur. Away at Harrow we
were beaten by a single point. We were weakened due to
illness and injury but it was a day the team will
remember for the wrong reasons. A very good
performance on the back foot, especially by the
forwards, deserved a better result.
After that was out of the way the boys showed excellent resolve
and came back with determination to win the rest of the games in
the season scoring a total of 328 points (at an average of 36
points a game) and only conceding 29 points (15 of which were
against Harrow).
The team was led throughout the season by Tom Barton who did
an excellent job. After a quiet start he became an excellent leader
both on match days and during training sessions. He was backed
up by a pack who were much stronger than anything they came
up against all season, which contained a back row (made up from
a combination of Ben Walker, Ed Gray, Rupert Faircliff and Jon
Nicol) who were always on the verge of ‘A’ XV selection.
The backs fed superbly off the good ball provided by the forwards.
All made excellent contributions to the points tally but mentions
must be made of Segun Ogunsheye, Harpreet Sood, Tom Bradley,
Kieran McDuff and James Lowe. All of whom made regular and
decisive breaks through the opposition defences.
In conclusion this was an exceptional season of rugby. I hope the
boys continue to do well in the senior game. Many thanks to all of
them who made the season enjoyable, and to all the parents who
turned up, wherever we played, to give much appreciated support.
Mr AK Copsey
Junior Colts A Rugby
P 10
Pts For 168
36
W6
Pts Against 107.
L3
D1
Overall this was a successful season, with the team winning 60%
of its games and drawing one. Apart from the statistics, it also
proved to be successful from the point of view of developing
individual, unit and team skills, with the team being a far more
potent combination at the end of the season than at the beginning
and improving hugely on last season’s level of performance.
We kicked off the season with a couple of days of pre-season
training which allowed the team to revive their rugby skills, which
had lain dormant for a year, and to gel with a new look squad and
a new look coaching team. After some hard training we came up
against a touring side from Rugby School which we disposed of
with a solid opening performance. The first week back proved to be
just as hard as anyone could have expected with a game against
Dulwich College. A narrow loss was in store against a much larger
opposition. The following week we were against a Harrow side
which had put over forty points on us the previous year. We were
12-7 up at the interval and continuing pressure poised us as a
strong threat for another score before two breakaway tries left us
trailing narrowly. The match was abandoned for safety of a fellow
team mate who had performed one of the most influential and
hearty debuts the college has seen for many a year.
The incident during the Harrow game helped all of the team gain a
proper perspective on the importance of winning and losing. Put
simply, some things in life are far more important and it was a
huge relief to everyone when Chris Christou returned to school
(and even joined in during training) after a prolonged absence
following his collapse as we neared the end of the match. It was
perhaps fortuitous that there was a cardiologist on the touchline,
assisted by other able professionals.
Eastbourne challenged next and the answer the team gave was the
performance of the season. Strong Aussie
defence and French flair in attack left a team
stunned as we put solid points on the board. It
was only two last minute consolation tries
which left the match with a slight blemish. Eton
means big and big means bad when injuries
weaken a side. A disappointing game and one
to avenge next season. Cranleigh posed as a
scrappy fixture and a result evolved, which,
multiplied thrice, would illustrate our team’s
true potential. This injury-filled part of the
season was overcome (with great importance)
over local rivals St John’s with a strong
performance leaving us victorious 24-7. The
two-week half term came, and the word unfit
slowly crept back into our minds. But that was
No account of the season would be complete without paying
tribute to the efforts of Mr Whiteley, Mr Bustard, Barry Gas (Bro)
and Jamie Laidler (whilst injured). Their task was to develop us as
players and as people and they did this superbly. The coaching
team also showed an ability to identify latent talent in some of the
lower teams and they did this so successfully that by season’s end
some of these individuals were automatic first team choices. These
included George Boulton-Lea, Alexander Zeinati and Johnny Hugo.
Looking forward to next season, there are grounds for optimism. In
addition to those named above, great strides were made by Anthony
Urwin, Chris Parker, Taisuke Yamamoto, Hugo Williams, Richard
Mortimer, James Fisher and others, so that there is now a stronger
core of rugby players with a desire to compete at a high level and
supplement the efforts of the likes of James Beatt and Richard Smith.
Last, I would like to thank our referee (Mr Rice), the groundsmen
and, most of all, the team for their efforts and support throughout
the season. It has been a pleasure to captain the side and to note
the improvement in the overall level of performance. If we all work
together, I am sure that we can reverse some of this year’s losses
and improve on our overall success rate.
Dafydd Evans
Team From: S.Al Jamil, R.Alexander, J.Beatt, E.Blake Thomas,
G.Boulton-Lea, D.Campus, C.Christou, D.Evans (Capt), J.Fisher,
S.Fukahori, A.Hill, J.Hugo, C.Parker, T.Richardson, R.Smith, Hugo
Williams, Henry Williams, A.Urwin, T.Yamamoto, A.Zeinati.
Junior Colts B Rugby
This year the Junior Colts B team has had a disappointing season
in terms of results, but an encouraging improvement was shown
as the year progressed.
The beginning of the season was tough with difficult fixtures and
heavy defeats against Eton, Harrow and, in the first game Dulwich.
Injuries to key players and promotions to the A team left the squad
deflated without a point after four games.
A few players came up from the C team and proved to be valuable
additions to our squad, and after a few tactical changes and some
physical toughening up, results improved. With Luke Lavender
barking instructions to the backs and the forwards starting to win
lots of ball, we began to give our opponents some worries. Kushal
Patel started scoring tries with powerful running from the back row
and the pack became rucking experts ! Epsom JCBs were no longer a
push over ! Had the team had a bit more luck and more gumshields
(!), a win would have arrived earlier than the eighth game – against
Sevenoaks – 24-0 ! What celebrations we had that day !
The last few games until the end of the season were close and we
could, perhaps should, have won them but we couldn’t quite hang
on to our leads in each game. Nevertheless, although our season
was a tough one, we feel we have learnt a lot and that next season
will see us win more games. We learnt how to play for each other
and developed a real team spirit, not letting our heads go down
towards the end of the season. We enjoyed ourselves and thanks
to Mr Bustard and Barry Gass for coaching us.
George Boulton-Lea
Captain
U14 A Rugby
P
10
W
4
Dulwich
Harrow
Eastbourne
Eton
Cranleigh
St John`s
Sevenoaks
Reigate GS
Merchant Taylors
RGS Guildford
D
0
L
6
F
125
L
L
L
L
W
W
W
L
W
L
A
209
0-46
7-17
5-31
5-15
22-17
24-20
37-17
5-17
20-5
0-24
Initially, there looked to be the makings of a good squad this year,
with some promising athletes on show in the summer school of
sport before term started and in the early training. To be fair, this
was probably true even if the results do not fully reflect the fact.
We started the season with a match against a well-drilled Dulwich
side with some powerful players. We did well to keep the score to
below 50 points in the three 20-minute trial games. The Harrow
fixture was a much better game for us. We competed well and
certainly tackled well. Their third try came off the very last move of
the game. Otherwise two tries to one might well have been a fair
reflection of the performance. Eastbourne played very well in the
first half and out-rucked us right from the start. They soon built
up a useful lead and were out of sight by half time. The second
half score was one try apiece, but the damage had already been
done. Away at Eton, we played really well and were ahead for most
of the first half. However, they equalised just before half time and
scored two very late tries coming from silly errors committed by
us. On the day the win flattered the opposition, but they took their
chances well. In the next game, we had a very close battle with
Cranleigh, who started rather like Eastbourne and who rucked very
well, giving them plenty of good possession. However, they were
not able to maintain their forward dominance and we took our
chances well to get back into the game, even if the winning try
was a bit of good fortune. Against St John`s, we were the team
who started off very well and totally dominated the first half,
which put us ahead comfortably at half time. However in the
second half we were unable to sustain this pressure and allowed St
John`s to get back into the game. In the end the score was four
tries each, but we had two conversions to their none and just
about deserved the win. Sevenoaks tried hard to compete against
us, but on the day we played well and some of our moves actually
worked to give us a bigger scoreline than the abilities actually
would suggest. Away at Reigate, we looked as though we had the
ability to get a win after three consecutive wins and a turn around
in fortunes from the first half of term. However, on the day we
gave a lacklustre performance and did not deserve to win. Our best
performance of the season was away at Merchant Taylors. Both
sides played well, but we were for almost the first time in the
season able to sustain pressure for the whole match. The match
showed us at our best, but credit must be given to MTs for making
us work all the way. In our final game we were well beaten by RGS
Guildford, who were stronger in most departments.
As seasons go, it should have been five wins five losses, so we
slightly underperformed relative to our ability and opposition.
However, there is talent there, which developed as the season
still no excuse for losing to a Sevenoaks side which we should have
put many more points on than we eventually did. A 24-12 victory
followed against an average Reigate side and an unanswered defeat
of a poor Merchant Taylors’ side followed the week after. Our final
fixture was against one of the favourites for the prestigious Daily Mail
Cup; an RGS side strong up front and skilful out wide. An outstanding
performance showed how much the team had improved throughout
the season as we dominated the match, but continued our tradition of
giving away two easy tries before the final whistle, ending the tie in a
draw, and leaving another fixture all set for a big revenge match next
season (one for the calendars’ parents)!
37
progressed. Lloyd Cole was a strong
dominant force who captained the team
well. Adam Green was outstanding as a
tireless flanker who would tackle anything.
David Cook was for me though the player
of the season. Another fearless tackler in
defence, but who could use his pace in
attack to great effect.
Swimming
All in all, despite the results, it was an
enjoyable season with a group of lads who
were prepared to learn on training days
and who did develop well as the season
progressed. I suspect that we have not yet
seen the best of them as a year group and
look forward to watching their progress
over the next four seasons. As ever, I am
most grateful to CDM for his continued
help and support and to Mike Louw the
GAP year student who helped us this year.
We also benefited greatly from the
expertise of Ian Pickup on some of our
training days, for which many thanks also.
The squad was selected from. M.Abram,
J.Bryant, P.Canby, L.Cole, D.Cook, T.Charnock,
M.Davis, A.Freeman, J.Ghim, J.Gillespie,
A.Green, R.Howatson, J.Lothian, G.Needham,
A.Terelak, P.Tourikis, L.Trayfoot, A.Ventris.
Mr MC Oliver
U14 D Rugby
This was not a vintage year for the D team,
a reflection probably on the smaller
number of boys in this particular year
group. Nevertheless, as is always the case,
coaching players with little previous
experience can be most rewarding as one
sees a group develop its skills from
scratch. In the front row, players like M.
Wong, C. Wong, Dawson and Ching
showed their commitment and won
promotion, as did Cripps and Akingbade as
flankers. In the second row, Lee
distinguished himself with his endless
enthusiasm and commitment to the cause.
Unfortunately, whilst the pack did start to
win enough ball as the season progressed,
endless injuries and disruptions meant that
the backs never really got going.
Individuals like Liddell, Beattie and Taylor
as half-backs showed their skills
throughout the season, but only Brett
outside really had any pace (scoring a
couple of tries) which meant that
possession and ground was often lost as
the ball left the scrum. However, to the
credit of the side, they were competitive to
the final whistle, and won a close fought
and stirring game against Eastbourne,
finishing in a torrential downpour! Better
luck next season.
38
Played: Dawson, Moore, Wong, Cripps,
Liddell, Lindberg, So, Akingbade, Carroll,
Ching, Taylor, Wong, Forster, Alva, Lau, Lee,
Beattie, Marsh, Satguru, Pipe, Amran, Brett,
Koyama, Vaz, Francis, Patel
Mr MC Conway
This term the Intermediate boys and Senior
girls attended the first round of the English
Schools’ Relays at Beckenham. The girls’
team were placed 6th in both their relays.
The boys’ team comprised of Michael Yan
(F), Adrian Chapman (R), Jason Kan (G),
Jacques Burkett St Laurent (F) and Felix
Vetter (H) who faired better than
anticipated and came 2nd in both the
Medley and Freestyle relays. Whilst not
placing us in the finals the team was ranked
40th nationally (out of 300 schools).
This bodes well for swimming in the summer.
Mrs TD Pearson
After the usual stampede of M4’s charging
down to the range in the first few weeks of
the new term, a few new recruits emerged
who became familiar faces throughout the
year. James Lothian, Matthew Millar and
James Morris from the year above, have
proved excellent team members and
demonstrated that they have the potential to
become fine shots. Charlotte Constantine
from the L6 joined us later in the year and
her cheerful presence (with Jen there as
support!) became a regular sighting. The Team
had a very good season – the highlight of
which was winnning the National
competition held this term – the ‘Staniforth’.
Shot over two stages, the VIII put in an
excellent score of 791 to win by over 12
points from Marlborough. Well done to Paul
Efthymiou and Andrew Smith who produced
maximum 100s. Andrew went on to win the
Club Championship with a very determined
and steely display, beating a very strong
internal field – an excellent performance!
Regular trips to the NSRA outdoor 50 yard
range (built for the Commonwealth games)
was a new experience for all with the
electronic scoring proving innovative, and
easier than using a telescope!
Mr JRW Postle
Target Rifle
39
76
Summer Term
77
From the desk of Michael J Parry
To lead and to serve
In my previous
article, I talked
about the need
for the Sixth
Form to set a
good example for
the rest of the
school to follow.
This burden may
fall heavily on
their shoulders,
but it must fall
even more heavily on the shoulders of the
prefects.
Prefects must be exemplary in every aspect
of school life. This is not a responsibility
they can afford to shirk; by wearing that
silver and black or silver and blue tie, they
are distinguishing themselves as the very
best this school has to offer. Not
necessarily in individual subjects they
study or in the sports they play, but in
being the kind of people they are.
The fact that the school runs as smoothly
as it does must demonstrate that the
78
prefects are fulfilling their duties well.
However, this publication would suggest
that prefects need to go one step further
beyond the minimum job requirement, and
turn being a prefect into the selfless and
noble vocation it was intended to be.
They cannot deny that as prefects, with
such prominent roles to play in the houses
and in the school, the student body as a
whole, and in particular younger pupils,
will look to them as an example of what
Epsom College expects its students to be.
They have to live up to that responsibility
and make sure the example they set is
consistent and worthy of the college.
If prefects do not behave as model
students, they lose their credibility when
they try to enforce the rules of the school.
If they are inconsistent or have double
standards in the way they carry out their
duties, they make hypocrites of themselves.
A minority of prefects avoid or overlook
this aspect of the job. No doubt it is
exhausting to be exemplary at all times,
and it takes courage to enforce a rule on a
friend, but these are not matters of
personal preference. In accepting the role
of prefect, they are declaring to the school
that they accept that burden. If any of
them in honesty cannot, then those people
should be allowed to turn in their ties
without guilt or shame.
Some may argue that the effort required
to be an exemplary prefect must bring its
rewards or privileges. Indeed the fact that
they have been entrusted and empowered
to serve is a reward and privilege. The
school should be aware that those who
wish to become a prefect exclusively for
the kudos may not be the sort of prefects
the school necessarily wants or needs.
If each and every one of our prefects is a
role model for the rest of the school; if
they lead by example and look for ways to
serve the school and its constituents, the
more positive influence they will have on
future generations of Epsomians.
Chapel Notes
By the time of the now infamous 11th September, the School’s
new year was less than two weeks old. Little did we all realise
then that those awful events were to change our entire lives, and
the way we looked at life from within. Like many others from
around the world, our community was horrified by the mass
destruction and loss of innocent lives. It is at times like these
that we look for spiritual and religious answers: the meaning of
life, the existence of good and evil. The Headmaster gave the
sermon on the Saturday College Worship following 11th
September, as he offered some real reflection on all that had
happened, even quoting some verses from the Qu’ran.
The Head was the first of many preachers to ascend the steps
of the pulpit. Others were the Deputy Head - Mr Norman Rice,
our new Parish Priest at Saint Martin’s in Epsom - Father Simon
Talbott, and two lay preachers from the Parish of Saint Paul in
Howell Hill. Andrew Scadding from the Pattaya Orphanage
Trust, directed our thoughts at Harvest time. The Gideons Bible
Society arrived distributing New Testaments to those who had
not previously received them. Pru Lunberg from LEPRA spoke
to us of her work in the Charity field.
James Aslet
Matthew Blaiklock
George Boulton-Lee
Nicholas Cheyne
Elizabeth Day
James Fisher
Charles Gavshon
Charlotte Hartley
John Lee
Claire Mathys
James Morris
Katie Moss
Matthew Nolan
Robert Nolan
William Ross
Craig Shephard
Matthew Sutherland
The pleasing thing about this group was that we had every year in
the School represented (See photo).
The great thing about the College Chapel is that so much effort is
put in by so many people. Therefore, let me thank them in print!
Firstly, to Kaye who cleans and attends to many aspects of the
Chapel, its maintenance, etc. Secondly, to Mrs Borthwick, and
her marvellous team of flower ladies. To our Director of Music,
Mr Ian Holiday, and members of the Choir for leading our
worship and inspiring us on so may occasions this year.
Fourthly, to the Altar Servers, Ed, Brett and Andrew; thank you
for the sterling work behind the scenes!
Members of the twelve houses led very imaginative and
thought provoking acts of worship in the Michaelmas Term.
In the Lent term the Heads of Department and their willing
colleagues agreed to lead worship. Again, we had some very
moving moments, not least when Dr Brian Summers set fire to
the Chapel!
The Summer Term saw members of the College Council, RMF
and even Martin Conibear, from the Catering Department,
directing our thoughts.
Choral Evensong proved as popular as ever; this time the Choir
had already sung in Salisbury Cathedral, as a practice, before
returning to home ground! Our Founder’s Day Preacher was
the Reverend Canon John Ratings, provost of the Southern
Division of the Woodard Schools Corporation.
Other services through the year worthy of note were: The
Holocaust Memorial Day, with many of our overseas pupils
pledging World Peace in their own native tongues. The
Chaplains led special services of meditation and prayer during
Advent and Lent. Ascension Day this year saw those attending
retiring to the College Cafeteria for a post Communion
breakfast. The Bishop of Dorking returned for a splendid
Service of Confirmation in March to confirm the following
named pupils, 17 in total.
Mr Phil Shephard, whose son was confirmed, had created a
beautiful wooden Paschal Candle Stand for the Chapel. (See photo
later). How fitting therefore that it was dedicated and used for the
first time at the Confirmation celebration. Many thanks to him!
Creatively, Mr
Shephard had also
produced a new
crib for the
Christmas Season.
Ably assisted by Mr
Poupart and
members of the Art
Department, this
crib created a real
focal point at the
very centre of the
Chapel. The
Friends of Epsom
College had also
grant-aided in
order for us to
purchase a new set
of crib figures. The
new crib and
figures looked so
perfect as we
I decided that a change of pattern was needed for our
Wednesday Morning College Worship.
79
gathered for our services of Nine Lessons
and Carols (See photo). Major thanks also
to Mr John Higgs and the RMF, for
providing some much needed altar linen,
and three new altar server albs.
Last but not least, we celebrated our
Patronal Festival of Saint Luke, with a
marvellous celebration of Holy
Communion. Our Harvest Celebration
offerings were toys and clothes, etc., in
support of our School Charity, Task
Brasil. In November, we gathered to
remember those who had given of their
lives in the service of their Country. We
must never forget that our lovely Chapel
of Saint Luke is very much a tribute to
all of those people.
Please remember our work in your prayers
and thoughts, as we continually seek to
inspire and direct all in our Community in
the ways of the Christian faith.
Fr Paul Thompson
Senior Chaplain
June 2002
The Nigerian Eagle
meets the Welsh
Dragon
An Interview with Reverend
Father Christopher Brown
80
The prospect of interviewing Father Chris
filled me with anticipation, as I was eager
to hear his views and impressions of the
College a year after his arrival. I had a
chance to talk with the Reverend on a
Thursday afternoon in the Newsom
building (the Dragon’s lair) and discuss life
at the College with him. In the interview,
Father Chris reflects on his reasons for
coming to Epsom, the religious aspect of
school life, the Philosophy Society and his
hopes for the future.
Kunmi: Father, would you kindly share
with the College your reasons for
applying to be a Chaplain here in Epsom.
Father Chris: I first came to Epsom
College twenty-five years ago when I was
shown the chapel by the then Headmaster
Dr John Cook. I was on the island of St.
Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean, and I
happened to pick up a copy of the Church
Times and saw that the job for a second
chaplain here in Epsom was being
advertised. So I decided to send in my
curriculum vitae and apply for the job,
eventually came for an interview, met the
Headmaster, Mr Norman Rice and Dr David
Young. To be perfectly honest, I had no
sense of God’s call to be there. So I set off
to Singapore with every intention of going
down to New Zealand to take a parish. As
I made my way through Java, in Indonesia,
looking at my computer there was an email from Mr Borthwick asking if I could
be available for an appointment in
September. I sent an e-mail to say that I
was very sorry, but was heading down to
New Zealand and hoped he would find
someone suitable for the post here in
Epsom. About ten days later, I began to
regret that I had sent that e-mail. In fact I
woke up one morning feeling anxious
about having sent it and began to feel that
I had closed a door, which I ought not to
have done. Anyway, it was just too late, I
thought but when I got further to New
Zealand and I checked the public
computers, it said “Postmaster notification,
e-mail sent from Java failed”. Then I
prayed very hard about whether or not the
Lord really wanted me to come here. In
my mind I thought, if you do Lord, then let
me wake up tomorrow with a real sense of
ardour and enthusiasm to come to this
school. On the following day, I woke up at
six in the morning convinced that it was
the Lord’s will for me to come here and
sent an e-mail to the College offering to
return to Epsom, provided the college paid
for my return air fares (laughs).
Kunmi: And what were your first
impressions of the school?
Father Chris: I think, the professionalism
and dedication of the teaching staff; that
definitely came across strongly as a first
impression in addition to the somewhat
lively manner of some of the children here.
As one of the pupils pointed out to me, we
share the South London culture and that
can be quite tough I think, so that came
across pretty strongly.
Kunmi: How do you feel about the
religious aspect of school life here in
the college?
Father Chris: Well, I think that there are
probably about one hundred people in this
college who really are truly committed
Christians and there is a fair sprinkling of
students from other particular faiths and
none. I think that can make for an
exciting time but it also makes for certain
difficulties, because whatever is said in
Chapel is being said really to a very large
number of people of no faith or what I call
Christian “nominalists”, of course there are
people who are perhaps resentful of being
there or are conscripts rather than
converts; there is such a great diversity of
age as well in the chapel and of experience
of life, intelligence and so forth. So it is a
very difficult task to actually head up, give
a thought and present worship in a
context such as that; it calls for very great
sensitivity and skill. I think that any good
school should be conscious of the fact that
human beings are body, mind and spirit.
That is a Christian point of view shared by
other world faiths too. Any school that is
really doing its job well is trying to feed
and nurture people intellectually, physically
and spiritually and that is a terribly
important component that we have to
emphasis not only in Epsom but elsewhere.
