The

Ellesmerian

Table of

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COMMON ROOM NOTES .4

FUNERAL ADDRESS 5

HEADMASTER'S SPEECH 7

HOUSE NOTES 11

LOWER SCHOOL 19

CHAPEL NOTES 21

MUSICAL DIARY 22

DRAMA 24

R.A.F. & NAW SECTION 30

ELLESMERIANS' TRAVELS 31

SPORT 36

OLD ELLESMERIANS CHRONICLE 51

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VOLUME CXI

OCTOBER 1999

Captains of School Head Girl: S. F. Moore Head Boy: D. H. Pinches

School Prefects

L. E.Abson

C. A. Allinson

W. D. Brereton

D. J. Challinor

A. R. Corfield

B.R. Dawes

T. R. Downes

K. McGuire

T. H. Pearson

M. R. Powell

S. R. L. Purcell

T. R. Seward

E. C. Tomley

A. G. Wadlow

Sacristan c. L. Bean

Assistant Sacristan R. J. Churnside

The editor wishes to apologise to Alex Milward for having inadvertently omitted him from the list of School Prefects in the 1998 edition of the Ellesmerian.

Front cover shows Catherine Jones cutting the ribbon to signal the start of work on the New Lower School. accompanied by Ruth Willding Jones. Robert Simms & Edward Walker.

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COMMON

ROOM

NOTES

Changes in Common Room personnel are marked by the retirement of John Scorer after thirty-six years at College. John is one of those remarkable people who bring many gifts to life and are prepared to share them unstintingly with all they come into contact. John shared his love of the outdoors, drama, the C.C.F. and Classics with everyone and many former Ellesmerians have much to thank him for. We wish him and his wife Pippa a long and happy retirement at Knolton and hope that we will see much of them at College.

Other departures this year are Father John Vernon, Chaplain; Christopher Jobson, head of Divinity and Mike Wilcox, head of Art. Mike was unfortunately forced to retire through illhealth earlier in the year, whereas Father John and Christopher have been caught up by the passage of time. Christopher will, however, be with us for a little while longer as he takes his Fifth and Sixth Forms through their examinations; as the Rev Maurice Grey would say the "idea of retirement is purely notional!" We also say farewell to Andrew Lloydlangston who replaced Mike Wilcox for two terms.

Joining as a consequence of these departures we welcome Alastair McClure (B.A. Exeter) to take over as Head of Classics; Harry Orr (B.A. London) as Head of Divinity; The Reverend Trevor Harvey (M.A. London) as Chaplain and in the Art Department we have Clifford Davies (B.A. De Montfort). We wish them well and every good fortune during their time at Ellesmere.

The continued growth of Lower School necessitates the appointment of a new form teacher and to that post we welcome Miss Sophia Ashworth (B. Sc Leeds). To her and Mr Andrew Jones we offer our congratulations on the recent announcement of their engagement.

We also offer our congratulations to Mrs Shan Morgan and her husband Jonathan on the birth of their son, William.

With Mrs Shan Morgan and Mrs Mary Smith absent on maternity leave we have re-joining us the Rev. M.W.H.Grey and Mrs Vicki Cox.

Our three gap students from "down under", Lisa Burke, Megan Wraite and Mark Dowling, returned to their respective homelands of Australia and New Zealand at Christmas time (1998). They contributed in many ways to

College life during their stay and we hope that they have happy memories of College to take away with them.

The gap students this year are Kishani Goonewardene (from Australia) and Campbell Barr (from New Zealand). Already they have made an impression on school. They were joined for the Summer Term by David Harvey (from England). David certainly made a permanent mark on the minds of many during his brief stay.

The final days of the Summer Term were saddened by the news of the death of Brian Poll. Brian who had taken early retirement some two years early was one of those people who will be sorely missed for in his quiet unassuming way he was a stalwart, a man on whom you could rely. The funeral address given by the Rev. Maurice Grey is printed below. To Heather, Bruce and Robin we extend our heartfelt sympathy at their sad and all too sudden loss.

Earlier in the year we learnt of the death of Sergeant-major Steve Lowe. He was another stalwart of the community in a different field to Brian, but, nevertheless a man who was totally dependable. We offer our condolences to Alita and her family. The tribute was written by Robin Jagoe who as Officer Commanding the CCF knew Sergeant-Major Lowe well.

JOHN SCORER

An attempt to do justice in the lines allowed to a man whose Ellesmere career spans some three-score years is a bit like going out for dinner and finding there is only time for a quick bite at Macdonald's (though I know that several of the readers of this piece actually prefer the latter option!). John arrived at Ellesmere as many a young man before and since, ready to throw himself into College life, and indeed his deeds on the parade ground and the games field, not to mention the mountains of Snowdonia and elsewhere, are testament to his enthusiasm and energy in those early

years. What fun we had on those

\

Mountaineering Club: meets, often '\

based at Cwm Penmachno, as John led .

the way skilfully up countless climbs (

while your correspondent brought up the ( rear and organised the catering!

In those days there was quite a collection of young colleagues who threw themselves into Ellesmere life, and who formed the

unofficial 'committee' with wine gums and port, and the still functioning 'Broken Reed Club'. Inevitably, career moves and promotion saw the end of the 'committee' ,and JMS was one of the first to move to higher office as he took over Lambart House, remaining there for 17 happy and stimulating years and, along with Pippa, forming more than a few life-long associations.

Throughout this time John was head of the Classics department, forever striving to maintain his subject's relevance and importance in times of academic change. His intellectual input into the life of the College, here, in the Seven Club, and as a widely read and cultured member of Common Room, will be missed. So too will his sense of fun and enjoyment of life, seen not least in his (and Pippa's) input into a string of Common Room plays. As Common Room president John sought to bind his colleagues together as part of what is always seen as a very friendly community, and to maintain a sense of style into our corporate and social lives.

John has remained active to the very end of his teaching career - in his last year he has run a Hockey and a Cricket XI, and refereed a number of rugby matches. He retires also as O.C. of the CCF contingent, and his swan song here is an expedition to the High Atlas Mountains of North Africa. No doubt he will channel his undoubted energies into other roles as he leaves this particular stage, but he will, I am sure, keep in touch as he and Pippa enjoy their years of retirement in their delightful house at Knolton,

KJS

PiPpat.rJ·~scorer with their gift from Common Room, a sundial.

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MIKE WILCOX

Mike brought to everything that he did a tremendous energy and enthusiasm. remember him in particular for the drive he showed when we did Lower School expeditions together. He would organise the boys, find easy routes when we had "misplaced" our location, make sure that we had good buses, cope with people who could not tell their -beris from their -bedr and keep us going when we were becoming tired. Above all else, however, he will be recalled as the man who had the foresight and skill to tum what was one of the College's "derelict" areas into a building for the Art and Craft Departments. From this new edifice he turned out many well-qualified artists for his standards were of the highest and he demanded the best from everyone. We wish him and Sharon and his family the very best for the future.

FATHER JOHN VERNON

John with his wife Sue came to Ellesmere in 1992 after an extensive career in the Armed Forces. He brought his own unique style to

Fathe~ John VernQn

\ \' '.

Chapel services, his Divinity lessons and school life. He was above all else an eminently approachable man who was prepared to give time, attention and care to staff and pupils alike. His Carol Services and Eucharists with their particular and special attention to detail are not easily forgotten.

He will be especially remembered, however, for the energy and enthusiasm which he devoted to various charitable organisations and appeals. In this context we think particularly of Send A Cow, the Shropshire and Mid-Wales Hospice, The Children's Society and Hope House.

In Lent Terms he brought into our midst as a real challenge to us all to share our common life for a week two Franciscans. Their presence caused us to think again about our depth of Christian commitment.

This last year of John's ministry amongst us has had to carry an additional burden for Sue has been seriously ill throughout this time. John's attitude has been as one would expect from a man with such strong beliefs, totally positive. At the same time he has continued to give his guidance and support to all who required it. Their situation has deeply moved all within the College and we give them our continuous prayers as they start their retirement.

CHRISTOPHER JOBSON

Christopher during his time as Head of Divinity and as leader of the weekly Chapel services showed himself as a man of considerable learning and scholarship in matters relating to the early Church. You could always guarantee learning something new about the life of the first Christians from his all too brief comments in morning Chapel. He

was also an authority on the history of Ellesmere and its surroundings and his skills were much in demand when it came to finding out about the more arcane gravestone. He introduced to College a Paranormal Society which was very popular even before the XFiles came to the television screen. Another of his passions was the Morris Minor. He tended his own particular model with loving care and devotion and inculcated many Ellesmerians with a similar love for this marvellous beast.

Although Christopher will be with us for another year on a part time basis, we wish him and his family every good fortune. When the time does come for him to leave College, Christopher's quiet and unassuming manner, and caring, thoughtful attitude for those under his care will be sorely missed.

FUN ERA L

For . .. BRIAN POLL

Brian was a man of many talents and I think that on a sad occasion like this just to recite a catalogue can become impersonal and very tedious, so if I pick out some incidents and leave out others it does not indicate preference or degrees of importance. They are just the occasions which will help me paint a picture of the man. There will be moment of silence later in the service when each of us can thank God for what Brian meant to us.

He was a games player of style and ability - rugby for Gloucestershire in the days when the

ADDRESS

County

Championship

really

meant

stump and there was an enormous appeal from Brian - not out. At the end of the over I waited till he got to my end and enquired what that dreadful appeal was for. "Stopped them running a leg bye," he said to me firmly.

He was a schoolmaster of distinction who in a quiet way exercised a real pastoral ministry as the presence of many of his pupils here today bears witness. His style was quiet, a little laid back, and he had the great advantage of being a pipe smoker. As an ex-pipe smoker myself I can bear witness to the advantage of filling it, prodding it, lighting it and puffing it as you think what you are going to say in a difficult situation. Brian was a past master of this technique. With those in real trouble he was

something, and cricket for many years for Bucks. He was a true competitor who did not like losing. He did not like losing at golf to his eldest son but Bruce assures me that he usually did.

A friend who asked him in the pavilion how he was out received the reply "I have not the slightest idea! You'd better ask the umpire." I was umpiring a close finish in a Common Room cricket match one day with a tight run chase under way. One ball hit the batsman's pads a good six to eight inches outside the leg

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kind, thoughtful, and entirely supportive. but you could not trespass on this. On one occasion a girl was pulling all the female strings at her disposal to explain why she had not done her work - tears and all. Brian endeared himself to all the male members of the set by saying "Shut up! Get a grip and get it done!" That was in a more macho age - things today are probably different. But it is an example of his capacity of producing very quiet one-liners. Two or three years ago I was

Obituary for ... SGT MAJOR STEVE LOWE

Sgt Major Lowe died on 23rd November 1998, three months after his 70th birthday, having been ill since early in the 'year. Steve Lowe came to Ellesmere in April 1979, as School Staff Instructor (SSI) on the retirement of Sgt Major Page. On seeking advice from the CCF Admin. Assistant as to how one found a new SSI, he said, "I know exactly the man you want - just back from Commissioned service in the Oman and previously the RSM at the Depot in Shrewsbury." He also quoted to me as an example of Mr Lowe's administrative competence the occasion that he organized the Weat Midland orienteering competition out on the slopes of Brown Clee Hill and arranged for hot showers, in a large tent, for competitors - and the memory came back to me of the steam and shouts escaping from that tent, on that wet and windy occasion in the early 70s.

Steve Lowe was in the Regular Army from 1947

complaining sadly in the Common Room bar that the Rugby Football Union had made all the techniques I used to teach the College front row illegal. Poll: "They always were."

Then he had a clarity of mind and a gift for order and method that made him so useful as a planner and organiser, and as a peacemaker. He would listen in silence to an argument and at an appropriate moment produce a plan that everyone could accept. This was very useful in a closed Common Room and he was finding it equally useful in village life. For he had already discovered that when you retire people start to fill your life for you. "Now that you've retired I wonder if you would help with ..... " Retirement easily becomes a notional-concept, so he had two years of happy life involving his home, his garden, golf, the mosses, the canal boat, bell-ringing, Rotary, and so on. He might reasonably have expected many more years of the same.

That it was not to be has shocked his many friends and most of all his mother, Heather, Bruce, and Robin, who were so dear to him,

- 1976, mostly in the Royal Artillery. He served in Germany, in Malaya and Borneo during the 'Confrontation with Indonesia, in Northern Ireland, and finally at Shrewsbury Depot. From 1976-79 he was a Captain and Adjutant in the army of the Sultan of Oman.

From the very first weeks we became aware of a capacity for organizing - the CCF stores and weapons, the preparation for kit for summer camp, and the very considerable stores of texts and compo, spades, mugs, KFS and so on for Expeditions every term - all was arranged faultlessly.

As Sgt Major he was in charge of the group of College porters who in these days included some eccentric and elderly characters, but Steve made himself responsible for all their welfare as well as work. On Christmas Eve 1981 he took the CCF LIR to drive Bill Painter home to Bagley Marsh through snowdrifts almost blocking the lanes. One who knew his work in this sphere spoke of seeing him wash the feet of old Bill and said he was one of the most Christian men she knew.

For many years Sgt Major Lowe also supervised the training of the Recruits Company. I was impressed by his manner of treating the younger boys with courtesy and humour, without ever relaxing his own high standards, and one noticed how a squad of cadets would respond when he addressed them with the words, "Now then, gents ... ''. On Expeditions his body of cadets and

and we surround them all with our love and our prayers. May I remind you that the weeks after a funeral are frequently worse for the bereaved than the days before it. It is then that help is often needed most.

So the time has come to say "Goodbye." That means literally "God be with you and it is a theme of parting that is common to human beings everywhere. The French say "Adieu" and the Spanish say "Adios" which mean exactly the same thing. When we say goodbye to someone we commend them to God. But there is also a second strand to saying goodbye which carries an additional meaning. The French say "Au revoir" and the Germans .. Aufwiedersehen, in English the somewhat banal "See you." Partings always have these two elements "Go with God" and "We will see you again." To a Christian congregation that applies particularly to the parting we call death.

So be with God, Brian. In due time we shall see you again.

M.W.H.G.

NCOs would be camped in Yamest Wood, or the fields north of Welsh amp ton or at Nesscliff, also even on the South Shropshire Hills near Knighton, or over the Long Mynd, engaged in intricate and demanding schemes.

One remembers his versatility - driving the Green Goddess overnight to Scotland and repairing its exhaust at the roadside - with a baked beans tin, training the CCF Band for Remembrance Day, seeing to their drill, their music, the drums and even the white gloves. I also remember how a situation of danger brought out the steel in his character -watching him at the helm of a launch on Loch Nevis in mountainous seas, coaxing the outboard engine, and judging the waves to get the launch with its cargo of loads, and people ashore.

In 1992 Stove Lowe retired as Sgt Major for the College, but happily remained in Ellesmere with his wife Alita. He became the Secretary of the local British Legion, and mainstay of all its elderly veterans, organizing its parades at Ellesmere Church with impeccable style. He turned his hand to beekeeping and became an expert and instructor in that skill. In his modest and unassuming manner he was aware that he could do a better job than most people, and in his last days, when his daughters asked him some questions as to how the Legion should assist, he bestirred himself and said, "So you even want me to organize my own bloody funeral! ... " Robin Jagoe

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HEADMASTER'S SPEECH

Custos, Ladies and Gentleman, I have to admit that I have never really enjoyed preparing for

Speech Day. It is difficult to understand precisely why: I quite enjoy speaking on the occasion - probably more than you enjoy listening to me anyway - and I always feel once the speech is written that I am quite happy to deliver it. The real problem for me

appears to be that I have as one of my primary purposes

to review the year and - I am pleased to report - its many successes.

I have decided - a phrase a Headmaster always enjoys using - that you should be pleased that I show such reluctance, as it arises primarily from the fact that, for the purposes of this speech, I have to wrench myself out of my normal way of operating and look backwards rather than forwards. Frankly any headmaster who prefers looking back to looking forwards these days is going to land his school in a mess very quickly.

The great Danish philosopher - not a phrase one hears very often - Soren Kierkegaard, observed that "life can only be understood backwards but it must be lived forwards". At times even this seems to me to be an overly optimistic statement: I'm not confident of my ability to understand life in any direction: fortunately, however, I enjoy it, which I suspect is rather more important.

Life at Ellesmere College is not entirely understandable at times. I am sure, but I believe that for those of us - pupils and staff - who live ami work here it is usually stimulating and enjoyable. I imagine that the most stimulating event this week for many of us here has been a particular football match - which gave the new TV projector screen in the Arts Centre an opportunity to show its worth. I watched the game in question at home in the company of my five year old son: this was the first sports event he has sat through and he is now burdened with the unfortunate belief that his team will always win, usually preposterously in the final minutes. However, this belief is not as unusual at his age as one of the other basic tenets of his life: Hugh believes that he is destined to inherit Ellesmere College. Given that my father is not a Headmaster I can only assume that he believes I hold my current position by right of conquest. He reassures me that he is not over-anxious to take his inheritance through my demise as there are various computer games we have not yet played together - it is good to have one's uses.

My report this year - for me at least - takes on added relevance therefore as I assess the state of my son's inheritance.

One of the most basic measures of a school's success - in very crude terms - relates to pupil numbers. In a year when pupil numbers in comparable schools nationally fell by 5% - and in some cases by much more than that - College numbers have continued to rise. In the last two years the College pupil roll has grown by just under 20%: I am told by no less an authority than the BBC that we are the fastest-growing independent school in the country.

The most visible manifestation of this growth is. of course. the new Lower School building. which is - I hope you will agree - beginning to look very impressive. With the opening of that building comes a much wider reorganisation of the College which includes more space for hoarders and better facilities for day boys and day girls along with improved facilities for the Geography, English and Music departments.

All of this growth takes a great deal of planning as I am sure you appreciate. I am very grateful to my colleagues who have played a significant and - at times - highly time-consuming part in this planning.

while still managing successfully their many commitments to extracurricular life here - not to mention their teaching.

It seems a very long time now since last August when the GCSE and A level results came out. It would be fair to say that we were very pleased with last year's examination candidates. The GCSE pass rate rose again to make an increase of 5% in two years; the A level pass rate also rose to the highest the College has recorded, marking an increase over two years of just under 10%. I hope that this year's exam candidates can keep up the good work.

Academic achievement distinct from the public exams is more difficult to quantify during the year, but this year has been notable for mathematical successes. with three College pupils achieving Gold Certificates in the Senior National Mathematics Challenge. At the Middle School level we produced an astonishing 39 Mathematics Challenge certificate winners.

Team sports have again played an important part in the life of the College. For the boys the "star" year group team has been the Ul5 rugby side which had an excellent year. The U 15 Sevens won our own invitation tournament - which attracts schools from all over the north and midlands and represents a very high standard. The Ul5 Sevens A side also won the North Shropshire tournament although they narrowly pushed a very good side into second place: the Ellesmere Ul5 Sevens B side. The U15 squad also had an enjoyable and successful Irish tour to mark a successful year.

Higher up the age range, six pupils were selected to represent the County and Jonathan Meldrum did particularly well to be selected for the North Midlands XV who enjoyed an unbeaten season.

For the girls there were a number of very strong individual performances but special mention must go to the U 14 girls' hockey team who had an excellent season and finished top of seven local schools in the North Shropshire tournament. Two members of that U 14 team were selected for the County this year.

The athletics season has got off to a very good start despite variable weather and a number of notable successes have been recorded. Chris Allinson is Greater Manchester County champion in the Javelin event, while Richard Barclay is Warwickshire Junior Men's Champion in the 100m sprint event. At a younger level there were five first places for Ellcsmerians at the English Schools competition in Telford and in the County Combined events championship College teams finished first in all

year groups.

Moving away from the traditional team sports there have been some outstanding performances this year.

Shooting continues to enjoy huge success at the College. The most notable group achievement this year has been that of the Lower School team which entered the National Prep Schools Competition and won the Lord Lloyd Shield. while at an individual level Robert Jagger and David Hillier have represented their country on the international stage.

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Sam Lyons - who turned 15 in January - has excelled in the world of canoeing. He is currently ranked 5th for all ages in Wales and has finished champion in the Welsh UI4 and UI6 categories this year. He is an increasingly regular fixture in the British canoeing team: he is not here today but is instead in Geneva competing in the Swiss international slalom event.

Also on the water, sailing has enjoyed a successful season so far. The College team are through to the National Finals of the British Schools competition to be held in Kent in July and Ed Wingett won first prize in the UI8 category for his sailing in the Shropshire Sailing Club's Laser Class earlier this month. In the summer Katy Simpson and Mr Simpson will be taking part in this year's tall ships race on a 55 foot yacht.

Continuing with the outdoor theme and looking ahead, Chris Lipson has been selected as one of only eight to go on the British Schools' Exploration Society millennium expedition to Antarctica over four months early next year. I look forward to his return as I am sure he will have quite a tale to tell. I shall also be interested to see how long it takes to catch up on four months of missed prep.

Heading to warmer climes are the CCF group who will be climbing the Atlas Mountains in Morocco in the summer. The Gold Duke of Edinburgh group will repeat last year's successful canoeing trip down the Dordogne; and there will also be an expedition to Guyana: this was originally planned for Kalimantan in Indonesia but the political instability in that country has lead to us finding a new destination.

Less strenuous - one imagines - but just as valuable have been the annual History Department Battlefields trip and the European Awareness group's visit to Bruges and Brussels.

Returning to the theme of competitions for a moment this year has been a highly successful one for our more business-minded pupils. Tom Seward and Mark Powell dominated the Birmingham Post-Merrill Lynch investment competition, holding first place for longer than any other team; unfortunately they slipped at the end and missed out on the first prize of an all-expenses paid trip to New York.

A team of five Lower Sixth Formers have qualified for the quarter finals of the Proshare National Investment Competition, while at a more local level one College team has dominated the Oswestry Rotary Club

PRIZE LIST

PRE FOUNDATION R.A.simms
FOUNDATION A K.T.Eisenstein
FOUNDATION B J .A.A.Thompson
FORM lA H.R.wood
FORM IB T.M.Unwin
FORM IC P.F.Barker
FORM 2A A.A.Mackellar
FORM 2B V.E.Crawcour
FORM 2C K.E.V.Hughes
Lower School Prizes C.LJones
EJ.walker
THIRD FORM
D.Band Physics
D.M.Blake Design
DJ.ElIison Latin
8 Investment Competition. From an initial investment of £10,000 they now hold £16,000 of assets and are almost 50% ahead of the second-placed team. I suspect that the only regret of these star investors is that the money is not real!

At an even more unusual level of competition - and possibly an amusing one depending upon one's sense of humour - Gareth Lay carried off the West Midlands Rotary Prize for Innovation. His design "Sheep Positioner for Rear End Shaving" enables sheep to be held firmly so that they may be shorn more efficiently and with less risk of injury to either the shepherd or the sheep. In addition to a monetary prize Gareth won a place at Pershore Business School for a short course on business awareness.

Musical and dramatic activities have been as frequent as ever this year.

Following on from last year's Royal Albert Hall Celebration for the 150th Anniversary of the founding of the first Woodard School came celebrations in Lichfield Cathedral for the l25th Anniversary of the Founding of the first Woodard School in the Midlands. College musicians played a major part in the success of that event.

Two of last year's leavers have taken the first steps towards musical careers. Richard Saunders is studying composition at the Birmingham Conservatoire, and Gwilym Edwards enjoyed the luxury of an unconditional offer of a place to study singing at the Royal Northern College of Music.

At a younger level Charlotte Ashbridge has completed her GCSE Music while still in the Third Form, and Jenny Scarisbrick has gained a place to study at the Junior School of the Birmingham Conservatoire. Jenny plays regularly in the National Children's Orchestra and has won a place - against fierce competition - in the main lAPS prep schools' orchestra.

And on top of all those successes there have been an unusually large number of very high quality scores in the Associated Board music exams this year.

On a dramatic front we have seen some excellent productions. The plays of Samuel Beckett are not easy fare and are not normally taken on by school actors. This in itself would make the staging of the demanding Endgame something of an achievement, but even to put the production in

J.M.Evans

Divinity, English, History, German, Maths, Chemistry, Biology, & Art Information Technology

Graph. Communications

Music

French

J.M.Hazan

J .McLaughlan C.p.wapshott S.M.Watts

FOURTH FORM.

A.T.Cole D.R.Evans R.S.Evans L.E.Hulbert A.Lea

Design History

Graph. Communications English

Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology & Art

P.E

French

Divinity & Geography Business Studies

F.Levitt A.Millward-Hopkins N.V.Potter

S .P.Rossi ter

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that context fails to recognise it for the considerable success it was. Last term was dominated by Grease. With an enormous cast and some impressive production values it proved to be a hugely popular show. And only last week saw a very enjoyable production of Farquahar's The Recruiting Officer. It was our tum to act as hosts earlier this year in our drama exchange relationship with actors from Tabor Academy in Massachusetts - who produced an enjoyable and interesting piece.

The dramatic arts were also represented through the College's long tradition of competition and exam entries for varieties of public speaking. In January twenty-three pupils were awarded LAMDA certificates in a variety of categories, with Kate Colton receiving a Silver Medal and Philippa Bullock winning two Gold Medals.

College pupils - as usual - dominated the Chester Festival with two in particular shining. Ben Willis finished first in the Solo Drama Category and second in Solo Shakespeare, while David Brighouse finished first in the Solo Shakespeare and second in the Solo Drama.

We were all very pleased to hear that Lower Sixth Former Andrew Bainbridge has been offered a place with the National Youth Theatre for this summer.

With all this pupil success going on the College has continued to develop and add further to the opportunities here. Lacrosse and yoga have joined the list of activities this year and I am delighted to report on the revival of the College Chess club. The house chess competition was well-contested and we entered a team into the Shropshire League.

At a curricular level the introduction of Spoken English lessons into the Lower School timetable has been a great success and will prove of considerable benefit to all the pupils involved.

At the opposite end of the College from the Lower School we have introduced three new A levels - Psychology, Electronics and Accounting - through the medium of videoconferencing. So far as I am aware we are the first independent school in the country to operate this scheme, and we are happy that it is working very successfully.

Developments for next year include a revitalisation of the College's laptop scheme - this time in conjunction with Microsoft - and the likely

introduction of the extremely expensive but equally effective Success maker integrated learning software to support and accelerate the development of pupils in English, Mathematics and the Sciences.

At the Sixth Form level we will be introducing optional Microsoft Office User Certification; this will be a very useful qualification. Again, I believe we will be the first independent school in the country to offer this qualification.

Within the more orthodox curriculum we are introducing GCSE Drama and A level Politics to add to the very wide menu of choices for GCSE and A level already on offer.

I have mentioned already the building of a new Lower School and the consequent development. I will not go on about it as, of all the changes, it is the most obvious. I will say, however, that it is a tribute to the success and hard work of the teachers here that we are in a position to expand in this way. This is probably as good a place as any - when the College Council cannot actually get at me - to admit that Lower School numbers are growing even more rapidly than planned and we have had to rethink our use of some of the rooms to ensure that we can fit all the classes we will have in there next year. As it happens the reorganisation has not been difficult which is just as well -it would have been deeply embarrassing to spend £Im on an enormous building like that only to discover that it wasn't big enough!

Change is an inevitable feature of life and - so far as the College is concerned - it is clearly an agent for continuous improvement. One area of change which is never welcome but which we have to acknowledge at this time of the year is that relating to members of the teaching staff who are leaving or have left the College.

We said goodbye to Mr Mike Wilcox earlier in the year as he took early retirement on medical grounds. Known chiefly for running an outstanding Art Department, Mr Wilcox listed amongst his recent achievements the updating of the College's promotional video, so his influence will be felt for a good time yet.

We have been fortunate to have the services of Mr Andrew L1oydlangston to teach in the Art Department following Mr Wilcox's departure. Although only with us for just over two terms Mr L1oydlangston has

R.M.A.Sampson Latin A LConway-Wallace LT.
C.E.Simpson Music & German S.EDunn Theatre Studies
FIFTH FORM N .M .Eisenstien Chemistry
J .T.Brassington Geography & Physics R.M.Furniss P.E
Z.L.B.Clarke Business Studies P.M .Griffiths Business Studies
R.J.Churnside Chemistry V.F.Heale Geography
I.F.M .Fletcher Biology & Music L.H.Howitt-Dring Divinity
J.M.Fyrth Maths W.W.Leung Biology
C.N.C .Halstead Design S.H.Packham P.E
L.N .Hickman English, History, French & German G.P.Rogers Design
B WJ .Hildick Graph.Communications Y.Shin Art
N.R.Slater Art H.R.F.Spiegelberg Music
S.P.H.Swift P.E A.MWillis Maths & Physics
J.K.Wood Divinity
UPPER SIXTH
LOWER SIXTH D.M.Brighouse Spanish
CLBean P.E A.R.Corfield Music
AJ.Brown English & History A.NDenney Divinity
K.S.Churms French 1.D.Fyrth Physics & Chemistry
9 The

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1 999

impressed everyone who has met him with his positive attitude to life at the College and his Willingness to get involved.

Father John Vernon has made an enormous contribution to College life as a Chaplain, a teacher, and a colleague. The support he has given many pupils and adult members of the community has been valued and appreciated more than he knows, I suspect. We wish John and Sue all the very best in their retirement. We will miss them both.

We say goodbye also to Mr Chris Jobson who relinquishes the post of Head of Divinity at the end of this term. However, he is quite aware that I don't intend actually allowing him to leave but will be dragging him back to continue in a reduced teaching capacity next term.

Mr John Scorer has never risen to my attempts to bait him: I have reminded him on several occasions that when he began his career at Ellesmere College I was three years old, but - quite rightly - this fact has never troubled him. His imperturbability may have something to do with the fact that he is clearly considerably fitter than I am. I mentioned earlier that the CCF will be climbing the High Atlas Mountains this summer:

John will be leading that expedition. In his time at Ellesmere John has been a Housemaster, Head of Department, President of the Common Room and Commanding Officer in the CCF - not to mention his many coaching activities. We will miss him greatly, but look forward to keeping in touch with him and Pippa.

I hope that you will join me in applauding all that these colleagues have done for Ellesmere College and in wishing them well for the future.

Amongst the many changes one which I am now working on - at last - is a new prospectus. I have been seeing a number of companies as part of the process of selecting with whom we wish to work and one company in particular has clearly found me exasperating to work with. I can imagine various colleagues muttering at this point, "so what else is new?"

The reason for the prospectus designer's exasperation arises from the fact that I have been incapable of answering the questions "which facts do you want to emphasise" and "which facilities do you want to highlight" in the proposed new prospectus. The reason I have been so difficult is that I don't really want to talk about facts or facilities at all. The facts of Ellesmere College are - as I have listed - extremely impressive; so, I

J .M.C.Lindstrand A.Mackay S.F.Moore L.E.Noble D.H.Pinches S.R.L.Purcell T.R.Seward

French Maths

Theatre Studies PE

Biology

Design

Information Technology & Business Studies

Art

English & History Latin & German

A.D.wadlow K.R.Watts

C.S .Wilkinson

SPECIAL PRIZES

Art

Hollway Trophy for Design Public Speaking

Drama

L.E.Noble. A.L.Conway-Wallace B.P.A.willis. P.1.Bullock

10

believe, are the facilities. But that is not the point. The facts of Ellesmere and the facilities help but they are not what go to make this school the success it so clearly is. Ellesmere College is fundamentally a community where individuals are valued for themselves - not for the achievements they can bring to the school. Saying that is one thing, but words really can't capture the essence of Ellesmere.

You can see how waffle like this might annoy a literal-minded prospectus designer. However, the prospectus designer in question is nothing if not persistent and decided to ask me a new question: "if it is not about facts and it is not about facilities, what would you say to persuade someone to place their child in Ellesmere College?"

Well that is a much better question although what I might say is not the most important thing. But what would I say?

Well, the first thing I would say is that however much Ellesmere College matters to me it pales into insignificance when set against my family. Although, Anne, my long-suffering wife may well doubt that at times - particularly when I woke her up at 4.30 this morning as I went to bed having just finished writing this speech.

A denial of the importance of the job one does doesn't seem very persuasive or confidence-inspiring coming from a Headmaster. However, that is just the first thing I would say.

