FROGNAL issue 44 February 2013
the newsletter of University College School
3 Christmas Carols Senior School, JB & Staff productions
The Nutcracker – a Phoenix production p20
FROGNAL issue 44
FEBRUARY 2013
JB Carol Singing in Hampstead p24
Two of this year’s Frognal Editorial Team applied to Oxbridge for places to read English. We asked both to record their experiences. p12
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DRAMA REVIEWED
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OXBRIDGE
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U15 Tennis Success
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JB CHarity UPDATE
4
Senior School News
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Phoenix News
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JB News
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Old Gowers’ Club News
© University College School, 2013 Published by University College School, Frognal, Hampstead, London NW3 6XH. tel 020 7435 2215 fax 020 7431 4385 Designed by Drayson Beckett Ltd tel 020 7561 0792 www.draysonbeckett.co.uk Printed by Pensord Press tel 01495 223721
The Hamburg Exchange noch einmal ein Riesenerfolg!
O
nce again the Hamburg Exchange proved to be a smash hit for the boys and staff involved. The group spent a week in Hamburg over the Autumn half-term break. Particular highlights this year included the Lübeck Challenge, numerous visits to ‘Saturn’ and a day trip to Berlin, which also meant a tour of the Olympic Stadium, where the Olympic Games were held in 1936. These days it is home to football club Hertha BSC and, amazingly, Berlin Cricket Club, who play their games on the historic Maifeld. Mr Tom Underwood (Modern Languages)
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School News
Maths Challenge
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ell done to all those who took part in the Senior Maths Challenge in November, amassing a total of 10 Gold, 18 Silver and 16 Bronze, with the highest score going to Oscar Volhard-Dearman of the Transitus. As well, Mr Williams and Mr M.R Smith took UCS’s first ever team to the Senior Team Maths Challenge, including a fascinating trip to Trinity College, Cambridge. Though we didn’t bring home the trophy it was a valiant effort by Oliver Tesh, Con Middleton, Oliver Grossman and Elliott Bogert. Mr Shane Williams (Mathematics)
Movember 2012
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he moustache is defunct. The few men still condoned for sporting it are considered institutions that belong to a cringeworthy 70’s world never to return, the world of Burt Reynolds, Tom Selleck and Ron Burgundy – perhaps with good reason. What, then, did it take for a group of pubescent boys to undertake this self-effacing journey? Charity naturally played a part, but I like to think it was more than that. Movember was a period of maturation not because it allowed us to demonstrate our virility (mine, anyway, was hopeless, and could be quite easily matched by any sturdy Middle Eastern woman) but because it finally proved to us that we had come to the end of our teenage years, and are quite capable of being ceaselessly mocked for thirty days and, for the most part, remain unfazed. For our thirty days of humiliation, the group, known online as ‘Mo’ Stache, Less Problems’ which included Hussein Mirza, Koroush Khaneghah and Joseph Sprecher of the Sixth Form, raised almost £700. Whilst not a small sum, one gets the sense that most of the time people donated because they couldn’t quite face the idea of me growing a moustache in earnest. Sitting in a restaurant with some friends, a gentlemen, who had spent some time staring at me, approached and asked if I was growing ‘that thing’ for charity. When I replied that I was, he
nodded knowingly and said “You didn’t look stupid enough to try that for real!” He threw a fiver at me and left. We adolescents are often stereotyped for our self-consciousness, embarrassment and constant preoccupation with inconspicuousness. Growing a moustache, then, runs in opposition to everything we were socially trained to do. A member of staff (who will remain anonymous for his own protection from the moustache mob) pointed at my face and asked what that was. Already bushy from weeks of battery, my mo and I remained unflappable. “It’s horrible,” he exclaimed, “it’s just so... so... wrong. My God, it’s disgusting!” I laughed. Perhaps I had already lost my dignity playing the triangle in the orchestra, dancing atrociously at Salsa for India or doing yoga in assembly. I honestly didn’t care. I prefer to think of it as a healthy reminder that I shouldn’t take myself too seriously, seeing as nobody else would be doing that either! Yes, I’m aware that I had to wake up every morning and face myself in the mirror, but that was bad enough before I grew the moustache. It accompanied me everywhere, became my only friend (the few others I had stopped wanting to see me). A diminishing of one’s self-respect can, I discovered, be healthy once in a while; I was aware enough of myself to laugh in the face of those that laughed, be it with me or at me, and, if there is anything that can carry me forward into the scary world of adulthood it is that I am certain I can endure as much ridicule as the world can throw at me, and still grow a moustache. Daniel Amir (Sixth)
