North-Newsletter-Lent-2012

NORTH HOUSE – Lent 2012

It is been a fantastic end to what is historically the hardest term. The sunny weather and longer evenings have enabled all the students to make the most of the wonderful facilities and the house matches have enabled almost every student to be involved in something active over the last couple of weeks. Many are on their last legs, but, despite this, good cheer and commitment have been seen across the board. Just in this week alone we've seen some come back from a three-day silver Duke of Edinburgh award expedition, others return from an Alevel Geography field trip, a number leaving early for the Under 15 hockey tour to the Netherlands and various hockey and rugby competitions. At the same time, the House staff have been cracking the whip on the academic front. With a significant number of GCSE and A Level exams looming before half term in the summer, revision has to be the focus over the holiday period. The vast majority of the boys seem very determined and I'm sure that if they follow the advice which has been offered they will come back in a confident and positive frame of mind. As ever, there have been a significant number of highlights throughout the term but perhaps the most memorable was the North House Play ‘The happiest days of our lives’. Produced and directed by three of our Lower Sixth (Will Setterfield, Luke Boyd and Tom Taylor) this atmospheric play was superb not only for the quality of the acting on stage but the energy and impact it had within the boarding community. A significant cast both onstage and backstage meant that a real buzz was generated in and around the house.

Ed Burnett

NORTH HOUSE – Lent 2012

NORTH HOUSE – Lent 2012

North House Play – Tom Taylor The North House Play this year was John Dighton’s “The Happiest Days of Your Life,” in which a boy’s boarding school is twinned with a girl’s boarding school due to a mistake in the evacuation billeting. The unfortunate events that happen afterwards are made worse by the arrival of two sets of parents, one who must see the school as a boy’s boarding school, whilst the second set must see it as an all girl’s boarding school. When Luke Boyd, William Setterfield and I were faced with the challenge of directing the North House Play, none of us were aware of what would be achieved in the five weeks that would follow. After the challenging task of casting, the cast and directors set to work. Will stepped forward, ready to face the mammoth task of writing in another scene to the play, creating a classic scene in which the comedy of the play was captured in a few moments by Rainbow (played by Toby Savill) called to order his faithful band of groundskeepers onto a Red Alert as parents carelessly ambled around the school grounds. The play itself involved the following talented Thespians: Jonny Paddle, Toby Savill, Fin Chesterman, Will Heath, Millie Black, Abby Frett, Ben Strickland, Tessa Lenselink, Sophie Kinally, Will Day, Hugh Ferry, Harry Yates, Alex Robertson. I thoroughly enjoyed directing the North House Play and it could not have been done without the cooperation of MRJ and his Technical crew. Congrats to all!

House Debating – Patrick Wilson North had no intention of relinquishing their possession of the highly coveted house debating trophy. Our campaign began proposing the motion “This House believes that a woman’s title (Miss, Mrs and Ms) should not advertise their marital status” against a highly supported East team. Our team was Daniel Piennar, Rory Weyman and Patrick Wilson, with George Colgan as our knowledgeable helper. Dan provided a confident start, followed by the clarity of Rory’s second speech and the swagger-filled summary of Paddy, and North won the day. The final was against a very strong Cubitt side -a “Clash of the Titans” between rivals Alex Clarke and Patrick Wilson of Cubitt and North respectively. North proposed the motion “This House would lower taxes on the rich”. Somewhat controversially, North was once again victorious, retaining the title for the fourth year in a row. Thanks must go to the audience for the floor debate, as they helped massively in the final, and this goes to show that, despite our rugby prowess as a boarding house, we still maintain the ability to think.

NORTH HOUSE – Lent 2012 House climbing – Chris Tolley Competing for North in the House climbing were Robbie Matthews, Harry Mccagherty and Chris Tolley. Climbing is done on points scored - you get 10 points for completing a climb on the first try, 7 points for the second try, 3 points for the third try and 1 point for any try after that. North did well coming first overall with Loveday in second and East and Cubitt in third and fourth respectively.

