Guy Edwin Bostock came up to Dryden House in 1909 at the age of 15. During his first school year, he appears in a photograph amongst ten Fourth and Fifth Formers from Dryden House. Of those ten, seven would be killed in the war.

Guy Bostock was born in 1894, in Stafford, the second of three brothers who all served in the war. His two brothers were both twice wounded but survived, Guy Bostock was not so fortunate. He left Dryden in July 1913 after a glittering school career. He won a maths prize in his first year and a drawing prize in 1911. In that year, he helped Dryden win the house rugby competition, playing in the front row.

He was notable as an oarsman, as befitted Dryden boys in that era. Their Housemaster, Llewellyn Jones, had founded the school boat club in 1886 and had been in charge of school rowing for 23 years when Guy Bostock arrived in the House. He was described as having lots of potential, but one deficiency as a rower. The Laxtonian sports correspondent reported: “Bostock has a good swing and works well but is very clumsy”. In his last year at Oundle, he was Head of House, a School Prefect and Captain of Boating (shown standing on left in photo below). He also won a scholarship to Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

There, he showed his considerable ability as an oarsman, rowing in the University Trial VIIIs, but his Cambridge career, so full of promise, lasted just one year. In September 1914, he took a commission in the Royal Munster Fusiliers as Lieutenant, being promoted to Captain in October 1915. He was killed at Loos on January 30th 1916, having been in France just six weeks and was buried at Mazingarbe. His commanding officer wrote, “We deplore the loss of a gallant soldier, a good friend, and a very honourable gentleman.”

Guy Bostock was killed just days before his 22nd birthday.

C Pendrill
Yarrow Fellow
 

On Tuesday 26 January, the French Society hosted Dr John Leigh from the University of Cambridge, to speak on Figaro. This event, well attended by History pupils as well as Modern Language pupils, outlined why the character of Figaro – whether in the original Beaumarchais plays, or in the adaptations by Mozart, Rossini and others – helped to cause the French Revolution. The conclusion was that the performance of the play had gained more symbolic power than the character himself offered. While the play itself is rebellious and controversial, the event of performing Figaro became a focus for revolutionary sentiment.

Dr Leigh referred to the various appearances of the character of Figaro, including the adoption of his name by France's longest-running newspaper, and showed how illustrations in 18th century books depicted the change in status and attitude of servants such as Figaro in the run up to the time of the Revolution. 

Ending on an amusing note, Dr Leigh played a rendition of Figaro by the cartoon characters Tom and Jerry, providing contrast to the more accustomed high culture. Several students who are researching the revolution were delighted by the opportunity to talk with Dr Leigh after the lecture.

On the 20th of January, eight Digital Leaders, with Mr Barnes and Mr Cunniffe, went to visit BETT 2016 at the ExCel centre in London, an annual showcase for the latest in educational technology. A lot of well-known multinational companies, including Apple, Microsoft, Dell, Google, and Intel present their state-of-the-art products at the show.

The Digital Leaders’ mission was to find the most interesting and potentially useful software or hardware that would add value to learning at Oundle School. Not an easy task; we had a lot to choose from.

Some of the exhibitors’ products did seem to be shoe-horned into the education market rather than having been built for purpose. For instance, Microsoft’s brand new 84” touch screen with built-in computer was an impressive example of this, quoted at circa £18,000.
The most interesting products were often presented by smaller companies, for example, the revision app Gojimo. Some of the companies that the School is already working with also presented their new features, including iBoss, iSAMS, Firefly and Parents Reception Booking system.

This year BETT opened a new part of the exhibition called BETT Futures, designed to promote 30 educational start-ups, and bring them to a wider audience. In addition to the exhibition, there was a speakers’ programme where a lot of interesting speakers presented their thoughts on the use of IT in education. The most interesting were Mr Salman Khan, the founder of Khan Academy, and Dr Ellen Stofan, the chief scientist of NASA. BETT also provided a platform for politicians, the highlight being the Rt Hon Nicky Morgan, Secretary of State for Education.

It was fascinating to spend an afternoon immersed in this investment-hungry tech expose, and think about the services and products on offer from a different point of view. Each Digital Leader has been charged with writing a one-sheet report on a product they discovered at the exhibition. It will be interesting to see if any of the products identified by the Digital Leaders will become part of Oundle School’s developing digital ecosystem.

Nikita Belenkov (S)
 

This year’s Hepburn Competition saw 334 musicians participate in performances that spanned two weekends, culminating in the Grand Final on Sunday with 15 soloists.

