The Ousel 2021

the ousel

Dogs and their boarding staff owners (l-r): Misty and HCT, Wikket and SRL, Millie and RJM, Dougie and CJB.

THE OUSEL

The Magazine of Bedford School and the Old Bedfordians Club Number 993 - Autumn 2020 to Summer 2021

10 cUSTOM TRAINERS

70 SPORT

13 ART

88 CCF

● Editors: A.W.Grimshaw and R.A.Quirighetti ● Editor - Bedford School Association: Clara Policella ● Cub reporter: Ellison Hendry ● Front and back covers: Ged Green takes a tai chi class amongst the blossom (see article on page 9) ● Design: Cherry Red Designs - www.cherryreddesigns.com ● Printer: Lavenham Press - www.lavenhampress.com ● © Bedford School 2021 ● Photographs: Many thanks to Mark Lewis, school photographer; most of the photographs are his - particular thanks for the tai chi shots. Also thanks to Jean Mainstone for the D of E photos and thanks for other photos supplied by other members of staff, especially the art department

36 DRAMA

45 MUSIC

90 DUKE OF EDINBURGH

96 Bedford School Association

and James Hinkins: we are very grateful indeed. Thanks to Karoline Jefferey and Will Montgomery for help with staff news photographs. ● The Ousel magazine regrets any mistake 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. ● Bedford School is part of the Harpur Trust. ● Bedford School, De Parys Avenue, Bedford. MK40 2TU ● 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

EDITORIAL DECEMBER 2021 S

hort it might be, but this year the blossom time was perishing cold as well: even as May approached it was still chilly. I longed for warmth after the dreary cold of lockdown, but it seemed we were shut in the freezer forever. Was there a symbol of hope, a modern-day ‘darkling thrush’, something to lift the heart and give this benighted trudger strength?

Walking into school on the Kirkman’s path, by the majestic row of lime trees, I was electrified one morning in that cold April by the fluty chuckle of the woodpecker overhead. Peering frantically here and there through the branches, I dashed about for a life-affirming glimpse of that wonderful bird.

The streets of Lancashire where I grew up were not oft frequented by woodpeckers: the nearest I got to one was watching Professor Yaffle on Bagpuss.

Woodpeckers have therefore always seemed fabulously exotic to me: the green woodpecker’s vivid feathers are like those of a British parrot. They are a pop of tropical colour in a grey world.

There was nothing above me, though, but two glum pigeons eyeing my charging about with froideur.

Crestfallen, I admitted defeat and continued my trudge disconsolate.

There!

Just as I had passed beyond the limes, I heard

Woodpeckers have always seemed fabulously exotic to me.

that same chuckle. Again I searched, straining high and low by the cricket scoreboard to get a glimpse of that glorious green through the branches. Again, nothing.

From then on, everywhere I seemed to go during those cold weeks I heard the distant fluting of the woodpecker; could I ever spot it? It seemed to be laughing in the distance at my myopic attempts: did its jollity hold the note of a jeer? It became something of an obsession with me: only the sight of a woodpecker would give hope. It began to seem an incarnation of summer and warmth, forever at a distance.

And then, one chilly day at Ickwell, I was walking back by the pond and there! At last!

A large, fledgling green woodpecker, struggling to fly, was hopping along the ground, fluting in wild alarm at the sight of me in beekeeping get-up. Perhaps it was five 2 THE OUSEL 2020-2021

feet away from me; I could not help but drink in the sight of it for a moment before realising I was the cause of its alarm and beating a retreat.

As I backed off, the mother green woodpecker flew down; they are such nervous birds that she would not come any nearer the ground than ten feet up a tree trunk. I retreated even further and saw the fledgling hopping around the base of the tree out of my sight with mother flying down to join it. It was so bewitching I forgot all else for the moment.

I walked back to my car with a sudden bounce, the welcome sun warming me through, the promise of spring finally delivered.

We wish all our readers the glimpse of a green woodpecker on Christmas Day. ■ AWG

WELCOME

View from the Head Master’s Study last I looked, about 20,000 were cheering on England at Wembley!). It has, I guess I am saying, been a pretty confusing year, as hard to predict from day-to-day as Michael Fish’s infamous 1987 hurricane, which felled six of the seven oaks in that lovely Kent town.

Emerging (as we are, I hope) from all the uncertainty of the past year, we seem to be falling into a time when everything (apart from school children, as it happens – in a traditional sense, at least) appears to be under examination. People are examining the way they work, the way they live their life, the very fabric of what society (and indeed the globe) ought to look like. The appalling deaths in this past year of George Floyd and Sarah Everard have sparked Black Lives Matter and Everyone’s Invited respectively, just as Greta Thunberg has continued to speak out on climate change, all movements which have forced us individually to search for what is right, to scrutinise issues of inequality and to think inwardly about how we can contribute in a positive way to societal change. It is not an easy time to be involved in the process of education, whether teacher, parent or child, but

It has, I guess I am saying, been a pretty confusing year.

J

une, 2021.

Today it will be cloudy with spells of sunshine, which may (or may not) be lengthy; it will feel cold in the morning; there may even be a frost; then later expect the temperature to rise; it may not; don’t be surprised to see sleet on higher ground; or a heatwave; there “definitely will not be a hurricane” (wink, wink). Don’t go out without an umbrella; or a sombrero. If you have hay fever, bad luck; and if you like gardening, keep enjoying it (either from indoors or outdoors). That’s all I have time for just now; until tomorrow, cheerio.

As it happens, I have just cancelled a garden reception for tomorrow, which was still on only yesterday; last weekend, I cancelled a leavers’ ball, on the grounds that the Government’s planned reopening of the country did not happen on time, and reorganised speech day to allow for lunchtime picnics for a maximum of 30 people in various sites around the school, socially distanced, on the grounds that new DfE guidance allows it as a maximum (where,

it is undoubtedly an exciting one. Great moral, ethical and practical challenges, and perhaps uniquely acute ones, face us all in the coming years and the next generation needs to be equipped not only to face these challenges, but to find a way through them. And yet, who would be involved in education and not believe in the enabling power of change? As educators, we all find ourselves in a very privileged position; personally, I love this next generation: I think it has the energy, ingenuity, sense of purpose and global responsibility to be able to guide the world forward successfully. But we need to help them, too, to ensure that this pandemic period of introspective examination leads to cohesiveness rather than division.

Two years ago, pre-pandemic indeed, I went to my oldest daughter’s graduation in Durham. The speaker was the Chancellor of the University himself, Sir Tom Allen; it was a lovely, upbeat, humorous speech, in which he even managed to break into song at one point, showing off his fine (and famed) operatic voice. As he rounded off his talk, he finished by addressing the graduating cohort with a quotation that I have committed to memory: “We are in an era of rage,” he said. “Everybody seems to be angry. We need you to be nice - create a new order and be kind to each other.” My own appeal to all readers of this year’s Ousel is, “Let’s all help our children to achieve just that”.

I am most grateful to Mrs Quirighetti and Mr Grimshaw, who have put together such a wonderful record of such an unusual year. I hope that this edition brings its own joy. ■ JSH

THE MAGAZINE OF BEDFORD SCHOOL AND THE OLD BEDFORDIANS CLUB 3

WELCOME

From the Chaplain T he Commemoration of Founders and Benefactors was certainly a novel experience in October, 2020.

Instead of gathering in the Chapel to give ‘most hearty thanks for Sir William Harpur and Dame Alice his wife, and all our founders and benefactors, by whose benefits we are here brought up to godliness and the studies of good learning’, we were instead spread far and wide, unable to join together in song and thanksgiving due to the ongoing pandemic. However, this unfortunate and unprecedented situation did allow us to engage creatively with the premise of the commemoration and so we found ourselves, through the medium of an online video, joining the Head Master in his study, the Head of School on the chapel steps, and the Chaplain at the altar. Perhaps most adventurously we joined the Warden of New College, Miles Young (63-72), Bedford School’s historic patron, in his centuries-old, wood-panelled study in Oxford.

While the expansion of events to the online sphere, made necessary by the context in which we have found ourselves this year as with the Commemoration of Founders and Benefactors, has opened new possibilities and extended our individual reach, particularly beyond the usual boundaries of distance and geography, the restriction on our ability to gather, travel and join together has been keenly felt. While reach and impact, as the marketing professionals might put it, has been enhanced, there is no way in which watching a video by oneself can match the experience of singing Domus Pater alongside hundreds of others who have a share in the heritage of our school and hold to its values and bear a part in the vision for its future beyond the present global crisis.

While the chapel may have been empty of any gathering

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THE OUSEL 2020-2021

numbering more than a few over the course of the past year, the community for which it stands has not fractured nor faltered. Indeed, this shared experience has, if anything, heightened our awareness of the community and values which underpin our life together here.

The Christian perspective has much to say about the idea of physical separation and togetherness. For many, the periods of lockdown and remote education have felt like periods of exile, a recurring theme in scripture from the expulsion of the garden of Eden, through ancient Israel’s period of exile in Babylon, understood as an allegory for our present pilgrimage in this world as we await what St Thomas Aquinas describes as ‘our true native land’ in God’s presence. But as pilgrims on our shared journey, as in Chaucer or Bunyan, we find we are not alone, but band together, speeding the journey with song and companionship.

The trials and tribulations of this past year have challenged each and every one of us, as our lives have undergone uncertainty and change. But despite enforced separation, we have borne this together, sharing joys and sorrows and relying upon our common values, forged in community. And, above all, it is hope that has borne us through: the hope of something better beyond, that after the present crisis a shared future awaits us.

God our redeemer, guide us on our earthly pilgrimage through this barren land strengthening us with songs of hope; that, at length, when we tread the verge of Jordan, through the veil of death we may see you face-to-face and reach our eternal home where we may ever sing your praise.

Amen.

NGM

ACADEMIC LIFE

From the Deputy Head (ACADEMIC)

A

lthough many of the structures and operations of the academic year 2020-21 were defined (and tested) by the pandemic, the academic curiosity, ambition and success of our community shone through.

The year began with the school estate reorganised into zones and one-way systems for different year groups so boys could be “bubbled” (an all-too-frequently-used past participle in school management vernacular during the pandemic!) to minimise contact between year groups.

Although practical subjects continued to teach in their specialist buildings, most lessons for the fourth form took place in the Rice building, the remove were based on the A and B floor of the main building, and so on. While boys may have appreciated a lighter commute across the site, teachers became rather more nomadic, zooming across the school between lessons to teach their classes. The Bedford School Trust generously funded new staff laptops and universal classroom display technologies to facilitate this change, which aided the quality of learning immeasurably under these new circumstances.

As coronavirus cases began to increase, boys were required to self-isolate at home or in their boarding house following suspected transmission of the virus. Once again, the adaptability of the community was challenged but emerged with excellence: our teaching responded with the introduction of ‘blended’ lessons, with some boys in the classroom and others ‘dialling in’ by videoconferencing to join the class learning. Unfortunately, as cases rose at a national level, this blended learning made way for a return to full remote learning in the spring term following another national lockdown.

So, for the second year running, public examinations were cancelled - although the arrangements in 2021 came with a twist: schools were required to collect evidence (ideally, if contradictorily, under examination conditions!) to determine the grades. As such, at very short notice, schools took on all the mechanics of qualifications normally administered by exam boards: the setting, standardising, marking and moderation of written assessments, facilitating assessments by videoconference, ensuring fair treatment for students with personal difficulties at the time of assessments, aligning marks with grading standards, managing post-results services… the list goes on! Bedford teachers took on this unprecedented responsibility with consummate integrity, skill, care, and dedication – generating rooms full of standardisation paperwork, training 

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ACADEMIC LIFE

 records and triple-marked assessments. The boys, similarly,

rose to the challenge with distinction – working terrifically hard to demonstrate the excellent learning they had accomplished during their courses.

The cumulative effect was outstanding qualification results across A level and the International Baccalaureate, which secured most boys their first-choice university or degree apprenticeship. Our leavers are taking up degrees as far-ranging as computer science, theology, architecture, agri-business management, engineering, law, International relations, history of art, cancer biology and immunology in universities across the UK, Germany and the USA. 80% of upper sixth boys went on to either Russell Group and/ or Times Top Thirty universities, with the most popular destinations being Durham, UCL, Bath and Exeter. At Cambridge, Oscar Hudson takes up his place to read linguistics at Peterhouse College and George Winder to read natural sciences (biological) at Emmanuel College; at Oxford, Max Sogan will be reading physics at St Catherine’s College and Michael Lee will read economics and management at New College. In the International Baccalaureate, Ciaran Zanna was our highest-performing candidate with 44 points and leaves to read history at the University of St Andrews.

The fifth form also secured a superb set of qualifications at IGCSE and GCSE. Mention should be given to those boys who achieved ten or more grade 9s (a top A* equivalent): Troy Arora, Gideon Chan, Charlie Dowrick, William Edwards, Tom Godber, Arav Kirtane, Nathanael Lord, Josha Mital, Makar Molchanov, Luca Moretto, Varun Nathan, Robert Parrish, Caleb Sanders, Kush Shah, Shawn Shen, Tai TsangGoodwin and Callum Ward.

The Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) cohort achieved a clean sweep of A*-A grades for a fourth successive year, with two engineering projects securing 100%: Max Sogan for his research on flying wing aircraft and Daniel Lumley-Wood for his experimental project involving a self-built trebuchet!

In the major internal academic competitions, James Deardon (lower sixth) won the Talalay Science Presentation Prize for his report and presentation on the quantum mechanics of free will, and James Cutler (lower sixth) won the Bedford School Independent Project award for his essay on Chinese neo-mercantilist policy and its effects on domestic economic development.

What follows is a small selection of the ways Bedford School boys have made themselves known outside the school grounds in areas of academic success. In forming this digest many achievements have been omitted, but I hope this gives a flavour of the breadth and depth of academic pursuit with which our teachers and boys have engaged.

In the British Biology Olympiad, Alexander Linney and George Winder (both upper sixth) won gold medals, with George Ashcroft and Ciaran Kilbane (both lower sixth) taking gold medals in the Intermediate Olympiad, and Alexander Olleson (fourth form) winning gold in the Biology Challenge.

In the Chemistry Olympiad, Harry Dowrick, Harilaos Karavaggelis and George Winder (all upper sixth) won gold, with Harry, Harilaos and Sam Lee (also upper sixth) making it through from achieving merit in the Physics Challenge to winning silver medals in the main Physics Olympiad. Alex Aellen and Reuben Glenville (both lower sixth) won gold medals in the Senior Physics Challenge, and Troy Arora, 6 THE OUSEL 2020-2021

Cyrus Goddard, Mohammed Shadid, Shawn Shen, Shazil Sohail and Sunny Ye (all fifth form) won gold in the Physics Intermediate Challenge.

Although the mathematics national team challenges were cancelled last year, the individual challenges went ahead, and Bedford boys excelled. In the Senior Maths Challenge, Justin Zhao, Tony Zhang, Harry Dowrick and Boris Song (all upper sixth), and Alex Aellen and Charlie Chen (both lower sixth), achieved gold medals, with Harry progressing to win a merit in the highly selective Senior Maths Kangaroo.

A sweep of gold medals was achieved in the Intermediate Maths Challenge: Sunny Ye, Charlie Dowrick, Varun Nathan, Shawn Shen and Isaac Cheung (fifth form), Ivan Iankov and Max Leung (remove form), Eric He and Jason He (fourth form). Michael Moretto (fourth form) qualified for the selective Grey Kangaroo round, where he received a merit, and Eric He and Jason He were invited to enter the prestigious Cayley Olympiad, where Eric received a merit and Jason gained a distinction (placing him in the top 100 of all UK students).

Bedford continued its dominance in regional, national and international computing competitions: Alex Aellen, James Moffat (both upper sixth), Sachin Kambli (fifth form) and Frederick Simmen (remove form) joined the UK government’s Cyber Discovery Elite Programme; Alex Aellen also won a distinction in the Oxford University Computing Challenge. Joe Travis (remove), Arav Kirtane, Varun Nathan and Shawn Shen (all fifth form) won distinctions in the Perse Team Coding Competition, and Maxwell Martin (lower sixth) and Oliver Jones (remove) were the topperforming boys in their sections of the international Bebras Computing Challenge. Large teams of boys participated in the international Lockheed Martin Cyber Quest Hacking and Code Quest Programming Competitions, with the sixthform team of German Nikolishin, Tony Zhang and Hasnain Zaidi (upper sixth), James Moffat and Alex Aellen (lower sixth) ranking second in the UK (and at one stage in the competition, seventh worldwide).

In other national competitions, Alfie Willcocks (upper sixth) won gold in the Linguistics Olympiad, and Charlie McCutcheon’s (lower sixth) entry to the New College of Humanities Art History Essay Prize (on the return of cultural artifacts to former colonial territories) was highly commended. Sami Shameem (upper sixth) was selected to be the school’s entry in the ARTiculation Prize at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, with his presentation on Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks. The Bedford School public speaking team of William Roberts (fifth form) and Giles Halsey and Toby L’Estrange (both remove) won their regional heats to represent the school with distinction in the English Speaking Union Churchill Public Speaking National Grand Final, and Ben Barnes and Rowan Bascetta-Pollitt (both upper sixth) thrived in the English Schools Union Centenary Debate. Daniel Bello, Sami Haroon, Nathanael Hylton and Deimis Sukys (all lower sixth) were awarded a highly commended placing for their video entry on ‘The Ethics of Vaccination’ in the University of Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics competition. There was much cause for celebration in the Music Department in December, when Alexander Olleson (fourth form) won BBC Young Chorister of the Year.

SSB

FEATURES

A special year for nature at Ickwell Reserve

P

robably not for 600 years or so has Ickwell slumbered in the way it has for the past year. We managed one IB visit from school when we put out mats in the meadow for animal monitoring. Otherwise, the only sounds and disturbances have been the occasional workdays from the warden or me.

What eventually became the Ickwell Estate after the coming of the Normans may have included a manor house possibly built by the Knights Hospitallers of which there is no trace save possibly the moat. On the dissolution of the monasteries the estate was granted to the Barnardiston family by Henry the VIII in about 1543. The Harvey family came on the scene in about 1680 and their successors were here until about 1924, so within recent memory.

In all this time from the sixteenth century to today, the estate has developed and grown. To begin with it was a woodland landscape as was all of England some 10,000 years ago, as the ice sheets retreated. By the time the Normans arrived much of this had already been cleared and the wildwood of ancestry had become fragmented and may have existed here but old maps and documents where they do exist mostly show this part of England as “wood pasture”. The land is dry and the soils thin, so livestock grazing under a remainder of ancient trees was and remains the dominant landscape feature in Bedfordshire and notably around Ickwell.

The Harvey family embarked on landscape projects and estate building on some scale and part of the house and dovecote are remarkable survivors from the seventeenth

century. The wildwood might have survived in places where soil conditions—we are on a geological boundary here--favoured woodland perhaps for Pannage (pig foraging) over clearance for wood pasture.

The Harveys by the mid-nineteenth century had embarked on a major construction of what is now regarded as an important historical parkland landscape of about the 1880’s recorded as such by English Heritage: we are custodians of a wonderful if battered gem of a place.

After all the Victorian construction of buildings, lakes, paths and islands and their subsequent management, we find ourselves during the Covid lockdown presiding over a peaceful place where, as in other landscapes, nature has taken over and made full use of the peace and tranquillity.

So how did we see change during the long period of lockdown? One good example was the camping meadow which has been left undisturbed and mostly uncut this year and so we have been able take a closer look at the sward to see if it shows any signs of species-rich grassland. We noticed that part of it nearer the dovecote and on a spring line does have some value and contained a few species indicative of a wet meadow as well as sedges which are not normally found on improved grassland which the rest seemed to be. We hope to repeat the experiment next year but perhaps over a smaller area.

The lake outfall continues to be taken over by pendulous sedge the growth of which we have been unable to deal with. With dense ground cover it is of little habitat value 

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FEATURES

 and the contrast is most marked in the two photographs taken

in 2012 and 2021. The area is west facing and well-lit, so clear banks should give greater diversity but this is steadily being lost.

In other areas the coppiced hazel trees have run wild over time due to a combination of wet weather and good west-facing conditions. Our programme of work, mostly IB-based, has been seriously curtailed. In lighter areas there should be a tapestry of woodland plants under the coppice but in the two photographs bare ground heavily nibbled by alien Reeves Muntjac deer contrasts with the fenced deer exclusion area. These small deer are doing great damage to our native woods particularly here in the eastern counties.

 The fenced area in 2017 and the deer damage to unfenced parts in 2021

The pictures show variously coppicing work in 2017 and two views in the same area from 2015 and 2021 showing how coppice hazel growth is obscuring the dovecote.

At least most of our hedge is flourishing where it has got away and above the deer browsing line.

I hope activities can resume for 2022 and that there is more to report then. Once again, I am indebted to the Ickwell IB team of Mr Palmer and Miss Bell, the Ickwell committee and, especially, Mr Young. ■ Chris Jones 8 THE OUSEL 2020-2021

FEATURES

Ged Green and his tai chi class practise beneath the blossom.

P

TaiChi

hysics teacher, Ged Green, is also the school’s tai chi teacher. He has run classes in tai chi at the school for around seven or eight years, although has been practising it himself for over twenty years. He took it up after karate began to take its toll on his joints; he likes the way it

combines elements of a martial art with elements of yoga.

The classes have taken place in various places around school: Ged thinks that outside locations are the best, although biting midges have been troublesome on occasion.

Playing the right type of tai chi music can really help to focus the mind and practising in the garden, with the sights and sounds of nature playing all around, helps to steady the mind.

When asked what it gives to the boys who practise it, Ged was instant in reply: ‘It is an alternative that is gentle, yet surprisingly effective in significantly improving strength, balance and stamina as well as clearing the mind of all other issues.’

Ged is trying to pack a good deal into the summer term course that he runs; he really gains a boost when he sees students start to appreciate the positive physical and mental changes that tai chi brings them. It can be a revelation, he says.

We wish Ged and all who follow the tai chi path continued good practice. ■ Ousel reporter

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FEATURES

How The twocustomisers Came About

Henry Cudjoe

Picture: David Lester

Picture: David Lester

Alex Edun

H

10 THE OUSEL 2020-2021

enry Cudjoe and Alexander Edun started a shoe customisation business called ‘The twocustomisers’.

It began with a spontaneous idea suggested by a friend, who asked if they would like to start customising shoes. They started by making an Instagram account where Henry began by creating daily content in order to build a following; these were sketches of potential designs. The next step was to create a brand name and identity. They started out as YBK Customs but recently changed to ‘The twocustomisers’: a new identity which better described them as creators. The next task was to get some orders; the first few came from

FEATURES

friends and family. Gradually more and more people on social media started messaging asking for customs and before they knew it, a large portfolio had grown.

Usually, people reach out to them through Instagram.

Henry or Alex then spend some time juggling ideas until they come up with a complete design with the client. After having agreed on the design, one of them sources the shoes or the customer provides their own and then they paint on the design. However, this is after preparing the shoe. They are finally hand delivered or shipped to the client.  Alex with a pair of customised boots

Alex painted a pair of Mizuno rugby boots for Luke Treharne, the Wales rugby sevens captain who currently plays for Great Britain on the World Rugby 7s Series Circuit. Henry completed a pair of custom Mizuno Rugby boots for England sevens player and Great Britain Olympic squad member, Dan Bibby. Bibby wore the boots at the Olympics and the boys were interviewed on BBC Look East as a result.

Their celebrity continues to grow: Alex and Henry have been interviewed by Galleria Meera, an online art gallery and on an art podcast.   Manga-inspired Nike Air Force trainers.

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FEATURES



The twocustomisers are now fulfilling their ambitions of working on boots for more rugby players. Alex has just completed a pair of custom Umbro boots for Poppy Cleall, England women’s rugby’s number 8. She will be wearing the boots to celebrate her 50th England cap and the design of the boots celebrates this.

The boys have also worked with commercial partners, namely Skippy Peanut Butter UK, designing a pair of custom Skippy-themed Vans. Twocustomiser footwear collaborations continue apace. ■ Ousel Reporter

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art

Gilbert Lloyd lectures William Feaver

Frances Spalding

W

ith Covid restrictions in place in the autumn term and with lockdown in the spring, it was very obvious that it would not be possible to host live lectures this year. With the support of the OB office who are now experts at hosting Zoom talks, we were able to have two lectures which are probably not the preferred option for such prestigious speakers: we are very grateful to them for agreeing to do them. However, one advantage of this format is that it has extended the reach of the lectures and we were delighted to welcome OBs from around the world.

For our first lecture in November we were delighted to welcome back William Feaver. Bill was the art critic for The Observer for 23 years and is a painter, curator and author. He is on the academic board of the Royal Drawing School where he also currently tutors. This lecture about the painter Lucian

There was certainly no shortage of material for the lower sixth.

Freud, whom Bill knew for 30 years, followed the recent publication of his second volume about Freud’s life, The Lives of Lucian Freud: FAME 1968-2011, which has received rave reviews - “Absorbing in all its darkness and light, a dazzling tour de force...remarkable” (Literary Review), “Mesmerising...

Feaver’s vastly detailed biography is the ideal companion to Freud’s work” (The Guardian). The first volume, The Lives of Lucian Freud: YOUTH 1922 - 1968, was also critically acclaimed and shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction in 2019. Condensing his two huge volumes into an hour lecture was a considerable feat but Bill effortlessly weaved

Frances encouraged us to think carefully about the pieces of work.

Freud’s colourful life with the work in a compelling and fascinating way. There was certainly no shortage of material for the essays the lower sixth were asked to do afterwards.

For the second spring term lecture we welcomed Frances Spalding. Frances is an art historian, critic and biographer with a specialism in twentieth-century British art. Her book, British Art since 1900, for the Thames & Hudson World of Art series, has been widely used in schools, colleges and universities and in the mid-1990s, the Tate commissioned her to write a centenary history of this national institution. She has also devoted much time to the writing of biography, producing lives of the artists Vanessa Bell, John Minton, Duncan Grant, Gwen Raverat, as well as John Piper, the subject of this lecture. The fact that the school collection includes a number of Piper prints made this talk feel a little overdue. Frances is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Art and in 2005 was awarded a CBE. Frances led us through Piper’s diverse and long career, contextualising the historical background to the work he produced and encouraging us to think carefully about the aesthetic qualities of the individual pieces of work we were looking at. For those boys doing art who were watching it was a brilliant demonstration of how to look at and analyse an artwork, something they all find challenging. Having postponed this lecture in September in the hope that we would be able to host the lecture ‘live’ at school, we were extremely grateful to Frances for providing an excellent and memorable on-line alternative. ■ MCC

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ART

Refurbished Sculpture Studio C

ourtesy of a further generous donation from OB Gilbert Lloyd (50-58), the sculpture studio has undergone a major refurbishment. The sculpture studio has long been something of a dark and awkward space both to teach and work in so the opportunity to rethink the layout and to open it up has been a long-term Sculpture studio before refurbishment

14 THE OUSEL 2020-2021

ambition. We were delighted to work again with Stuart Devonshire from MK40 Architects who was responsible for the design of the entrance to the art school, the Gilbert Lloyd Gallery, opened in 2018. This has been a fantastic addition to the department as a permanent space to exhibit boys’ work.