There is a terrible spiritual dearth in
Western society at the present time, which
desperately needs to be addressed.
Kunmi: What really is the value of a
chaplain’s role in a school like this in
the 21st century?
Father Chris: Well apart from heading up
the worship, it is the pastoral role that is
most important. I think a chaplain really
has to come across as someone who
deeply loves the people and cares for the
community. A chaplain really is a sort of
bridge between people for example
perhaps the Headmaster or Housemaster
and the pupil; pupils and parents. The
chaplain has to be a person people feel
comfortable with, he has to be supremely
ordinary, a person who can be approached
on absolutely any question. It is terribly
important that the chaplain is not a
person who is moralising or judgemental,
but somebody who can really listen and be
available to everyone. A person who helps
to point people to God; that is vital. He is
a person who has to transmit the values
within the community and from a
Christian perspective the most important
value of all is love, because God is love,
peace and forgiveness. If we cannot get
people loving each other, being peaceful
and forgiving towards each other, then I
think we’re probably failing.
Kunmi: So what in your opinion has
brought you closer to the staff and
pupils of the college?
Father Chris: I think probably those times
of sharing, when members of staff have
actually come and unburdened themselves,
be it something to do with stress or some
something to do with their relationships.
And also pupils, who have come, sat down
and shared with me in a deep, personal kind of way. That
definitely creates bond of trust. I have an incarnational view of
priesthood, in other words, as a priest I have come in here to try to
take on the same kind of stresses and strains that everyone else is
enduring. I am not outside of it, but in the thick of it and I think
that gives me a kind of an understanding of the pressures that
people are under. I get very tired during the course of a term and
have the same problems as everybody else and that’s good
because I can understand where people are and sharing in the
stress definitely helps me to be a much more effective pastoral link
in the chain of experiences here at Epsom.
Kunmi: Any particular strengths of the community you would
like to comment upon?
Father Chris: There are two obvious strengths: one is the level of
intelligence of the young people here; I think we can safely say
that youngsters here in Epsom represent the top ten per cent of
the country’s intellect. And for the most part the youngsters here
are drawn I suppose from the professional class. There is a very
real sense in most of these youngsters of a concern for supporting
charitable efforts, being able to assume a responsibility for things
and see things through. Youngsters here have got backbone and
moral fibre. The other thing being the way in which so many
people from so many different parts of the world and very varied
cultural backgrounds harmonise and work together congenially.
This diversity of cultural experience in terms of faith, artistic,
musical and sporting ability is a great asset to any school. There
are obviously some difficulties and tensions, but on the whole, I
think it is a very good and balanced community that is sensitive
and accepts one another’s differences and distinctions.
Kunmi: What might some of these difficulties be?
Father Chris: There is not always enough space to enable people
to spend time creatively together. I think the system has got to
such an extent where people have insufficient time to themselves,
people are in a constant state of hurry and scurry. There is also a
small minority of students who forget too readily who they are
and what they represent. This College isn’t just ours; it belongs to
every Epsomian who has ever been here, as well as all the
Epsomians who have yet to come. It belongs to out children’s’
children’s’ children’s children, and we must be very careful not to
do or say anything that will undermine or tarnish the reputation of
this college.
Kunmi: Your assessment of the Philosophy Society, which you
are responsible for?
Father Chris: Yes the Philosophy Society operates and goes along
quite well and without many posters and much advertising people
seem to come along and enjoy it. It’s got a lot going for it and the
contribution made by the dozen or so students that attend
regularly has really been a triumph. I hope very much that after
my time here, the society will continue to flourish. I am grateful
to the other member of staff, Mrs Odendaal, who supports me in
running the society. I think it’s quite important, that there should
be an opportunity for young people to come together for a
genuine exchange of ideas and to really talk about things in depth.
The Dutch theologian Henri Nouwen was right when he said that
the real problem of our time is superficiality, lack of depth. The
Philosophy Society is about enabling youngsters to come and talk
about something in depth, and I think that is a great thing to do.
Kunmi: What are your hopes now for the future for both
yourself and Epsom College?
Father Chris: I feel called by God to move on. I was appointed for
one year and stayed for two. I hope God will call me to a ministry
parochial or in the mission field where I was before I came to
Epsom. Basically, I am very happy and open to God’s call to go
and work anywhere; all I want is to be happy and fulfilled in doing
God’s work in the world through serving his purposes. What I
think is very important for Epsom is to have a very good person,
who can really relate to the young people here and bring Religious
Studies into a much stronger position. I am quite sure that if the
right person is appointed here, a good academic who can really
teach philosophy and do it very well (aside: better than I could do
it for sure) that will be a very important move forward. The person
must be pastorally sensitive and a committed Christian, able to
share their faith in a balanced and intellectually respectable way.
Not some fundamentalist but someone who has a balanced faith,
deep conviction and love of our Lord, who can communicate that
love to other people because at the end of the day, the most
important thing is that we are loving people. I am quite convinced
there will be a judgement and that we will be judged according to
how loving we have been, so we have got to have someone here
who respects that sort of position of faith.
Father Chris: Well, it depends on what we mean by success. I
think socially, I have managed to fit in; it’s much easier settling
into any school and new society if you are younger, but I have felt
welcomed and the response of the majority of students has been
very warm, supportive and positive. There have been one or two
glitches I suppose, but on the whole the way in which I have been
received socially has been very successful. From the point of view
of the academic work, most students I taught for examinations
performed very well, so I think there is some success there,
definitely a high level of success there. I feel very happy here at
Epsom and feel part of a very good school indeed. The enjoyment
I have had in working with Father Paul has been tremendous in
establishing a very harmonious relationship; we are very different
sorts of people, but we complement each other very well. Father
Paul possesses a very fine sense of humour and a very calm
imperturble disposition and that has been a great strength in our
working relationship. I have never been worried about being
successful; as a Christian priest I am more concerned about being
faithful. Faithful to the vision and call God has given to me and to
the responsibilities entrusted to me by the Headmaster.
Kunmi: Would you say your first year here at Epsom has been
relatively successful?
81
Charity Report
Our main effort this year saw us
looking toward the country of
Brazil.
Through the good counsel of the British
Airways “Action for Street Children”
project, we were introduced to the Charity
‘Task Brasil’. This is an organisation
working with the abandoned street
children of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil. Set up
some years ago now, the charity has aimed
to offer support and help to the thousands
of young children who are often forced to
live rough on the streets of that City. In
August, I travelled to Rio to look at the
possibilities of our involvement with Task
Brasil, and in October, Miss Kim Chandley,
and three pupils, James Kent, Natalia
Martin-Villendrup and Felicity Parker
followed. It was during the October visit
that our project this year became so
apparent. ‘Task Brasil’s’ Director, Ligia da
Silva, had identified a piece of farmland,
(about an hour out of Rio) that would be a
wonderful oasis for the street children.
The farm project would be aimed at street
children who have voluntarily chosen to
go through a process of rehabilitation, and
to study agriculture with an ecological
focus. The teenagers would have access to
educational and vocational training, and
health care to encourage them to leave
street life behind them. The farm would
serve as an essential means to teach them
a series of important life skills. The Epsom
Four were thus fired, with the vision of our
selling, Gary Lau’s CD and piano recital,
weekend wages from a pupil working at H
Samuel, tips from a pupil working at Pizza
Hut, generous donations from Parents,
giving of pocket money, waitressing at
Quiz Nights, Common Room Pub Quiz
nights, Mr Henson’s one man show, The
School charity show, Lions’ club donation ,
etc, etc....to name but a few.
‘Unleash’ benefited once more from one of
the Carol Service collections, to name but
one. On School Mufti days, money also
went to the ‘Genes for Genes’ campaign,
and to the ‘Children’s Trust’, at Tadworth.
If you would like to know more of the
School Charity work, visit the College
website, or go to the ‘Task Brasil’ website
at www.taskbrasil.org.uk.
Last but not least, my sincerest thanks to
all staff and pupils involved in the ‘Rocking
for Rio’ night, when Mr Jimmy Page of the
legendary rock group ‘Led Zeppelin’ came
to school for a most excellent night of
entertainment.
You will be pleased to know that we
managed to raise the £30,000 before the
end of the academic year! ‘Epsom College
Farm’ in Rio de Janeiro, is now a reality.
My thanks to this year’s Charity Committee
for all your dedication and hard work for
the cause!
I must also point out that we have also
supported other charities from Chapel and
other collections throughout the year.
raising the £30,000 necessary in order to
purchase the land.
82
The task of the fund raising had begun for
sure! During the year, so many
imaginative ways have been found to
achieve the aim. I list some, but not all…
A Magic Show at the Epsom Derby, White
House car washing, Raven House cake
Father Paul Thompson
June 2002
The Chapel Choir Recital
Ford our expert accountant, we think that we have the smallest
workforce of a national charity with Royal Patronage!
Friday 17th May 2002
In addition to our core business, the RMF staff are active in College
life, particularly with the Archive and the CCF and we get involved
in the diverse programme of activities that College life provides.
The programme was a well-balanced one, with light and shade,
contrast and excitement. Indeed it is almost invidious to single
out any one item, but some things moved me most deeply.
One can hardly fail to be stirred by Handel’s “Zadok The Priest.”
The choir’s dynamic start to the evening’s recital was, for me,
wonderful. The spiritual, “Nobody Knows The Trouble I See”
arranged by Ken Burton, and sung unaccompanied was most
moving, and the soloist and choir interacted beautifuly. I cannot
imagine that anybody present failed to be stirred deeply by the
choir’s rendition of Vaughan Williams’ “Valiant for Truth.” The
imagery and the eternal truth that lies behind the words, coupled
with the soaring music, transported us into another realm.
Thank you for the presentation of the well-known chorus from
“Cavalieria Rusticana”, “O Rejoice That The Lord Has Arisen.” Again,
choir and soloist produced a stirring sound. The finale, “I Saw The
Lord,” by John Stainer was a fitting climax to the whole
programme. How well the choir and the quartet sang. One was
left with a feeling of being at close quarters in the presence of
God. I am sure that the choir members, to say nothing of the
conductor, were tired by the time they reached this anthem, but no
one would have known it from their performance.
Making mention of the items named does not mean that the rest
of the programme was of any less standard of excellence; indeed,
the sustained applause from the large audience present spoke
volumes about how much the recital had been enjoyed and
appreciated by all present. One was left wishing there was more
to come.
We are reminded that this isn’t a “one-off,” that the choir leads the
weekly Services in the Chapel throughout the College’s year.
Fortunate indeed (whether recognised or not) are the clergy, staff
and school who benefit from, and are able to enjoy, such choral
music aiding their worship; they are to be envied.
Congratulations of the highest order to the Choir, the Soloists,
(Michael Holiday and Miranda Malins), the Quartet Party (Miranda
Malins, Lucy Misch, Michael Holiday and Gregory Froome), Craig
White and Mr Martin Ellis at the piano and organ respectively, and
particularly to Mr Ian Holiday, the Musical Director, for his hard
work over the year in training and encouraging the choir members,
and producing such a magnificent recital.
EM White
Grandfather of Michael Holiday (Choir Prefect)
The Royal Medical Foundation
The staff of the RMF located in Old Granville have enjoyed a very
busy and rewarding year. The principal activity of the RMF is to
support medical families in need and to that end grants totalling
£283,332 were administered during the academic year. We visit all
the families who apply for our assistance and being a national
charity we spend many hours travelling on the motorways or
enduring the comforts of Virgin Rail.
Nickie Colville joined the office as the new RMF Caseworker, upon
Wendy Rogers’s retirement. With John Higgs at the helm and John
In December, John Higgs was appointed Secretary to Council and
this responsibility keeps the RMF in very close contact with the
Headmaster, Bursar, Common Room, Epsom College Governors and
members of Council. If you would like to learn more about our
charitable activities, please access our WebPages: www.epsomcollege.org.uk/rmf
John H Higgs MA
RMF Administrator
From the desk of Alex D Hoban
For many of you
reading this now, this
is just last year’s news,
you’re probably
skimming through to
see if your name gets
mentioned or if your
youthful complexion
has managed to find
its way into one of the
many photos
embedded within this
Epsomian. But for a
few of you reading this
(and excuse the excessive sentiment), you are experiencing a
perfect reflection of your youth, wallowing in nostalgia, and
remember the times you hold dear. You are also living at a time
many years beyond this moment that I am writing about, in fact to
you I am nothing but history.
Last week I was in the school library, reading through old issues of
the Epsomian, looking for inspiring articles and ideas that although
had once played an eminent role in the format of the magazine,
had since lost their position on the page and were willing to make
a comeback. Reading various editions coming from all different
times and eras since the magazine’s beginnings, I became
fascinated by each individual’s often highly interesting and
entertaining articles. It made me think how sad it is that despite
my enthusiasm and effort, my words shall never leave lasting
imprints on anyone, my legacy will not follow through and that
this is in fact not the basis of a long and successful career in
comic book journalism.
So when you read this, think about yourselves. Take a moment to
sit back and relax, wallow in nostalgia and think about the life that
has passed you by so far and the life that you have in front of you.
Then think of me. Covered in chocolate.
Only then shall I be satisfied.
From the Amen ‘sound-bite’, to the final chord, this was a
magnificent performance. The response of the audience should
surely have left the choir in no doubt as to how much their
evening’s recital was enjoyed and appreciated.
83
Junior Play: “The Golden
Pathway Annual”
by John Harding and John Burrows
This year’s Junior Play was an engrossing piece of socio-historical
drama, “The Golden Pathway Annual”, which presents a boy’s
experiences as he grows up in the period from the end of the
Second World War to the late sixties. The story actually charts the
failure of the post war welfare state to deliver its promises of
social justice and a utopian society. This may sound worthy but a
achieved a welcome clarity. Well done to all and especially to
Miss Chandley for another entertaining evening’s theatre.
Mr RA Sheehan
little dry for entertaining drama; however, Kim Chandley’s
production was lively, witty and vibrant with sequences of physical
theatre that effectively and entertainingly illustrated the ideas and
imagination of the central character, ably played by Elliot Awin.
There were some extraordinary moments including the
appearance of an enormous chicken, played with flair by the
suitably tall Robert Nolan. The appearances of Nic Bee and
Jasmine Jagger as “Famous Five” characters were madly
frenetic, implying an irrationality and absurdity in the lives of
ordinary people. There were engaging performances from Lucy
Fletcher and Ciara Janson as predatory females; while Lizzy
Szanto and Max Abram were appropriately authoritarian. Kushal
Patel and Vlad Vishnevsky performed amusing character parts
and there were many other charming performances.
84
Holding the whole show together were the sensitively and
convincingly evolving family played by Kate Pretsell, Dafydd
Evans and Eliot Awin. These were difficult roles, and not just
because of the number of lines. We had to be convinced of the
growing disillusionment of the parents and the sometimes
worrying transformation of their son under the many
influences of the turbulent sixties. Happily, the family trio of
actors understood their characters’ journey and the production
Junior Play: “The Golden Pathway Annual”
85
Sport
Boys’ Athletics
86
87
Boys’ Athletics Results
Boys House Results 2002
Open Events
100m Sprint Cup
200m
400m Greaves Cup
800m Tomkinson Bowl
1500m LindsayCup
110mH Warburton Cup
High Jump
Long Jump
Triple jump
Shot
Discus
Javelin
Jumpos Quaiche
Salmon Throwing Cup
MacFarlane Cup
1st
Onabanjo
Ventris
Hearne
Ventris
Hearne
Jesman
Ventris
Poon
Poon
Holland
Harding
Harding
Edmund Poon
Rory Harding
Paul Ventris
Under 17 Events
100m
200m
400m
800m
1500m
100mH
High Jump
Long Jump
Triple jump
Shot
Discus
Javelin
Rupert Baldwin Victor Ludorum
Under 16 Events
100m
200m
400m
800m
1500m
100mH
High Jump
Long Jump
Triple jump
Shot
Discus
Javelin
Hancock Cup
88
Under 15 Events
100m
200m
400m
800m
1500m
80mH
High Jump
Long Jump
Triple jump
Shot
Discus
Javelin
Hancock Cup
Charles Taylor Relay Cup
Kiernander Standards Cup
11.7s
24.6s
55.9s
2m 18.2s
4m 39.1s
19..5s
1.70m
5.46m
12.27m
9.22m
33.89m
38.70m
2nd
Tindall
Holland
Hayman
Hearne
Rusinov
Poon
Blake
Jesman
Ventris
Harding
Yamagata
Gavrilovic
3rd
Jesman
Patel J
Holland
Biswell
Wright
Patel J
Thomas
Onabanjo
Moberly
Staveley
Parry
Heinemann
Lee
Lee
Gray
Moore
Brown
Ogunsheye
Ogunsheye
Marjoram
Marjoram
Francis
Shephard
Nicol
Jon Nicol
12.1s
24.3s
54.1s
2m 12.5s
4m 49.6s
14.32s
1.75m
5.38m
11.25m
10.20m
26.34m
40.80m
Ogunsheye
Marjoram
Newman
Newman
Stebbings
Shiundu
Newman
Moore
Tourikis
Shin
Sequerah
King
Marjoram
Gray
Moore
Faircliff
Amiri-Garroussi
Nicol
Standerwick
Nicol
Fernando
Mao
King
Lee
Evans
Evans
Fisher
Beatt
Beatt
Wong H
Parker
Hugo
Athkravisoonthorn
Awin
Yamamoto
Bee
Fayrer 53 pts.
Desmond Looi
12.5s
25.2s
57.7s
2m 18.4s
4m 47.7s
18.7s
1.60m
4.84m
10.74m
10.38m
26.71m
36.48m
Blake Thomas
Alexander
Williams H
Fisher
Fisher
Johnstone
Bee
Beatt
Yamamoto
Yamamoto
Al Jamil
Williams H
Holman 52 pts
Victor Ludorum
Alexander
Fukahori
Johnstone
Harrop
Harrop
Chandrakumar
Hendy
Williams H
Lavender
Smith
Patel K
Beatt
Propert 44 pts.
James Beatt
Charnock
Charnock
Green
Ventris
Needham
Green
Charnock
Tourikis
Green
Charnock
Pipe
Cole
Propert 63 pts.
Michael Oliver
Propert 59 pts.
Fayrer 22.40
12.4s
25.7s
57.5s
2m 23.6
5m 02.7s
12.6s
1.60m
4.71m
10.60m
8.97m
27.18m
32.10m
Green
Flanagan
Ventris
Needham
Abbosh
Patel N
Ventris
Bryant
Patel N
Freeman
Ching
Ching
Granville 49 pts.
Victor Ludorum
Fayrer 58 pts.
Forest 21.63
Brett
Terelak
Cole
Abbosh
Hurley
Flanagan
Bryant
Howatson
Flanagan
Ching
Jones
Canby
Fayrer 40 pts.
Tom Charnock
Granville 52 pts.
Granville 20.57
Girls’ Athletics Day
89
Cricket
Cricket continues to thrive at Epsom and I am delighted to be able
to report on another successful year for the sport. We were
delighted that Shane Cloete was able to return for his third year as
our cricket professional, and it proved most valuable to the pre
season work that he arrived two weeks before the end of the Lent
Term. This enabled him to do some work with the juniors and to
plan the pre season work with the 1st XI from slightly closer that
4000 miles away! I am also pleased to report that, despite the
unseasonal weather and the World Cup (!), no matches had to be
lost or cancelled and great credit for this must go to the boys and
the masters in charge of teams, although it did make for rather an
interesting fixture at Eastbourne on the day of the England/
Denmark game!
At the junior end of the school, the U14’s found it hard going
against some of the bigger schools – most notably Whitgift,
Dulwich and KCS Wimbledon – but proved far more successful
when competing against schools of a similar size. GJAS and SJH
(aka Sven and Tord) coached and encouraged with great
enthusiasm and they are to be congratulated on an impressive
second half of the season.
The Junior Colts A proved to be a most impressive team in all
senses of the word. Losing only two and winning eight of their
matches, they can be proud of their record. There were no real
stars, but they all worked together and refused to accept defeat: I
Know MCC was most proud of them.
At the senior end of the school we almost had more cricketers
than we knew what to do with – until, of course, the dreaded
examination season set in! The 4th XI were unbeaten, whilst the
3rd’s struggled a little against the U16’s put out by bigger
schools. The 2nd XI proved a most impressive outfit and lost
only one of their nine matches: a most impressive performance
and DAS assures anyone who will listen that he gave very few
LBW’s this year!
runs. At Cranleigh the bowling saw us home. Setting only 124 as a
target, Cranleigh were bowled out for 72 with Nikin Tanna ripping
the heart out of their batting with a hat-trick. At Dulwich on a
difficult wicket we recovered from 65-5 just after lunch to set 183
as a target and then excellent bowling from Tanna (3-29) and
Hastings (3-31) reduced Dulwich to 30-5. However, a vital dropped
catch cost us probable victory and they closed on 106-7. At
Whitgift we were outplayed on the day with the batting letting us
down again. Restricting Whitgift to 187 we slipped to 102 all out –
a most disappointing performance on a good wicket against a
reasonable, but not outstanding attack.
A nice win over the Headmaster’s XI when we chased 183 to
win by seven wickets and an exciting loss to the Old Epsomians
in the first game on the new square saw us through to Half
Term. Mention here must be made of Doug Hastings who
bowled superbly that day to take 6-10 – easily the best figures
of the season.
I am really most grateful to all the staff who have been prepared
to look after teams this year. Academic commitments continue to
take up an ever-increasing amount of time and it really is a
testament to their commitment to the game that they are
prepared to give up hour after hour coaching and umpiring. Well
done and thank you!
1st XI
P 18
W9
D2
L7
(Regular Schools season: P 12 W 7 D 1 L 4)
90
On the face of it, this looks to be a successful season – particularly
when looking at the regular schools’ fixtures. Losing only four and
winning seven is no mean feat, but there was a definite sense of
‘what might have been’! With the 1st square not ready for the
start of the season I took the decision to play all 1st XI matches
away from home for at least the first half of term so that the boys
played on 1st XI wickets all season. In hindsight, this was probably
a mistake. Having been rolled over by a most impressive KCS seam
attack, there was a palpable lack of confidence in the batting ranks
that took until Half Term at least to get over. Results against
schools in the first half of term read: P 5 W 1 D 1 L 3 and of the
three losses, probably only one was deserved.
Following the defeat at KCS we were beaten by one R. Wakeford of
Lancing who, for the second year running, scored 130 against us.
We should have managed to get closer to their score of 224 than
we did with only Jamie Laidler (72) and Adam Howard (40) in the
After Half Term things picked up considerably with only a single
loss in ‘regular’ matches and seven wins. Eastbourne (away) are as
tough a side to beat as any and, in a match reduced to 45 overs a
side because of another sporting event in the Far East, we came
second by the narrowest of margins. On a difficult wicket 131 was
probably 20 or so runs below a decent target and, although
Eastbourne won by one wicket, we made things tough for them.
