The Ousel 2022-2023

the ousel

2022-2023

THE OUSEL The Magazine of Bedford School and the Old Bedfordians Club

Number 995- Autumn 2022 to Summer 2023

FROM THE EDITOR

I

t is easy to get lost in archived Ousels of the Victorian age – the construction of fives courts; requests for bicycle races to be held on the road rather than grass; poor attendance at the new Carpentering Club as ‘weaker members’ dropped away…

On its launch, the Ousel editor of 1876 described The Ousel as Bedford School’s ‘holy bard’. With a more modest turn, perhaps overcome by the wish that the magazine should endure, he wrote, ‘We know its wings are but of wax, and do not mean like Icarus to soar too near the sun and fall’.

One hundred and forty-seven years later, The Ousel is surely more Herculean than Icarian. It fulfils the early vision: ‘a journal which shall be a fair representative of the various interests of the School’ - its feet on terra firma.

Pioneering Ousel editors were, however, not above waspish critiques of their contemporaries’ school publications. In 1882, the editor bemoans a twenty-four, ‘instead of the regulatory fourteen’, line sonnet in The Haileyburian and notes that The Shirburnian contains a paper on Lucretius, however the quotation in it is ‘spoilt by the absurd misprint in the first word’. Reading School Magazine ‘puts a high value on itself, charging a shilling; a course which is not justified, in the eyes of outsiders at least, by the contents’.

We hope that this edition does not, like Icarus, fall short of our predecessors’ high standards; that you lose an hour or two in The Ousel of 2022 -23, and that you would gladly part with a shilling for its contents.

RAQ

10 Australia tour

20 ART

32 mUSIC

46 drama

76 sport

132 Bedford School Association

● Editor: R. A. Quirighetti

Browse the archives here: https://heritage.bedfordschool.org.uk

contributed; I am very grateful indeed. Finally, thanks to Karoline Jefferey for help with staff news photographs.

● Editor – Bedford School Association: Clare Horton ● Cub reporters: Finn Adams, Millan Verwoert, Ben Smith ● Front cover: Breaktime (Mark Lewis) ● Back cover: Breaktime (Mark Lewis) ● Design: Cherry Red Designs – www.cherryreddesigns.com

● The Ousel magazine regrets any mistakes made; all errors are made without malice or intention and in spite of repeated checks. All views expressed are those of the individual concerned and should not be taken to represent the official position of either Bedford School or the Harpur Trust.

● Printer: Lavenham Press – www.lavenhampress.com

● Bedford School is part of the Harpur Trust.

● © Bedford School 2023

● Bedford School, De Parys Avenue, Bedford. MK40 2TU

● Photographs: Many thanks to Mark Lewis, school photographer; most of the photographs are his. Additional thanks to Alex Carlton-Smith (F5) who supplied the rugby photographs on p78 and p79. Thanks to all staff who have

● Tel: 01234 362200 ● Email: info@bedfordschool.org.uk ● Website: www.bedfordschool.org.uk

THE MAGAZINE OF BEDFORD SCHOOL AND THE OLD BEDFORDIANS CLUB 1

WELCOME

View from the Head Master’s Study

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am hoping that the school year itself will provide a suitable, if somewhat forced, metaphor for the “view from the study” this time around. We started the year in blazing sunshine; the grounds were in as good condition as anybody can remember; moods were high, refreshed by a long summer break. And so it continued for a while – over 1100 pupils turned up in September for the 7th year in a row, an uncommonly good run in recent times; we welcomed in (arguably) our best GCSE results ever; enjoyed a Fortune Magazine rating as one of the best six boys’ boarding schools in the world; and underwent an ISI inspection resulting in the most glowing of reports. With luck, and some decent judgement, we hope that the sunny uplands will return in similar splendour, once the seasons have done their bit.

However, as I write in late November, the grounds are muddying and the skies are grey – and there is the promise of cold ahead. Affordability has been a challenge for the sector almost for as long as it has been around; but now the spectre of VAT on school fees looms large and independent schools are bracing themselves for some strong headwinds. It seems strange that a sector which is so admired internationally should be so undervalued in its own country, but we must simply keep striving for excellence and proving our worth to our local communities and the national economy. Our own approach to impending VAT centres upon working hard to increase our non-fee income, via better use of our own estate in the holidays, a professional approach to fundraising, and the forging of links with overseas schools.

All of these are in fact exciting in their own right, so one hopes that, in a similar way to the pandemic spawning a range of lasting initiatives, necessity will be the mother of invention once again. We aim to improve our offer, and not simply to pare it down.

The Governors have shown confidence by backing the development of a new academic building in Burnaby Road, which will lead to the upgrade of eight academic departments, three-day houses, a boarding house, medical

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centre and various other sundry departments. It will also see a re-imagination of the entrance to the estate and set the academic tone for the foreseeable future. By which time, with luck (and some decent judgement), the sun will be out again, shining hard on beautiful grounds and on a school continuing to flourish through good times and bad.

At the very heart of all this, of course, are the boys themselves. Their childhood happens but once; and it is the greatest of privileges to help them to enjoy and make the most of it. I do hope that you enjoy reading all about them in the pages ahead, as we have enjoyed teaching them; and I extend, as ever, my thanks to those who have brought their daily lives to light and made this edition of the Ousel possible. ■ JSH

ACADEMIC LIFE

From the Deputy Head (Academic) T

he 2022-23 academic year was in many senses ‘back to normal’ following years of pandemic disruption.

Examinations were delivered (and graded) in the way they had been before COVID-19 struck; teaching and learning could return to usual routines, without the disruption of periods of self-isolation or significant stretches of time spent learning online. It was gratifying to be able to celebrate the many successes of our boys in August.

Following excellent IB and A-Level results, just over 75% of our leavers went on to Times Higher Education Top 30 universities, with the most popular destinations in 2023 being University College London (9 pupils total) followed by Exeter, Loughborough, Durham, Queen Mary, Nottingham, Bath and Birmingham and Southampton. A growing trend amongst many of the country’s leading universities of offering ‘clearing’ places to boys who had done better than they had expected saw thirteen of our boys access Russell Group university places via ‘clearing’ this year. 

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ACADEMIC LIFE



An enormous thanks must go to our excellent Careers team and all other colleagues who have supported our boys to negotiate the ever more complex system of university entrance once again both in the UK and further afield.

As ever, boys’ first steps beyond Bedford encompass a diverse range of subjects, specialisms and interests, whether as a Musician in Residence at Swanbourne House, a golf scholarship to Lenoir-Rhyne University, North Carolina, degree apprenticeships with leading firms (including the PriceWaterhouseCoopers Flying Start scheme) or a place to

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read Ancient and Modern History at Keble College, Oxford or a total of seven places to read Medicine or Dentistry at leading institutions across the UK. Congratulations to all of our newest cohort of Old Bedfordians and everyone in our community to has supported their success.

The following week, our GCSE pupils achieved results which were by some measures a record for the school; the academic future of the school appears very bright indeed. ■ LTR

ACADEMIC LIFE

SPEECH DAY 2023 An edited version of the Head Master’s address to the school on Speech Day 2023

Ladies and Gentlemen and boys of the school, Welcome to you all to Speech Day and to our prizegiving ceremony. May I extend a particular welcome to the platform party. From your left: Mr Rob Campbell (staff-elected Governor), His Excellency Hugh Elliott (Old Bedfordian), Sir Clive Loader (Chairman of Governors), Mr Mark Slater (Governor), Mr David Owen (Governor). To these, and to you all, welcome.

The speaker this year is His Excellency, Hugh Elliott (OB), British Ambassador to Spain and Andorra. After leaving Bedford School in 1983, Hugh read Modern and Medieval Languages at Trinity College, Cambridge. Hugh’s father taught Spanish here at Bedford School; and if you were ever looking for a reason to study languages, boys, Hugh’s career might be able to persuade you! He joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1989, working in the East Africa Department and then in Madrid, Buenos Aires and Paris. He left there to be Head of Government Relations at Anglo-American mining, before a return which saw him take up several Directorships overseeing European affairs. Since 2019, he has been living in Madrid as the British Ambassador to Spain and Andorra. And if that still does not persuade you to study languages, then surely returning to your old school in a few years’ time to be addressed by the Head Master as “Your Excellency” might provide good motivation! We are delighted to have you back with us, Hugh!

Now is it just me, or are Speech Days coming around more frequently? Time is a funny thing, isn’t it? The more you have of it, the more quickly you’ve had it. I’ve lost count of the number of times the Upper Sixth boys have said to me in recent weeks “I can’t believe it is coming to an end – it seems like only yesterday that it started”; but let me tell you, boys, that the older you get, the quicker it goes. I once spoke to an octogenarian who said “wait until you get to my age; it feels like you are having breakfast all the time”! There are very few things that are timeless. The England vs South Africa Test match of 1939, which, though

scheduled to be timeless, still ended in a draw when the match was abandoned after 10 days’ play because the ship taking England home was due to depart; or the view as you go past Arundel Castle on the train through West Sussex; or a pandemic – though perhaps the last one is particularly curious: I never really worked out whether the pandemic was worth 2 years, 10 years or no years at all. But the point remains; time and tide waits for no man – and we should do our very best to make the most of it.

And likewise, themes seem to recur at various stages in life, and the more so the older you get. The message I gave to the new boys on their moving up day just a fortnight ago could very equally apply to you now, whether you are leaving here or not. 

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 You boys, and I suspect many of the adults in the room, will

remember the first day you had at senior school. I certainly do. I was terrified. What I said to those new boys a fortnight ago was this: that every single one of you will want to make friends; and every single one of you will want to make a good impression, both to your peers and to the staff. I haven’t yet met a boy who doesn’t (even though perhaps one or two do their best to hide it!). This knowledge, this understanding of a shared feeling, a joint goal, is helpful – as it enables you to speak to one another on an equal footing, which is an important lesson for life generally.

Recently, the game I love has been torn apart by a report entitled the “Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket”, which, after two and a half years and in 316 pages, finds unequivocally that elitism, alongside deeply rooted and widespread forms of structural and institutional racism, sexism and class-based discrimination continue to exist across the game”. It is damning; and was only made worse by the idiotic and thoroughly entitled behaviour of some MCC members at Lord’s just last weekend. Indeed, the only good thing about the report was that the England and Wales Cricket Board commissioned it themselves – it is now up to them and to every single one of us who loves the game to action it. Presumably, that also includes the cricket-loving ex-Prime Minister, Sir John Major, who wrote the preface to the report. Without at all brushing over cricket’s very significant challenges, he also wrote this: “Cricket was born to become a game for everyone, and that must be our ambition. As a boy I lived in Brixton, during the years of high immigration from the West Indies, and my impromptu games of street and park cricket were - more often than not with young migrants. It brought us together, when the impulse of the time might have kept us apart. I can say, with perfect truth, that my own life has been immeasurably enhanced by cricket 6 THE OUSEL 2022-2023

both as a young player and now as an avid spectator”.

There is a government think tank I have become aware of recently with offices in London, New York, Paris and Berlin. It amuses me gently that most us contract out our catering, our cleaning, our building work – but governments contract out their thinking. Anyway, this particular think tank is really rather special. It is called “more in common” and its underpinning principle belongs to the words that the much loved, and tragically murdered, MP, Jo Cox, first uttered in the House of Commons, namely that “We are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us.” Interestingly, the think tank started out by defining the divisions in society. It allocates everybody in society, every single one of us, to one of seven segments, not based on religion, race, gender and so on, but based on psychology and core beliefs. You can do the test on their website to see which segment you belong to.

ACADEMIC LIFE

Then it is from these points of difference, and understanding one another’s differences, that they seek to highlight the areas in which we do in fact have agreement and unity. And thus, through their partnerships, their government work and their consultancy they hope to support, engage, challenge, and inspire individuals and organisations to strengthen our society against the threats of polarization and division.

And this is the final message I want to give to all boys as they leave here today. In so many ways, most of you have seen a very small segment of society in the time you have been with us; you are about to see a whole lot more. I want you to remember the message to the nervous new boys as they arrive at school for the first time, the childhood of John Major on the streets of Brixton and the mission of that think tank in London, and to remember that difference is wonderful and we should celebrate it (wouldn’t life be awful if we were all the same!) but at the end of the day, and ours will all come, if we look hard and if we want to find it, we do indeed have more in common.

Right, well, we have had some wonderful music this year - culminating in a spectacular summer concert on Thursday night - and today three sixth formers have kindly come together

to form a Jazz Trio to play for us. They are Gideon Chan, Josh Jeganathan and Toby L’Estrange and they will play, aptly enough, a piece of jazz music called ‘Peace’ by Horace Silver.

I am now going to hand over to the Head of School, Nathanael Lord. The last time I took to the stage with him was at the start of this year, welcoming those new boys to the school. I might as well have not spoken myself it was so brilliant – which I why I got my own words in first this time. You may wonder whether boys selected to be Head of School have a completely unblemished record in their time here; maybe they should. Nat doesn’t. And the reason I mention this at this particular point is that his very first conduct concern here, given back in 2016 in the prep school, was for “Persistently talking in assembly, even when asked to stop”. Well, I have told him he has got five minutes.

Let’s see what he has learnt! Many thanks for all you have done in post, Nat, and welcome to the stage.

Without such wonderful teachers, and indeed staff generally (as Nat rightly points out), we would not even be half the school we are. For me what stands out about our teachers is just how much they care. I know that sounds odd, and they probably simply feel pretty knackered right now, but they really are a group 

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ACADEMIC LIFE

 apart – committed, professional, talented, fun, ambitious and

kind - and I am sure we would all wish to thank them all for that.

Some will not be with us in September.

Fiona Bell leaves us today after 23 years in the Biology Department. By my reckoning, that means she has seen over 3000 boys through the school – and, as a member of the Biology Department, has probably taught about half of them herself!

That is quite some reach. She has been consistently outstanding over that period; a very able Biologist, a gifted teacher of well prepared and inspiring lessons, thoughtful, innovative and well respected. That description, lifted from a reference 23 years ago, could have been written yesterday, and is a measure of her professionalism over two decades. Thank you, Fiona, for all you have brought to the school.

Rob Heale joined the school in 2007 as a Teacher of Economics and Business, having been a Boarding Housemaster at Clayesmore School for 7 years. Within a year here, he was at it again, appointed to Burnaby House, where he lived and worked for a further 12 years. It is probably fair to say that Rob has a lot of stories to tell from living 19 years with hoards of teenagers.

He also has one or two from being Chair of Common Room these last few years; and his hilarious Second XI cricket reports since 2010 are so legendary that they have been bound together as a leaving gift for him by his long-time partner in crime, Mr Braithwaite. In short, he leaves Bedford on an NDA – so don’t try him out at drinks! - and we wish him well for semi-retirement in South Wales, mixed as it will be with some part-time teaching at Cheltenham Ladies’ College.

Frank Graeff came to Bedford in 2011 as Teacher of German and leaves today as Head of Modern Foreign Languages.

Top German teachers are few and far between, and Frank is very certainly one of them, teaching brilliantly at all levels from beginners though to the native German speakers at IB, where he holds particular admiration. He is a man of integrity, most recently demonstrated by his refusal to accept his new post from Easter, as his next school had requested, on the grounds that he wished to see his boys through their exams, and allow a proper

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handover to his successor. We will miss you, Frank, and wish you well.

Carina Schaber joined the German Department 3 years ago straight from her PGCE and leaves now to teach in Bucharest.

One of our first online lockdown appointments, she has undoubtedly blessed our school and we wish her all the very best for a great adventure in Romania.

It is interesting just how international teachers are becoming these days. Chris DePlancke joined the Maths Department 2 years ago from Kellett School in Hong Kong and leaves us now for Le Regent School in Crans Montana in Switzerland. I can’t understand why. He has made a great mark on the school in a very short time and we will miss him (though no doubt he may get a few visitors for a ski!).

And Will Hale, who joined the English Department from a junior fellowship at Winchester College, leaves us after a year for further study in Oxford, with the memory of taking Alastair Cook’s wicket in a staff game – not many can say that! To Will, and our language assistants, Kate and Servanne, thank you.

Thanks must go, too, to a couple of very distinguished, mainly part-time, teachers who leave us this year. Jill Darby first joined us as an EFL teacher in 2002 and has worked in various guises in the old Study Centre and in the Main School since then. She has been an inspiration to generations of Bedfordians, many of whom have been displaced far from home and have needed exactly the care that she has so expertly provided. And Philippa Bennett, our amazing flute teacher, leaves us after an equally amazing 36 years, during which time she also helped to run Pemberley House with her late and dear husband, Guy, who taught and led Brass here for many years. She will be sorely missed by many; and we do hope that she stays firmly in touch.

To all of these staff members, we as a school owe a very great debt of thanks.

In further thanks, I’d like to mention briefly three more groups of people. The Old Bedfordians are hugely supportive of the school. OBs help out here with careers events, advice, talks on academic subjects and indeed at Speech Days; they have

ACADEMIC LIFE

hosted receptions all over the world; and they have been good to us financially as well. I’d like to thank Martin Snaith and Craig Mitchell in particular in their roles as President and Chairman for all their support of the school, and also Lance Feaver in his role this year as Chair of the newly merged Bedford School Foundation Trust.

The Governors are an extraordinarily talented and committed group of men and women, who give up a huge amount of their own time and expertise to support and guide the school. Much of their excellent work goes unseen by most of the community, but I see a lot of it close up, and we are incredibly lucky to have them. This year, I’d like to mention in particular, Sir Clive Loader, our Chairman of Governors, who retires from the Governing Body after 18 years as a Governor and 5 years as its Chair.

Having seen his own boys through the school, his association with Bedford School is well into its fourth decade already; and with Ed, his youngest, now running Eagle House, he has only just started! Unless you have been a Chair of Governors, you will have no idea what it entails. It is an unbelievably selfless, unpaid, often unrecognised, but very significant part-time job. His own hand on the school you can see and feel all around you, even though you would not realise it. Sir Clive’s background (he was running the Air Force when he started out as a Governor) is one of service; and his service to the school has been absolutely immense. To Clive, and to his wife Alyson who is here with him today, and indeed to his wingman, Phil Wallace, who is absent unwell today, and whom I am sure Clive would like me to mention, we pay tribute and pass our very deepest gratitude.

And lastly, but by no means least, to you parents. I thank you all for your support this year and the trust you have shown in us. We, for our part, are well aware that we have the most responsible of jobs, as well as the most wonderful.

So just before I draw to a close, I want to reflect very briefly on two aspects of the year just gone. Each year has its own strengths and flavour and this year, it would be very strange not to acknowledge what must have been one of the most successful all round sporting years we have had in recent memory. I am, as you know, keen on the underdog and on the Under 14 E team as much as the top teams – but, and I can confess this now, it is rather nice to win lots of first team games too! The rugby team, the hockey team and the cricket team won the vast majority of their games on one of the harder circuits in the country (the hockey boys even beat Repton, which is a very high benchmark indeed); and the rowers had a wonderful year, with the J16 crew winning our first medal for a number

of years at the National Schools Regatta and the 1st VIII only losing to holders and eventual finalists St Paul’s at Henley by a small margin. We are definitely closing the gap on the leaders in that sport. Secondly, and possibly not unconnected, was an unexpected but lovely piece of news that Fortune Magazine had selected us as one of the six best Boys Boarding Schools in the World: the other two in the UK were Eton and Abingdon. I was absolutely thrilled for our boarding teams, who work so hard to create a wonderful experience for the boys – and, judging from our parent survey earlier in the year, that is exactly what they get.

So, with those very brief highlights in mind, our team has put together a short review of the year for your enjoyment.

Classroom lessons, of course, are slightly less photogenic, but we are going to celebrate the academic side of life more tangibly now, as I call Luke Rogers (Deputy Head, Academic) to take my place at the lectern, and ask His Excellency Hugh Elliott kindly to step forward to present the prizes.

Ladies and Gentlemen; thank you all so much for coming. I do hope that you will stay to join us afterwards for a drink outside to help celebrate the year. But just before we all go, I have two short ceremonial duties to perform before we all go outside for a drink. Could the current Head of School please come to the stage. Well, Nat, your time is almost up! And I am delighted to say that we have Professor Martin Snaith here, President of the OB Club, who would like to present to you, symbolically, on behalf of your whole year group, an OB tie. Please come forward, Martin.

I will now announce next year’s Senior 4, and invite next year’s Head of School to the stage to receive a handover from Nat, and to lead us all from the stage.

Next year’s Senior Four are: Barnaby James Charlie Faulkner Johannes Yi (who will be Deputy Head of School) And the Head of School for 2023/24 will be Aiden Ainsworth-Cave.

Thank you and have a great summer. ■

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TRIPS

Australia Tour 2023 T

he Australia tour had it all, with many bucket list places being ticket off, such as the Great Barrier Reef, Tangalooma and Bondi Beach to name just a few.

After surviving what would seem to be an eternal journey across the world, we arrived in sunny Brisbane; the boys’ smiles were broad, despite the lack of sleep.

After a few days of settling in, we had a tight schedule with 3 fixtures spread over a 5 day period along with also travelling to 3 different places.

In the first fixture we came up against Gregory Terrace who showed us no mercy in what the Australians had to offer which was speed, and a lot of it. They powered off the start and showed no reaction to whatever moves we tried to create.

However we managed to stay connected to them. The Southport School was up next which almost all of the boys said was the best fixture they had. About 5 boats from both Bedford and Southport along with one of the quickest girl crews in 

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TRIPS

the country, St Hilda’s, gave fantastic competition to eveyone involved with close races all over the park. Then to finish it off with a real “Aussie barbie” couldn’t have been any better.

Tangalooma included sand surfing (flying down a sandune at high speeds on a piece of wood) and included a mastercalss from Head of Rowing Mr Mulkerrins and some showboating by Alex Harrison going down backwards showing eveyone how it’s done.

Further activities at Tangalooma included dolphin-feeding, a nature walk and a 4WD desert safari. Moving to Cairns and seeing the Great Barrier Reef was a highlight for myself and many of the boys, especially seeing dolphins and a shark a couple of metres below.

Taking on Sydney for a final few days was the perfect way to finish the tour: Sydney Harbour Bridge Walk, The Opera House and speedboats to name a few of the activities. Finishing our last rowing fixture on the Olympic Lake was a memory all boys will cherish for life, with hopefully some of the boys going onto national representation.

The final group meal was a buffet on a boat and was a fantastic evening with many awards being given out to boys and staff for all their efforts and hard work during the tour. This was an amazing experience for all and I would like to thank the school, parents, boys and coaches for making this happen. ■ Harry Tolmie

Boys: B Williams, R Apps, A Black, H Tolmie, S Lock, M Pascall, W Cave, O Pritchett, D McGregor, A Dean, J Sprange, A Harrison, S Jutla, E Newton-Walters, A Proctor, F Tongue, M Moretto, J Mitchell, N Dyall, B Rioch, C Spencer, F Beckmann, S Breed, A McFarland, D Meier, S Deardon, J Logan, J Linder, O Sprange, T Northey

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TRIPS

Art and RS Trip to Paris

B

etween Friday 10th and Monday 13th February, Bedford School Art and RS departments travelled to Paris, arriving just in time for a citywide general strike and departing only a day before the City of Romance is swamped by courting couples for Valentine’s Day. Organised by the respective heads of department, Mr Croker and Mr Rowland, the party of 53 boys and 6 staff left Bedford in the small hours to reach St Pancras in time for the Eurostar bound for Gare du Nord. I remember being somewhat surprised at how close Paris seemed, the journey only taking two hours from being on an English train to dropping our bags off in a Parisian hotel. My illusions of how easy and convenient it was all going to be were quickly shattered by our journey on the Parisian Metro from Gare du Nord to our intended stop at La Fourche. After a few boys somehow managed to forget their suitcases in the middle of St Pancras earlier in the day, the Paris Visite Metro cards were reluctant to work causing all sorts of issues with the impatient Parisians; this promised to make the next 4 days really interesting.

There’s no rest for artists in Paris of course. With so much to see so it wasn’t long until we were split up around our first destination, the Art Centre Pompidou, the primary modern art museum on our itinerary. The gallery felt a lot bigger than others I’d visited before but the design with the white walls and tall ceilings may have exaggerated that overwhelming feeling. Nevertheless, the collection was the main focal

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point, including, for example, Matisse and Rothko only a few rooms away from each other.

Fortunately, there was enough time to complete a number of studies but the elevated views the Pompidou offers ensured fantastic panoramas of the beautiful sunset over the skyline as well. Having seen the Sacre Coeur from this view may have inspired the split-second decision to climb the 300 steps to the top as quickly as we could on the return journey to the hotel, but the view of the building and Paris from above at night was reward enough.

Waking up early is sometimes worth it and the misty dawn walk along the Seine on the Saturday morning to the Musée D’Orsay was one of those times and one of the rare occasions on our trip that Paris seemed empty. The extensive collection which primarily focuses on European Impressionism occupied the Art Department for the full five hours we were there. My favourite works included the portrait of Whistler’s Mother, The Overall View of Paris taken from a Balloon and Une Mendiante. Built as a train station, the gallery itself was a topic of conversation for our prospective architects, particularly with the restaurant being housed behind the old clock as a significant centrepiece.

The walk between the D’Orsay and our next stop at the Orangerie was mercifully short. A break for lunch in the Tuileries provided a welcome and refreshing break. We finally got into the Orangerie Museum after an extended wait for three of the upper sixth boys to arrive at the rendez-vous point as they had clearly enjoyed a leisurely traditional long French lunch.

The Orangerie’s collection is smaller than many of its better-known Parisian counterparts, but the main attraction and the reason the gallery exists is Monet’s panoramic Water Lilies. Eight paintings totalling 100 metres in length means that the two rooms envelop you in what feels like a singular and extraordinary experience.

The next day we planned to tackle the Louvre, or as much as could be done in the allocated five hours so an early start ensured we were there punctually for the 9am opening. Such is the scale of the museum that the time only allowed for an

TRIPS

in-depth exploration of just one wing, although this included the not to be missed masterpieces including Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People, Jacques Louis David’s The Death of Marat and Gericault’s monumental The Raft of the Medusa which all generated prolonged and excited discussions.

On Mr Croker’s recommendation we started the visit by seeing the iconic Mona Lisa by Leonardo to avoid the massive queues which build up at later times in the day; some boys found this an underwhelming experience given the painting’s fame and reputation. Five hours was not enough to see all the art that fills the Louvre including its historical and sculptural collection like Winged Victory and Venus de Milo which most of us made sure not to miss.

Leaving the Louvre, we walked past the museum shop filled with thousands of Mona Lisa tote bags and tea towels and geared up for the long walk to the Rodin Museum.

The beauty of Rodin’s former home in central Paris was immediately striking but seeing The Thinker and The Gates of Hell as bronzes made a big impression on me too. As well as Rodin’s own work the museum displays his own personal collection including work by Van Gogh among many others.

As an opportunity to draw and to see what it feels like to experience life in a substantial country house in the middle of a city the Rodin Museum did not disappoint.

Making our way from the Rodin Museum back into Paris we ended up walking around 25,000 steps on a typical Mr McCleery magical mystery tour which, in hindsight, was a good idea as our unpredictable and unreliable Metro cards would have surely continued to cause problems and delays.

On our march to our timed appointment at the Eiffel Tower, we saw the Champs-Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe as well as many dramatic views of the Seine as we also passed Notre Dame. The ascent to the top of the Eiffel Tower was a dramatic conclusion to a full and busy day.

Our final destination on our last day before we returned to England’s green and pleasant land was the Musée Guimet,

a collection of Asian art, which served as a fitting conclusion to our trip. This proved to be a suitably calm contrast to our dreaded trek through the Parisian streets and Metro carrying all of our bags and additional souvenirs. After a long and exhausting return journey, I was relieved to be home.

It should be added that the trip and everyone who attended were brilliant. Thanks must go to the staff for setting up the whole trip up and keeping us organised. Many thanks to Mr Croker, Mr Rowland, Mr Nicholl, Miss Rattab and Mrs Whiteman but particular thanks to Mr McCleery who, as a fluent French speaker, helped with any translation issues. I do believe Paris even in so short a stay, proved how important it is to travel, especially somewhere with so much culture as the French capital can boast. The trip was a brilliant inspiration for the A-level boys and a worthy introduction to our exam studies while the discussion and involvement from our younger years will, I am sure, help with their future endeavours at school. I encourage all who read this to visit Paris at some point. To be honest, four days was nowhere near enough to do it full justice but the relatively short time the journey took emphasized just how close Paris actually is to Bedford. I know the Art Department thoroughly enjoyed the city as an opportunity to see some of the major and iconic works of European art in the many museums and galleries we visited. I am certain that I, and possibly others with me, will return to the city in the near future so that when we remember this trip we will certainly value the Art Department’s contribution to us as men.

The Religion and Philosophy students also covered all three Abrahamic faiths over the weekend with visits to the Paris Grand Mosque, the Jewish Art and History Museum and Sainte Chappelle. The Panthéon provided plenty of philosophical discussion, with visits to the tombs of both Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Voltaire, whilst a viewing of Descartes’ skull in the Musée de L’Homme, prior to seeing the Eiffel tower sparkle at night, was a definite highlight.

Upper Sixth Former Louis Day commented, “The museums allowed me to gauge more of an insight into the history of Christianity and specifically some pieces in the Louvre helped me understand more about the enlightenment period, which is helpful for both the Ethics and Development in Christianity papers at A-Level.” ■ James Lumley-Wood (U6th) with a contribution from Tom White (Remove)

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TRIPS

La Coruña Easter 2023 T

he Spanish Study Visit to La Coruña took place during the first week of the Easter holiday 2023. It combined intensive Spanish lessons at a renowned language school with a range of cultural excursions and sporting activities. Pupils were accommodated by host families which was an invaluable experience and one which we expect will lead to new and enduring friendships.

The itinerary was packed with a blend of linguistic, cultural, social and sporting opportunities, as well as a daytrip to the special city of Santiago de Compostela - its impressive cathedral, university buildings and cobbled streets full of tourists and students.

Our pupils attended twelve hours of lessons throughout the week. The lessons were delivered by native teachers, communicating only in Spanish.

The surfing lesson on a sunny Sunday afternoon was a popular highlight, as well as a handball training session at the local club, coached by a professional player. Visits to the

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aquarium, the planetarium as well as plenty of ice-cream and a tortilla cooking demonstration completed the busy schedule.

The trip was an eye-opening experience for the pupils that have had an insight into one of the gems of hidden Spain that is Galicia and the Costa Verde.

The Ben Smith Academy ensured our experience was fun, formative and impeccably co-ordinated.

I am especially grateful to Miss Schaber for accompanying the group and the pupils themselves, who were eager participants and great company throughout, throwing themselves into all activities and appreciative of every opportunity. ■ PAW

FEATURES

Rushna's Recognition: 20 Years' Service B

edford school is a community completely driven by the hard work put in by our staff. The school works as a welloiled machine; every day boys from the upper and lower school sit in spotless classrooms before going out to play games across beautifully maintained playing fields. Hundreds of hungry boys flock into the dining halls every day, a challenge that the catering staff meet with excellence, leaving every student wellfed and satisfied. They are the welcoming smile that meets boys every day of every year at Bedford, the reassuring presence for a new student, and a friendly face for all here at Bedford.

But there is one member of the catering team who goes above and beyond even all that. Rushna, Rushna OG or Reggae Rushna to those who know her, is a pillar of our community.

She has worked at the school for twenty-three years and in that time has seen thousands of boys pass through school, from the youngest prep schooler to our sixth form students ready to head off into the world. In the words of Head boy Nat Lord: ‘Rushna will welcome them (new students) with open arms, making everyone in years to come feel the same way we do now’, a testament to the incredible impact she has on our community.

I have recently had the honour of talking with Rushna about her time here and getting her perspective on what she loves about Bedford School. Many boys at Bedford, past and present, have come forward keen to discuss their memories and experiences with Rushna which speaks to the outreach that she has had and all the friendships she has made.

I asked Rushna what she loves most about Bedford, and why 

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 Rushna’s more than two decades of diligent service to the school have also been recognised by SODEXO, the catering company invited her out for a special evening at company headquarters in Liverpool to celebrate her career.

 the school means so much to her and her answer was simple.

It’s the ‘engagement’ that she has found here with the students that drives her. She mentions her past. Coming from a ‘broken home’ does not give you a past, only the life ahead of you, and when Rushna first arrived in Bedford it seemed to her a door opening to a new world – a world she has embraced with an enthusiasm that is remarked upon by all around her.

The President of the OB Club speaks of how Rushna has ‘striven to go the extra mile to ensure her customers are well looked after and made welcome’ in the thousands of events she has helped run. Her care for the boys and the school is apparent in the hard work she puts in week after week, all while maintaining her characteristic charm and good nature.

When speaking with Rushna we were joined by Nicky, another of our catering staff at Bedford who has been a long-time friend of Rushna. She too has worked here for longer than two decades and remembers those early days after Rushna’s arrival when she had been a timid and inwards facing young woman. She had some slight speech impediments and little experience in such a bustling environment but as time went on, she has opened up to everyone around her, something that has helped her develop.

Nicky and Rushna’s friendship is a truly beautiful one; Nicky has 16

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acted as a mentor throughout Rushna’s tenure and helped her grow into the woman she is today. The two share long phone calls after functions, debriefing after the day and talking about whatever may catch their fancy; Rushna’s love for gossip and a good chat has earned her the nickname ‘Radio Rush’ from Nicky! She looked out for Rushna in those early days and helped her find her feet and now the two enjoy a strong friendship that has lasted through the decades.

Rushna recounted to me one story that stands out as a particularly poignant moment in her career at Bedford. She saw a boy visibly shaken and upset during her shift and made sure to take him aside and ask about his wellbeing. This boy, who had struggled to bring his problems forward to his teachers, was reassured by Rushna’s friendly and familiar face and opened up about his experience of bullying. Rushna spoke to the school and managed to get the issues resolved which I think highlights exactly her care for the boys and desire to see what’s best for us.

Other moments that Rushna values deeply are when old students or staff return for the day and get the chance to grab some food in the dining halls. She never forgets a face and Rushna loves to catch up with all past members of the school, reminiscing about the past or discussing old lunchtime favourites!

Rushna has been with us at for twenty-three years and in that time has gone from a young woman unsure as to what she wanted, and who she was in life, to having found her place here at Bedford School. She is a constant source of energy and comfort for all of us, from the prep school to the staff and in the words of Joseph Hart: a ‘Bedford school Hero’ who is an inspiration to us all. ■ Ben Smith

FEATURES

Boys’ Testimonials Nat Lord: Ever since I joined Bedford in Year 5, I can remember Rushna in the lunch halls.

She would always be smiling and laughing with the boys. Now I am at the top of the school, I see just why all those boys liked talking to her; Rush is kind and funny and she never fails to brighten my day - even if she does call me Natalie.

In my position of leadership, Rushna has helped me time and time again; with parents’ evenings, dos after school, concerts, Sunday services, and just always being someone you can rely on.

She constantly shows enthusiasm in work and towards us boys and makes the lunch halls a safe yet fun place to be, making sure everyone has everything they could possibly need. To do all of this whilst still applying herself to getting to know everyone she can takes true kindness and I think it is this that is ultimately why Rushna is liked by all boys and peers alike and has been for all the years she has been at Bedford.

When I leave Bedford next year, I know some boys in the years below will want to befriend Rushna just as I did in Year 5 and I know Rushna will welcome them with open arms, making everyone in years to come feel the same way we do now.

Rushna - a Bedford School legend who will go down in the history books. Thank you, Rushna.

Caleb Sanders: One person that I am so grateful for but have not showed it enough for her influence on my school life has been massive, and that person is Rushna… From my first day in Year three, Rushna was so welcoming and positive and that has not diminished one bit, all the way to Year 13…

Rushna is the absolute definition of an unsung hero with all she does behind the scenes, enabling such positive efficiency within the dining halls and anywhere else she may be.

Will Osborne: Rushna, ‘Rush’ or ‘OG’ as widely known to myself as well as other pupils at the school, clearly prioritised the wellbeing of pupils and by doing so was respected by everyone she conversed with…

Personally, I always looked out for her as she never failed to take a keen interest in how I was finding school and how I was coping with life in general. These qualities resonated with me and are something that I now try and implement in my day-to-day life when dealing with others.

Joseph Hart: Rushna has been superb throughout my experiences with the catering team. Whether it be at a Gilbert Lloyd function or on the new boys’ day, she is always on excellent form. She constantly goes the extra mile and most of the time it goes unrecognised. Always making sure everyone has what they need whilst making the dining hall a fun place to be. I hope this message underlines how all the boys feel about her wonderful characteristics.

And a thank you from the OB Club President, Martin Snaith: I have been closely involved with the Old Bedfordians Club for about twelve years since I returned to the Bedford area, most recently as President. This has meant that I have attended many functions for which the catering has been supplied by external caterers. From almost the first of these events I had the impression of an excellent service directed towards the ‘customer’ and one of the reasons for this has been a member of their staff, Rushna, who has striven to go the ‘extra mile’ to ensure ‘her’ customers are well looked after and made welcome. This is of course so important when the Club is entertaining its guests - So on behalf of the Old Bedfordians Club, and indeed myself, thank you Rushna, and long may we see your happy face at our events.

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FEATURES

Ickwell Reserve The Continuing Story…

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n 2023 my report was about looking to the future and a full reopening. This year we have passed the finishing post and are now fully open with marketing completed. In addition, all the FERA data reported last year is with us. We are working through its interpretation. I have already started to contact potential users and get the reserve open to school and education groups.

During the eleven years I have had the privilege to look after the reserve, we have seen a number of changes. Trees and scrub have grown up as they naturally do, but a look round and survey reveals that we have many areas where light levels have reduced due to this growth. There is thus an impact on biodiversity. For example, woodland edge habitat is important to butterflies on our site and we have been losing this. So, last winter season with help from the  IB boys visit Ickwell habitats  The Anglia Land Rover Series One Club.

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FEATURES

BS gardeners department and a local contractor, we were able to catch up with our coppicing programme to create more of these edge habitats. More will be done this winter to make further biodiversity improvements.

The conservation meadow missed being cut and cleared due to wet conditions. We hope for an opportunity later to continue to maintain its low nutrient status. I was pleased that the Biology Department keep up with their work in

FERA have produced a complete carbon habitat survey for Ickwell... The results show the major contribution made by our woodland habitat which makes up the majority of the site. that area as it is an excellent site for surveying meadow biodiversity and how it influences the ecology of the site.

Nearby, our population of voles, long tailed fieldmice and grass snakes seems to live in some sort of harmony as witnessed by the occasional lifting of the tin sheets.

The FERA habitat data arrived in the autumn term and was introduced to the school via a meeting with two FERA scientists and the Geography Department. An invitation was also extended to interested boys. FERA have produced a complete habitat survey for Ickwell based on their very

successful Land 360 programme. We can see, based on the UK hab directive, how each pocket on the reserve contributes to carbon saving and carbon flux. The results show the major contribution made by our woodland habitat which makes up the majority of the site. I am exploring further options of data sharing and explanations via the Geography and Maths Departments.

I was able to visit the various habitats with a small group of IB boys during last spring. Marketing have given a very strong lead in putting together an informative new page for us, a revised guide and even some new film. We are also now on “X”. There is still much to do and I hope to welcome new users this winter.

We hosted three enjoyable meetings over the summer.

Firstly, I was very pleased to conduct a group from DTD China a part of Shanghai Vanke, a partnership school for us.

In July, a visit for a tour and picnic from The Anglia group of The Land Rover Series One Club brought 9 Land Rovers and a Rover P4 onto the reserve after a tour and display at The Shuttleworth Collection. This was written up in the Series One Journal “Legend”.

The AGM of The Bedfordshire Gardens Trust was held on the reserve in August followed by a tea and tour. An excellent article with very informative historical notes appeared in their journal (copy in the school library).

Do contact me for any further information or to arrange a visit. Many thanks to all my helpers, Mike Hallsworth and the gardens department. ■ CHJ www.bedfordschool.org.uk/venue-hire/ickwellconservation-reserve

The AGM of The Bedford Garden Trust.

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art

Gilbert Lloyd lectures Robin Deacon

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n September we were delighted to welcome Robin Deacon, the British artist, writer, educator and curator for the first Gilbert Lloyd lecture of the term. Robin has established a reputation for being one of the leading performance artists of his generation having presented his performances, lectures and videos at conferences and festivals in the UK and internationally in Europe, the USA and Asia. He has been curated by venues such as Tate Britain and the Barbican (London, UK), the Whitney Museum (New York, USA) and the Centre for Contemporary Culture (Barcelona, Spain) amongst many others. In his talk Robin explained his journey from his time initially growing up in Bedford to university and the development of his work in an enthralling and compelling lecture with excerpts of films and videos that were both challenging and thought provoking. As our very first performance artist to give a Gilbert Lloyd lecture, this was a welcome reminder that art can manifest itself in many different forms and how gratifying and inspiring that this lecture was given by one of the leading practitioners of the medium.

