The Cheltonian 2020-21

Floreat Cheltonia

Magazine of Cheltenham College and the Cheltonian Society

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2020-21

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THE CHELTONIAN

Academic

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Cheltonian Society Sport

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Co-Curricular

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Charity

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Community

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Houses

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Sport

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Valete

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Cheltondale 134 Feature Articles

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Obituaries 155 Merchandise 164 v

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Cheltenham Muscat

Tokyo Olympics & OC Sporting Success

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News from The Prep

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Cheltonian Society

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Welcome from the Head

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Contents

WELCOME FROM THE HEAD Looking back on the past year, I have been struck by the amazing flexibility and dynamism of the whole College community.

Where there was a will, there certainly was a way, and from our return in September 2020 in House bubbles, in masks, and with all the many Covid restrictions upon us, we concluded the year being able to reflect upon academic challenge, sporting success, musical and dramatic achievement and many other triumphs in a year when nothing was as we expected it to be.

Our final evening of the year saw us celebrate with a wonderful open air dinner, and a prize giving for our Upper Sixth who really appreciated all that had been done to conclude their year in the best way possible.

remote learning provision for the entirety of the Spring Term. However, true Cheltonian spirit made everything possible and we now look forward to a very bright future ahead.

We have mastered technology that we could not have dreamt of using a few years ago, and the world beyond our shores has come to our doorstep in the way that we can speak and see each other, irrespective of the distance between us. As the new Cheltenham Muscat opens, we know there will be many exciting ways to work and learn together with Cheltonians and their teachers in Oman and in other countries on other continents too in the years to come.

However, the greatest lesson to be learned from all we have experienced in the last year has been how very lucky we are to be a part of this wonderful school. We have learned the importance of being together, and of treasuring every moment of even the smallest and simplest of things. I could not wait to welcome College back into Chapel together, and to sing ‘Jerusalem’ and our other College favourites full volume once again. That was a day to celebrate. As pupils and staff of College in 2021, we understand our good fortune has come from the achievements of our predecessors, and we look forward to writing the next exciting chapter of College history.

The President of Council spoke on Speech Day about the resilience of College, and we looked back at the time of war in 1939, when for the first time, College fell empty in term time and relocated itself to Shrewsbury to make way for the Civil Service to occupy our buildings to maintain the war effort. As last year, I could not have imagined that we would face a challenge like that again, as we did when we had to move College to our

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Learning in their billets at Shrewsbury, 1940

Learning online – Art with Mr Lelliott, 2021

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Mrs Nicola Huggett

I N T RODUC T ION

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THE PREP

NEWS FROM THE PREP

There is an uncomfortable sense of deja vu as I sit here summarising the position The Prep finds itself in and writing, ‘the last twelve months has been challenging and extraordinary but the future is bright and exciting’.

I expressed similar sentiments 12 months ago with the hope that the Covid days were behind us. That, as we know, proved to be a very false dawn and the last year has undoubtedly been tougher than the previous one.

However despite the obstacles put in our way, The Prep had an outstanding year. Online education went from strength to strength, when necessary, but for the majority of the year we had happy children, in school, with their friends, learning.

There were, of course, lots of restrictions on what activities could take place, but the talk was always of what we could do, rather than what we could not. In particularly trying circumstances the year was a great success and our Year 8s did us proud; an outstanding set of Common Entrance results was concluded with an amazing Leavers Programme. We even managed to get the Year 8 parents in (very socially distanced!) for Speech Day! Things really do look different for the coming year: assemblies, Chapel, plays, fixtures and trips will all return in person, not virtually, and ‘bubbles’ will have gone. One of the great strengths of The Prep is how the children mix with likeminded souls. Look outside and a group will be kicking a ball around, or in the DT room, another group will

be working on the e-racing kart while another group will be working together in the Library - those groups will be mixed with different years and genders - it will simply be children doing something they love, regardless of age.

The Pre-Prep has had a complete refurbishment over the Summer and looks spectacular. The first brick of the new Nursery was expected to be laid in October ready for 2022-23.

The Year 8s will all be participating in The Chadwick Programme in the coming year - a new leadership course, that will see every one of them challenged and giving their very best both within the school and beyond it into the local community.

Numbers remain at a 15 year high and the sense of excitement is palpable for the year ahead.

Mr Tom O’Sullivan Head, Cheltenham Prep

Sport at The Prep After 12 months without trips to other schools, the return of competitive fixtures at the start of the Summer Term brought unprecedented levels of excitement.

Sadly, the early weeks of the Summer Term also brought unprecedented rainfall, repeatedly forcing cancellations and disappointed children, teachers, ground staff and coach drivers.

Finally, the sunshine broke through and the boys and the girls were able to grab their bats and take to the field to represent the school again. A particular highlight of the year was

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the introduction of the new girls’ cricket programme and a swimming gala with Cheltenham Ladies’ College. The latter being much needed after nearly 18 months out of the pool for many of our young swimmers. Scores were recorded in all of our sports matches however, more than ever this year, it was really all about the joy of piling onto a bus with friends and heading off to another school and playing sport.

The last year has seen much disappointment with pupils not able to have their one chance to play for The Prep 1st team in hockey, rugby

or netball, with swimmers unable to compete and with our overseas tour cancelled, however the children and the coaching staff have brought boundless enthusiasm to every session on the fields. We have explored new territory with sessions in Gaelic football, girls’ rugby, boys’ netball and Aussie Rules whilst using the time to develop the children in ways we often don’t have time to work on. That being said, we look forward to the coming year and a chance to return back to ‘normality’ – especially with the return of The Prep’s outstanding match teas.

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Creative Arts at The Prep ‘The show must go on…’ and indeed it did at The Prep this year. Whilst we could not welcome audiences into the school for many of our usual performances, we still delivered an array of productions.

Day-by-day and week-by-week our pupils became more accustomed to performing in Chapel services via video link, undertaking online music exams and utilising technology to continue as much practical musicmaking as they could.

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Various virtual groups (both pupils and staff) came together to produce videos for the whole school, with several of them being featured on local radio.

Drama flexed and adapted in much the same way as Music at The Prep.

Rehearsals all moved online, and film versions of the annual Shakespeare plays were produced in the Autumn Term. Christmas productions were also a novelty, with many angels, shepherds and reindeers captured for all eternity on digital video.

During the Spring and Summer Terms, The Prep children filmed our most ambitious production yet. Code Zero is a contemporary drama which was filmed on location around the whole site. The story centres on two teenagers who get in trouble with the police. This was shared with the school community and online.

We look forward to hearing the applause of the audience once again in the coming year.

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THE PREP

Academic Life at The Prep The classrooms at The Prep were once again bursting with enthusiasm and dynamic teaching and learning in September as we returned to the school for the Autumn Term.

school. Our Year 8s acted as true leaders and role models for the rest of the school during these activities and enabled everyone to explore their passions and interests during the event.

This enthusiasm was unwavering as we moved in and out of remote learning during the year and everyone, both staff and pupils, demonstrated great adaptability and creativity to continue to move their learning forward.

Back together again at The Prep for the Summer Term, we enjoyed the usual extraordinary lessons and learning experiences. Outdoor Learning was used to enrich everything from Maths to Science to Art. We were delighted to continue our links with Gakushuin School in Japan, writing to our new pen pals.

We hope to begin a full schedule of educational trips, both at home and overseas, as soon as we can.

Online, the ‘Take One…’ project was a particular highlight as we collaborated with The Ashmolean Museum for a day of unique, selfdirected activity for the whole

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Whilst there are so many academic achievements and events that we could recognise this year, what we must put on record is the fantastic attitude of our pupils throughout this rather different year. Everyone embraced change and challenge, recognised mistake making as a fundamental part of learning, were not afraid of ‘hard stuff’ and achieved highly.

Thank you to our staff for their continued focus on wellbeing and supporting pupils’ emotional needs.

The results of everyone’s efforts are visible in the engaged, happy children that leave The Prep each day and our continued high level of attainment in scholarships awarded.

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PREP VALETE

VALETE Our Fond Farewells from The Prep Dickon Baird

Lucy Baird

Dickon has been Head of History and Head of Boarding at The Prep since 2017.

Throughout his time at The Prep he has been a role model for both boarders, historians and our pupil body as a whole; displaying an incredible work ethic, passion for communication and love of prep school life.

Lucy joined The Prep in September 2014, moving into Waterfield Close.

She was quickly involved in life in the Boarding House, helping with movie nights and more on a weekly basis. In 2017 she and Dickon moved into the Boarding House as Dickon took on the role of Head of Boarding.

The boarders at The Prep have benefitted hugely from Dickon and Lucy’s passion for prep school life.

Their influence on the Boarding House has ensured that it truly is a home-from-home for our Boarders who have had a range of brilliant experiences under the Baird’s care. The memories made for our Boarders, both in-house and on the amazing trips and farm camping weekends, will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

As Head of History, Dickon has inspired many young minds to engage with, and achieve within, the subject. This is evidenced not least by our pupil’s continued annual successes in the Warner-Townsend History Prize.

Dickon, Lucy and Harry leave us as Dickon takes up a Deputy Headship at Westbrook Hay Prep School. We wish them all the very best in the next step of their prep school journey.

Lucy has played her part in life across all areas of The Prep. On the academic front, she joined the Science Department in 2015 as maternity cover and completed her PGCE. She has been responsible for many amazing lessons and activities, with camera links back to her parent’s farm a particular highlight for many of the pupils. Lucy has also been a stalwart of staff activities – shooter for the netball team, goal scorer in hockey and winner of art competitions, she really can do it all.

Asked to describe Mrs Baird, our pupils summed her up perfectly: ‘Kind, caring, fun, gentle and fair’.

Jonny Bass Jonny is leaving The Prep, but he is not moving far, as he will join College from next year as a teacher of History.

Throughout his time at The Prep Jonny has been a valued and loved member of the Common Room and has contributed to all aspects of life at The Prep.

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He has worked tirelessly as both Form Teacher and teacher, and the pupils he has taught will we know be pleased to see him again as they graduate to College and arrive for their History lessons.

Jonny’s Prep colleagues have said that they will miss so much about him. However they have also confessed that they will enjoy the increased availability of flapjacks in the Common Room, as they wave goodbye to a man that it is claimed has more flapjack than water in his body. Good luck at College Jonny!

Geraldine Bedford Geraldine has been at the Prep since 2013 as a Learning Support Worker. During her time here she has worked in most classes, with a focus on Year 3. She has led intervention groups, created resources, talked, listened and, most importantly, played a crucial role in the lives of so many children.

Pupils at The Prep are incredibly fond of Geraldine and they have all benefitted greatly from her influence.

Her legacy will live on in their successes in the years to come and also in the ‘Chill and Chat’ sessions that will continue in Lower School.

Geraldine is credited with naming and founding this scheme which has supported so many children over the years.

Geraldine will be remembered by all of her colleagues as smiley, happy and bubbly. Thank you Geraldine for all that you have given to The Prep.

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Gemma has worked at The Prep (then known as The Junior) for 10 academic years. She started in The Coach House working with Years 3-8 and she has worked with Nursery, Year 1 and Year 2 since starting in the Pre-Prep.

There is nothing that Gemma cannot do. She joined the Pre-Prep in 2014 and she has crafted her trade, confidence and experience in this time. She is an exceptional Teaching Assistant and friend. If you look up Teaching Assistant in the dictionary, you will find Gemma Bishop.

As well as supporting the children, Gemma has provided the very best support for the teachers she is working with. We will all miss the little sweet treats left on our desks throughout the day. We are so pleased that Gemma is leaving to do her PGCE. Teaching really is the perfect job for her and she will be a fantastic teacher.

Harriet Boland Harriet has been a part of The Prep community for several years now.

She initially began her time at The Prep supporting games lessons, but over the past two years she has joined us to complete her PGCE. It was during Harriet’s post-grad year that she discovered her passion for teaching in Lower School and she has been a valued member of the team ever since – loved by colleagues and pupils alike.

Despite undertaking her training during the most challenging of academic years, Harriet has excelled, she is certainly now well-versed

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in delivering remote learning and running schemes for keyworker children. We hope she will never have to use those skills again!

Everyone in Lower School and the Boarding House will miss Harriet as she begins her first ‘proper’ role teaching a Year 4 class a little nearer to home. We wish her every success.

Rachael Buttress Rachael departs Cheltenham Pre-Prep this year for a new opportunity as Head of Pre-Prep at Cheltenham Muscat. Whilst this new challenge may seem daunting at first, it is nothing compared to the adventure she has had over the past 25 years at The Prep.

Rachael joined the Junior School in 1996 as a fresh-faced NQT to learn her trade. She quickly settled into the reception team and developed her skills and expertise as an early years teacher. In 2013 Rachael became the Head of Pre-Prep and has not just supported our young pupils to grow and develop, but has also inspired many staff members to follow their dreams and become teachers.

Rachael will be remembered by her colleagues as level-headed, professional, energetic and lots of fun to work with. We’re pleased that you are not leaving the Cheltenham family completely, and that your adventure continues beyond this first quarter of a century!

Catherine Ellis Catherine has been an incredibly valued member of her team, full of fun and always up for any challenge.

Everyone at The

Prep loved her lessons and she regularly brought a host of fresh ideas to the Department, as well as a very welcome understanding of new technologies!

PREP VALETE

Gemma Bishop

Catherine embraced games teaching and took it on with a great attitude and empathy. A highlight was her taking part in the Department dance routine for the Christmas pantomime.

Catherine had not danced before but she got stuck in and had a hilarious time choreographing and rehearsing during lunch breaks. Catherine will be remembered as a brilliant team player, always sharing ideas and resources. She will be sorely missed.

Tilly Farr Tilly joined the Pre-Prep in 2012 as a Teaching Assistant before completing her PGCE and joining us as a class teacher. Tilly’s enthusiasm, energy and sense of fun will be incredibly hard to replace.

They often outstrip those of the lively young children that she has been teaching – quite an achievement!

Throughout her time in the Nursery and Reception, Tilly has approached every day, lesson and teaching challenge with an incredible level of positive energy and we are all so incredibly grateful for her efforts.

Tilly’s communications skills with parents, pupils and other staff members are second to none, apart from when it comes to saying ‘no’.

She never turns down a challenge and will never be forgotten as some of her greatest moments in the Pre-Prep have been saved digitally due to taking place during lockdown learning. Who will ever forget the exercise and the weekend floss dance videos?!

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CHELTENHAM MUSCAT The education that College has offered for 180 years has many aspects which have been consistent, but any outstanding institution needs to adapt and move forward and as such in September 2021 Cheltenham College opened its first international sister school in Muscat, Oman. I have the great privilege to be the Founding Head of Cheltenham Muscat, a 3-18 school for boys and girls. Our vision is simple: to lead educational standards in Oman. Cheltenham Muscat will be the first premium British Independent school to open here and as such we have a fantastic opportunity to bring the all-round education that has served Cheltonians so well for the past 180 years to Muscat, and to make a real difference.

Many UK Independent schools have ‘franchised’ and given their name to international schools but College was always clear about striving for a better model which would create real educational opportunities for

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both pupils and teachers. The relationship between Cheltenham College and Cheltenham Muscat will be considerably closer than many of those organisations who have just lent their name to international partners.

The pupils and teachers in both schools will gain enormously from working alongside one another to learn more about the international nature of the world the children from both schools will graduate into.

A global pandemic is not the easiest scenario to begin an overseas school project and as such the time to get everything up and running has been tighter than one would have hoped for, but it is amazing what a positive mindset and some good advice can do. Equally as a result of the pandemic teachers and pupils have seen how technology can genuinely enhance learning and as such, we know that both schools will be able to exploit those gains in the coming academic year with screens

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in both schools to remind everyone of the partnership, teachers able to plan lessons together and pupils able to learn alongside one another. Knowing and understanding fellow Cheltonians in different continents will only improve the education for all.

One definite advantage to opening a new school is that the buildings are brand new. Whilst College’s facilities are amazing, the upkeep of a 180 year old school requires constant attention and care whereas when everything is purpose built it certainly makes planning considerably easier. The specialist teaching rooms, amazing sports facilities, and communal areas will be the envy of many schools across the Gulf region. We are also incredibly fortunate to have a wide range of spaces where we can gather the school together and help create a real sense of community which is one of the hallmarks of a Cheltenham College education.

Whilst Cheltenham Muscat will not be a boarding school (in the first few years at least) it will embody all of the values that makes Cheltenham College such an amazing school. Nicola Huggett was very clear with me that when she came to visit Muscat she wanted the school to feel like a Cheltenham school, and it is that special sense of community, alongside a desire to provide the best education for young people that we are striving for from the outset. The success of a school is dependent on the staff it employs. We have been able to recruit an outstanding group of founding staff with a wonderful blend of British and Arabic teachers, all with a wealth of experience and a desire to do what is needed to make the school the best. The recruitment process only confirmed for me the high regard in which Cheltenham College is held in across the world; we had over 1,500 applications for teaching positions.

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Muscat has proved to be an inspired choice to create the first Cheltenham international school. Oman is a country that believes strongly in education and so many Omani prospective parents that I have met have been educated in the UK and want that standard of education for their children. Oman has developed a strategic plan for the development of the country: the 2040 Vision. Education is the primary focus of that plan which affords us the opportunity to be at the forefront of providing the best for the Muscat community. The relationship between Britain and Oman has been incredibly strong for some time, not least through military links and Cheltenham is ideally placed to build on that relationship. We have been very fortunate to have a number of Cheltonian families in Oman who have helped us establish the Cheltenham name here.

Oman is a beautiful country; considerably greener than one might imagine and Muscat is surrounded by the warm Arabian Gulf on one side and the Hijar mountains on the other. It is a stunning scenery. Different from the Cotswolds, but there are similarities in the nature of both locations.

I won’t deny that in the summer it is hot, but there is so much to explore and enjoy here and the Omani people are wonderfully welcoming and hospitable.

I am hugely excited to have welcomed our founding pupils and families into the school in September. I look forward to ensuring that the Cheltenham name continues to be revered across the world and to establishing a special relationship between the schools which carry the same name and the same values. Labor omnia vincit!

Crispin Dawson, Founding Head Cheltenham Muscat and former Senior Deputy Head Cheltenham College

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Attentive readers of last year’s Cheltonian & Floreat (so, all readers, I am sure!) may have noted in my academic introduction piece, which reflected on the highs and lows of Summer Term 2020 school closure, a slight sense of ‘thank goodness that’s all behind us, now’. Some of those readers - the cautious, the ‘glass half-empty’ types, the medical professionals - may have thought in response: ‘I’m not so sure!’ Such circumspection would have been very well placed because, as we were soon to discover, the Spring Term 2021 would see schools closed, once again.

For staff and pupils, alike, it was another heavy blow to bear. Yet, once again, it was also a time of happy paradoxes: just as it had done the previous year, this enforced separation drew us closer together as a community; and just as it did in the summer of 2020, the restrictions and shortcomings of remote teaching and learning proved a fertile breeding ground for innovation, experimentation and improvement. Thus, delighted, we came together again just before Easter this year, bound tight by

shared hardship and excited, both pupils and staff, by the new skills and knowledge we had acquired.

Yet, for those due to be examined in 2021, the Summer Term brought further, fresh challenge in the form of Teacher Assessed Grades. It is to their great credit that in the face of so much change, so much uncertainty, so much instability, these young men and women faced down this challenge with determination, resilience and good humour. We hold each of them in the highest regard and hope that they feel immensely proud of all that they achieved. And we hope, too, as we look towards the new academic year, that the recent era of school closure really is behind us, now!

Mr Timothy Brewis

Societies Lower College Society This year’s academic calendar began with an exploration of the world through a series of online escape rooms. Heads hurt and eyes strained as we traversed the globe in search of adventure. From the carvings

of Rosslyn, to souvenirs at the Sphynx, we riddled our way through human history.

January brought with it an examination of some of our greatest misconceptions. With topics as varied as video games, orange juice, Pocahontas, gladiatorial combat, and the Academy Awards, our bodies may have been confined, but our minds were set free. March saw the quiz champions crowned, with Sophie Essenhigh, Ruby Coull, Alice Bradley, Eliana Hale, Geena Capps and Emily Oates demonstrating their prowess over an exemplary field.

The newly created award for obscure trivia going to Rosie Hattam and Harriet Oates for their knowledge of Gulliver’s Travels throughout Laputa. The end of April saw Third and Fourth Form tackle ‘the Wiki Game’, with Melissa Watson narrowly beating Thomas Smith to the top spot with an exemplary display of how to get from Taylor Swift to Hanoi using nothing but the links contained within Wikipedia articles. A memorable year in so many ways.

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Mr Richard Preece

Upper College Society Upper College Society (UCS) got off to a good start with Petra Azazoglu, Alicia Neilson and Georgia Morling presenting on Linguistic Relativity.

Exploring whether language conditions or merely influences our judgments, they drew upon detailed research on how children learn. For our second evening, Sophie Fowler,

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Lara Scudamore and Jessica Pulford presented on Nuclear Semiotics, focusing on the question of how to dispose of dangerous nuclear waste and how to warn future generations of its location.

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On other evenings, Phil Brodzik presented on the advantages and disadvantages of drug legalisation, exploring the policies of Saudi Arabia, the USA, UK and Portugal; John Gulland presented on the problems Socialism faces in determining market values. When lockdown was ended, it was good to be able to return to College.

Gathering together in Big Classical, international students presented on their countries: Omaan Khyra shared his experience of Malaysia; Duniya Banda shared her experience of growing up in Zambia; Hoochang Yi shared his experience of Abu Dhabi; and finally, Ansel Ng and Robin

Wang presented on living in China.

Overall, it has been a fascinating year; students have presented clearly and confidently, intelligently responded to questions and have allowed each other to learn from what are extraordinary experiences.

Reverend Dr Adrian Samuel

Art Ms Jo Millar, Head of Art Many examination year artists submitted postcard works of art to a charity auction to raise money for LINC. All postcards are exhibited on the global platform Twitter, under Twitter Art Exhibit, and were physically exhibited in the Hall of Fame at Cheltenham Racecourse. Pupils were exceptional in maintaining their art practice during lockdowns. Necessity being the mother of invention, the

Department worked with pupils to develop virtual studios where all pupils could observe one another working on their practical work and the teacher was able to offer online demonstrations for them to observe. Many produced large-scale sculptures and paintings.

Special congratulations go to the following for receiving offers of places on highly prestigious courses: Lala Krairit (Fine Art at the University of Edinburgh and University of the Arts London), Rebecca Cook (Sculpture at Falmouth University), Jude Bridge (Fine Art at City & Guilds of London Art School) and Samantha Wan (Animation at the University of Edinburgh). Several pupils’ work was submitted to the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Show. Their work is exhibited either online or in the Royal Academy.

Nina Allan Cherie Yim

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ACADEMIC Thomas Bridge

Joseph Raphael

Charlie Chu

Mahony Knight

Georgie Balfry

Fenella Clayton

Lumai Hickey

Cherie Yim

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Samantha Wan

Toby Jones

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Rebecca Cook

Beatrice Cornwell

Elizabeth Davy

Life drawing class

Jude Bridge

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ACADEMIC Lala Krairit

Piers Brown

Henry Meyrick

Jude Bridge

Henry Meyrick

Tomiris Marabayava

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Business Mrs Holly Brooke, Head of Business

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The Department grew by offering a vocational qualification; the Cambridge Technical Level 3 in Business for Lower Sixth. This is a practical course and students have enjoyed learning theory alongside a detailed insight into local and national businesses such as David Lloyd Clubs and Alton Towers.

Students have worked extremely hard and been outstanding ambassadors for the Fifth Form who are considering which course to study at A Level.

During lockdown, Business Bingo launched via Twitter provided an opportunity for students to stay connected. Students created their own logos, started a ‘side hustle’ and tracked the success of FTSE 250 businesses. Best effort goes to Flora Fletcher in Upper Sixth for ticking off the most challenges! Over the course of the year, the Business and Economics Society grew in student numbers despite the challenge of holding online sessions. This was, in part, due to the Department being fortunate to have a variety of talented and notable speakers from the likes of: Nando’s, Turnstile Sports, BGF Investment and a talk on negotiation tactics. Students

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asked some excellent questions and were given answers that stretched them beyond the syllabus. Well done to Harry Huggett, Grace Tyler and Lucinda Nicholson for 100% attendance. Follow the Department for updates: @CheltCol_business

Classics Mr Tom Lambert, Head of Classics The academic year began with the Department delighted to see our entire 2020 Upper Sixth secure A or A* grades in all Classical subjects and advance to their first choice universities. By the end of the year, we were sad to bid farewell to our outstanding 2021 Upper Sixth, including some stalwarts of Classics Society: President Izzy Reid and Anabelle Wells, Vladimir Afanasyev, Charles Hellens and Wing Yan Cheung, Charlie, Charlie Baker, Emer Hughes and Will Dangerfield.

We were pleased to welcome Mrs Rachel Smith, our new teacher of Latin, Greek and Classical Civilisation, and a Third Form Tutor in Westal.

Moreover, we were excited to see the renaissance of Greek with Alicia Neilson and Petra Azazoglu embarking on Greek A Level and 39 Third Formers becoming the first Cheltonians in many years to gain Level 1 Certificates in Classical Greek.

This coming year, we look forward not only to the arrival of Mr Johnson, a Classical Civilisation teacher, Boyne Tutor and keen rugby player/ cricketer joining us on maternity cover, but also the comeback of Mr Wright, looking to complete his half-century of association with Cheltenham College Classics.

Computer Science Mr Jon Morton, Head of Computer Science It has been an exciting year in the Computer Science Department, not least because we have been able to offer a new qualification for Upper College students, namely the Cambridge Technical in Information Technology.

Remaining with Upper College, Bekzat Amirbay has a collection of offers from top courses in the USA: University of California Los Angeles, University of California Berkeley and University of Pennsylvania for Computer Science, while Saul Kim gained a place to read Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning at Imperial College London.

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Design and Technology Mr David Lait, Acting Head of Design and Technology Despite Covid restrictions, we have managed to rotate the Third Form groups around the DT facility, allowing them to experience several different practical projects that incorporate, textiles, timbers, and computer-aided design/ manufacturing (CAD/CAM).

Fourth Form embarked on a new LED lamp project, to build up the practical skills missed during lockdown. The project sees them working in wood, metal, and

plastics, incorporating hand skills, alongside, the use of laser cutters, and 3D printing.

Fifth Form and Upper College groups have all been working on their coursework. The work has been of an exceptionally high standard and has really seen pupils embrace the concept of ‘iterative design’ through testing and modelling. Products have included, off road skateboards, tool kits for fencing and a host of products to improve visits to the cinema.

One true highlight of lockdown was the use of Fusion360 as a CAD modelling tool. On several

occasions, we had pupils online on other continents around the globe having live conversations and analysing and amending the products they had designed. We were then able to 3D print or laser cut the products in College and post them out the same day for the pupils to work on and develop.

This is a concept we had discussed in theory lessons for many years and now pupils have experienced it first-hand.

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Resistant Materials

We are hugely grateful to our highly skilled technician, Mr Jacob Fisher, for all he has done to support the Department.

Mickey Stranack

Joseph Coley Freddie Robertson

Luke Richardson

Matthew Rosenfeld

William Hall

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El Charles-Jones

Matthew Rosenfeld Oliver Schallamach

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Ned Hanbury

led by Mrs Sarah Tradgett explored ‘slow textiles’ and traditional Japanese hand embroidery methods; Sashiko and print and dye methods.

Congratulations to Eloise Harrison for being offered a place to read Performance Costume at the London College of Fashion and to OC Imogen Jones (CL, 2020) who won a scholarship to attend an intensive fashion design course at the Istituto Marongoni at the Paris School of Fashion.

Textiles Mrs Sarah Tradgett and Mrs Rebecca Evely It has been another busy year in Textiles. Two of our pupils, Hanna Gill and Sky Jamieson benefitted from a Cheltenham Educational Partnership Thread Counts workshop at the University of Gloucestershire alongside pupils from other schools. The Department was also pleased with the level of participation from Third Form and Fourth Form in the Young Fashion Designer Competition.

The Department has focused on sustainability this year, particularly

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regarding Fourth Form and Lower Sixth projects in which they upcycled using denim and used reclaimed fabrics to explore corsetry methods. These pupils have been ably assisted by Miss Stacie Carroll, who has been able to share and impart her specialist skills in dressmaking and pattern cutting.

Pupils have been encouraged to work independently and skilfully on their own unique outcomes.

As ever, we are hugely grateful to our highly skilled technician, Miss Stacie Carroll, for all she has done to support the Department.

The Third Form enjoyed a project led by Mrs Rebecca Evely, successfully producing laptop cases by exploring direct printing methods and digital sublimation printing. The pre-A Level course

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ACADEMIC Olivia Vyvyan-Robinson

Izzy Bidwell

Polly Cooper

Isy Y

Tilly Cooper

Freya Wood

Jemima Walker

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Daisy Hunter

Chloe Manggunio

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Eloise Harrison

Poppy Treasure

Stanley Mok

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Miss Stephanie Burns, Head of Economics The Cheltenham College Investment Society has been established by Jasper Chiang and John Gulland.

The society is well-attended and Mr Matthew Dawson, an Investment Manager at Quilter Cheviot, proved to be a very popular guest speaker.

The Mini MBA has been temporarily replaced due to Covid disruption with an opportunity to complete an Open Learn qualification in a specialism such as marketing, leadership, business administration or entrepreneurship. A new finance course will be available alongside the Mini MBA this coming year.

The Oxbridge Seminars have been well supported all year with topics such as The Intersection between Economics and Law and Synoptic Economics being

most popular. Two Upper Sixth Economists gained interviews, Julie Zhu and Dan Ursell, and there are some promising candidates within Lower Sixth too.

We are very proud of George Hardy who gained a place at the London School of Economics to read Economics, one of the most prestigious institutions for this course.

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Economics

English Mr Andrew Straiton, Head of English The English Department was able to put on considerable amounts of enrichment for pupils again this year, with Mr Nick Nelson organising a talk from Sir Simon Russell Beale, who spoke to the Third Form on his experience as an eminent Shakespearean actor. Additionally, there have been Lit Soc meetings on the work of WH Auden - Dr

Sir Simon Russell Beale spoke to the Third Form Luke Davidson’s first crush (this session welcomed just under 50 pupils, which was a record) - and Middlemarch, George Eliot’s great novel, given by Mr Jonathan Mace.

This year has also seen a relaunch of the College Reading Diploma, with over 50 new pupils and 50 members of staff joining the programme. Wills Moffatt was the first member of the Third Form to complete Level 1 and Sophia Tweedie was the first new entrant to complete Level 3.

The Department is delighted that Anabelle Wells has gained a place to read English Literature at the University of Cambridge.

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Geography Mr Fraser Dobney, Head of Geography

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An exciting, new Third Form scheme of work on the Middle East was developed by Mrs Sarah Hayden to coincide with the launch of Cheltenham Muscat and to introduce pupils to a variety of geographical topics based around the Middle East region.

The NEA (non-examined assessment) weekend took a different form this year due to

the travel restrictions; we used several local sites as areas for pupils to conduct their independent investigation. Titles of this years’ fantastic investigations included, ‘To what extent are different factors affecting carbon sequestration in Lineover Woods, and how can these factors be manipulated to maximise carbon sequestration?’ and ‘Which factors are the most significant in altering the shape of Middle Hope Cove on the North Somerset coast?’ Summer Term field trips ran for the Lower Sixth to Sand Bay and the Fourth Form

undertook an urban investigation of Cheltenham.

Remote learning yielded some great positives; innovative teaching techniques had to be developed to continue educating our Geographers to the same high standard. One such example was the development of an ArcGIS Story Map that allowed us to run a virtual field trip for our Fifth Form Geographers to Cheltenham to understand the patterns of landuse, segregation of people and what factors were influencing environmental quality.

The Bingen Society, run by Miss Emily Hartley, continues to be a popular and increasingly pupilled society. The launch of the Bingen Society Committee has empowered pupils to really take ownership of the society as a true example of independent learning.

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Miss Jo Doidge-Harrison, Head of History Fionnuala Dowling-Membrado and Henry Meyrick have led an effervescent Morley Society this year, as President and Vice respectively, and the Upper Sixth will be greatly missed for both the wit (the Head of Sixth Form had to leave the room he was laughing so hard the first time he attended) and variety of their papers.

Jackson Sepulvado has been a notably consistent contributor at Morley, joining a stellar team both in and out of lockdown, and as a Fifth Former left a talented Upper Sixth somewhat slack-jawed at the depth of his knowledge on all aspects Nazi: we will miss him hugely as he heads off to Washington DC to brush up on his American studies.

embraced a year-long exploration of historical significance with impressive gusto, through consideration of what we choose to study in History and why, via memorialisation and remembrance, the First World War, genocide in the American West and Rwanda and the growth of leisure in the USA in the 1920s, feeding into the IGCSE course beginning at the start of the Summer Term.

Mr Richard Preece has been a joyous addition to the teaching staff this year, for one year only.

Please see the Valete section for our heartfelt farewell.

We are hugely proud of both Sebastian Cornwell and Charles Hellens who have gained places to read History at Trinity College, University of Cambridge and Lincoln College, University of Oxford respectively.

History of Art Mr Nick Nelson, Head of History of Art It is an especially important time for History of Art as the Department awaits its imminent move to Edexcel Pearson History of Art A Level for this coming year (away from CIE Pre-U Art History).

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History

In terms of enrichment, students enjoyed the annual Art History and Creative Arts Higher Education Conference and Fair which took place online. Darcey Norman and Iona Hutton participated in the Art History Abroad Competition. A series of Art History lectures were delivered by Mr Nick Nelson for

The Third Form have creatively

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the charity Culture in Quarantine which raised awareness and £4,000 for the NHS.

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Special mention should go to Robin Wang and Grace White who both gained a place to study History of Art at the University of St Andrew’s, which is rated second on the 2021 League Tables for the subject.

and one from Bryan Luo on bayesian statistics. Also, it was good to see OC William Gibson (L, 2020) give a talk on what it is like to study Maths at the University of Oxford.

The Department were delighted with superb results at both the Senior and Intermediate UKTM competitions. Particular mention goes to the excellent performance from Alexa Xiao who was very close to full marks in the Intermediate Paper.

Modern Foreign Languages Mr Ben Page, Head of Modern Foreign Languages

exploration is worth the cost, whether we should still celebrate Remembrance Day, and freedom of speech. They ended up beating an Upper Sixth pair on their way to a very creditable fourth place finish and were commended on their eloquence (and ability to master their own nerves!) and ability to debate complex topics well beyond what they have been taught.

This year College participated again in the National Competition UK Linguistics Olympiad where our College linguists solved linguistic data problems. They certainly did not disappoint when facing such challenges and they all should be proud for taking part. Special mention should be made to

Petra Azazoglu and Alicia Neilson participated in an online version of the Joutes Oratoires; a regional round of a national debating contest. Their topics for the French debate were whether space

Mathematics Dr Brendan Enright, Head of Mathematics Maths Society had another strong year. Highlights included excellent talks from Ronald Tse on astronomy

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Another piece of academic enrichment has been MFL Soc, which has hosted evenings including the Cheltenham première of Edith Piaf biopic La Vie en Rose and wine and tapas tasting which proved very popular with the Upper Sixth.

A big draw of learning a modern foreign language is going on exciting overseas trips. Of course, this has been impossible during Covid. As such, we had to take some virtual trips to Paris, Berlin and Salamanca and enjoy the Third Form and Fourth Form pétanque championships.

Music Mr Shaun Pirttijarvi, Head of Academic Music Intrepid GCSE Music pupils have survived two periods of remote learning, and we are delighted that six of this cohort are continuing with Music at A Level.

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As evidenced by the biggest Lower Sixth intake for many years: three sets and another three sets for Lower Sixth this coming year.

Morley Society meetings were well attended virtually including both in person and via Teams and included pub quizzes and members’ papers including Emil Mekhtiev’s Threats of Cultural Marxism, Sebastian Cornwell’s Protest Songs and Henry Meyrick and Fionnuala DowlingMembrado’s The History Mystery.

Bhavishya Gem who achieved a Bronze award and Kelly Ting who earned a Silver award. What a great achievement! The following pupils took part on the competition: Evie Cook, Honor Hardie, Bryan Luo, Paula Haase, Kelly Ting, Alicia Neilson, Bhavishya Gem, Petra Azazoglu. It is also important to congratulate Minette Tombleson, who won the Fifth Form Essay Prize with her essay on the advantages and drawbacks of a universal language, and Immy Cutts who took part in an essay competition, writing about Thomas Mann’s Der Tod in Venedig.

Psychology The Third Form engaged incredibly well with remote learning in the Spring Term and produced some excellent heroic leitmotifs as part of a film music remote composition project. Congratulations go to Emily Wang who has gained a place to read Music at the University of Durham University, one of the most prestigious institutions for this course.

Politics Mrs Alexandra Eldred, Head of Politics Popularity and enthusiasm for the subject has remained high despite remote teaching!

Dr Tricia Norman, Head of Psychology Psychology Society has benefitted from more outstanding presentations this year from El Charles-Jones on Cyberpsychology, and from Darcey Norman and Ellie Mitchell on ‘Are millennials as racially tolerant as they seem?’

In other exciting news, the Department is growing, with a third teacher Miss Rachael McGirr joining us in September 2021, as our student numbers continue to expand. We are proud to say that a good proportion of our current cohort has applied to study Psychology or a related degree at university.

Morley Society RETURNS! Friday 9th October 5:15 Virtual “Teams” Papers:

Supreme President Dowling-Membrado & Vice President Meyrick: History Mystery (“Keeping the voters happy”) Mr H. Yi : History of French Philosophy

(“We may not agree, but Morley defends your right to say it”)

Mr E. “Don’t Tread on Me” Mekhtiev: Threats of Cultural Marxism

(“As fiery as the 1st Presidential Debate”- New Statesman)

Mr S. Cornwell : Protest Songs

(“It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no fortunate…” ) T. “Opposition” White Esq: The 21st or 16th century? (“Nobody call the militia!”)

Mr C. Hellens: Takeaways from Gandhi (“An inspiration to Morley”)

MORLEY SOCIETY: WHERE TRUTH IS PRIZED AND OFTEN SERVED

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Science Dr James Copeland-Jordan, Head of Science

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Across the Science faculty, we have introduced three Applied Learning Weeks, Life in Antarctica, Life as a Triathlete and Life on Mars, into the Third Form curriculum, encouraging pupils to apply synoptic cross-science thinking to practical problems.

The Science Department introduced the Passport to College for our incoming Third Form pupils. Mr William Kemp oversaw this exciting pupil-led, activitybased project and pupils were recognised for their engagement in and enthusiasm for this bridging work. Science Society has gone from strength to strength. The committee have done a fabulous job promoting science beyond the confines of the classroom.

Bekzat Amirbay (President), Denis Solovyev, Jack Szeto, Victoria Chan, Renee Cheung and Oleander Hall were all awarded their Science Society ties for their services to the committee.

Bristol, while Krish Patel and Ben Percival will both read medicine at Queen Mary University of London.

John Chan has gained a place at Imperial College London to read Mechanical Engineering while OC Gaurav Mediratta (L, 2020) will read Engineering at the University of Oxford.

Biology Mr Jonathan Thomas, Head of Biology We are delighted to have launched Discovery magazine, our annual pupil-written Biology magazine.

Congratulations to those Lower Sixth students who successfully applied to be on the editorial team and who have contributed articles to this inaugural edition. Discovery was chosen as the name in honour of OC Edward Adrian Wilson (Day Boy, 1891) as this was the name of the expedition he took to Antarctica with Scott and Shackleton between 1901 and 1904.

Despite the disruption of the past year, we have still been able to run ecology field days in a Covidsecure manner for both the Lower Sixth and Upper Sixth. These took place at Bishops Wood, near Worcester, surrounded by stunning ancient woodland.