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School News
From Russia with love-less feelings
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have noticed that, in recent years, UCS has developed a proclivity to organise school trips to countries that are or have at one stage been communist – from Vietnam to China, Poland to Germany (East Berlin) and, of course, the most recent trip to Russia: it is clear that there is an immense fascination at Frognal with countries that are multi-dimensional in both their politics and cultures, countries that transcend the old and the new, the religious and the secular, the open and the closed. Russia was no different. I had the privilege to go on the trip to Moscow and St Petersburg in October 2012. I will focus on the Moscow leg. Interestingly, my initial feelings about the tour were influenced by one of Mr Durham’s assemblies. He spoke vividly of the last time a UCS party had headed off to Putin’s ‘Mother Russia’ – most notably about the incessant bribery and their close proximity to pocket thieves and prostitutes. At this stage, my expectations of Russia slightly shifted. My fears of being overwhelmed by the criminality and debauchery of Moscow folk were eradicated by my observations and voyeurism in the hotel lobby of the Ballardian ‘monstrosity’ that was the Hotel Cosmos (and as someone aptly described a ‘rubbish Vegas’). It was indeed where Atlantic City meets the Gulag, except for the Moscow hipsters on their Blackberrys and iPads. Irena, our round and very Russian tour guide, seemed like a throwback to the time when Western tourists were always the subjects of intense scrutiny, just in case they were of course engaged in espionage. My sneaking feeling is that, after the KGB collapsed, the agents must have resorted to something as mundane as tour guiding. Whenever I posed a question to her, however facetious it sounded, she always replied in her stern and cagey manner, indicating that she did not want to show her Communist sympathies. Or perhaps she never wanted to diverge from her formulaic transcript, recited in the most monotone manner. Or maybe she did indeed possess an innate suspicion of us North London schoolboys/ girls whose main curiosity was not really to crack Russian intelligence codes but rather to find out how to source cheap Stoli Gold. There was a fragmented feel to Moscow – and a sense that it did not know where its real identity
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lies. The architecture speaks volumes about the city: Tsarist, Communist and Modern buildings stood side by side. We were all in our tourist state of mind at Red Square, capturing every square inch of this marvellous walled bastion with our Nikons, so named because the Russian word красная (krasnaya) can mean either ‘red’ or ‘beautiful’ and not, as our guide informed us, because of any link to communism. The square contained one of the most iconic sights in the world: St Basil’s Cathedral; the onion domes glistened above us against a backdrop of the clear Russian sky; the magnitude of the structure was overawing. The Trinity monastery in Sergiyev Posad on the outskirts of Moscow was one of the most majestic and impressive sights on the trip. The atmosphere there was so authentic that I felt as if I had been time-warped to Ivan the Terrible’s reign in the 1500s. Heavily-bearded and black-cloaked priests prowled the grounds as if they were monitoring our licentious behaviour; buckets were being filled with holy water from the wells by the traditionally dressed Babushkas. The churches within the monastery were all ornate in their entirety and the iconostasis masterpiece, Old Testament Trinity was an incredible representation of Russian Orthodoxy. Later that day, we visited the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition, juxtaposing significantly with the monastery we visited earlier. Established in the 1950s, this contained various monuments representing the economic sectors in the Soviet Union, originating from different states to emphasise both
Music
We were all in our tourist state of mind at Red Square, capturing every square inch of this marvellous walled bastion with our Nikons unity and a sense that the Communist party was a great success in bringing prosperity to their citizens. To me, this symbolised something much sadder: that ideology and politics trumped real success and prosperity. Soviet workers were seduced by the notion that Soviet era economic policies were their salvation – so outstanding in fact that they had to display huge propaganda to this effect. I left with a very empty feeling, that Soviet propaganda not only scarred the Russian landscape, but also Russian minds.