Anne Desmet RA

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For the second lecture of the term in November we welcomed Anne Desmet RA. Anne is a printmaker and in 2011 she was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Arts, only the third wood engraver ever elected to the RA in its entire history. She has work in the British Museum and V and A amongst many other museums and collections with an exhibition of her work at the time currently on display at Pallant House in Chichester. Anne explained the process of the various techniques she uses and the inspiration and motivation for her work. The diversity and range of what she showed was breathtaking and proved to be immensely inspiring for the boys and, pleasingly, a number of Desmet inspired works subsequently appeared in the weeks following her talk. What better justification for inviting artists!

For the one Gilbert Lloyd lecture in the Spring term we welcomed Peter Schade who has been the Head of the Framing Department at the National Gallery in London since 2005. He is responsible for the frames of more than two thousand paintings which make up the UK’s major collection of European art and he has to date changed over 350 frames of the permanent collection. Born in East Germany, Peter moved to London in 1990 when he first worked with picture frames. For this fascinating talk Peter showed examples of how frames manipulate our encounters with paintings and explained the National Gallery’s approach to framing Old Masters. It was revelatory just what a difference a frame can make to a painting and the comparison in his lecture of a painting with one frame and then another shows just what an impact Peter has made in his time at the National Gallery.

As part of our on-going desire to make these lectures as widely available as possible they have been advertised to the OB and wider community and live streamed with excellent additional on-line attendance. Many thanks to Peter Drage and the IT department for making this possible. ■ MCC Peter Schade

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ART HISTORY

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his year the course has covered art works including the Laocoon, Raphael’s ‘School of Athens’, Rubens portrait of Susanna Luden, Mughal miniatures, Charles Renne Mackintosh’s Argyll chair, Mark Rothko’s Seagram murals and Marina Abramovic. The 25 works have followed a chronological order to ensure a sense of the development of both art and design objects through history to challenge, inspire and provoke conversations. It has been particularly gratifying to have had a number of 4th form boys attending as well as girls from Bedford Girls’ School for the Monday after school session from 4.30-6pm for students.

On the second EXEAT of the autumn term a visit was organised to the excellent Higgins Museum in Bedford to see their brilliant exhibition ‘Changing Times: A Century of Modern British Art’. This included more than 80 works from the Ingram Collection and the collection of The Higgins Bedford, with paintings, works on paper and sculpture from some of the biggest names in British art including Moore, Nash, Piper, Minton and Bawden. Despite it being a Saturday morning off from school several boys joined the adult students for the insightful and enjoyable tour led by Miss Bacon.

Thanks to the generosity of one of our adult Art History students, a new school prize has been introduced to recognise outstanding achievement in Art History. Dr Janice Johnson is a parent of a former pupil and has been attending the later adult Art History lessons which take place from

7-8.45pm for the last few years. She has so enjoyed the class that she was inspired to sponsor an annual prize to encourage more pupils to attend and discover the same passion.

Prizes this year were awarded to: . 1st Prize – Christian Tyrell (U6th) . 2nd prize – James Lumley-Wood (U6th) . Highly commended – Olly Quince (4th) and Barnaby Williams (L6th) The boys were deemed by our teacher Miss Bacon to be those who had contributed most to class discussions, articulating thoughts and ideas about the artworks they have been looking at.

Christian, for example, has independently visited art galleries and museums both in the UK and most recently Madrid and the Prado Museum to see many of the works discussed in his lessons. Christian, who plans to read Art History and English when he goes to university in September, explained, “Winning the prize means a lot to me as Art History is something that I have a huge passion for, which I only discovered a couple of years ago. Before this, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do or have a ‘special thing’ but, after signing up, I realised that Art History is my particular ‘special thing’ and is what I want to do in the future. Winning the prize has given me a real sense of accomplishment and confidence in my abilities, as well as the opportunity to present myself in front of the school.”

He went on to say, “I am honoured that I was chosen to be the first recipient, and grateful to Dr Janice Johnson for funding the award.”

Art History is open to all boys to attend; you do not have to be studying GCSE, A-Level or IB Art as a subject to come along. Hopefully, this prize will be another incentive for boys to attend. Thanks must go once again to Miss Bacon for another exciting year, and we look forward to seeing what the 25 new works will be for September’s course. ■ MCC

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SCULPTURE

ART

Alex Hayward

Alex Hayward

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Enrui Zhou

Alfie Shooter

Harry Ayres

Harry Clifton

ART

Ted Ferris

Ted Ferris

Ted Ferris

Alex Hayward Eric Breslin

Alex Hayward Alex Hayward

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ART

ART AND ARCHITECTURE SOCIETIES T

he autumn term got underway with an exhibition of work titled ‘People and Places’ by Mike Checketts and Ian Rowlands who first met at Norwich School of Art in the 1980s. They both subsequently went on to study at the Royal Academy schools and have been friends ever since.

The exhibition of portraits by Rowlands and landscapes by Checketts with a particular emphasis on representation and drawing was a good way to start the academic year.

The first Art Society meeting of the term was an opportunity to look more closely at the work of Lucian Freud, the subject of a number of major shows happening concurrently in London to coincide with the anniversary of his birth in 1922. Fortunately, there are a number of interviews and programmes about Freud so after watching excerpts from these, an interesting discussion followed about the merits and qualities of his work. Regarded as something of a master, Freud’s work divided opinion amongst those boys attending.

It was a pleasure to welcome Hannah Martin Merchant who talked about Hannah Höch in the context of a lecture titled ‘Order and Disorder under the Weimar Republic’. Hannah Höch was a German Dada artist who created innovative photomontages and collages during the period of the Weimar Republic between 1918 and 1933. Touching on the social, economic and political situation of Europe between the wars, Höch’s work highlights the chaotic and tumultuous climate of the time which Hannah brilliantly explained.

We were delighted that Ian Rowlands was able to join us on-line to tell us a little more about his work as well as his

 John Holroyd (OB) discusses his career to date 24 THE OUSEL 2022-2023

 Louis Cooke speaks about the designer Bob Mackie.

exhibition in the Bell Room. Ian talked us through his career and why he is so interested in painting the human figure and portraits in particular. He explained the importance of drawing to his whole process which reminded the boys how drawing underpins the whole creative process regardless of style or idiom.

For the Architecture Society we welcomed back OB John Holroyd to talk about his career path to date. Having studied at Nottingham for his degree John explained how he ended up specialising in building conservation. Crucially, John highlighted those things about architecture which he wished he had known when still at school so our current aspiring architects found this extremely useful and inspiring.

As in previous years, we were delighted to host the school final of the ARTiculation competition for one of the Art Society meetings in the second half of the autumn term. Mr Finch, our regular internal adjudicator, commented on the strength and quality of the speakers this year who were shortlisted from the entries so well done to John Ogunyiluka, Merlin Toms, Christian Tyrell and Tom Howe for providing Mr Finch with such a difficult challenge. Please see the full report about this year’s ARTiculation on page …

In the Spring term, to coincide with his impressive exhibition of his photographs in the Bellroom former member of staff Aidan Huxford gave an insightful talk to the Art Society explaining the importance of composition and lighting not just to a good photograph but in all media which was a key take away for all of our artists.

Merlin Toms (U6th) talked about his work experience at several architecture practices and the whole architecture degree application process including how he decided on which courses to apply for. This was incredibly useful to our L6th boys in particular who are just about to start the whole UCAS application process.

Hannah Martin Merchant returned in February for another excellent talk this time titled ‘Surreal Identity: Claude Cahun’s Self Portraits’ to coincide with LGBT History month. Hannah explored the work of Claude Cahun (1894-1954), an artist who

ART

utilised Surrealist photography to explore gender and identity.

In 1938, Cahun fled her native France to escape the rising Nazi Party. But in 1944, her work was discovered and labelled as undermining to Nazi authority; she narrowly evaded a death sentence with the timely Allied victory in 1945. Hannah looked at her autobiographical and performative practice and the ways in which she represented her gender using photography as a medium.

Louis Cooke (L6th) gave a passionate and insightful talk on the designer Bob Mackie. As an aspiring designer himself, Louis was able to explain why Mackie is so iconic and why he is referred to as the ‘Sultan of Sequins’ in what was an entertaining and enlightening presentation.

In March we met for an Architecture Society meeting in the school Chapel, one of the last buildings by the great Victorian architect G.F Bodley. Hugh Maltby from the OB office has been doing extensive research on the history of the building and with assistance from architect Marcus Beale explained how the Chapel has evolved since it was first built. We were delighted that this was attended not just by aspiring architects but other boys who were interested to know more about one of the most iconic buildings on the school site.

The summer term got underway with the exhibition opening of work by Mark Bennett. Mark has retired from teaching at Kimbolton School and, on the evidence of the work on show, has been extremely busy. The exhibition opening was very well attended which, pleasingly, resulted in a good number of sales.

With a return to the first full GCSE and A-level format since pre-Covid the early part of the summer term was taken up with a packed and full exam schedule to ensure that the 10 hours for the GCSE and 15 hours for the A-level were met in good time for the exam timetable and before the 5th and U6th boys went on exam leave. The impact of this meant that talks for both the Architecture and Art societies were delayed until these crucial components of the courses were completed.

For the first Art Society meeting of the term Mr Croker spoke about a recent commission when he was asked to copy Gericault’s monumental and iconic masterpiece the ‘Raft of the Medusa’. All boys have to do copies as part of their work at GCSE, IB and A-level so it was an opportunity for Mr Croker to explain what he learnt from the experience.

The fact that all artists look at other artists is a good thing to remind the boys about as there is sometimes a reluctance and frustration about the whole process. As Picasso himself said ‘Good artists copy, great artists steal’.

During half term we welcomed the Bedford Sketchers, a group of local artists who meet regularly to draw at various venues around Bedfordshire. The group of 30 artists were given free rein to draw anywhere on the school site and with the boys still on holiday they were able to draw in peace and uninterrupted!

With his exhibition in the Bell room, we were delighted to welcome Mark Bennett to talk to the Art Society about his exhibition ‘Pathways’. Boys were fascinated by the rendering of details in his work so to hear Mark talk about the whole picture making process was incredibly helpful.

Louis Montgomery (L6th) is looking to do an Architecture degree so for the Architecture Society he talked about ‘Building a Greener Future: A Guide to Sustainable Construction’. In an insightful and well researched talk, Louis really impressed by showing a design for a building he had

 Mark Bennett talks to the Art Society.

been working on independently.

For his Art Society talk Alex Ying (L6th) very ambitiously talked about Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo and their importance both to the Renaissance and the whole history of Western Art. Alex explained the historical background to their work and the importance of the Medici family in particular.

Stephen Leng (L6th) is another aspiring architect and he talked passionately about his favourite architect Kengo Kuma.

Focusing on Kuma’s theory of the ‘Architecture of Defeat’ Stephen picked a selection of his most famous buildings including the V and A Museum in Dundee highlighting just what it is about Kuma that makes him one of the most prestigious architects in the world.

Barnaby Williams (L6th) is specialising in printmaking for his coursework and for his talk he focused on Edward Bawden. Barnaby has done some excellent copies of Bawden’s work so it was no surprise that his talk was both informative and thorough.

Luke Dover (L6th) talked about the artist Ai Weiwei explaining how controversial he has been throughout his career. Luke highlighted Weiwei’s use of ancient objects as part of his work and asked the question whether this amounted to vandalism which generated an interesting conversation between the boys. Luke’s engaging talk was a good way to round off the Art Society talks for the term and year.

The Student End of Year exhibition is the major contribution by the Art department to the Creative Arts festival and is a real celebration of all of the hard work by boys at GCSE, IB and A-level. This year the Head Master, on his visit to the department to choose the winner of the Head Master’s Art Prize, was particularly taken by the work of two artists. For his exciting range of sculpture in a variety of different media including his giant ants and beetles produced for his exam Ted Ferris (U6th) really impressed. But for the scale, ambition and the ability to incorporate his passion for Maths and Physics in an exciting visual way, the Head Master’s Art prize was awarded to Connor Hawthorne (U6th).

The Best in Show is voted for by visitors to the exhibition.

The opening was incredibly busy and lots of votes were cast but the clear winner by a considerable number of votes was Tom Godber (U6th) for his striking exam print of birds. ■ MCC

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ART

John Ogunyiluka

Freddie McPhail

Joe Hart

Harrison Beveridge

PAINTING

Ollie Phillips

Merlin Toms

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Panha Chea

James Lumley-Wood

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Gabriel Almeida

Abid Husein Jameson Liang

Ollie Simmonds

Harry Clifton

Will Turner Eric Breslin Ed Walker

Jake Biffa

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ARTiculation Merlin Toms reaches the Grand Final of the ARTiculation competition.

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his year saw Merlin Toms (U6th, St Cuthbert’s) reach the Grand Final of the ARTiculation competition - an annual national public speaking competition, which invites sixth form students to give a short presentation on a piece of work, artefact or architecture of their choice.

After a close round of internal heats, both Merlin Toms and Christian Tyrrell (U6th, Crescent) were selected to represent the school at the Regional Final which took place at Gainsborough’s House in Sudbury. Mark Bills, the Director of Gainsborough’s House, congratulated Christian on opening up the imagination to the world of Zdzisław Beksiński and for his exploration of the traumatic effects of war. However, Merlin’s well-structured and well-researched presentation on ‘The Raft of the Medusa’ by Théodore Géricault won the day; Bills was particularly impressed with how well Merlin had managed to convey his interest in the painting to the audience.

Merlin’s authoritative talk began with how the harrowing story of the Raft of the Medusa was immortalised through Géricault’s brushstrokes. From there, he thoroughly analysed the artist’s process which gave him excellent grounding for effectively discussing the importance of the colour, tone and composition.

Merlin effectively weaved the formal qualities of the painting to the content, interpreting the individual figures as subjects of their own stories, encapsulating a variety of emotions. Merlin’s personal response to the work and his confidence in articulating such a complex subject matter within ten minutes earned him a place at the ARTiculation Grand Final.

On the 28th of March, Merlin presented his talk to a packed audience in Room 32 of the National Gallery, at the Grand Final of the ARTiculation competition. The final was adjudicated by Director of the National Gallery, Dr Gabriele Finaldi.

Merlin showed great courage in being the first presenter at this year’s Grand Final and was highly commended by 28 THE OUSEL 2022-2023

 Dr Gabriele Finaldi with Articulation Prize 2023 Grand Finalists

Finaldi. He praised Merlin for his incredible ability to analyse ‘The Raft of the Medusa’, stating how his presentation reminds us how important it is to look again. Finaldi said of Merlin’s presentation: “You gave us all a sense of why paintings are important, you dealt with state scandals and what happens when human beings are put in impossible situations. You also gave us an insight into how Gericault constructed his paintings and analysed the composition very well’.

With 120 schools having entered the competition, Merlin did exceptionally well in reaching the shortlist of nine individuals competing from across the nation. He represented the school in an exemplary fashion and was unfortunate to miss out on placing amongst some strong competitors. Merlin has since been inducted into the ARTiculation Alumni Network, through which a plethora of opportunities are made available to finalists.

A huge well done to Merlin for this superb achievement. ■ JPN

ART

Detweiler Competition

2023

Detweiler 3D winner- Ted Ferris

T

his year’s theme ‘Order/Disorder’ generated an exciting and diverse range of work from all year groups which certainly provided a challenge for our visiting judge.

Peter Webb was a student at Bedford School from 1954-59 and has degrees from Cambridge and London Universities and a Doctorate from the University of East Anglia. After a lectureship at Coventry College of Art, he started teaching the first degree course in England on the subject of The Erotic Arts at Hornsey College of Art in London in 1970 and lectured extensively on related topics at universities and colleges throughout the seventies and eighties. He published his influential book on the same subject in 1975 which was later reprinted and updated. Subsequently he has written books on Hans Bellmer, David Hockney and Leonor Fini. After Hornsey, Peter taught at Middlesex University in London, and he retired as Reader in the History of 20th Century Art in 1996. Peter has also written many articles for art journals as well as exhibition catalogues and has made over 60 radio and television appearances. He has lectured at over 100 universities, colleges, museums and galleries around the world, including Tate Britain and Tate Modern. We are also extremely grateful that Peter has done some excellent online talks for our Friday lunchtime Art Society most recently on last year’s excellent National Gallery exhibition of work by Albrecht Durer. His energy, passion and enthusiasm is inspiring so we were thrilled that he agreed to return to be this year’s judge.

As such a prestigious art historian the competition was judged by an extremely informed eye.

Highly commended was awarded to Merlin Toms (U6th) for his sheep diptych painting which, Peter remarked, included ‘really exciting brushwork with a clever balance of life and death’. Oliver Phillips (5th) for his ‘his abstract image which allows you to make your own associations and interpretations.

Detweiler 2D winner- Freddie McPhail

I interpret this picture as sky, beach and sea’. Alex Hayward (U6th) for his massive standing figure, ‘I loved the way the monumental figure seemed so life-like, impressive’. Tom Godber (U6th) for his ambitious tree card cut print, ‘a very striking print, the use of the same image but using different materials in each image is extremely clever’. Jake Biffa (5th) for his acrylic self-portrait, ‘a difficult subject to make original but this painting shows two facets of a personality, excellent’.

The overall 2D first prize was awarded to Freddie McPhail (U6th) for his oil painting self-portrait. Peter commented, ‘The source for this painting, Leonardo’s “Salvator mundi” is quite obvious but to do something really striking referring to the greatest artist who has ever lived takes guts- well done!’

The overall 3D winner was awarded to Ted Ferris (U6th) for his dramatic and imposing fish sculpture made from wire and bin bags. Peter responded to the ‘fascinating conglomeration of forms. The work makes you walk around it and I kept seeing different things and felt that the fish were dancing to Tchaikovsky’s ‘Swan Lake’. Brilliant!’ ■ MCC

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ART

Jack Guest

Boking Kong Jake Thomas

Sahvan Jutla

Charlie Wallis

Alfie Gittins

PRINTMAKING gcse

Alex Hammond Lucas Law

Alex Deane

Jamie Lawrence

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Matthew Au

ART

James Holliday

Tom Godber

Connor Hawthorne

sixth form Tom Howe

Tom Howe

Tom Godber Connor Hawthorne

Charlie Carey James Holliday

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MUSIC

St Cecilia’s Concert O

n by far the coldest night of the year so far, the bustling Great Hall provided a lovely, warm oasis for the audience members as they packed in to enjoy the musical highlight of the term, our annual St Cecilia’s Concert. Each year, this concert is a showcase for all our orchestras and bands, and this year’s programme truly had something for everyone to enjoy.

The concert opened with a 1950s fanfare from the Brass Ensemble, after which we were transported back to the Flemish 16th Century by Thunderbrass, who played La Mourisque, a Moorish dance grounded in folk traditions composed by Susato.

The New Jazz Collective flung the audience forward in time, this time to a 1960s jazz club, with their fine renditions of Road Song by Wes Montgomery (with some

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notable solos from Kieran Hamel-Henn (Fifth Form) on trumpet and Aryan Sohanpal (Fourth Form) on saxophone).

They followed with The Preacher by Horace Silver, during which there were more classy solos from Hugo Hodgson (Fifth Form) and Korede Alagbe (Upper Sixth) on saxophone and Fred Dickson (Fifth Form) on clarinet.

For the next two performances, boys were joined by players and vocalists from Bedford Girls’ School. First came the Funk Band with their rendition of Feeling Good and immediately after the Bugsy Malone Band, who treated listeners to two excerpts from their recent sell-out run of the musical at our Quarry Theatre.

The first half ended in upbeat style with two toe-tapping pieces from our Jazz Orchestra; namely, I’ll Take Les and Pick up the Pieces, giving each section of the orchestra their chance to shine.

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The concert’s second half was as varied as the first in repertoire. The Concert Band opened with a march in the traditional brass band model, Ravenswood by Rimmer. This was followed with an arrangement of film themes by John Williams, which played out like a game of ‘Name That Tune’ of Hollywood Blockbuster tunes.

The Festival Band gave us an arrangement of the finale from Dvorak’s New World Symphony, taking us back to the classical era beautifully. However, we did not rest there as the Segovia Guitar Ensemble took their turn on the stage with a lovely version of Lennon and McCartney’s Yesterday.

The turn of our strings players to shine came next, with the Chamber Orchestra’s performance of the first movement of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Novelletten No 1 Op 52. They were followed by the Orchestra of the Ouse, who played a rousing arrangement of music from Pirates of the Caribbean. Many of the boys were performing in an orchestra for the very first time, and they rose to the occasion expertly.

The finale of the evening came in the form of our largest ensemble, the Symphony Orchestra, who played George Gershwin’s Cuban Overture. Full of Latin beats and rhythms, the audience was transported to tropical climes, ending the concert on a sunny and joyful note. ■ Helen Essien

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Spring chamber concert

A

t the end of the Spring Term, we held our annual chamber music concert. Straight off the back of success for many groups at the Bedfordshire Festival only the week before, this concert was a brilliant display of the smaller ensembles at the school including the Mondrian Trio, the Beethoven String Quartet, the Guitar Ensemble and the Chamber Orchestra. The audience were treated to a wide variety of repertoire from ‘Cedar’s Blues’ performed by the New Jazz Collective to an intricate arrangement of ‘Londonderry Air’ performed by the Brass Ensemble. We look forward to celebrating all the hard work of our chamber groups in next year’s concert! ■ Alexander Olleson

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MUSIC

house singing

T

he Great Hall radiated an atmosphere so electric that it was evident we were about to embark upon one of those nights that would be remembered for years to come. It was packed to the rafters with parents, staff and boys attired in their House colours, who showed their support with handmade signs. There was, as is very much the tradition, much chanting and stomping of feet, and all the usual theatrics as each House took to the floor for both a unison song and part song.

The first round was comprised of the unison songs, and at this point a more serious air settled as boys, who have been rehearsing in their Houses for weeks, belted out an eclectic mix of popular songs, including James Blunt’s 1973, George Ezra’s Budapest and Avicii’s Wake Me Up to name just a few.

Senses were heightened further – if that were possible – in the next round, the part song round. The boys delighted the audience with gems including a soulful arrangement of Bob Dylan’s Make You Feel My Love from Ashburnham, and a delightful rendition of Darts’ Come Back My Love from St Cuthbert’s.

We were honoured to welcome James Lark, Director of Music at Westminster Abbey Choir School, as adjudicator, who had the difficult job of naming a winner. While he gathered his thoughts, it was the turn of the teachers and support staff to shine as they took to the stage to sing Bobby McFerrin’s Don’t Worry Be Happy – some singers making their debut solo performances.

After more stomping of feet and crescendo style cheers, the winners were announced: ● UNISON SONG – St Peter’s

● PART SONG – Ashburnham

● OVERALL WINNERS – Ashburnham

A highlights reel is available on the Bedford School Music’s YouTube channel. ■ Mandy Allison THE MAGAZINE OF BEDFORD SCHOOL AND THE OLD BEDFORDIANS CLUB 35

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Jazz at the Quarry O

ur Creative Arts Festival launched in July, swathed in style, when our Quarry Theatre was transformed into a jazz club for the evening, complete with cabaret seating and low lighting.

It was, of course, the Bedford School Jazz Orchestra who were performing some of the great chart hits from the 1960s, such as Crisis (Hubbard), Grease Wheezer (Norman) and many more.

Jazz aficionados of all ages gathered in the Quarry Theatre for a stunning night of performances as part of Our Creative from what, to my mind, must be one of the largest, finest and polished set of jazz collectives representing a school, and 99.9% made up of school performers from Prep to Upper. The boys have been practising for weeks.

Jazz Orchestra stretched out first with three strong pieces moving from a modern twist Pick up the Pieces then via some classic Gershwin and finishing with Crisis by the late great Freddie Hubbard who started recording some 60 years ago as a 20-yearold - so not much older than the superb performers sat before us.

With a 12-section brass contribution, they gave a magic performance with a blend of unison and octave harmonies during their set. What a set! As the

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MUSIC

only staff back-up, the Head of Woodwind and Brass, Dom Childs changed to baritone a la Gerry Mulligan for the night to complement the playing. I am tempted to say that at a 12-strong brass section, this could be the largest, most iconic school jazz section in the UK. It certainly, to the reviewer’s mind, made as stunning a contribution as one of my favourites – the professional big band led by Kenny Clarke and Francy Boland in the 60s and 70s, also with a similar brass line up.

Outstanding in this were the great rhythm support from bass, drums and piano with Hugo Hodgson on alto and Daniel Hutchins on trumpet. Gideon Chan contributed some great piano work with Sam McMurran on trumpet in Crisis, adding to the tightness of the band’s playing.

Gideon on piano, Toby L’Estrange on electric bass and Josh Jeganathan on the kit then stayed in their seats for a fine rendition of Peace by Horace Silver. Silver was another giant of the jazz world, so we joined in saluting their legacy.

We have a great small jazz collective group, who used their improvisation skills on two numbers, again by Hubbard and Corcovado. Four saxes were a great innovation and carried the tunes well. Jazz is about improvisation, and for jazz

learners, a difficult task, but the boys carried it off wonderfully well. There were solos from Korede Alagbe and Aryan Sohanpal on alto and Hugo now switched to tenor.

The Prep Jazz Band took the stage next, and they showed their skills off with three trumpets, one alto saxophone and a slide trombone whilst Asha Parkinson led on piano. The ability to improvise on jazz themes is a rare gift so we anticipate that 

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 this group will provide the jazz stars for the Upper School in

the future.

The Jazz Orchestra finished off the first half with After the Love Has Gone and followed with I’ll take Les by the great modern jazz guitarist John Schofield. Once again, the boys stormed through these great tunes with aplomb and Mr Baker (sadly in his last contribution) held it all together with his band leader skills, giving us much to talk about in the break.

The high standards continued in the second half, with the Jazz Orchestra providing a wide-ranging Count Basie medley.

Here, Josh on the sticks contributed some stunning solo work emulating the great work done by the famous Count Basie Band with its ‘Kansas City’ rhythm section of Jo Jones, Eddie

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Jones and Freddy Green (no relation unfortunately) over a long period, but these boys move onwards and upwards as part of our great jazz community here at Bedford.

One of the standout moments to my mind was Misty - a jazz classic written by the underrated Errol Garner. Here we were treated to Harry L’Estrange on piano and Hugo on tenor. This was a triumph of improvisation and we cheered at the end to respect the talent showed. If I closed my eyes, it could have been the great Coleman Hawkins on sax and Bill Evans on piano playing together. Wow! The New Jazz Collective returned on two famous numbers Doxy by Sonny Rollins and And What if I Don’t Know by Herbie Hancock still performing and contributing in

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his eighties to the Jazz genre. The band improvised and took over the tunes. Stand out this time was Korede on alto sax.

Not to be short-changed was the contribution from Bedford Girls’ School, with a fine alto player joining the band and three singers in a lively interpretation of The Two of Us by Bill Withers.

The Jazz Orchestra finished things off with Recorda Me by Joe Henderson with a late fine solo by trombonist Max Leung finishing off the evening in outstanding fashion.

Oh, and they did an encore. I should also say how well all the rhythm section musicians in the various bands backed up all the soloists – well done, boys and girls.

Come back next year for the continuing story! ■ CHJ

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MUSIC

Open Mic Night A

great night for a great cause, Open Mic Night is always circled in big red pen on my calendar not only for the charitable benefits towards Movember, but also as a great chance for younger students within both Bedford School and Bedford Girls’ School to get up on stage and perform to a warm and encouraging audience. And this night was no different.

The recital hall was transformed and filled with students and supporting family and peers with the lights dimmed and the sofas out, the scene was set for an exciting night.

Charlie Lawrence kicked off the night with a rendition of Elton John’s ‘Crocodile Rock’, Charlie’s first time performing in front of a live audience was a hit and really set a great tone for what the night is all about. Acts such as Ella Bowis, Stephanie West and Alice Toone continued this great start, all featuring from the neighbouring girls school who gave it their all with some cracking renditions of some classic hits.

Toby L’Estrange then brought the sass, hyping up the crowd with his take on “It’s My Life”, one that I’m sure Bon

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Jovi would be proud of. Special mention must also go to Henry Gillham who gave a beautiful cover of Coldplay’s ‘Trouble’, getting the crowd swaying with their torch lights on, a really moving part of the evening.

Soon it was the turn of Gideon Chan and Harry L’Estrange to take the stage, soon joined by Harry’s brother Toby and Open Mic Night veteran Josh Jeganathan. Gideon and Harry always seem to pick up a crowd and tonight was no different. A series of songs that got the whole room up on their feet giving the night great momentum heading into the final few acts.

Sienna McFarlane shined with her rendition of ‘Back to Black’ a notoriously tricky song to sing nailed with impressive flair. Funk Band then closed out the more acoustic section of the evening, with many previous acts getting up on stage to perform. Bringing a great and groovy vibe to the party.

Finally, with the recital hall now full to the brim, Thomas Li took the stage and became Li Qiller, a debut performance of his original rap “Best times of life” went down a storm. With incredible stage presence and charisma, Li Qiller certainly earned a lot more listeners from his impressive rapping ability showcased to his peers.

DJ Swave wrapped up the evening, with the crowd now bouncing to the music and unmindful of school the next morning, bringing what was a superb evening to an eventful close. ■ Will Roberts

MUSIC

t h g i N k c Ro A

n opportunity from all walks of school life to come together and celebrate the musical ability of Bedford School and Bedford Girls’ School, Rock Night was bigger than ever. Welcoming younger students to the stage as well as Rock Night veterans, it was a joy to watch as always. After a day of hard labour preparing for the fun-filled night ahead, rigging and programming lighting, setting up the sound system and figuring out the puzzle of how to put a drum kit together, we were ready to raise some money for Bedfordshire Music Trust!

Kicking off the night, we had Toby L’Estrange (stage name Toby Legend) perform Childish Gambino’s ‘Redbone’ which set the standard for the night ahead. Accompanying Toby, we had Chef Alfie Shooter cooking on the drums which made it his debut performance. We also saw rapper ‘Li Quiller’ take to the stage to also debut, performing his original songs ‘How We Do It’ and ‘Best Times of Life’. His ability to interact with a crowd while rolling intellectual lyrics off the tongue was a true treat to witness. I am in no doubt that his already large Spotify fan base increased significantly. Seeing new talents performing for the first time in front of an enthusiastic audience is really what Rock Night is all about. Acts such as Ella Bowis, James Keylock, Harry L’Estrange and Henry Gilham followed up Li Quiller’s performance with iconic indie rock hits which set the night off to a great start.

Following on from our talented ‘rockers’ leaving the room buzzing for what was to come, we had Stephanie West and Gideon Chan perform a beautiful cover of a

Conan Gray song which got our hearts moving. Rock Night Veteran, Gideon Chan, followed his duet by performing a solo of ‘Life Is a Highway’ which took us all back to the 2008 film ‘Cars’ - what a tune!

Ending the rock part of the night, we had William Roberts perform Declan McKenna’s ‘Brazil’ which was a true hit. Will’s talented guitar skills as well as his rustic voice left us feeling like we were at Reading Festival once again. Will’s brother, Benji, polished the night off perfectly performing his very own original ‘Babbies First Barrage’ which left the audience mesmerised by his experimental style of rap - hats off to Benji!

Headlining the evening and putting Rock Night to a close we had DJ MXNTA testing the endeavour of the Quarry Theatre sound system. Assisting his set, Zac Wasterfall and Charlie Faulkner hyped up the crowd up which left the crowd bouncing all the way through to the end. Flashing lights and plenty of bass; it’s fair to say the crowd were having a good time.

Many thanks to Mr Rooke, Jacob Foster and William Roberts for enabling this staple night in the calendar to happen once again and we look forward to welcoming Bedford Girls’ School back for a bigger and better Rock Night next year!

Charlie Faulkner

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Summer Chapel Choir and Orchestral concert T

his concert always signifies the conclusion of the Creative Arts Festival and heralds the imminent end of term and what better way to mark it. The Music Department provide consistently high quality performances throughout the year and this event, performed by close to a hundred boys, is a celebration of all those different considerable achievements brought together in one concert.

It is always a visual spectacle to see the Chapel Choir attired in their sumptuous red cassocks and bathed in early

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evening sun as they made their way into the Chapel to the opening of Handel’s rousing and majestical ‘Zadok the Priest’ certainly made for a dramatic start to proceedings. Mr Roberts’ usual energetic and animated conducting was highlighted by the sun as if by stage lighting, another visual treat. ‘Taaveti Laul 104’ by the Estonian composer Cyrillus Kreek provided a calmer and more serene contrast while ‘The Lord Bless You and Keep You’ by John Rutter was both lyrical and gentle.

Next came a contribution from the Consort choir conducted

by Naomi Jones from the Girls’ School. ‘The Seal lullaby’ by Eric Whitacre was followed by ‘And So It Goes’ by Billy Joel arranged by Bob Chilcott which included a notable solo by Wilfred Barker.

The Chapel Choir then performed ‘Nunc Dimittis’ by Herbert Howells and belted out ‘Give unto the Lord’ by Elgar with my tutee, Toby L’Estrange, particularly catching the eye as he was going full throttle and clearly relishing the challenge. It is always a pleasure to see boys pursuing their passions in a context you do not normally see them; a reminder of just how busy Bedford School boys can be.

For the second part of the evening, we moved to the Great Hall where the Chamber Orchestra directed by Mr Bantock got things underway. We were treated to Gideon Chan playing the Concerto for Double Bass by von Ditterdorf. Dwarfed by

MUSIC

the lumbering instrument, Gideon made expert use of the full range of the strings producing the rich sonorous sounds associated with this extraordinary instrument.

This was followed by the pulsating tango ‘La Muerte del Angel’ by Piazzolla which Mr Bantock got underway by frantically (and amusingly from where I was sitting!) drumming to establish the fast and furious beat. The pace was maintained by the Orchestra of the Ouse directed by Mr Childs with their rendition of the Mission Impossible theme by Lalo Schifrin.

The Symphony Orchestra directed by Mr Sanders with Daniel

Hutchins as soloist then played the trumpet concerto by Alexander Arutunian. In what was clearly a challenging and demanding piece Daniel showed considerable technical virtuosity in an accomplished and assured performance. As his last performance at school this was an impressive way to sign out.

For the final performance of the evening Mr Bantock directed Khachaturian’s Suite No 2 from the ballet Spartacus.

This sumptuous and uplifting piece provided a dramatic conclusion to an excellent and entertaining evening. ■ MCC

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SURVIVORS 2023

Back row: Callum Nanda,James Hine, Tom Godber, Ben Edwards, Tom Hayward, Charlie Blythman, Max Pearson, James Marchant, Tomas Spice, Harry Wootton Evans, Varun Nathan, Connor Hawthorne, Sachin Kambli, James Wootton-Evans Front row: Josh Stewart, Robert Parrish, Freddie McPhail, Tom Deardon, Karan Srivastava, Mr Whitbread, Miss Oakley, Mrs Carrington, John Ogunyiluka.

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DRAMA

BUGSY MALONE A

s soon as I entered the theatre, I knew I was in for a treat as I was transferred to the heart of inter-war New York. The collaboration between Bedford School and Bedford Girls’ School was an excellent, energetic performance of the classic musical Bugsy Malone. The fantastic story follows Bugsy Malone (Josh Cooke) a penniless boxing promoter overcoming circumstances to fall in love with Blousey (Polly Taylor).

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It sounds all rather pleasant initially. That is until we are introduced to mobster Fat Sam (Toby L’Estrange) who fears losing his criminal empire to upcoming rival boss Dandy Dan (Charlie Lawrence).

A rather complex plot set in 1929 shows us a different perspective, life in the US during the American Boom.

Despite this, life still seems bleak for our protagonist Bugsy.

Stratton chose to explore a wide range of intriguing themes

DRAMA

- violence, unfulfilled ambition and, of course, underscored by the key theme, love. The themes lend themselves to the lives of many working-class Americans faced during the prosperous 1920s boom and this is effectively symbolised by Bugsy. However, Stratton contrasted this by also providing the audience with a glimpse into the world of the likes of Al Capone. The gangsters, Fat Sam and Dandy Dan lived extravagant lives and this was highlighted by the fantastic use of lighting and sound designed and engineered by James Tearle and Antony Darmanin.

The addition of a live band too delivered a score to the atmosphere created throughout, adding peril to excellent

effect. The singing in the production was of an exceptionally high standard, in particular for me I thought Harry L’Estrange was very impressive on the piano. However, all credits must go to Dominic Childs the musical director for a fantastic musical interpretation that punctuated the onstage narrative.

Onto the cast itself: the whole ensemble deserves huge praise for their efforts. The chorus underpinned the action throughout with precision and the discipline that such choreographed theatre demands. The welcoming protagonist Bugsy was effectively encapsulated by Josh Cooke, radiating a sense of charm and sincerity from our first introduction as  well as a street-wise sensibility. Cooke was fantastic and

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 a character the audience sympathised with alongside his

sweetheart Blousey.

Polly Taylor, as Blousey Brown also beautiful and impressively captured the wide-eyed youthful singer that Bugsy finds is certainly nobody’s fool. Toby L’Estrange played the big-time gangster Fat Sam. He was able to expertly create humour and enjoyment. L’Estrange showed no fear toward the rather callous mob that he portrayed so vividly. Fat Sam’s wife, Tallulah, played by Emmie Rose-Stephens is a self-confident character who seductively captures the self-entitlement that comes with wealth. Additionally, Charlie Lawrence as Dandy 48

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Dan portrayed the serenity and confidence lacked by Fat Sam, outwitting him every step of the way. Furthermore, Leroy Smith played by Zachary Waterfall although small was a notably impactful role, providing another dimension to the plot as a potential rising boxing star.

Overall, the production was a delight to watch so congratulations to all members of the cast and those involved in the backstage crew as well as the highly talented live band. Thank you to all those involved in creating this super production! ■ Will Hayward

DRAMA

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DRAMA

Teechers by John Godber

“Y

ou can’t teach imagination, can you?” Gail asks in John Godber’s “Teechers” as performed at The Quarry Theatre by Bedford School Drama last night.

It’s a question that’s central to the piece in its entirety, and couldn’t be more apt since we, the audience, are called upon to use our imagination at every twist and turn as the play unfolds. Set in a state school populated with rules, regulations and seemingly little hope other than the desire to escape (teachers and pupils alike) Godber creates a play within a play. Here, he develops a world where opportunity, hope and the chance to be something is realised through a school production created by the students that proves to be a love letter to drama as a core activity in education.

This is certainly not an easy piece to perform. It calls upon three actors to multi role play at breakneck speed, switching from one characterisation to another in seamless flow. I have to say that the three lads were superb. Henry Gilham as Salty, Matthew Hackney as Gail and Stanley Breed as Hobby showed little or no sign of nerves on what was a “one night only” performance. Astonishing to pull this off with such confidence, humour and pathos in front of an audience for the first and only time. They let the jokes land, they interacted with the audience as if they’d done this a hundred times before and listened to each other carefully which served to add to their real sense of on stage camaraderie. Each was a ‘star’ in their own right; they all played to their strengths and supported each other with unconditional generosity. Their timing and choreographed movements were faultless. It’s very easy to get Godber wrong.

Not on this occasion.

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Of course, a production is more than just about the performances on stage. And last night I was incredibly impressed to learn that the technical elements were designed and operated by students. Again, this was a hugely impressive achievement. Elio Lepore’s lighting design perfectly highlighted the scene changes and moods and really helped focused the attention on the simple but highly effective set - a brick wall background, three desks, three chairs and a whiteboard. Tech operators Charlie Faulkner and Jacob Foster ensured that sound and lights kept pace with the high-speed performances on stage, and they also deserve high praise for their professionalism.

As I’ve come to expect from a Bedford School Drama production, the direction by Antoinette Keylock, with Danielle Boughey on this occasion, was outstanding on many levels.

It was very apparent that much care and attention had been paid to the physicality of the performances, essential for such a piece as this. You can’t rely on the text alone and as I say, it’s not an easy one to perform. The directors also have to work extra hard at drawing out and bringing all the constituent elements together as one. I was delighted and excited to see that this was achieved with real skill without any aspect being taken for granted.

