Radley Newsletter 12

THE

Radley N E W S L E T T E R V OL U M E 1 2

| Football | The China Conference | The Radley Year 2010/11 | | The Combined Cadet Force | Radleians |

Football a To set the scene: it is a bright and blustery evening at the beginning of the Summer Term, the 1st XI are playing in only their second ever LB (formerly Crusader) Cup Final, gracing the hallowed turf at the hidden away and picturesque ground of Woodford United, in the middle of rural Northamptonshire. The lads walk in dejectedly at halftime, they are three-nil down to Spadling Grammar School and the silverware looks further away now than it had at the beginning of the season.

But this simply is a snapshot, a flash, to which the whole season. A season finale the whole of Radley College Association Football Club has been building towards.

Without reviewing the season and the history of the club, the report of the cup final is missing vital context and is only a small part of a much larger success story.

This story is one that has no real beginning, the sport that all the students at Radley play throughout the full academic year prepares them uniquely for all the challenges of any sport you should choose to review. The football club itself has hazy beginnings. Most know that Association Football was the first sport played at Radley, and that it was phased out long ago in preference for Rugby Football. The foundations of the club as it is now, are likewise difficult to define. Started as a Wednesday option, and slowly built over several years becoming a minor sport in the Easter Term, it began to flourish a decade ago.

Radley 1st XI Lent Term 2011

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Tonbridge (A)

0-1

Bedford (H)

3-0

Bromsgrove (A)

3-1

Rugby (A)

2-2

St.Edward’s (A)

4-0

Sherborne (H)

3-1

Oratory (H)

2-2

Haberdashers’ Aske’s (H)

4-1

Welbeck (H)

1-0

Berkhamsted (H)

3-1

Spalding Grammar School (N)

5-3

H EE RR A AD D LL EEYY N N EEW WSSLL EE TT TT EE RR TT H

Paul Gamble was the driving force, but sucessive Masters in Charge have fought hard to maintain a professionalism and desire to learn about and play good quality football. In the past five years it has seen more and more boys take it up seriously, and the 1st XI has become a “football team”, rather than a gathering of eleven excellent sportsmen.

It makes sense to start this season’s report in very early January, at 3am in the morning at Gatwick Airport. Eighteen very blurry eyed Radleans await their coaches and a fantastic five day tour to Villarreal CF, in southern Spain. The tour was so much more than simply some warm up games on foreign soil: the team were trained by Villarreal’s professional youth coaches at their La Liga facilities, learning skills and concepts that were immediately obvious on their return.

Yes, they did return with two wins from two (beating Wellington College along the way) but it is the experience that will shape these eighteen players and the dons for the rest of the season.

The watchwords for Radley AFC style of football were on display in Spain: a joy in playing good quality football, a team ethic, and a professionalism such that every man in the 1st team is prepared to work his proverbial socks off for each and every other of his colleagues. It is this ideal that has spread throughout the whole club and led to one of its most successful seasons.

Specifics then. For the first time the Seniors had seven full sides. The 7th XI played its first ever game. The 6th XI had four competitive games, winning them all. In fact, in like-for-like games the senior teams only lost twice all season. At home (fortress Radley?) the seniors dropped only four points.

The highlight was the final game of the season away at Wellington College, where the undefeated 2nd XI took on and

beat their 1st XI comfortably, 3-1. Goals were plentiful, the seniors racking up 177; Albert Lindsell (Ludgrove, J Social) finishing with the golden-boot on 13 goals for the season.

In the junior ranks, the results were not quite as glittering. Colts 1 finishing with two wins only from nine, and JC1 having the ignomony of not winning a game all season. Yet, these two stats hide a host of really positive signs for the future of the club. On the fixtures card, the Colts played twenty four games in total, with Colts 3 playing five times, and the first ever fixture for the never defeated Colts 4. In the Junior Colts too, the fixture card was full. JC3 played four games (sadly losing them all) but both JC1 and 2 played a full card of eight fixtures. Both teams played excellent football all season and every opposition coach commented on the skill levels on show week-in-weekout.

Not to forget the ORs too. They had a season to remember, reaching the quarter finals of the Arthur Dunn Cup, beating premier league top side Harrow along the way. They were looking good for promotion but injuries meant that they narrowly missed out on moving up to the premier league.

Overall the club played a record breaking ninety fixtures in the nine and a half week term, winning 46, drawing 11 and losing 33. With 249 goals scored, and only 192 goals conceded this can be considered very successful, especially when one considers that the senior sides played eleven games against nominally higher teams.

The level of support received was fantastic and contributed massively to this success. As I walked the touchlines this season I was delighted to see huge numbers of parents out supporting their sons and enjoying the eye pleasing football to which Radley College AFC subscribe. If there was any doubt, our season should prove once and for all that Radley can sustain both a successful Football Club and a fantastically well run, and hugely successful Hockey Club.

I was fortunate enough to catch some

at Radley of the excellent hockey on show and was delighted to hear that they too had walked away with silverware at the end of their season.