Congratulations to all those who have taken part in the Royal Society of Biology competitions: the UK Biology Olympiad, the Biology Challenge, and, for the first time, the Intermediate Biology Olympiad.

A special congratulations goes to those who achieved certificates for being placed among the best young biologists around the world.

In the Summer Term, we encouraged biologists across College to enter the Royal Society of Biology’s Nancy Rothwell award for biological drawing. The following pupils submitted beautiful work: Julia Gellere (red panda); Oleander Hall, (southern rockhopper); Annie Carter, (common ostrich); Apollinaire

We are very proud of all our students who have gained places at prestigious institutions. Victoria Chan has offers to read Medicine at King’s College London or at University of

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Chandresinghe, (lion). Oleander was short-listed by the RBS and her work is visible online.

We were delighted to welcome Miss Tegen Lochhead and Miss Lucy Scarrott to the Department and they have already begun to have a wonderful impact with their warmth, passion for Biology and keen interest in their pupils.

Chemistry Dr James Copeland-Jordan, Head of Science Each year, our College Chemists get a chance to compete against pupils from other schools, and Covid was not going to stop them. The year began celebrating results from the C3L6 (2020), the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge. The competition is aimed at the Lower Sixth to provide an academic challenge and to allow for natural talent to shine. Successes of note were: Denis Solovyev (Gold), Jack Szeto (Silver), Victoria Chan (Silver). In addition, as we went to press at the end of the academic year, we were

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Sixth A Level physicists attended and were eagerly joined by two Fifth Form pupils, Luke Richardson and Bryan Luo.

The Chemistry Olympiad also ran as normal with Victoria Chan being awarded Silver and Bill Ko and Sophie Fowler being awarded Bronze.

This coming year we are excited to take part in the Greenpower electric car competition and will also be launching our first high altitude balloon.

We are very proud of Denis Solovyev for gaining a place to read Chemistry at New College, University of Oxford.

We say farewell to Mr Dan Lovell who is leaving College to continue his career in the engineering industry. From all the staff and pupils, thank you and good luck!

Please see the Valete section for our heartfelt farewell.

This year we have been very pleased to welcome Mr Dhiren De Silva to teach in the Department, and we are delighted that he will be staying as well as Mrs Sarah OrwinHenderson and Miss Lara Beere who are returning for this coming year.

Physics Mr Robin Eddie, Head of Physics

Our annual Physics Brawl returned to college in November. This is an online competition where pupils compete against other schools and undergraduates from around the globe. Many of our Upper

We also held several weekend science extravaganza events. One where pupils looked at the effects of static electricity and another where they designed and built their own rollercoasters.

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delighted to receive news that Fourth Form’s Alexa Xiao came fifth out of 7,200 entrants in this year’s C3L6. Alexa was awarded the highly prestigious top Roentgenium award; the first pupil in College’s history to achieve this accolade. Alexa has subsequently been invited to St Catherine’s College, Cambridge to attend an elite residential course of 54 participants, hand-picked from all the entrants.

Sports Science Mrs Rebecca Faulkner, Head of Sports Science The Department has continued to thrive despite restrictions and social distancing rules. The GCSE pupils enjoyed the opportunity to focus on creative fitness and participate in some co-educational sport. The Fifth Form mixed hockey was a real success and concluded with a superb mixed game against Cheltenham Ladies’ College. I think Robbie Slatter is the first boy to ever represent the Ladies College against College!

Upper College continued to show huge determination and dedication.

They enjoyed a Zoom workshop

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from Mr Ross Howitt, who focused on conquering the extended questions and refining exam technique. A recent lecture with adventurer and published author Ms Anna McNuff inspired the pupils to believe in their own ‘magic’ and strive for success in every opportunity.

In Futures Week Eddie Buttress and Ross Broughton-Johnson spent time shadowing Ms Sarah Fosella at Straight Back Physio in preparation for their UCAS applications in the coming year.

Across the Department there are too many sporting successes to mention; it is a promising future for so many talented athletes.

Theatre Studies Mrs Sian McBride, Head of Theatre Studies With changes to the specification due to Covid, for the first time ever our GCSE pupils were able to devise

monologues and they rose to the challenge, producing engaging and thought-provoking solo performances.

This year saw the introduction of two new set texts at A Level and GCSE. The new GCSE set text, Things I Know To Be True, by Andrew Bovell has proved particularly popular, tackling difficult issues such as drug addiction, gender identity and gender reassignment.

With theatres being closed nationwide we have had to be more innovative when teaching our review papers, drawing on a wealth of new and previously recorded streamed productions such as the Old Vic’s A Monster Calls and the National Theatre’s modern reimagining of Lorca’s Yerma.

Theology, Philosophy and Ethics Dr Matthew Harris, Head of Theology, Philosophy and Ethics Theology, Philosophy and Ethics (TPE) has shown its relevance in a world increasingly questioning issues concerning identity and justice, with both the Third Form curriculum and (especially) the IGCSE in Religious

Studies covering these areas at length. In a time of discussion about BLM, gender, and free speech, TPE has naturally been able to address pupils’ questions and given them an opportunity to explore these issues in a structured way.

We have been able to welcome Dr Kerry Samuel back to the Department to replace Mr Crispin Dawson. Our other Dr Samuel, Reverend Dr Adrian Samuel, has meanwhile published the first IGCSE Pearson Edexcel textbook for Religious Studies. Many congratulations to him on this achievement, and which is proving very useful to our IGCSE pupils studying for this qualification.

TPE Society this year has increasingly become virtual to enable pupil participation both in College among different year groups and also for remote learners. More so than ever, it has also been almost entirely pupil driven. Talks were given by pupils such as Hoochang Yi, John Gulland, Milan MacdonaldBradley, Fin Wellstead, Bryan Luo, Ademide Obagun and Carys Bradford on topics as diverse as the trolley dilemma, existentialism, David Hume, political philosophy, nihilism, and Foucault. In addition, Dr Samuel has continued to run everpopular Philosophy Lunches open to all year-groups, tackling difficult philosophical ideas, such as those of Habermas and Hegel.

Hoochang Yi has entered external competitions, such as for prizes offered by Oxbridge Colleges, and has received recognition of the quality of his essays.

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Speech Day 2021 – Upper Sixth Prizes Charity

Co-Curricular

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Upper Sixth Adams Prize

Gasson Cup Arabella Finch

Poppy Williams

Bellamy Cup Winners for Charitable Endeavours Leconfield

Games

Duleepsinhji Cup (boys): Charlie Davison

Duleepsinhji Cup (girls): Flora Fletcher

CCF prizes

The Army Leadership Prize Simon Oates

Stidworthy Cup (boys): Zach French

Sloan Cup (girls): Freya Coull and Georgia‑Lili Robertson

Academic Excellence

The Millennium Trophy Izzy England

All-Round Contribution

The Cadbury Cup Izzy Reid

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The John Bowes Cup Charlie Heardman

The Galahad Cup Charles Hellens

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Our pupils have again, this academic year, risen to the challenges presented to them by the global pandemic. We had to adapt almost all our practices to make the activities our pupils were engaging in Covid secure, meaning that year group bubbles, social distancing and adapted sports rules were the order of the day.

Once again, staff and pupils demonstrated great flexibility, resilience, and resourcefulness to ensure that there was challenge within the co-curriculum. The pupils

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engaged in all that was offered to them from single year group choirs, five different drama groups, new Ready 4 Rugby laws to understand, and all with uncertainty as to what would happen next.

Once again, the majority of the Spring Term was spent in lockdown and staff did all they could to motivate, encourage and inspire from afar, offering virtual after school clubs, podcasts, and guest speakers. The Summer Term returned to some form of normality, and, despite the sometimes

inclement weather, our pupils were back out representing College at sport, performing at plays and concerts, attending CCF parades and going on DofE expeditions.

Our aim is always to challenge and, whilst realising that there may be bumps in the road, we hope our pupils leave with a sense of purpose, resilience, and determination from all they have engaged with outside the classroom.

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Mr Stephen McQuitty, Deputy Head (Co-curricular)

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CCF

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The Combined Cadet Force has seen much change as we move instruction to be cadet-led and for our adult instructors to be mentors for our Senior cadets. The change has meant we can offer much more focused leadership coaching for our Senior cadets and much more engaged training for our Junior cadets. Cadet Warrant Officer Class One Simon Oates has handed over to Lara Capps as the Head of Corps and we warmly thank our departing Upper Sixth cadets.

Lieutenant Colonel Tony Ayres has handed over as Contingent Commander and we are grateful for his guidance and resourcefulness through challenging times.

Lieutenant Beatrice Langford Powell also moves on from her role as Head of the Royal Navy and she will

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be much missed by the wonderful cadets who she has brought together as a team. We owe a great deal of thanks to Lieutenant Libby O’Brien for an incredible amount of planning of activities, her engaging and dynamic lesson delivery and the wonderful role model she has been to our Fifth Form; we wish her all the best in starting regular officer training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Mr Dan Lovell also moves on after three years of working with recruit training and his professionalism and flexibility will be much missed.

The Contingent continues to be over 200 strong and is growing.

Offering a full range of adventurous training, military and civilian skills and interlinking with the Duke of Edinburgh programme.

This year’s camps have included RYA sailing training, canoeing, survival skills, section attacks and

focused leadership training. We are delighted to be re-starting our RAF Section this coming year, focusing on cadet fixed-wing and gliding opportunities. Three of this year’s Senior cadets have confirmed places to start military officer training and a large number of Fifth Form and Lower Sixth have submitted applications for scholarships.

Particular thanks must go to Senior Schools Instructor Warrant Officer Class Two Jason Gwynne for his relentless enthusiasm, constant creativity and resourcefulness. It is a real pleasure to see the Contingent continuing to flourish.

Captain Will Kemp, Contingent Commander (CCF)

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Like everything else, 2020/21 proved different and awkward for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme at College. We managed the navigation skills programme in the Autumn Term for the Silver Award group before ‘School Closure II’ hit us in January. The scheme allowed sufficient flexibilities for young people to progress their activities from home and physical recreation continued unabated through the virtual offering of the Sport Department.

Fresh hope dawned in the Summer Term as we began planning expeditions once again. Our Lakes odyssey was not going to be possible, but four expedition events were planned for the end of the

Summer Term to coincide with the gradual lifting of Covid restrictions.

Fifteen of our departing Upper Sixth, having missed out the previous year, set about an eightday programme to refresh skills, practise, and plan and undertake their qualifying expedition in the Brecon Beacons. Such a success was this that it may provide the basis for a training model in the future. An unpredictable mixture of sun and rain ensued (what’s new?) provided for a challenging environment but sprained ankles, broken tents and ruined rucksacks were all overcome in a final College adventure that will be reminisced upon in years ahead..

Likewise, the Silver Award team benefitted from a consolidated programme and a qualifying expedition ensued in glorious sunshine, which showed Chepstow Castle, the Wye Valley and the Forest of Dean in their best light.

Against the backdrop of the abbey

at Tintern, and in dappled sunshine, the boys and girls camped at Botany Bay. And we hope this may be just the first adventure of many; will Cheltonians make it as far as the Antipodean namesake? With tired legs but winning smiles they saw out Day Three and finished College’s first Silver qualifying expedition as term ended. At the same time, over 30 intrepid CCF cadets completed their Bronze routes in the Cotswolds.

The Lower Sixth practice event in the Brecon Beacons quickly followed. A large cohort left College on Sunday 4 July for overcast and wet Welsh Hills but resolved to rise to the challenge set for them. The now familiar utterance … ‘that’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done’… was indeed heard during this week, and underlies the challenge set before our students, but there was also the sense of achievement and progress acquired as all ended their journey and headed off back to College for the start of their Summer holiday. A self-sufficient qualifying expedition will follow next academic year, building on lessons learned.

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Duke of Edinburgh’s Award

So, it was an intense but satisfying end to the year, and thanks go to all pupils, parents and staff for their support and ‘going with’ an unconventional approach.

Mr John Jones

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Co-curricular Drama It has been another exciting year for co–curricular drama at College; Covid brought many challenges, but also new opportunities as we had to find innovative ways to continue giving pupils the opportunity to perform.

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Unable to stage a large-scale House play this year, we introduced the House Drama competition, which saw more than 60 Lower College pupils performing in six different categories from monologues to larger scale group performance. We saw an impressive range of both recorded and live performances entered, with every entrant winning points for their House. It was a hardfought competition but in the end Hazelwell won the boys’ competition and Westal the girls’. We then turned Jack Ralphs Theatre into a recording studio and our talented Fifth Form rehearsed and recorded a series of three murder mystery plays. This gave the performers an opportunity to really develop their vocal skills and think about how tension and atmosphere can be created. We ended the Autumn Term with an Upper Sixth only Variety Show filled

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with song, dance and comedy.

Much fun was had by all and it was a much needed injection of Christmas mirth after a challenging and uncertain term.

The second period of school closure brought about the cancellation of our performance of the Scholars’ Play Foxfinder, which was due to be performed in the Playhouse in mid-January. Determined that all the students’ hard work would not go to waste, we recorded an abridged version of the play on our return in March. Our cast found it really difficult to make the transition from stage to screen acting but rose admirably to the challenge and created a highly engaging and tense film experience.

Eager to offer opportunities to perform over lockdown, we embarked on our most ambitious project to date; an online version of High School Musical. We originally intended for pupils to record themselves at home on their phones, but an earlier return than expected in March brought about another change of plan. This led

to our decision to film entirely on location in College after the May half term holiday. We had a professional camera crew with us for two weeks and the footage is now in postproduction. We look forward to sharing the final performance with you this coming year when we have a Hollywood-style premiere planned.

We ended the year with our first live performance; an innovative 45-minute production of Hamlet, held outdoors with a select and socially distanced audience. It was wonderful to finally be able to return to watching live theatre and our talented Third Form ensemble cast did us proud, with highly mature performances of complex characters.

We very much look forward to being able to return to welcoming large audiences and staging full scale productions, but we feel that our pupils have had some very meaningful experiences in this highly unusual year, that have challenged and developed them as performers.

Mrs Sian McBride

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Co-curricular Music

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In what has been a strange year for everyone, essential innovation has brought about many positives. Year group choirs and ensembles, while not allowing for the same breadth of repertoire, have nonetheless facilitated great leadership and solo opportunities that would perhaps not have arisen in a normal year.

Certainly the Third Form Choir members are in a very strong position to join the larger groups this coming year, having had a year independently singing in their own services and concerts.

Music has continued regardless, sometimes online, sometimes in person within bubbles and sometimes socially distanced.

Sometimes it has been a hybrid of several of these permutations.

This in turn has also allowed us to develop a wider audience base as the technology for live streaming and recording has been available, and expertly pioneered and further evolved by Mr Shaun Pirttijarvi.

In some ways this has been our busiest year ever, as the year group choirs, jazz bands, rock bands and orchestras have all played and sung frequently, and this has led to increased performance opportunities. It has of course been a great shame not to have had the same live audiences as we are used to, but we are optimistic that that will return in the not too distant future.

Weekly lunchtime concerts have both been live streamed from the Music Department and Big Classical, as well as lockdown performances

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recorded at home by pupils all over the world. Weekly Choral Evensongs have continued, rotating around the year groups, and these same year group choirs have sung the hymns on behalf of the year group congregations in daily Chapel services.

We planned with excitement for the much hoped for reopening in the Summer Term, only to discover that these plans needed to change when distancing requirements needed to continue. In the penultimate week of the Summer Term, we did however give some wonderful performances, and for the first time with mixed year groups featuring the large College ensembles, which hadn’t been able to rehearse or perform together since March 2020.

There was a wonderful evening of jazz on College Lawn, which as it was held outside, meant that we were able to welcome our first audience of parents to College for over a year.

The orchestra concert the following evening had to take place indoors, meaning that an audience wasn’t possible and that the ensembles themselves had to be socially distanced. This concert also featured concerto performances from Grace White on flute, Stephanie Lau on harp, Bill Ko on viola and Kimmy Kwok on violin. A week later, this live streamed event had more views than the number of people we could ever have fitted into Big Classical. Live streaming is here to stay, even when we can once more

play and sing to a live audience. The Schola Cantorum also met for the first time since the first lockdown, and sang a Choral Evensong of their favourite music from recent years.

Exam success has continued and the number of College pupils achieving Grade 8 has risen exponentially.

Even more pleasing is the fact that more pupils than ever before have achieved their diplomas, reaching a performance standard approaching professional level. These pupils include: Sophie Essenhigh and Lala Krairit on piano; Stephanie Lau and Victoria Brain with voice; and Jasper Chiang on saxophone.

While there have inevitably been disappointments and frustrations, it has been truly humbling to witness the determination, hard work and resilience of College’s musicians throughout this academic year. They have adapted and innovated where necessary, but have continued to deliver top level music throughout, and heightened in all our minds the vital and varied roles that music plays in all our lives, whether for wellbeing, spirituality or challenge.

They have been an inspiration.

Mr David McKee

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Bellamy Cup Winners

Whole School Charity

Working with their adopted charity, The Barefoot Project, Leconfield raised £3,000 to fund the purchase of rugby kit and training equipment for a rugby academy in Fiji. This was achieved through sponsored cycles, runs and hikes at a time when the House community was scattered across the world. At one point in March, the Lower Sixth even covered a distance of 400km in nine different time zones.

The chosen whole school charity for this year was Active Impact which promotes the inclusion of disabled children and young people. To raise money for the charity, the whole school, undertook a twilight run over the course of a week. This entailed different Houses running around College Field for a distance of 3km every night of the week. Well done and thank you to everyone who took part!

Proceeds from the 2020 batch of Leconfield Apple Juice also went to the Barefoot Project, along with 90 pairs of rugby boots and girls’ trainers sourced from across College Houses. In addition, during the first lockdown, Dekhan Dodo raised several hundreds of pounds for BLM charities by dying his hair blue and red, whilst Ben Pattrick and Harry Dawson teamed up with pupils from other schools, undertaking thousands of ‘Burpees’ over three weeks, to raise awareness of rhino poaching in Africa.

Dr Adam Dunning

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Lara Scudamore

Supported Schools Residential School for Children with Special Needs, Bradet, Romania It is hard to imagine how challenging life at Bradet has been this past year. As Covid infections rose through the winter months, the dedicated staff volunteered

to live in for two-week periods to shield the children, many of whom would be extremely vulnerable to serious complications should they become infected with the virus.

At the time of writing, despite several children becoming infected, thankfully, all have recovered.

Unable to leave individual Christmas boxes last summer, due to the cancellation of the post GCSE trip, College sent gifts for the children and carers which were happily received. In addition, College will fund the installation of an inflatable swimming pool and sensory garden space. We very much look forward to returning next year to the best hugs in Europe!

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Miss Jane Brodigan

Gogar Primary, Kenya As the pandemic took hold in Kenya, the pupils of Gogar were not left unscathed.

Without many of the blessings afforded to us at College, the consequences have been serious and far-reaching.

At the time of writing, Kenya is entering its fourth wave, each

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progressively more serious. Sister Hiltrude and the pupils detail below how Covid has affected their community: Education: the education sector was hit especially when the school and all teaching and learning institutions were closed to prevent the spread of Covid. Due to the requirement for social distancing, there was a shortage of classrooms and desks. Prior to the pandemic, pupils were used to sitting three to a desk, whereas social distancing required a desk per child which was not possible. A number of pupils did not return to school due to losing

family income, newly acquired drug addiction, pregnancy or early marriage. Tragically, some teaching and support staff died and others went into early retirement for health reasons.

even agriculture sectors became dormant resulting in worsening poverty for many.

Health: most people were afraid to go to hospitals and health units either for fear of contracting the virus or to discover they were positive which would mean they would be sent to a costly isolation centre, which they feared the most.

Social: There was a drastic change in the way of life. Handwashing, sanitisation and wearing of masks became a financial burden. Many deaths resulted in more children becoming orphaned, losing their homes and having to live on the streets. Other negative social impacts include stigmatisation and a serious decline in mental health.

Economic: Most economic activity came to a standstill. Many people lost their jobs as business and

Sister Hiltrude, the pupils of Gogar Primary and Miss Jane Brodigan

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We are delighted to hear that College’s sponsored student, Ernest, is continuing well with his degree at the University of Nairobi. See below for his recent letter.

oyable; I learn Hello! university has been good and enj g and sharing ce sin e, her r ove at gre ng doi am gin I hope you are doing well! I wit h friends from different parts of the country and exchan a lot and explore by interacting online learning great ideas. for me, it has helped me a lot forrse, it also helps ght bou you er put com the for cou a lot Firstly, I would like to thank youthat help I was able to keep up wit h the studies and lectures. Of h wit d an ic appreciate it! during the pandem internet. Thank you very much. I h wit h conducting research on the our first year, we experienced bot of r este sem ond sec the for 21 tes and to be February 20 Upon reporting to university on 1 Everyt hing went well and I was so happy to see my course mafferent students from g. di rnin the py to interact wit h blended and in-person lea n a great achievement. I was hap bee it’s help r you th Wi . uni at back d I am very happy. to participate in different parts of the country an whom I formed a dance crew and we really h wit nds frie e som de ma I ce I also had a lot of fun at uni sintime our college had done a talent show event; it was awesome the talent show! It was the first unit. enjoyed the day! g hard to perform well in every be kin wor n bee e hav d an lot a d that I can have learne When it comes to my studies, I to be challenging on my part, I am still working very hard so ults for our first res ving the pro d are an h my first year Al though some units future ahead. I am now done wit able to excel in them for a bet terbut I’ll be sure to send them when they are officially released. e academic year are not yet out n like a parent to me: taking carthat bee has o wh slow On y hnn Jo r and in turn, so thanks to dear M I also take this chance to give d in order to create a bet ter and more promising future for me ss him abundantly. ble nee of me and everyt hing that I support to the needy. I thank him very much and may God I can also be able to offer my ke good trying as much as possible to marn am I , iod per to y da holi long our Since we are on that will be of help once we retu lly ney mo my n ear to k wor e som a job; I am rea use of it by doing y Onslow for helping me to get uni. Thanks again to dear Johnn is offering. grateful for the caring support he t you continue to nce to thank you for every supporport will not be in cha this e tak I , t tha all h wit d An in whatever I do, so that your sup offer me. I promise to work hard its. vain but will bear some great fru from my family!

Thank you! I also send greetings With best wishes Ernest

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Finance: The Ministry of Education did not fund schools during the period of school closure. This was problematic. Support staff were not paid wages and school campuses became overgrown. Unable to pay essential bills for water and electricity, this resulted in serious difficulties for their families. In addition, schools were required to become isolation centres which was very difficult to implement due to lack of rooms, beds, health care professionals and PPE. College sends its heartfelt best wishes to the Gogar community. We were pleased to hear that the school hall built by funds raised by College last year has helped: it facilitated improved social distancing at teacher training in Autumn and for school exams.

If you would like to find out more about the schools of Gogar and how you can help, please visit the Vanessa Grant Trust (VGT) website: https://www.vanessagranttrust.org Despite the challenges, VGT trustee, Mr Johnny Onslow tells us they have never had a busier volunteer season: the volunteer house, which College

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helped to fund, was full in January and again in May. Volunteers are still welcome so if you are interested, please speak to or email Miss Jane Brodigan, J.Brodigan@ cheltenhamcollege.org, and contact Johnny to find out more: jeonslow@ fishingfliesandlures.com

The Gogar Library Appeal Throughout this year, a team of Lower Sixth students have been undertaking a Community Action Elective to raise funds and awareness for the Gogar schools in Kenya. The main goal has been to provide the schools with the resources to fill their libraries. To do this the team found help in a charity called Books2Africa that specialise in sending books out to schools throughout the continent. The team set themselves a fundraising goal of £5,000 in order to pay for the collection and shipment of books to the schools in Kenya. The team raised this money through a donut sale, a mufti day and the Read for Gogar appeal in May. This appeal involved pupils setting themselves personal reading goals for the whole month and then getting sponsored by friends and family.

Shamrock School, Nepal College continues to support the Shamrock School in Pokhara, both financially and with regular visits from pupils and staff. This year the school is 15 years old and our link extends back to its foundation.

The pupils have had a tough time with their learning in the last 12 months. After a nine-month closure they returned in January 2021 only for the most severe Covid wave still to come. Only Year 10, the current exam year, have been able to attend regularly and many of the other children have had to return to their villages in the mountains. The teachers have done their best with online learning but with limited resources the progress of all the children has been severely hampered.

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Spiritual: All places of worship, including churches and mosques, were closed.

We at College will continue to offer our support and staff are already planning to visit at the earliest opportunity to help their recovery.

Some of our pupils are likely to visit again but probably not before the summer of 2022. If you are interested, please contact Mr Faulkner.

Mr Dominic Faulkner

Lara Scudamore

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COMMUNITY ‘It’s Chapel, but not as we know it.’

That sums up this very challenging year. At least we started the year in the Chapel building; that made a refreshing change from the Summer Term of 2020 when the College community was scattered across the globe and our worshiping life was restricted to YouTube services.

However, though we came back into Chapel in September 2020, the new social distancing restrictions meant that we were limited to year group congregations. This means that the sense of the whole College community gathered together under one roof was last experienced

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in March 2020. Moreover, the year group congregations were still not allowed to sing hymns; that famous College ‘wall of praise’ has not been heard for over a year. What took its place was a new development - the Year Group choir. Occasionally, the congregation joined in with the choir by enthusiastically clapping the verses of ‘Shine Jesus Shine’. At least clapping was deemed to be Covid safe.

We brought the Autumn Term to a close at Christmas with a beautiful choir-led Carol Service for the Sixth Form which we were able to stream live. And then we were back to remote Chapel. Throughout this period our pupils were amazing.

They wrote and recorded Chapel talks, readings and prayers. Once again, the Chapel experience bound the College community together during a very difficult time. All our prayers and hopes are now focused on a return to normality this coming year. My thanks go to our visiting preachers and all the pupils who amazed us with fantastic Chapel talks. On that note, I am happy to announce that the joint winners of The Jackson-Matthew’s Prize for the best Chapel address are Alexander Taylor on ‘Blessings’ and Georgia-Lili Robertson on ‘Forgiving One Another’.

Dr Adam Dunning COMMUNITY

Chapel

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Georgia-Lili Robertson on ‘Forgiving One Another’

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Forgive one another. Now, I could leave it there, but I’ve got seven minutes to fill and I have learned that sadly it is just not that simple.

There are copious questions on this topic, such as: ‘Why should we forgive?’ ‘When is it right to forgive?’

And for me, the most challenging one: ‘How can I forgive?’. Now you’ll be glad to hear that I’m not going to stand here and retell an emotive story from my life about how I forgave someone and that now I am a better person for it. No, I’m going to use someone else’s. But before I do, an important distinction to make about forgiveness is that it is not just a feeling. It is an internal and external process as well as an action.

This simply means that saying you forgive someone isn’t enough; you have to be ready to free yourself from the hook that binds you to your intangible trauma, no matter how long it takes or what form it may adopt.

Now to the story, which might be slightly eye opening before 9 o’clock on a Friday morning, but stay with me on this. In October 2018, a 22-year-old trainee doctor, Grace Spence Green, was walking through a shopping centre in London when an unthinkably traumatic event occurred that would change her life forever.

Unbeknownst to Grace, four hours prior to her arrival a suicidal man, under the influence of illegal substances, had tragically been planning the position and timing of a suicidal jump from the third

floor of the shopping centre as a final option to free himself from his overwhelming emotional pain. Purely by chance, the man jumped and fell directly onto Grace, saving his life but with devastating consequences for Grace who had to endure hours of surgery and who was left paralysed from the chest down for life.

What seemed to capture the headlines and consequentially, the general public more than her catastrophic injuries, was the fact that she stated she felt no anger towards this man who had caused the course of her life to redirect.

Despite initial anger and wanting to seek justice for the damage he had caused, Grace grew to believe that she had given him a second chance by saving his life. She came to the realisation that this was the life she was supposed to live; this was the course she was given to take. She forgave him. She stated that there was no point considering the ‘what ifs’ that could have prevented the situation and when she had come to terms with this, she was ready to forgive him and start the new chapter in her life.

Many of you will be wondering why she forgave this man and how she moved on with her life. The answer is disappointing I’m afraid: we will never know. The process of forgiveness is so personal only the forgiver will know when they are ready. Only they will know once they have truly forgiven.

Despite there being 62 passages

in the bible containing the word forgive and 27 with the word forgiveness in it, not a single one tells us how to do it. So, the question that needs to be asked is not so much how but why should we forgive? Forgiveness can be interpreted as a creation of peace in the present. Forgiveness is designed to set us free. It is the acknowledgement of our trauma, our acceptance, and marks a turning over of a page in our life and starting a new chapter. Now I’ve made that sound really simple, but this process can take years.

In order to forgive you have to be specific about what it is that you are forgiving, as you cannot forgive something that did not happen to you. In Judaism, the family cannot forgive murders because they were not killed, they can only forgive the pain, anguish and grief that the loss caused them.

But equally it is natural to feel rage and demand vengeance. Even this is part of the forgiveness process.

Anger is important: it is the fire that cauterises our wounds, causing them to scar over and heal. Without that heat we will never truly heal.

When we are able to forgive, we start to seek justice rather than revenge.

Now finally, we were given this gift of life, we were all put on this planet for a reason and created differently to bring a new positive dimension to life. So, without telling you what to do, I’d like to advise that you only have one life so make the most of it and don’t let tragic and unstoppable situations consume you. Forgive when you are ready: you’ll know how, and you’ll know when. Then you will have achieved the dignity of acting with justice.

In words familiar to us, in a world where you can be anything, be kind and be forgiving.

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Alexander Taylor on ‘Blessings’

When I began writing this, I struggled at first to write down our blessings as it seemed most of them were taken away from us by Covid, but now, as we are approaching the summer, it’s becoming more apparent that many small blessings are slowly returning to us. In my opinion, I think the pandemic has given me a perspective on how lucky we are to be in the position we’re in today.

So, let’s break down what a blessing actually means. In the bible, blessings take many forms: God’s promise of abundance, of healing, of mercy, justice, and peace but if we take it out of a biblical context, a blessing can be understood to be something that makes a person happy or content.

Before she died, she wrote a letter to my brothers and me, in which she wrote about how we need to make the most of every aspect of life. And now, as my College chapter is about to end, I’ve finally realised what she meant.

Blessings provide us with strength in our bad times, helping us heal from pain. Never miss a chance of helping someone, respecting them or caring about them because these souls bless us for our concern and these blessings act as our shield through hard times.

Victor Frankl, a famous Holocaust survivor, devoted his life to studying, understanding and promoting the meaning of life. His famous book, Man’s Search for Meaning, tells the story of how he survived the Holocaust by finding personal meaning in the experience, which gave him the will to live through it. I agree with him when he states, ‘Life can be made meaningful in a threefold way: first, through what we give to life… Second, by what we take from the world… And third, through the perspective we take on a future we can’t change.’ He also, wrote, ‘We must never forget that we may also find meaning in

life even when confronted with a hopeless situation, when facing a fate that cannot be changed’.

It is certain that we have all faced challenges in our lives. But I believe it is the blessings that come from those challenges which is what’s most important and what should be treasured.

I want to end this talk with a reference to my favorite movie About Time. The movie ends with a line from the time travelling protagonist Tim: ‘I just try to live every day as if I’ve deliberately come back to this one day to enjoy it as if it was the full final day of my extraordinary life.’ I think everyone should try to adopt this mindset throughout their life.

With this in consideration, I feel blessed to be giving this talk to you.

I want to urge you all to ‘live every day as if you’ve deliberately come back to it’; make the most of the opportunities you have in your years here at College because I cannot tell you how fast time really does travel in them. Don’t leave College without trying new things and branching out. But also find time to pause to appreciate the blessings College has to offer you.

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I want to start by asking everyone here in Chapel to try and think about the most important blessing you have in your life. If this Chapel service was your last, would you leave regretting any blessings you may have failed to embrace? Sadly, I am standing here today with only one week and two days left of my time at College and I knew that I needed to embrace speaking in Chapel as I would regret not taking this blessing if I hadn’t done so.

With that in mind, over the Easter holiday and at the start of this term I had more time to reflect on my own blessings and what made me truly happy and content. Whenever I contemplate the many blessings that I am fortunate enough to have, one jumps straight to the front of my mind: the fact that I had nine whole years with my mum before she died. As it was her anniversary at Easter and now that I am coming up to nine years she’s not been with us, it made me think a lot about how time really is the blessing that we are all guilty of taking for granted.

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ChatfeildRoberts Library What an extraordinary time to start my first year as College Librarian.

My first job was to create a Covid secure space that could still function as a library! The library team and I worked hard to set up an online booking system to allow pupils and staff access to the books. We also created an Upper College ‘bubble’ area providing our older students with a safe and welcoming place to study. I was so lucky to have such great people around me to guide and assist plus it is an amazing space to inherit.

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Many good things have happened this year around whole school reading, one of them being the relaunch of our Reading Diploma.

Working alongside the English Department and our Heads of Department, to increase appeal and diversity, we looked again at the book choices on the three different levels of the Reading Diploma and added a wider range

of books. We have 130 pupils and 52 staff members enrolled on the scheme. We also have a Carnegie Book Awards Shadowing Group, a Fourth Form Book Group and we welcomed Third Form into the library on a Wednesday after school for library inductions.

Our positive relationship with The Prep library continued to grow. I was honoured to be asked to be a judge for The Prep ‘500 Words’ writing competition and thoroughly enjoyed reading a wide range of stories and then meeting the winners. Our Year 8 pupils started to make lunchtime visits to spend some time in this amazing space. It has been a joy to meet the pupils and I cannot wait to work with them in the coming year.

To say that I am looking forward to this year is an understatement.

It has been a pleasure working with the wonderful team here at College and we are so looking forward to opening up our doors and welcoming as many pupils as possible, into this glorious space.

Ms Laura Jones

Cheltenham Education Partnerships

Despite the challenges of lockdown, College has continued to work in partnership with schools in the State sector. At the heart of our partnership programme is our relationship with All Saints’ Academy, Cheltenham.

In September the successful 7UP programme switched to a remote teaching programme with College teachers delivering remote extension lessons in English, Physics and Maths via Teams.

As a founding member of Cheltenham Education Partnership (CEP), College was pleased to welcome Mrs Emily Buirski as the group’s first administrator. Eleven

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A new CEP partnership project being planned for the coming year and which directly involves College, is the community orchestra.

This will bring musicians together from across Cheltenham and the intention is that the orchestra will perform its first concert in the Town Hall in the Spring of 2022. Alongside this, the Chorister scheme, which has been suspended since March 2020, will also be up and running again, and there are plans to extend links this with a new community children’s choir which will meet at College on Saturday mornings.

In the Summer Term, Mrs Sarah Enright visited Year 6 at Naunton Park Primary School to work on a theme of Japan. Looking at slides of Japanese landscape, ink drawings, photographs and maps, the pupils identified the typical features in the art work such as the mountains, water, koi carp, fishing boats, bamboo and temples. The pupils worked on reproducing these features using ink, water and a very delicate hand. Once they had mastered controlling the brush in a very sophisticated and thoughtful manner, each pupil developed their own, individual compositions. They produced some wonderful work and were beautifully focused!

Community Action At times it seemed unlikely that the Community Action Programme would run, as a large proportion of the placements were closed to visitors. Instead of getting pupils out of the ‘College bubble’ and into the community, opportunities were needed closer to school. Needless to say, the programme had to be reinvented and despite the initial hurdles, 53 Lower Sixth students and 24 Fourth Form pupils volunteered in some way.

Fourth Form Pupils undertook the Be Internet Citizens course led by Young Gloucestershire. The course covered topics such as emotional manipulation, polarisation and fake news, taught critical thinking and media literacy and encouraged young people to use their voice positively online.

As the weather improved and restrictions lifted, pupils had the

opportunity to volunteer beyond College boundaries; they were able to provide some much needed maintenance in a local churchyard and brighten up some tired benches at Cheltenham General Hospital with a lick of paint.

The last week of term saw a group of 16 pupils develop projects based around their charitable interests. In teams they planned their course of action, liaised with relevant agencies and staff to bring their projects to fruition and raised money through online giving and collections. The resourcefulness and enthusiasm of these young people has been amazing, giving them skills for life.

Activities ranged from washing cars, collecting money in the town centre, a bake sale and cycle ride around Cheltenham racecourse.

The amount raised in just FOUR days was more than £1,000 for the Cheltenham Animal Shelter and Age UK. We are truly proud of their hard work, persistence in overcoming obstacles and the satisfaction of raising money for charitable causes. Well done!

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secondary schools have now joined CEP and College’s main contribution continues to be the outreach Latin programme.

Finally, we are delighted to welcome Mrs Emma Hindle to the team as our new partnership administrator.

Dr Adam Dunning

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Lower Sixth Students’ activities have ranged from writing letters and holding virtual meetings with residents from local homes, knitting hats for premature babies, raising money to send books to the Gogar Primary School library in Kenya, helping at sports clubs in The Prep, and supporting a local charity shop.

Outdoor activities have been a large part of this year’s programme. We have a close relationship with our neighbour, Cheltenham General Hospital and were given the opportunity to develop a copse into a Forest School for nursery children of NHS staff. Under the guidance of Dr James Copeland-Jordan it proved to be a learning experience

for our students. Much thought was given to how the environment was a haven for wildlife, thus needing appropriate plants and foliage to be planted.

Similarly, Thirlestaine Park Care Home were delighted with the tubs of flowers that six of our students designed and created for their garden festival. They really did look super!

College grounds also benefitted from our pupils help, working alongside the gardeners to develop aesthetic areas for relaxation.

Third Form In Activities Week this year, the Third Form embarked on five days of

creativity, challenge and community action. In addition to days of musical theatre, Dragon’s Den and a 12-mile Cotswold walk, the pupils undertook a range of small group volunteering projects in Cheltenham organised by the amazing Mrs Sue Kilby. Pupils worked with great respect and tenacity on the following projects: clearing flowerbeds and painting fences at the Riding for Disabled centre at the racecourse; gardening at St Faith’s Nursing Home, cleaning and playing with the children at the Family Space (Oasis Centre, Hester’s Way); painting walls and benches at Cheltenham General Hospital; and conserving graves with OC David Lyle (Thirlestaine, 1972) at St Mary’s church, Prestbury. College is hugely grateful to the placement hosts,

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Team Effort Although there were only three weeks of the Spring Term when we were at school, Lower Sixth and Fourth Form worked together to create some gifts for our care homes. Daffodil posies were made for Mothering Sunday and a selection of Easter gifts delighted the residents of local care homes.

Despite the frustrations and restrictions that the pandemic has caused, it has been heart warming to see the relationships that have been forged during this time and how much it has meant to the residents of our homes and those who have appreciated our support and gifts during this time. Pupils are to be commended for their enthusiasm, resourcefulness and ‘can do’ attitude. Thank you.

Mrs Julia Hande

Societies

session on disabilities; and in the Summer Term Olivia Fisher and Anabelle Wells fronted a super session on LGBTQ+ history. Despite the limitations imposed by Covid restrictions, the wonders of Teams actually facilitated more diverse, participation across the year groups, meaning that though we are sorry to see our leading Upper Sixth members depart, there are committed members from younger year groups keen to carry the torch forward!

Miss Jane Brodigan

Pride Society This year we launched College’s first ever Pride and Allies Society to educate and inspire the College community with talks and discussions on LGBTQ+ culture within College and in the wider world. The reception of our fledgling group was incredible and important discussions were had about LGBTQ+

icons, art, representation and history as well as conversations about our own school culture. This society is hugely important as it allows pupils to be surrounded by likeminded and accepting people while learning about the paramount importance of events like the Stonewall riots and the legislation allowing same sex marriage. In our first year we held four Upper Sixth meetings at which a number of different students led discussions and later in the year, we led individual Lower Sixth and Fifth Form meetings where we discussed the hopes and goals for the LGBTQ+ community at College.