Once again, a great night out at the theatre and uplifting to boot: drama remains a key activity in education that we cast aside at our peril. Because, no, you can’t teach imagination, but boy oh boy, imagination can certainly teach us. ■ (Mike Ellison, playwright)

DRAMA

J

ohn Godber’s play ‘Teechers’ is about a new teacher (Mr Nixon) starting at a questionable comprehensive school called Whitewall. It is about his struggles throughout his first year. The story is told through a play within a play by three students: Salty, Hobby and Gail.

They reenact the year at school and play every single teacher and student in the school. This project was taken on by our four youngest drama scholar with three on stage, Henry Gilliam, Stanley Breed and Matt Hackney, and the fourth, Elio Lepore, in the lighting box. It was directed by Mrs Keylock and Miss Boughey.

The play started with the pounding base of Alice Cooper’s ‘School’s out’, with the actors throwing themself across desks like mischievous youths. Music was used consistently and effectively throughout the performance; well-known songs were used both to underscore and heighten the action. With the music, of course, came choreography, something that doesn’t always come naturally to boys. But these three bucked the trend and it was fabulously executed with synchronised movements and attitudes.

Mrs Parry, the headteacher of Whitewall High, is there to welcome Mr Nixon and influence his journey through the school year. Stanley Breed, and his swishing scarf, portrayed this glamorous, extrovert, obsessed with her upcoming performance of the Mikado with humour and physicality that embodied her perfectly. This was made all the stronger by a lighting decision by Elio Lepore, to make the stage a strong shade of pink anytime the character appeared.

Something that is so important in productions is grabbing the audience’s attention. And a director, actor, backstage crew or anyone involved in the production wants the audience to be engaged as quickly as possible. And the creative team behind ‘Teechers’ did not disappoint! As soon as you walked in the doors into the theatre a beautifully painted brick wall was visible with the word ‘Teechers’ spray painted over it in pink. The set as a whole consisted of three school desks and the brick wall. This neutral set or the brick wall and desks made the vibrant pink all the more effective and engaging.

One thing that particularly stood out to me was the characterisation displayed throughout the show. There was never a moment when I was watching ‘Teechers’ where I was unsure about what character was being portrayed, as the different characterisation skills shown in each character was absolutely outstanding. For example, Matt Hackney’s main character was Gail, throughout the play the ditsy, feminine and confident character was displayed. When Matt acted out a different character not only were the transitions seamless, but the different acting skills shown to differentiate from Gail were Superb.

All three of the actors were phenomenal throughout the 

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 show, showing talent, maturity and appreciation for the play.

However, I believe that the standout actor was Henry Gilliam.

The way that he conducts himself on stage is so professional and the talent that he shows is beyond his years as an actor.

The clear conscientious decisions that he made when playing

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the role of Mr Nixon was so clear and therefore made Mr Nixon a funny, complex and exciting character to watch. This leads back to the point about engagement, the way Henry acted on the Quarry stage that night engaged the audience as soon as he came on stage.

In conclusion, ‘Teechers’ was an amazing play to watch and have the pleasure of reviewing. All the actors were amazing and not only made themselves proud but made Bedford School proud. They did not disappoint with keeping the standard of theatre at the Quarry Theatre and such a high standard. From the lighting to characterisation this show is exceptional, and I hope that every one that is reading this review experienced a fabulous play this way. Not only was this show a credit to the actors and backstage crew but to the two directors that took on this immense project.

Both Mrs Keylock and Miss Boughey showed how diverse their directing skills are but how creatively genius they both are. Finally, to Henry Gilham, Stanley Breed, Matt Hackney, and Elio Lepore congratulations on an amazing show and I cannot wait to see what you bring on to the Quarry Theatre stage again. Well done! ■ Louis Cooke

DRAMA

Bertolt Brecht: The Theory and Practice of a Politicized Theatre’

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n Monday 13th March, University of York professor David Barnett presented a lecture to pupils from Bedford school and Bedford Girl’s school on the prodigious mid-20th century German political theatre practitioner, Bertolt Brecht.

The lecture, entitled ‘Bertolt Brecht: The Theory and Practice of a Politicized Theatre’ began with a short introduction given by fifth former Millan Verwoert on Professor David Barnett before launching into the fundamentals of both Brecht and some of his most successful -and controversial- works. As a result of Brecht’s Marxist principles expressed through his writing, Brecht was exiled from Nazi Germany in 1933 and forced into a state of exile, in which he continued to write plays that challenged politics and the effects of war on both societies and families.

At the core of Barnett’s lecture was the concept of disagreement; a simple idea yet presented through multiple mediums and perspectives. He explained that throughout Brecht’s writing and methodology, there is always a form of opposition or disagreement, whether this be peace versus war in his work ‘Mother Courage and her Children’, or the legal battle for ownership of a child in ‘The Caucasian Chalk Circle’, a play which was particularly focused on in this lecture and will be performed later in the summer term.

This allowed us to view Brecht’s work from a multi-faceted perspective and consider the multiple approaches that can be taken to understanding the conflict and how we interpret

his work. This concept of binaries was one that I found to be poignant and intriguing within the lecture, as it has allowed myself and others to highlight the central conflict not just within plays, but also in real political events.

Following the main body of the lecture, Barnett gave an opportunity for questions, many of which were highly insightful.

These included questions such as: the importance of costume design; the emotional impact of his work on a contemporary audience; the effectiveness of lighting design and whether his work could be performed without politics. Humorously, most questions were answered with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ before being expanded on and explained why this was the reason, creating a lively and engaging finale to the lecture!

Overall, Professor David Barnett’s lecture on Brecht’s politicized theatre gave a fresh perspective and method of interpreting his work, as well as highlighting the importance of disagreement and argument within not just plays, but in our lives and the world. ■ Charlie Lawrence

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The Caucasian Chalk Circle

D

uring the last academic year, we saw the introduction of KeyBough Theatre Company to the Bedford School stage; a wonderfully new and exciting opportunity for boys in all age groups and of all experience levels to get involved in.

In the summer term, a talented cast of fifteen boys threw themselves into the work of Bertolt Brecht. The classic production of ‘The Caucasian Chalk Circle’ is a demanding and thematically complex play. However, this did not stop the boys from grasping the nuances of the plot and effectively conveying the powerfully emotive message of the play.

The interesting storyline was established from the first moment as the boys presented Brecht’s most challenging social dilemma. The play is a parable that follows a peasant girl, Grusha (Matt Hackney), who rescues a baby and against all the odds escapes the challenges she faces to become a better mother than baby’s wealthy biological mother. The play poses many questions about the complexities and moral decisions in relation to raising a child and also how families can be broken, which feels as relevant today as it did when Brecht wrote it in 1954.

Fourth Form drama scholar Matthew Hackney really

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impressed, from his upbeat professionalism backstage to his spellbinding and moving performance when the lights came up. The relationship between his character, Grusha, and Simon was essential to the play’s success, helping to move the plot forward and providing truly captivating moments.

The final scene took the audience on an emotional rollercoaster as the Azdak summed one of Brecht’s most thoughtprovoking messages: that care and love always outdo wealth and greed.

Overall, the performance was a highly captivating and thought-provoking piece of theatre. This was presented through the unique use of stylised acting through the entire performance. This is not something most students get the opportunity to do at school, however, the boys took on this challenge as they threw themselves out of their comfort zone to experiment a new style of theatre.

Thanks must go to both Mrs Keylock and Ms Boughey who both worked exceptionally hard to dedicate themselves to the production to help produce the polished end product. Well done to all the boys on a wonderful performance! ■ Will Hayward & Millan Verwoert

DRAMA

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paul allain lecture O

n Monday, 10th October we were delighted to welcome to the Quarry Theatre Paul Allain, Professor of Theatre and Performance at the University of Kent.

Professor Allain has published a range of books including the 1997 ‘Gardzienice, Polish Theatre in Transition’ and in 2009 he received an award for services to Polish culture from the Polish Government. Professor Allain has also published several edited collections on Grotowski as part of the British Grotowski project, which made him perfectly placed to deliver a lecture entitled “Unmasking Grotowski: From Poor Theatre to Rich Influences.” As A Level Drama students, we were very privileged to hear Professor Allain’s views on Jerzy Grotowski, a Polish theatre practitioner with a unique take on theatre.

Having done some research on Grotowski as part of my A Level course, it was useful to deep dive into the somewhat mesmerising techniques of Jerzy Grotowski. Professor Allain opened his lecture by giving us an overview on the background of Grotowski, who was born in 1933. When connecting the dots and considering the historical context of his lifetime, it becomes clear why so much of his work involves references to war and violence.

We learned from Professor Allain that Grotowski had a Catholic upbringing, however he was not a believer, instead being heavily influenced by India and Hinduism. Gratowski worked with theatre productions between 1959-69 and then moved beyond traditional theatre to become involved with Paratheatre and Theatre of Sources both in Poland and touring the world.

Professor Paul Allain visits The Quarry.

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Professor Allain then spoke about ‘Poor Theatre’ which he described to us as a way of stripping back an idea in theatre and performing it based on its core elements. What I found most interesting about ‘Poor Theatre’ was the actors’ approach to it. Professor Allain described the exercises an actor would embark on in Grotowski productions, such as dynamic yoga, acrobatics and plastiques.

I will readily admit to having been fairly incognizant regarding Grotowski acting exercises used in the 1960s, therefore I found it interesting to learn more about plastiques especially - not to say that acrobatics and dynamic yoga are my forte!

Professor Allain described plastiques as a method of isolating parts of your body; starting with one body part, you rotate it and explore its possible movements. You then see where the movement takes you as it evolves organically.

Does the movement make the other actor react in a certain way? Does it create a certain atmosphere? Professor Allain shared that Grotowski was adamant that an actor should not perform a gesture without conveying the meaning as to why their character would do this; it should be a deliberate and conscious movement.

Delving further into the depths of Grotowski’s practice, Professor Allain highlighted Grotowski’s measured decisions about the staging of his productions. He spoke about how Gratowski felt there should be a strong relationship between the spectator and actor. This idea was enforced through the seating arrangements for the audience, which were unique and original.

Professor Allain spoke about one of Grotowski’s plays ‘Kordian’ which was set in a psychiatric hospital. The seating configuration had audience members sitting on bunk beds spread across the room, with the actors restrained in straightjackets sitting on the beds beside them. I find this an ingenious and cogent way to engage and fully immerse the audience, given that Grotowski’s method demands realism.

Professor Allain reminded us of the key terms and ideology in Grotowski’s work. We learned that he was a collaborative director who spent a lot of time with the actors to ensure they were truly connected to the souls of their characters.

Professor Allain explained Gratowski’s use of Via Negativa, which could be defined as the removal of skills rather than acquisition of them.

When the actors make themselves vulnerable, they reveal their innermost being, which Gratowski labelled a “Total Act.” This process can lead the audience to change and though this, the performer evolves into a Holy Actor. Professor Allain concluded the lecture by dispelling some common misconceptions about Grotowski, including the ideas that his actors improvised regularly, and he disregarded text.

Professor Allain certainly helped to unmask Grotowski for our benefit, and we are grateful that we were able to learn from his expertise and obvious passion for this iconic theatre practitioner. We thank him for joining us! ■ Charlie Faulkner

DRAMA

Richard Mann delivers a voice-over workshop.

Voice-over Workshop

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n Monday, 6th March, Bedford School welcomed Richard Mann, an experienced Britishvoice artist who has worked in the industry since 1999. In his career, Richard has recordedover a thousand voice-overs for TV, film, radio and computer games.

In the opening of the workshop we began by brainstorming the different ways that voice-overs are used in our daily lives, and it was only when this discussion went further that all members of the workshop realised how important and frequently used voiceovers are. For example, an announcer for a trainline, cartoons, radio adverts and many more.

Once this discussion was over, the workshop truly began.

It started with a warmup of our vocals by massaging the back of our necks and then onto our jaws as it was crucial to remove this tension as it may restrict your potential when doing voice-over work. Next, it was a vocal warmup that looked at sustaining different sounds for certain lengths of time as this would get our vocals used to the work we were about to embark on.

Then we moved onto the more practical element of the workshop where we looked into extracts from different styles of voiceover work. The key points that were highlighted to us were to distinguish the type of delivery and pace of the extract. For example, I was given a radio advert which was promoting beach towels. Now, this advert would have to

be fast-paced due to it only having a limited segment of time on a radio show. Also, my style of voice would have to be enthusiastic as I am trying to make these beach towels appeal to the general public. Another tip was that even though you are not visible to your target audience, immersing yourself in the role by doing hand gestures or even a smile can go a long way and is noticeable. Finally, we were split into pairs and given a different extract, this demanded focus as different lines were meant to be portrayed in a different style, such as a David Attenborough style, a cinematic universe voice or even a joyous children’s book voice-over such as Mr Tickle. By doing this, it showed us as actors the wide variety and complicated nature of voiceover work, as well as a possible career path to consider for the future.

Now that my Upper School journey is coming to an end, it gives me time to reflect on all the previous workshops and lectures I have attended. The skills and knowledge I have picked up from all these sessions have been endless, mainly when looking into physical theatre and more practical based sessions. Therefore, I cannot stress enough to students how important the Creative Arts are, and I would encourage students in the upcoming academic year to go along to the endless opportunities that the Drama Department gives you. ■ Josh Cooke

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Scholar Workshop with Theatre T

he workshop was very enjoyable, and I felt like I learnt a lot of new ways to perform and express myself through physical theatre. I really enjoyed the class from the beginning.

We started off by thinking of five verbs that we put into a sequence of movements. I really liked how he came over and helped me when I was struggling on the movements as he told me new ways to balance myself and to really express the movements.

Once we had our sequences, we spent a lot of time focusing on the height and balance of our bodies. For example, we had to make sure that our centre of balance was perfect so we didn’t fall. We also focused on shifting our body weight also adding to the sequence to make it more engaging for the audience. Overall, I really enjoyed the workshop and thought it was as very fun and engaging. ■ Elio Lepore

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DRAMA Boys learn to express themselves through physical theatre.

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Burnaby House Report 2022-2023

For Burnaby, this academic year was a highly fruitful one, as we’ve accepted many talented boys into our community.

We’ve managed to shine through not only in academic achievements, but also diverse extracurricular ones. This report is a celebration of the biggest achievers of the House.

Vadym Dmytrenko, who’ll be taking up the mantle of next year’s Head of House, has managed to distinguish himself very quickly in the autumn term. Upon choosing the sport as his Games option, he got accepted into the 1st U18 Football team as one of the strikers and has been a successful addition to the team. While some sceptics may try to persuade you that this year’s Captain of the first team, Tom Norton, was positively biased towards his housemates, we can assure you that no foul play was involved!

Another impressive newcomer to our House is Johannes Yi, who has now become one of the pillars of our community through his kind and thoughtful interactions with both students and staff members. His work ethic has been noted by everyone else in the House, and his outstanding performance in the IB course so far reflects that attitude towards academics. To top off his already-impressive portfolio, he has now been confirmed as one of the monitors,

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and we do not doubt that his positive qualities will reflect well on his position, and subsequently on the school as a whole.

Aaron Lim, our boarding house’s celebrated music scholar who studies both the piano and the violin, has been one of the most impressive extracurricular achievers not only in the House, but also in the school as a whole. This year’s Senior Musician of the Year, he won the school’s both piano and string Prizes, participated in the Bedfordshire Music Festival where he was awarded second place in both the piano and string solo performances. This tremendous effort over the course of a single year has placed him as the Music Society’s Vice President, and his general attitude towards improving himself and helping others around the House has made him one of our Deputies, solidifying the line-up of our House’s most impressive representatives.

This year’s Upper Sixth led newcomers by example, of course. There are many outstanding accomplishments, amongst which are Shayaan Jadoon’s minor rugby colours, Antonino Muffoletto’s rise to the 1st U18 Rugby team, and Tom Norton’s aforementioned Captainship over 1st U18 Football team. The most impressive ones, however, came from Zaid Faleel, who has performed for our school for many years and achieved major colours in both U18 Rugby and U18 Cricket, and Frank Wang, my colleague as Burnaby’s joint

SCHOOL LEAVERS

BROMHAM KOREDE ALAGBE A Level, 5th team rugby, 3rd team football, 1st team tennis, chapel choir, funk band, concert band, new jazz collective, Pythagoreans’ society, grade 6 piano SAM BLEWITT A Level, flying club (founder), sergeant (CCF), grade 8 drums, grade 6 piano, grade 4 saxophone SACHIN KAMBLI A Level, 1st IV fives captain (minor colours), art scholarship, house colours, gold DofE, CCF

WILFRED BARKER A Level, monitor, 2nd XIII rowing, chapel choir, consort choir, minor sports colours, house colours

WILL BROCK A Level, 1st XV vice-captain, honour’s cap, major rugby colours, rugby 7’s 1st VII captain, house colours

OSCAR BENNETT A Level, first XV rugby, honours cap, major rugby colours, rugby 7s first VII, house colours

CHARLIE CAREY A Level, 2nd XV rugby, 1st VII rugby sevens, minor sports colours, house colours

HASAN MANJI A Level, deputy head of house, head of philosophy and theology society, 1st team football, philosophy and theology society, english society, law society, entrepreneurship society, debating society, Fowles prize shortlist, ready2lead, Ivy House award

KOUSHIK DAGGU A Level

GABRIEL SANKERSINGH A Level

HARRY TONGUE A Level, head of house, captain of boats, rugby 1st XV, rowing 1st VIII, first VII, rugby major colours, rowing major colours, 4th team cricket 1 cap

burnaby ZAID FALEEL A Level, cricket vice-captain, cricket, rugby, hockey, rugby 7s

JAMES BARNEY IB, head of Bromham House, head of corp (CCF), 3rd team rugby, 1st team shooting, after school rifle club (teaching), minor sport colours for shooting NICK MHAGAMA IB

SHAYAAN JADOON IB, rugby: seconds, thirds, fourths and fifths, cricket: seconds, thirds, fourths and fifths, medicine society

ANTHONY MUFFOLETTO A Level, co-chairman of medical society and co-chairman of chemistry society, 1st and 2nd XV rugby team, minor colours, 1st VII rugby team and house colours, Talalay science competition finalist, zoology society

FRANK WANG A Level, head of house, academic colours, table tennis team, school photographer, gold award in UKMT senior maths challenge (2022), bronze award in BPHO round 1(202

Head of House, who has achieved academic colours for his incredible attainment in A-Levels. Over the years, Burnaby’s Year 13s have always been the pillars of the community not only in the House, but also in school in general, as shown by their impressive feats over the school’s life, with this year being no exception to that.

Unfortunately for us, however, the House’s most important member will be leaving his role after this academic year.

Mr Hinkins, Burnaby’s Housemaster, will be entrusting this important role to Mr Rees, who has now been appropriately welcomed by the Burnaby boys. Mr Hinkins’s departure as

MARK KANTSEROV A Level, Head of House TOM NORTON A Level, deputy head of house, 1st XI football (captain), 3rd team rugby

TONY WANG A Level, basketball second team, badminton second team

housemaster is a sad moment for the community, but we decided to celebrate his time with the House appropriately.

As a final “hurrah!” to his fruitful years with the community, we have recently competed in and won Boarders’ Games against all other houses!

Despite being the smallest in numbers, our team spirit is an important asset to the House, and one that will live on for years to come. In the upcoming academic year, we wish Burnaby and its new housemaster the best of luck with all their future endeavours!

Mark Kantserov (co-Head of House)

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Crescent House Report 2022-23

The bodacious personalities within Crescent this year combined to produce an absolutely outstanding atmosphere within the house and around school. The boys’ achievements this year within the academics and extracurricular have been nothing short of impeccable.

Marcus Wai, being the recipient of the prestigious Archie Wellbelove Prize, shows great promise for his future within the English Department. Conner Hawthorne was the recipient of the Headmaster’s Art Prize and Fraser Morgan delivered a plethora of musical contributions to both house competitions and school life in general. Charlie Gibson, Will Hayward, Dan Hudson, Thomas Hudson and Oliver Quince all took part in ‘The Caucasian Chalk Circle’. Henry Gillham’s additional performance in ‘Teechers’ and his acceptance into the National Youth Theatre is a remarkable achievement.

Throughout the year, the continual efforts of the boys within Crescent have allowed us to win competitions such as House Music Competition, Junior Fives and U16 Rugby. Our new ‘Head of Sport’ Jamie Dunk took over from the legendary duo of Ted Ferris and Daniil Smirnov. The role of organising teams for house events should be a breeze for a first team cricketer who produces astounding results within his field of expertise; Crescent is sure to prosper in the near future.

Crescent says farewell to Mr Rees as he accepts his new position within Burnaby. As his tutee, I would like to emphasise that Mr Rees is a pillar of support to those within our tutor group - a remarkable man who takes genuine consideration into the wellbeing of those around him, and I am sure he will be excellent in his new position.

As new Heads of House, James Keylock and Ben Plumley will try to replicate the immense job previously done by Joe Mullaney and Louis Elder in creating a supportive and inclusive environment within Crescent.

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SCHOOL LEAVERS

crescent AVANEESH AWEKAR A Level

ABID HUSEIN A Level

CHARLIE BLYTHMAN A Level, monitor, hockey 1st XI co-captain, cricket 1st XI captain, hockey 1st XI (co-captain, major colours, honours cap), cricket 1st XI (captain, major colours), tours team, president of politics & current affairs society, house colours

TED FERRIS A Level, head of house sport, first XV rugby, major rugby colours and honours cap, Detweiler sculptural winner, rugby XV, rugby Vll , major colours, honours cap, art society, Detweiler winner

CONNOR HAWTHORNE A Level, head of house art, chess club, life drawing

LUCA MORETTO A Level, monitor, football 2nd XI (captain), rugby 3rd XV (captain), history society president, general knowledge team, mitre club, film society, BSIP winner, academic colours, house colours, LAMDA grade 7, UKMT gold award VIVEK RAV A Level, head of inclusion and charities, 3rd XV rugby, 4th XI football, house colours

THOMAS HAYWARD A Level, monitor,1st XI hockey, 2nd XI cricket, hockey major colours, tours team, academic colours

JOSEPH MULLANEY A Level, head of house, 3rd XI hockey (minor colours), 1st XI cricket (major colours), chapel choir

MOHAMMED SHADID A Level, head of house charities and inclusion, football 3rd team, academic colours, medical society

KEVIN SUBEEGARAN A Level, u18a badminton, 4th XI cricket, badminton colours, house colours, med soc, Pythagoreans’ society, tours team

CALLUM WARD A Level, monitor, house colours, digital leader, 1st IV fives, competitive programming, zoology society, chemistry society, astronomical society

Pemberley HARRY BASCIANO A Level, sports captain

VARUN NATHAN A Level, monitor, 1st XI hockey, 2nd XI cricket, chairman of the medicine society, house colours

DANIIL SMIRNOV A Level, captain waterpolo first team (minor colours), Ivy House award

SHAZIL SOHAIL A Level, head of medical society, associate to head of charities, mentor, mobro, football 3rd XI, tennis 2nd, cricket 3rd XI, fives 1st, gym bench press cruiserweight championship, medical society, biology society, 2018 Echoes in the Trenches production cast, Friday prayer society, bronze DofE, Ivy House award, gold Physics Olympiad, bronze UK maths challenge, bronze cyber discovery award CHRISTIAN TYRRELL A Level

IAN CHAN A Level, Chinese society

TOM GODBER A Level, deputy head boy, 1XV cocaptain, rugby honours cap, hockey major colours, rugby 7s, beach volleyball, art history, investment society, arts colours, Detweiler competition highly commended

JOSEPH HART A Level, monitor, Pemberley running club, president of mandarin society, investment and finance society, deputy head art team

IAN HO A Level, deputy head of house, head of tours (Pemberley), boarding committee, mentor, school council, house colours, 1st V basketball (minor colours), 1st IV beach volleyball, 1st VI tennis, zoology society, Ivy House award, tours team, community partnership, medical society, biology society, chinese society, Pythagoreans’ society, motorsport society, mitre club, chemistry society ARTHUR SELL IB, 1st XI hockey and 2nd XI hockey (colours)

LOUIS ELDER

KHUSH SHAH A Level, monitor, 2XI hockey (colours), 2XI cricket, academic stripes, tours team, investment and finance society (chairman), economics society, data club, Pythagoreans’ society, partnership programme with BGS

MATHEW OMELCHENKO IB

JASPER WALTER A Level, head of house, vice-captain of boats, 1st XV rugby (colours), 1st VIIi rowing (colours)

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Phillpotts House Report 2022-2023

This year has been a very successful year for Phillpotts, regaining its former glory. The first term marks the beginning of Mr Bury’s first full year in the house, with goals to further better the house in academics and sports alike. He was helped by the new deputy house master, Mr Thomson, who joins the house filling in Mr Ruta’s shoes.

We began with the annual house singing competition, one of the most prestigious trophies within the boarding community and one that the house hasn’t won in living memory. This term also held the annual house go-karting trip, with everyone from the house heading down to the track to race for their lives! A notable event on the Phillpotts calendar, won by Kabir, winning by an impressive 2 second gap to the rest of the house.

“Wise men say that only fools rush in” and so we began our house singing preparation a week late :) The house worked and supported one another, eventually finishing a commendable 3rd place. Moving on, the term ended with a joyous Christmas dinner, held at Phillpotts with heartfelt speeches by the Upper Sixth, not only talking about each other but also the teachers, covering everything from religion to nostalgic memories. A true majestic end to the term, enjoyed by all present.

The next term started with internal house competitions of Mario Kart, table tennis, pool, chess and FIFA, all organised

by Mr Thomson who dominated the pool competition, whilst Adhu picked up the trophy for table tennis, Scott won chess, Ethan won Mario Kart and Aaryan won FIFA. Matt Hackney was part of a school production called “Teechers” shown in the Quarry theatre. An impressive performance from such a young member of the school. The success of these events resonated throughout the house, with significant results in the inter house competitions of fives, coming second and winning the house hockey competition!

The house football final was a rollercoaster of emotions.

Things were looking bleak, being 1-0 down within the first 3 minutes. However, with the house’s undying spirit, we fought back. Our captain, Tai Tsang-Goodwin went up for a final push towards goal, flicking on a throw in towards the 18 yard box, where our clinical striker won a penalty. Despite the immense pressure, Jovan (cool as ice) stepped up and slotted it past a diving keeper to equalise in the last play of the game. Unfortunately, despite such valiant efforts by the house, the daunting challenge of a penalty shootout overcame the 64

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unwavering belief that we have in the house. Such is the game that we call football.

The final term of the academic year began with a slower pace, with exams looming over the upper sixth and fifth form.

This didn’t take away the sporting prowess of the house. Matt H, Misha, Matthew P, Andy and Maksim all represented the house brilliantly, bringing home some great results in the house tennis.

To further build on his success, Misha won the Bedford district tennis championship. Furthermore, we carried this success onto the cricket field where the house finished an admirable 2nd.

The house is also famous for its consistent representation within the 1st IV volleyball, with all 4 starting members of the team being part of the house. The captain, Panha Chea is also our deputy head of house whilst Kabir Singh, Tai TsangGoodwin and Matthew Au round out the starting line-up. The competition itself was great success, winning every match and the tournament itself, becoming national champions. The end of the term saw the annual Phillpotts barbecue, a great event for the boys to enjoy whilst playing sport under the blazing English sun. This was also the perfect occasion to say a final goodbye to the leaving upper sixth who leave behind the amazing house that we all very much adore.

Finally, a thank you to all the tutors, Mr Ramsden and Mr Tonge as well as our deputy housemaster, Mr Thomson for looking after the boys and helping out within the house. Lastly, the most important person in the house, Mr Bury, who has helped keep the house on its feet and improving ever since he took over. It’s been a fantastic first year for Sir and we hope to have many more under the thoughtful care of such great teachers and role models. Thank you!

Kabir Singh (Head of House)

SCHOOL LEAVERS

st cuthbert’s HARRISON BEVERIDGE A Level, monitor, 2nd XV rugby (captain, minor colours), yoga and fitness, art society, art history society, entrepreneurship society, investment society, economics society, tours, house committee, house colours

TOM DEARDON A Level, monitor, mentor, cross-country running captain, 3rd XI rugby, 3rd XI football, tours team, economics society, finance/investment society, entrepreneurship society, zoology society, debating society, geography society, Mobro, school council committee, minor colours for running, New Balance English schools cross country championships, Ivy House award, grade 8 LAMDA, bronze DofE, silver in physics British Olympiad intermediate, bronze in UKMT junior maths challenge

WILL EDWARDS ALEX HAYWARD A Level, sports captain, major A Level, shooting team academic colours, 2nd XI cricket, (county), zoology society, 3rd XI hockey, co-president of device bank, Detweiler prize highly economics, politics, finance and investment society commended 2022 & 2023

JAMES HOLLIDAY A Level, deputy head of house, badminton second team, minor sports colours, house colours, tours, badminton second team, zoology society, art society, Ready2Lead

DANIEL HUTCHINS A Level, head of house, Adrian Boult society (president), music society (vice-president), brass ensemble leader, director of house singing 2022 and 2023, tours team, house colours, arts colours (music), house master’s award for outstanding contribution, music scholar, minor sports colours (rowing), senior rowing four, national schools regatta, national schools head athlete of the term during lockdown, chapel choir, symphony orchestra ( & concerto performance, summer 2023), jazz orchestra, brass ensemble, concert band, consort choir, Ready2Lead, choir tours (Benelux and Germany, Salisbury, Exeter), Detweiler competition winner (music composition), grade 8 cornet (distinction), grade 8 singing (distinction), grade 8 music theory (merit), Bedfordshire Festival brass grade 6 to 8 winner, member of the national youth concert band of Great Britain, Bugsy Malone (lead trumpet) lead trumpet, 11 commendations, senior brass prize, junior brass prize, FJ Harrison prize for German JOVAN KOONER A Level, 1st XV rugby, 3rd XI football, 1st XV rugby major colours

JOHN OGUNYILUKA - IB, art scholar, art colours, house colours, house head of art, art society, art history, architecture society, Afro-Caribbean society, linguistics olympiad, Articulation internal finalist, survivor

BRYN O’DELL A Level, device bank (chairman), rugby 3rd XV, football 3rd XI, piano, house colours

VEDANT SOMAL - A Level, head of house sports, u17 cricket vice-captain, 1st XI cricket ( major colours and honours cap ), 2nd XI hockey and 3rd XI hockey (minor colours), badminton u14s national finals, fives 1st team, economics society, finance/investment society, Pythagorean’s society, law society, debate society, entrepreneurship society, film society, theology and philosophy society, chemistry society, medicine society, house committee, school lunch committee, tours team, Movember, mentor, Ivy House award, bronze in UKMT junior maths challenge, bronze cyberdiscovery, house colours, sports scholar KARAN SRIVASTAVA A Level, fives 1st IV, minor sports colours (fives), cricket 3rd XI

HARLAN TODD A Level, chapel choir, summer concerts, choral concert, grade 8 singing distinction, Ivy House award, DofE, drama society, house colours, house singing

Phillpotts

PANHA CHEA - IB, deputy head of house, volleyball team, chinese society, economics society, entrepreneurship society, art society, art history club house colours, maths challenge (bronze), school prize for enthusiasm and commitment to Chinese (2022) MUAD FARAH A Level

captain)

JACOB WOMERSLEY A Level, house colours, fives 1st IV, football 3rd XI (deputy

JOHNNY CUMMINS - A Level, deputy head of Phillpotts, house colours, 3rd XV rugby, charities committee, president of theology and philosophy society, vicepresident history society, vice-president film society, mitre club, school debating team (senior member), debating society (senior member), PCC schools debate team, Ivy House award, EPQ, Headmaster’s commendation for entry into the Robinson history prize, highly commended entry to the University of Sheffield philosophy essay competition 2022

TOM HOWE IB, house committee, fourth team hockey, yoga team, Articulation speaker, art society talks, bowl of benevolence

DYLAN MORGAN-JONES A Level, cross country (regional), Pythagorean’s society (leader), astronomical society, physics gym (president), mitre club, history society, classics society, Headmaster’s scarf, Talalay science prize winner (2022)

MERLIN TOMS A Level, Head of House, grand final of the ARTiculation competition

AARYAN MALKANI - A Level, monitor, head of economics and business society, head of motorsport society, deputy head of entrepreneurial society 3rd XI football, Pythagorean’s society, history society, tours team, community partnership, charities committee, investment society, debating society, Movember leading team & most money raised by a student for Movember, house colours

KABIR SINGH - A Level, head of house, vice head of history society, head of motorsport society, 2nd XI football, 1st team volleyball, 4th XI cricket Pythagorean’s society, entrepreneur society, history society, economic society, tours team, football coaching, 3rd in the national volleyball competition, house colours

TAI TSANG-GOODWIN - A Level, monitor, head of Pythagorean’s society, head of physics gym, leader of quantum club, football 1st XI, 1st team tennis, 1st team volleyball, football minor colours, Pythagorean’s society, astronomical society, physics project club, mitre club, history society, tours team, community partnership, academic colours, house colours, Talalay finalist, BSIP highly commended

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Redburn House Report 2022-2023

Redburn’s 2022 – 2023 was a vintage school year for many reasons. A resounding victory in the House Cup topped off a year of achievement, community and happiness. The leadership team of Denton, Artus, Kudo and Day took their roles seriously from the start but never lost their sense of fun and excellent camaraderie. New Boys’ Day saw the arrival of vibrant group of new Redburn boys, and they have been a wonderful addition to the House.

Tutor group rivalry was as fierce as ever and Mr Vann’s group opened the year with wins in both the team building challenge and ‘word test’ as part of House Singing preparations. Yet again, hours of rehearsal brought us together during the first half-term and whilst we didn’t come away with a trophy, we saved our best performance for the main event and were proud of what we achieved.

House trips took us to Alton Towers, Ninja Warrior, Top Jump, Fireworks at Bedford Blues and paintballing in rural Bedfordshire. As ever, these trips further strengthen friendships between the year groups and some excellent memories were made. The Boarders’ Spring Dinner was

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another highlight; the boys dressed to impress, and we were delighted to welcome former Head of House, Chris Bell (OB) as our guest speaker. Regardless of the slight controversy around the scoring system(!), the Boarders’ Games in the Summer Term was a wonderful occasion and the wider activities as part of National Boarding Week shone a light on everything that we love about boarding life.

The academic heart of the House beat strongly throughout the year and both GCSE and A Level/IB results days were happy occasions, as boys looked ahead to the next step with confidence and excitement. In summary, #feeltheburn.

JEM

Paulo Pontine House Report 2022-2023 The year was successful in many aspects for Paulo Pontine, from promoting house unity with events, to trying to win the house cup through the house competitions.

At the start of the year, Paulo held its annual activity trip for our new boys, heading to Ninja Warrior in Milton Keynes. Our new Fourth Form had a great time getting to know each other.

Soon after this came Sports Day, which is always an amazing event and in which Paulo put in an impressive team effort with some strong individual wins and finished 4th overall. Next was the House Singing competition, with Paulo and Redburn putting in a great effort with some amazing performances.

The second half of term included House Fives, House Indoor Rowing, and Movember Tug of War. Soon after it was Christmas season, with exciting events in the house. Paulo hosted our annual Christmas movie and pizza night, and we had the Paulo Christmas Quiz, both events were great for the house, and everyone got involved.

Next came the Paulo charity presentations. Each tutor group picked a charity and delivered a presentation to try to convince the rest of the house why this was the charity we should choose. This year Paulo chose to support Luna Animal Rescue raising money through the Charity Run held after the House Relays.

After this came a run of successful house competitions:

SCHOOL LEAVERS

PAULO PONTINE JOSHUA COOKE A Level, house arts captain, football 2nd XI, drama society, english society, history society, drama colours, house colours, rowing minor colours, drama- Bugsy Malone, Animal Farm, Macbeth, The Trial, Little Shop of Horrors BEN EDWARDS A Level, 1st VIII cox, 2nd IV fives, music society head of chamber music, Segovia guitar ensemble, arts colours in music, minor sports colours, grade 6 guitar with merit, house colours GEORGE GEBHARDT A Level, 1st IV fives, 3rd XI cricket, house colours

PATRICK DIAMOND A Level, head of house, co-president of the device bank, hockey 2nd XI, tennis 3rd team, tours team, politics society, geography society, english society, house colours, hockey minor colours ALEX FAIRBURN A Level, deputy head of house, 3rd XI hockey captain, 3rd XI hockey, 3rd XI cricket, business society, geography society, english society, OA cricket club captain, Harpenden Colts FC u18 captain, hockey minor colours, house colours, co-designer of house kit, tours team

CYRUS GODDARD IB, senior IV and 2nd VIII rowing (minor colours), CCF head of navy, mitre club, Pythagorean’s society, academic colours, house colours

ROBERT PARRISH A Level, senior four (head of monitors), rugby third team, hockey second team and tennis 1st team, head of entrepreneurship society, academic colours, house colours, minor colours for rugby and hockey, gold DofE, Headmaster’s prize for entrepreneurship.

RYAN JORDAN A Level, house sports captain, 3rd XI football captain, shooting team, house colours

OSKAR MARTIN A Level

WILLIAM ROBERTS A Level, monitor, 2nd XV Rugby captain, Drama Colours, Monitor, Rugby Minor Colours, Vice-President of Media Society, President of Drama Society, A-Level, House Colours, President of New Music Society, Drama Detweiler Prize, Rock Night, Open Mic Night, Singing Grade 7, ESU Churchill Public Speaking ‘Best Questioner’, Tours Team

MURRAY SILK A Level, monitor, head of choir, chapel choir, consort choir, classical society, climate action group, drama (Bugsy Malone), mitre club, singing grade 8, LAMDA acting grade 8, academic colours, house colours

TOMAS SPICE IB, head of house, house colours, 1st team water polo captain (colours), 4th XI rugby captain, 2nd team fives, philosophy society, mitre club, Ivy House, Iris physics competition

REDBURN THEO ARTUS A Level

ISAAC CHEUNG A Level

LOUIS DAY A Level

BERTIE DENTON A Level, head of house, yoga captain, yoga 1st VIII, device bank, school council, english society, astronomy society, house colours JAMES MARCHANT A Level

SHO KUDO IB, deputy head of house, table tennis, head of japanese culture and language study society, Headmaster’s scarf

CHARLIE KEMBLE A Level, 1st XV rugby, minor rugby colours, 3rd XI cricket, tours team

IVAN SAVELYEV A Level, first team tennis, 3rd XI rugby, economics society (co-lead), philosophy and theology society, chess club, Pythagorean’s society. house colours

House Swimming, House Pancake Race, the House General Knowledge Quiz and House Water Polo. Paulo finished 1st in all of these. Next were the annual Paulo Pub quizzes, where each tutor group delivers a quiz in weekly house assemblies.

This year, Mrs Okusanya’s group won overall.

All the consistent effort from everyone in the house and the fact that we always get a team out for every competition resulted in us winning the House Cup! This was an amazing year for Paulo, achieving success in many areas and developing a thriving house community. A huge thank you to Mrs Whiteman for all she’s done for the house this year.

Tomas Spice and Patrick Diamond (Heads of House) THE MAGAZINE OF BEDFORD SCHOOL AND THE OLD BEDFORDIANS CLUB

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St Peter’s House Report 2022-2023

At the start of a new school year last September, there was a collective sense of excitement around the house, with everyone fully recharged and eager to hit the ground running. Whilst many returned for another year, we also welcomed some new faces too, particularly in the Fourth Form, who very quickly entered into the House spirit via their trip to Box End Park.

As always, the house performed very strongly in the variety of different sporting events throughout the year. The sporting event calendar always kicks off with the highly anticipated sports day which is a time for the whole house to come together and compete for silverware. This year, we managed to come a respectable third place.

The sixth form were particularly strong this year and managed to achieve first place in senior house rugby, cricket and football, beating our closest rivals St Cuthbert’s in all three, with the football going all the way to penalties.

The juniors also showed their sporting prowess during the course of the year, picking up first place in junior house cricket, once again beating St Cuthbert’s in the final.

There was also a range of other house events throughout the year. The most anticipated, as always, was house singing. This year, St. Peter’s alongside our paired boarding house Talbot’s, came first in the unison song giving us second place overall.

Moreover, the house put in a strong performance in the House tug of war, with St Peter’s winning the event.

Finally, an honourable mention must be given to teachers and senior boys. The tutors have, as ever, provided excellent pastoral support to the boys throughout the year whilst Mr Cassell and the Senior Boy Team, led by Matt Weimann as Head of House, have managed events well, allowing St Peter’s to excel as a house. Additionally, our two matrons, Mrs Wellard and Mrs O’Neil, have looked after the boys in the house superbly and we are grateful for their support. As this academic year comes to a close, hopefully St Peter’s can be just as successful in the future…

Jack Harte and Jonny Weimann

Talbot’s House Report 2022-2023

When we returned after the summer break we were introduced to the newest member of the Talbot’s community, Margot Wise, born just in time for New Boys’ Day, so not the normal start of term everyone was expecting - including Mr Wise, as she came three weeks early! It was great to see two of our senior boys be recognised with senior leadership positions, with the appointment of Max Allman-Ward as Captain of the 1st XV and Gideon Chan as Head of the Music Society and Senior Monitor.