The refurbishment of the sculpture studio has brilliantly

ART

managed to connect the building to the Quarry Theatre to create a more unified outside space with a small courtyard area to exhibit sculpture. Light now floods the studio to create a much brighter and more airy working space. With a designated and more spacious workshop area we can now also accommodate a MIG welder with the necessary extractor which means we can offer boys another creative option when thinking about their own sculpture.

Mr Nicholl, our sculpture teacher, commented, “Light is absolutely integral to the sculpting process and the bright, wide-open space of the new studio offers boys the room to sculpt, construct and cast work of a larger and more ambitious scale. The sixth-form spaces stand up to those of any highereducation art school and the addition of a workshop space provides the boys with opportunities to gain skills that, in the old space, were not safely viable. This new, more cohesive space has been a joy to teach in; the functional archival shelf system in place streamlines the storage of work and the overall design of the workspace makes it a superb learning environment. I am incredibly privileged to teach in this space and I am immensely grateful to Gilbert Lloyd for his generosity and to all those involved in helping this project become a reality.”

In art all boys from fourths to sixth form rotate around the three specialist studios, so besides sculpture there are printmaking and painting studios as well, where they are taught by specialists in each area.

We look forward to seeing our sculptors benefit from this fantastic new space and to seeing some suitably ambitious work. ■ MCC THE MAGAZINE OF BEDFORD SCHOOL AND THE OLD BEDFORDIANS CLUB 15

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Harvey Toms

Alex Edun

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SCULPTURE

Henry Sheasby

Sam Crowe Lamont

Will Edwards

Harvey Toms

ART

Henry Flatt

Andy Wong Austin Ward

Connor Hawethorne

Sachin Kambli Ta Leepiboonsawats

Nicky Lam

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Captain tom

portrait

B

edford School’s connection to Captain Tom through the first lockdown has become not only a major event in the history of the school, but a marker of this extraordinary period of time we have been living through. Who will ever forget the impact Captain Tom had on the national and international stage and his extraordinary fundraising? It seemed appropriate to record this connection with the school in some more permanent way. The idea was mooted that perhaps a portrait could be done and that this could be displayed somewhere on the school site.

At the beginning of August 2020, I was contacted by Captain Tom’s team to be told that an opportunity had arisen in his busy schedule for me to visit but he could only be available for half an hour. This would be sufficient time for a pencil study and a series of working photographs to be taken. I am not a painter who can work only from photos, so even a quick drawing allows for a sense and understanding of the shape of the face and character to be fixed in my mind’s eye. More crucially perhaps, it allows me

Tom was charming, understanding and immensely patient.

an opportunity to get a glimpse of the personality as my objective is to capture something of the character of the person, not just their superficial appearance. At this point in time social distancing was critical, so the sitting took place outdoors: my fingers were crossed that the weather would be good enough. In my mind, the media coverage of Captain Tom was inextricably linked to images on television of bright sunshine with the glorious weather we were fortunate to have during the spring of 2020.

As I made my way to Marston-Moretaine, on what was fortunately a bright afternoon, I did feel a little apprehensive about taking up Captain Tom’s precious time: by this point in time Captain Tom had clocked up over three hundred appearances with the media across the world. I need not have worried: Tom, as he was happy for me to call him, was charming, understanding and immensely patient. His grandson Benjie was diligent and supportive, sitting with us to join in with the conversation.

It seemed obvious that any image of Captain Tom had to include his walking frame, so I wanted the portrait to be full length. For the little twenty-minute drawing study he obviously needed to sit down and straight away another 18

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potential painting and image appeared.

Tom’s charm was bewitching: it became clear why we had all become so enchanted by this indomitable character in the bleak and challenging period of lockdown and beyond. In quieter moments Tom’s face relaxed into a calm, dignified and self-contained expression - another potential picture.

Aware that Tom was travelling to Yorkshire the next day for another public engagement and that he had yet to pack, I was conscious not to exceed my allocated time slot. Fortunately, the drawing had fulfilled the objective of etching Tom’s real face in my mind as opposed to the television appearance we had all become so familiar with.

I decided to immediately start a smaller head-and-shoulder painting to help fix the likeness, before embarking on something more substantial. The sun appeared intermittently on the afternoon of my visit, which accounts for the differences in lighting between the paintings. Such was the

richness and excitement of the subject that I embarked on three paintings that effectively consumed what remained of the summer holidays and early September.

On completion of the three paintings, an afternoon visit was arranged in the November half term for Captain Tom and family to come and see the pictures at school. Afternoon tea was arranged as an additional incentive but the family and Tom himself seemed delighted with the final outcomes.

After careful deliberations it was decided that the dining hall was the ideal place for the portrait to hang, as it means that boys and staff can see it on a day-to-day basis.

It was an immense privilege to have been given this opportunity and I hope that all of the portraits capture something of the character and spirit of this remarkable man and provide a fitting tribute to Bedford School’s connection with him. ■ MCC

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Detweiler Competition

H

osting the Detweiler competition in lockdown presented some serious challenges this year. In the art department we are always strong advocates of looking at the real thing rather than a screen but we also wanted to ensure that the competition took place, so there was very little alternative to a technology-enabled event. But who could we entrust to take on the responsibility of judging? My predecessor as Director of Art, Rob Campbell, who initiated the competition here at Bedford School, was the obvious choice and with his wealth of experience and knowledge of the prize he was the go-to person. We were extremely grateful that he was prepared to take on the challenge.

The subject for this year’s competition was ‘Gods and Goddesses’ which seemed an exciting prospect twelve months ago when the theme was first mooted. But, finding suitable references and inspiration in lockdown was an immense challenge. Ideas of visits to the school chapel and using department props to generate first-hand observational work could only be dreamt of but it is testimony to both Mrs Whiteman and Mr Nicholl that they worked around this and still generated exciting work from the boys who in turn should be

2021 applauded for their industry, creativity and tenacity in difficult circumstances.

The exhibition of work in the Bell Room is always an exciting spectacle but for this year only a selection of the prize winners was displayed for the boys to see when they returned to school for the last three weeks of the spring term even if, sadly, it was not open for public view.

In his extensive notes Mr Campbell explained the reasons for his choices:

Eric Breslin

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Rob Parrish

Highly Commended

Eric Breslin (4ths) showed great skill and flair in his handling of his painting. He created a brooding intensity, contrasting the keenly observed eyes with the dark eruptive sky. He really conveyed the power of the god of thunder. His handling of paint was mature and extremely competent: this was very impressive work from a fourth former.

Rob Parrish (5ths) handled the foreshortening of the shoe and hands in this image with ease. A narrative was created between the promoter of the shoe and the figures on the podium. One questioned whether the figures are athletes or mere individuals - stars because they are wearing Nike shoes. The black and white handling of the figure in the foreground contrasted nicely with the vibrant background: this was a well-structured and very competent painting.

In Sachin Kambli’s (5ths) beautifully constructed painting there was excellent use of colour and a very competent handling of form and composition. The exuberance of the figure sang out in this composition. The strength of the work was shown not only in the drawing, but also in the sensitivity of the use of colour and tonality. This was a keenly-observed work that drews links to earth gods and goddesses.

Sachin Kambli

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 Shiryu Oshiro (Removes) presented an inventive collage

where the beautifully-observed hands convey the action of prayer. The collaging of the newspaper pages references terrors of the past and present and asks a question about the future of education. There was a lovely feeling of the hands hovering above the various articles he chose in his collage to elaborate the subject of his work. We were made fiercely aware of the deaths of individuals such as John Lennon, to the mass deaths in the Second World War and the Japanese Tsunami and earthquake of 2011.

Will Edwards’ (5th) card relief conjured influences from ethnic African tribal sculpture. However, it had a contemporary feel and almost a jauntiness in the handling of the form itself. The pattern and simple shapes created a strong balance. The work was visually dynamic and showed a real sensitivity to form and the use of colour.

First prizes

3D: David Chan (U6th) I found this piece enthralling. The female form was alluded to by a skeletal structure. The dress had a mystical beauty about it and conjured the Nike of Samothrace, the Greek goddess of victory. I was not quite sure

Shiryu Oshiro

David Chan

Will Edwards

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Simeon Gay

what lay inside the dress but this just increased its mystery and presence. As it rotated one became aware of its structure and the fragility of its form; also, strangely, the strength that was evoked. This was a wonderful piece of film and sculptural form.

2D-Simeon Gay (U6th) This highly contemporary work spoke aloud about what happened to George Floyd. The narrative was expanded by the script which surrounded George’s image. Emphasis was

created by the colour red in some words. The portrait showed real understanding and skill in the handling of paint. The work initially struck the viewer as a movie promotion but as one’s eyes were drawn away from the red and blue lights one focused on the figure itself. The crime scene tape only helped to emphasise the concepts the artist was exploring. The artist handled the entire composition with sensitivity and skill: this was a very impressive work. ■ MCC

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Anton von Wangenheim

Tomas Spice Pat Diamond

Rafa Carbonell Macias

Rob Parrish

John Ogunliyuka

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Alex Hayward

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Sami Shameem Freddie Peacock

Eero Martin James Lumley-Wood

David Chan

Simeon Gay

Gurkaran Johal

Boris Song

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Art and Architecture W

ith bubbling of year groups necessary even with the boys at school this year all art and architecture society meetings have taken place using Teams although the opportunity to be drawing outside around the school campus in the summer term has meant the architecture society has had some ‘live’ experiences. These limitations have turned out be one of the few positives from the whole Covid experience as many speakers have been willing to give up half-an-hour of their precious time on a Monday or Friday lunchtime to talk to the boys. As a result, we have had some brilliant talks, mostly from OBs, for which I am really grateful as, crucially, their contribution has been hugely significant in highlighting the range of career opportunities in the creative industries and helped to reinforce the point that studying art is not just about painting, printing and sculpture as important as they are!

In the autumn term the priority with the architecture society was to mix practical drawing sessions with talks. With three boys applying to UCL this year, the drawing component is crucial with the set of 30-minute drawings in response to a specific theme always rather an intimidating hurdle. In effect this task has to be passed to get an interview. All boys attending, regardless of year group, were challenged to do 20-30 minute drawings of a variety of buildings or views from where they were sitting followed by a group critique, looking at photos of the work done on the Teams chat. Hopefully, this was both fun as well as useful. In late September Jacques Bell (OB 2006-17), who had just completed his architecture degree at Bartlett (UCL), gave an excellent and insightful talk about his application, interview and time on the degree course. For those boys applying to UCL this year it was a very helpful and reassuring talk. To their credit the L6th boys were very quick to step up to do presentations with Charlie McCutcheon on ‘To what extent is architecture a display of art?’ Charlie included Stonehenge, La Sagrada Familia and the Burj Khalifa and discussed how the art world has influenced modern and historic architecture. Chris Sporton talked knowledgably about ‘The Growth of Modern Tropical Architecture in the face of Global Warming’ explaining the techniques used in modern tropical architecture, and how it can be implemented into Western architecture with the challenges of climate change.

For the art society meetings, the main focus is on talks rather than practical sessions. Alex Edun and Henry Cudjoe (L6th) gave an excellent talk about their exciting project YBK Customs, which involves customising shoes. They talked passionately about their website and Instagram page and explained how they started up showing examples of shoes they had painted and how they intend to expand the business in future. We were delighted to welcome back Rhian John, International Officer from Norwich University of the Arts, who gave an excellent remote talk about careers in the arts and what options are out there. The objective was to remind boys that art has many possible career directions and destinations. After leaving Bedford School, OB Charlie 26 THE OUSEL 2020-2021

Societies

Campbell-Gray (2008-13) went on to study fine art at both the Royal Drawing School and the Glasgow School of Art. He later decided to pursue a career in the commercial art world after interning for a couple of London-based art dealers. He now works at Christie’s, which is an international auction house that specialises in selling the finest works of art available to the market. Charlie specialises in modern British art and is responsible for the research and analysis of the works offered in this area. These include artists such as Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Lucian Freud, to name a few.

The autumn term is when we host the ARTiculation internal heat and from the initial 13 entries, Harvey Toms, Andy Wong and Sami Shameem, all U6th, were selected for the final. Mr Finch was our adjudicator with Sami Shameem’s authoritative and articulate presentation on Edward Hopper’s ‘Nighthawks’ being selected to go through to represent the school at the regional heat in the spring term.

The spring term got underway with Henry Flatt (L6th) talking about Zaha Hadid and her journey to become one of the most important architects of all time for the architecture

The contribution from OBs has been hugely significant in highlighting career opportunities. society. Henry spoke eloquently about the characteristics and qualities of Hadid’s work and what it is about them that so appeals to him as an aspiring architect. In the same week for the art society, cartoonist James Mellor talked about his training and career. James’ illustrations have featured in Private Eye, The Sunday Telegraph, and the Design Thinkers Academy. He is a member of the UK Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation and his cartoons have been exhibited at the London Cartoon Show (2019), the Herne Bay Cartoon Festival (2019) and Art 4 Africa (2018). In 2015 he live cartooned the ‘Monte Carlo or Bust Rally’ for Lloyd’s of London. James is the author/illustrator of Drawn From History, Brexit: A Drawn-Out Process, Great Entrepreneurs From History and is the honorary historian to The Company of Entrepreneurs. It was fascinating to hear about James’ passion for James Gilray in particular, and why he considers cartoonists and satirists to be so important in society today.

U6th boys Andy Wong and Boris Song very kindly agreed to talk to the L6th about their experience of being interviewed at Cambridge for architecture, which was useful preparation

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T

he art department society meetings bookend the week with architecture society on Mondays and art society on Fridays. The art society alternates with classical art and the art and fashion societies although meetings for these have dwindled this year and they are in need of reinvigorating with fresh energy from some new members. In fact the only classical art society meeting this year was the very first talk of the autumn term, when we were delighted to welcome Ollie Croker, a postgraduate student at Oxford University, to lead a workshop on the use, artistic merit and importance of Greek vases to the archaeologist and art historian. The workshop

Architecture Society

It is still the case that architecture is the preferred degree destination for most of our senior art boys, in fact since 2011 31 boys have gone on to study architecture from Bedford Unfortunately the pandemic brought the course to an abrupt conclusion in March but plans are in place to offer the class remotely from September according to circumstances. ■ MCC

 Sam Baldock and Peter Brathwaite re-enact the painting 'The Paston Treasures', 1665, Norwich Castle Museum.

for any of the current L6th considering this route next year.

In the same week Freddie Peacock (U6th) talked about his experience as the first art scholar to progress all the way through the school and how he has found the experience.

It was also an opportunity to explain how he has decided on the next stage of his creative journey and why he has chosen to apply to the art courses he has selected. For the art scholars in other year groups this was an interesting and enlightening talk.

The art department’s contribution to the on-going ‘Lockdown Film Club’ was the film ‘Final Portrait’, 2017.

Focusing on the artist Giacometti the film is ‘a portrait of a genius, and of a friendship between two men who are utterly different, yet increasingly bonded through a single, everevolving act of creativity. It is a film which shines a light on the artistic process itself, by turns exhilarating, exasperating and bewildering, questioning whether the gift of a great artist is a blessing or a curse’. Following on from the showing of the film at the next art society meeting, Mr Croker looked at Giacometti’s working process in greater detail and explained why he is considered to be such a significant twentiethcentury artist.

In late January, Trent Abraham (OB 2010-19), who is currently studying illustration at Syracuse University in America, talked about his experience so far, showing examples of the

work he is currently doing. Trent took us through some of the projects he has been working on while explaining the set up in the course and where he sees his work going and potential future career path. This talk was a reminder that boys have lots of options when they consider life after school and that America could be an exciting possibility.

Peter Osborne (OB 1963-68), graduated in Ireland then worked in France for some years before joining Christie’s auction house to develop an overseas contemporary art dealing business. He set up galleries all over the world and then joined Harlech Fine Art which acquired the company from Christie’s. He ran several UK and overseas galleries and in 1994 bought the business from Harlech. His gallery, 

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 Osborne Samuel, is one of London’s best known, specialising

in British modern and contemporary art and the work of Henry Moore and Lynn Chadwick in particular. Peter talked about a selection of works from the gallery and some paintings, sculpture and installations by contemporary artists in his personal collection. Peter referred to David Bomberg, Ivon Hitchens, Lynn Chadwick, Henry Moore, Marc Quinn and William Kentridge, recounting some of the extraordinary stories about how he came across some of the works.

The eastern regional heat of ARTiculation took place in February and so had to be hosted on Zoom. This meant that Sami Shameem and the other participants had to present from home with only an on-line audience. Sami gave a confident and assured presentation and seemed to be totally unfazed by the challenge. Sadly, he was not selected to go on to the national final which both Mr Croker and Mr Nicholl felt was something of injustice!

Opera singer and BBC broadcaster Peter Brathwaite talked to the art society about his project recreating black portraits through history, a challenge originally set by the Getty Museum during the first lockdown. He has recreated a portrait every day and is now up to number 90; the recreations are artworks in themselves. Peter wanted to remind people that black subjects do exist in portraiture and that their stories deserve to be told. Peter explained how researching his own

Any creative experience is not wasted and can inform the work that you do subsequently.

family history had motivated him to want to find out more about the very few black figures represented in portraits of the past. This was a fascinating and thought-provoking talk and it is exciting to hear that Peter’s photos are going to be turned into a book and an exhibition.

After leaving Bedford School in 2007, OB Matteo Mastrandrea (1997-2007), studied architecture at St John’s College, Cambridge from 2007 to 2010. He then spent four years making films, completing a master’s in philosophy at St Anne’s College, Oxford, while also working as an architectural assistant in London. He then went to the Royal College of Art in 2014 to complete his architecture studies, where he has been teaching since 2016 and working for Es Devlin, designing stages for popstars and theatres. For this talk, Matty explained how his career has progressed and developed, starting with the paintings he was doing in his very last year at school. As he explained, his interest in film, architecture and literature has informed what he does and it was a reminder that any creative experience is not wasted and can inform work that you do subsequently. What was obvious is just how much he is currently enjoying the work he is doing designing stage sets and, when asked, chose the stage set for the opera Carmen at the Bergen Festival as a particular favourite. This was a fascinating and engaging talk.

For his talk to the architecture society, Samson Lok (L6th), chose Notre Dame Cathedral as his subject, explaining why he considers it to be one of the most beautiful buildings in the 28 THE OUSEL 2020-2021

world. Samson talked us through the history of the building and addressed the controversial issue of how it should be repaired after the recent devastating fire in 2019.

We were delighted to welcome back OB Stepen Laird (1973-84), to talk to the art society about the artist Graham Sutherland, another major figure of twentieth-century British art represented in the school art collection. Stephen did a PhD in art history at Kent University and has also provided the essay on ‘Landscape’ in the latest edition of ‘The Oxford Dictionary of Christian Art and Architecture’, while also regularly describing Piper paintings for Christie’s auction catalogues. For his talk titled ‘Vision and Invention in the Early Work of Graham Sutherland (1903-1980)’, Stephen focused on the important decades of the ‘30s and ‘40s and the major works of the Pembrokeshire landscapes and their more visionary spin-offs, brilliantly explaining why they are such powerful and memorable images. The hope is that the boys will look at the school print a little more carefully every time they see it in future!

For the last art society talk of the spring term, Charlie McCutcheon (L6th) addressed the important and controversial issue, ‘Should former colonising nations return artefacts to their places of origin?’ In his articulate and well-considered presentation, Charlie presented the argument from both sides of the debate which encouraged all those listening to make up their own minds. Charlie had clearly done his research and given the subject careful consideration.

Mr Croker got the summer term underway with a talk at the art society about the different techniques that artists through time have used to capture a likeness of reality in paintings.

Tracing images is not new as the boys discovered looking at the work of Vermeer and Canaletto in particular, who are known to have used camera obscuras in their work. Even Warhol used a projector to trace.

Ben Wilshaw Quinn (OB 2007-18) is just completing his fine art degree at Loughborough so we were delighted that he was able to find time to talk at the art society. Ben talked about the course and opportunities at Loughborough; he has clearly made the most of his time there, which was timely as our current L6th are beginning to make decisions about where they want to study for their degrees.

Three of the upper-sixth boys, Simeon Gay, Freddie Peacock and Sami Shameem, have chosen a one-year art foundation course as the next stop on their artistic journeys.

All three of them were able to explain the advantages of this particular route as an opportunity to expand their art experience before committing to the exact art degree to follow. They were also able to show the portfolios they submitted for their applications and talk through the process.

Andy Wong (U6th) gave a talk to the architects about the application process for degrees. Having been through the experience himself this year, he was able to explain the reasons for his choice of specific courses and highlight things to look out for and anticipate.

Matt Mitchell, interior designer, graduated in 1996 with a furniture-and-related-product design degree and has been working within a creative environment for 25 years. He has worked as a furniture designer, kitchen designer, office interior designer, workplace consultant and space planner. Since his career began, he has worked on hundreds of successful projects across a variety of disciplines. He currently works for

ART

Canary Wharf Group as a senior space planner. In his talk to the art society, Matt explained that it was an art foundation course which crystallised his future career path so that now, ‘My role is as varied as my career path, which makes it exciting, challenging and above all, creatively satisfying’.

For his second talk of the year, Henry Flatt (L6th), gave a very informative talk to the architecture society about the controversial Tulip building designed by Foster and Partners.

Having contacted the architects, Henry was able to show some very detailed plans for the building but, despite his very assured presentation, the overall opinion of those listening was that this was not a building that London needed.

Austin Ward (L6th) chose the subject ‘What is Modern and Contemporary Art?’ as the subject for his talk to the art society. Austin included works by Duchamp, Koons and Gormley to make his argument that art has to constantly change and evolve, but did question the extraordinary prices some works demand. What did impress was the inclusion of his own interpretations of Jackson Pollock and Maurizio Cattelan, although those watching were not totally convinced that he had matched the quality of the originals. This talk did generate some interesting conversations and debate.

After leaving Bedford School, James Skirrow (2009-14) went on to complete both an art foundation course, and then an accounting and finance degree at the University of Bristol.

This unique blend of creativity and numbers has led James to pursue a career in the world of advertising as a media planner, where he has spent the last three years working on his craft at independent agency, Goodstuff. James did a brilliant job of conveying the excitement and challenges of the advertising world and clarified the importance of the foundation course as a crucial part of his journey.

Tom Jenkin (L6th) chose to talk about NFT’s asking the question, ‘Will this be the way forward for art of the future?’

Using Beeple’s work ‘5000 days’ and the extraordinary price realised at auction, and referencing David Hockney’s iPad work along the way, Tom convincingly explained why he thought that technology will have a huge impact and be the preferred choice of medium for artists of the future.

Charlie McCutcheon (L6th) volunteered to do his third talk of the year but this time focusing on film and ‘How film has been influenced by artworks’. In his well-researched and knowledgeable presentation, Charlie showed stills from films alongside the artworks so, amongst others, Magritte and da Vinci were shown alongside stills from ‘The Truman Show’ by Peter Weir and ‘Inherent Vice’ Paul Thomas Anderson respectively.

Harry Taylor (L6th) talked about ‘The Fundamentals of Interior Design’. As someone looking to pursue this as a career option, Harry talked knowledgably about the subject, explaining what the role of interior designer is and what led him to this specific career choice.

Three of our lower-sixth architects, Henry Flatt, Samson Lok and Chris Sporton, participated in the AHMM online architecture model-making workshop, where they were asked to construct a room interior of their own design. AHMM are one of the most successful London architecture practices, so this was a fantastic insight into the whole process of designing. Over the two-hour session, the boys created some exciting and ambitious models.

Michael McCormack (L6th) talked about the ‘Art of Forgery’, exploring exactly what the key components to making a

convincing copy are. He used Han Van Meegeren as an example, the famous Dutch forger who copied the work of Vermeer.

Will Maltby (L6th) gave an informative talk about Rembrandt, an artist he has been looking at for his A-level coursework project. Clearly Rembrandt’s work has had a huge impact on Will and this came across very clearly in his presentation.

It is a credit to the lower-sixth boys that in the busy summer term so many of them enthusiastically stepped up to do talks which were so obviously very well researched and presented.

My thanks to them for providing such a varied and interesting

This year's A Level exhibition was particularly strong.

contribution to the year’s art and architecture society meetings.

We were delighted to be able to host a student end-of-year exhibition to conclude the term. This year’s A-level exhibition was particularly strong, so it was a daunting task for the Head Master to choose his Head Master’s art prize. However, Mr Hodgson was immediately taken by the versatility and range of media used by Boris Song, singling out his big portrait of Mr Croker as technically accomplished and particularly striking.

It is indicative of the quality of the U6th work as a whole that he also wanted to award a second prize for the exciting selfportrait by Freddie Peacock. Well done to them both.

Art History

All of the art history sessions this year have taken place on Teams for the boys in the afternoon and by Zoom for the evening adult sessions. As a result the class has continued uninterrupted through lockdown. Fortunately, despite taking place online, the discussions and debates have not been affected and it has been great to see the boys so engaged.

