East newsletter mich 2015

Michaelmas 2015

Michaelmas 2015 House Ties— Joel Carne, Ed Russell, George MacDonald, Ben Larwood, Rich Eamey

New Tutors: Dr John Taylor, Mr Peter Bradnock, Mr George Royall

From the House Staff

JMW/RHV/DCR Michaelmas term seems never ending at times. Those balmy hot days in early September when our new 4th form intake joined East seem a long way off now. I am pleased to say that our 4th form are now firmly part of the East furniture already and it was fantastic to hand them out their House Socks this morning to celebrate their first term in East. It has been a very busy term as always, as you will see from the number of activities we cover in this newsletter. The standouts for us as a houseteam were our huge overall win in the House Performance competition, our unbeaten junior House Fives team winning for the second year in a row and the amazing Quiz night for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity that all of you made possible with your hard work and generous donations. We wish you all a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Junior House Squash

Jnr and Snr House Fives

Senior House Fives: Going into the senior fives we had two strong looking pairs with Joel Carne and Sam Halstead leading the line, followed by Ed Russell who was partnered with the seasoned pro and Captain George MacDonald. We were a little disgruntled in the build-up having been told the wrong starting time by our captain and Ed Russ was consequentially unable to go through his extensive warm up routine. Nonetheless we put on a brave fight, each winning a game against Cubitt and North respectively. What happened next can only be described as a series of unfortunate events as both pairs lost their remaining two games. A slight change in the rules took away our advantage of experience and Ed Russell lacked mobility around the court. As a whole we won two out of the six games but were extremely proud to represent the house and wear the East badge.

Piers Nicholls East House Junior Squash Team consisted of 5 players. Jeff Olsen (1) Louis Halstead (2) Piers Nicholls (3) Lex Edwards (4) Rex Wilks (5). The first round was against North. Rex came out with a strong win against a giant, Rex didn’t let size get in the way. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for the rest of the team…

East went on to play a 3rd and 4th play off against Cubitt. Cubitt were unlucky to have lost to Loveday so cubit was a tough match for the team. Unsuccessfully the team seemed to be, as Jeff Olsen losing only by a small margin, to Cubitt’s Benji Chesser, and the same said for Piers Nicholls against James Green. Louis Halstead unfortunately couldn’t make the match, so passionately David Hill stepped up to the plate. So overall east came away with a loss but high hopes for next year with a strong pairing of Rex Wilks and Lex Edwards.

Junior Public Speaking Junior House Speaking was a great experience; I was nervous, but somehow pulled through. I just hoped I did my house Proud. Tommie and Will were both great; Will definitely pulled a few laughs from the crowd and finished the speaking with a memorable speech and Tommie started it with a great rhythm and confidence to bring me on.

I'm really gutted as south won but they were definitely a worthy adversary about there speech on social media helping or hindering our society; I just hope that next year we will win.

Theo Maine-Tucker

Joel Carne, Louis Halstead

Junior House Fives: Each house put out 2 pairs for the House fives, East consisted of Louis Halstead and Jeff Olsen as first pair, and Tommy Hartley and Archie Grant as our second, and … less experienced pair. Our first two matches were against North and Loveday.

These ended in two wins for the first pair and two losses for the second pair. This meant it all came down to the game against Cubitt, Tommy and Archie came against their hardest pairing yet and somehow pulled out a miraculous win giving us a chance to win. The first pair match against Cubitt was extremely even and it came to 14-14, first to 15. Luckily we were victorious and East won the Junior House Fives.

House Challenge

Ollie Ward

East gave a valiant effort in the House Challenge, showing off Easts house enormous collective knowledge. Sandy, Wardo, Grainger and Coates, were up against North. Dan Pienaar had laughed believing it would be an easy win but was in second place right up until the last minute.

They were clearly worried. Then their team of savants took a minuscule lead but it was too late. The quiz was over. Overall everyone had given a good input and should be proud to have done so well despite the loss.