So to the future, what are our aims? More of the same would seem sensible, yet the side that rests upon its laurels is the side that gets left behind. We aim to top one hundred fixtures (weather permitting), particularly focussing on getting more fixtures for our lower sides. Every boy in the club should be receiving an equally high level of footballing education and one that is suitable for his skill and interest level. It would be brilliant to win more games too, however, it is also important that boys are tested against stronger and stronger opposition, so

often these two goals are not compatible.

So, finally, back to the story of the LB Cup. We left with Radley three-nil down at half-time. The second half is an entirely different game. Jack Trowbridge (Packwood Haugh, E Social), club captain, centre-back, comes out a man possessed. He bags two goals, and Olly Jacobs (Cothill, K Social) pinches a third in the dying minutes, immediately remembering the 2005 Champions League Final, Trowbridge our Gerrard.

The lads play out of their skins exhibiting all the grit and skill the whole club showed all term. They could have won in extra time, Jamie Chaplin-Rogers (King Edward VI, A Social), with no substitutions left, has to play on with

only one leg: a lung busting one hundred minutes. Instead it falls to penalities.

Dan Brownlee (Oratory Prep, E Social) slots home the fourth, and cements his place as the tournament’s leading scorer. Then the amazing happened: goalkeeper Andrew Sweerts (Cothill, A Social) (lucky to still be on the pitch after a late challenge in the first half) dives to his right and palms away their fourth attempt! So it comes to one legged Chaplin-Rogers to seal the cup, and he cooly steps up and hammers home the winning spot-kick. Radley College AFC champions of the LB Cup for the first time ever. Commence the celebration!

Paddy Wallace, Master i/c Football

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Radley College &

China Co “Ici repose un géant endormi, laissez le dormir, car quand il s’éveillera, il étonnera le monde” - “here lies a sleeping giant, let him sleep, for when he wakes up, he will shock the world” (Napoleon, speaking about China in 1803).

As part of the very successful sixth form lecture series, one message that has been repeated with increasing regularity is that Western influence is on the wane and that more attention should be paid to the East.

The purpose of the day was to educate the boys and girls about the growing prominence of China in global affairs whilst allowing them the opportunity to explore some unique Chinese cultural experiences.

These experiences were also shared by the girls from Downe House School.

With the theatre foyer adorned with Chinese artwork created by the Shells, and with the theatre brimming with over 40 Chinese lanterns, our very own Ian Yorston started proceedings. He was followed by two speakers with extremely different experiences of China.

Jack Yu moved to the UK in 2004 and has worked since then for the Law Society as Policy Advisor to the North Asia & Pacific region. He covered, with the benefit of firsthand

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HEE RRAADDLLEEYY NNEEW WSSLLEETTTTEERR TTH

experiences, the changes China has made politically, economically and socially. He did not shy away from the challenges facing China, and handled with honesty some very searching questions posed by the audience on the role of women in China, human rights, Ai Weiwei, censorship and access to the internet.

Jack was followed by Marc Edwards, an OR (E Social 1993-99). Marc realised the opportunities that were available in China and so left for Beijing in 2003 where he enrolled in a language school. Over the next 3 years he learnt Mandarin fluently and this led to work for CCTV, the Chinese State owned television broadcaster, as a TV presenter. He currently fronts ‘Travelogue’ and has journeyed all over China highlighting where to go and what to do.

The Catering department then put on a Chinese feast for everyone. A wide range of Chinese foods was on offer. This was of course served with chopsticks, which left some students hungrier than others!

& Downe House

onference The afternoon was an opportunity for the boys and girls to experience a wide range of Chinese themed activities. Blessed with beautiful weather, Tai Chi was performed on Bigside, which they carried out in tandem with Calligraphy. They also had the opportunity to have a go at Kite Making and Martial Arts. Meanwhile, in the Silk Hall a Mandarin seminar and a music group provided education and entertainment.

Our final speaker was another OR, Toby Kendall (A Social 1997-2003).

He explained the path he took from the Remove year group to studying Mandarin at Oxford University and having received feedback from the Removes it indicates that Toby struck a chord with a number of them in particular. The day finished with a viewing of ‘Hero’, the largest grossing Chinese film ever produced.

The purpose of the day had not been to shock the boy’s and girls into thinking that China is taking over the world. Nor was it to establish a Mandarin centre to replace our current excellent language department offering! Rather, it was an opportunity for them to sample and experience the possibilities there are in China for those people

who may wish to pursue them. It also underlined the major shift in the global balance of power that is currently occurring.

An intranet page has been created specifically for the purpose of developing further interest, with details of opportunities that are available to students as they progress through their school careers.

Radley itself still has much to learn about China, and has decisions to make about the role this country has to play in its teaching syllabus.

Presently, Chinese history is being taught at GCSE and A Level and it is a well-trodden path in geography, art and music. Whether or not a more cross-curricular approach is required has to be decided. What is certain, other than learning that Napoleon was a pretty insightful chap, is that China’s growth is unlikely to be a short-term event and the quicker we prepare ourselves, the more opportunities will be presented.