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House Singing, expertly conducted by Gideon Chan. With an amazing performance on the night, we were declared the winners for Unison, with wild celebrations back in the House after the event. Another musical achievement this year was the Junior Strings Prize awarded to Jimmy Jiang, in his first year at the school. Other notable achievements which need to be acknowledged were in the internal table tennis and pool competitions, which were deservedly won by Alonzo Lau and Michael Sin respectively.

We came together for the annual Christmas Quiz at the end of the winter term where we put to the test some of our long hours of studying, with some interesting answers to the ‘Name the Flag’ round. We celebrated the upcoming holiday with a lovely Christmas meal, attended by our guest speaker, Mr Rob Williams, Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, who was able to share his experiences of rowing for Great Britain at the 2012 Olympics and winning silver, as well as his career in the finance industry. The Secret Santa gifts were a real highlight as per usual as well!

In the New Year Mr Wise took us go-karting and we cooked schnitzels and pizzas with Miss Schaber and Mr Dodgson, followed by Mr Jones leading Pancake Day. Taking a break from the kitchen we also dined out this year at Santaniello’s and Foxy Wings, the choice destination for the tutor meals. For Chinese New Year, the House came together to share a meal organised

by William Tian, with a range of delicious meals all round. Mr Peters also helped organise a Caribbean food night as part of Black History month - there was lots of delicious food to be had all year round!

The stronger lads in the House showcased their fine skills to win the house tug-of-war competition and involvement in all house competitions with our twinned house, St Peter’s was excellent throughout the year. Whilst the year was an exciting time for us, it was also tinged with sadness at the passing of our long-serving handyman Dennis Bertram, who sadly passed away this year after a short battle with cancer; he has been memorialised with the naming of our shed in April.

SCHOOL LEAVERS

st PETER’s TROY ARORA A Level

CHARLIE DOWRICK A Level, head of Pythagorean’s society, second team rugby and football, physics gym

RIAZ BAKR A Level

COLE BALACHANDRAN A Level, house colours, 1st XI hockey (colours), 2nd XI hockey captain, cricket 2nd XI (colours), 3rd XV rugby captain, co-president and founder - economics and finance society

ELDON CRAVEN A Level, house senior leadership, head of house sport, 1st XV rugby, 1st XI hockey, hockey colours, 1st XI cricket, economics society, part song, house singing, tug of war winner

SARMUKH HUNDAL A Level, house colours, 1st and 2nd XV rugby (minor colours), theatre productions (The Trial and Animal Farm), director of the school production of Macbeth, founder and president of the film studies society, president of the Eckersley society, drama society, Detweiler prize winner, Fowles prize

TOM KERR - A Level, house sports captain, rugby 1st team with major colours (try of the season, most improved player), 1st rugby 7s team vice-captain (top try scorer), athletics team, dodgeball champion, house rugby captain and champion (two years in a row), house basketball champion JOE LIFE A Level, third XV rugby, second team cricket, maths clinic, geography society, economics clinic, gold DofE SUBHAAN RASHID A Level, fives team, Pythagorean’s society, physics gym

JOSHUA JEGANATHAN IB, head of percussion, football 3rd team, cricket 3rd team, table tennis 1st team, jazz orchestra, concert band, symphony orchestra, funk band, medic society, table tennis county champion, DofE bronze award

ASADULLAH KHAN A Level

CALUM NANDA A Level, hockey 1st team goalkeeper (2022)

GABRIEL O’NEILL A Level

ARAV KIRTANE IB, first team fives, house colours, cricket 3rd XI, Pythagorean’s society, CCF, physics project club OLIVER POPE - IB, deputy head of house, 2nd XIII rowing, mitre club, Pythagorean’s society, chess club, economics society, law society, physics project club (co-lead), IRIS presentation

CALEB SANDERS - A Level, monitor, music captain for house, head of symphony orchestra, school athletics captain, hockey 1st XI, rugby 1st XV, school athletics team, minor rugby colours, major hockey, minor athletics colours, arts colours (music), academic stripe x3, 1st orchestra, chapel choir, senior brass ensemble, concert band, Adrian Boult society, grade 8 singing (merit), grade 8 trombone (distinction), won Caxton-Spencer trophy for ‘school’s best athlete’ (last 2 years)

ARYAN SISODIA A Level, house senior leadership, 2nd team cricket, 3rd team hockey (colours), debating society, law society, economics society, english society, speech and drama level 6, winner of Bedfordshire Festival 2016/ 2017, house colours

JAMIE WALLWORK A Level

MATTHEW WEIMANN A Level, head of house, player of the year, honours cap and major colours for rugby 1st XV

JERRY WILLIAMS A Level, house head of charities, 1st team football vice-captain, football colours

TALBOT’S MAX ALLMAN-WARD A Level, deputy head of house, 1st XV rugby (co-captain, major colours, honours), 1st VII rugby, house colours

ASLAN BEKOV A Level, public speaking society (chairman), chess club, Pythagorean’s society, house colours

XAVIER LEE A Level, head of chamber orchestra, house colours, swimming, chamber orchestra, symphony orchestra, Chinese society, community service, house colours

Before exam season we enjoyed the annual house BBQ under sunny, clear blue skies, to say goodbye to the fifth formers and upper sixth, departing for their study leave. The BBQ also served to award Faraz Malik as Man of the Year and commemorate Julie Healey’s amazing 25 years of service to the House.

GIDEON CHAN A Level, president of the music society, head of funk band, head of jazz orchestra, senior monitor, head of tours’, symphony orchestra, chamber orchestra, consort choir, chapel choir, first team badminton, academic colours, music colours, house colours

MAKAR MOLCHANOV A Level, head of house, first team tennis, academic colours, house colours

MAGOMED PALANKOEV A Level, house colours

To bring the year to a close, we participated in the annual Boarders’ Games during National Boarding Week, and although coming in last place (perhaps not our finest moment), we nevertheless all had a lot of fun!

Jibran Baloch

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a house, we also continued our streak from last year, winning both Sports Day and House Singing Overall for the second year in a row. Large thanks for the singing go to our Lead of Part Song: Toby L’Estrange who deservedly lifted the cup in our name. As our house we kept the Ashburnham natural third place in a lot of the school’s inter-house events and our lads enjoyed every minute of it.

Thanks for the year, from the boys, go to Mr Everitt, Mrs Horne and our tutors for keeping the whole house on track and moving forwards. Good luck goes to the leavers for each of their destinations and the rest of the house for their remaining years at Bedford.

James Lumley-Wood (Joint Head of House)

Ashburnham House Report 2023-2024

Now that we’re fully back on our feet as a school, the past year has seen everyone in the house able to fully enjoy every day of it, as well as creating a memorable send off for our leavers. In a year packed with events, our house charged into them with our usual vigour, characteristically embracing the mud and the blood ethos. We began the year with our annual Box End trip, where the year 9s took to charging head-first into the water, and the Upper Sixth! Always a brilliant way to introduce our new house members to each other and the senior team, this year was no different.

Continuing the year, the house organised go-karting, a movie night and a table-tennis tournament. Leadership and organisation from our two sports captains, Ollie French and Kush Katechia, meant we successfully retained the theme of encouraging everyone to be involved, all the way up to the charity run at the end of the spring term.

We had some impressive victories in Junior House Debating, Junior House Football, House Shooting and House Rowing. As 70

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Sanderson’s House Report 2023-2024

It was an exciting start to the year for Sanderson’s, with house singing rehearsals commencing almost immediately after the long summer holiday. This was a great way for the new boys in the boarding house to settle in and feel the Sanderson’s house spirit. The boys were aware of the pressure obtained

SCHOOL LEAVERS

ASHBURNHAM OLIVER FRENCH A Level, sports captain, third-team rugby, first-team squash, zoology society, delivered marine conservation lecture to younger years KUSH KATECHIA

JAMES HINE A Level

KIRAN KATECHIA A Level, head of house, CCF flight sergeant - head of training for the RAF, hockey 4th XI captain, hockey 3rd XI, cricket 3rd XI, CCF, Pythagoreans’ society, charity committee, Movember committee

NATHANAEL LORD A Level, head of school, 2nd XV rugby (colours), 2nd VII rowing (colours), Pythagoreans’ society (leader), mitre club, senior tour team, debating society, peer mentoring, academic colours

FREDDIE MCPHAIL A Level, deputy head of house, academic colours, house colours, 1st XI hockey, 1st XI indoor hockey, 3rd XV rugby, 3rd XI cricket, symphony orchestra, chamber orchestra, Detweiler art 1st prize 2023, gold DofE JOSHUA STEWART A Level, captain of hockey 1st XI, cricket 2nd XI (minor colours) hockey 1st XI (colours and honours), tennis 1st team, Pythagoreans’ society, economics society, investment and finance society

HARRY NORRIS A Level

SUTONG HE A Level, Head of House, Captain of Basketball, Minor Sports Colours

ARCHIE MATHERS A Level

MAX PEARSON A Level, monitor, 1st team hockey (major colours), 1st team tennis, president of drama society, president of english society, president of Eckersley society (L6), chair of debating society (L6), film studies society, delivered assemblies, Fowles essay prize winner, Drama Detweiler (2nd place), Animal Farm (assistant director), Macbeth (lead actor), BSIP finalist (essay and presentation), national NCH essay competition (3rd place), Cambridge debating competition, national league basketball, hockey honours, hockey colours

JAMES WOOTTON EVANS A Level, monitor 2nd XI hockey (colours), 3rd XV rugby, house colours, tours team, Movember committee, politics and current affairs society, entrepreneurship society, motorsport society, BSIP finalist

SANDERSON’S

JAMES LUMLEYWOOD A Level, head of house, head of art, shooting first team, shooting colours, arts colours

HARRY WOOTTON EVANS A Level, monitor, senior house team, mentor, 1XI cricket (major colours), 2nd XI hockey captain, 3rd XV rugby, hockey minor colours, house colours, school tours team, Ivy House leadership programme, bronze DofE, represented England at world tug of war championship (2022)

TAE LEEPIBOONSAWATS A Level, head of house, academic colours

from the ‘treble’ of 2021 from the very start, and this competitiveness and desire installed in the boys led to a passionate final performance.

Ultimately, the boys thrived under the pressure and made Sanderson’s back-to-back winners of the prestigious House Singing Trophy conducted by Freddie Tucker and expertly

MATTHEW WANG A Level, deputy head of house

accompanied by the impressive Remove Former Harry L’Estrange.

Sanderson’s have enjoyed several house trips this year with climbing, skiing, trampolining and the underdog visit to the Bedford Borough Bowling Club. A place that a Sanderson’s boarder will roughly walk past 750 times en route to and from school and not make a single visit. This was rectified upon a suggestion during a house meal, and after a phone call to the club, the boys were booked in to learn the art of lawn bowls.

This was a trip enjoyed by all, and when the boys were asked if they would play again, it was an enthusiastic “yes” from all.

The Summer Term has seen a quieter atmosphere to the boarding house compared to normal, with the Fifth form and Upper Sixth on study leave. We wish all of the leavers in the Upper Sixth well with their exam results and say a special goodbye to Assistant Housemaster Mr Deplancke, who will leave at the end of this year.

Kishan Patel and Freddie Tucker

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STAFF NEWS

OBITUARY

Ellen Parcell

T

here’s a framed photograph tucked away on a low, book-covered table, up on the D floor landing. It shows Ellen standing in the History Library, an upper sixth class towering about her, ready for study leave. They’ve just finished their final double lesson. Two boys have removed their blazers, one his tie. The tallest among them sports a vivid purple jumper over his white shirt – suffragette colours.

They all look very happy. The boy to her right is a history teacher now.

Ellen went to Cambridge on an unconditional offer, graduating from Churchill College with specialisms in American History and Political Thought. After London and publishing, Ellen joined Bedford School in September 2005, as did I; she approached me in the Common Room, introducing herself as ‘the boss’. She quickly made her mark on the Department, handing out document-packed, minutely subdivided folders and getting straight to the business of telling us how we were going to excel. It was her first Head of Department role, yet her organisational talents were immediately apparent. She encouraged us all in different ways. Ellen soon had me teaching A level Politics as an ‘extra’ and petitioned successfully for curriculum status.

She had an eye for talent, only ever bringing people in who shared her love of subject. From Jeremy Farrell to Charlie Fisher, Ellen also encouraged several colleagues toward big promotions, knowing they’d be excellent school leaders.

For Ellen, the classroom was enough. We covered a lot of ground in those days, swathing through the Risorgimento, German Unification, China, India, Russia, Ireland, all things American from John Adams to Betty Friedan, and everything British from Cheddar Man to Bobby Moore. Ellen’s resources

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were vast, exhaustive, legendary, all wide margins and Times New Roman, an occasional grainy cartoon or inky bar chart breaking the single-spaced text. We embraced the IB programme and operated like a War Studies department for a while. Ellen enjoyed this and spoke of her father having driven trucks for Montgomery. She led everyone, leaders included.

Ellen was always attuned to the pastoral needs of her students and tutees. A wonderful tutor, she was as proud of boys who stayed in school against the odds as she was of those about whom university tutors would write glowing letters in later years, citing Ellen as a key influence. Every now and then she’d sling her backpack on and lead a group to the train station for a lecture day, but Ellen didn’t really do trips. She didn’t have to; it was all there, in D2. Ellen was a phenomenal, life-changing teacher, the best around. A wall between us, she had the biggest impact on my life of anyone outside of my immediate family. Imagine what she did for the people in the room.

Great teaching can be hard to describe; you just know it when you see it. Some teachers are warm, engaging, funny and relatable. Others are forensic, demanding, always onpoint, forever expecting more. Ellen’s genius was that she somehow embodied all of this in one. When Gideon Chan, reflecting on his outstanding results, said he hoped he’d made Ms Parcell proud, and when Emmanuel AdeyemiAbere, about to graduate, began a 3000-pushup challenge in her memory: this is another way to measure impact.

Ellen herself was modest, unfussy, understated. I once congratulated her on a brilliant leaving speech. She just shrugged; it was rather how she made her living. She worked hard, but she also loved life and much of what she did was with real intensity and purpose. Rising at the crack of dawn and in all weathers to pace her devoted dogs around Priory Park, she’d cycle home at lunchtime to take them out again.

She liked a project, becoming chief knitter for the multiplying offspring of our departmental superdads; later she began learning languages (including Welsh), mastered yoga, and had a piano installed, although she never forgot her punk roots.

Ellen, born on International Women’s Day, was tremendously proud of her daughter Rose, a talented mathematician and named after Shakespeare’s subversive Rosalind, and of her son James, whose early engineering attempts she always encouraged, whatever the cost to her driveway. Her mum lives locally and Ellen spoke of her family very frequently. She talked about Ron all the time; they completed each other. Once, arriving at a comedy show, the spotlight swung over them as the lead act demanded to know why they were late. “Poor signage,” Ron replied. Ellen could only ever have been with someone who never missed a beat.

Just one more thing…

Ellen loved detective novels and TV shows, particularly Columbo and Inspector Montalbano. Camilleri wrote of ‘real friendship, Sicilian friendship, the kind based on intuition, on what was left unsaid.’ Ellen was surprised and moved when Joe Ramsden, himself a wonderful teacher, told her he’d taken the job here because of her. We didn’t often tell her how we felt but I think, deep down, that she knew. She was the greatest.

Mark Graham

STAFF NEWS

FAREWELL TO STAFF

Fiona Bell

One of Fiona’s many positive attributes is her modesty.

Indeed, she may find the following a little uncomfortable…

Firstly, Fiona is smart, stylish and knows stuff. A lot of stuff.

She doesn’t need to wait for the mark scheme to be released before she knows all the answers to IB HL papers. She can sit a BMAT test and smash it and is always the go-to person for problem solving or critical thinking questions. Her ToK lessons are legendary, and she gave me so many brilliant ideas to get me started when I began to teach it. It’s this powerful intellect that will serve her so well in her next job.

Secondly, Fiona is also the absolute master of making teaching resources. In fact, people pay actual money for Fiona’s resources on TES. They’re always relevant, accurate, engaging and, most of all, appreciated. She’s also got an uncanny knack for producing just the right thing at just the right time.

Fiona ran the DofE programme here for many years. Fiona adores being outside in nature, walking along swapping stories and is great at talking about everything, everyone, and nothing. On one particular trip, she was described by one of the boys as being hard-core. That’s a compliment, by the way, for her persistent optimism in the face of horrendous weather conditions.

A great mentor to new staff, Fiona regularly offers assistance and never expects anything in return. She offers comfort with her millionaire shortbread: it’s a good day in the biology staff room when Fiona has made millionaire shortbread. It is, quite honestly, the most delicious thing I have ever eaten.

The messages from the boys in Fiona’s leaving cards tell you everything you need to know about Fiona; the respect she has from her pupils and the kindness, guidance, and support that she has shown thousands of them over the years is immeasurable. The note in her most recent card said that she was like the mitochondria of the class because she provides energy of the room. Not only is this quite a nice thing to say, but it also reflects some higher order understanding by making a correct analogy. She must have taught him well.

Fiona’s distance running exploits are legendary. She’s completed 120 or so Park Runs (and counting). She’s done an amazing marathon time, but it was the way that she trained for them that was even more impressive - she clocked up weekly mileage totals that most people couldn’t get close to. And, in doing so, showed a level of physical and mental toughness that defines her. There is still more to come athletically though.

Having just completed a marathon ‘walk’ across the peak district she discovered a new talent for walking vast distances with ease. The photo of her on the line literally looks like she could do it all again easily. She was just getting going!

Fiona is cheeky, funny, supportive, innovative and openminded and has an amazing sense of adventure, as well as being an impressive athlete. She’s also one of the most caring and discreet people I’ve ever met.

So, we bid her a fond farewell as she moves on to bigger and better things. Fiona will be missed as a friend and colleague, and for the stabilising influence that she has in the Biology Department. We will miss you so much Fiona, but we know where and when to find you … every Saturday morning9:25 on the finish line of the parkrun.

CMP

Frank Graeff

Frank joined Bedford in 2011 as Teacher of German, his first teaching job, but after his first career working as a business analyst and programme manager in airlines. If readers will permit an extended and related simile – working with Frank was often like watching a plane gliding seamlessly across the sky: completely calm, purposeful, taking people on an exciting journey - but you know that clocking away inside is an extraordinary level of technical complexity and knowhow, and meticulous attention to detail to keep everything on track and afloat.

We all valued his composed, calm, supportive approach – he really lives the value of kindness and is quick to inspire confidence in new teachers and language assistants (of which 

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STAFF NEWS

 he has inducted and guided very many). We will also miss his

extraordinary IT proficiency (and patience and tolerance on these) – both in new ways of teaching and learning languages, or just keeping tabs on all those spreadsheets. Frank is an exceptionally gifted linguist, and he loves learning – be that new languages, or converting his mandolin skills to self-taught guitar (and apparently also the Chinese flute!).

In 2014 Frank became Head of German, and Head of Modern Languages job-share, before taking over as Head of Modern Languages in 2017. In this role he pulled together a more consistent languages curriculum, shepherded boys on to the most competitive university courses (and brilliant Olympiad linguistics successes), led all manner of international trips, and lived by his principle that “to learn a new language is to learn a new way of thinking”. As a teacher Frank marries the expectation of high standards within a collaborative teaching environment with great skill and a genuinely scholarly approach.

Frank also oversaw, by some distance, the highest number of particular and complicated examination courses in any department (sixteen, I think, with all the different IGCSE, GCSE, A Level and IB languages options) – and this is before first language Russian, Italian or Turkish candidates.

Somehow, in his spare time he is also an examiner himself for first language qualifications.

Frank was always associated with St Peter’s as a tutor (and sometime Housemaster during Emma Murray’s maternity leave) where he was determined to get the best out of each tutee. His wise advice to boys, families and colleagues was always balanced and well judged, and he never shied away from challenging a tutee whose behaviour or performance he judged to have fallen below the mark.

Frank was also a stalwart of the boat club - over the years he picked up various age groups and abilities with gusto and enhanced the boys’ time at the river.

Frank leaves us to lead the German Department at the Royal Latin School; our loss is very much their gain. Lieber Frank, wir wünschen dir Alles Gute für die Zukunft!

SSB

Will Hale

Will joined the English Department in September 2022, bringing with him outstanding subject expertise, a determination to help boys achieve all that they could and a 74

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great generosity of spirit. His work with Oxbridge applicants was really valued by the boys concerned and those in his classes had their curiosity pricked in lessons that were both fascinating and challenging.

A team player who would be among the first to volunteer when trips needed accompanying and cover needed doing, Will went many an extra mile to support both boys and colleagues. His foremost Bedford School achievement, however, is associated with neither his inspiring teaching nor his excellent co-curricular contributions. It is, instead, bound up in an entry that can be found in the staff cricket team’s scorebook; A. Cook (Sir) caught S. Mee bowled W. Hale! Now that is some legacy and, I know, a great cause of pride as he heads off to undertake full time study on the highly prestigious MSt in English (1550-1700) at The University of Oxford.

NLH

Robert Heale

Sixteen years ago, we were looking for a standard economics class teacher. Unsurprisingly as things would pan out, we received a very well written application letter, from someone who was an experienced economist, was a boarding housemaster, was enthusiastic about coaching sport and was, even more amazingly, keen to move his family from lovely Dorset to Bedford!

In The Ousel from 2006-07, Rob’s entry was written by a boy, Jawad Safdar. Jawad starts ‘Mr Heale was given the opportunity to join us here at Bedford’; the truth was we couldn’t believe our luck he wanted to join us. Jawad goes on to write, ‘Mr Heale says that he used to be a good sportsman and still takes an interest in sport’… well that proved useful!

Finally, Jawad references ‘his Welsh heritage has given him a fondness for the culture and geography of Wales, and he is also interested in politics’. As the Headmaster was Doc Evans, a Welshman, Rob must have pulled out all the charm in to get the job … and so he did.

Decent, hard-working, energetic and with a sense of fun – Rob never took himself too seriously and was gifted in always seeing the funny side of any given situation. So much so, that he quickly gained the trust and respect of his colleagues.

After a year as tutor in Phillpotts, Rob was appointed a Housemaster at Burnaby. He had made such a good impression in that year, that he secured the role despite a very competitive field at the time. Always a fantastic housemaster,

STAFF NEWS

he led Burnaby with his calm, professional manner and many happy boys passed through the House in his twelve years there.

If you know anything about boarding, then you will know that a good boarding house operates as an extension of the Housemaster’s own family - with his beloved wife Sian and their family (they have four children), they created a true ‘home from home’ for all the boys in Burnaby, allowing the boys in their care to flourish.

Rob has been a real sporting stalwart, working with many rugby teams across all age groups, often refereeing. With cricket, Rob proved that he should have been a journalist, never mind an Economics teacher. Famous for his reports, Rob initially covered some junior teams but since 2010 took on the 2nd XI with Alaistair Braithwaite and has had some great times judging by his commentaries. For example: ‘With the track looking like a section of the runway at Jeddah airport and a humid, sticky feel to the air, Peters elected to lose the toss and Uppingham chose to bat. Despite over 60 first team appearances between them, Edmunds and Wharton didn’t trouble the openers and Wren’s only chance of finding a decent length would have been an extension of the pitch to 44 yards.’

Rob has also been a three term Major Sport coach and coached hockey for many years.

In the Economics and Business Department, Rob is and always has been, an excellent teacher who is able to communicate his passion for his subject to his pupils.

Throughout his time with us, Rob has taught every boy with fairness and professionalism. Hundreds of boys have benefited from his wisdom and good teaching. His empathy, experience and skill mean that he is ideally suited to the role of pastoral leader.

He is also, quite simply, a wonderfully generous and supportive colleague to work alongside. In his role as Chair of the Common Room, Rob has been a great support to many.

We shall miss Rob greatly, without a doubt, and he leaves us to go part-time at Cheltenham Ladies College. Great friendships have been made, and will continue, and so he goes with our very best wishes.

CJB and MHC

programme massively; the success of the teams across the board from the U8C team right up to the 1st team, which he took since 2018, saw a great rise in the number of matches, boys playing and having fun. The positive culture around the astros on a fixture afternoon was second to none and created a good buzz on the site.

When coaching the 1st team, Sam coached the team to national finals twice, indoors and outdoors, unfortunately both times as runners up. His time and effort which he put into the hockey programme, be it indoor or outdoor, was tremendous and just shows his passion for the sport which has rubbed off on the boys.

During his time at Bedford, he led a tour to Hamburg which the boys really enjoyed the experience and exploring another country where hockey is a massive part of the culture. He has also gained and developed strong positive relationships with the boys in his PE lessons leading with great energy and a passion for the subject.

He was an active tutor in St Cuthbert’s for the whole time he was a member of Bedford School. Sam has left us at Bedford school but not gone far; he has taken up a post at Bedford Girls’ School as Assistant Director of Sport. We wish him well for the future and will no doubt bump into him down at the river or even using our pitches.

OAS

Carina Schaber

Sam Mee

Sam Mee joined Bedford School in 2016 from teaching PE at Greig City Academy in Tottenham. Sam developed the hockey

Carina Schaber arrived in 2020 to teach German and Spanish.

An instant hit with boys of all ages, Carina emerged from the Covid years to thrive at Bedford School. A naturally talented linguist with a passion for culture and travel, Carina inspired her pupils with quiet enthusiasm and an insistence on high standards. As well as securing superb examination results for her pupils, Carina always believed in a personalised education and had the very best interests of pupils at heart.

Carina co-ordinated an enrichment programme for Gifted and Talented linguists and thoroughly enjoyed sharing her flair for Spanish during the Easter 2023 Spanish Department trip to Galicia. Her caring and kind manner with pupils endeared her to the gentlemen of Talbot. She is greatly missed both as a popular tutor and committed MFL teacher. We wish her all the best in the next chapter of her career at the British School of Bucharest.  PAW

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WELCOME Shetal Arjan

Dr Arjan joins us at Bedford School as a teacher of Biology.

She originally studied medical biochemistry at King’s College London before completing her master’s and her PhD in virology there. Following this, she worked at Guy’s Hospital as a research scientist before turning down a postdoctoral position and beginning as a teacher of science at Goldington Academy.

Her interest in science comes from its ‘black and white nature’ and because you can answer questions through experimentation. However, her interest in teaching comes from her personal experience with one of her secondary school teachers, Mrs Plant, ironically a Chemistry teacher. She put her forward for a science competition, which was instrumental in increasing her interest in the subject.

Dr Arjan has two children and a cavapoo; she particularly enjoys long walks with her dog as it helps her de-stress. She also loves reading and recommends “This is Going to Hurt”; by Adam Kay to all, but particularly those interested in pursuing a medical career. She has loved Bedford so far and has found a new passion for table tennis, which she hopes to develop as a coach.

Millan Verwoert

Eizabeth Edwards

Elizabeth has an undergraduate degree in German and Russian from Jesus College, Cambridge, and a Masters in German Linguistics from the University of Bamberg in Bavaria.

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Kreis schließt sich” (she has come full circle) on arrival here.

Her orbital route included time working in translation, teacher training with the National Modern Languages SCITT and teaching at schools including Oundle and Oakham. Her first impressions of Bedford were the pitch-perfect grounds and the warmth of everyone she met. Elizabeth is excited to teach across both prep and upper schools. Year 7 and Year 8s are particular good fun.

Elizabeth is currently learning Hebrew and finds it refreshing to revert to being a student in her holidays. She sings, plays the cello, and loves to get to know people from other cultures and to ‘geek out’ on classical music and obscure linguistics facts.

Occasionally, the stars align. Elizabeth once boarded a bus in Bamberg with her cello and an elderly lady proclaimed, “Fai Obachd, de grose Ding da!” which is Franconian dialect and roughly translates to “Watch out for that big [cello]!” Everyone moved to let her on. It was the first time she had heard pure Franconian - and it made her day!

Perfection for Elizabeth is a day that starts with a cup of coffee and time spent with friends exploring an interesting old city. Bonus points if it ends with a pub dinner.

In school, Elizabeth has enjoyed it when boys start conversations in German outside the classroom. We wish her many such exchanges.

RAQ

Michelle Fleming

Our inaugural Head of Media Studies, Miss Fleming, joins us this year and she comes in with tremendous passion. She spoke to me of how Media Studies is never static, a subject that is always evolving and changing at an ever-increasing speednever teaching the same course twice. A subject that has, maybe under our noses, become of urgent importance today; Miss Fleming is the perfect person then to prove to the boys that Media Studies isn’t a soft subject and with a firm desire to educate them on the manipulative power of the media - a pertinent topic considering how long we spend on social media!

Miss Fleming has already got off to a fabulous start, bringing in a plethora of new equipment for her Media Studies classes - lights, cameras and all sorts of editing kit. So far, I can attest that the subject has made a real splash amongst the students.

Prior to Bedford, she has had a genuinely remarkable career that has taken her just about everywhere, starting in an arts college in Mansfield and most recently in the glistening heights of Abu Dhabi, where she was also a head of Media Studies.

But that isn’t nearly it. Miss Fleming has been involved in

STAFF NEWS

a wonderful amount of charity work. This has taken her to Tibet, Nepal, Tanzania, Borneo, Mauritius and Zambia. She felt it rewarding to give back to those from underprivileged backgrounds as she herself didn’t have an easy growing up.

It was this charity work that got her into teaching in the first place. Though this was in the slightly less exotic destination of Leicester! She was called up unexpectedly to be a Media Studies head while volunteering at a college for struggling teens; she more than rose to the occasion and since then has become an immensely passionate teacher.

She has also thrown herself into boarding - at my own house which was lovely as it meant I could have a few biscuits while speaking to her! Coming to Bedford was a real culture shock for her, having been away so long. She was especially surprised to be reminded of just how much it rains here. She does look forward to being able to re-engage with her beloved hobby of hiking. She’s an accomplished hiker who has conquered Kilimanjaro.

In Miss Fleming we have gained an amazing new member of our community. We wish her the best of luck here at Bedford.

Finn Adams

of language. Having studied in northern France, Malaga and Yaroslavl in Russia, Mrs May can attest to just how thrilling and expanding to oneself studying language can be.

Outside of academics, Mrs May is a keen runner. Though not the fastest, she has a rugged endurance and has completed three marathons. One of these was the London Marathon, which she ran for the Myotubular Trust - a charity whose work she supports in memory of her son, Nathaniel. She is also a keen reader and cook, though she has (like many of us) found it taxing to set aside time to indulge as a busy term starts. While once an avid reader of history, she is now branching out and testament to her appreciation of identities and culture - has a love for stories that shine a light on marginalized peoples.

Mrs May brings a brilliant passion to our already everdedicated languages staff. Her deep love of her subject and her even greater love of teaching and crafting a lesson and her desire to see all boys - especially those who struggle at first - to grow into a language will make her a remarkable addition to our school community. We wish her all the best here at Bedford.

Finn Adams

Becky Southern Jennie May

Mrs May joins us this year to be our new Director of Languages.

With an undergraduate degree in Modern Language Studies (Fr/Sp/Ru) from the University of Nottingham and a master’s in Teaching and Learning from the University of Leicester, she is also an experienced teacher. Mrs May has taught language for 23 years up until this point, fourteen of which have been as a head of department, and she has worked across a wide variety of different schools. Despite some surprising changes, such as Saturday school, Mrs May has found her time at Bedford has got off to a great start. She has been especially touched by what she describes as a supportive and welcoming environment amongst the staff. She’s also said to be enjoying the less sulky nature of an all-boys school!

What has also been a joy for Mrs May is the large number of boys taking languages at A Level here at Bedford; she is especially keen to inspire many to take language further in life and to see more study language at university. She is confident in inspiring this by showing boys the beauty of immersing oneself in a different culture, a different way of life - a love she says was fostered by her parents ‘dragging’ her around France as a child and seems to run in the family; the eldest of her two daughters is now studying French, Spanish and Portuguese as well. She herself has been taken around the world by her study

Mrs Southern joins us as a careers advisor. She originally studied pharmacology at Sheffield University before training as a secondary school science teacher at Cambridge University. Following the birth of her first child, she decided to take ten years out to help raise him and his sibling that would follow. She returned to the world of work, being self-employed and running a business which helped the elderly and those with disabilities.

After this successful venture, she became a careers advisor at a youth charity organisation and then Kimberly College, where she developed her love for ‘helping young people find their purpose in life’. She comes to Bedford School in a similar role in the Careers Department.

She is excited about the ‘university-like feel to Bedford’ and told us that the calibre of students and the opportunities offered are unlike any she has seen at other schools.

Outside of work, she loves sport, particularly skiing and watching Formula One. She has discovered a love of acrylic painting, making abstract pieces when she can. Also, I am sad to report she is a Tottenham Hotspur supporter!

She advises all students to take a step back, think about what they genuinely want, and consider their options carefully before rushing into things. She also told us to ‘do it well, do it once!’

Millan Verwoert

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RUGBY A

nother rugby season goes by in a flash; however, much has happened and for many it was a season full of positive experiences and a special camaraderie. A term of rugby always proves to be a great learning experience and an opportunity for the boys to make close friends and fond memories for life, and this one was no different.

The senior teams had a challenging year. A drop in numbers meant that they started at four teams and quickly went down to three. The resolve of the players was certainly tested but they never gave up and had a consistently positive approach to every training session and match.

There were a number of tight games, which could have gone either way and the 2nd Team had the tale of the season with their last game where, not only did they beat a previously unbeaten Abingdon 2nd Team, they won in style. Definitely a victory worth celebrating.

The 1st XV’s season was a tale of two halves, as their biggest challenges came in the second half of the term. They narrowly lost to Finborough in the last 16 of the Schools Cup in the last play of the game but they had victories against

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the likes of Radley, Haileybury, Dulwich and Oundle and pushed impressive Oakham and Warwick teams close. One guarantee was that the XV would provide the spectators with an entertaining game. They looked to play a fast game and attack all areas of their field. Their bold approach would often bear fruit and they will have a brilliant highlights reel from the season. Many games had an exciting conclusion, with two resulting in a last play of the game draw.

The U16 teams also had a challenging season, rugby seems to be very competitive at this age group countrywide.

All matches were fiercely competitive and of a very high

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standard. If this year is anything to go by, the future of English rugby is very good! The U16Cs were heading for a season without any victories, but they saved their best performances for the final two games beating the much-fancied Harrow, followed by Abingdon the following week. Again, this demonstrated the unwavering positive outlook and resilient nature of the boys in the team, which is echoed across the entire rugby club.

As this report is being written, the U15A team are still playing in the final stages of the National Schools Plate competition. They have a chance to go all the way as they are a team with a positive and vibrant culture and play some high quality and fast paced rugby. They have made a huge amount of progress, winning a great deal more games than they did at U14. This is largely down to their positive attitude and close bond. They are an exciting team to watch, who are committed in contact and move the ball well. The U15 teams have had a positive season overall and are an exciting group to watch as they move through the school.

The U14s have had an exhilarating season of rugby with a number of highly competitive games. The Rugby Club’s two most successful teams came from this year group. The U14 Bs – played 10, won 9 and lost 1, the U14Gs – played 3, won 3! The U14E team finished in fitting style with a close fought win against Abingdon. This is a year group with a big prospect as they always train and play with enthusiasm and full commitment. We look forward to seeing how they progress and how they fair in a season of sevens.

JPH THE MAGAZINE OF BEDFORD SCHOOL AND THE OLD BEDFORDIANS CLUB

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1st XV

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1st XV

After a successful 21/22 season throughout the rugby club, the school looked towards the first team to defend an unbeaten home streak held since 2019. Whilst having a young team this year, we were experienced, with eight players being capped in first-team rugby from prior years, giving the new squad confidence and a shot at having a decent season. In late August, we flew into a tough pre-season, building a good team culture and friendships in between the high-intensity training and fitness blocks.

Heading into our first match of the season, we were to travel away to Oundle School. Whilst Oundle have not had the strongest first-team in the last few years, they are a school rich in rugby culture, producing many international players over time. There was a sense of nervousness yet excitement on the bus and in the changing room as many were to wear the red jersey for the first time.

We played good-looking, expansive rugby with a few individual tries being blended with the many great team tries scored. We left Oundle with a 38-0 win and a bundle of confidence going into the following weeks of the season.

Throughout the rest of the first half of the season, the weather played into our hands. Strong sun and low wind allowed us to impose our rugby on any team we came across, most notably against Dulwich.

The ‘Dulwich Day’ rivalry/tradition between Bedford and Dulwich has been ingrained in many Bedford School rugby players’ minds since they arrived at the school. Stemming back to the 8th of February 1882, ‘Dulwich Day’ is the longest continuous rugby fixture in schoolboy history, drawing large crowds of passionate Old Boys and schoolboy media to the fixture every year.

After being victorious last year, we knew Dulwich would bring their ‘A’ game and turned to our own style of play to combat this. Everything came together in majestic fashion and a virtually faultless team performance led to a 40-5 victory and one of the largest points margins in the fixture’s history. We ended the half-term with an unbeaten record and bundles of confidence, understanding that we could achieve a very successful season if we could maintain the momentum in the future.

The Merchiston Castle School Cup was a tournament the whole squad looked forward to throughout the season.

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After a successful first half of the term, we were entering this tournament on a quality run of form. Traveling up to Edinburgh is always a long coach ride however this gives us a lot of time to talk and bond further as a team, allowing everyone to get into the feeling of playing in a massive nationwide tournament.

Going into the first day of the tournament, we were all very excited and slightly nervous, however, full of confidence in our team’s ability. A very cold and windy Edinburgh posed tough conditions for all teams present on the day, yet we did not change how we intended to play, opting to stick to our elusive and expansive brand of rugby. The first game was not the way we intended to start the tournament off, losing 7-0 to Mount St Mary’s College, where we did not play up to our usual standard.

This set the day off with an all-to-play-for mindset and was a big waking call to the whole squad.

Our next game saw a change of mind winning 71-0 against a weak Ayre RFC side. Following this victory, we knew we were now in the right mindset to play tournament rugby.

Our final game of the day against a well-known Barnard Castle side saw us fall short of the mark, knocking us out of the cup. Despite the disappointment, we knew we were not going home empty-handed and set a target to win the bowl.

The following day, we knew we had to start strong and finish even stronger to live up to our goal from the previous day. A few injuries from day one and sore bodies meant our squad had to be mixed around, seeing people play out of position across the pitch. This further proved the skill and adaptive nature of our squad as we could still play the same brand of exciting rugby.

The first game set the stage for a physical yet successful day, winning 28-0 against Wycliffe in windy conditions. A convincing win in the semi-final, 29-0 against Peebles, put us through to a physical and hard-fought battle in the final against a big collegiate squad. Going down 3-0 early in the final, put the pressure on us to turn it up a gear. The entire team was extremely sore and tired after two long days of rugby, yet, persevered until the final whistle.

Some big scrums and carries allowed us to get front foot ball, and, in the last five minutes of the game, Johnny Weimann our new winger (converted from nine), found himself in some space and darted down the touchline, out strengthening numerous Collegiate players for an incredible try in the corner. After a tough last few minutes of defending with our bodies on the line, we

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managed to hold collegiate out and win the final 5-3.

Although it was not our set target at the beginning of the tournament, we played for one another and, in the end, everyone who played, coached, and supported went home with something to be proud of.

Following the success of the first half term, the squad aimed to build momentum week on week and for the upper sixth, most importantly enjoy the last few weeks wearing the red jersey. The second half term brought stronger, better-equipped teams but also bad weather, not complementing our expansive, entertaining code of rugby.

Traveling to play rugby at Warwick school has always been a dreaded fixture and history would repeat itself with a frustrating loss of 7-21. Our set piece execution let us down alongside handling errors, so this was a huge focus point heading into an in-form Oakham side.

Sadly, we again came short; yet we stayed positive, seeing the huge improvements in our game and thus bringing confidence back to the squad. Tom Kerr’s ‘try of the season’ aided our confidence boost. After some set-piece magic following a scrum in our twenty-two, Tom was left running in a fantastic 60-metre score. I’ve lost count of how many times that try was played in video analysis. The final score was a 24-40 loss, but not, in our eyes, a fair reflection of the end-to-end game. Breaking the 1XV’s 1,070-day unbeaten home record, yet the fact that this record was possible, proves the pride we have in our school and the home support we gain, which I hope will be carried on for many more years to come.