One advantage of the Zoom sessions is that it means we now have one adult, a grandparent of one of the boys, regularly joining the class from the Lake District. This year’s selection of twenty-five works from throughout history, has ranged from the Parthenon to Tracy Emin’s bed, therefore providing a wide-ranging chronological overview of art through time. Eighteen boys in total from various different year groups have dipped into this optional opportunity over the course of the year with eighteen adults in the later session. We are delighted that one of our upper-sixth boys, Harvey Toms, has decided to do an art history degree and wish him well for the future. From September, in the hope that we will be back to normal, the intention is to be back in the classroom but retaining the on-line option so that students can join the class from wherever they are; can we extend the range of students even further than the Lake District? My thanks, as ever, to Miss Bacon for providing this excellent additional opportunity to what we offer in the department. We hope with a return to normal we will again be able to offer some museum and gallery visits to support the classroom sessions which have not been possible this year. ■ MCC

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School Building Artwork Exhibition W

ith the exhibition programme impacted by Covid, to ensure that our exhibition space in the main school building was not left permanently empty it seemed appropriate to have an exhibition celebrating the school itself. Bedford School is fortunate enough to have a collection of art and along the way representations of the school itself have been added and it was those works that formed the core of the display with some additional contributions from the school archive and OB office. ■ MCC

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Michael Bennell Will Barford

Mikey Basciano David Sin

Will Barford

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Mikey Basciano

David Sin

Michael Bennell

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Patrick Diamond

James Marchant

Sam Wells John Ogunlikuka

PRINTMAKING Harrison Beveridge

Sho Kudo Oliver Pope

Tom Godber

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SURVIVORS 2021

Back row: William Sayer, Archie Walsh, Henry Faulkner, George Kendall, Elliot Potter, Michael Bennell, Joe Needham, Gurkuran Johal, Joe Briggs, Max Lusty, Freddie Stock, Finlay Cummings.

Front: Ben Parrish, Varun Palmer, James Worker, Kelan Riddell, Mrs Carrington, Mr Whitbread, Miss Oakley, Rohan Jacob, Antonio Reale, William Garner, Mrs Horne, Harry Mason.

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DRAMA

PINK MIST O

n Tuesday 27th April, our upper sixth drama students performed extracts from Owen Sheers’ Pink Mist for their scripted exam. Based on the interviews of 30 returned servicemen, the play tells the story of three young Bristol men deployed to Afghanistan and the physical and psychological aftershocks of their service.

Simeon Gay and Ted Allingham explored the theories and techniques of Constantin Stanislavski to bring their extracts to life, providing the audience with a harrowing and thought-provoking experience. Simeon sensitively told the story of Hads, a serviceman changed forever after an IED explosion. He used both his vocal and physical skills to transport us to a hot and sweaty desert, where he

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created a tense and uncomfortable atmosphere, swinging his metal detector left and right, looking for danger.

Ted engaged the audience with his portrayal of Taff, a soldier who struggled to come to terms with his own role in the devastation of war and haunted by the memory of the little girl he carried from a burning building. Both boys gave a fantastic performance.

Hamza Noor, our sound design candidate, created an excellent soundtrack based on the techniques of Gareth Fry. He immersed the audience through his use of layering and binaural sound, sourcing atmospheric sound effects and music that enhanced and lifted the performances. We are immensely proud of the boys and their hard work. ■ CSM

DRAMA

Academic Drama

M

r Banks started the drama society year with a bang by discussing, via Microsoft Teams, his experiences in the acting and directing industry, sharing information about going to one of the UK’s leading drama schools after transitioning from being a ‘big fish in a little pond’ at a school not too dissimilar to our own.

We soaked up top tips from Mr Banks as he revealed what his time playing a major role in such blockbusters as Kingsman was like. Talks of this calibre continued as, not long after, Old Bedfordian, Jonno Davies, was on the other end of our laptop screens reminiscing about the importance of contacts in maintaining a sustainable career in a fierce and competitive industry. It gave me an insight into how much the OB network can help young professionals find their feet in any industry- even one as cut-throat as acting. It lit a spark of optimism in me and other members in the society who are looking to get into the business of acting, since someone who went to the same school as us, with a similar upbringing, has been

fortunate and skilled enough to act with the likes of Al Pacino.

We had engaging talks that appealed to a wide audience. For instance, a personal favourite of mine was given by a real stranger to the theatre, Ciaran Zanna. Zanna showed us that you do not have to have a direct passion for acting to notice how ingrained theatre is in modern society; he talked about the heavy influence that Karl Marx had on the world-renowned theatre practitioner, Berthold Brecht. Another talk that really highlighted the deep academic curiosity of drama society members was our 2020-2021 President Dylan Swain’s talk on Greek theatre, which reflected again on the societal impact that theatre was having even back in ancient Greece.

We were able to find the truth of our performance

My fifth-form peers and I were lucky enough still to be able to perform our scripted monologues for 20% of our overall GCSE grade. Mrs Keylock also introduced us to Stanislavski. This is because many of our pieces were intrinsically naturalistic; so Mrs Keylock took the wise decision to take a look at the man esteemed as the ‘founding father’ of naturalistic acting. Through looking at his techniques we were able to find what Stanislavski calls ‘the truth of our performance’. We revealed it by calling on our own experiences to unravel locked-away emotions, keeping a journal of our character’s characteristics, thoughts and feelings. Also, we were advised to partake in an activity called ‘actioning’: one assigns a word to each sentence or clause in a monologue to give every single thing our character does an incentive.

With this skill in mind, fifth-form actors were prepared to perform and reveal ‘the truth’ behind the character that they wished to portray: Sarmukh Hundal embodied the role of an enraged Henry the Fifth, I played an autistic teenager reminiscing about his unloving father’s graphically brutal death, Theo Artus played a neurotically unstable football hooligan and Zaid Faleel presented a character mourning a loved one.

In summary, while drama is clearly dependent on face-to-face contact and human interaction, the department successfully kept students intrigued and entertained throughout a period of instability and uncertainty. ■ Max Pearson THE MAGAZINE OF BEDFORD SCHOOL AND THE OLD BEDFORDIANS CLUB 37

DRAMA

Hillsborough Drama Devised Piece A

fter watching a previous A-level piece on the Grenfell disaster, we were inspired to choose Bertolt Brecht as the main influence for our piece.

Brecht was somebody we had looked at during the first lockdown, as part of our pre-sixth-form course, putting us in a good position to start. He was a Marxist, for whom theatre was extremely political. He felt as if regular plays

38 THE OUSEL 2020-2021

were too easy to sit through and didn’t encourage enough thought from the audience. His aim was to create plays that forced audiences to think critically about contemporary issues and society as a whole.

When thinking about a topic for our piece, my mind went straight to the Hillsborough disaster. The failures which led to the deaths of 96 people struck me as having a huge amount of dramatic potential. I found an article which described the recent court proceedings and turned it into a scene which we then staged and developed further until it eventually became our trial scene.

DRAMA

There were still more challenges to come for our piece.

Boys being called into isolation and positive Covid tests meant that we faced numerous disturbances to an already unusual process. Arguably the biggest disturbance came in the form of the second national lockdown. The lockdown meant that we couldn’t collaborate and innovate as we would have liked. On the positive side, it gave me the time

to write a nearly-complete script. This meant that when we eventually returned to school, our piece already had a foundation to build on.

Our piece featured a disjointed episodic storyline which is a crucial element of Brechtian theatre. The fractured narrative was intended to stop the audience from focusing on the plot and made sure the political message was at the

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

DRAMA

 forefront. By having ‘episodes’ focused on the different

parties involved, we were able to show different sides and allow the audience to come to their own conclusion. It was important for us to stay true to Brecht’s techniques throughout the process. We were constantly trying to stray away from naturalism and were constantly trying to make the most of this piece. We had a workshop with Scott Smith from the Splendid Theatre Company and were constantly experimenting with new ideas - some of which worked well and some which didn’t work quite so well. We were extremely conscious that the Hillsborough disaster was a tragedy which meant a lot to a vast number of people, so the pressure to get this right was definitely on.

For us, it was important to show the extent of the injustice faced by the Hillsborough survivors and their families. In one of our scenes, we initially present the fans as hooligans then uncover their humanity through the use of dramatic monologues in order to counter the press portrayal of them. We used witness accounts and interviews to show that these fans were not murderers but normal people who had gone to watch a football match.

We even had a narrator ask the audience directly whether they thought the fans were, “hooligans - or just kids looking to have fun”.

In the end, with strong performances from the whole cast (Tomas Else, Callum Smyth, Will Osbourne, Ben Baker and me), Mrs Keylock and Mrs Millington were extremely proud of our final exam piece. ■ Tyler Choga

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DRAMA

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DRAMA

Music and Drama Showcase

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DRAMA

I

t was the first time this year the current fourth formers have been able to experience as close to a production as we can get in these times: all of the fourth formers involved grabbed at that opportunity.

Tanay Rai opened both nights with a light comedy monologue, The Lost Crutch, and on both occasions he aced his comic timing and tone to set a real standard for the evening. This standard was then matched by the cast of Blue Remembered Hills, who threw themselves across the stage in what is a physically demanding, yet fun piece to perform. The boys played younger children wonderfully well and once again provided some fine comic moments.

The musicians across both nights were on point, from Hugo Hodgson and his suave suit playing some lovely jazz pieces as people arrived, to the mellow sounds of Alfie Gandesha and Alex Olleson who gave noteperfect performances of O Holy Night and Summertime respectively. The string quartet on Wednesday performed like clockwork with their two Baroque pieces and Michael Robertson also gave a lovely rendition of Consider Yourself from Oliver! on the opening night.

Will Hayward left the audience in stitches after his breathtaking performance of Jonesy, all about a boy with asthma attempting to play rugby in his GCSE PE lesson. Once we had all caught our breaths (including Will), Elio Lepore from the prep school put on his rendition of The Date. It was great to see such talent from an actor with so much time still ahead of him at the school. Joshua Cooke and Max Pearson also performed monologues and definitely showed their experience as they both wrapped themselves in their characters. Max rounded off both nights with some of the biggest laughs of the night as he donned a rather flamboyant persona!

Once Charlie Eggleton had made his fourth costume change of the night after a reading from the Demon Headmaster, he was quickly ushered on to deliver what was one of the highlights of both evenings: Lord of the Flies. A short scene delivered from the Golding classic was professionally delivered by the fourth form actors who, with only a few weeks to prepare, gave a topping performance. It’s so exciting to see such artistic talent bursting through the lower year groups in the school. ■ Will Roberts

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DRAMA

Greek Play - Heracles

E

uripides’ Heracles is a play that can often be difficult for a modern audience to understand. Filled with themes of violation of sacred places and divine intervention, our increasingly secular society fails to capture much of the horror of this play’s godlike protagonist. But before the challenge of aiding audience understanding even begins, there is the problem of the cast’s understanding. All of the boys involved in this production had never studied or performed Greek theatre before, aside from myself. However, to their immense credit, they were able to quickly grasp every single one of the concepts and themes within this ancient tragedy and deliver a final product that was spectacular - and during summer term exams as well!

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The help and support of Ms Bassaly also cannot be overstated, stepping out of her usual role as my classics and Latin teacher, she worked on every aspect of the play. From the arrangement of the script translation, to the prop making and set design, she was omnipresent.

The commitment of the boys who came to rehearsals during the period of ‘relaxation’ after exams was brilliant. They showed their adaptability after isolations and restrictions meant that we lost some key cast members a few days before the performance, and even though we might’ve called the whole thing off, they showed perseverance and delivered a stellar piece of theatre. I hope they are all as proud of their own performances as I am. ■ Dylan Swain

MUSIC

Junior Music COMPETITION A

superb day of music was had on Wednesday 12th May, when our top musicians from the fourth and remove forms competed in our annual junior instrumental and singing prize competition. Boys competed for prizes within the following categories: strings, woodwind, brass, piano, organ, percussion and voice.

The prize went to remove former Max Leung for a most charming performance of ‘Green Hill’ by Bert Appermont on the euphonium.

Max, who put in a lot of additional practice after school told us, “I really treasured this competition as I had not participated in an event for more than two years.

I was very happy when I found out I had won, but, to be honest, that was just a bonus! The most enjoyable part was performing in front of the six adjudicators and showing them my best. It is such an opportunity to

play in school again; I hope orchestras and bands can resume soon, and I hope to participate in outside school competitions too!”

The full list of junior prize winners: Woodwind – Edgar Cheung – flute Brass – Max Leaung – euphonium String – Isaac Dutson – violin Piano – Isaac Dutson Singing – Alexander Olleson Percussion – Freddie Tucker – drums

Director of Music, Joss Sanders commented, “We were all extremely encouraged by the standard of the performances across the board – we’ve got some really talented boys in these two year groups!” ■ Mandy Alison

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MUSIC

SENior Music COMPETITION T

he senior music competition was held on Wednesday 26 May – and what a great day of music it proved.

This time, it was the turn of our fifth-and-sixth-form musicians to compete for the much-coveted title.

There were strong performances across all the different disciplines: strings, woodwind, brass, piano, organ and voice, with worthy winners in each of the six categories.

As was the case with the junior competition, rather than hold the various categories on separate days, as is our usual practice, all were held on the same day in front of the six visiting adjudicators to maintain year group bubbles. With all the categories running in one day, the adjudicators were able to listen to all the performances, confer and award an overall winner with the title of

Online music concerts during lockdown Inspired by our former musician in residence, Andrew Groom (who did some amazing online concerts in the first lockdown), we decided to organise a series of online concerts in the spring term, giving boys across the whole school the opportunity to send in recordings of themselves performing.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure how many boys would want to get involved, but we were inundated with recordings 46

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‘Bedford School Senior Young Musician of the Year’.

The adjudicators were very impressed with the overall standard and were delighted to give the award to upper-sixth former Nathaniel Otley, who performed the Duke Ellington number ‘In a Sentimental Mood’ on his saxophone. ■ Mandy Alison

The full list of senior prize winners: Singing – Nat Otley Organ – James Watson Woodwind – Chris Sporton Brass – Michael Lee Strings – Leo de Luca Piano – Shawn Shen

and so were able to create four different concert programmes with all of the material that was sent in. Some of the sixth-form boys volunteered to introduce the recordings, which varied from complete beginners to very experienced performers. It was a truly ‘whole-school’ enterprise and reminded me that at Bedford School we really do provide musical opportunities for boys all the way from Y3 up to Y13.

If you missed any of the concerts you can click on the QR code above.

JMS

MUSIC

Young Chorister of the Year T

he Bedford School community waited with nervous excitement on Sunday, 6 December for fourth former, Alexander Olleson, to compete in the grand final of the BBC Young Chorister of the Year.

Having wowed judges in the semi-finals the weekend previously, all were on tenterhooks as they watched Alexander take to the stage once again and give the performance of his life. The standard of the competition was extremely high and we were therefore thrilled to hear judge and world-renowned composer, John Rutter, announce Alexander as the winner of this prestigious title.

John Rutter told viewers, “This is more than just a competition, it’s a celebration of all the young choristers of Britain who give their time, their talents, and dedication to make our church and cathedral choirs what they are today.”

Alexander, who joined Bedford School in September on a music scholarship, has been singing for years, joining his local parish church choir at the age of seven and in the Christ Church Cathedral School choir for five years.

Winning the competition will give him some amazing insights into professional music making.

Alexander said his years of singing experience gave him the confidence to put in a good performance.

He said: “It was quite nerve-wracking at the final, but I wasn’t as nervous as I might have been. Having been a chorister, I am used to performing live in front of lots of people.

It is hard to describe how it felt when I was announced as the winner. You get this feeling of being completely relaxed, even if you felt relaxed beforehand you still feel it. It’s a really good feeling.”

Alexander said although he loves soloing in the choir, it is the team spirit and camaraderie of singing together that he really enjoys.

“Singing as a soloist is something I have done for years as a chorister but when you are in a choir you feel as if you are singing as one body,” he said.

“You also have that team spirit, if one of you has a howler and hits a wrong note, the rest of the team can correct it. I

think that’s what really makes the music so special, because you are all acting as one.”

Alexander said although he felt blessed to have a good voice to start with, it is the years of practice that really matter to reach the top.

“I have always had a good voice but have tried to develop it over the years I have sung in choirs,” he said.

“My singing voice is something I have always had but have had to work hard to improve.”

You can watch Alexander sing the solo first verse in Harold Darke’s setting of In the Bleak Midwinter in a carefully-edited recording which made sure the choristers were kept sociallydistanced throughout.

Mr Sanders said: “I was delighted to hear that Alexander had won the competition. He is at a transitional moment in his education, having enjoyed the amazing opportunity of having been a cathedral chorister, and is now embarking on his senior schooling.

Winning the competition will give him some amazing opportunities to work with professional musicians, both singers and instrumentalists, which will provide him with insights into the world of professional music-making, even in these unprecedented COVID times.” ■ Mandy Alison

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Burnaby House Report 2020-2021

It’s certainly a well-worn sentence, but this year has been a year like no other. Never before has the concept of house spirit been so important - with many boys not having returned home since the start of the academic year, in August/September of 2020, the importance of the boarding community has only increased and our year in Burnaby absolutely reflects this.

It all started with Mr Hinkins taking over as housemaster from the legendary Mr Heale and the first group of boys arriving to quarantine in mid-August. Putting the captive boys to good use, Burnaby gained a firepit in the garden which would serve as a centre to many a socially-distanced evening through the year. Due to Covid, large indoor gatherings were never an option so the firepit was really the best solution, giving us an area to congregate – and, more importantly for the UK, a source of warmth.

One highlight of the year was the Christmas dinner which, unlike past years, was held in the house and featured Christmas food that was not necessarily traditional: Chinese takeaway and pizza. Despite year groups having to spread out into different rooms in the house, with lots of technology we managed to pull off an evening of celebration complete with quiz, speeches, and a secret Santa.

It is safe to say that COVID has drastically changed the boarding experience but, despite this, Mr Hinkins’ leadership and the nature of boarding meant it was always a fun experience, made even better by the dedication of the boarding staff, with matrons working through exeats and holidays, as well as cleaners taking on extra and more rigorous duties, and Mr and Mrs Hinkins looking after boys in the house for far longer periods than was ever expected.

By Michael Lee and Jakob SchmittHabersack deputy heads of house 48

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Bromham House REPORT 2020-2021

Plato’s famous words “Necessity is the mother of invention”, have never rung truer. In a year like no other, Bromham house rose above the obstacles posed by the sweeping pandemic, by finding new and innovative ways to stay connected with one another.

Whilst the day house was not open to all as usual, the bond between the Bromham boys stayed strong as the mentorship programme got underway for its second year.

Senior members of the house each took a younger boy under their wing, having regular discussions on a host of topics ranging from their physical and mental wellbeing during lockdown, to their academic workload management.

Bromham were victorious in the inaugural ‘House Strava Competition’, with over 70% of the house taking part, it was a real team effort, as the ‘Bromham ‘Til I Die’ motto pushed the boys on through rain and shine at all hours of the day.

Bromham put out a mighty effort in the house hockey competition, the only in-person competition of the autumn and spring terms. A strong, fifth-place finish did the boys proud! With house singing cancelled, Bromham’s inevitable victory was postponed; house cricket in the summer term now looks to be the event of the year and in true Bromham style, we expect a big victory!

As we look forward to the coming years, Bromham seems to be in safe hands: the fourth form bought straight into the house spirit and got as involved as I’ve ever seen with all house activities. Keep flying the blue flag high!

Floreat Schola Bedfordians BTID! ■ Ashlesh Chandrapu

SCHOOL LEAVERS

BROMHAM TED ALLINGHAM A Level, a team football, c team cricket.

LEWIS BUTTERLY A Level

ZANE HAROON IB, head of house committee, academic stripes, 2nd team squash, 1st team cricket, debate society, Eckersley society, medics society, senior tours team.

HAMZA NOOR A Level, tennis team.

VARUN PARMAR IB, head of house, rugby team, hockey (colours), cricket team, Pythagoreans society, medics society, tours, gold DofE, Ready2Lead, Ivy House Award, county cricket.

MAX WARD A Level, house head of mentoring.

SIMEON GAY A Level

HARILAOS KARAVAGGELIS A Level, monitor, head of symphony orchestra, house mentor, academic colours, house colours, 1st IV fives, tai chi, head of corps (CCF, RAF- head, 19-20), stem society, chemistry society, record club; Pythagoreans, tours team, Lord Lieutenant’s cadet (CCF, Bedfordshire, 19-21); gold chemistry Olympiad; silver physics Olympiad; piano 7; violin 6; LAMDA acting 8; Cyberstart challenges; Talalay science prize (finalist); DofE; theatre crew (Sweeney Todd, Red shoes, Romeo & Juliet)

ANTONIO REALE A Level, house colours, academic colours, Harvey Goldsmith history prize, football team, tennis team, mitre club, classical society, general knowledge quiz captain.

KELAN RIDDELL A Level, u18 rugby 2nd game, squash team, tennis team.

LEO POLICELLA A Level, football team, tennis team SAMI SHAMEEM A Level, art colours, Articulation.

THEO SUTTON A Level.

JAMES WORKER A Level, deputy head of house, sports performance group, hockey 1st XI major colours, hockey honours cap, hockey 1st team, 1st XI cricket, house committee, Movember ambassador - Mobros Instagram holder.

burnaby CHAN WILLIAM A Level

ASHLESH CHANDRAPU IB, monitor, badminton colours, badminton 1st team, cricket 1st team, Movember 300km challenge, tours team, badminton colours

CHEUNG MAVERICK IB

TYLER BLUE GALTOS IB, 3rd xv rugby, sevens rugby, athletics team, ‘The Trial’ (lighting), Rock Night (lighting), ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ (the plant)

MICHAEL LEE IB, deputy head of house, music colours, academic colours, house colours, music society (vice president), Adrian Boult society (secretary), brass ensemble, symphony orchestra, concert band, jazz orchestra, school musical.

YAAMIN MOHAMED A Level, deputy head of house (Crescent), head of mentors, minor hockey colours, house colours, badminton team, hockey team, cricket team, tours team, drums, biology Olympiad, crest club, chemistry volunteering service programme, DofE, hockey, cricket, badminton team, debate society, Movember fundraising.

GERMAN NIKOLISHIN A Level

SEONG WAN PAI A Level, school monitor, mentoring committee, house committee, house prefect, mobros, water polo/swimming minor colour, house colours, u19 futsal team, u19a water polo team, football u19a team, u19a swimming team, president of chinese society, president of aviation society, biology society, medicine society, chemistry society, choir society, physics society, Pythagorean society, school brass band, school 2nd orchestra, tour team, u18a swimming team (national 30th), u18a waterpolo team vice-captain (national semi-finalist), u15a-u16a football team.

JAKOB SCHMITT-HABERSACK IB, deputy head of house, IB group 4 science project winner, basketball (minor colours), tennis team, philosophy society, house colours.

TONY ZHANG A Level, academic and house colours, badminton team, competitive programming club (Codequest/ Reply Challenge), cybersecurity club (Cyberquest), 2nd UK Cyberquest, Infosec hacking competition, Reply Challenge coding competition (globally 100th) UKMT regional teams maths challenge (first place), UKMT national teams maths challenge (34th place).

ARTHUR SOWERBY A Level, head of house, rugby minor colours, rugby - 15s, rugby - 7s, BSIP commendation.

HUGO YUEN A Level.

ZHAO WENTAO A Level, house prefect, basketball minor colours, house colours, academic colours, basketball first team, qigong, senior maths challenge (gold), best of school, senior team maths challenge: regional first place & 34th place (national finals); merit for senior Kangaroo, bronze in British physics Olympiad.

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Pemberley house report 2020-2021

It has been an unprecedented year for Pemberley House.

With the great uncertainty of Covid-19, the boys of Pemberley House were faced with a new challenge: how to sustain the community of the house during lockdowns. Between March and July 2020, the boys and staff of Pemberley held weekly Microsoft Teams meetings to keep in contact with each other.

Some boys shared what they learnt and experienced during the lockdown, giving solace and comfort to those who felt rather apprehensive. The boys also participated in weekly challenges, from baking competitions to Strava running distances, maintaining the competitive atmosphere of the House until the summer break.

Despite the numbers being vastly reduced in September, Pemberley regained its animated environment. After a long seven months in isolation, many Pemberley boys were clearly thrilled to see each other again. Adapting to the Covid restrictions could be bothersome at times, given how long the boys had been isolating, but we understood the dangers of Covid and took personal hygiene very seriously. It did, however, feel as if things had changed over the break. Our Friday movie nights and house assemblies had been reduced to year groups. House trips have not taken place in the last

four terms, and many boys were isolating inside and outside of the country - all in response to Covid. However, the underlying bond and respect the boys and the staff share with each other allowed Pemberley to adapt and flourish.

As the term was cut short in December, a few boys arrived at Pemberley between January and February before the beginning of the summer term. Mr Taylor and Miss Bassa welcomed some boys from other houses during this period, and Miss Bassa took charge of entertainment, with the boys enjoying board games, card games, yoga/mindfulness meditation, baking and outside activities.

As more boys began to arrive and school reopened, Pemberley regained its momentum. House competitions have been reintroduced and future trips and activities are currently being planned. Pemberley, as well as the other houses, has had a difficult year, but Mr Taylor (Housemaster), Miss Bassa, Mikey Basciano (Head or House) and the house staff and the boys have done an incredible job at preserving the spirit of the house whilst being safe from Covid-19. The future is bright for Pemberley House.

Tawanda Munatsi

Crescent House REPORT 2020-2021

Like the entire country, Crescent house has needed to adapt to extreme new challenges following the Covid pandemic this year.

Nonetheless, Hugo Matthew and Amir Solanki led the house admirably through an unprecedented year, doing their best to encourage boys of all year groups to get involved with every opportunity offered.

The temporary introduction of year group tutors allowed a welcome opportunity for boys in Crescent to connect within their year.

During the autumn term, boys of all year groups took part in the tightly contested house rugby event. Whilst contact rugby was not allowed, competitive spirit undoubtedly was. As the autumn term progressed, the boys took part in activities that revolved around raising awareness for men’s health issues during the Movember campaign. Crescent played its role in ensuring Bedford School continued to support this annual event. As lockdown fell upon the country, the boys continued their activities through Strava and fitness competitions, along with weekly cooking events that truly showed off some hidden talents.

As boys returned to school, year groups were separated; however, it was great to see boys in the lower sixth and Remove getting involved in the mentorship programme. It was inspiring to see numerous boys giving compelling talks in house assemblies and societies, showing the willingness to continue their endeavours under new circumstances.

Miss Swallow led the house through most of the school year, offering a reassuring and readily available presence during remote learning, giving much-needed support and communication during an uncertain time. Mr Jones entered as interim housemaster during the final school term and his 50

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SCHOOL LEAVERS

crescent SAM CORNER A Level, house mentor, rugby 2nd/3rd team, football team, cricket team, gym, media club, record club, debate society.

JONATHON COUGHLIN A Level, house head of arts, head of the new music society, house colours, arts colours, silver DofE, fives teams, yoga and fitness, record club (founder), jazz orchestra, funk band, choral society, Rock Night, open mic night, guitar grade 7 distinction, Movember music video, lunchtime concerts.