How fitting it is, given the present circumstances, that Confucius once said, “If a man takes no thought about what is distant, he will find sorrow near at hand.”

Anthony Jackson

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THE RADLEY Academic The A level results in Summer 2011 were outstanding, a record in a year when there was no national grade inflation. 91.92% of results were A*/A/B. Two boys got six A*, Robert Kinder (The Hall, a) and Edward Bosson (Caldicott, d), the latter while coxing 1st VIII to the semi-finals at Henley. 75/135 boys got 3A*/A or more.

Our 5th Formers, now mostly taking

IGCSEs, also achieved a record, 85.4% of papers being A*/A. 67 boys got 10A*/A, and 6 boys – Bertie Hill (Thomas’s Battersea, h), Charlie Huntingford (Colet Court, a), Gus Neate (Shrewsbury House, e), Freddy Rendall (Hall Grove, c), Tom Saunders (Woodleigh, h), William Treadwell (Summer Fields, a) – achieved a full house of A*.

This was to have been the year of the perfect storm in Higher Education admissions. Oxbridge was indeed competitive but despite national gloom and despondency this has been an extraordinarily successful year for getting Radleians to Durham and Edinburgh, and other top universities. Ben Hatt (Lockers Park, h) won the prestigious Robertson scholarship to Duke University, USA, and Henry Tufnell (Dragon, j) won a place at Brown.

Three boys – George Gundle (Dragon, h), Adam Lambert (RGS High Wycombe) and Will Patterson (Cothill, b) won gold medals at the Physics Olympiad, a very considerable achievement.

That uniquely Radley occasion Declamations 2011, was again very strong – judged by John James of Harrow, the classes of the 5th Form and 6.2 were especially impressive; any of them could have won.

The winners were: Shell Henry Tregear (The Hall, g); Remove Christopher Baird (Cumnor House, a); Fifth Charlie Huntingford (Colet Court, a); 6.1 Tommy Siman (Abingdon Prep, h); 6.2 Andrew Barrie (Horris Hill, e).

Once again there was a host of distinguished visiting speakers to the school, many of them to speak to 6.2; John Whittingdale MP, Old Radleians Rory Tapner, Charlie Mayfield and Clive Stafford Smith; Jodi Scheckter, Sir John Holmes, former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, Chief Constable Sara Thornton among others.

The BBC’s Any Questions was broadcast from Radley’s theatre and many of the boys attended.

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The annual Radley/St Helen’s Conference was, again, a great success on the subject of ‘Taking Liberties’. For the first time this year we ran a Remove Conference on China, combining with Downe House – boys and girls learnt rudimentary Chinese, learnt about Tai Chi, calligraphy, kite making and Martial Arts, and were encouraged to read more about, and visit, China for themselves.

Darwinism and The Search for the Spiritual.

40 boys in 6.2 completed the arduous and rewarding task of choosing, researching, collating and writing a 6000 word Individual Study under the management of Edexcel. They learnt much about Independent Learning.

Radleians have again been showing great

talent for Debating. Jack Soames (Dragon, j), Tom Saunders (Woodleigh, h) and Hal Bicket (Maidwell Hall, j) put in a strong performance in the ESU Public Speaking Regional Final, held in Birmingham in March. Also in March, an impressive A Social team of Gardie James Duff (Ardvreck Prep), John Warner (Dragon) and Hamish Miller (King’s Hall) beat K Social in the Final of the Sixth Form Debating Competition.

There was an away fixture at Wycombe Abbey School, with the Wycombe dons awarding Archie Manners (Ludgrove, c), Henry Whittingdale (Orwell Park, j) and Henry Spencer (Cothill, c) prizes for ‘Best Radley Contributors’. The final of the Shells/Removes competition, held in June, was contested by strong teams from A and H Socials, with Chris Baird (Cumnor House, a) and Ed Whitbread (Cothill, h) particularly impressing in the heats.

Creative Writing under

Christopher and Cathy Ellott’s auspices continues strongly. Among the visitors this year was Stephen Armitage.

Boys have published their own poetry and prose writing, among them Cern Hoh (Garden International, e), Ed Dillon Robinson (Cumnor House, e) and Sam Nugee (The Hall, h). Ed has also scripted a short film, made in collaboration with Max Horsey’s Film Unit. OR Andrew Motion’s superb poem dedicated to Rupert Thorneloe appeared in the Times and was read at our Remembrance Sunday Service.

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants,

the 6.1 Lecture and Project programme, had a strong second year. Common Room again revealed its Renaissance interests with 32 lectures ranging from meditations on Genius and Ethics to Global Art,

All Radley

departments run Academic Societies, with visiting speakers. The History Society has, for example, welcomed Andrew Roberts, William Doyle, Jeremy Black and John Guy. Most Monday evenings see academic or year group societies meeting to hear dons, boys or visitors. The Philosophy Society continues to flourish under Iain Campbell and is shortly to welcome A C Grayling.

