North House Lent Term 2013 Lent is often a slightly ‘flat’ term, lacking the focal points provided at the end of Michaelmas with the Carol Concert and Christmas Dinner and at the end of Summer with Speech Day. This year is similar with pupils already away on School trips to CERN and to Holland with the Hockey Tour. Despite this the House remains in rude health and in spite of the awful weather the sense of spirit and support for one another continues to define this year and this term as special. This was one of the key themes in my notes in the Michaelmas Newsletter and, under the leadership of the U6th (and especially Luke Boyd, Tom Taylor and Will Setterfield), the House continues to benefit from excellent role models at the top of the House and ones whose sense of care and empathy sets the tone for the rest of North to follow: they are all very impressive young men!
Despite the fact that this term tends to peter out there is no doubt that you will find your sons exhausted: the amount and variety of challenges on offer have been phenomenal and I, as a Housemaster, take a huge amount of pride in seeing your sons represent the School with such distinction in Music, Drama, Sport and Outdoor Education. However, the most important part of the term (the academic work) does not end and I hope that all the pupils, especially those in the top three year groups, can keep the momentum of this term going with some focused revision work over the coming weeks. Finally, I would like to thank Sean Osborne for his excellent work producing this Newsletter and Henry Whitaker for supplying so many of the photos. I look forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday 16th April (Boarders) and Wednesday 17th April (Day Boys). Have a wonderful Easter.
It helps that we have won some cups along the way, with House Bouldering, House Chess and House Hockey, all of which have proven to be successful stomping grounds for North. However, the near misses in Debating (special thanks to the indefatigable Paddy Wilson for his stoical support throughout his time in North in this field) and Stonesett also stand out as fond memories.
Ed Burnett
Tutor Awards House Awards Housemaster Award
Sean Osborne, Paddy Wilson and Will Stocks
Tie
Julian Browning, Will Stocks, Dave Forster and Jonny Paddle
Cuff Links
Marcus Kim, Will Marriott, Toby Rigby and Mayo Runsewe
Colours
Jim Harrison, Christian Pedder, Charlie Ricks, Max Rahder, Alex Shaw, Ollie Taylor, Rory Kennedy, Ollie Rodriguez and Jack Horsey
Half Colours
Socks
UVth
LVth
Nathaniel Farrant, James Beggs, Alex Gook, Sam Lenselink, Freddie Ricks, Henry Whitaker and Henry Flower Elliot Canham, Tom Hickinbotham, Callum Horsey, Marcus Mclean, James Moore, Dan Murphy, Harry Wills and Mike Upfold
4th Form
MPJ VJB
Tim Ayling AJ Coates
DIA
Dom Coy
THJB
Tom St Johnston
BRT
Sam Lenselink
DRF
Ben Yakas
ADR
Will Day
TGL
Henry Whitaker
JMW
Charlie Clarke
MJB
Milo Goldsmith
HM
Tom Parker
North House Lent Term 2013 Forth form Hockey We started off well against Loveday, considering we had never played properly together as a team. We had most of the possession in the first half but it was still 0-0. In the second half we managed to score from a short corner and held on from there to win 1-0. Next was Cubitt, we knew it was going to be a tough match and it seemed to be true. We got a short corner and went 1-0 up. In the last few minutes they took a shot and Dan Murphy managed to save it beautifully. The final score was 1-0 North. We finally played East; we were all over them but they had a lucky break and managed to score. Going into half time East were ahead. In the second half we got 2 back and it was all wrapped up by Marcus McLean scoring a magnificent final goal. Therefore we 6th Form Hockey won 3-1 and the 4th form A team competition. The B team were equally dominant and won all their matches comfortaIt was a scratch team that valiantly stepped forward bly meaning we were able to win the overall 4th form onto the hallowed turf of Marcon. A 1-0 loss against Hockey competition. By Ed Tristem