Doug Hastings bowled an outstanding second spell, including two
wickets in two balls, but it wasn’t quite enough. A weakened (but
unbeaten) St. John’s side was no match for us on the day, although
from a strong position at lunch of 118-3 after 30 overs we
contrived to all but throw this advantage away.
The next two games were played at home on the 1st XI square and
each, in its own way, was a fantastic advertisement for cricket. The
annual match against a strong MCC side was the best such game
for some years. Looking down the barrel at lunch with the MCC on
174-1 after a superb hundred by Clive Offer, our bowlers hauled
themselves back into the game and eventually restricted the
visitors to just over 200. An opening partnership of 97 between
Cama and Vernon laid the foundations for the innings, but the
increased pressure told and we closed on
198-9 – an excellent game of cricket that
was extremely well managed by the MCC
skipper. Two days later we played host to
King’s Canterbury and both coach and
Master i/c had no fingernails left by the
end. A superb century from Andrew
Vernon backed up by a very well paced 71
from Adam Howard helped set a total of
234 off 50 overs. After making early
inroads, King’s came back strongly to take
it right to the last ball where all three
results were possible as they were on 2339. Fortunately, that experienced
campaigner, Tanna, put the ball in the right
spot and the middle stump was knocked
back: victory by one run, but what a game!
So, all in all, an eventful and pleasing
season. Adam Howard captained the side
with great authority and responsibility this
year and I am most grateful to him for his
support. Batting in conditions that did not
suit his natural game more often than not
because of the loss of early wickets, he
held the batting together on more than
one occasion. Nikin Tanna bowled with his
usual meanness and was the pick of the
bowlers – no one ever settled against him.
Of the other senior players, I am most
grateful to Alex Robinson, Ben Sears,
Andrew Vernon and Will Terry for their
tremendous support over the past three
years: all have made a massive
contribution to cricket at Epsom. We will
also lose Alex Cama and wish him well as
he moves to Radley – he, too, will be
missed. Rob Lammiman kept wicket with
increasing authority, but will be
disappointed with his batting this year,
whilst Jamie Laidler, Charlie Pountney and
Adam Maurice will shoulder much of the
responsibility with the bat next year. Doug
Hastings proved he has ability to make
even the best of batsmen hurry their shots
and he will take many wickets next year –
particularly if the new pitch plays as fast
as I think it will. He and Richard Pooley
will prove a difficult opening pair to
handle over the next two years. Nick
Wright did not get many chances this year,
but he will be an important part of the
team over the next two years.
Finally, my thanks, once again, to Shane
for all his hard work. Hugely respected by
the boys he has had an immensely positive
influence on their cricket and I know they
have appreciated his coaching skills and
constant comments such as ‘hard lines’
and ‘but ultimately’! Thanks, too, to the
boys for their hard work and commitment
during such a difficult term and we look
forward to summer 2003………..
Mr PJ Williams
Junior Colts A cricket
P 10
W8
L2
The last couple of matches this team
played were won rather easily, and this
was a shame, as the defining characteristic
of this team was an ability to thrive under
pressure. Whilst this was not good for the
coach’s heart rate, it made for exciting
cricket, and on only one occasion did they
really fail to do justice to themselves. And
that was not the first game, even though
we lost. It was an absolute cracker, with a
good opening partnership by Fisher and
Barsby, followed by a quickfire 50 by
Richardson. However, the total of 169 was
maybe a little short on the small ground.
Some good bowling by Beinart kept us in
the game, as did some brilliant catching
and ground fielding by Blake Thomas.
Smith took two wickets in the last over,
leaving them one run to get off the last
ball, and us with one wicket to take. It
went for four and we lost, but the game
summed up the side; it was exciting from
start to finish, played in a good spirit, and
many players contributed. On later
occasions, most notably against Cranleigh,
Whitgift and especially St. John’s, the team
was able to beat opponents when put
under similar pressure.
Then came ten days of almost continuous
cricket. The first game was our
‘day/nighter’ over at Whitgift that proved a
real experience for the boys. White ball,
black stumps and screens and some awful
batting turned the game into more of a
‘day/dayer’! However, many thanks to
Whitgift and David Ward for hosting this
occasion and we look forward to hosting
the game next year. Then followed a series
of victories with some decent
performances over Sevenoaks, Victoria
College Jersey and Trinity. In the last of the
three we recorded our highest score of the
season knocking up 279-6 off 50 overs
with Adam Maurice scoring a superb 98.
After entertaining Newington, Sydney (and
beating them with a predominantly U16
side) we finished the season by beating
Epsom CC and Wilson’s quite comfortably.
91
However, there were particular strengths
within the side. Everyone down to number
eight contributed significantly to our
batting on at least a couple of occasions,
and everyone could bat well. Within this,
there was a good balance of the steadier
players like Barsby, Urwin and Lavender,
whilst everyone else looked to play their
naturally more hard-hitting game;
batting. Beinart, and latterly Jones, looked
to have potential as spinners, and Hugo,
Smith and Williams could all move the ball
at pace, but without ever being consistent.
The support bowling of Lavender, Mortimer
and Richardson was generally very tidy.
What stood out in the field however was
the buzz and urgency that everyone
exuded. Blake Thomas was particularly
effective, but everyone threw themselves
around. Again however, I will single out
two individuals. Urwin was the life and
soul of the team behind the stumps; he
kept people moving and on their toes, and
played the game in the right spirit.
Lavender was outstanding as captain.
Whilst not every field change and bowling
change was right, most were, and his
constant concern to get things absolutely
as he wanted helped give the team its
collective energy. He led from the front
too, batting well especially at Whitgift
when his runs were decisive, but also
sacrificing his turn to bat when the
occasion demanded.
In conclusion this was a strong and
92
Richardson, Blake Thomas, Smith, Hugo
and Fisher all had their moments, and put
the opposition under severe pressure with
their batting. But a special mention must
be made of Barsby. After half term he
scored 228 runs in four games for once
out, including two half centuries and a
maiden hundred. There is sometimes a
tendency to underrate the anchor player
because he doesn’t seem quite as
aggressive as others in the team. However,
when looking at those four games after
half term, we won when he scored
heavily; the only time he didn’t contribute
also corresponded to our worst batting
display, at Eastbourne. I don’t think that
this was a coincidence.
Bowling was possibly not as strong as
exciting team, whose success has led the
powers that be to wonder whether it is
possible to keep them together as a unit.
Whether this will be the case or not, I wish
them success with their cricketing careers.
Many thanks to the hardened parents who
braved rain, wind, and occasionally the sun
to come and support so regularly.
Mr MC Conway
Under 15 B Cricket
A season of highs and lows, several quality
individual performances and the
occasional team disaster! The second half
of the season proved to be the more
successful, with wins against Freemen’s, St
John’s, King’s Canterbury and a very close
and exciting match with Trinity Croydon
where we were four runs short of an
amazing victory!Kushal Patel tried hard as
captain on and off the field and will have
learned a great deal for next season.
Jack Allen was the most talented allrounder - he batted with aplomb, bowled
intelligenty and fielded impressively. Tom
Richardson shared the top order with
Ramin Moghaddam - both put together
some good scores from time to time, as
did Michael Harker later in the order.
Mutaib Malik, Razza Shah and Nikhil Patel
all bowled with determination and
improved control as the season
progressed. Rob Richardson gave a good
account of himself with bat and ball early
on but just lost his edge as the season
moved on. When fit, Rifaqat Rasheed was
the quickest bowler and has talent with
the bat - hopefully he will continue next
season and develop as an all-rounder.
Thanks to Dr Wade for his wisdom and
assistance in good and bad times.
Mr K Siviter
This turned out to be a highly satisfying
season with a group of boys who were
great fun to coach and whose enthusiasm
never wavered. Wins may have been
somewhat hard to achieve against
opposition that was often physically
stronger and more street-wise but some
excellent performances developed, the
team became competitive and a final
flourish of wins rounded off the season in
style. If the limp performance at Lancing
early in the season is compared with the
last swashbuckling, succesful
performances against King’s Canterbury,
Sevenoaks and Trinity, it is hard to
recognise they come from the same team.
In fact one of the best performances came
against a superb Whitgift side; the fact
that we gave them a fright is testimony to
the fighting spirit that developed within
the squad. The team’s bowling and
fielding were its strengths, whereas its
batting, like Mrs Thatcher’s statue, tended
to be a tad brittle.
Steven ‘Oz’ Watts captained the team in
the second half of the season and grew
into the job. He performed magnificently
all season both with bat and ball. His fast
bowling took many wickets and his gritty
batting at the top of the order laid the
foundation of our innings. Rarely was his
wicket achieved cheaply – but how he must
wish that the lbw law was changed! Always
positive, leading by example both in practice
and in matches, it was a pleasure to have
him in the team. Eric Lindberg, one of
Sweden’s finest cricketers, accompanied Oz
as opening batsman later in the season. We
took a while fully to appreciate Eric’s
fighting qualities but what a star he became.
Sound in defence, yet possessing good
aggressive shots, especially cover drives, our
batting looked so much better with ‘Eric the
Unready’ up the order. He also opened the
bowling and on the (all too frequent) damp
wickets we encountered his medium slow
wobblers (a la Dickie Mortimer circa 2001)
bamboozled many an opener; hence Eric
became a top wicket taker.
Alex ‘Peachy’ Jones is a natural number 3
batsman. Strong, attacking and technically
correct, he was our main run maker,
flourishing latterly on the harder wickets
with ball coming onto the bat. His knock
against Sevenoaks (79) was particularly
memorable, his total accelerating in line
with the current housing market, with
several balls being dispatched into the
adjoining gardens. His fifty against COLF
paved the way for the team’s first victory.
He should score many runs in future years.
Alex was also the team’s very efficient
wicketkeeper: highly competent and ever
alert for stumpings.
David Marsh (enjoys his pizza) was one of
our middle order batsmen. He appeared in
the Lent term indoor nets looking
remarkably agricultural as a batsman and
metamorphosed into a batsman who
played straight. He made several useful
knocks, for instance against King’s
Canterbury, and is talented enough to
develop into a top rate batsman. His
medium pace bowling, from an admirably
short run up, was productive and a useful
addition to our attack. In the field he
excelled, taking good catches and
possessing a superb throw.
Temperamentally sound, he lived up to his
billing of being a mellow Marsh.
The effervescent Nilesh ‘Dinesh’ Satguru
had never previously played cricket on
grass and thus playing at KCS Wimbledon
on a strip carved out of their 1st XV rugby
pitch must have come as a shock! He
inevitably took a while to adjust to grass
but, in the latter half of the season, he
came into his own and dominated our
late-middle order. Cutting and driving
with aplomb, the Guru featured in several
vital stands, notably encouraging the
batsman at the other end. This bubbly
enthusiast’s spin bowling also possesses
much potential. Guru’s fielding was
suspect for a while but an amazing catch
on the run against King’s Canterbury
dispelled our doubts!
‘Planet’ Luke Trayfoot tried hard to become
more selective in his stroke play in
Marshesque fashion. He curtailed his
natural desire for a good old slog and will
U14 A Cricket
93
‘Sir’ Robert Kelly, nearly 6 foot tall (including hair) often opened
the bowling for us and took early wickets. Bowling at medium
pace, Bobby Kell pitched it on a good line and length. In the field
he possesses a good arm but maybe doesn’t send out signals that
he is overly alert; how, therefore, did he take ‘that catch’ at KCS?!
As a batsman he has the ability to utilise the willow with power.
James Bryant played in the A team for much of the season,
showing much potential with his left arm spin bowling. He tends
not to play straight as a batsman but he was ever alert for quick
singles. (We won’t comment on one or two of the run outs that
the team contrived that still make me shudder to remember:
sleepless nights!). A good fielder and wanting to learn, JB’s
enthusiasm was laudable.
become a force to be reckoned with when he can find the balance
between aggression and solid defence. He often lost his wicket in
the most bizarre of circumstances, including excellent catches. He
can whack the ball a long way and one or two cameos of
uninhibited violence from his innings should not really be shown
on television before the 9.00pm watershed. Matthew Sutherland
was another late-middle order batsman who showed an infectious
enthusiasm for cricket; indeed he captained the side earlier in the
season with distinction. He is mainly a wicketkeeper but was kept
from the numero uno spot by AJ, so he fielded in the outfield and
did so capably. The catch he took from an enormous hit against
Eastbourne was brave. Matt possesses a good eye for the ball
when batting and, when he learns to keep the ball on the ground,
will score many runs.
Stuart Mathys played a low profile but significant role in the team.
He bats correctly and contributed to useful stands. He turned his
arm over (that means bowled, Hamil) on several occasions and
perhaps most importantly he fielded in vigilant fashion, making a
couple of notable catches. Myron Wong, aka Wongers to his mates,
brought Columbian flair into the team in mid season. Wongers
bowled reliably at medium pace (bowls a good Wong ‘un) and
gained prized wickets. He is a good fielder and can wield the bat to
good effect. A touch more confidence and he will be away!
Charlie Woodall has the makings of a fine all-round cricketer and
his injury against Dulwich, which made him miss most of the
season, was a dreadful blow to the side. His contribution will be
much appreciated when he returns to front line action next year.
So a season that threatened initially to be a nightmare (of WestonSuper proportions) turned out to be something of a triumph. What
a magnificent group of boys, impeccably behaved on and off the
pitch and full of enthusiasm and fun. Mr Head and I both
appreciated their company (about 100 hours of it) greatly. They can
be proud of their improvement and performances.
Mr GJA Simpson
94
Hamil Patel, ‘Corfu Man’ incarnate and one of our fun-sized cast,
may well have been the most improved player in the team. Once
he learned to pitch the ball up when bowling he troubled
batsmen and gained useful wickets. Ever the showman he threw
himself around in the field and took the catch of the season in a
practice session, (admittedly when Haagen Dazs was on offer!).
His batting is stylish but not worthy of giving up his day job –
what an elegant off drive, however, against Sevenoaks! Avais
Malik (author of an infamously rude comment about my waist
line!) would run ‘H’ close as our most improved player. His
bowling became penetrative and an effective weapon for the
team. In the field he became a revelation; sharp, alert and never
bottling. He has the talent and determination to make a big
contribution to Epsom cricket.
U14 B Cricket
This season can easily be described in football parlance as ‘a
game of two halves’. Before half term it seemed that we were
going to struggle all season with a squad which never quite
seemed big enough. After heavy defeats against KCS Wimbledon,
Lancing and Cranleigh we showed determination in a close
defeat against Dulwich. It was at this point that the season really
turned on its head.
On the Thursday before half term the team finally got every thing
right in one match. This resulted in an excellent victory against
City of London Freemans. The away trip down to Eastbourne
Everyone played their part throughout and I know Mr Dodd and
Father Paul join me in saying how much we enjoyed the good
humour and wholehearted commitment of the players. The
progress made in little over an hour a week of coaching time was
tremendous. We also congratulate them on their many successes
and hope they will continue to enjoy cricket at University.
Chloe Kingham: major contribution as captain and all rounder.
Lucy Carr: sound change bowler and top fielder.
Mel Orchard: very safe pair of hands behind the stumps.
Miranda Malins: stalwart of the batting line up.
Rebecca Symes: valued all rounder.
Rebecca Thorne: aggressive bat and useful change bowler.
Sarah Welsh: backbone of the bowling attack.
Jane Reyersbach: stalwart middle order bat.
Clare Naude: stylish and secure opening bat.
Zoe Rice: improving bat and good fielder.
Anna-Maria Vaughan: keen fielder and improving bat.
Also played: Claire Mathys; Yayganeh Chiang.
Full Colours: Kingham; Malins; Thorne; Welsh.
Half Colours: Carr; Orchard; Reyersbach; Symes; Naude; Rice; Vaughan.
proved less fruitful yet they put up a creditable performance. The
next three games however were all wins. Firstly we saw the back of
St. Johns mainly due to some excellent batting from Matthew
Millar and James Bryant. This was followed up with more victories
against King’s Canterbury and Sevenoaks.
I have been very impressed with the way that the boys have
progressed during the season. Special mention must go to Myron
Wong whose all-round game held the team together during the
first half of the season. Max Abram led the team well and grew in
confidence and ability throughout the term.
Finally I would like to thank Anthony Taylor and Justin Falk for
helping out during the season. Their contribution has been
appreciated both by myself and the boys.
Mr AK Copsey
Polo
After the initial success of winning the combined schools title last
year, we now have enough players at Epsom to run our own team
and as such, we have entered the SUPA arena tournament and the
SUPA national schools polo finals this year.
In the arena tournament, held at Inglesham Gloucestershire, the
teams have three players-Will Blake Thomas, Edward Blake Thomas
and Lucy Blake Thomas. We played Malvern, Stowe and
Marlborough losing two and winning one against Malvern. In the
summer term, the regular riders and those keen to learn more
about polo practised at Hurtwood Park. After this, we selected the
four to compete in the nationals.
These were held at Dallas Burston`s polo ground in Warwickshire,
which was a superb setting for the national finals. The polo ponies
went up the day before to be stabled and the rest of the team
arrived `early doors` the next day.
In our pool, we struggled to get going initially, but had pleasing
results against Winchester and Rugby. We eventually were placed
third in the pool, which qualified us for the 5th and 6th place play
off double chukka.
Girls’ Cricket
Fired by the enthusiasm and leadership of captain Chloe Kingham,
the 1st XI can look back on a successful season with pride.
Unfortunately, the very last match against an experienced Ardingly
side was a game too far. Nevertheless, victories against Sevenoaks,
Wellington, Charterhouse and Cranleigh were full blooded team
efforts to savour.
Thus we were placed 5th overall at our first attempt in the nationals.
Will BT was awarded the best player of the tournament after his
performance in the 5th/6th place match, which was an added bonus
at the end of a long weekend. Special thanks should also go to Mr
and Mrs BT for all of the hard work they put in on our behalf. It was
very much appreciated by all the players and myself.
We hope to bring along a few more players next year and to play a
few more `school matches` and not just tournaments. Anyone keen
to play should contact either myself or Will BT the club captain.
Mr MC Oliver
In this match, we played Cheltenham ladies college. Not long into
the match, Lucy Blake Thomas had an awful fall and had to be taken
to hospital for x-rays. Thankfully she was alright and only bruised.
This meant that the match was now three versus four. We upped our
game and played some of the best polo of the day. Nick Bee as a
novice gradually got more into the game, whilst Ed and Will BT
played superbly. Will scored two goals in particular of high quality.
95
Target Rifle
Buoyed by a successful Easter Camp, our
strong and experienced squad approached
the summer outdoor season with optimism.
The goal of the summer was simply
expressed by captain Matthew Read early in
the term – win back the Ashburton Shield.
The Team had the confidence and expertise
– could they live up to expectations?
The matches alternated between our
private Target Rifle and the military GP
cadet rifle. Due to the encroaching exam
season the matches were earlier than
usual and began with the TR Clayton
Challenge. Coached by JRWP, the VIII
entered into a head-to-head battle with
arch-rivals Greshams, with these two
teams leaving the rest of the field behind.
In a close finish, Epsom just pulled clear
and Jonathan Kent began his memorable
full-bore season by winning the individual
medal scoring a perfect 70, including a
35.7 at the longer range to win by one V
bull. The following week was back to GP
and the Sawyer Cup which was won with
a very professional performance – John
Park coming top of the team and winning
the individual medal. Full colours were
awarded to Park and Kent for two
excellent performances in consecutive
weeks. Back to TR for a Thursday fixture –
the Public Schools TR match and we
showed our flexibilty by gaining a
convincing win for the senior team, Ricky
shooting an excellent 50.4, coaching
himself. The LMRA two days later saw our
only stumble – second by two points to
Oratory and the coveted (and never
previously achieved by any school!) full
unbeaten season was gone. Whilst Oratory
gleefully celebrated their win we had a
serious Team chat and vowed to avenge
this the following week in the Surrey. A
super 475 total to give us a 5 points win
over Oratory and Uppingham saw us
achieve that aim – never had I seen the
Team so focused. The big officers Bowl was
retained by John Lee and AA, whilst new
recruit James Morris won a free entry to
the Main Meeting. The Sussex was won the
following the week after, again with GP
and with our best score of the season so
far 481 – well ahead of Oratory. Matthew
Millar won the cadet Pair (with John Lee)
in his first shoot for the College – an
amazing performance. Our summer season
record was 7 matches and six wins – one
second place blighting the record.
96
We had a month off for exams before
reassembling in the last week of term for
the Schools meeting and our shot at
regaining The Shield. Three days of practice
competion and snap events saw some
good scores posted in often foul weather.
It rained almost non-stop and I was
grateful that we had such good team spirit
in the adverse conditions. David Rose
stepped in manfully to assist as RG was
juggling Holman duty with helping us
(clocking up the hours commuting in the
minibus each day – many thanks RG!). Old
Epsomian help in the guise of Shane Pope
and Susie Kent and Andrew Lothian were
very welcome and leant great support – as
did our very loyal friends Peter Dodd and
Bob MacKeith. Peter proved the fastest
magazine loader on the camp when we
arrived late on the firing point and
dispensed humorous advice and comment
to all around. Bob (tempted out of
‘official’ retirement) was as ever a wise
counsel and super coach to the Pair and
Reserve. To all our helpers – a very big
thank you – your assistance was a key role
in the success that was to follow!
As the favourites it would have been
understandable if the pressure had got to
the team – but by the Wednesday we had
already secured the Devon Trophy and
Matthew Read had won the Mike Nash
salver for the Rifle Aggregate. He and John
Park were in tie shoots for the Wellington
as was John Park, Chris Beddoe, Attasit
Athkravisoonthorn – which was eventually
won by John Park – well done!
Ashburton day was dry – a relief after all
the rain. Attasit shot a super 42 in the
Reserve and was in a tie shoot (which
became quickly known as a ‘Thai shoot’ –
ho ho!). After 200 yards our score of 242
was our best of the season – but we
trailed Uppingham by six points. They
started confidently at 300 and with four
shooters to go we still trailed by 5 points.
As Matt got ready to coach the last four I
told him of the situation and the need for
something special – which slowly unfolded
over the next half an hour. Andrew Smith
got us going with a good 31 then
Jonathan put in a excellent 33. As the
runners between us and Uppingham grew
more frequest all eyes were fixed on our
scoreboard. John Park kept up the pressure
with a 32 and the news came that the
Uppingham anchor man were beginning to
crack. We were now neck and neck with
just Ricky to shoot. We informed the rest
of the team of the position and they
emerged from the tent to watch Ricky win
us the Ashburton with a super 32 – a
splendid way for him to end five years in
the team – coached by Matt who had
proved an excellent captain. 486 was our
total and we had beaten Uppingham by 7
points – an amazing turn around and
proving a nailbiting climax. Phone calls
were made to the Headmaster who was
able to announce the result to the school
in Assembly and RG was pleased to take
the Shield back to the College the
following day and display it during Final
Roll. More drama remained as futher tie
shoots occurred – Jonathan Kent proving
unlucky in the Spencer Mellish tie – maybe
next year?