If anyone doubts the value of a competition, do come to the music department a few weeks before such an event. Oundle buzzed with the sound of practice, as pupils made use of every nook and cranny in the department and beyond, in the boarding houses.

Of note this year was the camaraderie among the Lower Sixth pupils who could be heard supporting one another, performing to each other and offering constructive feedback, in spite of competing against one another. The standard in all classes was genuinely commendable and offered testimony to the superb teaching that goes on in the department on a daily basis, including the accompanists who worked with the musicians before and during the competition: Madoka Maxwell, Ben Smith, Alec Hone, Anthony Kerr-Dineen, Malcolm Smith and Quentin Thomas.

The Final encompassed the full variety of talent that Oundle possesses. A drum kit solo sat alongside the Mozart slow movement for harp and flute, Satriani on electric guitar was performed, as well as Tarrega on classical guitar, and Glazunov's ‘Elegie’ for viola sat in stark contrast to Say's ‘Paganini Jazz’ on the piano.

Fifteen finalists impressed with flawless and stunningly musical renditions, and it would be unfair to single out any pupil other than those winners as determined by the adjudicator, John Moore, Director of Music at Shrewsbury. In summary, he offered a thought-provoking delivery about music technology and the role of every musician in determining the future of music. He raved about Oundle's musical prowess and commended the incredible and invigorating work that is so palpably evolving.

Ultimately, given the standard across the evening, he was looking for performances that went beyond the music - that communicated and touched him. He commended George Cobb (L) who sang Schonberg's ‘Why God, Why’, and Bethany Peck (L) who performed Jacob's trombone concerto. Mr Moore felt compelled to share the Tatum Cup (2nd prize) between Molly-May Keston (Sn), who sang Menken’s ‘The Life I Never Had’, and Sam Rees who wooed the audience with stylish and evocative classical guitar, performing Tarrega’s ‘Capricho Arabe’.

The winner was a performer who oozed musicianship, total command and created awesome levels of atmosphere and aura. Performing from memory, Rebecca Baker-Munton (D) played floor toms and vibraphone with two contrasting works by Zivkovic and Schmitt.
 
Our eminent adjudicators included Mark Messenger (Professor Royal College of Music), Thomas Carroll (Professor Royal College of Music), Alexander Ardakov (Professor Trinity College of Music), Paul Esswood (one of the world's leading counter-tenors), Paul Saunders (West End music director), Christina Slominska (freelancer with BBC National Orchestra of Wales), and Louis Thorne (guitarist and commercial writer).

Q Thomas

In the first month of the new Quarter, a cast and crew under the direction of Hugo Beazley from St Anthony House brought a production of The History Boys to the stage of the Stahl Theatre.

Capturing the boisterous atmosphere in Alan Bennett’s The History Boys, while also presenting the weighty and profound themes of the play requires a precise sense of balance. Director Hugo Beazley (StA) seemed undaunted by both the subtleties of the play’s tone, and the renowned reputation of the play and movie. The choice of play was particularly astute, allowing the characteristic playfulness of St Anthony boys to be expressed on stage, while also drawing upon parallels and opposites in our own lives.

The History Boys is a comedy about education. The quick-witted intelligence of the boys, all of whom are Oxbridge candidates, is beautifully complemented with the anti-establishment Mr Hector, played by Adam Oliver (St A). The fast-paced dialogue is at times funny, at times heart wrenching, but always beautifully written. The script, which focuses on the use and meaning of language and literature, has a striking craftsmanship which reflects its themes. Tackling issues such as homosexuality and paedophilia in a house play was ambitious, and the fact that the piece maintained its integrity reflects the maturity of the cast.

The 13 actors represented a great range of experience, from Stahl Theatre veterans to new recruits. The resilience and foresight displayed by the cast was particularly impressive, with preparations beginning many weeks before production. Stage crew members, Lorne Inglis (St A) and Joshua Davies (St A), organised the staging under the watchful eye of Lauren King (L), the DSM. Lily Tyler (Sn), recruited to play Mrs Lintott, and Sarah Boyle (L), a wonderfully suggestive secretary, must be lauded for their performances.

Hugo Beazley demonstrated considerable skill as a director and leader, managing the cast with skill and patience, and creating a performance which will forever be remembered as a triumph, both for St Anthony and for the School.

Freddie Wilson (StA)

On Tuesday the 26th January, the Economics Society welcomed Paul Ormerod to Oundle to deliver a lecture on ‘Behavioural Economics.’ The lecture focused on the behaviour of consumers in the 21st century and how economics has adapted and changed in our modern day ‘cyber society’.