I would go on to say that the most important thing in my career is to stay as Headmaster of Ellesmere College - not because I love my job, which I do, nor because of my lavish salary, which it isn't - but because I can then send my children to school here and they can grow up in this environment, with these children and these teachers.

That is the best anyone can say and I can say it honestly, knowing a lot of schools: there is no other school in the country I would want my children to attend, but that is not to do with facts or facilities; it is to do with people. Everyone here is part of the Ellesmere community which is so special. I thank our parents in particular for the support you give us, and the trust you place in us in allowing us to educate your children.

B.J. Wignall

Mark Willis Science Prize Gray Divinty Prize

Keith Smith Historical Essay Lovel English Lit.Prize Jebson Shield

Garnett Prize Music Composition

J.D.Fyrth A.N.Denney. A.1.Brown.

L.H .Howitt -Dring. Form IB C.V.Ashbridge

Services to the Choir D.M.Brighouse.

Tony Chums ide Music Technology Prize C.1.Snow.

Vocal Music Instrumental Music

Marsh Cup, Musician of Year Gledhill O.E.Prize for Initiative Sportsman of the Year Headmaster's Prize

R.A.Mitchem. A.R.Corfield. A.R.Corfield. C.N.Lipson T.H.Pearson S.F.Moore. D.H.Pinches.

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Although Derry has a tradition of academic strength but sporting under achievement, its final year proved to be more balanced. Dealing with the academic matters first of all, results in external examinations were again highly creditable. The top performer at A-level was J. D. Fyrth, who gained three 'As'and a 'B', plus a 'B' at A1S level. He also won a Bronze Award in a The National Physics Olympiad run by Kent University. GCSE results were particularly pleasing, with J Brassington and J M Fyrth leading the way with A *s in six subjects each. Members of Derry featured prominently on Speech Day, with J. D. Fyrth and A. J. Brown distinguishing themselves by winning 3 prizes each.

The competitive year began with singing, in which we gave enthusiastic renditions of YMCA and Bohemian Rhapsody. Both were ambitious projects for a house with problems finding practice time. Neither sufficiently impressed the adjudicator to win a trophy, but the performances were very enjoyable. In November Derry was placed second overall in the Rugby Festival. The seniors, captained by J. P. Hedgecoe, gave a good account of themselves in each match, but key absences due to injury severely weakened their challenge. The Inters were captained by A. A. Broadwood, who led his side to a creditable second place, whilst A. R. Houston picked up the winner's trophy for the Juniors, who won all their matches by a large margin.

The number of competitions in the Lent Term has increased in recent years, and the House was certainly kept busy. Squash was organised by S. A. Woodward, who led the Senior V to victory in an exciting final against Meynell, the favourites. The Juniors did well to reach the final, where only J Toogood managed to win a rubber against a strong Wakeman V. G. H. F. Maxfield was captain of Cross-Country, in which we did well in all the relay events; coming second at Seniors and Inters, and first in the Junior race. Both Inters and Juniors were second overall after the main races. In February the Rugby Sevens Competition was a replay of November, with the inters placed second and the Juniors winning all matches easily. In the closing stages of the term Soccer and Hockey Tournaments were held at Senior and Junior level. In the former we were third in both competitions whilst we lost to Meynell in both hockey finals. The Junior Final was particularly exciting, with a 'golden' goal deciding the issue in extra time.

The Summer Term brought further success at racquet sports, with C. N. Lipson leading the Senior Tennis VI to a convincing triumph, whilst the Juniors were runners up. We were not fancied in either cricket competition, and were duly eliminated in the semi-finals at both levels. The annual Athletics Championships proved to be an excellent competition this year. G. P. Rogers is to be commended for his hard work in preparing the House teams. The Juniors were strong on the

track, with two wins for A Banks at middle distance and one for 1. C. Mullock in the 100m. However we were disappointing in field events, with the exception of the shot where A. R. Houston and D. 1. Ellison were first and second respectively. The Inters Competition was particularly close, with only 23 points separating all four houses at the end. Our only individual winner was D. R. Evans in the 1500m, but there were a number of high placings. The appearance of 1. A. Granger (tied up in an examination for most of the afternoon) for the 4 x 400m relay brought a victory here too. G. P. Rogers ran well in the senior sprints, but we were never a threat at this level. Towards the end of term we all took to the water. R. E. Wingett and T. R. Seward were too strong for all comers in the sailing, and we easily retained the cup. The senior swimmers acquitted themselves well, whilst the juniors, captained by M. S. Broadwood, allowed the House to bow out with a splendid victory on the final Friday of its last term.

DERRY

Housemaster:

Ass. Housemaster:

Tutors:

Captain of House:

Housemother:

G. Hutchinson, Esq. W. C. Newbold, Esq. D. S. Arkieson, Esq. A. P. Corish, Esq. Mrs S. A. Hooper

I. M. Scorer, Esq.

D. T.Walker, Esq.

M. 1. Wilcox, Esq .. W. D. Brereton

Mrs P. Clubbe

11

Space does not permit me to list the very many notable individual achievements by Derry boys that have occurred this year, but of particular note are the fine achievements in international canoeing of S. Lyons, who competes well above his age group for Great Britain; and the selection of C. N. Lipson for the South Atlantic Millennium Expedition, which takes him away for four months next year. Jonathan Stubbs gave a remarkable performance on guitar in the music competition just a few short months after his traffic accident. We look forward to his continuing recovery.

As the Derry chapter draws to a close, on behalf of myself and boys past and present I should like to express our gratitude for the sterling work done over the years by Assistant Housemaster, Mr W. C. Newbold, the tutor team and Pat Clubbe, the housekeeper. The excellent spirit maintained in the House has had much to do with their hard work and commitment. Two tutors, Mr J. M. Scorer and Mr M. J. Wilcox, have 'hung up their boots' after many years of good service, and we wish them a long and happy retirement. We are also grateful to Mr D. T. Walker, who has helped us out as a tutor for one year, despite his heavy workload elsewhere. The rest of the team will be staying together in Talbot, where we will be joined by newcomers to the College, Mr A. McClure and Mr H. Orr.

Finally I would like to wish the best of fortune to the retiring UVI, who have provided the House with such splendid leadership in its final year. In particular I would like to thank House Captain, W. D. Brereton, who has been unstinting in his care for House affairs and unwavering in his enthusiasm for House competitions, for all of his hard work. Leavers:- H. H. Bolton, W. D. Brereton, J Brydson. J. D. Fyrth, R. F. Galloway. J. A. Granger. J. P. Hedgecoe, P. K. O. Hughes, C. R. Jardine, T. C. Lewis, J. E. O. Purcell. J. W. J. Purcell, S. R. L. Purcell. T. R. Seward, F. G. Walters, R. E. Wingett.

G.H.

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MEYNELL

Housemaster:

M.D.T.Sampson, Esq.

Assistant Housemaster: R.A.Yarrow, Esq. Tutors: N.M.Blake, Esq.

C.Moir, Esq. C.D.Richmond, Esq. J.A.Brodie, Esq.

T.Pearson

Captain of House:

Housemother:

Mrs E.Sumner.

12

North Shropshire competitions. Sam Swift made the Welsh White Water Slalom squad and Ben Willis, signing off on a high, gained this Gold Lamda Award.On the musical front we were well represented in the instrumental competition with Alex Bullen, Bertie Spiegelberg and Kit Wapshott in particular performing to a high standard. Meanwhile the college ensemble, "One Foot Vertigo", were producing a very professional recording at studios in Oswestry, Bertie Spiegelberg, Chris Snow and Dan Perkins constituting three quarters of the group. The term's play offered another opportunity for those of a thespian persuasion and Sam Watson Jones took the lead, ably supported by others from Meynell including Adam Willis, Ben Willis and Richard Sampson. Back stage the dynamic duo of Paul Griffiths and Chris Snow saw to it that the technical side went well. The House Athletics took place on a rather damp Saturday just before half term . The Seniors came a creditable second to Wakeman Lambart, a strong side finally working its way through to the top after the houses were combined a couple of years ago. Somehow it had escaped our attention but Meynell did hold the Senior Athletics trophy for six consecutive years! The Intermediates found the going tough but the Juniors recorded another win to promise much for the future. In both Inters and Juniors we won the Victor Ludorum in the persons of Richard Oakes and Sam Watson Jones respectively. The Junior cricket competition allowed our cricketers to finish in style with another win whilst everyone in the third and forth forms contributed to our retaining the Athletics Standards Cup for the twelth year in thirteen. Speech day brought recognition for many in the House, particularly the Lower Sixth. Adam Willis, apart from prizes in Maths and Physics, also landed the opportunity for a visit to CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory. Ben Willis' contribution to public speaking was recognised as was Tom Pearson's to sport as he was awarded Sportsman of the Year.

MEYNELL

As another year began Meynell was pleased to welcome Mr James Brodie as our

new "living in" tutor, CM having moved to the more palatial accommodation afforded by the Nankivel block. We were greatly heartened to hear that Andrew Lewis had secured a place at Downing College Cambridge to read Engineering. Tom Pearson took up the reins as Captain of House and together with Mark Powell and Adam Wadlow made up our contribution to the list of School Prefects. Everyone got down to work be it academic, sporting or cultural and the term started purposefully.

That old favourite, the House Singing Competition was soon occupying our thoughts and several of our evenings. As is our tradition we were most entertaining. The "Lumberjack Song" involved bringing down more than just "the house", but whoever decides who wins this competition overlooked us again! The sporting competition of the term was the House Rugby lO's. Our Intermediate team was particularly powerful and won their section at a canter. The Juniors put up a plucky display before going down to Derry in the final whilst the Seniors were leading with only seconds to go before a defensive lapse gave Woodard (the old enemy!) the chance to snatch victory. We had to be satisfied with the overall title.

The Lent Term was as busy as always. Interest in financial matters was kindled as Mark Powell was one of the Ellesmere Team leading the Birmingham Post Investment Challenge whilst Paul Griffiths and others were similarly leading in the Oswestry Rotary Club competition. Adam Wadlow rode the odd point to point but, despite all these temptations, the House Fund remained securely in the hands of Lloyds Bank p.l.c! The dramatic talent in the House featured both infront and behind the scenes in the college performance of "Grease", Meynell still providing the majority of technical back up to Arts Centre events. Five members of the fourth fonn joined the U 15 XV on their short tour to Ireland, obviously returning in good form as the Inters won the Rugby Sevens whilst the Juniors again reached the final. We lost our grip on the Senior Squash cup this year but Robert Furniss won the individual championship. Adrian Spinner marshalled the troops to good effect to achieve joint top spot in the chess competition so a new trophy has graced the shelves. The session finished in a real flurry of competition as Meynell proved well able to stand the pace winning both Senior Football and Junior Football as well as Senior Hockey and Junior Hockey, a super end to the term,

The Summer Term started promisingly with a win in the Senior Cricket, our first for a few years, and a significant representation in the XI. Several individuals gained representative honours in cricket-Huw Thomas, Elliot Rowe and Sam Watson Jones, whilst Peter Tomley did well in tennis and Elliot, again, in athletics in the various

As the term comes to a conclusion we say goodbye to our leavers and thank them for their contribution over the years. We hope that they will keep in touch as they further their education at university or, as in the case of most, in a year out abroad. Several of the House will be setting out for an adventure in Guyana this summer with the Schools' Challenge. We wish them well and hope that the inoculations prove to have been just a precaution!

When we recommence in September it will be with a new Assistant Housemaster in Mr Darren Richmond, Richard Yarrow having returned to the ranks of the tutors after some five years of service, we thank him most sincerely for his efforts in that role. Similarly we thank others for their work on the House, ECS and the tutors in particular. In exciting times at Ellesmere we too look forward to another successful year.

Valete: A. D. Bell, T. H. Pearson, M. R.1. Powell, G. W. Shropshire, A. Spinner, O. R. Thomas, A. T. Wadlow, B. PA Willis,I. Doshi, A J. Garvin. M.D.T.S.

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Twenty-five Lower VIth form girls joined St Oswald's this year; sixteen were newcomers to the College and nine came up from St Aidan's, five of whom had been former members of St Oswald's as third formers in Ellesmere's first year of co-education. With the help and support of our delightful Upper Vlth, they quickly settled in and soon established themselves as a gregarious and talented group. The result has been a very successful year with all girls contributing positively to the life of both House and College in one way or another. With Lynne Abson as Captain of House and a College Prefect, Sarah Moore - Head Girl and Anna Corfield, Kirsten McGuire and Lizzy Tomley, all College Prefects, we could be sure of some strong management from within the House. Lynne Abson has been unfailingly cheerful and good-natured and the House has thrived under her effective leadership. Congratulations to Lynne Abson, Anna Corfield and Lucie Noble on being awarded their House Colours during the course of the year. Anna was also presented with the Hutchinson Cup for Outstanding Contribution to the Community at the end of the year.

Over half the members of the House have featured on the work prize lists in the last three terms with Lynne Abson gaining the top prize in her year group in both the Michaelmas and Lent Terms. Holly Howitt-Dring and Amber Conway-Wallace gained very high averages in the Summer Term thereby jointly winning the top work prize in their year group. Speech Day saw a significant number of St Oswald's girls gain prizes in a wide range of subjects. From the Upper Vlth - Anna Corfield (Music), Jenny Lindstrand (French), Sarah Moore (Theatre Studies), Lucie Noble (PE), Katie Watts (English & History) and Shan Wilkinson (Latin & German) and in the Lower VI - Clare Bean (PEl. Kate Churms (French), Amber ConwayWallace (IT), Stephanie Dunn (Theatre Studies), Violet Heale (Geography), Holly Howitt-Dring (Divinity) and Steph Packham (PE). Special Awards were made to Lucie Noble (Art) Amber Conway-Wallace (The Hollway Trophy for Design), Phillipa Bullock (Drama), Holly Howitt-Dring (The Lovell English Literature Prize), Rachel Mitchem (Vocal Music), Anna Corfield (Instrumental Music and the Marsh Cup for Musician of the Year) and Sarah Moore (Headmaster's Prize).

Life in St Oswald's is not, however, "all work and no play" as might be imagined by the range of academic achievements listed above - far from it! We have a lively and talented group of girls in both year groups who have contributed enormously in a wide range of activities including drama, public speaking, music, sport and outdoor pursuits. The 1998 House Singing Competition was a resounding success for St Oswald's, amongst whom are some very

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talented singers. Anna Corfield's and Lucie Noble's hard work in rehearsing the House certainly paid off and we were the proud winners of both Unison and Part Songs, a tremendous achievement which certainly leaves us with a lot to live up to in future competitions! The partsong was a particularly beautiful "tingle-factor" arrangement of "I Dreamed a Dream" from "Les Miserables" which the girls performed again in the Last Night of the Proms Concert in the Lent Term to a packed audience.

In November six members of the House took part in the Business & Professional Women's Speaking Competition. Sarah Moore, Jenny Lindstrand and Katie Watts from Upper VI made up one team and Kate Churms, Stephanie Dunn and Rachel Walker from Lower VI formed another. They all enjoyed the experience and Rachel Walker did extremely well to gain a trophy for the best Vote of Thanks. Phillipa Bullock deserves special mention for gaining a LAMDA acting qualification and a Distinction in the LAMDA Gold Medal in Verse and Prose. She also achieved a Distinction, along with Kate Churms and Holly Howitt-Dring in the English Speaking Board exam.

Drama has played an important part in the lives of several House members. "Endgame" by Samuel Beckett was staged in the Autumn and both Rachel Mitchem and Phillipa Bullock gave powerful performances. The major production in the Lent Term was the musical "Grease" with its large cast. Rachel Mitchem, Stephanie Dunn, Kate Colton, Steph Packham and Phillipa Bullock were superb in their leading roles, whilst Clare Bean, Emily-Jane Edwards, Katherine Morris and Katie Watts enjoyed smaller parts. In the Summer Term, Jess Bailey, Kate Churms, Amber Conway-Wallace, EmilyJane Edwards and Holly Howitt-Dring all starred in "The Recruiting Officer" and again, gave excellent performances. Other House Members have been key members of back-stage teams in the various productions and Zoe Hatch certainly deserved her award for services to drama which she received at

the end of year

Assembly. Kate

Colton passed auditions for a place in the

National Youth

Theatre in

Manchester and is currently enjoying a summer drama course with them.

Rachel

ST OSWALD'S

Housemaster& Housemistress:

Assistant Housemistress:

Tutor: Mrs R. C. Ashley

Captain of House: L. E. Abson

Housemother: Mrs I. Parry

Mr & Mrs C. H. Deakin

Mrs M. J. Smith

House BBQ - July '99 Phillipa Bullock, Edwina Grosvenor, Rachel Mitchem. Gabby Dickinson.

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enabled us to hold our end of year Strawberry & Champagne party in the House gardens. We were delighted that almost all our Upper VI managed to return from exam leave to attend our House Barbecue at the swimming pool; again, the weather was excellent and the girls thoroughly enjoyed being able to cool off in the pool!

The year has genuinely been a very happy one and the girls have been great company in the House. Perhaps their energy and enthusiasm for life is infectious and that this is what keeps our

tutor team so young at heart, at least! We

have some happy news concerning House Staff, past and present - Rachel Reynolds, our delightful resident tutor last year has successfully completed her PGCE in York and is to take up her first teaching post in the English Department at Bromsgrove in September. Rachel is to be married on 31st July to Hamish Duncan, a Veterinary Surgeon and CHD will be the organist for their wedding service. Mrs Mary Smith is taking maternity leave for the next two terms and we look forward to welcoming baby Smith into the world in November! I am sure there will be no shortage of willing baby-sitters! We cannot thank the members of our team, Carol Ashley and Mary Smith enough for their hard work and willing support. Isobel, who really is a "second Mum" to 40-plus girls deserves more praise than it is possible to give and we are most grateful to Lynne for her friendly presence and for keeping St O's spick-and-span.

We bid a very fond farewell to our Upper VI leavers: Lynne Abson, Laura Allmark, Joanna Blackburn, Anna Corfield, Vicki Dowdall, Jenny Lindstrand, Kirsten McGuire, Sarah Moore, Lucie Noble, Annie Roberts, Nicola Sanders, Jenny Tanous, Lizzy Tomley, Katie Watts, Shan Wilkinson and Marilyn Wong. They are an extremely gifted group of girls and we wish them all every success and happiness in the future.

D.J.D.

Mitchem is also a member of the National Youth Music Theatre, although she is currently on tour in the USA with the National Youth Choir.

Several of our gifted musicians have performed regularly in concerts and recitals during the course of the year. Rachel Mitchem, a superb contralto, gave stunning solo performances in the Ellesmere Choral Society'S Last Night of the Proms Concert, the Schulze Recital and the Peter Messenger Memorial Recital. Kate Colton has delighted audiences with performances of Songs from the Shows in various concerts throughout the year. Anna Corfield, Senior Music Scholar, gave talented performances in the Messenger Recital singing a Gershwin song and playing the Albinoni's Concerto in D minor on the oboe. She is also Head Chorister, a versatile flautist and saxophonist and has made an enormous contribution to the musical life of the College during the last four years. Many members of St Oswald's form the backbone of the soprano and alto lines of the Chapel Choir and we have been treated to some wonderful anthems during the course of the year, not to mention the superb Carol Services.

Girls' sport goes from strength to strength and the input from St Oswald's is considerable. Kirsten McGuire was Captain of Girls' Hockey and Girls' Tennis whilst Lucie Noble captained the Netball. Many other House members were members of 1st and 2nd teams. Detailed sports reports will be found elsewhere in "The Ellesmerian" but I must just say how wonderful it was to see four of our strong swimmers, Amber Conway-Wallace, Gabby Dickinson, Edwina Grosvenor and Rachel Walker swimming for St Oswald's in the Senior House Swimming Competition. They proved that they had both stamina and determination and certainly gave the boys a run for their money! The same four girls, together with Lucie Noble, Jess Bailey, Clare Bean, Stephanie Dunn and Violet Heale are currently on the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Expedition, canoeing down the Dordogne in France. We had some good individual performances on Sports Day and Lynne Abson should be congratulated on being awarded the Victrix Ludorum.

We have enjoyed some splendid social events which have been well attended by parents and guests. Our mulled wine and mince pie party following the Carol Service was held in House and was great fun despite being slightly crushed! We had our traditional gathering in St Oswald's following the School Christmas Dinner when presents were exchanged and "certificates" were awarded by the Upper VI to the Lower VI for all sorts of amusing things! Our House outing was to a memorable performance of "The Rocky Horror Show" at the newly refurbished Victoria Hall in Stoke. The show had changed a bit since I first saw it in London in 1970-something but I enjoyed the comfort of the surroundings!! Beautiful weather on the final day of term

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ST. AIDAN'S

I begin, unusually, at the end of this academic year with our outstanding House Entertainment (for which, I'm afraid, I can take no credit): The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 133/4 by Sue Townsend. This production took place on the very last Sunday of the summer term and was, particularly for all the fifth form girls taking part, a fitting end to the year in St. Aidan's. Congratulations to Jo Wood and Louise Hickman (Co-Directors), for all their hard work, sweat and tears; it was worth it! Their casting was inspired and their own individual performances, as George and Pauline Mole, were also of a very high standard. Jaye Evans played the eponymous teenage 'hero' so convincingly that she is now on the transfer list to move into Meynell! I know that we will all be seeing a lot more of Jaye's talent on the stage as she progresses through the school - she's too good to be missed.

Other accomplished performances included Katy Simpson as the adulterous neighbour Mr Lucas; Carys Williams as the grumpy OAP Bert Baxter; Alice Brereton as the haughty Pandora and the wonderful Kishani Goonawardene as a 'Neighbours-like' Doreen (stick insect) Slater. My apologies to all those who missed this unforgettable evening, upon whom the following tribute to Adrian Mole may be lost:

Monday 7th September

First House meeting of the new school year. All 56 St.Aidan's girls present and correct (no red socks to be seen!) The first item on the agenda - ideas for songs to be performed at the House Singing Competition. Jo Wood and Isabella Fletcher voted in as the conductors of the Unison and Part Songs respectively.

Tuesday 22nd September

Our choristers and musicians involved in an all day rehearsal for the Midland Division of Woodard 125th Anniversary Celebrations (to be held on Friday 16th October in Lichfield Cathedral). An early coach ride to Abbots Bromley with instruments and packed lunches in tow - the longest day! Meanwhile regular rehearsals continue in earnest, preparing for House Singing Competition. Song choices - Joy to the World (Unison) and Say a Little Prayer for Me (Part). We are hopeful that these will be winning numbers!

Tuesday 20th October

7pm - House Singing has arrived! Every St.Aidan's girl looks immaculate; every one of them gives 100%. The Part Song goes very well and the adjudicator is very complimentary about it, placing us in the top three at this stage. However, he is not quite as impressed by the Unison Song and there is no trophy to take back to the House at the end of the evening, (adjudicator obviously preferred the older women!)

Thursday 19th November

8pm - St.Aidan's Evening of Music & Verse. A successful new venture for the House with many girls taking the opportunity to perform (in front of a friendly and encouraging audience), as part of their pre-Verse & Prose Festival/Music exam preparations. 'Stars' of the evening include Jaye Evans, Katy Simpson, Jennie Stokes, Charlotte Ashbridge, Holly Taylor, Jo Wood, Rhiannon Burdge, Becky Churnside and Anna Lea.

ST. AIDAN'S

Housemistress: Mrs D J Clew low

Assistant Housemistress: Dr I M Peacock

House Tutors: Mrs A M Murray Mrs S Murdoch Miss K A Savage Miss D Joynson

Captain of House:

Vice-Captain:

Housemother:

Rebecca Churnside Zena Clarke

Mrs B Price

Monday 10th January

Lovely new Australian gap student arrives Kishani Goonawardene. She fits into St. Aidan's straight away as 'big sister' to all the girls.

Saturday 6th February

The last night (of four), of the College production of the musical Grease. A large St.Aidan's contingent is involved (both on and off stage) in this fun, fifties frolic: Lucy Hulbert, Katy Simpson, Asher O'Gorman, Becky Churnside, Jo Wood, Jenny Winstanley, Rhiannon Burdge, Fiona Levitt, Charlotte Yates, Emmajane Williams, Anna Lea, Carys Williams, Jaye Evans, Kate Greville, Charlotte Ashbridge, Charlotte Hingley, Naomi Potter, Holly Taylor, Sally Pinches, Louise Sharp and Sam Miller.

Sunday I st May

The Regional Chess Competition at Telford and our secret Russian weapon - Ms Anastasia Pankina takes the stage. She is a newcomer to this game, but it takes her no time at all to apply her superior brainpower to the challenge.

Sunday 9th May

Open Day, Open House! Many St.Aidan's girls act as very professional tour guides for all our visitors. Well done to Naomi Potter, Rachael Evans, Fiona Levitt, Anna Lea, Becky Churnside, Rhiannon Burdge, Jenny Winstanley, Zena Clarke, Veronica Cubitt, Holly Taylor, Charlotte Wallace-Tarry and Rachel Harrison.

Sunday 15th May

The Sailing Regatta at Colwyn Bay gives another opportunity for the St.Aidan's sailors to shine. This is one of several sailing events in the term for Katy Simpson, Lucy Hulbert and (the accident-prone!) Steph Simms. They give up many weekends to practise or compete in races and they have become so good (under Mr Simpson's expert tuition), that they should prove unstoppable next season; the House Sailing Cup will have our name on it!

Friday 28th May

The House Athletic Sports afternoon is a time when we can focus, not just on the track and field events, but on all the sports in which St.Aidan's girls have excelled this year. Charlotte Hingley has been a particular joy to watch and is a true, natural and gifted all-rounder; her netball, hockey and riding are as impressive as her long jump, hurdling and sprinting. Unfortunately injuries have affected her performances at times and we are all hoping for a clear 'run' next year!

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Rhiannon Atkin is another talented and dedicated sportswoman; there is hardly a County team of which she is not a part! Nicola Jones takes to most sports as black cat hair to a white jumper and she made the County Hockey squad and the County Tennis trials. Lucy Collier and Aelish Crellin both made it into the North Shropshire Tennis team and Katie Roberts has shown her considerable ability on the running track.

Saturday 29th May

Speech day is an occasion to recognise and reward those who have performed well academically and this year St.Aidan's produces another raft of high achievers. Seventeen girls win one or more subject prizes: Jo McLaughlan, Susie Watts, Rachael Evans, Lucy Hulbert, Anna Lea (scoops five), Fiona Levitt, Alex MillwardHopkins, Naomi Potter (two), Katy Simpson (two), Zena Clarke, Becky Chumside, Isabella Fletcher (two), Louise Hickman (four), Nyree Slater, Jo Wood, Charlotte Ashbridge and Jaye Evans (eight prizes!!). What a display!

Tuesday 8th June

St.Aidan's hold its first hairdressing evening with our guest stylist, Miss Linda Price, cutting or curling the hair of five volunteers. She is excellent and all the models are pleased with the end result - lots more girls want to book in with her too! The 'makeover magic' is performed on:

Philippa Lamb, Kishani Goonawardene, Louise Sharp, Jo Wood and Nicola Jones - they all look gorgeous!

Sunday 4th July

St.Aidan's House Entertainment - also known as An Audience with Miss Jaye Evans! (See introduction above).

Saturday 10th July

Strawberries & Champagne and who could have wished for a more beautiful day than this to be out on the back lawn of St.Aidan's sipping fizz? Flowers all round for the workers: Beryl, Monica and the whole team of House tutors. Mrs Murdoch stands down from this team next year and we thank her for all her hard work and dedication to her tutees during her time in St.Aidan's. We welcome Mrs Purcell into the fold and award her the (much sought-after), 'badge of office' - her St.Aidan's House colours! Today is tinged with sadness, however, as we say goodbye to our fifth form leavers and also to our outgoing officers: Jo Wood, Jenny Winstanley and Rhiannon Burdge (outstanding House Seniors) and, of course, to our Captain and ViceCaptain of House, Becky Chumside and Zena Clarke. Their final task is to wish good luck to their successors: Naomi Potter, Katy Simpson and Anastasia Pankina (new House Seniors), Fiona Levitt and Steph Simms (Captain and ViceCaptain of House respectively).

VALETE: Becky Chumside, Zena Clarke, Jenny Winstanley, Nyree Slater, Marie Hunt, Philippa Lamb, Beth Lyons, Grace Hung

D.J.C.

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WAKEMANLAM BART

For the second year running the Captain of School was a member of the House. David Pinches made a sterling contribution to all aspects of College life from 1st XV rugby to chapel choir. St Kentigern College in New Zealand is fortunate to have secured his services before he starts university. Up in House, meanwhile, Dan Challinor quickly established his authority as Captain of House helping to ensure that routines ran smoothly. On one of the first weekends in the Michaelmas term, our new boys enjoyed a Sunday outing to Chirk Castle followed by tea and cakes kindly provided by Mrs Stone. In a very busy term there were many individual and team achievements. Stanislav Prouglo received a shield for his prowess in shooting; lain Wilkinson led the fourth form to victory in the House Squash leagues; we were runners up in both the Senior and Inters House Rugby Competition (and much appreciated the encouragement and support from visiting parents on the touchline). At the end of term there were the customary mince pies and mulled wine after the Carol Service followed by a House Outing to the cinema. This was preceded by a Christmas meal at a pasta restaurant - where the other diners may have regretted the number of streamers, party poppers and whistles provided by the management!

Sadly, Sue Gill was not able to return to work at the start of the Lent Term (owing to her husband's illness). We were grateful to Sheila Dulson who stepped in tat short notice to ensure that standards did not slip. This was the term when the House Seniors came into their own. We were comfortable victors in the cross country - Chris Allinson winning the main race for the third year running (is this a college first"); the seniors also winning the relay race. Not to be outdone, the House Juniors won the Squash Tournament with the captain, lain Wilkinson, the only member of the side not to record a victory. It looked as if Simon Jolliffe and his team might also win the Junior Soccer competition but this was not quite to be.

Undoubtedly, the highlight of the term was our House Entertainment Evening in the Arts Centre. The programme was certainly varied - drama from Christian Beck and David Brighouse, poetry from Michael Billington, music from Tom Pinches, Monty Python slapstick from the L6th (how did Francis Wood manage to keep such a straight face?). The finale was the U6th and their version of The Full Monty - a well-synchronised performance but one which several voluble mothers in the audience clearly did not feel went far enough.

In order to prove there is more to the House than athleticism, in the Summer Term we shared victory in the House Chess Competition. We then went on to have an afternoon of outstanding success on Sports Day, picking up trophies at both Senior and Inters level. In the Senior victor ludorum we secured the first three places - congratulations to Richard Barclay, Chris Allinson and Mark Sagar. The Inters was a very close run competition but a splendid performance in the high jump from Simon Jolliffe secured the cup. On the cricket square our teams were deprived of further silverware but Michael Wallace-Tarry was rewarded with the trophy for best individual bowling figures at College (taking 5 wickets for 6 runs).

At the end of term, Sheila and her team helped set up the strawberries on the terraces for the traditional parents party. The boys had already enjoyed another outing the previous evening to MacDonald's and the cinema. Dan Challinor had also organised a highly successful U6th leavers' dinner in the last week of term.

Altogether then, a busy and enterprising year. Our thanks are due to Sue and Sheila and also to all the House tutors for their initiatives and support. We will miss Philip Simpson in House but congratulate him on his "promotion" to deputy head of Lower School.

Senior House Colours were awarded to: Dan Challinor, Chris Allinson, Richard Barclay, Christian Beck, Rupert Corbett, Diggory Dalton, Tom Downes, David Pinches, Mark Sager, Tim Vernon and Paul Williamson.

P.A.W.

WAKEMANLAMBART

Housemaster:

Tutors:

Captain of House:

Vice-Captain:

Housemother:

P. A. Wood Esq., M.R.D. Stone Esq., Mrs R.A. McCarthy S.F.w. Purcell Esq., KJ. Shuttleworth Esq., PJ.A. Simpson, Esq., OJ. Challinor

R. T. Corbett

Mrs S. Gill /

Mrs S. Dulson

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WOODARD

Housemaster:

Assistant Housemaster:

Tutors:

D.W.Reffell, Esq. A.D. Jones, Esq.

Housemother:

Captain of House:

Vice-Captain of House:

P.A. Goodwin, Esq. R.I. Gee, Esq.

