Cubitlent 2016

House Bouldering: D. Plewman On the first day back from the festive holiday, three Cubittians and one Southerner pitched up at the OEC to compete in the venerable House Bouldering. The team consisted of Tim Strickland, Ali Loedolff, Myself and, in a surprise new entry for 2016, Katherine Plewman. This year’s competition was characterised by a large increase in supporters, with Cubittians making up a significant contingent. Despite the eager support, we were unable to clinch the win from the ever dominant Loveday & North. However, we did beat East who, for once, actually had a full complement. Well done to all those who took part.

Cubitt Newsletter Lent 2016 Housemasters Comments: CHDB What can one say about a term that has seen Cubittians involved in; National Hockey and Rugby Competitions, a whole school musical of an incredibly high quality, three sets of rehearsal examinations, a Charity weekend to say nothing of all the usual day to day routines of school life such as lessons. It has been phenomenal! I am incredibly proud of all that they have achieved in such a wide variety of areas and it is to their credit that have done so with such good humour, cheer and gusto.

Inevitably, the pressure of exams weighs heavily upon many and thus there has been a purposeful atmosphere for much of the term. However, that is not to distract from the many successes’ and triumphs that the boys have achieved this term. The highlight, for me, was Les Miserables with so many Cubittians involved in so many different roles; from leading the comedy element to the slick harmonies and seamless chorus parts.

An amazing feat and, I am sure, will be a highlight of their school careers for those involved.

A huge thank you must go to our incredible team of matrons, cleaners and tutors for their energy, enthusiasm and dedication without which the house, quite simply, would not function. May I wish you all a very happy and restful Easter holiday, although the final words must go to those who return to face exams; please get the balance right between work, rest and play and remember that there is not very much time before exams begin at the start of next term. Try to keep establish working routines as quickly as possible so that Easter holiday is used wisely!

House Football: S. Guinness

Stonesett Trophy: B. Howorth

I never thought I'd say this after the amazing underdog story two years ago, but Cubitt have covered themselves in glory once again. The road to St. Andrews started on a damp and brisk Wednesday afternoon where we came up against North in the semi final and got through on penalties with Bedford being the MOTM in goal. Then the dream was made possible in the final when Harry De Blaby finished off a wonderful counter attacking surge sparked by some brilliance by Tom Parsons. 1-0 Cubitt, 5 mins to go. Blaby winning the most crucial aerial duel since the hand of God, which in turn lead to a 2 on 1 which left Gregor through on goal who set up an old fashioned "sweaty goal " which caused the biggest pitch invasion Cranleigh has ever witnessed including Loveday joining in with the celebration. Cubitt are champions for the second time in three years. Also we have had the biggest turn out in the 1st and 2nd teams in history with six Cubittians representing the first team and four representing the 2nds. Roll on next year !!

For many years Stonesett hockey has been the most prestigious and fiercely fought hockey tournament known to man. This year the competition was no different. Cubitt fielded four teams consisting of their most talented hockey players. Team 1 was team ‘Gym’ lead by bodybuilder William Gudgeon followed by the likes of gym enthusiast Maxwell Hartley and Max Grisley. Team 2 was team ‘Indie’. Team Indie was headed by paddler Dan Plewman who was unfamiliar to the prospect of playing sport standing up but faired surprising well. Team 3, ‘The Nerds’, was blessed with myself as their captain and included other academics such as Archie Reid and John MacArthur.

And finally team 4 was team ‘Schwef’. This team was suitably lead by Tom parsons. Overall Cubitt's performance was admirable but we came last. Honourable mentions goes to Will Gudgeon who scored 3 goals and the Nerds who actually won a match.

Charity Weekend: D. Plewman

Drama: C. Oldfield

In a slight break from tradition, the Cubitt Charity event this year was a quiz evening rather than a swimathon or golf tournament. We had almost 190 people arrive at the Dining Hall with their thinking caps on, ready to throw their all at a good old general knowledge quiz, little did they realise that the quizmasters had concocted a series of decidedly obscure and pointless questions. Nonetheless, the mighty Chesser/Cloete/ Oldfield table laughed in the face of such seemingly meagre adversity, and were victorious by a large margin. The England v France game was then shown on the big screen, and a delicious curry was served by the catering department. At half time, we had a final individual true or false round, and Mrs Lubbock won the coveted signed Olympic memorabilia. The evening overall was a great success, and over £3500 was raised for Beyond Ourselves, Mind and Medecins Sans Frontieres. Huge thanks must go STC, Cam Scheijde and Will Harris for the time they put into making the evening the success it was.

This Term has been hugely successful for Cubittians; with the first appearance coming from the duo of Will Gudgeon and Jamie Pudge in the South House play 'One Girl, Two Nightmares'. With strong appearances from both, Jamie landed the much sought after role of the stooge with various items of food and drink being thrown in his face.