With the explosive growth of the internet, there are approximately five billion gigabytes now produced every single day. Mr Ormerod described it as a ‘disruptive’ technology changing the way we think, and changing how businesses operate, as well. He gave the example of Uber Taxi, the world’s largest taxi firm, which actually owns no taxis, something that would have been unthinkable a decade ago.

The merger of the modern cyber-society has had profound impacts on economics, he argued, due to the upset of the core model of Economic Theory. Traditionally, ‘rational agents’ (consumers or businesses) of economics chose independently, based on personal tastes and preferences, and constraints such as income.

Mr Ormerod argued that consumers increasingly now face ‘decision fatigue’ in our cyber society. He pointed out that there are 3500 mid-priced laptops available for consumers to purchase. Consumers no longer have the ability to act like ‘rational economic agents’, as it is much harder to evaluate all of these alternatives. Instead they turn to others with more experience to ask for advice to make their own decisions. ‘Consumers now face a stupendous proliferation of choice, over 10 billion in New York City alone.’ The question now, is how to throw information away? He speculated that when doing a Google search, it is rare that anyone ever looks beyond the first page of results.

Economic theory has also changed due to the price mechanism becoming more sophisticated. For example, Wonga, the loan scheme company, have the ability to do a background search on a person and can then set rates accordingly. The implications of this, is that there is now an ‘overload’ and the preferences of ‘agents’ are now not fixed and agents, therefore, do not always act independently. 

He cited the results of an experiment on ‘the culture of copying’ by Dr Watts at Columbia University. One thousand students were given the choice to play any CD, independently. However, the second time round, when they could see how many times each CD had been chosen, there was a vast reduction in the individual choices that they made, to just a few individual CDs. In behavioural economics, the model of ‘copying’ is influenced by the growth of newly available information.

Mr Ormerod summarised a quotation from John Maynard Keynes: ‘We have, as a rule, only the vaguest ideas of any but the most direct consequences of our acts’. A society of individuals who are each endeavouring to copy, changes the ability for individuals to make judgements.

He concluded that the core of economics, the Economics Theory, remains a powerful explanation in parts of the world, however, the assumptions it makes are becoming questionable, specifically when addressing the internet. As Mr Ormerod remarked:  ‘It is an exciting time.’

Josh Allen (StA)

On Saturday, the 1st XI football team won 6-3 against Loughborough. This was another strong performance, which saw the team continue its recent winning form after a rocky start to the season.

Oundle started the game strongly, with Freddie Howard (S) scoring from a corner inside the first five minutes. However, a defensive lapse after a period of sloppy play from Oundle saw Loughborough level from close range. Nevertheless, the lead was shortly restored by a penalty, after Joe Green (B) was fouled inside the area. From this point onwards Oundle did not give up their lead and scored twice more in the half, with Freddie Howard doubling his tally and Harvey Armstrong (Ldr) scoring the goal of the match, placing the ball into the top corner after a mazy run from left wing. At this point the scoreline perhaps belied the nature of the match, having been a far more even contest than this three goal margin might suggest.

In the second half Oundle were constantly under considerably more pressure, playing into a strong wind. However, a solid defensive performance saw them starve the opposition of chances, albeit frustratingly allowing two consolation goals late in proceedings after Denis Valkov (S) had scored off the bench and Freddie Howard had rounded off an extremely impressive hat trick.

The 1st XI hockey team continued competing in their goal-scoring vein, with Freddie Johnsrud (Ldr) always being a nuisance to any oncoming defenders. Still, they remained vulnerable at the back, leaking in more goals, leaving the score 4-3 to Bedford.

Oundle 1st VI played a triangular tournament on Saturday against Ratcliffe and Repton.  Their first match was against Ratcliffe. Oundle began strongly and through fluid play, particularly in the attacking half of the team quickly pulled away to leave the score after 8 minutes at 8-4 to the mighty whites. The shooters (Ellie Joseland (N) and Dora Nicolle (W) continued in this strong fashion to extend the lead in the second third to 15-9.  In the final third the team continued to work hard and put strong passes together to ensure the ball travelled safely to goal, with some great work being done by Flo Garnett (D) and Hebe Hughes (K).  The final score was a pleasing 20-11 to Oundle.

Oundle’s next fixture was against Repton, who we knew would be some of our hardest competition all season. Oundle came out fighting and through great defensive pressure from Mairi Donaldson (N) and Izzy Myers (Sn) were able to keep Repton at bay, leaving the score at the end of the first quarter 5-5.  Knowing that this game would be extremely tight, spurred Oundle on to keep our work rate up for as long as possible.  With Repton being very tall across the court, both the Oundle attack and defence had to work extremely hard to “get free” to receive the ball.  With the mid court play being ever consistent, there was still nothing between the two sides. Going into half time, the score was 10-10.