YEAR 2010/11 Activities CCF has had a busy year, not least in

Adventure Training, with almost 180 boys camping and walking on the Ridgeway. The Naval Section stayed on board HMS Belfast, and

was succeeded at Easter by Harry Richards (Dragon, d) as Head of Corps. Capt Chris San José joined the Army section from the Oxford University OTC, and assumes command of the Army section from September. We say farewell to Lt Simon Thorn, who has commanded the Naval section for the last three years; he is succeeded by Lt Richard Jackson, husband of the Head of History and a former regular Naval officer.

2010-2011 has been an exceptional year

for the Radley Duke of Edinburgh unit with record numbers of Awards achieved by some very special Award participants.

Thirty-six of our 6.2 leavers will shortly be going up to the Palace to receive their Gold Award. Their successes have proved a real inspiration to others, encouraging our Fifth-form and Remove participants, for example, to maintain the momentum and determination required to meet the various DofE challenges. We end the year therefore with a fifty-strong cohort of Bronze Awardees eager to embark on the path to Gold!

held their own Trafalgar Night Dinner in London.

The Army section carried out two field exercises at Bramley; the RAF section visited RAF Brize Norton and RAF Benson, as well as the air show at RAF Cosford. A large number of boys attended both Naval Section courses, and the RAF summer camp at RAF Brampton/ Wyton. Charlie Palmer (Cottesmore, b)

Last July Mark Jewell, Emilie Danis and Susan Allen led a group of eleven 6.1 boys to Moreni (a small town in central Romania) where the boys taught English to schoolchildren aged 11-18 at a local secondary school.

This continued Radley’s now well-established annual ‘summer school’ programme in the town.

The boys planned lessons on topics of cultural interest to deliver in pairs to classes of around thirty children, helped by Romanian students of their own age who acted as interpreters. Other activities were organised including sports, drama and Scottish dancing. The visit was rounded off by a Celebration event involving musical and dramatic items performed by both sets of students. This was a very successful and challenging educational experience for the boys who adapted very well to the demands on their capacity for team-working, planning, building personal and professional relationships and on their creativity and resilience. It was greatly enjoyed by all participants and we have been warmly welcomed back this year.

Last July Gareth Hughes led a group of eleven 6.2 boys to Kerala (south India) for four weeks. The first half was spent assisting local skilled craftsmen in the building of one new house (and a verandah on another house) for the poorest families in the village where we have been working for nearly 15 years. As this is an area subject to monsoonal flooding, the buildings make a real difference to the lives of those accommodated. This group of boys worked hard and with good humour learning a lot about team-building and planning. The remainder of the trip saw them travel in the region in small groups, where they developed personal independence and experienced much of this culturally enriching part of the world.

Radleians were once again involved in Community Action Projects. Three Concert parties visit residential homes each Wednesday across South Oxfordshire. Boys teach languages to Primary School children. The link with the Oxford Academy continues with 5th Form boys teaching their Y8/9 children Latin and with dons teaching Maths and Physics on a weekly basis.

As in previous years, a great deal of Charity work has taken place across the year 2010/11. The Radley Foundation launched the Armed Forces Fund in November to memorialise Lt.Col. Rupert Thorneloe and Lt. Dougie Dalzell by raising money to pay for the education – at Radley, Downe House or St Mary’s Calne – for children whose fathers (or mothers) were killed or wounded in action. To date £532k has been raised.

Arts In Drama it has been an exceptionally busy year. The Haddon Cup in October saw the 10 socials’ Shells in fine form – the standard grows increasingly professional. The dons also limbered up with ‘Daisy Pulls it Off ’. The main College Play was a Robert Lowe adaptation of several Noel Coward plays, ‘L’Hôtel de Paris’. The set (Matt Barker) and costumes (Lianne Oakley-Rowland) allowed a superb cast of boys, and girls, drawn from schools all over Oxfordshire, to produce excellent performances. The

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Lent Term saw ‘History Boys’ by Alan Bennett, another Lowe production, melding Common Room and boys.

