STAMFORD HOUSE REVIEW

Yet again, it has been another successful year for Stamford. Our House continued to dominate in the House Shout, and yet again, I rapidly became a mere observer, awed by the musical colossus that is S Bendon. Sheen’s swansong put the entire Cygnus genus to shame, as the stellar performance of You Give Love a Bad Name by the ensemble blew Coleman Hall away. The Choir’s performance of Magic by B.O.B certainly was, and the Unison finale of Waving Flag by K’Naan brought one of the most hilarious pieces of criticism that we have heard as a house – A Moss’s drumming was “just too loud.”

With the House Shout trophy sitting proudly on my desk, the rest of the year followed – public speaking success for Jacob and Tom in Year 12, Year 9 and 10 victories in the Winter Sports Competition, and a phenomenal gingerbread palace by H Cooper. These are just the wins – to say nothing of the second-place finishes for the University Challenge teams in the sixth form, for our cross-country runners, or for our linguists.

The next grand success was our Entrepreneur’s Competition at the Christmas Fayre. Our World Food stall has moved from strength to strength, with A Byrne’s definitely Belgian waffle maker and Paco’s bubble tea being just some of the delicacies that were on offer. We did not make as much money as all the other houses combined this year, but it was still a small fortune raised for our PFA.

The Spring term saw N Violaris establish himself as the foremost Chess player in Year 8, with an all-Stamford final between L Beesley and H Wilkinson dominating the Year 10 competition; S Vaddhireddy’s victory in the Year 11 competition was the icing on the cake.

Debating remains a strength of Stamfordians, with victories for the Years 13, 12, 10 and 7 debating teams in their contests, with not a single fourth place being awarded to us. We have also discovered that the Year 11 Tug-Of-War titans are peerless competitors. But we might not mention some of the other years.

This is to say nothing of the rest of the year – T and F Barosa-Derbyshire’s dancing for the Talent Show, along with F Haque’s football freestyling deserved far better than the second place that they collected. Our cricket teams, however, will be looking to make an improvement as we move into the next year. That is all I will say about that one.

This year has been a massive success for Stamford, with valiant efforts in every competition that has taken place. I remain, as ever, proud to be our House Manager. Keep it up, Stamfordians.

A Flanagan