East in the first match wasn’t the greatest of starts but the team rallied and came out strong against Cubitt. They were unfazed by the flair Cubitt showed upfront with Mayo Runsewe putting his body on the line. Full time score? Cheeky 2-2 draw, with some fantastic team play shown. The real challenge was Loveday, our last and toughest game. But once again, the team came together and showed that even those who don’t play hockey can tackle England players (whether the challenges were legal or not is another question!). Even though the final score was a 2-0 loss, the boys showed superb talent and great work rate, I couldn’t have asked for more from them. Although it would be unfair to pick out one person for individual commitment, special mention must go to Nathanial Farrant, top work buddy!! Cheers fellas, Captain Tommy H.B. Taylor xx
Fifth Form Hockey Team North arrived on Pickup with a mighty team of LV and UV with the hardest match awaiting us first: North vs. Cubitt. A tense match saw the skill and flair of Cubitt face up to the out and out commitment of North- the result 1-1. Next we played the less artful Loveday in a match dominated by the LV crack team. In midfield Sacha Brown and Ben Yakas threading balls through like the dexterous weavers of the ancient Athenian Peplos, each pass contributing to the 6-0 victory. East followed, a walkover with Rodriguez scoring a perfect hat-trick and goals from every position on the pitch adding to our victory of 7-1 and of fifth form hockey. Team North, defying the odds. The B Team, led by Hugh Ferrey, were even more ruthless dispatching all and sundry with a clean sweep of victories. Fifth form hockey was ours!
By Ollie J.B. Taylor.
North House Lent Term 2013
House Cross Country
House Water Polo
House Cross Country! The single most important event in the school calendar. Members of North's running elite spent weeks, sometimes months, or even years preparing for this one single event. When the race itself comes around a sea of young screaming girls gather round to try and get a glimpse of the macho manliness which makes North's Cross Country team a cut above the others. The bulging muscles of Julian Browning, the distinguished features of Toby Rigby and the great build of Patrick Wilson clearly shows that North's team has it all. These gods among men ran on, with only the visualisation of what it must feel like to cross the finishing line. The races were intense and often brutal at times, Tim Ayling often had to fight his fellow competitors hand to hand so to secure his first place position in the intermediate race. I managed to secure a comfortable 6th place in the Senior race. Overall, North fought fantastically but the house sadly only came third overall.
On the day of the House Water Polo the LVth and Ivth form team of North house were confident in what was seen to be an easy win against Cubitt. So much so that we covered ourselves with war paint to intimidate our opponents into submission. The game kicked off well... as we conceded a mighty lob from halfway which flew straight over the bobbing head of Jake Harvey, our “special” keeper. Clearly the paint had worn off. After a thorough team talk it was clear that we needed to recap on what exactly the rules of water polo were as well as how to swim. We subbed in our spare keeper, Freddie Ricks, and hit the offensive side of the game to go on and score two sensational goals and finish the first half 3-2 down. However, the adrenaline seemed to much as our Captain Christian McCagherty got sent out in the traditional North manner by “accidently” causing a Cubitton to become submerged in the water. With one man down, the defence slipped and Cubitt stuck in another lucky goal. We then surged forward in a flurry of immense skill and aggression to fling another beauty into the back of the net. The game concluded with the disappointing score of 4-3 to Cubitt, but to be honest, we just didn't want to show off.
By John Stocks
By Christian McCagherty.