In the second half, a couple of Repton turnovers meant that the Oundle defence were constantly under pressure, as every goal was extremely important.  Ruby Goodall (L) was settling into a new position of WD nicely and was helping the defensive effort effectively.  Unfortunately the third quarter ended 13-16 to Repton.  Going into the final quarter, Oundle were beginning to tire, but with good work being put in by the team, they were able to keep the game extremely close right until the end.  The attack players relentlessly caused Repton problems, with Anna Hodgkinson (N) giving great feeds to the shooters.  However, when the final whistle came, the score was 17-22 to Repton. 

Overall this was a very encouraging day of netball, and great preparation for the Regional Tournament on Saturday. Players of the matches were Dora and Ellie for their excellent shooting throughout both matches, even when under great amounts of pressure.

The 4ths faced Rugby losing a real nail-biter, 29-26. Losing tight fixtures has been theme for the 4ths this season.

The 1st fives, consisting of Tom Barlow (S), Charles Rogers (S), George Marshall (Sc ) and Jeremy Manger (L), secured a comprehensive victory over Merchant Taylor's. Having had some close fixtures with this school for the past few years, the team was expecting a tough afternoon, yet a clean sweep win of the first round of singles set the tone for the rest of the fixture, which finished with a score of 148-33 in favour of Oundle, with not a single game lost in singles or doubles. Particularly impressive was the way that the team adapted to the Merchant Taylor's courts. Fives courts often vary dramatically in terms of bounce and pace, yet this didn't seem to faze the team at all, which bodes well for the rest of the season, as many of the games to come are away fixtures.

The U14 netball B team played The Ratcliff A side. After their heavy defeat last weekend, the team bounced back very well, winning by a comfortable margin, and playing some excellent netball. As the scoreline shows, Bella Riley-Smith (D) and Lottie Foreman (L) proved to be a fortress against a visiting Ratcliff side. The final score finished 23-4, an emphatic victory.

The U14D team had a fixture against the Radcliff B team, winning 31-12. Player of the match was Jasmine Tai (D), who had recently been promoted from the E team, however she proved a force to the opposition, intercepting many balls.

The U14E team had a very successful match against Repton School, winning 15-5. Flora Galzebrook (D) proved the difference between the two sides, scoring 13 of the 15 goals.

The girls Squash 1sts played a fantastic fixture against Stamford Junior boys. They are always a strong opposition to play, and the girls had the pleasure of their first ever victory against them. The overall score was 3-2 to Oundle, with special mention to Olivia Groom (N), Lucy Baker-Cresswell (K)  and Eilidh Smith (N) who all won their games.

On Tuesday 26th the boys 1st V played against Stamford. Stamford did not disappoint, exhibiting their customary high standards, while Oundle were one player down due to injury. Despite valiant efforts from all, Oundle lost the fixture 1-4. Dylan Martens maintained focus against a rather irate opponent, winning 3-1.

On Thursday 28th Oundle had another fixture against Oakham away. In light of a run of losses, the team showed admirable resolve, but their toils continue to produce unsatisfactory results. Oundle lost 1-4. Dylan Martens did the job at no 1, winning 3-0.

Oundle’s badminton club played Bedford away in a boys match. Unfortunately, the away side had trouble fielding first choices, but as always there were some willing stand-ins. Special mention should go to Winnie Liu (W), who stepped in at the very last minute. The second team put in a particularly good performance, and it was pleasing to see a lot of effort put in by the players, many of whom were playing their first match this season. There were a number of close matches, so perhaps the result could have been significantly different, but it shows that a significant effort was put in by both sides to compete for the win. It was a good performance, and Bedford deserved the win.      

The swimming team participated in a tournament at Kimbolton against the Leys, Bishop’s Stortford College and Kimbolton. After some excellent swims, Oundle convincingly won with a sturdy 93 points. This was 11 points ahead of the runner-up, Kimbolton. Swimmers of the match went to Sonia Paramonova (D) and Linus Lam (S), with other fantastic swims from James Alley (G) and James Fulcher (C).

Doug Russell (Ldr)

The Berlin trip is one of the few at Oundle that is run because of sheer necessity. It is difficult to do anything more than blunder through the modern world without an awareness of the recent past. However, whether it was this or the near-mythic status that the trip has acquired over the years that led to eighty or so Oundelians setting off for the German capital, I cannot say. The Berlin trip provides a harsh physicality to studying the Holocaust and the Cold War, that a comfortable, well-heated classroom can hardly convey. This was evident from the onset, as the city’s hulking industry made itself felt in towering construction sites and concrete Bauhaus buildings. However, this was only one side of the city, and though much of modern Berlin follows in the utilitarian mould of soviet-occupied East Germany, an older Prussian world was still tangible behind it.