Michaelmas 2015

Michaelmas 2015 Man on the ground Award—Piers Nicholls

Junior House Cup—Tommy Hartley, Senior House Cup—Ed Russell

4th Form House Dance

Ross Kiely As we walked anxiously on to the stage we all knew the hours of demanding rehearsals were worth it. We started as individuals who could pop some embarrassing moves, and became a team of angelic dancers ready for a chance to shine in front of the eager fans. As the lights dimmed and the crowd went silent, the musical masterpiece, created by East’s very own Matt Ludlow, began. The lights came up and the instinctive dance moves kicked in.

We started with a complex move using most parts of our bodies to pull off arguably the move of the competition, Mrs Beddison words not ours. And then East house brought the disco to the Speech Hall.

Then the performance was interrupted by Henry Lewis and his phone. Nevertheless what followed the plan interruption truly shocked the crowd. Then Beyoncé chorused and it was the boys chance to shine. We strode to the top of the stage showing off our assets. Then followed were the typical Beyoncé moves, before I got a chance to become my inner Beyoncé. After that the South girls charged on, performing a series of complex moves in complete unison. Then Allegra McIntyre walked on and did some amazing cartwheels. Then the grand finale arrived… The disco returned for a final time, and like always enthusiasm was still flowing. Again we performed it perfectly and got a huge applause as the music came to an end. Before I leave on behalf of all the kids involved in the dance we need to say a few big thank you.

Thanks Joel, Ben, Russ, G Mac, Gabby and Phoebe, for being so patient through the rehearsals.

House Performance

Ed Walsh

It all began in the summer term of last year, with discussions being held on what we were to sing for our house Performance. An Elite committee was formed: Matt Ludlow, Fayruz Megdiche, Alice Simmonds, Olivia Chesser and myself. We were tasked with finding the perfect song. Many options were discussed, “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” mashed up with a Beatles track was a hot topic but in the end we settled for an arrangement of ‘Bottom Of The River’ by Delta Rae. Thanks to a huge amount of dedication from everyone involved - and some wonderful singing from Ed Russell, Ollie Reid and George Macdonald especially - we took 1st place by storm and won the House performance evening overall. A Huge Thank you from myself to everyone who auditioned and sang, thanks for making my last year a win.

House Rugby East House were dominant in all aspects of House Rugby this term. On the final Monday of term, East on the annual Neil Bennett touch rugby tournament, with Mr Witcombe scoring the winning try for the A team to see off a very strong Loveday team.

The following day East managed to take home the overall House Rugby trophy. The Senior A and B teams both won, the Heavies A and Lights A teams both finished runners up in their finals. Great effort by everyone involved and some excellent rugby on display. Go the Yellow and Blue!!!

RHV

Michaelmas 2015

Michaelmas 2015 Colours: Adam Forrester, Luke Sterry, Josh Wilson-Khana, Jethro Broughton, Dino Lamb-Cona, George Durston, Sandy Marr, Jamie Sherlock, Harry Watkinson

Half Colours: Harry Hall, Louis Halstead, Hanul Kang, St Josephs Rugby Tournament

Ed Russell

The weekend before half term the Cranleigh 1st XV squad set out to Ipswich for the St Josephs rugby tournament.

Included were 10 east boys, 8 upper sixth and two lower sixth. Over the course of the two days the squad played six matches winning five of them. There were some very commendable team performances overcoming the likes of Murchison Castle, John Fisher and QEGS Wakefield but arguably the highlight of the trip for George Macdonald was certainly the unlimited supply of ice cream in Pizza Hut. Overall the tournament was met with great success and on behalf of the team I would like to pass on my thanks for the sustained support from fellow house mates throughout the weekend.