This society is incredibly important as its presence alone demonstrates that LGBTQ+ pupils are not alone and, if they choose to, they can become part of an accepting and diverse community in Pride Soc and College at large.

Anabelle Wells

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accompanying staff and Mrs Sue Kilby for facilitating this fantastic opportunity for the pupils.

In our continued commitment towards an ever more inclusive College community, two important societies were launched this year:

Diversity Society Diversity comes in many forms: gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, age, culture, socioeconomic background, neurological and physical and all of these contribute to an individual’s unique experience of the world.

Diversity Soc was founded to provide a forum to consider and nurture diversity at College. In the Autumn Term, Dunyia Banda and Wanjiru Kariuki led a thoughtprovoking session on unconscious bias; in the Spring Term to mark the 25th anniversary of the passing of the Disability Discrimination Act, El Charles-Jones led an important

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Seeing everyone in our books

The library is full of fantastically diverse stories, so please email library.staff@cheltenhamcollege.org for more ideas or use our library online catalogue Access-IT to reserve a copy https://uk.accessit.online/chl00/#!landingPage

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ASHMEAD exciting, and competitive, of all events was the annual House ping pong tournament.

Ashmead Connected

House Events Whilst we spent a lot of time away from school this year, we really made the most of our time in House through various activities.

There could often be a puzzle in progress found in the foyer and we have enjoyed a number of House barbeques. Other events included a Halloween party, pumpkin carving evening and meeting up with other Houses. Finally, the most

Ashmead has always been a well-connected House across the different year groups and we tried our best to continue this throughout online learning. We did weekly House Family meetings via Teams, which were great fun and helped the Third Form to get to know some of the older girls and every Friday we had online tea with Matron, Miss Taylor. Finally, a huge thank you goes to Mrs Leach with whom we had weekly year group calls and Saturday night activities, such as Sixth Form drinks, via Teams.

Charity Despite the unusual year, we have continued to support our chosen House charity, Winston’s Wish. This is a charity dedicated to the support of grieving children. We raised approximately £1,300 through House sweet shops and the completion of a 5km challenge during lockdown.

The girls also all came together to create 500 memory boxes which help the children to write down the memories they have of their loved ones and keep them in a safe place.

Academic Ashmead is a House full of determination and this has most definitely been demonstrated over the past year, despite lockdowns

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an elite residential course of 54 participants, hand-picked from all the entrants.

Sport Despite sporting events having some cancellations due to Covid, Ashmead girls have still managed to bring home some amazing wins.

There were excellent successes for our equestrians: Zennor Harvey, competed at the Bradwall Horse Trials and dressage at Radfords Equestrian; and Katie Baker who won the eventing at Hickstead.

Evie Poulain was also successful in getting sponsored for her karting events, competing at two race weekends in the British Kart Championship grids. And of course, we mustn’t forget, our Third Form bringing Ashmead a win in the swimming House pots, however it is always the optimistic spirit and laughter that wins overall in Ashmead!

Drama and Music Despite being behind screens and rehearsing online, Ashmead’s spirit for song and dance has certainly not faded. Whether it be loud music sung down the corridors, or a filmed production of High School Musical, featuring Ashmead’s own Edie Doherty, creativity is ever flowing.

This year, awards for music and drama have been awarded to the following: Sophie Fowler receiving Half Colours for music; Tamsin Uglow receiving a drama Exhibition

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and online learning. Academic Half Colours were awarded to Amber Hoodless, Yoyo Fong, Adity Nawal, Lily Sutton, Flora Fletcher and Megan Dowd. Academic Full Colours were given to Jessica Pulford, Lara Scudamore and Sophie Fowler. We also welcomed some new academic talents to Ashmead this year with Ellen Banks gaining an academic exhibition into Third Form. We are hugely proud of Fourth Form’s Alexa Xiao, who not only scored very close to full marks in the Maths UKTM Intermediate paper but who also came fifth out of 7,200 entrants in this year’s Cambridge Chemistry Challenge, C3L6, which is designed for students studying A Level Chemistry! Alexa was awarded the highly prestigious top Roentgenium award, above a Gold award, and she is the first pupil in College’s history to achieve this accolade! Alexa has subsequently been invited to St Catherine’s College, Cambridge to attend

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into Sixth Form. This coming year Ashmead will certainly look forward to seeing our ‘apples’ back on stage and in full swing in the music rooms!

Farewells This year we say goodbye to our wonderful Upper Sixth. Despite their small year group, they never failed to bring our whole House together. Flora Fletcher has been an inspiring Head of House helping everyone through this strange year, with the help of Tomiris Marabayeva and Bluebell Clayton as incredibly supportive Deputy Heads of House and Emer Hughes who has been amazing at looking after the Third Form. We also want to thank all

the Prefects for all they did to look after us especially in the past year, online and in House. We also say a sad goodbye to Zennor Harvey and Nilsu Eris from the Fifth Form who are leaving for Millfield School and the International School of Creative Arts in London respectively and to Paula Haase, from the Lower Sixth, who is returning to Germany.

House Editors: Lara Scudamore, Georgina Raphael and Tamsin Uglow

ARCHIVE SNIPPET Friday 13th has a poor press but it was on this day in 2000 that Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal officially opened Ashmead. The royal visit also included the presentation of Colours to the Cheltenham College Combined Cadet Force.

Speech Day Prizes: Lower College Attainment: Flora Scurr, Alexa Xiao Endeavour: Bella Christie, Min Fletcher, Lily Nicholson HOUSES

Wilson Diploma (Gold): Izzy Bidwell, Edie Doherty

Upper College Endeavour: Paula Haase Subject Prizes: Tanner Biology: Lara Scudamore Chemistry: Jessica Pulford Extended Project Qualification: Sophie Fowler

Cheltonian Endowment Trust Prizes: Classical Civilisation: Emer Hughes Science: Adity Nawal Duleepsinhji Cup: Flora Fletcher Head’s Award for Outstanding Commitment: El Charles-Jones

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Where are they now?

Bella Barber (A, 2019) What is your best memory of Ashmead?

Spending five years in Ashmead and growing up with 12 other girls in my year group, there were many brilliant, emotional and hilarious moments. On my first day, a new Ashmead friend slipped on a banana in the dining room. We have never let her forget about the banana peel incident; it set the tone for the next five years as we pulled her up off the floor. All memories combined, what has stuck with me is how we learned to champion each other through everything, be it House pots or doing a nailbiting Chapel talk. It was inspiring and exciting having your friends empowering you like that.

What have you been doing since leaving College?

Two years after leaving College, I have spent a total of six months in Africa volunteering in schools and

travelling in Kenya and Tanzania.

Back in the UK for the summer, I see my College friends a lot and I’m very excited about heading on to my next adventure at the University of St Andrews.

What is your best memory of Ashmead?

It’s difficult to triumph one moment from the five vibrant years I spent in Ashmead. However, much to the dismay of the staff, playing ‘Apple Tennis’ in the corridors when we were meant to be revising made us laugh until we cried. Although the clean-up afterwards was arduous...

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What have you been doing since leaving College?

Embarking on a gap year, I trained to become a chef and put those skills to work with a ski season in Tignes. Just as I was falling in love with the seasonaire’s lifestyle, Covid struck and I was evacuated by the French Army, thus destroying successive travel plans with some of my Ashmead family. Nonetheless, having boarded since the age of eight, it was marvellous to spend this time with family and nourish my entrepreneurial streak making jewellery and upcycling garden furniture. I now study Management and Marketing at the University of Newcastle, with hopes to subsequently enter the journalistic world.

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Romilly Bodington (A, 2019)

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BOYNE HOUSE challenged one member of each year group, who had previously triumphed among the rest of their year to play. To the House’s surprise, Mr Penny won the championship, but Ferdie Borchardt managed to come a close second.

Boyne House Connected House Events The annual pool tournament proved popular once again and while there were some close games played, Charlie Davison defeated Guy Thomas in the final. Over the year, Mr Penny introduced the game of Molkky to the House.

Molkky is a Finnish throwing game that the boys played regularly on weekends throughout the year. Recently, the first Molkky championship took place. Mr Penny

Over the final lockdown period, Mr Penny initiated the Boyne House Bingo Challenge. The event included a range of tasks that challenged the boys to get active in the outdoors, complete random acts of kindness, and volunteer to benefit others. A few examples included cooking a three-course meal for families, writing a letter to a relative or completing 30 minutes of yoga. While this year’s Six Nations tournament took place, the boys competed against one another

in a fantasy league. It came down to the final round, but William Blowers managed to win the league, potentially due to his overload of players from Exeter Chiefs. To add an element of competitiveness to exercise throughout lockdown, the boys competed against each other at running, cycling and swimming.

Finn Tweedie ran a 3km time of 10 minutes and 23 seconds during a virtual cross-country event against Bradfield College.

Charity To fundraise for the James Hopkins Trust, our adopted House charity, the boys completed #Challenge10.

The House raised £6,605. Despite the Third and Fourth Forms isolating at home, every boy committed to challenging themselves for 10 consecutive days. To name a few

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of the challenges adopted by individuals: 1,114 km were run and 732 km cycled, 42,300 press-ups pressed and 11,500 squats squatted, while 100 chess games were played.

The challenge encouraged the House to develop their commitment and self-ownership. A highlight of the challenge was definitely seeing the staff wearing fancy dress while running around College Field to celebrate reaching the £2,500 milestone. Continuing on the theme of charity, to raise money for The Brain Tumour Charity, David Gamble trekked from Cheltenham to Plymouth. David walked over 275km and raised a staggering £1,798.

Sport Charlie Davison took part in the Alred Trophy School of Kicking competition. The competition invited some of the most talented upcoming rugby players in Great Britain and Ireland to demonstrate their kicking ability against one another. Luke Wiles played alongside some of the most famous polo players in the world for the Segavas team in the Cartier Queen’s Cup, the pinnacle of British polo.

Luke’s handicap progressed to four goals, a testament to his successful season. Whilst competitive College sport has been limited, we did manage some cricket matches at the end of the season with the

Speech Day Prizes: Lower College Endeavour: Rory Stevens, Tom Min, Tash Munjanganja Wilson Diploma (Gold): Jamie Edmonston

Subject Prizes: Politics: Conor Calvert

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Upper College

Cheltonian Endowment Trust Prizes: Duleepsinhji Cup: Charlie Davison John Bowes Cup: Charlie Heardman Head’s Outstanding Award for Commitment: Rory Southall Marcan Prize for Music: Carson Mak The Cheltonian Prize for Deputy Heads of School: Edward Calder

Shield Winners!

We are proud to say that the Upper College boys also won The Marsden shield; to recognise Upper College academic achievement in a boys’ House!

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Upper Sixth featuring heavily in the 1st XI, and William Blowers taking five wickets against Rugby School.

CCF Boyne House has continued to remain heavily involved with the CCF. This year’s Sword of Honour parade demonstrated the continued achievement of those who participate in the CCF. Edward Calder was awarded the Rifles Silver Bugle for an Upper College Rifleman who has ‘done everything that is necessary and nothing that is not’.

Ferdie Borchardt received the Nelson Bust for an Upper College Navy Cadet for showing both leadership and dedication to the Naval Section

and CCF. Both Edward Calder and Rory Southall received AOSB (Army Officer Selection) certificate passes, which pays tribute to their commitment to CCF over the years.

Music Various pupils across the years have performed in lunchtime concerts.

Standout performances included George Davies playing the violin, Josh Yang playing the clarinet and Milan Thapar playing the guitar.

Farewells To misquote Oscar Wilde ‘To lose one Resident Tutor is a misfortune, to lose two looks like carelessness’.

Mr Kemp and Mrs Brooke have worked exceptionally hard this year to keep House spirits high despite the constraints of Covid bubbles and the dislocation of lockdown. Some of the essential skills not included in the resident tutor job description, include cooking sausages, writing quizzes, keeping House clans

motivated, running around College Field dressed as a duck and spending much of the year smelling of fire pit smoke. Their energy, effort and enthusiasm have been crucial for gluing the House together, and while they will remain part of the Boyne House tutor team they will be moving out over the summer.

Also leaving is Dr Markham who is re-locating to Reading. He has been a Third Form Tutor and has worked incredibly hard to help the new boys settle in, whilst also recruiting hard for the rowing squad! His sense of humour and flexibility have been invaluable in this disrupted year and we wish him all the best. Sweep The Shed. Our Upper Sixth have taken the disruption in their stride and have always found time to help the younger years and to bring Boyne House back together as a cohesive, hardworking and fun team.I wish the best to all those leaving us this year and look forward to the coming year with great expectation.

House Editor: George Tomblin

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Where are they now?

Fernando Capelastegui (BH, 2016) What is your best memory of Boyne House?

Highlights include House pots and all the outdoor sporting challenges on offer thanks to the adventurous spirits of my Housemasters and Tutors! Undoubtably my best memories of Boyne all revolve around funny stories and moments we shared – times like these do make you cherish the days all your friends lived on the same corridor as you!

What have you been doing since leaving College?

Post College, I studied a BSc in Biology at the University of Bristol, where I stayed to complete an MSc in Epidemiology, by chance training

and graduating in the midst of wave one of the pandemic. Consequently, I have been working at Public Health England for the last year as an epidemiology scientist within the national epidemiology cell. It is

certainly not where I had imagined beginning a career, though being at the heart of the national response has been an incredible opportunity albeit fast paced and ever changing.

games of goals and pool. It was all great fun and really brought everyone, pupils and staff, together.

Also singing in Chapel was fantastic, especially when everyone was really getting into the College favourites!

What have you been doing since leaving College?

What is your best memory of Boyne House?

Some of my favourite memories would have to be the activities we would do in the evenings and on weekends, from Superstars to

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I studied Economics at the University of Warwick. Shortly after graduating in 2020, I began work in high-frequency trading as an options market-maker. More recently, I have been working for a firm called Onyx Commodities as a trader on a team market-making naphtha and gasoline derivatives.

Companies involved in the physical commodities market trade in the derivatives market to manage their risks and their cash flows, whilst we at Onyx trade the contracts available in the derivatives market, in doing so providing liquidity and fairer prices.

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Alex Thorpe (BH, 2017)

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CHANDOS

House Events Despite Covid a huge effort was made

by Mrs Poulain and the House team to keep the House spirit up allowing

girls from all over the world to take part. Over an early in-House weekend Mrs Poulain arranged for an inflatable disco dome for us on Saturday night and on the Sunday we had bungee jumping come to College just for Chandos. It was the perfect way to get to know girls in other years.

Everyone was in and the House was full of laughter and chatter, with girls from the top of House socialising with the younger years as well as their own.

With s’mores and firepit fun, there were smiles on everyone’s faces.

Chandos Connected Over lockdown and online learning, Chandos managed to stay connected through a variety of activities which helped us maintain our House spirt across the globe.

Activities included our weekly catch ups with Mrs Poulain and Mrs Edgington, our fortnightly catch ups with our House families and special international catch ups to accommodate those in different time zones. There were several fun

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Charity For our House charity we decided to raise money for the Gloucestershire Rape and Sexual Assault Centre, through collecting funds to climb Mount Everest in stairs. We were so proud to accumulate the sizeable amount of £2,067.

Academic Among some of the triumphs from this year we had eight girls from the Upper Sixth, three girls from

the Lower Sixth, two girls from Fifth Form and one from Fourth Form who all received their academic Half Colours, as well as Minette Tombleson receiving her Full Colours. Lucy Makin was the only Fourth Form to receive their Half Colours this year; an outstanding achievement demonstrating her amazing hard work and dedication.

Sport Chandos girls are known for their astounding commitment to sport and this year we celebrate many sporting successes within the House. Tilly Wood has continued to dedicate her time to elite level hockey even through lockdown where she attended weekly sessions on Teams. Brilliantly, she has been promoted to the U18s for Wales. Bhavishya Gem was promoted to 1st XI goalie for College as well as Ladies 3rd XI for Cheltenham Hockey Club. Horse riding continues to be a passion for the girls in House this year. Mahony

Speech Day Prizes: Lower College Attainment: Cindy Endeavour: Iona Davies, Lucy Makin FPQ Prize: Lucy Makin

Upper College Endeavour: Katariina Visnap, Fionnuala Dowling-Membrado

Subject Prizes: Art: Molly Krauer Art History: Iona Hutton

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events on Teams, such as baking cupcakes and virtual escape rooms.

The costumes from the murder mystery rooms left us rolling around in laughter and even more excited to return to House. Last but not least, we celebrated birthdays online, blew out candles, sang ‘Happy Birthday’ and celebrated together. While the online experience did not dampen our House spirit, we were all very glad to be back in person!

Business: Avani Singhania Music: Annie Finan Psychology: Immy Curtis Anthony James Art: Lala Krairit Allen Divinity: Robin Wang

Cheltonian Endowment Trust Prizes: Music: Emily Wang Spanish: Fionnuala Dowling-Membrado Theatre Studies: Frankie Pinchard The Adams prize: Poppy Williams Marcan Prize for Music: Annie Finan The Bateman-Champain Prize for Heads of School: Frankie Pinchard

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Knight came first at Solihull Open Novice U18 (ONU18), Daisy White came second in the Southwest Championship and Ibble Watson won at the Burnham Market ONU18 and went on to compete at the National British Eventing championships. Moving on to racket sports, our head of House Fionnuala Dowling-Membrado continued to show her devotion to tennis, rackets and squash.

Huge congratulations go to her as captain of rackets and for receiving her tennis Full Colours. Additionally, Beatrice Cornwall was hugely successful in rackets and became a mixed doubles winner. Annie Finan received her tennis Half Colours and Annaliese Goff received her hockey Half Colours. We are proud to say that we have many cricketers in Chandos including Alice Dawson, Daisy White, Sophie Wood, Erin Darbin and Delphi Hazell. Aemelia Chivers, Grace Chapman and Poppy Williams were aiming to complete their Gold DofE Gold Award.

Drama and Music Chandos girls have stayed committed to music and drama despite the different circumstances and challenges. In music, Thea Moskob, Claudia Norbury, Marnie Davies and Erin Darbin have regularly participated in lunchtime concerts on Fridays both virtually and in person, with their performances recorded and shared across the College platform. Kimmy Kwok played as a violin soloist accompanied by the college orchestra. Music Half Colours were awarded to Catherine Gedney and music Full Colours were awarded to Renee Cheung. In drama, Frankie Pinchard took part in the production of the Scholar’s Play Foxfinder, whilst Catherine Gedney and Rosie Hattam were involved in High School Musical with Catherine taking a leading role.

The girls have stayed dedicated and worked endlessly – participating in endless online rehearsals and performances to ensure a flawless production. Finally, congratulations

go to Frankie Pinchard, who received her Drama blazer for her superb commitment throughout her time at college.

Farewells Sadly, at the end of every school year the time comes when we say our goodbyes to members of the Chandos community. This year we have three members of staff leaving: Mr Kydd, Miss Langford Powell and Ms Meyer. All three brought so much to the House, and will be missed by the whole of Chandos and we wish them all the best for their next journey. Finally, we say goodbye to our Upper Sixth. They have always made an effort to check up on us and show us the roots of College. They will be thoroughly missed, and we hope they will stay in close contact and come back to visit soon.

House Editors: Avani Singhania, Emma Donaldson, Josie Grounds, Willa Cook, Renee Cheung

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Where are they now?

Ellen Arthur (Ch, 2013) What is your best memory of Chandos?

House Singing, even though I’m an awful singer. Everyone had to be involved, regardless of their musical capabilities. In Upper Sixth we chose the unconventional but absolute classic punk hit ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ by Wheatus. After lengthy, sometimes disastrous, practices and last-minute comments from Mr Busbrigde (‘it will either be great or a disaster’), in Chapel we bellowed out ‘I’m just a teenage dirtbag baby.’ The judges said it was great but too unorthodox for Chapel – we were robbed!

I studied History of Art and French at the University of Edinburgh, with a year abroad in Paris studying

at the Louvre and interning at Christie’s. I left university wanting to track down stolen and looted art, which I pursued with an internship at the Art Loss Register. As engaging

as this was, I loved the buzz of auctions. I applied for a graduate scheme at Sotheby’s, which led to a permanent position in the Old Master Paintings Department where I have been for the last two years.

Clementine Hickman (Ch, 2013) What is your best memory of Chandos?

My fondest memory has to be the Matron’s office. Our Matrons were kind, caring and, when need be, stern – the best type! The moment you

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stepped through the front door, you could hear peals of laughter radiating from the office, which was always filled to the brim with Chandos girls talking about their days, the things that they had learned, and what was on the lunch menu.

What have you been doing since leaving College?

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What have you been doing since leaving College?

I chose to take a gap year after leaving Cheltenham College to work and travel. On my return, I took up a place at the University of Exeter to study English Literature. I continued to work abroad during university holidays, concentrating on marine conservation efforts in light of the impact of global warming on the world’s barrier reefs. After graduating, I was lucky enough to be offered a legal training contract at a London law firm. I converted my studies by way of a Graduate Diploma in Law, followed by a Commercial Legal Practice Course and a Masters in Law and Business.

I have since concluded my twoyear training contract and am now a qualified solicitor specialising in contentious trusts and estates.

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CHRISTOWE

House Events Our fellow Boyceites have continued to persevere through this incredibly tough year while upholding the Christowe spirit through numerous House activities both in House as well as online when lockdowns thwarted the return of pupils to College. One of the novel activities that Christowe carried out during the Autumn Term were pasta evenings between different year

groups. Moreover, Upper College students saw the establishment of the Christowe Arms Pub with an array of quizzes, games and refreshments on its first night in service. Throughout the duration of the Spring Term, Christowe stayed connected online using creative means such as organising the Christowe Strava and trick-shot challenges to keep the boys active.

Furthermore, English rugby player Danny Cipriani paid an online visit to Boyceites to deliver an enlightening talk about his experiences dealing with mental health.

Charity The House charity was Teenagers in Crisis (TIC), which aims to support the well-being of children and young people in Gloucestershire.

We organised a range of fundraising events which included a table tennis competition led by Simon Oates and William Hechle. With all the boys and staff taking part, a healthy sum of money was raised.

In addition, our Head of House Stanley Mok, contributed to the charity through the design and sale of Christowe beanies. Resident Tutor Miss Lochhead coordinated the Real Men Meditate Challenge which focused on mindfulness, raising a total of £100 and, more importantly, resulting in Boyceites completing many hours of restorative meditation during the most recent lockdown.

Academic Christowe has yet again had a strong academic year. Boyceite and Head Boy, Sebastian Cornwell,

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Sport The admirable and broad sporting success of Christowe has once again continued. Simon Oates received his Full Colours in rugby and Half Colours in hockey. William

Hechle was awarded Full Colours in rackets, Marco Colombo received Full Colours in basketball and Nikita Vashchenko was awarded Full Colours in rowing. Further sporting awards included Isaac Wong’s badminton Half Colours, William Yang’s Half Colours for basketball and Sebastian Cornwell’s Half Colours for rugby. Frankie Walker should also be warmly congratulated for being selected for the Gloucester Academy U16 Squad.

CCF Boyceites held a number of key leadership positions in CCF this year with Simon Oates as Head of Corps and Charlie as Deputy Head of Army. James Futers was awarded the Outstanding Fifth Form Cadet Award at the Sword of Honour Parade at the start of the Summer Term.

category. Stanley was awarded his music Full Colours in recognition of all of his outstanding contributions to College music over the last five years. Jasper Chiang claimed first place in the College Instrumental competition and was awarded his Music blazer in the Autumn Term

Speech Day Prizes: Lower College

Drama and Music

Attainment: Jerry Jiang, Brad Leung

Due to social restrictions related to the pandemic, Christowe was regrettably unable to demonstrate its musical prowess through the annual House Singing competition.

However, this was made up for with Stanley Mok’s participation in the College Singing Competition in which he competed against 50 participants, winning the pop

Endeavour: William Donaldson FPQ Prize: Oliver Shannon

Subject Prizes:

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received an offer from Trinity College Cambridge to read History.

Jasper Chiang became one of the founders and President of the newly established Cheltenham College Investment Society. In Lower College, Tor Allan (academic), Ed Reed-Daunter (sport), Toby Wickett (music) and Randeep Grewal (sport) were awarded their scholars’ ties when they joined College at the beginning of the Autumn Term.

Ronald Tse was awarded his academic Half Colours.

Design (Resistant Materials): Austin Taroey Rea English Literature: Rory Maddinson Tanner Biology: Simon Oates Ronald Guthrie Bedford History: Sebastian Cornwell

Cheltonian Endowment Trust Prizes: Design (Resistant Materials): Tom Buxton Army Leadership: Simon Oates Head’s Award for Outstanding Commitment: Stanley Mok The Bateman-Champain Prize for Heads of School: Sebastian Cornwell

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for his exceptional contributions to Music at College since his arrival in the Third Form, regularly performing in JIG, orchestra and Jazz Band. This year Toby Wickett, Stanley Mok, William Hechle, Henry Green also performed in JIG. Additionally, Jasper Chiang and Toby Wickett performed in Friday Lunchtime Concerts.

Farewells We say farewell to an outstanding group of Upper Sixth students who, in difficult circumstances, have gave their all to the House. Led by Stanley Mok as Head of House, they have fully personified the true Boyceite

spirit and they should be warmly applauded for their character, good humour and full commitment to both House and College life. Thanks must also go to the House staff for their unrelenting efforts over the past year. We say a fond farewell and good luck to long standing Tutor Mr Stubbert who moves on to exciting new challenges. We are thoroughly looking forward to a more ‘normal’ school year in the coming year and the continued rich and varied engagement of Boyceites across the whole spectrum of College life. Nil Desperandum!

ARCHIVE SNIPPET Before today’s Christowe was built, the House was based in The Priory (18471866) in Priory Street. The original house has since been demolished

House Editors: Jasper Chiang and Ronald Tse

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Where are they now?

Denis Antonov (Xt, 2019) What is your best memory of Christowe?

My five years in Christowe were full of great memories.

If I had to pick the best one it would have to be the Christowe Charity Polo Day in 2017. It was a great event which brought the whole House together whilst also raising money for charity.

What have you been doing since leaving College?

When I left College, I took a gap year and began working in the financial sector in London, as the first step to establishing a career in the field. Since then, I have started a Fintech company based in London and Guernsey, specialising in international payments with another OC from Christowe, Augustus Roberts (Xt, 2018). Alongside this I have also been attending Royal Holloway University in London and I have so far completed my first year.

What is your best memory of Christowe?

I have so many good memories from Christowe it’s difficult to choose. One that tops them all has to be conducting the House Singing in Chapel in front of the whole school. All dressed as one and seeing all our hard work pay off. It was thrilling and I was very proud.

What have you been doing since leaving College?

After College, I took a year off. I worked as a gap student at my prep school, Pinewood, for six months, then I

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went out to North America to play and coach rackets – a sport I captained at College. I spent a month in the US travelling and playing in tournaments such as the US Open in Boston, then two months as a Fellow in Montreal where I coached whilst living with members.

In September 2019, I started at the University of Manchester studying International Business, Finance and Economics. I play squash for the 2nd team and have continued my rackets and real tennis at the Manchester Tennis and Racquet Club.

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Theo Taylor (Xt, 2018)

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COLLEGE LAWN bouncy castle for the day and the Fifth Form each invited friends from other Houses for sleepovers, rounders and BBQs.

College Lawn Connected House Events

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Although we spent much of this year online, College Lawn has still been able to organise lots of fun events which the whole House has really enjoyed. The Third Form settled into their new House really well taking part in making Eton mess (a College Lawn Third Form tradition), tie dying, rounders, mug painting and so much more. We also had a wood-fired pizza van visit College Lawn a couple of times which was very popular! In the Summer Term we also hired a

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During the remote learning period, various year groups from College Lawn baked cookies, learned to cook spaghetti Bolognese, had a movie night, a DIY face mask night, a scavenger hunt, breakfast catch-ups and lots of online games events.

Charity This year we adopted Cheltenham Open Door as our House charity.

This charity was very important over the lockdown period, delivering food and warm clothing to people where needed; the House has been very proud to support them.

Towards the end of the Autumn Term, College Lawn made the most out of being in lockdown by running a 20-day Open Up

Lockdown Challenge. This involved the whole House participating in a different activity every day, counting down the final 20 days of the lockdown, including: do a plank for one minute, learn to play a card game, and learn ‘please and thank you’ in 10 different languages.

The girls learned lots of new skills as well as raising £675! Open Door asked for Easter egg donations to go into food packages over Easter and, between the whole House, we donated the money to buy 72 Easter eggs. In the Summer Term as an activity in House the Third and Fourth Form girls learned how to make jewellery which they then sold to other Houses and parents.

Molly Standen-McDougal also raised money for the Oscar Foundation outside of school, running 5km every day in February and raising £800. Well done, Molly!

Drama, Music and Art College Lawn girls have had another strong year taking part in a wide range of activities across the year. Donna French gained a

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Sport Members of College Lawn have performed exceptionally well in a range of sports this year, showing great levels of commitment. Lower College showed their efforts in the swimming gala, gaining a triumphant last place while demonstrating the team work, grit and good sportsmanship that makes them true winners! Melissa Watson entered Third Form with a sports scholarship and made the

girls’ county development cricket squad for U15s; we are all keen to see her progress even further along her sporting journey. Upper College have also exhibited a range of achievements, with particular highlights being Gabriella Bifulco achieving her hockey Half Colours and Maria Cowing her rowing Full Colours. Indeed, in the Summer Term Maria competed in a single scull at the National Schools Regatta at Dorney Lake, gaining a very creditable 26th place. Dina was highly successful with her swimming competing at the Serbian National Championships and the Serbian International Open Championships where she gained a number of very impressive results; Dina has been awarded her Full Colours, too.

Academic We have an incredible number of individual achievements to celebrate. Academic Half Colours have been awarded to Olivia NegusCole, Gabriella Bifulco, Charlie Chu, Chloe Manggunio, Isobelle Mace,

and Samantha Wan. Victoria Chan received Full Colours. We also congratulate Charlie Chu, Nina Allan, and Serena Zhang whose Sixth Form academic exhibitions were converted to scholarships in light of their GCSE results. We have also had particular success in the UKMT Maths Challenge this year. Melissa Watson gained a Bronze Award and Serena Zhang a remarkable Gold Award, which is only awarded to the top seven percent of participants.

Congratulations to Melissa Watson for her Lord Hereford academic scholarship to College. Louise James also deserves a special mention for her entry into the Fifth Form essay prize, for which she was highly commended.

Speech Day Prizes:

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drama scholarship for Sixth Form, while Charlie Chu and Nina Allan both received art scholarships.

The College Singing Competition saw two College Lawn girls in its semi finals: Melissa Watson in the classical category and Samantha Wan in the musical theatre category.

Both Donna French and Charlie Chu performed incredibly well in the online production of High School Musical, with Donna playing one of the leads, Sharpay. We also want to congratulate Stephanie Lau, who received a Merit in her ARSM diploma!

Lower College Attainment: Melissa Watson, Eleanor Weston, Ruby Coull Endeavour: Xanthe Harris, Isobelle Mace

Upper College Endeavour: Stephanie Lau

Subject Prizes: Classical Civilisation: Olivia Negus-Cole Theatre Studies: Louise James

Shield Winners!

We are also proud to say that our Lower College girls also won The Robertson shield for girls’ House academic achievement.

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Farewells This year sees us bid goodbye to far too many members of College Lawn. We were sad to lose Molly Prothero, a founding member of the Third Form, to Ashmead; we wish her the very best in her future at College. We send our best wishes and good luck to Mrs Baker who went on maternity leave. The year saw our first homegrown leavers who, since the opening of the House in September 2017, have been the bedrock of the boarding

community in House. They have thrown themselves into every aspect of school life with incredible academic success in GCSEs, drama, sport and music, and have been an all-round joy. We will miss each and every one of them, particularly our Head of House Stephanie Lau’s pure happiness and confident leadership, our Deputy Head of House Julia Gellere’s never-ending stories, Chloe Manggunio’s unmissable fashion advice, Victoria Chan’s constant motivation to study, Abby Wong’s

impeccable food taste, Joyce Lam’s hilarious one-liners, Samantha Wan’s contagious smile, and Dina’s sporting prowess. College Lawn is incredibly grateful for all the contributions they have made.

They have shaped College Lawn into the House that it is today, and their traditions will continue for years to come.

House Editors: Gabriella Bifulco and Louise James

College Lawn Extension From its inception, the plan has always been for College Lawn to accommodate 70 girls. The summer of 2021 saw the final phase of building work begin to realise this plan. The additional space comprises a second common room, offices for the Housemistress

and Matron, 16 en-suite bedrooms, Housemistress family accommodation and an additional floor of dorm rooms in College Lawn 1. The outside space will be remodelled too, with the new Common Room leading directly on to a courtyard.

The extension is due to open in September 2022. We are hugely excited that in its sixth year of existence, College Lawn will no longer be the ‘baby’ of the girls’ Houses; we cannot wait to take occupation and see the house at full capacity.

1.

This drawing and content is copyright © of coombes : everitt architects limited and should not be copied without their prior writtten consent.

2.

Do not scale drawing. all dimensions to be checked on site prior to construction and any discrepancies reported to contract administrator .

3.

Do not use this drawing for setting out unless drawing specifically indicates setting out points.

4.

Engineering information is indicative only and should be taken from structural engineers design.

Caduceus House

Preliminary

Nos 1-3 Argyll Mews

1 College Lawn

Nos 4-5 Argyll Mews

2 College Lawn

Feasibility

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Planning Building Regulations Tender Construction issue As Built

Sandford Road

New single-storey link

COLLEGE LAWN ELEVATION

Drawing title: PHASE 4 - AXOS & ELEVATIONS

Project: NEW BOARDING HOUSE, COLLEGE LAWN Scale:

1 : 100

Date:

21/10/19

Client:

CHELTENHAM COLLEGE

Drawn by:

KMLT

Checked:

KMLT

Project & Drawing Nos. :19.70.002-PL11.D

coombes : everitt architects limited 105-107 Bath Road Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL53 7LE

Chartered Practice

t: 01242 807727 f: 0845 5575833 e: info@ce-architects.co.uk www.ce-architects.co.uk

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AXONOMETRIC 2

coombes : everitt architects

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Where are they now?

Olivia Attwood (CL, 2020) What is your best memory of College Lawn?

My favourite memory is easily landing the lead role in the House play and performing with a lot of people in the House during my first term at College.

What have you been doing since leaving College?

I have been studying acting in London and doing as many theatrical performances that I could get my hands on during the pandemic.

Iona Brockie (CL, 2020) What is your best memory of College Lawn?

Definitely when we won House Music and were all celebrating afterwards – that was probably my best day at College.

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What have you been doing since leaving College?

I’ve been quite busy. I went to university in September and spent two months in St Andrews before coming home to study online. In January, I got a job as a Flexible Support Worker in Derriford Hospital to help with Covid. I started off in theatres then moved on to work as admin and a ward runner in the Covid wards. Since the end of February I have worked in the Emergency Department while finishing off my first year of uni. Now I’m focusing on earning my Care Certificate and getting my driving licence.

Imogen Jones (CL, 2020) What is your best memory of College Lawn?

There are too many to choose! Championing House Singing has got to be up there but I would say the little laughs and giggles. Becky and Dina giving me some mindfulness tips before my driving test and then the celebration afterwards is something that sticks out in my mind – nothing beats a clawn cuppa! I will always be grateful to Mrs Wintle for making me feel so at home from day one.

What have you been doing since leaving College?

Since leaving College I’ve completed my UAL foundation alongside working four jobs – computer coding, waitressing, social media management and Airbnb cleaning. I have also had an internship with the sustainability advocates Vin and Omi and while deferring London College of Fashion I have accepted a scholarship to go to Paris on an intensive fashion course. The buzz I got from stepping into Mrs Naish’s textiles room for the first time hasn’t left me and I can’t wait to get to Paris! This photo is of a top I made recycling my grandad’s old shirts.

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HAZELWELL pursuit of success, whilst continuing to uphold the ‘Spirit of the Dragon’ across all areas of College life.

Charity

Hazelwell Connected To say that it has been a unique and challenging year is an understatement. With Covid restrictions and pupils not being able to return for the Spring Term, the traditional whole-house events were side-lined and replaced by ‘bubble events’, Zoom quizzes, online bake-offs, Strava challenges and ‘franchise sport’. But, as ever, the boys of Hazelwell showed real resilience and ambition in their

Throughout the pandemic we continued to fundraise for St Michael’s Cornerstone Trust. At the end of the Autumn Term, we volunteered to paint and decorate the walls of the Cornerstone centre in preparation for Christmas. In two days of hard work we made a stunning impact on the community centre, saving the charity more than £2,000 in materials and manpower.

This was not just a financial gift but a gesture that showed our continued commitment to our local community even in the toughest of times. The most memorable and challenging part of the charity this

year was to continue our effort in fundraising during the lockdown.

Under the leadership of the Prefect team and Mr Hayes we organised a charity dinner at home where boys cooked for their families. With the immense support of wider Hazelwell community we raised over £1,500.

Academic Academic studies remain a significant focus in Hazelwell and our learning has gone beyond the (remote) classroom. Greenites continued to take the initiative to challenge their curiosity. Deputy Head of House and Chairman of the Opposition at the Morley Society, Thomas White led by example, paving the way for the likes of Phil Brodzik, Elliot Donnellan-Pasos, Fin Wellstead, Hoochang Yi and Bryan

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Sport Despite the lack of College fixtures, sport has remained at the heart of the House. The Autumn Term saw the rugby sides fall short for the second season, losing out narrowly in both Senior finals of House pots.

Tom Riman and Will Gilderson have been selected to represent Gloucester Rugby Academy, but both missed out on initial fixtures

due to injury. Zach French was named 1st Team captain for both rugby and cricket; whilst missing out on leading the College rugby team due to school closure, it was great to see Zach opening the bat in our first competitive fixture in over a year.

Lower Sixth William Wong maintains our basketball tradition in the House in his role as assistant coach of the Lower College team. Most importantly, in a year that will be remembered for sitting in front of a laptop, mass participation in sport has been our focus. Hazelwell led the way during lockdown, winning the ‘Get Going Strava Challenge’.

This continued into the Spring Term when the Thursday morning Running Club flourished.

Drama and Music Hazelwell has once again established its musical and dramatic prowess in College. Head of House and drama scholar, Alexander Taylor starred in the Scholars’ Film and was centre stage in the Variety

Speech Day Prizes: Lower College Attainment: Tristan Evans Endeavour: Apollinaire Chandresinghe, Bryan Luo Wilson Diploma (Gold): Bryan Luo

Upper College Endeavour: William Wong, Omaan Khyra

Subject Prizes:

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Luo who are regular contributors to Science, Maths and TPE Societies.

Bryan and Hoochang have also completed the Reading Diploma.

In addition, Bryan has exhibited great leadership and creativity in organising a Model UN debate, where pupils across College represented different nations and debated whether the Benin Bronzes should be returned to Nigeria. Also, congratulations to Bill Ko and Phil Brodzik for receiving their Upper College academic scholarships and to Tristan Evans and Sebastian Barry in the Lower College.

Abbott Mathematics: Phil Brodzik Theology, Philosophy and Ethics: Hoochang Yi

Cheltonian Endowment Trust Prizes: Mathematics: Saul Kim Modern Languages: Thomas White Stidworthy Cup: Zach French Marcan Prize for Music: Oscar Chan, Bill Ko Davenport Drama Award: Alexander Taylor Jackson-Matthews Chapel Prize (for best Chapel address): Alexander Taylor

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Show. During the first lockdown, Oliver Callon Hine demonstrated his outstanding ambition and discipline by effectively using his time to write a screenplay. Subsequently, he was enrolled into the prestigious National Youth Film Academy.