On foot and on the efficient public transport, we visited a combination of tourist and off-the-beaten-track sites, each with its own ambience. The mist-enveloped Tiergarten of the first morning had a ghostly element to it, evoking its WWII obliteration. The trip to the Reichstag found us overlooking the city’s majestic night skyline, finally understanding how all the places we had visited during the day fitted together to make Berlin. In fact, many of the trip’s more dramatic moments took place in the half-light: walking between the giant tomb shapes of the Jewish memorial, looking over the ‘bridge of spies’, a view seen by many prisoners returning to the East or West in the Cold War. Visiting sites of resistance to the Nazis, or rather where it was brutally crushed, did something to help our dwindling faith in humanity. Walls covered in the faces of those who had stood up to Hitler, beside stories of how they and those they knew were tortured and killed, formulated a question about standing up to dictatorship. The glorious, heroic idea that we would never have let the Nazis do what they did had we been there, slowly faded. We had just an inkling about life under terror (this time the Soviets) when we visited the Stasi museum. For most of us, this was enough for our self-preservation instincts to kick in.

The acknowledged climax of the trip was the visit (for want of a better word) to Sachsenhausen, the Nazi, and later Soviet, concentration camp. After spending our lunchtimes in the busy Christmas markets, this was certainly a sobering experience. As we went through the camp, people slowly began to fall silent. It was the smaller details that made the difference: being told about the human skin lampshades, the bedding of human hair, seeing the crude but powerful graffiti. Not infrequently, pity turned to nausea and some felt their ability to dwell on ‘man’s inhumanity to man’ a little tested. Certainly, it was grim history and felt rather like the intellectual equivalent of taking medicine, but, to return to my beginning, it was necessary. There was a recurring comment: ‘I don’t understand.’ We were faced with the seemingly incomprehensible. Either way, understanding or bewilderment, there was the sense of looking into the void.

That, however, was not what I took away from the Berlin trip. Behind every reminder of terror and mortality, there was an insistence that we should enjoy every moment of our lives. It was more a lesson in appreciation than lamentation. Although the time on the clock tower over Sachsenhausen has been stopped, showing that the era is over, the Berlin trip was a reminder of just how quickly our own time is slipping away.

Isabella Wythe (W)
 

The latest Economics Society meeting had the pleasure of welcoming Alison Lynch to talk about the UK tax system. In 2009, Mrs Lynch founded and headed one of the largest Research and Development (R&D) tax relief specialist firms, before selling it in 2014. She now runs an even larger tax consultancy firm, Abbey+.

Her talk focused on the different taxes that the government levies, and how the revenue is collected from both the consumer and the manufacturer. She illustrated what could have otherwise been quite a dry topic with examples ranging from Jaffa Cakes to Cornish Pasties.

She then discussed the moral issues surrounding legal tax avoidance, a topical issue given the controversy with multinationals such as Starbucks, Google and Facebook. She drew a distinction between aggressive tax avoidance used by firms such as PwC, which use contrived loopholes in the law, and genuine schemes to reduce taxes.

Her final points were on the antithesis of tax, subsidies. Her current work  focuses on identifying R&D grants for a variety of different companies, including relatively low tech manufacturing firms, as the scheme is  applicable to ‘any research done to improve a process or improve efficiency’.

Anthony Orr (F)

‘What feature is possessed by angiospermophytes but not by coniferophytes?’

This was one of the many formidable questions we faced in the British Biology Olympiad, sponsored by the Royal Society of Biology. Open to sixth formers around the world, the Olympiad consists of two 50 question papers. The questions on these papers are not the type that spring to mind when one thinks ‘biology exam’.

Instead of being asked to label a plant cell, we were challenged with questions that contained words we had never even heard of, on topics we had never specifically studied, but that require a holistic understanding of biology.

Unlike so many exams today, rote learning of the syllabus was not required; in fact, the Olympiad is not even confined to a syllabus. We were challenged and stimulated by questions from every corner of Biology, and that is what makes the Olympiad such a rewarding experience.

Oundle had many medallists this year - 19 was a record. Three of us achieved Gold, placing us in the top 6.6% of the 7200 students who participated. Many thanks must go to our teachers for enabling us to take part, and helping us to develop the understanding and knowledge that allowed us to succeed and to secure invitations to the awards ceremony at the Royal Institution this summer.