A
fter seeing all the main sights Moscow had to offer we boarded a sleeper train which took us from Moscow to St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg was beautiful. Built by Peter the Great to resemble Venice, with hundreds of bridges and a large collection of huge palaces all decorated exquisitely, it is a city for the eyes. After relatively little sleep on the ironic sleeper train, we then had an entire day of sightseeing. A highlight of the trip was an unplanned trip to the palace where Rasputin was supposedly murdered to see a reconstruction of the crime scene and bring to light the modern evidence about his murder. The Hermitage was another great feature of our time in St Petersburg. The huge museum, housed primarily in the Winter Palace and other buildings, is itself a work of art and the combination of the beautiful rooms and the hundreds of paintings and artifacts was frankly overwhelming. We ended our trip on a rather more sombre note, however, visiting the memorial to the millions of people who died during the siege of Leningrad between 1941 and 1944. Seeing the hundreds of graves sent a chill through everyone and showed us the darker side to Russian history. All in all, the trip was a fascinating one. We got to see a snapshot of Russian culture and as many palaces and churches as we could cram into the short time we had. After a taster of what Russia has to offer, I’m sure many people will want to go back to get the full flavor! Alex Rudofsky (Sixth) & Miranda Bud (Sixth)
Community Action
Take Me Out For the first time in the school’s long history Venus and the gods blessed UCS with the much-loved ITV1 dating show, Take Me Out. This one-off event helped raise over £420 for this year’s Community Action charities, while also matching four perfect couples: Pippa and Paddy, Sam and Sally, Lazar and Lian and Ellie and Albie. First the boys entered to a chorus of their own personally-chosen song, a panel of sixteen girls then carefully scrutinized them throughout three grueling rounds. If they liked what they saw, they kept their lights on. But if they were turned off, they turned off! The boys then had the chance to take one girl out to the romantic getaway that is the ‘Isle of Costa’. Produced and presented by Alex Cedar and put together by The International Take Me Out Organising Committee (Uahi), the Lecture Theatre was filled to capacity as four Romeos strove to make a stellar impression on their potential Juliets. Essex lad Paddy won a date with Pippa, Downton-lover Albie claimed a date with Ellie, prose-fanatic Lazar was matched with Lian and last, but by no means least, bongo-drum enthusiast Sam won a date with Sally. All in all, Take Me Out was an event to remember and only time will tell whether the show will spark a long-term romance between the contestants. Alex Cedar & Joshua Browder (Upper Remove)
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Drama Reviews
Julius Caesar
adapted by Mr Andrew Mee
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or any company Julius Caesar is an ambitious undertaking; one of the Bard’s darkest works, it examines the truths behind friendship, politics and the male gender. It may have seemed to some that to attempt to set the play in 21st-Century America with a young cast was too great a challenge, but we have learned never to underestimate the talents of UCS’ lower and middle-school actors. The play was directed by Sam Ebner and Mr Andrew Mee, whose inspired decision to incorporate Bruce Springsteen’s repertoire was deemed by many a stroke of genius (Nicholas Van Oosterom’s ebullient Caesar dancing to ‘I’m Goin’ Down’ was particularly arresting). The music served, in some cases, as a joyful accompaniment to the dance routines, in other instances a dark foreshadowing of the play’s events. Mr Mee and his cast reinvigorated the old story for a contemporary audience showcasing their artistic abilities as well as acting skills. After its successful run at the Lund the company took their show to the Platform Theatre in King’s Cross as part of the Shakespeare Schools Festival. Louis G Cheslaw (Sixth Form)
Teechers
J
ohn Godber’s Teechers is a provocative and amusing play that, via the direction of Billy Dunmore and Harry Ingram, raised many laughs and not a few eyebrows with its witty observations about the experiences of pupils and teachers alike at a school heading in all the wrong directions at the same time. The cast was thoroughly superb, delivering characters that convinced whilst also working the comedy of the lines with alacrity. Stand-out performances from Casey Frederikse, Nick Collee (who delivered a better performance of a world-weary and worrisome teenage girl than most world-weary, worrisome teenage girls could ever manage) and Auryn Jones kept the audience in great cheer throughout. Everyone departed the auditorium thoroughly entertained (and swearing never to listen to ‘Chicken Man’ ever again!). Frognal Editorial
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A Christmas Carol
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fter Cabaret last year A Christmas Carol was about as different as you can get. The corsets were swapped for full length skirts and as many layers as Ms Rabie could convince us to wear. Our cast spanned the full length of the school from Merlin Williams in Entry to Molly Frederikse in Sixth Form. The final product was, I believe, a success. Special mentions must go to Jack Benda for writing all the music for the show and the other musicians for the patience involved in attempting to make a bunch of private school girls and boys sing like hard-done-by Victorian street urchins. Our amazing director Ms Rabie guided the production even when it seemed impossible that it would come together in time and Steve, our choreographer, made sure the dances were as polished as possible, a great feat when trying to teach UCS boys to waltz! Miranda Bud (Sixth Form)
Scrooge The teachers’ musical
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he teachers’ rendition of A Christmas Carol was certainly a cracker to kick off the final week before Christmas break. An evening of sing-along music, laughout-loud comedy, ‘plot inconsistencies’ and genuine fun – the Lecture Theatre truly was the only place to be after school on Monday 10th December. Outstanding performances: not-so-tiny Tiny Tim (Dr McSherry); wailing Jacob Marley (Mr Bowes-Jones), magic dust sprinkling Ghost of Christmas Present (Mr Tear); the perfectly suited and brilliant Scrooge (Dr Plough); the angelic voices of Mr Davies and Mr Alter; Mr Mee’s sex-bomb, Bob Cratchet; the rather un-ghoulish Ghost of Christmas Past (Miss O’Connell). The teachers’ musical was definitely worth every penny and with that I’m sure you’ll all agree. Bah… Humbug!