On top of this, he is currently producing his own film in which the aforementioned Alexander Taylor will star as lead actor. Our Lower College team of Sebastian Barry, Tristan Evans, William Selby and Gareth Tse won the inaugural House Drama competition. This was followed by a less serious but equally entertaining Variety Show performance from our Upper Sixth who put on their dancing shoes and delivered a stunning rendition of ‘Stavros Flately’. Bill Ko continues to represent College on a national and international level. He is part of the National Youth Orchestra and also competed in the global World Vision

Classics at Home competition. We are delighted and proud that Bill has also been named Head Boy for the coming year.

Thanks We would like to offer our thanks to those who work so tirelessly behind the scenes. Our two Matrons, Mrs Slark and Mrs Bloxham, continue to provide the constant nurturing support every boarding House needs. Housemen, Rob and Pav, have given the House a full refurbishment in the last 18 months.

Most significantly, we wouldn’t have been able to open without the hard work of our housekeeping and cleaning staff, in particularly Bruno, Jusuarra and Agnieszka. Their efforts to keep the House clean and the boys safe throughout Covid have been enormous; thank you.

Farewells As the year comes to a close, we also have to say some farewells. Hazelwell Tutor Mr Page is leaving. He is the utmost professional and an exemplary Tutor. Dedication and extremely high academic standards balanced with compassion and understanding of his tutees, he will be very much missed in Hazelwell and we wish him the very best as he embarks on a new life at Repton School. Miss McDaid steps down from her role of Resident Tutor, but thankfully will remain part of the Hazelwell team. She will, no doubt, remain as committed to the boys and her tutees in her new role this coming year. Finally, we must send our fondest farewells to the Upper Sixth who have certainly made the House a brighter place. Their energy, sense of humour and presence will be missed and we wish them the best for the next stage of their careers.

House Editors: Bill Ko and Travis Ip

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Where are they now?

Henry Johnson (OJ & H, 2018) What is your best memory of Hazelwell?

One of my favourite memories was playing cricket in the long dorm in Fourth Form, which unfortunately resulted in many broken windows and dents. Also, Christmas dinners were a highlight, listening to some top quality speeches.

What have you been doing since leaving College?

I have finished my undergraduate degree at the University of Leeds which has been so much fun that I’ve decided to do a Masters in supply chain management. At university, I have continued playing hockey and paintballing as well as being involved on those committees.

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LECONFIELD

House Events Outside of lockdowns we took the opportunity to socialise and take part in many events. From inflatable obstacles at the start of the year on College Field to BBQs gathered round our very own firepit, we shared time together when we could. Various outings included the Lower Sixth, Fourth Form and Third Form outing to Timbercombe Woods for The Hunted; a mixture of hide and seek, tag, and a scavenger

hunt. Some of our Third Form and Mr Evans took to their bikes and had a great day flying down hills; everyone escaping relatively unscathed. Fifth Form also braved a chilly Sunday afternoon to splash around at a water sports lake.

competed in an online movie quiz with their counterparts in Queen’s. Aside from this there were regular catch ups with one another on Teams.

Leconfield Connected

We continued to help fundraise for Barefoot Project’s newest project in Fiji; to set up a Rugby Academy in Savusavu. Remote learning meant the House was spread all over the UK and another 12 countries, however, we managed to fundraise a superb £2,750, through sponsored cycles, runs and hikes. We even received support from England and Gloucester rugby player OC Ollie Thorley (BH, 2015), to spur us on. He has also donated a signed shirt for a future raffle, to raise yet further funds. Rafa Yavala, co-ordinator

Never before has it been more important to stay in touch. During time away from College and learning from home the Third and Fourth Form carried out a Taskmaster challenge in competition with Westal organised by our Resident Tutor Mr Diamond. The Fourth Form got to grips with ice, water, and knives as they carried out the challenges set between themselves and the girls in Westal.

Meanwhile the Upper College

Charity

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Academic Academically we have had a great deal of success. Finlay Hurst received his Full Colours, with Finn Cutts, John Gulland, Milan MacDonald Bradley and Henry Meyrick all receiving their Half Colours. In addition, we had 14 boys receive academic end of year prizes: Krish Patel, Henry Meyrick, Charles Hellens, Max Davies, Finlay Hurst, John Gulland, Pan Vongsurakrai, Harry Dawson, Thomas Hesketh, Thomas Hill, Finn Cutts, Archie Searson, Ben Golley and Max Craven. Brilliantly, Leconfield Lower College accumulated enough commendations and average attainment scores to win the Academic Shield this year.

Charles Hellens was the recipient of the Galahad Cup, following in the footsteps of OC Jack McClure (L, 2018) and OC Tali Kauffmann (L, 2019), meaning that this most prestigious prize has been awarded to a Porcherite now, three times in succession.

Speech Day Prizes: Lower College

Attainment: Max Craven, Ben Golley, Thomas Hill, Thomas Hesketh Endeavour: Archie Searson, Finn Cutts Wilson Diploma (Gold): Harry Dawson

Upper College Endeavour: John Gulland

Subject Prizes: Abbott Mathematics for Science: Pan Vongsurakrai Physics: Finlay Hurst Saville Classics: Charles Hellens

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of the project and coach, sent us a beautiful and uplifting video of some of the boys who will be making up the players in the new academy promising to match our endeavours. The money raised has been spent on a set of 23 bespoke Leconfield rugby jerseys, shorts and socks, (which several Leconfield boys designed with the assistance of Kitsports – another partner of Barefoot Project), as well as training equipment. Leconfield boys will also be wearing an additional set of the same jerseys (not bought with fundraised monies) for future House pots competitions. Rafa will be using the Leconfield Anchor as part of the New Academy’s emblem, and will be naming the new Academy the Leconfied Rugby Academy, Savusavu. This year all proceeds from the 2020 batch of Leconfield Apple Juice also went to our House charity, raising £200. Leconfield was honoured to be awarded the Bellamy Cup this year in recognition of these charitable endeavours.

German: Max Davies

Cheltonian Endowment Trust Prizes: History: Charles Hellens Politics: Henry Meyrick The Galahad Cup: Charles Hellens Head’s Award for Outstanding Commitment: Krish Patel Marcan Prize for Music: Charles Hellens Dagley-Morris Prize (Chapel Music): Charles Hellens

Shield Winners!

We are proud to say that as a House, Leconfield also won The Bellamy Cup for Charitable Endeavour and The Hart Shield for Lower College boys’ House academic achievement.

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Sport

Leadership

Seriously robbed of our chances to fill the silverware cabinet, we were extraordinarily proud when Fourth Form and Fifth Form made it into the semi finals of House rugby pots, while Third Form just missed the trophy, coming in second after Newick. Congratulations to these new Porcherites; we expect great things in the years to come.

Outgoing Head of House Krish Patel Head of House during a pandemic has been a challenging role. For much of the year I was in Saudi Arabia but stayed in touch with the boys remotely. Using technology I was able to embrace the challenge and against the odds got to know the Third Form much better and support other Porcherites who found lockdown learning difficult. I am proud of how the fraternal spirit and atmosphere of the House has prevailed and Leconfield will always have a special place in my heart.

Drama and Music It was time for our musical talent to shine in the shape of Finn Cutts, Thomas Hesketh and Ariyan Mediratta all taking part in the College Singing Competition. It took place online but this didn’t dampen their excellent performances. Stellar House drama performances came from Thomas Hesketh, whilst Finn Cutts took third place overall. We were proud with all our musically talented boys who took part in lunchtime concerts including Max Craven on saxophone, Felix Warr on double bass and Matthew Sun on the drums.

it was also our ‘new normal’. With restrictions being lifted over time and just being in House, I believe that we have still managed to fit into Leconfield life and got to know the older years as well as possible in these strange times.

Farewells Sadly, we had to say farewell to our Assistant HsM Miss Matthews who is leaving us after four years to move into her new home. We will miss her but her spirit will always live on in House, plus we will still be able to see her in the Maths Department!

House Editor: Sean Kim

Head of House, elect, Leo Jamous says: For me this is a crucial time to step up to the role. Returning from the pandemic, I feel it is vital to rebuild the tight bonds between year groups in House.

3F Perspective Max Craven says: Coming into House with all the restrictions in place was difficult, but

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Where are they now?

Tom Kinsella (L, 2020) What is your best memory of Leconfield?

Any time spent together as a year group, from the 3rd Form work room to the evenings spent chatting in Upper Sixth, just having everyone together inevitably led to a good time. My best memories probably come from Christmas time. The Christmas dinner was always a special event and the speeches were hotly anticipated, normally leading to a very entertaining and memorable evening.

What have you been doing since leaving College?

Since leaving Leconfield I have taken a gap year, which during Covid could have ended up a pretty boring year. But I was lucky enough to get a job with West Twickenham Primary Care Network working as a care coordinator. As a team we were able to vaccinate over 20,000 people and maybe save a few lives! Meeting so many thankful patients was truly rewarding and working with so many phenomenal people has been an amazing opportunity and again reminded me of the importance of the NHS.

What is your best memory of Leconfield?

Definitely watching the 2018 World Cup. Back then our Lower Sixth mocks were over, so we had nothing to do towards the end of Spring Term. We aimed to watch every single game (bar the final round of group stage) and we ended up doing it in each other’s rooms, the rec room, the TV room, and even Mr Evans’ living room!

Arad Abedini (L, 2019) even skived a Floreat session so he could watch his home-country play...

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What have you been doing since leaving College?

I went to the University of Durham to read Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. At Durham, I made a bid for the Durham Union Society presidency but lost… On the academic side, I have recently picked up an interest in development economics, notably the ‘poverty trap’ à la Kraay and McKenzie. So, I now plan to write my dissertation on how good institutions and foreign investments could potentially be the remedy for countries stuck in the ‘trap’.

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Ernest Lau (L, 2019)

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NEWICK HOUSE

House Events Although this year has been difficult due to the pandemic it hasn’t stopped the boys from strengthening their friendships in House, with the new Third Form settling in well and quickly establishing a great popularity among the whole House. This year our House events were limited but all the boys got stuck in where they could and took part in all the various events that were possible.

For example, the socials with Westal at the start of the year and more recently the Third Form going up to TLG for a film night were a chance to socialise outside of House. Everyone was very excited to visit the Cotswold Water Park where the Lower Sixth took out the paddle boards and canoes with Mr Slowik whilst the Fourth and Third Form attacked the inflatable assault course. Once everyone had got over the initial cold from the water they were back to the obstacles.

Charity Newick have had another great year when it came to raising funds for our chosen charity, the Injured Jockeys Fund. Our Newickeroo pizza evening raised over £800 from selling the pizzas made with our very own pizza oven. They were

a great success with Mr Hayden and the Upper Sixth making and delivering more than 120 pizzas to the other Houses in College. Head of House Tom Beazley made over £200 for the same charity from his collection of memorabilia from races and from jockeys which he kindly donated. The House also supported one of last year’s Upper Sixth OC Max Sutton (NH, 2020) who raised around £21,000 in his climb up Mount Kilimanjaro in aid of the Oxfordshire Oesophageal and Stomach Organisation.

Academic Newick has had a good year for achievements with a number of our Upper Sixth gaining places at the top universities in the country and beyond: Bekzat Amirbay being given offers from top universities

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in America, UCLA, UC Berkeley and UPenn; Denis Solovyev has secured a place at the University of Oxford to read Chemistry.

Sport

Farewells This year we say goodbye to our Upper Sixth led by Tom Beazley, Denis Solovyev and Bekzat Amirbay who, along with the rest of their year, led from the front and were great role models for the rest of the House. Unfortunately, they couldn’t socialise with the younger years as much in their final year at College due to the pandemic however, they have still had a very positive impact on every member of the House and

will be remembered fondly. We are also saying goodbye to two of our tutors. We say a big thank you to Mr Preece who has been with us for a

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We had an amazing year for sport in Newick with the Senior rugby House pots team reaching the final and the Third and Fourth Forms both winning their House pots matches.

Once again, the Fifth Form and Lower Sixth had a great tournament with both years reaching the semi finals. It has been a good year also for Richard Fung in swimming, while Theo Nicholson and Seb Kimber reached the 1st team for cricket. In hockey Oliver Walker received his

Full Colours. It was a great shame no rugby matches could take place especially as a number of the Upper Sixth were prominent members of the 1st teams.

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year. He has been a strong part of the Newick team and we wish him good luck on his next adventure.

Secondly, we say goodbye to Mrs Dawson as she embarks on a new life in Oman at Cheltenham Muscat.

She has been such an amazing addition to the House for the last few years and has always been a great help to everyone when she was on duty. All the boys have loved having her as a part of the House

and we will be sad to see her leave.

Both these tutors will be greatly missed and along with the Upper Sixth, we are all sad to see them leave but we are very grateful for everything they have done over their time in the House.

House Editors: Tom Wackett and Theo Nicholson

ARCHIVE SNIPPET Newick House as we know it today was originally home to the Junior house then known as Teighmore.

The house was taken over by Southwood in 1909 and finally became Newick in 1916.

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Speech Day Prizes: Lower College Hannam Clark Reading: Wills Moffat Wilson Diploma (Gold): Sam Eykyn, Jake Holloway

Upper College Endeavour: Tom Beazley

Subject Prizes: Ian Marsden Chemistry: Ben Percival Borchardt Mathematics: Denis Solovyev Lionel Wells Physics: Bekzat Amirbay Sir Frederick Page Fellowship of Engineering: John Chan

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Where are they now?

Jack Burns (NH, 2017) What is your best memory of Newick House?

It is hard to pinpoint a single memory from Newick; from House plays, yardage in the summer and Chapel services to name a few.

However, the final Christmas Dinner we had in Upper Sixth springs to mind immediately. Everyone packed into the common room with speeches and awards being given out. It is one night I shall not be forgetting soon.

What have you been doing since leaving College?

After leaving College I spent three years studying Architecture at the Manchester School of Architecture.

I absolutely loved the course and

Manchester was such an incredible city in which to study. My time there formed my Part-1 qualification and I am now completing a year in industry before returning to study for a Masters. I am working at Daylesford Organic as part of a small

in-house design team. It has been a total whirlwind of projects over the last nine months with me helping to deliver a new £1.5m Garden and Retail space as well as renovating nine holiday cottages.

you miss it when you leave! And House Singing, 70 boys all giving it everything – it’s not something you initially expect to enjoy, but actually it’s one of my fondest memories!

Architectural and Environment Engineering. I am also racing competitively in the Porsche Carrera Cup, recently scoring a podium on debut. It’s a high pressure, high stakes environment but I’ve been well prepared by everything at College and am relishing the opportunity!

What is your best memory of Newick House?

The constant fun! Whether playing yardage, touch rugby, snooker or just chilling in the common room, there were always constant laughs.

House pots was another highlight for me. Winning the rugby and the celebrations afterwards was a great memory. It’s funny how much

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What have you been doing since leaving College?

I have just finished at the University of Nottingham, studying

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Josh Stanton (NH, 2017)

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QUEEN’S mention goes to Third Form Taylor Smith for contributing so well to all events.

Charity

Queen’s Connected Despite restrictions, Queen’s has had an exciting and busy year. We stayed connected and kept up our House spirit through Zoom calls which involved fun activities such as werewolf nights, inspirational talks, black tie dinners, tutor group cooking, Easter egg hunts and quiz nights. We also had a few challenges recorded on Strava and a special

Queen’s girls have always supported the wider community and this year was no exception. Throughout the pandemic, we have been innovative in our fundraising and continued to work hard to make a difference. We supported our charity, The Secret Garden Hub, by walking, running, and cycling over 1,946 kms during the Easter break, and completed the final 5km together as a House around College Field raising a total of £1,300. A special mention must go to Arabella Finch, Grace White and Grace Tyler for their endless motivation and encouragement

during this charity challenge.

Queen’s is also enormously proud of Fourth Form Autumn Conner who walked 80 miles over three days, managing to raise an impressive £1,020 for the charity Gloucestershire Bundles.

Academic Queen’s girls continue to flourish academically and on top of the multitude of daily commendations, many of us have been awarded academic colours this year. Half Colours go to Sophie Essenhigh, Eliana Hale, Georgia Turner, Evie Cook, Scarlett Jinks, Arabella Finch and Darcey Norman. Full Colours were awarded to Sophie Iles, Imogen Cutts, Izzy Reid, Jessica Hale, and Freya Coull. Further

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congratulations must go to Georgia Morling for her Sixth Form honorary academic scholarship. Well done to all.

Sport

Drama and Music Queen’s did very well in the College Singing Competition, with Grace Tyler winning the musical theatre category, and Georgia Turner winning runner-up. Grace Tyler, Arabella Finch and Phoebe Jones achieved grade eight singing in the Autumn Term, and many of the girls contributed to the lunchtime music concerts. Congratulations to Sophie Essenhigh for being awarded her Music blazer - quite an achievement by the end of Fifth Form! Both Arabella Finch and

Grace Tyler have been a credit to the Drama Department, gaining distinction in grade eight LAMDA, and playing lead parts in the Scholars’ Play Foxfinder. Arabella Finch was awarded her Drama blazer, with Grace Tyler and Niamh McBride getting their Full Colours while Maja Hague, Molly Ropner and Coco Haycraft Mee received their Half Colours. Our Queen’s girls also performed magnificently in the online High School Musical show.

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Queen’s had a strong start to the year with the Third Form girls coming second in the swimming House pots. The Third Form contributed to a variety of sporting endeavours at College, particularly rowing and rackets, with Zara Leach-Herrero, Tula Leach-Herrero, Ellie Miskin, Isabella O’Neill, Karly Syiek and Ava Robertson showing outstanding commitment.

Congratulations also go to Freya Coull and Scarlett Jinks in earning their Full Colours in netball and to Evie Cook and Izzy Reid for being awarded their Half-Colours in tennis. Queen’s equestrians have had a successful year with Ellie Savage in particular, successfully representing College. She came third in the individual dressage and

has had several British eventing placings. Furthermore, Zoe Cole came fifth overall in the Bicton U18s Inter County Championships and first over the second day. Daphne Garbutt and Isla Skelston have been selected for Central England Tetrathlon, and we hear that this coming year’s Third Form love riding too, so the future is bright for the Queen’s equestrian team.

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Speech Day Prizes: Lower College Attainment: Charlotte Tomlins, Eliana Hale Hannam Clark Orchestra: Sophie Essenhigh

Upper College Endeavour: Sophie Iles, Georgia Turner, Arabella Finch

Subject Prizes: Design Textiels: Fifi Russell Ronald Guthrie Bedford Economics: Phoebe Jones Physical Geography (John Morse): Georgia Morling Art History: Grace White Ronald Marsden Classics: Izzy Reid Hornsby French: Freya Coull

Cheltonian Endowment Trust Prizes:

Art Queen’s are well represented in the Art Department too. Rebecca Cook received all her offers at top Art schools and we wish her the best at Falmouth University as she accepted her unconditional offer there.

Georgia Turner was entered into the Royal Academy of Arts School Summer Exhibition with several of her pieces, often displayed around College and in various art exhibitions.

Also, a special mention must go to Alice Wheatley, who won the College Christmas card competition.

of House for the coming academic year. Best wishes to all girls leaving the Queen’s community and best of luck for the future. Keep in touch!

House Editors: Phoebe Jones and Sophia Vivian ARCHIVE SNIPPET Just before the Queen visited College in November 1991, she gave permission for the new boarding house to be renamed ‘The Queen’s House’ to commemorate her visit. Previously the building had been known as Linden House.

Farewells This year we say goodbye to our Upper Sixth and we will miss the spiritedness and enthusiasm they brought to House. We would like to extend special thanks to Jessica Hale (Head of House), as well as Arabella Finch and Izzy Reid (Deputy Heads of House) for all their hard work, particularly in bringing the House together throughout lockdown.

Congratulations to Sophia Vivian who has been appointed as Head

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Business: Grace Tyler English Literature: Anabelle Wells German: Imogen Cutts Psychology: Darcey Norman Head’s Award for Outstanding Commitment: Jessica Hale The Adams prize: Georgia Turner Sloan Cup: Freya Coull Gasson Cup: Arabella Finch Cadbury Cup: Izzy Reid Marcan Prize for Music: Izzy Reid Hannam Clark Orchestra Prize: Grace White

Shield Winners!

We are proud to say that Queen’s Upper College also received The Lldarin shield; to recognise Upper College academic achievement in a girls’ House.

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Where are they now?

Jessica Alcock (Q, 2013)

What have you been doing since leaving College?

I went to the University of Bristol, where I studied Anthropology and Archaeology. From there, I moved to London and took a job at Conde Nast, where I have been for five years, now working as the

Vogue Classified Sales Manager.

My usual day is spent with my team, supporting them in securing sales, looking after our clients and creating printed and digital

showcases on our British Vogue platforms. In many ways, my days remind me of being in Queen’s – working hard but laughing together along the way.

management consultancy firm) as a senior corporate advisor. My role focuses specifically on international finance, considering both

international expansion and growth opportunities for the partnership whilst also preparing the financial statements for multiple jurisdictions.

Emma Holliday (Q, 2013) What is your best memory of Queen’s?

I left College in 2013 and struggle to believe eight years have gone by since! I have lots of fond memories of my time in Queen’s; before, during and after lessons – we always had a lot of fun. My favourite memories are sunny afternoons post sport sessions, socialising in House and drinking endless cups of tea.

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What is your best memory of Queen’s?

There are so many! I think I have to go with celebrating Queen’s girls’ birthdays. Our form rooms would be filled with an obscene amount of baked goods, birthday banners and balloons. By break time, Queen’s would be descended on by friends from the other Houses who happily helped us get through the snacks. I had a wonderful time in Queen’s – days full of laughter till we had tears falling from our eyes and our bellies hurt from laughing so much!

What have you been doing since leaving College?

After graduating from the University of Cardiff, I joined Crowe UK’s graduate scheme. The scheme offered me a wide range of experience whilst completing the ACA qualification with the ICAEW. I left Crowe at the start of 2020 to pursue a role in industry. I am currently based in London, working for Baringa Partners (a leading

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SOUTHWOOD

House Events It is fair to say that everyone has cherished the new additions of the pizza oven and the outdoor fire pit.

Whether sitting around the fire in the depths of the cold winter or in the bright blooming evenings of the Spring Term, everyone looks forward to them immensely and they are events for which everyone has great affection.

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During our time online, we stayed connected together as a House and

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held some hysterical online events.

Fancy Dress Friday was definitely a highlight. Appearances of jesters, vikings, Indiana Jones, the odd Mexican fedora hat and Mr William’s menacing shark hat meant that each Friday evening was filled with an unmatched excitement of seeing friends during an isolated period of school learning. House members also took part in Southwood Snapz which involved taking photos of our lockdown experiences.

Angus Wragg and Luke Richardson submitted great photos of nature and wildlife and Willoughby Cooke shared his photos of his baking. The Fourth Form had a quiz competition with Boyne and Chandos. Rounds consisted of Guess the Logo and a scavenger hunt. Mr Williams set up both the Southwood Skillz Skool where House members were challenged to break world records that were achievable from

our own homes, and also a recipe with instructions on how to cook a cheeseburger casserole! The House can be very proud of its efforts for pushing through such a hard period time so successfully.

Charity This year Southwood has united to raise money for two different charities. Firstly £108.30 was raised for Insight, the local charity which supports the sight-impaired.

We did this through our table tennis competition, which saw members of the Southwood team come together to battle out for the prestigious prize of being recognised as the House’s best player. For our second challenge, through the Southwood Strava, we raised £815 for Head for Change which is pioneering positive change for brain health in sport. We did this fundraiser during the lockdown

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Academic Through the screen of a computer or finally being able to sit back in our seats in our classrooms, the House has been very successful academically and has adapted very well to uncertainty and change.

We are proud to say many from the Southwood team have picked up great achievements and have been recognised for their hard work over the last academic year.

Our congratulations go to Angus Wragg, Luke Richardson, Jack Wheeler and Harry Huggett, who have all been awarded academic Half Colours while Charlie AntonSmith received his Full Colours.

Charlie was also runner-up in a highly contested Geography essay competition during the Autumn

Term. Thomas Smith has been awarded his Level 1 Certificate in Classical Greek and successfully scored in the exam board’s top 6% of all scores as well as achieving one of the best attainment scores within his year group. Daniel McLaughlin achieved the most improved academic attainment in Lower Sixth and Ben Mace received a Highly Commended award for his science project in the Applied Learning week. Furthermore, Charlie Whitney achieved one of the highest Attitude to Learning scores in his year and also, George Hardy gained his Gold Award in the UKMT Senior Maths Challenge.

Sport Southwood’s success in sport has followed on yet another year despite the stoppages and limitations caused by the pandemic.

We took victory in House pots for rugby in not one, not two, but three different year groups. The Junior

Colts, Colts and Lower Sixth stormed the rugby field, winning all three competitions which is a fantastic achievement. We’d like to offer our congratulations to Charlie AntonSmith, for achieving rugby Half Colours as well as earning his Full Colours in hockey. Congratulations also go to Max Pinkham for leading the swimming team as vice captain, earning his ASA Assistant Teachers Qualification and also achieving Full Colours in swimming. Both Charlie and Max have also been awarded their qualification certificates as Sports Leaders for their work at St John’s Church of England Primary School. Furthermore, Alfie Watkins and Will Dangerfield have been awarded badminton Half Colours

Speech Day Prizes: Lower College

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period. Both have involved great efforts from the members of Southwood and we thank everyone involved to help us achieve these goals.

Attainment: Charlie Whitney, Luke Richardson Endeavour: Willoughby Cooke

Upper College Endeavour: Jack Wheeler, Charlie Anton-Smith, Noah Horan

Subject Prizes: Bingen Human Geography: Harry Garbutt Sports Science: Eddie Buttress Macroeconomics: Charlie Anton-Smith

Cheltonian Endowment Trust Prizes: Economics: George Hardy

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for their endeavours on the courts.

Charlie Payne has been selected into the Gloucester Academy U16 squad as well as Eddie Buttress and Ross Broughton-Johnson being selected into the Gloucester Academy U17s programme.

CCF Congratulations to Finn Keatinge who has notably stood out as a cadet in the Army section and Matthew Albutt has been named as Head of Army for the coming year.

Farewells As a House we would like to offer a huge thank you to our Housemaster

Mr Coley for his time in charge since 2012. Mr Coley has led the House exceptionally for the past nine years and on behalf of all who have been a member of Southwood, I would like to say we are all incredibly grateful for his work helping us as a great role model. He and his family have made a relaxed, friendly and supportive environment for hundreds of boys over those years. Under his leadership, Southwood has gained a reputation of being an exceedingly strong sporting force within College. But, we’ve also learned the importance of working hard yet enjoying the social side of College life. In particular, all members of the House will fondly remember our annual Christmas outing to the Spice Lodge. He has done an outstanding job of steering the House through

one of the most dynamic periods of time and supporting so many members of the House through the past nine years as they grow from young lads to gentlemen. We wish you, Mrs Coley, Joe, Tilly and the recent addition of Woody the very best for the future and we hope you enjoy your evenings without the usual disruption of knocking to sign out on your door. I’d also like to wish all of the departing Upper Sixth good luck and every success in their lives after College. They have been fantastic role models, leaders and, most importantly, friends to the boys of Southwood of all ages.

At the end of his College career, Charlie Anton-Smith stepped down as Head of House after a brilliant year of service and leadership, for which the House is incredibly grateful.

For the upcoming academic year, the position is passed on to Joshua Poulain, and we wish him best of luck in his Prefect role at College.

House Editor: Rory Jenkins

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Where are they now?

Finlay Berry (S, 2018) What is your best memory of Southwood?

It has to be after the last 1st XV game of the season when we beat Blundell’s to secure the unbeaten season. I was sat in my form room with Roger Mortimore (S, 2018) and Jack Clement (S, 2019) waiting for the end of season dinner when Mr Coley knocked on the door carrying four bottles of Corona; it’s a great memory for me as I remember Mr Coley fondly revisiting some of his memories of coaching whilst also giving us advice for the future.

for three months. It was an incredible opportunity and I was lucky to meet Kieran Read, Richie Mo’unga and Ronan O’Gara to name a few. After New Zealand, I came back to Cheltenham and

am currently working as a Brand Ambassador for Polo Ralph Lauren, a job I thoroughly enjoy and have learned a lot from.

Louis Taylor-Baggs (OJ & S, 2015) What is your best memory of Southwood?

Southwood was the best house in College. We had great times in House pots and House Singing and were robbed when our rendition of

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‘Pumped Up Kicks’ didn’t win. Every day fun was had playing football in the garden – with plenty of laughs across the year groups!

What have you been doing since leaving College?

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What have you been doing since leaving College?

When I left College, I was fortunate enough to go to Christchurch, New Zealand and play in the Crusaders International Academy

I left College in 2015 to study Film at the University of Reading. While studying, I co-founded a production company (Crunchy Tomatoes) that has released some music videos for up-and-coming artists and some short films. One or two have starred my friend and Southwood old boy, Kit Clarke (S, 2013). I have also worked on some amazing movies. I am currently working on a TV series for HBO and spent much of lockdown filming the musical Cinderella, starring Camila Cabello. A huge highlight so far was assisting the Stunt Director for the recent James Bond film, No Time to Die. This was partly shot in Matera in Southern Italy as well as the Highlands of Scotland, where I dusted off the football skills honed in the Southwood garden to play for the James Bond crew football team.

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WESTAL Terms include several pamper parties, lots of fun by the firepit and an outdoor cinema.

Charity

House Events Naturally, having a term online put some obstacles in the way of the normal activities however this did not stop the Westal girls’ fun. Throughout the term, we had different challenges including a bake-off competition, a TikTok challenge and the weekly Zoom catch ups. Some of the highlights during the Autumn and Summer

This year Westal continued supporting Meningitis UK and A Life for a Cure which are charities close to our hearts. To raise money, the House took part in a charity Watt Bike Challenge where we cycled 1,182 km (exceeding our original aim of 1000km) and ended up raising £1,085 for such a wonderful cause.

Everyone got stuck in and it was a really enjoyable event for all involved.

Our Charity rep, Aanya Patel was fundamental to the success of the event, and throughout the year maintained great communications with our chosen charities.

Academic Westal is full of academic stars with many girls recently being awarded Half Colours including Alice Bradley, Emily Oates, Geena Capps, Yoyo Hou and Phoebe Foster. In addition to this, we have seen Westal girls broadening their learning outside the classroom. Alicia Neilson and Petra Azazoglu came a respectful fourth in the Joutes Oratoires; a regional round of a national French debating contest on the topic of space exploration. Attendance at College societies was great with most of the girls taking this opportunity to look into subjects further, with many also presenting to society audiences.

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Sport With every girl in House taking part in some form of sport from hockey, girls’ fitness, tennis, netball and many more, Westal girls have dominated the sports pitches. In the hockey House pots the Westal spirit shone through with Third Form, Fifth Form and Lower Sixth all winning their age group tournaments. We also have individual successes such as Georgia-Lili Robertson receiving both her hockey Full Colours and Half Colours for netball. Mimi Davis received her Full Colours for tennis and Annie Carter her tennis Half Colours. Despite matches being limited throughout the year, we were thrilled to see numerous Westal girls taking part in tennis matches in

the Summer Term. We are also very proud of Annabel Cane for being appointed the Head of College Boats.

Drama, Music and Art Westal kicked off the year by winning the Junior House Drama Competition with many of the girls taking part. There were also several Westal girls taking part in school plays including Hamlet and High School Musical. In terms of music, despite no large concerts being able to take place, we have seen many girls from Westal showcasing their musical talents in lunchtime concerts. Annie Carter and Oleander Hall have had artwork submitted to the Royal Academy of Arts School Summer Exhibition.

Speech Day Prizes: Lower College Attainment: Geena Capps, Endeavour: Ngonidzashe Mudange, Alice Bradley,

Upper College Endeavour: Madeleine WinstonDavis, Aanya Patel

Subject Prizes: Spanish: Kelly Ting

Cheltonian Endowment Trust Prizes:

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Hornsby French: Petra Azazoglu

Design (Textiles): Daisy Hunter Geography: Izzy England Sports Science: Emilia Davis Sloan Cup: GeorgiaLili Robertson Millennium Trophy: Izzy England Head’s Award for Outstanding Commitment: Talia Soman Marcan Prize for Music: Victoria Brain Dagley-Morris Prize (Chapel Music): Victoria Brain Jackson-Matthews Chapel Prize (for best Chapel address): Georgia-Lili Robertson The Cheltonian Prize for Deputy Heads of School: Izzy Greenwood

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CCF

Thanks

We have a large CCF following here in Westal, and we have girls in both the Army and the Navy section.

Congratulations are extended to Lara Capps for her appointment as the new head of CCF for the coming year. We must also recognise the success of Izzy Greenwood who was awarded an Army scholarship.

On behalf of the House, we would love to say a huge thank you to all our House staff for everything they have done over this past year. You have kept this House positive and happy during these uncertain times.

Special thanks are extended to our amazing matrons Mrs Matthews and Mrs Baikie who are always there

for a chat and a cup of tea when needed! Thank you to Mr Lang for a great year as our Housemaster while Mrs Lang was on maternity leave.

We couldn’t possibly ask for a better House team!

Farewells This year we say goodbye to our amazing Upper Sixth. They have led

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House, but we are very lucky she is staying as a tutor in Westal and will be taking duty nights. We will all miss you and Rogue around the House. We congratulate Annabel Cane who has been appointed the new Head of House and Alice Vyvyan-Robinson who is the new Head Girl for the coming year.

Congratulations!

We would also like to congratulate Mr and Mrs Lang on the birth of Oscar in January 2021. The whole House is excited for him to be a member of the Westal family!

House Page Editors: Lizie Birch and Lottie Davis

Where are they now?

Amy Hinc (W, 2015) What is your best memory of Westal?

When first posed with this question I really did not know where to begin. Having joined in the Sixth Form I cannot believe how many events and memorable moments occurred in just two years; it feels like a decade’s worth! Although hard to choose one moment, my favourite memory is our final Upper Sixth House Leavers Dinner.

A friend recently shared a photo of the event and it brought back so many memories of laughter, friendship, and fun.

a gap year where I au-paired in St Tropez; a wonderful experience where I was able to improve my French and travel the beautiful French Riviera, alongside gaining

some enlightening life skills looking after two young boys! In September 2019 I entered the workplace as a UK Healthcare Supply Graduate for a global healthcare business.

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the House with such enthusiasm, energy and pride, and have been an inspiration to all of us. We wish them nothing but the best of luck in the future, and hope they come back and visit us soon. We must also say farewell to our Resident Tutor Miss Cook. We cannot thank Miss Cook enough for her contribution to the

What have you been doing since leaving College?

Since leaving College I spent three years studying Biochemistry at the University of Newcastle. I then took

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SPORT Change. Adaptability.

Resilience.

We started the year with severe restrictions in place; we could only train in segregated year groups and we couldn’t play fixtures. Most pupils hadn’t played organised sport for over six months and were at different stages of fitness. There

was a need to reconnect socially and reintegrate pupils back into the sporting programme carefully to avoid the risk of injury.

We therefore set in motion a progressive athletic development programme, combined with a Summer Term sport for six weeks interspersed with some skill content and match play for our major Autumn sports. The blended programme was well received and offered the opportunity to play mixed sport which was much enjoyed by all. We had hoped to see some competitive interschool fixtures at some point in the Autumn Term but little did we realise that we would still have major restrictions across the educational landscape leading right up to December and beyond.

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The wonderful thing about sport is that it can teach us about life.

The idea that things always run smoothly and go to plan is our dream… and when it happens it is so satisfying. However, there may be times when the dream is changed by events, and it is then that we need to be at our very best.

Plug in Covid, lockdown, social distancing and the wettest May on record and this year has possibly

provided the best opportunities for demonstrating our adaptability and resilience, and I would like to thank everyone, pupils, staff and parents, for their patience and endeavour. It is this that has, despite everything, enabled a remarkable amount of sporting participation.

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Not returning to school in the Spring Term meant we had to create a platform to connect with each other. The constant flux forced all of us to look outside the box, to re-evaluate how we exercise, how we stay connected and how to stay as active as possible. Having learned some valuable lessons from the first lockdown, we created an interactive online programme devoted to health and fitness. The Teams Sports Channel was born and the pupils tuned in. Live, interactive sessions included hand eye coordination and movement challenges, high intensity interval training, yoga and mobility classes, live circuit sessions, dance fitness, live sports video analysis, athletic development resources, pre-recorded workouts of the week and links to the College sports stream channel where all pre-recorded coaching sessions and home-based workouts recorded by College coaches could be accessed.

In place of our regular fixtures, we competed with equivalent schools in virtual races which involved recording distances and times and calculating mean times for certain categories and age groups. The participation grew, with staff and parents also occasionally taking part.

I’d like to end with a big thank you to all the coaches, both sports professionals and from Common Room, who have facilitated great sport for our pupils through such a challenging time. Let’s look together to a new enjoyable year and reflect on what we’ve achieved and learned.

Mr Ben Marsden, Director of Sport

Talented Athlete Programme Mr Nick Runciman After a year of disruption on the sporting front, and with many of our Talented Athlete Programme (TAP) members affected by the postponements of key events and fixtures, it was to be a test of our athletes’ resilience and their inventiveness as to how they approached their ongoing development with the restrictions in

place. The fire was burning strong, with each member displaying a positive outlook, not dwelling on the disappointment, and driving their own personal standards to enhance their attributes further.

The core values that each TAP member strives to uphold were more evident than ever during this difficult time. Without any competitive fixtures to get their teeth into, the Autumn Term was unlike any other. Yet, leadership was displayed in abundance; many of the TAP athletes took responsibility for running specific sport initiatives and helped to create a professional and enjoyable provision for all.

For example, some of our Upper Sixth members helped to coach the Lower College pupils in their spare time.

The commitment and humility continued into the Spring Term

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At last, as schools reopened in May there was more opportunity for sporting fulfilment, only to be impacted by the wettest May on record. C’est la vie! The second half of the Summer Term finally provided the much-needed conditions to train and play some external fixtures. Parents were able to spectate on site and for the first time in more than a year, our longawaited picture was complete again.

At College we provide our pupils with the opportunity to participate in 22 different sports and the learning curve has applied to all. It has promoted effort, imagination and so many initiatives and, despite the setbacks, the ability to change, adapt and display resilience have held us together.

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Some notable achievements this academic year have included an ongoing selection for Flora Fletcher representing England Hockey U18s and Tilly Wood on her selection for Hockey Wales U18s Girls squad.

Additionally, Will Gilderson and Tom Riman were selected for Gloucester U18s and Eddie Buttress for the Gloucester U17s. Excitingly, Will Gilderson has also been selected into the England U18 development squad.

A special mention goes to the Upper Sixth members to whom, with a heavy heart, we say farewell.

Their contributions to College sport and in particular the Talented Athlete Programme during their time have been exceptional and worthy of praise. We wish them all the very best for their future endeavours and hope they will continue to inspire the next generation of Cheltonians.

Please see the OC Sport page for exciting news about the elite sporting successes of our OCs.

Sports Leaders Mrs Kate Hornsby

After the success of the eight pupils from last year who were awarded their Sports Leaders level 2 Award, we had our largest Sports Leaders group with more than 30 pupils opting to do the course.

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leadership journey.

will also continue in the coming year.

This qualification is designed to use sport and physical activity to help young people develop and hone their leadership skills as well as to help themselves and others to stay active and fit. Through Sports Leaders the pupils learn and demonstrate important life skills such as effective communication, planning and organisation whilst learning to lead basic physical activities for younger pupils. We have maintained the link with St John’s Church of England Primary School in Cheltenham and have established a new link with Naunton Park Primary School. This has meant that we can have more pupils doing the course.