PIRATHEESH KARUNAKARAN A Level, house colours, futsal, football team, cricket 1st team, investment society, maths club, squash, maths challenge.

LEWIS SCHAEL A Level, head of sport, house colours, major & minor rugby colours, rowing, rugby, golf, rowing teams, Australia rugby tour.

UMAR KHAN A Level

MATTHEW LOUSADA BLAAZER A Level

MAXIMILIAN SOGAN A Level, Talalay prize, academic colours, STEM society (co-lead), physics gym (co-lead), CCF, offer to read physics at Oxford, 100% (EPQ)

WILLIAM GARNER A Level, monitor and captain of boats, academic colours and house colours, 3rd XV rugby, rowing 1st VIII and major colours, head of training in CCF, rifle club (colours)

HUGO MATHEW A Level, head of house, school council, academic colours, Talalay finalist, maths challenge, german prize (F5), rugby c team, 2nd XI hockey (L6), minor colours (L6), cricket 2nd XI, tours team, medics society, biology society, Talalay finalist, DofE gold, first orchestra, chamber orchestra, Movember, charities committee.

AMIR SOLANKI A Level, head of house, head of chamber music, academic stripe (double), yoga & fitness, football, cricket teams, guitar, viola, guitar ensemble, first orchestra, chamber orchestra, tech society (president, founder), Pythagoreans society, investment society, Eckersley society, current affairs society, economics forum, mitre club, record club, tours team, charities committee (treasurer), Ready2Lead, gold DofE, service programme, digital leader, senior maths challenge, Movember, IDEA silver award.

PARWAAZ UPADHYAY A Level, academic stripe, squash team, football team, cricket 2nd XI, medical society, biology society, chemistry society, debating society, tours team, Movember, house colours, charities committee, silver DofE.

Pemberley MIKEY BASCIANO A Level, head of house, house colours.

NIKITA MARKOV A Level, house colours.

JACK BEIGHTON A Level, house colours.

LOUIS DENSHAM A Level, house colours

SAM KEANE A Level, house colours.

THEO WARD A Level

GEORGE KENDALL A Level, house colours, 4th XV rugby, gold DofE.

ASHWIN SANTOSH KUMAR IB, house colours, DofE (bronze, silver, gold), squash b squad, athletics squad, chess club, theology and philosophy society, medics society, gym, Rock Night, open mic night, record club, lunchtime concerts, Pemberley running club, NCS.

FREDERICK STOCK A Level, 1st indoor and outdoor hockey teams, major hockey colours, major hockey honours house colours.

LEV STUKALO A Level, deputy head of house, house colours.

optimistic attitude was very much appreciated, especially with exams looming. His introduction of “The Biscuit World Cup” proved controversial, however: boys were asked to vote in a football world cup fashion on opposing famous biscuits, where the chocolate digestive just pipped the Oreo in the final to be crowned the world’s best! We look forward to Mr Jones’

ANDY WONG A Level, head of school, head of art, house mentor and prefect, art colours, house colours, headmaster’s scarf, architectural society, art society, chinese society, tours team, Articulation internal finals.

continuing leadership next term and welcoming Miss Swallow back in time.

All members of Crescent can be proud of themselves and their house. We should look forward to September with genuine optimism and excitement. ■ Benjie Ingram-Moore

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Phillpotts House REPORT 2020-2021

The past year has been the time when ‘unexpectation’ should’ve become a word. Some of us were studying in our own countries for months, while others have never been away from home for longer. A few unfortunate boys became accustomed to moving to and from Phillpotts and Godber house and tensions rose as exam-year boys faced challenge after challenge, uncertainty after uncertainty as assessments approached. Nevertheless, the spirit within the house has never been stronger than it is now; with so many restrictions and guidelines, boys have found clever ways to maintain the house spirit and community.

After what felt like an extended summer, we gradually came back. Normally, boys would play pool or table tennis but because of Covid guidelines, it became harder to engage in such activities. The resilience of the boys led to smarter ways of having fun together like ‘Among Us’ games online and ‘Fortnite’ competitions. When an early Christmas holiday hit, people faced either a trip back home, quarantine, or a stay with their host family. Continuing online house meetings gave boys the chance to speak to one another and congratulate each other on their respective achievements.

Due to the reintroduced lockdown, a minority of us returned in the new year, while the rest stayed at home. Thanks to the extra online house meeting hosted by Mr Fisher, we got to feel 15 minutes of the house per week. In the meantime, Phillpotts and Pemberley integrated to conserve resources of operating a house. Once most of the boys had returned, they were faced with the challenges of maintaining a sense of community whilst also sticking to Covid guidelines. But things were quick to resume. During the waiting time for the results of their bi-weekly covid tests, boys gathered around the common room (socially distanced, of course) and talked about their days, their weeks and the difficulties of the year.

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The summer term has been the best so far: regular activities for boarders resumed, a popular one being ‘bubble football’ and the return of house sporting competitions was a popular decision amongst the boys.

The responsibility that the boys hold to look after one another and try to protect each other from the virus has translated into strengthening the spirit in the house. Like all challenges, Phillpotts has tackled Covid as a collective and not let the negativity that surrounds us interfere with house spirit.

We must all thank matrons, cleaners, tutors, Mr Ruta and Mr Fisher. Without the extra work they’ve put in, there would probably be more ‘positives’. Lastly, and just as importantly, a warm goodbye to Ms Patel and Mr Watson, two very thoughtful teachers who are always kind to us. To Mr Fisher our housemaster, who did pretty much everything, from getting hot meals ready on a Friday, to taking the injured to hospital, to talking about controversial and difficult issues.

It is astounding to witness how quickly everyone has adapted to preserve the special bond that the house has. Even with the upcoming changes in the next academic year, there is one certainty: the Philpotts spirit will never change.

David Chan

St Cuthbert’s hOUSE rePORT 2020-2021

As the academic year draws to a close, it is good to look back and review what the house has achieved since September. We have had a superb year despite the ongoing lockdown, and we made the very best of the situation with a strong online presence.

Highlights included: The Peer Mentoring Programme, which has gone from strength to strength, with Lower Sixth mentors meeting the Removes to continue to build their relationships; daily year group drop-ins for boys to talk with the housemaster and senior boys about how they were coping during lockdown; the weekly cooking challenge for families to cook together at home, which culminated in a House cooking competition, and the Strava, Skills and HITT challenges that were packed with our weekly entries. Athletes of the week were: Daniel Hutchins; Miles Ratcliffe; Henry Warren; Edward Dagg and Vedant Somal. On our return to school for the Summer Term, we held a paintballing trip and barbeque for the Upper Sixth leavers, and a Fourth Form trip to Box End. A huge well done to all the boys who have been involved and active this year.

Sadly, we say goodbye to three of our brilliant tutors this year, who are all taking another step in their careers and personal lives. Mrs Middleton, Mr Nicholson and Mr Sanchez are leaving the School and have all been a huge support to the boys in the house. We thank them wholeheartedly and wish them the very best for the future. We welcomed Mr Bargiela to the tutor team, and he is looking forward to vertical tutoring in

SCHOOL LEAVERS

st cuthbert’s LUCA ALBON A Level

HARVEY BOLGER A Level, mentoring, house colours, 4 XI rugby, 3 XI football, tennis squad, mitre club, linguistics Olympiad, drama (Romeo and Juliet, Little Shop of Horrors), record club, tours team, german society, CCF, DofE, BSIP (highly commended).

HENRY FAULKNER A Level, academic colours, hockey 3rd XI, hockey minor colours, cricket 2nd XI, Pythagoreans, senior maths challenge (gold), triple stripe.

JOSHUA GERVAIS IB, lead mentor, CCF NCO, academic colours (and stripes), house colours, fives team, tennis team, debating society, medics society, CCF, rifle club, mentoring, geography society, tours team, debating competitions (rotary and house), chinese society talk, Movember, DofE (bronze, silver).

PHILIP HUGHES A Level, house colours, 4XV rugby, 3rd XI hockey (minor colours), cricket team, philosophy and theology society.

THOMAS RAUT A Level, head of media production, bronze UM maths challenge award, fencing colours (2nd team u17 GB), media club, bronze DofE, diploma in sporting excellence.

HARVEY TOMS A Level, captain of boats, arts team, house sports captain, rowing colours, art colours, house colours, rowing - 1st IV (2019-2020), rowing - 1st VIII, art society, art history lectures, life drawing, GB rowing trials (2020, 2021).

WILL MONK A Level, deputy head of house, rugby minor colours, rugby.

JOSEPH NEEDHAM A Level, head of house, geography society (vice president), house colours, rugby minor colours,2nd XI hockey (minor colours).

SHIVA SONGARA A Level, house fives captain, 2x fives cup winner, fives team (1st), fives team (1st), Pythagoreans society, debating society, investment society, silver maths challenge, house colours.

Phillpotts WILL BARFORD A Level, minor colours, house colours, rugby team.

OLIVER GREGORY A Level, head of house, head of charities, house colours, rugby 2nd team minor colours, rugby sevens team, hockey 2nd team (minor colours), cricket 3rd team, debating society, geography society, tours team, compline service.

ARIN MITAL A Level, minor sports colours, badminton captain, tennis team.

HENRY WARREN A Level, monitor, house colours, minor colours for cricket, major colours for rugby, 1st team cricket, 1st team rugby, rugby sevens, geography society, house mentor, investment/economics society tours team.

DAVID CHAN IB, head of house, head of chinese society, Detweiler 3d prize, art colours, house colours, art society, life drawing, Ivy House.

FLORIO ERIKSEN A Level

TOBIAS TODD A Level, rugby 2nd XV minor colours, tennis 1st team, economics society, investment society, water polo 1st team (minor colours), DofE (bronze, silver).

GEORGE WINDER A Level, mentoring, academic colours, house colours, squash 1st team, water polo team, tennis team, biology society, chemistry society, human whipworm genome project, chemistry Olympiad (gold); biology Olympiad, maths challenge (gold), bassoon grade 6.

OWEN CHEAN A Level, academic colours, 3rd XI football.

AGASTYA MISHRA A Level, head of house, house colours.

VIVAAN SINGH A Level, monitor, academic stripes, 100 merit award, house colours, rugby 5th XI, first XI football, cricket 3rd team, head of chess club, engineering society, aviation society, volunteer football coaching, Pythagorean society, physics society, Harpur science forum, Ready2Lead conference, physics Olympiad (merit), LAMDA distinction x3, DofE bronze and silver, platinum Isaac physics award, Ivy House award, maths silver in UKMT senior maths challenge.

BORIS SONG A Level, art colours, house colours, William James Burr memorial prize for art, Fowler’s and Detweiler art prizes (highly commended).

IAN TANG A Level, 1st orchestra, chamber orchestra.

September.

Looking ahead to next year, we are excited to see what the house can achieve once again. We hope that Charles Costello and Henry Christian, as the new Heads of House, can

continue to create the same enthusiasm that the boys have this year. We will miss St Cuthbert’s (the best house), but we will carry its spirit with us as we move on. ■ Oliver Gregory and Joseph Needham (Heads of House).

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Redburn HOUSE REPORT 2020-2021

The 2020-21 school year was at times melancholy, but out of adversity comes success. Bubbles, pods, allocated showers and limits on gathering together felt very odd but it was great to be back in September.

The new boys settled remarkably well and a huge ‘Thank you!’ goes to the sixth form for the way they galvanised the house. As the saying goes, ‘You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone’; this couldn’t be truer of house singing: bring on next year!

The lack of fixtures, trips and Sunday chapel meant that weekends were much quieter than normal but this brought the boys closer together. In the absence of house competitions, the Redburn table tennis and pool competitions were tense and highly spirited!

The announcement of remote learning and cancellations of summer public exams was a major blow for all. The summer term saw a welcome lifting of some restrictions. Chess fever took over the house and thanks to Ivan, we had our inaugural chess championship.

Later in the term, there were cricket nets with the Head Master, a tennis championship and boarding trips for each year group including paintball, go-karting and a trip to Box End. This gave the boys a sense of freedom and lifted the morale in the house. Whilst some sporting house competitions have happened, most of the prizes have come through the arts. ‘Success Friday!’ remains a highlight of the week and it has been good to see such diverse successes celebrated.

Thanks to Mr Marriott and all the staff who helped make this challenging year a blast; we hope for a great year with lots of success from September.

Tomas Else and Jonty Dawes

Paulo Pontine House Report 2021

The past year has been extremely challenging and difficult for everyone at Bedford School, due to Coronavirus. However, despite this, the house spirit and morale of the boys within Paulo Pontine was kept at a high. The boys managed to keep enthusiastic, dedicated and hardworking throughout, whether at home, school or on the pitch. The day house has been quieter than normal with only sixth form boys allowed in and our vertical tutor groups become year groups instead. I am sure that the younger boys have missed their time in the 54

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day house, but we enjoyed putting together a film for them showing them the house.

With the Coronavirus bubbling restrictions imposed from the onset of the school year this meant that many of the usual house competitions and activities did not take place, nevertheless the boys were determined to achieve success in any way they could. Having missed out on leading the house singing, we were delighted to see our music captain, Nat Otley, win the Senior Young Musician of the Year prize. When we went into our second lockdown in January, Paulo Pontine started to raise money for their chosen charity using Strava as a way to keep us all active and competing between year groups. Our winning athletes during this period were Oliver Phillips, Alex Moffat, Robert Parrish and Tanay Rai with Alex Moffat being the lower-sixth overall athlete of the term.

This year we chose St John’s Hospice in Moggerhanger as our house charity, in memory of Mr Garrett (Director of the Bedford School Association). Following the Strava competition, we held year group ‘Ask the Family’ quizzes on Microsoft Teams, which saw a number of Paulo families competing against each other – the year-group-winning teams were the Barnes family, the Tunnicliffes, the Briers, Williams, Caves and the Dicksons. In recognition for all the fundraising we do in the house, we have introduced the Garrett Family Charity Shield (kindly donated by Mrs Garrett) and each year the name of the boy who led the year’s charity fundraising will be engraved on the shield. This year, overall, £1,250 was raised for Sue Ryder’s St. John’s Hospice. These house events were an excellent example of the entire house coming together for a very good cause.

Paulo Pontine has had another successful year, however this would not have been achieved without the help from the staff. A massive thank you goes out to all the house tutors and matrons as well as everyone else helping out behind the scenes.

The constant support throughout the year has meant that the boys thrive and achieve success in the school environment. For the upper sixth, the school year finished with a paintballing trip followed by a house barbeque.

The barbeque was attended by not only the boys but tutors and staff making it a perfect time for everyone to reflect on the previous years at school which were enjoyed so much. ■ Sam Garrett

SCHOOL LEAVERS

PAULO PONTINE BEN BARNES A Level, deputy head of school, monitor, rugby honours cap, house colours, rugby 1st XV, hockey 2nd XI, minor colours, president of debating society, president of theology philosophy & ethics society, fowles prize winner, house colours, academic colours, archives curator.

MICHAEL BENNELL A Level, deputy head of house, house colours, hockey 1st XI (colours), tours team, hockey tour, art society, peer mentor, DofE bronze award, DofE silver award.

JACK DAVIS A Level, house colours, 3rd XI football, tours team, economics society, LAMDA grade 7.

GEORGE BARRETT A Level, house colours, rugby 3rd XI, football 2nd XI, record club, biology society, bronze, silver, gold DofE.

ROWAN BASCETTA-POLLITT A Level, minor cricket colours, minor hockey colours, minor rugby colours, house colours, 2nd team rugby, 2nd team hockey, 1st team cricket, president of the debating society, drama society, Oxford University debating competition finals.

JOSEPH BRIGGS A Level, school monitor, captain of the first team basketball team, basketball minor colours, house colours, U6 2nd game rugby, 1st team basketball, basketball first team, cricket b team, tour guide, spanish debating competition, guitar in local care homes.

SAM DICKS A Level, chairperson of chemistry society, academic colours, prize winner, 3 academic stripes, house colours, 1st XV rugby, major rugby colours, 1st VII rugby sevens, athletics squad, physics and engineering society, tours team, maths tutoring, BSIP (highly commended).

ROHAN JACOB A Level, house colours, academic colours, squash 2nd team, football 2nd team, tennis team, biology society, medics society, Harpur science forum, tours team, squash club, DofE bronze & silver, piano grade 7.

NATHANIEL OTLEY A Level, monitor, president of the music society, house arts captain, part song director, head of jazz orchestra, arts colours, hockey minor colours, Fowles prize, Archie Wellbelove prize, senior woodwind prize, 5XV rugby (the warriors), 4XI hockey, chapel choir, jazz orchestra, debate society, jazz quintet.

NATHAN ROMEO IB, house colours, house rugby, Pythagoreans society, basketball team, film society, Christian Union, football teams, athletics team, basketball club.

HARRY CONSTANTINE A Level, sports captain, major rugby colours, honours cap, house colours, 1st team rugby, 1st sevens, philosophy and theology society, tours team.

SAM GARRETT A Level, head of house, school council, hockey minor colours, house colours, 3 XV rugby, 2 XI hockey, 4th team cricket, debate society , charities committee.

BEN PARRISH A Level, house colours, rugby 4th XV, EPQ, football 3rd XI, tennis, school band, tours, jazz band, DofE (silver).

LOUIS SIMON A Level, leader of english society, house colours, 2nd team rugby, 1st team football, a team cricket, debating society, investment society.

HARRY STICKELLS IB, 2nd XI football.

FREDDIE PEACOCK A Level, head of house, house colours.

ZAIDI HASNAIN A Level, HM scarf, house colours, hockey 4th team, Cyberquest 2nd place UK.

ALFIE WILLCOCKS A Level, senior four, monitor in charge of duties, hockey captain, senior house mentor, head of classical society, coach of first XI hockey, academic colours, house colours, New College prize for classics, Archie Wellbelove prize, 2x silver & bronze award: UK linguistics Olympiad, 2 headmaster’s commendations, theory of knowledge essay competition (highly commended), rugby colours, rugby (first xv), hockey (honours cap, major colours, first XI), 2nd team cricket, sailing team, classical society, italian society, ancient greek club, tours team, rifle club, chemistry society, Movember, athletics club, Floreat magazine (writer), water polo club, geography society, running club, film club, England player pathway for hockey, Bucks county hockey, Beds county rugby, Beds county cricket, DofE award, Ivy House award, Ready2Lead member, UK maths challenge (bronze award), house badminton winner, school run winner.

REDBURN SAM LEE A Level, physics Olympiad, basketball team, tai chi, chinese volunteering service, Python volunteering service.

CARLOS MARTINEZ BONET A Level, head of house, academic stripe, DofE (bronze and silver), football colours, 1st XI football, tours team, school council.

ADRIAN SHUM A Level, deputy head of house, basketball club.

RYAN TSE IB, deputy head of house, house colours, badminton 2nd team, aviation society (president), Pythagoreans, head of chamber music, symphony orchestra, chamber orchestra, chamber music ensemble.

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Talbot’s House REPORT 2020-2021

This year in Talbot’s wasn’t the usual one: restrictions meant that there were year-group-segregated couches, most of the spring term online and the boys were forced to endure Mr Gracie’s cheerful attitude every morning in temperature check.

The house quickly became the incredible family that everyone had hoped for and all the boys were comfortable together. One of the new members of Talbot’s family, Mr Peters, stamped his mark with the introduction of a book club. The introduction of the debating club provided a safe space for some very entertaining views and the house provided its own competition for house plays with every year group providing a videoed play.

The pinnacle was arguably a short drag performance in the lower sixth play and the portrayal of Boris Johnson with a fierce Russian accent.

The spring term had all but three weeks online. The house had weekly whole-house meetings with an impressive array of backgrounds and a great variety of competitions for boys to get involved in. Smoothie making, cooking, school exercise competitions and baking are just a few of such events which kept the boys feeling part of our now-virtual house. The return allowed us to enjoy a Covid-safe version of the traditional house quiz, this time provided by the lower sixth, with the two presenters for the quiz being in St Petersburg, Russia and Barbados.

The summer term has definitely been the best: there have been many barbecues as Friday celebrations combined with an impressively low quality of volleyball matches where the boys had to adopt a “one-bounce” rule in order to get any sort of rally. Talbot’s took on and dispatched rivals Burnaby, with an ingenious invention from Mr Gracie of “Over the wall” including booting a football over the separating wall as hard as possible and not letting it bounce. Nick, the steak guy, also came back for the house barbeque for an evening filled with vortex throwing, football and volleyball. Bubble football, go-karting, paintball and the regular trip to Box End all took place.

This 2020-2021 year will definitely be one for the history

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books; we are all proud to say that we made the most of such a difficult year, especially with the news of Mr Gracie’s departure.

All the boys wish him and his family well and look forward to next year where they will strive to continue to do him proud.

Kieran Gilmour

St Peter’s House Report 2020-2021

Returning to school in September was tremendously enjoyable and rewarding after lock down. I think we all, both the staff and boys, had a much greater appreciation of the ’normal’ human interactions that we had once simply taken for granted. The big change on the house front was the introduction of horizontal tutor groups. This meant boarding and day tutors joining forces to provide, in some cases, pastoral care to tutor groups comprising of both boarders and day boys in the same year group. Fortunately, the links between Talbot’s and St. Peter’s have always been strong.

Thanks to skilful management from Mr Cassell and Mr Gracie, combined with the excellent teamwork shown by both the boys and tutors, the new framework was a real success.

In traditional St. Peter’s fashion, both boys and staff were quick to overcome the challenges that ensued, through following the new procedures and proudly maintaining the traditional spirit and character of the house. Online house assemblies, quizzes, competitions and activities quickly replaced the normal face-to-face interactions.

One virtue that remains a cornerstone of St. Peter’s life is getting stuck into inter-house competitions. Although a substantial number of events were sadly cancelled, our very own Mr Burgess devised an inter-house Strava event which awarded both students and staff for recording their sporting endeavours via house points. The contributions from St Peter’s were strong, with boys from different year groups regularly topping the school’s weekly standings. Additionally, impressive team performances in the inter-house ‘University-

SCHOOL LEAVERS

st PETER’s ADVIT AHUJA A Level, head of charities (house and school), house colours, first team football, co-head of tech society, reply challenge & cyber discovery competitions, helped create ‘Pong’ (computer science project)

TOM ALLEN A Level, monitor, house sports co-captain, house colours, 1st XV and 1st VII rugby captain (major colours and honours cap), hockey 1st game (minor colours), athletics team, 1st fives team, fives junior Mellors cup winner, drama (Lord of the Flies, Romeo and Juliet), drama society, debating society, tours team, Movember.

FINLAY CUMMINGS A Level, deputy head of house, house sports captain, school golf captain, shortlisted for Detweiler and Fowles prizes, sports performance group, hockey honours cap, hockey major colours, represented hockey 1st XI, golf 1st team, golf minor colours, volunteered at local primary school, tours team, debating society, chess club, survivor, Movember.

HARRY DOWRICK A Level, head of house, academic colours and house colours, 2nd XV rugby (minor sports colours), rugby sevens, athletics team, physics and engineering society (co-lead), Pythagoreans, Talalay science prize (runner-up).

HUGH HALSEY A Level, head of chapel choir, deputy head of house, head of choral society, headmaster’s scarf, academic colours, house colours, minor fives colours, 1st IV fives, 1st IV fives, tennis team, chapel choir, brass ensemble, jazz orchestra, school band, 2nd orchestra, biology society, Adrian Boult society, grade 7 trombone, grade 6 piano, grade 7 singing, choral scholarship consideration (Merton College, Oxford), John H. Buck prize for consistent effort, silver DofE. ALEXANDER LINNEY A Level, 5th team rugby, biology society, medics society, orchestra

DANNY HUBBER A Level

HARISSH PAHEERATHAN A Level

DAVID PAK YIN SIN A Level

JACK HUDSON A Level, rugby 1st game, minor colours.

WILLIAM SAYER A Level tennis team.

TALBOT’S FELIX BARTH IB

ALEX CHRISTEY A Level, monitor, vicepresident of biology society, house colours, academic colours, Irving French prize, Norris prize, 1st XV rugby (colours, honours cap), rugby sevens, athletics team, biology society, physics and engineering society.

DIVINE EDJEJOVWO IB, senior monitor, house colours, rugby (minor colours), chess club, charities committee, art society, christian union.

NATHAN SUEN A Level

SHREYANS JYOTI IB

TSUI, JASON A Level, house option, house colours.

Challenge-style’, general knowledge quiz had earlier seen us achieve a commendable second place. This was testament to the St. Peter’s house spirit remaining undimmed throughout what was a challenging time for us all.

Some standout individual performances within St. Peter’s this year came from the golfers, with lower sixth former, Alex Robins, set to represent the UK in the IMG Junior World Golf Championships in San Diego after winning the world qualifier at St. Ives golf course. Upper sixth former, Finlay Cummings,

tennis teams.

MAX FALLER A Level; hockey, swimming,

JOSHUA KERTON A Level, hockey minors, cricket (1st team), tennis (1st team), house colours.

ARCHIE WALSH A Level, major hockey colours,

ALFIE WARNOCK A Level

WILL RAMPLY A Level, monitor, house committee, house colours, 1st XV rugby (co-captain, colours, honours), 1st VII, 4th team hockey, tours team, Movember.

HENRY TYRER IB

has also gained a golf scholarship to Harding University in Arkansas. We wish them both well as they progress within the sport.

Finally, a huge thank you to the staff who work behind the scenes in the house: our two matrons, Mrs Wellard and Mrs Nicholson, who have looked after the sixth form so well in the day house this year. We all look forward to returning to the day house and enjoying our normal house life next year. ■ Anish Katechia and Arun Nanda

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Ashburnham HOUSE REPORT 2020-2021

After the somewhat chaotic end to 2019-2020, it was inevitable that this school year would bring unimagined new challenges.

However, together we adapted to the situation to take advantage of the opportunities created by these unusual times.

From the outset, the Senior boys created a welcoming atmosphere for everyone, celebrating the achievements of individuals within the house during our weekly online assemblies, ensuring that no-one went unrecognised and that the house community stayed alive and well-connected with various online events, such as the weekly tutor-group-run quizzes. The infamous House Quiz night, with students and parents getting together online for some, admittedly very lastminute, quiz rounds organised by some of the Upper Sixth, was a great success.

