House Diaries
Durham September saw me welcome my first batch of fresh faced Year 7 boys to Durham House. They were Jamie Adamson, Andrew Gedye, Matthew Hanmer, Joel Hargrove, Finlay Jordan, Tom Leeming, Harry Monkhouse, Jamie Spratt, Alex Swainston, William Swinbank, Ollie Theakston, Adam Wanless and Cameron Young, accompanied by George Shepherd and Lewis Maddison into Year 9 and Harry Dick into LVI. Improvements to the House are ongoing and although the pool tables didn’t quite stand up to the punishment dished out by the boys, at least we were able to continue our upgrading programme with more soft seating and posters in all the common rooms. We now proudly boast a flat screen TV in our entrance foyer, to display important information, pictures and videos of House competitions and I hope the BBC news channel, once we get the aerial connected over the summer holidays, so we can help further our boys’ current affairs knowledge. These improvements are possible because of the thriving tuck shop and the House subs I collect. I hope the boys realise the money is being ploughed back into the House for their benefit. Another initiative this year is the introduction of the much coveted ‘Tutee of the Week’ award; it is given to boys who make significant contribution to the House. One of the best parts of my job is watching the House perform in the varied competitions on offer and the first major one of the year is always the dreaded House Singing Competition. My fellow Housemasters and Mistresses agree that their main target is to avoid the much feared wooden spoon. Well, this year was a resounding success, we avoided coming last on all fronts; 4th in the Unison (It Must Be Love) and finishing a very respectable 3rd in the Part Song. We are happy to blame Mr. Donnelly for a poor song choice in the Junior section! Do-Re-Mi? More like Do-Re-Oh-Dear-Me! Our highly skilled public speakers were marshalled by Neil Stanwix, who coached the petrified Lewis Maddison, Joe Ferguson, George Shepherd and James Wren into a very encouraging 3rd place. Neil and his trusty mates Freddie Metcalfe and Chris Robinson romped to victory in the senior contest. Our very special Upper Sixth were up to there old trick again in the Drama Competition; having left it all to the very last minute, Neil and Chris put a fantastically funny and clever script together, which Euan Hobson and Andrew Gedye helped perform. I can say, as a judge, that the voting was very close; we ran out narrow winners! Our senior rugby players were always going to be up against it and duly won the wooden spoon, but thankfully nobody got hurt. Our Intermediate and Junior teams faired much better, with both finishing second. They should go one better next year. Our senior hockey players, led by Duncan Anderson enjoyed the House Hockey Competition and just a single goal made the difference between our third place and winning the competition, the Intermediates and Juniors again finished second, because of the odd goal. Next year will be our time. We were much fancied to regain our swimming crowns, so it was a shame we were denied the opportunity. We did, however, regain our cross country Bash crown with a superb all round effort from everyone in the House; a competition I hold in high regard. We also raised nearly £1000 for the Dream Flight charity. My wish is that we soon conquer the Bash and all the Barney Run competitions; we came incredibly close this time, winning the Junior Barnard Cup, just missing out on the big one, though, the Barnard Cup. Great individual performances from Daniel Burnett (6), Sam Leeming (1) and Robbie Thompson (2) deserve a mention.
The Barnardian Magazine
The summer brought more success for our intermediates sportsmen, winning against the much fancied Tees House in the cricket and finishing second, again, on Sports Day. Our talented juniors won their Sports Day team competition. Max Jones was our best placed senior, in the Javelin; he will be joined next year by some talented athletes, so again the future looks rosy. The Summer term ended with the junior and intermediate barbeques on the croquet lawn, the scene of Adam Wanless’ victory earlier in the term. It is just a small token to show my thanks for all the support shown towards the House activities programme and competitions. The Croquet, Golf, Cake Decorating, Danish Long Ball, Catch The Flag, Scrabble, Quiz, Art, Rounders, Squash, Football, Table Tennis and Pool events were all attended by keen, willing and competitive members of the House. Not surprisingly we won the House Activities Cup this term. A late announcement in ‘Nailing Up’ confirmed us as winners
of the unofficial merit prize for the boys Houses; making it a clean sweep for the academic year; we certainly try hard in Durham House! It is with some sadness we say ‘au revoir’ to our Upper Sixth; they will return for Old Barnardian days I hope. I wish Neil, Chris, Freddie, Richard, Adam, Andrew and Duncan all the best for the next chapter in their lives. Our meal at the Fat Buddha was a fine way to say thank you for all their hard work over the years. We also say goodbye to the Crowther brothers, who are moving to Hexham School. Our Year 11 leavers, who will be missed in our ever changing and improving Sixth Form are Robbie Thompson, Alex Rowland-Jones, Ben Ridley and Dan Priestley; they also go with all Durham House staff’s best wishes. My final thanks go to my excellent team of tutors; Mr.Everall, Dr. Child, Mr.Gedye, Mr.Donnelly, Mr.Maude and Mrs.Campbell all make my working day so much easier and enjoyable. BCU
Services Prizes Autumn
Spring
Summer
Year7 Year8 Year9 Year10 Year11 Year12 Year13
Alex Swainston Henry Thompson Sandy Stainthorp Joe Ferguson George Jones Euan Hobson Andrew Bussey
Harry Monkhouse Daniel Burnett Lewis Maddison Max Hargrove Sam Everall Euan Hobson Freddie Metcalfe
Andrew Gedye Dan Burnett James Jennings Sam Leeming Bradley Crow Sam Hobson Adam Butterfield
Junior Arts Shield The Tutor’s Trophy The Layzell Cup
Kieran Lewis Ben Roddam Chris Robinson
Kieran Lewis Sam Leeming Neil Stanwix
Alex Swainston Tom Metcalfe Rupert Barrett
Annual House awards The Arts Shield – Chris Robinson / The Egg Cup – Kieran Lewis / The Durham Cup – Neil Stanwix
2012
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