Zack Case (Sixth)
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The National Gallery (& cake!)
U
CS History of Art students visited the National Gallery for inspiration, including seeing Turner’s ‘Fighting Temeraire’, utilised so evocatively in the recent Bond movie Skyfall. It would seem that it certainly rubbed off for the Transitus’ subsequent classical architecture themed cake baking exercise! Congratulations to Will Hainsworth and Chris Ioannou for their Parthenon cake, as well as a worthy Ionic Column cake. Ms Rose Aidin (History of Art)
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Art
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Oxbridge Two of this year’s Frognal Editorial Team applied to Oxbridge for places to read English. I asked both to record the experience, despite their honest reluctance to be misinterpreted as pretentious. Oxford and Cambridge can by synonymous with the very best and worst of the university system – the universities themselves are revered and reviled, sometimes in equal measure, by both those who are accepted and by those who are not. Whatever one’s perception of Oxbridge, the application can be fraught and I am grateful to Sylvia and Sam for their honest accounts. – Editor
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Viewpoints
Oxford ‘Even some of those antiques might have been called prose when they were new. They had done nothing but wait, and had become poetical. How easy to the smallest building; how impossible to most men.’ – Thomas Hardy Upon arriving in Oxford, I was reminded of this description of the fictional university town of ‘Christminster’ in Hardy’s novel Jude the Obscure. Now, to feel intimidated before even entering a college is not a particularly reassuring experience, but something of the indisputable beauty of these buildings is a very effective reminder of one’s own ‘insignificance’. Perhaps it’s the apparent permanence, a sense that they exist apart from those scholars who dwell within, and thus the two or three days spent anxiously waiting around inside won’t really change
anything at all. With such thoughts as these I spent most of my time in my room, occasionally attempting to ‘get some work done’ before soon realising the pointlessness of such mundane last minute preparation and settling for languishment. The first foray to the JCR (Junior Common Room, a place of pool tables and TV where the candidates congregated) was beneficial, if only because I was shocked out of my stupor by the seemingly endless supply of tea and biscuits on which I was soon to become emotionally dependent. Stepping outside my room also forced me to confront the other English candidates, and although I had been dreading an array of nervous genii with a tendency to sabotage, they were all genuinely very nice, clever, and happy to spend the hours between interviews arguing over whether Heathcliff and Catherine would ever really have worked as a couple. Indeed, one of the highlights of this brief encounter with Oxford was being surrounded by people who love my subject as much as I do; it gave me a chance to be as pitifully enthusiastic as I liked about negligible details of Paradise Lost amongst other people who actually cared as much as I did. Of course, after the scarring experience of insisting upon nonsensical metaphors and implied meanings within an unseen poem, in the presence of two experts on literature who clearly disagreed with every word, the company of strangers is not quite sufficient to prevent a breakdown. Never have I been happier to see fellow UCS students than after being grilled by professors on ‘what the language of Ulysses really means’, and I’m not sure I would have survived the rest of my time there without a break from the oppressive atmosphere of anxiety and terror that lingered around the JCR. Taking a moment to wander around the frostcovered Magdalen College deer parks with someone I’d known for more than 48 hours helped to remind me why I’d put myself through the months of uninterrupted preparatory work in the first place and ever so slightly alleviated my post-interview misery. Of the interview proper, there’s little I could say that hasn’t been said already. Essentially, it’s like nothing else you’ll have experienced before – preparation, although advised by teachers and universities alike, is of limited use as you can’t begin to predict the obscure and challenging questions you’ll be bombarded with. That said, the interview is a chance to talk about things you find interesting with very intelligent people who have probably written several books on the subject, so the experience can be enlightening, too. I must admit, however, that despite being infatu-
