Viaró School Spanish Exchange, April 11th
Upon arrival, we were introduced to our ‘hermanos’ for the week and given a tour of the school by the boys. From there, we were picked up by our designated families and taken home where we initially struggled to put our Spanish into practice. The families were very friendly and made sure we felt at home straight away. During our stay we visited the home of FC Barcelona, the famous Camp Nou. We were given a tour around all the VIP areas including the tunnel, the changing rooms, press facilities and the commentators’ box. We were all mesmerised by the 100,000 seat stadium and the huge amount of history and passion associated with the club.
Rowing Training Camp, April 19th RCBC’s Easter training camp at Lake Varese, Italy, once again brought the boys back to the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS). This Olympic performance centre created an excellent environment for the boys to train and get some decent revision done before the summer exams. Also staying with us at the AIS was the Dutch National Rowing Team, who went on to win the first World Cup Regatta in their eight and who were ranked third in the world last year. Varese is the perfect place for technique development and the ideal place to hold crew trials; which give the coaches all the data that they need to select crews. This competitive environment allowed the boys to push themselves to new heights and saw a lot of changes to the top boats. In the final few days, with the 1st and 2nd VIII having been selected, the boys were able to once again progress before the season began, clocking good times on the water. Max Hobhouse, F Social 6.2
On our last full day, we went to visit the traditional and beautiful Codorníu winery, founded in 1551. We were led around a network of tunnels and tracks underground on our own personal train. We were able to smell the flavours of the wine and taste the fresh grape juice during our visit. Will Barker, D Social and Angus Tufnell, G Social Removes
The Commandant’s Parade, April 14th Niall Murphy (Senior Master Co-Curricular) and Tim Morris (Contingent Commander, CCF) represented the Warden at the Commandant’s Parade at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. 14 schools were invited to attend, seven public schools and seven state schools, since the RMAS was keen to celebrate the fact that between 2012 and 2015 these 14 schools had sent the most officer cadets to Sandhurst. In that time Radley has seen 11 successful officer cadet candidates pass out of Sandhurst, and there are currently two ORs at the RMAS. The Commandant’s Parade is the final ‘dress rehearsal’ for the officer cadets’ passing out parade, and - after a briefing from Colonel Mike Waymouth (Assistant Commandant) - the two dons were treated to the pride of Commissioning Course 152’s Senior Division cadets (the Sovereign’s Platoon, Rhine Company and Burma Company).
opened the evening, playing two of their own songs. Andrew Shaw did particularly well on piano and vocals. He sang about some dark subjects, contemplating the ‘meaning of life’. Next was the hugely talented 6.1 band called ‘Gloamers’. They also played original songs, including one more well-known song they had written called ‘Leaving Early’. Their hits on ‘soundcloud’ increased hugely after this performance, showing the impact they’d had on the audience. The drummer, Olly Crole, went on to win Best Musician of the Evening, a well-deserved prize. The lively and charismatic ‘Fixation’ followed ‘Gloamers’, with an energetic performance This band worked well together and the audience loved them. Henry Soundy was very impressive on vocals and Colin Green later said ‘that’s what rock ‘n’ roll is about’ when describing them. Lastly, ‘The Weathermen’ played a medley of two songs. The energy they emitted on stage was amazing. The instrumental solos they played were exciting and fun to watch, especially Angus Macdonald on the keyboard. Colin Green was faced with a very difficult decision, but named the best song to be “Dirty” by Jamie Codrington and the best band to be “The Fixation”. The evening was very entertaining, show-casing huge amounts of Radley talent.
Charities Fair, April 19th Charities Fair, which took place in Covered Passage, saw a number of Charities represented in stalls staffed by boys. The event displayed this academic year’s fundraising activities including: Barnardo’s, the B Social Charity; our partner school in Gehandu, Tanzania; Helen and Douglas House, Oxford (three 6.1s, Alex Milne, Alistair Gethin and Cosmo Cotton, pictured below, are cycling 1,200 km this summer, to Bilbao, to raise money for this cause); ‘Beat’ – the Eating Disorders Charity. Later this year these charities will be supported in the ’Twelve Labours of Radley’ event on the 18th September, in which every member of The College will take part.
Alexander Milne, H Social 6.1
Tom Whitbread, A Social 6.1 Spanish Exchange: Viaró School, May 4th Pictured below are the exchange students from Viaró School in Barcelona, along with their Radley exchanges in the Removes. During their stay the Viaró Party were invited to classes and other activities. They enjoyed dining in the “Harry Potter”-like Hall and were well entertained in the New Pavilion. Entertainment saw Hugo Bertie (E Social) welcome everyone by playing bagpipes, Jamie Walker (K Social) reciting a Shakespeare speech, Will Redley (K Social) doing a reprise of his award-winning declamation, Usman Ladan (F Social) playing a medieval guitar piece, Ignacio Urzáiz (F Social) playing his violin, and at the end, John Fu (D Social) entertaining us with some impressive card tricks.
Battle of the Bands, April 19th ‘Battle of the Bands’, a competition which brings together some of the best musicians in Radley, was kindly adjudicated by the highlyesteemed Colin Green, who used to be Shirley Bassey’s manager. A very impressive Shell band
THE RADLEIAN
15