T.C. Howitt-Dring, Esq. Mrs Pam Davies

A.N. Denney

DJ.N. Slope

WOODARD

Looking back on Woodard House Dinner in June, I was able

to observe that after five years of house mastering every boy in the House has been totally my responsibility for their career in the Senior school at Ellesmere College. This means that I can take the credit for their successes but must accept partial responsibility for any falls from grace.

Fortunately for all the boys in the House 1998/99 has had its' share of successes and achievements. With the help of my energetic and caring tutor team I have been able to guide the lads to find something in which they can develop an interest and get involved in outside the classroom. Added to this there have been few, if any, boys who have not improved academically either in effort levels or in the quality of their performance. This was proven at the end of the year by the encouraging exam results achieved by literally all in both 5th and Upper Vlth forms; special mentions go to Luke Jones, Tom Atkin and Alex Rydgren. Particularly credit for effort throughout the year goes to Andrew Denney, Kelvin Ma, Neil Eisenstein, Jonathan Whittaker, John Grange and Sebastian White. Also particular success was achieved in certain subject areas such as Yuta Shin in Art, Andy Mackay in Maths and Neil Eisenstein in Science.

As usual, Woodard thespians have been very much in evidence. There was only one play, to my knowledge, in which Andrew Bainbridge did not star and he went on to take part in a National Youth Theatre Workshop in the Summer holidays. It was good to see so many of the lads on stage in "Grease". The lead role of Danny was taken by Andrew Mackay who acted and sang with great panache. Ben Dawes, Luke Jones and Donald Slope were the backbone of "the gang" whilst Andrew Denney played the heart-throb pop star, complete with electric guitar and gold-spangled waistcoat. Peter McCarthy and Adrian Cole were highly

amusing as the clownish yokels in "The Recruiting Officer".

In music, the House performed well in the House Singing Competition but were unable to retain the trophies. Robert Jagger has performed both solo and in ensembles on the trumpet and we have a number of keen musicians working their way up the house; at the Christmas party a band was formed including Andy Bainbridge and Sebastian White to perform songs as part of our annual entertainment.

In sport, the great thing is that members of the House at all levels continue to strive for success and teamwork is the name of the game. I was given "The Bluffers guide to Rugby" by the captain of the lst XV, Andy Mackay, as his leaving present so I am now an even better qualified supporter. For the tenth year in succession Woodard Seniors won the House Rugby Competition. We also reached the final of the Senior and Junior House Cricket Competitions and won the Senior House Swimming Competition Further down the school, trophies have been more elusive but energy and commitment in House Matches has been greatly appreciated. The Senior team triumphed for the fifth year in succession, as groups as they have moved from third form to Upper Sixth. The success of Jonathan Meldrum in county and regional rugby, Neil Eisenstein in sailing, David Hillier in shooting (Great Britain U21 Squad and, with Robert Jagger, part of a team competing internationally in Germany), Nathan Alexander in tennis and Adrian Cole in hockey, deserve particular congratulation.

This year we had a new and interesting development, the joining the House of six first form boarders, members of the Lower School. They have settled happily into the House and this has been in no small measure thanks to the caring concern of Andrew Denney and the magnificent work of our wonderful House Mother, Mrs Pam Davies. These boys have also contributed well to House and School events, particularly in shooting where the majority of Woodard Lower School boys have been having GB Development Squad training. We also have one member of the Lower School Eventing Team.

House social events have, as usual, been brilliantly supported by Woodard parents. The House Quiz Night in the Easter term was a great success thanks to the team of Lower VIth boys who organised it and the House Dinner was attended by virtually every single parent, including those of the Housemaster himself!!

I would like to express my gratitude to those Senior boys who have performed well in positions of responsibility particularly Andrew Denney and Ben Dawes. The tutors, as ever, have been supportive and enthusiastic; Messrs Goodwin, Gee and Howitt-Dring are a cheerful and caring trio and I know all Woodard boys and parents are grateful for the support they

offer. Mr Jones what can I say? I could

not ask for a more energetic and positive Assistant Housemaster. It is a delight to work with him - I know that all Woodardians will join me in wishing Andy and Miss Sophia Ashworth a happy life together - their engagement was announced during the Summer and they will be married by Christmas (Best Man: DWR!!)

Pam continues to be an efficient, cheerful and above all outstandingly kind and thoughtful House Mother. We thank her for everything she does for us all.

Next year, three of the School Prefect team will be Neil Eisenstein, David Hillier and Dicky Wong whilst the House will be led by James Draper and Owen Hughes. I can only hope that the Millennium will bring as much success for Woodard and the members of the House as individuals as last year did.

We say goodbye and good luck to:

Frankie Au, Ben Dawes, Andrew Denney, Luke Jones, Kelvin Ma, Andy Mackay, Ruari McCarthy, Donald Slope, Stanley Wong, Tom Atkin, Jonathan Meldrum.

Overseas students who spent part of their school career with us also returned home, namely Jorge Ayala from Spain, Jan Hennecke from Germany, Yuta Shin from Japan and Tejmeet Kathuria from India.

D.W.A.

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There are so many amazing opportunities for the boys and girls at Ellesmere to get involved in adventurous training and outward bound activities.

This year there were two CCF expeditions, one to Skye and one to Morocco. These involved the McCarthy brothers and Andy Mackay. Martin Hartwill, Andrew Reed, Adrian Cole, Edward Carter and Oliver Bailey have also been competitors in Skill at Arms March and Shoot Competitions.

Significant endurance achievements during the year included Ruari McCarthy, Andy Mackay and Neil Mostyn's conquering of the "15 Peaks" (as they are now termed) and a Snowdon Run organised for a Chernobyl children's charity party by Ruari and taken part in, by him and Neil Mostyn.

The crowning achievement of the year was the fantastic World Challenge Guyana Expedition involving amazing trekking and the opportunity to discover a new land and culture. Owen Hughes, John Tanous, Neil Eisenstein and David Hillier all excelled themselves during this expedition.

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Head of Lower School Assistant Housemaster Tutors

Mrs C.S.Newbold ES.Williams, Esq. Miss L.E.Crossley T.Gilham, Esq. P.J.Hayes, Esq.

Mrs A.M.Hendriksen Mrs S.E.Morgan

Mrs J.E.Purcell

Mrs H.T.Scarisbrick Mrs N.L.Stone Catherine Jones Edward Walker Anna Corfield

Tom Seward

Mrs L.Tabbron

Head Girl Head Boy School Prefects

Housemother

What a memorable year this has been. Pupils have excelled both inside and outside the classroom, our one hundredth pupil has joined us and most importantly our new building is rapidly nearing completion.

In September 1998 we started with ninety-one pupils and welcomed Mrs Narelle Stone as a tutor to Foundation.

Academic distinction has been achieved by Alison MacKellar and Lauren Shearer who were awarded

Shepherd Ellesmerian

Scholarships and Alice

Hulbert, Jenny Scarisbrick and Rebecca Simpson who gained Senior School Scholarships. End of year achievement prizes were won by Alison MacKellar in Form 2A; Victoria Crawcour, 2B; Kaitlin Hughes, 2C; Harriet Wood, IA; Tara Unwin, IB; Patrick Barker, IC; Matthew White, Foundation A; James Thompson, Foundation B; and Robert Simms, Pre-Foundation. In the UK Junior Mathematics Challenge, Lower School captured ten Bronze Certificates, four Silver Certificates, while Lauren Shearer won Gold and Best in School Certificates.

Inter-House Competition between the Saracens and Barbarians has again been closely fought. The Barbarians won the Swimming, Rugby and Athletics shields, while the Saracens won the Hockey, Netball, Football, Tennis, Cricket and the Academic Challenge cup for Academic Effort.

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The Lower School Shooting Team has

gained

considerable

Lower School success at Eventing continues. This year Chris Mayer won a trophy for the highest scoring team member at the Red House One-Day event.

Our musical talent flourishes. Several pupils have performed in Concert Platforms and Jenny Scarisbrick and Jack Swanston have delighted a wider audience at concerts in the Arts Centre. Jenny also gained a place at the Birmingham Conservatoire.

Trips and expeditions throughout the year have been to Arthog, Jodrell Bank, Blue Planet Aquarium at Ellesmere Port, Ironbridge Power Station, Granada Television Studios, Tate Gallery and Maritime Museum in Liverpool, and Lake Vernwy. The Second Forms enjoyed camping on Shell Island in glorious weather.

Lower School continue to support the MacMillan Nurses Appeal. This year fund-raising efforts have included our annual cake sale, a draw for a Harrods Christmas Bear, a coffee morning and a draw, organised by Gwyn and Shirley Jones, at our Entertainment Evenings, realising £ 1500 in total, a considerable accomplishment.

success both collectively and individually. Twins, Sian and Jennifer Corish became local celebrities when they were featured on BBC Television for both being selected for the Great Britain Training Squad.

This year's entertainment was Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

congratulate Narelle, Lydia and Roger Gee on this production - a cast of one hundred is no mean achievement. Its success was also due to the hard work of many other people, the cast, stage crew, props, costumes, make-up, catering, the list goes on and I extend my thanks to everyone.

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The continual support of our parents, past and present, has ensured the success of our customary and now legendary social events: the September Reception, Mulled Wine and Mince-pies at Christmas and Strawberries and Champagne in July. At this last event we said good-bye to Jan Purcell who is joining St Aidan's and Shan Morgan who is expecting her first child in August (Shan will be back with us in November). I thank them and indeed, each one of the Lower School Tutor Team for all they have given to Lower School this year. To Lydia, our Housemother, I give my heartfelt thanks for her care, patience and total dedication.

At the end of the Summer Term we said good-bye to our School Prefects, Anna Corfield and Tom Seward. We wish them well in their future

6th March: I took to the air in a four seater plane to photograph the site and the realisation that already the new Lower School was very much part of the Ellesmere College Campus.

The buzz and excitement of Matt Stone's History classes as they prepared their contributions for the Time Capsule which was buried on 28th June.

So much for the past, I look forward to 9th August when the building is handed over to us; preparing for the start of term; to our Parents' Reception on 3rd September; and to the icing on the cake, the official opening of Lower School by HRH, the Princess Royal, on Friday, lst October.

careers. I thank them and our Head Girl, Catherine Jones, Head Boy,

Edward Walker, Deputy Head Girl, Lauren Shearer and Deputy Head CSN

Boy, Oliver Swift, for all the time and assistance they have given me over

the year and for the care and support they have given the younger ones.

Lower School Colours have been awarded to Mr David Harvey, Anna Corfield, Jenny Scarisbrick, Rebecca Simpson, Alison MacKellar, Kaitlin Hughes, Sophie Roberts, Harriet Wood, Alice Hulbert, Victoria Crawcour, Oliver Swift, Lucy Ryvar, Charlotte White, William Lloyd, Jack Swanston, Tara Unwin and Alex White.

I began this report with a mere reference to THE most important event of this school year. I cannot leave it at that. I must mention key dates which, to me, are landmarks in fulfilling a dream and a personal ambition.

30th November: Work began, but I always will remember, the 7 o'clock start, blowing up balloons and the bacon sandwich and coffee breakfast; how unprepared I was for the flood of emotion as

I went up to the site alone before the JCBs moved in; the champagne toast at 10.00 a.m.; and then teaching a normal Monday timetable.

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29th January: The floor was laid. I took Foundation A for a peep during period 3 and Bill and I paid several visits while work continued until 4.30 a.m. the following day.

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CIIAPEL NOrES

The past school year has not been an easy one for me as Chaplain. Just before the Michaelmas Term began in September my wife was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. For a while she was very ill, but eventually the disease began to respond well to the chemotherapy she received in hospital in Birmingham (as well as the love and prayers of so many here and elsewhere). As one would hope of a Christian community, the College has been very supportive during the year. My predecessor, Fr. Maurice Gray stepped into the breach in his own inimitable way in September, and ran Chapel Services throughout the Michaelmas Term until I was able to take up the reins again in January. (Older OEs can probably hear him declaring 'They've trotted out the Old War-Horse.') The 'Chapel Team' (Tom, Clare and Becky) did sterling work in the Michaelmas Term and throughout the year in support both of Fr. Maurice and me.

Sue is still undergoing regular chemotherapy, but continues to be reasonably fit and active. However it has become clear to us that we needed to reorder our lives somewhat, and this has culminated in my having to resign two years before I would have been due to retire. Fr. Trevor Harvey, who is currently the Chaplain of St George's School, Windsor, will be taking over the reins in September.

The Michaelmas Term ended as usual with three nights of Carol Services, thanks in no small measure to the efforts the Choir and Music Department, and so many others who make the Services possiblereaders, servers, and not least the Chapel Prefect and the teams who descend on the Chapel after each night's Service to prepare for the next. Well over 1000 people shared in the Services again, and the Retiring Collections raised just under £1200 for Hope House, the children's respite hospice in Oswestry. (We have just-at the end of the Summer Term-handed over a cheque for £1500 to Hope House, the result of this and other efforts during the year.)

We had to cancel our annual Franciscan Week in the Lent Term, but the annual Confirmation in March saw nine members of the community confirmed. The Service this year was conducted by Bishop Ronnie Bowlby, who was Bishop of Southwark until he retired to Shrewsbury, and is now an Assistant Bishop in Lichfield Diocese.

Inevitably leaving Ellesmere prompts some reflection on the place of the Chapel and the spiritual life of the College. Fr. Gregory Cameron,

the Director of the Bloxham Project, asked us in a sermon in Chapel in the latter part of this Summer Term. He reminded us that the 'shape' of our souls is determined much more by the small, almost trivialseeming decisions that we make moment by moment than by the apparently 'big' decisions of life. The unkind word here, the crisp-packet dropped there, the little act of kindness, the arm round the shoulder of someone who's hurting ultimately have more effect than questions like 'What GCSEs or A-levels shall

I take?' or 'What career shall I follow?' or 'Who shall I go out

with?'

It led me to reflect a week later in Chapel that communities too have 'souls', and they too are shaped much more by the countless little decisions made by those who make up the community than by the 'big' decisions such as building programmes or curriculum content. What will make Ellesmere a Christian community (or not!) will be those in the community whose lives are deeply-rooted in God, shaping our souls and the soul of the community by our day-byday decisions, decisions which are ultimately either rooted in God and his love for us, and (feebly) our love for God, or they're rooted elsewhere. Chapels and Chaplains may have a role to play

I c) Y c)

in that, but they can also very easily become mere tokens (or totems).

I had been struck by a comment in one of the newspaper obituaries following Cardinal Basil Hume's death. When he was Headmaster of Ampleforth, he was once asked what was the philosophy of his schoolanother way of asking about the school's soul. His answer had been 'To prepare our pupils for death?' That is probably not a very good marketing slogan, even for Ampleforth, but it is a profoundly Christian statement. Education and community life is about seeing life as a whole and (in particular) what we are about in school in a far broader perspective than much that can seem important.

Christian education and Christian

community is about seeing

life and sharing life in an eternal perspective, against the back-drop of God's love

for his creation, and for us as a part of that -'preparing our

souls for death'.

J.e.v.

Clare and assistants,

with the cross and candlesticks

Rebecca and Alex

presented in memory of Vernon Howard by his family.

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Musicians from the College Music Department have displayed some amazing versatility again this year, enthusiastically embracing music from around the globe from all traditions, styles, shapes and sizes etc. All the many and assorted College ensembles have been busy throughout the year and I am delighted that our new Double Bass teacher, Mr Eddie Thomas, has been able to reestablish the string orchestra. Likewise, Mr

Stuart Spiers is training up a new Jazz Group and we look forward to their "maiden voyage" when they launch forth on the River Dee in Chester with the OE Booze Cruise III !

The Chapel Choir began the school year with intense rehearsals in preparation for a combined performance (from all the Woodard Schools of the Midland Division) of Britten's St Nicolas in Lichfield Cathedral

on 16th October.

Ellesmere College was extremely well with

MUSIC

large chorus and

also in the string

orchestra. Mr Alan Viner and Mrs

Pat Panting formed the backbone of the ensemble playing the important piano parts and Bertie Spiegelberg could be heard in the percussion section. Bertie has had a very musically active year as a key member of Mr Brian Stone's percussion group and recently has joined forces with Chris Snow, Dan O'Gorman and Dan Perkins to form the rock band "One Foot Vertigo". This talented new group has already spent several days recording at The Forge Studio in Oswestry and we wish them all the best for a glittering and famous future.

Throughout the year we have been privileged to enjoy a varied programme of music involving both College musicians and visiting performers. Natalie White made a welcome return to the College Arts Centre to make her debut clarinet recital. She is indeed a gifted and versatile young performer with a great future ahead of her. Our musical activities in the Arts Centre could have been somewhat restricted when we needed to send the Steinway Grand away for a complete overhaul and restoration. However, thanks to their incredible generosity, Forsyth and Sons, Manchester loaned the Department a new Schimmel Grand for use in our Instrumental Music Competition and Messenger Recital. These two major events in our calendar always attract a great deal of support, when audiences have the opportunity of hearing College musicians at their very best. The 1999 Instrumental Music Competition, adjudicated by Trevor Carlton, included the largest number of competitors in any College music competition to date ranging from beginner brass, strings and woodwind classes through to the higher classes, where our senior Music Scholars constantly delight us with their talents. On this occasion, as with many other events, we have all enjoyed some superb performances on a variety of instruments and in many different styles. Jennifer Scarisbrick is extremely busy as a pianist and clarinettist, gaining places in several prestigious ensembles; she continues her studies in the junior department of the Birmingham Conservatoire. Isabella Fletcher has given some outstanding performances as both a solo recorder player and clarinettist. Anna Corfield has demonstrated her amazing versatility as oboist, flautist, saxophonist and singer; her contribution to the musical life of the College has been considerable and we wish her all the best for her musical future as she leaves

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Ellesmere this summer.

The Concert Band is our largest instrumental ensemble and is made up of many of our woodwind, brass and percussion players. This 40 strong group delighted a capacity Arts Centre audience to music by Gershwin, Handel and others on the occasion of a charity concert in aid of Oxfam on February 24th. Also appearing were the Wind Quintet, Clarinet Choir and Brass Group. The varied programme spanned the centuries and over £200.00 was raised.

The College always maintains a busy programme of choral music and this year has been no exception. Diversification has seen many of our performers taking on so many different roles in two major productions involving large casts of singers and players from Lower School to Upper VIth. A great deal of hard work and preparation went into the productions of "Joseph" and "Grease" and Mrs Jean Blake and RJG were active for many long hours rehearsing, note-bashing, directing, composing, arranging and conducting prior to the performances. As one always expects; we're all pretty unflappable musicians who take all these assorted challenges in our long strides and as long as we have the dots, we just sit down and play!! However, once in a while it's nice to sit back and relax whilst someone else does all the work and we filled the Arts Centre to the doors when Lloyd Ryan entertained us one evening in November with his drumming demonstration, affectionately titled "drummin'

your mum will luv!"

Ellesmere Choral Society joined forces with the Schulze Organ Society on 27th November to create a small piece of College musical history. Nigel Ainscow pointed out that it was the very first time we have had a concert in Big School involving Schulze Organ, soloists, chorus and orchestra all together. The sharpness of pitch of the organ meant that it was necessary to re-tune the strings for two of the main items. The soloists in Haydn's "Little Organ Mass" were Cathy Benson - soprano and RJG - organ continuo and accompanist. This was a memorable concert of the highest calibre and the evening was concluded with a stunning performance of the Haydn Trumpet Concerto performed by Glyn Richards and conducted by CHD.

Carlo Curley claimed that the Schulze Organ is becoming a "tired old lady" and following professional advice some restoration work must be undertaken in the foreseeable future. Despite his omen we have maintained our recital series for 1998-1999. On March 10th 1999 CHD gave the Lent Term recital and included music by Bach, Hindemith and Buxtehude together with performances of his original arrangements and transcriptions. The guest vocal soloist at the recital was the young talented Lower VI Choral Scholar Rachel Mitchem who gave exquisite performances of songs by Elgar and Gershwin.

Oliver Condy OE gave the final organ recital of the school year. Oliver is soon to complete his MA in Organ Performance Studies at Cardiff University and we were delighted to welcome him back to the College to perform "The Battle of the Giants" between the "classical" Chapel organ and the "romantic" Schulze organ. Oliver is a very gifted player with an assured and versatile playing technique. We all wish him every success in his future career as a solo recitalist.

Brass playing has featured greatly throughout the school year with our brass group, directed by Mr John Herbert, has taken many important roles - Commemoration Service, Christmas Dinner, "Brass on the Grass" to name but a few venues. Kit Wapshott travelled down to London to play flugal hom with John Herbert's Wrexham Youth Brass Band in The Royal Festival Hall, and also helped out If ton Youth Band (along with Robert Jagger, Richard Fletcher-Brewer and CHD) at the Gobowen Primary School Carnival. The major event of the 98-99 Musical Calendar without a doubt was the "Last Night of the Proms" concert, which took place amidst waving flags, in College Chapel on Saturday 20th March. The Choral Society led the communal singing in all the traditional pieces including such favourites as "Land of Hope and Glory" and "Rule Britannia". A capacity audience of all ages enjoyed a musical selection from the shows from If ton Brass Band under the baton of their director Trevor Carlton and St Oswald's House Choir and the Chapel Choir, supported by Gwilym Edwards OE - bass, gave

performances of choral favourites. Cathy Benson - soprano and Kirill Kudryashova - tenor joined in the festivities with performances of "Alleluia" from

Exaltate Domine and "Nessun Dorma"

respectively and Rachel Mitchem - contralto stole the show again with her lovely singing, accompanied by CHD. The success of the evening was such that we have promised to give another similar concert in the year 2000. CHD

Bertie Spielberg performs on his xylophone

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A

GREASE

From start to finish, this production exuded a vitality and raw energy that kept the audience on the edge of their seats. It was a production of massive proportions: an energetic cast of fifty, a band conducted by Mr Roger Gee, the musical director, a hard working technical crew under the watchful eye of Mrs Narelle Stone and Fiona Milward and an unstoppable production team. This team included Mrs Sue Francis and Mrs Sue Hinks and help, in charge of the eighty plus costumes, the Producer Mr Keith Shuttleworth who oversaw the Front of House, tickets, posters et ai, and two enthusiastic Directors, Mrs Deborah Clew low and Mr David Reffell who inspired the cast to bring a little magic and lift their performances to produce a very slick show.

Where to start? The-.songs, the dancing, the music? How about with the cool command of the strutting T-Birds matched by the giggling "girlieness" of the Pink Ladies? It was the identity of the characters which made "Grease" such a pleasure to watch. As we saw Kenickie and the boys croon on top of "Greased Lightning" the men in the audience wanted to be back in leather jackets, playing it cool and combing their

slicked back hair. As Rizzo and the girls sashayed and swayed their way across the stage the women remembered slumber parties, their first slug of wine and swooning over Ricky Nelson.

The highlight of the show is the

blossoming romance

between Danny

and Sandy,

and this was

portrayed

1 999

Rachel Mitchem. As they reached the dizzying heights of the end of "Summer Nights" you could sense the audience up there with them and it set the scene for the rest of the show. Lots of clapping, clicking and singing along behind the scenes, and in the seats, helped the scenes move smoothly from one to another. From the sweetness of Danny and Sandy to the cat fights of Rizzo and Kenickie here emerged some super new talent. A great portrayal of everyone's favourite "bad girl" by Stephanie Dunn and the smoothness of Joe Whittacket's Kenickie made the audience really connect with their characters.

Right behind them were Phillipa Bullock's Frenchy - "the beautiful blonde pineapple", a fantastically funny Doody, played with aplomb by Andy Bainbridge, the dumb but loveable Sonny alias James Granger looking out for stolen laundry trucks, classy Marty (Kate Colton) missing her Freddie and a diamond in the macaroni, Steph Packham's Jan who twinkled like the cakes she was eating and a swooning, crooning Roger played by Dan O'Gorman. What an ensemble!

Great support form all the extra characters also added laughs and a great buzz. Miss Louise Crossley hammed it up as Miss Lynch and we felt sorry for nerd Eugene (Guy Maxwell in disguise), smirked with the girls at Patty Simcox (Rebecca Chumside), snapped our fingers along with Andrew Denney's Johnny Casino and Richard Fletcher-Brewer as Vince and watched with Frenchy as Sam Watson-Jones as Teen Angel sent her back to high school.

The Directors were treated to the luxury of having too many good singers and actors and so the T-Bird and Pink Lady "Gangs" were created. These backing singers appeared at regular intervals and helped provide some of the highlights of the show. The Pink Lady gang were very well recei ved for their

rendition of "Freddie My love" with Kate Colton and their fantasy dance with Teen Angel, and the

T-Bird gang were superb in "Greased Lightning" which had

one night's

T It e

E I I e S I7l e r I a II

audience yelling for more.

The chorus, too, were a delight right from the start when Sebastian White bought out the first of the credits. These Third and Fourth Formers (and Katie Watts!) were solid throughout and added much to the overall effect.

What a finish to Act One as everyone assembled for "We Go Together" - a rollicking number which had the kids in the audience, and I suspect a few of the adults too, on their feet. The choreography was great and the smiling faces put everyone on a great high.

It was the same for the start of the second half and as the banner for the "Moonlight in the Tropics" dance swayed so did the floaty prom dresses. The boppy "hand jive" by Cha-Cha, aka. Katherine Morris and Danny was a hit. The pace didn't slow down as we went into the hilarious Drive-in Movie scene complete with "scary horror film" directed by the lighting crew, Paul Griffiths and Ed Lea and starring some members of the band.

We moved towards Danny and Sandy finally getting it together with THE song from "Grease" - "You're the One that I Want" and it was a

great finale.

So four days later after lots of rockin' and rollin' it was over. The last song was sung, the final bow taken and we could relax. It was difficult to believe that after twenty weeks of rehearsal and all that preparation by various people; from Mr Fred Williams building the sets to Jenny Tanous and Kishani Goonewardene heading the make-up team and Mr Chris Deakin doing the last sound check on the microphones the stage was finally clear. Even after the lights had been dismantled and the last pair of earrings put away the stage still echoed with the vitality

which had burst onto it just a few

-//

--/

~ed. 3rd - ,fat. 6th febPlIlJ."8 a·oopm

"eUesfIJeI'e CO{(e.ge .Itrts Centr'e ..

short hours before.

We were exhausted. Everyone who had been caught up in the frenzy was, and none more so than the directors who had put in countless hours, but we were proud. The show had gone like "Greased Lightning" - fast and furious, and everyone who was attached to it in some way was responsible for that. So congratulations Debbie and David, cast and crew for a show which offered so much and delivered it with such unique charisma and fun.

NLS

I ') ') ')

ENDGAME

by Samuel Beckett CAST

Clov Hamm Nagg Nell

Rachel Mitchum David Brighouse Ben Willis Phillipa Bullock

ENDGAME

SAMUEL BECKETT

Then from the two large dustbins, located at the front of the stage, appeared Nagg, Ben Willis, and Nell, Phillipa Bullock, Hamm's despised, decrepit and legless parents. Hamm's contempt for these two helpless invalids was obvious and we the audience could not help but laugh at the banality of their ridiculous ramblings. Hamm's cruel rejection of his parents anticipated the final act of the play: Clov's departure, and so the play ended as it had begun, with Hamm left alone on the stage.

The entire cast should be congratulated for their efforts, but special mention should go to Rachel Mitchem for the maturity of her performance, and to Louise Crossley for her assured and skilled direction.

25

For the majority of the audience this was their first taste of Samuel

Beckett and they were treated to a thoroughly professional and powerful production of Endgame, one of his most compelling plays

The set perfectly captured the play's mood. Everything was grey, and it was into this grey scene that Clov entered. Clov, played by Rachel Mitchum, shared the stage with Hamrn, David Brighouse, the blind, wheelchair bound, dictatorial master of the house, and from the moment that Clov removed the grimy sheet which covered Hamrn's body the audience realised that they were entering a strange and nightmarish world. It soon became apparent that both characters were trapped,

unable to escape from their

present existence, and their subsequent feelings of frustration and anger were conveyed superbly by the two

actors.

JAB

The

Ellesmer

a n

1 999

Wakeman-Lambart

Entertainment

On Sunday March 14th Wakeman-Lambart House held their evening of entertainment. This was headed by House Captain Dan Challinor who acted as Master of Ceremonies and led the audience through the cabaret style acts. The evening was kicked off with the house part-song, "Stand By Me" and followed by an extremely amusing sketch by the Third Form called "Shakespeare in Love ... ?" The ensemble was directed by Tim Vernon (U6) who also wrote the piece. David Brighouse thoroughly entertained us with his monologue which formed part of his assessment for his A-level Theatre Studies. Although few of the boys in the house study musical instruments we were treated to two great performances; Tom Pinches on the saxophone and James Porter on the guitar.

The Lower Sixth provided a highlight of the evening with their Monty Python Sketch. Their approach to this classic comedy, complete with cream pies, was hilarious and much appreciated by the audience.

Mrs McCarthy's tutor group performed another great sketch. They produced a very politically and sexually correct version of "Little Red Riding Hod"complete with Stas Prouglo in drag as Red.

The first half was rounded off with Christian Beck's monologue which was so effective that the audience vividly felt that Christian had eaten a snake. This was very good timing for the audience to have their buffet supper!

After the magnificent food the second half opened with the Fourth Form mimicking the Jackson Five complete with wigs and dark make-up. The Sixth form and their dance to "Jailhouse Rock" followed this. Joe Whittaker and the lads were back on almost straight away for "Grease Lightning", which Joe performed for his part as Kenickie in the school musical "Grease".

A pleasant surprise for the night was Michael Billington from the Fifth Form who did a selection of very interesting and moving personal poems. This was followed swiftly by Tom Downes who recited "Tea" by William Corbett. David Brighouse and Christian Beck then presented a duologue before Christian shot backstage to get ready for the grand finale - The Full Monty by the Upper Sixth. Needless to say this was the most enjoyed item for both parents and boys and the Sixth Form almost went all the way ... with a little discreet lighting preventing anything too risque.

Overall it was a very relaxed and enjoyable evening - and one that I hope to see repeated soon in the future.

MRDS

Kate Churms and Sam

Emily-Jane Edwards

TI,e Cast

26

THE

RECRUITING

OFFICER

By Grorge Farquhar

CAST
Mr Balance David Brighouse
MrScale Richard Sampson
MrSrcuple Dan O'Gorman
MrWorthy lain Wilkinson
Captain Plume Sam Watson Jones
Captain Brazen Adam Willis
Kite Andy Bainbridge
Melinda Emily-Jane Edwards
Silvia KateChunns
Lucy Jess BaiJey
Bullock Ben Wdlis
Rose HoUy Howitt-Drinq
Costar Pearmain Peter McCarthy
Thamos Appletree Adrian Cole
Pluck Michael BiBington
Thamos Peter TomJey
Bubewell Mathew Cocksey
Drummer Bertie Spiegelberq
Women in court Amber Conway
Wallace Stephonie Simms
Member of the mob Elliott Rowe
Steward Niall Haxton
Servants, prisoners, mob Michael Broadwood
Stass Proug/o,
Richard F/etcher-Brewer The

Ellesmerz([11

Bonamy Dobree once said that:

"If we were to try and sum up what comedy of this period as a whole achieved, it would be to say that it gave a brilliant picture of its time rather than a new insight into man."

The Ellesmere production of this Restoration comedy of manners, directed by Mr Keith Shuttleworth, did just that. Over three nights in May we were entertained as Juniors and Seniors combined together. Despite being a difficult play that relies solely on the language and dialogue as a means of comedy, the pace and humour were sustained throughout by some very commendable performances. Notably, Holly Howitt-Dring who made an exceptional stage debut with her role as Rose the country wench; Kite played by Andrew Bainbridge gave a stunning performance showing true stage presence and professionalism and Jessica Bailey with her portrayal of the all knowing maid, Lucy. Even the younger members of the cast were able to manipulate the trying and sometimes lewd language, as Sam Watson-Jones displayed in his consistent and convincing role as Captain Plume. Kate Churms and Emily-Jane Edwards were also a delight to watch. The main roles were backed up by some good cameo performances and a strong chorus who played various roles in the mob or as servants. All in all there were twenty-five actors in what started out as a "small play" in the Summer Term!

