House Notes

At the end of last term C. A. Wood was appointed Head of House; Benn, M. K. Bowen, J. E. Dickinson and Ferguson were appointed House Monitors and were joined by R. W. J. Dingwall shortly after the beginning of term. This term we welcomed ten new juniors to the House and Marson, a 2nd year senior, who has since been appointed House Captain (of swimming). There are now sixty-one boys in the House.

In the Senior House rugger competition we were narrowly beaten by Dronfield in a very exciting match. The Junior team, however, proved to be really outstanding, beating Dronfield and Temple to reach the final. The final against Grove was drawn 3-all, with Queen's suffering from injuries to three of the team. The replay saw our team almost back to full strength and Queen's came out the convincing winners over their old rivals, the score being 14-3. This was a real team effort and the rest of the House lent their support with some of the most vigorous cheering heard at School for a long time. If this sort of spirit prevails throughout the year, then the Junior House Rugger will be only the first of many successes. In the House leagues also we have had a good season, the Junior team going unbeaten through all their matches.

In School Rugger teams we have been well represented, notably having four boys in the unbeaten Senior Colts team—surely a good sign for the future.

Boys from Queen's still hold a near monopoly in the School Fencing team and special mention must go to Miller who had a good season in competitions and was awarded his Colours.

Within the House numerous activities have flourished, these include the Junior Debating Society and other such activities as Chess, Badminton and notably Table Tennis. The House Football Club is prospering and is soon to compete in a York knock-out competition.

The House Play is now under way and we hope to see it played next term, which in many other ways will be a busy one for the House.

Scholastically this has been a good term and we wish every success to Dingwall and Ferguson on the results of their interviews at Cambridge.

We have only one leaver this term—J. A. S. Benn, who is going into the wine trade. We would like to thank him for all that he has done for the House, especially on the games side, and to wish him every success in the future.

THE RISE

At the beginning of the term the Rise received its customary batch of nine Juniors, while Shannon, Russell, Pace and Rawlings were made House Monitors, I. M. MacLeod was made a School Monitor and Mackinder became Head of House.

In the sporting field the Rise achieved some of the near-successes to which the House is so liable. Despite the pessimism of some members of the House, we lost to the Grove by only nine points, and showed much spirit, although to be fair the Grove side was not on peak form. In the league matches, too, which are becoming more and more important to us, we lost only one out of five matches, finishing up overall second. But the 1 1

fact remains that we recorded no victories, although we hope that the two Under 14 Colts in the Juniors are a sign that better things are to come. We would also like to congratulate McAinch on gaining his 2nd XV Colours while still only a Senior Middle, and Linsley, who has gained his 1st XV Colours in his first term with us.

In the work field the Rise is still occupying a high place in the tables, and it is good to see so many Risites gaining merits or consistently improving their places in form. Is it too much to hope for final victory in the summer?

The School Play was one of the high spots of the term, and no less than five out of the cast of fourteen were Risites; special mention must be made of Houghton's exuberant performances as Timothy, and this supply of acting talent in the House promises well for the House Play next term. There were also a large number of Risites who helped or hindered in various capacities backstage, thus also gaining valuable experience for next term.

The most important communal event in the House was the House Concert, held in the middle of term. Each year provided a "turn", we had a guest singer to add a little variety to the all-male atmosphere, while Mr. Cummin's ecclesiastical improvisations on the discipline card provided a fitting climax to a memorabe evening.

Finally, while wishing goodbye to Rawlings and Mackinder who are leaving us this term, we look forward to the 50th Anniversary of the foundation of the Rise, which we hope will occur with due pomp and ceremony at the beginning of next term.

SCHOOL HOUSE

In what way does one measure a house's success in a term? If it is in sporting achievement, then School House cannot collectively claim success —we were thoroughly wiped out in the first round of both Junior and Senior Rugger—however, individually, D. Doyle and K. Sargeant won their 1st XV Colours, Jervis his 2nd XV Colours and Goodrick his Senior Colts Colours. But we have not been entirely idle; Squash flourishes, particularly in the Junior part of the House; our team swimmers disappear on average twice a week, preparing, we hope, to retain the cup for a third year.

