Solid Castle | Issue 17

ISSUE no. 17

SOLID CASTLE

28 JUNE 2024

Silver Duke of Edinburgh

Award season

Sports day special

Max A. writes about their three day expedition!

Sporting awards and fundraisers galore

Read about the successful day and hopefully watch the video!

Merchistonian News

Wimbledon

Very nice to see old boy, Jacob Fearnley win his first ATP title at Nottingham last weekend. Jacob became only the 4th man after Andy Murray, Greg Rusedski and Dan Evans to win the title at Nottingham. Jacob was a student at Merchiston for 8 years and some of you (and the teaching staff) may remember him. We wish Jacob well as he competed in his first Wimbledon on July 1st.

Severijus will join Jacob at Wimbledon! Severijus qualified through to the Play Your Way to Wimbledon event and now takes his place in the singles event in August. Congratulations Severijus!

U15 LTA School Success Our boys team of Severijus, Fionn, Mariano and Cameron won against Edinburgh Academy this week to progress through to the regional finals, well done boys on a great run of results over the past few weeks

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IMAGE HERE Magic of the Movies A Merchistonian with a possible future in the movies as animator, director or producer!

Mila's love of movies really helped his English come on in leaps and bounds in EAL! Well done Mila!

Treasure Island Middle Years and Pringle pupils were treated to a hilarious performance of a pirate themed comedy sketch written by our wonderful incoming drama prefects Yarema and Max in assemblies last week to promote auditions for our upcoming Senior Production of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island.

Many pupils from 2nd Form and above took the opportunity to audition for a role in the show and we are looking forward to getting started with rehearsals in September.

IMAGE HERE MerchiSTEM and LEVRA A group of MerchiSTEM boys joined Bartek Ogonowski, CEO of LEVRA on Wednesday morning. It was fascinating to get an insight into LEVRA's portal that delivers training in 21st Century human skills including communication, managing time and priorities, teamwork, first impressions, asking questions and conflict resolution.

LEVRA (from Latin 'to uplift') is "gamifying education" using Virtual Reality and AI to create immersive training.

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I Form Drama Performance First form boys have been enjoying creating and filming their own murder mystery film during drama activities over the last few weeks.

With the sun out, they even had the chance to use the wonderful outdoor stage in The Forest! A perfect backdrop for their entertaining scenes.

First Pipe Band The Firsts Pipe Band recently attended the British Pipe Band Championships which were held in Forres on 08 June. Competing against sixteen other bands the boys placed in the top six prize list coming 4th, a truly wonderful achievement against many well-established bands. It is the most successful result in the School’s Pipe Band history. Well done to all involved!

IMAGE HERE Chess Success

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A massive congratulations to Anton S. for competing in the Gigafinals this month.

The Gigafinals is the top British competition for children across the UK with tough qualifying rounds.

Great work Anton!

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Sports Day This year’s sports day took on a slightly different format, becoming a whole school clan event that included the Pringle Centre, house, and senior school.

Due to unforeseen weather conditions, we had to postpone the event to the 13th of June.

Despite this, it was a terrific occasion, with many boys competing for their clans, achieving personal bests, and displaying physical prowess. The event was marked by fantastic support from peers and staff alike.

event was a thrilling competition for all at the school. Leading the charge were Gregor Adamson and Joel Van Blerk, with Joel ultimately winning the race with an impressive sub-19-minute 5k time. Gregor Adamson secured the silver position, and Morgan Houston earned a well-deserved bronze.

Watch the video HERE

The last competitive track event of the year, the Franklin Tanker 5k race, took place on the sunny summer evening of June 18th.

Over 20 athletes, along with some supportive staff members, competed for the last athletics trophy of the year. This open

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Golf Updates Summerfields = Friendly match at Gullane #3, Merchi won, new friends made and a fun match!

Muirfield = Annual Merchistonian match, always a treat to play and engage Merchistonian gents from years gone by..