Those boys were every bit as convincing as their National Theatre counterparts, and the adults – John Beasley, Liz Murtagh, David Edwards – produced excellent performances. The Remove Play, ‘Billy Budd’, had an exceptional stage set (a Nelsonic warship) and very strong, mature acting, especially from the officers. The Shells opened their account with an excellent ‘Julius Caesar’, and the Theatre Studies Exam pieces were adjudged high marks as well as being diverting and entertaining. The inaugural Milligan Cup for Performance in Musical Theatre proved great fun, Jonathan Tarcy (Shrewsbury House, g) proving a worthy winner. He performed with the National Youth Music Theatre in the summer. Alex Kelly (Ludgrove, k) has gained a place at the National Youth Theatre, and Piers Saich (Papplewick, k) has been offered a place at the American Academy of Dramatic Art in LA. Stephen Clarke and his team have now established high expectations of the Music at Radley and this year did not disappoint. The Chapel Choir numbers c.100 strong, and there are 16 Chorister trebles drawn from local Primary and Prep Schools, who like it so much they seek to come on and join Radley thereafter. The Choir sang Evensong at Gloucester Cathedral and New College as well as regularly singing beautifully in our own Chapel. It was the core of an excellent Choral Society concert, St John Passion, in March. It also sang the Fauré Requeim on Remembrance Sunday. The orchestra, wind band, Big Band, and various ensembles, performed very well at the Christmas Concert and in Warden’s Music, and the versatility of the boys and of the department was very evident in the Music Tour to Tallinn in February. Every week through the year musicians prepare for public performance or for Exams by playing in Coffee Concerts in the Mansion. There were, in June, 7 Leavers’ Recitals, of a universally high standard.

The visual Arts continue to impress at Radley. Visitors comment on the quality of boys’ work installed around the campus. The end of year exhibitions of Exam work by GCSE and A level students was of a very high standard. The strength of the Art is seen by the success of our old boys – Charlie Langton’s Derby trophy won national plaudits; Arthur Laidlaw took part in an exhibition in the O3 Gallery, Oxford; Oliver Cooke exhibited in the Celia Lendis Gallery in Moretonin-Marsh. The department is relishing the prospect of its own new Gallery spaces in the Old Gym redevelopment in 2012/13.

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Sport It was sad to see frost and ice put paid to our last two rugby fixtures, but that shouldn’t colour our view of a very good season of Rugby. For the 1st XV it was somewhat topsy-turvy; it would have been difficult to imagine that the 1st XV would be anything but unbeaten if it could beat Eton, St Paul’s and Tonbridge in succession as it did. Sadly, these notable scalps were matched by some less convincing performances when injury undoubtedly affected our back division. At their best the 1st XV were exhilarating. So were the Midgets 1st XV and Junior Colts 1st XV, where a mixture of Corinthian attacking rugby allied to some physical presence produced very good seasons. Throughout the term, boys played hard and Radley proved difficult to beat, gaining at least parity with every school we played and sometimes (against Marlborough, St Edward’s, Abingdon) winning the great majority of the matches.

Colts IV (who won their maiden fixture) and the 7th XI, who sadly did not. The 6th XI went undefeated playing higher oposition teams, and the senior squad particularly was extremely successful, losing only twice in like-for-like fixtures. The club is looking forward to more fixtures for all boys next year, and hopefully more of the same in terms of success.

In Real Tennis the highlight of this season was the victory of the 1st pair - Tom Buckley (Moulsford, b) and Ben Boddington (Moulsford, g) in the Schools Doubles

The Hockey club enjoyed another successful year. The record for the club as a whole reads impressively, played 157, won 100, drawn 21 lost 36 with the 2nd XI, 4th XI and M4 enjoying unbeaten seasons.

The 1st XI lost just once and were awarded the Charlie Barker trophy for winning the Independent Schools’ Hockey League, a competition set up by the eight schools on our circuit.

Colts 1 also lost once and were runners-up (on goal difference) in the U16 league. Away from Radley, Hamish Miller (King’s Hall, a) (capt) and Harry Over (Pilgrims’, e) excelled for the Oxfordshire U17 team who went on to win the Southern counties competition. Kieron Banerjee (Dragon, a), Andrew Pfaff (Cheam, e), Hugh Gordon (Winchester House, c), James Mahon (Cothill, c), George Peele (Sandroyd, b) and James Todd (Cheltenham College Junior School, g) also represented Oxfordshire at their respective age groups.

This has been a very successful year for Radley’s Football. From the very top to the very bottom the boys have performed well and had numerous victories and the teams have played exciting and eye-catching football all round. The 1st XI picked up RCAFCs first ever silverware, winning the LB Cup for the first time in ten attempts. The game was a thriller, Radley coming back from 3-0 down at half-time to draw 3-3 and finally win on penalties. Jack Trowbridge (Packwood Haugh, e), club captain, led by example scoring two of the three goals.

The club also went on an excellent pre-season tour, to southern Spain, taking 18 boys and three dons to train at the professional La Liga facilities at Villarreal CF. Overall the club played more fixtures than ever, seeing first ever games for

Championships, beating Clifton, with whom we shared the overall team title. Dan Brownlee (Oratory Prep, e) and Gus McAlpine (Cothill, k) came a very close 3rd, as did Max Black (Elstree, e) and Rory Codrington (Elstree, e) in the 2nd pairs event. Ben Robinson (Dragon, h) and George Buckley (Moulsford, b) lost in the final of the Colts, with Rupert Boddington (Moulsford, g) and Jack Harland (Westbourne House, g) an honourable 5th.

Tom Buckley (Moulsford, b) and Dan Brownlee (Oratory Prep, e) won the Schools Team Singles event. Some thirty College matches were played over the season, fielding over thirty different boys, and the court remains one of the busiest in the world, quite apart from purely College use.

