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House Reports 11 (1968-69)

HOUSE REPORTS (1968-69)

ABBOTS HOUSE REPORT.

What remains in the memory of the 1968/69 House competition and in particular of the Abbots House effort? One small but persistent thought is that only ten points in over 500 separated Abbots from the second house. Ten points! Were ten points lost needlessly during the year! "Several times, is the answer and mainly because of a lack of effort over small organisational details. Ultimately the house competition becomes insignificant in the larger life which has to be pursued when schools have been left far behind, but at the time it provides opportunities for responsibility, organisation and participation and these certainly help to train and equip one for the future. So make the best of this time and above all, make the little bit of effort that is needed to do a thing well.

A good team, well led by Crombie, started the competition in great style. by winning the Middle House Rugby. The senior side also tried mightily but as it contained few practising rugby players it made little progress against the other, more skilful teams. At Badminton the prospects of at least a second place seemed good but an unavoidable absence for a critical match relegated the team to third place although Smith again had an excellent competition. The Performance of Hardinges, backed up loyally but not always too certainly by volunteers, gave the house a well earned second place in the gymnastics event.

The advent of Drama again saw second place taken by the house play. D. Allen produced this and also found himself taking a leading part at very short notice, both of which he did very well. R. King's character acting was of the excellent standard we have come to expect from him and Harrad completed a good "Darby and Joan" team. There was certainly plenty of enthusiasm from the rest of the cast who obviously enjoyed themselves and showed an unexpectedly good knowledge of London's stations. The house supplied the two best speakers in the speech contest, both Wilkins (Junior, prepared) and R. Allen (Middle, unprepared) setting new standards of performance for this contest. The overall result was again a disappointing third and again it was lack of entries in the Literary section which was responsible. Surely over 150 boys can do a little better than this?

The basketball team was unlucky! It is very popular these days to blame lack of success on bad luck but it was so in this case. When leading in an assured manner against Bec the game was stopped due to the slipperiness of the gymnasium floor and in the replay our star player, Roscoe, was absent ill and it was narrowly lost so that eventually a good team had to be content with third place. The three cross-country races resulted in two seconds and a fourth. The turn-out for standard points was quite good and here must be mentioned non-runner R. King's effort in the Senior race where he finished with only one shoe but still well up in the list. This was considered to be one of the pluckiest performances seen on the Haste Hill course in any year In the senior. Kirke was first. Arkey seventh, Attfield eighth, and Purchase ninth. In the middle Crombie was ninth whilst in the Junior, a first year boy. Barber, was second. Later the Junior Rugby team was narrowly pushed into third place after first drawing with the eventual winners and showing a lot of promise.

Swimming was again a strong feature. Backed up by a first class standard points entry, and this despite the flu epidemic, our team won the Junior and Middle contests and was second in the Senior. Our captain Lewis was again outstanding whilst the Thomas brothers, Hale and Bohling were well to the forefront. The music competition proved disappointing and it is certain that the musical talent in the House was not fully used.

In the summer the only first was provided by the Middle House Cricket team with Rowe playing a major part in a good team effort. The seniors were second in their section, Orchard being very successful, but the Juniors were overwhelmed and left firmly fourth despite their enthusiasm. In the Athletics again there was good support for the standard points section and the House did well, coming joint third in the Seniors, second in the Middle and third in the Junior. Collinge, Dimmock, Aldred, Kingston, Hardinges and Veal (three events) were all individual winners.

Well done all those who participated even if only as spectators. Thank you and good luck to Attfield and Collinge, both of whom put in a lot of work and enthusiasm for the House. Now let us consider how each of us can participate in this year's competition to get our House back to its rightful position-first!!

M. B. CHETTLEBOROUGH

BEC HOUSE REPORT.

Bec won the House Championship, for the first time since 1958-59, in convincing style, being more than a hundred points clear of the nearest rival.

The most rewarding aspect of the year was the tremendous spirit and enthusiasm in the House which led to Bec holding an almost unassailable position at the end of the Spring term. While it is reasonable to say that we had our fair share of talent in most competitions, the real reason for success was the drive and initiative shown by pupils in all sections of the House. This is typified by the Basketball competition which we won through pure determination, with possibly the weakest team in the competition.

While emphasising that success was due to the combined efforts of the House, certain individuals must be mentioned for their excellent performances in certain sections of the House competition. These include J. Haselock (Producer of the winning inter-House play), D. Hughes and N. Drinkwater (Individual Champions in the Swimming Gals), G. Lowe (successful Junior cricket captain), S. Lowe (successful Middle cricket captain). I. Ward (for cross-country running) and C. Downing (for rugby and athletics).