Comical final performances at Ellesmere were given by Ben Willis and David Brighouse as the dull, inbred country bumpkin, Bullock and the ageing, withered patriarch, Mr Balance.

As usual the costumes were colourful and fitting to the Restoration period- well done Mrs Hinks and Mrs Francis and the set was finished off with a large backdrop painted by various members of the cast under Mr Andrew L1oyd-Langston's guidance of the Shrewsbury market place. Mr Keith Shuttleworth again proved his ability to organise and direct. This really was an enjoyable production and another excellent result for Ellesmere, well done!

LEC

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole

By Sue Townsend

CAST

Adrian Mole Jaye Evans
George Mole Johanna Wood
Pauline Mole Louise Hickman
MrLucas Katie Simpson
Mrs Lucas Pippa Collier
Grandma Asher O'Go17T1lJ1l
Nigel Lucy Hulbert
Pandora Alice Brereton
Electricity man Nicola Bowen-Jones
School girl Fiona Levitt
Bert Baxter Carys Williams
Doreen Slater Kmmi Goonewan1ene
Miss Scruton Anna Lea
Queenie Charlotte WaJ1ace.12my
Matron Phillipa Lomb
Priest Isabella Fletcher 1 999

Jaye Evans

Johanna Wood

Kishani Goonewardene

Cmys. Charlotte and Isabella

St

Aidan's

provided

an

appreciative audience with a thoroughly energetic and entertaining all-female version of this play. Although a dramatised version of this novel does lose some subtlety in its transfer to the stage, it does offer some tremendous opportumnes for character acting and of this the "Aidan's gals" took full advantage.

The lead part of the love sick and spotty adolescent was taken by Jaye Evans. Her mooning and swooning were admirable but she was a little too attractive for the spots. She created a very credible character sustaining her role through to the end. Alice Brereton's Pandora was aptly haughty and snooty but I felt that her role had been heavily excised in the interests of propriety. Louise Hickman (Adrian's Mother) gave a delightful performance. Her affair with Mr Lucas, Katy Simpson, carried much conviction and her impact on him and on her downtrodden husband played by Johanna Wood was readily identifiable to the audience.

The scene was stolen on two occasions by firstly, Carys Williams as Bert Baxter. Here was a little gem of a performance with Carys playing the part of a peevish, evil minded and crafty old man to

perfection and with a maturity well beyond her years. And secondly by Kishani Goonewardene, who as Kate Greville fell ill on the day of the performance, spent the afternoon learning the lines of Doreen Slater and was an afternoon better well spent? Her appearance on stage was greeted with howls of laughter and her departure was rewarded with tremendous applause. The audience nourished and nurtured on a diet of Neighbours and Home and Away empathised readily with our splendid Gap Student.

The play directed and produced by Johanna Wood and Louise Hickman respectively was a tremendous tribute to their enthusiasm and experience. They gave us an evening of delightfully engaging and diverting pleasure. WCN

27

The

Ellesmerian

199 9

THE REAL INSPECTOR HOUND

by Tom Stoppard

CAST

Moon Birdboot Simon Felicity Cynthia Magnus Mrs Drudge Butler

Inspector Hound Announcer Pianist

Body

Miss L.E.Crossley Mr 1.M.Scorer Mr 1.A.Brodie

Mrs F.Kudryashova Mrs P.Scorer

Mr D. W.Reffell Mrs P.E.Bowen

Mr M.R.D.StoneIMrW.C.Newbold Mr P.A.Goodwin

Mr S.F.W.Purcell

Mrs P.Panting

Sebastian White

As this is John and Pippa Scorer's last year at Ellesmere it was decided that we should end the term with a Common Room Play. Narelle Stone bravely offered to direct such a venture and, after much coaxing and bribing of the staff we had a cast. The play chosen was Tom Stoppard's "The Real Inspector Hound" - a comedy who dunn it set in an old Victorian mansion.

Most of the rehearsals were very relaxed with many readings done over dinner or drinks which set the scene for an enjoyable ten weeks of

rehearsal. It wasn't until about two weeks before that the cast realised how close it was and pulled themselves into action with frantic learning of lines at every opportunity. Suddenly the unmissable green playscripts could be seen popping up in between overs of Common Room Cricket, during staff meetings or to fill in the long hours of a Sunday duty.

The set was designed and erected virtually overnight by John Harvey and costumes, many of which the cast found themselves, began appearing from everywhere. Keith Shuttleworth acting as the Business Manager was busy with tickets, programmes and posters and suddenly the first dress rehearsal was upon us. As all dress rehearsals are this was a disaster as the lighting, backstage crews and cast tried to pull it together. Luckily there was the final dress rehearsal before the opening night. This went

ELLESMERE C(M.!ON ROOM PLAYERS

THE REAL INSPECTOR HOUND

Yl THE ARTS CE:XTRE ON bL' 2nd' JrdJULY .1I~rlll

«(JlLl,I.:HUt\II\·\UJ'JI' L,,(' .. \!.l'MIUllb

28

somewhat more smoothly and anxious nerves subsided a little.

It always comes together on the night and the audiences were brilliant. About 140 people each night came to see their friends, colleagues and teachers and the atmosphere was great. Louise Crossley and John Scorer as the two theatre critics, Moon and Birdboot were a splendid double act playing off each other and developing some very strong characters. Undoubtedly Pam Bowen as Mrs Drudge, the housekeeper, was a show stopper and James Brodie (the James Bond of the cast) was very debonair. Francesca Kudryashova as the engenue, Felicity Cunningham breezily glided through her scenes and Pippa Scorer as Lady Cynthia Muldoon was delightful. These two ladies were splendidly dressed in

1920's outfits which

feathered and sparkled

throughout the show.

The audience were in hysterics as Magnus Muldoon, the crippled half-brother of her ladyship's husband Lord Muldoon entered in the guise of David Reffell doing wheelies in his wheelchair. Fabulous make-up from Debbie Clewlow and Anne Wignall created a truly Scottish look and did a superb job of transforming Matt Stone - young and athletic- into a seventy year old limping butler. Both Matt and Bill Newbold, who played the part on the second night, were greeted with rounds of applause at their cameo roles. A fabulous surprise not only for the audience but for the man himself was the Real Inspector Hound played by Paul Goodwin. As he had told the director he "only does policemen" he was put into the title role and well surpassed expectations. His serious police bobby character thrilled the audience.

Mrs Pat Panting created much of the mood on the piano as she played music for each character. Special mention must also be made of Sebastian White who played the body and had to lie still for an hour at least and endure many of the cast forgetting about him altogether and standing on him!

There is always a feeling of dropping from a great height after a play but this was counter-acted by a party in Common Room after the final performance. Much deserved applause was given and many promises not to leave it too long until the next one were made. Hopefully it will be just as much fun as "The Real Inspector Hound."

MRDS

The

Ellesmerl{[11

JOSEPH AND HIS AMAZING

TECHNICOLOUR DREAMCOAT

Joseph '99 was a stunning display of

colour

from

the

moment it began and first impressions were even more positive due to the confidence of the well-schooled narrators of the show, all of whom were remarkable for their poise and clarity.

The hey to the evening was the enjoyment and enthusiasm which radiated from the cast

on

stage

and

communicated itself to the audience whose Rachel Mitchem

singing and clapping along boosted the performers and created a buzz throughout the Arts Centre.

Humour was another great element of the show, with Ollie Ashby's comic timing as one of the brothers, Felicity Woods' teasing bravado as Mrs Potipher and Charlie Hopkins' smiley baker worthy of particular note. Harriet Wood's central performance as Joseph stood out for its sincerity and well-conveyed goodness. Her song "Close Every Door to Me" brought a tear to the eye and was a well deserved specially

requested encore.

The dancing and the cheerleaders

contributed enormously to the sense of fun and energy of the evening. Kate Eisenstein's eye

contact with the audience and lively leadership of the cheerleaders suggests that she may be a force

to be reckoned with in

of the show was enlivened by the enjoyable French

I <) <) <)

Charlotte White

'Nanutors'

'Brothers

interlude starring Charlotte White and the Calypso song, "In Those Canaan Days" performed stunningly by the guest star Rachel Mitchem. The co-ordination of over one hundred performers was a masterpiece of organisation and a tribute to the discipline and concentration of all in Lower School from prefoundation to second form. The success of the evening was, of course, the result of a great deal of hard work from the team of parents and staff who enthusiastically act as back-up to the children, decorating the Arts Centre, serving the delicious interval meal and marshalling, making-up and dressing the performers.

Mrs Stone deserves particular credit for her vision of an evening of colour and energy and for

eliciting

stunning

performances from so many of the cast.

It was also brilliant to see Mr Gee succeed in leading a band made up of Lower School performers and the musical direction produced a variety of tempi and a constant impression of vitality.

The finale was worthy of the whole stunning evening - as the Technicolor dreamcoat unfurled, the balloons floated down, the entire Arts Centre resounded to the words and music of "Any Dream Will Do". It made me want to be on stage!

DWR

TABOR ACADEMY VISIT

The first of two Tabor visits to the UK in 1999 (the second was the rowing team at Henley) saw a return of the Drama group, under Messrs Howland and van Vorris, in what is now the fourth trans-Atlantic exchange. Day I was not one to remember - a seriously delayed flight caused by a snow-bound Boston airport, followed by some missing luggage -but humours were restored as the party reached Ellesmere and met their hosts at an informal gathering in the Arts Centre.

The week was spent exploring the area, including a day on a canal boat, and rehearsing their play 'The Dining Room', which was really a series of sketches which examined group and family relationships over the years, and in which the actors played numerous different parts. The play was performed three times, once at Moreton Hall and twice at Ellesmere, each time to highly appreciative audiences. After the final show we held a farewell party in the Arts centre, a memorable social occasion which showed just how strong the Ellesmere-Tabor link has become. 2000 is the 'gap' year in our triennial programme, but we look forward keenly to 200 I and our next trip to the States.

KJS

Lauren Shearer

29

The

Ellesmer

C.C.F

RAF

SECTION

We have enjoyed a varied and rather different programme of events this year. The RAF has been a bit busy recently and it has been unable to accommodate us as often as it had in the recent past. In particular this has altered the type of expeditions we have experienced this year.

Our October expedition took us on the first day to Rodneys Pillar for a map and compass exercise which included spectacular views across our region. After camping out back at College we made our way to Manchester Airport. There we were shown how a large international airport works. The movement of large numbers of people, feeding them, checking them in and handling their baggage were all explained. We were unable to see the engineering areas where aircraft were maintained and serviced. This was a disappointment to many. That evening we were accommodated at RAF Shawbury before leaving for RAF Cosford the next day for air experience flying. This was an opportunity for some cadets to take in a tour of the Aerospace Museum.

Our March expedition saw us in the hills behind Betws-y-coed, navigating a course through some stunning scenery. We were blessed with some sunny and warm spring weather.

This summer's expedition was in South Wales walking a section of the

September 1998 saw the arrival of Mr Arkieson who, having served in both the RAF and the Royal Navy as an air traffic controller, brought a wealth of experience, anecdotes and an aeronautical flavour to the section.

The annual CCF regatta was held in Portsmouth in September as usual, just not on the weekend when PJAS took Tom, Sam and Katy down to compete! We were kindly accommodated on HMS Bristol and made the most of our trip by going to the Southampton Boat Show on the Saturday.

The October expeditions saw us once again in Portsmouth, billeted on HMS Bristol. The weather was foul and the planned sailing in the Drascombe Longboats had to be cancelled. We did briefly manage to go afloat in the Cheverton Champs to do some boat manoeuvres under power, and Chief Oatway wangled us a guided tour of HMS Ark Royal which was in dock awaiting refit. The other highlight of the trip was the Sea Survival School where we were taught how to abandon ship and take to a life raft. The dry land theory was put into practice in the cold wet water!

Just before Christmas we managed to establish contact with our link ship, HMS Talent (a Trafalgar class nuclear-powered submarine) and we had planned to visit her in the new year but unfortunately world events took a tum for the worse and she had to cut short her time in the UK.

Neil Eisenstein, Stephanie Simms and Katy

a n

1 999

Whilst all our cadets have achieved a variety of things over the last year, two of them have achieved rather more. Chris Lipson and John Willding-Jones took part in the Fifteen Peaks challenge. This was a joint CCF exercise and involved climbing fifteen peaks in North Wales all over 3000ft during the period of our summer expedition. A real test of stamina and endurance.

Chris Lipson had already achieved something rather special during the Easter holidays. He took advantage of the Cadet Flying Scholarship Scheme that offers free tuition at a civilian flying school. Chris went to Carlisle where he had just over 16 hours of instruction in a Cessha 152. He had his first solo flight after 61/2 hours. Quite an achievement. Chris also managed to fit in a CCF expedition to the Isle of Skye. We all look forward to hearing further tales of his adventures when he returns from the Antarctic sometime next year!

F. S. Williams, FIt.Lt.

C.C.F NAVY SECTION

Pembrokeshire coastal path to the west of Tenby. We were accommodated at a local Youth Hostel and once again our retired Section Commander Andrew Thomson ably assisted us. We enjoyed stunning coastal scenery, superb weather and a glimpse of the military presence in that part of the world. Our training at Section level has been very successful with nearly all eligible cadets reaching proficiency level in the First class cadet examination. Success at leading cadet level has been particularly pleasing. The result of a significant number of cadets staying in the section for another year. Again this year we have been offered a number of air experience flights at RAF Cosford. We can just manage to fly six cadets for twenty-five minutes each and then dash back to Ellesmere just in time for buses. Our visits to Tern Hill for Gliding have been less frequent. A pity because it is usually a relaxing and enjoyable experience.

A unique opportunity for a number of our cadets was attendance at a presentation given by two Russian Cosmonauts. This was at the Aerospace Museum, RAF Cosford, and our second home! We were treated to a fascinating account of life on

board the Mir Space

Station.

Simpson made the long journey north to Faslane after the end of term in December to take part in the annual Mine Counter Measures day. They spent a day in the Clyde on the minehunter HMS Sandown, and Neil helped to navigate the ship back to Faslane.

Over the winter we had another good presentation in the Arts Centre from the RN and RM careers team. As usual there are a few cadets considering a career in the Royal Navy, and currently there are two recent OE's who have been accepted into the Navy (James Williamson and Owain Wilson).

We had hoped to go for our field day in March to Shawbury, which is now the tri-service training centre for helicopters, but this was not possible in the end although we did have a visit from the Commanding Officer who has promised us a future visit. Plan B was a trip to Liverpool and a visit to HMS Biter, the Manchester University URNU patrol boat. This was followed by fish and chips at Harry Ramsdens then a visit to the museum at the old Albert Dock.

In May for the Biennial Inspection we were pleased to receive a visit from our Parent Establishment Liaison Officer, Lt Cdr Barney Wainwright who flew up from Yeovilton in a Lynx helicopter. 815 squadron has now completed the move from HMS Osprey at Portland to HMS Heron at Yeovilton. This was the first visit by a PELO in PJAS' memory. In spite of the rain the inspection was quite

successful.

Summer expeditions were again held at Plas Menai, with almost all the Upper Sixth and Fifth form attending. The weather was superb with sunshine and wind. On the Monday afternoon we sailed the Hunter 707s and learned more about spinnaker handling. The Upper Sixth won the race, but they did have a National Squad member on board in the form of one of the Instructors. On Tuesday we took catamarans, Buzz' and a Laser 3000 on a day trip to Beaumaris. Even going with the tide negotiating the Swellies was an exciting experience - Richard Ryvar's Buzz hit an underwater rock on the way there and two boats capsized on the way back. On the last morning some chose to windsurf whilst the others continued to enjoy the catamarans and asymetrics.

Our area instructor, Chief Oatway has been a great assistance this year. As well as joining us on expeditions and for the inspection, he has arranged for the Bosun to be repaired, and found us a replacement boat in the meantime. Then in June he obtained a second Bosun for us on semipermanent loan. Thanks to his energy and enthusiasm the North West area is beginning to be more active and in September we are planning the first area sailing regatta to be held on the Menai Straits at Indefatigable. This should provide useful practice before the national regatta (which PJAS is going to get right this year).

RJ.A. Simpson

30

The

Ellesmerlan

I 999

most of the first day the fleet of about 65 boats stayed very close together, but eventually it spread out as we all made

TALLSHIPS

RACE 1999

en I originally signed up for two laces on the Navy's entry in the Tall Ships Race 1999 I really didn't know what to expect and did wonder what I was letting myself in for, but it turned out to be the experience of a lifetime.

The beautiful Nickleson SS that is chartered by the Royal navy for cadets had to be sailed from Plymouth to St Malo where the race started. The winds were light but there was enough to sail to France in good time. It was a chance to get to know the boat and each other and enjoy the sun while it lasted. As we entered the locks we were right next to "Malcolm Miller" and

"Sir Winston Churchill" , they seemed huge at the time but were nothing compared to the ships like "Krusenstern" who are the main attraction of this race. We stayed in St Malo for four days and lapped up the festive, party atmosphere - it was a really pretty town and I think everyone was very sad to leave.

For

Silver O. T. U.

This years' Fifth Form Group was quite large - twenty five in number at our first Thursday meeting. Mr Roger Gee and myself had decided to offer the group the choice of two options for their expeditions, cycling or walking. Most people were very definite on which activity they wanted to do. All the boys and a couple of the girls were keen to cycle and the rest of the girls to walk. This provided some interesting compromises when it came to organising the routes for our first expedition in the Michaelmas Term.

We finally chose the BalalLake Vrynwy area with two separate campsites for the first night and the same campsite for the whole group for the second night. Unfortunately the weather was appalling with non-stop rain for virtually the whole of the three days. The two groups faced different challenges throughout their expo. Some of the cyclists met with flat tyres only metres out of the school gates and the girls, who were walking a

our own way up to Greenock in Scotland for the end

of leg I. The wind got up after two or three days and it was gusting Force 8 and at times it was doubtful whether we would every reach Greenock as only 4 cadets out of 9 were not throwing up over the side. A lot of boats retired in this time because of boat breakages or lack of crew through sea-sickness. Luckily the four remaining cadets pulled together and maintained a gruelling 3 hours on, 3 hours off programme until everyone was well 48 hours later, so we didn't retire. The winds then

dropped so much that at one point the tides were taking us backwards. There was a set time at which the race ended and again a lot of boats retired because they realised they could not finish - but we carried on.

We didn't cross the finish line (we were out by about 50 miles which was probably less frustrating than some boats who were 2 miles from the finish line!) but we still got 2nd place for carrying on unlike those who retired. We came 36th out of 65 and 16th out of 23 in our class but I don't think anyone on the boat really cared about the position. The experience has given me just a taster of what it must be like on the Whitbread or the Vendee Globe (no showers, no proper toilets, no decent food, no bread, no milk ... ) and that it's more about surviving than winning. Races like this have to be the prime example of where it's the taking part that counts.

Katie Simpson

good distance along the canal, discovered that some of the paths were closed due to erosion. The point of the Award is however to assess these difficulties and as a group, make a decision as how to best overcome them. This was done by some groups rather more successfully than others!

During the Lent Term we had in-house training of First Aid for the Service part of the Award but we were also starting to plan our Summer Expedition because of the students GCSE's. Our numbers for the qualifying expedition were dropping dramatically. In the end we had seven girls who would walk in the Yorkshire Dales and three boys who would cycle south of Shrewsbury.

The trip to the Dales was extremely successful with all the girls passing and wonderful sunny weather for our three day trip. The Assessor, Mr Peter Barton had previously been a teacher at Ellesmere and had run the OTU scheme whilst here. He was therefore eminently qualified to join

us. He was a very relaxed person who immediately put the girls (and staff!) at ease. The group completed some quite demanding terrain including climbing Ingleborough (one of the three peaks) and a very long ten hour walk on the middle day. They were very glad to get on the bus and eat ice-creams once they had finished!

The cyclists were not so lucky however. Having completed the first day successfully they went missing for an afternoon which resulted in Roger Gee and their Assessor, Miss Debra Joynson frantically searching until they were finally found. A lot more preparation is obviously needed for next year's group if they wish to cycle.

Overall the Silver Group has been quite successful this year. As team leaders we hope to build on what we have learnt this time round and hopefully get a lot more students qualifying next year.

NLS

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GOLD O.

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lam writing this on the banks of the River Severn watching the group trying to sink the canoes and rescue each other - all part of the training for this year's trip down the Rivers Allier and Dordogne in France. The group have worked very hard on their canoeing skills and seem bound to pass the B.C.U. 2 star award. The only question remaining is, will they pass the 3 star when tested during the Expedition down the River Wye in a couple of week's time?

As well as canoeing, a variety of other activities have again been entered into with varying degrees of enthusiasm, particularly conservation round the Meres and Sports Leadership. The group should be thinking ahead now about the remainder of the Award. Experience tells us that if it is not completed whilst in the Upper Sixth it is unlikely to be completed once they've left - a great pity after all the time and effort they have put into it! I am again indebted to R A McC, PAG, MRDS and my wife, for the help they have given the group since last September - thank you all.

D.T.W

Some quotations:

"You can't get lost on a river" M W-T (he didn't)

"When God made rivers why did he put so many rocks in them?" D H "I've canoed before" D H (sorry Dave!)

" If I'd known I'd have to canoe it all again I'd have stayed hidden" E G "You're a genius - when you want to play in France, give us a ring" to C S from - the whole of France.

Keep paddling! M 0

Some comments:

Somehow this group managed to banish any teacher/student divide by their sheer friendliness and sociability. This was good news for David Harvey who bravely stepped into injured Fiona Milward's place. David had done some teaching at Ellesmere but had to join the group as a student (which could have been difficult but wasn'tl) This year's students were exceptional. No-one whined, no-one complained when things weren't perfect, and the group who canoed on past a campsite on the Dordogne then kept going for another 17 miles in an excess of enthusiasm remained remarkably good-natured when they were found, returned to the campsite

and required to canoe it all again the following day!

The Allier was challenging- some unnerving rapids and rocks. Mike Wallace-Tarry and Lucy Noble were unable to avoid the large rock previously known as "Allinson's Folly" and so bent and holed their canoe severely. Luckily they were unbent, and magic Matt the assessor was able to perform temporary repairs to the canoe with the aid of a large stone and a great deal of canoe Elastoplast. David Harvey (who had thought he was coming for a fun trip) was aghast at all the white water and sharp things but he and Rachel kept smiling through all the duckings. Rob Naylor and Andy Broadwood kept smiling too, and spent much of their time in the water helping other people although they hadn't capsized themselves. Amber (justly named, suited by the climate) and Jess, weighing little, were able to skim lightly over most obstacles. They were well organised, encouraging and usually in the lead (so much for worries about their muscle power!) They didn't fall in once. Clare and Edwina were strong, fearless (mostly) and accomplished, and were also ready to rescue (I was grateful!). Niall Haxton got his first ever suntan and was an endless source of amusement. He also showed a surprising tum of athleticism by leaping backwards into a passing canoe after his own had met a rock. This surprised the passing canoe as well as Rob, Niall's partner, who caught a brief glimpse of Niall sailing away from danger with his legs in the air! Violet too survived an impressive exit from her canoe on a devastating S bend rapid, as did her partner Chris, and remained cheerful and positive. Steph and Chris were stars of stage, screen and bar as well as river and took the music world of Brioude and Argentat by storm.

None of us could have coped with all of this without the skill and good humour of Matt Osburn, assessor, and the patience and depth of knowledge of David and Angela Walker.

Team, I salute you and repeat last year's commendation. You are worth your weight (including canoes) in Gold Awards. Thank you for your company. R. McG.

Duke of Edinburgh ~ Gold Expedition Allier and Dordogne Julyllth-24th

The supervisors:

The assessor:

The teams:

(Unstoppable)

(Unsinkable)

(Almost unsinkable)

(A titanic partnership)

32

Mr. & Mrs. D. Walker Mrs. R. McCarthy

Mr. M.Osbum

Clare Bean, Edwina Grosvenor, Niall Haxton,

Rob Naylor

Jess Bailey,

Amber Conway-Wallace Andrew Broadwood, Steph Dunn

Lucy Noble,

Michael Wallace-Tarry David Harvey,

Rachel Walker

(Ouch) Violet Heale

(I'm only 17 but my life flashed before my eyes) Chris (pass that guitar) Snow

Some statistics:

We drove nearly 2000 miles Canoed nearly 170 miles (the unstoppable did more) Collected 108 bruises Capsized around 30 times (apart from one boat)

Collected 100 francs in the swear box (thank you MW-T !)

donated to Chemobyl Continuity N H. ate at least 10 kilos of pasta

Sang "Cecilia" around 50 times (tape shortage) Applied a bathful of sun-block

Bent one canoe

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AMSTERDAM SUMMER EXPEDITION 1999

This was an expedition with a difference - and I don't just mean the 4 a.m. start on the first day. The competitive Easy-Jet fare from Liverpool created an opportunity too good to miss, and so when most of the school were climbing into their minibuses at Ellesmere, we were alighting from the transit train at Central station, Amsterdam, ready to sample at least some of the delights of that most agreeable and interesting city. We had been fortunate, with the help of Gideon Dring, a former Wakeman HouseCaptain, to secure decent accommodation close to the city centre; having deposited our luggage there, we set off to explore on what turned out to be a wet and humid day. No matter! Central Amsterdam is a delightful mix of canals and thoroughfares. It must be one of the quietest cities anywhere for traffic is largely restricted to trams and bicycles, and thus one can hear the many and various bells chiming from the towers of picturesque churches.

On that first, somewhat damp day, we visited the van Loom museum, a fascinating untouched 18th century Dutch house, before raising our cultural

sights at, first, the recently reopened van Gogh Gallery, and then the Rijksrnuseurn, where Rembrandt's 'The Night Watch' was a highlight. After a pleasant restaurant dinner everyone was happy to retire early: it had been a long day!

The second day was bright and sunny. The morning was spent in the Anne Frank house and the 17th century church close by. PAW had prepared the party with historical aspects of the Anne Frank story, but actually being in the secret house where she and her family had hidden for so long was still very exciting. After an open-air pancake lunch beside one of the many canals, we moved across the city. through the infamous Red Light district, and on to the amazing secret 'Church in the Attic' and then the Dutch Synagogue. By now it was time for a little shopping and souvenir hunting, before returning to the hotel for a surprise birthday party. Later on we were pleased that Gideon was able to join us at an Indonesian banquet which rounded off a most interesting and varied day - and indeed trip, for on the final morning there was time for nothing other than a hurried breakfast and an energetic walk to Central Station. So - no lingering farewells, but many of us, no doubt. will be back.

KJS

So

S e r V

The Social Service Group provides an ideal opportunity for 6th formers to obtain valuable experience working in the local community in a variety of ways, and this can be particularly rewarding in many respects. It provides a chance for the mixing together of 'town and gown' in a way that promotes greater understanding between the two communities, and since joining the group last September I have received very positive feedback from the 'town' regarding their appreciation of the work carried out by our students.

This year we have numbered about 40 people split into small groups regularly helping the elderly in their own homes and in Community Centres, and the mentally and physically handicapped. folk at the Victoria Centre in Oswestry. We have also assisted with primary age children in their classes in three local schools, and helped out in several charity shops which are always desperate for volunteers. It can be sobering to see at first hand the difficulties experienced by handicapped people at doing every day activities which we take for granted, or witness the pleasure given to old folk who would otherwise sit all day in their community lounges, by just a couple of hours contact with a young person who can perhaps help them forget their problems for a while.

On the lighter side we have also enjoyed 'one off' outings with our elderly and handicapped folk to Stapeley Water Gardens and Chester Zoo, (wheel chair pushing develops the bicepsl), and helping at the annual Orthopaedic Fete, which was this year opened by Mathew Kelly.

In addition to the help given to the local people, the various activities provide a good way of finding out if that particular line of work would be a possibility for a future career, and the experience gained is a positive asset on CV's and UCAS forms.

Due to the very diverse nature of the venues we visit, our Thursday afternoons would not run so smoothly without the invaluable help of ADJ and our team of drivers, all of whom give of their free time so willingly. Consequently I would very much like to thank all those who have helped in any way. Particularly Dee Deakin and Sheila Lowry who fill in at the drop of a hat, Philip Hillier and Jean Marshall who have helped out especially at Expedition times, and finally Dan Powell who turns up regularly with his camper van 'people carrier' to take the Oswestry volunteers with me.

RCA

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C I a

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G r 0

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B

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s

As part of the European Awareness programme, members of the group again visited the Belgian capital for the three days of the October expeditions.

On our arrival on the first evening, we had a welcome meal in our hotel before walking to the fabulous Grand Place, where floodlighting showed off the beautiful and varied architecture. We explored the lIot Sacre, the maze of cobbled streets around the Grand Place, admiring the varied restaurants, many of which had impressive sea-food displays.

The next day began with a visit to the site of Waterloo, where we climbed up to the statue of the Lion which overlooks the plain.just as it was when the historic battle took place. The experience was enhanced by a brilliant video display which showed the progress of the battle, and by a huge panoramic painting depicting scenes from it.

Back in Brussels, we went to the Fine Arts museum, and most of us found something to interest us, whether it was a Bruegel or something a little more modem. Of more immediate appeal was a most interesting visit to the Bellevue brewery, where we were able to see how the specialist beers are produced. An invitation to sample a couple of the products was gratefully accepted, and gave us the opportunity to taste the cherry and raspberry varieties that were such a surprise to our British palates.

No visit to Brussels is complete without a visit to to the Atomium, Belgium's answer to the Eiffel Tower. This vast construction was built for the International Exhibition in 1958, and symbolizes the atom in the form of an iron crystal molecule, enlarged one hundred and sixtyfive billion times. It was an impressive sight, and we enjoyed travelling by lift and escalators to the different balls of the atom.

In the evening we took ada vantage of the many restaurants in the centre to have a Spanish meal, before going to the cinema to see "Saving Private Ryan". For the linguists amongst us, the subtitles in both French and Flemish were an added interest to this extremely moving film.

The next morning we drove back via Bruges, where we just had time to walk into the town and gain some insight into the fascinating Flemish architecture, and to buy some of the wonderful chocolates for which Belgium is so famed.

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ON TOP OF THE WORLD: Peaking at the right time are, Mr Darren Richmond (head of geography at Ellesmere College), pupils, Ben Willis, Andrew Mackay, John Wilding-Jones, Joe Whittaker, Neil Mostyn, Ruari McCarthy, Niall Haxton and James Granger. The college's head of physics, and photographer for the day, Mr Nick Blake, also completed the charity challenge.

It's only a short hop over the border from Ellesmere into Wales. But a group of pupils and staff from Ellesmere College went that 'extra bit' further - carrying on until they reached the top of Snowdon!

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The run from Shropshire to the North Wales summit was in aid of the Chernobyl Continuity charity, and eight sixth formers and two teachers set off at first light, tackling the 70-mile course in relays.

Pairs of runners undertook three-and-a-half miles at a time, and all 10 involved completed 14 miles, covering the route over road, tracks and open ground in under 12 hours.

The effort raised around £1,000 for Chernobyl Continuity, which supports and cares for children in Belarus, severely effected by the nuclear power station disaster of 13 years ago.

Battlefields

"Oh, how lucky we are ... ". I remember my father listening to a song with these lines in it when I was very young. Even as an Australian, whose ancestors were involved but very far away from war-tom Europe in World War Two, I felt a great sense of pride and privilege as I experienced five days of the battlefields of France during our trip in the Summer half term. It was an emotional trip ... and from the very

beginning we were plunged right into the mood of the forties. As we travelled by coach to France we listened to Dame Vera Lynn telling relations that "We'll Meet Again" and watched the epic film "The Eleventh Hour", about the Paratroopers who stormed the coast of France during the D-Day landings of 1945. There was a sombre mood as we realised the deep historical places we were about to encounter.

Our first visit was to Arromanches where off the coast of this little town the Allied forces set up "Port Winston" the Mulberry Harbour - an act of genius that ensured the success of D-Day and the invasion. Arromanches was situated in the middle of Gold Beach and here one can see the remains of the concrete port, which lies like several fallen buildings. We also visited the museum, which had interesting information and footage on the invasion. However the highlight was the 360 degree cinema which showed only genuine pictures from 1944. A mixture of death and honour were vividly shown to us and it was hard not to be drawn into the horror.