As well as this, the Ashburnham Instagram account ran all year, with various updates about the lads in the house and their wide array of activities. Posts on the account ranged from some perfect press-ups in the snow to some amazing whiteboard art; from instrumental exams to Tonkotsu Ramen recipes, as well as the weekly fantasy league updates! In the most recent period of online school, many of the lads had their dodgy lockdown haircuts exposed as the tutor group screenshots began to be posted but, to be fair, these photos were all taken first thing in the morning! Overall, the boys adapted well and made the transition to online school a lot easier than it would have been if we had not had so many getting involved - so many thanks to everyone!

Finally, it is important to say a massive thank you to Mr Everitt, Mrs Horne and all the Ashburnham tutors who have worked tirelessly to ensure we have had an enjoyable, productive and memorable year. Thank you!

C. Thompson and S. Welch

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Sanderson’s House report 2020-2021 This past year has been unlike any other: it has presented everyone at the school and all over the world with great challenge and difficulty. It changed how we do so much in our everyday lives. This, of course, greatly affected how the school year played out. Despite these challenges, Sanderson’s was able to open on time at the beginning of the year and the members of the house we able to re-enter the boarding community immediately.

The year got off to a great start: one event that stands out in my mind was the steak-fire-pit that was enjoyed when the boarding tradition of house singing was not possible.

Unfortunately, the next term school returned online and the vast majority of those in the boarding house, myself included, learned at home.

SCHOOL LEAVERS

ASHBURNHAM SADNIDHU AMBEPITIYA A Level, peer mentor, house colours.

BLAKE AYLING A Level, Head of Army section (CCF), shooting (minor colours), rowing (minor colours), 3rd XV rugby. 1st team shooting, 1st VIII SHORR crew, Temple VIII at Henley qualifiers (5th form), STEM Society,Sarnen & Pangbourne rowing camps.

GURKARAN JOHAL A Level, monitor, peer mentor, 1st XV rugby colours, rugby honours cap, 1st XV rugby, 1st team rugby sevens - Scotland tour, tours, basketball, biology society, house colours.

EDWARD MATHEW-JONES A Level, squash colours, head of squash club, first team squash, cricket (c team), politics society, Ivy House, drama (Red Shoes).

DANIEL LUMLEY-WOOD A Level, monitor, house colours, shooting A team (captain, minor colours), CCF (CSM, Head of Training), chemistry society.

JAMIE NORRIS A Level, chairman of biology society, academic colours, minor colours (shooting), Norris Prize, shooting (1st team), 3rd XV, coach of 5XV, 2nd VIII, chemistry society, biology society, house colours.

STEPHEN SIMMONS A Level, peer mentor, sports and academic scholarship, academic stripes, England athletics call up (winner national combined events championships in 2019), British athletics youth talent programme, house colours.

CALLUM WALLIS A Level, deputy head of house, house colours, hockey minor colours, 2nd team hockey, 2nd team cricket, chess club, debating society, hockey, Ashburnham underground cricket society (co-founder).

ROWAN SPONG A Level, house colours.

MAX LUSTY A Level, house colours, minor colours, rugby (3rd XV/ 2nd XV), rowing (1st VIII), Temple VIII (fifth form), chemistry society, biology society, crest club helper.

ELLIOT POTTER A Level, hockey (major colours), 1st XI Hockey (major colours), Cricket 3rd, house colours.

ALEX GATES A Level, head of house, school council, Sanderson’s arts rep, first VIII rowing, house colours 14c rugby team, GB junior trails for rowing, saxophone.

FELIX LANGE IB, house colours, second/third team hockey (minor colours), philosophy society, german society, biology society.

When this period was over, boys were keen and quick to return to boarding and school life, even though the restrictions were heightened and some boys were not able to get back.

It was still a welcome change for those lucky enough to be in the boarding house.

However, what stands out to me was the final term of the year. With the sun coming out and the days becoming longer, as well as finally nearly all boys being back in the house, we were able to return to ‘normal-ish’ boarding with go karting, Box End water park and paintballing trips for all the years. The

HARRY MASON A Level, charities committee, house colours

OLIVER SETTERFIELD A Level, Deputy Head of House, RQMS – CCF, minor sports - water polo Sylvester Cup, house colours, DT carpentry prize 2019, XL club - rugby mighty fifths, water polo U18, records club, Movember 2020 DofE (Bronze, Silver, Gold).

CHARLIE THOMPSON A Level, joint head of house, house colours, academic scholarship, maths Olympiads, language Olympiads, 2 XI hockey (minor colours), spanish society, drama (Red Shoes, Edelweiss Pirates, The 39 Steps), tours, house drama, house quiz night, Ashburnham underground cricket society (co-founder), guitar, Movember video (music), assembly promoting ‘The 39 Steps’.

SAM WELCH A Level, joint head of house, futsal, hockey 2nd XI, minor colours for hockey, cricket 2nd XI, headed economics society, geography society talks, hockey and cricket teams, house charity quiz (co-lead), house colours.

SANDERSON’S WILL CLIFFE A Level, minor sport colours (fives), house colours.

VAIBHAV GARDE A Level, peer mentor, house colours, squash team, badminton team, cricket team, medics society, biology society, chess club, Ashburnham underground cricket society.

CIARAN ZANNA IB, academic colours, house colours, futsal, football team, tai chi, president of the Bedford School history society, drama (stage management, ‘Little Shop of Horrors’).

AARIC TIMMS A Level, deputy head of house, house colours, rowing team, string prize (2nd).

WILL VAN DER WALT A Level, deputy head of house, house colours, best RAF cadet, 2nd XV rugby (minor colours), 2nd XI hockey, 5th XI cricket.

thing that most stands out, especially at Sanderson’s, was the boarders’ games: a great evening full of games, drinks, barbecue food and laughter. The evening was made especially good for us at Sanderson’s after we were named champions of the 2021 boarders’ games, thanks in large part to a 46-second run on the mechanical bull and an amazing second place in the three-legged race!

Overall, despite the challenges faced, the community at Sanderson’s has, again, had an excellent year! ■ Finn Adams

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OBITUARIES Dawn Clarke 21st November, 1961 to 23rd september, 2020 Dawn worked as a cleaner in Paulo Pontine day house. She died in September, 2020. Fiona Whiteman wrote the following, which was read in tribute to Dawn at her funeral.

I bumped into Dawn outside Waitrose in June, as she and Mike were getting into her very impressive Porsche (the boys at school loved it). At first glance, I thought it was Dawn and then when I saw the smiling, cheery face and her waving hello, I knew it was her. That encounter left me going home with a spring in my step and full of good spirit and happiness – because that’s what Dawn did to all those around her.

Dawn worked as a cleaner in the school for 21 years - I knew her only for the last five or six because she cleaned the day house I look after. Our house matron Sue, who knew her for many more years, was extremely fond of Dawn: it was in caring for Paulo Pontine house and the boys that their close friendship was forged.

I say that Dawn cleaned the house, but she did so much more than that. The boys in the house loved her because she brought kindness and warmth to them. One of the boys described her as ‘a breath of fresh air after a difficult lesson; she really looked after us and did so much more than was required’. There is no doubt that Dawn was incredibly kind to the boys and they felt liked and cared for by her. They noticed how she carried on even when she was physically struggling and that she always put them first. They really missed her when she had to stop work: she understood them and gave them her time. Freddie, one of the boys in the house, said that she always gave a warm welcome to the house and told how the boys would love to sit and chat to her. She would put the cakes out at breaktime in the kitchen and they would arrive and she would wash up whilst they sat talking to her in the kitchen.

It never felt forced because she was genuinely interested in each and every one of them. They loved hearing about her dog Spike and her car (the Porsche!) and the car shows she and Mike went to. She always had something interesting to say. Because of Covid we were unable to have our annual house dinner, but the boys were so keen for her to be there – her kindness was noticed by all who came across her in school.

Finn said, ‘It saddens me so much to hear that Dawn has passed away; she was always so lovely. I will always remember her smile when she talked to us. She would chat to us about university and our futures and how our day was going; she was a joy to be around. She was a wonderful presence in the house.’

George said, ‘She was one of the most caring and happy people I have ever met; after even a short conversation with Dawn I felt refreshed and ready to carry on with my day,’ Sue, our matron, who was Dawn’s friend for many years, told how gregarious and friendly Dawn was. The boys’ antics never ceased to amaze Dawn: both Sue and Dawn would often have a good laugh at some of the boys’ furniture rearrangements. Dawn would always help put things straight and assist in keeping day 60

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houses presentable and safe for the boys.

At the end of her cleaning shift in the house she would carry the rubbish bags away. Sometimes the black bin bags she carried seemed much bigger than she was, but everybody around the school would help her out by taking them off her hands and she was always so grateful.

Dawn talked often about her family, especially her son, James, and daughter, Emma, and her grandchildren. She also talked about where she was going with Mike and about the weekend car shows.

That day I saw her outside Waitrose she was, as always, full of warmth, sparkle and light, despite the physical difficulties she constantly endured. And the way she asked and talked about the boys in school just showed her endless kindness and thoughtfulness. She left me full of positivity and appreciating humankind and the importance of compassion.

She is sorely missed by the boys in the house, by Sue, our matron and her friend, Helen, our art department cleaner and friend and the generations of boys in the school who have been fortunate enough to know her and by so many other people around the school who were lucky enough to get to know her for the wonderful person that she was. Thank you, Dawn, for all you did for us, for all the smiles and happiness you brought into our school and into each of our lives.

FMW

IAN WARDLEY 25TH APRIL, 1964 to 10TH SEPTEMBER, 2021 He died in Bedford Hospital after a short illness.

Tribute to Ian by Liz Palmer The Bedford School Physics Department and wider school community has felt a profound sense of loss both personally and professionally. Ian joined the Physics Department aged 24 as technician, then Senior Technician, building up an immense level of expertise in his 33 years at the school. Not only was he talented at his job – building and modifying equipment, coming to the rescue mid lesson, or gently reminding teachers how to connect a circuit - but he also cared deeply for the learning of the students and the well-being of his colleagues: every day he would come and say hello and check if you needed anything.

We all know what a perfectionist he was. The technician’s room was immaculately organised and labelled and woe betide if teachers attempted to put something back in the wrong place. But it was also a room where colleagues could go and have a chat and a cup of tea, pick Ian’s brains and go away with ideas that he had wisely suggested. Likewise, a casual remark about wanting to be able to demonstrate a certain aspect of Physics would always be followed through. He was sensitively aware of the rhythms and challenges of teaching: he had an instinct for knowing what the teachers required for their practical lessons and provided patient, invaluable support to newly qualified teachers. There will be countless teachers who would not have the skills they have now if it were not for the support and guidance given to them by Ian at the start of their careers. This gratitude extends to all colleagues who have worked with him and the thousands of students who have benefitted from Ian’s service over the years. He will be remembered and missed hugely.

EJP

STAFF NEWS

FAREWELL Matthew Bolton

Matthew joined Bedford School in 2013 having completed his degree at Edinburgh University and having previously attended Manchester Grammar School. Joining the RE department he became part of the dream team of teachers that became affectionately known as ‘Finchy’s Boys’ when he was joined a year later by Will Peters. Matthew was cast in the OleGunnar-Solskjaer role of ‘Baby-Faced Assassin’ alongside the hirsute, Ryan-Giggs-like Peters. The raw natural teaching talent of Matthew was nurtured and shaped by the RafaBenitez-figurehead of Adrian Finch, before Matthew took on the role of Head of Department (after the gaffer moved upstairs to take up an international role as Director of IB).

Matthew slipped seamlessly into the role of middle management and continued to build on the academic success achieved within the department and the number of students taking the course onto A level. Matthew never lost sight of the fact that Bedford School affords a myriad of opportunities for students and showed a willingness to get involved. He ended up running so many different aspects of the extra-curricular life of the school – most notably the Bronze Duke-of-Edinburgh awards (and managing to cajole almost half of the common room to help out with the numerous expeditions around the home counties) along with his Sir-Alex-Ferguson winning ratio as manager of the U15A football teams.

Matthew, in his relatively short time at the school, took on many different positions of responsibility and carried these out with great aplomb. Matthew was an incredible pastoral tutor – taking a genuine interest in his tutees – both their academic performance and around the school. If a school event was happening and one of his tutees was involved Matthew was always in attendance to support them. He never missed an assembly, a Gilbert Lloyd Lecture, a school play or a music concert in his time here and he ran a range of art-and-RE-combined trips across Europe as well as delivering assemblies on the impact of the Holocaust, amongst other topics.

He was an incredible colleague and the affection that students and staff had for Matthew was obvious. He will be remembered for the impact of his teaching and pastoral care

and the guidance that he gave – to staff and students alike.

I will particularly miss the ‘4:16 Club’ – at first, I thought I was being invited to a Bible scripture study group – but then realised that it convened at 4:16pm on an exeat Friday in a local hostelry where all corners of the common room were invited to reflect on the week just passed.

For me, the highlight of Matthew’s time at the school was when he managed the now sadly defunct ‘Staff versus SixthForm Students’ match. After three years of students claiming the trophy, we sensed we had a chance to be victorious in 2019. Matthew picked the team and, in a stroke of tactical genius, let us all tire ourselves out for 87 minutes and try to hang onto a slender 1-0 advantage, before bringing himself on for the last three minutes and creating his own Solskjaer-moment by hitting an unstoppable rocket of a shot from half a yard to seal our victory. For those of us who had endured the shouts of ‘Bolton’ (think of the man running around Richmond Park chasing after his dog Fenton) whilst admonishing himself after (yet another) misplaced pass – this was a fitting end to his time at the school and a genuine sporting highlight. The rapturous applause he received from the whole school when he picked up the trophy from the Head Master in the Great Hall was significant. The volume was ratcheted up because ultimately, Bolton was a great person – much loved and much missed (like many of his one-on-ones at staff football).

PW

Michael Dawson

You know how it feels to go out of your front door and almost get knocked over by an unexpected gust of wind; well, when Michael Dawson arrives on the scene it is not unlike the aforementioned meteorological scenario. In the course of three decades at the school, I must have had my fair share of ‘before and after’ moments, and the arrival of MD was certainly one of them. This young pedagogue is one of Liverpool’s fine sons, awash with enthusiasm, the possessor of a wicked sense of humour and, what chimes most with me, he is driven by an urge to plumb ever greater linguistic depths and to widen his net.

It all started in our first ever conversation when he casually dropped the detail that he was a speaker of Nahuatl.

Er, did I hear that aright? Yes, my ears were functioning properly. While I peddle the line: “Bet you didn’t know that our word ‘chocolate’ comes from Nahuatl”, he turns up actually speaking the language with respectable fluency! It didn’t take long to realise that his love of foreign languages 

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 extended beyond this Central American language, and also

covered German, French, Spanish and Italian: he had spent time living in Vienna (Surely ‘Wien’? Ed.) and Naples - there is Western European chalk and cheese for you - and he worked on the others during his PGCE. He is a man with a simple love of languages, and you don’t find many Brits like that nowadays. On a daily basis he came with questions and comments on articles from El País, Le Monde or Repubblica, not to mention the Germanic press, and then would spend a lunchtime a week coaching the Languages Olympiad group to cope with questions on the syntactical structures of the tongues of Pacific islands or those of the Indian sub-continent. He gobbled it all up and came back asking, nay ‘demanding’, more. For his colleagues and for the boys lucky enough to be taught by him, he was a constant shot in the arm, and thirty-five minutes spent in his company was always both an education and a lesson in zest for life. Suffice it to say we need more young men like him.

Editorial strictures oblige me to draw to a close and there is room only to mention his oversight of weightlifting and Bronze DofE, his tutor role in Talbots and involvement with yoga. He is in his first year of parenthood, but you can bet your bottom pfennig that slowing down is not to be found in his extensive vocabulary.

He now moves on to Charterhouse to work in their German Department: Bedfordshire’s loss is truly Surrey’s gain. On a personal level, we are losing a dear friend: bighearted, straight-talking and one who is huge fun to be with. As we say in Lingala (Congo, Central Africa): ‘Okenda malamu, tata!’ (‘Go well, sir’). Go with our warmest blessing, old bean.

AJRH

Tracy Harbinson

Tracy joined Bedford School in November 2008 for a maternity cover and ended up staying for 13 years!

However, this was not her first association with Bedford School as Tracy actually attended the school as a pupil in 1979 to study Computer Science, a subject that was not offered at Bedford High School.

As a teacher Tracy has always been completely focused on her students and their development. She has been a key member of the mathematics department and, despite being part time, she has always gone above and beyond what is expected in order to help the boys achieve their potential. We have been incredibly fortunate to have her on the team, as her ability to teach the further maths modules, has been invaluable. Throughout her time at Bedford, Tracy has enjoyed learning new areas of mathematics and 62

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in recent years she has been solely responsible for teaching further statistics and decision maths.

Tracy made some lifelong friends at Bedford School, in particular, JJ Beale. JJ was Tracy’s head of department and close friend: there are many happy memories shared of holidays spent on the Scilly Isles. So, it seems fitting that I include JJ’s words: “She is a dedicated teacher and I thank her for all of her hard work”. (JJ Beale) In the department we will miss Tracy’s energy, enthusiasm, and friendship. As she goes into retirement, we wish her and her husband, Phil, every happiness. However, if we ever have to form another departmental quiz team, you will be the first person that I call.

RKJ

Leonard Karl

Farewell to a man whose intelligence is only surpassed by his sense of fashion. Although his understanding of what a city is still baffles me, I wish him all luck in his new adventures in his town. I have thoroughly enjoyed discussing and spending time with such an insightful (dare I say erudite?) person. I thank him for raising the bar high whenever we might debate and for always giving us reasons to debate. As a flatmate, I always looked forward to his next cooking adventures. As a colleague, I appreciated his light-heartedness and unrelenting optimism!

As Leonard says, “Slow and steady wins the race.”

Till the next prank, pal!

Rebecca Nemorin

Sarah Lapidge

Picking a PA is quite a personal thing: you want somebody who is efficient, discreet, highly literate, polite, calm, cheerful, organised and (frankly) patient. When Rachel Blake left a year into my headship (who can blame her!) and I was faced with a field of highly plausible applicants, I realised that I also wanted somebody who could make me laugh.

STAFF NEWS

I did not know Sarah very well at that time, but it was clear that she was an extremely strong contender, having spent ten years as PA to a London CEO, then another 12 as PA in the House of Lords, before joining the team here to work for Colin Baker. Sure enough, since her appointment as Head Master’s PA six years ago, she has epitomised all of the qualities mentioned above.

There are roles in the school which do not really have parallels and this is one of them, yet Sarah has managed to combine high levels of competence with wisdom and discretion in a way that has given confidence to all who deal with her.

Managing conflicting interests elsewhere is also at the heart of her role: she both protects and fills the diary; she both welcomes and vets callers and interviewees; she both attends and prompts (everybody!). What might seem to be a natural process is in fact her hard work, underpinned by care. Latterly, after three decades of PA work, she has been determined to look at other avenues and has trained to be a driving instructor.

It is no surprise that she is good at this: she is a strong communicator, with a clear mind and a didactic streak – I would trust her completely to get even my most erratic child through the test! – and it is to that new adventure she now turns.

I wish Sarah well and thank her for the years and the support she has given to this school.

JSH

Gavin McCormack

At this time of year in 480 BC, 300 Spartans were preparing to meet their end at Thermopylae. Having been held-up for a week, the Persians discovered a secret pass around the “Hot Gates” and had the Greeks hopelessly surrounded.

The Spartans, however, did not panic. Having bathed and combed their long hair, king Leonidas commanded his men to seek out “kalos thanatos” (a beautiful death): a moment of sublime glory, which could only be achieved by sacrificing oneself for the collective survival of the state. Fastforward almost exactly two-and-a-half thousand years to a late Thursday night phone call from a breathless Matt Bolton: “Hi Al, it’s Matt…I don’t think that Gavin is going to be in tomorrow.”

Surely those present at the Gordon Field on that fateful evening, surveying the wreckage of Gavin’s overly ambitious Cruyff turn, were reminded, as I was, of Leonidas and his 300?

Where the mind had led, sadly, the body could not follow.

Harsh physical reality had triumphed over aesthetic idealism.

Several subsequent observations were made about Gavin within my earshot: Andy Pipkin (very harsh); Professor Xavier (more apt), and, from no less than the Chairman of the Common Room himself: Ironside. For me, however, Gavin is definitely an

Achilles – a tragic hero cruelly cut down through the ankle in the pursuit of “kalos thanatos”. While his teaching style could never be described as energetic, it was therefore expedient that his unfortunate injury did not necessitate a radical shift in delivery.

Gavin joined us in 2016, having taken a first at Bristol, an MPhil at Cambridge, and a PhD at Oxford, before training as a lawyer at BPP. A true Renaissance Man, Gavin also found time to play 1st XI football and reach Grade 8 on the clarinet. A deep thinker, but certainly no bookish square, Gavin threw himself into all that the school has to offer. As he himself has put it on Twitter: “I hold the rather dated view that teachers ought to model some version of rounded living - showing there’s more to life than academic study.” Perhaps this philosophy explains his fascination with poker - pursued with intense alacrity, both online and at his favourite haunts in London and MK, during what may now seem a distant misspent youth.

He has coached rugby, football, and cricket to varying degrees of success. He has led assemblies on subjects ranging from the joys of Bob Dylan to the pursuit of knowledge, and most recently the Gospel of Luke – challenging boys to consider their place in the world without, crucially, telling them what to think.

His innate kindness and patience made him a natural choice to act as Oxbridge co-ordinator and many boys profited (more than they know) from Dr M.’s considered and carefully-chosen words. He established a successful general knowledge quiz team, who competed against Habs and Mill Hill in a triangular fixture. He also cared deeply about the well-being of his cohort in St Peter’s and worked hard to create a supportive environment for them in G3.

When Gavin said he that was leaving us, I naturally assumed that he had been secretly recruited for MI6 - perhaps for a post recently vacated by a certain Daniel Craig? Like Bond, Gavin is somewhat complex, enigmatic, and certainly fastidious about his appearance. It is, after all, only a small step from skilfully assembling and dismantling his Brompton bike (much to the boys’ amusement) to flying “Little Nelly” as Sean Connery did so memorably in You Only Live Twice.

Gavin is now Head of Classics at North London Collegiate School. They are lucky to have him. We were lucky to have had his passion, resilience, and friendship during the three-and-a-bit years he was with us at Bedford.

ADM

Gemma Middleton

Gemma arrived two-and-a-half years ago in the spring term and hit the ground running by immediately marking two sets of GCSE trial papers. She did not complain, she just got on with the job, which is typical of Gemma.

We should remember that when she arrived at Bedford, she was 

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 Miss Tooth, fresh from Framlingham who had moved with

her partner, Ollie. She leaves as Mrs Middleton, mother of new baby, Anthony. For Gemma there has been a great deal of change, and she also threw herself into the life of the school. She became a part of the CCF and Duke of Edinburgh teams, took charge of Ancient History (having never taught it before), became an A level Politics teacher (ditto) and, of course, became a trusted a valued member of the History department.

Gemma is the safe pair of hands that every department needs. She has (and I hope she does not mind my saying this) an iron control over her classes. If ever she missed a lesson and the department had to cover, there was never a murmur of protest because we knew we would walk into a haven of calm. The boys have the utmost respect for her. She is an impeccable planner and perhaps the most organised teacher I have ever encountered - and I say this from the perspective of the History department, a department with its fair share of highly-organised people.

It was typical of her that during the later stages of her pregnancy we had to beg her to let go of some lessons and rest. Her incredible sense of responsibility towards the boys and her colleagues was such that she could not bear anyone to think she was letting them down. She never did!

We will all miss her, but I do not think that we have seen the last of her; I hope one day that she will be back in D6 exercising that iron grip once more.

EEP

Rebecca Nemorin

In these oftmentioned uncertain times, Rebecca has been the only constant in Carter’s flat. As she had already been at the school for a year already when I arrived, I would often seek her counsel as to how the school functioned. Equally, as surely as the sun rises in the morning, we could find her in her room industriously teaching her countless students, and, as surely as the sun sets in the evening, we could find her in the living room lugging around weights that shook Carter’s flat to its foundation.

Coincidentally sun rise and sun set were also precisely the times she chose for these key activities which serves as testimony of her character and work ethic. With both of these she will enrich St. Mary’s School, Ascot, going forward when she takes her position as graduate assistant there.

Rebecca has been a delight to work and live with and we are lucky to be able to call her a friend; we wish her nothing but the best for her promising future.

Leonard Karl 64

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Matthew Nicholson

Matthew joined us in September 2019, having spent four years in the sunny climes of Dubai beforehand. It was quite an adjustment, but he had done his homework before coming over and quickly settled into Bedford, confidently grabbing the tiller of the Spanish department with his inexhaustible energy and enthusiasm.

His time with us was an experience of two halves. Throwing himself at school life, as well as sports coaching, he accompanied two school trips: one to France in December and one to Seville in February 2020 - straight after storm Dennis. On the trip to Spain, one boy attracted comment for wearing a face mask on the journey what a portent of the things to come!

Soon after returning from Spain, wearing masks became standard and remote teaching required a wholesale shift of teaching and learning approaches - and new pathfinding skills through our one-way system past B14. Matthew has been a star in keeping boys and colleagues on their toes.

As Matthew embarks on his new position at Wycombe Abbey and faces the adjustment to an all-girl classroom, he takes fond memories with him. He highlighted the enormous goodwill, mutual support and integrity he found at Bedford, the pride staff and boys take in their school and how well the community dealt with the challenges of Covid teaching.

Matthew is always happy to go the extra mile or take on extra responsibilities to help out, even helping out other schools with getting teacher assessed grades for their pupils. He will leave a gap in MFL and will be remembered as an energetic colleague with the will to challenge and change and as an inspiring teacher, who always put the boys’ achievement front and centre, thriving on those light-bulb moments when they “got it”. His exceptional linguistic skills and willingness to support and challenge boys will be missed by us all.

FG

Dipisha Patel

Dipisha joined the biology department from Bedford Girls’ School in September 2019, in that time of tranquillity, before the storm of lockdowns and face masks broke upon our shores.

Quickly settling into the department, it was soon obvious that she had that wonderful gift of being

STAFF NEWS

able to inspire the boys to work with her and instil a desire to learn. Lessons were prepared and delivered with great skill and talent, so that the boys flourished in her care. It is obvious to the boys that Dipisha is both a very caring teacher - who loves working with children - whilst she also has that inner steel, which makes it clear that any teenage truculence will not be tolerated. Department meetings and chats over tea would often see Dipisha offering help, providing very wise advice to those who sought her counsel and sharing her extensive collection of resources; this would always be done in the most kind, gentle and considerate manner.