Santiago H = Won the GA Hickory event at Kingarrock Hickory Course. The Arnold Palmer glove trophy was donated by Andrew Haddow (Late Merchistonian) who caddied for Palmer on the PGA Tour for a season ISGA = The Junior GA won the ISGA National Junior Open, the final tournament of the school term! An awesome achievement by Harry M., Santiago H, Ollie S. and Jack D. HOT OFF THE PRESS - MASSIVE NEWS!

🏆The 2023/24 ISGA (Independent Schools Golf Association) rankings for our Golf Academy have been announced. We're delighted to see the Academy ranked ⛳ 1st in Scotland, 4th in the UK for Juniors ⛳1st in Scotland, 3rd in the UK for Seniors ISSUE no. 17

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Inspiresport U18 Cricket Cup Finals Day On Saturday 15th June, we hosted the final of the Inspiresport U18 Scottish Schools Cricket Cup Finals day. This was the culmination of a years’ worth of hard work from schools all over the country, building towards hopefully being Scottish School Championships.

What started with 17 schools all competing for the same goal, it came down to the final four.

After good wins against High School of Glasgow and Glenalmond College, our own U18 team earned the right to play in a finals day in their own backyard. Having won the competition the year before it was a great opportunity to enjoy playing to retain it in front of our home crowd. They were to play familiar opponents, Stewart’s Melville, in the first semi-final. Having already come up against each other twice before both teams knew each other well.

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The team responded brilliantly under pressure and put on one of their best performances of the year, and definitely their best bowling performance. Batting first the team set a respectable 152-8, thanks to excellent individual contributions from Teo T and Euan R. In reply, the bowlers were relentless, never letting any of the Stew Mel batters settle or score freely, eventually restricting them to 61-9.

This set a meeting with another well known foe in the final. GWC had won their semi-final against Strathallan, setting up an all Edinburgh show piece. Bowling first, Merchiston started slowly, with some sloppy bowling and fielding, before fighting back brilliantly to keep Watson down to score of 140.

Quite the come back after they were on 88 after 11 overs.

Unfortunately however, the batting

innings never got going. As the scoreboard pressure built, wickets fell at regular intervals, ultimately leaving us 42 runs short.

It was not the ending the boys wanted or deserved after all the efforts they have put in this year, especially with so many UVI in the team. However, after the triumph of last year’s cup win, following it up with another appearance in the final is credit to all their endeavours, being made extra special by it being on home soil.

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IMAGE HERE The Merchiston Super 8s Sunday 9th June saw the return of the Merchiston Super 8s competition.Year on year the tournament grows and always showcases the best of Edinburgh’s school and club cricket, welcoming Carlton CC, Watsonians CC, Grange CC, Murrayfield DAFS CC and Cargilfield. For the second year in a row we were able to host both an U13 and U11 tournament.

The confidence paid off, with the batters coming out all guns blazing, setting a total of 84 in the team’s 8 overs. Early wicket put MCS further on top, however, an excellent middle order partnership saw the game come down to the last over.

Needing 12 to win from the last 6 balls the Cargilfield batters timed their innings perfectly, bringing the game home with two balls to spare.

On top of that there was a constant improvement in all facets of the game each time they took the field, achieving their highest run total in the final game of the tournament, as well as the best bowling performance across all three games.

U13s played some of their best cricket of the season. With commanding performances against Grange and Murrayfield DAFS, the boys bounced through to the final filled with confidence. Waiting for them was the long anticipated fixture with a very well organised Cargilfield side.

U11s enjoyed playing around robin format with Carlton, Grange and Cargilfield.

Although results didn’t go their way there was a no shortage effort and enjoyment.

As ever it truly is a wonderful spectacle, showing off the cricketing talent in Edinburgh.

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Special mention must go to Jack D, who came away with the U13 batter of the tournament, having to be retired out in even match.

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Silver Duke of Edinburgh - by Max A. Day 1 - We began by preparing our routes for the three days we would spend in the Dalwhinnie hills. After finalising our plans, we boarded the bus for a 2.5-hour journey to our starting point at Loch Laggan.

Starting off at a brisk hiking pace of 5 km per hour with fully loaded packs, we enjoyed the sunshine and a light breeze as we made our way along Lochan na h-Earba to the Pattack River. Despite the easy trail, we took a longer break, which slowed our pace a bit. Altogether, we covered 20 km on the first day.