As is usually the case, we played a large part in the School Play on stage and behind it acting, painting the set, constructing the act and playing in the orchestra. We also released Mr. Exham to be the assistant producer and he, in turn, is threatening to produce a House Play next term. As usual we have a large number of boys in the Choir. The Madrigal Group venture with Queen Margaret's and "Welcome our Messias", a voice— drama in aid of the Minster Appeal, were also strongly School House supported.

At the beginning of term we returned to find that we now possess a kitchen, complete with two-ring heater and washing-up facilities. It is the envy of less civilised houses. We started the term without Shah, Sherlaw and Kemp, Sherlaw soon arrived and has endangered more lives than his own hurtling round on his crutches, Kemp returned at half-term and Shah—whose very existence is doubted by some—has not yet arrived.

An extraordinary scene of domestic fervour appeared on a Sunday early in the term when a large cross section of the House attempted to clean the staircase walls. The mess was considerable, the success doubtful and the entertainment very enjoyable. Such pride in the House, is I think, a measure of the success of this term.

The House loses Hardie, Wilkinson and Phillips at the end of term and Wilson takes over as Head of House next term.

TEMPLE

A. M. Bowie was appointed Head of House and the Monitors were W. R. Copeland, P. B. Rutherford, P. Scaife, P. T. Summers and J. C. Willcock.

In Rugby P. T. Summers won his cap, and M. A. Cantrell his 1st XV Colours. Congratulations to them and the many others who represented the School in various teams. A bright star was the performance of our Senior team in the House Competition. Rallying to the mysterious cry of Grumbleweeds, which really had nothing to do with D. B. Hart's remarkable shorts, we held the cup holders to a pointless tie, even after extra time. We all looked forward to the replay and a rash of stickers, which took the attention of study two away from all else one Monday morning, displayed our growing self-confidence. But alas, the weather and the Games Committee combined to thwart us, and the competition was abandoned. The less said about the Senior Leagues the better. Ex spinis uvas? Our Juniors went down with glory to Queen's, the eventual winners of the competition, and in the Leagues, we had more than our fair share of wins, a tribute to the keen play of all.

In Squash P. L. Hall and I. Robinson have played for the 1st V and done very well against much older opponents who have been lulled into complacency to their cost by the size of our players.

In Fencing P. A. Lockwood has gone from strength to strength, collecting trophies galore in his train. We hope to keep the Chess Cup. Four of the monitors took part in a sponsored walk from Leeds to York one night, to raise funds for an Anglican School. They were successful and in wheedling the promised payments from their sponsors, a sum of forty pounds or more was raised.

The term ended in academic glory and we congratulate A. M. Bowie on the award of an Exhibition in Classics at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, P. T. Summers an Exhibition in Engineering at Corpus Christi, Cambridge,, and P. D. Rutherford a place at Trinity College, Oxford. We wish then every success in the future.

The element of change and adaptation is first as important in the sphere of worship as in any other aspect of living. As our Chapel Services are intended to meet the needs of the School as a whole—as far' as that is possible within the wide range of age and experience which is to be found among us—the part of the Chapel Committee is tremendously important.

The Committee's first meeting last term was mainly concerned with finance but its second one discussed a wide range of subjects, such as the times of services, their length and nature, possible changes in the lay-out of the Chapel and the use of the new revised Communion Service. As a result there will be a number of changes, Some of which have already begun. In future Sunday Evensong will be at 6.30 in winter as well as in summer. The daily services will .be rather shorter and so far as possible based upon a particular theme. Is is very much hoped that houses will ma'7.e themselves responsible for planning some of them. There will also be a larger proportion of non-Scriptural readings, and the revised Communion Services, which have already come into use on weekdays will soon appear also on Sundays.

It will be tremendously interesting and helpful to know what people think of these changes after a decent period of trial. Let your representatives on the Chapel Committee have any suggestions. The main events of the Christmas Term 8th Oct. Harvest Thanksgiving. 15th Oct. Sermon by the Rev. R. G. Robinson, Vicar of Clifton. 22nd Oct. Sermon by the Headmaster. 12th Nov. Special Services for Remembrance Sunday. 26th Nov. Sermon by D. R. C. Blunt, Esq., Lay Chaplain to the Archbishop of York. 3rd Dec. Sung Eucharist. 10th Dec. Sermon by the Headmaster. 17th Dec. Carol Service.