The next opponent came in the form of Finborough, a match that had been highlighted since the start of the half-term. The short turnaround from the Saturday block fixture gave the team no chance to think about the biggest match of the season so far.

On a miserable day in the Suffolk countryside, we fronted up in all areas of the game. We applied a lot of pressure in the first half, yet sadly this pressure was not converted into points and a fortuitous try from Finborough gave them the lead at halftime.

We knew we were always in the game; however, it was a relief when Jonny Weimann scored a patient well worked try in the last quarter of the game. We lacked options in attack for much of the game, but our defence remained solid throughout. The score was even and so at this point, we were heading through into the quarterfinals of the national cup. Sadly, a tightly worked try from the opposition gave them the lead just before the last play. We backed ourselves, as we have all season. Yet in the end, it was not to be, and that is sadly the reality of the game we love. Our entertaining cup run had come to an end.

We would like to thank the whole squad for an incredible season, one that will live long in the memory and moments (like the Tom Kerr wonder try) that will be recounted and, no doubt, get even better over the years.

Max Allman-Ward, Will Brock and Tom Godber HONOURS CAPS: M. Allman-Ward (c), T. Godber (c), W. Brock (vc), E. Craven, M. Weimann, O. Bennett, T. Ferris MAJOR COLOURS: E. Briers, J. Kooner, A. AinsworthCave, J. Walter, R. Harries, J. Weimann, F. Drake-Lee, B. Agbenu, Z. Faleel, H. Tongue, T. Kerr MINOR COLOURS: E. Fish, C. Kemble, S. Hundal, B. Grainger, T. Jenkins, A. Muffoletto

2nd XV

As a player for the 2nd XV this season, I am, surprisingly, very proud to present the report on our performance. It was a challenging season, with a total of ten games played, out of which we gave away nine wins, and won the most important game in the final match of the season.

The 2nd XV this year was called many names: ‘The Beaten Army’, ‘The Breakables’ and, a personal favourite, ‘The Bottlejobs’. However, I think the 2nd XV were the kindest rugby team the school put out this year, giving our opposition win after win, and using them as practice matches for our final game…

Despite an incredibly close scoreline against Dulwich in the longest-running school-boy match, we were unable to secure a win in the first five games of the season which, unsurprisingly, had a significant effect on the team’s morale. Because of this, the team leaders took the initiative and decided to get their heads together to think of a new strategy to improve our game; what were we missing? It was decided that we would train for an extra ten minutes before each match, and all get changed as a team.

It was brilliant, and the next game, we went out to the pitch together, excited for our sixth match: Warwick away. We started training early, practising the moves we’d been masterminding in the training sessions that week: warming up, stretching off the hard sessions we’d done during the week in preparation for this match. Then, kick off; we’d never been so ready. We then proceeded to receive one of our biggest losses of the season with a 5-38 scoreline. It was here that we really realised how much work we would have to put in if we wanted to make a comeback in the second half of the season.

Nonetheless, we did not let these losses dampen our spirits and continued to work hard towards improving our game. We focused on our strengths and weaknesses and worked on new moves and strategies to better ourselves as players and as a team. We learned the importance of teamwork, perseverance, and resilience, to work together as a team and support each other in all the challenges and setbacks we faced, which seemed to come very often... We also analysed our performance, identifying areas of improvement, and working on them consistently. Our match against Radley was live streamed which meant we could look back and see where we went wrong. At the time of writing this, that video has around 881 views, with around 800 of those views being Leo Butler rewatching his interception.

Then, our final match came: Abingdon away. Finally, a chance to win the match we had been playing all our previous training matches for and with it came a huge buzz. Stepping on the pitch from the changing rooms, we knew we had to play the best rugby we had played all year and that’s exactly what we did.

An early try from the young talent of Freddie Drake-Lee put us in great stead for the rest of the match, finishing 38-12 with a brilliant hattrick for the Egyptian bull, Shayaan Jadoon.

Our efforts then extended to the changing rooms where some incredible singing performances challenged even the chapel choir’s abilities and we finished with a much-deserved match tea.

We faced tough competition this season, with most opponents being more experienced and well-coordinated than us. This may have been due to the 1st XV constantly robbing our best players like Harrison Beveridge, Harry Payne, and Tom Jenkins, but we also faced injuries throughout the season with the likes of star centre Charlie Carey retiring early after the start of the second half of the season. Nevertheless, I think that 

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2nd XV

 moments like Sam Bayley’s interesting ‘kick-to-touch’ against

Harrow need to be mentioned to get a true idea of the talent we possessed as a team.

A mention has to go to the newly joined Fabian Wyer-Roberts, whose pace absolutely dusted the likes of Zac Wasterfall and Zac Cummings - not that it’s much of an achievement. Mentions must also go to Anthony Muffoletto for being selected for the Italian International team, Charlie Kemble for his throwing (most of the time), Ed Fish for his incredible, unique walk-paced run, and James Marchant for turning up.

Walt Whitman once said, ‘Battles are lost in the same spirit in which they are won.’ This, I think, hits extremely close to home for the 2022/23 2nd XV. Even though we may have been disappointed with the outcomes of some of our games, the heart we showed throughout the season spoke for us when the rugby we played didn’t. It is because of this that I proudly say I have no regrets playing in the 2nd XV this year and I would play another game with these boys again in a heartbeat if I could.

Our win in the final game was a testament to our hard work and determination and I hope the Lower Sixth will take the lessons learned from this season and apply them to future games. We played every game with our heads held high and I wish all the Lower Sixth the best of luck with next year’s season and the Upper Sixth luck with wherever they take their rugby in the future.

Nat Lord SQUAD MEMBERS: Jason Fasanya, Tom Ferrari, Charlie Kemble, Harry Payne, Zachary, Wasterfall, Harrison Beveridge, Charlie Carey, Jasper Walter, Anthony Muffoletto, William Roberts (capt), Nathanael Lord, Samuel Bayley, Zaid Faleel, Zachary Cumming, Leo Butler, Matthias Pascall, James Marchant, Thomas Jenkins, Jovan Kooner, Harry Tongue, Fabian Wyer-Roberts, Sarmukh Hundal, Joshua Addo, Robert Parrish, James Hine, Shayaan Jadoon, Freddie Drake-Lee, Ben Grainger

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3rd XV

It was a tough season for the 3rd XV with just the one win, but we can ultimately hold our heads high. Although the results were disappointing, we found pride in our resilience, particularly towards the end of the season as the upper sixth played their final games.

Following an opening win in which Dowrick, Omelchenko, and Talbot scored excellent tries, we struggled to build serious attacking play, but managed to fight over for tries in the final few minutes of the next three matches. We really found our fighting spirit against Warwick, before building towards multiple tries in each of our final four matches.

Oakham at home was memorable with the backline building momentum for three tries in a narrow 19-27 loss, before we scored two tries from clever kicks against Harrow in our final home game. Our two tries in the final game at Abingdon were the work of determined mauling by the forwards. Injuries across the senior teams regularly meant players like O’Dell, Omelchenko, and Langridge ran out for the 2nds, whilst we ourselves were the target of complaints from the 4ths for stealing their key players. Our depleted numbers meant we discovered a new versatility, by which O’Dell must get a special mention for having a go at fullback as well as winger against Harrow away from his more comfortable position of flanker.

When he was not at an open day, our usual fullback Wootton Evans played excellently with his last man tackling meriting him two MOTM performances. Other memorable performances came from Parrish, always playing like a warrior, and Omelchenko, who was always there to crash over the line. Balachandran often ignored calls to pass it wide, but it was hard to complain too much when these pick-and-goes often resulted in him breaking the line. The ever-reliable performances of Barney, Cummins, Pollen-Brooks, and Life in the forwards complemented an ever-changing backline in which Addo was always available to attempt one of Mr Huddlestone’s backs moves.

Many thanks must go to Mr Huddlestone for his

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commitment this season and despite the results, we hope he can look back on this season with fond memories as we certainly will. We also owe thanks to Mr Bridle, Mr Williams, Mr Beale, and Mr Heale, whom we hope continues his speciality of kick-out-touch with the team next season, hopefully with better results.

Luca Moretto SQUAD MEMBERS: Joshua Addo, Cole Balachandran (Vice-Captain), James Barney, Johnny Cummins, Charlie Dowrick, Oliver French, Sam Gribbin, Kush Katechia, James Keylock, Luke Langridge, Joe Life, Freddie McPhail, Henry McCutcheon, Luca Moretto (Captain), Tom Norton, Bryn O’Dell, Mathew Omelchenko, Robert Parrish, Luke Pollen-Brooks, Isaac Talbot, James Wootton Evans

COLTS A

Outstanding commitment was shown by the squad from day one as we had an impressive turn out in the five-day preseason training during the summer break. This began our preparations for the season to come, starting with the Mill Hill School tournament. We demonstrated huge grit in defence and went on to finish the day unbeaten. Unfortunately, the multiple injuries that were sustained that day went on to disrupt the season.

Our next challenge was Oundle. The calm before the storm came with both teams lining up for a minute’s silence paying respects to the late Queen Elizabeth. In the sunny, humid conditions, the team rose to the opportunity to play on the school’s 1st XV pitch for the first time, in front of the main school building and pulled off an exhilarating performance to come out on top in a well fought out 19-10 win. This performance was followed by a convincing 31-14 away win over Rugby School with some well-worked team scores.

Our next challenge was Radley; the team scored a beautiful set piece try within the opening minutes of the game revealing

the speed and finishing skills from our back three. Every player put their bodies on the line and gave everything in defence but unfortunately, we did fall short to a very well drilled Radley side and endured some more injuries putting a few players out for the coming games.

Returning to the 1st XV pitch after some careful analysis and coaching, we were to take on Eton. This hotly anticipated clash did not disappoint. With a slow start from the boys, we found ourselves 12-0 down within the first few minutes of the game.

The last play of the first half saw a thrilling try down the left wing to make it a one score game going into the break. Another try and some extraordinary defence in the second half brought the game into its final play at 12 points apiece; the team marched down the pitch with some powerful carries to get within 5 metres of the Etonian try line. Sharp identification of space on the right wing and slick execution saw a last-minute winner in the corner.

An away day to Dulwich was the last fixture of the first half of term. This game saw the team go 33-0 down within the first half which posed quite a challenge at half time if we were to win the game. Huge credit is due to the fight and determination shown by the team in the second half to keep them scoreless and get a few tries of our own on the scoreboard. Sadly though, it wasn’t enough to get the win with the game finishing 33-24.

A half term break was enough time for a couple of our injured players to return to the field for the next game against Warwick, however, we were still a few players down. This has always been a very well-matched game over the years and it was exactly that once again with the game resulting in a 12-12 draw. An incredibly tight and physical game meant neither team really found a rhythm. After going down within the first few minutes a huge effort from the team brought it back level. Unfortunately, however, the team suffered even more injury disruption for the remainder of the season.

After another week’s worth of training and analysis we were to take on Oakham. The unquestioned commitment from the boys was shown once again putting in a shift and scoring a beautifully worked try down the left wing with an incredible finish. Although sadly our discipline slipped at occasions in 

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U16C

 the game, and we were punished with the game ending in a

17-7 loss.

We came out the wrong end of the final three games of the season against three very good rugby schools (Radley, Harrow, and Abingdon), but the heads never dropped, and the boys persevered and to their credit showed great resilience.

The quality of the school fixtures and the consistent team effort throughout the season are our lasting impressions.

The injuries sustained meant that over 25 different players represented the team across the season, with some making the impressive journey from the C team to the A team.

With insightful and expert coaching, the team certainly saw improvements and are very grateful for the coach’s enthusiasm and commitment to the team. From the first training session to the last, the team remained cohesive, and morale was consistently positive. The attendance at training, rehab and analysis sessions was second to none.

Oliver Smith SQUAD MEMBERS: George Stanley, Oscar Barker, Alfie Gittins, William Gallagher, Nikhil Lall, Robert Dennis, Fergus Tongue, James Sprange, Rupert Cracknell, Alfie Allen, Edward Walker, Oliver Simmonds, Oliver Smith, Millan Verwoert, Max Collins, Sam Cutler, Oliver Bymolen, Zak DeGale, Sebastien Elder, Matthew Jones, Rufus Thwaite, Thomas Taylor, Ben Morrow

U16C

The U16C XV had a difficult start to the season having to face the strongest opposition of the season in Radley and Dulwich, while many players were out due to injuries. However, we persevered through these games, and even though we lost heavily we learnt from our mistakes and developed our skills and teamwork. The team grew in confidence and started to 84

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trust in one another to make that tackle, earning the respect of our teammates.

As testament to our hard work, we beat Oakham 44 – 7.

Then it was time for our rematch against Radley. Although it didn’t go as planned and we ended up losing, the improvement we had made from our first game was evident.

We then had to prepare for an extremely tough away match against Harrow. During the game we worked really hard to keep the score close but found ourselves nine points behind with just ten minutes to go. However, an Alexei Wright masterclass inspired the team to an incredible comeback.

Alexei duly left Harrow, still in full kit, to head to Twickenham and the rest of the team celebrated their victory by sleeping on the return coach.

We then carried on this momentum into the final home match of the season against Abingdon. We were organised, committed and playing with confidence; our backs using the width of a large pitch. We comfortably beat them 45 – 7, much to the disgust of their coach. Our commitment to being the first person to the ruck (winning the race to be in position over the ball and winning the height battle; thanks Mouritz) or making that first tackle (to avoid Mr. Waite’s rant) had really strengthened our team; we weren’t just playing for ourselves but instead we were playing for each other as a team, and to not let anyone else down.

Overall, we had an incredible season and ended it as a team enjoying rugby and enjoying some well-deserved wins.

Akshat Buddineni SQUAD MEMBERS: A.Buddineni (capt.), V.Ram, W.Bulleyment, A.Wright, O.White, N.Swope, D.Humphreys, C.Hooper, J.Henry, W.Rodgers, T.Akinola, J.Guest, Z.Hone, A.Odumuyiwa, A.Mishra, H.Whiteman, A.Chan, M.Chan, M.Quince, A.Hammond, A.Worthington, K.Peenikal, F.McIntyre, J.Biffa, E.Foley

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U15A

Looking over our U15 season, I can say that we did ourselves proud and improved a lot from last year. During the season, we had a very optimistic approach and we all worked hard to accomplish what we did. Everyone in the team displayed emotions and the desire to win, and there was no one who backed down from any test.

The pre-season was excellent, every player of the squad showed dedication and earned their spot in the group.

Previous B team members Charlie Collard, Adam McFarland, Henry Whitfield and especially C team flanker Ethan SamuelNapier established a few appearances and had a very confident effect on the team, driving their sessions and showing their potential.

The season commenced strongly, especially in our block fixtures, beating teams we lost against last time, like Harrow (28-7) and Radley (15-12), giving us a 6:3 win to loss ratio – a significant improvement on last year. Further on into the middle part of the season, we were honoured to travel to Norwich to compete in the Langley festival; we returned as runner ups in the final, losing 12-7 to Hurstpierpoint. Yet we had fun on the pitch putting our full effort on the field and having fun off the pitch in our accommodation.

Additionally, we experienced our first set of national games. Firstly, we met Northampton School for Boys; we unfortunately lost 35-0 but it gave us a better chance to go far in the plate. This we did, beating Stowe 18-0 away and secondly dominating local rivals Bedford Modern 43-3. This allowed us to reach the round of 16 where we drew 24-24; regrettably we lost though as Norwich were the away team.

So, highlighting our new encounters of cup games and tournaments which we loved we also had battles through the four months. For example, there was Dulwich where we succeeded in a 33-10 triumph and Abingdon 31-14 which ended a positive season. However, we were left distraught from a 19-18 loss against Warwick due to a last-minute penalty tri.

Finally, from my point of view, it was a joy to lead the boys this season as the morale was always high, and we would always have fun training and playing together in whatever weather. From last season to this season there was an abundance of improvement, individually and collectively. Onto next season!

Kai Fisher SQUAD LIST: Kai Fisher(Captain), Ferdi BarnettVincent, Justin Fasanya, Sammy Inman, Mike Halahan, Aiden Reid, Kachi Onuiri, Felix Beckmann, Adam Mcfarland, Alfie Redfern, Dan Meier, Stanley Breed, Ollie Payne, Charlie Constantine, James Pinkney, Ethan Samuel-Napier, Joe Edwards, Charlie Collard, Joe Basquille, Owain Harries, Ander Mohktar-Esteban, George Hemmings, Sam Barnes, Henry Whitfield, Dylan French

U15B

Coming off the back of an unbeaten season last year, we had high hopes. Our expectations were high as we headed to Oundle for our first game of the season. We were pleased with the high-scoring game, although we conceded a few too many.

Next, we went to Rugby, another high-scoring game for the team. With no conceding, the team seemed to be setting up for a very strong season. After our first five games, we had an impressive points difference of 182.

We finished off the half term with a three-way fixture, against Bedford Greenacre As, and Lincroft Academy As. We played with a large squad, giving many from the C team an opportunity to play. After facing a challenging defeat against Greenacre, we prepared to face Lincroft. We ended the half term with a draw against Lincroft.

After half term, we wanted to react to our loss to Greenacre and improve upon it. The first game back was Warwick away, 

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 a tough game with many injuries, with two on the bench we

still had to play down to 13 men for a large stint of the game.

The final score was a 5 – 11 loss.

Still looking for a comeback from recent losses, we played Oakham at home. We took the opportunity for a comeback and win, with a final score of 40 – 5.

Next, was Radley round 2, travelling to Radley expecting an average game after our previous 40 – 0 win. Our expectations were exceeded instantly. After a hard-fought game with numerous injuries including a few key players, Ethan SamuelNapier, Henry Whitfield, and both our fly halves Ollie Fitzpatrick and Marcus Richards. The game ended 10 – 27 Radley.

In our final two games against Harrow and Abingdon, we had many key players injured or absent from school, but we still played with our heads held high. Both matches were unsuccessful. It was a strong season for the team with 10 matches played 6 won 4 lost and a points difference of 139.

Coaches: To Mr. Marriott and Mr. Gracie, Thank you for your brilliant coaching, encouragement, assistance, and guidance, throughout the entire season.

The B Team.

Ollie Payne SQUAD LIST: Adam McFarland, Nick Dyall, Ethan Clifford, Edward Wootton, Oliver Payne, Ethan Samuel-Napier, Noah Silk, Joseph Edwards, Oli Fitzpatrick, Sam McMurran, George Sivills, Marcus Richards, Novie Ikeneku, Henry Whitfield, Toby Northey, Lucian Davis, Ruairi Cassell, Mikel Deans, Charlie Collard, James Pinkney, Charlie Spencer

U15B

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U15C

The 2022 U15C team have come across a range of challenging opponents. Having won 4 games and lost 6, it is fair to say that it has been a difficult yet rewarding season for Mr Ramsden’s red and whites. To see where we have progressed as a team from the start versus the end has been phenomenal. Building on our simple passing drills in early fixtures to running complicated moves against strong teams shows just how much we have improved game by game, not only in depth but also team spirit.

Comprehensive wins over Oundle and Rugby School saw our season get started with a flier. However, we then came across strong Eton and Radley sides which put the team record at 2/4.

Having lost to Dulwich 75-20 last year, the boys knew that it wasn’t going to be an easy game especially off the back of a heavy Radley defeat. However, we didn’t let our heads drop.

With Dulwich having a few good runners breaking through our lines, it gave them the opportunity to take the lead. It was a back-and-forth game with both sides scoring, until the final ten minutes. With B team receiving multiple injuries, some C team boys had to go and show what they were made of and play the final ten minutes for the unbeaten side. This also meant that Ted Ho had to come up from the D team and with the first touch of the game he ran through and scored! With a nervy last ten minutes played, with ten seconds to go we won a penalty just beyond the 22 metre line. Staying calm and with the strength of the team spirit the ball slotted over the posts for the Bedford win 31-28; a real standout game this year.

A couple of games later we had the challenge of facing Radley once again. The team were nervous however up for a good fight. Unfortunately, we came out the wrong side of the result losing 24-19 however it was a proud moment to see the team putting up such a close game following the previous heavy defeat. A subsequent narrow loss to Harrow and a larger loss to Abingdon brought the C team season to a close.

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Despite the ups and downs of this season the U15C showed true grit and determination, bonding as a team and playing some beautiful rugby at times, the whole team enjoying representing the eagle under inspirational coaching from Mr Ramsden.

From a captain’s perspective it has been an honour. We go again next year!

Alfie James SQUAD: Harry Rubio, Daniel Hudson, Kitan Balogun, Matthew Shepley, Isaac Battersby, Ted Ho, George Barton, Ivan Yu, Ishe Bakasa, Alfie James, Henry Gillham, Max Ho, Koya Okusaga, Sam Deardon, Seb Fairhead, Harry Townsend

U14A

The U14 season for rugby is a very interesting journey; the total year group from Prep School being added to by 50%.

New expectations, new law variations, new timetable, new away trips and new coaches!! The boys worked really hard to take everything onboard. The first game was upon us before we had time to get to know everyone’s name, a warm-up game vs Oundle. Great performance, but a lot to take from the game! This was the pattern for the season - winning, but knowing where to improve - losing, but setting targets. Firm foundations were set for the U15 season and high hopes for the year group, due to strength in depth, and a top end of excellent performers.

SJG 

U14A

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

U14B

It is great to be able to report that the U14B team had a tremendous season. It would have been an unbeaten season, if it hadn’t been for a small slip up against Radley. To be honest, we should have won that game too as we were 24-0 up at half time. However, let’s not dwell on the negatives, but look at what a positive season it was overall.

We had convincing wins against Rugby, Dulwich and Harrow and reaped revenge on Radley when we played them at home. There were some real outstanding performances from all members of the team; the forwards showed terrific strength and the backs showed great skill. Special mentions really go to everyone (more for the fact that we genuinely fought and played to win as a team) but to pick out a few individuals: Ashwin Curtis and Koye Sule scored an abundance of tries, closely followed by Charlie Brett and Diggory Cox; George Craven and Tristan Julius were intimidating tackle makers; Sam Else and Cormac Gallagher were outstanding carriers of the ball and, last but not least, our three Captains Harry Burns, George Craven and Jamie Hall who helped motivate and guide the team through such a successful season. Bring on September 2023!

Jamie Hall

U14C

The U14 C team have enjoyed a magnificent season of outstanding rugby played to a very high standard, with team selection being a hard decision for the coaches, especially Mr Nicholl. The season started with a bang as the U14Cs cruised past Rugby School on home turf with a 25-0 dominant result.

Star performers included Charlie Gandesha, Lutero Corrigan, Daniel Phillips, Isaac Ferguson and Vir Walia, not to mention the pace and aggression shown by Lewis Woodhouse who maintained that for the rest of the season.

The lads followed this performance up against Radley College who were a very well-organised team and were just too much for a new team. Despite this, we were back at home against the well-renowned Eton College. The score line 25-10 doesn’t quite show the dominance that Bedford demonstrated as we sailed to a comfortable victory.

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lineouts proved excellent as the forwards put in a great shift, consistently working and progressing game by game.

Dulwich College were next for the mighty Bedford, a 3-hour drive down to South London for an enthralling game of rugby.

Both teams evenly matched which resulted in a draw.

Warwick School was also among the names to face Bedford. They were a very strong side with big powerful boys.

However, we managed to hold out and take a point after we defended the whole second half withstanding all pressure.

The home fixture against Radley provided spectators with a spectacular game of rugby to watch with very closely contested physical battles. However once again, Radley came out on top, but there were a lot of improvements and positive elements to take away from the fixture.

Next up for the C team were Harrow School who got a very fortunate result; Bedford won the majority of breakdowns and our scrumming was ‘the best we have seen’ (Mr Nicholl).

There have been some very memorable moments during our season: when John Lally outpaced many teams sliding back and forth and breaking the opponents’ line; this was also demonstrated by Lewis Woodhouse. Another couple of great tries were seen when Vir Walia and Zayn Ananenu ran through the line of defence bumping off and breaking through anybody who got in their way. Most of this was followed up by some splendid conversions by Harry Howlett and more recently, Alfred Wright who loved a bit of a kick. There has been an overall aggression to the side shown by our tackling.

Rajan Uppal, Jared Love, Alonzo Lau, Josh Lincoln, Charlie Miller, Vir Walia, Zayn Ananenu and Daniel Phillips all showed aggression and a positive mindset to commit to a tackle and play for the esteemed and distinguished Bedford School Eagle.

SQUAD: Zayn Ananenu, Lutero Corrigan, Isaac Ferguson, Haider Haroon, Harry Howlett, John Lally, Alonzo Lau, Josh Lincoln, Jared Love, Adam Martin, Charlie Miller, Lewis Noble, Daniel Phillips, Umar Umar, Rajan Uppal, Vir Walia, Lewis Woodhouse, Alfred Wright, Andrew Wright.

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Finally, it has been a great experience captaining the side and leading from the front with help and support from the team.

A special thanks to Andrew Wright who also took charge for our first few games. Well done, chaps, what a season!

Vir Walia

U14D

This year the under 14D team had a terrific season winning all but three matches out of the nine they have played. This has been one of the toughest seasons I have played in and yet the boys showed excellent skills and school values, even when losing they still somehow managed to play exceptionally, putting all their talent into each game.

The season had its high to lows from winning away to Radley 37-17 to losing to Harrow 7-52, but the whole season has been high level of play with the most tries from Sammy Rawlings; the most tackles from Charles Whittle-Queral; the best rucking from Charles Whittle-Queral; the most involved Thomas Dewe.

The team has developed in leaps and bounds through the year, with players moving up and players moving down.

The team has almost never been the same for more than two matches but still the team manage to play at the top level and

perform well. Even when we were winning or losing, the team never gave up and still found a way to play to a high level and enjoy it. With Mr Hoggett as coach, we were unstoppable.

Tom Noble SQUAD: Freddie Bowis, Ollie Cadman-Kerr, Charlie Chen, Ollie Cochrane, Thomas Dewe, Josh George, Niam Haroon, Luca Laciofano, Charley Kopoi, Fred Leventon Oliver, Monty Lomax, Thomas Mahony, Ismi Malik, Leo Mathew, Advik Mishra, Thomas Noble, Marcus Pateman-Hall, Isaac Raddan, Sammy Rawlings, Kasim Sheikh, Harry Taylor, Seamus White, Charles Whittle-Queral, George Wooding Jones, Andrew Wright.

U14E Played 9 Won 6 Lost 3 This year’s squad proved hardworking and hearty. They worked extremely well as a team, keeping the ball cannily and earning space that could be exploited by the pacy backs. 

U14D

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 Very few of the forwards had much experience at the start of

the season but all those in the pack developed good levels of awareness and rucking technique. Opposition coaches often commented on the Bedford boys’ skill at tackling and handling. There were early-season wins against Rugby and Radley before Eton, Dulwich and Mill Hill proved a little too strong. The team then went on a roll, defeating Oakham, Radley, Harrow and Abingdon in fine style. It is worth remembering that several players in this E Team had never touched a rugby ball before the start of September 2022. To them and, indeed, the whole squad, much credit is due.

NLH SQUAD MEMBERS: Olly Biffa, Freddie Bowis, Rhys Brook, Harry Brown, Sam Bulleyment, Ollie Cochrane, Thomas Dewe, Arnav Dhaliwal, Jamie Eaves, Joshua Ehindero, Aston Emeana, Charlie Finch, Ralph Franklin, Matt Hackney, Niam Haroon, Oliver Harris, Cormac Hayes, Chengxi Jin, Yaseen Khedr, Dylan Leung, Ismi Malik, Leo Mathew, Umar Mazhar, Mihai Memet, Advik Mishra, Shehryar Mumtaz, Nirmay Patel, Marcus Pateman-Hall, Oliver Quince, Isaac Raddan, Rahil Rana, Stirling Smallwood, Leo Smith, Harry Taylor, Umar Umar, Seamus White, George Wooding Jones, Alfred Wright, Sam Yeomans, Tony Zhao

U14 F Played 4 Lost 4 It was good to see the U14F squad make strong progress as the season progressed; quite a number of boys performed well enough to be called up into higher teams. Rugby was a new challenge for many of the group and they demonstrated tenacity as well as technical development as the season unfolded. The team often competed effectively for significant stretches of each fixture but proved susceptible to opposition players with pace and an imposing stature cutting through the defensive line.

Fourteen excellent tries were scored across the four games and the boys conducted themselves with great dignity at all times.

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SQUAD MEMBERS: Seth Baines, Olly Biffa, Rhys Brook, Sam Bulleyment, Christian Chin, Hugo Crowley, Jamie Eaves, Joshua Ehindero, William Feltham, Matt Hackney, Jimmy Jiang, Emir Jack Kenrick, Yaseen Khedr, Duncan Kung, Dylan Leung, Harry Lousada, Shehryar Mumtaz, Charlie Neale, Arafat Rahman, Rahil Rana, Stirling Smallwood, Leo Smith, Will Spice, Otis Taylor, Jack Wallace, Theo Wang, Sunny Yeung, Yang Kiu Yu, Tony Zhao, York Zhou

RUGBY SEVENS U15

The Remove form had two tournaments and one friendly match this term to show off their impressive attendance at the midweek training sessions. The first competition was at Shelford Rugby Club (The Perse floodlit Sevens) held on a Friday night, where the side brought a squad of 14 with debutants George Sivills and Mikel Deans, contributing to a successful evening, with the team beating Bedford Modern 26-5, Perse 26-0, Felsted 26-7, Bishop Stortford 32-5 and The Leys 28-7 and consequently returning as tournament champions.

After our first sevens tournament triumph, we continued to train in large numbers ahead of a friendly against Bedford Modern where D team player Ben Bruce-White featured, to defeat our local rivals.

The John Pieroni event, hosted by Wimbledon College followed. A clean sweep in a tough group: Seaford 17-12, Dulwich 22-7, John Fisher 34-5 and RGS Guildford 26-0, gave us hope and excitement to go on and lift the trophy.

We commenced our semi-final in front of the clubhouse against Epsom where we went two tries down. However, we fought our hardest to fight back with two well worked, converted tries, the last of which was in the final minute, to record a 14-10 win.

As the crowds around pitch 1 grew, we jogged on to play an excellent Warwick outfit in the final. The team brought a positive mindset, composure, high quality passing, work rate off the ball and connections in defence. Consequently, the team controlled the match and became tournament champions with a convincing 31-7 scoreline.

So, in conclusion of our short yet very positive spring term,

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we played twelve games and won every one, giving a 100%-win record. As a group, we were able to take all the work done in training and effectively apply this in all the tournaments.

Kai Fisher (captain) SQUAD: Sam Barnes, Dylan French, George Hemings, Owain Harries, Sammy Inman, Ander MokhtarEsteban, George Sivills, Ferdi Barnett-Vincent, Charlie Constantine, Justin Fasanya, Kai Fisher, Kachi Onuiri, Aiden Reid, Mikel Deans

RUGBY SEVENS COLTS

The preparations for the season began straight after the Christmas holidays with the coaches running sessions three times a week and working their hardest to get us to the standard required for some demanding tournaments that lay ahead. The early season effort proved to be extremely valuable in our first outing, the Ipswich 7s. Some convincing wins over Wisbech, Bishop’s Stortford and Woodlands, as well as a very narrow one-point loss to Whitgift in the group stages, saw us qualify for the cup semi-final.

We proceeded to play some skilful 7s rugby against the hosts in the semi-final to book us a spot in the final where we were to play Whitgift once again. We found ourselves down by a couple of scores within the first few minutes and, despite a valiant comeback, Whitgift pulled away and won 22-17.

Next up was the Oakham 7s tournament where once again we played ourselves into the cup quarter finals after a couple of good, albeit scrappy, wins in the group stage. However, we fell two scores short against the future Rosslyn Park finalists Bromsgrove in the semi-final, 24-14.

The following week was the QE Barnet 7s tournament where the team put out a great group stage performance, topping our group qualifying for the quarter final. The boys gave all they had in the group stage and were struggling to maintain the pace and skill level shown in the group stage which proved costly as we lost 35-22 against Dulwich college

in the quarters.

Our final opportunity to highlight our skills and earn some silverware came at Rosslyn Park National 7s. The team committed to thorough preparation leading up to the tournament, with the boys and coaches taking time out of their week to ensure we were as sharp as we could be.

To qualify for the second day of the tournament, we had to win every one of our games. We began the tournament as we meant to go on with a 36-0 over Norwich. Two more wins over Hollyfield and Bishop Wordsworth’s earnt us the top spot in our group.

We then moved on to play our elimination round against group winners, Berkhamsted. This, perhaps, was the closest game any member of the team will ever play. Going into the final play, seven points down, we had a scrum well into our own half and needed to score a converted try to level the scores and take it to extra time. An extraordinary run down the blindside from first phase got the score taking it to extra time, with the first team to score winning and qualifying for the second day. It was scoreless going into the final minute until an outrageous dummy and break through the midfield was followed by a composed offload to get us the score.

The second day saw the team experience every result possible during the group stage with a draw against Epsom, a win against King Edward’s School Bath and a loss to Eton.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough for us to qualify for the knockout rounds.

There was significant development in all players in terms of skills, fitness and organisation. However, also memorable was the positive atmosphere and camaraderie within the squad throughout the season.

Oliver Smith - Captain SQUAD: William Gallagher, Alfie Gittins, Fergus Tongue, Aiden Reid, Rupert Cracknell, Justin Fasanya, Oliver Smith, Alfie Allen, Oliver Simmonds, Millan Verwoert, Ben Morrow, Kai Fisher, Oliver Bymolen, Ferdi Barnett-Vincent

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hockey 1st XI

After a three-week holiday of revision for much of the side, the 1st XI kicked off the 2023 season with a home game against the Perse who outplayed us and beat us 6-3, a tough start to the season.

With more training sessions under the belt, the team went into the second block fixture of the season, this time against Oundle, full of confidence and that confidence showed on the pitch as a 6-1 win was secured.

Two weeks into the term meant it was time for the first round of the England Hockey Cup competition and a trip to Stamford awaited us. Unfortunately, in freezing conditions we came out below par and lost 5-3 sending us down to the plate competition.

This loss signalled the end to a rocky start to the season as a 5-match win streak was formed including a win against Stowe in the England Hockey Plate competition as well as wins against Merchant Taylors’ School and RGS, High Wycombe in the Independent Schools’ Cup which all came in between Saturday wins against Stamford and Repton. This meant we finished the first half of term with a record of 6 wins and 2 losses.

Unfortunately, we started the second half of term with a tough loss away at Norwich School having been on top all game; this marked the end of the Independent Schools’ Cup run.

Block fixtures returned after half term with a block against Uppingham and the 1st XI were held to a 3-3 draw. Winless in the first week after half term was not how we wanted to start, but a strong performance followed in the next week to sweep past The Leys in the England Hockey Plate and send us through to the Last 16.

Having been beaten convincingly on the first day of the season by The Perse, a return fixture was played which was approached with confidence after having played better hockey since that first day. The confidence was shown on the pitch as we led 1-0 from the 10th minute all the way to the 68th minute before The Perse unfortunately found an equaliser.

Nevertheless, the result still showed how far we had come as a side.

A cold spell followed in the next week as the game under lights against Rugby school was cancelled as was the annual Old Bedfordians’ game. Cold spell over, the last sixteen of the plate was up next with Harrow the opponents. It was a very scrappy game as we had much of the possession but could not find flowing chances, but a 2-0 win was secured and a place in the quarter final.

The last weekend of block fixtures was finally upon us which gave a chance for the upper sixth leavers to sign off at Gordon Fields on Saturdays. The performance was arguably the best of the year as the attack was at its flowing best leading to us scoring 8 past the Merchant Taylors’ goalkeeper. The defence 92

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suffered slightly, shipping 4 goals, but it was a great way to sign off on Saturdays.

Block fixtures over, all roads led to the Plate competition.

RGS, High Wycombe were the opponents in the Quarter Final.

We were severely under the pump in the first 15 minutes but luckily RGS could not find the back of the net which helped us to eventually settle into the game and once we settled, it was all us. Three corners, converted by Josh Stewart, led to a 3-0 win and a semifinal spot against Sutton Valence School the next day.

A 16:15 push back meant that we were able to have the support of many boys who rushed out after lessons to watch the semi-final. 1-0 down early on, we had to settle fast, and we did as we found an equaliser through a Josh Stewart corner and went into half time level. Playing brilliant hockey, we couldn’t find the breakthrough until Tom Godber put us into the lead with the most significant first 1st XI anyone may score.

Unfortunately, with just 5 minutes to go, SVS equalised sending the game to shuffles. What followed was just brilliant: 4 calmly put away attacking shuffles match by two crucial saves by Josh Addo sent us through the Lee Valley at the Olympic Park in the Final of the England Hockey Plate.

A month later, the day of the final arrived and unfortunately it did not go our way as Bromsgrove outplayed us on all areas of the field but nonetheless it was a great experience for all involved to play at such a big stage and a huge achievement to get to the final after a rough early season.

Lastly, from all of the 1st XI, a massive thank you must go to: Mr Gilbert for all his help over the years with the upper sixth and both indoor and outdoor hockey; Mr Lee for giving up his time to come and umpire our games on Saturdays; Mr Hoggett for all his help with both coaching and umpiring and finally Mr Mee for all his hard graft coaching this side from Year 7 to Year 13, it may not have always been easy, but we hope the end reward of a day at Lee Valley would have made it worth it.

Charlie Blythman

2nd XI

The 2022/23 season started with hopes high following a very successful 21/22 which saw the 2nd team only lose one game all season.

The first game was against a very strong Perse side in which the team was still figuring out our strengths and weaknesses.

This resulted in not the best hockey being played. The team still managed a 2-2 draw with clear areas to improve on for the Oundle match the following week.

These improvements were clear with a comfortable 4-1 win over Oundle lifting spirits leading up to a challenging game against Eton. A slow start after a long bus journey allowed Eton to get 2 early goals to take the lead. The team fought hard to equalize, but our opportunities were simply not converted into goals resulting in the first loss of the season.

The following match was against Repton; knowledge of their incredible hockey abilities resulted in spirits not being too high.

However, after a few minutes of play and an early goal, the team realized they could win, and a big scalp could be taken. Constant pressure, cool heads and well-played hockey from the team allowed for a dominant performance to secure a 6-0 win.

This boosted spirits to allow for the team to finish the halfterm with 2 wins out of two games against Stamford and The

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Leys School. The second half of the term started as we finished the first one with two wins out of two games even against strong opposition like Oakham where the team fought hard to secure a 1-0 win over a very vocal home Oakham team.

The next match saw us face The Perse again which would result in the hardest match all season. The first half finished 2-1 to Perse with them being the better side. At half time we regrouped and got our focus on getting back into the game. The second half saw the team play some of the best hockey they had all season with 2 goals being scored to go into the final few minutes at 3-3. After over an hour of playing their hearts out, the team had nothing left allowing Perse to sneak a literal last-minute goal to end the match 3-4 and bring the second loss of the season. Both teams deserved to win and with the hockey standard played during that match being exceptional, the loss was not taken too heavily. The final two games of the season saw a 3-3 draw with the Merchant Taylors’ school and the match against Rugby cancelled.

The season finished with 10 matches played: 6 won, 2 drawn and 2 lost. There was some exceptional hockey played throughout all the matches and by the end of the season, clear improvements had been made individually and as a whole.

The U6th boys have enjoyed an incredible two years with the 2nd team with 13 wins out of 19 matches and only losing 3 matches in total.

It is clear to see that there is a very strong future for the second team with Mr Burgess being a fantastic coach to drive the boys to play to the best of their abilities.

James Wootton Evans & Harry Wootton Evans (2nd Team Captain) SQUAD: Harry Payne, Freddie Drake-Lee, Zachary Cumming, Edward Briers, Charlie Faulkner, Ben Cook, Oliver Needham, Cole Balachandran, Patrick Diamond, Zaid Faleel, Varun Nathan, Khush Shah, Robert Parrish, James Wootton Evans, Harry Wootton Evans

3rd XI

The 2023 3rd XI Hockey season was a season of ups and downs throughout. Expectations were high following the heroic efforts of the previous season, which saw the mighty Thirds unbeaten. The new boys to the squad had heard the tales of the legendary exploits of the previous season, and therefore could be excused for being somewhat intimidated when running out on Gordon Fields for the first time. However, they quickly realised that the main aim of the Thirds is to have fun and if we win some games along the way, then that is a bonus, meaning they quickly settled into the squad with the veterans in the Upper Sixth.