Alice in Wonderland

Ted Walliker As Cranleigh surpassed a hefty 150 years of age, so did many other great cultural influences – “From Earth to the Moon” by Jules Verne, “Wages, Price and Profit” by Karl Marx and of course “Alice’s Adventures Underground” by Lewis Carrol (Christmas pun). Therefore, to celebrate this incredible feat of durability, the drama department decided to test how long 40 pupils could perform the same play in the most exhausting format – immersive theatre. With an incredible, fully-immersive set constructed and designed by Mark Jenkins and the tech crew – Miss Sinclair took to the directing chair.

My personal experience with this play has been both mind-numbingly tiring and the most fun I’ve had in the Speech Hall since I almost fell off a ladder whilst trying to hang drapes. Putting on an insane total of 14 performances (I think), the cast had an amazing energy from start to finish – successfully keeping the audience engaged every night, despite the heat and any difficulties with difficult people in the audience who were difficult.

I had the role of Wonderlander Clubs – which can accurately be summarised by the phrase “glorified tour guide/ babysitter/chatty-person”. Having to stop the audience from setting themselves on fire or getting lost or killing any of the cast with plastic lobsters, my role brought me closer to the audience in a way that no previous Cranleigh production has – but I got over my socially inept tendencies and shouted lots of confusing things at people who thought they knew where they were going.

Beyond Ourselves Zambia Trip

Joe Howell

In the October half term, Cameron Montgomerie, Oliver ward and myself went to Zambia as part of the school’s annual trip to visit Kawama School in Kitwe which Cranleigh is partnered with. The trip was a massive eye opener to us all, and taught us so much about their culture and things that we could learn from them, and transfer to our day to day lives. Such things as not taking the education we receive for granted, being grateful for all the small things like having three meals a day without fail and the facilities we use everyday at school. The trip is like no other trip offered at Cranleigh and it really allows you to experience a completely different culture, and meet people from a different walk of life who touched each of us personally. In the midst of the longest school term of the year it puts into perspective what is truly important; but whilst you learn so much on the trip, you also learn a lot from the return culture shock. Since our return the three of us have said how we still reflect on our experiences everyday and how it has shaped our attitudes to school life. It’s really difficult to explain how much the trip has truly impacted our lives and the only real way to understand is to experience it for yourself. I can’t recommend this trip enough, it was the single greatest experience I’ve had and I know from speaking to everyone else that I went with, that I’m not the only one who feels like this.

Senior House Squash

Harry Watkinson The selection process was difficult but the quality of the final squad for House Squash 2015 was clear for all to see. Edward Russell and Richard Eamey (Seeds 1 & 2 respectively) although not squash regulars, were picked due to their power and immense work rate, whereas experienced and technically gifted Oliver Reid and Harry Watkinson made the final 5 not only through ability, but because of the knowledge and tactical mind-set they brought to the team as veterans. The UV wildcard chosen was Finn Edwards after reports of his prowess reached the ears of the selectors.

The aforementioned skill of this formidable looking line up makes it all the more staggering that we managed to lose every single game in our first match against Cubitt. Ever gracious in defeat we attributed the uncharacteristic performance to lack of match practise and a series of niggles which plagued both captain Watkinson (calf) and star player Reid (lower back). Nevertheless the crushing 5-0 loss took a while to sink in.

However now in the 3rd/4th play off we were sure we could rectify previous mistakes and make a spectacle for the vast contingency of East supporters. This was achieved in a hard fought 3-2 win over North with Russell, Eamey and Watkinson managing to secure wins. Overall, we are not dissatisfied with 3rd place but it is difficult not to feel regret for what could have been had we produce a similar display against Cubitt.

East House Staff 2015—Contacts Housemaster: Mr James Witcombe (JMW@cranleigh.org) Deputy Housemaster: Mr Rob Verdon (RHV@cranleigh.org)

Warden: Mr Dan Reed (DCR@cranleigh.org)

Michaelmas 2015 Merry Christmas From the East Team

Michaelmas 2015 ...And a Happy New Year!!