In Rackets – 10 schools, including Wellington, Tonbridge, St Paul’s, Malvern and Clifton were beaten, and only one loss was experienced, in an excellent season.

In Cricket, the 1st XI

led by Wilf Marriott (Farleigh, g) won 11

(M2, Cheam, e), Hugo Mayes (JC4, Horris Hill, c), Miles Arkwright (JC1, Cheam, k), Ed Pratt (JC1, Elstree, a). There were six wicket hauls for: Alex McCourt (4th XI, Oratory Prep, e), Alex Hanbury (M3, Cothill, j), Alex Dingemans (5th XI, Cumnor House, k), Ben Richards (Colts 1, St Hugh’s, c).

In Tennis the 1st VIII enjoyed notable wins against Cheltenham, Abingdon, Harrow, Epsom, Dulwich, Wellington and MCS. The 3rd and 4th Senior VIs scalped Marlborough, Wellington and Eton. Colts 1 narrowly lost one tournament tie against Eton on a pair of tie-breaks but they did not lose again, winning Group 3 in the Independent Schools’ League.

They also won their RHWM league, beating Harrow, Wellington and Marlborough by 30 games each. Colts tennis sides won almost all of their matches. JC1 have been all-conquering in doubles matches, losing only one set, a testimony to TDM’s volley-at-all-costs mantra.

As well as ISL success, Colts 1 and Junior Colts 1 also won the RHWM league in a tense finale. We had clean sweeps against Cheltenham, MCS and Abingdon, and only lost one match in the school fixture against Wellington, where we played up a team.

Our 1st IV (Hamish Miller (King’ s Hall, a) and Ed Monbiot (Sussex House, h) and Miles Richardson (St Michael’s, Jersey, g) and Andrei Ilie (Vasile Alecsandri, f)) enjoyed an excellent tournament in the Youll Cup. Straight sets wins over St Paul’s, Oakham, and Nottingham HS saw us reach the quarter-finals where we played defending champions Millfield.

Our second pair lost in straight sets.

However, in one of the finest matches of their three years playing together, our 1st pair won 6-4, 6-3, crowning us Youll Shield champions, essentially the fifth placed independent school in the country. Congratulations to DJC and his team on retaining this title.

matches out of 16 and won the Cowdrey Cup for the first time beating Tonbridge, Eton, Harrow and Charterhouse.

The Cricket Club was very sucessful through the card with strong individual performances: centurians were Nick Gubbins (Elstree, h) twice, Alex Hearne (Dragon, j) and Wilf Marriott in the XI, Charles Shingles (JC2, Horris Hill, k), Hugh Wolton (5th XI, Sussex House, g), Perry Beckett (M4, Packwood Haugh, f), Ollie Seaton (Colts 2, Ludgrove, e), Luke Perkins

Ed Monbiot and Hamish Miller were also selected to play for the Independent Schools’ Tennis Association’s Representative VI vs The All England Lawn Tennis Club at Wimbledon.

This is the ultimate honour for those who compete at the Youll Cup. Radleians have represented the team three times in the past decade (Charlie Monbiot, Alex Hackett, and Henrik Boris-Möller ); to have two players selected in the same year is a first, and a fitting end to Hamish and Ed’s three years of playing together.

The season has been a success for Radley College Athletics Club. Though not blessed with huge numbers of elite athletes, the boys involved with the club have given one hundred percent

in everything that they have done this year. We have out-performed at every event entered and there have been some fine team performances.

There were four County Champions: Blair McCallum (Mousford, b) (100m), Adam Lambert (RGS High Wycombe, f) (High Jump), Will Allen (Moulsford, a) (Javelin) and Stéphanie Edwards (St Helen & St Katherine, h) (High Jump).

After training through the winter months, 11 Radley boys and a Don broke the Guinness World Record for ‘100 miles run on a treadmill – team’. The boys ran well and supported their team members as they completed numerous 1-mile stints. The ‘train hard – fight easy’ attitude of the team meant that stiffness and fatigue had negligible effects on them; unfortunately the treadmills were not as well ‘conditioned’.

Despite losing around a quarter of an hour to mechanical failure the team finished the 100 miles in 8 hours and 23 minutes, knocking almost an hour off the existing record. The successful attempt has now been ratified by GWR and the boys have their own World Record.