Major Colours were re-awarded to
Matthew and Ricky who had lead the team
so well, and to Chris Beddoe who had
rejoined us in the summer proving to be a
really positive influence and confirmed he
is a good shot. Major Colours were also
awarded to the following members of the
VIII – Jonathan Kent, John Park, Andrew
Smith and Paul Efthymiou. Full colours
went to Freddie Beadle and Half Colours to
Attasit Athkravisonthorn, Simon Coster ,
John Lee and Richard Saint.
The Old Epsomians joined us in the
evening and we celebrated our success in
style. 13 stayed on for the adult Main
meeting and the College enjoyed great
success – winning the Target Rifle trophies
for schools – the Gary Jones Rifle and the
Anstey – taking great satisfaction from
beating the schools who refuse to compete
in the matches shot with the GP. Captainelect Jonathan Kent had an outstanding
meeting – occupying a top position on the
leader board for the first few days. He shot
50 after 50 and won a place in his second
Queens final – a remarkable achievement
whilst still at school (although perhaps his
greatest satisfaction was beating Susie by
one V in that final!). Captaining the UK
cadets against the Canadians in two
matches rounded off his week. John Park
shot excellently to win the Cadet Short
Range aggregate and Paul and Fred came
well up in the Grand. Matthew went on to
tour with Athelings in Canada whist Paul
proved to be top shot of the UK cadets in
the Channel Islands winning the grand
aggregate out there. After all this
excitement JRWP went off and slept for a
month or two – but we are all looking
forward to the new year and a chance to
perhaps have a totally unbeaten
season……or perhaps even an unbeaten
year – now that’s a challenge!
The College record in the Public Schools
Championship for the Ashburton Shield
over the last 13 years :
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
Won
Won
Won
Won
Won
14th
Runners up
4th
Won
Won
Runners up
Runners up
Won
Mr JRW Postle
Target Rifle Team – National Champions
97
Rounders
Seniors
U16
U15
U14
P3
P2
P9
P9
W1
W2
W4
W4
L2
L4
L5
D1
The Seniors had another disrupted season
as other schools either pulled out or the
weather early on in the season made the
pitches unplayable. The side was held
together well by captain Sam Reynolds but
the same team never played twice and
rarely practised together. The team lost
out narrowly to both Brighton and St
George’s but the fielding was generally
sound and aided by allrounders Natasha
Panes, Hana Quttaineh and Jennifer
Saunders. All of the girls mentioned
received their Half Colours.
we enjoyed victories over Lord
Wandsworth and Sevenoaks. All of the
girls should be commended on their
excellent team spirit, attitude and effort. A
thoroughly enjoyable season.
The U16 team fared a little better
winning both their matches against St
George’s and Brighton College. Particular
mention to Suzanne Smith and Laura
Watkin who both receive their Colts
Colours in recognition of their excellent
competitive play.
Seniors
Intermediate
Junior
The Junior rounders teams had a good
season with 50-50 statistics. The U15s
were incredibly motivated and well
organised. Their tactics and teamwork
surpassed many other teams and they
were ably led by Gabrielle Patterson and
Lucy Blake-Thomas. Triumphs over Mill
Hill, St George’s, Brighton and Lord
Wandsworth were very encouraging.
The U14s went from strength to strength
as our hitting improved. Desperately
unlucky to lose to Mill Hill by one rounder
98
House Trophies
Wilson
Wilson
Raven
Mrs FC Drinkall
Girls’ Tennis
1st VI
W1
L3
D1
Another difficult season punctuated with
rain, retakes and even more examinations.
The Stonebridge Academy worked hard with
both the senior sides to get them match fit.
Rebecca Thorne, who has given much to
girls’ tennis in her short time at the College,
led the 1st Team with a quiet and assured
enthusiasm. She partnered Clare Naudé as
the first pair and they gelled well with a
quite unique understanding. Clare with the
subtle touches around the net and Becky
with her controlled topspin power from the
backcourt. A formidable couple yet sadly
they occasionally lost out at the final hurdle
due to lack of consistency under pressure.
At second pair we had Yayganeh Chiang
and Lucy Feaver, they had a superb season.
They were our most successful pairing and
a joy to watch. They showed great
commitment throughout and clearly
enjoyed their outings to the net! I hope
for great things from them next season
and don’t leave it until the summer before
you pick up a racket!
Our regular third pairing of Lara Bantoft and
Anne-Marie Tong fought tirelessly
throughout the term. They played well
together and as a unit gained in stature with
every match. As a third pair they proved
difficult to overcome and managed to secure
several important victories for the side.
Not as successful as we would have liked
but the spirit was there. With those that
remain a little more effort and
determination and we should do well.
2nd VI
P6
W3
L2
D1
The 2nd VI succumbed to the same
pressures in this busy term. Several
players keenly represented the College and
played some tightly fought fixtures.
Lucy Misch and Natalia Martin-Villendrup
combined well together producing some
memorable performances and occasionally
representing the 1st VI.
Colours
Full- Rebecca Thorne, Clare Naudé, Lucy
Feaver and Yayganeh Chiang
Half- Lara Bantoft, Anne-Marie Tong,
Miranda Malins, Lucy Misch,
Natalia Martin-Villendrup, AnnaMaria Vaughan and Zoe Rice.
Senior Tennis Trophy Rebecca Thorne
Miranda Malins with a variety of partners
including Natasha Panes, Jennifer Crooke
and Rachel Geneen led the way and all
proved themselves as players able to offer
much to senior tennis.
House Trophies
Senior
Junior
White House
Raven House
Mrs FC Drinkall
Anna-Maria Vaughan and Zoe
Rice were a steady pair at all
times and caused many very
talented players problems
with their ‘never say die’
attitude. Their progress was
clearly evident by the end of
the season.
Victories over Christ’s
Hospital, Brighton and
Cranleigh were particularly
satisfying for the team who
tried hard to be a little more
attacking in their play as the
season wore on. Their
willingness to try new
formations and tactics caused
much amusement both on
and off the court. Well done
to all involved.
Results
Christ’s Hospital
Cranleigh
Brighton
Charterhouse
Ardingly
Eastbourne
1st Team
2nd Team
L 4-5
L 1-8
W 5-4
D 3-3
L 1-8
W 4-2
W 6-3
W 3-1
L 0-4
L 2-7
D 3-3
P5
99
Boys’ Tennis
U15 Girls’ Tennis
The girls have had a good term. The enthusiasm ,commitment and
ability of this year group as a whole is unmatched, making team
selection difficult. After a shaky start, and two narrow losses to
Brighton and Eastbourne, the teams have improved with every
game and their tennis has been exciting to watch.
The ‘A’ Team have won 5 and lost 4 of their matches.
The ‘B’ Team have won 3 and lost 1 of their matches.
The ‘A’ Team squad were: Jasmine Jagger, Sophie Dick, Clare Morgan,
Louise Meadows, Charlotte Wood, Lucy Johnstone and Krysta Munford.
The ‘B’ Team squad were: Katy Amos, Francesca Tilley-Gyado, Lucy
Johnstone, Rebecca Szanto, Elizabeth Dilks Emma Powell, Lucy
Blake-Thomas, Lucy Fletcher and Gabrielle Patterson.
Jasmine Jagger, the teams’ captain, fought off strong challenges
from her doubles partner, Sophie Dick, and Emily Hughes (M4), to
win the Junior Individual Tennis Cup.
The Junior Mixed Doubles competition, held on Open Day, was
enjoyed by all the M4’s and U4’s who took part. Krysta Munford
and her partner were winners of the Plate competition.
Well done to all those who have played in the teams this year and to those who have also played hard and not quite made it this
year, keep challenging and good luck for next year!
Mrs C Rice
U14 Tennis
The A and B teams had quite a promising season, with some
strong individual play and good pairings developing over the term.
Particular mention must be made of the excellent standard of team
spirit and turn-out for both matches and practices. Even when the
opposition seemed to be less than 100% sporting during some
fixtures (bordering occasionally on dishonest with line-calls) the
Epsom teams kept their spirits up and their own behaviour
standards high. In many ways this is just as important as the final
score and the girls should be proud of their record indeed.
The 1st IV played consistently together all term, but there were
some substitutions required at times due to injury at the other
positions in the 2 teams. Well done to those who sometimes had to
play with new partners for the first time in a match situation and
hopefully developed more versatile tennis skills and mental
flexibility through the process! Overall a promising season for some
talented players who developed markedly in terms of skilled play
over the season. Many matches were very close indeed, with overall
victory resting on the outcome of the final games. Well done and
good effort; it was a pleasure to be involved with the squad.
Ardingly
Eastbourne
Therfield
Cranleigh
Christ’s Hospital
Caterham
Sevenoaks
City of London Freemans School
100
(A) L 4-5
(A) W 7-2
(A) W 6-0
(A) W 5-4
(A) L 4-5
(A) L 4 -5
(A) D 3-3
(A) L 1-3
(B) W 6-3
(B) L 6-3
(B) D 2-2
(B) L 0-4
(B) D 2-2
Squad: Holly Howson (Capt.), Emily Hughes, Emily Cama, Kate
Moore, Margaret Aslet, Bethany Gale, Anna Wolstenholme, Emma
Marchington, Kat Alexander, Ginny Handley, Pip Staveley, Kat
Parker, Lizzie Szanto, Holly Skousbo
Miss E Jardine-Young
2002 has been an excellent year for tennis at Epsom College.
The weather was kind and no fixtures had to be cancelled. Two
teams had an outstanding season. The Under 14 A’s remain
unbeaten and show promise for the future. Well done to all
who have played in the age group. The 1st team has played well
throughout the year and was also unbeaten after the final
friendly fixture. The U15’s and U16’s have had mixed fortune
and have struggled at times, but they have worked hard and
improved as the season progressed. 7 internal competitions
took place this term. Congratulations to Guy Stebbings, not
only winning the senior singles, but partnering Kentigern Wong
to win the senior doubles and senior house trophies. Fergus
Flanagan took the Junior singles and partnered Tom Liddell to
win the Junior Doubles. Carr were victorious in the Junior
House competition.
In external tournaments, the season started well with success in
the St. George’s Pairs Tournament. Mathew Brown and Morgan
Scale won the 1st Pair Cup and Ashok Mittal and Guy Stebbings
were the losing finalists in the 2nd Pairs competition. For the
first time we entered U18 and U14 teams in the Surrey Pairs
Competition. Guy Stebbings an Kentigern Wong won the U18
Cup and Tom Liddell and Fergus Flanagan were the losing
finalists in their age group.
At the end of the term we played in the Youll Cup and the Clark
Trophy, eventually losing to Cranleigh after a very exciting
match. In the Rootham Shield the first IV played some excellent
tennis but lost in the final to KCS.
Overall there has been a high standard of tennis this term. The
players have worked hard and progressed well under the
guidance of the team coaches and the Stonebridge Academy.
Tennis Colours 2002
The following awards have been made: Major Colours: -
Ashok Mittal
(Cr)
Full Colours: -
Mark Dallamore
Robert Weatheritt
Adam Johnstone
Matthew Brown
Morgan Scale
Richard Briegel-Jones
Kentigern Wong
(Rn)
(Rn)
(H)
(G)
(G)
(Fa)
(G)
Half Colours: -
Guy Stebbings
Mark Webster-Smith
(G)
(H)
Colts Colours: -
Ben Loubser
Kieran Permanand
Patrick Carr
Thomas Bradley
Nicholas Berry
Benjamin Walker
(R)
(Fa)
(G)
(Fa)
(F)
(G)
Captain 2003: -
Kentigern Wong
(G)
Mrs RJB Harrop
Junior Colts Tennis
Lord of The Strings Part 1 –
The Fellowship of the String
Many aeons ago, when the World was still young, the Dark Lord
held sway, in the mountainous land of Epsym-Col Edge. It was
there that he spun his magic into the Strings of Power (and, boy,
could the JC’s have done with these this year?!!!!). He presented
these as gifts to the Elves, the Dwarves and Men, intending to rule
over all, by using the One String, but his plans were thwarted by
the combined will and might of those that he had hoped to
subject to his designs. The One String was lost and the Dark Lord
sank into the abyss, where he waited for the time when he could
once again wield his power.
And now we return to the present time. The Dark Lord has
returned and is mustering a vast army to crush all that stand in its
way. The only way He can be defeated is by destroying the One
String and it just so happens that this has fallen into the hands of
a lowly Hobbit – Bolto On-Lea.
Accompanied by his trusty Hobbit friends, the brothers Hendo and
Marco Willow-Hams, Bolto journeyed to the Elven Courts, where a
fellowship was formed that would carry the One String to its doom.
The Boys ‘B’ team won 1 and lost 2 matches, and the ‘A’ team lost
in the Final, having won 2 matches and lost 1 in their section.
The teams improved throughout the tournament; and they looked
great in the new team shirts, designed by the students and given
by the Friends of Epsom College.
Representing the Dwarves were Bane Gemstone, Gimendi and
Gimardi – strong and doughty and prone to saying things like
“verily tis a wondrous thing this stone – with a full belly and a
full goblet I could spend the rest of my life gazing upon it” and
other similar twaddle. For the Elves went Gavshondiel, Arwen and
Shogolas – adept at the use of bows, short knives and reading 50
page poems out loud. To carry the interests of men were three
mighty warriors – Arnikals, Helm Illnilsen and Benomir Wartown.
They were tall and proud and invincible in a fight, as long as it
was against Dwarves, Hobbits or other small woodland creatures.
The leader of the group was to be the Wizard Aydzangalf – loved
and trusted by all, but with a penchant for pointy hats and
wearing dresses.
We leave our brave heroes in a tricky situation, involving orcs,
large talking sticks of asparagus and a small marsupial and we will
have to wait for Part 2 of the saga, next year, to see if they can
win through, change all their names and continue the quest.
Mr AJ Wilson
Volleyball
Before the exams got underway the numbers attending volleyball
sessions were in the region of 25. Those who have been able to
continue playing throughout the term have come on well - the
lower sixth and fifth years showing exciting promise for next year.
Our competitions have been limited to two tournaments this term,
our own and the Open Ashcombe tournament, in which the boys
played in a mens division. Unfortunately, the annual tournament
held at Ardingly was rained off this year.
In our Home event we had two boys and two girls teams entered. The
girls ‘A’ team won 2 and lost 2, the ‘B’ team drawing one and losing 3.
The Ashcombe tournament was an all Sunday event, outdoors.
Over 100 teams take part in this tournament. The boys and girls
teams were both 3rd in their pools, narrowly missing the semifinals , but benefiting from the experience - judicious ‘use’ of the
wind was the key to success!
Gary Lau, Mel Orchard and Marie Inns have excelled as Captains
this year, in their own commitment to the game and in their
encouragement of others. They have assisted with sessions,
organised the teams and the refreshments, and have always been
there to set up and clear away at the beginning and end of
training. Mr. Hibbitt and I have very much appreciated their
interest and support.
They are awarded Full Colours.
Half Colours are awarded to: Sue Foong, Carmen Yuen, Michelle
Lam, Herman Au, Stanley Lam, Michael Chu, Soroush Javidi and
Jeff Ngai.
The following are Commended for their effort and
commitment: Vera Lo, Julia Leung, Elizabeth Chan, Jun-Young
Kim,Trevor Pun, Keith Chuen and Ben Lee.
Mrs C Rice
Their quest was suicidal. In order to reach Epsym-Col Edge they
would have to battle with Harrow Wights, Welling Trolls and White
Gift-Orcs (a particularly vicious breed). They might even need to
win a tennis match – an even more unlikely task. However, if they
didn’t attempt to destroy the String, the World would undoubtedly
perish and that was unthinkable.
101
Chris Richards
George Hope
Stephanie Mansfield
Lucy Furnival
102
Alexa Hohenberg
Mark Furness
Mark Furness
Amy Lee
George Hope
Richard Hodge
103
Trips
Borneo Expedition
104
105
M4 Battlefields Trip
A memorable three days
Next we travelled to Tyne Cot Cemetery, a beautiful British graveyard
and memorial. The cemetery was packed with chalk white gravestones
and row upon row of poppies dedicated to the men that died. The
cemetery is built on a battlefield that was fought over on numerous
occasions. Because of this, earth and shells covered many of the bodies.
There is, at the back, a long wall with many names of lost soldiers. The
number was 34,868, which is a huge loss of life. We began to feel
some of the pain that the families of these men had felt. Our last site
on the first day was in Flanders Fields Museum, a very new modern
museum which had high-tech pictures and sounds throughout. It had
much information about gas and artillery in trench warfare and also
told how the soldiers felt in the trenches. Heartrending poems read
out in a low and desperate voice moved some of my fellow
classmates. We then finally made our way to a hostel near the FrancoBelgian border. The place looked very inviting with a large dining room
and a fully equipped games room. As our rooms were sorted settled
we were called to dinner which was just what the doctor ordered. We
curled up in our beds and drifted into a series of war dreams.
Mr. Cooper hitting us over our heads with pillows awakened us
from these heroic dreams. We had some breakfast and set off for
Lochnager Crater.
At 7:30 on the Sunday morning of half term 35 M4s, half-asleep, piled
on to the coach on a cold grey morning. We were briefed first by Mr
Postle, the microphone making his voice ring in our ears, on the rules
of the trip and then by Mr Scadding, the true grandmaster of the
Somme (this was his 19th visit), on some background information.
Then we were on our way speeding down to Dover thanks to Mike,
the coach driver. Then we stormed into Burger King like a stampeding
herd of elephants. However, soon to the relief of the Burger King
staff, we were on board the ferry.
Along with the start of the fascinating trip, this on the day that
England played Argentina in the World Cup we were keeping our
fingers crossed. On arrival in Calais we began to make our way to
Belgium. Our stomachs began to rumble and to our relief Mr Conway
announced he was about to start the tuck shop. We soon sent our
orders down to the front of the bus.
106
Our first stop was at Sanctuary Wood - an area of preserved trenches.
After fitting our wellies we split up and began to look around the area.
These trenches were where the British front lines would have been over
80 years ago. The trenches were in good condition with barbed wire
mapping the edges and still had large amounts of mud. We went in an
underground trench, which was scary, it was pitch black and there
were huge stones in the way. The museum was filled with nasty
pictures and some weapons like machineguns and rifles, and also had a
large amount of barbed wire; thick, long, and extremely nasty stuff.
The crater is massive, measuring eighty metres in width and twentytwo metres deep. A mine that the British detonated on the first day of
the Somme formed the crater. The mine killed many Germans who
had trenches on that bit of the land, but the mine unfortunately did
not take out the German machine gunners who shot down our troops,
who had used the mine as a distraction for an attack. Mr Scadding
explained that we could not venture in it for it was a hidden cemetery
for Germans. Next, we visited Thiepval Monument, a huge and very
impressive structure which commemorates over 73,000 British men
who died. The sixty feet walls are covered with names of troops fallen
in this terrible bloodthirsty war. Many of us looked up our names in
the book of names dedicated at this memorial. My name had twentysix pages of Taylors. Behind the memorial lay a small, but equally
poignant, cemetery. As we looked down on the cemetery we could
understand why so many British men had died trying to climb such a
hill. We posed for many pictures, and left rather reluctantly. Some of
us had a strange attraction to this place. The next site was the first
German cemetery we had visited so far. We noticed a great difference
from the cemetery that we had just visited. The place was very sad
and very unhappy. This is maybe because the Germans lost the war
and were in no mood to build big and grand places of mourning for
their dead.
The graves are simply a black cross in the name of Jesus Christ. Each
was occupied by at least two, maybe three. Death for Germans is very
sad and something that should be forgotten. As we walked around Mr
Scadding explained how the Germans had very little time to dig these
graves. As we walked we felt a sense of immense mourning.
We then got on the coach, rudely
awakening the bus driver from a late
afternoon snooze. Off we went back to the
hostel for some dinner and also to change
into our evening dress for the church service
held in Saint George’s Chapel, which
commemorates the dead in the town. We
also thought about the 149 Old Epsomians
who died. The service included readings and
poems. It also had a band of trumpeters,
from which I was only three feet away when
they played. The service was interesting to
see what the Belgians all thought of the
war. We then rampaged into the town of
Ypres. The Belgians had never heard so
much noise. In particular, we stormed into a
chocolate shop that the College has used for
many years. The rich chocolate went very
nicely into our ever-enlarging stomachs, but
caused many empty wallets. We leisurely
walked back to hostel for a night of
entertainment. We were wondering what Mr
Cooper would conjure up, and we were not
disappointed. We were spilt into class
groups, and first sprayed whipped cream on
a team member’s face, having to get as
much off as possible using a plate.
The next was a race to see how quickly a
player could find a pickled onion in a plate
coated with flour using only a mouth. After
several visits to the toilet to wash off the
large amounts of flour on them, the last of
the outside games was catching sweets in
your mouth, which I eagerly took part in.
Stealing the show, I caught a huge thirty
five-foot throw from Mr Cooper before
taking out Mr Scadding. Very embarrassed I
helped him up expecting a huge ticking off,
but I received a pat on the back and a smile.
Then we transferred the festivities inside
after probably waking up half the people in a
mile of us.
We had a long break to watch the eagerly
awaited World Cup match between
England and Argentina. We cheered as
Beckham scored the decisive goal from the
penalty spot.
We then entered the second part of the
games, which was a quiz about the trip
amongst other things. X1 (my class) were
joint winners with X3. There was talk of a
draw, but Mr Cooper would not hear of
that sort of rubbish. The final was a Cokedrinking contest. The fastest person to
down it was David Marsh of X3 with an
astonishing 6.5 seconds.
If I were to go into any more details of what
happened that night I would be promptly
expelled. Sorry guys! The final day we rose
early to pack our bags and eat a very fine
breakfast. We said our farewell to the staff,
and were on our way to the first site that
day. It was by the name of Vimy Ridge, a
famous area in which the Canadian and
British troops had great success. Here new
tactics were used like the creeping barrage.
This was a set of moving mines. There we
were given a guided tour of the
underground trenches and saw how the
attack was much more organized. Every
troop knew his objectives and
communication was very good. We visited
the vast network of tunnels supplying the
soldiers with weapons, rations, and
reinforcements. We looked at the land
covered with small craters from the barrage
and how close the two sides’ trenches were.
Next we went to Notre Dame de Lorette, the
national cemetery for the French. Its
importance showed as we saw the
saddening sight of thousands of graves. The
precise figure was 31,000. This was far and
away the grandest cemetery we had visited
with the grass cut perfectly, the rows as
straight as a stick and the huge chapel that
lies in the Northern part of the cemetery. The
interior was even more impressive, including
huge glass windows and gold altar. The
atmosphere was indescribable. To the side of
the cemetery there was a museum with
many weapons and equipment. Also there
was a visual tour. There were dummies
acting to the voices in the background. After
a great time we got on to the coach heading
for the Promised Land of England, caught
the ferry to Dover and then finally reached
EPSOM COLLEGE.