Finally we should like to record thanks to S. Dennis and M. Tolliday, House Captain and Vice-Captain respectively for their hard work and leadership in house affairs. We now look forward to another successful competition this year.

D. DIXON, A. M. HUGHES

KEVERE HOUSE REPORT

Kevere's second position in the house competition was probably an accurate reflection of its abilities, though the margin of defeat was perhaps greater than it should have been. Partly through misfortune, and partly through overconfidence and slackness on the part of a few individuals, we did not always do ourselves justice, for example in the senior basketball and athletics. In the latter we were finally represented by only four boys (who nevertheless did extremely well),

However, we did win both the Senior Rugby and Cricket, in the former achieving a notably high standard of play in the exciting "final" against Bec. The very strong Middle Athletics team duly won their competition, producing several records. The Juniors won both Rugby and Cross Country and the valuable contribution of the first year boys in these events augured well for the future.

No other firsts were gained, but a high standard was often achieved, as in the Junior Cricket and Athletics, Middle Cross Country, Badminton, and the Music, Drama and Literary competitions. In the Cross Country and Music competitions the value of the standard point was shown and it is a healthy sign that we do not depend entirely on our "stars". In congratulating all who took part let us hope that more "average" competitors will try to attain a high standard next year.

In what is essentially a "team effort", it is perhaps invidious to single out individuals, but several boys merit praise. Sports Day produced two outstanding "doubles" for our middle athletics, B. M. Johnson winning the mile and half-mile and K. Atwater winning the 100 and 220 yards. Exhibiting exceptional loyalty to the house, R. I. Wickison hitch-hiked down from the Fens and broke the School Javelin record. J. R. W. Hall (junior) and J. P. Checkley (senior) showed great all-round ability, with perhaps their most valuable contributions being to rugby. C. M. Marton did well to win the Junior Cross Country race. On the cultural front. R. E. Benfield (middle) and A. D. Crawford (senior) won their respective literary competitions, and their outstanding entries are included elsewhere in this magazine. Finally, we must mention the House Committee A. Sanderson, L. T. Parsons, J. K. Miller and J. W. New - as well as R. L. Pikesley, who produced the House Play, It was most comforting to the House Masters to know that the organisation for the various events was in capable hands, and the smooth running of the House owes much to their efforts.

Bec are to be congratulated on deservedly winning his year's competition. but next year we hope that the positions will be reversed.

E. A. COX. I. R. CLARKSON

KING'S HOUSE REPORT

We had hoped to finish higher in the Championship table this year. However, we have some successes to report, and the interest and enthusiasm of many members of the House encourages us all to hope for better results in the coming year.

In Gymnastics we were decisively first, with D. Infante as the individual champion, and we again won the Badminton competition with a strong team led by G. Smith and I. Summerhayes. Our Rugby teams played very keenly. The Junior XV, ably led by B. Nash, finished second, beating Abbot's in a close game and Bec by a convincing margin. The enthusiasm of the Basketball team, led by C. R. Pooley, deserved better reward: against Bec, for example, we lost only by the first point to be scored in extra time.

Unfortunately, we have few musicians; those we have did their best, as did our participants in the Literary and Drama competitions.

Our Seniors amply demonstrated the value of the standard points scored by the "average athlete". The Sports Day scores of Abbot's, Kevere and ourselves were almost equal but we were able to take second place with a good margin of "standards". It was disappointing that this example was not followed by our Middle Cross Country runners to back up the excellent win by K. Harris and the other three places we had in the first twelve. The turnout in Senior Cross-Country was very encouraging, and M. Drake, R. Knowles and A. Lovett ran well.

More decisive batting would have helped us to a better result in Senior Cricket. Our third place in the Middle Competition should not hide the fact that we had a very keen and competent team, including six players from the School Junior XI. These younger players were beaten by the greater experience of the fourth form players in the other Houses, but they should do well next year.

Our Juniors competed keenly throughout the year, with modest success. Mention should be made of B. Nash, who was individual champion in Group 2 of the swimming competition.

The House expressed its appreciation at Christmas of the work done by Mr. Everest and Mr. Wilson, who retired as Housemasters, and thanks were given to G. Smith, the retiring House Captain. For the remainder of the year R. Harris gave valuable service as Captain, assisted by K. Smith as Vice Captain. We are grateful to them and the many Seniors who helped in the running of House activities during the year. A good atmosphere prevails and we hope for greater all-round success next year.

R. E. SLINN, J. E. BOOTH

1969 School Magazine

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