CHOIR NOTES

CHRISTMAS TERM, 1967

The choir was again asked to sing in the Minster for the Yorkshire Harvest Thanksgiving on Oct. 1st, and fulfilled its role competently in an inspiring service. On that day we began our special music in Chapel with the usual starter, "0 Come ye servants of the Lord", of Tye, and the Choir was able to reveal its simple freshness in spite of familiarity. A week later it was our own harvest service and the Choir sang Green's "Thou visitest the earth". The following week there was Mendelssohn's "How lovely are the messengers", which was a happy choice, its flowing line being enjoyed particularly by the gentlemen of the Choir. On the Wednesday of that week, the 18th October, the choir had been invited to sing Evensong in the Minster. As always, we were all grateful at being given the opportunity to sing a Cathedral Service, and the Choir rose to the occasion. We repeated the Mendelssohn Anthem and the service was sung to Walmsley in D minor, which itself was repeated in the Chapel on the 5th and 19th of November. There has been a supply of tenor and bass soloists this term and it was satisfying that the talent could be used at different performances of Walmsley in the solo quartet passage.

At Evensong on Remembrance 'Sunday the Choir successfully met the challenge presented by Wesley's "Blessed be the God and Father". In performance we failed to reach the heights achieved in the confidence of rehearsal but it was a good effort, our treble soloists, Walker especially, inspired the rest of us by his musicianly conduct. On the 26th November hard work was rewarded when we sang another large anthem, "0 thou the Central Orb", by Charles Wood. This is an old favourite, but our enthusiasm was rightly tempered and directed sensibly to make a worthwhile performance.

The term's Sung Communion was on Advent Sunday and we sang an effective mixture of Merbecke, Byrd's 3-part Mass (the kyrie) and Darke in F (Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei). Our soloists Howat (alto) Baby (tenor) and Cantrell (bass) inspired us to give a lively account of Purcell's "Rejoice in the Lord alway" on the second Sunday in Advent and on the last Sunday of term the climax of the Choir activities was reached in our Carol Service. Apart from the usual music, we sang Walford Davies' arrangement of "0 Little Town", Wilson singing sympathetically the large tenor portion; "Silent Night" was sung by the trebles with Guitar played by Cantrell, repeating a very successful arrangement of two years ago. We sang the carol "The Linden Tree" for the first time, and worked hard at "The Three Kings", by Cornelius. Baby was our impressive soloist.

We were all very sorry to lose Mr. 'Mair in the middle of the term. He was not only a great asset to our bass line but a painstdking and inspiring conductor. We were pleased that Mr. Exham was there to take his place,. to enliven the tenor line, and the tenors". It has been an interesting and satisfying term's work.

THE SCHOOL MUSIC

The Christmas Concert, 1967, will prove to have been an important milestone in music's progress at St. Peter's. Not only was it the first concert in which members of Queen Margaret's School have taken part jointly with St. Peter's, it was also a concert where performers and audience were clearly determined to enjoy themselves from beginning to end.

We look forward to continuing the association with Queen Margaret's in our next ambitious venture, the cantata St. Nicholas, by Benjamin Britten, which is being sung in Chapel at 7 p.m. on the 25th and 26th March. Originally written for the centenary of the Woodard Schools for performance in Lancing College Chapel in 1948, it might almost have been written for our own particular requirements. Britten calls for a largish choir at the East end (in our case, 'St. Peter's and St. Olave's choirs will form the nucleus of a larger body) and a choir of girls' voices in the West gallery. A piano duet (which we can supply ourselves) a string orchestra, organ and percussion complete the instrumental side. The solo tenor part part was written for Peter Pears and is no amateur matter. We are fortunate in having the assistance of Mr. Gordon Pullin for this remarkable part. There is a hymn half way through and another at the end for the congregation/audience to sing.

During the Easter Term we also look forward to a visit of the York University Motet Choir, under its conductor 'Peter Aston and a concert of orchestral music given by the members of the Music School of the Huddersfield College of Technology.