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Oxbridge ated with Oxford and always keen to chat about books, stepping out of the college for the last time to head back to London was an enormous relief. Returning home, I was genuinely unsure how to deal with this forgotten concept of ‘free time’, which I had relinquished so long ago. As Cicero tells us, ‘Nihil agere delectat’, a statement with which I had come to agree wholeheartedly over the months of constantly having something to do. Never again will I underestimate the blissful indulgence of catching up on sleep. Sylvia Edwards (Sixth)
Cambridge ‘Nihil agere delectat’, and yet, although an ‘Oxbridge’ application is daunting and pretty challenging, it can also be exciting, rewarding and well worth it. Ask yourself whether you really would be willing to commit wholeheartedly to gruelling preparation for the ‘dreaded’ interview. Yes? Then be ready for a few months of intense work, single-minded obsession with your chosen subject, any relaxation tainted by guilt about not working, and continual anxiety for an early-December interview date looming in the not-very-distant future, by which point it will be ‘too late’ to rectify insufficient preparation. Yet such a commitment would also offer the chance to become passionate and well-versed in your favourite subject. If the above fills you with fear and/or disgust, then Oxbridge is probably not for you – neither the application process nor the heavy workload if you were to gain a place. The ‘Cambridge experience’ has a few key differences to an Oxford application. There is no entrance test, meaning that nearly everyone gets an interview; however, to be that ‘nearly everyone’, they do demand to see all of your AS-Level breakdowns. Cambridge interviews take place during one day only, which is likely less stressful and emotionally draining than the Oxford process. In my case, the interviews were back-to-back and over within an hour. ‘A few months to work for it, a few minutes to show for it’ is essentially what it boils down to. My interview visit involved none of Oxford’s meeting of fellow applicants (a.k.a. competition), enjoying their similar passion for English (a.k.a. being intimidated by their self-possession and apparent confident competence). I arrived, was reminded of how beautiful the college building was and how much I wanted to study there, took a short written test (on close-reading of prose) and then deep breaths in the waiting room, had my first interview before running across the quad to my
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second. Then I was finished, free! It was suddenly out of my hands… Although I had heard from many a past applicant that the actual interviews were usually conducted in comfy chairs in rooms with friendly academics, I was nevertheless surprised when I was invited to ‘take that armchair – it’s the least ‘sinky’ one!’ And despite hearing that sometimes they barely refer to your personal statement at all, I was shocked and somewhat disappointed when, yes, they barely referred to my personal statement at all. The weeks of reading and learning that it had taken to completely familiarise myself with every text on that sacred document seemed to all go to waste when I talked about it for roughly 3 minutes before moving on to the essay I had sent them and informal, chatty questions like ‘What are you reading at the moment?’ The second interview consisted of an unseen poem and then the same non-personal statement pattern as the previous interview. It was frustrating not to be able to show them all that I had prepared, but it was also beneficial, because it meant that I was mostly just thinking and speaking on the spot, with severely reduced eloquence and conviction, but nevertheless spontaneously and freshly. Now we are at the next stage of anxiety, waiting for the ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ (or ‘pooled’) January letter to decide our future. Before then, it is soon time to start a long-awaited and well-deserved Christmas holiday, and to enjoy ‘doing’ a bit of that Ciceronian ‘nothing’. Whatever the result is, the preparation we did was not wasted, as it served as good education, for any university English course and general later life. So if you too wish to embark on the stressful but satisfying journey that is an Oxbridge application, the key word for me is ‘preparation’. You will need to prepare well for AS exams, any Oxbridge written test, interview technique, subject specialism, with hours of reading and a water-tight personal statement where everything boasted must be backed up by vigorous preparation...and, most of all, be prepared not to use any of that preparation in the interview at all! Sam Keen (Sixth)
Physics Enrichment Week As part of the Enrichment Week Programme boys in the Shell set about soldering LED Christmas trees and the Remove parachuted eggs from the balcony of the Great Hall.