In Rowing, the 1st VIII achieved some very good results in the Spring head race season this year. Despite not having the crew together for three terms, like most of the other major rowing schools they finished 3rd in the Schools’ Head of the River, just 8 seconds behind the winners and 3 seconds off second place. They followed this up with an excellent 2nd overall in the Hammersmith Head against senior clubs and university crews. The inclement weather meant limited racing in the summer term, but the 1st VIII achieved a solid 3rd place in the final of IM1 Eights at the Wallingford Regatta before racing was cancelled. The J16.1 VIII also came 3rd in their event. The Radley crews achieved many successes at the Bedford Regatta with wins in the J18 coxed four and IM2 coxed four (1st VIII), J16 Eights, 2nd Eights, J15.2 Eights and J15B coxed fours. The 1st VIII came second in J18 Eights and the 2nd VIII came second in IM3 Eights. The National Schools’ Regatta was held in rough conditions with a strong headwind which seemed to unsettle many of the Radley crews. However almost all the crews made it into the finals of their events and J14.2 were in the gold medal position before a mishap pushed them into fourth place. The 1st VIII did well to secure the bronze medal in the very competitive Championship Eights’ event – they were also the only ‘two-term’ rowing school to get into the final. Five of the eight followed this up with another bronze medal in the Championship Coxed Fours’ event with just 0.6 seconds separating the top three crews. The 1st VIII also competed in the Metropolitan Regatta at Dorney Lake and had a very successful day.

They won the IM1 Eights division and IM1 coxed Four division in fine style heating most of the top British universities and clubs and recording some very fast times over the 2000m course.

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The Combined It is often said that the fondest memories Old Radleians have of their time at Radley are of Chapel.

This is no doubt true – certainly I meet many of them there when they visit the school, years after they have left, many visiting in order to put their son’s name on the list.

But I think it is fair to say that the best stories usually come from their time in the CCF. There are stories of humour, stories of shared hardship, stories of great characters of the past; there are reminiscences of the little petty irritations of the military life, and of magnificent pageantry or aweinspiring military hardware. Above all, though, there are anecdotes of character-building.

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Radley is perhaps unusual – though by no means alone – in maintaining a compulsory element to the CCF. When the CCF’s predecessor, the Radley College Officers’ Training Corps, was founded in 1909, the emphasis was on providing trained men to go into the University OTCs and from there to the Army. During the 1930s and 40s an RAF Section (ours was one of the first, certainly in operation before 1938) and a Naval Section were added, broadening the range of specialist activities to suit a range of boys’ interests.

The CCF today is a very different animal: the aim of the CCF is not to recruit boys into the military, but to educate them a little in what the military is for and how it works, and

to develop their skills of self-reliance, leadership and discipline. Of course, a number of boys do go on to join the services – sometimes many years later – and when they do, they do so with the background knowledge and experience to enable them to make an informed decision to do so.

All boys join the CCF for the last term of the Shells, but this first term is a gentle, non-uniform introduction to the outdoor elements of life – camping, cooking, mountain-biking, &c. – in preparation for the Remove year; boys then join the CCF proper and begin their training according to the military syllabus of the Royal Navy, Army or Royal Air Force. After a brief introduction to the differences between the three service sections – and there

d Cadet Force are probably more similarities than differences – boys are given a chance to indicate their first preference, which the vast majority (over 90%) get.

After the Remove year, the majority of boys move on to other activities (Community Service in the Fifth form, and a variety of options thereafter). Those who stay, though, form the backbone of the CCF, providing leadership, training the younger cadets, and extending their own skills. This is a tough, demanding task, and not an easy one: it takes guts for a Fifth form boy, only a few months older than his class, to teach a lesson to surly Removes; but the rewards in terms of personal development are unparalleled.

It appears on the surface that the majority of CCF training takes place during the regular Wednesday afternoon parades. This is certainly where the bread-and-butter learning goes on, with lessons taught both by senior cadets, and by the officers (where safety is paramount, for example with shooting) and a number of volunteer dons; these latter are essential to the Adventure Training side of things. Training begins and ends with the entire Contingent on parade – an inspiring sight, with around 200 on parade each week.

However, although the Wednesday sessions are where the bulk of the syllabus is taught, it is on the termly Field ‘Weekends’ (actually lasting from Saturday evening, after matches, to Monday evening) that boys are immersed for the greatest amount of time in military life. Field Weekend activities are varied, and depend to a great extent on what section a boy is in; a Naval cadet might spend the weekend on a ship, an RAF cadet on an RAF station, while an Army cadet can expect to spend his time doing what the Army do best: disappearing into the woods to practise camouflage, concealment, shelter and battle tactics. At some point during the year each section undertakes an Adventure Training weekend involving camping, navigating and walking a considerable distance, the aim being to teach the importance of looking after yourself and your equipment in the field, and how to lead and hold together a team.

Parents, of course, rarely see any of this, unless they are in the services themselves (and many are – an invaluable contact when it comes to arranging varied and interesting activities). Much more visible is the annual Remembrance Sunday parade, where the entire Contingent attends Chapel and then parades at Memorial Arch for prayers, laying of wreaths and (weather permitting!) a flypast. The increasing popularity of this event in recent years has led to the service itself being ticketed, with priority given to parents of those

boys in the CCF; however, there is plenty of room at Memorial Arch, and more of the service will be held outdoors this year to accommodate those who aren’t able to get into Chapel.