The pupils go into the schools and work with the pupils in Years 2 and 6 at Naunton Park and Year 5 at St John’s. This allows our Cheltonians to work with younger pupils in a realistic situation as opposed to leading their peers. At both of the schools they taught PE lessons to classes of between 26 and 30 pupils in a Covid safe environment. They started by teaching football and then moved onto Kwik cricket. They taught the skills and completed their experience with a class tournament which they planned and ran. This wealth of practical experience allowed the pupils to develop their leaderships skills and gave them the challenges sports leadership presents in a far more realistic environment.

They all worked hard, made a difference to the lessons, and the pupils at St John’s and Naunton Park loved the lessons.

Pupils who took part were Ross Broughton-Johnson, Eddie Buttress, Daniel McLaughlin, Rory Jenkins, Tom Peck, Joshua Poulain, Annabel Cane, Alice Vyvyan-Robinson, Will Gilderson, Tom Riman, Honor Huggett, Sasha Kemp, Tinky Nelson, Gabriella Bifulco, Beatrice Leslie, Cece Vass, Tom Wackett, Jackson Joly, Theo Nicholson, Temwani Banda, Joseph Maguire, Gracie Emery, Tilly Wood and Leo Jamous.

Badminton Mr Sol Griffiths and Dr Luke Davidson This has been a challenging year for badminton, as it has for many sports during the pandemic.

Everything has been a little bit different. The doors of the gym have been flung open for ventilation even during very cold days, which has added a new dimension to

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during the period of remote learning, where many of the group regularly joined the ‘live sessions’ leading by example when it came to fitness sessions and passing on valuable insight in the analysis workshops.

Staff at both of the schools were very impressed with how organised and knowledgeable the leaders were and they all proved to be great role models for the younger pupils.

This year has been challenging in many ways but we have been extremely lucky to be able to continue with St John’s and make a new link with Naunton Park which

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play, as badminton players got a taste of what outdoor sports experience all the time! Years have been separated into their bubbles, preventing the usual mixing; the poles holding up the nets have had to be wiped down assiduously, and shuttles squirted with anti-viral cleanser endlessly.

Sadly, this year we have been unable to fulfil any fixtures, which denied some of our Upper Sixth experience of competitive play, but the whole squad has been working hard ready for the coming year.

The prospects look very good, with captain Travis Ip and Isaac Wong working particularly hard on their games over the course of the year and making great strides. We will sadly be bidding farewell to our club captain Charles Hellens, and our girls’ 1st team captain, Stephanie Lau, not to mention stalwarts such as Alfie Watkins, Will Dangerfield, Chloe Manggunio, and Julia Gellere, who have been part of the furniture at badminton over the recent years and have kept us smiling.

Full Colours: Charles Hellens and Stephanie Lau Half Colours: Will Dangerfield, Alfie Watkins, Travis Ip, Isaac Wong and Bobby Hui

Basketball Mr Michael Higgins Despite the absence of fixtures, basketball at College continues to go from strength to strength. For College’s inaugural team, in their final year at College as the 1st team, the disappointment of not being able to test their mettle in matches against other schools was an especially bitter-pill but they continued in their dedication to the sport by training hard to improve as individuals and as a team. Special mention should go to: Alex Chan, who’s been a star on and off the court as captain; Marco Colombo for his consistent commitment to improving as a player; Max Davies, who despite his laid back approach has great skills; and to Felix Taylor-Kimmins, Jack Szeto and John Chan, who has been a dedicated member of the squad since Fourth Form.

Players from Fifth Form and Lower Sixth trained well through Autumn and Summer Terms and many stayed dedicated to their development through the period of school closure

in the Spring Term. With great potential, we are really excited to see what they can do this coming year with the resumption of competitive fixtures. Special mention should go to Sean Kim, (acting captain) and William Wong, who have improved brilliantly as players and encourage their team mates to be the best they can be.

Seemingly out of nowhere, we were delighted to have a full team of Fifth Form players including, Freddie O’Neill, Jamie Edmonston and Charlie Chu. Again, we look forward to those who remain at College joining the first team in this coming academic year.

Demonstrating the real passion that we need, several Fourth Form players, Sebastian Balletta, Leo and Ambrose Chan, initiated training by hanging around and begging for a court after their main sport session had finished!

With committed players rising through Fourth, Fifth Form and Lower Sixth and hopes to expand inclusion of girls in the squad, the future for College basketball is bright.

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Circuits Mr Nick Runciman Circuit training for all abilities was accessible twice a week during the six weeks of school closure, with numerous pupils, staff and even family members joining in remotely to complete the workouts.

The sessions were designed to improve the participants’ movement competency and increase their muscular capacity and cardiovascular fitness, underpinned by the six primary foundation strength exercises, and interspersed with functional movements.

A core group of around 15, touted as the ‘regulars’ were present at the majority of the sessions and reaped the benefits of the provision, all boasting of extremely noticeable and rewarding physical improvements. The social element to the provision was equally as beneficial as the physical with everyone interacting with each other and inputting to the session content with enthusiasm, still managing to connect with the College community even when they were unable to in person.

prior to half term; it was great to see them playing in coloured clothing and enjoying the game as a group of mates having fun on the sports field.

The 1st XI enjoyed notable wins against Radley College, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the Free Foresters Cricket Club with William Taylor being the pick of our batsmen; his century against the MCC has earned him a trip to Lords during a Test match this coming year. The side contained a number of Upper Sixth players and they stayed loyal and engaged throughout the term. Whilst the results did not always go our way this season they stuck together and were a great group to work with. We hope they will continue to enjoy their cricket and return as OCs to play at College in the future.

We continued to host a number of T20 fixtures during weekday evenings, welcoming local clubs and schools to play against our top two sides. The Hundred Ball Festival also continued to be a great success for the Yearlings’ A squad, once again playing host to Radley and Rugby School.

Our Colts’ side enjoyed an extended period of time after their GCSE assessments to play as a squad, notching up victories against Marlborough College, Haberdashers’ Monmouth School and Bradfield College and narrowly losing to Clifton College in the semi finals of the English Schools Cricket Association regional cup.

The Lower College sides produced some excellent performance over the term. Junior Colts’ players Gus Carini-Roberts, Freddie Moore and Tom Unsworth all gained some valuable experience playing up for the XI. Gus scored a fine century against Clifton College Junior Colts’ side. The Yearlings’ age group sides also showed great promise and the Yearlings’ C team won five of their six fixtures.

The girls’ cricket programme continued to grow with pupils from the Third, Fourth and Fifth Form playing a number of soft ball fixtures.

The girls are now able to choose cricket as their main games option for the term and we hope that the numbers will continue to grow next season as we look to introduce some hard ball fixtures to our programme.

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Cricket Mr Matt Coley, Master in Charge of Cricket After missing the entire season in 2020 the Cricket club were extremely fortunate to have almost a full term of relative normality with our boys’ and girls’ teams enjoying an extensive programme of both training and competitive fixtures. After such a disrupted year it was been wonderful to see our Upper Sixth cricketers getting the opportunity to step out onto our amazing grounds and finish their College sporting careers playing some competitive sport. Our 4th XI of all Upper Sixth players enjoyed the chance to play some T20 games

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Equestrian Mrs Jenny O’Bryan We have been most fortunate in the equestrian world as we have manged to adapt and get back to competing with special measures quicker than many other sports. The College competitors were ready and raring to go.

In British Eventing Ibble Watson and Mahony Knight have been flying.

In fact, at a recent Open Novice U18 competition between these two, College secured first, third and fourth plus a tenth from OC Poppy

Pitt (W, 2020) out of the whole country. Ellie Savage meanwhile won Broadway Schools Equestrian Games Event on her mare Cleo.

This shows the depth of eventing prowess here at College.

For the first time College ran a show jumping event at Rectory Farm which was one of the first to run following lock-down easing in March. Sascha Mattlé from The Prep scored two impressive second places in hugely competitive classes qualifying her for the National Championships in October. Abigail Frankham did well in the largest class of the day. We had a successful time

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First up was online dressage which was a test performed at home, recorded and submitted for judging.

Ellen Bankes secured an early win and several good placings were recorded by Sebastian Thompson and Ellie Savage on both of her

horses. The qualifiers for National Schools Equestrian Association Championships (NSEA) saw great results for Sofia Games who is a cracking dressage pony rider. I have had great pleasure watching her progress through British Dressage Youth with her taking a very close second place in the most technical test. This bodes incredibly well for the future and Sofia is vying for great British Pony Team honours.

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with the teams too, featuring Katie Baker, Ellie Savage, George Duff, Maddie Shepherd, Claudia Norbury, Daphne Garbutt and Sascha Mattlé, earning third place.

We were enthusiastically supported by the Head, Mrs Nichola Huggett who herself has competed at 3* eventing.

An amazing day was had at Windsor Inter Schools Show Jumping. We were one of only 20 schools in the country that qualified. Abigail Frankham was the first of the College riders and posted a swift and beautiful clear round, next came Katie Baker, Daphne Garbutt and finally Sascha Mattlé (The Prep)

who recorded a scorching clear round in a super-fast time. We were not placed this year but want to ride in front of Windsor Castle again, so the qualification campaign begins.

Ibble Watson and OC Poppy Pitt (W, 2020). We wish them good luck and safe travelling to the new championship location of Bishop Burton in Yorkshire.

We are delighted that some of our riders are benefitting from the College-wide Talented Athlete Programme (TAP) which gives them all-round body-conditioning work when away from the saddle, the benefits of which are well known.

Brilliantly, in the summer holidays, Ibble Watson came 2nd on Aristoteles at the GB Junior Championships at Belsay and 1st on Canditoto and 7th on Aristoteles at Hartpury International Horse Trials.

Newsflash Three out of the eight strong Regional British Eventing team are from College: Mahony Knight,

Also, Mahony Knight came 3rd and 5th on her homebred horses at the British Eventing National Youth Championships - an amazing achievement to have bred and trained horses up to that level!

Football Mr Lucas Slowik It’s been another successful year for the club despite all the drama going on in the world. We have had the pleasure of more

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The club looks forward to the coming year with the hope that both the boys and girls will return to competitive fixtures. We have a refreshed fixture list with new fixtures against Bristol Grammar School, Dauntsey’s and The Royal Grammar School Worcester.

I would like to also thank Mr Ben Page and Mr James Stubbert for their years of commitment to the club. We have been very grateful for your services and wish you all the best at your new schools.

Girls Fitness Mr Christian Francis This year Fitness was again a popular games option and all sessions were led by Christian Francis (Level 3 Personal Trainer).

Each of the weekly sessions had a different emphasis, providing variety as well as teaching the girls about the different components of

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fitness. Sessions in the Performance Gym focused on the introduction of weight-based exercises, working on technique and offering advice to help achieve individual goals.

Saturday sessions were more cardio based such as circuits and proved popular with the girls.

Golf Mr Jonathan Mace It has been a year like no other but with golf being a relatively Covid-safe sport we were able to run an Autumn and Summer Term programme, alas though with no fixtures. The Upper Sixth have remained good humoured and enthusiastic despite a plethora of events being cancelled, including the West of England Public Schools’ Competition at Burnham and Berrow Golf Club.

It has been pleasing to see a good crop of golfers emerge in younger year groups and we look forward to the return to competitive fixtures this coming year, including in the HMC foursomes and ISGA Matchplay competitions. Our golf continued to be played at Cotswold Hills Golf Club this year and thanks must go to the club for their flexibility and

accommodating nature. With Cleeve Hill Golf Club recently saved from closure by OCs Nick Hovey (H, 1995) and Edward Mason (L, 2010) we will be looking to host a number of events there this coming year and building the relationship further with College golf. Thanks must go to Dr Brendan Enright for all of his support on the golfing front this year and Mr Simon Conner who has always been willing to step in to help! We look forward to the new season ahead and a return to some form of golfing ‘normality’.

Hockey Mr Gwyn Williams, Director of Hockey

Girls Despite the pandemic forcing the cancellation of a lot of hockey activity, College still has players involved at a representative level.

Flora Fletcher remains with England U18s along with Tilly Wood who is with Wales U18s. Flora managed to also play for Clifton Robinsons in the Women’s National Cup Final. Meanwhile Ed Carter and Mickey Stranack have been selected into England Hockey’s Performance Pathway.

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than 250 pupils playing football across all year groups which has been a huge plus and great to see. Football has become a wellestablished sport amongst Upper College students and is growing in numbers each year.

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This term had a slightly different make up with no fixtures and the programme saw the introduction of athletic development sessions during the week and for Saturdays.

College also saw the creation of franchise hockey and the introduction of the Cotswold Hockey League. The girls remained in their year groups but were aligned to a franchise: Bath Road Bears, Battledown Boars, Pittville Panthers and Thirlestaine Thundercats. They then played each other in a league format culminating in a finals day with the top two franchises of the Bears

and Boars sharing the spoils as the top franchise overall. To give the players some diversity, a theme was placed on sessions, like pitch size, or manipulation of the rules to dictate behaviours. The final weeks of the Autumn term saw a more festive format and competition element allowing the girls to still have that sense of representing their House. Each House was converted to one of Santa’s reindeers for a round robin league: Ashmead Dashers, Chandos Comets, College Lawn Vixens, Queen’s Dancers and Westal Blitzens .

Results: Westal Blitzens won the Yearlings’ and Colts’ pots, whilst Ashmead won the Junior Colts’ pot.

For the Seniors, due to numbers, teams were combined. Lower Sixth WestDos beat QueensMead Lawn and then Upper Sixth Queen’s lost to WestDosMead.

Full Colours: Georgia-Lily Robertson (Re-award) Half Colours: Freya Coull, Izzy England, Annaliese Goff, Rose Dillon and Gabriella Bifulco

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Boys With the escalation of the pandemic and a return to online learning, hockey activity was restricted to online skills sessions. A new addition for this term was a weekly analysis session where topics on attacking and defending principles as well as goalscoring and pressing were discussed using footage from previous 1st XI games as well as current international matches. These interactive sessions were initially led

by Mr Gwyn Williams and then the format changed to allow for pupils to lead the discussion and learning.

In addition to the online analysis sessions, Mr Williams conducted some online interviews, chatting to Flora Fletcher about her sporting experiences growing up, at College and being an elite hockey player with England. The second interview was with Lily Owsley MBE, current Great Britain hockey player and Gold medallist at Rio Olympics.

This was again an exploration of her experiences growing up in sport, her life as an elite athlete and an insight to her sporting mindset. Both interviews gave our pupils a valuable opportunity to delve into the experiences of these two athletes and learn from the experiences and challenges they have faced at school, club and country in their careers.

For the final three weeks of term and the arrival of pupils back here to College hockey was able to once again adapt its programme to suit

the needs of the pupils and their sporting requirements. The sessions were split with Tuesday, Friday and Saturday allocated to the boys’ programme, then mixed hockey on a Thursday. The sessions had a focus on game play and allowing the pupils to take ownership of their learning through the various challenges and rule amendments given to them by the coaches to aid this provision. For the final two Saturdays, whilst the Senior and Colts’ squads continued to develop their technical aspects and play internal games, the Cotswold Hockey League returned for the Junior teams. Over the two weekends the franchises were split into a Premier League and a Championship at Yearling and Junior Colt level. The Thirlestaine Thundercats took three of the four titles with the Bath Road Bears winning the Junior Colt Championship.

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Full Colours: Charlie Anton-Smith and Oliver Walker Half Colours: William Taylor, Seb Kimber, Simon Oates, Monty Graveney

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Netball

Miss Samantha Cook, Director of Netball Sadly, the majority of the netball season was disrupted with school closure. However once pupils were back with us, we were excited to get back on court and enjoy some team sport and some competitive internal fixtures.

Social distancing and bubbling unfortunately prevented girls from playing in squads but instead we developed an excellent carousel of drills and tactical and technical work which allowed pupils to develop their individual skills and work together as a team.

The weekends saw a thrilling World Cup tournament where year groups

played competitive matches every week, an aspect of sport they missed most during lockdowns.

Every girl thrived in this friendly but competitive environment with some excellent individual performances. Carys Bradford was awarded Player of the Match by her peers on a number of occasions for her excellent rebounding and

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performances from Gabriella Bifulco and Honor Huggett.

The Upper Sixth team was a formidable group made up of netball gurus such as Scarlett Jinks and Rose Dillon, fitness fanatic Georgia-Lili Robertson, and we welcomed back to the court Izzy Reid and Frankie Pinchard after having spent a few years away

from the netball courts. The girls’ enthusiasm along with their face paint and national colours demonstrated true Cheltonian spirit once again and we look forward to getting them back on the courts properly this coming year.

World Cup winners Third Form: England Fourth Form: New Zealand Fifth Form: New Zealand Upper College: England Full Colours: Freya Coull, Honor Hugget and Fenella Clayton Half Colours: Georgia-Lili Robertson and Olivia Jones

Karting Joshua and Evie Poulain have been continuing to achieve great things on the karting track since restrictions lifted earlier in the year and we look forward to reporting of further successes from a fuller season this coming year!

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high shooting percentages. Min Fletcher dominated the midcourt position alongside teammates Katie Baker and Georgia Scott.

Donna French was the life and soul of the Fifth Form tournament, enjoying all aspects of netball with the upmost enthusiasm. A chatty Lower Sixth demonstrated cohesion and enjoyment with standout

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Polo

Mr Robin Eddie Despite the pandemic, the club has continued to train for parts of this year at Longdole Polo Club. We have welcomed new players from the Third Form including George Copcutt, Rex Knight, George Lawson and Oscar Fuery. Some of these boys have never played polo before and show great potential for the coming years.

For our first fixture against Radley College, we had a strong team consisting of Geroge Copcutt, Ben Pattrick, Holly Bullock and Robbie Slatter. They all played exceptionally well. Starting two goals down, to even handicaps by

the end of the 3rd chukka, College and Radley were drawn 3-3. In the final chukka, College turned it up a notch, finishing the game with an impressive 7-3 victory.

Well done to all players who took part and we look forward to many more fixtures this coming year.

Rackets Mr Mark Briers, Rackets Professional After an exceptionally challenging year I am pleased to report that the club has continued to thrive under the outstanding coaching team of Mr Mark Briers and Mr Robert Horn.

Complying with the everchanging Covid regulations we had 98 College pupils on court over the course of the year, 46 girls and 52 boys, figures that far exceed almost all other rackets-playing schools.

Despite the lack of competitive fixtures, the pupils have been fully committed to working hard on developing their skills in both the singles and doubles forms of the game. More recently, we have also been able to gradually welcome back some OCs to use the court and we are hoping normal service will be resumed soon. A full programme of fixtures has been planned for the coming year, culminating in the normal tournaments at Queen’s Club. We look forward to

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the inaugural OC mixed doubles competition and the return of the Cheltenham Gold Racket. A huge thank you to William Hechle and Fionnuala Dowling-Membrado for their excellent work as rackets captains over the course of this year. We would also like to wish all the best to William Hechle, Gus Edwards and Emilia Davis as they embark on rackets scholarships at the prestigious clubs in Chicago, Montreal and Philadelphia. Serve up!

Rowing Mr Nicholas Moffatt, Director of Rowing Rowing has had a successful season despite the challenges and knockon effects of to Covid. Making the most of typically stunning weather in September many more pupils than usual had the opportunity to try their hand at rowing throughout the Autumn Term.

In the windiest and wettest May on record, the whole squad seized the positive out of the negative and pressed on with some quality land training on the ergos and in the gym with PBs flying in everywhere. Sadly, we had to cancel a friendly training fixture visit from City of Bristol juniors.

A lot of skill development has taken place and enjoyably so, in small boats and in fours. As Covid restrictions eased, Senior boys (Upper College and Fifth Form) enjoyed being coached for some sessions in an eight. There is a lot of potential for the coming year!

Along with Matthew Albutt in a single, the Senior girls’ double scull of Annabel Cane and Alice Vyvyan-Robinson, and two single sculls of Maria Cowing and Victoria Brain competed admirably in the U18s events at a smaller and even more elite version of the National Schools’ Regatta.

Third Formers had their first experience of racing at Eton Dorney, the 2012 Olympic venue, at a special Marlow Regatta Sunday and the A Eight made the B Final. Fourth Formers and above raced at Saltford, Bristol, hosted by Monkton Combe School. They had some fun racing across various boat classes while our top performers gleaned more race savviness.

The girls’ squad performed extremely well at the Henley Women’s Regatta in July. The Senior girls’ double scull of Annabel Cane (Head of Boats) and Alice Vyvyan-Robinson beat 10 rivals in the U18s to qualify into the main draw. This was a brilliant achievement as they had increased their speed significantly in the two months since the National School’s Regatta at the end of May. They went on to fight admirably against a National Schools’ A-finalist double from Newark. While a gap opened up by mid-race between these two fierce small boats, Newark was never allowed to let up even a fraction as they beat our girls. It made a great race to watch on the river bank and to listen to on the livestream.

Maria Cowing and Victoria Brain also competed against the best U18s in SPORT

During the lockdown of Spring Term, Dr Tom Jenkins (erstwhile British Rowing doctor) gave our squad an online talk. This included biomechanical explanations as well as basic principles and salient tips as to what we can do when not in the

boat to help develop all aspects of our rowing. Rowers kept progressing by utilising a variety of live sessions thanks to the online sports team.

When we returned, pupils across all ages impressed and maximised their time on the water with the experienced coaching team.

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the UK, so while they weren’t able to beat enough challengers to qualify, huge credit goes to them for taking this on and finding more speed since National School’s Regatta. All four girls also dealt very well with the typically tricky water state and fluky headwind on the prestigious course at Henley. They also all navigated the start and the booms successfully.

These challenges combined often cause havoc to many an experienced crew! Brave and tough stuff, the

future is bright for these girls with their rowing.

of racing this coming season. It is an exciting prospect.

The whole College squad enjoyed a BBQ at the Boat House at the end of the year with awards and the opportunity to thank the coaching team. All the teachers and coaches remarked just how brilliant it has been to see the development of all rowers during this second impacted year. Everyone is looking forward to getting back to a normal calendar

Our thanks go to the coaching team of Mr John Jones, Miss Natalie McDaid, Miss Beatrice Langford Powell, Miss Jo Doidge-Harrison, Dr Simon Markham, Mr Graham Cutts, Mr Nicholas Moffatt, Mr Jed Greenhouse, Mr Joe Murphy, Ms Indiajane Jeffery, Ms Eve Wright and Ms Bryony Lawrence

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Rugby Mr Olly Morgan, Director of Rugby Whilst the sporting landscape has presented many challenges this year, it was still very exciting to welcome pupils back in the Autumn Term. Naturally, following School Closure I, it was imperative that the programme offered to the pupils was varied, engaging and competitive. Pupils took part in our athletic development sessions to ease them safely back into sport and had lots of choice throughout the week.

U14-Scotland U15- England U16- France U17- Wales U18- France The second half of term followed a similar format although, in addition, we included the infamous House 7s rugby competition that really brought back some form of ‘normality’. It was an amazing spectacle reaching its zenith on finals day; the picture of a full College Field, really highlighted the

togetherness of the school.

Yearlings Newick House v Leconfield 15-10 (Newick winners)

Junior Colts Southwood v Newick House 10-5 (Southwood winners)

Colts Southwood v Newick House 10-5 (Southwood winners)

Lower Sixth Southwood v Hazelwell 15-10 (Southwood winners in final play)

Upper Sixth Newick House v Hazelwell 20-15 (Newick winners in extra time with golden score) There was also some individual success with Austin Thrussell, Frankie Walker and Charlie Payne selected

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There were significant changes to the game to adhere to due to government guidelines: no external matches and no contact. The format we therefore followed was very much geared towards skill development throughout the week and touch games at the weekend

to bring that competitive element upon which we know pupils thrive.

The touch tournament was done in year groups and was formed around a Six Nations theme that would run until the November Exeat. The pupils really engaged with the tournament and we saw some fantastic rugby displayed across every year group. The eventual winners were:

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into the Gloucester U16 squad. This was followed up in the Seniors with Ross Broughton-Johnson and Eddie Buttress progressing with the U17s and Will Gilderson and Tom Riman with the U18s.

Excitingly, Will Gilderson has also been selected into the England U18 development squad.

In summary, it was a very enjoyable term that presented many challenges which we overcame together. It was a shame the Third Form weren’t able to represent College for the first time however I’m sure they will be excited for the coming season. To the Upper Sixth, led so brilliantly by Zach French, thank you for all you have given to College and rugby. You have been a joy to coach and see develop through the years and I wish you all the best in your next chapter wherever that will be.

Huge thanks go to the staff for their motivation and creativity but most of all to the pupils who bought into the programme and improved throughout.

Shooting Mr Chris Reid

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Unfortunately, there has not been much competitive shooting this academic year as our traditional fixtures were not able to run

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through the first two terms.

However, we were able for the first half of term to continue our sessions at Ian Coley Sporting under the watchful eye of our coach Mr Matt Venner.

However, with the resumption of fixtures in the Summer Term, we did get one match in against Millfield School and it was an historic one; it saw the First V led by Rebecca Cook who, as club captain, has led by example all year. Despite the fact that College were runners up in the match, it did not dampen spirits; it was just great to be out in the sun shooting competitively for the first time since March 2020.

Squash Mr Jamie Diamond We had a challenging year due to restrictions on indoor use as well as being down to four courts because of social distancing. Putting this aside and as restrictions opened up, participation was very high, with more pupils playing than in recent years.

All pupils were ecstatic to get back; enthusiasm and effort levels were fantastic despite not being able to play fixtures against other schools. During games Mr Robert Shepherd produced some

excellent tactics and technical sessions to push all pupils’ abilities for their development. Due to the restrictions on indoor fixtures with other schools, we focused on internal matches and tournaments.

These were played on a regular basis and brought out the quality of squash the pupils had to offer, which was superb. Special mentions go to the captains El Charles-Jones and Tom Morris as they continued to show commitment; coming to every session throughout the period of their academic assessments.

I cannot single out a single year group for a special mention as all years trained well and showed great commitment considering the restrictions. It was a great year of squash from a development point of view, and we are all very excited for fixtures in the coming year.

Strava Saturday Mr Gwyn Williams Throughout school closure during the Spring Term, to ensure we remained connected as a community, we launched a variety of challenges using the Strava platform with which pupils, parents and staff could engage.

The new year brought with it the launch of #StravaSaturday. With

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Mrs Zoe La Valette-Cooper Girls vice captain Dina competed in the Serbian National Championships, swimming 50m freestyle, 50m breaststroke and 100m breaststroke, coming ninth in the 50m breaststroke. Dina is also taking part in leading the UK campaign for nationwide sport equality legislation.

Izzy Greenwood, Max Pinkham, Richard Fung, Alexander Knott, Bluebell Clayton, Lara Scudamore, Sophie Fowler, Rory Maddinson, Sophia Tweedie, Bella Cross and OC Amelia Kitson (A, 2020) all passed their Level 1 assistant teachers’ qualification. Amelia has gone on to gain her Level 2. These are ASA governing body official qualifications recognised worldwide and which will enable them all to gain work within private swim schools or local authorities’ ‘Learn to swim programmes’.

no pupils returning to College, we challenged all the Houses to get out as many pupils, staff and parents as possible with #GetGoing to do some form of physical activity to blow away those post Christmas blues and cobwebs. Each House then nominated their own House Hero.

The House which ‘got going’ with most participants was Hazelwell.

Other challenges that were #BetheBestucanBe, a 1.5km run that you would re-run 10 weeks later in the #RaisetheRoof challenge to see if you could better that time. Finally, and the most challenging, was #BeCreative, where we challenged participants to create a piece of Strava art with their activity. In addition to the challenges, we also had Strava fixtures against Clifton College, Malvern College and Bradfield College competing in a timed 3km run.

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We were delighted to have 12 College records broken throughout the year. And when we couldn’t swim, we held a virtual gala! In a bid to have some competition, we took on Cheltenham Ladies’ College and Dean Close School. We won both the boys’ and the girls’ competitions.

Thanks go to our captains Richard Fung and Max Pinkham, to our vice captains Bluebell Clayton and Dina.

Finally, huge thanks to coach Mr Andy Osborne; we couldn’t do it without you!

Tennis Mr Tim Lang

Boys Having many of our fixtures cancelled due to Covid, the club had a much reduced and frustrating season. It has been a long time since the courts witnessed any competition so despite the ups and downs, and ‘is the match still on or off, sir?’ type conversations, I hope the boys finally enjoyed swinging a racket under sunny Cheltenham skies.

We had a very young group of pupils representing the 1st and 2nd VI which bodes very well for the coming year, and whilst they will be disappointed with the results, it needs to be put in context.

The teams comprised of mainly Lower Sixth players along with the added involvement of Third Form Spencer Moore playing in the 1st VI. The valuable experience gained will no doubt put them in great stead for years to come, and we are all looking forward to seeing the boys embrace the winter programme before locking horns once more this coming summer.

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Swimming

It is always important to recognise staff involvement amongst the ranks in the club, and special thanks are extended to Mr Ben Page who, to College’s loss, is sadly moving on to Repton School at the end of the year. Mr Page has been a committed and enthusiastic member of the team, and I’m sure everyone in the club will join me in wishing him all the very best in the next part of his adventure.

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Girls The girls’ club continues to thrive with 15 teams participating in matches from Third Form right to the top at Upper Sixth. It was so important for the club to get training and matches back into the timetable after such a long, anxious, and disappointing time away. It was really pleasing to see many of our girls attend the

Winter Tennis programme where possible which really gave them valuable court time to prepare for the Summer Term. There was a slight air of the unknown about how our Third and Fourth Form would perform as naturally both year groups hadn’t the opportunity to play last year. In many respects we were absolutely delighted to see the strength in depth we now

have coming through the levels in Lower College. Both year groups displayed some fantastic tennis on their way to having a particularly impressive season and have very much laid down a marker to the schools on our fixture list that they mean business.

In Upper College, having players commit to matches was so exciting considering their assessment

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programme and revision timetable.

Each and every one of them who freed up time to train and to play can be super proud of their commitment to the cause. In similar fashion to the boys, we were hit with cancellations due to Covid and inclement weather played its part too. The girls didn’t let this spoil their fun and they consistently rocked up with a ‘neversay-die’ attitude hoping for matches

to still be on. It was a fitting end to our Upper Sixth girls’ tennis careers for them to beat Cheltenham Ladies’ College in the last match of the season to end on a real high.

Special mention must go to captain Emilia Davis who has shown incredible drive and determination to bring tennis forward since joining College in Lower Sixth, along with other notable contributors to the club over their time here at College; in particular Fionnuala DowlingMembrado, Izzy England and Izzy Reid all of whom have given their all for the club. We wish them all the very best as they depart College.

Full Colours: Emilia Davis, Fionnuala Dowling-Membrado Half Colours: Izzy England, Izzy Reid

Yoga Mr Olly Morgan The online yoga content provided to pupils during our remote learning period was an opportunity for pupils to tune in and improve on their flexibility, core-stability and physical and mental well-being.

With a busy academic programme it was the perfect way for pupils to switch off and refresh.

The sessions were progressive and focused on the whole body which allowed pupils to strengthen areas that might have previously been ignored. We had on average eight to 10 pupils (girls and boys) each week who really bought into the exercises and who improved significantly throughout.

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Lastly, it is important to recognise the contribution of Mr Chris Warner who has battled the winter rain and got the pupils out on court when most would have simply said ‘no’. In the Summer Term, his competitive nature is exposed, and you can see the pride he takes when the pupils perform well. His passion for tennis at College is unrivalled and we are extremely lucky to have him available to support our players.

Thank you, Chris.

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VALETE Our Fond Farewells Tony Ayres

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Tony Ayres leaves College after four years as Contingent Commander.

Tony’s experience and creativity have driven much development in the Contingent. As much has changed within the cadet world during his tenure, his wealth of understanding of the wider cadet forces has been invaluable. Contingent staff have always appreciated Tony’s warmth, positivity, and consistently calm approach, particularly in his mentorship of Heads of Section.

Tony has also led teams to excel at small-bore shooting at the highest level of competition at Bisley. Tony has always encouraged cadets to take up leadership opportunities, challenging them but maintaining a real sense of care for their welfare.

He has a great ability to stand up for the interests and the unique nature of our historic Contingent in a polite but firm manner. Always the gentleman and the most caring of leaders, Tony will be much missed by cadets and staff alike.

Will Kemp and Jason Gwynne

Angela Barnett Angela is renowned for her love of cricket and some of her happiest moments are watching Mugglistonites young and old competing on the hallowed College square. So please excuse the cricket analogy I am

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about to give. It is with great sadness that Angela’s superb innings of 100 terms at College comes to an end. However, she retires a centurion carrying her bat.

She has shared stands with four housemasters digging in and cementing her position at the crease while they played flashy shots through the covers around her.

It goes without saying that she will be truly missed by everyone. She is undoubtedly woven into the fabric of the building and has played such an important role in the life of so many Newick boys. You can’t help noticing Angela as you walk around the House as she is featured in so many photos we have around the building with her front and centre linking generations of boys together.

From a personal perspective I cannot thank her enough for her unwavering support during my six years in charge of Newick. We immediately hit it off and she seemed to particularly approve of my interest in national hunt racing. Newick has had a number of various talented professional jockeys come through the house and the longest serving Housemaster during Angela’s time, Martin Stovold, was particularly interested in the sport. It seemed therefore that I had got off on the right footing.

Angela is well renowned for extolling the virtue of being honest above all else. Indeed, her favourite saying to the boys when they arrive is that ‘Nothing can be improved on but the truth.’ Angela has genuinely nurtured generations of boys through Newick and I am not sure who was more surprised, John Barter or Angela, when she realised that the first son of one of her charges would be joining the house.

There are so many generations of boys and Resident Tutors who are still in touch with Angela because of the positive impact she had on their lives and a number of whom spoke very fondly at her Common Room farewell.

As many of you will know the emblem of Newick House is the cornflower and one of Angela’s proudest moments was when she was awarded the cornflower tie. It is appropriate that the cornflower is known to represent positive hope for the future and I am sure Angela will be looking forward to more time with her devoted husband Richard and her grandchildren.

However, it is not really goodbye as I am sure she will continue to visit her home of 31 years.

Thirty-one years, four housemasters and nearly 500 Mugglistonites.

Angela retires from Newick not out on 100. She will undoubtedly go down into the annals of the history of Newick House.

James Hayden

Crispin Dawson I felt hugely privileged to work with Crispin here at College, prior to his exciting appointment as Head of Cheltenham Muscat. His contribution to College over the last eight years as Deputy Head Pastoral, Senior Deputy and then Acting Head has been outstanding, and he has positively touched the lives of probably thousands of Cheltonians, staff and OCs in this time. When I

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It is no mean feat to step up into an Acting Head role, and it was very clear to me that Crispin did a remarkable job during his time as Head. As Senior Deputy, he relishes the challenges and, in many ways, the more difficult the situation, the more interesting he finds it and the calmer he becomes. He never shies away from difficult conversations and he has been encouraging, thoughtful and measured through all the many difficult decisions we have had to make together over this last year in particular. There have been some times when we have just had to trust our gut instinct about something and go with it, and I have always known Crispin has brilliant instincts. I have really relied on those a lot and it is in large part thanks to him that College has come through the period of Covid in the positive way that it has.

Crispin is greatly respected and loved by the Common Room and the pupils – again, that is something that cannot be said of every Senior Deputy given the tricky nature of some of the things that fall within his remit. In my working relationship with him, I have always known that he will challenge me in all the right ways behind the scenes and I also know that when we are standing out in front together, he has my back and that of every other person in the room. I cannot thank him enough for all his support and for

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the fantastic way that he has led the pastoral side of College and latterly this international project, with dedication and an incredible work ethic.

We now talk quite naturally about the aims of College as our Five Cs (Curiosity, Creativity, Character, Community and Continuous excellence) a concept which first came about in a meeting between Crispin and I, scribbling ideas on the back of an envelope. He was very much the author and the architect of this and many other strategic goals we have set ourselves and so his fingerprints will remain with us all for years to come now.

Crispin himself, another great ‘C’, will be hugely missed by us all, but thankfully we will now be working together on this new project which will see College move into another level of worldwide success under his leadership.

Nicola Huggett

Sarah Dawson When pondering how best to sum up such an ebullient daffodilyellow eight years across The Prep and College for Sarah, just a couple of moments in the last few days serve to epitomise her approach. On a Saturday morning, well before 8.30am, when plenty of the non-College world would still be asleep or at best considering toast, she was to be found sitting in our book room cradling (and giggling at the image she knew she presented) what has to be one of the most immense of all the immense volumes on the British Empire that we hold, delving deep into Cain and Hopkins’ 736-page thesis on ‘gentlemanly capitalism’, pursuing a fresh take on historical interpretations for the Lower Sixth NEA. The following Monday, again

well before 8.30am, she took swift advantage of the fact that our tutees were in Late Breakfast and came scorching into my room on wheels (as is her style) to discuss her plans for four new separate Fourth Form papers for early September, as an initiative to pick up on Summer Exams – wanting to get this 100% right for her sets, even though she will no longer be teaching them.

Unfailingly positive about her pupils’ potential, Sarah simply refuses to believe that her pupils cannot work with her to do better.

It is just the same with her beloved sport, including obviously Wales rugby, where she lives and breathes every moment at training and matches, with Gwyn noting that he has never met someone who paces up and down the touchline as much: ‘She is relentless and must do about 10,000 steps a game!’ She and her little red boots have likewise enlivened libraries, battlefield cemeteries, Newick House pizza and steak sessions, as well as musty churches, Sunday morning Literature Festival visits, Department walks, and is always the dream ticket to win on the Common Room Safari Supper circuit, thanks to a combination of (singing) games and Dauphinoise potatoes. She endlessly models reading for pleasure (see her classroom door and displays), is uber competitive in all sport (we are not sure her staff netball league is going to cope), and proactively took herself off to Lords on a personal passion project to train up to deliver girls’ cricket.

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arrived to succeed him, Crispin did everything he could to help me to get to know College, its values and its joys. He embodies all that this school is: courageous, inspirational, ambitious, resilient and really good fun. He loves what he does and pastoral care and visionary leadership comes effortlessly to him.

He has been the most generous support to his colleagues and to all the many pupils he has taught and cared for, and I could think of few people more suited to lead this new exciting adventure for the College in opening its first international school.

All in all, it is very common for pupils to sigh in reflection, ‘Oh, I just LOVE Mrs Dawson’... Her Tutor Group recently planned a fully itemised ‘Mrs Dawson’s Goodbye and Good Riddance Party’ (her words, not theirs) in her honour, including under ‘transport’, provision of a limo to get the principal guest and her acolytes from New Block Room 6 to Big C…

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When lessons and sport are over, Sarah is frequently, Covid and her own children permitting, to be found in the bar mulling over the events of the day and/or match with a companiable beer. She is fundamentally committed to and highly experienced in the full boarding ethos, approaching her lessons, extra-curricular roles, tutoring, House duties and of course the odd pint, with immense dedication, grit and determination, and always that amazing eyes-shut giggle. She cares about people: during lockdown, over the months, chocolate bunnies and jigsaws and daffodil bulbs arrived magically on doorsteps.

We wish her all the best with the Omani desert heat, which we know she is so eagerly looking forward to, and we can’t wait for her to be reunited with Crispin after such a long period of Covid-mandated separation. We are envious to see them begin such an exotic and exciting new chapter for their family, and as Sarah has pointed out, they are not really ‘leaving’ anyway with their children remaining very much a part of the wider College family.

Jo Doidge-Harrison

John Evans

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John came to us as at the start of September being interviewed as many had been via video. This year he has worked hard with his classes especially the New Cambridge Technical Group which, being Lower Sixth, were not expecting to be part of the TAG process. He is particularly well suited to online learning and that is where he will be returning to this coming year, sharing his excellent knowledge. I wish him well and when the Python Coder website is completed, I will send him a log in so that he can also enjoy the benefits of PHP (hypertext preprocessor) and HTML. Jon Morton

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Paul Gibson Paul’s contribution to College over a decade of service extended far beyond his Physics domain.