Trip

We did manage to have a pleasurable lunch however of French mussels and taste the famous Normandy crepes. The sun shone and as our visit coincided with D-Day we saw many natives and visitors who had come for the celebrations in their old uniforms and driving army vehicles.

We stopped in the afternoon at the British and Commonwealth Cemetery near Bayeaux. This was very moving as there were New Zealand, Australian and British graves together.

The third day of our visit was jammed packed with a visit to the Merville Battery which houses the remains of four field guns in blockhouses. The story of the raid on these guns, thought to be much more powerful than they actually were, by the 6th Airbourne Division is told at the museum on the site. Then it was onto Benouville which is the site of the Pegasus Bridge over the Caen Canal. We were lucky to see the new bridge opening up to let a large war ship through while we sat and drank very expensive coffee at the first house to be liberated in France which is now a care. Our day finished with a trip to the German cemetery at La Cambe. This was also a sombre sight to see 20,000 graves of the enemy - all who would, as our boys did, have had parents, children and friends.

The final day before our journey back was, I felt, the most interesting. We went first to the American War Cemetery which was indeed amazing. If ever the words "between the crosses, row on row" was more vivid than this picture of the endless white graves I would like to see it. We stood above the Omaha Beach, a place where the landings were fraught with difficulties.

We then proceeded to Ponte Du Hoc, a strategic point which housed the Germans' biggest defence guns. Here we met an extraordinary man called Bill Alwycke who had landed at this very point and had been one of the men who survived the capture of the guns by the Allies. He was very willing to talk about his experiences to our group and it was a great

privilege to share some time in what must have been a place of strong memories for him.

We had heard that the town of St. Mere Eglise, which was captured by the Airborne Division, was having a parade to mark this event. We went to the museum near the village square first which had many restored and original planes and gliders from the War. We then went out into the town centre by the church and waited for the parade. When it did come however it was over almost before it started so it was back to the hotel for a final night of Calvados in a care overlooking the sea.

Our trip back towards the Channel included a delightful stop at Honfleur, a beautiful little town with many antique shops and harbour-side cafes in which to have our final taste of French food. It was a very tiring trip back but we all felt we had accomplished a great deal in the short time we had there. I would like to go back again and see more, especially having leamt so much background history this time.

All in all a great trip with very pleasant students who were interested in what they saw and good company from our two Sixth Formers, Joe Whittaker and Holly Howitt-Dring and Andy our coach driver. Thank you to PA Wood and DW Reffell for a well organised and inspirational trip. I am already swotting up for the World War One trip next year.

MRDSINLS

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BOAT, MIDDLE OF

JUNGLE, GUYANA, JULY 24 1999

To Home,

As this letter is being written, I am sitting on a boat literally in the middle of nowhere, chugging slowly down some muddy brown

river. As you probably know, fourteen pupils and a teacher, C Moir decided some eighteen months ago that it would be a brilliant idea to disappear into the jungle for four weeks led by an organisation called World Challenge.

Now thanks to the wonders of E-mail, I am able to inform you that, mid-expedition, this idea was not such a great suggestion. The team have already been in country for nearly two weeks. In this time we have been cordially introduced to snakes, scorpions, lizards, poisonous spiders, mosquitoes, killer bees and ants. The various effects of yellow fever, diphtheria, typhoid, rabies, cholera and malaria have been described (though

thankfully not experienced) in all too intricate detail. We have experienced the slapstick results of entering and (accidentally) vacating hammocks and sleeping under mosquito nets. We are currently living off a diet of iodised water, dehydrated meat substitute and pasta. One could say that life in the jungle is so enjoyable as to make it almost some sort of overgrown Butlins!

'Nasties' aside the team has spent an exciting two weeks in country. After twenty-four hours of flying we finally arrived at Camp Ceiba. This was a biological research centre on the fringes of the jungle. Here, living in open wooden huts, we spent our acclimatisation phase. Having been taught about jungle survival, sleeping arrangements, food, hygiene and water treatment the team set off for the project phase.

amounts of enthusiasm and is consequently gaining much from the experience. The boat I am on is taking us to Georgetown, where we will buy supplies for the trekking phase of the expedition. This section is a major worry to the entire team. Somehow we must carry nine days of supplies in our already full rucksacks. We must somehow find enough water suitable for drinking and yet walk across baking savannah. Somehow we must avoid anyone falling ill (as once in the jungle there is no way of medivacing anyone out). For this reason, we must also avoid being bitten by disease carrying insects. In between all this dodging of danger we have to walk fifty kilometres in six days with twenty five-kilogram packs.

Madness is a prerequisite for anything like this. However, the trek from the top of the highest single-drop waterfall in the world (Kaietuer Falls) to the village of Kato, should be extremely rewarding as well as slightly challenging. By the time this is read, the whole thing will be over and you will no doubt have had the opportunity to hear all about the expedition. For now, from the middle of Guyana, all those present today can only hope to see you soon.

From: Neil Eisenstein, David Hillier, Andy Green, Michael Perks, John Tanous, Alistair Brown, Joe Whitaker, Francis Wood, Adam Willis, Bertie Spiegelberg, Matthew Cocksey, Robert Furniss, Owen Hughes, Jason Elliott, Mr. C. Moir and Ian Rimmer (World Challenge).

After buying supplies in the noisy, rushing city of Georgetown we took an eight-hour boat trip upriver into the heart of Guyana. At the end of this slow crawl we found ourselves in the world of SI. Francis or (as the locals call it) Maraikobai. This turned out to be a village stretching several dozen miles along the river consisting of scattered farmsteads and huts. At the central compound there were three shops, a church, a hospital and a school, all, surprisingly, made of solid concrete. The team stayed in the community centre (which even had beds and a kitchen!) and lived a life of comparative luxury. We were brought fresh fruits, cakes, pastries and bread. Besides this, two locals were assigned to cook for us whilst others would willingly shimmy up trees and hack down fresh coconuts for us to drink. The actual work was hot, sweaty and tiring. It involved clearing tracks through dense jungle using worryingly large machetes. However, we only did about four hours work a day and after we were able to play football or cricket with the locals.

One afternoon the team went into the local school to teach games. To say that Ellesmere College is different to Maraikobai School would be an understatement. One classroom for children of all ages and genders, one teacher, too few desks and a blackboard was all that made up the school. After overcoming the slight culture shock, the team enjoyed themselves immensely and took much away from the afternoon. In return, we gave the school a wonderful rendition of "Ten Green Bottles" which we could hear the children reciting as we left.

Although everyone has found the expedition challenging, tiring and (at times) dangerous, everyone has approached the trip with large

35

The

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RUGBY 1998/9

As Ellesmere expands following the move to co-education the number of boys available for sides will enable us to return to running a number of teams at each age level. As it is, the top of the School is still struggling to overcome the problems of small squads coming through from the junior years. Simply put, this meant a lack of options in selection and difficulties in covering the absence of key players affected all the senior teams.

On another front the small floodlighting project on Pumphouse pitch has been completed so that training can now take place after dark once the clocks have gone back. Whilst not intended to be of anything approaching 'playing' standard the facility has proved its worth and represents good value financed, as it was, entirely by the Rugby

Club.

The UIS's Tour to Ireland at the Lent half term was a great success enjoyed by the players, coaches and

<- supporting parents.

The 'touring

tt\ tradition' has been lost of late but the enthusiasm evident on this

occasion may help to restart things. The spirit and friendship engendered by the

'Rugby Tour'

~ represent an

important part of the game.

Finally, as most readers will know, after some sixteen years in charge of Rugby I am

relinquishing the post due to pressure of work in my role as Director of Studies. I would like to take this opportunity to thank ex players, parents both current and past and other friends of the Rugby Club for all the support, friendship and fun that I have enjoyed over my

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time i/c Rugby. Andy Jones, who has assisted on 1st XV for the last two years, is taking over and I trust that he will find the post as rewarding as I have.

time when only the truly committed could survive!

When I first took over the rugby in 1983 I understood that Rydal were one of the teams to beat. Since then Ellesmere has come out on top in all but two games with one drawn. An away match in North Wales looked like a tough order this time however. We were perhaps rather fortunate to win! Despite establishing a lead playing up the hill first half we squandered the opportunity to use the slope and spent much of the second in and around our own 22. However, the dying moments provided the opportunity for a couple of dynamic rucks, a break and, on this occasion. some incisive finishing, to put the fly half over in the corner.

Bromsgrove, with a side strengthened by sports scholars etc, proved altogether too big and powerful for us and although we defended staunchly to keep the half time score to 0-17 they pulled away second half. Denstone brought another big and powerful side and again we were up against it. Whilst it might well have been a travesty of a result we found ourselves deep into the second half with the wind at our backs only 8-12 down, on their try line and in possession. An error by us let them off the hook and they scored immediately - after that the result was not in doubt.

The Daily Mail Cup has been a source of great enjoyment for us since its inception. Having struggled to find a suitable date to play we finally entertained Newcastle School under lights at Wrexham RFC. It was a truly memorable performance of great heart and character. We won 11-10 and were able to progress to the last 64 nationwide.

Games against Merchants and Birkenhead were lost, the latter turning on a particularly unfortunate refereeing decision, and so when we lined up to play Wrekin a win was sorely

r'ust xv

A small squad assembled pre-season. Whilst a nucleus of players survived from last season there were areas where untried or younger players would have to perform to a high level if we were to compete with the 'big boys' on our challenging circuit.

An early run out at the King's Worcester Festival showed that, whilst we could be adventurous in attack, our defence was not as solid as it should be and that our rucking and mauling were well below the standard acceptable.

The first game, against the Invitation XV simply served to confirm these firs; impressions whilst also revealing a lack of discipline amongst the backs when it came to finishing off a break - this, unfortunately was to be a feature for the season.

Against Adams, a team in form and with several good individuals, we started well and were soon 12-0 up but failed to finish them off. The second half saw us wilt! A series of errors gave away position and possession and with a determined effort the opposition came back to win 12-20. A few days later we had the opportunity for revenge when, having won through to the final of a Festival competition we met Adams again. However, they again proved too good and we went down 0-5. Whilst intensive training had seen our rucking and mauling improve by leaps and bounds our defence had yet to get it together and some strong running from the Old Swinford threequarters in our next game allowed them to stretch away from us in the second half.

The Daily Mail Cup started

with a relatively easy victory

over New College and this encouraged everyone to work harder. By this stage of the season one or two of the weaker characters had fallen by the wayside - it was to be a

Rugby Results & Statistics

Opposition lst XV 2nd XV
Inivitation XV L. S - 24
AdamsG.S. L.12-20 W. 24- 17
Old Swinford L. 8 - 31 L.O-SO
King William's LOM. A'XV
L. 8- 16
Shrewsbury Vlth Form W. 19- 12
New College (OM.Cup) W.32-12
Rydal W.15-10 W.27-S
Bromsgrove L. 6 - 4S L. 7 - 47
Denstone L. 8 - 38 L.17-27
Newcastle H.S.(O.M.Cup) W.ll-IO
Merchant Taylor's L. 6 - 49 L. 14- IS
Birkenhead L.S-20 L.S - 13
Wrekin W.41-0
Shrewsbury Vith Form L.21 - 26
Lynn G.S. (OM. CUP) L.7-34
Live 01
Rossall L.18-20 W.22-10
Stafford G.S.
Newcastle H.S.
36 3rdXV

W.26-17

L.O - S2

L.0-66

L. 7 - 47

W. 12-0

W.21-IS

I. 7 - 17

IstXV

P W 0 L F A
13 4 0 9 178 307
II 4 0 7 16S 2S1
6 3 0 3 66 197
2 0 0 2 0 109
II 8 0 3 293 147
I 0 0 I 0 24
II 3 0 8 ISO 264
2 2 0 0 S6 24
UIS 'B' XV UI4'A'XV UI4 'B'XV
L. S - 34
L. 15 - 34 2nd XV

3rd XV

4th XV

UIS 'A'XV

UIS 'B' XV

UI4'A' XV

UI4'B' XV

4th XV

UIS'A'XV

L. 0-44

L. S - 20

L. 0 - 65

W.44-0

W.36-5 W 17-10
L.5-S4 L. 10- 14
W.7-5 L.O - 17
L.IO-22 L. 5 - 63
W.32-12 W.34- 10
W.53-0 L. 15 - 29
W.41-17 W.32-5 W.27·14
W.39-12 L.O - 24 L. 7 - 24
W.26-0 L.IO-24 W. 29- 10 The>

E'!!esmer/({I/

! 999

needed. We found ourselves with very much a scratch team, injuries abounded and of those who turned out several were not fully fit. However, another spirited if occasionally disjointed effort saw us comfortable winners, our six tries doing wonders for the season's average!

With two regular matches to go and a cup game in prospect the season was still very much 'alive'. However, the ability to play to any sort of pattern (i.e. to our strengths and the opposition's comparative weaknesses!) deserted us again and we went down to Liverpool College.

In the Cup Lymm H.S. proved to be an abrasive and well coached side. Again missing many players (about eight first choices!) we were never really in the game and, although we fought back early in the second half, our cup run came to a halt.

The final match against Rossall (new opponents for us) saw the return of several players and a much better performance all round. The opposition had imported some Western Samoans on scholarships, news that had made the national press. However, we played some of our best rugby of the term and well deserved our slender lead of 16-15 as we entered time added on. Perhaps it was just not to be that we should finish with a win and typical of the season that, when the oppositions winger was pulled into touch in goal, the referee should award a try although he had no view of the incident and did not know what had happened! However, the result aside, the performance in the last match was a credit to the players.

It was not much of a year for individuals although M Powell, 0 Thomas and S Suliman represented the county V18's and J Meldrum, J Granger and H Thomas represented the UI6's. Jonathan Meldrum went on to represent the unbeaten North Midlands VI6's. If the team were to do well it would have to have been through teamwork. The forwards worked hard at improving basic skills in rucks and maul and this certainly paid off as we out performed team after team in this area. Our lineout steadily got better and the serum was stable. However, the backs that looked so dangerous early in the term were not able to 'train on' as effectively as we had hoped. Andy Mackay as captain and Ben Dawes as vice did their best to pull the team together through a difficult season and can be pleased with their efforts. Nobody ever gave up and most players showed an improvement over the term. As I hand over the running of the 1st XV to ADJ I would like to thank everyone for their efforts this term.

Pldyed lot the 1st XV

A Mackay (captain), L Jones, M Powell, S Suliman, J Granger, P McCarthy, 0 Thomas, D O'Gorman, B Dawes, C Beck, J Draper, D Pinches, B WiIlis, J Hedgecoe, F Walters, C

Allinson, M Cocksey, 0 Hughes, N Haxton, B Speigelberg, R Naylor, P Williamson, T Pearson, SParry, D Challinor, D Dalton, J Meldrum, J Whittaker.

Colours:

A Mackay

B R Dawes M R I Powell OR Thomas

P J Williamson

Half Colours:

D H Pinches C A Allinson S Suliman

Shrewsbury Vlth Form College usually as the result of poor tackling and the forwards not having the fire for the fray. Our record, therefore, this year does not do credit to the history of this squad as we won only four. Andrew "Banana Boots" Denney tried to create a team, but the stronger personalities came to rule.

Robert Naylor, when available, was exception to this blanket condemnation as in deed was Tom Downes. Tom played in virtually every game for two years despite the fact that he was suffering from a serious kidney complaint and as I write this (July 1999) is having a kidney transplant. His courage should have been an inspiration to many. That it was not is a sign of the malaise that infected us this year. Much more will be expected and demanded of those who take the field of honour next season.

WCN

The 1998 season was very uneven for

the Third XV, with results £.

reflecting the fact that many senior rugby players were injured for long periods

during the Michaelmas ~

Term. After a victory

against, Adams in the first match, there were some ten players being fed through to the

1st and 2nd XVs by the next fixture, some never to return to the ranks of the

2 n d X V

The season promised well. At the first gathering of the forces it was obvious that the "spine" of the team was good and the reserves for the key positions were more than adequate. The first game was an excellent and encouraging win against Adams, Newport. But after that it was down hill all the way. With comprehensive defeats punctuated by the occasional victory. Why did the champagne so suddenly lose its fizz and sparkle?

The coach offers up the usual trite, and yet truthful, reasons for the debacle: injuries, Neil Mostyn broke his wrist at that graveyard of the Seconds - Old Swinford, and, of course, the 1st XV demanded that we cover its lame and halt; attitude, for the first time for many years the morale of the troops failed to overcome the adverse decision and defection with the result that there was much niggle which did not endear the players to referees and coach; and a lack of commitment, again this is something that the Seconds in the past have never lacked but this year there was a hard core of recalcitrants whose negative influence did much to destroy the enthusiasm and industry of characters like Joe Purcell, Huw Thomas and Jonathan Meldrum.

Jonathan was possibly the pick of the forwards in the early part of the season; being selected to hook for the North Midlands team. He had a good attitude on the field; being Jonathan Meldrum always prepared to

give of his best.

Similarly with Joe and Huw and, although the former towered over the latter, they both could be relied upon to perform well. In previous seasons these three characters would have been in the V 16 XV. The decision to suspend this squad for a season was obviously a welcome relief to the 2nd XV.

The reserve squad was a little deeper than normal as a result of this measure but the calibre of the player was not up to that necessary for Seconds rugby. Thus we sank without trace against Bromsgrove, gave victory to Birkenhead, Denstone, Newcastle, Merchant Taylors and

"Knights". Another problem was the fact that some opponents

fielded VI6 sides against us,

which generally had a more

settled pattern of play, and players

who could have challenged for places in

their own 1st or 2nd XVs. Our better

performances were against genuine 3rd XVs. With so many changes of personnel it was a credit to the squad that their hard word in training produced a common pattern of play, based on abrasi ve forward rushes and direct running in the centre. We sometimes lacked the guile to capitalise on our hard work in these areas. failing to achieve the deserved scores. This failing reflects the lack of familiarity with each other's play that results from too frequent changes of personnel.

There were so many players used it is difficult to commend many for their sustained contribution. However senior players such as captain T. Lewis, A. Bell, R. Corbett, C. Lipson and R. McCarthy provided a good nucleus of determined and experienced 3rd XV campaigners. They are responsible for the excellent team spirit that we managed to maintain in all circumstances. MPCIGHICM

37

The

Ellesmerlan

1 999

U 1 ~ X V

The season began with a few fresh faces: Steven Rossiter, Mark Vetch and Simon Joliffe. They proved to be the driving force of this season. The first match at Adams ended with a rather unfortunate defeat, mainly due to the fact that with these new arrivals and an untested selection the team was not playing to the best of their

ability. The next match at home to Old Swinford was one of

Elliot Rowe

the best performances of the season. There we fought hard to gain a very respectable win against a good team in an

amiable match marred by the only transgression of the season by Mark Vetch. From the onset the season

was on track with wins at Denstone, Liverpool and <" Birkenhead in aggressive hard fought matches.

The team selection tt\ was now functioning well with the front five a mainstay.

CI.l The most disappointing match was against

~ Bromsgrove where

an overpowering

team used a large

~ squad by continuously

making substitutions and tiring us out. The fitness work we had been doing throughout the season really began to tell towards the end of the

Season. Despite losing Mr Goodwin our coach, Mr Richmond battled bravely aided by Mr Sampson and Mr Clew low who both greatly contributed to the team's success, for which we are grateful. At the end of the season we truly felt like a team with Rowe and Watson-Jones shining throughout with Oakes being one of the highest big scorers. Now that the team is stable and with everyone committed to next season we look ahead with optimism at the good things to come.

lain Wilkinson & James Harrison

U 1 4 R II S h \ - 'l h c S III cI , ,

11 1 cI c k -,

After the success of the original Small Blacks side in 1997 the hope was that the 1998 team would provide a similar story. As the coaches ran their "technical eyes" over the muster of Third Formers on the first day of games there was an air of great confidence and hope. A large set offorwards with (hopefully) a skilled group of backs (although smallish!) Their

38

potential however was never really fulfilled. Robbie Houston, a forward of some talent, who with his size and skill should develop into a good 1st Fifteen player, brilliantly led the team. He was backed up in the pack by Jack Purcell and Ollie Bates-Smith who never let the opposition dominate them - in fact Jack's absence against Bromsgrove was the key reason we lost (although I did tell him it was the dubious penalty try.) Oliver is in the style of the old true forwards - he plays his rugby up front. His performance against Rydal was nothing short of outstanding and he displayed the promise of an upcoming player. The surprise of the forwards was Jason Toogood; he never finished in his play and scored a fine try in our opening match. The player Ellesmere will miss the most is Daniel Skelton. He played with great enthusiasm and enabled us to claim many tight leads - he also motivated players on the field in the mould of Sean Fitzpatrick.

The backs were an enthusiastic bunch. We were usually outplayed, outsized and outmanoeuvred but they never gave up trying. Sebastian White epitomised this and was always first to tell the coach that he didn't want to come off. Mark Brassington and Kit Wapshott worked well together but both would improve with a greater level of confidence on the field -back your abilities. James Bubb outpaced many of his opposite numbers and his try against Birkenhead would bring a tear to any supporter who enjoys the rugby game. Nick Bentley also improved as the term went on and if he can stay free from injury he looks like a player of the future.

If one was to gauge the season you would have to say that we did not scale the "heights." We played with enthusiasm but never reached our potential. At times there was a lack of discipline and we fell into the "we are better than them" trap. I enjoyed coaching the side; they should make up a large percentage of the first fifteen in a few years' time. With continued learning in the fine details of the game they will develop into a strong side. I wish all the players the very best for their rugby futures.

On a final note can I thank a few people. Firstly Mark Dowling who injected some of NZ ways into the team, James Brodie who helped motivate not only the squad but the rest of the UI4 boys, NLS for the sideline cups of coffee and for keeping the coach sane and all the parents who supported us each week.

See you next season.

MRDS

Ellesmere 7's 1999

Group A Merchants Old Swinford Ellesmere B

32 Birkenhead 31 Ellesmere B 32 St David's

7 o o

Old Swinford 12 Merchants 5
Birkenhead 24 Old Swinford 5
Merchants 36 St David's 0
Merchants 39 Ellesmere B 0
Birkenhead 31 St David's 0
Old Swinford 43 St David's 0
Birkenhead 12 Ellesmere 7
Group B
Liverpool 17 Newcastle 0
Ellesmere 22 Rydal 7
Rydal 19 Adams 5
Ellesmere 35 Newcastle 0
Ellesmere 34 Liverpool 0
Newcastle 22 Adams 12
Rydal 61 Newcastle 0
Adams 12 Liverpool 12
Ellesmere 39 Adams 0
Rydal 24 Liverpool 5
I .Merchants 6 I.Ellesmere 8
2.01d Swinford 6 2.Rydal 6
3.Birkenhead 6 3.Liverpool 3
4.Ellesmere B 2 4.Newcastle 2
5.St David's 0 5.Adams
Main S/F
Ellesmere 12 Old Swinford 5
Merchants 24 Rydal 5
Final
Ellesmere 17 Merchants 15 U15 7's squad

Given the short period of time available to fashion a team, the UI4 sevens did well to compete strongly in the Ellesmere Invitation Tournament.

Group wins over Ludlow and Old Swinford gained a place in the quarterfinals but Rydal proved too strong for us so we qualified for the Trophy competition. A good win over Birkenhead in their competition's semi finals saw us up against Newcastle in the final. Determination and teamwork saw us home.

The

Ellesmerlon

1 999

SIF

Stonyhurst 20 Stonyhurst 48 Merchants 10 Rydal 20 Merchants 34

Rydal 5

Birkenhead 0

Adams 7

Ellesmere 12

Ludlow 7

Final Stonyhurst 17

Merchants

o

Trophy S/F

Newcastle 17 Ellesmere 22

Ludlow IO

Birkenhead 7

Trophy Final Ellesmere 15

Newcastle 7

North of England Sevens, Birkenhead Park

V Barnard Castle L 19-28

V Solihull Sixth Form College L 5 - 38

V Bloxham L 26-27

A young team were perhaps unlucky to lose all three games since they were leading in the first until

quite late on and were only

pipped in the last by a

successful conversion

on the final whistle.

AC]llSpdCe

N .\ t i o n d I

SevellS.

V Arnold 'B' ~
W 29-0
~ V Manchester GS
W 43-5 ~
V Ashville
~ L 7 - 26
V St Davids
W 29-17
V Leicester GS
W 26-5 Group A Group D
Newcastle 27 Liverpool 7 Ellesmere 20 Ludlow 0
Stonyhurst 44 Newcastle 0 Ludlow 17 Old Swinford 5
Stonyhurst 38 Liverpool 5 Ellesmere 22 Old Swinford 0
Group A Group B
Group B I. Stonyhurst Adams
Adams 36 St David's 0 2. Newcastle Birkenhead
Birkenhead 20 St David's 7 3. Liverpool St David's
Adams 36 Birkenhead 0
Group C Group D
Group C I. Merchants Ellesmere
Rydal 26 Stonyhurst B 7 2. Rydal Ludlow
Merchants 19 Stonyhurst B 5 3. Stonyhurst B Old Swinford (8)
Merchants 20 Rydal IO QIF Adams 22 Newcastle 5 Second in Group so into last 16

V Kings School Grantham W 22-7 so into last eight V St Josephs Ipswich L 15-29

A squad reduced by injury and illness to only seven fit players produced some good rugby only going out to the eventual winners in one of their closest games, it was two tries each at halftime.

Ndi i o n a l

SevellS

V Wycliffe W 27-17

V Berkhamstead L 5- 1 9 V Eton L 5-33

V St Columba's L 7-19

The exertions of the previous weekend began to tell on the squad and we were unable to reproduce the good form seen in Blackpool.

39

The

Ellesmer

a 11

I 999

It has perhaps been a disappointing season at U 18 sevens since, with four of last yearsqualifying seven from Rosslyn Park still at school, we had hoped to challenge seriously for a place in the final rounds again this year. However, a long term injury to Owen Thomas, the captain's illness and something of a loss of form by the others meant that we had to be content with building again for the future. M.D.T.S.

House Rugby 1998/9

MIL 11 del III .] x Tel Il1 - \-I (l II S e

The House Rugby Festival again proved a success as many parents attended to support their sons. The Parents Society again provided excellent refreshment.

The senior competition seemed to be going Meynell's way until the final

seconds when Woodard

pinched the title to maintain

their truly extraordinary run. At Inters level the

Meynell squad

tt\ proved very strong notching up 90

points without
~ reply. Meanwhile
in the junior
competition Derry
~ emerged from the
shadow of the
boarding houses ~ with a storming

performance to

comfortably win all three games. Meynell again took

the overall title.

CRICKET STATISTICS

BATTING

NAME MAT INN N.O. RUNS H.S. AVE

BOWLING

NAME o

M

R

W AVE BEST

40

Lent Term - .. House 7's

The competition ran very much to form. A loyal band of parents turned out on an International Saturday to support their offspring and enjoyed an afternoon of honest endeavour if sometimes the skill level was a little disappointing.

Occasionally a team winning the lO's last term comes 'unstuck'at sevens, but not this time!

Seniors: Woodard Inters: Meynell Juniors: Derry

However, it is undoubtedly good for the trophies to be spread around the Houses.

CRICKET

I s I X I

The 1999 season was one of mixed results, with the team only playing to its potential on a few occasions. Too often the players let themselves down with undisciplined batting and bowling, and as a consequence only three wins were achieved.

The senior players gave some credible performances, but they too were inconsistent. Captain John Hedgecoe lead the side admirably, and he had a fine year as the leading all rounder. In the match against Bloxham he typified his ability by scoring 10 I * and taking 5-26. Three times John took 4 wickets in an innings, but he didn't take any other wickets.Tom Pearson, too, had an

outstanding match against Rydal in which he scored 76 and took 5-31.

Fred Walters played for half the games and always looked threatening but frequently got himself out. Tom Pearson was the leading wicket taker and his bowling was always fast and accurate. Robert Furniss had a bad patch in the middle of the season, but he looks set for an excellent year next year. Robin Mulvihill. Peter McCarthy and Huw Thomas gave promising performances, while Liam Heaphy spent a season in the firsts learning a lot.

Players at this level must learn that cricket takes a lot of mental effort and application in order to be successful, and that self-discipline is a vital ingredient for that success.

My sincere thanks must go to all that made this season possible; Mr. R.Mapp and Mr. I.Morriss for the excellent grounds and pitches, Mr.M.Sheehy for the umpires and Jean for her efforts in the kitchen and for all the meals.

IRe S II I I x

Played 14 Won 3 Draw 3 Loss 8

Team (from): J.Hedgecoe (Capt.), T. Pearson, F.Walters, L.Jones, A.Mackay, R.Furniss, S.Suliman, N.Mostyn, C.Higgin, R. Mulvihill, P.McCarthy, B. Camber, J.Doshi, T.Kathuria, H.Thomas, L.Heaphy, S.Watson-Jones, E.Rowe.

May 1 (A) Ellesmere 127 (Furniss 63) Merchant Taylor's 131-4 ( Pearson 2-26, McCarthy 2-27)

Loss by 6 wkts

DOSHI HIGGIN JONES THOMAS SULIMAN KATHURIA
10 4 7 13 9 8
10 3 7 12 6 6
2 0 3 2 I 2
108 37 36 89 33 22
26 35 12 20 10 14
13.50 12.33 9.00 8.90 6.60 5.50 PEARSON SULIMAN HEDGECOE THOMAS McCarthy MULVIHILL
89.1 42.2 72 4 107.1 72.5
22 9 12 0 23 10
253 176 345 25 406 345
19 9 14 1 13 10
13.32 19.56 24.64 25.00 31.23 34.50
5for31 4for30 5for15 lfor25 3for3 3for31 The

Elles 171 e r/ a 1/

I 999

May 5 (H) Gents of Shropshire 221-4 dec ( Pearson 2-34, Suliman 2-26) Ellesmere 149 ( Pearson 47, Walters 30)

Loss by 72 runs

May 15 (H) Ellesmere 134-8 dec (Hedgecoe 61) Liverpool 52-5 (Pearson 3-17)

Draw

May 22 (A) Birkenhead 262-7dec (Hedgecoe 4-61) Ellesmere 118 (Mulvihill 33)

Loss by 144 runs

June 12 (H) Ellesmere 138-6dec (Walters 43) Oswestry 49 (Hedgecoe 5-15, McCarthy3-3) Won by 89 runs

June 19(A) Ellesmere 75 Wrekin 80-2 (McCarthy 2-23)

Loss by 8 wkts

June 26 (A) Kings, Chester 246-3dec Ellesmere 113 (Furniss39)

Loss by 133 runs

June30 (A) Ellesmere 96(Mulvihill 32*) Shrewsbury 97-2

Loss by 8 wkts

July 2 (H) Ellesmere 234-4 dec( Furniss93*, Hedgecoe54*, Mulvihill 51) XL Club 164-7 (Pearson 2-28)

Draw

July 3 (H) Ellesmere 185 (Pearson 76) Rydal 99 ( Pearson 5-31, Mulvihill 2-20, Heaphy 2- 18)

Won by 86 runs

July 5 (A) Worksop 240-5 dec(Suliman 4-30) Ellesmere 102-8 (Fumiss43)

OPPONENTS

Mechant Taylors

won

Merchant's 76 Ellesmere 77-5

Shrewsbury (overs) lost

Shrewsbury 97 Ellesmere 74-7

Birkenhead

won

Ellesmere 125 Mostyn 23, Birkenhead 57 Mostyn 3-14

Oswestry

abd

Oswestry 46-4

Wrekin

drawn

Ellesmere 176-9 Wrekin 120-9 Mostyn 4-37

Draper 75 Higgin 4-17,

Draw

July 6 (A) Bloxham 149 (Hedgecoe 5-26, Mulvihill 3-31) Ellesmere 151-4 (Hedgecoe 101 *)

Won by 6 wkts

July 7 (A) Ellesmere 115 Hurstpierpoint 119-1 Loss by 9 wkts

July 9 (H) M.C.C. 207-6 dec (Pearson 3-46) Ellesmere 178 ( Mulvihill 44, Hedgecoe38, Higgin 35)

Loss by 29 runs

T.E.G.