On behalf of all the M4s on the trip I would
like to thank Mr Postle for organising the
trip; Mr Scadding for all his great knowledge;
Mr Bustard for keeping the finances in order;
to Mr Conway for the tuck shop (probably
the greatest invention of all time); Mr Cooper
for organizing the entertainment and also
the bus driver who drove us everywhere.
Justin Taylor
From here we quickly travelled to
Newfoundland Park which is an area of
preserved trench line owned by the Canadian
Government. The trenches are well kept and
the ground kept in high order. As we looked
down on the area from a high mound we
saw what faced those soldiers. After a
bombardment, the Brits, thinking that the
Germans were all dead, walked across no
man’s land. They were shot down relentlessly.
As we did a mock of the advance we could
see how easy a target they really were. A
more entertaining moment was when Mr
Postle said that all the wires keeping the
sheep penned in were electrified. James
Haville then accidentally fell on to the
supposedly electric wire, crying out expecting
a massive amount of pain, only to feel none
as the wire was perfectly harmless! Laughing
ourselves back to the coach we travelled to
Ulster Tower. Yes, you guessed, it is an Irish
museum. Small, but very useful, it showed us
how on the first day of the Somme the only
success came from the Ulster Division.
Breaking through the German defences the
Irish then tried to dig trenches, but having
no support were eventually shot down by
German machine gunners. We were given a
brief lecture and then ate our lunch on the
Tower lawn. With blue sky and bright
sunshine this was a very relaxing and
brilliant moment. We also explored the faint
outline of the Irish trenches.
107
Namibia Expedition
On the 21st July, 13 students
from Epsom College embarked
on an expedition to Namibia.
Led by Messrs. Stout, Mann and Green
we flew into Windhoek, the capital, at
dawn and met our guides Pieter Pienaar
and Thys Potgieter from Wild Dog Safaris.
Our first stop was the Africat Foundation
on the central plateau, where we pitched
our first camp. Vicktoria Paulick, the
educational officer, gave us a briefing on
big cat conservation in Namibia and took
us to feed three orphaned cheetah that
had been trapped on nearby farms. She
also took us on a bush walk and taught
us how to read spoor, the tracks and
droppings left by animals. On the second
day we waited motionless in a viewing
hide and were rewarded by a close view
of a leopard.
We travelled north to the Etosha National
Park in our two 4.5 litre Landcruisers and
had close sightings of elephant, giraffe
and saw several lion, one of which was
caught on camera hunting oryx. We were
even lucky enough to see elusive species
such as aardwolf and honey badger.
Etosha was full of large herds of antelope
and at our camps at Okuakuejo and
Namutoni there was a spotlit pans where,
at night, we saw black rhino.
Travelling further north we stayed at the
Kunene River Lodge, where we indulged in
an idyllic sunset cruise and some
turbulent white water rafting. Travelling
south-west into the emptiness of
Koakoland, we set up a desert camp at a
hot water springs and enjoyed a pleasant
swim. We continued south through
Damaraland on the border of the Skeleton
Coast National Park and into the dry Ugab
River. Unfortunately, the desert-adapted
elephant, for which this area is famous,
were some distance downstream.
hike. None of us was prepared for the
hardships experienced. It was hot, dry and
extremely slow going over loose rock. By
the end of the first day, we had progressed
through ten of ninety kilometres. The next
few days were arduous, but the party
West was Swakopmund, where we enjoyed
a slap-up meal of steak and seafood and a
comfortable bed. The next morning we
drove out into the dunes and spent the
day quadbiking. That night we drove back
inland and pitched a fly camp next to a
rocky outcrop. That night, a sea mist set in
and drenched us all. By ten o’clack the
next day we were dry and in high spirits.
On arrival in Sesriem Canyon we drove to
Sossusvlei in the Namib Desert and
climbed one of the larger dunes. Needless
to say, the route down was more direct
and took a matter of seconds. The next day
we had a long drive south to Hobas Camp
site at the start of the Fish River Canyon
showed resilience. Each night we camped
under the night sky and watched large
number of shooting stars burn up in the
atmosphere. After three and a half days of
walking, we arrived at the thermal oasis
called Ai-Ais, where we enjoyed a day by
the pool, resting our aching muscles.
Our last port of call was in the Kalahari
Desert at Intu Africa. It was a relaxing
stopover before our journey north back to
Windhoek, where we were able to shop in
town for curios and enjoy a final meal at
Joe’s Beer House. It had been enormous
fun and quite an experience. My thanks go
to Andrew Huxter, Sarah Campbell, Sam
Reynolds, Greg Froome, Matt Wright, Tom
Lucas, Tom Glass, Guy Baker, Tom Erskine,
Suzanne Smith, Andrew Heap, Jaques
Burckett St Laurent and Ed Gray for their
great enthusiasm and company. Special
thanks must go to Dr Siobhan Wren, who
looked after us admirably.
108
Mr DA Stout
Lower Sixth
Geography
Fieldcourse to
South Devon
This trip was once again organised in the
beautiful countryside of South Devon and
Dartmoor during the second week of July.
The party was working on four main areas,
namely rivers, landscapes, urban studies,
and rural issues. The week was blessed with
good weather and excellent behaviour by
all, and although evenings were hard work,
we enjoyed our late evening free time in
the hotel lounge. Of course we also enjoyed
the convivial company of our hard working
team of teachers, Messrs Peak, Whiteley,
Baverstock, Irvine and Mrs Pearson, who
had her first fieldcourse experience as well
as more than a few nightmares; sorry about
the din we made on the piano on the last
night! Our thanks to all for their unselfish
help and assistance.
Matthew McLuckie
109
Trip to the Colorado River and
The Grand Canyon
Warren Pickett Travel Award
This summer my father and I took part in an expedition on the
Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. Altogether we were a
group of sixteen including an experienced leader and organiser of the
expedition called Doug Druschel, a boatman (who was making his
250th trip) and a “swamper” (assistant boatman). The rest of the
group were all Americans with a wide age range (14 to 70 years old).
We met our group in Flagstaff, Arizona on the evening of 7th July 2002
and set off for the Colorado River, in the morning, by coach. The
journey took two hours to Lee’s Ferry 12 miles downstream of the Glen
Canyon Dam where we started our spectacular 275-mile journey. We
travelled by raft, an inflatable dinghy powered by an outboard motor.
Soon after starting we came to the first of over 200 rapids - our
White River rafting adventure had begun! The rapids had been formed
predominantly by fallen rocks and other factors, which narrowed the
river path causing water turbulence. The magnitude of the strength of
the current was staggering. The force at times managed to lift our
near 15-ton raft a metre out of the water!
110
Thanks to Abe Springer, an associate professor at the University of
Northern Arizona who accompanied us down the river and explained
the geology of the Canyon. He pointed out the different rock
formations and strata and attempted very well to answer all of our
questions. To accompany the short lectures from the river, each day
we made several hikes into the side canyons normally of about two
hours but some a lot longer. At the end of many of these hikes was a
breathtaking lagoon or hot spring. Here we could see the magnitude
of the Grand Canyon from the very top.
We were normally woken at around 6:15 a.m. having slept in the open
air underneath the stars. In the evenings at around 5:00 p.m., we
would stop at a convenient river beach formed by sand deposits and
set up camp. There was always some shelter provided by the fronds of
the tamarisk trees which lined the length of the Colorado. We used to
travel as far as possible each day but by this time the sunlight was
beginning to fade, disappearing suddenly a while later. The kitchen
area would then be quickly erected for supper. All meals were made to
a very high standard throughout the trip. Food was always fresh aided
by the cool chest attached to the raft and kept at optimum
temperature in the freezing cold water of the Colorado. Cold drinks
were always available as the temperature soared during the day.
Much wildlife was to be seen on the trip. A rattlesnake did enter our
camp on the second night as we slept out but was dealt with by the
boatman sufficiently! One might imagine that birds would be the only
animals to survive in the canyon but we did see the occasional deer
and wild goats that had somehow managed to adapt their lifestyle to
such hostile conditions. The birds we saw included peregrine falcons,
blue herons, canyon wrens and humming birds. Our companions
turned their hand to fishing, culminating in one evening of
complimentary rainbow trout as our hors d`oeuvres before the
evening meal but that night was the last we saw of fish!
My father and I will remember this trip for as long as we live. It
provided a true learning exercise for us both and too, a bonding one.
Every one on the boat pulled together creating a good team spirit and
we both made friends whom, I am sure, we will keep in contact with
for many years to come. We had some memorable times, particularly
swimming
through the rapids
in the Little
Colorado River
with chalk
deposits and
calcium phosphate
showing as a
bright marine blue
underneath us. We
would both like to
thank Mr Roger
Pickett for making
this once in a
lifetime experience
possible and to
celebrate the life
of his son, Warren.
Tom Lucas
high-pressured worm hole that would
crash the entire contents of the universe,
except for the people of Luxembourg who
have created a vast range of
gravity/pressure defying suits which enable
them to squash themselves to a
nanometre of thickness without causing
any harm to their internal organs... and
will unwittingly be transported to a 17th
dimension... where curiously everything
only has 2 dimensions... and therefore they
are a physical and impossible anomaly
causing insanity amongst the entire race
of the 17th dimension who have the
misfortune to lay their eyes upon them .
This is particularly unfortunate as the
members of the 17th dimension are
particularly nice (if a little unethical
compared to our current early 21st century
standards) and although the thought of
hot gazapacho soup may conjure up wild
phantasmagorical dreams of impossibility...
they do have an unforgettable way of
greeting you upon arriving in their
universe... that is unless you come from an
opposing universe that was calculated in
3D and therefore sends them insane as
mentioned earlier in the ramble... bear in
mind this is all your fault because you
chose the wrong sandwich.
Before I wrote this I sent myself an email
for me to get later on today to surprise
myself... a bit like in Bill and Ted’s excellent
adventure where Bill and Ted go back to
see themselves and it’s all very clever but
probably not true. The email speculated
what unforeseeable difference will have
taken place between sending the email
half an hour or so ago and then the
eventual reading of it later this evening...
a time when I shall have a greater insight
into myself as a person , extracted from
those extra hours of living, leading to an
overall epiphany effect... showing me
exactly how bizarre the experience of time
is and just how insignificant I am in
relation to the entire universe, its contents,
and other numerous parallel universes
spread from here until infinity squared.
Also I shall win a bet I made with myself
that by this evening I will not in fact be
emotionally involved with Molly Ringwald
of the Breakfast Club. But it’s interesting
to think, that indirectly we are great
editors of the way the universe functions...
and although we may not think it, it could
be down to the fact that you had a tuna
sandwich for lunch as opposed to a cheese
and pickle one, and that because of this in
the year 4532 the Nebula Z arm of the
intergalactic outward spiral organisation
may discover the secret to particle
subsonic travel, and thereby may wage war
upon a family or misanthropic electrons..
which after the 32nd great revolution of
3215 produced a set of rights for
themselves which allowed them to vacate
from the often boring circumference orbit
of various nuclei, but soon got bored and
decided to spend their time being grumpy
and having baths. Anyway, this one way
battle upon the electrons could lead to a
global revolt of all organs of electrons in
sub sector delta-3 leading to an ultimate
and catastrophic collapse of our dimension
and universe. Opening up an unimaginably
111
CCF Camp by Capt. Alan Scadding
112
113
House Notes
Carr
Housemaster: Mr M Day
House Tutors:
Mr DA Stout, Mr MR Read, Mr SJ Oliver,
Mrs FC Drinkall
Head of House:
Richard Meadows
Prefects:
James Aslet, Philip Harraby, James Kent,
Hugo Penny, Adam Stiles, Sam Thornton,
Andrew Vernon, Toby Williams
As a House motto “Semper secundum” has
a certain sibilant ring to it. Impressive
until you know what it means – but an
appropriate motto for Carr. However, in
Scotland, schools used to award a major
prize of “Proxime accessit” (he came next)
–Carr wins it over and over this year – so
be proud.
This was to be a year of high hopes and
great anticipation, with a new
Housemaster on board, and a startling
breadth of talent throughout the years from sporty to musical, artistic to
academic. However it was not to be, with
near misses ad nauseam. But consolation
was to be found: the trophy cabinet lock
was oiled, the cobwebs brushed aside, and
some shiny new silverware added.
As usual, the year kicked off with the
traditional Inter-House Choral
Competition, and, as usual, Carr still did
not quite manage to attain that elusive
place (or even any place). Oh well, we can
also hope for next year. Nevertheless,
effort in no respects was left wanting –
with a brave rendition by the soloist
Richard Saint - and it was a good unison
song. Perhaps music is not the House’s
strong point (we are still searching for
what is). But by no means is there a dearth
of talent: both Richard Saint and John Lee
were members of the Chapel Choir for the
year; and Philip Canby, James Aslet, James
Hardy, and our two singers represented the
House in a Concert given by the Orchestra
and Concert Band.
114
Demolishing all predictions in their wake,
the Senior Rugby team stormed to the
touch rugby final, only to fall agonisingly
at the last hurdle – so close but yet so far.
More was to follow: in the Lent term, the
Senior team was again to finish in second
place, this time in the Inter-House hockey
competition. On the College side Richard
Meadows, Hugo Penny and Andrew Vernon
played consistently for the 1st XV; and
Alex Stansfield and Hugo Penny
represented the 1st XI for hockey. In the
lower years, Jamie Rowles and John Lee
did extraordinarily well to feature
continuously in the outstanding Colts A
rugby side, both being awarded colours for
their efforts. Well done!
In other sports, there were further
successes, but the cups did not materialise.
In the Michaelmas term, Richard Hodge
managed to finish in fifth place in the
Senior Biathlon, and a highly
commendable second in the Senior InterHouse Cross Country Competition:
maintaining Carr’s zenith of achievement –
almost, but not quite. In the Juniors, Philip
Canby finished in eleventh place. Both
James Aslet and Richard Hodge
represented the College in the sport, and
the latter was named Captain for the
forthcoming season. Fred Beadle and John
Lee were members of the all-conquering
Rifle Team which won the National
Championships in the summer. Fred was in
the VIII and awarded his Full Colours,
having earlier been selected as Reserve for
the UK Cadet Team. John won many prizes
as a member of the Under 16 Pair and was
awarded Half Colours – well done to both.
AGI day was a glorious success for the
House: the Junior Competition was won, as
well as both the initiative and shooting
competitions; second place (again) was
attained in orienteering and second place
overall – graciously allowing Wilson to reap
the rewards and pick up the trophy. Who
can say Carr is not a generous House?
Illustrating the variety of talents within
the House, both Raj Patel and Chris Muktar
were invaluable to the smooth running of
the school play of Twelfth Night, through
their illuminating contribution to the
frantic behind-the-scenes work.
With the introduction of AS examinations,
the summer term was rather fragmented.
With two thirds of the school absent for
large durations, it was rather worryingly
left to the U4 year to adopt the mantle of
responsibility. Though, for the time they
were here, the Seniors and the Fifth form
managed to compete in several house and
college activities. To name but a few,
Andrew Vernon featured in the cricket 1st I,
as well as representing the House in the
golf tournament (along with Chris Parker),
finishing (you guessed it) in second place.
On Founder’s Day the House was
represented throughout the years, although
perhaps the performance was left a little
wanting. For the College, various members
of the Fifth and Sixth Form partook in sides
of tennis, cricket and athletics.
To focus on the ultimately essential
academic sphere, numerous prizes were
awarded at the end of the year for
acknowledged achievement. James Kent
(U6) was awarded the Barford Literature
Essay Prize; Hugo Williams (U4) the U4 Art
Prize; and Philip Canby (M4) the M4
History Prize.
So, to conclude, it has been a year of hard
work and dedication on all fronts for the
House and College. Redundant cups from
years gone by may still make up the
numbers in the trophy cabinet and in
many other societies [Carr is a civilised
society] the 1920s boxing cup would by
now be a potent idol of a major cult. In
Carr we believe strongly that it is much
better to take part than win (honest) and
whilst the plethora of second places may
be scant reward when the cabinet remains
threadbare, the potential is there. Perhaps
we have just become blasé about success.
So we say adios to a superbly talented
year, who through their varied
personalities and talents have made a
laudable contribution to the House. But
there is much that the present members –
and possibly those of the future – have to
offer. This year we almost got it right, and
with a little fine-tuning we may improve
for next year. So to leave you with a rather
hackneyed phrase: ‘things can only get
better’; and with the motivation of a new
Housemaster and three new House tutors
– Mr Oliver, Mr Read and Mrs Day – things
may just be looking up!
Semper secundum? Proxime accessit?
Victores erimus!
Richard Hodge
Salvete: M Abram, M P Allison, P C H
Canby, J T Dawson, R J Kelly, C D Moore, J
R D Nolan, A Odemuyiwa, N A Patel, M N
Wong, R J Harding, T J F Lawrenson
Valete: J K D Aslet, J E C Burton, P R
Harraby, J C Kent, R D Meadows, E R
Mellet, C J Muktar, H A B Penny, A C Stiles,
S R Thornton, A R Vernon, R J Kelly, T R
Williams, R J Harding
Crawfurd House
Housemaster: Mr GA Lodge
House Tutors:
Mrs R J B Harrop and Dr S A Wade
Head of House and Head of School:
Adam Howard
This was an odd year for Crawfurd as it
embarked on its final year in its enviable
location in the centre of the school. We
were effectively a 6th Form House with 13
Upper Sixth and just 7 Lower Sixth as a
However we demonstrated Crawfurdian
resolve and determination in the House
competitions, unfazed (ok…that might be a
bit of an exaggeration) by our “populationary
inferior” situation. As a whole our House was
not especially athletically gifted; however
there were some outstanding individual
contributions to the House and School,
notably Adam Howard who represented the
1st team in Rugby, Hockey and captained the
1st XI cricket as well as being made Head of
School; Nikin Tanna won the Bowling Cup
for his outstanding performances for the 1st
Cricket, and Tim A double B, O double T
captained the 2nd XI cricket. Ashok Mittal
captained the school Tennis team and was
awarded major colours. Crawfurd
contributed 3 members to the successful
College Target Rifle Shooting team, with Jon
Kent and Paul Efthymiou being awarded
major colours. The mention of House sport
competitions has been kept to a minimum,
as general disillusionment with the School
resulted in major sports being rejected, but
the House Chess and Shooting teams both
came close to victory (of which we are all
very proud.)
Our decibel deficiency hampered us in the
Choral Competition, with our rousing
rendition of “Uptown Girl” deemed unworthy
of a place, albeit unsurprisingly! However our
Part Song by Sebastian Ellis, Jon Kent,
Matthew Blaiklock and Gavin Ramasawmy
had reason to feel hard done by as they were
not even placed despite having finished in
the top 2 in each of the previous three years.
However the House’s musicians redeemed
themselves by performing phenomenally in
the House Instrumental Competition, with
Seb, Will Butler and Gavin all winning their
individual categories.
Keeping with the theme of the extinction
of the boys’ House, Crawfurd performed
the Woody Allen play “Death,” with every
single House member having an acting
part. Matt Tindall deserves special mention
for his performance of the lead role,
requiring him to stay on stage throughout
the duration of the play. Tim Abbott’s
scarily realistic portrayal of a prostitute
was undoubtedly the comic highlight of
the play ahead of Neerav Malde’s psychotic
Doctor. Performing the play was great fun,
although time consuming, and really
helped strengthen the House sense of
camaraderie, setting the tone for the year.
I’d like to once again mention Adam
Howard being made Head of School, an
honour he thoroughly deserved and a
position he filled admirably. Good luck to
Adam, and all the outgoing Upper Sixth in
their futures (cue tearful farewells.) As the
House moves to Newsom for its final year
as a boys’ House I offer my thanks on
behalf of the House and Mr Lodge to Mrs
Harrop and Doc Wade for being such great
House Tutors. Long live Crawfurd!
Neerav Malde
Fayrer
Housemaster: PJ Williams, Esq.
House Tutors:
JRW Postle, Esq., JM Drinkall, Esq.,
NA Richards, Esq., Miss NC Morrow,
Mrs SE Williams
Head of House:
TK Baker
Prefects:
TK Doran, DJ Aspel, MC Francis, JAC Glass,
JP McDougall, KYW Leung, JH-T Tam, SM
Tan, CMN Yeow
dorms had new furniture in them and
everyone was under threat of death if any
graffiti were found anywhere!
So, term eventually got underway with
nearly 79 in the House and three new
Arriving back for the start of the new
school year was quite an experience given
all the work that had gone on over the
summer holiday and we were welcomed
into (almost) a brand new House – some
of it wasn’t even finished much to the
annoyance of PJW! A new (and huge) Brew
Room, a smaller Box Room, the Wardrobe
now on the ground floor in the old Head
of House’s suite (sorry Tom!), eight new
single studies and a double where the
dorm used to be and three new four-man
dorms for the M4s where the Wardrobe
was originally – all very confusing.
Together with this, the walls were now a
nice soft yellow (what? In Fayrer?),
curtains on the windows in the corridors
and carpets everywhere – just wait for the
first flooded bath! All studies and the
tutors – Mr Richards, Miss Morrow and
Mrs Williams. As ever the first major
event of the year was the Choral Comp
and, yes, we managed to shock the rest of
the school enough (and the judge) to
prove that our outstanding victory of the
three years previously wasn’t quite the
fluke everyone thought it was by doing it
again – well, in the Unison at least.
‘Nothing Like a Dame’ rang round the
corridors for weeks and it all paid off:
thanks Jack for all the hard work there.
Jack also came third in the Solo with ‘Du
bist die Ruh’ (no idea what that means,
but it was good) and the Part Song of
‘Follow Me’ by Uncle Kracker (again
arranged by Jack) came 5th. 2nd = overall
result of the reshuffle following the
announcement that Crawfurd House (boys)
was to be no more so as to accommodate
a greater intake of girls in future years,
much to the displeasure of the House.
115
was a tremendous effort, all the sweeter
given it was so unexpected.
Meanwhile, the Inter-House rugby was
under way and, although injuries to some of
our top players took their toll, we retained
the Overall Shield (for the fourth year in a
row) and the 5th Form won an exciting final
to gain the cup after their disappointment
of the previous year. The Cross Country had
been moved to the Michaelmas Term to try
and ensure it actually took place given the
weather of the previous year and, true to
form, Fayrer dominated once again. Juniors,
Inters and Seniors all won convincingly to
give us (yet again!) the overall cup. Fergus
Flanagan finished second in the Juniors,
while James Beatt was 3rd in the Inters with
Kieran Permanand, Alex Cama, Matt (I hate
running) Lee and Rupert Faircliff filling the
5th to 8th places. In the Seniors, Tom Doran,
James Shaw and Matt McLuckie finished
5th, 6th and 7th as our top three runners.