Dipisha is a genuinely humble person, who would never blow her own trumpet. Consequently, few of us are aware that Dipisha was also professional dancer, performing in a range of theatres and delivering education workshops to schools and community groups both around the UK and internationally.

This included working with the Gustav Holst Museum, to choreograph a community dance-drama production based on Holst’s opera score ‘Savitri’.

Although it is with much sadness that we must let Dipisha go, it is also with a sense of joy, for she leaves to start a new life as she marries Phil Waterhouse this summer, before travelling with him on a new adventure in Malaysia, where Dipisha might once again indulge her love for scuba diving and surfing. We sincerely hope that this is less of a ‘goodbye’ and more of an ‘until we meet again’, when Dipisha and Phil return to visit us from their tropical paradise.

MAB

Victor Sanchez Jimenez

Victor arrived at Bedford School from Seville in 2016 to take up the role as Spanish teacher. Since joining, he has not only taught Spanish, but also created the Esperanto club, Revuo magazine and the Languages at Bedford School Youtube channel, inspiring enthusiasm for languages like no other teacher at school. Always keen for students to push themselves, he was always teaching us more complex language than would be expected: we had already learnt all the main tenses and the subjunctive by the end of the fifth form.

Meanwhile, his lessons remained entertaining, even during our weekly vocab tests where he saw the funny side of a pupil translating the word ‘name’ at the top of the sheet, instead of actually writing their own name.

During his time at school Victor also demonstrated his interest and talent in art and photography. He made many impressive contributions to the School’s art exhibitions and was also an avid photographer both inside and outside of school, sharing his knowledge with students of all ages through the photography club which he ran.

Señor Sánchez’s basketball coaching career must not go unnoticed. Thanks to his frustrating and sometimes challenging warmups every session, injuries were an occurrence that the first team rarely experienced. He coached the basketball team passionately and drove the players to perform at the highest level possible. The sessions where he would explain the entire plan for the session in Spanish to the Spanish students and would then ask them to translate and explain what we were doing to the rest of the group were particularly enjoyable. He always found a way to incorporate Spanish learning into every situation, which is what made him an excellent Spanish teacher.

Despite leaving us and the school at Christmas in our final year when we needed him most (having taught us for every year since we joined the upper school - which was also the year when he joined), we wish him the best for his teaching career in Spain.

Joe Briggs, Sam Welch, George Winder

Phil Waterhouse

Phil arrived at Bedford in 2015, excited at the challenge of putting his Mountain Leader Level Three Award to good use in one of the flattest areas of the country. Disappointed with that, he embarked on leading the economics and business department with his customary good humour and professionalism.

Wanting to see the school in full, he became a tutor in Sanderson’s, a decision nobody ever regretted, with Phil providing excellent pastoral care for the boarders.

Phil soon took up the reigns of master-in-charge of football and committed to that job admirably, sorting out buses, fixtures and wet-weather changes, whilst always trying to teach the intricacies of his footballing theories. In his ‘day job’, he was an excellent leader, using his experience in examining to great effect, and seamlessly covering for inevitable gaps that appear on a daily basis. The economics society and investment society came on in leaps and bounds with a wide array of speakers sourced.

Outside of the classroom, Phil had the hardship of helping out the golf programme at Woburn; as ever, he gave up so much of his time and offered endless advice and coaching to the boys. Phil will also be missed on the ski trips – his ‘GoPro’ montages will not be forgotten, nor will his strange affection for certain chairlifts over others.

Throughout every aspect of his time here at Bedford, Phil was always at the centre of things, with a pinpoint memory for detail, and always a good story to share. We wish him well as he moves on with his life to run the economics department in Marlborough College, Malaysia; we know he will always stay in touch and look forward to hearing more of his stories from time to time.

CJB 

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

WELCOME Alfonso Bargiela

‘Never allow waiting to become a habit: live your dreams and take risks; life is happening now.’

Paulo Coelho Alfonso, who joined Bedford School as an MFL teacher in the January of 2021, is never one to let the grass grow under his feet. His favourite Paulo Coelho quotation is etched on his heart; his life has been a constant demonstration of forward motion.

Although he was born in London, he lived in La Coruña (Galicia, Spain) until the age of six. On returning to London and attending the Spanish International School on the Portobello Road, his passion for languages really took flight.

He went on to gain a first-class honours degree in MFL and after a spell as a swimming coach, he completed teachertraining, working at schools in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, before arriving at Bedford School.

Alfonso is ambitious personally and professionally: ‘I hope to one day conclude my service in a leadership role and see both of my sons become successful at the school,’ he says.

His interests include a passion for rugby, cross-fit, chess and reading, though not often at the same time. His favourite authors include Tolkien, Laura Gallego, Terry Pratchett and Paulo Coelho to name but a few.

The rest of his time is devoted to his family: ‘I am very proud to be married to a wife who is wonderful, not just for putting up with me, but also because she is a magnificent mother to our children and a marvellous head of faculty at a London school,’ he says, with a tear in his eye.

He and his wife love spending time with their children: the whole family is very active and never happier than when enjoying all types of sports and new experiences.

Ousel Reporter

Chris Deplancke

This year, we welcome Chris Deplancke to the maths department; he has just returned from four years teaching at an international school in Hong Kong. He found spending time with boys of different cultures to be an amazing experience, which is why Bedford School is such an attractive place 66

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for him to work, where the school embraces boys from all over the world. Getting to know boys in the boarding house is a new, exciting experience for Mr Deplancke because it gives the opportunity to find out about the boys in a different setting to the classroom.

Sport is a key interest for him, in particular cricket and rugby: Mr Deplancke is a die-hard Northampton Saints fan; Mr Deplancke is very keen to get involved in the sporting side of school life that Bedford is known for. Away from the maths classroom, baking is also one of Mr Deplancke’s hobbies: I’m sure staff and boys in the boarding house will be queuing up for his signature cookies in the near future! We look forward to getting to know Chris Deplancke and wish him well for the many years to come at Bedford School!

Ellison Hendry

Zubair Junjunia

I did not know what to expect of our ‘Entrepreneur in Residence’: was interviewing him about this new post going to be as tough as entering ‘The Dragons’ Den’, home of those fearsome TV entrepreneurs? Would he send me away with bitter tears burning my cheeks as so often happens to those who meet that other entrepreneur on ‘The Apprentice’? I waited in trepidation in the Common Room, shrieking in fright every time anybody came around the corner.

The reality was very different: here he was, young, dashing, softly spoken, kitted out in a Bedford School tracksuit on his way to help with the athletics.

How did he come to be Bedford School’s entrepreneur? His professor at Hughes Hall, Cambridge, made contact with the Head Master and things took off. Zubair’s role will see him sift through what is already happening at school, as he focusses on existing ‘pockets of energy and activity’ and works with boys and staff to distil the essence of entrepreneurialism so that he might help develop a skill set useful in all walks of life.

Born and raised in Saudi Arabia, Zubair came to the UK to study for a maths master’s at UCL, whilst developing his learning platform, ZNotes. People contribute to ZNotes from across the world: it is very popular in the Middle East and South-East Asia in particular.

Zubair wants as many people as possible to benefit from having access to education and wants to shake up the world as much as possible over one lifetime. He doesn’t quite know where he is going next, but is happy to travel in hope.

He loves running and is a ‘streak’ runner. No, that does not mean he runs starkers, rather that he runs consecutively, so he has a running ‘streak’ that he wants to extend for as long as he is able. He has currently run outdoors for nearly six years, day after day, initially never less than three kilometres and after the first year never less than five kilometres. He also loves wild swimming; he is no wetsuit wearer: only a pair of trunks will do for him in the ‘proper cold’ of the Cam. He is scouting

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Bedford’s Great Ouse for a suitable jumping-off point.

Talking to Zubair was a quiet joy, not the ordeal that I had envisaged. We wish him luck in his time at Bedford School and beyond.

AWG

Leonie Lang

Leonie Lang, who is the new German language assistant, grew up in Sonthofen, the southernmost town in Germany located in the Alps. She spent the last four years in Bamberg studying psychology, mathematics, English and general linguistics. For the last six months, she has worked part-time in a nursery: her favourite mug is one painted by the children as a goodbye present.

When she arrived in the UK, Leonie was overwhelmed by the sheer number of roundabouts, but overcame the challenge of driving on the left-hand side quickly. Arriving at Bedford School, she was greeted by typical British weather, but had time to marvel at the beautiful grounds. Her favourite spot is sitting on the stone benches outside the science building.

Leonie enjoys singing and spending time outdoors, be it hiking, snowboarding or cycling. However, she managed to pick up nasty injuries, (broken bones, cracked ribs and bruises), while either Enduro mountain biking or road racing; perhaps she should rethink some of her hobbies for the sake of her health. Her ideal day would be spent outside hiking with friends and enjoying a nice homemade dinner together afterwards.

Sarah Vergereau

Vicky Marriott

Our new part-time geography teacher, Mrs Marriott, is a walking advertisement for the benefits of boarding: she credits it with changing her from wallflower to belle of the ball. It was when she was a sixth former at Uppingham that she became the Technicolor personality she is today: she came out of her shell and she has never crawled back into it since.

This love for what boarding gave her meant she was always keen to work in a boarding school; she loved her time as assistant housemistress at Trent College, when she would get the chance to have endless conversations about the finer details of teenage life with her charges. It was also at Trent she toured a devastatingly handsome new teacher around the geography department: he looked so fine in his new suit she knew he was the one for her; romance bloomed like a beautiful hollyhock.

Vicky has been a HoD at New Hall School, Chelmsford and has worked temporarily at Bedford School previously when she covered for Michael Ruta’s paternity leave. She has been Redburn houseparent with Mr Marriott for three years and enjoyed every second and in coming to work part-time in the geography department now, she can enjoy more of those lightbulb moments, when understanding dawns. Geography is the coolest subject for Mrs M. Her ideal day would be spent outdoors, with no mobile phones (‘Hurrah!’ Ed.) to distract from the pure happiness in the air; there would be no pressing items on the agenda, pleasure the only aim. She would enjoy a picnic with strong coffee and perhaps a slice of lemon drizzle, possibly a gooey brownie. It sounds like a day of bliss.

We wish her all luck in her time ahead in the Bedford School classrooms.

AWG

Ana Conesa Nieto

Ana Conesa Nieto, the new foreign language assistant for Spanish, joins Bedford School from Murcia, Spain.

In the last few years, she studied early-childhood education and spent the last year in Lithuania doing a master’s degree in bilingual education. Furthermore, she also spent some time doing an internship at a school there and really enjoyed the opportunity to get to know another country’s educational system and culture.

Ana hopes to have similarly great experiences here at Bedford School and is looking forward to gaining more experience as a teacher. She is very impressed by the school grounds and wants to explore every corner of not only the school but also Bedford as a whole.

Whenever Ana is not busy with work, she enjoys spending time with her loved ones as well as her pets: they are all family to her. During her time in university in Spain, she also fell in love with the theatre: it is a real passion of hers now. Her ideal day would be spending time at the beach on a sunny day, because she really misses the hot Spanish sun by the seaside: she is looking forward to summer already.

Leonie Lang

Wedad Rattab

Wedad joined the RE department in January, 2020.

Along with her teaching of philosophy, theology, and ethics at Bedford School, she is currently in the process of completing her master’s in ethics at Oxford. Over the course of her undergraduate and postgraduate studies, she has developed a keen interest in practical ethics 

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 and striving to understand ethical questions. Her particular

area of interest lies in the philosophy of sport and, as she puts it: ‘How the use of performance-enhancing drugs can violate ‘regulative rules’ by disrupting the expression of human excellences within sport.’ Prior to teaching at Bedford, she worked in boarding at Queenswood School.

One of her key hobbies is competitive cheerleading and tumbling. Along with coaching gymnastics, she has represented the University of Oxford in national cheerleading competitions, where she has won both the University National Competition and Varsity.

Her favourite aspect of teaching at Bedford School is the class discussion of points of philosophy. She finds it rewarding to support her students in realising their potential within philosophy and ethics.

We wish her all luck in her time at Bedford School.

Ousel Reporter

Keith RobertS

Our new head of choral music, Keith Roberts, joins the school with lots of optimism and enthusiasm: he is keen to get stuck into teaching our longestablished chapel choir.

By teaching one-on-one music lessons to the boys right the way from year three to the sixth form, and also venturing into a new walk of life by becoming a tutor for the first time, Mr Roberts will be able to spend a lot of time with the pupils – something he is really looking forward to!

Mr Roberts has a lot of experience working with chapel choirs having previously worked at St Aloysius College in Glasgow and therefore knows his stuff; this will be very helpful for the boys who can really get behind what the chapel choir are trying to achieve and ultimately enjoy singing and having fun!

Aside from music, Mr Roberts has a few rather niche hobbies, including curling, which he picked up from his time in Scotland. He also used to play mah-jong to a high level as he is very keen on oriental culture and can, in fact, speak a little bit of Japanese! Other hobbies include going to the gym, playing golf, and going on long walks from his time in the beautiful, mountains of Scotland. We wish him the best of luck and hope he enjoys the next chapter of his career at Bedford School!

Ellison Hendry

Max Roger

Max joins us, as Head of Athletic Development and Wellbeing, Rugby Performance Coach and Resident Tutor in Eagle House. He has travelled from Hong Kong, where he worked in a private gym. It was a love of rugby coaching that sparked his 68

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interest in the role at Bedford School in addition to the role’s strength and conditioning remit. Having spent his formative years at Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh and a gap year coaching and playing rugby at an all-boys school in Sydney, Max feels very much at home here already. He believes in the power of regular coaching and is interested in trialling bio-banding, grouping athletes based on attributes associated with growth rather than age, with the Performance Group. In his spare time, Max loves to run and is currently raising funds for the Wales Ultra X marathon: 250K in five days, with nights spent under canvas. Max certainly has a lot of puff; he is a master of the bagpipes.

But how would he spend his ideal day? Train, coach, eat, repeat. We wish him every success in his new role.

RA

Alex Sahota

Latest graduate intern, Alex, grew up local to Bedford, was a sixthformer at BMS, read physics at Leeds, and his most recent work was at a vaccination centre in Bedford, which he found fun. The opportunity of the graduate role at Bedford School felt like the perfect opportunity to see what teaching might be like as a career: Alex is wondering whether to go down the route of teacher training in future.

He has enjoyed observing classes from the other side and discovering the different methods of teaching and how the boys approach work; many of the boys he has seen have a motivated approach to their learning which he likes.

Alex has been struck by the massive school site, the friendly staff and welcoming, students. His hobbies include: hiking and walking with his border collie dog, Loki; he is a fan of rugby and supports Toulouse and the French national team after his father took to them when they beat the All-Blacks in a 1999 Rugby World Cup semi-final.

He is on the whole intellectual rather than emotional, but his lovely dog does bring out the full range of emotions in him.

His perfect day would involve having a lie-in, then a fry up, a two-hour walk with Loki and finally drinks and good food with his family.

Parampreet Thiara

Parampreet Thiara

Bedford School OB, Parampreet, who is a graduate intern, joined Bedford School years ago in year 7. After graduating in economics from Birmingham this July, he came straight

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back to experience the school from the other side to contribute as a staff member. His first impressions as an employee are the same as ever: the school is impressive.

He feels lucky to be a part of it all.

Param’s next career goal is to become an officer in the armed forces. He has been getting involved with the school’s CCF to gain some experience and see why the children get involved with the programme.

Param loves hiking and travelling, martial arts and weightlifting. He has done Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu, as well as boxing multiple times a week. He also loves listening and singing to Gurbani Kirtan which is Sikh religious music: it gives him peace.

There’s such a wide array of opportunities and clubs that are available to get involved with in school that Param wonders, “How can you get bored here?”

Param’s ideal day would start early with Sikh prayer, would be followed by the gym or boxing or hiking. He would then spend the rest of the day with family and loved ones.

Alex Sahota

Sarah Vergereau

Sarah Vergereau, the new foreign language assistant for French, is from La Roche-surYon in Vendée, France, where she went to school and university.

She has just finished her bachelor’s degree in English. Four years ago, she did an internship in an association giving French lessons to migrants and helping them with integrating into France, which she describes as one of the most interesting and inspiring experiences of her life.

When Sarah learned that she would be the French assistant, she was overjoyed and was looking forward to starting her work in Bedford. And on her first day, she met so many nice people and was amazed by the beauty of the site, especially the main building. She loved how the entire staff was exceptionally kind to her; she feels that the coming year here will be amazing. Sarah is a very creative person. During the lockdown, she started getting into embroidery. Apart from that, she really likes scrap-booking and creating travel diaries. Her favourite thing in life is being with her family, listening to Queen and eating good food.

On her ideal day, she would go to her grandparents’ house in the countryside, in the middle of July, have mogette (A type of white bean eaten in the Vendée region. – Ed) for lunch and her grandmother’s mousse au chocolate for dessert, which she says is the best ever. The day would end with them sitting in the living room and looking at some old photo albums, a walk around the lake and pizza for dinner.

Leonie Lang

Conor Walsh

Our new economics teacher is Conor Walsh.

His career thus far has seen him working at a London academy after university, followed by a stint at Harris Westminster sixth-form college, before finding his way to Bedford School via time spent at a think tank. He has packed a lot into his twenties and there is more to come to keep him busy: he is a visiting tutor in Phillpotts and finds himself increasingly enjoying the pastoral side of school life. He has also fallen under the spell of the dining hall: he is developing a passion for school custard, he tells me, and would drink gallons of it given the chance.

He is very keen on reading about economics in his spare time: he gave me a brief lesson on the theories of Hayek which was most enlightening.

Conor’s perfect holiday would see him lazing in a trullo, somewhere close to the coast in Puglia. He would be dozing over a copy of Henry Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson, with a small carafe of red wine on one side and a large bucket of steaming custard on the other.

We wish him all luck in the time ahead.

AWG

Paola Wright

Born in Rosario, Argentina, Paola learnt English at the age of twelve and from there, her love of languages grew.

Having gained a degree in English and worked as a TEFL teacher, she had planned to head for Los Angeles. Instead, she married and moved to the UK – alighting at Haileybury, studying for a further degree in Early Childhood Education Studies, and then moving to Shrewsbury School. She remained there as tutor and Head of Spanish for fifteen years, living and breathing the life of a busy boarding house owing to her husband’s role as Housemaster.

After a couple of years spent living in Spain, Paola was drawn to Bedford School and the role of Deputy Head of Modern Foreign Languages in which she hopes to share her passion for languages. A perfect day would be spent in the sun, reading, cooking, walking in the countryside and spending time with her family. Indeed, her greatest pleasure in life has been watching her children, Alfred and Jemima, grow. At interview, Paola was impressed by the warmth of the Bedford School community, and we hope that she enjoys her time as a key part of it. ■ RAQ

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RUGBY H

eavy restrictions this term did not dampen the enthusiasm and commitment of the boys on the rugby field this year. Quite the opposite, they embraced new challenges and opportunities to improve skill levels, game understanding and decision making. The opportunity to play some competitive matches on Saturdays was well received and incredibly well attended, even though they were internal matches without any contact. Ready4Rugby was the game adopted for the Intra School Saturday League, as designed by the RFU to accommodate the necessary restrictions. The matches were fiercely competitive and, aside from the odd overzealous touch, always played within the spirit of the game. The boys also did well to adapt to the referees’ varying understanding and application of the rules! The year group who deserves particular praise is the upper-sixth form, who, with no ‘proper rugby’ in sight, could have quite easily and, perhaps understandably, sulked their way through their final year of rugby. They didn’t: they rolled their sleeves up, got stuck in and made the most of every opportunity they had, true to the Bedford School spirit.

Well done all of you!

The coaching staff should also be commended for the way they had to adapt and deliver a quite atypicallooking rugby programme. They did so quite beautifully, providing the boys with opportunities to enjoy their rugby experience, make good progress and compete.

There have been many constructive reflections on this season, which will undoubtedly lead to the emergence of a new-look rugby programme that harnesses the many positives gained from training and playing with restrictions. Roll on autumn term 2021! ■ JPH MAJOR SPORTS COLOURS FOR RUGBY ARE AWARDED TO: Sam Dicks and Henry Warren RUGBY HONOURS CAPS ARE AWARDED TO: Tom Allen, Ben Barnes, Will Ramply, Alex Christey, Harry Constantine, Lewis Butterly and Gurkaran Johal

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CRICKET 1st XI

Played 8 Won 5 Lost 3 It was great to see the 1st XI back playing cricket after missing the previous season due to Covid-19. Due to bubbles, we were not allowed to pick from all year groups at the start of the season which meant it took a while for us to find our best team and for the team to gel. However once this was established, we went on to play some brilliant cricket.

The highlight of the season was beating Eton away in a 55 over per side match with Charlie Mumford scoring his maiden 1st XI hundred and being awarded his colours after the match for scoring heavily throughout the year.

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The most clinical performance of the season came away at Stamford where the boys fielded brilliantly and took some superb catches which had eluded us earlier in the year. The most pleasing thing for me is the way the boys turned their

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season around after a couple of losses; the boys vowed to go the extra mile in games sessions and extra sessions, and they did, and they got the results for this.

A special mention needs to go to both Dilan Sheemar and Archie Houghton who bowled with great control all season.

We say goodbye to our captain Henry Warren and fellow seam bowler James Worker who were so committed to the Cricket Club. Thank you for all your efforts and all the best to you and all the leavers. Vice-Captain Rohan Mehmi did a brilliant job leading from the front in training and on match days and I look forward to him continuing to set the tone for the group next year.

TB SQUAD MEMBERS: Charlie Mumford, Vedant Somal, Rohan Mehmi (VC), Archie Houghton, Hayden Melly, Zaid Faleel, Henry Warren (C), Dilan Sheemar, Jonathan Huggins, Charlie Blythman, James Worker, Ted Walker, Zane Haroon, Piratheesh Karunakaran, Rowan Bascetta-Pollitt, George Mansell, Sam Wells, Ashlesh Chandrapu.

2nd XI P5 W2 L3 v Haileybury won by 9 wickets v Harrow lost by 2 wickets v Eton lost by 8 wickets v Berkhamsted won by 41 runs v Stamford lost by 30 runs v OBs won by 4 wickets It was such a delight to be playing cricket this year that one hesitates to be over analytic about results and performance.

Reflecting on the season, two things stand out. Firstly, the weather was shocking, and we lost an unprecedented 4 fixtures which is especially disappointing given the pandemic backdrop. Secondly, this was a really great group of boys to spend time with and they were able to find that essential 2nd XI balance of enjoyment and serious application.

In terms of results, Haileybury were chased down with  relative ease, the Harrow match was a last over classic,

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 Eton were impressively strong, but we competed well,

Berkhamsted was a good, even contest, Stamford fully deserved their win after our one rather flat performance of the season and the OBs’ hubris soon turned into nemesis thanks to Hassan’s tempting spin and Mansell’s brutal assault.

Most memories will come from all the characters involved, many of whom will, in theory, be available next year. Aellan wobbled it around with his windmill action. Cutler was a stoical middle order presence who helped save us from humiliation at Harrow. Dawes’s off drive at Berkhamsted hints at so far unfulfilled promise. Flora, also a Harrow saviour, hits cleanly and bowls useful loopers. Galbraith bowled more good balls than bad and has much batting potential. Haroon will be best remembered for a fine fifty against Haileybury.

Hassan was a calm and thoughtful co-captain and out-witted many opponents with his tweakers. Herbert smashed it around to become a leading run scorer. Challacombe’s fine 70 against Haileybury was never quite replicated and no one 74

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fielded better, except, perhaps, Gilmour who was more value catching and running round the boundary than he was at the crease. Huggins had loftier ambitions but played the season’s best knock against Eton. Ingram-Moore was the leading run scorer and won the game for us with his 59 at Berkhamsted.

Katechia was a fine co-captain in all respects and impressed every opponent with his impeccable manners, smooth action and hostile slogging. Oldham made a good job of keeping, especially when the throws were all over the place, and can hit the ball extremely hard if he connects. Wildon was the definitive all rounder and cricket expert who didn’t have much luck at the crease and was a bit under-bowled. Mansell came good against the OBs and could score big runs next year if he doesn’t get promoted.

He is Ant to my Dec, Ronnie Corbett to my Ronnie Barker and Wise to my Morecombe. He is, of course, Mr Braithwaite and my annual thanks go to him for his patient endeavour, dodgy umpiring, impeccable scoring and excellent team management.

REH SQUAD MEMBERS: Alex Aellan, Nick Challacombe, James Cutler, Jonty Dawes, Raoul Flora, Ethan Galbraith, Sami Haroon, Ibrahim Hassan (c), Thomas Herbert, Jonathan Huggins, Anish Katechia (c) Benji Ingram-Moore, Harry Oldham, Jacques Wildon, George Mansell.

3rd XI

The U18 3rd XI had a severely reduced season in 2021. This was not due to any lack of commitment or numbers on behalf of the boys, but rather due to the “one thing or another” that curtailed so much of our normal activities in 2021. Under the leadership of Ben Barnes and Callum Wallis, however we did manage a magnificent 120-run win over Haileybury at their home ground. Louis Simon captured 5-14 with Philip Hughes taking 3-17. Simeon Gay was Man of the Match, with a couple of handy wickets and a powerful innings of 67. Captain Callum Wallis stood firm with a stoic 57.

Notwithstanding the lack of fixtures, we managed a good number of excellent training sessions, both in the nets and on the square. Minor cricket colours were awarded at the end of the season to Ben Barnes (vice captain), Callum Wallis (captain) and Simeon Gay for their great contributions to a short but impressive season. Well done, gentlemen.

AEW and DMr

U16A

Due to games being cancelled due to Covid, a talented U16A team only managed to play two fixtures this summer: against Oakham at home in the cup and Eton away in a block fixture.

The fixture against Oakham should have been played in 2020 but was cancelled due to the pandemic and was carried over to this season. Bedford batted first and posted and both Sam Wells (72) and Hayden Melly (36) batted very well to get the

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 team up to what was a par score of 144-6 in 20 overs. Bedford

needed to bowl and field really well to keep Oakham below the target and at times, that is exactly what the team did. However, wickets were also crucial, and we never really got amongst their batters. In the end, Oakham reached the target reasonably comfortably and progressed through to the regional semi-finals.