As evening approached, we began looking for a campsite but struggled to find a suitable spot due to marshy ground. Eventually, we found a nice place near a river with flat, rocky terrain. After setting up our tents, we made dinner, with

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pasta or noodles being the favourites around camp. Finally, we settled in for the night, ready for the adventures to come.

Day 2 - After a good night's sleep, we woke up to a slightly chilly start on the second morning. We set off towards Loch Pattack, encountering our first taste of muddy bog for the day. Taking more breaks than yesterday, we maintained an easy pace.

We spotted Culra Bothy, where we paused to eat lunch before tackling the climb over Bealach Dubh. As we reached the top we were met with a light shower, which continued as we began the long descent, towards Loch Ossian, through very boggy and muddy ground. This area proved to be challenging, with every step sinking into marshy terrain.

The trek for the day totaled 22 km, and we arrived at our campsite around 4:30 in the afternoon. After setting up our tents and cooking dinner, we prepared our sleeping bags and went to bed, ready to rest after the tough day.

Day 3 - We woke up on the third day to a large swarm of midges, prompting us to pack up quickly and have a very quick breakfast.

Feeling a bit tired from the previous days, we set a slower pace for our final 18 km trek. Despite the slower pace, we still managed to reach the bus before noon.

Overall, the Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award expedition was a huge success. Everyone enjoyed the journey and had a lot of fun, making it a memorable experience for all.

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Langa Township Charity Fundraising Quiz Night On June the 15th June at Heriots Rugby Club we held our Langa Township Charity Fundraising Quiz.

It was an amazing evening raising money for much needed causes in South Africa. We are very hopeful to have raised between 15-20K. We are still raising money up until we leave for South Africa in August.

This was a huge effort from our committee. A special thanks to the following staff and parents for all their help and support.

include: 1.

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MCS Key Rings Retro Rugby Shirts Tour Sticker Album

A special Thank you to Nick Blair who wrote the First XV book which is an excellent read. He has currently made over 2K and is still selling.

Legend!

Nick Blair, Lachlan Gaddie, Kelly Foley, Dawn Robertson, Ailsa Campbell, Maggie Suttie, Caroline Gordon and Kate McTaggart.

Thank you to all Parents, Merchistonians and friends of Merchiston who donated incredible prizes for our Raffle and Auction.

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Beach Volleyball…

Yes, you heard me right, Gabriel C. was recently selected to play for the Scotland U18 Volleyball Pair for the recent international tournament in Bridlington, Yorkshire.

A 2-day competition which saw Gabriel and his partner play England, Iceland and the Faroe Islands on day one.

Followed with games versus Iceland and Ireland on day two.

This is even more impressive as Gabriel is only in Shell.

The future is bright for Gabriel and Scottish beach volleyball, even if the weather isn’t.

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IMAGE HERE Celebration of Sport There is power in knowing who you are and where you come from. There is power in the people you surround yourself with, to those whom you belong.

And on Friday night we celebrated our current sporting heroes who are leaving their legacy; we shared and celebrate their stories.

The boys achievements define us, the standards they set, shape the future of the boys and men who follow, the school and its entire community. Thank you for your part in our history.

Awards and winners There were 8 awards up for grabs on the night, and each one was hotly contested. The eventual winners were as follows.

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2.

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The de Beaux Salver for Outstanding Contribution to Pringle Sport - James P. The Geddes Trophy - Sportsman of the year, Pringle. Jack D. Pringle Team of the Year - Fives Clan Trophy, Pringle - Redford

And for the seniors 1.

2.

3.

4.

The Elliot’s Players’ player of the year - Oliver G. Duncan Watson Memorial - Sportsman of the year - Will G. The Mann Shield - Team of the year. U15 Tennis team.

The Stewart Crerar Quaich for International Sporting Achievement - David Dong

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It has been an incredible year for sport at Merchiston and we look forward to next year where a new group can leave their legacy.

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www.merchiston.co.uk @MerchiNews @MerchistonEdinburgh @MerchiNews