Well done to all concerned and huge sighs
of relief for PJW. The Swimming
Competition was the final major comp of
the term and it was a real bonus to
welcome Michael Parry who arrived on the
day of the Senior Heats – phew! He powered
us to victory in the O16s and also picked up
the Senior 100m Freestyle Cup and the
Senior Individual. 2nd Overall was another
tremendous effort given our dearth of talent
in the pool!
As term moved towards the close, it was
time for Daniel Aspel and Jack Poupart to
come to the fore. Both had leading roles in
the School Play and Dan’s performance in
the style of ‘Ali G’ brought the House down.
Jack’s performance was also superb and, as
his Housemaster noted, very much in
character! Sungo sang like a bird and floated
like a butterfly through most of it! Dan was
quite rightly awarded the Jensen Drama
Prize at the end of the school year for his
contribution to Drama over the years.
Meanwhile on the games field, Tom Doran
captained the 1st XV and was awarded his
major colours, whilst Sungo, Ed Moberly,
Richard B-J and Matt Francis all represented
the Firsts regularly, with Ed winning the
Sanger Trophy for the ‘Most Improved
Player’ – well done to him.
116
As the Lent Term began, exam fever began
to take over with Mocks for the 5th Form
and modules for most of the Upper Sixth,
reminding everyone that the summer exam
period was not far away! On the House
front, Hockey, Badminton and Football were
the main House Competitions this term. The
Seniors ‘walked’ to victory in the Senior VIs
whilst the Juniors finished 3rd, despite the
best efforts of James Beatt and Fisher. The
Senior Soccer side looked very smart in their
new shirts (courtesy of the Francis family),
but failed to do them justice, while the
Badminton team made it three out of three
thanks to the Lee/Tan/Yeow Badminton
dynasty. On AGI Day we came, we saw and
we didn’t quite conquer, but did win the odd
trophy. In the Solo Instrumental
Competition Calum McKinnon was probably
our top scorer, but Stuart Mathys also did
well. I’m afraid the Chess and Fencing
Competitions didn’t quite see the best of
Fayrer, but we took part!
Meanwhile, Tom Doran continued on his
way to international honours and all were
delighted for him when he gained four caps
for the Irish Youth XV in the Home Nations
Series. We wish him well as he pursues
rugby as a possible career. Matt and Sam
Francis gained their Major Colours for
Hockey, with Sam going on to play for the
South and for an England assessment. Jack
Glass and Jesse Tam also regularly
represented the Firsts. James Bryant proved
to be the outstanding squash player in his
year and, not only captained the U14s, but
also went on to represent the 1st V on a
regular basis. We hope for great things from
him.
Towards the end of term it was a real
pleasure to see Tom Glass take one of the
lead roles in the School Opera and all were
impressed with his performance there – roll
on the Choral Competition next year!
The summer term dawned with a spate of
dry weather (quite unusual for the cricketers
in the House!) and the thoughts of 54
members of the House turned towards the
public examinations. Most kept their heads
and worked with increasing diligence as the
examinations approached and we hope that
all were duly rewarded on the publication of
the results in August. Very few House
Competitions took place this summer term,
bar Athletics and Cricket. The junior
cricketers lost in the semi final, whilst the
M4s and U4s retained the Standards Trophy
– probably one of the hardest to win in a
school year. On Founders’ Day, the athletes
excelled. The U16s (U4s) won, with James
Beatt winning the Victor Ludorum, whilst
the M4s were second. At the senior end an optional competition – Jonathan Nicol
won the U17s Victor Ludorum and Rory
Harding (a close season transfer from Carr)
won the Senior Throwing Cup, whilst we
were a very close second in the Relays Cup.
Jonathan Nicol, James Beatt and Rory
Harding were the main contributors to the
College Teams. Richard B-J was our senior
represntative in the 1st VI Tennis, whilst
Fergus Flanagan and Tom Liddell dominated
the junior teams. Tom was one half of the
mixed doubles competition, whilst Fergus
won the singles. Alex Cama, Matt Francis,
Sam Francis, Adam Maurice and Rob
Lammiman all represented the 1st XI and
many congratulations to Rob on his
appointment as Captain of Cricket for 2003.
So, term drew to a close and there were
many people to say farewell to. The Upper
Sixth, of course, all dispersed and it was a
shame to see them all leave. As well, we said
good bye to Alex Cama, Tom Bradley and
Jonathan Nicol from the Fifth Form: we
wish them well in their new schools. Mr
Postle leaves the House after seven years as
a boarding House Tutor and he will be
missed. Mr Richards also leaves after one
year and we wish him, his fish, rabbits and
cat well as he moves to Holman.
Thanks as ever to all the other House staff
for all they have done and we look forward
to the next academic year with relish.
Forest
Housemaster MD Hobbs Esq.
House Tutors:
PJ Irvine Esq., MC Conway Esq.,
P Henson Esq, SJ Hibbitt Esq.
Head of School:
CJ Roberts
Head of House:
S Hill
The academic year began early in September
and the boys returned to a House without a
boxroom but the Lower Sixth appreciated
the three brand new and larger double
studies available to them. The two ‘rookie’
tutors were soon shown the ropes by the
old timers especially PJI who entered his
fourteenth year in the House. MCC had
returned from South Africa and lost his tan
in the English summer. Chris Roberts unlike
his predecessor survived a tour to Ireland
and came back to be Head of School so
Simon Hill took over the reins of the House.
House Competitions started all too soon and
the rugby kicked everything off. Hopes were
high but the results failed to materialise and
our best team was the senior team again,
overall the House came 5th. Practice for the
Choral Competition started a little late but
‘Lola’, a golden oldie truly appreciated by
only MDH, was at least going well in
practices but failed to impress the
adjudicator again.
On the individual rugby front Kent and Chris
Dawson played well for the 1st XV, Hendo, a
transfer from Propert, made the seconds
where Heinemann made his mark in many
ways; Fulton, Sood and Segun played well at
Colts level, Richardson, Boulton-Lea and
Campus made an impact at JCs. Of the new
boys Rawlings, George and Dewar made
immediate progress at U14 while Ben Ching
and Ma gradually made their way up
through the ranks. Plenty of others were
involved as usual in sides lower down the
ability ladder. In the Swimming Gala we
managed 6th overall with good
performances from Matt Wright, Ali Dewar,
and Michael Mah on the individual side.
The Lent term started amongst a mass of
Mocks and Modular exams for the seniors
severely upsetting the routine again. The
Hockey went quite well and some of the
juniors look very good especially Tom
Richardson and Wilfred Ma. In the Senior
sides Alex Robinson lead the way as our
only 1st XI player, Ryan played well for the
seconds. The soccer team played very well
and won the league with two games in
hand. Ed Poon laid his life on the line as the
1st XI ‘keeper’ and many others have joined
the throng of seniors that now play soccer.
On AGI Day the House managed a couple of
stunning performances to pick up trophies
for the second year in a row, the NCOs
doing very well indeed. Attasit scored a
perfect round of shooting and eventually
made the team on one or two occasions. In
the Solo Instrumental Competition Hey Long
Ching, Mario de Sa and Michael George
made finals. The chess team did well and
brought home the bacon much to PJI’s
delight. The bridge team under the guidance
of Rikin again did well nearly winning, a
creditable second place however. The
badminton team came fourth. It was good
to see so many Forestians active in teams in
the Lent term.
The summer term is all about exams now
and there are fewer and fewer competitions.
The Juniors won the soccer cup again and
came second to Fayrer again in the
standards, considering huge discrepancy in
the number of team playing ‘athletes’
between Forest and some Houses this is a
very good effort indeed. On Sports Day there
was a good turn out of Forestians in finals
and parents to watch. Injuries did not help
our cause and there were some notable
absences. The most notable performances
were from Ed Poon who won the Jumps
Quaiche, a regular visitor to the trophy
cabinet in recent years. There were a large
number of podium finishes but Segun did
particularly well eventually coming third in
the hurdles at the National Championships
in the holidays and representing England in
the Home Countries Championships. Ben
Ching looked a good prospect with three top
three finishes in throwing events. Harry
wong won the 100m Hurdles in the U16s
while Ittchi won the triple jump. Alex
Robinson batted well for the 1stXI and Doug
Hastings, a free transfer from Robinson
bowled well both made Surrey squads. Tom
Richardson and Nikhil Jones played well at
Junior Colts and Tom even managed to push
for County honours with Middlesex
But as I said the exams take precedence over
everything and with new AS levels for L6th
only the U4’s exams have little apart from
personal achievement hanging on the
performances. At A2 the U6th did very well
with no grades below a C the worst result
being a very good ABC. Heinemann and
Poon picked up four A grades, Chris Roberts,
Kent and Simon Hill picked up AAAB, even
Ben scored well with ABC. The 5th GCSE
results were good, Andrew Heap scored 8 As
(7*) and 2 Bs, Attasit scored 7 As (4*) and 3
Bs, Jacques B.St. L. and Sean Standerwick
both scored 7 As (1*) and 3 Bs, but top of
the pile were Fulton Shiundu 10 As (7A*)
and Harpreet Sood 10 As (5A*).
We say farewell to the Upper Sixth and
thank them for their efforts especially the
prefects and Heads of House and School.
Thanks also to MDH and the tutors for being
there for us, and their wives for being there
for them.
Salvete: P Asaad, HL Ching, D Hastings, S
Standerwick,O Akingbade, J Carroll, HB
Ching, A Dewar, M George, H Jankel, W. Ma,
J Rawlings, J Taylor, C Wong.
Valete: C. Roberts, S Hill, D Heinemann, K
Hui, AA Mohamedbhai, E Poon, M de Sa, R
Amin, P Dart, J Aso, B Biswell, N Chase-Grey,
A Robinson, S Ogunsheye, T Roberts.
Granville
Housemaster: Mr MC Oliver
House Tutors:
Mr AK Copsey, Mrs TD Pearson,
Mr RI Whiteley, Mr AJ Wilson
Head of House:
Ben Sears
The year started with yet more rooms
being added to the house to give us a bit
more space for the ever increasing
numbers in “God`s own House”. The
resident tutor`s flat is now in the San.
ready for next year when the house takes
over the San’s rooms as well. The space
left was turned into two ptoyce rooms for
the M4s, another brew room and a
penthouse flat for the Head of House. This
freed up space to create a separate TV and
games room, which in turn was kitted out
with a new piano for Gazza to dazzle us
with during the course of the year.
As ever, the first House competition was the
Choral Competition, which saw us gain our
highest placing for some years. We were
mentioned in all three categories on the
night. Anshel was 3rd in the solo whilst our
part song came 2nd. In the rugby, our
seniors won, the 5th form were 3rd, the
U4s 7th and the M4s were runners up in a
tense final, which went to extra time then
golden goal. A new timing for the cross
country saw this take place in weather
conditions which were far more pleasant
than the usual cold February afternoon.
Overall we came 2nd, but had the individual
winners in the M4 race with Gareth
Needham, and the inters with Matt Brown proving that he was not just a `patsy ball`
tennis player. Also worthy of note was the
fact that in the inters, Guy Stebbings came
2nd and Morgan Scale came 4th-also both
tennis players! Gareth went on to win the
districts and ran for Surrey. After half term,
Granville totally dominated in the pool. We
won the standards competition for all of
the M4s and U4s and in the gala won the
overall with age group victories in the M4s
and Fifth Form, whilst being 2nd in the U4s
and Seniors. Further sporting success came
in the form of the volleyball competition.
Elsewhere, the house were semi-finalists in
the chess and badminton and finished 3rd
in the bridge.
Adam Riddick played in the scholars’
concert and Ben Maxmin starred in the
school play. We were also well represented
in the orchestra, band and choir. Gary Lau
gave an amazing piano recital, which was
so good, it was decided to record it on CD.
Gary made over 400 CDs and sold the lot
making nearly £2000.00 for `Task Brasil`,
this year`s school charity. In the final week
of term, James Furnival won the Dodd
speech prize and read the first lesson in the
carol service. Sadly, Ann “Matron” retired at
the end of the term after years of looking
after us and generations of boys
beforehand. We do hope that she has a
restful and `sockless` retirement and thank
her very much for all of her hard work over
the years. Best wishes to Jean who will take
over from Ann as matron. At the same time,
Mr Whitlock moved on from being our
tutor to take up the post of Head of
Chemistry in Bath. We wish him all the best
for the future as well.
After Christmas, we had the dreaded mocks
and modules to get through, which allowed
the Lower Sixth form the chance to be
prefects for a couple of weeks. Not a bad
effort boys! We hope it all works out for
you next year. Into the hockey and footy
season. The footy seemed to be going
through the same crisis that was afflicting
Man. Utd, only we never picked ourselves
up to be in contention. The hockey went
really well. The junior team did not lose a
single match all season and the seniors won
the plate final. Gareth Needham won the
Woodward trophy in the M4 hockey, whilst
“Smearsy” won the Crosbie trophy and
gained major colours. Duncan Harrop won
the Rhodes trophy for cross country and we
won four categories on AGI day. The drama
students gave great performances in their
respective GCSE/AS/A2 level plays, which
saw a big input from Granville, both on
stage and in the technical/production side
of things, chief `luvvie` Will Terry going on
to Edinburgh in the summer. In the solo
instrumental competition, we had 7 finalists
this year. Gazza won the advanced piano -
With the end of term nearly upon us it
was good to see Mario de Sa playing in
the Orchestra Concert again. Chris Roberts
had a rather interesting role in the school
play with David Heinemann progressing
further as a stage presence. PH
announced himself to the acting/music
world at Epsom in the Staff concert and
as usual PJI was a great hit.
117
again! One of our other talented musicians is Anshel who sang in
the Marriage of Figaro and gained his ATCL award. Jae Woo rapped
his way to fame and glory in the charity show, which also saw Guy
Baker have his legs waxed for charity.
Matt Brown, one of our tennis scholars, won the national U16
indoor title to claim the number one spot in the country and then
captained the GB U16 team through to the final of the European
winter cup. This feat was then repeated by Darren Walsh in the
summer term, when he won the national U14 title on clay and went
off to Barcelona with the GB U14 team. To be the best player in your
age group in the country is rather special and to have two boys
from Granville achieve it was great.
The summer term saw us continue to be successful with the
athletics competition on Founder’s Day going our way again. 2nd in
the M4s, 3rd in the U4s, 1st in the 5th form and 2nd in the seniors.
Plenty of individual winners and lots of good relay performances.
Worthy of special mention was Adam Green in the M4s who broke
the district 80m hurdles record and went on to reach the national
entry standard in the county final. Marji should have won the 5th
form Victor Ludorum, whilst last year`s winner Joe Moore was
selected for Surrey in the County decathlon championships, in which
Surrey were 2nd nationally. The junior cricket team, well led by
`Moley`, reached the final, with many good performances from Ed
BT, Moley and Alex Jones with the bat. Not surprisingly we won the
tennis in the seniors, and had plenty of representation in top school
teams and competitions. Granville boys saw the school team
through to the Rootham Shield final, and won the St George`s pairs
as well as the Surrey pairs. Matt, Morgan, Stebbs and Kenti all
playing really well. Kenti has been appointed captain of tennis for
next year. Other captains for next year are Jeff Keung, swimming
and basketball and Will BT, polo.
At the end of term, the junior play was enjoyed by all who watched
it and featured Ed BT on stage with Furny and Gwen back stage. Jin
Woo, Adam Riddick and Duncan Harrop all played in the junior
concert as well. Our support of Emilly Odouri through the Action Aid
programme continues and the regular letters we get from her show
what progress she is making at school and how life is in her village
in Kenya. Finally, just to show that we can do some academic work
as well as sport, we had Dexter, Elmo and Clio win GCSE prizes and
Limmy winning just about every science and maths prize possible in
the Sixth Form (Maths, biology, chemistry and overall Watts science
prize). Gazza won the medical science prize, Dex the Cunning
nutrition prize, whilst in the lower school awards Dickie Mort and
Wittering won the IT prizes, Adrian Tsang and Jin Woo the maths
prizes and Robin Howatson the physics prize.
All in all, a most successful year. As ever, the success and enjoyment
only really come about through the hard work that everyone puts
in and by having a slightly competitive Housemaster! We would like
to thank Mr Whiteley, Mr Wilson, Mr Copsey and Mrs Pearson for
all of the time they have spent with us this year as tutors, to Jean,
Sheila and Olga for looking after us and tidying up after us. Best
wishes on the safe arrival of Mr and Mrs Whiteley`s new baby, and
best wishes to next year’s Granvillians in keeping hold of the cups.
Above all, for some of us, the last five years have only been what
they have been because of Mato- thanks for everything, it`s been
brilliant, we owe you a lot.
118
Valete: Ben Sears, Alex Baker, Matthew Higgin, Ben Holland, Stanley
Lam, Gary Lau, Simon Lewis, Kok Hing Lim, Ben Maxmin, Will Terry,
Osamu Yamagata, Richard Eversden, Michael Liparoto, Charles Elliott,
Matt Brown, Robin Ip, Adu Alva, Tomohiko Nishi, Darren Walsh
Salvete: Trevor Pun, Kentigern Wong, Brian Ho, Guy Stebbings,
James Marjoram, Taisuke Yamamoto, Adu Alva, James Forster, James
Furnival, Adam Green, Robin Howatson, Alex Jones, Chris Keeling, Jae
Woo Lau, Jin Woo Lee, Gareth Needham, Tomohiko Nishi, Darren
Walsh
Holman
Housemaster: Mr R Gill
House Tutors:
Mr S.J. Head, Ms K. Chandley, Mr I.M.C. McClure, Mr P.M. Shephard
Head of House:
Oscar Kingsbury
House Prefects:
Russell Avery, Michael Chu, Edward Goodwin, Adam Johnstone,
Tom Richardson, Andrei Rusinov.
The year opened with news of some dramatic achievements on
two fronts. Firstly, Ed Goodwin and Andrei Rusinov had completed
their successful ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro, and secondly, the
new AS examinations had gone very well for their year-group, with
Jon Cheung, Mike Chu, Anson Fung, Izni Mosli, Tom Richardson
and Andrei Rusinov collecting 22 grade As between them!
September also saw the arrival on the scene of our increased
number of House Tutors, each year-group now having a
designated Tutor.
It was Ms Chandley who was to make a big impact on the House,
first with her organisation of our entry for the Choral Competition.
In the actual event, Will Ross’ solo came third, the part-song came
second, and our performance of “Reach” – now part of house lore!also came narrowly second, though it was very much “the people’s
choice”! In the sporting arena, the Cross Country showed the calibre
of our new Middle Fourth intake, with three of them in the top 12
places – had Robert Kelly transferred to us a little earlier we would
have won that trophy! As it was, it was our unstoppable U4
swimmers who gave us our first taste of silverware. The Bridge
Trophy also came our way, a fair reward for Tom Richardson’s
patient captaincy of the team in recent years, and, nearer the end
of term, Mark Webster-Smith beat his Captain of Squash in an
excellent 5-game match to secure the Individual Trophy.
The Lent Term again saw much activity in the various competitions.
We reached the semi-final of the Fencing, and were favourites to
win, but unfortunately,
the NHS got in the way as
our promising Captain,
Izni Mosli, was needed for
interview in Cardiff - to
read Medicine! - on the
same afternoon. We were
runners-up also in the
Junior Football
competition, but came
first in the Waterpolo, and
then in the Biathlon
Competition, with Michael
Yan winning the Individual
Trophy as well. Here it is
also appropriate to record
the excellent Hockey
season enjoyed by the
School under the
Captaincy of Oscar Kingsbury (and indeed
the management of Mr Head). It was a
pleasure to witness a whole string of
victories, achieved by one of the best
sides we have seen in many years.
Performances in the House Instrumental
and on AGI again reflected credit all
round, and many contributed to the
Charity Show, the Jimmy Page concert
and other school events.
academic work, and our social side has
gone from strength to strength. Our HalfTermly meals and gatherings have now
grown to eight ( mathematically
interesting!) as we have diversified into
Curry Evenings, and – most spectacularly –
a Christmas Review. The brainchild of Ms
Chandley, this memorable evening in Main
somewhere down the line too. The evening
followed an outing to the West End in
November to see “The Woman in Black”, a
real spine-chiller! This year’s Leavers’
Dinner had some twenty-four guests in
attendance, and eighty or so parents and
pupils attended a farewell occasion for Mr
Baverstock in December.
Hall consisted of sketches (some borrowed,
some new), songs, acrobatics,
choreographed routines and even a film
shot “on location” on the first-floor
landing! Santa Claus put in an appearance
Facilities have continued to be added to
the House, including a larder fridge and
microwave, and gradually we are
beginning to update the photographs to
reflect the most recent events and
Fourth Team did exceptionally well in the
Athletics Competition, and came second to
Fayrer by one single point! Elliot and others
in his year are also to be congratulated on
their fine performances in the Junior Play,
with other members of the Middle Fourths
giving valuable assistance back-stage.
Congratulations finally to Theo Taylor, Alex
Hill and Oscar Kingsbury on winning
Academic prizes at the end of the year.
The life of the House has, of course, always
been more than competitions and even
The Summer Term is now so dominated by
examinations that the scope for House
competitions is much reduced, but Henry
Williams and Elliot Awin did well in the
Tennis, though going out to the eventual
winners. On Founder’s Day, our Upper
119
achievements. Our ICT facilities are proving a real bonus, especially
around coursework time, and we look forward to the provision of
more space for studies when Matron’s office moves to the old
“cycle-shed” area during the Summer.
We were very pleased to be on show on Open Day once again, and
the House continues to be full well in advance of each year. Much
of this has been due to the atmosphere created by the Prefects
who are leaving us this time. In thanking them, we wish them
every success in their future careers, and hope we shall see them
as visitors in the future. A final word of thanks to our House staff.
We are very pleased that our new tutors settled in so quickly, and
are grateful for the fresh ideas and input they have had, together
with the continuity provided by those who have been here longer.
The year finishes with the announcement that Mr Ian Holiday is to
succeed Mr Gill as Housemaster at the end of the next academic
year, and we look forward to arrangements to complete a smooth
transfer of office in twelve months’ time!
Salvete: Alex Beattie, Kristoff Boger, John Ghim, Jonathon
Gillespie, David Hudson, Robert Kelly, Daniel Lee, David Marsh,
Nilesh Satguru, Razza Shah, Theo Taylor.
Valete: Russell Avery, Jonathan Cheung, Michael Chu, Peter
Fernando, Anson Fung, Saurabh Goel, Edward Goodwin, Adam
Johnstone, Oscar Kingsbury, Daryl Leung, Izni Mosli, Nico O’Neill,
Nishil Patel, Rajiv Poddar, Tom Richardson, Andrei Rusinov.