In the Eton fixture, Bedford put in what can only be described as an excellent performance. Bedford batted first again and Zaid Faleel (44*) and Josh Stewart (47) led from the front to help the team reach 177-6 off 30 overs. Zaid proved to be the backbone of the innings as he batted through most of the innings, ticking over at a run a ball. However, Josh gave the innings some real impetus with some fine shots all around the ground. An all-round better bowling performance saw Bedford restrict Eton to 149-5 to win the game by 28 runs.

Harry Wootton-Evans (1-14 off 5 overs), Aryan Sisodia (0-14 off 5 overs) and Joe Mullaney (3-18 off 4 overs) were the leading bowlers throughout the innings. Well done.

GS SQUAD MEMBERS: Charlie Blythman (Capt), Sam Bayley, Freddie Drake-Lee, Hayden Melly, Freddie Sowerby, Adam Trussell, Sam Wells, Eldon Craven, Will Edwards, Zaid Faleel, Tom Hayward, Joe Mullaney, Varun Nathan, Aryan Sisodia, Vedant Somal,. Josh Stewart, Harry Wootton-Evans.

U16B

Despite a very short season, the U16B team finished with two very good wins, the first of these against a decent Harrow XI. A strong start from the front-line bowlers (Adam Trussell, Aryan Sisodia, Will Edwards and Joseph Mullaney) put us into a fantastic position. This was backed up superbly

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who all made significant contributions with the ball to reduce the home side to just 52 runs. Despite losing a very early wicket, Eldon Craven and Freddie Sowerby did not let this shake them and sealed a comfortable victory after just 8 overs, with Eldon playing some fantastic shots.

The second game was away to a very strong Eton outfit and after winning the toss, we decided to bowl. Once again, the opening bowling attack proved difficult to bat against and a stream of early wickets put us on the front foot. Kush Katechia, Alex Fairburn, Joshua Jeganathan and Freddie McPhail all showed good ability with the ball. This was ably supported by Matthew Weimann, Khush Shah, Kiran Katechia, Gabriel Sankersingh and Arav Kirtane. This superb bowling performance, topped off by a stunning catch by Sachin Kambli, restricted Eton to 153-4 off their 30 overs.

After the tea break, Alex Fairburn and Cole Balachandran took to the wicket and batted well until the fall of Alex.

However, despite this setback, Khush Shah and Cole continued to bat positively and scored at an impressive rate before Cole was caught on the boundary. This, however, did not faze the incoming Matt Weimann, who gave a fantastic display of power hitting to take the team beyond the total to a second win after just 16 overs, with Bedford closing on 154-2.

Khush Shah (Captain) SQUAD MEMBERS: Khush Shah (Captain), Cole Balachandran, Eldon Craven, Will Edwards, Alex Fairburn, George Gebhardt, Tom Hayward, Joshua Jeganathan, Kush Katechia, Kiran Katechia, Arav Kirtane, Sachin Kambli, Freddie McPhail, Joe Mullaney, Gabriel Sankersingh, Aryan Sisodia, Freddie Sowerby, Adam Trussell, Jamie Wallwork, Matthew Weimann, Harry Wootton Evans, James Wootton Evans.

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U15A after four-wicket win against Stowe.

U15A

Although it was a disjointed time due to Covid and bad weather, the U15A’s had a successful season: playing six, winning four and losing two. The season started out well with back-to-back victories over Haileybury and Stowe. This momentum was then a little lost – we had 15 games scheduled, but only managed to fulfil six of these fixtures for the various reasons aforementioned. When we returned to the playing field, the team still managed to produce a convincing eight-wicket win at home over Berkhamsted School.

The match that will live on in the memory of those involved is the win against Harrow. This was a challenging match as over half of the squad had to self-isolate due to a Covid outbreak on the same day. Nevertheless, some B and C team players joined the remaining five A team players – Harrow had already arrived as we juggled players to find eleven. The game was seemingly slipping away from Bedford as Joshua Addo departed for 40. Aiden and Luke came together after a flurry of wickets, with 33 still required from three overs. Some lusty blows from Aiden, and an exquisite, lofted cover drive from Luke, dragged the game back to 10 needed off the last over.

Aiden’s six and four led to handshakes.

Both Josh Addo and Tommie Badley scored fifties during the season. The new ball was consistently taken by Isaac, and, from the other end, Tim or Aiden. Rhys, Freddie and Sam bowled well in the middle orders. An excellent spell of 3-10 from Rhys knocking over Haileybury in the first game of the season was perhaps the highlight. The team had great presence on the field and some of the best catches were held by Jonny and Joe, with a catching masterclass from Thivamsan to remove Eton›s number three.

Freddie Drake-Lee and Josh Addo following their winning partnership against Berkhamsted.

The season was thoroughly enjoyed by all the boys, and coaches, because of the energy and attitude of the squad righ from the first training session to the end and the miraculous win against Harrow.

Aiden Ainsworth-Cave SQUAD MEMBERS: Josh Addo, Luke Landrige, Tommie Baddeley, Sam Bayley (C), Freddie Drake-Lee, Joe Maravala, Harry Payne, Aiden Ainsworth-Cave, Isaac Dutson, Thivamsan Karunakaran, Rhys Harries, Jonny Weimann, Ollie Needham.

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U14A

After missing out on the previous cricket season, the U14 A team welcomed the prospect of some competitive cricket in the Senior School for the first time. Sadly, the inclement British weather dampened their enthusiasm, with several early fixtures washed out due to rain. Despite this setback and when the clouds did finally depart for long enough, the team was able to perform admirably, winning 8 out of 10 fixtures in the season and winning the County Cup final.

In the first match of the season against Haileybury, James Dagg scored an excellent half century in a close loss, to follow on from his three wickets with the ball in the first innings. The first win of the season was to come in the next match against Haberdashers’ Aske’s, and despite some wobbles from the top order, some late order hitting from Oliver Simmonds enabled the team to post a defendable total. Some excellent fielding (4 run outs) and tight bowling restricted the opposition, with Haberdashers’ falling 12 runs short.

A close two wicket loss to Stamford in the David English Cup ended hopes of a Cup run. However, the boys quickly regrouped, with back-to-back wins against Eton College and Harrow School - with Danny Chapman making his debut 50 for the 14As in a match-winning performance away at Eton and James Dagg snaring a 5-wicket haul in the away fixture at Harrow.

The following mid-week match against rivals BMS was a closely fought encounter, with Bedford chasing down the total with two balls to spare. Another excellent team bowling display and power hitting from Oliver Simmonds ensured a win away against Berkhamsted.

However, the final Saturday fixture against Stamford proved to be the match of the season, with all other surrounding matches halting play to watch the final overs. With Bedford

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seemingly out of the chase following the loss of several middle order wickets, Oliver Simmonds stepped up and clubbed the Stamford bowling attack all over the 2nd XI pitch to get the team close to the target. Some nervous lower order batting ensued and despite the best efforts of the Stamford bowlers, Zach Hone was able to scamper through for a single off the last ball to win the match by one wicket, despite the appeals of the Stamford players for a close run out.

Wins against Harlington and BMS again meant that the boys were crowned county cup winners for 2021. A well-deserved team win, capped off by another half century from Danny Chapman – an exciting prospect for Bedford School cricket.

The team was excellently led by Captain Will Hayward, who set high standards in the field and the team played in the right spirit and were fantastic ambassadors for the cricket programme. An excellent return to cricket all-round!

RXW SQUAD MEMBERS: O. Briggs, A. Buddineni, D. Chapman, F. Dickson, J. Dagg, G. Kelly, W. Hayward (Captain), Z. Horne, A. Iarala, S. Mullaney, O. Jewers, K. Nair, T. Rai, O. Simmonds, M. Haroon, J. Basquille, Z. Hone.

U14B Played: 7 Won: 5 Tied: 1 Lost: 1 This year’s U14B squad proved themselves a promising group of players who, when they played with concentration and composure, did very well. The majority of matches in the first half of the season were cancelled but comfortable wins over Haileybury and The Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys School were achieved. In the latter, captain Tanay Rai took three wickets and Abhinav Iarala made an elegant 44*. An eleven-run loss to Eton offered a chance to learn about taking opportunities at crucial moments but it was pleasing to see Alfie Allen and Charlie Wallis take three wickets apiece in the fixture. Mustafa Haroon, playing up a year, made a patient 36 on a slow pitch as the team almost overhauled Eton’s 157 from 30 overs. A win against an emerging Rushmoor XI included half centuries in double-quick time from wicketkeeper Ashish Mishra, Charlie Wallis and – in 18 balls – a Buttleresque Oliver Phillips.

With various boys being called up to the U14A team, Sam Cutler assumed the captaincy and did a very good job throughout his tenure. His innings of 48 against Berkhamstead laid the foundations for an impressive total of 186/3 from 30 overs. On another tricky track, Alan Bastin-Titus and Edward Dagg made unbeaten scores of 40 and 30 respectively before the bowlers shared the wickets to complete a 92-run victory.

The game at Harrow twisted and turned. Oliver Phillips, Charlie Wallis and Edward Dagg proved miserly and the opposition were restricted to 24/2 from ten of their allocated 25 overs. They recovered well, however, to reach 117. The prodigious in-swingers of Callum Hooper, who picked up 3/22, showed how much the dark Duke’s ball would move about and Bedford’s top order collapsed against a similar bowler in the Harrow line-up. Grit and graft were needed and these were exactly the qualities shown by Oliver Phillips (22) and Daniel Humphreys (32) as they steered the team towards the target.

After they departed, three runs were needed from the final

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ball. Up stepped the level-headed Hooper, whose cover drive yielded two and a tied game!

There was another exciting finish when the team played their final match of the season against an unbeaten Stamford side.

A solid batting performance left the opposition to chase 147 in 25 overs. They went about this with a will and, for much of the innings, had the upper hand. Four run outs, some judicious field changes and an improvement in the Bedford bowlers’ lengths and lines, however, meant Stamford finished eight runs short.

Nicholas Hopton / Alex Watson (Coaches) SQUAD MEMBERS: Alfie Allen, Joseph Basquille, Harmun Basra, Alan Bastin-Titus, Sam Cutler, Edward Dagg, Adam Foddering, Dima Gusev, Callum Hooper, Mustafa Haroon, Daniel Humphreys, Abhinav Iarala, Samuel Inman, Daniel Macgregor, Ashish Mishra, Krishnan Nair, Oliver Phillips, Tanay Rai, Angus Timmins, Max Waddington, Charlie Wallis

U14D Played 3 Won 0 Lost 3 It is fair to say that the 2020 season was a unique challenge for the U14D team. With match restrictions, player isolations and varying weather, the team had to be hugely flexible: something they should all be commended for. Finally facing matches against Haberdashers’, Eton and Harrow, the team put in some excellent performances against experienced teams. Under

the leadership of Freddie Whittaker, the team showed their strongest performance against Haberdashers’, losing by only 11 runs.

Matches and many hours of practice in the nets saw good performances from Arjan Sanghera, Alfie Gandesha, Ayo Odumuyiwa, Ruben Jacob and Muhammad Alom, all of whom showed excellent fours against our various opponents.

Particular individual strengths in batting overall were shown

by Freddie Whittaker and Arjan. Particular individual strengths in bowling overall were shown by Alfie, Enrui Zhou and Mohammad - especially at Eton where our opponents’ wickets tumbled at the start of the match before they found their feet.

Particular individual strengths in fielding overall were shown

by Rehan Choudhary and Sebastian Tatham, both of whom showed spectacular accuracy, taking the bails off wickets with throws from a good 20 yards.

In each match we played, you could see the team building, becoming more of a single unit, working together and understanding tactics which play to the strengths of each team member. I truly believe that given a few more matches and a longer season, we would have started to bring home the silverware. ■ PSC SQUAD MEMBERS: Ayo Odumuyiwa, Freddie Whittaker, Enrui Zhou, Finn Adams, Arjan Sanghera, Sebastian Tatham, Alexei Wright, Krish Peenikal, Esam Janahi, Muhammad Alom, Jason He, Alex Hill.

HOCKEY

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he hockey season was brought to a close before we hit a ball due to the ongoing Coronavirus Pandemic resulting in only seven hockey sessions for the boys. Sessions were full of endeavour, enthusiasm and an abundance of quality play. Boys have played competitive inter-squad fixtures, house matches for U14s (won by St Cuthberts and Crescent) and have trained with next year’s season in mind. We bid farewell to the departing U6th without having had the opportunity to lead the hockey club as the senior year group in the 1st XI, but their attitude throughout this term will leave a legacy for younger boys all the same. ■ SGM MINOR COLOURS: Henry Faulkner, Sam Garrett, Philip Hughes, Felix Lange, Yaamin Mohammed, Joe Needham, Varun Parmar, Will Sayer, Charlie Thompson.

HONOURS CAPS: Alfie Wilcocks, James Worker, Freddie Stock, Finlay Cummings.

MAJOR COLOURS: Alfie Wilcocks, Archie Walsh, Elliot Potter.

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ROWING 1st VIII

Unlike most years, it was not possible to have our usual preseason training resulting in the boys coming back to the river in autumn a little rustier than usual. However, more than ten boys signed up for three-term rowing, meaning that we were able to catch up on the missed time on the water and progress at a much quicker rate.

Over the course of the first half of the autumn term, the squad were out in single sculls and partook in many internal time trials, races and biathlons. Due to the other local clubs not yet being able to row on the river, it was far quieter than normal and allowed for some fairly competitive racing to take place amongst the boys. Thankfully we were able to get in some October half-term training sessions, which was well attended, opening the chance for a larger number of boys to attend as well as to transition back into the sweep boats ahead of the second half of the autumn term. As boys returned to school in November, the majority of the squad spent most of their time honing their skills in the pairs, whilst remaining in their year group bubbles, through both technical and competitive sessions. The move into pairs gave us and coaches the chance to see yet more competitive racing, as well as a re-shuffling of the pecking order due to the transition of disciplines.

However, in the build up to Christmas, the Covid situation in the UK worsened and the squad was unable to return to school in January. Through the months of January to March, Mr Mulkerrins sent us a series of training programmes to follow at home. During this time hundreds of kilometres were racked up on the ergos, as many of the boys tried to stay fit for a potential summer of regattas, some training sessions being completed together over Microsoft teams. Thankfully, as March approached and the situation began to improve, we were allowed to return to school and would no longer have to complete the training on our own.

Our return to school was still restricted as we, once again, had to train in our year-group bubbles for the remainder of the term. Whilst the lower sixth had the numbers to get an eight out on the water, the upper sixth had to remain in fours, quads and pairs as they did not have a cox within their own year group. On the plus side, this did lead to some entertaining and extremely competitive races between the lower sixth eight and the upper sixth four, which were often tightly contested to the line, with the upper sixth prevailing more often than not...

The summer term came along with warmer weather and began with brilliant news that we would be able to combine the two year groups when out on the water; this would therefore allow the formation of selected 1st VIII and 2nd VIII crews. What followed were a tough, tense two weeks of trialling in order to put together the best boat we could for National Schools Regatta in just a four-week time frame. Once 80

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the crew was selected we had just two weeks to synchronize and try to gain as much boat speed as possible, with a high emphasis on cardio and anaerobic training for a stronger midrace pace. Across the two-week period we made great strides forward, from a crew of combined years rowing in differing styles and rhythms, to a much more synchronised 1st VIII that was ready to race.

Similar to every other year previously, the time trial at the National Schools Regatta was the most important race of the whole event and thankfully, due to a more restricted event, it was at a rather civilised 1:30pm. Whilst not perfect, the time trial was arguably our best piece of rowing of the season as a 1st VIII; we qualified a respectable 13th which put us in the B final later that day. We did not get off to the best of starts in the final and had dropped to last after the first 100m, this however was the only part of the race that did not go to plan.

Once we had settled onto our race rhythm, we were able to quickly pull ourselves back in touch with the rest of the field before going on to row through the majority of them. The final was dominated by Hinksey, we however had a very tight battle with Dulwich College for second place for the entire second half of the race. After trading second place multiple times during the second half of the race (1000m), Dulwich put in a big push in the closing stages and managed to marginally beat us to the line meaning we finished third in the B final leading to an overall finish of 11th. Sadly, with the reshuffling of events and the pressure Covid presented, we were unable to collect medals for our third place finish in the old 1st VIII’s category, however it highlighted many positives for us to take away and improve on ahead of our next race.

After half term there was just one race remaining and that was Marlow Regatta. Much like National Schools, it started with a time trial which, yet again, we felt went very well and we qualified second overall. With the top three covered by less than a second, we thought we were in with a decent chance of winning the event, however, this was not to be as the crews who qualified around us were able to go quicker yet again. Ultimately, we finished a still respectable fourth and considered the day to be a success.

At the start of the year, seven boys began the GB trial process and progressed very well. Two of the boys, William Garner and Sebastian Iles, made it through to the pairs trial in June. Unfortunately, it was ultimately decided that GB would not be entering junior events this year and the process came to an end.

The 1st VIII beat Kings Winchester on the Wednesday of the Henley Regatta, and lost to Abingdon on the Thursday.

Finally, a big thank you must go out to Mr Mulkerrins for all his support, effort and strong words of encouragement throughout the year, as well as to Mr Stephenson and Mr Reed for their help in developing our skills as athletes. Also to the parents, the Friends of the Boat Club and the boatmen for their support over the years. The boat club as a whole has been a terrific place of passion and pride over the past year and we only hope this continues in years to come.

William Garner and Harvery Toms 1ST VIII: J. Deardon (Cox), H. Toms, M. Lusty, S. Iles, W. Garner, A. Ward, G. Mann, A. Timms (NSR), A. Gates, B. Ayling (HRR).

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Colts

The past year has been extremely strange for everyone, including the Fifth Form boys at the boathouse.

Coming back to school in September was the first time many of us had seen each other since March, due to the first lockdown, and it felt almost surreal to be back to rowing training (it really showed how much ‘exercise’ we’d all done over summer). With the return, it seemed everything was finally going back to normal; the weekly ergo to get us back in form after the long summer and the weights training just to balance those ergos out. We trained harder every week, allowing us to get fitter and stronger after a long time of not really doing much. This happiness was somewhat short-lived, however, as in December, we were sent home once again for the second lockdown.

Now don’t worry, Dr Suthers and Mr Ruta were able to get us some ergos to take home so we could continue our training, and we got right to that straight away. Microsoft Teams became a very useful resource to us Colts during the lockdown; we used it for almost every session we had. We participated in ergo challenges - seeing who could get the fastest time or longest distance. There were circuits set out by both the coaches and the amazing ‘Bring Sally Up’ press up challenge that we did every week before a circuit session. This training was extremely useful as it kept us fit and healthy during the lockdown and actually gave us something to do when we were stuck inside.

Even though the Sally challenge would leave you stiff for a day or two, it made the long lockdown a lot more enjoyable.

Finally, after what seemed like years, we were allowed back into school and just as it had in September, it meant all training started up again. Now, however, there was hope on the horizon of races in summer which helped us persevere through the times. Everyone, not just the Colts, worked so hard to regain the fitness that we needed and finally, after nearly an entire year, we were allowed back into boats on the water.

The feeling of being back in the boat after such a long time is one that I cannot explain. With the help of Dr Suthers and Mr Ruta, both the A and B boats were able to get out nearly four times a week in preparation for proposed races; nevertheless, getting as fit as we needed to be again was a challenge, we had to work our very hardest for every session we had and I want to congratulate everyone that came to the sessions because every single one of us did exactly that.

Summer came around surprisingly quickly and with it came the races all of us had been dying to do. We competed against the first eight and second eight in mini-tournament style races to prepare ourselves for the tough work coming up. The A boat won against the second eight and a narrowly lost against the first eight by seven seconds, and the B boat competed extremely well against all crews, so we felt prepared and ready for the first race on the agenda: National Schools Regatta.

What a race to get us back into it. The biggest race for our age group and we were feeling the nerves coming up to it. With some extremely hard work in the weeks running up and amazing help from all the boathouse and coaches, we found ourselves at Eton Dorney, about to race for the first time in a year. We set up camp and everyone was feeling the pressure. The A boat finished with a very strong place in the B final, just milliseconds under the A final. The B boat (due to unfortunate injuries) had to race in a quad and raced extremely well in the time trial with a very tough opposition. The A boat raced very well again in the finals coming in a strong seventh position.

Later races included Peterborough, where we mixed crews and took part in some other races like an A four. We raced very well considering it was our first race ever in a four with a surprising place in the A final. The eight also raced very well later in the day. We also received an invite to Marlow, a prestigious regatta on Eton Dorney, later in the summer term. We set out to beat our previous times on the lake and with some new arrivals coming back from injury and just missed the previous time we had by four seconds. We did, however, come fourth overall and beat Eton - on their own lake.

Finally, I just wanted to say thank you to all the coaches - with a special mention to Dr Suthers and Mr Ruta - who took our sessions and helped us keep fit during lockdown. I know I speak for all of the boys when I say thank you for the time and effort you put in for us. I’d also like to congratulate every Colt who rowed last year on their amazing effort; everyone’s dedication was incredible and our results in the season showed exactly that.

Nathanael Lord COLTS A: J Hine, O Pope, J Walter, H Beveridge, N Lord, H Norris, C Goddard, K Besler, B Edwards, J Cooke, H Tongue COLTS B: W Barker, D Hutchins, T Godber, J LumleyWood, J Cummins

J15 Rowing

Last season was a very disrupted one due to the pandemic. We started training in March as soon as we were back in school, and it was full steam ahead to get ready for the races at the end of the season. The first event we went to was the “big one”. It was the National Schools Regatta in May half term: the flagship event for rowing crews across the country. We took two boats, a coxed quad and an octo. Despite so little training and experience of competing, we competed hard and were proud of our efforts. For sure, this was the highlight of the year: going to Eton Dorney on the 2012 Olympic rowing course and racing the best schools and clubs from across the country. We were following in the footsteps of many a great rower and saw the Olympic Rings. Wow! We finished the year with another event at Eton Dorney - this time a private race meet against Eton. For this race, we had three boats from the U15s, two eights and a coxed four. This was vital experience for the boys who had not gone to the Nationals before and more experience for those who had. There were four very closely fought races between the two Bedford eights and Eton boats. Considering the disrupted year of training and minimal race experience, the U15s should be proud of what we did achieve and the enjoyment we had being out on the water.

Many thanks to Mr Satchwill, Miss Owens and Mr Sheridan for all their efforts during a difficult year; it is greatly appreciated by all of us. ■ Sam Lock CREW: L. Pollen-Brooks, D. Mitchell, M. Pascall, B. Agbenu, O. Easterbrook, A. Black, S. Lock, W. Baker, W. Cave-Grubb, B. Williams, H. McCutcheon, H. Mistry, L. Dover, O. Jones, F. Constantine, J. Keylock, R. King, W. Tweedie, G. Worthington, I. Iankov, A. Shooter, M. Mao, H. Tolmie, E. Fish, L. Butler, M. Neyshtadt.

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ATHLETICS

W

ith very few fixtures in the calendar this year, we had the opportunity to run some internal team competitions. These proved highly competitive and very successful. With a multi-events format and the score of each competitor counting for their team, there was much action and excitement. There were twists and turns on the way, and the competition could easily flip on its head with three nothrows or foul jumps, which happened on a few occasions. This meant that the final 4 x 100m relay race always had something to run for, not just the bragging rights of winning.

We took a team to the Radley multi-events and the

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Achilles relays. The team had some success at the Achilles relays event at Iffley Road (home of Sir Roger Bannister’s four-minute-mile) as they saw off the competition of a number of very strong schools. Specifically, the lower sixth 4 x 100m relay team of Feyisayo Okusanya, Maxwell Martin, Jake Pattison and Alex Edun and the 4 x 400m relay team of Ellis Morgan, Alex Edun, Alex Moffat and Maxwell Martin came a very respectable third. Thanks to all the boys for their effort and commitment to training and competition - it has been a very enjoyable season. ■ JPH

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GOLF T

he golf season seems to have been condensed into the summer term; back in April we had not played our first-round matches of the ISGA National Knockout competition. Both the A and the B team defeated the Perse in our initial matches, before seeing off New Hall and Brentwood respectively in the area semi-finals. This set up Bedford ‘A’ versus Bedford ‘B’ for the right to represent the school at Worsley Park in the final – Lawrence Jeffreys, Alex Robins and Freddie Tucker were the champions elect, narrowly overcoming the ‘A’ team of Finlay Cummings, Jack Peters and Ed Wade.

There were some magical moments on their run to the final – most notably Lawrence’s performance against Brentwood: he had made an up-anddown out of the greenside bunker on 18 to halve both his match and the overall match, forcing a play-off hole which he duly won.

To Worsley Park, Marriott, we went. We travelled up on Monday for a practice round, which gave us a great insight into the course (and the pin positions, which oddly were not

changed). Lawrence struggled compared to his usual high standards, and things still were not clicking with his warm-up prior to the main event. Unperturbed, he made par on the first from just off the left-hand side of the fairway and never looked back on his way to a plus-one round of 72, good enough for ninth place individually on the day.

It would be fair to say that Alex Robins’ experiences of the practice round and the first hole of the event were quite the opposite: having been metronomically hitting fairways and greens the day before, Alex found trouble down the right of the first hole not once but twice, making a dreaded eight. From there, he showed

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

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 incredible mental fortitude to wipe that from his mind,

bouncing back on the second with a birdie. Indeed, this fightback continued all the way round – Alex shot a plus-five round of 76, which was only plus-one after his horror start. Their combined score of plus-six meant that we placed eighth overall. Freddie also had an eventful round: a couple of unfortunate bounces on a cart path, which can quickly blot the scorecard, mixed in with the odd poor shot selection, saw Freddie shoot plus-ten on the front nine. He, too, steeled himself and fought to the bitter(sweet) end – finishing with birdies on 17 and 18 for a plus-one back nine and a round of 82.

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In the other, more prestigious, national event – the HMC Foursomes – we had won our first-round encounter against Uppingham back in the autumn, the only match we had been able to play prior to Christmas. The rest of the knockout competition had been scrapped, and a different format for the broadened finals event proposed at Huntercombe GC. We had planned to take the maximum three pairs, but Covid troubles in the remove form, restricted us to two – Lawrence and Alex and Fin and Ed. I am pleased to report some individual successes, also. Fin Cummings represented Bedfordshire in the

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England Schools Event held at Belton Park earlier this week. He was called up late the night before the event, as another competitor was struck down as a close contact of a positive Covid case, so his preparation was limited. Despite this, Fin shot rounds of 72 and 74 to finish ninth overall individually – only narrowly missing out on selection for the home internationals to follow.