The first fixture at home versus Oundle saw us in an unfamiliar position – behind in the game, after conceding in the first 30 seconds of the match. After fighting back and controlling possession, Beford soon equalised, only for Oundle to hit back early in the second half. All looked lost for the Thirds; however, the crowd was to witness a last second equaliser that was given when admittedly everybody on the pitch including the ref that gave the goal, had doubts whether the ball had crossed the line, but in the chaos and confusion the goal was given just before the final whistle was blown.

This euphoric last-minute goal to keep the unbeaten run was short lived as in the following game the 3rds lost 0-4 away to a very strong Eton team. Three of the four goals were scored whilst captain Alex Fairburn took a 5-minute breather due to a knee injury, which perhaps could not be put down to coincidence, as many felt that he had been carrying the whole midfield for much of the game!

The following four games of the short season due to last minute cancellations and poor weather, saw three more wins against Felstead, The Leys and Uppingham. The Felstead match will not be forgotten in a hurry, as the final score ended 17-0 in Bedford’s favour. Mr Wise thought he had seen enough after 28 minutes of the match, as had many of the Felstead players, who were making their thoughts clear to their coach about going home early! Special mention must go 

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 to Charlie Faulkner for scoring 8 goals, although somehow

Vedant Somal, the top scorer from last season, managed to not score a single goal. Unfortunately, the story of his season was missing the goal, so this wasn’t a surprise to the team.

The best match of the season was against a strong Leys team, who made us work hard for the win, with some great saves from Joe Mullaney ensuring we held on for the win in the dying seconds of the game. Vedant Somal finally found his radar in this match and scored three valuable goals.

The last game of the season saw an away day at Merchant Taylors’, by far one of the longest away fixtures on the circuit, and one we seem to get every year. Hopefully, we can finally play them at home next season! Another close game sadly led to a heartbreaking 2-4 loss, with the opposition scoring two late goals in the final minutes to snatch the win. Will Trobe and Will Edwards toiled hard in the midfield all season, with Aryan Sisodia, Toby Mitchell and Jamie Welch solid in defence all season as well.

Overall, the season result of 4 wins and 2 losses was by no means a poor one and the boys put all their effort in for each match and fought hard for the wins, ably led by their captain (and self-appointed best player) Alex Fairburn. Well done to all for a great season!

Alex Fairburn SQUAD MEMBERS: Alex Fairburn, Joesph Mullaney, Aryan Sisodia, Vedant Somal, Will Trobe, Will Edwards, Abid Hussein, Toby Mitchell, Jamie Welch, William Everitt, Louis Elder, Thomas Jenkins, Ben Cook, George Worthington, Zachary Cumming, Edward Briers, Charlie Faulkner, Tom Howe, Isaac Maddison, Tom Cameron-Fraser, Kiran Katechia

4th XI

1 win, 1 draw and 2 losses. I have to say it has been a commendable effort from all the students in the 4th XI. Whilst the weather was never on our side, this never stopped us or our efforts. It has been an honest pleasure, being an Upper Sixth, to train with the Lower Sixth and watch them grow and develop their hockey skills over the term.

4th XI hockey has always been the bottom end of the 6th hockey; students were just doing it out of commitment to a games requirement. However, the intensity shown not only on the pitch, but also in training, really highlights the impact these players have made to 4th XI and the culture they wanted to be brought forward this season.

Being part of the 4th XI for the last two years, it felt a shame the season ended so quickly, just as everything was coming together. To even see students practising aerials, reverse hits and 3D skills really showed the effort and pushes students were making to improve their individual hockey skills.

However, to cite a few memorable moments of the season…

It is easy to play as an outfield player, with the experience Will Everitt gained from Autumn term hockey. However, the most difficult challenge was stepping up to the plate, when being asked to be the goalkeeper. While, having some previous experience, Will Everitt rose to the occasion without hesitation. His determination in both as an outfield player and goalkeeper truly is a testament to the 4th team culture of 94

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going above a beyond the expectations of a 4th team.

Whilst there were only three Upper 6th in the 4th XI, including myself, it is hard to forget Tom Howe and his perseverance to score. His movement on the pitch to an open position up the field allowed him to receive from halfway. This was followed by dribbling single handedly up the pitch against 3 of Oakham School’s team. Though the biggest feat was doing this with only a single shoe on. He continued onwards until the whistle was blown, surprisingly enough, if not for the shoe left at the halfway line.

Whilst I only name two moments, this does not even begin to describe the contributions made by everyone on the team.

However, whilst the team plays a vital role, they are only as good as the coach that leads them. Mr. Nicholls, having only a single season under his belt, always brought the best out of all of us, always pushing us to go that extra mile to be a better team. Even now, I can still hear him supporting us from the dugout.

I strongly believe that if the Lower Sixth continues to raise the culture and expectations of 4th XI hockey, through the hard work and determination, on and off the pitch, then they are sure to not only win, but inspire this expectation throughout Bedford School hockey.

Kiran Katechia SQUAD MEMBERS: William Everitt, Tom CameronFraser , Sam Gribbin, Frederik Simmen, Ben Smith, Tom Howe, Huw Burton- Pye, Isaac Maddison, Will Edwards, George Worthington, Kiran Katechia

U14A

It was a strong start for the under 14A team going unbeaten in their first five games. Due to a couple of injuries the team changed. Going into the East Championships the under 14A were low on confidence but turned it around and won their group without conceding a goal. Then they went on to face a strong Perse team where they lost 2-1. The under 14A finished well beating a strong Merchant Taylor’s team. Overall, this was a good season for the under 14A team.

Ben Maddaford SQUAD: Freddie Bowis, Arnav Dhaliwal, Jamie Hall, Harry Howlett, Will Jackson, George Knight, Josh Lincoln, Monty Lomax, Benjamin Maddaford, Dan Morrow, Charlie Neale, George Nevill, Alex Turner, Alfred Williams, Oliver Sheldon, Jack Down

U16A

The Under 16 side had an eventful 2023 season with a mixture of good team and individual performances and moments of misfortune, all together making for an eventful and hardfought term of hockey.

Our first game of the calendar year was against The Perse. During this time, both sides were struggling with the mock exams, resulting in two evenly rusty teams that have a historical rivalry. After a defiant 1-0-win last season at the Perse’s ground for the Bedford side, the roles had reversed

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this time and we conceded the first goal of the game, with just five minutes left to play, leaving us defeated at the end of the hour.

However, we did not let this adversity stop us from continuing to train hard going into our game against Oundle the following Saturday. This time, the team had made amends, as we looked to be a lot smoother and more effective in our style of hockey, and with a hattrick from Oliver Simmonds, and two goals from Oscar Jewers, we found ourselves comprehensively victorious, winning 6 goals to 0.

Skipping ahead to 28th January, we would face our toughest opponents of the block fixture season, just two days after a 3-2 loss versus Eton College, conceding the final goal on the final whistle.

The U16 side was up for the game and after a slow and patient start from both sides, Alfie Allen broke the deadlock, after ten minutes of play. With not long left in the first half, both teams continued to play conservatively, not wanting to give the other a chance. However, with 5 minutes until the half-time whistle blew, Will Hayward made a darting run in the middle of the pitch, linking up with three of his teammates, before beating the final defender and shifting the ball around the keeper, in what was definitely a standout goal in the season.

We proceeded into the second half with the same determination to win the game as we patiently passed the ball across the back line and defended heroically against Repton’s two England U16 squad members.

In the last ten minutes, the game became more open and fast-paced as Repton were hunting for their way back into the game. This chaos did not stop our side as we continued to play the passing hockey we enjoy, and with an excellent team goal, finished by Oscar Jewers, we won this toughly fought battle 3-1 against a highly reputable Repton side, ending their

6-game winning streak. Definitely a game to remember for all of our players.

For the rest of the season, the U16 side trained hard and worked well as a team. As a result of this dedication, we won our final five block fixtures of the year, with close games against Stamford (2-3)(A). Where we found ourselves 2-0 down in the first half before coming back to win the game 3-0 with goals from Sam Mullaney and Oliver Smith. Another highlight of the season was a fantastic 2-0 win against The Perse; the team made amends for earlier in the season.

The U16 England School Cup was cut short after an early knockout, losing 4-0 against an impressive and future quarterfinalist side, The Leys, who in fact lost to the eventual winners via a penalty shootout.

We then had a tough game in the Plate against a side from our past, Culford. However, after a tenacious performance, the game was locked at 2-2 after full-time and unfortunately lost 3-2 on shuffles. Despite the short cup run, the boys could still be very proud of their perseverance and skill on the pitch.

All in all, the Under 16 side never gave up this season and after a rocky first month of 2 losses and 2 wins in block fixtures, we continued to endeavour and turned our Mephistophelean misfortune around, ending our spring term campaign with 6 wins and 2 loses in all block fixtures.

A special mention must go to Mr Marriott for a fantastic two-year experience, which the boys have thoroughly enjoyed.

Sam Mullaney SQUAD: Dale Sirivisal, Will Hayward, Fred Dickson, Sam Mullaney, Tom Barnes, Zach Hone, James Dagg, Edward Dagg, Oliver Smith, Oliver Simmonds, Oscar Jewers, Oscar Jooste, Alfie Allen, Ben Morrow, Sammy Inmann

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rowing 1st VIII

This past year in rowing has been a tremendous success, largely due to the collective hard work and unwavering competitive mindset that extended through all age groups. It was a year marked by extraordinary achievements, driven by the teamwork of boys of all ages pushing each other to their best.

The senior rowers set the pace with their relentless work ethic and high standards. Their dedication to the sport was contagious, inspiring the younger members to strive for greatness. In turn, the younger boys brought a new energy and a hunger to prove themselves, which pushed the seniors to maintain their form.

This healthy competition was the catalyst for our achievements. The boys approached each practice and race determinedly, always striving for improvement. As a result, we not only saw individual growth but also outstanding team achievements, culminating in a year of club-wide success.

The first of the big races of the season was the School’s Head of The River. Having made our way down to London, many boys were dreading the long four-mile course, but after this year’s success at SHORR, from not only the first VIII but the whole boat club, it will become something that the boys will be excited for in the future. The race being a time trial, you’re never really expecting much drama, but the first VIII had to make a couple of overtakes in their race. The last 1000m felt like an eternity, but the boys pushed through and finally crossed the finish line, just short of Putney Bridge. After a difficult paddle back up to St Paul’s boat club, we sat in the car park waiting for our results. Then, finally, they all came in: the 1st VIII won their category, the J16As won their category, and the J15As also won theirs. We couldn’t believe it. It was a massive result 96

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for the Boat Club and filled the boys with confidence and excitement for the regatta season ahead.

For our second major race of the year, we made our way to Dorney Lake for The National School’s Regatta. The 1st VIII came into NSR with high hopes, but it wasn’t going to be easy.

Needing to get top two in our heats was the first challenge.

Drawing up against St Paul’s and St Edward’s meant it would be tough. We did our best but sadly missed out on that top two spot. We got through our repechage later that day and made our way to one of the A/B semi-finals. This was like our final, to us. Making the A final was our goal, but sadly, it was not to be.

Seeking revenge in the B final, we went out hoping to win but came back in 3rd, just behind Dulwich.

This disappointing outcome from the National School’s left a lot to be desired, which motivated the boys to work especially hard for that next month leading up to Henley Royal Regatta.

We introduced more of the boys from different year groups into our ‘Henley trials’, giving boys an opportunity to show their abilities but also their potential for future shots at selection.

We eventually ended up with our VIII and started training immediately. The rate at which this crew improved was mindblowing, and we were all really happy with it and excited to show the wider rowing world what Bedford School had to offer.

Then came the day of the draw, which also happened to be a race day, with the boys frantically checking their phones for the news of who we were racing. We only found out a couple minutes after finishing our race that we were racing St Paul’s, who were seen as favourites and reigning champions.

To begin with, it wasn’t easy to hear, but as we got closer to the date, we started to back ourselves and believe that we were the underdogs.

When race day came around, the excitement was

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overwhelming; you could tell it would be one of the biggest races of our careers. Sitting at the start line was surreal. Sitting with eight other boys, who you’ve been through hell with and are willing to go back into for, was exhilarating. We were prepared for anything, had a solid race plan and went for it. We gave them quite the shock off the start and stayed with them until the mile post. We weren’t going to roll over and let them get away, but they seemed to slowly push away and beat us by 1 1/4 lengths. Although it was an emotional moment, it wasn’t all sadness. We did everything we wanted. We had a good showing, but most importantly, we showed them a taste of what Bedford School can produce. Which will hopefully inspire boys from the younger years to see that with hard work they can also achieve great things.

In reflecting on the past year, it’s clear that the boys’ hard work and competitive mindset across all age groups were the driving forces behind our triumphant journey. All of the 1st VIII members finished the year with multiple wins from races like Marlow Regatta, Bedford Regatta, Reading Regatta and many more. This is all thanks to our coaches and our rowing counterparts, keeping us honest and helping us along the way.

Archie Black SHORR: (Cox) B.Edwards, (stroke) A.Black, H.Tolmie, D.Mitchell, R.Apps, J.Walter, S.Gildersleve, B.Williams, (bow) H.Tongue NSR: (Cox) B.Edwards, (stroke) A.Black, H.Tolmie, D.Mitchell, R.Apps, J.Walter, H.Tongue, L.Pollen-brooks, (bow) W.Cave HRR: (Cox) B.Edwards, (stroke) A.Black, R.Apps, D.Mitchell, F.Tongue, J.Walter, H.Tolmie, L.Pollen-Brooks, (bow) H.Tongue CAPTAIN: Harry Tongue VICE-CAPTAIN: Jasper Walter

themselves to the training sessions in order to secure a good result at National Schools. After a couple of weeks’ training, National Schools was approaching quickly. We all had one common goal: to reach the A final.

We arrived at Eton Dorney early in the morning with plenty of time to warm up and get prepared for the day of racing coming up. To start, we had a time trial 1900 metres down the course with the objective of going as fast as possible to get good lane selection for the semi-finals.

After a solid row, we were positioned sixth out of fourteen with only 0.27 seconds separating us and the seventh placed crew.

In a strong semi-final, we lined up at the start and got ready to race. The first 1000m was a battle against BMS, and in the second half we had a reset and started to pull away securing third position and a place in the A final. We rested up for the late afternoon final and knew we had to give it everything in the final to try and come top five. We boated for the final and the nerves hit us whilst waiting to start.

The light went green, and we set off trying to get a head start. BMS were leading us going into the first 500 metres and Monmouth School were level going through the first 1000 metres. In the second half, we could see fifth place in sight and after creating clear water between BMS, we were fighting Monmouth for fifth place. The final 250 metres meant it was time to push, and we pushed through the line securing fifth place out of a strong field of fourteen. Thank you to Ms Bowis for coaching us and to the crew.

Barnaby Williams

Champ IV

The Champ IV provided five boys with the opportunity to race in the Championship Coxed IV category at the National Schools’ Regatta. Once the crew had been selected to compete in the IV it became clear that the crew dedicate

SQUAD: S Barnaby Williams, 3 Matthias Pascall, 2 Sam Lock 1, Cyrus Goddard, Cox Hari Mistry.

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2nd VIII

In the second half of the summer term after a strong performance from 19 boys for Henley selection, we split into a 1st and 2nd VIII with both boats being highly competitive. We were aiming to try and qualify for the Temple Challenge Cup which is competed by both school and university crews.

We had a strong start to the season by beating Southampton University at Star Regatta securing the win on our home river. However, we knew the work which was in store for Henley qualification and looked ahead to Marlow Regatta.

Coming to Marlow Regatta one of the crew members made a bet with Dr Suthers on getting an ice-cream if we made the A final.

We thought this was way beyond our ability, and we went into the time trial with everyone going to give it everything. After the time trial we had come fourth out of thirty-one (with the 1st place crew being the school’s 1st VIII). The next aim of the day was to win the schools’ second 2nd VIII category.

We went into the A final giving it everything, and, after a tough fought race with Hampton School, we won the 2nd VIII category. However, we were hungry for more and kept up with the training ahead of the Henley qualification. With 80 entries into the Temple, twenty had pre-qualification and so we needed to be in the  top thirteen out of sixty crews up against

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big universities such as Durham, Oxford Brookes, Cambridge amongst others. Alongside the university crews there were other school second eights such as Shiplake, St Paul’s and Radley all eager for qualification.

Going to Henley qualifying was a great experience for us to get a feel for the course and after a practice paddle in the morning, we were ready for the time trial and to try and qualify.

We set off down the course with a strong start and stable middle with a powerful finish.

With hopes of qualifying, all we could do was wait before the results were announced. The announcer came on the tannoy and announced the thirteen crews which had qualified for the Temple Challenge Cup. We had come fourteenth missing out qualification by under one second. However, we had become the fastest schools’ 2nd VIII in the country, beating St Paul’s by two seconds. All the boys involved should be proud for the performance we put in.

Thank you to Dr Suthers for pushing us to become the fastest schools’ 2nd VIII and to the crew for giving it everything and always staying focussed during training sessions.

Congratulations to a short but strong season to the 2nd VIII. Barnaby Williams SQUAD: Cox Tom Reader, Stroke Daniel McGregor, 7 Alex Deane, 6 Barnaby Williams, 5 Scott Gildersleve, 4 James Sprange, 3 William Cave, 2 Stanley Breed, 1 Alex Harrison

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Colts A

The 2023 J16A Colts season saw one of the most successful J16 seasons in Bedford School history, with highlights being: 1st in J16, 1st 8s at SHORR, 1st at JIRR, 1st in the 2nd 8s at Bedford Regatta and a bronze medal at National Schools’ Regatta. There were other wins at Bedford Small Boat, Star Head, Peterborough Head, Bedford Head, Star Regatta and Thames Valley Park Regatta.

However, the many victories were not the season’s only key point. A few points of this successful season made it an interesting one.

Earlier on in the season was Wallingford Head. Wallingford Head was on a Sunday, meaning a few of us in the boat may or may not have preferred to stay in bed. Thankfully for us, upon arriving, we noticed how fast the stream was going against the direction of the race. Fortunately, or unfortunately (depending on whom you ask), the head race was cancelled, and we spent the rest of the day driving back home.

At SHORR, most of the crew remember, perhaps even more so than the victory, the 1 ½ hour wait on the water. Sitting in a boat and barely moving for 1 ½ hours is bad enough, but not as bad as sitting in a boat and barely moving when it is raining.

What made matters worse were our coaches, who sat at a restaurant next to the river and watched us as we froze. I speak for every boy in the boat when I say that seeing our Director of Rowing drinking a hot drink whilst we dealt with the cold may have been a reason for our win at SHORR. After the rains of the Schools’ Head came the floods, and consequently the stream conditions on the River Thames were too high and the Radley Camp became a fifty-minute commute to Dorney Lake each day. Water sessions are often long, but with the added commute, this resulted in even longer sessions to make the most of the time we had available. During two of the earlier sessions, Dr Suthers did not feel as if he was quite close enough to the action, and as the Colts squad were one person short of two 8s, he decided that getting in the boat at

the two seat would help. Only a little difference was made for the front half of the boat, but for the bow four, it made training significantly harder. Every misplaced catch, lazy finish or early square was met with immediate feedback. After two hours on the water with Dr Suthers at two-seat, everyone in the boat was rowing much better than they had been at the start of the day.

The summer term brought the regattas and after winning gold at the Junior Interregional Regatta which involved beating KCS Wimbledon and a Windsor Boys/Great Marlow composite, the following week was Wallingford Regatta. The entry for Wallingford Regatta was both slightly frightening and exciting with the top 12 crews in the country entered. An exciting heat saw us finish just ¼ length behind St Paul’s and with the second fastest time, which confirmed our medal potential.

A poor start sequence in the final saw us in last place and spending the first half of the two-thousand-metre course trying to make it up, which we eventually did, fending off the pushes from KCS and closing the others to finish in 5th place just 0.2 second behind Eton and 1.2 second behind Radley. This was an important result as suddenly we started to believe a medal at the National Schools Regatta was a possibility.

The final regatta of the season was the TVP Regatta, at which a mix-up of boats took place. We put out two coxed fours at the regatta: an A four and a B four. However, in the first round of the races, our main rivals at the regatta knocked out the A four. The B four made it to the final and ended up beating the boat that beat the A four and their time, much to the A four’s embarrassment. We quickly got over this to finish the season in the 8 beating Reading Blue Coat.

In conclusion, our J16 Colts season set us up for a solid season next year, and we hope to have similar success next season.

James Sprange SQUAD: S. Jutla, E. Newton-Walters, N. Sharpe, C. Rahwangi-Gough, A. Proctor, J. Sprange, A. Harrison, F. Tongue, A. Deane, D. McGregor, T. Reader

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Colts B

When the Colts B crew was assembled in the spring term, we were a bit of a weird mix of rowers, some of us had rowed in the same boat the year before, some of us had just finished playing rugby, some of us had already rowed in small boats for a term, and some of us had been falling out of small boats for a term (naming no names). But now we were united and ready to train.

Our cox, Christopher Bonnington, deserves a special mention. Christopher was friends with many of us rowers, and as we had a major cox shortage, we managed to convince him to come down to the river for a session, and then a few more sessions, and then he found himself sitting at the back of our boat making sure we didn’t hit anything (And occasionally telling us to pull harder). Over the year he became a great cox, and a valued member of the boat club.

As soon as the season started, so did the vigorous training plan, and the turnout was great. From early morning sessions to Friday nights, everyone tried their best, and we started to see results on the ergo and on the water. Even the coxes came to the Friday night partner erg.

We raced at many heads that term, whilst working towards our big goal for the term, the Schools’ Head. During the term, due to injuries in the A boat, spaces opened up, and these spaces were being fought for. Some of the A boat rowers were getting a run for their money, and this healthy competition pushed both boats to train harder.

Finally, it was time for the Schools Head. A 7k race down the Thames, where you have to wake up at five to get there and then sit in a boat for three hours in the rain before you can race. I don’t understand why we do it. But we were all there, and enthusiastic, at that ungodly time in the morning.

When the rain finally stopped, we turned the boat round in preparation to race. Ironically, the sun came out as we started rowing, and I was dry by the end of the race. I 100

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thought we raced well, and the results showed where we were, and who we wanted to beat at the next big race, the National Schools’ Regatta.

After the spring term, we got to go to Radley for our training camp, where we (unexpectedly) rowed on Eton Dorney because of high water on the Thames. Training at this Olympic venue was very beneficial, as many of the races we had coming up were to be held here. Alongside training in our eight, we did some training in pairs. Well, most of us did training in pairs, whilst Finlay and Hugo did ‘get-stuck-in-apontoon’ in a pair, and Ethan and Sahvan did ‘go-for-a-swimdirectly-in-front-of-Eton’s-boathouse’ in a pair. During the camp we also got to use a boat with telemetry, which told us the numerical values of our rowing, and how to improve.

When the National Schools’ Regatta came around, we had improved hugely since the beginning of the year, and we were ready to do our best. Our time trial placed us in the B final with two other schools: The Bish, and Dulwich. This race would decide if we came 7th, 8th, or 9th, and we won!

We beat them both by a considerable distance, which was quite a nice way to end the season. When we watched the livestream back afterwards, we noticed the commentators mentioned our boat. They complimented us on the fact we were all ‘actually wearing our hats the right way round’, as opposed to many rowers who like to rock the backwards cap.

Thank you to Dr Suthers, and especially Miss Owens for her amazing coaching, and a great year of rowing!

Charlie Eggleton SQUAD: Felix Thwaite, Henry Pascall, Sahvan Jutla, Trystan Wright, Finn Mitchell, Michael Moretto, Charlie Eggelton, Hugo Wilson, Christopher Bonnington, Ethan Newton-Walters (loaned to the A crew).

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J15A

The new J15s enter the lower gym with strong numbers, for the very first ergo session of the Autumn term. Excited for another season with Mr Satchwill and to be sweeping this year rather than sculling.

We kicked off the year at half-term entering two coxed quads with an A and B combination, 10 boys competing. After this the removes and senior rowers headed off to Pangbourne rowing camp, the boys selected according to their efforts in winter training. This was our first proper introduction to sweeping, other than some short sessions towards the end of Fourth Form - it was interesting! Then we finished off the autumn with star club head.

We went into the Spring Term with a large squad of rowers, three full eights and a few spares.This allowed the competitiveness to carry on throughout the entire season. The squad was preparing for the busy season ahead. We started off with the first BASHER; two mixed eight combinations were entered to experience their first competition in sweeping. The results were strong, and the season looked to be promising (it was).

All three eights entered the Peterborough Head to experience their first long distance piece, the A and B boats rowing a 5500m course. The A team looked strong, beating the colt Bs on the results sheet. A week later, the crew were to experience their first win of the season. Bedford Head was a success and just the thing we needed to shift our focus to the notorious Schools’ Head of the River Race, at the end of Head season. A week later the ‘A’ four qualify for the Junior Inter Regionals Regatta.

The end of Head season came in fast, the whole squad showing brilliant integrity and grit at ergo/S&C sessions.

The crews prepared for ‘the main event’, SHORR (Schools’ Head Of the River Race). This is a national event at which the best schools from around the country all compete on an approximately 7.5km course going through the centre of

London.

The ‘A’ boat felt the pressure as they rowed up to Chiswick Bridge to join the large queue of boats for the race. After waiting in a 3-hour queue, the crew was finally able to start the vast course. Steaming down the river with John Logan, the coxswain, motivating the crew to go as hard as they could sustain, pushing them to the edge for the whole 18 or 19 minutes. He steered us a brilliant line, gaining us time on almost every turn. Ben Rioch set the rhythm and rate down the course, the rest of the crew eagerly following him: No.7 Sam Deardon, No.6 Stanley Breed, No.5 Daniel Meier, No.4 Oliver Payne, No.3 Toby Northey, No.2 Charlie Spencer, and Bow, Felix Beckmann.

As we closed in on the end of the course, we began to approach target boats that we set as milestones for the race.

We were going three ways into one of the final turns with Mossbourne and Norwich. John steered us a near-perfect line down the inside, with the stream, and we raced through the pack of boats towards the finish.

We went for one last big push over the finish. We were now finished, some-what pleased with the piece. Once we got back on land, we received a debrief from Mr Satchwill and the results were in. Bedford second to St. George’s, 4 seconds in it, the oarsmen’s hearts sank. After refreshing the results page 

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 for ten minutes in disbelief, and hope as we were the only ‘A’

crew to not have won, the times changed after recalculation, Bedford 1st , St. Georges 2nd . What a win. Winning the 1st VIIIs category and coming sixth in the country overall.

We kicked off regatta season with Radley Camp and four days of high intensity training. The selected boys, missing the head coach Mr Satchwill, went into the camp with an open mind, prepared for change because Mr Sheridan would be giving a fresh perspective on the crews. The camp is a succession of new technical advancements and physical training; most of the squad completed their first 2K test.

Coming out of the camp and into the Summer Term, the crew was prepared for whatever the regatta season threw at us. The four started the season off with the Junior Inter Regional Regatta, coming out with an impressive third place.

The whole squad attended at least one ergo per week and used up all the ergos in the old theatre multiple times; we looked forward to Bedford Head. The first race in the eight was Bedford Head. The ‘A’ crew was also split into a four and a quad. After reaching finals in all three events, a win seemed inevitable. However, a tough race was sure to come.

We faced Radley in the eight, a strong crew that later came first at the national regatta struck us down. Next, the four and the quad were struck down with an impressive race. The pressure got to the crew, and we lost all three finals. After Nottingham City Regatta, our sights were set on the National Schools’ Regatta.

We headed to the event with high expectations. After a strong row in the time trials, we were into the B-final, despite hoping to be in the A-final. Our faces dropped but, after a team-talk, we decided that we would go on to achieve the best we could in the B-final. An impressive fifth place, coming ninth overall, on timings. We finished the season with wins at Star Regatta and a close second at Thames Valley Park.

Many thanks to the coaches, Mr Satchwill, Mr Roger and 102

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Mr Messling, for guiding us through an impressive season and setting a strong platform for next year.

Oliver Payne SQUAD: John Logan, Oliver Payne, Sam Deardon, Stanley Breed, Daniel Meier, Ben Rioch, Adam McFarland, Charlie Spencer, Toby Northey

J15B

The J15B team had a good season. Having never swept before we started off doing a 5k at Peterborough and with a decent finish, we moved on. The next big race we did was Schools’ Head. Whilst sitting in a boat for around an hour waiting for our race, we sat through the cold and rain. We finished eighth in our group and overtook two boats throughout the race: one at the start and one at the very end.

We also did well at national schools. A good time trial put us into the B final, but as we found out we were only three seconds from qualifying for the A final. A second in the final led us to finish tenth overall, an increase of two places from our time trial.

Our final race of the season was our most successful one, winning our first cups of the season at Star Club Regatta, both quite comfortable wins.

The Radley camp was a big part of the progression of the team. As Radley’s river was flooded we got to train on Eton Dorney instead, an hour’s drive between the Radley campus and Eton. I want to thank Mr Roger, Mr Satchwill and Mr Messling for helping us progress a lot throughout the season.

Isaac Battersby SQUAD: Elio Lepore, Mike Halahan, Felix Beckmann, Sam Barnes, Isaac Battersby, Max Mullooly, James Pinkney, Ander Mokhter-Esteban, Nick Dyal

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J14A

After a gutsy performance at the Junior Sculling Head at Dorney and despite breaking a blade, we completed the second leg of the race with just 7 boys rowing in just 42 more seconds that the first leg.

We put in some hard training and a tough few days at Radley Training Camp. At the start of the summer term, four of the boys and a cox had been selected to represent the region at the Inter-regional Regatta in Nottingham where the boys rowed well despite the challenging weather and water conditions. They finished the regatta in a very creditable seventh place, in the top half of all regions in the country.

The J14A octuple crew had an unfortunate start to the summer season getting knocked out of our home regatta in the first round. This however did not daunt the boys’ spirit and drove them to perform far higher than anyone would expect.

The boys all turned their attention to the National Schools’ Regatta held at Dorney Lake. Here the boys put all their effort and drove themselves to Qualify in ninth position in the time trial putting them in the B final.

With the other crews either side of us, we upped our game some more and won the final. This meant we were seventh overall. However, two of the crews in the A Final had times slower than ours so it could be argued we were fifth overall.

It was here that the boys realized that their full potential had not been fulfilled and that there was the possibility of winning some events. We worked hard and started to further develop our skills in an after school single sculling club.

We won at Star Regatta in Octos and a quad. Then the same at Thames Valley Park. The last regatta of the season was Peterborough Junior Championships. Here, we won again defeating the mighty Windsor Boys’ School who were second at National Schools.

Having done lots of practice in single sculls, Sam Else and I persuaded our coach to let us race in a double at Peterborough.

After some eventful heats we finished the final in third place coming home with a bronze medal.

In conclusion, despite the rough start, the season boiled down to be one of great success and hard work. Well done, lads.

Henry Pask SQUAD: Oscar Qualtrough, Sam Else, Goerge Craven, Henry Pask, Harry Crowe, Finley Miller, Sam Millar, Oliver Surley, Aryan Sohonpal( cox)

J14B

The Bedford School B Octo had a fun and impressive season, achieving many high placed finishes. The team has changed through the season with eleven boys racing in the B boat

from the beginning of the season to end. The boys have taken part in many races, the noticeable such as Peterborough and National Schools.

The B Octo came first in the B Octos at Peterborough and managed to get through to the B final with mixed boats. The boys battled hard with another school all through the race and only managed to pull away in the last 100m.

Another highlight of the boys’ season was National Schools. The boys rowed against some tough opponents and manged to do well enough in the time trial to get the quickest time in the B boat B final. There, the boys rowed hard and managed to finish third in the B heat.

Then it came to the Star meet and there the boys crushed their first race, beating the other school with ease. Then the boys in the second round had to race against another school’s A boat.

Sadly, the boys just lost out and lost by half a boat length.

Many thanks to our coach Mr Palmer; without him this would not have been possible. Many of the boys attended extra training sessions and put in the hard work. Without this level of hard work and commitment, last year’s results could not have been possible. I am looking forward to next year and rowing with everyone again.

Thomas Noble SQUAD: Thomas Noble, Sam Yeomans, Rocco Sarro, Alvin Cao, Josh Lincoln, Lewis Noble, Theo Wang, Oscar Hayward, Fred Leventon, Isaac Raddan (cox)

J14C

Last year the C crew improved massively over the year; at the start most of us couldn’t even row and were going on the river for the first time. Now, we are a confident crew who are together on the river. The speed of the boat has improved too but has a little way to go before we can rival the higher crews or have some of our members moving up.

We had few but significant successes over the year such as beating opponents that even our hopeful coach Miss Spong didn’t believe we could beat. Some of these victories occurred at Star Regatta, which is a head-to-head regatta that is held on the Ouse in the summer.

I remember extremely vividly the feeling in the boat when we raced Bedford Modern School. Everyone was trying their hardest and everyone was together. As the cox, Charlie Gibson, screamed words of encouragement, we pushed the boat down the river gaining boat length after boat length. We streamed past the suspension bridge and brought ourselves back to the bank.

After a win like that, we were hopeful for the next race.

Unfortunately, we had only five minutes’ rest before we faced our next opponent and didn’t do nearly as well, but even in that race, none of us gave up; we all gave all that we had left and finished the race only just below our average performance.

Stirling Smallwood SQUAD: Ralph Franklin, , Oliver Biffa, Chengxi Jin, Charles Gandesha, Harry Lousada, , Stirling Smallwood, Jared Love, Ralph Franklin, Jasper Goodwin, Charlie Gibson (cox)

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CRICKET 1st XI Played 19 Won 14 Drew 3 Lost 2 It was an absolute pleasure to coach a squad of boys who were all highly motivated throughout pre season and during the summer. Mr Brett was the 1st XI coach in September and he put together an excellent winter programme which was challenging for the boys, as sessions flitted between 50 over 20 over practice. Mr Brett had an excellent team of coaches supporting him i.e. former Northamptonshire players David Sales and David Ripley, and also the bowling expertise of Will Sneath and Brad Matthews, both from Cricket East. Halfway through the winter programme, Mr Brett secured the Director of Cricket job at Stamford School and whilst he would be missed at Bedford School, it was an excellent opportunity for him. On behalf of all the cricketers in the school, I would like to thank him for all of his hard work and excellent coaching over the last 8 years.

Haileybury

Following a really good winter, the squad were ready for the season, however all of the pre season matches were washed out, so the first game of the season was a block fixture away to Haileybury. Due to all of the wet weather, the pitch wasn’t the easiest to bat on for both teams. We batted first and struggled to rotate the strike and/or hit boundaries, however, Danny Chapman and Sam Bayley both grinded out 28 runs each to get the team up to 124 all out. At the time, we thought we were at least 50 runs short of a good score, but the old adage is, until both teams bat, you will not know what a good score is. Zaid Faleel gave the team the start it needed with two early wickets, which put Haileybury on the back foot and suddenly 124 was looking like 104

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a score that might just be competitive. All the seamers bowled really well and kept the pressure on Haileybury, however it was the spinners, Max Hunt (4 for 15) and Vedant Somal (1 for 5), who proved to be the hardest to play by the home team. Both bowlers gave nothing away as they bowled maiden after maiden, so the pressure on the batsman kept building up. Hunt took the last wicket to bowl Haileybury out for just 69 in 34 overs to give Bedford a fantastic win by 55 runs.

The MCC

The next fixture was the longstanding annual match against the MCC, whose team usually has several Old Bedfordians in the line up. As tradition dictates, the MCC batted first and the 1st XI bowled well throughout the innings with Zaid Faleel and Joe Mullaney both picking up 2 wickets each. The MCC declared on 234-7 after 56 overs, which was just over halfway through the day, so Bedford could expect around 45 overs in return.

Top order batsmen Vedant Somal (58) and Jamie Dunk (38) top scored and at one time, the 1st XI looked like they may have a good chance of chasing down the MCC score. However, the experience of the MCC bowlers kept us under pressure and once wickets started to fall, it was more about whether we could save the game and get an honourable draw, as opposed to winning it. Danny Chapman played a very responsible innings of 30 not out to help secure a draw against what was a strong MCC team and a result that the team should be quite proud of.

Rugby School

Rugby School, at home, was the next game and the captain, Charlie Blythman, won the toss and elected to bat first. Somal (57) and Dunk (76) both played beautifully to set the team up

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for a big score. Blythman (28) and a quickfire 34 from Eldon Craven took the final score up to 269-6 off 50 overs. 3 wickets for Dunk got the team off to an excellent start, however it was the tight bowling from spinners Hunt (1-35) and Chapman (5-41) that restricted Rugby to 212 all out, to secure a comfortable win by 57 runs.

Oakham

The first of our T20 fixtures was the next game against Oakham, who are always one of the stronger teams that we play each year. Bedford batted first and Faleel (23) and Chapman (25) top scored to help the team reach 111-8 off the 20 overs. This was a score that was around 20 light of ideally where we would like to be but runs on the board can still create scoreboard pressure. Chapman (3-11) again bowled superbly, however Oakham batted steadily and looked like they would reach the total without too much trouble, especially as their star batsman was batting well. The Bedford bowlers kept plugging away and they got their just rewards when they took the wicket of their best player, still 20 runs shy of the total. At this point, Bedford turned the screw and Oakham couldn’t get the ball away, so the runs dried up for them. Some superb bowling and fielding by Bedford snatched the game away from Oakham as we ended up winning by 6 runs.

Uppingham

On to the next block fixture, which was against Uppingham at home. Uppingham batted first and another good all round bowling performance restricted them to 180-8 off 50 overs with the pick of the bowlers being Mullaney (2-28), Hunt (2-35)

and Chapman (2-28). This was a total that the batters were confident of reaching and Blythman (57 not out) and Faleel (41) set the team on the way to a comfortable win. However, wickets were lost at crucial times and suddenly Uppingham were back in the game. It took an excellent innings from Max Hunt (30) and a captain’s innings from Blythman, to get the innings back on track. Blythman saw the team home with just 3 balls to spare and although it was arguably a game we should have won a little easier than we did, the batters did show a lot of character to finally get us over the line.

Oundle

Oundle was the next fixture, and it was agreed that this would be a 40 over game with an afternoon start to allow boys more time to revise for exams in the morning. Bedford won the toss and decided to bat first. Opening batsman, Jamie Dunk, dominated the innings with a superb 126 not out and he was supported by Zaid Faleel, who scored 46. This excellent partnership was the bedrock of the Bedford innings, which ended up on 240-3 off the 40 overs. Despite two of the Oundle players scoring 50s in the middle of the innings, they never really got into a position to win the game. Dunk (3-19), Hunt (3-18) were the stand out bowlers as Bedford bowled Oundle out for 197 - to win the game by 43 runs.

Tonbridge

With the first half of the cricket season completed, it is fair to say that the boys should be happy with the performances so far. It was now on to one of the bigger games of the season, the two day match against Tonbridge, who are always a  good side. It was a home game for us and we won the toss

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 and batted first. It was a solid batting performance with

Somal, Faleel, Dunk and Chapman all scoring half centuries.

Eventually we declared on 297-6 but if we were honest with ourselves, we should have ideally been in a position to declare maybe 10 overs earlier, but Tonbridge bowled very well and scoring was difficult. Tonbridge decided to bat past our total and ended up being bowled out for 355 in 70 overs on a pitch that was getting better and better to bat on. The pick of the bowlers was Max Hunt (2-58), Vedant Somal (2-77) and Freddie Drake-Lee (2-18). In our 2nd innings, again, we batted solidly with Somal (54), Blythman (48) and Tom Baddeley (28 no) top scoring to take our score 180 runs past Tonbridge before being bowled out for 238. This meant that Tonbridge required 181 to win in approximately 15 overs or of course, Bedford required 10 wickets to win. A result, other than a draw, seemed very unlikely, however Tonbridge decided to come out all guns blazing in their quest to chase down the score. Despite a flurry of boundaries, a couple of quick wickets slowed them down and in the end, the captains shook hands when it was clear neither side could win. Therefore ending the innings on 60-2 off 7 overs and the game was declared a draw.

Abingdon

Abingdon away was the next fixture and on a very hot day, it was a good toss to win. Blythman duly won the toss and without a second thought, elected to bat. Dunk continued his outstanding form hitting a superb 108 off just 99 balls and his innings consisted of boundaries all round the ground.

Throughout his innings, Dunk was well supported by Sam Bayley (32), Faleel (29) and Blythman (66) to end the innings with a challenging total of 294 – 6. However, were some of our batters just a little more ruthless, we could have scored another 30 or 40 runs. Despite two or three good innings by Abingdon, they were always behind the run rate and regular wickets enabled us to bowl them out for 197 to win the game by 97 runs. The wickets were shared around all of the bowlers, however Bayley (3-34) completed a good game for him.