2nd XI CRICKET

Played 5 - Won 2 - Drawn I - Lost I Abandoned I

For the second year running the 2nd XI lost as many matches to the weather as they managed to play. This was very disappointing given our bowling strength, which was capable of always putting us in with a strong chance of winning. Three sides were dismissed for less than a 100, whilst Oswestry were 4 down for 46 when the rain came. Only Wrekin managed more than a century, and they hung on for a draw with 9 down. The overs match against Shrewsbury was lost as a result of a batting failure in the face of competent spin bowling, when victory looked to be a formality. Overall then the bald statistics above do not reflect the true calibre of the 1999 side.

The opening pace attack of Mostyn and Suliman was distinctly hostile, with both performing creditably for the 1st XI on occasion. Allinson was not always available, but his inclusion meant that there was a third quick bowler to complete the balance of the side in the field. Wallace-Tarry's

2nd XI Cricket Results

Higgin 3-15 Suliman 32

Mostyn 3-31 Beck 24*

Draper 23, Suliman 19 Wallace-Tarry 5-6,

late swinging medium pace and Higgin's off-spin could always be combined with a fresh 'quickie', as occasion demanded. All five of these bowlers were inexpensive. Mostyn was the chief wicket taker, with 14 at 8.1 runs a piece. He was relatively costly compared to the others, at 35 runs an over, but most carne from edges that quickly found their way to the boundary behind square, if they did not go to a fielder. Suliman and Allinson were particularly parsimonious, costing 2 and 2.4 runs an over respectively. Higgin and WallaceTarry each took 9 wickets, with the former topping the averages at 6.6, compared to the latter's 6.8. Against Birkenhead Wallace-Tarry produced the best bowling performance of the season by any College player; 5 for 6 including a hat-trick.

The batting was never as convincing as the bowling. The more technically correct players were lacking in confidence in the early stages of the term, and tended to get

out to half shots, whilst others

were undone by known flaws ~

once an opposition bowler

had worked them out.

However, in the main

we performed

adequately. Beck ~

and Suliman were the most consistent

performers, with ~

the former topping

the averages at 29.5.

Draper ran into good ~

form at the end of the season, with an excellent knock of 75 against

Wrekin helping him to an

average of 28.5.

The tearn's fielding could be very impressive, particularly on the ground. However concentration lapsed too easily, leading to a number of missed chances, which were particularly costly in the Shrewsbury match. Many of the side are returning next year, so I hope that this lesson has been learnt! That said, we were always well served behind the stumps, with Williamson proving to be a real find once both senior wicket-keepers secured places in the 1st XI.

Squad:- Allinson, Beck, Camber, Challinor, Draper, Green, Higgin, Jones G, Jones L,

Lea, MacKay, Mostyn, O,Gorman, Slope, Suliman, Thomas, Wallace-Tarry,

Williamson.

G.H.

41

The

Ellesmer

COLTS CRICKET

The 1999 Colts XI was not a bad team, but crucial factors made it not a particularly good team either. To have lost more matches than were won was disappointing but fair. The season was, nevertheless, enjoyable for players and coaches alike, and after the dismal weather of the previous two seasons it was not far short of miraculous that all twelve scheduled matches were played to a finish.

The batting it has to be said, was consistent only for its inconsistency, and it proved to be more vulnerable than could, or should, have been the case. There was enough talemt among whichever eleven took the field but much ofthe batting was impatient and bedevilled by poor shot selection, It was particularly infuriating

that batsmen got themselves out when well set, as happened all too frequently.

Having said that, there was at least some memorable batting - Rowe and Rees

<- at Crosby, Cole's fight-

back at Birkenhead,

Wallace-Tarry taking on the County, Rowe and Watson Jones at Shrewsbury (that was exciting!), and the skipper's 50 at Rydal. Well

done! But I hope that those mentioned - and the rest - will be aiming for better things in

future seasons.

We were crucially short in the

spin-bowling department. The absence of Heaphy for all but two matches created a large gap, and although Watson Jones's slow left arm proved quite effective, unfortunately he was also the best wicket keeper! We had a cohort of medium to fast operators, all of whom had their day Stringer, AstIes, Hartwill, Wallace-Tarry, Bullen and Chilcott - and the mandatory bowling limitations enabled all the bowlers to be kept busy.

Though there were lapses at times, this was one of the best fielding sides in recent memory, with many good, and some outstanding catches held, and a record number of run-outs (including three at Rydal!) Cole kept wicket to start with, adequately, but gave way to Watson Jones whose hands were, on the whole, less Teflon-like.

Sam Watson Jones assumed the reins of captaincy for most of the matches, and he showed a good feel for the job. He and Elliott Rowe were the leading players in the side

a 11

1 999

Ellesmere 52-2
won by 8 wkts
Ellesmere 86
Kings, Chester 88-6
lost by 4 wkts
Shrewsbury 169-0
Ellesmere 147-8
(Rowe 53 Watson Jones 45)
match drawn
Rydal-Penrhos 101
(Bullen 3-0 Astles 3 -18)
Ellesmere 104-3
(Watson Jones 50*)
won by 7 wkts
Invitation XI 165-3
Ellesmere 79,
(Rowe 36)
lost by 76 runs
K.l.S. SHOOTING

Senior captain: David Hillier. Junior captain: Alice Hulbert

The past year was a fairly quiet one for the seniors. After the end of Summer '98 Robert Jagger joined the GB U21 Rifle Squad at development level. In May'99 both he and David Hillier went to shoot for GB in Germany. David Hillier was the top British shooter in prone rifle competitions both at Oldenburg and Suhl, finishing a creditable eighth in a strong 35-nation competition.

A really enthusiastic group of first years joined our second year shooters and it was not long before I realised that this was a very good group indeed. They went to the Prep Schools Shooting Festival, and Jack Swanston won an individual prize, though the two teams that we entered did not win the trophy this year. This was because many of the shooters were first years who had had little experience.

Two coaching weekends were arranged with National Coach, Dr Irene Daw, early in the Summer Term which proved to be great successes. She was so impressed with a number of the Lower School shooters that she suggested that they should show what they could do at a GB U21 trial. Patrick Barker, Jennifer and Sian Corish and Tom Doe have already been accepted and some more could be next time there is a trial.

After the news broke in the local press that twin girls had both been accepted into the GB Rifle Squad at development level BBC 'Midlands Today' news programme asked to

42

(Rowe scored over 300 runs) and between them they communicated to the others their knowledge and enthusiasm; their efforts were much appreciated.

We were able, unusually, to field a quite reasonable 'B' side this year, and it was a pity they only played two matches (one won, one lost). They trained just as hard as the' A' team, and thanks are due to Mr David Harvey for the time he spent with them. Thanks also to Richard Sampson and lain Wilkinson, who managed the score book, and to Mr Hugh Crust for his enormous help and enthusiasm with the coaching and umpiring.

Team (from): Sam Watson Jones, Elliott Rowe Richard Wallace-Tarry, Guy Stringer (all colours), Adrian Cole, Martin Hartwill, Alex Bullen, Tom Astles, Jonathan Rees, Tom Chilcott, William Naylor, Peter Tomley Simon Jolliffe. Also played: Liam Heaphy, Mark Vetch, Simon Parry.

Match Summary:

Played 12 Won 3 Drawn 3 Lost 6

Ellesmere 160-4 (Rowe 65, Rees 32)

M.T.Crosby 63-6

match drawn

Denstone Ellesmere

127-6 97-9

match drawn

Liverpool (Stringer 4-29 Wallace-Tarry 3-21)

100

145

Ellesmere (Wallace-Tarry 30)

lost by 45 runs

Birkenhead

(Watson Jones 3 -I I) Ellesmere

Cole 36)

lost by 27 runs

113

86

Ellesmere

(Rowe 30) Wolverhampton G. S. lost by 8 wkts

107

108-2

Oswestry

(Watson Jones 4-5) Ellesmere

(Cole 42*, Rowe 34*) won by 8 wkts

117

118-2

Ellesmere

(Wallace-Tarry 63, Heaphy 39) Shropshire

(Hartwill 3-26)

lost by 6 wkts

130

131-4

Wrekin (Hartwill 3-13)

5 I

The

Ellesmerian

199 9

come and make a news item about them. There was a brief interview on the lunch time news and a longer item on the 6.30 'Midlands Today' news programme. It took two hours to film it for about a four minute item on the programme! They showed how good they were by both shooting 100/100 on a cadet 5- bull card. Then taking the camera right up to the target area ("Don't worry. It is insured") and focusing on a single diagram Jennifer put two shots straight through the bull! I knew they were good but to do this when TV cameras were on her was beyond my expectations. Hopefully, when these youngsters are shooting Olympic Finals they will still be untroubled by the television cameras.

During the Summer Term two teams of Lower School shooters were entered into the UI6 BSSRA (British Schools Smallbore Rifle Association) league. The' A' team came second in their division and the 'B' team won their division. Well done!

Trophy winners were:

J. Corish (John Croydon Trophy) W. Lloyd

(Junior Handicap competition) S. Corish

(Junior Best Average Award)

Philip Hillier

SQUASH

I st Team - Played 6 - Won 3 - Lost 6

This year we had a small number of senior pupils playing squash on a regular basis and the initial impression was that we would struggle against more well established competition, and have a poor season. However, that was not the case. Much to their credit, the team worked hard on their individual skills, and each person ended the season playing much better squash than at the start.

The captain, Robert Furniss had the difficult task of playing at number one. He did well against some strong opposition and finished the season strongly. Next season he will find the experience valuable, and far less painful, when he will be able to control the rallies to his own liking. Mark Powell settled into number two spot and won several of his matches. As the season progressed be played more steadily, and was not as easily distracted from the task of controlling the game. Marc Wilkinson had the best playing record of the whole team, and he showed a considerable improvement in the pace and range of shots that he played throughout the rallies. This season will have

served him well in showing the value of varying the pace and controlling the centre of the court. Sandy Woodward showed much improvement and won all his last three games of the term. He is still inclined to become tense and snatch at h is shots when the pressure is on, but this season's experience, should help him to relax more on court and play basic shots when under pressure. Chris Lipson played in four of the matches, and won two of them; his tennis ability made him very reliable on the volleys and in mid-court, and his match experience helped him to keep competing until the final point. Sam Rawkins, Alex Garvin, and Jason Toogood also represented the team on several occasions. They all gained valuable match play experience and provided us with a very welcome victory on occasions; it is good to know that there is some talent coming along to replace our leavers.

Congratulations go to Robert Furniss and Mark Powell on the award of their full colours and to Marc Wilkinson and Sandy Woodward for their half-colours. Robert Furniss won the individual championship in a very tense and well-fought final against Marc Wilkinson. Congratulations to them both, next year's final should be a spectacular battle!

Once, again we owe a massive debt of thanks to Geoff Marshall for giving up so much of his time to come and coach the players on a regular basis. This is the sixth year that Geoff has helped us, and it is very much appreciated. He gives the pupils expert advice, and develops their skills on court, and so much of their improvement and success is due to his help and enthusiasm. My thanks also go to DSA who has played a valuable part in helping with the organisation and coaching, and in particular he has given invaluable help with the fixtures and transport.

Matches played: -

Shrewsbury - Lost 0-6

Wolverhampton G. S. - Lost 2-4

Wrekin - Won 4-2

O.E.'s - Lost 2-3

Wrekin - Won 6-1

Shrewsbury - Won 3-2

J.M.M.

CHESS

This year saw the continued growth of the school chess club and chess teams. For the first time a team was entered in the Shropshire Club League and two school teams entered the Times Schools Championships. In addition individual players entered local and national tournaments and the House Chess tournament

was re-started after a gap of many years.

In competitive fixtures the club side struggled to come to terms with the standards of the competition which was mainly against very experienced adult players. There were, however, many individual successes and only a very narrow defeat against the eventual league winners from Wellington. In other senior competitions Tom Atkin and Anastasia Pankina qualified for the regional finals of the national individual schools competition and Tom Doe, Sian Corish and David Ryan similarly qualified in the junior sections. Tom Doe played exceptionally well only missing qualifying for the national finals by 1/2 a point. He was also this year's winner of the Lower School tournament narrowly beating Sian Corish into second place.

School team matches were again restricted by the disappearance of

the Shropshire Schools Chess

League but two teams did ~

compete in the Times

Competition. The ~

Junior Team lost

narrowly to

Shrewsbury ~

School in the first

round and the

Senior reached

Team CI':l

the

second round

where they, too, lost to Liverpool Blue Coat School.

During the Lent Term a fiercely competitive house

tournament took place with both a

good standard of play and a high level of interest and participation from all six senior houses. The eventual result was a tie both on match results and the total games won between Wakeman-Lambert and Meynell. In third place were Woodard and a very creditable fourth place from St. Aidan's with Derry and St.Oswald's completing the results. Particular thanks are due to Niall Haxton for his

enthusiastic organisation of the tournament.

With over sixty pupils participating in chess this year and very enthusiastic Lower School participation the future looks very encouraging and it is hoped to build on the enthusiasm of this season to have more successes in the year to come.

A.P.Corish

43

The

Ellesmer

SAILING

The sailing year started with the joint Colemere and SSC regatta held on The Mere to coincide with the Waterways Festival in September. It was a very windy event with college pupils taking part in Picos borrowed from the RYA West Midlands Area. PJAS also competed in his newly acquired Laser.

In October '98 a team of nine attended the annual Topper Team Racing event organised by Rydal. This year saw a change of venue to the windsurfing lake just outside Chester (much closer for us but PJAS still managed to get lost en route) and also the introduction of the Penrhos Picos as well as Toppers. One aspect that remained the same was the weather,

which duly blew a hooley and the event had to be abandoned at about 2.30 in the

afternoon with matches completed.

<-

very few successfully

A new fixture came on the calendar thanks to the arrival of Mr Arkieson from QEGS Blackburn, and we enjoyed a friendly home fixture against them

in fairly light winds

~ and managed to

achieve a narrow

victory. As usual in the autumn we sailed a match at home against Worksop followed

by a meal together back in school.

Unfortunately we lost but made up for this in

a n

1 9 9 l)

the summer on the away match.

Tom Seward and Ed Wingett came back from their summer holidays having gained the RYA Dinghy Instructor's certificate (PJAS has only known one previous pupil achieve this whilst still at school). They both contributed greatly to instructing beginners in the course of 1998/99 including helping out with the Shropshire Sailing Club's level 2 course which PJAS was running having gained his Senior Instructor's certificate.

The summer term started with great success. Ed took over the duties of Captain and led the team to victory over Rydal and Sedburgh in the BSDRA Northern Area Team Racing event. Unfortunately Solihull won the event but could not qualify from the area for the national final in Kent in July. As things turned out we did not attend this final due to it clashing with our end of year events. Pressure of exams meant that we also missed the Midland BSDRA event at Radley but four middle school pupils did take part in the Pi co Challenge organised by Rydal Penrhos at Colwyn Bay. The weather was superb and after some coaching on the Saturday there was some good racing all day Sunday. Katy Simpson was placed in the advanced fleet and achieved a creditable sixth place overall. Stephanie Simms and Lucy Hulbert sailed together and came third overall in the fourteen boat intermediate fleet, and Peter Corish came ninth.

We sailed a match in Toppers and Lasers against Rydal at home and won, then travelled to Worksop where we won a three-way match against Wellbeck College and Worksop. Our final school fixture was against Solihull away in June. This was a middle school fixture with

the three Fourth form girls helming. Stephanie had quite a successful afternoon but Katy did not get to grips with the Enterprises especially to windward. We lost 3 - I in a best of five competition, and had to send Stephanie to casualty when we returned to have an X-ray taken of her arm which proved not to be broken.

The House Sailing Competition again proved difficult to hold because of clashes with other school events and the illness, absence or apathy of senior pupils. Only two houses managed to field a team and the favourites and holders Derry duly beat St Aidan's. Next year could see the first female victory!

College pupils, especially Ed Wingett, had a successful Summer Term competing in SSC events at White Mere. In May Ed won the under-18 trophy at the club Laser Open meeting and duly went on to win the SSC Junior Open in a Laser, with Katy sailing a Laser Radial second. Stephanie came fourth in a Topper and showed just how much she had improved in the twelve months from the previous Junior Open Meeting. It was really encouraging to see Stuart Campbell and Charles Cooper both in Lower School taking part in Toppers. The club fun weekend was held in June again and proved a great success with those who took part, especially those who stayed overnight and helped burn the old kitchen units on the bonfire and cheat their way round the torchlight race in the flat calm of the night.

Many happy hours have again been spent at White Mere with pupils learning to sail or improving their skills or simply enjoying just messing about in boats. With Mr Arkieson's help and enthusiasm many Lower School pupils were given the opportunity to experience the joys of sailing on Friday afternoons. On Saturday afternoons, with Mr Gee and Miss Joynson helping. there were often more Lower School pupils sailing than Seniors.

P.J.A.S

44

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FOOTBALL

A most encouraging season for the I st XI with quality shown on the pitch from both home grown and new members of the team. Significant developments in Football have lead to the reinstatement of the House Football competition with both Juniors and Seniors playing for an Allinson Cup. Sufficient strength has been seen in the Houses that full eleven a side games were possible and successful, especially for Meynell who won both age groups.

The season started with a very promising win, but after that, success did not come so easily. Some committed efforts were seen on the pitch from Bell, Mackay and Camber in midfield with goalkeepers Allinson (capt.) and Kimura regularly intimidating attacking players.

As the season progressed our play structure had to change with the arrival and development of players such as O'Gorman, Rogers and H. Thomas who all played different games to those players they replaced. Dependability and consistency came from players such as Williamson. Pearson at centre back, had a far more successful season this year, dominating the goal area at comers. Walters showed great maturity on the field controlling play until it was sensible to mount an attack. Denney regularly worked hard all over the pitch and Lewis provided leadership in the Seconds. The final game against Denstone was by far the closest, most skilful, and hardest fought game of the season, with the lead changing twice and the winning goal not arriving until there were only six minutes left.

The OE's game was played in atrocious conditions but with a most favourable score line to the College. I feel a reversal may occur next year if players are available. Will coaching and teamwork win over flair and independence?

Another revival this year took place with the College team playing the Common Room. A well attended fixture provided entertainment for all and bruises for many.

1st XI 2nd XI
Bedstone W9:0
Yale LI:7 LI:II
Abbotsholme W2:0
Shrewsbury VI L2:3 LI:5
OE W7:1
Staff W5:4 Shrewsbury VI LO:7
Denstone W4:3 L6:9
Jones 5
O'Gorman 3
Bell 3
Camber 5
Mackay 5
Own Goals For 2
Own Goals Against
Full Colours: Half Colours:
Aaron Bell Ben Camber
Fred Walters Andrew Denney
Paul Williamson
C.D.R. BOYS TENNIS

REPORT

I s I V I

The top team season is summed up by the expression "onward and upward". Our first pair Chris Lipson and Marc Williamson only lost one set out of their tally of almost twenty sets in all as a partnership. As a team we improved every match, thanks to the dedicated and enthusiastic coaching of Mrs Goolden.

We started the season with narrow losses to our big rivals King's School, Chester and Shrewsbury School in doubles. We also experimented with some singles matches at Shrewsbury where our relative inexperience led to a loss by a wider margin. However, Marc Wilkinson beat Shrewsbury's first player (the elder brother of Nathan Alexander, who was competing for our junior team) 6-1 .

The Rossall match, another historically close match was this year our only doubling. However, after this the team rose to the challenge, leading to victory against Liverpool College 9-0 when David Pinches and Tom Downes, our stalwarts of the past five years, played as first pair losing only 6 games in 4 sets.

Thereafter the team continued with successes against Birkenhead School and Old Swinford Hospital School. Aron Bell's steady approach contributed greatly to the victory at Birkenhead partnered with Tom Downes, who has always been 'Mr Consistent'. Dave and Tom played their final match against Old Swinford winning all four sets, two of them on a tie break. Dave was a supportive and

positive Captain and Chris Lipson an excellent and efficient Secretary of Tennis. Well done to them and all the team.

211d VI uu d

M I x c d

rvl d I l he'

The scaling down of Boys' tennis by many of the schools we play has led to a slimming down of our 2nd VI fixture list but these matches, together with our mixed matches have given an opportunity for a large number of keen Sixth Formers to represent the school.

The 2nd VI was narrowly beaten by Rossall which was a pity as it all hung on the final two tie-breaks and although John Tanous and Sam Rawkins (our third pair) beat Rossall's first pair, the loss of the second tie-break

led to a 4-5 score-line at the end.

We were also unfortunate to lose to King's Chester in a match where a former Ellesmere girl Rachel Cox played

for Kings (and

lost all her sets).

The Mixed

Fixtures were

enjoyed by all who took part and resulted

in a victory against .;>.

Shrewsbury Sixth Form

College and a loss to William

Hulmes's Grammar School in

Manchester.

We also had a number of internal mixed tournaments during the term which were a great success.

Particularly promising players who should be in the running for the 1 sts next year included Sam Rawkins, Andrew Broadwood, Sandy Woodward and Francis Wood. George Shropshire and Aron Bell played steadily whenever they were available depending on 'A' level commitments.

As usual, Ellesmere's teams were superbly positive and keen throughout the season whilst some opponents struggled to produce teams. Our Rydal match, for example, ended up as just one pair of 2nd team players - all sets were won by Ellesmere.

45

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1 II II I () I 13 () v S .

Mrs Goolden's Winter training has really paid dividends. Our top doubles pair of Peter Tomley and Nathan Alexander defeated all corners at Moreton Hall in the North Shropshire Boys Doubles to be champions.

In fixtures we still need to develop more depth to win every match but we had the benefit of the experience of Mark Vetch, the determination of Guy Fennell and the new talent of Jason Toogood to build up our Ul6 team.

Our Juniors including Nathan Alexander and Peter McCarthy occasionally represented the Senior teams, too, a valuable experience for

them.

Results varied from quite serious losses against King's Chester in two junior

<- teams to the pleasing 6-

3 victory against tt\ Birkenhead School towards the end of the season and a ~ close victory over Rydal Penrhos, too.

Our ambition for next year is to keep

~ the winter training so

that we can practise to beat Shrewsbury and King's Chester by next

summer.

;\ \\ ,I I d, 1 l) l) l)

Services to the Club:

Tom Downes

Most Improved Player:

Guy Fennell Player of the Year:

Marc Wilkinson

1st VI Boys' Tennis Colours were awarded to Mrs Barbara Goolden and Christopher Lipson

D.W.R.

CANOE REPORT

The start of the academic year saw in lots of new members and said goodbye to some of the best canoeists involved in the canoe club.

The standards of canoeing varied from the high standards and good leadership skills of Ed Wingett to the new members of the canoe club.

The year started off slowly due to the heavy rain, which restricted the new recruits to the swimming pool and also the absence of Mr Goodwin with his knee injury. The heavy rain saw in some of the biggest flooding that Llangollen canoe centre had seen in a long while. However, once the water level dropped we began to improve on our white water skills which would prepare us for the expeditions later on in the year.

Our canoe club consisted of Mr Goodwin, a very able Alpine Canoe, but sadly due to injury he was put out of action for a couple of terms. Ed Wingett, who assists Mr Goodwin with coaching due to the many qualifications under his belt, Stuart Parry who had just completed a very challenging expedition to some of the wildest alpine rivers contributed greatly and was always willing to push the bounds of canoeing to the limit in the club. Sam Swift also contributed to the preparing and helping out whilst on trips at Llangollen. He also represents Wales as a member of the Welsh Slalom canoe team. The new recruits were Simon Parry, Michael Broadwood, Elliot Rowe, Lucy Hulbert, Katie Simpson, James Harrison, Will Naylor, Guy Fennell Guy Stringer.

With the hard work put in by Mr Goodwin, Mr Stone and the seniors, trips were made such as canoeing and white water rafting at Llangollen, North Wales and sea kayaking around the beautiful scenery of the headlands of Holyhead and Anglesey.

All in all the year was very successful with everybody showing signs of improvement.

If all goes well next year will see in some new members and the canoe club will have an even greater time.

Sam Swift.

CROSS COUNTRY

Although the opportunities to fit in enough training proved hard to find this year, there

Daniel Evans, Alex Banks, Nicola Jones, Rhiannon Atkin

were many notable successes by teams and individuals at both county level and in the local league competition.

Several runners made an early start to the Lent Term by braving the January weather and running in the Shropshire Schools Championships in Bridgnorth on the Saturday before term began. There were both team and individual successes. The Junior Girls team (Rhiannon Atkin, Vicky Crawcour, Nicola Jones and Catherine Jones) was second and the Junior Boys team (Alex Banks. James Bubb, Mark Brassington and Daniel Blake) were fourth. Both Alex and Rhiannon were selected for the England Schools competition that was held in Luton in March - a great achievement.

The three venues for this year's league competition were at Oswestry School, Bedstone College and Ellesmere. This year the weather was kind to the runners but the competition was very hotly contested. The Junior Boys team performed consistently well and the final result was in doubt until the final runners crossed the line in the last race. We were just beaten into second place but by a very small margin. However the most consistent individuals were from Ellesmere. Alex Banks gained the top award by winning all three races and Daniel Evans was in second place overall.

There were many brave runs from the Senior Boys, ably led by Ruari McCarthy, but the team faired less well and were pushed into fifth place by the end of the competition.

With girls running in competitively in this event for the first time, there were some excellent results from both Rhiannon Atkin and Nicola Jones who were both in the

Third Form. Running against girls of all ages (including the whole first XI hockey team from one school) they managed to be the most consistent runners over the three races. Rhiannon gained the first prize and Nicola was the runner up overall. Despite this, a lack of strength in depth meant that we could not quite win the team competition.

With such success at junior level and with several keen runners in Lower School the next few years should see even better results.

N.M.B.

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1st 2ndIU I 6IU I 5 VI4
Won
Won Lost
Lost Lost Won
Lost Drew
Won Won GIRLS SPORT

HOCKEY REPORT

We began the season with several new players all who proved to be valuable additions to the team throughout the season. Claire Bean and Amber Conway - Wallace should be particularly mentioned for their midfield partnership. After a slow start the team improved, vastly owing much to the coaching of Phil Humphreys and Mrs. Goolden. Our first competition 'Wrekin 7's' proved to be a worthwhile experience demonstrating the need for team cohesion, in spite of the evident individual skill which gained us second place in our section.

The team went on to have an equal number of losses and wins, but the most memorable is the 3-0 victory against Moreton Hall. Lizzy Tomley (on loan from the seconds) scored two of the three goals, letting her true colours show! This result also showed how the team had progressed from the early losses to Denstone and Abbotsholme to additional wins against Penrhos and Oswestry.

As always Anna Corfield, playing goalie, provided a solid basis for the defence to work from, led by Captain Kirsten McGuire and strongly supported by Eddie Grosvenor (when not injured.) Significant contributions also came from Vice-captain Lucie Noble in midfield with Jo Blackburn and top goal scorer Katie Watts as forwards.

The season ended on a high note as we celebrated our success and team effort with a well-deserved meal at the Cellar; individual contributions were recognised and the following were awarded colours: Anna Corfield, Lucie Noble, Katie Watts - (player of the season), Kirsten McGuire. Half colours went to Claire Bean, Lizzy Tomley, (both for their work with the second team). Congratulations to everybody on their hard

O.E. Oswestry Denstone Bedstone Penrhos Packwood MoorPark Wrekin Abbotsholme Terra Nova Moreton Hall Stafford

Lost

Won

work and good luck to the team next year. See you at O.E's girls!

Kirsten McGuire

HOCKEY

:2 11 dill I () I U I:) I c .I III S

The above teams had mixed fortunes throughout the season. Lizzie Tomley and Vicki Dowdall did a splendid job of training and motivating the 2nd team which included a combination of fifth and sixth formers who were keen to improve their skills. The V 16 squad were successful against Moreton Hall and played well in Ellesmere's Invitation VI6 Tournament where they gained runners up medals. The VIS team had a resounding win over Stafford Grammar showing potential for the future.

A.M.M.

U I 4 I c a III

This team shows much promise. They completed an unbeaten season which culminated in them becoming North Shropshire Champions, conceding no goals in the whole competition. Rhianon Atkin and Nicola Jones were selected to represent the County and performed well in matches, gaining much experience which they shared with the rest of the team. The girls always gave of their best and had a positive approach to matches. A.M.M.

NETBALL

I s I I :2 11 d T C .I III -,

The I st team had a balance of success and losses with notable victories over Moreton, Bedstone and Adcote. The team worked hard to develop tactics and increased their team

Hockey Results

Vl3

Won Lost Lost Won

Won

Lost

Won Won

Won

Won

cohesion as the season progressed. Captained by Lucie Noble, who was supported by Kirsten McGuire, a positive and determined effort was made by all members of the squad.

The 2nd team worked well to achieve some close results, unfortunately with no outright wins. V16 and VIS teams showed promise for the future with excellent wins against Oswestry, Bedstone and Abbotts Bromley. Our VI4 squad had a superb season winning all of their matches by clear margins, with mature team work and a highly competitive approach. In the North Shropshire Tournament they missed out on a place in the final after extra time then sudden death. Better luck next year. A.M.M.

LJNDrR I~ NIIIi;\LI

After playing with our heads down and chasing a hockey ball for

fifteen

weeks

before

Christmas our first match of the season, against Wrekin held few surprises. We won

the first quarter but fitness was a

major factor. We lost 6-12 but there

was lots of enthusiasm from the team to recti fy the situation.

Our next against Rydal

match at home

was much more

competitive. Katie Simpson (GK) and Naomi Potter (WD)

kept their attackers on their toes.

There was plenty of action in our goal as well and both Emmajane Williams (GS) and Anna Lea (GA) shot well. Rydal were winners 13-18 but the whole team felt it was better effort on our behalf.

Our major rivals Denstone were next and we were fortunate to be playing them at home. We were ahead the whole of the first three quarters but only by a pinch. It was a thrilling final quarter and a minute before the end Denstone scored to be ahead 17-16. This was the final result and left the team hungry to rectify the situation next year.

A few changes to squad positions were made after this and Kate Greville now went into the goal shooter position and Anna Lea to centre. With Fiona Levitt in the wing attack position this increased the strength across this area. As a coach I was now treated to the luxury of two strong reserves, Steph Simms returning from injury boosted the defence and Asher

47

The

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1 999

O'Gorman had improved so much she was now able to play in the centre or on the wing. It was like this that we went to Abbots Bromley and recorded our first win of the season. The team never looked threatened although the end result, 14-11 looked close. This was the first time the team really "gelled" and played up to the standard they are capable of. We then went from strength to strength and won our last two matches convincingly, 39-4 against Moreton Hall and 38-20 against Oswestry. I'd like to thank the captain, Anna Lea for her help throughout the term. With the strength of talent evident in the team I'm sure next year we shall be strong competition from the very start.

N.L.S.

TENNIS

< During the Michaelmas Term
we entered two teams in
<- the Midland Bank
~ Senior Students
Competition.
~ tt\ Ellesmere won two
out of their six
~ matches and
C gained valuable
match experience
~ ~ playing both
singles and doubles
matches. This
~ ~ experience was
important to take forward to the summer

season and gave the

opportunity to many players to further develop their match play. The

1st Team did particularly well during the Summer Term winning three out of their six fixtures. Claire Bean and Lucie Noble went from strength to strength as the 1st couple. Kirsten McGuire, Steph. Packham, Amber ConwayWallace and Sarah Moore gave the team strength in depth.

The Seniors played three mixed matches enjoying the change of pace and tactics required for these games. The V14 team had a wonderful season being unbeaten throughout the term. The V15s came up against strong opposition but showed that they have ability that can be further developed. In the V15 North Shropshire Tournament Ellesmere gained First place in both the boys and girls competition.

Our V 13 team were entered into the Midland Bank Competition where they won one, drew one and lost one. In school fixtures they played extremely

48

weU winning three of their four matches, a most encouraging start to competitive play.

In the North Shropshire Doubles Competition our girls gained joint third place while our boys were placed third. As a result of the North Shropshire Singles Competition Aelish Crellin and Oliver Swift went on to represent the area at the County Area Championships.

Lucy Collier, 3rd form, played for the 1st team in the Aberdare Cup and another school match displaying great potential for the future. She also went on to represent North Shropshire in County U15 finals.

A big thank you to Kishani, our gap year student, for all her help with the teams during the term. B.G.