North House Lent Term 2013
North House Lent Term 2013
North House Lent Term 2013 House Chess Having won house chess the year before, North were quite confident of winning the most coveted title in the whole of the school year yet again, with the likes of the two veterans of the competition, Joey Quinn and Patrick Wilson, and promising new talent in the faces of Will Palmer, Dan Pienaar and Rupert Wilson-Harris. Confident victories were assured over all the other houses, with a large arsenal of skills on show in the highly packed battleground that is Miss Webb’s classroom. With the largest crowd of all the houses (an almighty three people turning up to support the most noble warriors of all board games) it would come as no surprise that, with the adrenaline of the game in conjunction to the massive home support, North pulled through to claim the Chess trophy yet again. Congratulations to all of the team members and chess itself, I have no doubt, it will always be an integral part of the North house community. By Patrick Wilson
Junior House Challenge The Junior House Challenge started off pretty successfully. Jon Stocks, Jake Andrews, Chris Patton and Sam Dickson took on an inexperienced West team and won convincingly 430 – 280. Sam Dickson was insanely on form and managed to answer the most starter and bonus questions which is unheard of seeing as he is fourth former. Well done! We then progressed to take on the strong sided Loveday. The team expected to lose heavily to the brawny sided team. Five minutes to the end of the match and it was all tied up 310 – 310. From there the team started to lose their rapidity and ended up losing in the semis 350 – 410. By Jake Andrews
House Debating Having won the competition for four years in a row, the North Team were confident of their chances this time around. With a strong team of the experienced Paddy Wilson, the confident Ollie Taylor and the new encouraging talent of our 4th former, Dan Murphy, we began our campaign against East, debating over the topic of whether war was useless. With a strong performance throughout the team, and an impressive floor debate, North managed to overcome the talented East House outfit in what proved to be a fine contest. More importantly, however, North had earned a place in the final of the Inter-House debating competition, set to face our fierce rivals Cubitt. The title of the motion in the final was: ‘Should the voting age in the UK be lowered to 16’. North was granted the task of proposing this motion, which, it must be said, was probably the more difficult argument... Nonetheless, Paddy, Ollie and Dan delivered their speeches with tremendous clarity, engagement and humour at the expense of our opposing team. North won the floor debate convincingly, but it was Cubitt who narrowly won the overall competition. By Rory Weyman
House Football For the first round of fixtures we were drawn against Loveday; missing a few players, going into the game we knew we would have to keep the ball and play cleverly. Luckily we did and (bar a few scuffles provoked by a few of the men in red...I promise) went through thanks to two super finishes from our own Stevie G, Will Inkster. On the Thursday of the same week we played East in the final, with additions to our squad to bolster the bench. Unfortunately we could not produce the same flowing football to the same consistency as Tuesday and bowed out as 3-1 losers; although this was not a bad result in retrospect. By Luke Boyd
The Tough Guy—Joey Quinn
House Bouldering The house bouldering completion this year was again a great success, the highest point scorer was Harry McCagherty closely followed by Robbie Mathews and then Ben Strickland. Overall we destroyed the rest of the field and were able to retain the trophy for the second year running. By Ben Strickland
Billed as the toughest race on earth ‘Tough Guy’ is certainly a race which, quite literally, sets the heart racing. The race is staged over a 15 kilometre obstacle course in which contestants face electric shocks, ditches, jumps, freezing water pools and fire pits. It is not surprising that up to a 1/3 of the entrants drop out as the fall foul of the resulting dehydration, hypothermia, acrophobia and claustrophobia demanded by the brutal course. Joey Quinn (L6 North) managed to cope with all of this and finished the course in his in his socks having lost both his trainers in the awful quagmire at the start. His inspiration was his close friend Tildy Curran who, as a fellow pupil at the School, tragically lost her life after her brave battle against leukaemia in 2010,Joey wanted to run to raise money for Tildy’s Trust and has so far raised £725. He will also be competing in the Tough Mudder race later on this year, which is a hardcore 12 mile-long obstacle course designed by the British Special Forces to test your all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie. Not only has he set the goal of completing the event, he is also aiming to finish in the top 5% of competitors, and in doing so qualifying for the World’s Toughest Mudder, an extreme competition that puts the world’s most hardcore athletes through a gruelling 24 -hour challenge designed to find the toughest man and woman on the planet. If you would like to help Joey achieve his fundraising target of £2000, you can donate via his online donating page: http://www.bmycharity.com/quinntoughguy2013