House Cross Country – Will Stocks When you ask any boy in North the most important event in the school's calendar they will certainly reply saying that it is the House Cross Country. Rather than placing the spotlight on North's highly respectable last place in the competition [4 seniors tenaciously hanging on to the bottom four positions], I would prefer to dwell on some individual victories. Will Jeanes [2nd] did especially well in the senior competition and my own' prowess [11th] was also yet again shown I swiftly came through on the finish line. And the other races were interesting too.

NORTH HOUSE – Lent 2012 Junior House Water Polo – Oliver Taylor North started strongly in the first match against Cubitt scoring two outstanding goals, by Fin Chesterman and Ollie Taylor. We ploughed on into the second half but Cubitt got a goal back and then another goal swiftly followed by the final whistle. It was down to penalty throws Cubitt went first but Alex Woodman’s physical presence was enough to make the ball miss. It was North’s turn to shoot, with Christian McCagherty just brushing the outside of the post.

Cubitt’s next shot was also diverted by the goal keeper, and then Ollie Taylor scored the next penalty, On Cubitt’s shot the ball went in. Rory Kennedy again put the ball just over the cross bar. It was down to sudden death and Fin Chesterman scored an absolute screamer in the top right! And then Woodman saved the next penalty and North were through! However, the intense semi final had taken its toll and North was showing signs of fatigue. They persevered bravely against Loveday who quickly made it 1-0, then 2-0, then 3-0. But Alex Gook re-inflated North’s pride by scoring a highly skilful goal as the final whistle went. Final score 4-1 Loveday.

Senior House Water Polo – Harry McCagherty

The House Water Polo was a tough but fun event for all involved. Dave Forster, Toby Savill, Max Haycock, Tom Taylor, Charlie Cutting, Ben Roberts, Nicky O’Keeffe, Charlie Ricks and Harry McCagherty represented North. Against Cubitt we started off attacking deep and managed to get some very good goals from Charlie Cutting and Tom so we had a 4-0 lead after the first half. Toby and Dave were attacking in the shallow end in the next half and scored 4 good goals again. Score North-8; Cubitt-0. In the final against Loveday, directly after our Cubitt match, we were put in the deep end for the first quarter (the hardest end to defend). However Tom make some amazing saves and managed to only concede 5 goals from a team full of school team members. The second half was slightly better as we managed to get one goal they only scored 3. Score 8-1 to Loveday. Overall a brilliant effort from everyone and well done!!

House chess – Joe Quinn

As last year’s winners we went into the competition as the favourites. In our first match we defeated East. Board 1 - Joey Quinn, Board 2 - Peter Thompson Board 3 - Paddy Wilson, Boards 4 and 5 kept chopping and changing.

Then we beat Cubitt rather convincingly. Going into the last match, North and Loveday were tied. However we lost the last match 3-2 and therefore we lost the title as well. North finished in a respectable second place.

House Challenge – Ben Yakas

North first played East and with Peter Thompson and George Colgan it was an easy win by more than 300 points. However, next match was against Cubitt in the final with the Thompson brothers clashing. Through all this, we went on to win beating Cubitt by a tight margin..

NORTH HOUSE – Lent 2012 4th Form House Hockey – Ben Yakas The team had been sorted and we were feeling confident against Loveday, a 1-0 victory was a great start. Then we were we were playing Cubitt and after a scary moment just before the match (when we only had half our players on the pitch!) we managed to gain a draw. Next up was East, we knew they were going to perform well and in the end we landed on a modest score of 3-0. Overall, though, including the B team (who won all their matches over 7-0!), North won the overall House Hockey tournament which is a fantastic achievement!