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Sports News
U15 Tennis placed third in GB T
he AEGON Year 10 Competition took place over the weekend of 1st & 2nd December, at Bolton Arena. The UCS squad of Ben Jones, Ben Zuckerman, Max Benaim, Rohan Sikka and Gabriel Freedman were hungry for success. 2,425 schools entered the Year 10 Competition and UCS won through their localised league stage from April-July and then won through the regional knockout round in September/October, beating Bradfield College. In the Regional Finals in November, UCS took on last year’s winners of the whole competition, Reeds School. Not only did UCS win, they destroyed Reeds, winning 12-0, to earn a deserved place at the National Finals. Only Millfied, Glasgow High School and Ellesmere College remained out of all the other schools in Great Britain. The event saw two excellent days of high quality, competitive schools’ tennis in which the atmosphere and behaviour of players and teams on and off court was superb. In an extremely tense first match on Saturday morning, UCS couldn’t capitalise on two match points in two separate matches, which eventually proved crucial, and UCS were defeated
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8-4. The boys were despondent, but they had to raise their game for the challenge of Ellesmere College. After a slow start, UCS eventually got into their stride, and the tie finished 6-6. A deciding 10 point tie-break was convincingly won by Ben Jones and Rohan Sikka to see UCS home and claim their first points at the National Finals. UCS were fully aware that they needed to beat Millfield on Sunday morning and to beat them convincingly to stand any chance of overall victory. They got off to a flyer, with Max Benaim and Rohan Sikka pairing up for doubles victory, quickly followed by Ben Jones and Ben Zuckerman. Millfield were up against it, and after some outstanding tennis, UCS were victorious 8-4. UCS, Glasgow High School and Millfield all had two wins and one defeat, and so the countback of games and sets started to determine the Year 10 National Schools Tennis Champions... After a long and tense wait, it was announced that Millfield were the winners, claiming victory by the narrowest of margins. The defeat was hard to take for the UCS boys, knowing that they had inflicted the only defeat on
Millfield in their 12 matches. Having beaten last year’s winners (Reed’s) earlier in the competition, then beating the eventual winners of this year’s competition (Millfield), and only losing one match from twelve, to finish 3rd seemed a slight anti-climax for UCS. However, when considering the specialist tennis schools/ academies that took part, and the final positioning of third out of Great Britain, this was a truly outstanding achievement by the five boys, and the school are hugely proud of them. Mr Oliver Bienias (Physical Education)
The final positioning of third out of Great Britain was a truly outstanding achievement by the five boys. Squad (from left to right):
Max Benaim, Gabriel Freedman, Ben Jones, Ben Zuckerman, Rohan Sikka
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The Phoenix
DT Workshop
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ll year groups were lucky enough to take part in a DT workshop during the Autumn Term and the children enjoyed designing and building a range of structures and mechanisms from moving mini beasts to playground structures.
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Phoenix Teachers visit the Nirvana School
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he half term break presented us with quite an adventure as we departed The Phoenix on the Friday evening bound for Heathrow. Supported by the efforts of the Parent Guild, we were on our way to The Nirvana School in Pondicherry, a school for which we have continued to raise funds over the last few years in order to support various building projects and educational initiatives. Our week was spent in the primary school there, teaching mainly in Years Three to Six. The children were engaged in various language and maths games and really seemed to enjoy such a different way of interacting with their teachers. Our only disappointment was that our final day assembly was cancelled due to bad weather as we were hoping to showcase the song we had been learning! Isn’t it always about the weather? All in all, however, it was nothing short of an inspirational week and one that provided learning opportunities not only for the children in Pondicherry but valuable ideas for us to take back to our children in London too. We would like to thank The Phoenix Parent Guild for continuing to support the link between the two schools and giving us this wonderful opportunity to visit such an amazing country. Diane Kirkwood
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The Phoenix
The Nutcracker
Reception, Year One and Two delighted both staff and parents with their wonderful performance of this classic story. Written and directed by Sian Pateman, this year’s seasonal production was a triumph of acting, singing and dancing.