Alex Robins also recently scored an impressive result outside of the school golfing circle; he won a Junior Open event during the Easter holidays, shooting a level

par round of 72.

Special thanks must go to Holly Reddick and Mr Waterhouse, who have both given their time selflessly all term, but also to Mr Midgley, Mr Taylor and Mr Bury who have all looked after the social golf at Stagsden, but also stepped in to cover at Woburn at different times. I would also like to congratulate Fin Cummings on a wonderful Bedford School golf career: he has been an exemplary captain this year. ■ KPT

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FOOTBALL Junior Football

This Covid-benighted football season of the Easter term, 2021, was a time of absolutes: we played no fixtures, we suffered no losses, we celebrated no wins, we settled for no draws and we never were what we might have been. The Colts sides, for example, might do good things when they take to the park in some other guise during their sixth-form years and I hope they get the chance to show their worth.

There were one or two flashes of skill, one or two bursts of fire and one or two promises of things to come, but this year our talent was seen but through a glass darkly. We hope for clearer vision in the years to come.

We did have Chris Prior as our new master-in-charge, bursting with the enthusiasm of a terrace full of away fans: he brought in Luton Town coaching staff and they added know-how and expertise and the boys benefitted from sessions run by experts. ADF brought his customary flair and grace to all he did, listening to my carping with a beatific smile on his face, holding the answers to all the problems of the world in the palm of his hand; Phil Waterhouse was enthusiasm and positivity personified: he always did his utmost to see the very best in every boy and takes that can-do attitude across the world next year when he leaves Bedford.

This year, our ‘season’ – the final three weeks of term - training only, no hard-fought battles – was as soft, pink and fluffy as warm candy floss. It was only after we had done the three weeks that we found we missed the suffering, the mud that only appears on a genuine gamechurned pitch, and, most of all, we missed the heartbreak of loss. We found we needed difficulties for things to make sense again. The whole group of players at one point chanted: ‘Difficulty shows what men are! Brothers, what we do in life echoes in eternity!’ Epictetus would have been proud of us.

Next year, we hope our usual suffering will be resumed.

AWG

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Senior Football

Purely in the context of Bedford School football how will we look back on the seasons of 19/20 and 20/21? Simply put, the season that almost was, followed quickly by the season that absolutely wasn’t.

Rewind to pre-lockdown and our senior football teams were battling their way through a gruelling fixture list with mixed success; goals were being scored through the fourth and third teams, the second team were being marshalled by those most cherished of football commodities - the left footed magicians. (Granted - they were more likely to entertain a child’s birthday rather than a sold-out Las Vegas show.) In addition, the first team were realising their potential, truly romping their way through the criminally under-televised Mercian cup (‘When will the BBC demonstrate fair coverage of sporting events within the realms of public interest?’ I hear you cry!)

And then all of a sudden, they weren’t. Not only were our pitches empty but so too were cul-de-sacs; there were no jumpers for goalposts. Unless you were fortunate enough to have a plethora of siblings, competitive football ceased to be - except for those hollow televised matches with sound clips masquerading as crowds.

Fast forward to the 2020/21 ‘season’ and we as coaches were understandably anxious about how the boys would return following the January to March ‘re’lockdown. We had partnered with Luton Town FC to provide fantastic coaches for the boys; they would now be training in strict year group bubbles.

But would they even last the first session given the inevitable impact on fitness following the amount of time spent inside? We need not have worried. The boys returned overspilling with true Bedford School spirit.

Numbers within football were the highest they have ever been, smiles were on faces, commitment total, even the torrential rain and apocalyptic hailstorms weren’t enough to break the enthusiasm for being on a school sports pitch that months of gruelling lockdown had cultivated!

The initial feelings of anxiety were replaced with relief; as the weeks progressed this turned to excitement: masters Rowland, Melvill, Bolton, Finch and Waterhouse had spoken highly of this current crop of players. It turns out not without just cause.

So we look forward to what we hope will be a competitive season in 2021/22, a continued relationship with Luton Town FC, but most of all we look forward to all boys taking part in fixtures again, having the opportunity to be part of what really is the beautiful game. Oh, how we’ve missed it. ■ CJP

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fives F

ixtures may have been off this year, and inner-gloves and much sanitising required, but year group contests (within ‘bubbles’) went ahead and coaching and guidance continued as normal for the first two terms with around 40 boys in the upper school playing fives regularly. And for the first time – certainly in recent memory – fives was a games option for all three terms with a small group continuing their journey into the summer term.

Another return over the summer holidays saw a pair from Bedford School enter the National Schools Championships.

Heading down to Alleyn’s for a series of fixtures, Rob Menhart (L6th) and Will Cliff (U6th) represented the school and competed at the national level; Rob came second in his group and qualified for the plate competition in which he made it to the second round.

The various lockdowns gave us the chance to show our 1892 (revised 1950) fives courts some care and attention, with high-quality safety measures installed following a recent inspection: barriers around the viewing platforms and handles on stairs to go with the recent addition of storage cupboards, new signage, new noticeboards, and new LED lighting for the autumn months. ■ HPV

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CCF

T

he pandemic has disrupted almost every aspect of school life this year and the CCF has been no different; if anything, by its very nature, the corps has suffered more than most.

The year started slowly as we acclimatised ourselves to the new ways of working demanded by COVID. All camps, competitions and exercises were cancelled, and we were unable to access any support from any military establishment, as they faced the same problems as us.

Whilst we were able to restart our training in school, life was very different. Segregation of the year groups into bubbles robbed the corps of its NCO command structure, limiting the ability to train together and denying our senior cadets the opportunity to properly lead and train the junior ones. Moreover, to avoid mixing school populations, the girls from BGS were unable to attend at all.

A lot of work was put in to assess all our training activities and then modify them to accommodate the COVID restrictions. Inevitably the effectiveness of much of the training was limited, but the corps was still able to deliver an interesting training program involving activities such as the NCO cadre, weapon handling, shooting, fieldcraft and climbing. I wish to thank all the CCF officers for their unstinting efforts in this; their hard work, innovative thinking and ‘can-do’ attitude allowed us to run a remarkably effective programme.

We settled in to the new way of working over the autumn term only to see the new year in with the imposition of a third lockdown and the cessation of all face-to-face training. This presented particular problems for the corps as the training does not really lend itself to remote learning 88

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– it is very difficult to conduct a section attack over Zoom.

Nonetheless, our NCOs amply demonstrated their resilience, ability to adapt and innovate and put together an excellent remote training package of fieldcraft, first aid and navigation.

Our experience in the autumn meant we were much more confident in our ability to train safely when we returned to school in the summer term. We were able to bring the girls back onsite, even if ongoing COVID restrictions meant they had to train on a separate day to the boys. It was very heartening to see the enthusiasm, energy and joy with which the girls returned and once again I would like to thank the CCF officers for their commitment despite this doubling their workload.

The year ended very well. We were finally able to recruit the fourth form and, having run the very last cadet exercise in country before the first lockdown the previous year, we managed to stage what is likely to be the very first, with the recruits field weekend in June at Ickwell. Here, our junior cadets, despite limited preparative training, acquitted themselves exceptionally well. They learnt how to live in the field and operate as a team, cooking their own food and then constructing the bashas they would stay in overnight.

The Royal Marines expect the commando to possess four qualities; the first three are courage, determination and unselfishness, and the cadets and officers of the CCF have abundantly demonstrated these. However, it is the fourth commando quality that has really characterised this past year and the corps’ approach to it - ‘cheerfulness in the face of adversity’. ■ PLW

CCF

RIFLE CLUB

I

t has been an interesting year for the rifle club. We started in the autumn term as normal with the BSSRA (British Schools Smallbore Rifle Association) leagues, a postal competition shot over five rounds. We entered a five-man team of Blake Ayling, Will Garner, James Hine, Dan Lumley-Wood and James Lumley-Wood, with Jamie Norris taking over from Blake in the later rounds. All experienced shots, the team were placed fourth in division three. We also entered in the ‘Team of Eight’ competition, with the team made up of our six league team members with the addition of Oscar Terry. They were placed a disappointing seventh in the competition, undoubtedly a consequence of COVID precautions limiting opportunities to practise.

This year the format of the other competitions changed, and a new tyro section was introduced for shooters with less than 12 months’ experience. The course of fire was five five-bull cards shot over the autumn term. Jack Aldridge and James Sumner did well to achieve averages of 94 and 92 respectively, but Will Reddy was our most improved shot over the competition, with his best score 26 greater than his first card of the term.

Our rifle club staff like to demonstrate that shooting is a sport that you can continue competitively for many years. The school’s staff match took place in October with two different competitions. The Roth Tankard is awarded to the competitor who shoots best against his last year’s average and Mr McCleery was placed third and Mr Lumley-Wood sixth. The Heal Trophy is awarded on the best average gun score over the three competition cards, and Mr Lumley-Wood finished fourth and Mr McCleery eleventh.

The individual competitions were delayed by the January lockdown until the summer term. Three boys in the remove entered the junior championship, but unfortunately none made the second round. We did better in the Association Championship with six boys taking part (Jack Chaplin, James Hine, Dan Lumley-Wood, James Lumley-Wood, Jamie Norris and Deimis Sukys). Dan Lumley-Wood and James LumleyWood qualified to move to the second round, with Dan achieving one of the only two perfect scores of 100 in the first

round. James had a fantastic second round scoring 99, 99 and 97 to finish fourth. Dan eventually finished 17th.

We managed to run house shooting in the summer term as usual. The course of fire was two five-round groups per team member with the winner achieving the smallest aggregate size. There was no minimum size for a team, and some houses managed a large team while others were represented by a single competitor. This course of fire is a true test of skill where one slip can spell disaster, however the standard of shooting was very high with the smallest group a mere 7.97 mm across. Bromham finished third, followed

by Crescent in second with Ashburnham the winners, who received the Doig Cup. The cup for best shot in the shooting XIII was awarded to Daniel Lumley-Wood with an impressive league average of 97. The Abrahams cup for best junior marksman was awarded to Jack Aldridge.

Minor sports colours were awarded to Jamie Norris, Oscar Terry, James Hine and James Lumley-Wood.

We must say goodbye and thank you to our four U6th leavers: Blake Ayling, Will Garner and Dan Lumley-Wood who have been stalwart members of our shooting team since the fourth form. Jamie Norris came to shooting a little later but quickly developed into an excellent shot and represented the school in many competitions.

Coronavirus has had a significant effect on school shooting, with each year group attending on separate evenings, resulting in only a single range session for each group every fortnight. Several competitions were delayed or cancelled and the OB match was postponed to the autumn.

We have not been able to visit Bisley to shoot full bore this year and were unable to invite any girls from BGS to shoot.

However, on a more positive note, we have had a large number of fourth formers participate in sessions in the summer term and whilst they have not had the opportunity for a lot of practice, they are certainly enthusiastic, so things are looking good for the next year. ■ PLW

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DUKE OF EDINBURGH A

s with many things this year, the expeditions section of the award was disrupted due to Covid but the other sections of the award continued to be completed by the pupils. I was truly impressed by the ingenuity shown by pupils in looking at what they could do to help others through their volunteering. Whether helping to litter pick or to videocall isolated adults once a week, there was a huge variety of activities that pupils participated in.

With variations to the expeditions, we were able to complete a silver assessed expedition in the October half term of 2020. This did not involve camping, but the pupils showed great navigation skills while walking in the wilds of Bedfordshire.

In February we were able to run a training day for the bronze students, which enabled them to look at the skills required for the expedition section. Thirty of the pupils then completed their bronze expedition at the end of the summer holidays, having the chance to camp in the school grounds.

In the summer term we were able to complete two gold expeditions, combining the practice and assessed expeditions in both cases, which enabled the pupils to get this section of

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the gold award signed off.

I would like to thank all the staff that were involved in the award this year for giving up their time, in particular Mr Alex Watson, Mr Keelan Peters, and Mr Stuart Knight. We also could not run the expeditions without our assessors, Owen Williams, Andy Randall and Peter Brough.

JWM

Upper-Sixth Gold

In June of 2021, the upper sixth completing their gold Dukeof-Edinburgh award by heading out to the Peak District to walk the Kinder Round for their expedition. The weather promised to be the perfect walking weather with a cool breeze and light cloud. The year delay was a disappointment to many, but it did give us a whole extra year to plan our route!

The first two days were set aside for training and practice which was frustrating for some, but I suppose we were never going to be trusted to just simply start bounding up mountains with many of us having not gone on any decent walks for 18 months. We camped at Pindale Campsite in Hope and, due to

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Covid restrictions, were all in our own tents which gave us all much more space. The practice days consisted of navigation and gaining an understanding of the distance we could walk in a certain time.

The first day proved to be rather warm for walking, with high temperatures very quickly making our heavy rucksacks seem even more burdensome. I was sure to use extortionate amounts of sun cream after the experience I had had on the silver expedition when my legs were burnt scarlet. However, the walking on the first day proved to be an excellent introduction to our four-day expedition with some fantastic

views and being able to enjoy the beauty of the Peak District.

We eventually arrived in Edale at our first campsite. Usually, we would have been allowed to camp alone but with the campsite changing hands, it was felt prudent to have our assessors’ watchful eyes on us. This first day was also a particularly special day for me as it was my 18th birthday.

I had brought a lot of chocolate as it was, but I was given the surprise of cake being provided by the teachers. The mathematicians amongst us instantly determined the preferred cutting strategy to ensure a fair division of cake.

However, despite out best efforts, one person went without.

We still do not know the person who took two pieces, but I take comfort in the fact that the culprit reading this will feel the guilt that is due!

The second day we were due to ascend Kinder Scout and walk along the top of valley past the likes of the Wool Packs and Pym Chair. Although most of the walk that day was on the flat with superb views, the very beginning of the day had a steep incline. To our delight, the rest of the walk that day was easy going, with large stone laid paths and walking on the flat (fairly). The rock formations were stunning, and the view of Jacob’s Ladder was superb. Admittedly we were watching others grind their way up, knowing we would not be going through the same ordeal, but the view was still fabulous.

We arrived at the campsite that evening. It was not as plush as the one at Edale, but at least we were allowed to camp without teachers watching our every move. This proved to be of more significance than perhaps first imagined.

It was unfortunate that someone had brought a tin of tuna without a tin opener. However, I suggested that he could try the caravan across the field and ask if they had an opener.

He refused but said if I went, he would be so kind as to give me one of his pains au chocolate. I walked over and asked. 

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 Although they were unable to find a tin opener, they began

offering me other food. I tried to refuse but they insisted.

Before I knew it, I was returning with a box of cold pizza, crisps, and tinned soup. One pain au chocolate now seemed rather low pay for what I had achieved.

The third day proved to be wetter: we had to work hard to cover our sleeping mats on our bags so as not to let them get soaked. The weather was arguably the best for walking all week, being not too hot and the route that day would be classic Peak District walking: the ridge walk across Mam Tor, Hollins Cross and Loose Hill. Unfortunately, when we reached the ridge, the mist was heavy, so we missed out on the views looking down into Hope or across to Kinder Scout. Nevertheless, we continued along the route as planned, knowing that we only had the following day to complete our gold expedition. We arrived back at Pindale Campsite, where we had begun, and soon set up camp. We all appreciated the showers a lot that night. We cooked on our Trangias and having enjoyed the tin of soup I acquired the night before, surreptitiously opened a Toblerone I had carried so as not to cause a riot.

On the last day, everyone was itching to leave. It had been a race every morning to leave first but today was the most competitive. We raced to Hathersage, the end point of our expedition, and by early afternoon, we had all made it. Our expedition was complete.

I know that everyone on the expedition thoroughly enjoyed the week and doing something as fantastic as this, especially having been stuck indoors at a computer for so long, was hugely appreciated. I would like to thank all the members of staff involved and our assessors for making this possible. It was a tremendous week, and it was a lovely way to spend our time after completing our A-Levels. Thank you.

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Lower Sixth Gold

After a long and examination-filled term, our group of five dedicated boys, (Henry Cudjoe, Anish Katechia, Feyisayo Okusanya, Callum Smyth, Dylan Swain) set out on Sunday the 4th of July for the Lake District. The drive was filled with wistful tales of the silver expedition, and an atmosphere of anticipation as we neared the beginning of our journey. We had a final taste of civilisation at a service station, where all members enjoyed some KFC and then settled into our first campsite.

Monday 5th July

Owing to certain restrictions placed upon the expeditions by the pandemic, this year’s experience was to be slightly different for us all. Firstly, we were all allowed our own tent, as sharing was against the guidelines. Luckily, we did not have to carry these tents, and only had to share one amongst our backpacks, as if it were a normal expedition. The most notable change, however, was that our four-day assessed expedition would not start until Wednesday, and these first two days would be treated as our practice. Waking up on Monday morning, everyone had slept well, bar myself and Anish. Anish, despite having a three-person tent to himself, was still too big for his own good and could barely fit. I, on the other hand, had elected to bring my own tent from home, which promptly leaked all over my possessions after some heavy midnight rainfall.

One small respite was that this campsite had a television room, and during our practice we were able to unwind and cook in there, even managing to keep up with Love Island. We set out for the first day of our practice with our no-nonsense assessor, Andy. He had already taken issue with certain of our

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packing choices, and it seemed that he was eager to punish us for our infractions. On the first day, we began with a 750m ascent up Red Pike. This gruelling climb was followed with the realisation that there were still multiple peaks along our ridgeline which we were going to have to climb. After Callum led us through 30,000 steps and a total 1km of elevation gain, and Feyi realised that he had forgotten to fill up his water bottles, we arrived at the rendezvous point where Mr Knight was waiting for us. Callum then treated us all to his spaghetti and Bolognese sauce at the campsite, and we nursed our blistered feet in front of the television with Love Island as company.

Tuesday 6th July

Today had been promised to us as a rest day, so that we weren’t too tired for our impending expedition. We were set to

walk along a disused rail line, all the way to Keswick, where we’d have an opportunity to restock any food we needed.

The walk was relatively simple, and we kept spirits high with some stirring acapella renditions of ‘Billie Jean’ and other famous bangers. Things felt good, as Andy shadowed us from a distance and Feyi had remembered that water was essential for exercise. We ran into some difficulties as we neared Keswick, as most of us had planned on buying lunch in the town, whilst others had brought their own and wanted to stop and eat. We turned up the pace, making good time into the town, and beating Andy with such aplomb that he assumed we were lost behind him. We forged ahead, purchasing water purification tablets and spare warm clothes (which would prove useless). We then headed to the supermarket, Booths, stopping to allow our personal giant Anish to fist bump a huge gorilla statue that we passed.

After taking advantage of Booths’ meal deals and purchasing sweet items for our bags like Skittles and chocolate bars, we struck up polite conversation with a local man outside the supermarket as we waited for Mr Knight and Andy to meet us. Mr Knight then treated us to some fish and chips, and we headed back to the campsite in time for our last Love Island episode before the expedition. All was well, though everyone’s legs were sore.

Wednesday 7th July

The expedition began, and from the moment he awoke, Feyi was feeling the effects of the last two days’ hikes. Despite Callum’s best efforts to massage Feyi’s quads with a water bottle, we set off for the start point with an unenthusiastic companion, unsure of his ability to continue. And, inexorably, our expedition was brought to a grinding halt as Feyi realised he would be unable to continue. Indeed, it was within the first kilometre when he gave up the ghost, and as the team member who was first-aid certified, I had to bring him back down the mountain we had just ascended, whilst Callum carried his bag. Whilst Callum and I waited with Feyi for help to arrive, Anish and Henry continued to hike along our route, leading to a towering effort from Callum and me, as we raced back up the mountain and beyond to rendezvous with the  THE MAGAZINE OF BEDFORD SCHOOL AND THE OLD BEDFORDIANS CLUB

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 other two. We broke for lunch on the top of the Grassmoor

ridgeline, and examined the route ahead. It was then that we noticed our next obstacle, the Scar. This was a narrow, rocky pass that dropped sharply on each side - and Anish’s size 15 feet struggled to even fit on the footpath, even if we didn’t have 20kg strapped to our backs.

We survived the Scar just in time to watch a man descend it on a mountain bike, which was great for the self-confidence.

We moved on, quickly reaching the bus where Mr Knight was waiting with water refills. Initially, we were planning on continuing on to walk into our campsite after this refill point, but the delay caused by our injured man forced us to drive our way to our new spot. Frustrated and tired, we tried to set up our tents and quickly discovered that our pegs refused to go more than half-way into the ground. We ate some boil-inthe-bag meals, and found a man on the campsite with a radio, who let us listen to the England/Denmark game. After listening through a tense match that went into extra time, we settled into sleep before our next day.

Thursday 8th July

This new day would prove a challenge of a different kind.

Whilst the previous days, both in the practice and the first of the expedition, had been taxing physically, today’s hike was much more navigation and orienteering intensive. Stubbornly sticking to our usual high pace, high intensity walking, we made a number of avoidable navigation mistakes by not checking our maps as carefully as we should have. The mist descended on us as we trudged across marshes, soaking our shoes and socks when trying to return to the path.

Nothing was funny at the time, but in retrospect, Callum sinking knee-deep into the ground whilst trying to run over the soggy earth was a highlight. After dropping down into a nice forest and running into some Harrow students, we got ourselves lost once again, misled by a covered footpath entrance that we missed. We arrived at our next campsite, disappointed in our performance, and resolved to improve our navigation for the next day.

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We met some people from another school at our new campsite and we brought cards to the gap between our tents and played some cards, which raised our spirits some. We were also able to make use of the washing up facilities at this campsite, and we went to bed feeling more satisfied about the state of our day.

Friday 9th July

Today was the day we ascended Helvellyn. The third tallest peak in England, Andy referred to our climb of Helvellyn as our “showcase day”. Like The Great British Bake Off. In completing over 30,000 steps and a difficult ascent up to the 950m summit, we enjoyed the view and Anish enjoyed the feeling of having one of the highest heads in the country. We broke for lunch in a concrete windbreak constructed along the ridgeline and watched lots of tourists carefully climbing up the Swirrel and Striding Edges, which were banned for Duke of Edinburgh groups due to their dangerous drops. At the top of Helvellyn, there is a plaque dedicated to Charles Gough, an artist who died on Striding Edge. His body was only discovered because his dog was found sitting atop the mountain and waiting for him. Both Wordsworth and Walter Scott wrote poems about the situation, and both poems feature on the plaque.

We made our way back down Helvellyn at the other side of the ridgeline, following a long route, and making use of our purification tablets to refill our bottles. Along the way, we had taken innumerable unnecessary bearings from the map and tried our hardest to exemplify our commitment to navigation in front of Andy, and we returned to our first campsite feeling satisfied with the way we had conducted ourselves. Today was Henry’s day to cook, and he made us our best meal of the trip: rice with tomato sauce and chorizo. We played some cards and settled into our final night of sleeping in a tent.

Saturday 10th July

The final day dawned, and our route for this day would be wildly different to all the others. It took us along a snaking path that crossed through farmers’ fields and stuck to the lowlands of the Lake District. We began our journey by being forced into a detour, as some aggravated cows chased us out of their field. I took solace in knowing that at least I was faster than Anish, so they’d get him first. We then had to climb up a hill called Little Mell Fell, and we marked it as the final summit of our expedition. During the descent, Anish and Henry fell repeatedly, with Henry disappearing beneath the bracken like Gollum sinking into the lava of Mount Doom.

After Truck and Anish hauled their 100kg+ frames over the flimsy fences of farmers, we managed to forge ahead, making good time to meet Mr Knight and start our journey back to Bedford.

A final stop at the Scotch Corner service station yielded piles and piles of KFC for us, a well-deserved meal after the long expedition. After all of our time spent together, we earned ourselves a pass on the expedition, and realised the importance of thinking through our actions before making any decisions, as our success at one point hung in the balance. This was one of the most fun weeks of my life: even though it was filled with aches and pains, I will remember these experiences for the rest of my life. ■ Dylan Swain

and finally

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his academic year saw the society’s two outstanding presidents, Ben Barnes and Rowan Bascetta-Pollitt hand over the reins. During their tenure, which began in the summer of 2019, numbers attending the very wellorganised weekly meetings have risen substantially. Younger boys who attend feel welcome and have their say alongside the sixth form. Everyone is listened to respectfully. Senior boys chair, coach and encourage whilst I sit back and enjoy what is going on. Ben and Rowan have also become expert and successful debaters who reached finals day of the 2020 Oxford Schools Competition and were regional finalists in this year’s ESU Mace. I am most grateful for all their efforts.

All the 2020/21 inter-school competitions took place online via Zoom. At the Cambridge Schools Competition, Max Pearson and Sami Haroon placed equal seventh in a field of thirty-six strong teams. They only just missed out on qualifying for finals day.

Two excellent groups of boys entered the English Speaking Union’s Churchill Public Speaking Competition, which involves around 400 teams each year. At the local stage, Frederik Simmen (Chair), Josha Mital (Questioner) and Sam Maling (Speaker) performed really well but did not quite do enough to qualify for the next round. Sam’s speech on the treatment of atheists in the USA was, however, a highlight of the event.

Giles Halsey, Toby L’Estrange and Will Roberts earned a place in the regional final, which they won. Toby was named Best Chair and Will won the Best Questioner award. They embodied that ability to look anyone in the eye, make them feel welcome and deliver thoughtful contributions that we are looking for in all boys. Giles also did a good job in a strong field of speakers; his analysis of the arms trade was incisive and he answered the questions put to him particularly well.

The team’s success meant they were the Eastern Region representatives in the national final, where Giles spoke about the Churchill quotation “If we open a quarrel between past and present, we shall find that we have lost the future.” To finish in fine style among the twelve best teams in the country was a brilliant achievement for the boys.

To conclude the academic year, Max Pearson, Sami Haroon and Ciaran Kilbane visited the Prep School Debating Society to coach their members. Their anecdotes, answers and encouragement were presented expertly and well-received.

Ciaran and Max join Charlie Blythman and Sam Maling as the Upper School Debating Society’s new leadership team; judging by the quality of ideas flowing from the Year 8 boys, they will have plenty of skilful and enthusiastic orators to nurture. ■ NLH

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Dogs and their boarding staff owners (l-r): Barney and JEM, Cooper and MRG, Finley and MJR, Baxter and KCP.