As a highly accomplished all-round scientist, both teaching and technician staff alike valued his practical experience and frank advice. He was respected for being ‘old school’, always insisting on high standards and supportive of the pupils achieving their best. This expectation extended beyond the classroom where his involvement was wide ranging. He has been on dozens of Duke of Edinburgh expeditions at all levels and was instrumental in preparing the pupils for their endeavours with training advice and equipment. The latter entailed running the kit stores, always a stressful task that often meant he was the last person in College when all had left. He led several teams of pupils and staff through the Devizes Westminster kayak race, selflessly supporting their efforts. His expertise will be sorely missed though his connection with College remains; as I write he is in a tent somewhere in the Brecon Beacons seeing through the teams postponed by Covid.

Dominic Faulkner

Bea Langford Powell Bea joined the Modern Foreign Languages Department in 2017 and quickly established herself in the Department. She was quick to throw herself into everything College has to offer and her contributions are numerous, ranging from her three languages (French, German and Italian), setting

up beginners’ Italian as an elective, CCF, Orchestra and her role as a Chandos Tutor. She is hugely passionate about her subject and has certainly been a force of energy in the Department. She often looks to trial new approaches with her sets, from creative games and a new method of monitoring to encouraging their progress with listening. More than anything, Bea is kind, caring and will always make time to help others out, whether her tutees, tirelessly finding individual slots to work with pupils or helping the Department. We are saddened to see her go, but excited for (and jealous of!) her with her move to Singapore.

Ben Page

Dan Lovell Dan joined us in 2017 as a newly qualified teacher of Physics and Resident Tutor in Leconfield. In his four years at College, he has become a stalwart of the Physics Department, a reliable and encouraging hockey coach, a dependable addition to the RAF contingent of the CCF and he ran the Land Rover in Schools project.

As a Resident Tutor of two years, evenings or weekends in Leconfield when Dan was on duty were never dull. He managed the extraordinary feat of being energetic and calm and patient all at the same time. The boys warmed to his fair firmness and laughed like drains when they discovered he was responsible for the first two false fire alarms in House! Alongside his energetic and dedicated teaching, Dan also built the Physics Department’s acoustic levitator, he developed College’s Pre-Uni Engineering Course, in which post A Level students built laser induced graphene capacitors.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, he is leaving College to further his career and

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Simon Markham Simon joined us in September after never previously stepping a foot over the College threshold, due to the remote interview process. But, like the good boatman he is, he soon found his College sea-legs and settled quickly and with great grace and ease into the busy College routine. A kind and calm colleague, whose outstanding subject knowledge, generosity of spirit and excellent relationships with his pupils quickly made him a valued member of the English Department.

Simon was a great addition to the Boyne House team and his literary and water-based skills were quickly deployed to great effect.

He helped settle the new Third Form in a disrupted year and his exemplary exposition for reading in prep and tutor sessions was much appreciated. A number of the younger members of House enjoyed his mentorship at rowing and had tremendous fun attempting to paddleboard and kayak at Croft Farm in the Summer Term.

With his passion for helping those learn and develop their rowing, Simon was a committed contributor to the Cheltenham College Boat Club for all three terms. He successfully gained his powerboat qualification and slotted into the team with enthusiasm, able to work with any pupil of any ability, in any boat type, regardless of weather conditions!

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Those who have been fortunate to work with Simon this year, wish him all the best for the future, with plenty of serene sculling over on the Reading and Henley stretches again!

Richard Penny, Jane Brodigan and Nick Moffatt.

Macinnie Meyer Since arriving at College in January 2019 Macinnie has fulfilled many roles in her time here. Her primary role has been delivering and organising sport during timetabled games and sports afternoons. One of her major strengths is her flexibility and ability to adjust to the audience in front of her. She has led energetic and technical netball sessions which have stretched our able performers as well as creating fun and interesting basic drills during our carousel sessions or participation sessions. Macinnie voluntarily took on Girls Fitness, efficiently running the administration and leading a varied and dynamic programme.

Macinnie’s imaginative games and cheerful persona have been warmly welcomed at The Prep and many pupils have gained from her experience of teaching in PE and swimming lessons.

In Chandos there were tears when she announced her departure; she has been a pro-active and caring Tutor who has taken time to build a kind and supportive rapport with not only her own tutees but all the girls in the House.

Macinnie leaves us to pursue new horizons and continue her teaching career. We wish her well in her new ventures and hope she comes back to visit and continues to cheer us on from the side line!

Rebecca Faulkner

Ben Page Ben joined College in 2016, initially as Head of French, later being appointed to Head of Modern Foreign Languages. A rising star in the Rugby group cohort of middle leaders, he is moving ‘up north’ to head up the Modern Languages faculty at Repton.

Held in esteem by his team of whom he speaks so highly, it was lovely to hear so many warm words from his colleagues in the final weeks of the Summer Term.

In his time at College, Ben made a highly impressive contribution to sporting and co-curricular life, firstly through his prominent role in Monday night staff football. Yes, he had his fair share of bumps and scrapes; the Common Room anecdotes speak for themselves.

However, the Captain/Manager of the staff team was full of praise, saying ‘Ben was an adequate player who would benefit from passing to his teammates more often’.

However, perhaps his most memorable moment came in more painful terms, when Ben broke his ankle in a rough tackle from one of the more terrifying members of the Upper Sixth. When approached for comment, the boy in question said ‘I deeply regret my actions. Mr Page is a good coach who would only benefit from passing to his teammates more often.’

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pursue his first love as a Mechanical Engineer. He will be missed enormously by the big group of Common Room friends he has gathered here and we wish him well with his future including his marriage to Lorna this summer.

Dan Evans

On a personal note, Ben has been that rare person at work: friend first, colleague second. As a fellow Head of Department (HoD) in what has easily been the hardest year since last year, his support and encouragement have been invaluable. He has been my ‘go-to’ person to sense-check decisions, run through my options or just

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have a moan with when times have been tough. A voice of reason at HoDs’ meetings, Ben is unafraid to interrogate a decision and we will miss his strategic brain and clear sense of what is feasible and what is reasonable. I will miss, too, our ExtraHoDs’ sessions after meetings. More than anything, I will miss my friend.

To Ben, Rose, Rory and Lily, we will miss you and wish you all the best for the future.

Andrew Straiton

Richard Preece

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Richard Preece arrived with us in September 2020 for the shortest induction into College ways and lore in history. He turned not a hair and has remained preternaturally calm across a year of hybrid and fully remote teaching. His Welsh lilt immediately brought peace and entertainment to the Department staff and his pupils in New Block, Newick House and badminton. No task is too much: Richard has prepared Oxbridge candidates via HAT practice, run both Lower College Society and a Lower Sixth elective on historical myths, taken on more than his fair share of Department marking, and has shown deep pastoral concern for those who have found working around the virus hard.

He nods his head gratefully and appreciatively towards any resources supplied… and then sets about making them infinitely more creative: the ideal colleague. The pinnacle of this was keeping Fifth Form stimulated during our early completion of reduced courses: Richard set up escape room challenges across Europe, using a fine eye for doggerel and the ‘jaundiced man’ in Google Maps.

This had pupils scorching off to navigate Berlin seeking a ‘child

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of Wirl’ in his ‘Borsig home, now demolished’ (aka Chancellor Von Papen), storming health-food stores in Austria, and catching night buses to the Reichstag. It was infinitely more fun than doing endless six marker technique on the Nazi consolidation of power (not least watching Sarah Dawson and James Hayden sprint to keep up in finding the guy wearing red and white Converse boots outside a church in Marburg). Richard has most recently led a week of Pre-U on Hamilton and Founders Chic: in his inimitable Welsh accent, ‘[the pupils’] knowledge of musical theatre was pretty shocking, mind’. It was an extraordinary swansong. An expert on ‘doubly thankful’ villages, we are (doubly) thankful to have had all the fun of his company this year, and wish him and Luci extremely well with their new life in Oxfordshire.

Jo Doidge-Harrison

Adam Kydd Appointed in September 2018 to teach macroeconomics, Adam has inspired our Sixth Form economists. He has been instrumental in introducing and delivering the C-Tech Business course, worked tirelessly with Oxbridge candidates, in addition to running the Law and Debating Society. A respected Sixth Form Tutor in Chandos, he has also assisted with shooting and encouraged the next generation of rugby superstars from the Yearlings’ D. Pupils and colleagues across College speak with such fondness of Mr Kydd, referencing his charisma, intellect, aptitude for languages and his penchant for a hat. Despite knowing ‘everything about everything’ he is renowned for his humility, is a true gentleman and has time for everyone. It is no surprise to those of us that have worked alongside Adam that he is leaving us to return to the world of

academia, commencing an MPhil in Modern Middle Eastern Studies at St Anthony’s College, University of Oxford.

We wish him every success with this and for the bright future that awaits him once his studies are completed; he will be greatly missed by teachers and Cheltonians alike.

Zoe La Valette-Cooper and Todd Freedman

James Stubbert James came to College in September 2010 from Cleeve School. He quickly became a very popular member of Common Room and proved himself to be an excellent teacher of Mathematics. A true gentleman, James’ lessons are characterised by empathy and kindness; many a Cheltonian has benefitted from his patient and skilful approach. In September 2017 James was appointed Second in Maths. He has been excellent in this role, providing support and guidance to members of the Department and myself. I cannot thank him enough for his hard work, support, loyalty, and friendship during this time.

James has been fully involved with all aspects of life at College. He has coached, rugby, cricket, football and hockey and much beside; he has also run internal exams and cover. A keen sportsman, James has played cricket for the Common Room and was the mastermind behind a series of wins for the Common Room football team.

James’s unique brand of humour and mastery of the well-timed one-liner has brought cheer and joy to many situations. His kindness, thoughtfulness and professionalism mark him out as one of the very best colleagues I have had the pleasure of working with.

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Brendan Enright

Emily Taylor Emily joined us two years ago after training at RADA, and she brought so much inspiring knowledge and expertise gained during her professional training. In everything she has done at College, she has striven to push the pupils.

Despite the challenges that lockdown has posed, Emily has remained positive and innovative throughout, running online enrichment workshops for Upper College and exploring the possibilities offered to us through radio drama in her Third Form Drama club. She has shone in her direction of two Scholars’ plays Love in Idleness and Foxfinder. During these rehearsal processes, she has worked with our most talented pupils supporting them to excel whilst performing in a professional venue. Neither of these productions went to plan: our lead in Love in Idleness being struck down with mumps and Emily being forced to take to the stage, script in hand; Foxfinder had to be cancelled at the last minute due to the second lockdown, but Emily again took this in her stride and filmed an abridged version to ensure that the pupils had an opportunity to showcase their talents and hard work.

Beyond her commitments in Drama, she has been a much-valued member of the Leconfield team, and she has fostered highly positive and

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supportive relationships with her Fourth Form tutees. I know they will miss her greatly. We wish Emily all the best for the future and her plans to continue making innovative and thought-provoking drama.

Sian McBride

Ollie Vincent Ollie joined the Music Department as a singing teacher in September 2017. This was met with much enthusiasm and some amusement, as being an OC (BH, 2003) and former Music Scholar, his previous antics were already well known by longstanding members of the Music Department. Having studied singing at Birmingham Conservatoire and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Ollie embarked on a professional singing career that included solo recitals, oratorio work, beat boxing and DJ work, and for three years, singing with the multi award winning acapella group VOCES8. It was when Ollie took the decision to leave life on tour with VOCES8 that he became a singing teacher, first at Milton Abbey School in Dorset and then at College. He was hugely popular with his pupils and indeed with staff and will be greatly missed.

He leaves College to pursue a career in Business Management in Cardiff where he lives with his fiancée Kathryn.

David McKee

addition to the College Physics Department, she brought with her huge experience of high-level Physics teaching. As a Cambridge graduate of natural sciences, her breadth of knowledge has benefitted both staff and students.

Mandy displays an impressive attention to detail and rigour in her working; skills that she has imparted to pupils. She is invariably found in the Physics ‘prep’ room, patiently offering pupils feedback and demonstrating calculations. She is assiduous in her approach and her solutions to the hardest questions are a frequent ‘lifesaver.’ Like all colleagues she has had to adjust to the demands of remote teaching and embraced the technological demands; no mean feat when you are a ‘seasoned’ classroom teacher.

Mandy leaves us for The King’s School, Gloucester, where their department is very lucky to have her. Mandy has already spoken of missing our ‘Physics family’ and especially the wonderful support from our technicians. We wish her all the best and thank her for her valued contribution to Physics at College. She will be sorely missed.

Dominic Faulkner

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James leaves us to become Assistant Principal Academic at Concord School in Shanghai, China. All at College wish James, Wei, Bobby and Anna, the very best of luck with their new adventure. A great man, colleague, teacher, and friend, he will be much missed by the Common Room.

Mandy Rowan Mandy joined College seven years ago as a part-time teacher of Physics, having previously taught at Cheltenham Ladies’ College, also her alma mater. A welcome

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CHELTONIAN SOCIETY President of the Cheltonian Society The Society’s focus is threefold.

First, we are looking to build a relevant platform for professional networking. Second, we are the focal point for Society events, from Cheltonian Society Sports through House Reunions to wider community celebratory occasions. Third, we look to leverage social media and the multiple communication channels available to build awareness of the Society and thus the College.

Welcome to the second edition of the combined Cheltonian and Floreat.

As a reminder, the Cheltonian Society represents and acts to support the interests of current and past pupils, parents and staff, the College, and the Council.

Much has changed and improved since the last update in terms of the conditions all of us are operating under. However, the continuing uncertainty related to Covid has constrained some of the Society’s usual activities such as the events programme. Meanwhile, the Society Committee has been actively developing plans to enhance

the professional networking opportunities for our members and to build more targeted and relevant communications.

If you want to know more about the Society or have ideas for how the Society can better support your interests, please do reach out at society@cheltenhamcollege.org.

I hope you enjoy reading this latest publication and I look forward to meeting you at an event in the coming year. The sooner the better!

Mr David Stewart (OJ & H, 1978, past parent and current Council member)

Cheltonian Society AGM The Cheltonian Society Annual General Meeting will take place on Saturday 4 December 2021 at Cheltenham College.

All Society members are welcome to attend, either in person or via Zoom. Please get in touch for further details.

Cheltonian Society Committee The affairs of the Cheltonian Society are managed by members of the Committee, appointed in accordance with the rules of the Society in consultation with the Head of College. In addition to the AGM, there are Committee meetings and additional working group meetings throughout the year.

Current members of the Cheltonian Society Committee are:

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David Stewart, President (OJ & H, 1978, past parent and current Council member) John Barter (NH, 1989 and current parent) Helen Burgoyne (Ch, 1987 and Chair of CET) Lucy Caines (W, 2010) Abi Coley (current parent and Prep staff) Alex Eldred (current College staff) Georgina Gardner (Q, 2015)

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Anthony Holt (Xt, 1994) Darawati Hussain (current parent and wife of OC) Nick Nelson (Hon OC, current parent and College staff) Caroline Noble (current parent and wife of OC) Piers Norton (S, 2016) Alayne Parsley (current Prep staff and past parent) Paul Partridge (H, 1986) Tunku Nasiruddin Shahabuddin

(Xt, 1987 and current parent) George Smith (BH, 2010 and past staff) Tim Swainson (Xt, 2001) Charles Wyn-Davies (BH, 2008) Ivan Yuen (H, 1986) Sebastian Bullock (CS & Development Director) Malcolm Sloan (CS Secretary) Sarah Thompson (CS Lead) Kate Human (CS & Development Administrator)

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CHELTONIAN SOCIETY EVENTS 2021-2022 Events have always been a real feature of the Cheltonian Society community.

After the Covid restrictions, we are very much looking forward to welcoming Society members back to the following events.

Event dates and details will be updated on our website during the year. Please also look out for our Society emails and social media posts with further information and ways to book. If you are currently not in touch with us on email, we would very much like to hear from you: society@cheltenhamcollege.org

25-Year OC Reunion

50+ Year OC Reunion

Drinks in College Library and a formal meal in the Dining Hall for 1995 and 1996 Leavers.

Lunch at College for all Old Cheltonians who left 50 years ago or longer (those who left in 1972 and earlier).

Christmas Drinks

Leavers’ Day

Christmas drinks for all Society members at Memsahib Gin and Tea, Cheltenham, 18.30 onwards.

Tie and scarf presentation, Chapel service and evening ball at College for all our Upper Sixth Leavers and parents.

Cheltonian Society AGM

Cheltenham Cricket Festival

All Society members are welcome to join the Cheltonian Society AGM, to be held at Cheltenham College.

All Society members are invited to join us in the Society marquee for drinks, lunch and an afternoon of cricket.

5-Year OC Reunion

10-Year OC Reunion

Thursday 2 December 2021

Saturday 4 December 2021

Thursday 10 March 2022 Reunion drinks reception in London for 2017 Leavers.

Saturday 18 June 2022

Saturday 2 July 2022

July 2022

Saturday 17 September 2022

Chapel service and reunion lunch at College for 2012 Leavers.

Andoversford Point to Point Sunday 3 April 2022

All Society members are invited to a family day out to include lunch, horse racing, country shops and entertainment.

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Cheltonian Society regional and international receptions to be confirmed

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Saturday 13 November 2021

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Supporting College and The Prep: Cheltenham College Charitable Trust Sebastian Bullock, Development Director (current staff since 1998) The Cheltenham College Charitable Trust (CCCT) was established in 1991 for ‘the advancement of education at College and The Prep’, with the President of Council, the President of the Cheltonian Society and the Heads of College and The Prep as trustees.

The formation of the CCCT was to enable the trustees to raise funds for and on behalf of College. These funds were needed to support capital projects and bursaries, alongside the existing funds held within the Cheltonian Endowment Trust (CET). All fundraising for College and The Prep is undertaken through the Development Office, with the Development Director having direct responsibility for all fundraising from College stakeholders such as OCs, parents, friends of College, trusts and foundations and corporations.

There are a number of endowed funds held within the CCCT, as well as various restricted and unrestricted funds.

The main endowments are the Howard Wadsworth Trust Fund, David George Memorial Fund and The Leadership Fund, which provide an annual income to support scholarships and bursaries.

The restricted funds held within CCCT relate to specific major capital projects, as well as to particular departments and some Speech Day prizes.

In addition to these endowed and restricted funds, there are unrestricted funds which can be deployed to the area of greatest need or are held as matched funding for significant capital projects.

There are also regular donations received from members of the 1841 Society which support the £30,000 per annum allocated to pupil facing

schemes. In the past year these schemes included the installation of 20 touch-free watercoolers across College and The Prep, the provision of eco-friendly reusable water bottles to all pupils and the installation of a new AstroTurf footpath around the perimeter of College Field. Legacies are also an important source of funds and membership of the Hugh Reeves Legacy Society is for those who have made a pledge to College in their will.

The annual report and accounts for the CCCT (registered charity number 1006429) are publicly available from the Charity Commission. If you would like to know anything further about the CCCT or the role of the Development Office in helping to support the advancement of education at College and The Prep, then please do get in touch with me, Sebastian Bullock, Development Director at s.bullock@cheltenhamcollege.org.

Supporting College: Cheltonian Endowment Trust the Cheltonian Endowment Trust (CET). I left College in 1997 and had not really had anything to do with the school in the intervening 15 years but somehow he had tracked me down and thought my skills might be useful.

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Like many of you reading this, I had no idea what the CET was or did but I quickly discovered how beneficial it has been to College and some of its pupils.

Helen Allen (née Burgoyne, Ch, 1997) It is now nine years since Malcolm Sloan contacted me to ask if I would like to become a Trustee of

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The charitable trust was created in 1917 with the broad purpose of using funds (either raised or given) to benefit the school. Over time its Trustees, who are OCs, have embraced this broad remit and have built the value of the fund to

around £2.2 million through their careful stewardship. Assets include a diverse investment portfolio as well as two properties in Cheltenham that are used to accommodate College teaching staff.

Today the principal activity of the CET is to provide bursaries to students who are in danger of having to leave College suddenly, through no fault of their own. Circumstances such as parents separating, a death in the family or being made redundant are the most common factors. CET works closely with College to bridge the funding gap so that pupils are able to complete their College education to an appropriate point, usually the completion of GCSEs or A Levels.

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Since 2007, CET has given hardship bursaries of more than £260,000 to assist 28 pupils.

In addition, CET has used its annual income to encourage other activities. Each year it offers around £10,000 for Travel Awards, which are often linked to gaining work experience. Applications are open to all Lower Sixth pupils and awards

are made following an interview process with a panel of three CET Trustees. It also funds some of the prizes given at Speech Day.

past and present, for all they have done and continue to do, and to you Malcolm, thank you for getting in touch.

As the Chair of the CET, it is my pleasure to work with a small number of enthusiastic and capable OCs to continue this valuable work.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all CET Trustees, both

If you would like to know more about the CET, I can be contacted at cheltonianendowmenttrust@gmail.com.

Announcements Marriages

Births

Kimberley Ferguson (A, 2008) married Captain Jeremy Lewis (Xt, 2008) on 29 May 2021 at St Barnabas Church, Snowshill. Courtney Ferguson (Q, 2013) was Head Bridesmaid and Charles Ross (Xt, 2009) attended. Their original plans had to be entirely reorganised to meet Covid restrictions, with the guest list reduced from 180 to 30 (including the bride and groom). As hymns could not be sung inside the church, College favourite ‘Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer’ was sung outside in the churchyard after the ceremony.

Jonathan Brunt (OJ & S, 2001) and his wife Nathalie Dubost are pleased to announce the birth of Noah Simon Brunt Dubost 18 June 2020, a brother for Sara.

Nicola Rusborg (Ch, 2001) originally from Munich, Germany married Dutchman Iman Pieter Duin, with whom she lives in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, on 30 July 2021. Annabelle Hosie (Ch, 2001) and Catherine Barr (Ch, 2001) were witnesses at their civil wedding, which was followed by a fancy yet traditional Beergarden lunch. The ‘real’ wedding celebrations, postponed due to Covid, will be held at the Dutch seaside in May 2022.

James Stumbles (Xt, 2006) and his wife are pleased to announce the birth of their daughter Georgina Rose Mary Stumbles, born 24 July 2020.

Anastasia Cook (née Asprou, Q, 2007) and her husband Joseph Cook are pleased to announce the birth of their baby daughter Sofia Christina Artemis Margaret Cook, born 18 November 2020.

Kimberley Harris (née Willett, A, 2008) and her husband Alex are pleased to announce the arrival of their son Fergus Lockie Harris, born 18 January 2021.

Phil Boyce (NH, 1990) and his wife Jessica Boyce are pleased to announce the arrival of their son Alexander Charles James Boyce, born 1 March 2021.

Pip Mitchell (A, 2008) and her fiancé Ben are pleased to announce the birth of their daughter, Ziggy Jojo Diana Wreford, born 13 April 2021.

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Nicholas Adams (OJ & S, 1992) originally of Oddington, Gloucestershire married Shannon Webster born Durban, South Africa on Saturday 19 June 2021 at Shire Hall, Cambridge at the third time of trying (due to Covid). A full ceremony is planned for 2022.

Frances Barton-Ancliffe (Current Staff) and her husband Robert Barton-Ancliffe are pleased to announce the birth of their twin boys, Alexander Jordan and Peter William, born on 11 July 2020.

Nicola Rusborg (Ch, 2001) and her husband Iman Pieter Duin are pleased to announce the arrival of their son Finn Daniel Duin Rusborg, born 4 May 2021.

Our fond wishes to all Society members who have recently got married or had a baby.

Please do send us your news: society@cheltenhamcollege.org

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TOKYO OLYMPICS SPECIAL Olympic Gold!

Tom McEwen (H, 2009) was picked, with his horse, Toledo De Kerser, to compete with the formidable GB eventing team at the Tokyo Olympics. Brilliantly, the team won the team Gold medal and Tom

won the individual Silver! During his time at College, alongside his commitments to College sport such as playing for the unbeaten 1st XV (Autumn Term, 2008-09), Tom continued his eventing.

This included being a part of the College eventing team that won the National School’s Championships.

OLYMPICS ARCHIVE SNIPPET The Rev Robert Stuart de Courcy Laffan, former Head of College from 1895–1899 was instrumental in the movement to reinstate the Olympics, and was one of the founders to the British Olympics Association, eventually supporting our bid to host the 1908 Olympics in Britain.

Godfrey Brown, history teacher at College from 1943-1950, had an impressive track record, having won Gold in 400m Relay at the Berlin Olympics 1936.

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In addition to the two recently won by Tom McEwen at the Tokyo Olympics, above, Old Cheltonians have, now, won nine Olympic medals.

Two were won by Allan Jay (Xt, 1948) who competed in five Olympic games as a foil and épée fencer.

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After leaving College, Tom continued to dedicate himself to his sport and was short listed for both the London and Rio Olympics. Tom was over the moon to be picked for Tokyo and now there are medals to boot! Huge congratulations!

Working with Olympians Henry Davis, sports science teacher and Resident Tutor in Newick House (2012-2020) was pleased and proud to be working with Team GB Olympians through his work with the English Institute of Sport. He supported the women’s and men’s hockey teams, Paralympians Natasha Baker (double Gold for dressage), Jeanette Chippington (canoe) and Sophie Christiansen (equestrian), and the Paralympic rowing squad!

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ELITE OC SPORTING SUCCESS

Ollie Thorley (BH, 2014) gained his first England international cap against Italy in the Six Nations.

Jack Clement (S, 2019) was invited to join the wider 45-man squad for the Six Nations.

Louis Hillman-Cooper (S, 2020), pictured with Director of Rugby Mr Olly Morgan, was selected to represent England U20s in the 2021 Six Nations.

Emily Drysdale (W, 2019) was selected for the Hockey Wales senior women’s indoor squad.

Jamie Chadwick (Ch, 2016) continues as a Williams F1 development driver and was nominated for the 2021 Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award.

Zak O’Sullivan (OJ) is a racing driver competing in the 2021 GB3 Championship. He is one of the four finalists for the 2021 Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award.

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It is a testament to the strength of College sport and the Talented Athlete Programme (TAP) that a regular stream of OC athletes, many of whom have been TAP members, go on to further successes. This past year, a number of OCs have reached some astounding heights in the sporting world.

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CHELTONIAN SOCIETY SPORT Cheltonian Society sports clubs are a great way to connect with other Society members. All clubs are keen to have new members – contact details for each club are below. Our thanks to all Society members who are involved in running sports clubs. For more information about the annual grant that each club receives from College via the Development Office or about establishing a new sports club, please contact Sebastian Bullock, Cheltonian Society and Development Director, on s.bullock@cheltenhamcollege.org

Cricket At the top level, OCs can compete in the Cricketer Cup, which is the premium old boys’ cricket competition.

After a Covid-enforced break in 2020, enthusiasm for the 2021 Cricketer Cup was high. Full match reports from the 2021 Cricketer Cup, written by Oli Thornley (NH, 2012), can be read on the Cheltonian Society website.

OC Cricket team

The Cricket Club aims to continue College’s strong tradition of cricket. There are a number of fixtures throughout the season and all Society members are welcome to show an interest in playing in various fixtures. If you would like to know more, please contact Kyle Willis-Stovold (OJ & S, 2006 and past staff) at kmws.willis-stovold@radley.org.uk

In the first-round draw against the Downside Wanderers, the Old Cheltonians posted a total of 251 from their 50 overs and bowled Downside out for 89, giving the OCs victory by a margin of 162 runs. Against the Haileybury Hermits, the OCs finished 157 - 8 from the allotted 35 overs and reduced the home side to 118 all out, giving the OCs victory by a margin of 23 runs and taking them to the quarter final for the first time since 2015.

Unfortunately, Covid issues meant the OCs weren’t able to field a team in time for the quarter final fixture.

Football

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House – down to Ravenscourt Park to play in a friendly fixture between ourselves. The club has formally joined The Arthurian League, an official FA league of old boys, based in London. Our first competitive feature was on 4 September, against fellow newcomers St Edward’s Oxford, Teddies. We kicked off the league with an amazing 6-0 win.

Football Club friendly fixture in August 2021 – pinks won 3-1

The 11-a-side Football Club is newly formed in 2021. The first internal fixture was played in August 2021. We took 22 OCs – spanning nine academic years and every boys’

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We now have a roster of 60 OCs keen to play and would like to hear from any other Society members who would like to join us. While only OCs are eligible to play in the Arthurian League, all Society members are welcome to play in friendlies. If interested, please contact James Wheeler (BH, 2013) and Jock Jamieson-Black (H, 2013) at jockjblack@gmail.com

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Golf of success by reaching the semi-final. The Cheltenham team was: Mark Giblin (OJ & L, 2006), Dan Shiner (OJ & L, 2009), Joss Edwards (H, 2015), Charlie Elliott (Xt, 1941), Harry Brothwood (L, 2014), James Rock (NH, 2006), Cameron McEvoy (OJ & S, 2000), Henry Keeling (OJ & Xt, 2006), Robert Macleod-Smith (Cheltondale, 1965 and President OCGS), James Tucker (NH, 1985, Captain), Ed Mason (L, 2010). A full report is available on the Cheltonian Society website.

The Cheltenham 2021 Halford Hewitt team

Many of the Golfing Society fixtures have been cancelled or postponed this year due to the pandemic. However, we were able to play against the Old Marlburians and Old Shirburnians resulting in a halved match and a loss respectively. A highlight was a first ever win against the Old Decanians. We were defending holders of the Mellin Salver for senior golfers but sadly lost to Hailebury in the first round with a much-weakened team. The Halford Hewitt this year was postponed to September but this did not stop Cheltenham continuing a remarkable run

As the fixture restrictions mean only OCs can play, membership of the Golfing Society is limited to OCs. OC golfers of all abilities and ages are welcome and we have an attractive fixture list of both individual and team events. Most meetings and informal matches against other schools are open to all members. We also enter selected teams in the leading national public schools’ tournaments being the Halford Hewitt and Grafton Morrish as well as the Mellin Salver. For membership and other information, please contact Angus Baillie (OJ & L, 1994) at angus.baillie@me.com

Women’s Hockey

Celebrating winning the Dean Close Sixes Tournament in 2019

Following our win in 2019 and the disappointment of the 2020 tournament being cancelled, we are excited to play in the Dean Close Sixes Tournament on Sunday 24 October 2021. Fingers crossed that it can go ahead this year. Any members of the Cheltonian Society can play and there isn’t a maximum number of players – the more the merrier. If you are interested in playing in future tournaments or coming along to support, check out the Hockey Facebook group for details: facebook. com/groups/ochockey

Men’s Hockey team after coming third in the 2019 Haileybury Sixes tournament

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The Men’s Hockey Club only played one game over the last year, given the disruption to the season. Nonetheless, it was a good one, with an excellent 2-0 win over Sherborne. Looking ahead, the Old Boys Cup organisers have committed to holding the tournament again this year, starting from September 2021, with games again being played in Battersea Park, London. In addition, we hope to play the College XI in March 2022, a full two years after the renewed fixture had to be cancelled. Here’s hoping for a full season of OC Hockey ahead. We would love to expand the group of active players, so if you’re interested, please email Charles Stuckey (OJ & NH, 2010) to be added to the group: cmastuckey@gmail.com

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Rackets We are delighted to have got through to the semi-final of the Noel Bruce 2021, which took place in September.

In October 2021, Nick James (BH, 2006) and Richard Owen (L, 2011) will face each other in the World Doubles Championship Eliminator. We are also looking forward to the Cheltenham Gold Racket weekend in 2022, which we hope will go ahead after two cancelled years.

Alex Duncliffe-Vines (NH, 2013) and Richard Owen (L, 2011) playing doubles against each other at The Queen’s Club.

For more information on the Cheltenham Gold Racket weekend, please contact Mark Briers at m.briers@ cheltenhamcollege.org. Anyone who would like to continue playing rackets with the Rackets Club can contact Tom Floyd (Xt, 2005) at tfloyd@winkworth.co.uk

Rifle Shooting Langley as coach. The team gave a valiant performance with Jeremy coaching the shooters to scores of 48.5v, 48.5v, 49.3v, 50.6v and 46.4v respectively. We ended with a creditable score of 241.23v leaving us in the top half out of 46 First Team entries. Clearly, our lane had more gusts of wind than the others! Although not victorious, it was a great OC event, only marginally dampened by the delayed relaxation of Covid restrictions.’

Philippa Evans (A, 2012) at 2021 Schools’ Veterans Target Rifle Match at Bisley

On 15 July 2021, the Shooting Team took part in the annual Schools’ Veterans Target Rifle Match at Bisley. Seb Burden reports: ‘The team consisted of Phillipa Evans, Ed Compton, Seth Dowley, Lulu Healy, myself and Jeremy

There are opportunities for more OC teams to enter next year. If you are interested, please join the OC Rifle Club Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/ oldcheltoniansrifleclub or email Ed Compton (Xt, 1999) at info@bisleyhomeservices.co.uk.

There may be scope for additional shooters to join in too, for honours only, so any interested Cheltonian Society members or family are also welcome to get in touch.

Rowing

SOCIETY

We are in the process of relaunching the Cheltonian Society Rowing Club which will be based at the Boat House in Tewkesbury and will have the full support of the College Boat Club. The club will be open to all members of the Cheltonian Society. If you are interested in joining, please email John Barter (OJ & NH, 1989 and current parent) at john@barter.uk.net

OCs at the College Boathouse in Tewkesbury

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Sailing to determine the winner of the Charterhouse Bowl.

Following the disappointing cancellation of the 2020 event, we are excited to take part in the 2021 Arrow Trophy, which will (hopefully) have taken place on 2-3 October 2021.

Sailing Club racing for the Arrow Trophy in 2019

The Sailing Club’s main annual event is the Arrow Trophy, a two-day regatta between independent schools on the Solent. The first day sees up to seven short upwind/downwind races followed by a dinner at Cowes Yacht Haven. On the second day, the top four teams go into a series of match races for the Arrow Trophy, while the remaining teams fleet race

All members of the Cheltonian Society, of all levels of experience, are eligible to join the Sailing Club. The Arrow Trophy rules stipulate that crews must be made up of ‘former pupils’ with the option of having up to three ‘ringers’ (not former pupils) on the crew. If you are interested in joining us for future events, please contact the Sailing Club Secretary Paul Koch (H, 1984) at p.koch725@gmail.com.

As well as competing in the 2022 Arrow Trophy, we are also a planning to hold an OC Reunion Lunch Afloat in the Western Solent in early summer 2022, probably in Lymington. If boat owning or ‘nautically minded’ OCs would like to take part, please contact the Sailing Club Secretary at the email above.

Squash Pall Mall and the cup presented at a post-final dinner.

This competition is restricted to OCs only. We are always looking for new squash players; if you would like to get involved, please contact Angus Baillie (OJ & L, 1994) at angus.baillie@me.com

SOCIETY

While we have been disappointed not to be able to play for over a year, we are looking forward to taking part in the Londonderry Cup again soon. The Londonderry Cup usually takes place from October culminating in the finals in March. The finals are played at the RAC on

Cheltonian Society Squash team, pre-match

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CHELTONDALE Always more than a mere building, Cheltondale continues to live on in its community of Owenites. Forty years on from the sale of Cheltondale to the hospital in 1981, we have gathered some snippets from the Archive and memories from some Owenites, to look back over its 85 years as a House.

Built in 1869 as one of the College Boarding House Company’s projects, Cheltondale made an impression, though not necessarily the desired impression at the time: the local press described John Middleton’s design as ‘an architectural abortion.’

1869

The first Housemaster, Rev J Graves, was succeeded

by Rev James Owen in 1872. As the names of early Housemasters have given the collective noun for the boys of their House, the boys became known as Owenites.

1872

1918 ‘Stop Press News’ from the Owenite Magazine, November 1918.

1940s 1941

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During an air raid in 1941, an unexploded bomb fell nearby. Gordon Wallace-Haddrill (Cheltondale, 1942 and Cheltondale Housemaster 1964-72) explained that ‘years later, when I was the Housemaster, our gardener, digging near the gate into what we knew as Corpse Lane, came across a bomb buried in the earth. It was probably only an incendiary but it meant police, a bomb disposal team and minor publicity. ‘So that’s where it landed!’ exclaimed Dick Juckes (Cheltondale Housemaster 1934-49) when I told him.

‘I knew one came down very close to the House but I never found it!’’

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The most celebrated former Owenite was Field Marshall Sir John Dill, the CIGS who fell out with Churchill in WW2 and was despatched to Washington. His photograph hung in the Sweat Room. In summer we used to take our Shacks beds out onto the lawn to sleep overnight. One night, the conversation centred on seances. One bright spark persuaded us that if we all put our beds headfirst into a circle and held hands, with Dill’s photograph in the middle, we could commune with the great man. We did this, and as one by one we drifted into sleep, I fear that the Field Marshall’s spirit did not see fit to join us.

Lord (Michael) Jopling (Cheltondale, 1948)

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When Gordon Wallace-Hadrill became Housemaster, 1965, I remember being on the periphery of a conversation between him and the gardener about what to do about the vine in the greenhouse on the back of the wall of Shacks Lawn. I remember the gardener saying, ‘You should bury a dead cow under it, or a donkey might do’.

1965

Dr R M Aickin (Cheltondale, 1967)

1969

Cheltondale was the first House to be modernised, in 1969, to provide the boys with more comfortable accommodation. On one floor, a 28-bed dormitory (image on the right) was converted into 18 single bedsitters furnished with a bed, desk, cupboards and shelves (image on the left). The refurbishment proved popular and the BBC and ITV came to photograph the new approach to boarding school life.

1970s

1974

As a House, Owenites never quite settled on an emblem; a Tudor rose was tried but never officially adopted. The surviving issues of Henry, a House magazine from the 1970s with poems and stories written

by Owenites, are adorned with a series of cheerful looking elephants.

It was nothing like what College must have gone through with Covid but we had our own mini crisis during the Three-Day Week in the Easter Term of 1974. David George (Hon OC and past staff) and James Perkins (Cheltondale, 1976) – who is still a friend – saved the day by rigging up a generator in the back yard and connecting it to the Sweat Room and the rest of the House. They then spent many evenings replacing blown light bulbs. I was rather surprised when I looked up the Three-Day Week to see that the restrictions on electricity use for commercial users lasted from 1 January to 7 March. I don’t think that we were affected for all that time.

Philip Weaver (Cheltondale, 1975)

1975 My first memory of Cheltondale was being dropped into the jungle of the Sweat Room where reputations were made, friendships forged (Nick Curtis, Richard Walker, Kit Juckes [all Cheltondale, 1980] in my case), and a few of us were picked by prefects as their fags for the year. This was part pain and part honour since it did provide a connection to the top of the House, but also meant running errands into town and cleaning muddy rugby boots to a military standard! By the time I reached the dizzy heights of prefect myself, ‘fagging’ was long gone.

1981 With the hospital intending to expand, College Council decided to sell Cheltondale before the inevitable compulsory purchase order could arrive. In order to avoid a reduction in the number of boarding places at College, the Council also decided that the remaining Houses should all be developed to accept an extra ten boys each. Owenites still at College saw out their last days in Roseleigh Cottages on Thirlestaine Road.

Robert McWilliam (Cheltondale, 1980)

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Cheltenham’s Covid Front Line Dr Clare Oliver (Q, 2009) to sleep I awoke later that day with a greater, less hazy, comprehension of what the next few months might entail.

Clare at College

Clare now

I will never forget the strange anticipation I felt when rumours spread that Gloucestershire NHS Foundation Trust had admitted its first positive case of Covid in March 2020. This highly infectious and life-threatening virus, which up until then felt very far away, was suddenly here on our doorstep.