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The Nutcracker
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JB News
Charity Update T
his year marked the first ‘Community Action Afternoon’ hosted by Years 5 and 6. It was also the first year we invited the parents to join in all the fun. I would like to say a big thank you to all the Year 5 & 6 boys for their hard work. Despite the rain the event was a huge success. Every classroom was filled with a variety of stalls and activities, making it very easy to spend money. The total amount raised was £1,200. The BIG breakfast followed the morning after, and was as popular as ever. Due to the weather we moved the event from Holly Bush Vale into the hall. This year was a record breaking year for takings as the event raising £600! The money from these two events will be added to the Year 3 & 4 Community Action money and split between the following four charities. Scotty’s Little Soldier’s, Barbados, NSPCA and Unicef. Another first for the JB was a toy collection for the charity Camp Simcha. Thanks to your generosity we managed to give them well over 100 toys, games and books to help cheer up very sick children at various hospitals around London. November saw all the male members of staff try
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to grow the best moustache in aid of Movember. After showing off their newly grown facial hair at the outstanding autumn concert, we collected in donations. Parents and friends were clearly very impressed with the moustaches as we collected £481!
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The retiring collection and DVD of A Motown Christmas Carol sales raised £380 to support homeless teenagers in Camden
A Motown Christmas Carol
A plethora of adjectives can be used to describe this winters Year 3 play, A Motown Christmas Carol. Directed by Jason Thomas this years offering was original, funny and unashamedly silly. Boys in all three classes rehearsed throughout November and December, dancing, singing and acting their way to a deserved and rapturous applause. The tale of Scrooge and his journey to redemption was interspersed with classic songs that had the whole audience tapping their feet and singing along.
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Jacob Zakaim brought the house down, dressed as Father Christmas singing “Santa Clause is coming to town” while Alex Utting was brilliant as Belle as was Adam Kassam who played one of six Scrooges. Finally, Ben Barbarash was superb as an Elvis version of the Ghost of Christmas Present. With a cast of 60, everyone did their bit to make sure that this production will not be forgotten soon. Well done to everyone involved. A great success and a fantastic way to end the autumn term.
JB News
Charity Update At the start of December Year 3 presented A Motown Christmas Carol. The retiring collection and DVD sales managed to raise £380. This money will be used to support homeless teenagers in Camden and provide them with a little seasonal cheer. We rounded off the term with Carol Singing outside Hampstead tube station. It was lovely to welcome back Mrs ER to lead the singing with Mr LOK. This year we had the more boys and parents than ever before. Thank you all so much for braving the cold and please be very proud of yourself for managing to raise £212 in half an hour! All the money has gone to our local Marie Curie Hospice and they were thrilled when they found out how much we had collected. Overall we have managed to raise over £3,1800 and collect over 100 toys to help support those less fortunate then ourselves. Well done everyone. Miss Trinnaman
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Old Gowers Club News
New York Drinks Reception On 17th October 2012, Old Gowers living and working in the New York area gathered at the iconic ‘21’ Club in Manhattan for a drinks reception. Approximately 30 alumni and guests enjoyed the pleasant atmosphere and energetic company, with a mix of old friends and new. The Headmaster discussed news from the School and the opportunity for Old Gowers in the USA to band together in support of UCS through an American-led bursary. All went home feeling a closer bond to the School and fellow alumni.
Sandy Relief sent by Paul Krikler (OG 1969-79)
J
ust one week after the OG reunion in New York, Hurricane Sandy hit NYC and had a devastating impact. My home was fine in Manhattan but thousands of people had their homes destroyed in Queens, Staten Island and New Jersey. Like many others, we collected what we could from neighbours and friends. Things that were needed immediately, like food, blankets and flashlights. I was one of the few people with gas in the car (most gas stations were closed and there was rationing) and so could drive the few miles to deliver relief. In total we managed 5 trips to Queens over the following two weeks. We also managed to cook a full Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings for 100 people in Queens a few weeks later, along with a restaurant in our neighbourhood. Thanksgiving is a huge deal here. A lot of people did the kinds of things we did. I learnt that there were really no limits to what I could do, along with friends, and no one was telling me what I should, or should not, do. There was a need
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and we just got on with it. My earliest memories of this kind of thing come from Holly Hill where we used to help the old folks in a nearby home by getting their groceries for them. Over the years at the JB and then the Senior School we were given many opportunities to help others. I have a vague recollection that one of these efforts was actually called “Others” (?). My last such work was visiting people at the Middlesex hospital in the sixth form. The picture is of Benjamin, my 8 year old, with the Minivan full before a trip. I took the opportunity to let him get started.