Emilia Broadbent (L)
 

Last week the UN Inspector came to town… or did he?!

David Farr’s contemporary spin on Gogol’s The Government Inspector relocates the action to an undisclosed nation, formally part of the Soviet Union. Hilarity ensues when the President and his aides desperately conspire to keep embezzled IMF loans, election rigging and general political unrest form Martin Remmington Gammon, who is believed to be the much-feared UN Inspector. The joke is of course that Gammon is not the official that that they think, but a former employee of Foxtons estate agents!

The production, which was deftly directed by Matt Burlington, featured some glorious swan-songs and some thrilling debuts. Tom Younger (G) and Adam Oliver (StA), both gracing the Stahl stage for the final time, gave two power-house performances as Martin Gammon and the President respectively. They showed great rhetorical skill and expert comic timing.

Making an equally impressive impact on the production were the first appearances of Minty Kunzer (N) and Sunny Woodend (N). Kunzer as the much-maligned Sammy, Gammon’s side-kick, gave an impressively inventive depiction of the character. Her diminutive stature underlining the absurdity of the President’s assumption that she was the UN Inspector’s Head of Security. Sunny Woodend gave an almost too real portrayal of the image obsessed Maria (daughter of the President). Her adolescent hair-flicks and unflinching disrespect for her parents were both wonderfully familiar and very funny.

But, as always, it was the strength of the ensemble playing which made this a truly special evening of theatre. The whole cast had such a fine understanding of this wordy, satirical text that they were able to communicate all of the plot-line’s twists and turns with machine gun-like pace and accuracy. 

As one generation of Stahl stars pass the baton to the next generation, it is heartening to see that the future of theatre at Oundle is in capable hands.

N Jones
 

On Tuesday members of the swimming team headed to Uppingham, where an excellent all-round team performance meant that Oundle won convincingly. The team was excellent both in the pool when swimming, and out of the pool when supporting. Special mention must go to James Alley (G) for setting a new school record in the U18 50m butterfly with a time of 28.10 seconds.

Also on Tuesday, the 1st and 2nd squash V played against Uppingham at home. The 1st V were unlucky to lose 1-4. Given a fraction more fortune, the score line could have been closer. Kieran Marray (L) lost in five games, however both players were practically crawling off court by the end of the match, such was the intensity. Dylan Martens (L) showed consistency in winning 3-0.

The 2nd V was a mixed team, as the standard of the girls squash is particularly strong this year. Daisy Stanton (W) seemed to be on court all afternoon after a marathon win in five games. The Uppingham depth of standard was better than ours at the end of the day, and they won 1-4.

Later in the week the girls squash 2nd team had a challenging fixture against Rugby School 1sts. Despite some very close games, with the Oundle girls playing to a high standard, the fixture was lost 0-6.

On Saturday the 1st XI hockey team travelled to Worksop. In a fiercely contested game, Worksop found a gap in the Oundle defence 20 minutes in and scored a goal from a short corner. Charlie Field (Sc) used some of his magic to weave past their defence and score an equalizer. Miles Aubrey (C) scored the second goal, again set up brilliantly by Charlie Field. In the latter stages of the second half, fatigue set in and Oundle conceded a goal, finishing the game 2-2.

The fives team competed in the Fives National U25s championship, hosted by Oundle. Results were mixed, with several matches won in both the main draws and the plate competitions, but ultimately there was no victory for the Oundle side. However, the tournament was nonetheless a very positive event, as it allowed the team to play some of the best players in the country, and there was a marked improvement in all the players throughout the week, to the extent that Jeremy Manger (L) and Tom Barlow (S) only narrowly lost by 4 points to last year's U18 nationals finalists, a significant achievement and one that is very encouraging for the season to come. Credit must go to the whole team for their significant effort throughout the weekend, and for their victories against tough opposition.

The badminton 1st team played against Rugby. The scores were even going into the last section of the fixture, but Winnie Liu (W) and Cheah Teck Chow (Ldr) showed some resolve, winning all of their games and Oundle won the fixture by two points.

The Netball Club reported a strong win from the 4th team, which played Kimbolton and won 30-11. They played very well as a team, especially considering the miserable weather on Saturday. The U14F team also played against Kimbolton, and won 10-5. They later played against Rugby and drew 5-5.