In early April I received a phone call, woken from a post night shift sleep, asking if tomorrow I could start work in Cheltenham’s ITU. Without hesitation I said ‘yes’. Returning back

The first time I stepped onto ITU, I was taken aback by how unrecognisable the unit was; there were now twice as many beds and every patient was ventilated.

The coming months were to be extremely tough. Long shifts in PPE felt restrictive, hot and uncomfortable, but I was strangely comforted by the fact that the visors had been made by the DT department at College.

The iPads we used to communicate with our patients’ loved ones were provided by charities supported by many OCs. During one brief moment of levity, I and one other doctor took up the challenge of

drawing trains to decorate the bedspace of a patient whom we had discovered from his relatives was a railway fanatic. After weeks of ventilation, his first words to me were, ‘that Flying Scotsman is pretty rubbish.’ I’ve never felt so elated to receive such a bad review!

College has always played a core role in the community and never was that more evident than during the first lockdown. They provided free parking to hospital staff and made accommodation available in Westal for ITU consultants so they could be close when needed. The College community came out in force for the ‘Clap for Carers’ and this support was very visible from ITU spurring everyone on in the final hours of a shift. And who knew that Mr Wright, once my Latin teacher and now my neighbour, was so effective at banging a saucepan?

Many arduous hours and lots of tears later we hope we have finally turned a corner. It has been tough for everyone but the support shown to us by so many, including College, helped us work our way through it.

I have never been prouder to call myself an Old Cheltonian.

FEATURES An ‘NHS hero’ knitted banner displayed on College railings during the first lockdown.

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Clare and colleagues in full PPE in ITU.

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Manned Flight at College Peter Evans (Cheltondale, 1952) reach the halfway line, reach Chapel or even clear Chapel on to the Prom.

Launch was achieved by two elastic bands, spread in a V with five or six stalwarts heaving to extend the elastic. When ready, the pilot pulled a toggle to release the tie down at the tail. The glider, in effect, was the missile in the eye of the catapult.

It should be recorded that manned flight took place on the College playing field many decades ago.

It was nothing to get the Wright brothers excited nor to worry about the coming of the third runway. It started with some bright spark in the Air Ministry, now the MOD, in 1952 thinking it would be a good idea to issue selected CCF air wings and Air Training Corps (ATC) squadrons with a glider.

So, long before anyone had heard of Ikea, a lorry delivered a flat pack to the College air wing HQ near Boyne House. It turned out to be a fairly crude craft. The fuselage was little more than a large plank on its side with a simple seat for the pilot at the front. The wing was mounted just behind the pilot’s head and the tail was the usual horizontal stabiliser with vertical fin. The flight controls were standard, however, with a simple stick working the ailerons and elevators. The rudder, as is normal, was controlled by two foot pedals.

The pilot’s seat was completely open and there was no instrument panel, not even a vital air speed indicator (ASI).

After assembly, we took it to the top corner of the College XV rugby pitch.

This was September and the rugby posts were up but the glider came with no performance manual, so we had no idea whether the craft would

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Naturally, Mr John Bowes, who ran the flying wing, was to be the test pilot. We cadets understood that he had flown photo-recce Mosquitos in WW2. I was on the end of one elastic band and when Mr Bowes released the glider there was a twang and he passed me above head height.

The glider reached a height of about 15 or 20 feet but… oo-er… it was headed for the far rugby posts.

That was no problem for the Great Master of Aviation. A dab of rudder and a slight bank to the right took the glider towards the diagonally opposite corner post. The Master put the glider down just before it. There was no landing gear, just a metal skid along the bottom of the fuselage and the landing run was no more than 20 feet.

Mr Bowes had decreed very wisely that the only pilots should have

And that was it! I am fairly sure that we didn’t fly the glider again.

Just those three flights. None of us had learned anything new and it certainly wasn’t democratic for the stalwarts who pulled the elastic bands. Mr Bowes was right not to let inexperienced cadets loose. Even if there had been two seats and dual control, no one is going to learn to fly in a couple of minutes airtime. And what today’s ‘Elf and Safety’ would have to say!

I don’t think any of us at College found out how other air wings and squadrons got on. Were there any accidents? No internet in those days!

And I regret not asking any of the school XVs that we met that term – Clifton, Stowe, Radley, Marlborough – of their experiences, if any.

Going up to College from Cheltondale each day, there in the background was Leckhampton Hill. Now that would have made a launch pad…

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Peter at College (seated centre, holding the rugby ball). Peter was Head Boy and captain of the rugby team.

had some experience of flying.

That meant only two cadets, Mike Larkham (Cheltondale, 1952) and myself. Both of us ended up landing well past the College XV pitch and down by the road.

Peter was in the Red Arrows in the 1960s and had a very successful flying career.

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The Circle of Life Jack Avery (NH, 2007 and Prep Staff) & Jessica Avery (Prep Staff) up in beautiful school houses with amazing grounds and sports facilities that were all mine during school holidays. Surrounded by friends, boarders of all ages, matrons who loved me and groundsmen who drove tractors, I was very lucky. For a sport mad, tractor loving child, life couldn’t get much better. Boarding life was my life and I loved it.

Jack at College

Having been born in a boarding school in rural Sussex in a house named Stud House (named after its equine history rather than the ambitions of the Sixth Form boys there) you could say that boarding is in my blood.

My parents spent their careers working in education and I grew

My earliest memories of boarding life were of Battle Abbey in Sussex and having Sixth Formers as babysitters. Battle Abbey was steeped in history; the Abbey housing the school was built by William the Conqueror in 1066. It was on the battle fields where it is said that King Harold was shot with an arrow in the eye. This experience was quite useful when it came to Common Entrance History a few years later. The Battle of Hastings always featured somewhere on the paper!

In 1996, the year of the Euros, we relocated to St Hugh’s School, Oxfordshire and that became our new home. It may come as a surprise but I was never a great boarder when I was at prep school.

Although I boarded at St Hugh’s in the dorms, my bedroom was also just down the stairs. Any time I was homesick I would walk downstairs and get into my own bed, which I did often. This was certainly not the best preparation for senior school boarding!

When the time came to move on, a piece of advice I was given

College 1st XV after beating Radley 20-10.

FEATURES 2007 Newick House leavers presenting Martin Stovold with custom racing silks in the House colours.

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and that I often give to parents is that choosing a school is similar to choosing a house, you’ll know when it is right. This meant very little to me until I looked around Cheltenham College and I’ll never forget it. I was greeted by Sam Cover (NH, 2003 and a St Hugh’s old boy).

Sam took us on a tour of the school and then introduced me to Martin Stovold (Hon OC, College staff, NH Housemaster 1992-2010 and past parent). Martin, or Stovs as he was known in House, sealed the deal.

After five minutes I turned to my parents and told them that this was the school for me. ‘This school and this House,’ I said. If I look back on my schoolboy memories, I would happily be transported back to my College days.

I will be forever grateful to Martin Stovold. His support, guidance and the example he set helped make me the man I am today. I think of him often. He played an enormous part in my life.

school there. We loved it but after three years of enjoying mingi Tusker baridi (many cold Tusker beers!), it was time to head back to the UK and St Hugh’s was our destination.

Back to my roots.

From College, I studied Sports Coaching and Physical Education at Oxford Brookes University and met the future Mrs Avery. A short time later another College connection would guide us both onto our next adventure. Cue Mr Mark Durston (Hon OC and past staff, Christowe Housemaster 2000-2009). Mark Durston had moved to Kenya to be Headmaster of Peponi School.

Thanks to his introduction and support, we were lucky enough to move to Nairobi and enjoy three years of ex-pat life working in a prep

Alongside our teaching responsibilities, we took on boarding duties that quickly accelerated to Deputy Houseparents. The circle was completed when we took over the Boarding House in 2019. Moving our new family into the same boarding house that I had once grown up in was a special moment.

Our daughter Fleur even slept in my old bedroom.

I remember visiting Cheltenham College Prep during our first year back from Kenya, reminiscing what a special place Cheltenham had been for me and that should the opportunity arise, it would great to be part of the Cheltonian community once again.

We took over as Houseparents at The Prep in September. As a boy I used to walk over the playing fields with John Archdale (NH, 2007). Nigel Archdale was Headmaster of The Prep and John and I both enjoyed sharing the amazing memories we had growing up within a school environment.

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Now Jessica and I are looking forward to creating special memories for a new generation of Prep boarders. It really is the circle of life!

Our first family photo as four (Jessica, Jack, Olive, Fleur and Mazzi) taken outside the Manor House at St Hugh’s.

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Caught by the St Hugh’s Paparazzi taking a lunch time stroll at St Hugh’s.

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Mixtape Kate Gedge (née Robinson, Ch, 1984)

Kate at College

Kate now, at Buxton International Festival

Music has always been in the mix for me and much as I’d like to think that the combed-back hair and winklepicker days of listening to David Bowie in Christowe – illegally – were formative, in truth it was A Level Music and Chapel Choir that really paved the way for me and my career as a music PR. College music was great fun and as there were only a handful of girls between 1982 and 1984, we were encouraged to join in with everything. I was never a very good musician but we were indulged with time and interest from the staff and important seeds were sown.

Dr Proctor and Mr Wright taught me and OC Ruth Ireland (Ch, 1984) A Level Music and we played, we sang, we listened, we laughed and we learned a great deal about music and also about life. ‘Spud’ used to teach me the oboe, she was a brilliant musician with groovy scarves and a lavish, velvet-lined oboe case which I can smell to this day.

After taking a music and politics degree at Oxford (then) Poly, my first job was with a travel PR company. I learned the tricks of the PR trade on the job – who to chat up and who to open doors for – before combining my two skills at the London-based music agent, Harrison Parrott. HP introduced me to superstars in the classical music business as well as the all-important music press. In 2000, I was lucky enough to move to Wales with my family and set up my own PR consultancy with a rattly old fax machine. I’ve never looked back and have been promoting individual artists, choral and instrumental ensembles, symphony orchestras, festivals, exhibitions and leaders in music education for 20 years.

Whilst my specialisation is classical music, I do go off-piste too – I worked with Quentin Blake and The Big Draw for five years and with Antarctic explorer, Felicity Aston, who famously took eight ordinary women from the Commonwealth to the South Pole.

Best-ever bits of press coverage?

Composer Patrick Hawes’ ‘Great War Symphony’ on ITV News at Ten; the Antarctic girls live on Good Morning America; recreating Constable’s The Hay Wain in Trafalgar Square live on BBC TV; or working with ORA Singers and Stephen Fry on the Today programme and BBC Breakfast.

It’s hard to say. But I know where it all began. www.kategedge.com

Kate handled the worldwide PR for the 2009 expedition when eight ordinary women from the Commonwealth reached the South Pole with explorer Felicity Aston. Photo by Kaspersky Lab.

FEATURES A favourite client of Kate’s, The Kings Singers. Photo by Rebecca Reid.

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Recording the 100th ‘Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols’ with BBC Radio 4 at King’s College Cambridge. Photo by Benjamin Sheen.

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Follow Your Dreams Oli Soames (BH, 2014) captaining the XI and receiving my Full Colours in 2014.

Oli at College

Oli now

I have always been sports mad and arguably more naturally talented at rugby, however I honestly couldn’t tell you what attracted me to cricket: possibly it was the love of the perpetual chess game between batsman and bowler or maybe it was the strawberries and cream at teas or perhaps I didn’t like the idea of having to tackle the protein shake fuelled giant opposite me in rugby.

Despite taking a rather unconventional route, at the age of 22 all my hard work was rewarded when I was handed my First Class debut for Hampshire against Worcestershire on 4 September 2018.

It was a moment that I had dreamt of when I was a young schoolboy but never really believed would happen.

The journey that professional cricket has led me on has been a rather surreal one for a cricket lover: from

I would encourage any aspiring young person to follow their passion and believe that their dreams are within reach. With confidence, dedication and a bit of luck anything is possible.

Oli on the way to 44 off 194 balls against Nottinghamshire on the Isle of Wight: ‘against a star-studded bowling line up of Broad, Ball, Mullaney and Fletcher – one of my favorite innings to date’.

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Having looked around numerous public schools my parents gave me the decision of where I wanted to go. Without a second thought my reply was College, and when asked why I replied, ‘no other school’s cricket pitch compared.’

My love for cricket was always present during my time at College: I managed to intertwine the topic of cricket with the rise and fall of the British Empire in my final A Level coursework, much to the amazement of Miss Doidge-Harrison and Mr Moore. I have some fantastic sporting memories from my time at College with highlights being the unbeaten season in 2012 along with

Despite the achievements, my time at College was laced with promise and potential that I never really fulfilled. It was only when I attended Loughborough University, upon the recommendation of Mark Briers, where I started to consistently perform. Admittedly most of my time at Loughborough was spent hitting cricket balls and improving my game, though somehow I managed to scrape a 2:1 in Accounting and Financial Management.

playing with and against modern day greats (Dale Steyn, Stuart Broad and Ajinkya Rahane to name a few) to playing on test match grounds to spending six months during the winter in both Australia and South Africa.

Oli’s last ever innings for the XI: ‘nice way to end our College careers’.

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Oli during his stint with Essendon Cricket Club in Melbourne.

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Around the World in 80 Jobs Polly Taylor (Ch, 1999) a girl who had never learned about the joys of chilblains.

Polly at College

Polly now, with the Barabaig tribe, northern Tanzania

I arrived at College in my Granny’s white Toyota corolla – the shabbiest car on the street – and joined a queue of girls outside Queen’s.

Dressed in jeans and a rugby jersey, with my Kenyan supermarket-bought green tin trunk, my name painted on top in white wobbly capitals, I remember worrying, ‘Am I really going to fit in here? Have I made a huge mistake?’

In spite of my apprehension, I made friends and immersed myself in College life, playing rugby after tea and hockey on AstroTurf – a very different game from the molehillinfested pitches in Kenya; singing in the Chapel choir and being terrified of tripping over my too-long cassock during the Sunday procession. I joined the rowing team – never having seen a scull or eight in my life – and made the 1st VIII. Rowing in winter was especially challenging for

I signed up for CCF and competed at Ten Tors, a two-day army challenge covering 55 miles across Dartmoor.

Being too big, my army boots cut into my heels, so I opted to walk barefoot, worrying army officials who thought that I could be bitten by a snake. I retorted that I would rather take my chances. (We did see an adder that day, but it slithered off peacefully). I enrolled in the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award and the expedition took us to the Yorkshire Dales. We planned our route in advance, and on the second night, we were unaware that our campsite was on a pig farm. It had rained solidly and when we arrived, we had to pitch our tents in mud mixed with pig dung, which made for a very damp and unpleasantly smelly night!

To say that my career after College has been chequered would be an understatement. I spent my gap year in Kenya helping to build the Vanessa Grant Special School, which College still supports. I worked as a nanny and then went on to read Physiotherapy at Manchester University, before deciding that Forestry was more my calling. I moved to university in New Zealand,

and later Aberdeen, where I was the only female forestry student. I graduated with a First-Class degree, thinking the world would be my oyster, only to be thwarted by the global recession.

After a series of temporary jobs, I found work starting up the sales and marketing office for a private island retreat, Vamizi, in northern Mozambique. It was a steep learning curve and my forestry training eventually urged me to propose ways to alleviate the island’s carbon footprint. Vamizi ultimately joined the WWF who became a stalwart part of the operation’s conservation arm.

Since then, I have worked in South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya, largely for high-end safari companies.

Latterly, I set up my own forestry and conservation consultancy. Currently, I manage a veterinary practice in the foothills of Mount Kenya where my commute takes me past a rhino sanctuary. The practice mainly treats domestic pets and horses, though occasionally wild animals. Recently, a cheetah which had been mauled by a lion was brought in.

Life is never dull and my time at College taught me to step out of my comfort zone, meet new people, work hard, learn and apply myself to whatever has been thrown at me, make the most of challenges, no matter how hard – and most of all, to have fun doing it.

FEATURES Polly pruning trees in New Zealand.

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A cheetah in surgery.

Vamizi Island, northern Mozambique, where Polly established the sales and marketing office and forged a partnership with WWF who monitored Green turtle and Humpback whale migrations.

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Wild Refill Harry Symes-Thompson (OJ & L, 2012)

Harry now

I have very fond memories of my time at College, surrounded by great friends, inspired by teachers and playing a lot of sport. I never really had a clear idea of what I wanted to do afterwards, but a few experiences around Young Enterprise and some side-projects I ran to make a bit of pocket money steered me towards exploring an entrepreneurial path.

I chose to take a working/travelling gap year and then study a Business degree at the University of Bath.

I was lucky with my course at Bath. It involved two industrial placements and an academic exchange programme abroad. In my first placement I landed in a role at a then very early-stage startup called HelloFresh. The team was only around 15 people in the UK at the time and I was able to see first-hand

After University I worked at Google in their digital marketing and growth department, consulting various highgrowth companies within the UK on their digital marketing strategies. It was a fantastic opportunity to gain access to some of the most inspiring minds and be at the forefront of technology and digital strategy, not to mention make the most of the free food Google provided on their campus!

After two and a half years at Google I developed what could only be described as an entrepreneurial twitch and wanted to look into building something from the ground up that could have a positive impact on people’s lives and the planet.

Fortunately, at the same time, my old boss from HelloFresh had just launched a minimum viable product for Wild.

I took a leap of faith and joined him as part of the Founding team at Wild in October 2019 to lead the growth of the company. Wild’s mission is to reduce single-use plastic in the bathroom (a category that has drastically stalled in the sustainability and innovation department over the years) and we undertook a year’s worth of research and development (R&D) to create a unique refillable deodorant, consisting of a colourful aluminium case that lasts a lifetime and compostable deodorant refills.

We officially launched the business online in April 2020 (just as Covid was taking off which was slightly nerve wracking!) and have been on an incredibly exciting journey since.

Since launching, Wild has quickly grown to become the UK’s leading natural deodorant acquiring over 300,000 customers, launching internationally and most recently into retail stores where you can find Wild products in 300 Sainsbury’s stores nationwide. Environmentally, this equates to hundreds of tonnes of plastic saved from landfill and over 50,000 trees planted as part of our carbon offsetting programme.

Launching Wild has been a whirlwind experience, but we have no plans to stop soon. We hope to lead the personal care category towards a truly sustainable bathroom experience, where single-use plastic is removed entirely from people’s daily routines and natural, highly-effective products become the default option. Hopefully it’s an exciting path ahead!

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Harry at College

what goes into building a highgrowth business and strong brand.

My role at HelloFresh also opened my eyes to a number of emerging consumer trends and to understand what is needed at the core of a business mission to be successful – particularly around sustainability (reducing food waste and single-use plastic) and the growing potential of social media and e-commerce.

To find out more please visit www.wearewild.com Wild is a sustainable, natural deodorant made in the UK, with compostable, plastic-free refills.

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Cheltonian Racing Dynasty Jacqui & Jonjo O’Neill (past parents), Jonjo O’Neill Jr (OJ & NH, 2016) and AJ O’Neill (OJ & NH, 2017)

Jacqui & Jonjo Sending Jonj and AJ to Cheltenham College was a very easy decision.

Jonjo and AJ at Cheltenham College Junior School.

The family at Jackdaws Castle.

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Set in 500 acres of glorious Cotswolds countryside just 25 minutes from Cheltenham, Jackdaws Castle is one of the finest racehorse training establishments in Great Britain and the home to the O’Neill family for over 20 years. In that time they have had multiple big-race successes, including 28 Cheltenham Festival winners, winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2012, the coveted Grand National in 2010 and a couple of Royal Ascot winners.

In recent years, Jonjo Snr has seen both of his sons, Jonjo Jr (OJ & NH, 2016) and Anthony Joseph, known as AJ (OJ & NH, 2017) become huge components of the business as they strive for more success in the forthcoming National Hunt season and beyond.

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Shortly after relocating from Cumbria, we started investigating options for the boys’ academic future, with help from our dear friend and Jonjo Jr’s godmother, Dr Linda Barber. As we came away from Cheltenham College, it was clear to us that it was head and shoulders above the other schools.

The facilities were outstanding and we felt that they would thrive there.

It had a similarity to what we were trying to achieve at Jackdaws Castle; giving the best care and education to every individual. People are like horses, each one is very different, and you need to find the edge that makes them learn, grow and flourish.

Once our decision was made, conversations led us to realise many of our friends had attended College, including OCs Jeremy Hitchins (NH, 1972 and past parent) and Stephen Hitchins (NH, 1965 and past parent), who were our first local owners here

at Jackdaws Castle and to this day very loyal supporters.

Although Cheltenham is not far from our home in Temple Guiting, we could go many weeks without seeing the boys due partly to the racing calendar but more so the fact they were having a wonderful time at school. This start set them up for life and gave them great friends in the process.

Having both boys enter the business has been an exciting time for us.

Jonjo Jr is one of the yard’s retained jockeys, and AJ has just finished his business apprenticeship and is now Assistant Trainer. Our link to the school remains as strong as ever and the boys apply the lessons learned to our business.

Jonjo Jr One of my first memories of College was walking into the Dining Hall at the Junior School and thinking how big it was. At that time the Harry Potter films were everywhere and, being a massive fan, I thought I was in real-life Hogwarts.

Jonjo Jr, Jonjo Snr and AJ at Jackdaws Castle.

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College was simply the best time.

I made lifelong friendships. I was originally a flexi-border but loved staying there so much I became full-time. Home was just 20 minutes away, but with all the wonderful activities and opportunities on offer, College truly was my second home.

I was very proud to become Head of Newick House, the same House as fellow jockey and friend Tom Scudamore (OJ & NH, 2000) some 15 years before me.

My love of riding really came to life when AJ and I were picked to represent Great Britain in Pony Racing. College was incredibly supportive of us during this time being away from our studies and commitments.

Due to various injuries, I had a frustrating start to my career as a jockey. However, the last couple of years have been really good with some very memorable

victories, including my first Cheltenham Festival win on Early Doors in 2019 and ending that season by becoming Champion Conditional Jockey.

I enjoy being part of the team at the yards I am lucky to ride for. I get fantastic support from dad and racehorse trainers Colin and Joe Tizzard.

It’s my dream to become Champion Jockey one day. I’m realistic that I don’t have the ammunition just yet to achieve this but it’s something I will definitely work hard every day to reach.

AJ I have so many fond memories of College. I was surrounded by great friends and wonderful people. My first Houseparents Jim and Melanie Walton were so lovely and kind and made it feel like it was a home away from home.

The field trips that we got to experience were truly incredible.

One of the most memorable was our Senior School visit to the Residential School for Children with Special Needs, Bradet, Romania.

It was a real eye-opener and something I will never forget. I was also Captain of the Junior School Ski Team – the Ski Club went to Gloucester Ski Slopes every Monday and we were lucky enough to put all our practice into action on the annual school ski trips.

Racing is in my blood and I was proud to win the Charles Owen Pony Racing Championship at Aintree. During my last few years at College, I stopped riding to explore other opportunities. I really enjoy media production and events management and have just completed my Business Management Degree apprenticeship at Pearson College, London.

I am now full time Assistant Trainer to Dad, a role I am really enjoying.

At the peak of the season we will have over 100 horses in training. My main role is to assist Dad in planning each individual horse’s daily training regime. I arrive at the yard at 6am – the first of five lots go out at around 7.30am and we will usually finish at around midday. Alongside the yard jockeys I also school the horses over hurdles and fences in preparation for their races. If we have runners in the afternoon, I will often go to the races, to oversee the horses and spend time with our owners.

I hold an Amateur Jockey Licence and have ridden one winner up to now which gave me a great buzz.

Due to Covid, opportunities for amateur jockeys have been limited but I am working towards getting my Category B Amateur Licence which means I can ride against professionals. For this you need 15 completed races with the majority over obstacles. With that said, my goal is to one day emulate Dad and become a Trainer. There are so many different aspects to training racehorses and running a successful business which really interest me.

My dream would be to one day train a Cheltenham Festival winner. Cheltenham is the best racecourse in the world and to be able to achieve that would be absolutely amazing.

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Away from the classroom, I absolutely loved sports. Head of Troy, Mr Dawson, was a big influence. He was great fun and a keen rugby player. Rugby went on to play a large part during my time in Senior School. Our games on Saturdays would attract huge crowds of both parents and fellow pupils which was amazing.

www.jonjooneillracing.com Jonjo Jnr with his father on his 21st birthday.

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AJ being presented with his Pony Racing win from Ryan Moore.

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The Once and Future Pupil-Student William BR Jeremy (Wilson & NH, 1989)

William at College

William now

In 1989, the year our year left College, Mrs Thatcher was Prime Minister, we had to queue to use the public telephone box whether on street corners or school houses, and the world wide web was a twinkle in the eye of Sir Tim Berners-Lee. The Cheltonian schoolboy of 1989 had much in common with the Cheltonian schoolboy of 1889, although thankfully we did not face the twin privations of beatings and cold showers. Organised violence was the preserve of the rugby field, and Colours were still awarded in full assembly. The rowers of the first eight had the most glamorous suits, and the late Victorian time-travelling schoolboy would have had instant recognition factor.

The daily Chapel service would have, no doubt, been familiar, and the hymns belted out by several hundred adolescent boys between the ages of 13 and 18 a very evocative sound, lightened musically and in all ways by our Sixth Form girls – before the great age of full co-education.

The hymns spoke of the promise of citizenship of ‘Zion’s city’ and whether at weekday 09.15 or 20.00 on a Sunday night the message was clear and unambiguous – the earthly striving has the eternal in mind and it is all about self last. In these moments we believed it with all our hearts.

I was lucky to have benefitted from a ‘360 degree’ experience of the depth and breadth of College life: I started at Wilson House, in the smallest and newest built building between the venerable Southwood House and the Junior School. Every morning I walked past the house that OC Edward Adrian Wilson (Day Boy, 1891), who went with Scott to the South Pole, lived at on Montpelier Terrace.

Life at College fostered in me a sense of people mattering and the understanding that institutions are as alive, or dead, as just or cruel, as transformative or spirit-crushing as the human beings who inhabit them. In my life orbiting the worlds of public affairs, education and the arts this developing insight started at College. Now the Covid world has re-ordered such manifestations of ‘success’ such as the expense accounts, airports and the panoramic office in favour of home working and the rediscovery of family in daytime. In the age of Covid, never were the words of the hymn we once sang with such verve, ‘earth’s proud empires pass away’, more relevant or more profound.

WBR Jeremy is a writer, tutor and producer with a background in freelance feature writing and broadcast production for the BBC, community radio and the monthly press.

FEATURES Article by William in the Hearing Times, January 2011.

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Pursuing Potential in Education Katie Alvey (née Ellis, Ch, 1997)

Katie at College

Katie now

Up until my Sixth Form years at College, my experiences of the education system had been somewhat unfulfilling. I had struggled to develop a clear sense of my own identity, had little idea of the pathway I was heading towards, and the prospect of achieving a university placement was doubtful.

However, moving to College for Sixth Form became a turning point in my education, providing me with the confidence, resilience and motivation to realise my potential and moreover that this potential could be achieved.

College became the arena in which I was encouraged to establish my true sense of self, to recognise my strengths, and to develop a sense of self-efficacy. More importantly, these aspects of my identity were valued and celebrated, and from this point I could truly thrive.

tutor who rekindled my passion for education. With his support, I pursued the long academic pathway towards becoming an Educational Psychologist – a year’s PGCE in primary education, followed by two years’ experience as a Qualified Teacher in an inner-city primary school in London, and a year’s Masters in Education at the University of Exeter, followed by taking my first position as an Educational Psychologist with Oxfordshire County Council in 2004. For the last 11 years I have run my own private practice.

Throughout this journey, I have continued to reflect upon my own time at school. Educational Psychology is a true vocation, a role through which we can genuinely improve outcomes for pupils and their families, and in which I still hold dear and promote the values established during my College years.

My aim is to empower parents and teachers to achieve a deep and full understanding of how each individual child thinks and feels, which factors contribute to or inhibit their success, and therefore how their potential can be actualised.

Katie runs her own private Educational Psychology practice, ED PSYCH PLUS, offering an enhanced service to schools, children and families in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and surrounding areas.

Whilst I was very clear in my mind that my desire was to work primarily with children, it was in my final year that I took a module in Educational Psychology. This module was led by Adrian Faupel (a highly-regarded Educational Psychologist), an inspirational

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My years across different school settings exposed me to all that can go wrong for pupils. Yet, my period at College instilled in me a very clear vision of how education really should be for all. Furthermore, I had developed the confidence to progress to university where I initially completed a BSc in Psychology at the University of Southampton.

Katie and her husband Christian Alvey were married at Cheltenham College Chapel in August 2005, ministered by Reverend Reynaud de la Bat Smit.

Katie and Christian’s daughters Rosie and Bethan (pictured) were christened in Cheltenham College Chapel in 2008 and 2011. Both ceremonies were also ministered by Reverend Reynaud de la Bat Smit, who taught Katie RE and contributed to her decision to pursue Psychology at university.

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An Asymmetric Path Aran Dharmeratnam (NH, 1994) In May, I had a wonderful lunch with Sebastian Bullock. The conversation flowed; memories of Aran now College flooded back. My world is very much one of being in the moment, yet to reflect on the past is a valuable exercise.

Time is not as linear as we think.

Past, present and future will often spiral into each other.

Some of the memories than came back to me... discussions about the tactics of Alexander the Great with Mr Wright, my Ancient History teacher. I recalled the surrounding Cotswolds, which I got to experience via the cross country team. I must confess, though, I signed up as someone told me it was one of those sports where they weren’t so strict about attendance, only to find on my first day Mr Wintersgill, complete with zeal and a list of names of those to be attending! I also recalled the words of the late Richard Morgan who

was Head of College then. He said something along the lines of, ‘Your time at college will go quickly, use it wisely and be active.’ Those words resonated that carpe diem mind set of seize the day and make use of opportunities.

After I left College, I read Law and Criminology at university. My path has always been an asymmetric one and in the years ahead, I spent much time studying forms of self-defence; an exploration that took me to the Far East, USA, Russia and other areas.

I also worked in various areas of the security sector from the gritty to the more cerebral.

Today, I’m mainly based in London, where I work with global security and investigations companies involved in financial fraud investigations, complex problem solving and reputation safeguarding.

It requires mental and sometimes physical agility! Also, I’m a personal safety adviser to high profile figures, senior executives and their families.

Subjects covered include how to be calm under pressure, how to avoid threats, and how to protect oneself.

One thing my path has taught me – something I’d like to share with current Cheltonians – is the ability to see what the moment presents is a truly potent one... somewhat echoing what Richard Morgan said, all those years ago.

If any Cheltonians or OCs would like to receive any insights on the subjects mentioned, I’d be happy to share some travel notes; just drop me an email.

Aran can be contacted at office@tri-tier.com

Aran’s research into different forms of defence tactics has taken him to various regions, including Russia.

FEATURES Aran demonstrating how to handle and escape from a hostile encounter within a confined space.

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Stillness practises, as demonstrated here in the beautiful Highlands, help one to be calm under pressure.

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Lockdown in the Bolivian Jungle Tommy Haddock (H, 2020)

Tommy at College

Tommy now

It won’t be a surprise to many that living in Hazelwell for five years prepared me very well to work with a group of 20 spider monkeys in the Bolivian Amazon.

After the strange and abrupt end to my Upper Sixth year due to Covid, I was left with a deferred university place and no ability to travel anywhere with the imposing global restrictions. I decided to email multiple volunteer organisations in the hopes of staying in one until it was time for university. That is how I ended up at Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi (CIWY), an NGO located in the small town of Villa Tunari in central Bolivia.

CIWY rescues, rehabilitates and cares for wild animals seized from illegal trafficking, and fights to end animal trade through educational programs, research projects and public actions.

CIWY is not open to the public and relies on volunteers and donations to stay open. I was offered a job as an animal caregiver. The change from virtual A Levels to living in the middle of the Amazon was very sudden but I feel it was what I needed.

they spend their lives living free in the jungle without boundaries or restrictions, only relying on us for food and veterinarian support. Áteles Chamek are new world monkeys, reaching almost 70cm in size with a meter long prehensile tail. They are considered one of the most intelligent species of primates which has allowed me to form many deep relationships with the individuals I have worked with.

After two days of travel, I arrived with my small backpack at the entrance to the rescue centre and immediately encountered my first monkey. Once freed from quarantine, I was able to get stuck in and explore my new surroundings. I was greeted by the coordinator of the spider monkey group who seemed very pleased to have me, as she had been alone in the area for six months due to the pandemic.

Eight months later I still work in the spider monkey park but now as the coordinator, managing 16 spider monkeys and three babies which we are currently introducing into the group. I have deferred my university place another year in order to help the centre move the group of spider monkeys to a new area in the north of Bolivia. Our current centre is being constantly challenged by an increase in tourism and urbanisation. As a result, the decision was made to move the animals onto land privately owned by the NGO. We are waiting until the new area has finished construction, when we will begin the difficult process of introducing them to their new habitat.

We packed a backpack full of bananas and began to walk for what seemed like forever until we reached a small clearing in the jungle where 17 Chamek spider monkeys were waiting for us. At CIWY the spider monkeys are semi free, meaning

Due to the pandemic, the number of volunteers and donations at CIWY have been greatly reduced. We are always looking for volunteers and donations so if you would like to help out, please visit www.intiwarayassi.org.

Tommy carrying the newest rescued spider monkey, who had been stolen for the illegal animal trade, on a walk to help reintroduce the group to the jungle – this would normally be the job of the monkey’s mother but she was killed when her baby was stolen.

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In the future, I hope to study Zoology at the University of Exeter, with the hope of working with gorillas at some point.

Lola, the newest female member of the group, enjoying some papaya in the rain.

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The Pot’s Car Roland Pelly (Cheltondale, 1961) so far as I know no one ever did.

I decided to do something about this. Together with three others - AB, CD and YZ – we initially planned to put our House Tutor ‘Mugs’ Miller’s Morris Minor in the Cheltondale yard. When this proved impossible, I decided to put The Pot’s car on the tables in the Dining Hall.

Roland at College

I left College 60 years ago. As a result of a number of recent extraordinary coincidences I have been asked to confess to the moving of The Pot’s car. (At the time, every Master had a nickname but the Headmaster was always ‘The Pot’. Where it came from, I have no idea and never thought to ask.)

In those days there were always rumours of leavers who were going to carry out a ‘Spectacular’ though

The first step was to establish if it would actually go through the doors. Knowing the make, a Ford Zephyr or similar, getting the measurements was easy enough and there was a clearance through the doors of no more than two inches on each side!

Next was to get a key to the Dining Hall. The actual key was held by the College Porter. From time to time, boys inadvertently left their books in the Dining Hall and would need to ask him for the key. He was supposed to open and lock the door personally and not to part with

the key, but it was known that he often did. He gave it to me when I asked and I made an impression of it in a bar of soap. There was a lovely old fashioned blacksmith who lived in the village where I grew up; as a small child I was fascinated by his skills and had spent hours watching him work. He had agreed to make the key if I could get an impression.

He was as good as his word and the key, when made, worked perfectly.

The next step was to get a key to The Pot’s garage and an ignition key for the car. Getting the car key was comparatively easy: on a day when I knew that he and his wife would not be there, but his car would be, I managed to obtain the details needed. I cannot now remember how I got his garage key. It may be that I had to risk that the garage would not be locked.

As the end of term approached Philip Cleland (Cheltondale, 1961),

FEATURES Cheltondale House group photo, 1961. Roland is circled in blue, sitting next to his co-conspirator YZ, circled in purple. AB and CD are absent from the photo, most likely away being interviewed for Cambridge. Philip Cleland (Cheltondale, 1961 and Head of House) is in the centre, circled in green. House Tutor ‘Mugs’ Miller, whose Morris Minor was the original target, is circled in orange.

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my lifelong friend, Head of House and a College Prefect, became certain that I was planning something. For some reason which I have never understood, he was certain that I was planning to plough up the pitch which was prepared for the county matches that always took place at the beginning of the summer holiday.

‘I am going to catch you, Pelly!’ was his oft repeated threat.

The day before the end of term, AB and CD, who had both been offered places at the University of Cambridge, pulled out on the basis that if we were caught they might have their offers withdrawn. YZ and I had had no such offers (or even the temerity to apply).

We needed two scaffold planks to enable me to drive the car into the Dining Hall. At the time there were always building works going on around College or builders materials stored around College buildings.

The plan was for YZ to collect the planks and put them in place and to move the Dining Hall tables into position while I went to collect the

car and drive it around for a bit to give him some time.

Meanwhile, Philip Cleland and other College Prefects had gone off to keep watch and catch the phantom ploughman. I knew that they also had a College Prefects’ room in Thirlestaine House and calculated that they would get bored sitting out in the open from about 23.30 when I knew they were going to start their watch. I also knew that there was at least a store of beer in their room and calculated that by 02.30 they would all be fast asleep.

In those days we were allowed to sleep in our shacks (studies) so at about 02.15 the alarms we had set went off and we made our way to the Dining Hall to establish that there were no College Prefects anywhere around.

I went to The Pot’s house. In fact his car was parked outside his front door and he had left the ignition key in it! I set off on a jaunt round Cheltenham. I had passed my test the summer holidays before and my parents also had a similar Ford (plus I’d been driving tractors since birth).

I was half way round my circuit when I realised I had failed to put the lights on; I nearly died thinking of the possibility of police interest in such a vehicle at such a time!

All was well and on returning to the Dining Hall the planks were in place. I drove the car straight in. YZ had put the tables together and the planks were soon in place for the attempted drive onto them. I started to drive up them, with huge amounts of exhaust and noise, but as soon as I got half way up the tables tipped towards me and all of YZ’s weight was not sufficient to keep them down so after two attempts we had to give that up.

The tables were separated and the car left in the middle of the hall.

The Dining Hall was locked and we melted into the night.

There was a very fierce catering manager and when she arrived to do breakfast she decided that there wouldn’t be any, what with a car in the hall. When I arrived for breakfast there was a sea of boys waiting to be let in and some standing on each other’s shoulders to look through the windows to see if there was any reason why the doors were still locked. At the time, there was still the system of fagging and I had a most obliging one to whom I passed the key so that all could get a better look.

Roland with Philip Cleland at College’s 150th Anniversary Weekend in 1991, standing outside the Dining Hall door that Roland drove the Headmaster’s car through.

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The next time I met David Ashcroft (Headmaster 1959-1978) was at the 150th Anniversary of College celebration weekend when the photo of Philip Cleland and me was taken on the famous steps. I don’t think David ever knew who had borrowed his car!

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There was a rumour I heard some months later that the Rev ‘Holy Mo’ Morrison, the then Housemaster of Boyne House, offered to drive the car out and managed to scrape both sides in so doing but I have no idea if there is any truth in that part of the story!

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Opportunity Knocks Quentin Johnson (Xt, 1967) and implementation of staple food fortification programmes for countries.

Quentin at College

Quentin now

I was born in Assam, India and my brother was born in Pakistan. In 1962, I came to College and was in Christowe. My time at College was a happy experience and I am grateful for the education I received.

I went on to Keele University and received a Joint Honours Degree in Chemistry and Economics, moving on to work for Associated British Foods until 1975.

My wife, Susan and I emigrated to Montreal, Canada landing in a snow storm in January 1976! After 20 years in the flour milling business, I struck out on my own as a food and nutrition consultant. In 1996, after a couple of lean years, I was contacted by an organisation now known as Nutrition International (NI). The next thing I knew I was on a plane to Bangladesh! My area of expertise has been the advocacy to stakeholders on the design

These programmes add back the essential micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) that get lost during the processing of staple foods.

Fortified foods include wheat, maize flour and rice fortified with vitamin B1, B2, B3, folic acid and iron; salt fortified with iodine; vegetable oil, milk and margarine with vitamin A and D; and fruit juices with vitamin C. In Canada the government has a strong staple food fortification programme that is rigidly enforced.