Repton

Usually, our first game in the National T20 is before half term, however our next game was our first encounter in the competition against Repton. This was always going to be a very difficult game as Repton are one of the stronger cricketing schools in the country, so we would need to be at our very best to win this one. Repton won the toss and surprisingly decided to field, a decision we were very pleased with. Dunk and Somal got the innings off to a flying start, however despite his very good form, Dunk was dismissed for a valuable 26 and ended an excellent partnership of 75. This 106

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brought Faleel to the middle, who had also batted well during the first half of the season and another very good partnership of 73 proved to be the backbone of the innings. Somal (69) and Faleel (41) kept the scoreboard ticking over to finish the innings on 156-4 off 20 overs, a score we felt was defendable.

A flurry of boundaries from the Repton opening batsman started to make our score look quite low, but the Bedford bowlers stuck to their plan and at vital times, we took wickets, to keep us in the game. Hunt (3-37), Dunk (2-19) and Somal (2-17) all played their part, but it was Danny Chapman (5-21) who stole the show with a superb spell of leg spin to bowl Repton out for 134 and win the game by 22 runs.

Berkhamsted

Following the excitement of the T20, it was now back to the 50 over format against Berkhamsted. In 2022, it was a very close game, which we won by just 1 wicket, so the aim was to try and ensure that it wasn’t as close again this year.

Berkhamsted won the toss and elected to field and again, Dunk got the team off to a good start with a very useful 41.

Chapman batted with great maturity to score a very important 54 and he was well supported by Mustafa Haroon (24) and Baddeley (34 not out) to take the team up to 240-9 off 50 overs. The opening batsman for Berkhamsted looked a very good player and when he was 84 not out, they were very much in the game; in fact, they were arguably the favourites to win. His dismissal by Chapman was a crucial point in the game and suddenly the game swung back in our favour.

However, the Berkhamsted lower order continued to chip away at our total and with one over to go, all results were still possible. Chapman bowled the last over, which had everyone on tenterhooks but a tight over got Bedford across the line to win by just one run!

Stowe

The team were now full of confidence, having beaten some good teams and won some close games. So, meeting Stowe in the next round of the T20 was a game the boys relished.

Stowe batted first and looked like getting a huge total but once their star player was out, the Bedford bowlers started to take charge of the game. Excellent bowling from Dunk (1-18), Somal (1-25), Chapman (2-22) got us back into the game, however it was an outstanding spell from Bayley (4-20) which led to Stowe being bowled out for 129. Scores in the 40’s for Somal and Chapman should have been enough to get the team across the winning line, however wickets fell at crucial time and Stowe got themselves back in the game. As with the Berkhamsted game, it was another last over nailbiter but this time, the scores finished level i.e. 129 a piece !!! Bedford had lost 3 wickets less than Stowe, so, after phoning the tournament organiser to check the rules, we won the game on wickets !! What a game for the neutral supporter !!

Stamford

Still unbeaten, Stamford was our next game, a game that is always a very competitive fixture. Stamford won the toss and elected to field, despite the pitch looking like a good one to bat on. Zaid Faleel batted really well for his 36 but unfortunately it was just a bad day at the office as no other batsman got going and we scraped up to 162 all out with still 8 overs remaining. As it turned out, it was not the easiest

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pitch to bat on but this was still a way below par batting performance as 200 would have been a good score. Bayley (4-34) again bowled well and for a short while, it looked like we may just pull an incredible win out of the bag, but it wasn’t to be. Stamford went on to win the game by 4 wickets with 13 overs to spare to end our winning streak.

Gresham’s

Away to Gresham’s in the last 16 of the national T20 was the next game and another excellent bowling performance saw the home team bowled out for122. Harry Wootton-Evans (420) was the pick of the bowlers but it was an all round effort that meant we were chasing a total that we felt we could get. Gresham’s took early wickets, which suddenly meant we now had a game on our hands and despite the stubborn batting by Jamie Dunk, the game was slipping away from us.

A victory looked a very long way away when 3 wickets fell in an over but with Dunk still at the crease, there was a glimmer of hope. Eldon Craven came in at number 9 and did exactly what the team needed, just stay there with Dunk. To be fair to Eldon, he did a bit more than that as he scored 15 vital runs whilst playing the supporting role. In order to win the game, it needed Dunk to score the lion’s share of the runs, and this is exactly what he did. This was arguably his best innings of the season as he carried his bat, under immense pressure to finish up with 86 not out to chase down the 123 runs required to win the game by 3 wickets, which meant we were the eastern regional champions and through to the last 8.

Malvern

Having beaten Gresham’s in the cup, the next round was two days later, away to Malvern. The last time Malvern had lost in the national T20 (prior to finals day) was against us in 2018!!! so this was clearly going to be a tough fixture. Malvern batted first and scored 203-7 off their 20 overs. Whilst this may seem a huge score, Malvern is a very small ground, so it was a score that was good, but not impossible to chase, but it would need one of the top 4 to get a 70 plus to win the game. Somal looked like he would be the person to get that score but despite getting the team off to a very good start, he was dismissed for 36. Following his dismissal, the rest of the batting order struggled to keep up with the run rate, however at the end of the innings, Mustafa Haroon showed what a quality batsman he is with a gutsy score of 37 not out against the best attack we had faced so far. We finished on a very respectable 171 – 8 and lost by 32 runs but the team should be very proud to have reached the last 8 in a national competition.

T10 Competition

The T10 competition is always a fun afternoon and it’s a great opportunity for the batters to play every shot in the book. The first game was against The Perse, and we proved to be far too strong for them as we scored 152-4 in 10 overs and then bowled them out for 54 to win by 98 runs. Key performers in this game were Faleel (61), Chapman (33 not out) and Hunt (3-15).

The 2nd game against Norwich was a much closer affair with both teams sharing the points as both teams scored 85 meaning the game was a tie. A tie was not the end of the world as Oakham had already beaten Norwich, so the next game for us against Oakham was winner takes all.

In the final game, Bedford won the toss and elected to bat. Faleel (38) and Dunk (27) were the main contributors in the total of 84-4 off the 10 overs. Oakham looked very comfortable with their gun player batting really well to take Oakham to the brink of victory, however Chapman (2-7) bowled him for 46 and the game changed. Our bowlers bowled in great areas and the Oakham batters got stuck and we ran out winners by 7 runs to retain the T10 trophy.

St Augustine’s

It is always nice have a match against a touring school and our next match was against the Australian school St Augustine’s. St Augustine’s batted first and scored 191, with their opener getting the bulk of the runs. Hunt (3-17) and Bayley (3-37) both bowled well and now it was over to the batters to chase the score. Somal (71) and Faleel (70) both ran well between the wickets and pounced on any bad ball bowled and it was their partnership that secured a comfortable win by 8 wickets.

Haberdashers’

The final block fixture was against Haberdashers’ and every batter at least got a start. Dunk, again, top scored with 86 whilst Somal (27), Faleel (28), Haroon (23), Chapman (68) and Blythman (46 not out) were ruthless against the Haberdashers’ attack to set a daunting total of 322 in 50 overs. Habs had no answer to the Bedford bowling attack and were bowled out for 171 meaning a win by 151 runs.

Old Bedfordians

The last game of the season was the 2-day match v the Old Bedfordians. The Old Bedfordians fielded a very strong team, so it was no surprise when they batted first that they got a healthy score of 264-8 (dec) off 54 overs. Hunt (3-51) and Mullaney (2-24) could be very proud of how they bowled against several very good batters. The 1st XI were keen to put up a good show in the last game of the season and this was demonstrated by the way that they dug in and fought hard to score 217 – 9 dec. Chapman continued with his excellent form with the bat scoring an excellent 68 and Bayley (41) scored runs in the swashbuckling style he always bats with.

The Old Bedfordians went back in to bat with the aim to set the 1st XI a total to chase. Kettleborough and James led from the front for the Old Bedfordians with an opening partnership of 100 in very quick time and at their declaration on 211, they set the 1st XI 259 to win in 51 overs to win. An excellent declaration! The top 5 batters all got a start – Dunk (34), Somal (27), Faleel (30), Chapman (47) and a very good 62 from Blythman kept the 1st XI in the game, so much so, it was looking like another very close finish – which it was! In the last over of the game, again, all results were possible i.e. win, lose, draw and tie!!! In the end, the 1st XI were 258-8, just one run short of a victory, so the game finished as a draw. What a game and what a fine way to finish the season.

All in all, it’s fair to say that this group of players worked hard in practice and deserved the excellent season the team had. I would like to thank Charlie Thurston for his support coaching the squad; he brought a wealth of knowledge to training and matches and it was really beneficial having someone straight out of the first class game to work with the  boys. It was pleasing to see that so many players had their

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 moment at some stage in the season and without doubt,

Charlie Blythman’s captaincy got the very best out of the squad. Well done on an excellent season, boys.

GSS SQUAD: C. Blythman (Capt), Z Faleel (V-Captain), D Chapman, M Haroon, T Baddeley, S Bayley, E Craven, F Drake-Lee, J Dunk, Z Faleel, M Hunt, J Mullaney, V Somal, M Weimann, J Welch, H Wooton-Evans 1ST XI AWARDS V Somal (Honours Cap), C Blythman (Major Colours), Z Faleel (Major Colours), J Dunk (Major Colours), M Hunt (Major Colours), S Bayley (Major Colours), E Craven (Major Colours), J Mullaney (Major Colours), H Wootton-Evans (Major Colours), T Baddeley (Minor Colours), F Drake-Lee (Minor Colours)

2nd XI Played 10 Won 6 Lost 4 Having started with three straight wins against Haileybury, Rugby and Oakham, there was soon talk of an unbeaten season. There were some good early season batting performances from Weimann (whose stock currency seemed to be sixes), Dutson and Drake-Lee. Wickets were shared principally between Briggs, Buddineni, Bates, Sisodia and Addo creating a very positive mood in the team.

As ever, though, with 2nd XI cricket, the strongest opponent is always exams and we quickly lost most of our Upper Sixth contingent and along with it a great deal of experience. So it was not altogether surprising that a strong Uppingham side soon put paid to any thoughts of an unbeaten season in a match that was lost by 44 runs.

The lack of batting depth proved decisive again in the subsequent fixtures against Oundle and Abingdon where we were some 40 runs short in both. Despite a further loss to a good Stamford side, the season ended with a convincing 6 wicket victory against Haberdashers’, largely down to fine performances from Mullaney, who took 5 wickets, and Langridge, who hit an impressive 70.

Thanks must go to Khush Shah who captained with confidence and commitment and proved to be an excellent leader on and off the pitch. Mention must also be made of Matt Weimann who played every fixture despite having his A Levels to deal with.

Finally, this season marked the end of an era as we said farewell to Mr Heale after 14 years with the Second XI. Schoolmasters like Mr Heale are an increasing rarity and the school will miss him dearly, not just for his understanding of the game of cricket but also his immense contribution to school sport.

AJB SQUAD: Shah K, Weimann M, Balachandran C, Sisodia A, Stewart s, Nathan V, Langridge L, Dutson I, Addo J, Bates T, Iarala A, Buddineni A, Briggs O, Mullaney s, Drake-Lee F, Simmonds O, Karunakaran T, Payne H, Maravala J, Welch J, Jadoon S, Weimann J, Trobe W, Jenkins T, Phillips O, Bastin-Titus A, Dickson F

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4th & 5th XI

The 4th & 5th XI produced some pleasing results against determined opposition. The 4th XI started the season with a strong win against Haileybury, winning by 6 wickets. Excellent bowling from Kabir Singh and Ben Smith helped to take quick and crucial wickets. Charlie Faulkner was steadfast in his keeping, and his reliability meant that Bedford could limit and control the run rate of their opposition.

A windswept day at Oundle saw the 4th XI lose their first fixture of the season. A strong Oundle bowling attack, early on, made recovery difficult. Batting performances from Kiran Katechia and James Wootton Evans helped to steady the middle order but Oundle’s team proved too strong on the day.

A win against Rugby displayed the determination of the squad to learn from the previous match. A strong total of 152 with Oliver Needham contributing an impressive 70, was too steep for Rugby, who achieved 144 all out. Oakham gave another close match soon after and a win by 10 runs rounded off a successful and satisfying season.

The 5th XI had a reduced fixture card and only played two matches. A highlight in the defeat by Oundle was a confident 56 from Isaac Maddison who was soon promoted to the 4ths.

Will Reddy displayed a strong performance as captain against The Leys and his leadership proved the difference in a tight fixture which Bedford won by one run. Ali Hasan and Pharrell Peters contributed significantly with excellent bowling and catches at pivotal moments.

The commitment to fixtures from both squads was admirable. All the boys showed excellent character and desire to improve their cricket throughout the season. By the end we witnessed precision in fielding and steady batting performances. We look forward to seeing many of the boys next year with the same enthusiasm and determination for the game.

BJR 4TH XI CRICKET SQUAD: Kabir Singh (Captain), Theo Artus, Hugh Williams, Zachary Cumming, Ben Smith, James Wootton Evans, Kiran Katechia, Keshav Navalissoor, Oliver Needham, Arun Penhall, Isaac Maddison, Jack Harte and Charlie Faulkner.

5TH XI CRICKET SQUAD: Ben Plumley, Ali Hasan, George Gebhardt, Abid Husein, Karan Srivastava, Kevin Subeegaran, James Marchant, Toby Mitchell, Pharell Peters, Will Reddy, Dilan Sharma and Benjamin Mealey.

U16A

In a reduced cricket season due to GCSE Exams, the U16As went unbeaten winning all three games. We won matches against Bedford Modern, Luton Cricket Academy and St Augustine’s College.

The season started with a classic clash against BMS which saw the rivalry between the two schools upheld for another year. On a cold day with blustery winds, which saw many of the boys wearing their oversized cricket jumpers, Ashish Mishra hit a fluent 54* backed up by a thrilling half-century from James Dagg who hit expansive shots all around the ground.

The bowlers came out the blocks with runs to defend on the

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company at the crease before Oliver Phillips then showed his strength hitting 20 off the last over with three sixes over the side-screen. With 289 on the board after 40 overs, we went into the field with a spring in our steps. Oliver Phillips’s first ball floored the batsman, a vicious bouncer, giving the Aussies a taste of that was to come. That set the stage, with Oliver taking three wickets with his aggressive line and length.

Oscar Jewers, our keeper, took a remarkable catch thrusting his left-hand out to take a screamer down the leg side. Oliver Briggs and Sam Mullaney both took two wickets apiece closing out a 90-run win in the first edition for the Ashes. Both teams played the game with excellent sportsmanship and after the game the two teams mingled mainly to discuss the visitors’ disdain of the English summer.

All in all, an excellent season which provided the boys with some downtime and enjoyment away from our exams. Thank you to Mr Montgomery for his persistent high-energy approach but I must say, I am looking forward to no longer having him as coach as his relentless bowling in the nets often left me losing my off-stump time and time again.

Tanay Rai

board and showed their class on what was a flat pitch with little movement.

Oliver Briggs picked up four wickets bowling his cutters and slower balls with Oliver Simmonds also picking up three, showing his discipline to his line and length. A resounding win by 75 runs to start the season and an emphatic victory over arch-rivals BMS set the tone for what was to come.

Next came Luton Cricket Academy where the boys were given the chance to play on the 1XI pitch, a great experience for all of us. After opting to bowl with overcast conditions, Oliver Briggs and captain Sam Mullaney produced a swingbowling masterclass reducing the visitors to 10-4 within the first 10 overs. Will Hayward then came into the attack and his witty leg-spin leaving four batsmen wishing they had got on to the front foot. After being bowled out for 42, Luton Cricket Academy fought back taking four early wickets but a patient and controlled partnership from Oliver Simmonds and Will Hayward sealed yet another win.

With a tantalising Ashes Series fast approaching in the summer, the team were given the chance to play an Australian Touring side, St Augustine’s, in what is now to be known as the ‘Bedford Ashes’. Captain Sam Mullaney conducted an opening ceremony to mark, what I hope, becomes a long-standing tradition. Burnt bails were sprinkled and pictures taken. It was time to start.

After being put into bat, Krishnan Nair and Fred Dickson took centre stage. With elegant cover drives and aggressive pull-shots Krishnan and Fred saw out the opening Aussie bowlers with aplomb. Krishnan seemed to be playing in a different game, accelerating gracefully as the spinners came on. As he neared his century, it seemed the boys watching were more nervous than Krishnan himself. However, after a clip through mid-wicket brought up his century, an ice-cold celebration reflected his cool-headed approach to the ferocity of the Australian bowlers.

Alan Bastin-Titus also scored a vital 40 and kept Krishnan

SQUAD: Sam Mullaney (c), Alan Bastin-Titus, Fred Dickson, Akshat Buddineni, Will Hayward, Abhvinav Iarala, Oscar Jewers (wk), Ashish Mishra, Krishnan Nair, Oliver Phillips, Tanay Rai, Oliver Simmonds, Oliver Briggs.

U15A

The U15As had an interesting season, starting on the back foot, but when times were toughest, managing to finish the season with statistics of 6-6-1.

We kicked off our season away against Haileybury on a very tricky pitch. A fantastic performance was put in by Bedford to massively restrict the home side, with bowlers bowling tightly and very economically. However, we weren’t able to put in the same performance with the bat, with our top order falling in regular intervals, and us unfortunately falling 25 short. This was the story of our first four games. We would bowl very well, but our batting would not quite back it up.

Our first win came against Oundle, where, for the first time, our batting really kicked on with three of our top order batters making fifty, with a particular mention to Joe Basquille who came in near the end and hit a ridiculous 65 not out off just 31 balls. These performances got us up to a great total and we managed to bowl tightly to restrict the visitors and claim a very well-deserved victory.

This sparked a change in momentum as we then managed to claim a victory next match in a timed game against Tonbridge College. We batted first and with help from a few in the year below put up enough to bowl them out, in an incredibly tight finish. Tonbridge’s change in tactic when batting was very clear as they had to start playing for the draw instead of chasing a win. Ben Bruce-White bowled an incredible spell, taking 7 to win us the game. A big win then came against Abingdon, with our wicket keeper, Dylan French, opting to open up and blasting a rapid 94 to set up the chase.

A match was abandoned against a touring South African side because of a sudden downpour of rain, but the home side 

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 were confident in victory before the storm came, with Harry and

Sammy with a very strong partnership to rebuild after a bad start.

Victories then came against Kimbolton, Stamford, and Haberdashers’ to finish the season off, with one of our openers, Anshul Poothi, making fifties in all of the last three games.

It was a season in which we learned a lot about our team, and how to adapt with slightly different players to last year. It was a great effort to pull the season back in the way that we did. A few big batting partnerships, and some great energy in the field, showed us how to win matches, and how to grind through tough stages; this was shown towards the end of the season with the clinical performances.

Harry L’Estrange SQUAD: Brett, Charlie; Corrigan, Lutero; Maddaford, Benjamin; Mathew, Leo; Nevill, George; Poothi, Anshul; Barnett-Vincent, Ferdi; Basquille, Joe; BruceWhite, Ben; Carlton-Smith, Alex; Chapman, Danny; Collard, Charlie; Duckenfield, Jack; Edwards, Joseph; Flora, Ariyan; French, Dylan; Gillham, Henry; Haroon, Mustafa; Inman, Sammy; James, Alfie; Junaid, Mohammed; L’Estrange, Harry; Maling, Jamie; Reid, Aiden; Wootton, Edward

U15B

The U15Bs had high expectations for their season, with just one loss in their fourth form year. However, they had a disappointing result in their first game against Haileybury. They fell 7 runs short of the 197 total, despite a great batting display from Charlie Collard, scoring 51 off just 36 balls, supported by a solid 40 runs from Joseph Edwards.

Next week, the boys faced Rugby and won, chasing down a total of 135 runs, limited by Eeshan’s 3-wicket haul, after being newly promoted into the team.

The following week was a good win for the team against Oakham, which featured a comfortable 45 runs from the captain Luka Ilic and a brilliant 44 runs from Charlie Collard off just 20 deliveries.

After the exeat, the boys went on to face Uppingham, a game which should have been won by us considering our good run of form. However, sloppy fielding and a poor batting display caused the team to come up 8 runs short of the 115-run target.

After a week of hard practice, mainly consisting of fielding drills, the U15Bs faced Oundle and decided to bat first, setting a total of 191 runs off 25 overs, during which Henry Gillham scored an excellent unbeaten 72 runs, with a strike rate of 120.

However, the man of the match could only go to one man.

Aiden Reid. Aiden had a lovely knock worth 50 runs, which he then followed up with a superb bowling performance, taking 4 key wickets, whilst only conceding 4 runs, giving Bedford firm control on the game, which we then went on to win by 69 runs.

After a short turn around, the team went on to face the A team of Kimbolton, which we unfortunately lost due to a very impressive batting display from our visitors, causing us to come up 53 runs short of Kimbolton’s total.

At the weekend, the boys went to face a strong Abingdon team in boiling heat. However, with a dry outfield, the runs started flowing, especially for Charlie Collard, who had another 110

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brilliant performance with the bat putting on 77 runs off only 58 balls, and with the help of Aiden’s 38 runs, the Pemberley duo earnt an impressive 100 run partnership. Sadly, the total wasn’t enough and got chased down by Abingdon with just 3 wickets to spare.

However, the lads didn’t dwell on the losses because next week we won convincingly, chasing down Berkhamsted’s score in just 11 overs, thanks to a rapid 37 runs from Seb Fairhead, newly promoted to the side. This momentum continued into our next match against Mill Hill where Aiden scored another 50 at an unbelievable strike rate of 283, supported by Jack Dunckfield’s 40 off 16 balls. Our total was then easily defended thanks to Oscar Jelfs’ 3 wickets.

Next week against Stamford was another comfortable win for the team, with another notable performance from Aiden Reid, scoring a quick 64 runs and a great bowling display from Jamie Maling claiming 4 wickets. The following game and the final game of the season was against Haberdashers’, when the boys claimed a comfortable 9 wicket win, finishing the season strongly with 7 wins and 4 losses, thanks to some very committed coaching from Mr Childs and Mr Deplancke who helped us develop both as players and as a team throughout the whole season.

Joseph Edwards SQUAD: Agrawal, Eeshan; Bakasa, Ishe; Bantock, Neo; Collard, Charlie; Dennis, Tom; Duckenfield, Jack; Edwards, Joseph; Fairhead, Sebastian; Flora, Ariyan; Gillham, Henry; Ilic, Luka; Jelfs, Oscar; Krishnaruban, Vasi; Redfern, Alfie; Reid, Aiden; Stachowiak, Yash; Wootton, Edward

U14A

With a thrilling season ahead of them, the U14A team felt better than ever with the new additions of George Nevill, Charlie Brett, Niam Haroon and Lutero Corrigan.

Despite the highly anticipated first game of the season, Bedford suffered an unfortunate loss to Haileybury school by 33 runs. The U14s bowled first however they allowed Haileybury too many runs on a pitch that still had a few tricks to play when Bedford went out to bat. It was this and the quality bowling from Haileybury that led to Bedford falling short of the total.

Although this setback was hard to take, the team bounced back impressively as they won 6 games on the trot, with some scintillating victories in the season to come.

With the tough fixture of Derbyshire edging closer, Bedford appreciated that they would be the hardest opponents of the season. After winning the toss and electing to bowl first, Niam Haroon took the first over and in spectacular fashion; he took a wicket on the very first ball of the game. A perfect away swinger to the left hander caught the outside edge of the bat and was caught by Ashwin Curtis behind the stumps. This early wicket kick started the game for Bedford and gave them the momentum to pick up more wickets in quick succession. We proceeded to bowl Derbyshire out for 59 in a bowling exhibition with Leo Mathew (4-3) and Benjamin Maddaford (3-10) leading the way with the ball. An astonishing display from the bowlers.

In the second innings, the boys chased the target down easily with opening batsmen Lutero Corrigan getting 20 and captain

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Charlie Brett with 17 not out.

Before facing Oundle School, the team was very aware of the forthcoming challenge. With short boundaries and a flat wicket, we knew the game could have the potential to be a high scoring one. Bedford bowled first and it was a very underwhelming performance from the team. With many dropped catches, poor fielding and subpar bowling, Oundle got 183 runs off their 30 overs. The U14s felt far behind the game and an extraordinary batting effort was needed to get them over the line. When Bedford went out to bat, there was not much belief in the batting lineup. However, an exceptional innings of 73 from Lutero Corrigan solidified our hopes and set a great foundation for batters to come. When it came to the back end of the innings, the required rate for Bedford was very steep but stellar striking from Charlie Brett 49*(40) and George Nevill 18*(6) secured the victory by smashing 45 runs off the last 20 balls in a nail-biting finish for the U14s.

In the penultimate round of the county cup, the boys faced Bedford Modern School. After losing the toss and being sent in to bowl first. Bedford leaked early runs to the opposition as Pemberley’s short boundaries were exploited by the batsmen.

However, after a sharp run out to remove the danger man, Bedford were back on track and ended up bowling Bedford Modern out cheaply and chasing the total down with 8 wickets to spare, which opened the path to the final.

In the final, the U14s won in glorious fashion against Redborne Upper School. The boys batted first and piled on a mammoth total of 201 from their 20 overs after only losing 1 wicket. Star batting performances were from Lutero Corrigan 49* (43), Benjamin Maddaford 56* (31)and Nirmay Patel 40 (37).

When it came to the second innings, Bedford knocked over Redborne for a cheap 94 and were victorious by 107 runs.

Bowling stand outs went to Alfred Williams, Nirmay Patel and Alex Turner who all took 2 wickets.

Overall, the boys have had an amazing season with 10 victories in 12 matches. The highest run scorer for the U14s was Nirmay Patel and the highest wicket taker was Leo Mathew. Eye catching performances must go to Lutero Corrigan for the splendid innings of 73 against Oundle, Leo

Mathew with 4-9 against Stamford, Benjamin Maddaford for his 56 against Redborne, Nirmay Patel for hitting 49 against Oakham and so many more memorable performances. The boys had a very enjoyable season this year and are very much looking forward to next year’s season.

Leo Mathew SQUAD: Lutero Corrigan, Nirmay Patel, Benjamin Maddaford, Charlie Brett (Capt), Ashwin Curtis (W), George Nevill, Alex Turner, Niam Haroon, George Knight , Leo Mathew , Alfred Williams, Jack Down, Will Jackson , Jamie Hall, Arnav Dhaliwal

U14B Played: 10 Won: 8 Lost: 1 Abandoned: 1 The contrast between the first two matches of the season left the U14B coaches unsure of what manner of summer we could expect. Diggory Cox’s first ball, which lifted off a length fiendishly and carried through into the keeper’s gloves at pace set the tone for a great game against Haileybury.

Jamie Hall’s hattrick and an assured batting display by the top order meant the opposition were beaten comfortably by 42 runs and everything looked rosy. A week later, however, impetuosity with the bat and erratic fielding against Rugby School meant an avoidable defeat by one wicket and a recognition that application as well as skill development would be needed to make the cricketing term a successful one.

In fact, the boys put in a tremendous amount of effort and all the remaining fixtures were won. Against Uppingham, Arnav Dhaliwal made runs and George Simmonds, whose progress as a spinner was a particularly pleasing aspect of the year, proved himself a capable all-rounder. Dhaliwal hit 45 in a slightly lacklustre batting performance against Bedford Modern School’s U14A but, in no small part thanks to Jo Gregory’s 3/4, the team won convincingly. After a 

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

SQUAD: Freddie Bowis, Diggory Cox, Thomas Dewe, Arnav Dhaliwal, Jack Down, Jo Gardner, Jamie Hall, Harry Howlett, Will Jackson, Charley Kopoi, Ismi Malik, Advik Mishra, Daniel Phillips, George Simmonds, Vir Walia, Alfred Williams, George Wooding Jones

U14C

promising start, Oundle made only 99 in eighteen overs and these were knocked off with ease; Vir Walia, returning to the side after injury, looked a poised stroke maker and showed calmness under pressure.

Following a frustrating abandonment after a stifling, trafficplagued journey to Abingdon, the match away at Berkhamsted was the boys’ most mature performance of the season. The bowlers tied the opposition down well and, after a decent opening stand, Berkhamsted wickets fell regularly. On-field discipline and judgement were classy: unusually for an U14 team on the circuit, when the ball struck the pad way down the leg side, no one in the team appealed! Jack Down, an excellent fielder throughout the term, threw down the stumps to effect a top-notch run-out and the boys bowled much straighter than in previous matches.

When the time came to bat, Mishra and Kopoi, brought in from the U14C team, looked entirely at home throughout a calm stand of forty. Three quick wickets followed but Simmonds and Gregory batted positively, putting on over sixty.

Gregory, new bat in hand, punched the ball around the ground without ever taking a guard and brought up his half century with a lofted straight drive for four to complete the win.

Another dominant performance followed against Stamford, when the moment of the match involved Vir Walia going up to one of the opposition’s boys who was a bit down on himself and telling him to relax and have fun because he was playing well. As usual, we had a wonderful group of parents supporting the team throughout this fixture; they brought conviviality, encouragement and sometimes donuts which made each Saturday afternoon all the more enjoyable. Each family saw their boy make a telling contribution at some stage.

All too soon for those of us who love cricket, it was the last game. Reaching 210/8 was a very pleasing result in 25 overs.

Everyone in the team then had a bowl, which explains why the winning margin was only 61 runs. George Simmonds, fielding as a substitute for the opposition, showed his high personal standards and sportsmanship when he dived full length, picked up cleanly and threw in accurately to save three runs; a moment among many to make those of us associated with this talented and well-mannered team immensely proud.

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Another unbeaten season for the U14C team saw comprehensive victories over some very strong cricketing schools including Haileybury, Rugby, Oakham, Uppingham, Oundle, Berkhamsted and Stamford. The team was captained well by Dan Morrow, whose spin bowling saw many back to the pavilion early.

Standout with the bat were Charley Kopoi and Charlie Hill, who regularly retired at 50. Hugo ‘he takes wickets’ Crowley was metronomic with the ball and Tom ‘Dewey’ Dewe’s pace bowling threatened to send the bales over the boundary when wickets fell.

Eesa Jamil’s spin caught the opposition out more than once too.

Tommy Gutteridge was the most improved player; by the end of the season, his bowling rivalled anyone else’s in that team. Umar Umar, Dan Philips, Harry Taylor and Rajan Uppal were the heavy hitters in the side and Luca Iaciofano was ever-reliable in the field, improving over the season with ball and bat. Finally, Blake Balachandran kept wicket superbly and gave real meaning to the phrase ‘a safe pair of hands’. The highlight of the season must have been the dismantling of the U14 Wellingborough A Team, where the side were sublime with both ball and bat. What a side!

JR SQUAD: Balachandran, Blake; Crowley, Hugo; Dewe, Thomas; Gutteridge, Tommy; Hill, Charlie; Iaciofano, Luca; Jamil, Eesa; Kopoi, Charley; Mishra, Advik; Morrow, Dan; Pateman-Hall, Marcus; Phillips, Daniel; Taylor, Harry; Umar, Umar; Uppal, Rajan

U14D

Having worked with the U14D teams for a few years now, a pattern always seems to form of a number of decent players and others who simply need to have some belief in themselves.

The summer term 2023 team was no different, but with a number of early wins under our belt, the development of belief I think came quicker this year.

Notable mentions have to include Will Tierney’s consistent wicket keeping throughout the season and John “I’ll get out first ball” Lally promptly slogging a number of very decent 4s and 6s. The team played and beat Oundle, Stowe and Wellingborough to name but a few of the casualties of the determined drive of the 2023 season U14s. Even our opponents’ impressive display of mullets couldn’t save them from our positive attitude, confident and brave batting calls and razor-sharp fielding.

PSc SQUAD: Ananenu, Zayn; Brown, Harry; Cadman-Kerr, Ollie; Cochrane, Ollie; Daggu, Hrithvik; Eaves, Jamie; Gutteridge, Tommy; Harris, Oliver; Iaciofano, Luca; Lally, John; Memet, Mihai; Neale, Charlie; Noble, Lewis; Pateman-Hall, Marcus; Rana, Rahil; Rawlings, Sammy; Sharif, Yacoub; Tierney, Will; Woode, Tommy

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FOOTBALL 1st XI

2022/23 brought plenty of firsts: new competitions, debutants, technology and experiences which have provided excitement, learning opportunities and long-lasting camaraderie.

The season itself started early with our first foray into the national ISFA shield competition. The first round saw us travel to King’s Ely. A strong performance, despite late injuries and dire weather conditions, resulted in a comfortable 4-2 win and progression to the next round, a match up with Priory School from Birmingham.

Hopes were high as the opposition arrived with just 11 players, all of whom were in the fifth form, wearing a mishmash of school shorts, teams they supported and even the odd pair of England shorts. Appearances can be deceptive. The opposition contained players at Aston Villa, Birmingham City, West Brom and indeed England’s U16 team. A spirited display finished 3-5 and whilst frustrating, provided a wonderful learning opportunity.

A strong lower sixth cohort was bolstered by a handful of experienced upper sixth boys; Tai Tsang-Goodwin, Tom Norton and Jerry Williams formed a solid leadership group on and off the pitch. A squad compromising mainly of lower sixth students was always likely to result in a developmental season, indeed it is fair to summarise the season as just that. Some strong performances against Uppingham, Oakham and Rugby all resulted in comfortable wins, but the final five fixtures of the season brought 3 defeats and 2 draws.

Notable performances across the season which should be recognised include Isaac Talbot for consistent goal scoring and Jerry Williams, named ‘Clutch’ player of the season by his peers (translation: “the player you can rely on to make things happen”!)

A year of progress means we look forward to next season with anticipation. A longer cup run, challenging for the Mercian League and a tour to Villarreal will all be further indicators that Bedford School football is progressing in a pleasing direction! We wish our recent leavers, Tom Norton (c), Tai Tsang Goodwin, Jerry Williams, Hasan Manji and Asadullah Khan, well and hope to see them at the Old Bedfordians fixture.

CJP

Colts B

After a decent season the year before at U15 level, and with some fresh players deciding to come from different sports, the Colts B team was straining like a greyhound in the slips, ready to play the first game. However, the opposition team cancelled

at the last minute because of bad weather, which left us with more time to hone our precious skills.

In our first actual match against Rugby, we faced a difficult game. In the end, we came away with a 1-0 win, but it was a close-run thing. At one point, Sebastien Tatham tackled the Rugby striker, and the Colts launched a swift counterattack.

Tatham dribbled the ball to the halfway line and found Tahir Alom with a long ball; Alom jinked past Rugby defenders and got the ball through to Adam Foddering who finished things off with his usual deadly aplomb, as he made the onion bag billow. This brought the Colts B greater confidence.

Going into the game against Loughborough Grammar, we knew that we would face a stiff test: they often push Bedford teams right to the edge of the precipice; to come away from Loughborough with a 1-1 draw in our pockets was thanks to penetration of our attackers and to the ‘keeper, Max Waddington, making some magnificent flying saves. Again, we scored in the second half, Alom assisting Arda Eskici into a deadly shot in the box. This gave the team ever greater hope, which we would need most of all in our game against local rivals, the Modern.

On the day, we managed to scoop up and pocket the Modern, with Adam Foddering scoring both our goals in the first half of the match. This allowed us to put the hand brake on the double decker in the second half. We still needed a ‘Waddington Wonder’ to keep our sheet clean: a great save which denied their top striker from netting with a free kick.

Mr Grimshaw compared Max to future England Number One, James Trafford.

Our final match against Oundle was one we’d rather forget: we finished 3-0 down, losing all our goals in the second half.

We played a controversial 5-3-2 formation and Oundle spitted us on their sword. So, we might have lost our unbeaten record by the end of things, but two wins, a draw, and a loss is not too bad a return, all things considered. The team is looking forward to when next season rolls around.

What the Colts Bs do in games echoes in eternity!

Zak DeGale and Sebastien Tatham SQUAD: Zak DeGale (captain), Sebastien Tatham, Max ‘The Cat’ Waddington, Edward Foley, Rehaan Choudary, Nic Swope, Finlay Mclntyre, Vinay Ram, Tobi Akinola, Adam Foddering, Arda Eskici, George Kelly, Tahir Alom, William Bulleyment and Max Quince.

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ATHLETICS

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The school competed in a number of events, which included relay, track and field and multi-events. The team enjoyed a particularly successful day at the District Athletics competition. Danny Chapman, Sam Deardon, Sam Barnes, Ferdi Barnett-Vincent, Owain Harries, Novie Ikeneku, Shion James, Justin Fasanya and Oliver Sheldon all won their district event. The intermediate boys won their competition by some margin as top three finishes were commonplace. It was certainly fitting for them to win the 4 x 100m race, and in some style. Many boys went on to represent the district in the County Finals, where four were crowned as county champions: Ferdi Barnett-Vincent – hammer throw, Oscar Hayward – long jump, Alfred Wright – hammer throw and Justin Fasanya – 4 x 100m relay.

Most pleasing about the season was seeing boys try new events and work hard to beat their PBs. All participants supported on another, there was a great team spirit. Kasper Yu must be mentioned for being most improved in every athletics discipline, particularly sprint and distance track events. Minor colours were awarded to James Holliday. ■ JPH

SPORT

Cross-country Cross-country is a sport that continues to challenge the pupils that take part in it within the school. With many events and training taking place in the cold and wet winter months, it requires a lot of determination and resilience in order to participate in the sport. Boys can compete at a district and county level for the school and at national level for the county, if successful at getting through to this stage. Training takes place on a Tuesday and Thursday afternoon with the boys travelling with Mr Cassell, Mr Knight and Ms Null to various locations in the Bedfordshire countryside allowing boys to focus on the stamina and strategy needed to succeed within the sport. A wide range of abilities take part with the routes and pace carefully planned for all the boys to get the most out of their training and so helping them to achieve the goals they have set.

Cross-county is a competitive sport with all boys having the opportunity to represent the school at a district level in which the boys travel to Sharnbrook Academy and put their training to use within the various races. These include the junior race for the fourth form, the intermediate race for the remove and fifth form and the senior race for the lower and upper sixth with the top 16 within each category qualifying for the county championships.

This came with much success this year, with a squad of 12 boys representing the school at a district level and 11 boys successfully qualifying to represent the school at a county level the following week, showing that the hard work by boys in training had paid off.

The county cross-country championship took place at Ampthill Park providing a very difficult course for the boys to compete on due to the undulating hills with a few hills in particular being hard to walk up, let alone run! The county championships bring together all the successful boys from the districts across Bedfordshire along with Luton. The competition and hills did not seem to phase the school’s runners as they all gave their best efforts knowing a place at the English Schools’

Cross-Country Championships was up for grabs with only eight places per age category being available. Special mentions go to Jake Reynolds and Tom Deardon for qualifying in the senior boys’ race, taking 5th and 6th places respectively, together with Danny Chapman who finished 5th in the intermediate boys’ race also gaining him a place at English Schools’.

The English Schools’ Cross-Country Championships brings together the best athletes from each of the counties in England.

With nerves and excitement in the air, the boys travelled up to Wollaton Hall in Nottingham. Intermittent showers throughout the day made for classic weather for cross-country. Danny Chapman ran a fantastic race in the intermediate boys’ 5.7km race finishing 182nd out of 327 runners whilst being in the younger age group for the race; with hard work and consistency, the future looks bright for Danny! The final race of the day was the senior boys’ 7km race. With a heavy shower just before the start and a much churned up course from the previous 1600 runners on the day making for a tough race. Both Jake Reynolds and Tom Deardon gave of their best with Jake finishing 4th for Bedfordshire and 299th out of 314 runners whilst being in the younger age group for the race and Tom finishing 5th for Bedfordshire and 302nd out of 314 runners.

It is safe to say that cross-country within the school this year has been a great success. With Mr Cassell, Mr Knight and Ms Null playing a key part along with the efforts of all of the boys to help make the school proud! It is a sport that all boys should try during their time at the school. We look forward to another successful season next year! ■ Jake Reynolds

Sports Day 2022 Results

WHO WON SPORTS DAY?

4TH

MARKS

RANK

REMOVE

MARKS

RANK

5TH

MARKS

RANK

6TH

MARKS

RANK

TOTAL MARKS

RANK

ASH

103.5

1

ASH

100

2

ASH

92.5

1

ASH

83

2

ASH

379

1

BRO

78.5

4

BRO

68

6

BRO

71

6

BRO

82.5

3

BRO

300

5

CRE

77

5

CRE

103.5

1

CRE

84.5

5

CRE

68

4

CRES

333

3

PAU

79

3

PAU

88

3

PAU

92.5

1

PAU

68

4

PAU

327.5

4

STC

70

6

STC

72.5

5

STC

86.5

4

STC

56.5

6

STC

285.5

6

STP

94

2

STP

81

4

STP

91

3

STP

83.5

1

STP

349.5

2

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SHOOTING As usual, the shooting year started a little slowly in the autumn term. The only competition shot was the BSSRA Team of Eight, by Harry Norris, James Hine, James Barney, James Lumley-Wood, James Sumner, Alex Hayward, Finley Mitchell and Ryan Jordan. Despite the 8-week hiatus in practice over the summer break, the team shot well, finishing fifth, with James Lumley-Wood scoring the only 100 ‘possible’ in the competition.