Propert
Housemaster: JRL Hartley Esq
House Tutors:
CdL Mann Esq, Rev.C Brown, AJ Bustard Esq, AP Thompson Esq
Heads of House:
AG Hayman, PIS Peddar
House Prefects:
R Bhargava, HW Doyle, GW Froome, S Javidi, JSH Jun, SP King, GS
Lock, MA Mandegar, H Nishikawa, F Rankin, BAC Roffey
120
This year, with a house numbering seventy-one, Propert
consolidated its role of happily combining a full-sized boys’ day
house with a self-contained group of Sixth Form boarders. Of
those who joined us at the beginning of the academic year, eight
former members of Crawfurd House received a particularly warm
welcome. They joined eight Lower Sixth entrants and eleven in the
Middle Fourth to give Propert its largest-ever proportion of new
faces — well over a third of the house. That state of affairs was
echoed amongst the house staff with the appointment of three
new house tutors, one of whom (Mr Thompson) could certainly
claim to be no stranger in the Newsom building. He along with Mr
Bustard and Father Chris Brown joined Messrs Mann and Hartley
to form Propert’s new tutorial team, with each year group having
its own designated tutor.
Last year’s Fifth Form returned with better GCSE results than might
have been expected. Andrew Smith was awarded an Ann Hood
prize and John Park also collected a GCSE prize. In the Senior
Mathematics Contest we were particularly well represented
amongst the winners: Hiroki Nishikawa and Jun-Young Kim took
first and second places to lead the select group of Gold Award
recipients, while Mohammad Mandegar, Soroush Javidi and Jeffrey
Ngai gained Silver Awards. The year brought its fair share of
academic distinctions our way, but amongst individual attainments
Kunmi Onabanjo’s colossal haul of five, two and three across the
three terms stands out in Propert just as it must do in the school
as a whole. Kunmi went on to collect no less than four major
prizes at the annual prize-giving ceremony at the very end of the
Summer Term, leading a particularly large Propert contingent.
Gregory Froome collected three prizes, Philip Peddar two, while
Alex Hayman, Jun-Young Kim, Jason Jun, Soroush Javidi, Chris
Evans, Daniel Braham and Craig Shephard also each collected a
prize. Junior subject prizes were won by William Cobb, David Cook
and Adam Terelak.
In inter-house competitions we tended to pick up more second
places throughout the year than any other position in the
rankings, so although the trophy cabinet now looks relatively
empty, the year as a whole should not be judged to have been an
unsuccessful one. With even less musical talent in the house than
ever we hardly expected to retain the Choral Competition trophy,
though Gregory Froome’s third placed Bare Necessities and our
hastily produced part song, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, won praise
from the adjudicator. Later in the year, Gregory won his class in
the Instrumental Music Competition with one of only two
maximum scores awarded on the night, and Jun-Young Kim and
Adam Terelak also played in the finals. Gregory ends a most
distinguished musical career at school, having played or sung at
the highest level in virtually every concert and musical
performance during the last five years, either as a soloist or
member of various ensembles.
In the cross-country championships, in which all three teams came
third to give us a combined second place, Paul Ventris (third) and
Sam Hurley (fourth) ran particularly well. By just one point we
were overall runners-up, also, in the rugby competition, in which
our Middle Fourth group achieved their first triumph of the year,
beating Granville in a very close final, and our Upper Fourth squad
came second. In the biathlon competition the order was reversed,
our Upper Fourths coming second and our Middle Fourths third.
Outstanding individual performances included those from David
Cook (second), Dafydd Evans (third) and Stephen Harris and Sam
Hurley (both fourth).
The swimming gala, as last year, produced something of a
disappointing outcome. Though our Middle Fourth team managed
to come second, our Upper Fourths fourth and our seniors third,
our Fifth Form team, who had won two years ago as novices, came
last, and we had to make do with fourth place overall. David Cook
and Hiroki Nishikawa won individual events.
During the Lent Term, neither junior nor senior hockey teams did
quite as well as in recent seasons; nor did the senior soccer team, but
their junior counterparts, under the captaincy of Matthew Nolan,
brought their trophy back to Propert, where it has resided for all but
two of the last nine years. The badminton team lost in the semi-final
of their tournament to the usual rivals, as did the water polo squad.
On AGI Day we took the Assault Course Trophy, having won the
senior competition and come second over the junior obstacle course.
But once again it was our select group of distinguished international
marksmen who produced the consistently outstanding successes of
the year. At the time of writing, we know that three of the six
shooting trophies won last year by Ricky Bhargava, John Park and
Andrew Smith, who were joined this season by the promising James
Lothian, have been retained.
In the Summer Term the only significant triumphs came on Sports
Day, on which occasion the Middle Fourth team won their
competition by a staggering margin and the house as a whole
brought the Relay Cup back to Propert, with both senior and
Middle Fourth teams winning their two races. Petros Tourikis,
Daniel Pipe, Craig Shephard and Kunmi Onabanjo each won an
event, Andrew Ventris and Dafydd Evans won two, while Paul
Ventris went one better, which secured for him the Victor
Ludorum. In the Standards Competition we were just beaten into
fourth place, but it is worth noting that our Middle Fourth squad
beat their opponents, again by an overwhelming margin. David
Cook led the individual scoring, achieving 37 points out of a
maximum possible 45.
Other notable achievements this year include Alex Hayman’s
promotion to Head of School in the Lent Term, Craig Shephard’s
two Sixth Form scholarships (Army and
Arkwright) and the performances on stage
of Alex Hayman in Romeo and Juliet,
Gregory Froome in The Marriage of Figaro
and, more recently, Dafydd Evans, ably
supported by Matthew Medici and David
Kaye, in The Golden Pathway Annual.
Salvete: DYT Choi, TP de Paula, J-Y Kim,
BHY Lee, E Ocloo-Sewor,
VK Onabanjo, R Popat, SPA Tan; DE Cook,
MN Davis, SE Hurley,
JWE Lothian, AA Malik, H Patel, DJT Pipe,
D.P. Stidolph, A Terelak, PV Tourikis, ASD
Ventris; MG Abraham, SD Mallis, JM Beinart,
B Bennet-Smith, WA Cobb, CS Hope, MJ
Medici, MTD Nolan (all eight from Cr).
Valete: MH Au, R Bhargava, MJB de
Turckheim, HW Doyle, GW Froome, AG
Hayman, S Javidi, JSH Jun, G Khurana, SP
King, GS Lock, MA Mandegar, SA Marjoram,
C Ngai, H Nishikawa, PIS Peddar, F Rankin,
BAC Roffey, SD Mallis and JL Thiel (to Fa).
Raven House
Housemistress: Miss E JardineYoung
Boarding Housemistress:
Mrs H M Paulett
House Tutors:
Mr C J Baverstock, Mrs M Lane, Mr I D
Newman, Mrs M Odendaal, Mrs C C
Winmill, Mrs J Walker & Mrs E Irvine (Lent
term)
Assistant House Tutor:
Miss G Geough
Head of House:
Helen Sadek
House Prefects:
Abigail Barton, Katie Greenwood, Nicole
Magoon, Miranda Malins, Lucy Misch
Highlights
Lots of new members of the House and
the House staff – Raven grows to 65 in
third year. Welcome especially to Mrs
Paulett who took charge of Raven’s first
U4 boarders, preparing for the division
next year to form Crawfurd (girls).
House Choral Comp: Nicole Magoon wins
Raven its first Music Trophy with Solo
Colours of the Wind; Unison is Money,
Money, Money & Part Song with some
impressive German lyrics!
House Play slot in Lent Term causes panic
as many strong actresses/singers are doing
external drama performance exams or
school opera and cannot do full scripted
House play as well. Result is new show
alternative concept - Elemental. The show
is original and devised by the House on the
themes Earth, Fire, Air & Water. Dances,
sketches and songs come together in a
multi-media format with many memorable
moments and participation of 98% of
Raven House.
First Dress Rehearsal is ropey beyond
belief and EJY surpresses rising hysteria.
Next day she returns from Abracadabra
shop/hire in Ashtead with three troll
outfits, Pocahontas costume, Neptune’s
trident, glo-wands and a fake parrot
(amongst other items). Mr Henson, Mr
Thomas, Harry Jankel & Ziba save the day
with super-human patience required for
complex sequence of audio mini-discs
and light effects. Technical problems
(mainly health and safety) with the
projection screen constructed by kind
and imaginative inventiveness of Michael
Liparoto cause CJB to produce miracle
light-weight collapsible yet gigantic
screen on hire from North London at last
minute which arrives in a taxi. EJY
remembers advice from RAS to ‘keep it
simple’ with the technical effects and
makes indelible mental note. However
help and positive support from girls ( &
IDN art sequence) produce exciting
results! Final Dress Rehearsal gives hope
that we will indeed get from start to
finish in something less than four hours.
First night audience (mainly school) is
confused at times by unaccustomed
cultural assault, and the fact that they did
not all read the programmes explaining
the theme so may have found some
sequences totally obscure. One or two
predictable individuals find themselves
watching remainder of show within arm’s
length of DNR. Girls survive over-excited
noises from audience at close quarters. EJY
in particular is very proud indeed of cast
and stage crew given circumstances and
short timescale for preparation. Parents
and families attend on 2nd night with
Gala Dinner and very civilised atmosphere
prevails. Cafeteria is gorgeous – many
thanks to Tim & Bev, Mrs Lane, Nat Panes,
Lucy Feaver and her mum for themed
catering, floating candles and decorations.
Some vivid memories include: Adiemus
visual sequence, Nicole’s incredible
memorisation of Periodic Table in Tom
Lehrer’s The Elements song, It’s Raining
Men finale, troll outfits and pursuit of
Anielka during In the Hall of the
Mountain King, Over the Rainbow
rehearsed in four days, Irish dancing and
drumming sequence with the smoke
machine, chorus poem Fireflies (in the
dark!), The Harvest folk dancing, Holly
Skousbo’s ballet, Firestarter with the
flames behind, Eternal Flame, Kirstie
Crail’s burning poetry, Sab & Katie’s
rendition of The Snake, Under Milk
Wood, sailors, parrot and the mad seacaptain (Jazz) in Sea Fever, Meera saving
the Lentls sketch at the eleventh hour,
Ziba’s Seabird, the beautiful Japanese
haiku poems and the martial arts,
Friendly Fire…. Etc. We enjoyed ourselves
at any rate!
On the sports field Raven have a vintage
year. Large junior numbers give advantage
over Wilson in some competitions but Mrs
Drinkall is determined to even up the
contest by innovative scoring systems….
fair enough! Very small numbers at the 6th
To the senior boys who have just left, led
so capably by Alex Hayman and Philip
Peddar, we wish all good fortune. Once
again at the end of an academic year we
have to bid farewell to two of our house
tutors. Mr Bustard, who only joined us a
year ago, moves across to Forest, where he
will assume the housemastership in twelve
months’ time, and Mr Mann, who has been
with us for four years, takes up an
appointment at Harrow School. We wish
them both every success in these new
phases of their careers and thank them for
all they have done to help members of the
house, in particular boys in the Fifth and
Lower Sixth forms. Finally, we must record
our appreciation of the work done on our
behalf by the rest of the team: Mr and Mrs
Hartley, Mr Thompson, Father Chris and
Mrs Kate Kirchmair and all her staff.
121
form end make us disadvantaged in Senior matches. Ditto Mrs
Drinkall’s scoring systems (most of the time). Overall some great
results over the year, in Cross Country, Junior U14 Biathlon,
Swimming, Tennis, Hockey and Netball. Most matches played in
excellent spirit and good atmosphere, and we look forward to
three-way and four-way matches next year when Crawfurd (girls)
is formed.
Valete:
Abigail Barton
Gap year (applying for English; teaching in a
pre-prep school)
Katie Greenwood
Gap year (confirmed place for Economics for
2003)
Alexa Hohenberg
Gap year (snowboarding in Canada; travel;
applying to Art College)
Lucy MacLellan
St Andrews University
Nicole Magoon
Dartmouth University in USA (applying for
SPS at Cambridge)
Miranda Malins
Gap year (Archaeology placement, studying
in Italy, applying for History at Cambridge)
Lucy Misch
Gap Year (Sri Lanka Elephant Orphanage,
travel to Greece etc. with place to read
English for 2003)
Helen Sadek
Reading Geography
Stephanie Woollams Hurtwood House School for A-levels
Minji Kim
Boarding School in USA
Caroline Braeken
Return to school in Columbia
Salvete: Ziba Cunningham & Sarah Telman (L6) Lucy BlakeThomas, Caroline Braeken, Elizabeth Dilks, Minji Kim (U4) Laurie
Alexander, Katharine Alexander, Margaret Aslet, Sabrina Bell, Clare
Briscoe, Alexandra Farrelly, Bethany Gale, Anielka Hampson, Holly
Howson, Charlotte Johnston, Stephanie Lamey, Emma
Marchington, Kate Moore, Stefanie Morley, Katherine Parker, Meera
Patel, Holly Skousbo, Phillipa Staveley, Elizabeth Szanto, Anna
Wolstenholme (M4)
Transfering from Raven to Crawfurd (girls) for
2002/2003
L6: Jennifer Hay, Natasha Panes
5th Kirstie Crail, Alice Duffill, Caroline Lamey, Kirsty McAllister,
Sophie-Jo Walsh
U4: Lucy Blake-Thomas, Lucy Fletcher, Ciara Janson, Stephanie
Mansfield, Clare Morgan, Emma Powell, Gabrielle Patterson,
Charlotte Wood, Elizabeth Yates
M4:Laurie Alexander, Sabrina Bell, Bethany Gale, Stephanie Lamey,
Kate Moore, Stefanie Morley, Katherine Parker, Meera Patel,
Holly Skousbo, Elizabeth Szanto
Plus Corinne, Sue and Carla who have looked after us all year – the
day girls will miss you!!
Raven Boarders’ Review
The boarders summarize their year
122
This year has certainly been a success
for the Raven, soon to be Crawfurd,
boarders. The inter-house netball,
swimming, tennis, athletics and
rounders have all been won by a
combined effort with the Raven day
girls. Along with those competitions,
we have also enjoyed taking part in a
wide range of internal activities. These
include: helping with the Raven cake
sale in aid of Task Brasil, cooking
pancakes on Shrove Tuesday and even
having our own parties and barbecues!
We also participated in chapel services and House assemblies. On
the drama front, the boarders had their own scene in the Raven
House play, “Elemental” and several girls (Lucy Fletcher, Ciara
Janson and Stephanie Mansfield) took part in the Junior Play. Clare
Morgan performed in “The Marriage of Figaro.” Lucy Fletcher also
participated in “Twelfth Night”. Furthermore,
several members of the House performed
in music concerts which were to an
extremely high standard and a continued
contribution to music in Epsom College
throughout the year.
Throughout the year we had new additions
to the boarders, including Lucy Blake
Thomas, Emma Powell, Laurie Alexander
and Kate Moore. It seems hard to believe
that they were not with us from the very
beginning. All twelve of us have developed
great friendships and we have been greatly
helped by our Housemistress Mrs Paulett
and other House tutors including Mrs
Odendaal, Mrs Walker and Mrs Irvine. Jenna
and Georgie have also been a fantastic
source of advice and support. We look
forward to next year, becoming a proper
girls’ boarding house and having 48 girls in
the House. It will certainly be a challenge.
Robinson
Housemaster: Mr MJ Walker
House Tutors:
Mr CB Buchholdt, Mr PED Green, Mr DCG
Otteridge, Mr NSA Payne
Head of House:
Barnaby Flower
After a well-deserved summer break we
returned to an unusually fresh-smelling
house with new M4, house tutors, and
lockers upstairs! As is becoming the custom
in Robinson the GCSE, AS and A-level results
obtained in August were of an incredibly
high standard. Amil Shah, Anish Patel,
Michael George and Ed Johnson all won
Anne Hood prizes for their GCSE efforts;
Barnaby Flower and Young Min Kim got
their A-level careers off to a great start with
4 A’s and 5 A’s respectively at AS-level and
we were glad to hear that all of last years
Upper Sixth had achieved the necessary
grades for their preferred universities.
On the music and drama front the boys of
Robinson were as busy as ever. Barnaby
Flower played the melancholy Duke Orsino
in the school play – Shakespeare’s Twelfth
Night – and Ed Johnston was up to his
usual slap-stick clowning as Curio. YoungMin became a celebrity around school for
his portrayal of an eccentric, bearded seacaptain whilst still filling the role of prompt
and Richard Pooley put in hours of time
and effort for the lighting team. Meanwhile
Ed Johnston, Charlie Poutney and Ollie
Jackson continued to represent the house in
the ever-improving College concert-band.
Sporting-wise this proved to be a
phenomenally successful term. In the
past couple of years Robinson had
seemed to finish second in everything
and dust was gathering in the once-full
trophy cabinet. With three school sports
captains – Young Min (fencing), Matt
Read (shooting) and Michael Lowe (golf);
two county rugby players – Phil
Richardson and Richard Pooley and our
resident athlete Luke Hearne, it was time
to put that right. Luke earned himself
house colours for winning the senior
cross-country championship and the
divisional trials. He then ran his way to
2nd place in the senior Biathlon whilst
Mark Dallamore swam his way the 3rd
and Mark continued to excel in the
swimming gala, winning the senior
backstroke and coming 2nd in the senior
freestyle. Meanwhile the house seemed
to go chess-mad. For the first time that
Mr. Walker could recall there was a
waiting list of potential competitors for
the house chess team! We had a good
run but couldn’t defeat the ultimate
winners of the competition.
The Lent term began with yet more news
of academic success from Robinson lads.
Young Min was given an offer to study
Natural Sciences at St. Catherine’s
College Cambridge, Duncan Reid who
left last year proved he wasn’t just a
cheeky chappy by being offered a place
at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge to read
Geography and Adam Hall obtained a
sixth form scholarship. On the sports
field Robinson continued to prosper. Ian
Barrett was awarded full colours for his
contribution to the 1st XI Hockey team,
Richard Smith captained the Junior Colts
A to another successful season and
James Haville emerged as a possible
hockey star for the future. To add the
U4’s success in the rugby they added the
junior inter-house hockey to the rapidly
swelling trophy cabinet…but more was
still to come.
Alex Hayford and Mark Dallamore, as 1st
XI footballers spearheaded Robinson’s
defence of the inter-house football. We
came close but were unlucky runners-up
to Forest. Alex also paired up with Michael
Lowe to bring home yet another trophy –
the inter-house golf - for the second year
in succession. Michael then won the
individual golf, which is a good omen if he
is to make it as a professional. Meanwhile
Major Colours were awarded to Rob
Weatheritt for squash, Matthew Read for
shooting and Barnaby Flower for drama
and Full Colours went to Luke Hearne for
cross-country. Luke was selected for the
Surrey cross-country team, Matt Read was
selected to shoot for England and Michael
Lowe made in into the U19 England golf
team – names to look out for in the future.
Off the pitch, a dismal display of enthusiasm
in the Solo Instrumental Competition was
contrasted with a good Robinson turn-out
in the Charity Show. Barney Flower and Ed
Johnson both featured in various sketches
and Richard Pooley, Matt Hayford and Phil
Richardson helped out with lighting. Matt
and Phil also represented Robinson in the
Guard of Honour on AGI day – something
not previously associated with our house!
The Lent term did end on a sad note
however as Mr. Walker announced that he
would step down as Housemaster at the end
of the year.
The summer term arrived ominously with
exams for everyone in the house – the U6
quietly wishing it were they who would be
sitting the M4 DT paper. There was still time
for extra-curricular activity in Mr. Walker’s
final term however and the U4 made sure the
new Housemaster would inherit Robinson
with a full trophy cabinet by completing the
Grand Slam of sporting competitions in
winning the inter-house cricket. House
colours were duly awarded to Jack Allan, Jon
Hugo, Luke Lavender (captain), Ramin
Moghaddam, Alex Richardson, Richard Smith
and Ben Warrington. In the Founder’s Day
Athletics championships our captain Luke
Hearne (or Uncle Lukey as he had by then
named himself) won the 1500m. and the
400m., finished 2nd in the 800m., and came
4th in the triple jump….knighthood to follow.
As is the way at Epsom, no sooner have the
M4s done their first bread duty that each
house begins its focused training for the
annual choral competition. Amil Shah put in
yet another stirring effort for the Robinson
solo and the part song – Anything featuring Amil, Alex Hayford, Jon
Penwarden, Ed Johnston, Jamie Laidler and
Rishi Patel was entertaining, if not anything
like how ‘3T’ originally intended it to be sung
– harsh, I know…but fair. The unison, King of
the Road, was one of the best efforts I’ve
seen in my time in the house and I think we
were in for a chance had the adjudicator
decided it on volume rather than all that
harmony nonsense. Despite not being placed
in any category we enjoyed the competition
and were grateful to Mr. Holiday for his
advice and accompaniment and Mr. Payne
and Mr. Walker for the hours they put into
the unison.
123
Tom Charnock proved to be a child prodigy
winning the 100m., the 200m., the High Jump
and the Shot and was predictably awarded
the junior Victor Ludorum. Jon Hugo won the
U16 long jump and off the track.
I thank the house prefects, Jon Penwarden,
Mark Dallamore, Alex Hayford and Young
Min for their support in making the house
run smoothly behind the scenes and also
to the house tutors: Mr. Green, Mr. Payne,
Mr. Buchholdt and Mr. Ottridge for all their
time and encouragement. Good luck to
Amil as Head of School, Ed Johnston as
one of the most charismatic Heads of
House I’ve met, and also the house
prefects: Adam, Anish, Jae-In and Luke.
Good luck also to all those leaving.
Finally the house would like to thank Mr.
Walker for six years of faithful dedication
to Robinson House. Knowing of his
passion for golf the boys ‘clubbed’
together and we presented him with a new
putter in the final House assembly to
replace his old rusty one. The full trophy
cabinet, the number of Robinson Heads of
School, our academic success and the
tremendous House spirit in Robinson are
testimony to the time and care he put into
House. He will be sorely missed. We wish
him luck in his new position of Head of
Biology and I’m sure the boys won’t let
him forget his Robinson roots when they
see him around school!
Another fully entertaining year from the
Roseberians, with everyone getting invloved
in true style, representing college teams.
The Michelmas term approached as did a
vast number of Roseberians prepared to
play rugby. However few of us actually
managed to slot into the 1st side, which
Michael Holiday was unfortunate to be
pipped at the post in the solo category.
Overall we finished 1st, a great
performance by all.
In the Lent Term, the hockey depth at the
senior end of the house was a little sparse
with only Chris Cocks representing the 1st
Good luck to Mr. Conway as the new
Housemaster.
Barnaby Flower
Salvete: RJ Allan, TW Charnock, DR Francis,
AC Freeman, JE Haville, MRM Millar, RA Patel,
D Tiwana, CGF Woodall
Valete: MJ Dallamore, BF Flower, AJ Hayford,
ORT Jackson, YM Kim, DJ Kingston,
SJ Lavender, MWJG Lowe, JP Penwarden,
MTD Read, NJ Wade, RJ Weatheritt
meant for the second year running our
touch rugby competition did not reach
phenomenal levels. The 5th form and M4s
achieved the best results, finishing 5th and
4th respectively.