Old Gowers Club News Transitus Careers Event The UCS Careers Office is organising an event in the Summer Term for Transitus pupils to speak in small groups about possible career choices. If you are interested in spending a couple hours discussing your profession with UCS pupils, please contact the Development Office.
A Chance Meeting Two former Captains of Monitors, Mark Briegal (OG 1972-79) and Andrew Broomhead (OG 1974-79) met up in November 2012 in Auckland, New Zealand. Mark and Andrew rowed together in the UCS Boat Club and against each other for their respective Cambridge colleges. Andrew, who is based in Hong Kong, had a board meeting in the same hotel as Mark’s wife, Clare. A very convivial meeting of the Old Gower’s (temporary) Auckland Chapter was held by Auckland Harbour.
Barrel Rolling, 1965 sent by Mike Page (OG 1955-60)
Playing about on the Internet, I came across a Pathe News clip from 1965 featuring a barrel rolling race across Hampstead Heath in which 12 Hampstead Pubs took part. A team from the OBRFC represented the William IV and we won by a country mile being far fitter and better prepared than any other team. Sadly, I have been unable to get a copy of the front page photo in the Ham and High but some of us can briefly be seen at the end of the clip as we hold up the prize. Peter Taylor is clearly visible at the front, and his brother Roger, a former 1st XV Captain, may also be seen, particularly if the clip is advanced frame by frame. I appear, rear aspect, helping to hold up the prize. The full team was Roger and Peter Taylor, Colin Morgan (all now sadly deceased), Paul Williams, Ray Pickering and myself. To watch the video, visit http://www.britishpathe. com/video/roll-out-the-barrel or Google “Roll out the barrel British Pathe”.
Dates for Your Diary Please contact the Development Office for further information. Wed 20 February 2013, 6:30-8:30pm Old Gowers Reunion: Oxford Magdalen College Wed 27 February 2013, 6:30pm Old Gowers Annual Dinner UCS Great Hall & Refectory Wed 5 June 2013 World War II Reunion UCS Junior Branch Thurs 13 June 2013, 6:30pm The Headmaster’s Summer Drinks UCS Senior School
The Development & Alumni Office Contacts: Carrie Reiners, Director of Development Sabrina Cargill-Greer, Alumni Officer Telephone: 020 7433 2310 Email: oldgowers@ucs.org.uk Facebook: facebook.com/UCSOldGowersClub Twitter: twitter.com/OldGowers LinkedIn: Search for the “Old Gowers” group at LinkedIn.com
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SPRING TERM EVENTS The following events will take place during the spring term, and current and former parents, Old Gowers and friends of the School are most welcome to attend. Please contact the box office on 0207 433 2219 to book tickets for music and theatre productions. Wed 6 February – Fri 8 February The Importance of Being Earnest directed by Christopher White Lund Theatre 19:00 Mon 18 February – Friday 22 February UCS Half-Term Wed 27 February Old Gowers Annual Dinner Refectory & Great Hall 18.30 Sat 2 March UCS Fashion Show Great Hall 18.30
College sChool 2012 volUme
Tue 5 March – Thur 7 March Year 6 Productions of Twelfth Night directed by Jason Thomas Lund Theatre 19:00 Sat 9 March Salsa for India Great Hall 19:30
issue 43 September 2012
issue 42 May 2012
the newsletter of University College School
the newsletter of University College School
lvi –i
The Crucible
This sparse and stylishly minimalist production allowed the drama to speak for itself.
Ruling England
Aiming HigHer
growth FlaMes, sustainable Mountain Peaks, olyMPic
The Phoenix School’s Guide
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Thur 14 March Chamber and Instrumental Concert Great Hall 19:00 Wed 20 March JB Parents’ Guild Quiz Night JB Hall Thur 21 March Spring Concert Great Hall 19.30
Tue 12 Mar Tea Time Concert Lecture Theatre 17:00
FROG NAL FROG NAL
GOWER
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the magazine of University
Mon 4 March Parents’ Guild Quiz Night Great Hall
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online editions Would you prefer to receive your subscription to Frognal and The Gower online? Electronic editions of all UCS publications are available online and can be emailed directly to you. We would be happy to update your subscription; please email oldgowers@ucs.org.uk to make your request.
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University College School, Frognal, Hampstead, London NW3 6XH