Since then, I have been working as an independent consultant. My other clients have been UN agencies (WFP, UNICEF, WHO) and other agencies and organisations such as Helen Keller International, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, Nutrition International, Smarter Futures and the Food Fortification Initiative helping countries implement staple food fortification programmes. My job has taken me to more than 90 countries around the world for the past 25 years. I have assisted countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East and the

Pacific. I have met people from senior government officials, senior food company executives to small scale millers and food processors.

I have been truly blessed living with Susan, my wife, who has resolutely backed my work, despite the sometimes lengthy absences.

Susan and I now live in Rockwood in Ontario, Canada.

My advice to fellow Cheltonians is always be ready to knock on or open the doors of opportunity, you have no idea where it may lead you.

Fortification system in a flour mill in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

FEATURES Flour bags and traditional breads in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

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Behind the Visor

Olivia at College

Olivia now

I left College nine years ago and still take time to reflect on what it taught me and how it shaped the person I am today. I spent the majority of my time in Queen’s House under the wing of Mme Bates and I am forever grateful for the support and guidance that

she, and all the teachers, gave me during my time there. The caring nature that all the Housemasters and Housemistresses showed the younger children coming through College sparked my interest to study nursing.

Ormond Street Hospital. Recently, I completed a year long university accredited intensive care specialist course and have just had my first promotion, which after the year we’ve all had feels like a huge achievement.

Following my A Levels, I attended the University of Birmingham and graduated in 2015 with a degree in Paediatric Nursing. I took my first job as a staff nurse in an intensive care unit (ICU) at Bristol Children’s Hospital and after three years moved to cardiac intensive care at the world-renowned Great

My experience nursing with Covid is a short one compared to my colleagues in adult ICUs but is one that will remain at the forefront of my mind forever. Two weeks into the first lockdown Great Ormond Street Hospital was asked to distribute staff across London’s adult ICUs to help cope with the increasing demand Covid was placing on our NHS. Despite never nursing adults, my intensive care skills would be invaluable to their units struggling to keep afloat during this global pandemic. I decided to volunteer, and was redeployed to the adult ICU at The Royal Free Hospital for a month.

From mine and my colleagues’ experiences, what the nation and our NHS was facing was honestly life changing. On arrival, a 34-bed unit had been stretched over three floors to care for more than 100 patients. Nurses were not only required to care for four to six times more patients than normal, but with unfamiliar machines, which was both daunting and commendable.

Loved ones were saying their final goodbyes over FaceTime to patients.

All we could do in the chaos was try and comfort these families over the phone – it was heartbreaking.

Olivia with her friend Katie working in Adult ICU at the Royal Free Hospital.

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This past year we’ve all had to sacrifice an incredible amount but the heartache, claps, laughter, tears and hard work has made me a stronger and more resilient person.

So thank you to every single one of you who has supported and continues to support the NHS in fighting this virus.

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Olivia Nunn (Q, 2012)

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Brave New Digital Age Professor John Cosmas (NH, 1974) should be realised and what benefits they will bring to society at large. This is so important because the future is fraught with change, uncertainty and danger for which digital solutions could provide a possible resolution.

John at College

John now

Since leaving College, I have spent my whole career devoted to developing technical solutions for the ‘digital age’, first in the area of video coding, then in digital television and Mobile Internet, and now in the Internet of Things and the Tactile Internet.

As an Electronics and Communications Engineering professor at Brunel University, my role has been to propose, bid for and win collaborative research projects with international companies and institutions from across the world, and to inspire generations of Electronics/Electrical, Mechanical, Aeronautical and Civil engineering students to think creatively to develop innovative digital solutions for their own industry. This involves imagining digital innovations and developing a fictional, technical narrative that describes how they

A good example of this is the worldwide consumption of fossil fuels; consumption continues to rise whilst new reserves are becoming harder to find – oil and gas reserves are predicted to run out in 50 years and coal reserves in 80 years – so the world will soon enter the postfossil fuel era. The consequences of this are dire. Competition between civilizations for control of these dwindling resources is destined to intensify and, at the same time, the continued intensive use of fossil fuels is causing global warming, due to higher concentrations of greenhouse gases such as CO2 in the atmosphere, and more erratic and extreme climate behaviour. It is therefore incumbent on technical innovators to find technical solutions that obviate the overreliance on fossil fuels.

One technical solution is in enabling people to work remotely from their homes and therefore

be less dependent on physical transportation. For this to be realised, my research team and I are developing a high-performance communication system for buildings that allows for innovative services in homes and workplaces.

Wireless networks in buildings suffer from congestion, interference, security and safety concerns, restricted propagation, and poor indoor location accuracy. Our project, the Internet of Radio Light, is developing a safer, more secure, customisable and intelligent building network.

This Visible Light and millimetre wave communication system reliably delivers increased throughput (greater than 10Giga bits/second) with low latency (less than 0.1ms) from access points pervasively located within buildings, whilst minimising interference and electromagnetic field exposure, and providing location accuracy of less than 10cm.

The Internet of Radio Light project was recently awarded a Champion Project prize for innovation at the joint United Nations / International Telecommunications (ITU) conference: World Summit on the Information Society. More information on the project can be found at https://iorl.5g-ppp.eu/ All this may seem a world away from Cheltenham College but not so, for on the 1st XV College playing fields I learned mental resilience, teamwork and perseverance in the face of temporary setbacks.

FEATURES John and his research team working on the Internet of Radio Light project, developing a safe, secure, customisable and intelligent building communication system.

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OBITUARIES Richard Morgan (Head, Cheltenham College 1978-1990)

Richard Morgan died on 26 May 2021, aged 80. He is survived by his beloved wife Margaret, his daughters Pippa, Victoria and Rachel, and his grandchildren.

David Levin, who served as Head of Economics and Second Master during Richard’s Headship, has written the following tribute.

Richard Morgan’s qualities as Head of College were those of energy, enthusiasm, a wry sense of humour and a consummate ability to motivate others. The Morgan years at College saw much change.

Underlying his achievements were a clear vision, deep religious faith, a sense of history and a great love of both Britain and his family. Margaret’s support of his Headship was a fundamental facet of its strength, as all those who enjoyed the hospitality of College House can confirm.

Above all, Richard understood that a successful school must be carefully presented to, and enjoined in, the wider world, as Sir Jeremy Moore (Xt, 1946, past parent and College Council 1980-85) wrote when Richard left College: ‘One of his outstanding contributions has been

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When Richard commenced his Headship in 1978, aged 38, he did so with explicit Council instructions to modernise without diminishing the best traditions of the school.

The Governors had chosen exactly the right man. Richard was someone who could both diagnose weaknesses and deliver necessary change. In promulgating his vision for change, Richard was fond of quoting General Slim, whose motto was ‘to attack on all fronts’. In 1978 the College ‘fronts’ were many and varied.

Richard’s vision was clearly articulated as encompassing six key areas.

The importance of Chapel was confirmed through the Chaplain becoming part of the Senior Management Team. Making Chapel the heart of the school also meant outstanding music and rousing Chapel singing, coupled with notable visiting Preachers and Remembrance Days. The inspired appointment of Lindsay Gray as Director of Music, and a music graduate Chaplain, the late Reverend Anthony Stidolph, transformed Chapel, with pupils vying to be selected for the Choir.

The core College challenge was the improvement of Academic performance from the 23% A Level A or B grades in 1978. By the late 1980s the picture was very different in terms of exam results and the gaining of university places, not only at Oxford and Cambridge but also at other highly regarded and competitive universities. Over 55% A or B A Level grades were regularly

achieved by the late 1980s. Similarly, the number of Oxbridge places gained improved from single figures in 1978 to 19 in 1989.

Academic improvement also involved the introduction of the Upper College Tutorial system which ensured that Tutors were based in a department relevant to their Tutorial pupils’ subjectinterests. Richard encouraged Heads of Department by giving them greater authority, underpinned by agreed Departmental budgets. Staff Appraisal, then unheard of in schools, was introduced. Targets were set and Department Heads held to account with the system including an annual one-to-one meeting with Richard.

All left those meetings feeling encouraged and appreciated.

College modernisation included substantial improvements to the campus, with extensive new facilities being developed. Information Technology and Careers Centres were created. The provision of a modern ‘Common Room’ was a good motivator for staff and happy social events held there made for staff cohesion.

Richard’s strong emphasis on recruitment generated a rise in pupil numbers and also saw the introduction of girls in the Sixth Form. This prioritisation of recruitment was not based on huge marketing expenditure, but on Richard’s own understanding of the critical importance of Prep Schools’ Heads’ recommendations. That understanding ensured his energetic promotion of the College through his many Prep School Governorships and his being prepared to preach at and attend Prep Schools’ Prize Days.

He communicated a strong vision of the future to prospective parents and the resulting rise in College

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in presenting Cheltenham College to the outside world. This has taken much energy and much eloquence to communicate the substance of the actual work done inside the school family.’

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pupil numbers during his Headship is a tribute to Richard. Richard also believed very firmly in the quality of a school being reflected in the subsequent career development of staff and eight of those at College in the 1980s went on to Headships.

Equally, Richard saw a successful school as one drawing upon input from the wider world. This meant regular visiting speakers, interesting preachers, a US Exchange and the development of the Industrial Link Scheme. Boys spent a week with local employers and this both enhanced their understanding of the world beyond College and strengthened College’s local business and parental contacts.

The Scheme, as enacted at College, was before its time, like so many of Richard’s initiatives. The Scheme reflected too, the climate of the time in terms of an understanding of the importance of enterprise.

Whilst the miners’ strike and IRA bombs are remembered as issues of Thatcher’s time, the 1980s also saw large numbers of new businesses created and a culture of enterprise which College encouraged. The latter was confirmed by pupils winning National Competitions, notably in Electronics, Design and Engineering.

It is a tribute to the Morgan era that 1980s College pupils now include so many examples of business success.

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Many will remember Richard as an immensely kind man who always took trouble to write to people about their personal successes and tragedies, to research the backgrounds of visitors and to remember the details of colleagues’ family circumstances. The warmth underlying his attention to detail is a quality of leadership all too often lacking. It is interesting that boys one now meets from the Morgan era so frequently mention their annual birthday invitations to College House for a chat with Richard and Margaret’s wonderful cakes.

Cheltenham College’s loss in 1990 was Radley’s gain.

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Dr Anthony Hewitt Atkinson (NH, 1946)

Tony Atkinson died on 2 May 2021, aged 91.

Tony, the youngest of three children, grew up during the years of the Great Depression. By the time he was 10 years of age, the world was at war and he was evacuated from London to live with an aunt in the country.

Tony learned to box from the age of five. He fought as a flyweight and represented College at the National Boxing competition. On leaving College, Tony studied medicine at university, undertaking his practical training on the wards at Guy’s Hospital in London, where he was also on the boxing team. During this time, he also worked at Buckingham Palace as a footman to Queen Elizabeth II and, if that wasn’t a big enough highlight, met nurse, Terry McCarthy, who only accepted Tony’s proposal of marriage when he got down on one knee!

Tony’s profession had them on the move around the UK and even Canada, while he undertook locum work and studied anaesthetics. Their first daughter, Jane, sadly died soon after birth. Lucy was born in 1960 and Sarah 13 months later.

In 1962, the family emigrated from the UK to Australia, as ‘Ten Pound Poms’, sailing out on the SS Canberra. Having lived in migrant accommodation at Fisherman’s Bend and undertaken locum work around the country, the family finally settled at Moonee Ponds, where Tony bought into and became a partner in a practice. During this time Tony specialised in gynaecology and obstetrics and delivered babies at

the new state of the art Essendon Hospital; he also added to his own family when Kate was born in 1963 and Sophie in 1968.

Tony went on to specialise in anaesthetics and epidurals for the rest of his career. He enjoyed his work and was devoted to it; it was his passion. He was well liked and respected, kind and respective of those he worked with, never aloof.

He worked into his 80s, stopping only when he suffered a stroke.

Tony was a loving and supportive husband to Terry and supported her in her interests, one of which was art, so they’d attend various functions and gallery openings.

His own passions were music and opera, and they attended many performances. Closer to home, he enjoyed maintaining his garden and walking the family dog; he always enjoyed a good walk. As a father, Tony was gentle and loving, a calming influence within the home.

He provided his children with a secure, carefree upbringing along with instilling good manners within them, the product of his own strict upbringing. He embraced his role as a grandfather and great grandfather, particularly to Lucy’s children after their father passed away.

A man who enjoyed the company of others, Tony made good friends throughout his life, who appreciated his honesty, kind heartedness and good sense of humour. Tony loved to make people laugh and always had a good story to tell.

In May 2021, Tony passed away peacefully in the presence of two of his daughters, Lucy and Sarah.

Tony was predeceased by his beloved wife Terry who died after a stroke in 2011. He is survived by his daughters Lucy, Sarah, Kate and Sophie, his grandchildren and great grandchildren.

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Roger Ball died on the 30 January 2021, aged 84.

Roger was born in Kenya in 1936 and by the age of three he had already met Yolande who he was to eventually marry – but not for another 36 years! They happened to be on a ship evacuating children from the UK to Kenya at the beginning of WWII. His father worked for Brooke Bond in Kenya establishing some of the first commercial tea estates there. Roger went to prep school in Nairobi and then to College.

His final report said, ‘He was an admiral person of whom we expect to hear as a power in East Africa later on - character and brains travel far together.’ He was awarded the Cohen Essay Prize, and his House 1st XI hockey colours. In his final year he was Head of House and a College Prefect.

On leaving College, Roger went on to Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, graduating in Agriculture in 1958.

He then returned to Kenya to do his National Service with the King’s African Rifles. His first job was with Esso in East Africa who were promoting oil as a solution to deforestation. He worked there for several years. All of this excellent experience clearly appealed to ICI who recruited him to their Plant Protection Division in 1969 and promptly sent him back to Africa!

This time to Ibaden in Nigeria where he was ‘their man’ for two years. In 1971 he transferred to the Far East and Pacific Region where he stayed

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until retirement 25 years later.

Mutual friends were responsible for Roger meeting up with Yolande again in 1975. On their first date he impressed his future father-in-law by wearing his Kenyan Regimental tie. That clinched the deal and they were married a year later.

Everybody liked and appreciated Roger, colleagues and customers alike. He was an extremely loyal and capable team player with a ready smile and a fine sense of humour – an excellent ambassador for the business. He was a walking Plant Protection bible with his stories from all round the world, and with a wonderful sense of humour.

When he finally retired in 1996, Yolande was a bit concerned about how he would fill his time but she needn’t have worried as Roger threw himself into a number of different activities which meant that they had a long and enjoyable retirement together. Roger was an enthusiastic member of the National Trust Supporters Committee for many years. He enjoyed giving his time to National Trust events and to the community. His legacy includes being the cartographer of the definitive Footpath Map for Black Down, Marley and Hindhead.

He walked for miles to check these routes and those of you who walk these paths today have Roger to thank as the one who mapped and updated them. He also gave much of his time introducing children to nature and wildlife at local National Trust sites.

In retirement he and Yolande travelled widely – cruising the Adriatic, cycling the Danube and enjoying the delights of Costa Rica, the Galapagos, Australia and New Zealand. On one occasion they joined friends for a cycling and boating holiday in France and divided their time between boating, cycling and wining and dining.

Roger played a good game of

bridge and was also a brilliant contributor at quiz nights. His quizzing skills once gained him an appearance on the television show ‘Fifteen to One’ where he acquitted himself admirably. He had very broad sporting interests: he enjoyed playing squash, tennis, golf and even croquet. In every sport he was skilful, a keen competitor and always a gentleman. He loved his golf and whenever the company had Japanese visitors, Roger was invariably the one chosen to accompany them to play at St Andrews.

Roger is survived by his wife Yolande, daughter Juliet and grandsons Henry and William.

Hugh Robert Bousfield Hamilton (H, 1955)

Hugh Hamilton, brother of Andrew Hamilton (NH, 1965), died on 2 May 2021, aged 83.

Hugh was captain of the College fencing team and was awarded his College Colours 1953-1955. He reached the third round of the senior foil in the Public Schools Fencing Championship in 1954 and in 1955 gained a point by reaching the semi-final pool of the sabre, placing College 10th out of some 40 schools. He was awarded his House Rowing Colours in 19541955. Unfortunately, subsequent severe back problems meant that he was unable to continue the sporting prowess he demonstrated at College.

On leaving College, Hugh read Law at the University of Nottingham and, after National Service with the Sherwood Foresters, moved to London where he had a successful

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Roger Wareing Byrom Ball (Cheltondale, 1955)

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career as a solicitor. After Hugh’s move to London, he transferred to the 1st Battalion London Scottish TA regiment where he served as a Lieutenant and was i/c Signals Platoon. He was promoted to Captain and stayed until 1967.

Thereafter his interest continued and he kept in contact with several fellow members.

Frances Heigham, a friend and former colleague, wrote, ‘I first met Hugh in the Spring of 1973. I was 26 and he was a partner in Crane & Hawkins, interviewing me for my first professional job as a solicitor. I was accepted into the quasi family that was Crane & Hawkins, a small firm of no more than about 30 people at that stage. For more than 25 years he was a Trustee of the Freud Museum, through acting for and executing the Will of Anna Freud, Sigmund’s daughter. He made frequent professional visits to the US, not to mention hanging about on a couple of occasions in the Turks and Caicos Islands on behalf of a client embroiled in legal proceedings there. He was also the chairman of the Philbeach Choral Society, a very active light opera group. Hugh was clearly very musical, and he had a lovely bass voice.

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‘Crane & Hawkins merged in 1984 with Lawrence Graham, a much larger firm, where Hugh became the Head of the Private Client Department. Many of my former colleagues there have been saying that they feel, as I do, that he was the best boss they ever had, who had believed in them when others had not. An example of Hugh’s jokey sense of humour is a story that one April Fools’ Day he circulated an email saying that he had negotiated a 10% discount for departmental staff funerals at a Crematorium. He signed it Alf Porilo, an anagram of April Fool!’

Apart from a lifelong involvement in many charitable committees and

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trusts, history was a constant passion.

Hugh largely attributed his passion for history to his College History teacher, Mr John Bowes. As well as his vast book collection, he chaired the local branch of the Historical Association and in retirement he and Sue went on countless expeditions to study and photograph castles and churches, Romanesque architecture in particular.

In his early years and right through to the end of his life, one recurrent theme was just how important family and friends were to him. His sons developed a strong sense of identity because of this.

Hugh is survived by his beloved wife Sue, sons Ian and Christopher, and his grandchildren.

Peter Stuart Hammerson (L, 1962)

Peter Hammerson, brother of David Hammerson (L, 1959), died on 11 January 2021, aged 75.

The following tribute was written by Kenneth Hamer (H, 1962).

Peter Hammerson was a wonderful man. He was fun and charming to be with, generous, infinitely courteous and kind-hearted. He loved College and adored his wife Jennie. He and Jennie brought sunshine to all. Peter married late in life – his late mother said that she had waited 60 years for this event!

– and his friends, of which there were a great many, joined him and Jennie in wishing them their very best wishes. Peter died tragically from Covid on 11 January 2021 after going out on New Year’s Eve to buy a gift for Jennie.

Peter was born on 15 February 1945 and came to College in September 1958. After leaving College in the summer of 1962, Peter distinguished himself and by profession became an established and knowledgeable property developer. When things were not going well he never complained and with that wonderful smile by which he was affectionally recognised would answer that he was in ‘Lost Property’! He never lost his sense of humour, his charm, his love for College or his devotion to Jennie. He always had a smile, remembered names and had time to talk to everyone.

Peter was a generous supporter of College, funding scholarships and bursaries as well as, in recent years, a Leconfield garden project.

Additionally, he was an active and supportive member of the Cheltonian Society Committee for nearly 20 years. The Society Committee, made up largely of OCs, parents and ex-parents, and current and former members of staff, is hugely influential and successful in organising events at College and keeping in touch with OCs. Peter got great satisfaction from his work on the Society Committee in particular, and supporting College generally.

In addition to College, Peter was a proud and popular Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of PainterStainers, the fifth oldest Guild in the City of London. Having been installed as a liveryman in 1980, Peter was elected to the Court in 2003 and was Master of the Painters’ Company in 2010. Called on to arrange a speaker during his year as Master he achieved capacity attendance by securing the ‘Voice of Cricket’, Henry Blofeld, who brought the house down.

Peter’s generosity to the Painters’ Company knew no bounds. He was very generous with supporting the Company’s efforts to refurbish and add to its treasures. He is remembered in the Painters’ Company with tremendous affection and has been described as a bon viveur who always

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Peter was also a dedicated Freemason; he was initiated into the Playgoers Lodge in 1970 and joined the Old Cheltonian Lodge in 1973. He excelled in both. He was Master of the Playgoers Lodge in 1983 and was twice Master of the Old Cheltonian Lodge in 1984 and 2004. Amongst the many offices he held, he served as Almoner in both Lodges caring with great devotion for elderly or infirmed members or their widows.

Peter was Almoner of the Playgoers Lodge from 1992 to 1998 and had been Almoner of the Old Cheltonian Lodge since 2005, a remarkable record. Additionally, Peter was the Charity Steward for many years of the Old Cheltonian Lodge and held the rank of London Grand Rank. It was though perhaps at the Festive Board that Peter came into his own.

He was as always a convivial dining companion and one never quite knew what fun and laughter was in store.

He and Jennie entertained a group of Gloucestershire and Worcestershire based Freemasons to a magnificent lunch at their retreat near Sapperton.

A lasting memory was of Peter and Jennie beavering away in the kitchen and Jennie saying they worked together ‘harmoniously’!

Major Rupert Edward Harding-Newman (Cheltondale, 1959) Edward Harding-Newman died on 6 May 2021, aged 78.

(A full obituary will be published in the next edition.)

David Frank Megginson (Thirlestaine, 1961) David Megginson, brother of Jonathan Megginson (Leconfield, 1967), died on 21 July 2021, aged 77.

(A full obituary will be published in the next edition.)

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Nik P Le Masurier (H, 1996)

(Cheltondale, 1958), nephew of Denis McMullen (Cheltondale, 1919), Colin McMullen (Cheltondale, 1924) and Morrice McMullen (Cheltondale, 1926), and cousin of Terrence McMullen (Cheltondale, 1950) and Ronald McMullen (Cheltondale,1954), died on 16 July 2021, aged 75.

(A full obituary will be published in the next edition.)

Nik Le Masurier, partner of Casilda Peel (Ch, 1996), son of Richard Le Masurier (H, 1967), nephew of David Le Masurier (H, 1968), and cousin of Edward Le Masurier (H, 2001), Clare Le Masurier (A, 2004) and Andrew Le Masurier (H, 2011), died on 28 May 2020.

After leaving College, Nik continued his education and gained an arts degree at Cardiff University. He then travelled extensively, in particular to India, a country he loved, and also to Spain where he worked for a time. When he returned to the UK, he moved back to Cheltenham and in 2009 he renewed his friendship with a College contemporary, Casilda Peel, who was to become his partner, and they lived for a number of years in St George’s Place.

Nik suffered serious ill-health and he and Casilda moved to Bournemouth to be nearer his family. Despite his illness, he became a very proficient photographer and exhibited much of his work on social media where it was widely admired. He was an authority on the arts, particularly music and literature, and he followed all sports, especially cricket and football. Unfortunately, his health continued to deteriorate and, despite numerous operations, he sadly passed away in May 2020, aged just 42.

Alexander Maurice McMullen (Cheltondale, 1963) Alex McMullen, son of Gerald McMullen (Cheltondale, 1921), brother of James McMullen

Jane Lumby (née Pritchard, 1970)

Jane Lumby, daughter of Will Pritchard (Director of Music at College, 1950-73) and sister of Sally (College, 1973-75) died on 21 February 2021, aged 69.

Jane shone in the world of music (not surprisingly!) and drama. She even played hockey with the boys! Jane was in the Small Choir and took part in the 1970 Cheltenham Competitive Music and Drama Festival. She was awarded the Ruth Norris Challenge Cup for the Shakespeare Scene, a Silver medal for the Scene Other Than Shakespeare and a Bronze medal for the Reading at Sight from Charles Dickens.

She had leading roles in the Cheltondale House Play A Man for All Seasons and the College Play The Lady’s Not For Burning. Jane was also a member of the Shakespeare Society.

The Shakespeare Society report in the 1970 Cheltonian declared, ‘Jane Pritchard was unchallenged as the star of the Society since her memorable Ophelia.’ The final meeting of the year, Lear, was more challenging, as reported in the Cheltonian, ‘This proved more difficult to organise than expected with an economist’s A Level paper and the College Dance on the

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seemed to enjoy life to the full, was unfailingly polite and fun to be with.

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intervening day producing an unaccustomed levity, verging on hysteria, quite unsuitable for the diligent rendering of a Shakespearian tragedy. On Wednesday the cast consisted of boy wonders from the Lower forms combined with rakes from the Sixth Form intent only on drowning their sorrows: all of this produced a curious rehearsal with the President and Jane Pritchard as Lear and Cordelia showing everyone how it ought to be done and various other characters showing how it ought not!’

On leaving College she went to The Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama, and on graduating she became a teacher of English and Drama. However, her greatest love was nature, poetry and painting, something she really started to develop in the later part of her life, culminating in the publication of a book, The Winding Lane, comprising her poems and paintings, shortly before her death.

Jane is survived by her husband Jonathan, son Michael, daughter Elizabeth, and her grandchildren Lucy, Oliver and Joshua.

Major Maurice Fitzgerald Rea (NH, 1945) Maurice Rea, father of Keith Rea (NH, 1973) and Richard Rea (S & Thirlestaine, 1977) died on 15 January 2021, aged 93. He was predeceased by his wife Alfreda and is survived by his sons Keith and Richard.

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Maurice played in the 1945 Hockey XI. The review of the season published in the 1945 Cheltonian reported, ‘It was not until late in the season that Rea, who had previously played as a wing half, was put in as left back; the change did much to

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increase the strength of the defence.’

He was also in the Shooting VIII and was awarded his Colours.

The following eulogy was given at Maurice’s funeral by his son Keith.

After leaving College, Maurice was part of the first peacetime intake at The Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. Commissioned into the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, he saw action in Korea during 195152. He didn’t talk much about this period and it is clear it had a profound effect on him. He transferred to the 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars in 1955, the year his first son Keith was born.

The 8th amalgamated with the 4th Hussars in 1958 to form the Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars. These were much happier times for Maurice and his wife Alfreda, living in Luneburg, Germany, as the regiment was part of the British Army of the Rhine. After Germany the family, four in number now after the arrival of second son Richard in 1959, had spells in Scotland, Northern Ireland (pre-troubles), Bovington Camp in Dorset and two years in West Byfleet while Maurice worked at the Ministry of Defence.

Maurice also spent nine months in Cyprus in 1965 under the UN banner acting as a liaison officer with the Turks. He took early retirement from the army in 1967 and he was proud for the rest of his life to call himself an Irish Hussar.

By 1967 both of Maurice’s parents had passed away and he considered moving the family permanently to Kenmare Castle, the family home near Limerick in Southern Ireland. However, by 1968 he had concluded that life in Ireland was not going to be viable. Instead, he came full circle from his schooldays in Gloucestershire and in 1970 purchased The Old Rectory in the village of Cowley, situated in the Churn Valley between Cheltenham and Cirencester. This was the family home for the next 21 years, the family’s longest and most settled period in one place. Maurice

found employment with the Country Landowners Association (CLA) as Regional Secretary for Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

Maurice retired from the CLA in 1986. In 1991 they moved to the village of Cherington, just outside Tetbury. Alfreda’s health was in decline by the early 2000s and in 2007 they said goodbye to Gloucestershire. Alfreda moved to a nursing home in Cranleigh, Surrey, and Maurice lived in a retirement flat in Elmbridge Village, also in Cranleigh. Alfreda died in November 2009. Maurice continued to live at Elmbridge but was declining gently.

In 2016, he moved to Birtley House nursing home.

The Hon Peter Richard Scarlett (BH, 1979)

The Hon Peter Scarlett, younger son of the late Lord and Lady Abinger, passed away suddenly on 24 December 2020, aged 59. The following tribute was written by his brother, Lord Abinger.

Peter’s life was lived to the full in a small rural community on the border between Dorset and Somerset. Peter had recently retired from the Dorset Council where he enjoyed a successful career as a chartered surveyor.

His great passion for sport was kindled at his prep school, Horris Hill.

At College, Peter was introduced to rugby – the sport had been banned at Horris Hill due to concerns over flint in the ground. He became a keen tennis player and a rather indifferent but enthusiastic cricketer. At school, Peter acquired an encyclopaedic knowledge of professional sporting

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On joining the CCF, he set his sights on joining the Scots Greys, the regiment which his illustrious ancestor General Scarlett, who led the Charge of the Heavy Brigade, had commanded during the Crimean War. Peter subsequently went up to Sandhurst but left without completing officer training.

Peter qualified as a chartered surveyor and worked for BAA throughout the 1990s, where he was responsible for managing property within Heathrow Airport. On one occasion he had to deal with the media when terrorists broke through the perimeter fence and blew up a building. Typically, Peter provided a voice of calm authority amidst the chaos.

A confident and amusing public speaker, Peter had a rare talent for making everyone he met feel at ease.

He became a skilled and diligent manager and was greatly respected by his former work colleagues, reflected in the many tributes that followed news of his unexpected death. Peter made friends easily from all walks of life.

Peter was a proud Old Cheltonian, frequently seen sporting cerise striped socks. Having grown up in the flatlands of East Anglia, Cheltenham was his introduction to the West Country. He thrived at the school and made lifelong friends at both College and the Ladies’ College.

‘Captain’ even joined a Choral Society in order to meet Cheltenham Ladies’ girls, although as his friends will confirm, singing in tune was certainly not his forte!

Peter is survived by his wife Sharon, daughter Lucy and son Harry.

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The Reverend Canon Robert Anthony Stidolph (Hon OC & Past Staff) Anthony Stidolph, College Chaplain from 1987 to 1994, died on 24 May 2021, aged 66.

The following tribute was written by Prebendary Nicholas Lowton (Hon OC & Past Staff 1979-2010).

Anthony came to College as Chaplain in 1987 via a somewhat unconventional route. Born and brought up in South Shields, he studied music at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire before training for the priesthood at St Stephen’s House in Oxford. He was parish priest in Brighton for seven years before he arrived at College, looking understandably bemused.

He followed in the footsteps of the redoubtable Robert Ferguson, from whom, in many ways, he could not have been more different, Robert evincing the languid hauteur of the faded gentry while Anthony was much more down to earth, ready to get his hands dirty in showing the real presence of Christ in the lives of everyone. In fact Anthony very much built on the stones laid by Robert, and, indeed, the two of them got on very well, being prominent members of the Waterloo Place Group – a gathering of school chaplains who met once a term, much to the – thoroughly justified – suspicion of a number of headmasters, to celebrate the Eucharist together either in the Chapel of St James’s Palace or Westminster Abbey, before repairing to the Athenaeum Club for lunch and discussion (of a sort).

Anthony was first and foremost a man of prayer, showing by example the central part that prayer and the

Eucharist played in his own life. In that, he found College particularly congenial and fertile ground. Every school with a chapel claims that the chapel is the heart of the school life: at College, that was undeniably the case, having survived all the traumas of the ‘60s and ‘70s with daily Chapel still intact, and with the singing in Chapel proving a veritable culture shock to visiting preachers accustomed to restrained parish worship. Anthony built on the established pattern of Chapel worship with the introduction of a daily Eucharist which became the regular heartbeat of the College and, for many members of the community, a real source of comfort – in the proper sense of the word as something which gives people strength together.

But Anthony also recognised that what went on inside Chapel was a reflection of what went on outside, and that it was no good for him to know everyone unless he allowed them to get to know him as well.

He was tireless in his ministry to everyone in the school, to members of staff – both academic and nonacademic – and, of course, to the pupils. He was fully engaged in all aspects of life in the school, whether as a participant or as a supporter, but he was obviously and naturally most engaged on the pastoral side.

He was involved in all of the Houses and was regular visitor to them. I personally found that invaluable as a Housemaster as I recognised that he knew and understood the boys in my House and could see them from a different perspective than mine. He was a dedicated Tutor to a large number of the pupils. And his involvement extended well beyond the limits of term time as he took part in many College trips.

Anthony also very early recognised a fundamental difference between his work in the school and his previous post, in that parish ministry can all too often involve ambulance chasing, while a good chaplain

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events which he used to say was useless for anything but winning pub quizzes. Wisden was Peter’s favourite source of sports trivia. He acquired the nickname ‘Captain’ – after the sixties cartoon character Captain Scarlett – which stayed with him for life.

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engages in preventative medicine.

It was his knowledge of the pupils coupled with his unbridled approachability which warded off a number of storms. And it was always a sure sign that trouble was brewing when the numbers attending the daily Eucharist suddenly grew.

He was also vulnerable. This is, curiously, an invaluable quality for anyone in his position. Presenting the Christian faith and asking people to trust in God is always something to be treated with caution, especially so when dealing with people who are of an age when they should rightly be questioning and for whom trust and confidence are not commodities that necessarily come easily. It helped many of the pupils on that path that they recognised that Anthony was not surrounded by an adamantine ring of certainty and that the person who was leading them was not entirely unlike themselves.

Other qualities? Well, he was, of course, an outstanding musician who demonstrated his skills inside and outside Chapel. He was a very fine and generous host. And he was unfailingly patient. He was open to everybody, but not at his best with those who seemed to take themselves too seriously, and he certainly never showed that characteristic in himself, except perhaps on one occasion when he resolutely refused to lead the procession out of Chapel one weekday morning when Robin Proctor chose to play as the concluding voluntary The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.

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And he had his demons, although they were never obvious when he was content and fulfilled, which he was until shortly before his departure from the College in 1994.

Chaplaincies followed at Wellington School and Radley College, then he returned to parish life in the Diocese of Chichester as Priest-in-Charge of Worth for five years. There was then

THE CHELTONIAN 2020-21

a series of short-lived appointments both in this country and in Africa, in none of which he seemed settled, until his final phase at Paphos in Cyprus as Associate Priest to the Anglican churches there, serving, inter alia, at the wonderful church of Ayia Kyriaki, built on a site where St Paul – allegedly – converted the local governor and a church where St Francis of Assisi preached.

One of Anthony’s duties was to conduct endless numbers of weddings for British people – about 80 a year. I sat in on one of his weddings and was impressed by the way he still made it individual, personal and special. His final service was a wonderful one in Ayia Kyriaki last February, presided over by the Archbishop of Jerusalem.

He found the lockdown particularly stressful and health issues began to arise. He was given a grim prognosis in March this year and, after spending some time in the hospice in Paphos, spent his last weeks at home, looked after by a dedicated team of carers. He was anointed by the Vicar of Paphos and died peacefully surrounded by those who had cared for him in his last weeks. He was buried, according to his wishes, in Cyprus.

Anthony touched the lives of a great many people, and he remained in their thoughts and prayers as they remained in his. I was amazed by how many people in his last weeks were in touch to say how much he meant to them. He drew many people to the love of God and made many more feel simply better for having known him, and everyone at College can feel especially blessed to have been served by a Chaplain who found his time there the happiest. May he rest in peace.

James Warren (BH, 1956)

James Warren, son of the late Lt Col Edmund John Warren DSO (BH, 1931) and brother of Major (retd) Jeremy Warren (BH, 1962), died on 6 December 2020, aged 82.

On leaving College, James graduated from the University of Southampton with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering. He was immediately snapped up with an apprenticeship at Vickers Armstrong, whereupon he began his lifelong career devoted to the aerospace business.

Upon finishing his apprenticeship, he moved to BOAC and finally British Aerospace until his retirement.

He was involved in the Concorde project, the launch of the Jetstream 31, the BAe 146, the BAe 125 and ultimately was responsible for worldwide support for all BAe civilian aircraft; ‘The Plane Doctor’, as he was known.

Midst all this, James managed to meet Diana in 1966. They were married and moved to Miami, where John was born in 1968 and Harriet arrived in 1975 after the family returned to Wiltshire, UK. After a further 12 years living in Virginia, USA, James returned to the UK in 1993. He met his second wife Judith. They later married at the time of his 70th birthday and the family took a memorable safari trip ‘familymoon’ to mark both occasions.

Aside from his career, James was an avid motorsport fan, a keen photographer and bon viveur. He loved to travel and was, in particular, a Francophile. He knew every small

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fortified village in France, and their markets, and in retirement acquired a small apartment in Port Vendres in South West France. He was never happier than when eating a bowl of ‘moules’ with a good sauvignon blanc.

The lifestyle eventually caught up with him as he fought off diabetes and latterly kidney disease. In March 2020, at the beginning of the Covid pandemic, James was diagnosed with untreatable cancer. With levels of stamina and stubbornness known only to James, he battled on without complaint. To the end, James was always more interested in his family and others than in his own plight. He was a devoted grandfather to Alex, Amelia and Iona and step grandfather to Freya, Millie and Harry and was never prouder than of the achievements of his progeny. John and Harriet were both with him when he died peacefully at home.

Nicholas Clayton Platt Winstanley (OJ & Cheltondale, 1963)

Nick Winstanley died on 20 September 2020, aged 74. He is survived by his wife Clare, sons Sam and William, and granddaughters Emma and Lauren. He was the son

of Lord Winstanley, the Liberal peer and former Liberal MP. The following tribute was written by Robert Macleod‑Smith (Cheltondale, 1965), a contemporary of Nick at College.

At the Junior School and then at College Nick’s special talents for cricket and music soon became clear and these were to be important parts of his life thereafter.

He played in the Cricket 1st XI for three years as a skilful left arm spin bowler and was in the winning team against Haileybury at Lord’s in 1963.

He also played in the Hockey 1st XI for two years and was already a keen golfer. He was the leader of the College orchestra in 1962.

Nick went on to read Modern Languages at Queen’s College, Oxford, where his academic studies came a poor second behind his enthusiasm for sport and music and university life in general. He may not have got a top degree but his love of languages was consolidated. His Senior Tutor wrote, ‘Dear Winstanley.

You are probably a bit disappointed at the result but I hope not too much. In your career here you did a good many things besides reading books and I hope you enjoyed the net product. Best wishes for the next phase.’

The next phase was teaching English as a second language in Italy before returning to the UK to start a career in marketing and using his foreign languages with Birds Eye Foods, Unigate and Ralston Purina.

He married Lorna in 1969 and they had two sons – Sam and William. He took a year out to study for an MBA at Cranfield School of Management which included, of course, more cricket and more wickets.

Remarkably he took over 3,000 wickets during his cricketing career.

After Cranfield, he moved to Manchester to work for Pace Advertising before leaving the business world to start the first part of a new career in teaching.

From 1978 to 1985, Nick taught at the School of Management at Derbyshire College.

After the breakup of his marriage, he moved to London and worked for Westminster Cable before returning to teaching in 1987 as a lecturer in Business Studies at the Polytechnic of North London, which later became the University of North London. He was a hugely dedicated and respected teacher as his many students will testify.

Nick met Clare whilst singing with the Camden Choir and they married in 1989. They settled into a busy and varied life with Nick combining work with cricket coaching, golf, choir, music and gardening. He learned to play the bagpipes and enjoyed a loyal audience of goats on the remote hillside above Paleochora in Crete where he and Clare holidayed each year.

Nick retired in 2001 due to ill health but continued to make use of his impressive range of talents in many retirement projects and activities.

These obituaries have been compiled from obituaries published in national and local papers, eulogies given at funerals, and tributes written by family members or those who knew the deceased very well.

I am extremely grateful to Hannah Dale (Archivisit) for the research she has carried out and for providing the College photographs.

OBITUARIES

For any that I have missed, if you would like an obituary published in the next edition, please get in touch.

Malcolm Sloan, Cheltonian Society Secretary 01242 265694, society@cheltenhamcollege.org

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OBI T UA R I E S

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CHELTONIAN SOCIET Y MERCHANDISE

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