The excitement of a house volleyball
competition for many of the U6th seemed
far too overwhelming and the conditions
Rosebery
Housemaster: Mr M Hampshire
House Tutors:
Mr B Cooper, Miss CR Evans, Mr RA Sheehan
Head of House:
Edward Lewis
House Prefects:
Craig White, David Robson, Michael Holiday.
124
certainly weren’t appropriate underfoot!
An area where we almost inevitably
dominate is the Inter House Choral
Competition; we came 3rd in the unison
performing one of Disney’s all time classics
“Prince Ali”! A simply incredible part-song
of the utmost calibre won first prize and
XI and he also gained major colours. The
junior contingent looks like a strong set of
candidates to blossom and make the top
senior sides in the near future, with many
of them getting involved in the game. With
football now growing at the college, it was
great to see Chris Hall representing the 1st
XI. Simon Gregory, as ever, had a thoroughly successful squash
season in the 1st V and was rewarded with major colours.
In the Inter House Music Competition, Rosebery triumphed again
with sold victories for Michael Holiday on the Trumpet and Craig
White on the organ. Adrian Chapman came 2nd and 3rd in the
strings, which meant that we finished second overall. There was a
hefty amount of involvement in the charity show this year, with
the thespians making themselves evident! Craig White, Michael
Holiday and Adrian Chapman also participated in the production of
the Marriage of Figaro, highlighting Rosebery’s pure cultural side!
the need of teenage girls for a regular supply of chocolate cake.
Many thanks also to Dr Skelton for her seemingly boundless energy
without whom the House simply would not function.
The Choral Competition this year saw a lively, if unplaced, rendition
of ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ in the unison and a skilled,
unaccompanied version of ‘Behind the Wall’ by Tracy Chapman,
sung by Andrea Nagel in the solo section. Well done to the girls
who sang in the part song ‘Down to the River to Pray’ as they
managed to give us all something to celebrate by gaining joint
second place, the first placing White House has had for … some
time. Thanks to Andrea Nagel and to Jen Sanders for their work
bringing that together. As tradition dictates, all three were
performed again at the White House Soireé after Christmas, along
with other musical pieces and sketches involving the whole house,
to produce a very enjoyable evening’s entertainment, for both
AGI day was quickly upon us, but unfortunately things did not
swing our way and we were unable to claim any trophies! Things
all seemed to be a little rusty in all areas. A little drill practice
would not go amiss for next year!
Craig White and Michael claimed school prizes for their ever
outstanding contributions to music.
Good luck to Chris Hall, who takes on the role as Head of House.
White House
Housemistress: Dr PLI Skelton
House Tutors:
Miss CL Creevey, Mr CJ Davies, Mrs HE Keevil, Mr K Siviter
Heads of House:
Lucy Carr, Melanie Orchard
With only Miss Creevey left as a House Tutor at the end of last year,
we welcomed Mrs Keevil, Mr Siviter and Mr Davies to join her at the
beginning of this year. Many thanks from all of us must go to this
team of tutors who have supported us throughout the year in so
many ways: Miss Creevey and Mrs Keevil always ready to listen, Mr
Davies for his lively Welsh banter and Mr Siviter for understanding
participants and audience. However, before Christmas, the House
left the College en masse for its annual visit to the theatre and this
year we enjoyed the performance ‘Buddy’.
The House continued to be involved in all musical aspects of the
college, including the Chapel Choir, and saw many girls taking
instruments to a very high level. Special congratulations in this
area go to Michelle Lam who, having already achieved grade 8 on
the piano, achieved grade 7 in voice and on the organ. Only
swimming and tennis cups return to White House this year, along
with the Senior Biathlon cup, ably won by Sarah Rose, who beat all
members of the school, yes, including the boys. The White House
continued to show its skill and enthusiasm with members of the
house representing the College in a whole range of sports. Special
mentions go to Lucy Carr (captain) and Rhiannon Collins as
members of the Senior Girls’ Swimming Team that remained
unbeaten throughout the season, and to Rebecca Thorne as
captain of tennis and squash. This is the first year for a while
where the 1st V for squash consisted entirely of White House girls
- shame there wasn’t an Inter-house Squash Tournament; it would
have been another trophy to add to the cabinet. Miss Creevey
played an excellent part in the girls’ Squash Team as ever,
providing encouragement and support when needed, and,
although never really
taking her high heels
off and stepping on
to the court, her
presence was much
appreciated. Jess
Parry, Lucy Carr, Jen
Crooke and Tash
Cook contributed to
the 1st VII Netball
Team, as did other
members of the
Lower Sixth who
took part in the
second and third
The summer term as ever was plagued by public examinations. Edward
Lewis represented the 1st XI at cricket, but the lack of talent in the
senior side was down to examination commitment. In the junior
house cricket matches we were a little hard done by, but the flair in
the younger ears should prove prosperous in the years to come.
125
teams appearing in weekly fixtures. With
hockey being the first sport of the year,
new White House recruits were keen to
make their mark so were involved in the
many fixtures, enduring ventures as far as
Eastbourne and Brighton. Congratulations
to Clare Naudé and Charlie Constantine
who were selected for the 1st XI. Emma
Hypher (captain), Jane Reyersbach, Charlie
Richards and Sarah-Jane Douglas
continued from the previous year to
contribute to the Rowing Team and
managed to take part in a few regattas,
which will add to their experience on the
river. Girls’ Rugby was once again strongly
supported by White House with fantastic
efforts, especially on the parts of Jessica
Parry, Marie Inns and Andrea Nagel, and
led enthusiastically but not always
successfully/skilfully by Melanie Orchard.
Epsom College and, with a large
proportion of the team made up of
members of the White House, including
Rebecca Symes as co-captain, the team
achieved some great victories; with only
one loss we completed a more successful
season than the Boys’ 1st XI! Volleyball
continued throughout the year as ever
with regular appearances from Marie Inns
and Mel Orchard as captains, and Michelle
Lam, Sue Foong, Carmen Yeun, Elizabeth
Chan, who were all playing for the first
year. In the Inter-house Hockey and
Netball Competitions, the valiant effort on
the part of many members of the White
House was unfortunately not reflected in
the third places gained. With skilled levels
ranging from county player standard, to
those who had never picked up a hockey
stick, White House continued to provide
interesting entertainment on the sports’
field. With all of the Lower Sixth and a
select few of the Upper Sixth participating
in the Inter-House Cross-country, we
managed to gain a second place from
Sarah Rose and ninth from Lucy Furnival.
Under the dedicated leadership of Felicity
Parker and Charlotte Richards, White House
raised money for the school charity this
year through car washing, a twenty-four
hour fast and, not least, Sophie Jenkin’s
and Emma Flood’s (blissful) sponsored 24hour silence. As part of the Task Brasil
work Felicity visited the children in Brazil,
together with the farm, which the College
was subsequently able to purchase. She
university for this year or next. We
congratulate Olayemi Akingbade who has
successfully gained a place at Oxford to
read Engineering and Computer Science.
We wish all the Upper Sixth every success
for the future in everything that they do.
With the introduction of a new girls’ house
next year, a few members of the Lower
Sixth will be transferring to other houses
to take up roles as prefects, day girls to
Raven House in its new location, and
boarders to the new Crawfurd house. We
leave the house in the capable hands of
Jen Crooke, the new head of White House,
who will be ably helped by the fantastic
team of prefects.
Salvete: Charlotte Allen, Norashikin
Amran, Elise Arnett, Sarah Bridge, Elizabeth
Chan, Hermia Chan, Charlotte Constantine,
Natasha Cook, Jennifer Crooke, Emma
Flood, Lucy Furnival, Rachel Geneen,
Rachel Hughes, Nicola Hayman, Sophie
Jenkins, Elizaveta Kazbekova, Emina
Kolarevic, Jennifer Kuo, Ming-Li Lee, Amy
Li, Annabelle Lock, Claire Mathys, Zahra
Mohamedbhai, Jennifer Sanders, Tess
Tsang, Daisy Wang, Amy Warrington.
Valete: Olayemi Akingbade, Anna Bagarian,
Lucy Carr, Rhiannon Collins, Priya Das,
Beryl Deng, Sarah-Jane Douglas, Sue Wen
Foong, Lucy Fowler, Emma Hypher, Marie
Inns, Svetlana Korneeva, Michelle Lam,
Andrea Nagel, Melanie Orchard, Felicity
Parker, Jessica Parry, Jane Reyersbach,
Charlie Richards, Sarah Rose, Rebecca
Symes, Rebecca Thorne, Sarah Welsh, Lisa
Wu, Carmen Yuen, Elise Arnett, Rachel
Geneen, Rachel Hughes, Nicola Hayman,
Amy Li, Clare Naudé.
Wilson House
House Mistress : Mrs DA Parsons
House Tutors:
Mrs JVH Dibden, Mrs A Davies, Mr BJ
Curtis and Miss AR Peak
Head of House:
Chloe Kingham
126
Apart from the normal dead shoulders,
bruised thighs and constant headaches,
the girls seemed to escape most matches
without serious injury, except for one
unfortunate incident involving Andrea’s
nose and the head of some girl from
Eastbourne (the surgery went well!); Dr
Skelton particularly enjoyed the rugby, and
the mess left by the mud on the steps; we
apologise for all her Sundays spent
sweeping the House steps free of mud.
Girls’ Cricket reached its second year at
was awarded the OE Citizenship prize for
her commitment to charity work so warm
congratulations go to her.
The summer term was somewhat of a
subdued affair with the whole house
taking A2 level or AS level exams. Overall
there was an impressive set of results for
both year groups with many girls gaining
straight As, if not at least one A grade.
Despite a few disappointments most of the
Upper Sixth have secured places at
We really cannot write this article without
boasting - AGI day was a Wilson House
success. There’s no denying it. Amidst
ardent accusations of bias and favouritism,
we profoundly beat the boys and now sit
back to admire over half of the C.C.F cups
lined up on our mantelpiece. Special
thanks to Lizzy Day and Sue ‘Smiffy’ Smith,
who were part of the Honour Guard and
directed our House drill.
If winning the overall CCF Shield displayed
a military and masculine streak running
through the House, coming a triumphant
second place in the House Unison
competition demonstrated our musical
prowess. Some did question the talent
involved in singing ‘Noah’s Floating Zoo’;
maybe waving the colours of the rainbow
around worked to our advantage!
On top of that, we’re generous: we spent
our Shrove Tuesday afternoon cooking and
selling pancakes to members of the
school, contributing to our school charity.
Hard work from everyone in mixing the
batter, flipping over the pancakes,
washing up (although the same people
always ended up doing this job…) and
controlling the crowd, which never
seemed to get any smaller.
Finally let us bombard you with a list of
prize winners: Sarah Campbell, Shona
McKinnon, Chloe Kingham, Premila
Sattianayagam, Lara Bantoft, Nadia
Khoury, Dharini Bhuvanendra,Tessa
Brisbane, Genny Glass, Kate Pretsell,
Sophia Price, Abigail Liparoto, Kate
Waltham, Jodie Mak and Jess Rinland.
the Hendeleh Waleh cup of combined sports.
The list runs on – but the U16s urge us to
add that they beat Raven at rounders
(marked competition between the girls’
houses) and we might as well finish by
mentioning that we won the Senior Girls’
Rounders’ cup much to Sam’s delight.
Our talent was further illustrated in our
coming 4th overall in the Interhouse
Instrumental competition; with over a
quarter of the house involved in the choir,
and Sam Reynolds and Sarah ‘Shambles’
Campbell in the Downs Singers, we clearly
are a fantastically talented house! Not to
mention all the people involved in
Orchestra, Big Band, Concert Band etc.
Congratulations and good luck to AnneMarie Tong, who received a conditional
offer to read Land Economy at New Hall
College, Cambridge.
We would like to congratulate Charlie
Joseph on becoming Acting Head of House
for the second half of the summer term,
and her Deputy Hana Quttaineh, with their
prefects Kirstyn Bailey and Dharini
Bhuvenendra, and we wish them best of
luck for the forthcoming year.
We would like to thank the various people
who contribute to our house community.
Thanks to all the House Tutors (Mrs Davies,
Mrs Dibden, Mr Curtis and Miss Peak) for
their support throughout the year, and
would like to wish Mrs Dibden best of luck
at her new school. We also thank Mrs K
and her team for their hard work and care,
Chloe for leading us as Head of House and
finally Mrs Parsons who has been
fantastic, and has had a very tough year
involving emotion, stress and hard work.
Being the perfectionist that she is it’s no
wonder that she is exhausted by the end
of the year- let`s hope she gets the holiday
she deserves. On behalf of the Upper Sixth
it has been a fantastic 4 -5 years and we
will all have our variety of memories to
take with us. Goodbye also to Helen
Meyers, Tara Hulley and Hannah Phipps,
who are moving to new schools/colleges
and to Emilia Kaczmarek, Jess Taylor, Carli
Worthington, Emily Cama and Katie Forster
who transfer to the new Crawfurd House
to spread the Wilson House spirit!
The one missing item to send you into
fits of laughter is a picture of us all
doing yoga….lacking that, enjoy the
selection of photos.
Salvete: Sophie Billings, Emily Cama,
Judith Coster, Josie Day, Ginny Handley,
Emily Hughes, Jodie Mak, Kate Moss, Kate
Newman, Jess Rinland, Emily Sadana,
Charlotte Worthington.
Valete: Lara Bantoft, Sarah Campbell, Katy
Carr-Locke, Nadia Khoury, Chloe Kingham,
Natalia Martin-Villendrup, Shona
McKinnon, Emma Oldfield, Sam Reynolds,
Premila Sattianayagam, Tatjana Tasic,
Anne-Marie Tong, Katie Forster, Hannah
Phipps, Tara Hulley, Emilia Kaczmarek,
Helen Meyers, Jessica Taylor, Emily Cama
and Charlotte Worthington.
Nadia Khoury and Chloe Kingham
When proceeding to our sporting
achievements, the thought occurs that there
are really too many to mention, but among
others, we secured the Junior and Senior
Girls’ Hockey trophies, the Senior Girls’ Cross
Country cup, the Under 16 Swimming cup
with Lizzy ‘Penguin’ Day (how appropriate)
winning the Individual Girls’ trophy. We must
also congratulate Charlie Joseph on winning
127
Leavers’ Ball 2002
Epsom College’s largest ever year crammed into the spacious
surroundings of the Queen’s Stand to bring light and life to an
otherwise dull and sad day. The cloudy sky and the dampened
spirits of the midday prize-giving were washed away by the
welcoming summer punch as parents, pupils and a supportive
group from the Common Room jostled for positions at the bar
or in the queue for photographs. In great expectation we
crowded into the mezzanine layer of the Blue Riband Room that
affords scenic views over the course of the world’s greatest
horse race. Men, looking smart and traditional in well turned out
black tie attire, contrasted with ladies dressed in colourful and
exotic dresses, no doubt purchased after much post examination
deliberation and considerable expense. Representatives from five
continents conveyed the full extent of what the modern British
boarding school has to offer, east and west dancing together on
this their first night as Old Epsomians.
An evening of good food, plenteous wine and a wonderful
range of traditional disco music from Terry underpinned the
bonhomie of good humour and friendship that has come to be
a unique feature of the College in recent years. Everlasting
thanks to Chloe, Lara, Emma and Jon for their excellent and
enthusiastic organisation. Above all, thanks to EJY for her skill
and charm in being able to fit an apparently excessive number
of exuberant supporters and well-wishers into a formal and
orderly seating arrangement. Here’s to the next time.
Mr DN Rice
128
129
Discussion Points
Dharini Bhuvanendra raises
some issues concerning
inequality in Britain
Dharini Bhuvanendra
When we think of the things that really matter, few people can
dispute that in an ideal world, everyone would have enough to eat,
everyone would have a roof over their heads, and everyone would
have lives that were happy and satisfying. Of course, the reality is that
this is far from being the real situation, and it is extremely doubtful
that we will achieve this within the span of the next few generations.
The terrible inequality of this world is very worrying but I know that it
would be an enormous feat to shake up the whole system of western
domination simply because the whole world revolves around money
and human beings have a terrible weakness for money. Why must we
have this innate selfishness? When we consider that there is enough
money in America alone to eradicate world poverty many times over,
it seems ridiculous that so many millions of people are starving. But
there is no way that rich countries would gladly give up their money
without getting anything in return. That would be absurd!
Global issues aside, we have in Britain a situation of extreme
inequality which, although not as serious as starving children in
Africa, is nonetheless alarming. You need only catch a glimpse of an
inner-city, rundown council estate on the TV to realise that it would
not be very nice to live on one. In fact, it would be incredibly
unpleasant. There is a vicious circle: children are born into a poor
family and don’t have the opportunities to better their situation
because of lack of good education, facilities, etc. Therefore their future
prospects are dramatically cut down to a life not dissimilar to that of
their parents, and their children will be in the same situation. We need
to break this circle because it isn’t fair. No matter what people may tell
me, I cannot believe that the less fortunate are completely responsible
130
for their hardships. It is not impossible for children from a poor
background to be extremely successful but there is a psychological
barrier because they are resigned to accepting that they cannot break
free from the circle. A few people I know are extremely deprecating
towards poorer members of our society. I hear comments like “Why
don’t they get a proper job?” and it makes me frustrated because what
people don’t understand, or don’t want to understand, is that being
poor is not synonymous with being lazy. A lot of people work
extremely hard and those who want to work often cannot because
there is a shortage of jobs. The fact remains that the lack of
opportunities has led them to the situation they are in.
I believe very strongly that everyone deserves chances in life, and that
these chances should be available to both rich and poor equally. Why
should money determine our opportunities? The sad fact is that a less
wealthy seventeen-year-old girl who goes to a state school probably
has less chances than I have, simply because I go to a public school and
she doesn’t. Is this really fair? You may say that your parents work hard
to send you here and I’m not disputing that. But this girl should not be
held back by her parents’ financial situation. It’s not her fault that she’s
poor, and she may well be very ambitious. If she can break through the
vicious circle she would be able to fulfil her ambitions and this is
possible. But not everyone has the self-discipline to do this, especially if
they become disillusioned at an early age. They think, “What’s the point
of going to college – I might as well work.” So what’s the solution? To
me, it’s obvious. We need to create a state school system so good that
public schools will no longer be necessary. That will take time – too long
if we don’t start investing soon. And unfortunately for some, that
money will have to come from us. I think it’s a small price to pay for
helping to better the lives of so many people. Of course, a good school
system will not make the problem go away magically. But it’s a start.
Some may say that there’s no need to abolish public schools even
once we have achieved this. I’m not so sure. Wouldn’t it be better if all
children, regardless of background, mixed together from an early age
and grew up unaware of any social distinctions? With public schools
remaining, can we ever be truly equal?
131
Discussion Points
Amil Shah defends a Private
School Education
Amil Shah
Public school education. Is it really morally right? It is no surprise
that this is a perennially topical issue; education is, and will remain,
one of the most important concerns on the national agenda. After
all, we, its products, will shape the future. For that reason alone, it
is important to make sure educational standards are the best they
can be. However, it would be naive to suggest that we have neared
any such scenario in the UK today. Similarly, it is not really in doubt
that the public schools tend to offer a better education than state.
So should we, the apparent benefactors, feel guilty?
Public school children and their families are those who, in the
country, hold the largest amount of wealth, and, given a rising
rate, of inequality in recent times, many have advocated
progressive measures designed to redistribute wealth from
richer to poorer. This issue permeates the entire debate about
globalisation, and aid to developing countries. Yet even limiting
discourse to the UK we must contend the prospect of healing a
situation which leaves many inner city children in relative
squalor, and people like us enjoying all life’s basic comforts in
abundance. This, for critics, is linked to the educational system
because the state school system is thought to perpetuate this
sorry existence by closing doors to these unfortunate children,
who are consequently unable to haul themselves up through
the echelons of society.
Yet this argument is in many ways fundamentally flawed. There is
increasingly more evidence to assert that state school children are
gaining preferential treatment at top universities (Cambridge and
Oxford amongst others have been threatened with funding cuts if
their state intake does not increase dramatically). Thereby the
government is actively encouraging discrimination against this
type of establishment and its people. And we should feel guilty?
Applications to many state sixth forms have jumped over the past
year, and parents have publicly cited better Oxbridge prospects for
their children as the reason. Recent years have also seen the
proliferation of ethnic minority and deprived area access schemes
run by top universities and some schools. The perception that a
state school education, rather than private, can actually open more
doors today seems to be substantiated more as time passes.
Another key question concerns parenting. If parents can afford a
public school education for their child, surely it would be dubious
to support the inferior state system. Guilt is not an issue; parents
always say that they will do the best for their children, and that
includes giving them the best possible start in life; a private
education currently meets the parental want better than does the
state. The choice is not difficult. You could either feel guilty that
you may, possibly…slightly, have contributed to the domestic
educational divide, or you could rest assured in the knowledge that
you supported the ailing state system…but unfortunately
compromised your child’s future in the process.
In any case the idea that state education is radically worse than
private may be more myth over the next few years. In the 1800s a
private education was the only education, and in that respect we
have come a long way; the historical trend is that the educational
divide has closed significantly, not grown. In addition, recent
evidence shows leaps in educational standards at primary school
level in the state sector. It is fully reasonable to wait for this next
generation to go through state secondary education before
repeating the tired old arguments vilifying the state system. The
‘next batch’ may be much better, and if this turns out to be the case,
claims for a massive concession from the privileged public school
class for the state system will seem still the more nonsensical.
In any case, it is conceivable, in the long term, that public schools
will do more good than imagined for the state sector. Broadly it
could be said that public schools turn out a disproportionate
number of professionals and high income earners. Ever present
charitable projects undertaken by big city financial and legal firms
illustrate that ‘public schoolies’ actually do a lot of good in the
community (larger firms like those in London are largely filled with
privately educated men and women). Other bodies, like Parliament
for example, utilise these brains by actually taking decisions that
matter in the country (regardless of the reader’s political
orientation, it is a difficult job). If in the short run, public schools
supply the bulk of these bodies then those best educated will be in
a position to even out the situation for future generations.
Equally, the success of the public school model should not be
underestimated by education experts. As an environment proven in
educating people well, its example could prove valuable to state
schools looking to improve standards. By severing any ‘them and
us’ attitude and working together, public schools can effectively
aid the development of state education with help ‘lending’
organisational and scholastic methods and advice.
To simply uproot the public school system because it is unfair is
wrong. It goes unnoticed how much good public school boys and
girls can do in society and also crassly ignores a proven system.
Rather than feel guilty about our privileges, we should realise and
be proud that we are part of a system that works. To simply accuse
the public school system as conducive to inequity, and social
malaise, is to grossly misinterpret the reality. We have nothing to
feel guilty about.
Whether we like to admit it or not, teenagers are useless and boring. I am a teenager. One day
though, I’ll be a man. (Albeit after the operation).
132

Epsomian Magazine 2002

Transcription

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