Dylan Martens (L)

On Friday 5 February, the whole Third Form set off just after dawn on 20 different Trivium Trips - Trippium - around the country.  Among destinations far afield, pupils explored the history and architecture of London, the libraries, colleges and ancient printing presses of Oxford, the fine art, controversies and quadrangles of Cambridge, the mediaeval strongholds and cathedrals of Lincoln and Coventry, alongside modern exhibitions, debates about Kafka and piles of weaponry. Other groups closer to home toured the historic centres of Stamford and Uppingham, and one group even ended up in prison - a planned stop, of course!  

Trippium is the annual day trip for all Trivium sets, where each group of 10 pupils and their teacher goes somewhere different, with carte blanche to explore something interesting in the UK, linked to their current extension topic.

Pupils reported having their eyes opened to myriad hidden corners of culture, and thrived on the challenge to take a photo representative of their trip - a competition to which there were over a hundred pupil entries from the 20 different locations, three of which were selected by the School Photographer to feature here: Lincoln Cathedral by Will Stairs (L); Trinity College, Oxford by Charles Jackson (G); Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge by Oliver Fiddes (C).   

W Gunson 

This year’s Oundle Lecture will be delivered by Mr Edward Troup (B 1972), who will talk about “Tax, war and democracy: a perspective on the current politics of taxation”.

Mr Troup is the Tax Assurance Commissioner and second Permanent Secretary at HMRC. Reporting directly to the Chief Executive, Mr Troup is responsible for shaping tax policy and strategy and is the Head of Profession for Tax. He also oversees and provides assurance of large tax settlements by working with the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Over the last 20 years he has worked directly with Kenneth Clarke, Gordon Brown and George Osborne.

To be held on Thursday 23 June 2016, the lecture will be followed by a formal dinner. Tickets for the combined lecture and dinner are priced at £50 per person.

To purchase a ticket, please send a cheque payable to Oundle School to Dr Bessent. No reservations will be made unless accompanied by payment. Please highlight any dietary requirements, along with a forwarding address.

Dr James Bessent
Sanderson Fellow
Oundle School
Church Street
Oundle
Peterborough
PE8 4EE
E: mjb@oundleschool.org.uk

Rebecca Siddall (L) has won first prize (age 15-16) for her project entry in the National Engineering Competition for Girls, judged by Dr Sarah Peers, Vice President of the Women’s Engineering Society; Professor Louise Heathwaite, Chief Scientific Advisor to the Scottish Government; Nicola Fauvel, Construction Manager EDF Energy.

The competition asked entrants to consider some of the challenges of the 21st century, and create or explain ideas for a solution.

Rebecca looked at the Ebola crisis, and was struck by the disparity in emergency life-saving care available for infected medics working in the field compared to those close to well-equipped urban centres. She developed a system called iMEDIVAC, comprising two units that would be small enough to fit into backbacks and robust enough for emergency delivery by helicopter drop. The units would provide instant isolation for an infected patient, as well as an air filter and hybobaric micro  unit. Rebecca created a website support her project application, which outlines her designs: http://www.imedivac.com.
 
Rebecca’s prize included an individual prize of £500, plus £500 for the School. Rebecca will have the chance to display the concept to experts and the public at the Big Bang Fair at the Birmingham NEC in March. She’s now in the process of making scale models of the unit, and making a film of the project for her stand at the fair.

Part of the prize involves mentoring and networking opportunities with professional women engineers, and she hopes she might have the opportunity to further develop iMEDIVAC.

Twenty-two Sixth Form pupils took part in the 15^th annual trip to the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference this year held in Washington DC over the February Exeat. The AAAS President Dr Geraldine Richmond gave the opening address and developed the theme of the conference, Global Science Engagement, with a focus on international collaboration in science and society. Every year the AAAS Conference never fails to impress, but the announcement of T Cell therapy and the confirmation of gravitational waves made during this year’s conference, was very special, putting the conference in the news across the world.

As in previous years all our pupils found something of significant interest and took full advantage of the interesting range of talks. The science programme included talks on A Problem Shared: Teaming Up to Fight Epidemic Diseases, The CRISPR-Cas9 Genome Editing Revolution and Radiolab – Exploring Big Questions in Science, Philosophy and Human Experience. These these talks were all mandatory, and then pupils were able to select from more than 100 themed symposia on topical themes ranging from I Can’t Hear Myself Think! Noise and the Developing Brain from Infancy to Adulthood, to Search for Dark Matter and Learning from the Ebola Outbreak.

Washington DC is an excellent venue for the conference. For the tourist, it is a cultural treat, with world renowned museums including the Smithsonian Institute. Pupils enjoyed visiting many museums, Arlington Cemetery and the many monuments, including a night tour of Washington.  The pupils were very good company, and made the most of opportunities available to them with a true enthusiasm for and appreciation of the science.