U5th House Hockey – Alexi Yakas The atmosphere and sense of camaraderie was great within the North squad. We started well against Cubitt - the boys playing some sensible hockey, with great displays from Christian Pedder and Rory Weyman. Unfortunately, due to a few slip ups, the well skilled Cubitt attack, managed to squeeze a goal past the magnificent Kevin Park. Our heads were down. Then the passion of Rory Subba-Row lifted the team. Charlie Cutting scored a stupendous goal. In the second half Cubitt came back scoring two cleverly set up goals, leaving the match at 3-1 to Cubitt. Next we faced Loveday, having learned from our mistakes and put them under pressure, utilising our drag-flicker. We penetrated the D leaving Loveday astray, making it a well deserved 4-1 to North. Later, against East, we started well, using the talented Ollie Rodriguez and Ollie Taylor to command the defence. East opened the scoring with a lucky ‘tap-in’ goal. North came back, though many were fatigued from the D of E camp, scoring three goals in quick succession, a well fought victory of 3-1. Coming second and having been victorious in other age groups we were in line for The Overall Winners of House Hockey 2012.

Thoroughly deserved and well done boys!

NORTH HOUSE – Lent 2012 Senior House Hockey – Peter Thompson North started against Cubitt and after a pulsating first half, we were unlucky to be still 0-0 after a number of near misses. In the second half, Sam Camsey used his hockey skills to good effect, scoring two goals while Toby Savill also scored an excellent individual goal, capping off a 4-0 win. Against East North fell behind early on but some excellent goal keeping from Owen Quant kept out a number of penalty corners and we managed to get through to half time only 1-0 down. We scored quickly after half time after more good work from Sam Camsey from but then fell behind once more. Energetic work, however, from Tom Taylor and Dave Forster in midfield forced another opening and Toby Savill scored a well taken equaliser. It ended 2-2. The final game was a bit of an anticlimax as, despite some brilliant saves by Owen Quant, we lost 5-0. North ended up 2nd overall in the Senior Hockey, an excellent result.

Stonesett Hockey – Tom St Johnston

House Football – Nick O’Keeffe, Luke Boyd

4 North teams lead by Max Rothman, George Colgan, Henry Harrod and John Hobbs set out on an epic journey to conquer the Stonesett hockey. This event is well known for the mercurial antics of the un-seasoned hockey players. The teams are made up of 1 person from each year who have played under 2 games in the B’s in their whole Cranleigh career. After a flurry of dazzling performances, not least a concoction of hat tricks from Marcus Kim, and the odd missed open goal, North finished a very respectable 2nd place.

Knowing that we were going to come up against a hard Cubitt side which we had to beat to get to the final we were overflowing with ambition and drive. Despite the heat, we kept going throughout the first half with some good chances created by the captain, Will Jeanes, and almost finished by Max Rothman and Tom Subba-Row. With the score finishing even at half time we decided to go for the full on attack. Luke Boyd made a great break into the box and was fouled by Cubitt player. When the ref pointed to the penalty spot we were all waiting for someone to step up to take the shot. Luke Boyd decided to take the chance, and with a great shot into the bottom left hand corner of the net. With only a few minutes left to play, Cubitt were able to break away down the centre of the pitch and score the equaliser. Then within one or two minutes they scored again and North’s hopes vaporised. Despite the final score, it was a great display from the whole team and especially some courageous goalkeeping from Paddy Wilson. After North's loss on the first day of the competition, we were condemned to the 3rd/4th playoff. Expectations were initially fairly high, until after two minutes Loveday scored their first of the day and the hearts and minds of the players were rapidly crushed. In the end, Loveday ran out winners and probably deservedly so.

NORTH HOUSE – Lent 2012

U6th Dinner Party –George Colgan The U6th North House dinner party is one of the most eagerly anticipated events of the year.

We arrived back from Long Leave a couple of hours early in order to prepare the gourmet food as well as to arrange the house room into a state-of-the-art banquet hall. The food was amazing with Tom Hollister and Owen Quant commenting the restaurant quality of the food and each course got better and better, topped off by the Lemon Crunch which was delightful.

A special mention must go to the Matrons, who put in so much time and effort for us to have a wonderful evening. All their work was greatly appreciated by everyone who attended. A great time was had by all.