Cubittians were also strong in number in this year's musical 'Les Misérables'. When looking at the students in the musical one may in fact be surprised that this was a school-wide play and not a Cubitt production. With Ali Johnson, Seb Leman, Tom Nicole, Toby Chesser and Will Gumpel all playing pivotal roles, this was definitely a show to remember. Cameron Scheijde performed as Thenardier and Marius was played by myself, ensuring an unforgettable constant presence of Cubittians throughout the show. For Cameron, Ali and Seb, this was the final time that they will perform at Cranleigh. The Cubitt drama scene will certainly miss their presence and we hope to be able to match the standard that they have set in years to come.

Senior Water polo: A. Burns As pretty much all Cubittians know, water sports are not our forte.

So, with this in mind, we entered the water against Loveday as the underdogs. The pitch was ready and the whistle had been blown.

They put up a good fight but could not handle our raw talent and it literally was raw. Some would say that Tom Nicole, a rugby scholar, should rethink his career at Harlequins. To Cubitt’s surprise, we won this game pleasantly, 6-0. This put us in the final against a highly professional side. Mr Bird even quoted “I’ve never seen such a strong house team”, but with limited Cubitt support we managed to give them a very satisfying game with plenty of goals.

We managed to get in the lead with goals from Gregor, Chris Oldfield and myself. How we kept them to three quarters will be a thought to stay in the boys’ minds for a long time. Due to us only having two substitutes and East having a whole other squad, our fitness lacked in the final quarter, thus losing 10-5. Overall a substantial team effort and well done to the team.

Hockey: C. Firth The Cubitt house hockey first round was definitely one to watch, with a vast majority of teams finishing on top. There was a great display of skill from all age groups, the Fourth form finished second place and closely followed by the lower fifth in 3rd place. The Upper fifth proved their confidence and finished first with a great display of skill from Rory Calnan and congratulations must go to Max Richards for scoring the winning reverse in the competitive match against East.

The Sixth form team finished in first place and Seb Leman proven his potential with some outstanding goals. The weather was also on our side and there was great support from the whole house and some comical chants! The Sixth form team really shone when faced with North in the first round. An early goal from Seb set us up for a strong start which was shortly followed by another goal from Seb and then one from Freddie. We decided to ‘park the bus’ after 4 goals, only allowing them to score 2. Angus Burns showed his ‘competitive’ side and shut down their key player and its safe to say; he got frustrated and the toys went out the pram.

Overall we won the competition and there was a fantastic display of sporting prowess from all age groups with many goals being scored, on to next year!

Music Review: T. Golden

Debating: C. Scheijde

The lent term was again hotly anticipated, with the Grand Final of the Helen Wareham and other events on offer. The Grand Final saw to Cubittions take to the stage: Chris Oldfield (trumpet) and Theo Golden (voice). Chris performed a movement from the Hummel trumpet concerto, and very narrowly missed out on the brass prize. Theo Golden performed Howells' King David and claimed the victory.

House debating this year will, for once, continue into next term.

However, Cubitt’s intrepid team courageously fought off West’s contingent in the first round. A strong and powerful opening from Benj Chesser, proposing the motion “This house would tie teacher’s pay to their classes performance in exams” was furthered by a confident Ali Johnston. I then concluded for the proposition. We won comfortably, aided by some strong contributions from the floor. A mention must go to Ali Johnston who represented the school at the Oxford school’s debating finals, and debated against the best in the world. The first of many at Oxford for Ali, you would think.

On the contemporary music front, Cubitt outperformed any other house with a large number of boys playing in Cranleigh Live II; Oscar Maclean, Leo Leman, Ben Duschene, Max Hartley and Cam Scheidje all took the stage.

We look forward to seeing Theo perform at Encore and the contemporary music Cubittions in Rocsoc next term!

Junior House Water polo: J. Talbot Our first match was against the all competitive East. With 30 seconds to spare we were drawing 1-1. Clearly not feeling the tension and excitement our saviour, Finn Morgan, was happily chatting away with an enemy from another house. The ball was shot from our goal keeper, and landed on Finns head distracting him from his chat, his urgency kicked into action, he picked up the ball and with all his might he threw it into the top right hand corner. The final whistle blew. We were through to the final.

Our last match was against North, who inconveniently has 3 first team players in there junior team alone. We tried our best and lost 4-0, leaving us as runners up.

House Chess: M. Grisley It was a solid victory in house chess this year. For the first round our team consisted of Ben Chesser, Max Grisley, Seb Peace, Andy Bang and finally Tom Parsons in the Sixth form. Our captain Tom Parsons led the team in game one (the hardest match) followed by myself at game two followed by Chesser, Peace and Andy Bang. In the second round we beat Loveday comfortably only losing one match. The second round against North was disrupted as we lost Ben Chesser to house challenge, where we sorely missed him, however Josh Pike from the forth form came in to replace him. The round was very tough however we won three games, this meant that overall we won!

Junior House Challenge: L. Thompson We entered this year’s junior house challenge semi-finals with high hopes given our victory last year. Our team, comprising of Taylor Seager-Green, Benjy Chesser, Ollie Corbett and myself were to face South. The first half saw South gain an early lead, leaving us 50 points behind at half time. However, we clawed our way back to end with double South’s score. It was an excellent performance by the whole team but a special mention must go to Taylor, whose ferocity on the buzzer was responsible for more than half of Cubitt’s final score.