LOWER SCHOOL

SPORT

GIRL'S GAMES

HOCKLY

The VI3 Hockey team improved as the season progressed and was ably captained by Catherine Jones, supported by Alice Hulbert. A special mention must be made of Lucy Ryvar, goalkeeper, who played consistently and courageously throughout the season. The overall results tally included solid wins over Wrekin, Stafford Grammar and Penrhos. During the Lent term Ellesmere entered two 7- a-side tournaments. In the Shropshire competition our team came second in their half of the draw to the eventual overall winners. Valuable experience was gained from playing the tournament on astro- turf and this was put to good use in the Packwood tournament later in the term. At this invitation tournament the team did well to gain 4th place in a closely fought competition.

NETHALL

Our Lower School netball teams had a good season with the VI3 team winning three out of seven matches. The VI2 team gained much experience from taking part in the Packwood Tournament. College hosted an VII tournament where our youngest players had the opportunity to participate alongside many other schools. We had some friendly matches against Presfelde and Merton House where all participants gained much valuable experience.

"I EN N 1 S

The Lower School had an exciting visit to the National Indoor Tennis Championships at Telford where they had the opportunity to be coached and watch high quality matches.

,\ 1 H L L r i c S

The Lower School boys and girls fielded full teams at Telford and Wrexham for the Milk Cup and North Shropshire Competitions. A select group of athletes were taken to Park Hall for the County V14 Championships where each athlete gave of their best. Gareth Morgan deserves a mention for his achievements as an all-round athlete. He has the potential to do well next year, when he moves up an age group, as a budding multi - events competitor.

Sports day saw the majority of the students participating on a busy afternoon that involved both track and field events. Notable results which deserve a mention are Emma Tytherleigh winning the girls long jump and Victoria Crawcour the 800m both with better performances than any of the boys.

N.L.S.

The

Ellesmerlan

I 999

BOYS'GAMES

The year in review - 1998/1999

It has been a mixed year for the boys over the last three terms. Matches have been won and lost and the lads have tried very hard to better their skills. The great achievement of the year has been the numbers of "non-game" players who have shone through - some of them competing at cricket and rugby for their first time. As usual the year can be split into three different areas and I will cover each in its own right.

rOOTBALL

As usual the new school year starts with football for the Lower School boys. It is always an eye opener for all involved and a good way for the new lads to become settled in the school. The Games sessions were centred on skills and for a few, it was a new experience to kick a football around. With the World Cup just over several of the lads thought they were Ronaldo and Owen but we soon reined them in and taught the basics of the game. We played some fixtures against other schools in which we tried hard - however on a number of occasions we came up against much better prep school opposition. It was pleasing to see many people shine through - William Hockenhull, Alex White, Cole Marley, Oliver Swift, Rowley Cubitt and Edward Walker all tried very hard and upheld the essence of being in a team. Once again Harvey Morris stamped his mark on the season and one will always remember his performance against Merton House in the 4 all draw.

RUGBY

If there was a successful term it was the rugby term. At the beginning we struggled to put an U 13XV team on the field, as there were so many first time players. However with several weeks of hard training the skills started to develop and the enthusiasm grew. PAG set the lads some tough tasks and they worked especially hard on their fitness - which for some was a new phenomenon! The team centred on Oliver Swift and Edward Walker and two new boys Gavin

Lochhead and Gareth

- he has played in many Lower School sides over the years and he has come on as a team player. For the record the following results were achieved.

V Oswestry 12-12 Draw
V Oswestry 12-22 Lost
V Kingsland Grange 27-15 Won
VWrekin 27-7 Won The U 12 team played Birchfield in a fixture and in what was some of the teams first game of rugby they lost. They never lost heart though and even when it was one-sided (the opposition was unbeaten in 3 years!) they attempted to score points. It was a shame that the team did not get a chance to playa comparable team as when they played 7's they showed some great all-round skills. Their performance in the Ellesmere tournament was brilliant - much of this can be put down to the exceptional work of Campbell Barr who trained in the lunch hour with the squad. We hope that next year these team members will make up the UI3 squad.

CRICKLT

It was skills, skills, and more skills for the majority of the Summer Term. Under the guidance of Mr Jackson the boys were introduced to a number of cricket skills that let everybody get involved not just the better ones. We built these skills into minigames and over the term a new group of cricketers were born! There was just one fixture this term against Prestfelde and we so nearly won. With Swift in control we made a good score and then missed by just one wicket to bowl them out. The general feeling from the games sessions was that progress had been made and that a nucleus of cricketers for next year had been found. James Thompson, William Hockenhull, Jonathan Austin and Jack Higgin all played well and look to have a future in this game - James Thompson did very well considering he is in his Foundation year. It all looks promising for 2000.

There have been many moments outside these events that are worthy of mention. Chris Mayer with his eventing, Gareth Morgan in his athletics

(he looks a talented prospect) and Oliver Swift and Jack Higgin for their efforts in tennis. Harvey Morris is still catching the eye of many in the footballing world. We hope that we can continue to prosper in this area next year and that the foundations that have been put in place will reap some rewards in the seasons to come.

On a final note we must say thank you to a few people. Tom Pearson has been an immense help over the last two years and he deserves a vote of thanks. Mark Dowling and Campbell Barr have also provided the "southern Hemisphere" perspective on sport and to both we are grateful. Alex and Tony (our two student teachers) have also put in a great deal of effort.

We look forward to 1999/2000 with some enthusiasm.

M.R.D.S.I P'A.G.

Ellesmere College

Athletics, 1999.

Last year's return to serious Athletic competition has continued this year with Ellesmere College again providing more county athletes than any other school in Shropshire and a number of students gaining success in regional finals. School teams gained success in several fixtures, notably the North Shropshire finals where many events saw quicker times or greater distances than in the county trials. R. Barclay (200m) and C. Allinson (Jav) proved themselves again as outstanding senior talents at both county and regional levels, maintaining the titles they gained last year. J Granger, R. Oakes, C Hingley, A Lea and J. Bubb all became dependable sources of success, a top three place in any event they entered. Other dependable but more specialist athletes included A. Banks, D. Evans, R. Atkin, K. Roberts The table below shows the average number of medal positions achieved in meetings by Ellesmere College athletes;

VIS Girls 1st =4 2nd=3 3rd = S
Boys 1st = I 2nd=3 3rd = 3
VI7 Girls 1st =2 2nd=4 3rd = 3
Boys Ist=3 2nd=S 3rd = 3
VI9 Girls Ist= I 2nd=2 3rd = 2
Boys Ist=2 2nd=4 3rd = S Morgan. Gareth was SWIMMING RESULTS
especially good and many
opposition teams found him Position I.M. Back ES. Breast Front Crawl Medley Relay Freestyle Relay
quite hard to stop. In the 1 Banks (D) Toogood (D) Oakes(M) Wallace-T (Wa-L) Derry Derry
2 Rothwell (WO) Angell (Wa-L) Naylor (D) Joliffe (Wa-L) Oakes(M) WA-L WA-L
centres Rowley Cubitt 3 Angell (Wa-L) Atkin (StA) Atkin (StA) Purcell (D) Springer (WO) Woodard Woddard
tackled with real vigour and 4 Rossiter (Wa-L) Houston (D) Carter (WO) Jones (StA) Woddward (StA) St Aidans Meynell
he looks a rugby player of 5 Broadwood (D) Hilbert (StA) Pinches (StA) Harrison (D) Wallace-T (Wa-L) Meynell StAidans
some promise for the future. 6 Springer (WO) Bubb(M) Rees(Wa-L) Bubb(M) Naylor (D)
In the forwards Tom Doe 7 Williams (StA) Bentley (Wa-L) Houston (D) Carter (WO) Jolliffe (Wa-L)
8 Potter (StA) Alexander (WO) Harlwill(WO) Alexander (WO) Alexander (WO)
showed good determination 9 Swarbrick (M) Hartwill (WO) Jones (M) Williams (SIA) Hulber (SIA)
and Joe Burden tried hard - it 10 Fisher (M) Brassington (M) Prouglo (Wa-L) Brassington (M)
was especially pleasing to see Points
Burden and Robert Laiker Derry 17 18 13 14 16 20 20
enjoying their rugby so Meynell 3 6 13 6 10 3 7
much. It was also great to see StAidans 7 14 14 9 9 7 3
Swift captain the side so well Wakeman 15 13 6 20 10 15 15
Woodard 14 5 10 7 11 11 11
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In this year's England Schools event, where whole school teams qualify to go on to the National Finals, our Inter Boys were 4th and Inter Girls a commendable 3rd with several girls only in the first year of this age group. We look forward to more success in this event next year. At the North Shropshire Schools Championship held at Wrexham, V 15 Girls won against II other schools, our Girls scoring 338 points, a massive 42 points clear of the second place Corbet School. This was an excellent performance with a stronger and larger field than the county trials especially when one considers that again many girls were only in the first year of this age group. VI5 Boys came 2nd by only one point to the Marches School and this was only after a late recount. Our 280 points was then 31 points above the third place Corbet School. The V 13 Boys and Girls teams did not fair so well lying 6th and 4th respectively. Overall this was an excellent day's competition showing what the College can do when fixtures do not clash. In other less prestigious team competitions Ellesmere Vl9 Boys and Vl5 Girls beat Bedstone at home, other year groups were seriously depleated by other fixtures. Against Wrekin, Denstone and Bedstone at Telford a number of excellent individual performances were unable to

produce a win in all but the V 15 Girls - a year group to look out for.

SPORTS DAY

Another year with good weather saw the College turn out in force for a very close competition. The table below summarises the main successes.

COUN I Y COivll3lNI D LV[N I S.

This event is gradually becoming more and more popular. In all of the V 17 age groups pupils physically change shape so quickly that their strongest event needs to change in response. Competing in the Combined Events allows strength and flexibility to develop in all areas while still allowing specialist performances to show through. C. Hingley scored extremely well at the County level, finishing not far away from England Entry Standard. However, injury in her first and strongest event at the Regional final prevented her from achieving well at Carlisle. J. Granger and R. Oakes at U 17 level made a very strong partnership but again, illness and injury prevented further success at the Regional Level. A. Mackay and D. Dalton came 4th and 5th in the County Decathlon,A. Mackay will

LllcSIllCIC Cullcgc AthletiCS RcculLis. Il)l)')

Snr Boys SnrGirls
100m R. D. Meredith 10.7 1973 L. Abson 12.9 1998
200m R. D. Meredith 21.7 1973 L. Abson 30.7 1999
4OO/3OOm MW.K. Statham 51.2 1970 L. Noble 52.5 1999
800m M. Taviner 1'59.6 1988 L.Abson 3'15 1998
1500m M. Taviner 4'14.9 1988 J. Blackburn 6'32 1998
3000m S. Rodenhurst 9'15.9 1984
5000m R. Malcom 16'16.4 1983
2000m Schase P. Bellamy 6'49.7 1980
Short Hurdles A. Fawcett (110) 15.2 1980 L. Noble (80) 15.03 1998
Long Hurdles R. Carter (400) 57.8 1988
Shot D. A. Clarke(OI) 16.llm 1968 J. Tanous (4kg) 8.03 1998
Discus P.DH. Jones (I.75kg) 36.04m 1980 A. Corfield (1.25) 21.4 1998
Javelin A.R.L. Stubbs (8oog) 54.28m 1986 L. Allmark (600g) 24.2 1998
Hammer
High Jump R.Odunaiya 1.95m 1987 L. Abson 1.45 1998
Long Jump R.Odunaiya 7.22m 1987 L.Abson 4.34 1998
Triple Jump J.CH. Codling 12.92m 1973
Pole Vault J.C.H. Codling 3.3lm 1972
4xloom A.C. Johnson 45.1 1970 Iona 61.3 1999
R. Bradshaw
CH. Logan
M.R.Glover
4x4OOm P. Jakubowski 3'43.6 1987
N.Coxon
R. Carter
D.Ellis now be travelling to Peterborough to compete in the National Competition.

As a result of two excellent performances, England Schools Entry Standards in Long Jump and Javelin, J. Granger will now go forward to England Schools Selection in the Javelin.

House S I '\ND \lmS

This particular competition saw a significant change this year bringing the scoring into line with National Standards. If a pupil scored 100 points in an event it would equal England Schools Entry at V 19 level. As a guide at V 14 the entry Standard would be around 85 points for the Boys and 80 for the Girls, at V17, 95 points for the Boys and 85 for the Girls. 100m, 4OOm, 800m, Long Jump, Discus and Javelin were the events for the 3rd and 4th form boys. The only difference for the Girls was a 200m run rather than 4OOm. With pupils now being able to score between 1 and 100 points, small improvements from individuals made big differences to the overall result. Meynell continued their reign for the boys, however a tie between the Girls was a most unexpected result. Notable individual performances in the 4th Form Boys came from D. Evans, S. Jolliffe, R. Oakes, S. Parry, S. Watson Jones, who all averaged more than 70 points in more than 7 events. In the 3rd Form A. Banks, O. Bates Smith, J. Bubb, E. Lau all averaged over 60 points from 7 or more events.

From the girls A. Lea (4th Form) averaged 68 points from 7 events, she also set a new College and County record in the triple jump. C Hingley (3rd Form) averaged 62 points from 9 events.

In Sununnrisc .

Another exciting year's athletics with many pupils achieving PB's in more than one event. The College is now firmly placed in the minds of the County and Regional selectors. My thanks to N Haxton (Capt. Of Athletics) for doing such a sterling job of ensuring that tearns were complete and competitors at events on time. New College records are still a rare event although there are a number of pupils gradually creeping closer. A new list of College records has been produced using this year's figures as few remain from any year groups other than Seniors. If any OE's have evidence of better performances in any age groups then I will willingly update the list.

I look forward to another competitive and successful year in 2000.

CDR, July 1999.

Inter Boys Inter Girls Junior Boys Junior Girls
100m J. Granger 11.3 1998 R. Chums ide 14.1 1999 100m R. Oakes 11.9 1998 K. Roberts 13.5 1999
200m P. JohnsonSmith 24.2 1998 A. Lea 30.9 1999 200m R. Oakes 24.9 1998 K. Roberts 28.1 1999
400/300m R. Oakes 55.0 1999 E. Williams 52.5 1999 400/300m R. Oakes 54.6 1998
800m R. Oakes 2'06 1999 F. Levitt 3.06 1999 800m R. Oakes 2'16 1998 R.Atkin 2.45 1999
1500m Stuart Parry 5'06 1998 A. Conway Wallace 6.3 1998 1500m A. Banks 4.57 1999 R.Atkin 5.29 1999
3000m 3000m
5000m 5000m
2000Schase 2000m Schase
Short Hurdles S. Parry (100) 16.6 1998 E.Williams 15.9 1999 Short Hurdles R. Oakes (75m) 12.9 1998 C. Hingley 12.42 1999
Long Hurdles R. Oakes (400) 62.2 1999 Long Hurdles
Shot J. Meldrum (5kg) 11.3m 1999 N. Potter (4kg) 7.15 1999 Shot J. Toogood (4kg) 9.9 1999 K. Greville 7.06 1998
Discus J. Granger (l.5kg) 3l.8m 1999 E. Williams (1.25) 17.6 1999 Discus T. Astles (1.25) 27.1 1998 R. Harrison 18.5 1999
Javelin J. Granger (700g) 54.2m 1999 M. Hunt (600g) 21.3 1999 Javelin R. Oakes (600g) 28.7 1998 N. Jones 18.3 1999
Pole Vault Hammer T. Astles 22 1998
High Jump S. Jolliffe l.64m 1999 A. Lea 1.36 1999 High Jump R. Oakes 1.6 1998 C. Hingley 1.4 1999
Long Jump J. Granger 6.25m 1999 A. Lea 4.25 1999 Long Jump J. Bubb 5.2 1999 C. Hingley 4.4 1999
Triple Jump P. Johnson Smith 1l.lm 1998 A. Lea 9.71 1999 Triple Jump R. Oakes 10.3 1998 J. Evans 8.9 1999
4xlOOm Wo 52.4 1999 lona 60.5 1999 4xl00m Meynell 53.4 1998 Iona 61.2 1998
4x400m 4x400m 50

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OFFICERS OF THE CLUB

PRESIDENT 1998:

G.T.Latham, 9, Hartley Close, Lymm, Cheshire, WA13 OJ]

Tel: 01925 -754358

VICE PRESIDENTS:

R.E.Brabyn (1916): Col. J.H. Nunnerley TD (1924): B. Bancroft (1928): A. Macleod Smith CMG (1930):

B J .P.Edwards( I 932):Maj.T.C.Thornton (1935):Rev.Preb. RJ .Taylor (1936):

A.R.A.Elston (1936):Dr.A.A.w.Baddeley (1937): Sir Paul Dean (1937): TJ .L.Carter (1937): P.Scott (1938): C.whitehead (1939):

CoI.W.P.Howells,OBE,TD,ADC,DL (I 941):R.Y.Haygarth (1941):W.A.Pyke (1941): Prof.Sir David Yardley (1943):

M.U.Newbold (1945): L.Tolley (1945) Prof. G. Pyatt(1950): DJ.Hampson (1957):

D.R.Leftwich (1957): I.D.S.Beer (1961/69):

Brig. D.V.Nichols (1963): W.B.Beaumont (1963): DJ.Skipper (1969/1981):

F.E.Maidment (1982/88):P.M .Chambers (1972/89): Cmmdr. D J. Freemantle (1989/93): N .R.Ainscow (1995): T. Hughes (1939) : D.R.DuCroz (1988/96): R. F. Smail (1974) S.R.Oldfield (1960).

TRUSTEES:

TJ LCarter: P. Scott: W.A .Pyke : B. H. Keenan.

EXECUTIVE:

M.Anderson, Dr. CJ.Bowley, T.B.Beard, T.D.Caldicott, TJ .L.Carter, P. M. Chambers, H. Flewitt, DJ .Hampson, J .A.Harvey ( Hon. Sec), T.C . Hughes, W.w.

Higson.J.O. Jewiss, B.H.Keenan, (vice Chairman) Miss H. Keenan, D.R.Leftwich (Chairman), Capt MJ.McMahon, B.Sian Owen, J. Pilkington, A.C.Pyke, W.A.Pyke, P.Scott, R.F.Smail, DJ .Swinn , R.F.Taylor, Major T.C.Thornton, RJ.Thurgood (Treasurer), L. Tolley, B.wignall (Headmaster), Lt.Col. T. Lowry (Bursar),

SECRETARIES AND OFFICERS OF THE CLUB:

CHAIRMAN:

David Leftwich, Greystones Cottage, 85 Thingwall Road East, Thingwall, Wirral, Merseyside CH61 3UZ

Tel: 0151 - 648 - 6989

V - CHAIRMAN:

Barrie Keenan, Ridge Rowans, 25 Wetstone Lane, West Kirby, Wirral, Merseyside, CH487HG

Tel: 0151 - 625 - 4729

SECRETARY:

John Harvey, Ellesmere College, Ellesmere, Shropshire SYI2 9AB

Fax: 01691 - 626524 Office Tel: 01691 - 626530

Home Tel: 01691 - 622380

TREASURER:

R J Thurgood, 14 Wingfield Way, Cottage Farm Estate, Keresley, Coventry, West Midlands CV6 2NQ

Tel: 01203 - 337361

CHRONICLE:

Bill Newbold, c/o Ellesmere College, Ellesmere, Shropshire, SYI2 9AB College Tel: 01691 - 626500

Home Tel: 01691 - 622797

O.E.CHAPLAIN:

Revd. M.W.H.Gray, The Pynt, Rhosygadfa, Gobowen, Oswestry,Shropshire SY 10 7BN Tel: 01691- 661110

BRANCH OFFICERS:

LONDON: c/o John Harvey, Ellesmere College

MANCHESTER; Chairman:M.Anderson,7 Gatehouse, Littleborough, Lanes OLl5 OJ]

Tel: 01706 - 376444

Secretary:H. Flewitt, 48 Hurst Avenue, Sale, Cheshire, M33 4GR

Tel:0161 - 969 - 0095

LIVERPOOL:

Chairman:B.H.Keenan, 'Ridge Rowans', 25 Wetstone Lane, West Kirby, Wirral, CH487HG

Tel: 0151 - 625 - 4729

Secretary: D.R .Leftwich ,"Greystones Cottage", 85 Thingwall Road,East Thingwall.Wirral, CH61 3UZ

Tel: 0151 - 648 - 6989

W.MIDLANDS:

Chairman: W.W.Higson, 79A Burford Road, Evesham, Worcester, WR II 5QB

Tel: 01386 - 47321

Secretary: T. Caldicott, Upper Woverton Farm, Spetchley, Worcester, WR7 4QP Tel: 01905 - 245254

SOUTH WALES;

Chairman: T C Hughes,First Point,North Cliff, Tenby, Dyfed SA70 8AT

Tel: 01834 - 843343

HONG KONG:

Secretary:Andrew Sheppard,Room 1418, Two Pacific Place, 88 Queensway,Hong Kong.

Tel; (852) 522 3006

SPORTS SECRETARIES:

Golf:

B.H .Keenan ,Ridge Rowans' , 25 Westone Lane, West Kirby.wirral,CH48 7HG

Tel: 0151 - 625 - 4729

Squash:

W.R.A.Woodward,90 Boydell Court,St Johns Wood,London NW8 6NH

Home

Tel: 0I7I - 722 - 7816

Work Tel: 0171 - 853 - 4254

Mountaineering:

Bruce Poll, c/o Brook House, The Cadney, Bettisfield, Whitchurch, Shropshire, SYI32LR

Cricket:

Richard Smail, Mallards, 20 Evans Avenue, Allestree, Derby DE22 2EJ

Tel: 01332 - 558310

Rugby:

R.Morris,5 Briar Close, Cross Lanes, Marchwiel, Wrexham, LLl3 OQB Tel: 01978 - 340340

Hockey:

Robert Tarrant, Oak Cottage, Oak Lane, Marton, Macclesfield,SK II 9HE

Soccer:

J.S.Marsh, II Honeyfields, Tarpoley, Cheshire CW6 9XA

Tel: 01829 -733034

Ladies Sports:

Holly Keenan, 36 Kendal Road, Heaton, Bolton, Lancashire BLI 4DS

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EDITORIAL

"How time is slipping underneath our feet" for too soon we will be slipping into a new millennium. A bright new future for us all and one that will be interesting in more ways than one.

A new Lower School, a resurrected Talbot are not common things to us mortals, but they do offer hope and are visible, tangible evidence that the College is setting its face towards that new dawning "when every heart beginneth to blossom and bring forth fruit".

At this time therefore it might be interesting to cast our eyes backwards, to compare and consider on the way things have changed in the last hundred years. College has moved forward in that time: buildings have been added, their function altered; headmasters have come and gone, as have staff and pupils - boys and now girls. But as Mrs Malaprop says, "Comparisons are odorous." One thing, however, does remain fixed, as unalterable as the pole star, and that is the essential atmosphere which is Ellesmere. This unique environment encourages the forging of friendships that transcend time, that are durable against those fickle mistresses, Fate and Fortune. It promotes comradeship, companionship. Its very friendliness encourages that learning and scholarship and sportsmanship which enable its alumni to face the world of this and any other century with equanimity and fortitude.

This is what education at Ellesmere means to those who have passed through its training. So the new millennium will see us well prepared, for Ellesmere "caught our youth and wakened us from our sleeping."

EXECUTIVE MEETING & AGM

The Executive Meeting was held at Ellesmere on 30th April 1999. In the morning there had been a F & GP

Committee

and

meeting

52

recommendations were presented to the Executive and AGM later in the day.

The Club was in a healthy financial situation and it was agreed to keep the subscription level at the £8 per term (£120 total) level. The Club had slightly overspent its proposed budgets last year but this was mainly due to two small projects being undertaken, namely the complete restoration and reframing of the two portraits of the v.c. Holders Harvey and Brunt, (which are now on display opposite the OE President's Board on Main Corridor) and the cleaning of the War Memorial, outside the Chapel. The Treasurer had received two applications for sponsorship by OE's and it was agreed to give both applicants financial assistance with their projects. Small profits had been achieved on the Summer Luncheon, West Midlands Dinner and the selling of ties, etc which meant that the contingencies put aside to assist regional dinners had not been used.

David Swinn stepped down as Vice Chairman, and Barrie Keenan was appointed. Martin Newbold and Robin Elston both informed the Secretary of their intention to step down from the Executive - both were thanked by the Chairman for their commitment to the Club. Warren Higson and Tim Caldicott were elected to the Executive Committee. Warren as Chairman with Tim as Secretary, of the West Midland Area. Richard Oldfield, retiring President, was elected to vice President, and Gerald (Tom) Latham was installed a President for 1999-2000 with Lord Dean of Harptree nominated as President for the year 2000.

Tim Beard had indicated to the Secretary that he wished to step down as Secretary of the London Area. As such it was agreed to organise a London Dinner from the Club Admin Office and a provisional date of 5th November was agreed with the Headmaster. Suggestions as to a venue to the Hon. Secretary, please!

their

The main topic discussed was the Millennium and how it should be celebrated by the Club. The Executive listened to reports from the regional Secretaries present

and the general consensus was that the Club needed to attract more younger members to the various Dinners, etc.

WEST WALES

O.E. DINNER - GRACE- 27 NOVEMBER 1998

Once more O.E.'s have gathered here To share this food with wine to cheer; The salt pot's handy for the tales

Which will be told around South Wales.

The memories of days at Coli,

Both good and bad and some so droll, We will exchange with many a laugh Of Heads and others on the Staff.

Those who reside in Pembrokeshire Are honest - never insincere;

They keep their mem'ries sharp and bright Of days they shone in Ellesmere's light!

We all have causes to give thanks For all we learnt - and all the pranks! And now to toast our College Days We offer God our thanks and praise.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Praise him, all creatures here below,

Praise him above, you heavenly host, Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. AMEN.

The members of the Club and their guests at the Wolfcastle Hotel sang Grace, once again composed by the Rev. Prebendary Derrick Jenkins, with great gusto if not tunefulness on 27Th. November 1998.

The toast of the O.E. club was proposed by Tom Hughes who referred to the number of O.E.'s who had travelled from all over the country to attend. The Club, he felt, was very fortunate in having members who were prepared to give up time to work for the club. He mentioned the Chairman, David Leftwich, Barry Keenan (golf), Richard Smail (cricket), Martin Anderson (archivist), Herbert Flewitt (Manchester Secretary) all of whom were present. Fifty years ago exactly Tom said that he was in his 29th. and last term at Ellesmere. He

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reminisced about the end of term rugby tour of Northern Ireland and noted three "survivors" present: Peter Howells, Martin Anderson and himself.

He concluded by saying that the dinner was in future to be known as the West Wales Dinner.

The School and the Staff

Proposed by Richard Oldfield, President. He had noticed in his travels around the country that' A' levels did not seem to be all that important in producing accomplished, pleasant OEs. The school had always had a good 'mix' of abilities, which was important. He referred to his membership of the OE Lodge which was hugely successful. He was a Past Master and had been secretary for 13 years. This sort of organization was important in keeping OEs interested. The lodge now met at the College at least once a year.

He was very proud that his name would go up on the board just inside the school's main entrance. He wished the College every success.

Response - The Headmaster

Reference was made to a recruiting drive for Ellesmere in St Petersburg where he had found himself facing the wrong end of a hand gun. He was pleased to see the growth of the school which as far as private education was concerned was bucking the trend. Some colleges had closed during the last twelve months and he forecasted more to follow. Ellesmere as one parent had said to him was becoming the "fashionable" place to send one's children! A major building project was about to commence and architectural drawings were passed around. The school was growing and successful.

Those Present:

OEs - Tom Hughes, David Leftwich, Richard Oldfield, Dereck Jenkyns, Martin Anderson, Peter Howells, Barrie Keenan, Wyn Jones, Herbert Flewitt, Tom Latham, Richard Watt, Peter Perkins, Tony Scourfield Lewis, John Davies, David Peel, Michael Hemingway, Richard Smail. Guests - Beryl Hughes, Jane Oldfield, Jill Wharton, Avril Keenan, Elfrida Jones, Sue Latham Sally (with Richard Watt), Joan

Perkins, Cynthia Scourfield Lewis, Gwen Davies, Andrea Peel, The Headmaster, Anne Wignall, Alison Smail.

WEST MIDLANDS DINNER

Forty OE's and guests sat down to very enjoyable meal at The Bulls Head, Inkberrow on 26th Feb 1999.

The Loyal Toast was proposed by Terry Thornton, who then went on to welcome everyone to the 26th Annual Dinner of the West Midlands Branch (it was to be his last as Chairman) before introducing the President, Richard Oldfield and asking him to propose the toast to the OE Club

The President started by saying that he had had a very open mind over the previous week - so open in fact that he had no idea what he was going to say. He had been advised that the best way to enjoy his Presidency was to enjoy a drink or two, sit down and savour the meal, have a chat with friends and then think about what to say. He felt that this was not a very organised way of approaching the evening but, as so many things in life were organised, he was prepared to risk it. He went on to recount how he had received a telephone call out of the blue asking him to think about accepting the role. It had been the last thing he had expected but, after due thought, and talking to his wife, Jane, he accepted the job, especially as he had retained close links with the College through his Lodge links. It would have been a very easy to turn the post down but he felt that, having been asked, he should accept.

The Chairman then asked Warren Higson, the Chairman elect, to propose the toast to the College and staff. Warren opened by saying just how much he had hated his arrival at Ellesmere, and how it was the last place he wanted to be. All he wanted to do in his life was to farm and breed pigs, and the news that he was being sent to Ellesmere

was not well received. However, he survived the first term, despite sharing Waiting Dorm with 54 others, and having to tolerate Martin Anderson as the Prefect in charge. However, the first term came to an end and he was surprised on his return in the following January to discover people actually asking about how he had spent Christmas, what gifts he had received, etc and he began to realise that this was the other side of Ellesmere, the 'family' side as he referred to it. Once he realised that, his whole attitude changed and he really began to enjoy his time at the College. He was always grateful that Ellesmere had taught him more than academic matters, and was especially pleased that he had been 'taught' how to see good in people and how to be humble enough to say 'sorry'.

The Headmaster responded with his state of the nation speech, adapted to include recent developments. He referred to his marketing trips overseas, especially to his trip to Russia and an incident with a drunk, armed security officer. Ellesmere was a very healthy school, indeed it was, apparently, the fastest growing school in the country. Evidence of the growth was to be found in the building work in progress on the new Lower School, the increase in pupil numbers and the increase in facilities such as increased A levels (Accountancy, Psychology), the introduction of voicemail, more IT systems, etc. All very positive when you consider the number of school closures during the last year. 1998 saw the best ever A level results, but Ellesmere was about more than exam success and he gave examples of John Croydon, possible Olympic shooting team, Emma Snow - Junior Fellow at Oxford University.

MANCHESTER DINNER

Before the OE's and guests sat down to supper, Martin Anderson thanked David Swinn for his services to the Manchester branch of the OE Club and presented him with a silver tankard for all that he had done. After supper there was a departure from

53

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tradition, which had already been dealt a blow by being held for the first time at the Squash Rackets Club, with David Pinches (Head Boy 1998-1999) proposing the loyal toast. After which Martin Anderson thanked Herbie Flewitt for organising the dinner at the new venue and presented a good number of apologies. Ian Johnston (T.46) continued by paying tribute to the life and work of David Latham.

A further break with tradition saw Sarah Moore (Head Girl 1998-99) proposing the toast to the OE Club, an event which occasioned much good-natured barracking from MA. When allowed to continue Sarah drew attention to the fact that life did not stand still but progressed and that her speaking was a clear demonstration of that progress for the equality of the sexes. School life had also moved on with changes that few of the members present that evening would recognise and possibly not approve of. Nevertheless, in her opinion, the College had always been a very friendly place as was evident from the warmth of her welcome that evening. The Club President, Richard Oldfield, responded and entertained members and guests with thoughts of his own time at Ellesmere when he saw Prosser out and Beer in. His Masonic links had kept alive his ties with College and he often returned for nostalgic walks. He said College had prepared him for life! He was pleased to see that numbers were continuing to grow and that Talbot was to return.

Tom Latham in his address also reminisced about his time at Ellesmere and in particular of that momentous date, 26th September 1944, which saw the arrival of the Lathams at College. His memories of his first evening were very vivid and his impression of the building was of an enormous H block. Tom recalled his musical education and, of course, English, both written and oral, with Nankie who was able to stimulate the conscious and subconscious.

