Bablakenews
Courtenay returns to Coventry Charitable actions
Despite hard times on the financial front, we once again contributed enthusiastically and generously to charity last term. We raised money to support Macmillan, Children in Need, Breast Cancer UK and TB Alert. Mr Tyas completed an amazing 7 marathons in 7 days, which included climbing several peaks and raised in excess of £3,000 for the British Heart Foundation. Just before Christmas, Rachel Claringbull slept rough in a cardboard box in Birmingham raising money for the young homeless and Manisha Nahar raised money to send an optician with special equipment to help many with poor sight in Uganda. Our local senior citizens were once again treated to a musical Christmas afternoon tea complete with an appearance from the special man in red himself. Last term the Bablake community raised well over £6000 for various local and national charities. Thank you to the pupils, parents and staff for their excellent effort. Towards the end of last term Caretaker Mr Malcolm Martin and his wife Sue, Head of Housekeeping, Mrs Jo Davidson, and Head of Careers Mr Mark Woodward organised a Bablake calendar for 2012. With the help of Charity Coordinator Mrs Alyson Heath and Head of Sixth Form Mrs Alison Tumber, and the support of the whole Bablake community, we are delighted to announce that this project has raised £1150 for the Lymphoma Association.
4
the lion Spring 2012
On Friday 24 February, Coventry University invited a group of Bablake’s promising future lawyers to attend a lecture on “The Politics of International Criminal Law” given by one of the most influential barristers in Britain today, Queen’s Counsellor and former Bablake pupil Courtenay Griffiths. If you recognise the name Courtenay Griffiths, this is probably because he represented the former president of Liberia, Charles Taylor, in the International Court of the Hague, where he was considered the “real star” of the case after his intense grilling of supermodel Naomi Campbell on the issue of ‘blood diamonds’. Other notable cases of Courtenay’s include the Damilola Taylor murder trial and Goswell v Commissioner of Police, which was the highest award of damages made by a jury against a police force. At Courtenay’s request, Bablake pupils were invited to the lecture and 22 jumped at the chance. At the beginning of his lecture, Courtenay said that he “wanted to start a fight”, showing his passion and controversial views on several international criminal cases and the USA and NATO’s intervention in international affairs. He spoke to the attending group of law professors, university students, Bablake pupils and staff about lessons that should be learned from European history. The pupils were all extremely grateful for the opportunity to hear Courtenay speak and several are hoping to contact him regarding work experience and shadowing.
Vacating the Chair
Mrs Sue Aucutt stood down as Joint Chair of the Bablake Parents’ Association at the Annual General Meeting last term. Her two children, James and Emily, both attended the school, and Sue was for many years a cheerful, highly efficient and proactive member and Chair of the steering Committee. We are very grateful to her for her loyal service to the school, and for enabling so many fundraising events to involve parents in enjoyable ways in supporting and enriching their children’s education. The Committee is always eager to support projects which enhance opportunities already provided by the school; at its last meeting it agreed to allocate funds towards: a permanent table tennis table to be situated near the Sports Centre, a portable speaker system for assembly rehearsals, an extra microwave oven for increased Textiles demand in Home Economics, part-funding for the History Department’s Civil War demonstration, new holds and routes for the climbing wall, boxes of games for the Junior School, some lightweight folding tables, and a contribution towards the U14 netball team’s overnight expenses for the National Finals. The Committee is always pleased to welcome new members or to receive offers of help, however small, for their fundraising events. Please use the following e-mail address: pa@bablake.coventry.sch.uk