What of the future? The main project at the moment is greater engagement with the local community. The 70th anniversary of the Air Training Corps in 2011 has proved the catalyst for a closer relationship between our RAF Section and the local ATC Squadron, 2121 (Abingdon) Sqn; the latter started out as a Detached Flight of our own ATC Squadron in 1941, and the anniversary has prompted us to look for ways in which the two units can work together. And, more revolutionary perhaps, from September 2011, approximately thirty pupils from The Oxford Academy will be joining the CCF, for separate training initially, but with joint Field Weekends. This injection of new blood can only benefit both sides, and nicely complements Radley’s other partnerships with TOA in academic teaching. This may well develop into a significant part of the CCF’s role – with exciting prospects for the future.

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r a dl e i a n s personal experience was being at the Primary School just across the road when I was much younger. I knew it would be a totally different environment, having moved into Sixth Form here from a mixed maintained day school, with twice the students in half the space, but I hoped that I’d find it as welcoming as I had heard it was.

Benjamin Franklin (VI-2) MATTHEW ARNOLD SCHOOL, K SOCIAL

The thing that first struck me was the way in which boys and staff presented themselves.

Everyone was polite and welcoming; I felt less and less like ‘the new boy’ in barely any time at all. Boys were ready to introduce themselves and their friends, and I was quickly learning the names and faces of my year group. Even now, at the end of my first year, I’m always learning as many new things about them all as they are about me, and it is immensely gratifying to be in a place where people are happy to be themselves.

The thing that perhaps I found most incredible was the number of extra curricular activities on offer. Since starting in September, I have been involved backstage in the theatre on a number of plays, taken part in Declamations and Partsong, learned to play squash and fives, joined the choir, started singing lessons, entered the Milligan Cup, and even started a scuba diving qualification. The effort that the teachers in charge put into making the activities

I started Radley in September for Sixth Form with little to no idea of what to expect. I’d heard that it was a great school and that the academic standard was high, but my only

Bertie Beor-Roberts (Fifth) COTHILL, H SOCIAL When I arrived at Radley two years ago, I assumed that as an academic scholar I would be obliged to spend most of my time working; little did I anticipate the distraction that would be presented by the plethora of activities on offer. In fact, although work is still top priority by choice, it is no longer the sole objective.

I seem to have picked up a new venture every term, and the opportunities still come thick and fast; I quickly became immersed in the world of the beagles. This first activity dominated the long cold winters of the last two years for me, and gave a sense of liberation and responsibility that it is difficult to find in modern schools; after all, only three schools retain a pack of working hounds. I am Joint Honorary Secretary for this season, and already the duties have compelled me to get to grips with working with deadlines and people totally unconnected to the college.

In the Lent term I joined the video department.

Here was an area I had wanted to discover for a long time, and there can be no better place to do so than here. “Radley Video” is unrivalled at any school, both in terms of facilities and excellence. Through the latter I have discovered a real passion, and have been 12

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involved in filming every production at Radley, and others besides, to some extent this year.

Trips to events such as the BVE exposition at Earls Court, and also the production of the BBC six o’clock news have fuelled this enthusiasm. Now I produce some of the DVDs by myself, as training for the weddings I film during my holidays.

accessible, even to someone like me with relatively little experience in any of them, was remarkable and one of the things that to me sets Radley apart from other schools; it is with their support and adaptability that I managed to balance my time among all that is on offer.

I’m particularly pleased to have been placed in K Social. I was worried about changing from day school to boarding so late in the game, but my tutor and subtutors, PHM and fantastic guys in my year group made K a friendly place that I’ve grown fond of living in. Being away from home has never been an issue, because between the activities above and the time spent in Social I’ve barely had time to feel homesick!

After Radley I intend to study Medicine, and the school has been immensely helpful in this ambition. From the moment my options were picked, a couple of months before I moved here, the school has given me a clear idea of the path I’ll need to take, and have provided me with some amazing opportunities, such as a trip to University College London in my first term to hear a medical lecture, as well as other lectures nearby. Wherever I go to university, I know it’ll have to work hard to measure up to Radley, and I am incredibly glad to have come here.

philosopher’ A C Grayling next term.

I have filled my final free moments this term, with the Pipe Band, becoming a Chapel sacristan and just about making the tennis team. I am expecting (hoping!) the pace will continue, and I am sure that with the help of the school neither myself nor any Radleian will ever find themselves short of things to do.

In the summer, I was asked to join the junior debating team for my social, and we subsequently won the inter-social competition.

A year and many zealous debates later, I captained that same team to a second victory, and was awarded the “Best Speaker” prize.

Debating has enabled me to develop my public speaking skills to a degree I had not anticipated.

Since the start of my Remove year, I have made a return to more academic activities, likely stimulated by my GCSE choices. The first was the Creative Writing Group, which enabled me to rediscover a love of poetry with like-minded people. This appreciation of poetry helped me come third in the Declamations competition, as I had a deepened understanding of the piece.

The Philosophy Society has also been very important for me this year. We have had talks from outside speakers on Neurology, Time and Jurisprudence, and others besides, and I am looking forward to meeting ‘celebrity

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