The Headmaster drew an extremely pleasant evening to a close with his account of the College's successes and progress during the past year.

a n

199 9

look back with gratitude on pain, pleasure and friendships.

The Headmaster replied by recalling the outstanding successes of the School in the past year, the way College was expanding which had necessitated the building of a New Lower School. He finished his speech by reminding everyone of the need for change to succeed in these times of school closures and that there was no room for complacency.

MASONIC NOTES

OLD ELLESMERIAN LODGE NO. 5368

The Lodge, which was formed in 1932, continues to prosper with a membership fast approaching 50. It meets at the Town Hall in Ellesmere four times per year - on the second Saturday of March and May and the third Saturday of September and October. A Ladies Evening has been arranged to take place on the evening prior to the September 1999 meeting. The Provincial Grand Lodge of Shropshire is shortly to present a minibus to The Hope House Children's Hospice, and the O.E.Lodge has contributed over £700.00 towards its cost during the year.

At the meeting on the 19th September Christopher Lucon-Pratt was initiated into the Lodge. The ceremony was conducted by W.Bro.F.L.West, assisted by several Past Masters of the Lodge. Bro. Guy Beilby was presented with his Grand Lodge Certificate by W.Bro. David Bradley. Forty-one Members and Guests were in attendance.

In October the meeting was held, by kind permission of the Headmaster, at the Arts Centre, Ellesmere College, when no less than 118 brethren attended to support the Installation of Bro. Clive G.Norbury as Worshipful Master.

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LIVERPOOL DINNER

Forty-six members attended the 71 st Anniversary of the Liverpool OE dinner which was held, later than its customary date, in May. The change in date enabled many guests and members to appreciate for the first time the magnificent setting of the Heswall Golf Club, being accustomed to arriving and leaving in the dark, to see the splendour of the views was greatly enjoyed. Barrie Keenan welcomed members to the Dinner mentioning in particular Jessica Hollway fresh from hitch-hiking in Morocco and her course in Animal Science at Leeds University and Roger Parker of Lambart fame. He said how delighted he was to see Angela and David Peel, Richard Oldfield who has not been able to address the Liverpool Branch as President and Herbie Flewitt now recovered.

The Club President Gerald (Tom) Latham briefly spoke on the pleasures of being elected President and of how going to dinners enabled him to meet contemporaries and renew acquaintances. It gave him a sense of belonging despite the passage of time and changes. David 'Tiny' Parker (Wo. '55) proposed the toast of the School and Staff.

'Tiny' described the school and staff as he knew them in a wide-ranging and thoroughly entertaining manner. He felt that his school career had been good fun and that he had learnt a lot, not merely of an academic nature. He mentioned Nanki quelling a mutiny and the hard physical regime which had prepared him for either prison or the army. He had chosen the latter and had seen service in Aden and the Gulf War before retiring as Colonel in 2 Para.

He recalled the meanness of Prosser which had created a wealthy school, his housemaster Hunter-Watts with his suits, bow-ties and board writing skills and spoke with affection of Vernon Howard, Nanki, Rex Lumley and Skeene Catling. He concluded by saying that he was able to

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The meeting in March was a Third Degree ceremony to raise Bro. Watkin Samuel as a Master Mason. Forty-seven members and visitors attended. In May Bro. Christopher Lucan-Pratt was raised to the Second Degree when 40 Members and visitors were present.

During the year we have had four Masons who have joined the Lodge: W.Bros. AJ. Wootten, S.M.V. Taylor, Bro. M.M.V. Taylor and Bro.D.S. Arkieson (who is a member of the College Teaching Staff). Should any Old Boy, Member of Staff or Governor of the College wish for

any information regarding the Lodge, please contact The Secretary, W.Bro. Michael Heath, Raehill, Sytch Lane, Waters Upton, Telford, Shropshire, TF6 6NT. Telephone 01952541438.

OESQUASH

Only one match could be played last season due to domestic commitments. This was the match against the school. For once the school had a sporting chance of defeating the OEs. Guy Chesshire was comfortably beaten by Robert Furniss to put the school one-nil up. Mark Powell defeated Adam Bryant to put the school further ahead. However, the two older and more experienced OEs, David Styles and Simon Bradshaw, both won 3/0 to even up the match, Simon getting his kit out of mothballs after a long layoff. The match therefore rested on the clash between last year's school number one Andrew Lewis, playing at number three for the Old Boys, and Mark Powell playing twice due to shortage of numbers. Andrew was 0-2 down, before coming back to win the last three games, the score in the final set being 9/6. The match result was therefore 3/2 to the OEs, which ended a run of six successive 5/0 wins for the Old Boys.

It would be nice to say that this season's relative inactivity was a temporary blip, but I fear that OE fixtures will be infrequent during the next few years, perhaps one match against the school, due to competing attractions and responsibilities. Nonetheless we should be able to keep that going without too much difficulty.

Richard Woodward

Old Ellesmerian Squash Secretary

OECRICKET

The success enjoyed by the OR cricketers during 1999 was overshadowed by the untimely death of Brian Poll. Without exception, those who play OB. cricket have all benefited from Brian's words of wisdom, quiet encouragement or honest advice and support. Whether it was on Parrys Field or the 1st XI square, Brian helped shape many of Ellesmere's cricketers. Only last year when Brian played for the Shropshire Gentlemen against the O.E's his knowledge and love of the game was there for everyone to enjoy. He made returning to College to play cricket so enjoyable and he will be missed by many.

the Shropshire Gentlemen was cancelled because of a fixture class and the game against Sedbergh was cancelled because they couldn't raise a side. What's more we lost our first match - but then things started to get better.

BREWERS CUP V BROMSGROVE SCHOOL

A typical game of cricket was enjoyed by all. A lovely day, some excellent bowling, catching and batting as the game swung from side to side. The O.E's enjoyed early success as they reduced Bromsgrove to 55 for 4 with an inexperienced and rusty bowling attack. When Bromsgrove slipped to 93 for 7 the O.E's began to think of

July 1998 - Old Ellesmerian Cricketers v Gentlemen a/Shropshire played at Ellesmere College Brian Poll secondfrom left in front row.

1998 SEASON

The 1998 season was not a memorable year. We had to withdraw from the Brewers Cup due to a clash of fixtures. In addition, our Cricket World Trophy exploits came unstuck at the first hurdle to Warwick School. However it was a creditable performance against many minor county players. We beat the School 1st XI, thanks largely to 80 runs from James Terry and we succumbed to the 12 players(!!) of the Shropshire Gentlemen, a result the overall performance report for 1998 reads "could do better".

1999 SEASON

The 1999 season could be considered as the best season of the last 20 years, even though we only played three matches! Unfortunately, the game against the school I st XI was washed out. The game against

victory, celebration and euphoria and this was still the mood at lunch when it was I 17 for 7. Unfortunately, the excellent lunch took its toll on the O.E's and the Bromsgrove Minor County opening bowler took charge with his bat!! He saw Bromsgrove through to 170 which meant 80 runs had been added for the last 3 wickets.

In reply, the O.E's mirrored the Bromsgrove innings, from 50 for 1 it was suddenly 55 for 4. And like the Bromsgrove innings wickets trundled regularly until it was 93 for 7. All the O.E's had to do now was score 80 runs for their last 3 wickets as Bromsgrove had done. Enter the Minor County fast bowler! As a result the O.E's scored 2 more runs (a belligerent strike from a retreating Paul Harper) in 6 balls and lost all three wickets. 95 all out!!

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CRICKET WORLD TROPHY BEDFORD SCHOOL

So far the season had not gone well and the OE's were keen to improve but this didn't look promising when only 10 arrived to play Bedford. The game started quietly enough and when Dorian Hopkins was caught early on there was little sign of what was to follow. James Terry and Matt Gillison, who appeared everywhere together throughout the season, quickly grew in confidence. A typically elegant innings from Gillison ended on 71 when he was stumped and Terry's more sedate and unconventional innings closed on 67. But 200 for 3 at lunch was a fantastic effort. After lunch, this was followed by a quick 50 from Jon Slater and a quicker 37 over mid wicket from Nick Allan but none of these innings compared to what followed. With just 7 overs left Tony Barrett struck 47 before being run out of the last ball. Giving a total of 317 for 6 our second highest score ever. This could have had something to do with Bedford only having 9 players of course!

In reply, Bedford got off to a flyer and were always ahead of the run rate. However,70 for no wicket became 70 for 3 but this didn't stem the flow of runs. A break for rain only spurred Bedford on as they raced towards an improbable victory. The OE's lost Rob Slater with an injury and Dorian Hopkins to work commitments but fortunately gained Robbie Breeze-Davies.

At 200 for 5 with 15 overs left Bedford were looking the better bet until Jon Slater bowled his first ball of the match in the 35th over. It was a high full toss which was swatted to Nick Allan and when the next wicket fell Bedford were all out for 233 in only the 40th over.

CRICKET WORLD TROPHY KIMBOLTON SCHOOL

This was our first semi in the Cricket World trophy and it took us to the pretty market town of Kimbolton. Winning the toss and batting on a hot sultry day seemed the right thing to do especially when the O.E's reached 29 with few scares. Unfortunately,

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CRICKET WORLD TROPHY FINAL - OLD BLUES

Unfortunately, the fmal was never played due to a torrential downpour when we had all arrived in London. There was no available date to replay the game so for 1999 the OEs are joint winners of the Cricket World Trophy. With the kind permission of the competition organisers it has been agreed to hold the final in the year 2000, so no matter how we play next year we have a final to look forward to.

My thanks to all those who played in 1999, to those who played at short notice, those who travelled to London to watch the rain, those who travelled to the College to watch the rain and those who played in every game. A special thanks to Jon Slater for his help contacting and encouraging players to play.

Jon Slater, Rob Slater, Matt Gillison, James Terry, Nick Allan, Tony Barrett, Richard Watt, Dave Marvell, Will Dawson, Paul Harper, Dorian Hopkins, Guy Home, Richard Davies, Mauro Hartshorne, Julian Humpidge, Rick Smail.

ELLESMERIAN 50 YEARS AGO

The decision was taken to erect a warmemorial in Ante-Chapel.

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A new well had to be sunk by the Pump House, forty feet beneath the old one to overcome the water shortage which had resulted from the mild winters and low rainfall (The water crisis caused the 'swimming bath' to be closed and alternative arrangements for swimming were eventually made at Whitemere).

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Mr Cyril Washbrook presented to the School a cricket bat autographed by both the English and Australian Eleven's of 1948. It is to become a "trophy awarded to the member of the eleven who, by vote of his fellows, is considered to have been the most valuable asset to the side during the current season". T G Archer was the first holder of the award.

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The School play was "The Merchant of Venice".

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The 1st XV toured Northern Ireland, scoring one try and conceding seven, as they did so.

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the introduction of slow bowlers not only slowed the run rate but caused wickets to fall regularly. However, Jon Slater and Richard Watt steadied the ship until Jon was caught on the stroke of lunch with the score 91 for 5 from 35 overs. After lunch, Richard Watt played one too many pulls to square leg and was caught for 23. The decision to bat now looked like a mistake but Dave Marvell joined Tony Barrett and together they pushed the score on to 150 before Dave was caught for 16 and Rob Slater quickly followed bowled for 3. Just eight overs remained and with 2 wickets left Rick Smail joined Tony Barrett who then decided to throw caution to the wind. Suddenly batting seemed easy (well for Tony anyway) and when 19 was scored from the last over Tony had taken the total to 214 and was 83 not out. Once again the opposition had few answers to his unorthodox style.

The O.E's had the perfect start with the ball as Jon Slater bowled the dangerous Kerr for 3 and Will Dawson took a great catch to dismiss Follett for 5.

As the OEs rotated their Bowlers wickets continued to fall but runs were gradually accumulated. At this point, Rob Slater bowling in his first match for over 6 years started bowling very slowly and he took a wicket in his first over, he then took another in his second over to leave Kimbolton rocking on 110 for 6 at tea. To everyone's amazement, except Rob of course, he then took a wicket in each of his first two overs after tea leaving Kimbolton stunned on 114 for 8. We were all stunned but absolutely delighted as in 4 overs Rob had taken 4 wickets for 10 runs. Victory was there for the O.E's and thoughts of the final beckoned but at this point the Kimbolton captain, a minor county cricketer, came in and totally transformed the game yet again. Rob stopped taking wickets and was dispatched for six with ease! Suddenly all the O.E. bowlers were made to look ordinary and runs began to flow with ease. Only 52 runs were needed from the last 10 overs and just 32 from the last 5. So once again the skipper called on Rob Slater in an attempt to break the partnership and in his first over he obliged! The last man was soon involved in some risky running to keep the captain on strike and when Dave Marvell returned a pinpoint throw from the boundary he was runout for 36 and the OEs had won by 32 runs. A great victory set up by a stunning innings from Tony Barrett, a magnificent bowling display from Rob Slater and a team who to a person kept going to the end.

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THE ELLESMERIAN 100 YEARS AGO

The war in the Transvaal is occupying the minds of all at present; we shall have at least one representative in the struggle, LanceCorporal Sturgess, and many of us have been heard to make expressions of envy at his luck in being ordered to the front. We wish him every success and a safe return.

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A Denstone Master said publicly last autumn that the keynote of Ellesmere is and always has been - Progress. That is a good keynote. I trust it may always be ours. The essential feeling, with which Ellesmere has always inspired me personally, ever since I came here, has been the feeling of hope. And I think that it is no mean testimonial to my Governing Body, to my colleagues and to the Prefects and boys that, after six years of work here, Ellesmere now inspires me with a brighter and wider hope than it has at any time before". (Cheers). (Extract from the Headmaster's speech)

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At last the long expected permission and approval for the formation of a Cadet Corps to be joined to the 2 Shropshires, has arrived from the War Office and now we only wait the arrival of our rifles and carbines. A miniature range has been laid out on the top field and already we have had some firing. The uniform is a dark blue Norfolk shaped suit with slouch hat, etc. and it forms a most attractive and serviceable dress.

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The tenth annual meeting and dinner (of the OE Club) was held on Easter Monday at the Great Western Hotel, Birmingham. This place was decided upon to satisfy the many members who were clamorous for the meeting to be held elsewhere than at Ellesmere. It will be seen from the names below the numbers were very small. Again there were several disappointments; again there were numerous messages of regret at being absent with expressions of goodwill towards the club.

OENEWS IN BRIEF

Common Room Notes

JOHNATHON LINTOTT, Gap Student 1991, has been playing cricket for the Auckland Emerging Players side who have recently played against the England Under- 19 side on their 10-match tour of New Zealand.

ANTONY BARRETT (Wo '91), an OE and until recently the Marketing Manager at the College married Amanda Jones on the 20th February in St. Martins.

Recent Visits to the College

Those who have visited the College recently include EDWARD WILLIAMS (Wo '91) who has just graduated from the Hong Kong Fire Academy and is now a fully qualified fireman. Also visiting from Hong Kong was TOBY GLOVER (Wo 'S9) who is a manager at the Sheraton Hotel. ALAN FERNAND (T '42), TOM SAVAGE (,94), PETER HALEWOOD (T '46) and GEORGE WOOD ('43) also had a look around the College this year.

ANDY BOOTH (M '76) visited with his family and was pleased to note that not too many changes had taken place. He is still in touch with S.P. BOWCOTT (M '76) and C.Y. ATHESON (T '76). He is currently living in Hampton, London and would be pleased to hear from any OE's. (OISI 979 1362). JOHN JEFFREY ('50) also said how nice it was to be back, especially with his future wife.

HOLLY EADIE (St 0 'S9) now works in London for a fashion magazine and has just got engaged to EDWARD REES (T 'S9) who is working as a solicitor in Chichester. They plan to get married next year. JUSTIN WINTERBOTTOM (La '92) has just finished Law School and is having a breather before starting articles in Poole, Dorset. HARRY SHARP (Wo '90) is working for a recruitment consultancy firm in Birmingham. His brother PETER SHARP is a sales engineer in Bristol.

In the News

Several OE's have been spotted in the papers recently including ANTHONY "TIGGER" DAWSON who plays for the Coventry RFC as the serum half. He has now also joined the Links Leisure management team and will combine his rugby career with that of marketing the Shropshire-based firm's range of golf accessories.

ANDREW COLLINGE, who is a professional hairdresser, was again in the news as the man Sophie Rhys-Jones chose to do her hair for her marriage to Prince Edward.

BRUCE POLL was recently featured in the travel section of the Telegraph. He is a qualified guide and member of the Association of Mountaineering Instructors. His work includes guiding people up Ben Nevis in Scotland.

PAUL NELSTROP (Wa '55) sent us a press release about MARTIN DAWES (Wo '53) who has just sold SO% of Martin Dawes Telecommunications to Cell net in a deal worth £130 million.

Wedding Bells

Congratulations to the following who were recently married: RICHARD KELLY (Wo '73) and Mary Jacobs in California on the 17th July and OLIVER GILLETT (Wa 'SS) on the 15th August.

DEBORAH IRVING (St O's 'S4) is engaged to be married in August 2000 and is working as a freelance journalist.

Also engaged is CHRIS DURANT who works at the Live Theatre in Newcastleupon-Tyne. He is due to marry Sharon Pedlow on October 29 in Belfast.

Academic Matters

OWAIN EVANS has recently graduated from Cambridge University with a first class degree in Economics. He is now working in London with the Equity Research department of the investment bank Merrill Lynch.

TOMMY HO (La 'S9) is studying medicine at the Imperial College, University of

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London. REZA KASSRAEI (La '90) obtained a second in Politics and History at Middlesex University and has recently completed a Masters in Investment and Finance.

CORIN YARROW has gained his Bachelor of Architecture from Portsmouth. ROSIE DYMOND has been awarded her Doctor's degree in Germany. She has been doing research at the Max Planck Institute into Magnetic Resonance Imaging, a branch of modern medical physics.

NEWS IN BRIEF

STEVE EVANS (M '74) is a professional Actor/Director and runs his own company with his wife Jane. They have two children and live in Dorset. STEPHEN CLEGG (T '59) lives in retirement at Southwold. He and his wife Rebecca have just produced "Southwold-Portrait of an English Seaside Town" to celebrate the millennium. OLIVER CONDY (Wa '88) recently gave a concert at the College playing both the Schulze and Chapel organs.He is half way through his M.A. in Music at Cardiff. He was joined by GUY MARCHANT (Wa '88),who came for the occasion from Southampton where he works as an accountant. JEREMY CLARKE (Wo'86) also came to hear Oliver. He is teaching and brother TIM CLARKE (Wo '84) works for Mark Warner holidays.

Other OE's to appear this year were WILLIAM TIMMIS (L '88) and MATTHEW WELLS (L'88) who both run family businesses. TOM BROMFIELD (L'87) and wife Sarah have moved back to Shropshire from Chichester to take up a new teaching post.

KERRY BALL (L '82) came to visit Ellesmere form Hong Kong hoping to catch up with some old teachers. JEREMY SYKES (T '83) is working in London as a restaurant manager. PENNY SYKES (St O's '84) is a RAF pilot and is based in Hampshire flying the Chinook Helicopter. She has served in Bosnia, Northern Ireland and the Falkland Islands. ROGER THOMAS (La '64) is a manager with Midland Bank in the Vale ofGlamorgan. He

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which perhaps shows the cord which exists between Old Ellesmerians; it was certainly a most enjoyable meeting.

SARAH WRIGHT (St O's '88) continues with her successful career in financial sales in Phoenix, Arizona. DAVID LLOYD recently caught up with Fred Tippett who was a Physics teacher and Housemaster in the 1950's. ROBERT CHANCE recently wrote to us from Kent, reminiscing about his days at school when he was Captain of Meynell, as did CHRIS ANSTEY (M '69) who wrote saying how much he and his 13 year old daughter had enjoyed the Sunday morning Chapel service they had attended. PAUL NELSTROPP and GORDON YULP were two OE's who recently competed in the 1999 Grand Microlight Air Rally. Paul received a second prize and Gordon and his wife Jaine got the Youngest Novices Trophy.

OBITUARIES

RALPH WINN writes to inform us of the death of his elder brother JOHN (Wo '42). He died on January 15th 'after an illness lasting several months,

John was a school prefect and captain of rugby in 1951, and then left to do his national service in The Cheshire Regiment. spending most of his time in Cyprus and the Suez Canal area. His business since then has been in hairdressing, in partnership with his wife, in the Southport area.

His main outside interest since finishing playing rugby has been in administration and youth development of the game- He played for Birkenhead Park (Still my club) and Southport, and then he joined Ormskirk where he became Chairman. He was also heavily involved in Lancashire Youth Rugby, becoming Team Manager and one of the main organisers of matches and tours (including Canada) and attended several functions and youth matches at Twickenham in his official capacity.

The Lancashire Colts Committee supplied a flag to drape his coffin and six bearers at his funeral. There is to be a trophy in his honour presented to the winners of an

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recently celebrated the birth of his son Samuel.

PETER DAVIES (T'53) is still farming in mid-Wales. He also has a caravan park and three daughters and three grand-daughters. He recently enjoyed a reunion with OE DAVID RICHARDSON and his family. PATRICK MARTIN (M'61) runs his own computer company whilst his wife Margaret is a Director of Grant & Cutler, the London Bookshop. RON DAVIES (M '61) continues to run the family business in Bishops Catsle and is married to Jill, a local G.P. They have three children. Ron still enjoys his railway holidays and is just off to experience steam in Cuba. ANTHONY RICHARDS (M '60) is married to Rosemary and has a daughter Fleur. Anthony continues to sail his seabird and restore the odd E type mustang when not practising as an accountant. ROBERT HOWARTH (M '61) had a most enjoyable spell teaching in Nepal but is now back teaching in Manchetser. He enjoys golf and long distance cycling.

DAVID KENISTON is living in Pymble in Australia. His son, Scott is working in Christchurch New Zealand and is about to embark on further travels to South America. NICK LOCK is serving in the Royal Welch Fusiliers and is finishing an MA in Defence Technology at the Royal Military College of Science. Major MARTIN FORGRAVE (T '79) is reurning to I Cheshire at Chepstow. CHRIS DABBS is the promotions manager for Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers which involves running the media departments and supplying music for film and television. He is still in contact with TIM WEST who is a studio engineer in the leading media studios "Grand Central" in London, and also with CHRIS BEWS who is a sales manager with St Ives the printing company.

During May 1999 a group of six Old Ellesmerians who entered Ellesmere in the late 1930s met with their wives for lunch at The Cholmondley Riverside Inn, Nr Shrewsbury. Those present were Derek Holland, Denis (Ned) Clarke, Robert Harding, Malcolm Love, John Carter and Alan Ball who were on a visit to the UK from New South Wales. Australia. Some of us had not met for over fifty years

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annual match between Lancashire Colts and other county sides, the first one to be against Cheshire on March 14th. Southport and Onnskirk are also to have an annual youth match for a trophy named after him.

He was proud of his attendance at Ellesmere, still displaying at his home all his photographs of the many teams he played in both for house and school.

We send our condolences to his family and friend at their sad loss.

We have heard with sadness of the death of our oldest OE, L A Corah (Wo '16) on the 4th January 1999.

From Brian Bancroft news has reached us of the passing of Thomas (Tommy) McMYN WOOLFALL on November 28th 1998 in Victoria Hospital, Blackpool. Tommy was a good friend of Brian's "even though he was in the Reds". He was Brian's best man when he married in 19937 and served in the Artillery throughout the war. He was formerly Chairman and Managing Director of The Cherry Tree Machine Company Ltd. To his widow, Elizabeth, family and friends we send our sympathies.

We offer our condolences to the family of K J RANSFORD who passed away on 3rd April 1998.

S P CLIPSTON (Wa '45) died suddenly on the 10th March 1998. We extend our sympathies to his family and friends at their sad loss.

Mrs Josephine L'Estrange has written to us from South Africa with the news of her husband, CANON H C H L'ESTRANGE's death on 26th February 1999. Hilary had been ill for many years.

GEORGE NORTON TOWERS died on 11th December 1998, aged 74. Norton, as he was known, was the second of four brothers who attended school between 1936 and 1945, all of whom were in Meynell and well known at the time for their athletic prowess. To his wife, Joan and his family and brothers we extend our sympathies.

We also offer our sympathies to the family of PHILIP AINSWORTH (Wo '56) who passed away on 12th November 1998.

DAVID KARL CALDECOTT (Wo '52/3) passed away on 17th February 1997, very suddenly. He had run a very successful Furniture Business for 26 years. He left a wife, son and 3 daughters.

IAN GEOFFREY CLARKE, born 8.7.32 died 15.3.99. Ian attended Ellesmere College and would have liked to have had more contacts with his school but living in Australia for many years has restricted him. However he has enjoyed receiving the Ellesmerian and noting the many changes over several years.

Ian became very well known in the world of Nautical Education. His contacts ranged from students to teachers not only in Australia but also in other countries, especially England. Many of his students came from India and Asia - he had special patience with these students, all adults, who often had language difficulties. Several of his ex students now hold prominent positions with Nautical firms and Government Marine Departments in Australia. Ian's ability to teach his subjects has had far-reaching effects.

Ian sometimes struggled with his subjects at Ellesmere as shown by his reports. His teachers would now be proud of him (if alive).

Ian suffered with heart problems for 12 months before his death. Before that time he was only rarely touched by mild angina for a few years. In May '98 he had a quadruple by-pass operation which seemed successful. His was an unusual case where the arteries were soon found to be blocked again (Dec '98). He died suddenly and tragically after 4 days at home - he was found to have "mashed" extensive golden staphylococcus infection which had been developing internally while he was in hospital. Some of his medication masked symptoms of this internal infection allowing him to appear to be progressing reasonably well and enabling his homecoming five weeks after his transplant. Thus his death was - to his family - tragic and unexpected.

He has one daughter, a nurse, and one son, a cartographer. Both live within 15 miles of Ian's home - Richard with his wife and Lorraine with a friend. Ian also leaves 2 sisters, one in England and one in Switzerland. The family in Australia is small but the wider families are scattered globally.

Ian's profession - Nautical Education - was reached through one year at Southampton University School of Navigation after he left Ellesmere. Then followed II years in the Merchant Navy including long periods of study leave. He gained his Extra Master's qualification in 1962 thus acquiring his title CAPTAIN.

Ellesmere has not heard much from Ian over the years but the school can be proud of yet another achiever, a quiet achiever!

PETER ROGERSON (1923-1991)

An encomium by the President of Rajkumar College, Rajkot - His Highness Maharaja Sriraj of Dhrangadhara.

Englishmen have left their mark the world over - as conquerors and rulers, as entrepreneurs and traders, as missionaries and humanists. It is the humanists that have made England and things English cherished in distant places. One of them has just passed on - Peter Rogerson of Trinity Hall, Cambridge and of the Rajkumar College, Rajkot.

Born in 1923, in a well-to-do family in Lancashire, the eldest of three brothers and a sister, Peter was Head Boy at Ellesmere and earned his Master's degree at Cambridge in 1949. World War II saw him in India as a subaltern and later as Captain in the Sikh Regiment of the Indian Army. True to his school's motto, Pro Patria Dimicans, he enlarged the meaning of Patria to include India. He became enamoured of the country and in time the country became enamoured of him.

After the war, he was in no need of a job. His family and his family's cotton business awaited him in England. Instead he answered an 'ad' which must have somehow attracted him. It brought him to the Rajkumar College, Rajkot and the princely peninsula of

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Saurashtra. He was appointed Housemaster. His dedication to this charge was to become the hallmark of his later principalship. It set a standard to the school staff who warmly supported him.

Peter Rogerson was Principal of the Rajkumar College for 28 years from 1963 to 1991. His was the longest tenure of any in a long line of English principals since the College began. It was founded by the princes and chiefs of the peninsula for their sons and kindred and opened in 1870. One could catalogue the qualities and virtues that make for a good Headmaster or Principal. Peter embodied most of them. In his sensitive post he sought to blend that contrary twain, the East and the West. He never stopped being English yet was more Indian than many Indians. His early period saw the opposition stirring against public schools in India and he helped tide over it. His own parallel and paragon was that ideal of Indian antiquity, the gurukula, a family away from the family, the archetype of residential schools at long distance. He was persuasive; his simplicity was disarming, his sincerity transparent.

The Rajkumar College is the oldest public school in India. Peter managed it under his princely masters and in the general service of the world at large with consummate flair. "He talked with crowds and kept his virtue, he walked with kings nor lost the common touch." He played host to Vijayalakshmi Pandit and her niece the Indian Prime Minister (not together of courselj) and to Lord Attlee. The Council could not deny him anything and he could not deny anything to anybody either, so everybody was happy all round! It was primarily because of him and through him that the College has been hugely enlarged, by the addition of an elegant wing which completed its quadrangle and which owes itself to the munificent of a gracious patroness, the dowager queen of my predecessor in office. His late Highness, the Maharaja Jamsaheb of Nawanagar - successor of the famous 'Ranji' - both old boys of the school.

A lifelong bachelor, Peter's upright temperament and spartan life were enlivened by his pleasantries and sense of fun. His most spectacular achievement was an annual floodlit Tattoo, set to enchanting music - William Tell, Hungarian Dances and Rhapsody No 2,

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Heritage (founded by its first President, the late Prime minister Rajiiv Gandhi) should have co-opted him a member is a national tribute. A distinguished educationist first and foremost, he was a humanist first and last. That the Mayor of Rajkot and his brethren should have made a point of attending his funeral, at short notice, is an accolade to Rogerson's public esteem and popularity.

It is sons of England such as he that make England remembered with affection. They are themselves goodwill missions. It is of them that any school, any university, any country, can be justly proud.

ROBERT ASHWORTH has sent us information of the death of his brother-in-law, TERRY POWELL on 17th April 1999. Terry was a master at College until 1972 and met his wife, Robert's sister, while watching his elder brother, Tosh, play rugby against Priory in 1970.

Terry had been incapacitated for a number of years with Multiple Sclerosis, which had become quite severe in the past few months. Our sympathies go to Terry's family and friends.

Another of Ellesmere's former schoolmasters has also died; Commander JOHN KINGSLAND who taught here from 1954- 1970.

We were very sad to learn of the death of Major GAIDA STRUNK IS Q.A.R.A.N.C. on the 12th November 1998. Gaida (or "Chunky" as she was known to many) was for some years nurse at College and will be remembered for her understanding and sympathetic 'in loco'.

Strauss, Spanish pasadobles, marches - all synchronised beat by beat with ballets portraying tennis, cricket, fencing, playing truant, and funny happenings and comic relief - being shaved, having your tooth pulled, or your leg - then folk-dancing tout ensemble, and the grand finale of this parade and marchpast of the whole school in striking uniforms, the House Banners flying, and the national anthem. We hope to make this a recurring feature as a memorial.

Except for his brothers and his late sister in England, whom he loved so well, and his strong support in the College, the devoted Rati Cooper, I doubt if anyone knew him as well as I did. And perhaps in some ways I knew him better than they. Which gives me a right to appraise him.

I got to know him well when he was my private secretary for a spell during our tour of England and Europe in 1950. For the last 25 years, I was his President. I have sat back and relaxed! It doesn't mean we didn't share ideas and dream dreams. We wanted to remake it all! He saw that for an Indian institution to thrive and flourish it had to have Indian roots and an Indian image. We were determined to move and model things in that direction - I in the Council, he in the School. Unfortunately my bout in Parliament and embroilment with a fell Government balked our enterprise. He went at it alone. Although his President and close associate, I can lay no claim to any share in his achievements.

He left it all behind on March 31 , 1991, in the middle of his farewell to the seniors who were leaving school. He is survived by a live heritage in the legion of boys who have passed through his hands in a career of 42 years as Housemaster and Head. Their numbers include generals, ambassadors, members of Parliament, Over-kind, over-generous, overanxious to stretch out and help, in disregard of self, these are now proverbial Rogersonian characteristics, dearly remembered.

That he stayed on, and we wanted him to, when the others of his race were departing, is a tribute. It was to earn him the GBE. That the Heads of the Indian public schools should have elected him, a foreigner - who was no foreigner - the Chairman of their all-India association, is a special tribute. That the Indian National Trust of Art and Cultural