The skill and experience of the shooting squad continued to deepen and this year the school contributed 3 members to the Beds County Team, with Harry Norris and James LumleyWood shooting in both the Junior and the A Team, and Alex Hayward in the Junior (U21) Team.

James Hine and James Lumley-Wood continued as members of the Eastern Region Squad.

In the spring term we entered the BSSRA Leagues once again, with previous success promoting us to the top Division 1 for the first time in recent years. Our team of James Barney, Alex Hayward, James Hine, James Lumley-Wood and Harry Norris finished 4th, only one point behind 3rd, with Norris, Lumley-Wood and Hine achieving the 4th, 7th and 10th highest averages in the division respectively.

A number of boys also competed in the individual, BSSRA Senior Championship. James Lumley-Wood, James Hine and Harry Norris made the cut for the second round and

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finished in 8th, 9th and 13th places overall. These 3 boys were also selected to shoot in the England Team for the Schools National Match, contributing to a decisive England win.

In March, we hosted a shoulder-to-shoulder match against Cambridge University, who had every right to feel confident as they fielded a very strong team, including the Queen’s Prize Bisley champion, Alice Good. Our team of James Barney, James Hine, James Lumley-Wood, James Sumner, Harry Norris and Alex Hayward shot very well, to the increasing discomfort of the opposition as the match progressed, and it came down to the very last card to decide the winner. Sadly, the School were pipped at the post with Cambridge winning by just 2 points, on a score of 1161 to our 1159.

The match against the OBs in March was once again a very busy afternoon, with 11 OB’s and 9 boys shooting. The format

SPORT

of the shoot changed this year to a 10 bull plus a 5 shot ‘snap’ target and the match was hotly contested.

The OB team fielded some very experienced shots, as well some who had not participated in this type of shooting since leaving school some 40 years ago. The boys have gained a lot of experience shooting competition 10 bull targets this year and they put in some outstanding scores. They did not disgrace themselves on the snap either, with the whole team dropping only 2 points. The top 8 scores in each team counted, clinching a win for the school, 991 points to 901.

The trophy for the boys’ top score was awarded to Harry Norris who scored 128 ex 130 to win by 1 point. OBs Marc Smith and Stephen Shaw drew with top scores of 122 ex 130 and could not even be separated on countback. The top OB trophy was eventually awarded to Marc, winning by only millimetres, based on his smaller group size on the snap.

On the last day of April, 7 boys travelled to Bisley to shoot full-bore at 300 yards. The reasonably benign wind and expert OB coaching meant the boys shot well and really enjoyed their experience. My thanks go to Nick Hudleston, Robin Hatcher and Andy Barnes for very kindly giving-up their time, and their input meant the boys learned a lot. We hope that this taster session will inspire some of them to join the Bedfordians’ Rifle Club and continue shooting when they leave school.

House Shooting

The course of fire for this competition is 2 five-round groups per team member with the winner achieving the smallest aggregate group size. This is a deceptively simple competition, but to win you need to be consistent across the 2 groups and it is a true test of skill and precision. There is no minimum size for a team, and some houses were represented by one competitor.

The best groups were, in 3rd place James Hine (with the smallest single group at 9.15mm), in 2nd Ryan Jordan (aggregate group of 22.3 mm), and in first place James Lumley-Wood (aggregate group 21.42 mm), winning Ashburnham the Doig Cup.

THE FINAL HOUSE PLACINGS WERE 1st Ashburnham 2nd Paulo Pontine 3rd St Cuthbert’s.

The Cup for Best Shot in the Shooting XIII was again awarded to James Lumley-Wood with an impressive competition average of 96.8.

Minor Sports Colours were awarded to Harry Norris, James Barney and Alex Hayward.

We wish our Upper Sixth, James Barney, Alex Hayward, James Hine, James Lumley-Wood and Harry Norris, well as they leave us. This year has been our most successful in more than three decades and these boys should be very proud of their progress and achievements. We look forward to seeing them shooting for the Old Boys in the future. ■ PLW

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volleyball The year brought forth another remarkable season for volleyball, marked by the outstanding performance of the Bedford Boys’ team. With great promise exhibited during training sessions and a roster that included three members with prior experience in the competition, expectations were high as they made their way to Brighton for the National Volleyball Championship.

Eager to reclaim the prestigious title that Bedford had first won in 2019, the two teams arrived at the tournament brimming with a mixture of excitement and motivation.

The opening match witnessed an intense clash between familiar faces as Bedford A took to the court against Bedford B. A captivating back-and-forth ensued, with each team striving to outmanoeuvre and outwit the other. After a hardfought battle, Bedford A emerged as the victors, triumphing with a score of 2-1. Carrying this momentum forward, they faced CCH and displayed exceptional teamwork, securing a resounding 3-0 victory. This commanding win further solidified their determination and belief that the trophy could once again come back to Bedford.

The subsequent match against the hosts, Brighton College, showcased Bedford’s unwavering resolve. The team’s determination was palpable as they stamped their authority

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on the court, delivering a back-to-back dominant 3-0 victory.

With such a resounding display, confidence soared, and the team firmly believed that the championship title was within their reach.

The next challenge loomed large, as Bedford prepared to face their arch-rivals, the very team that had eliminated them in the semifinals the previous year, Sevenoaks A. Nervous anticipation filled the air as both teams engaged in an incredibly close contest, with victory hanging in the balance. The game came down to the last point of the second set, and Bedford, refusing to yield, equalized on the final point, pushing the match into overtime. Despite relentless pressure, Bedford emerged triumphant, claiming victory with a score of 2-1 and edging ever closer to lifting the coveted trophy once again.

However, four more matches awaited the Bedford team, each presenting a progressively greater challenge. As Sevenoaks B stepped up to face them, their coach, having analysed Bedford’s previous match against their first team, sought to exploit their weaknesses. Bedford found themselves on the back foot after Sevenoaks began a strong campaign and handed them their first loss of the day.

Despite that, Bedford rallied together, focusing on forcing

SPORT

mistakes from their opponents through consistent team play. They employed a simple two-touch volleyball strategy, combined with excellent communication and unwavering spirit. United in purpose, Bedford managed to overcome Sevenoaks B and proceeded to their final two fixtures, with the national title ever closer and now within reach.

Unbeknownst to them, their penultimate game against LAE carried immense weight, as their entire journey and hard work rested on this crucial encounter, faltering here could allow Sevenoaks to once again challenge for the title. LAE posed one of the toughest challenges Bedford had faced, employing a similar play style coupled with outstanding defensive capabilities. LAE secured an early lead in the first set, building up a six-point advantage that seemed insurmountable.

However, a series of key serves from Tai Tsang Goodwin reinvigorated Bedford, propelling them to clinch seven consecutive points and bring the set to a thrilling conclusion.

In a display of resilience and determination, Bedford emerged victorious in the very last point, securing a significant win that positioned them within reach of the national title.

The last two matches against Reeds A and B carried immense significance, for any misstep could jeopardize the efforts the team had invested to reach this stage. The first set against Reeds A was won convincingly by Bedford, setting the tone for a resolute 2-1 victory. Kabir Singh’s remarkable fiveserve win streak during the match extinguished any lingering threat posed by Reeds A. With such a commanding performance, Bedford positioned themselves for a decisive victory against Reeds B, a match perceived as comparatively easier. However, Reeds B’s unwavering passion turned the fixture into an intense contest,

with Bedford narrowly edging the first set. Reeds B staged a fierce comeback, dominating the second set and setting the stage for Bedford’s most daunting challenge yet. It was during this critical moment that captain Panha Chea stepped up, leading by example and fighting for every point. Supported by the motivational presence of Kabir Singh and Tai Tsang Goodwin, the squad summoned their collective strength to seal a hard-fought victory over Reeds B. This triumph against Reeds ensured that Bedford A remained undefeated throughout the entire tournament, securing the highly coveted title of National Volleyball Champions for the second time in Bedford’s history.

The immense achievements of the Bedford A team would not have been possible without the invaluable support and dedication of Mrs Smith and Mr Beale, who selflessly organized twice-weekly training sessions, sacrificing their own free time to organise training.

Special mention goes to the winning team comprising of Panha Chea (captain), Tai Tsang Goodwin, Kabir Singh, Ian Ho, and Matthew Au, whose unwavering determination and stellar performances propelled Bedford A to an undefeated championship victory, etching their names onto the trophy for the next decade. ■ Kabir Singh

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T

his year has been a mixed one for the CCF. Whilst the cadets and the contingent have performed very well, constraints imposed by the world outside the school have meant many of the training and competition opportunities normally available have been denied this year, curtailing the activities of the cadets through no fault of their own.

The year started poorly when the annual CADSAAM shooting competition, normally shot on the first weekend of the autumn term, was rescheduled at short notice so it then clashed with the first Field weekend in October. This prevented the CCF defending its title and meant the winner’s trophy had to finish its 3-year tenure in the Corps Office.

Once the year had started, the training quickly established its usual tempo. The Army Section seniors explored the more

advanced infantry techniques, the RAF continued ground training and the Navy sailed on Priory Lake while the weather and light were with them.

The first weekend in October saw thirty-four Army cadets and NCOs undertake EX RED HACKLE, the recruits’ field weekend at Chicksands. This was the first opportunity for many of last year’s recruits to experience living, cooking, and sleeping in the field, and the training staff were a little disappointed to see that, unlike previous years, the cadets were blessed with dry and gentle weather.

The NCO training Cadre took place in the first week of the autumn half term break and involved preparing our twentythree junior NCOs from across all 3 sections to lead and teach the Fourth Form Recruits who would join us in January. This was immediately followed by the combat skills exercise on Chicksands’ training area, where the senior cadets got the opportunity to implement and practise the infantry skills and tactics they had learnt.

The RAF Royal Air Squadron Trophy Ground Skills Competition took place on 20th November. Fourteen cadets, ranging from the Remove to Upper Sixth, led by Flt Sgt Kush Katechia, participated in this annual inter-CCF skills competition for the East of England. Although they didn’t place, they acquitted themselves well, particularly in shooting and the airfield defence exercise.

The spring term started with a metaphorical bang, with the recruitment of over one hundred Fourth Form cadets in January.

This was something of a baptism of fire for our cadet NCOs as they worked to organise, lead, and teach the new intake of Fourth Form recruits. It is always pleasing to see how this  Intelligence Corps Competition – Map interpretation exercise  Corps Field Gun and crew

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CCF

Intelligence Corps Competition – Survival exercise

experience instils the NCOs with new-found respect for their teachers who do the same thing every day.

The CCF competed in the annual Intelligence Corps Cadet Competition in January, undertaking tasks based on opensource intelligence, human intelligence, map interpretation, command tasks, survival, and shooting, against other ACF and CCF contingents from across the country. The team of Cpl Will

Intelligence Corps Competition – Paintball exercise

Reddy, CSM Ciara Allen, LCpl Licia Cacioppo, LCpl Catherine Chaplin, Cpl Charlie Lawrence, Cdt Danne Karavaggelis and Cpl Haneha Kaur, very ably captained by RSM James Barney, won convincingly, attracting many complimentary comments from the directing staff, in one case comparing their performance to that of trained regular soldiers.

Fate once again struck in March when the Combat Cadet competition was cancelled. The war in Ukraine has placed, and continues to place, very high demands on military resources, particularly training areas and none were available to stage the competition.

Favourable weather and crew availability allowed the RAF to take 5 cadets flying in February. The Navy conducted their afloat training in March, sailing to Cowes and taking part in an air/sea rescue exercise on the way, as well as training in the Phoenix Damage Repair Unit in Portsmouth, where the cadets learnt how to save a sinking ship.

The Corps took delivery of its long-awaited field gun in March, and work began immediately to get staff trained to instruct on it. This term also saw some changes in CCF staffing, with Lt Bassaly taking command of the Navy Section and Flt Lt Tansell joining the RAF Section.

The contingent competed in the CCRS Team shooting competition on 9th March. This national competition for CCF and ACF contingents is a real test of both marksmanship and teamwork, particularly on the landscape target, which requires 

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CFF

 crystal clear communication between shooter and spotter.

The team of Sgt James Hine, Cpl Rob King, Cpl Oscar Jooste and Sgt James Lumley-Wood, led by RSM James Barney, shot extremely well, achieving a top score of 451 ex 500.

Unfortunately, RGS Guilford CCF had the same score and managed to bump our team into second place on countback of the landscape target.

The approach of exams in the summer term inevitably shifted the training tempo and focus in the CCF. The Lower Sixth assumed the leadership roles in the Corps, and their skills received their first significant test in the Recruits Field Weekend on 24th June, once again on the Chicksands training area. This involved 45 Fourth Form recruits learning to live in the field, experiencing their first taste of building shelters, cooking and

eating military rations. The NCO’s abilities to motivate and care for their cadets were particularly tested by the fact that this had to be done through the hottest weekend of the year so far.

The Navy sailed at Priory nearly every week and this term also saw cadet training begin with the CCF’s new field gun. The customary CCF BBQ occurred on the last Wednesday of term, attended by more than 60 cadets.

Fate had one last sting in the tail when, once again, national resource issues meant the contingent was denied any places on any of the central Army or RAF Annual Camps.

This precipitated some intensive work to plan and action an expedition to the Isle of Wight to walk the entire coastal path to circumnavigate the island. ■ PLW

Intelligence Corps Competition – Team and trophy

Annual Camp 2023: The Isle of Wight

F

rom Sunday 18th to Saturday 24th July, 12 cadets from Bedford school and Bedford Girls’ School took part in the CCF’s Annual Camp, arguably the highlight of the year for the CCF outside of regular training after school.

This year, following a surprise change of plans after not being able to spend the week on a military base as usual, the CCF travelled to the Isle of Wight with the objective of circumnavigating the entire island by walking the coastal path, a route approximately 75 miles in length.

Following a bus journey through the New Forest, a ferry from Southampton to Cowes (the sailing capital of the world and a location both groups would stop at for fish and chips) and another short ride, the CCF arrived at Jersey camp, a 122

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military base primarily used by the cadets and situated on the northern coastline of the island. Combined with picturesque, tranquil meadows, in which an orienteering activity took place in during the first evening, the excellent cooking skills of Ms Hooker and comfortable dormitories, the site was the perfect place to relax and rest legs following a day of walking the rugged coast. Indeed, as each day passed and the challenge of the walk grew, each group would become increasingly joyous on returning to the camp!

The company was split into two groups. Group A, led by the Chaplain, quickly became ‘Neil Team Six’, complete with a team sombrero with the moniker written across the rim.

A suitable sobriquet for group B was a little harder to find,

CCF

becoming ‘Pete’s Pirates’ on the fourth day of walking.

As the sun slowly rose over the Solent on the Monday, the groups began the five days’ walk in Ryde, a seaside town located on the northeast coast of the island. Indeed, the walk would also finish on the pier within this town, albeit with a torrential downpour and backed by the turbulent waters of the channel.

Whilst Neil Team Six travelled clockwise towards Ventnor, Pete’s Pirates went in the opposite direction back towards the camp, a distance that they managed to reach on the first day, surpassing the original target location by about 3 miles.

Meanwhile, Neil Team Six walked at a slightly slower pace on the first and second day, reaching their planned destinations.

Indeed, this plan allowed them to conserve energy for the gruelling third day of the walk: the crumbling, somewhat eroded south, from St. Catherine’s Point up to the iconic needles.

At lunchtime on day 3, the groups crossed each other’s path and shared a delightful lunch and ice cream together in Freshwater. Despite the difficult terrain and topography, this section was unchallenged in its natural beauty; the peaceful vistas contrasted by the crashing waves. In addition, the spectacular needles, seen from the top of the cliffs, made for a truly wonderful backdrop for a challenging portion of the trip.

With the end goal not quite in sight (due to the hilly and eroded landscape), the fourth day was, despite the challenges of the third, the most difficult for Pete’s Pirates, who had pushed on from Chale to Shanklin, unaware of the numerous diversions of the coastal path necessitated by coastal erosion.

This was also the same for Neil Team Six who, despite making a stop at a crab restaurant for a nice early lunch, were met with a few injuries in this portion also, resulting in two cadets having to miss out on a section of the walk. However, after a day’s recuperation, both members were soon ready to continue and complete the coastal path, including a stop at a monastery outside Cowes for afternoon tea on the final day!

Pete’s Pirates and Neil Team Six finished the coastal path on their return to Ryde in high spirits and even greater happiness, as many memories and challenges had been created and overcome over the six days. Indeed, despite the challenges everyone faced circumnavigating The Isle of Wight, it has taught us the importance of determination, supportiveness, positivity and perhaps map reading skills, at least for some. Yet as Winston Churchill aptly highlights, ‘it is the courage to continue that counts,’ and this was certainly expressed by everyone on the trip and will also be the case for many annual camps to come. ■ Charlie Lawrence

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Duke of Edinburgh A

fter many years of Covid changes, this year has seen a return to normal for the Duke of Edinburgh expeditions. It was great to see so many pupils out in the countryside doing their expeditions. There has also been a huge variety of activities taking place for the pupils’ volunteering, skills and physical sections. Unicycling was a first this year for the physical section, as was bee keeping. A little write up about this is below. I love seeing the variety of activities taking place!

As ever, a huge thank you goes to all the staff who have helped with the expeditions and sections over the year, but in particular thank you to Mr Knight, Mr Watson, Mr Peters (in his last year of overseeing the Silver Expeditions) and Miss Swallow. Without out their hard work, none of this would take place.

Jean Mainstone (Duke of Edinburgh Award Leader)

Beekeeping as a Skill

Initially, I was nervous around a hive of up to 50,000 buzzing bees! But I have learned about bee behaviour and now I am happy to handle a frame of wax, honey, brood and bees.

I have enjoyed looking for brood (bee larvae), spotting the queen, collecting a swarm of bees, making candles from pure beeswax that I had collected, melted and filtered myself and of course extracting and jarring the honey amongst lots of other beekeeping jobs. Did you know that a single bee only makes around half a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime of around six weeks? I am looking forward to carrying on with beekeeping as part of my Silver Duke of Edinburgh award.

Stephen Brown Bronze practice walk

Bronze Assessed Expedition 2023

The group of seven of us were dropped off via minibus in Elstow, a ten-minute drive from Bedford School, with the task of making it to Ickwell. If all went well, the route which we had planned in advance would take us approximately six hours to reach the campsite.

We set off at around 10:30 in an optimistic mood, despite the heavy backpacks and the many miles which lay ahead of us. The route that we took was reasonably straightforward to follow the whole morning, and we only stopped for a break once before lunchtime, which we planned for 13:30.

The positive mood remained with us for the whole way, only depleting slightly when we came across some slightly hilly areas, which took a lot longer than expected.

With only a short distance remaining from the campsite, everything seemed to go wrong; a member of our group had sharp pain in his back. It meant we had to stop briefly, but the back didn’t get better. We were contemplating whether to call in for help when a huge rumble of thunder made everyone jump, followed by a burst of very heavy rain. The added problem of weather left us with no option but to call in for the 124

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D OF E

Bronze assessed

back injury, which involved the teachers having to take the person’s bag so that he could walk properly. Despite this, we all carried on, and it didn’t take long from there to reach the destination.

We were the first group to reach the campsite, at around 4:30 in the afternoon, and promptly set up the tents. In my opinion, this part of the trip was by far the best, despite the continuous drizzle, because everything seemed to be going well. The cooking was unexpectedly good, and we played games as a group to keep us entertained, until the day ended with the group of us drinking hot chocolate.

In the morning, the combination of difficult sleep and tired legs left us feeling unmotivated for the walk back to school.

After a brief breakfast, we were the first group to pack up and leave the campsite but were not far ahead of the others. At the start of the walk, we got lost for the first time on the entire trip, meaning we had to retrace and go another way. This detour added a lot of time pressure and it meant that we picked up the pace when walking.

Passing two other groups, we reached a long path which would essentially take us all the way back to school, and it wasn’t long before we were all at ease again. We got back to school with plenty of time to spare and were feeling pretty good, despite the tired legs.

Overall, the trip was a success and that even though we found some of the navigating hard, it made us better and more efficient later.

George Sivills

Silver Assessed Expedition – Yorkshire Dales 2023 We departed Bedford School ready for the challenge that lay before us, and as we drove up the M1, we started to come to terms with the elevation we would have to tackle, and the inconsistency of the weather. As we pitched our tents in the valley above the village of Malham, we prepared ourselves for 

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 the next few days of walking with pasties and doughnuts.

We woke up and were greeted with the damp weather we had been promised. We spent most of the first day climbing, some of it while in dense fog and rain, but views of Malham Cove and Malham Tarn were magnificent. As we followed the Pennine Way, the day ended with heavy rain, meaning when we arrived at the campsite in the village of Horton in Ribblesdale, we quickly put our tents up and waited for the rain to cease. When the rain did stop, we were greeted by a glorious evening as we prepared and devoured our dinner.

The next day greeted us with a blue sky, which allowed us to observe our next task, the mountain, Pen-y-Ghent, which loomed over our campsite. After packing our tents away and

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stocking up on calories, we went straight up to the peak. It was a physical challenge and scrambling was required, but glorious sunshine spurred us on. The views were incredible.

We descended into the next valley slowly, only to discover that would again have a steep climb ahead of us of over 300 metres, but we overcame the obstacle. We finished the day by walking along the river Wharfe to our campsite in Buckden.

We enjoyed being the only school there and the excellent showering facilities.

On the third and final morning of the expedition, we were all ready to finish the last leg of our expedition quickly. We continued where we left of the previous night, following the river Wharfe to Kettlewell, where we were greeted with the best tasting bacon and sausages imaginable.

We were accompanied by an excellent set of staff who used both encouragement and sarcasm to the best of their abilities, so I’m sure all the boys would like to thank Mr Peters, Mr Knight, Miss Owens and Mr Tonge. Also, I’m sure that all the boys were truly grateful for Owen’s wisdom and Andy’s satire, and that the expedition will live long in memories of all those present.

Angus Timmins

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Gold Practice Brecon – Easter 2023

A group of eight lower sixth embarked on a challenging Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE) practice expedition that tested both their physical endurance and teamwork. Equipped with backpacks, maps, and camping gear, they set out into the wilderness, navigating through dense forests, rolling hills, and rugged terrain. Over the course of five days, they honed their orienteering skills, learned to set up camp efficiently, and cooked meals in trangias. Along the way, they faced unexpected weather changes and terrain obstacles, but their determination and camaraderie carried them through. This expedition not only prepared them for the upcoming official Gold DofE journey but also forged lasting bonds among the group, cementing their shared commitment to adventure and personal growth.

Ben Cook

Gold Assessed Expedition – Lake District July 2023 We arrived at the Lake District in high spirits as we were ready to embark on the challenging days to come. We made two groups, one of which included Dilan Sharma, Keshav Navalkissoor, Sidharth Prabhu and Ben Cook. Isaac Dutson, Thivamsan Karunakaran, Rob King and Blake Swift made up the other.

The first couple days were hard, but the sunny weather made it bearable. The views were splendid.

As the days progressed, the third night was by far the worst as we tried to tackle the mountain ‘Helvellyn’ which is measured at 950 metres in gusty winds and pouring rain.

Nearly all our food depleted and with the finish line in sight, we ended the expedition with a walk around the Lake District.

Despite morals being down, we all pushed through and managed to pass our Gold Expedition. ■ Thivamsan Karunakaran

Gold practice

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BSIP Presentation finalists.

Bedford School Independent Project (BSIP)

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n their Lower Sixth year A Level boys produce a BSIP: a body of work on an area of personal interest to them. This takes the form of an artefact, essay or response to a realworld brief. In addition to the academic extension afforded by the project itself, the boys are also required to present their 128

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findings. Both projects and presentations were delivered to an exceptionally high standard. The diversity of subject matter is testament to the boys’ academic curiosity and abilities of independent inquiry. The results for projects and presentations are as follows:

BSIP

BSIP Project Results 2023 Overall Winner

• Arun Penhall How were colonial and foreign soldiers treated by the British public and high-ranking officials? A study on the social treatment of minority soldiers (essay).

Runners-up

• Louis Montgomery The Future of Architecture in an Urban environment: A study of sustainable construction (artefact) • Shaun Thomas The EU and UK’s economic sanctions on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine (essay) • Benedict Smith Is the political centre a tenable and justifiable position in modern society? (essay) • Joe Travis Binary is binary: Why don’t we all use the same programming language?

• Kevin Xu A review of current driverless cars technology (competition entry)

Highly Commended

• Joshua Addo How will the United States of America’s economic influence continue to shift?

• Rupert Apps How has research in maths and physics helped improve the speed of rowing over the past 50 years?

• Edward Briers Is there a need for chemical fertilisers in the future of agriculture?

• Isaac Dutson What does El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption suggest about the future of cryptocurrencies?

• Giles Halsey Traitors or patriots? An explore of the ethics of whistleblowing.

• Jack Harte Sports Law: A Study of How Sports Law has Grown as an Industry Since the Millennium • James Keylock The Psychology Behind Drug Usage In Late 20th Century Rock Bands • Charlie Lawrence Theatre Of the Oppressed: To What extent did Augusto Boal Create Social and Political Change?

• Aaron Lim What is spinal fusion and is it effective for scoliosis treatment?

• Sam Maling Is the use of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques ethically permissible in the modern world?

• Hari Mistry CRISPR - the potential for genetic editing within dentistry • Toby Mitchell The Robot Revolution: A study of Artificial Intelligence and the impacts that proceed it • Keshav Navalkissoor How has the theory of special relativity impacted physics?

• Aleks Nikolov Could Stock Analysts be Replaced by Artificial Intelligence?

• Justin Ng Future of different types of Organ Transplantation • Shiryu Oshiro How Geographical and Historical Isolation Affect People’s Growth in The Okinawa Islands • Ben Plumley Is Formula 1 sustainable or is Formula E the real future of racing?

• Will Reddy AI, an exploration into why Humans are developing technology that could potentially cause our demise.

BSIP Presentation Results 2023 (with adjudicators’ comments) On Wednesday, 1st February seven shortlisted Lower Sixth boys delivered their Bedford School Independent Project (BSIP) presentations in the Memorial Hall on their chosen areas of personal and academic interest. The adjudicators were impressed by both their erudition and the confidence with which they delivered their talks.

• Shaun Thomas (winner) won the presentation prize for his talk ‘Economic Sanctions on Russia: Do they work?’ Adjudicators awarded Shaun the prize for his assured delivery, precision, his clear answers to questions and his approach to expanding his research resources.

• Sam Maling (runner up) delivered a presentation on ‘Is the use of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques ethically permissible in the modern world?’ which was well-prepared, engaged the audience and used detail to add credibility to his argument.

• Edward Briers (runner up) was also highly commended for his discussion of ‘ Is there a need for chemical fertilisers in the future of agriculture?’ for his well-selected detail, specialised knowledge and clear explanation for the benefit of his audience.

• Ben Smith spoke with clear lines of argument and a considered rationale on ‘Is the political centre a tenable and justifiable position in modern society?’

• Jake Reynolds impressed with his use of data and evidence in his talk, ‘How has Roe v Wade had an impact on society from 1973 compared to present day?’

• Isaac Dutson’s ‘What does El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption suggest about the future of cryptocurrencies?’ contained personal insight and updated amendments. Adjudicators noted his rapport with his audience.

• Charlie Lawrence was confident and informed as he reflected on ‘The Theatre of the Oppressed: To What Extent Did Augusto Boal Create Social and Political Change?’ Pace, intonation, and emphasis were excellent.

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Arun Penhall’s winning project Arun wrote a study on the social treatment of minority soldiers, entitled ‘How were colonial and foreign soldiers treated by the British public and high-ranking officials?’

He focused on the treatment of African, Caribbean, Indian, Polish and Czechoslovakian soldiers during and in the aftermath of the Second World War. An excerpt from Arun’s essay, below, focuses on ‘Foreign Allied Soldiers’:

Foreign Allied Soldiers

Following the occupation of their homelands, many of the surviving Polish and Czechoslovakian air forces combined and fled to England, where their government in exile campaigned for them to fight against the Axis Alliance. Around 19,400 ₁ Poles served in the RAF, with 2,408 of them being killed .

There were also 4,000 members of the Polish Navy fighting ₂ alongside the British . In the RAF there were 16 Polish ₃ squadrons. Approximately 6,500 Czech soldiers were serving in Britain in the Second World War and had 4 squadrons⁴ in the RAF. There is evidence to show that the British public generally welcomed Czech and Polish soldiers with polite treatment and open arms. Antoni Slonimski, a Polish poet and journalist wrote “we were received with cordial hospitality…Our faces brightened before this trustful and friendly smile”⁵. The British public at the time were appreciative of the aid that the Poles were giving them, so certain amenities were directed their way. For example, they were given free drinks in pubs, and some members of the public even began to “walk up to airmen (Polish)…invite them home”⁶. This behaviour helped to raise the spirits of the Polish and Czech soldiers, given that their countries were under German occupation. Polish and Czech pilots would prove themselves to be admirable and extremely skilled pilots, with the famous example of No. 303 squadron who brought down the highest tally of 126 enemy planes⁷ during the Battle of Britain. This would no doubt have increased the public’s appreciation and fondness of the Polish and Czech contingents serving in Britain.

An argument can be made that Czech and Polish soldiers were treated better than: Indian, African and Caribbean soldiers due to their skin colour, aligning with some of the more racist attitudes of the time.

Immediately after the Second World War, British citizens ₁ House Of Commons Library. 2019. Polish contribution to the UK war effort in World War

Two. [ONLINE] Available at: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cdp2019-0168/. [Accessed 28 October 2022]. ₂ IBID [Accessed 28 October 2022]. ₃ BCSA. 2017. Never Forgotten. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.bcsa.co.uk/neverforgotten/#:~:text=Many%20Czechs%20and%20Slovaks%20left,parachutists%20or%20 in%20the%20army.. [Accessed 30 October 2022]. ⁴ THE LIVING HISTORY GROUP 276th SQDN. (REENACTED) RAF, Z.S.. 2020. OVERVIEW ABOUT CZECHOSLOVAK SQUADRONS IN THE RAF. [ONLINE] Available at: https:// www.276.cz/en/living-history-group-276th-sqdn-reenacted-raf/. [Accessed 28 October 2022]. ⁵ Czarnomski, F., 1941. They Fight For Poland. 1st ed. London: Allen & Unwin. P.281-282 ⁶ Zamoyski, A., 1996. The Forgotten Few: The Polish Air Force in the Second World War. 1st ed. London: John Murray. P.60 ⁷ RAF Museum. 2020. Poles and Czechoslovaks in the Battle of Britain. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/blog/poles-and-czechoslovaks-in-the-battle-of-britain/.

[Accessed 28 October 2022].

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started to behave negatively toward the Polish soldiers. Walls near and around Polish Air Force stations were painted with ‘Poles go home’ and ‘England for the English’. Tony Sosna remembers: “We are not needed anymore, we are alright when we are fighting for our and your freedoms…now our usefulness has ceased”⁸. Perhaps this was a case of common racist attitudes returning once a degree of normality had been restored to daily life.

During the Second World War, the British populace and government suffered through bombardment, rationing and a plethora of other problems. On the back of this and despite Churchill’s Yalta pledge in February 1945, when he said “to offer the citizenship and freedom of the British Empire, if they so desire”⁹, the new Labour government encouraged the Poles to go back to Poland. A letter sent by the Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin to the Polish forces in Britain detailed that there was no guarantee that they could settle in British territory and should “return to their home country without ₁₀ further delay” . Effectively, the British were trying to deport the Polish soldiers who had sacrificed, bled, and fought with a ferocity rarely seen. This caused many Poles to be relocated to Russian-occupied areas of Poland, in most instances meaning captivity and in extreme circumstances, death.

Consequently, many Polish soldiers were justifiably distraught and angry with the speed at which the British government was shipping its war heroes and soldiers away. One soldier wrote, “I will never go back to Poland if she is under Russian ₁₁ control…It is better to die than to go there” . After just having won the war for freedom, they were plunged unjustly into another dire situation. This was true social malfeasance and shows a shocking attitude to those that helped during Britain’s time of need.

Fortunately, the government faced a widespread social backlash, and it decided to honour Churchill’s pledge through the Polish Resettlement Act and Polish Resettlement Corps “which had as its task the facilitating of the transfer of Polish ₁₂ soldiers into civilian life” (Ernest Bevin) . Although this inevitably helped many Polish soldiers it does not undo the harm suffered by those who were deported. ■ Congratulations to Arun and the other highly commended boys on their academically rigorous BSIP work.

RAQ ⁸ Webster, W., 2018. Mixing It. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. P.19 ⁹ Hansard - Commons. 1945. CRIMEA CONFERENCE HC Deb 27 February 1945 vol 408 cc1267-345. [ONLINE] Available at: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/ commons/1945/feb/27/crimea-conference. [Accessed 26 October 2022]. ₁₀ Hansard - Commons. 1945. POLISH ARMED FORCES (GOVERNMENT POLICY) HC Deb 20 March 1946 vol 420 cc1875-82. [ONLINE] Available at: https://api.parliament.uk/historichansard/commons/1946/mar/20/polish-armed-forces-government-policy#column_1880.

[Accessed 26 October 2022]. ₁₁ Webster, W., 2018. Mixing It. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. P.237 ₁₂ Hansard - Parliament. 1948. Polish Resettlement Corps Volume 450: debated on Wednesday 12 May 1948. [ONLINE] Available at: https://hansard.parliament. uk/commons/1948-05-12/debates/6e1d2b40-f349-47be-9e7c-60670cd6b991/ PolishResettlementCorps. [Accessed 25 October 2022].

clubs and Societies

Debating and Public Speaking

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hose of us who have the privilege of working with the Debating Society are well aware how clearly the School’s values of endeavour, responsibility, integrity, curiosity and kindness shine through when the boys are preparing and presenting their ideas. Courage and camaraderie are evident on a daily basis and, whenever Bedford School pupils talk among themselves or with those from other schools, their respectful, outward-looking engagement with complex and contested subject matter gives one cause for optimism. This was certainly true throughout the House Debating Competitions, won this year by Ashburnham (Junior) and St Cuthbert’s (Senior).

Weekly society meetings this year considered topics as diverse as whether Maths should be a compulsory A Level and the validity of secularising Bedford School. Society President Sam Maling ensured that all who attended received a warm welcome and had the opportunity to both use and develop their voices. These meetings are less about winning debates than developing oracy and exploring the nuances of issues.

There were, however, a number of extremely pleasing performances in a range of inter-school competitions. Having performed very capably in the first round, Johnny Cummins and Sam Maling gave a commanding performance speaking about the decriminalisation of cannabis in the semi-final of the Police and Crime Commisioner’s Debating Competition. Sam also excelled to reach the regional final of the ESU Sixth Form Public Speaking Competition and was joined by newcomer to public

speaking competitions Kevin Xu, whose talk on driverless cars drew plaudits from the judge and warm acclaim from fellow competitors. The high quality and slick presentation of research undertaken by all these boys was noteworthy.

Fourth Formers Seth Baines, Isaac Raddan and Ralph Franklin reached the regional final of the Intermediate Rotary International Youth Speaks – a Debate Competition. Sadly, Seth was injured on the day but Stirling Smallwood stepped in with just an hour’s notice, prepared his talk about NATO on the drive to Hatfield, and performed with aplomb. In the equivalent senior competition, Jibran Baloch, George Gutteridge and Millan Verwoert were perhaps unlucky not to be named in the top three teams when they presented a debate on whether war is ever justified. The clarity of their line of argument and charisma on stage were excellent.

Perhaps the most impressive achievement of the year came when Henry Gillham (Chair), George Gutteridge (Questioner) and Fraser Morgan (Speaker) were a hairsbreadth from reaching the national final of the ESU Churchill Public Speaking Competition, just pipped by Radley in a wonderful regional final held at Wycombe Abbey.

To all the boys who participated in any form of debating or public speaking this year, thank you and well done. I am also grateful to Mrs Carole Hopkins and Miss Fi Fowler who helped the boys so ably and willingly. ■ NLH RYS District Final 2023

CPS Area Final 2023

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Pythagoreans Society I

f you have ever ventured near the Bell Room at 4.15pm on a Friday afternoon, you will have seen an ever-increasing buzz of excitement as a growing number of young mathematicians gather in room A21 for their weekly dose of higher-level mathematics.

Pythagoreans Society, now in its second year, is a joint venture with students from Bedford School, Bedford Girls’ School and Bedford Modern School. Increasing in popularity, month on month, there are now around 80 students from the three schools who attend on a regular basis.

The society is very much student-led by five Bedford School Upper Sixth Formers: Dylan Morgan-Jones, Tai TsangGoodwin, Charlie Dowrick, Jamie Wallwork and Nat Lord, whose job it is to welcome attendees, organise lectures and introduce guest speakers.

Many of the lectures are delivered by the students themselves. This year, they have included one from Tai Tsang-Goodwin entitled, ‘Max Tegmark’s Mathematical Universe’, and Charlie Dowrick, who delivered ‘When Maths Goes Wrong’. Bedford Girls’ School’s Alishba Khalid, who is studying higher mathematics for the International Baccalaureate, gave a lecture on ‘Electroporation Mathematical Models: Using Partial Differential Equations in Biophysics’.

The students also enjoyed lectures from Old Bedfordian Thomas Pelling (08-19) on ‘An Introduction to Mathematical Expectation’, current Maths teacher Mr Deplancke on ‘Grey squirrels are evil: an exploration of Mathematical Modelling of population changes’, and former Maths teacher Mr Watson on ‘Connections’.

Read about the lecture delivered by renowned mathematician Alex Bellos.

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In addition to lectures, the group also work through mathematical problems beyond the International Baccalaureate and A-Level syllabus.

Upper Sixth Former Dylan Morgan-Jones, who is one of the society leaders, explained, “A maths-focused society is so important because it connects all the subjects. We’ve had talks this year on all sorts, such as algorithm-based maths by using matrices to find the shortest distance between a network of points with specific distances between them, using partial differential equations to determine how to most efficiently administer drugs, and discussing philosophically whether the universe is described by mathematics or mathematics makes the universe.”

One of the highlights of the Pythagorean calendar is the Big Team Quiz, which is held in the Great Hall, which has fast become a hotly contested competition – this year it took place on Friday 2 December. The quiz brings everyone together and ties off the term nicely, and, whilst a great challenge, is also a lot of fun. ■ Mandy Alison

Speakers

•D ylan Morgan-Jones – ‘The Riemann Hypothesis - Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’

• Charlie Dowrick – ‘When Maths Goes Wrong’ • Tai Tsang-Goodwin – ‘Max Tegmark’s Mathematical Universe’ •M r Deplancke - “Grey squirrels are evil: an exploration of Mathematical Modelling of population changes” • Mr J Watson - “Connections” • Mr A Watson - “Gauss’s Law and Symmetry in Fields” •T homas Pelling (OB) - “An Introduction to Mathematical Expectation” •A lishba Khalid (BGS student) - “Electroporation Mathematical Models: Using Partial Differential Equations In Biophysics” •A nastasiia Paniushkina (BGS student) - “The Drake Equation” • Ruby Kaur (BGS student) - “The Fibonacci Sequence” • Mia Krnic (BGS student) - “Visualising 4+ Dimensions” • Alex Bellos - Main lecture title ‘Adventures in Numberland’

and finally

COMPETITION ENTRY Olly Wright’s entry for the Oxford University French Flash Fiction competition

Ma Mort est un Mystère L’année dernière, j’ai été assassiné. L’homme qui l’a fait n’a jamais été attrapé, et, maintenant, mon esprit attend la justice. Je pense qu’il ne viendra jamais. Ma famille est accablé de chagrin, et mes parents veulent savoir ce qui m’est arrivé.

Pendant ce temps, le meurtrier est libre. Mon esprit le regarde. Il a tué beaucoup d’autres. Les autres familles sont en deuil, et j’aimerais pouvoir les réconforter.

Cependant, je suis un fantȏme. Je suis mort.

Hier, j’ai vu ma mère pleurer. Elle avait une photo de moi. C’est tout ce que je suis. Une photo.

Je suis un souvenir.

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