A B Burrows

Ben Curry (S) and his twin brother Tom (G) have been selected to represent the Elite England U18 rugby side. It has been confirmed that Tom has been selected to play against France, in Nantes, and Ben and Tom will both play against Scotland the following week. 

As well as representing Cheshire and North of England at U16s, both were capped for England U16s, Ben with England U16 Saxons and Tom England U16s. Tom was also awarded England U16 Player of Year (The Trevor Watton Cup) in that season.

Oundle has had a rich run of fortune at the Elite England level over recent years. Together with Ben and Tom, Sam Olver and Josh Peters also represented England U18s. All four players have signed professional contracts post Oundle, with Ben and Tom Curry signing for Sale Sharks, and Sam Olver and Josh Peters already fully professional at Northampton Saints.
 

Cecil Hoyle Broadbent came from Rochdale and arrived at School House at the start of Sanderson’s third year as housemaster in 1895.His father, from Stalybridge in Lancashire, managed a branch of the Manchester and Liverpool Bank. Cecil was the fifth of seven children and the third son of his parents’ marriage.

He became a school prefect in his last year and was a member of the rugby XV and the cricket XI. He was elected to a senior scholarship at Oundle in 1898, and confirmed his ability by winning six prizes on Speech Day 1900. Amongst these were a share of the Taylor Exhibition and the Headmaster’s prizes for Greek and Latin prose. He also won a major scholarship in Classics to Trinity College, Cambridge. In his first year there, Oundle’s Cambridge correspondent, writing in the Laxtonian magazine, claimed that Broadbent was “running over inoffensive old ladies and otherwise amusing himself”. Nonetheless, he clearly also applied himself to his studies, winning college prizes and obtaining a first in the classical tripos in 1903.

After Cambridge, he decided to become a schoolmaster. Appointed to Christ’s Brecon in 1903, he moved to Bradford Grammar School three years later. On the outbreak of war, Cecil Broadbent busied himself with the formation of an OTC at Bradford. In November 1914, he obtained a commission in the school’s OTC as Second Lieutenant and nine months later took a commission with the Yorkshire Light Infantry. He was sent to France in September 1915 and served in the trenches near Ypres. By February 1916, he had moved to the Somme area and was in charge of a Brigade Bombing School in Albert, behind the lines. There he was accidentally killed on 1st March 1916 when a mills bomb exploded prematurely while he was acting as instructor.

His Commanding Officer, Major Moorhouse wrote: “He was a most capable officer and had endeared himself to everyone. No loss yet sustained by the battalion – and we have had many – will be as difficult to repair.”

At 34, Cecil Broadbent was one of the older Oundelians to die in the conflict. He left behind a widowed mother.

C Pendrill
Yarrow Fellow
 

Over the weekend, ten pupils joined the 24 Hour Charity Swim challenge in support of The Anthony Nolan Trust. Over the 24 hour period we swam 3,314 lengths, totalling 114,159 metres. This means we crossed the English Channel from Dover to Calais almost four and a half times, which was more than double our original target.

There were always two people in the pool, which meant we individually swam double the amount of time we needed to, but everyone wanted to take on as much of the challenge as possible in the spirit of the event.

This charity is close to my heart, and I am so proud of the team. It is a mark of true friendship that the group were willing to sacrifice their weekend, strength and sanity, in order to support this cause in memory of my father, who passed away in 2013 after undergoing almost twelve years of treatment for blood cancer.

Having set our target for an already considerable amount of £2000, we are so very pleased to have reached over three times that amount, currently £7000, and continuing to rise.

The Anthony Nolan Trust seeks to help people with blood cancer find a suitable, lifesaving match for a bone marrow or stem cell transplant. While about 30% of people in need can find a suitable donor in their family, the other 70% rely on a stranger to save their lives. Anthony Nolan helps that 70% find those matches.

Hugo Beazley (StA)

Early in the morning of 12th February, 41 Third Formers and four teachers set off to Prague for the History Department’s annual trip.

Immediately upon arrival we immersed ourselves in the wondrous history of the beautiful city. As we walked, we saw so many beautiful buildings and glorious architecture. On the first day we saw the Cyril Methodius Church where Heydrich’s assassins met their grim fate, and we saw the crypt where they had slept and eventually died. In Old Town Square we were lucky to climb up the clock tower, which revealed a wonderful view of Prague in the night time.

Castle Konopiste, which we visited on the second day, is just outside Prague and was a home of Franz Ferdinand. The Castle has one of the finest amour and weapon collection in the world, and there is a staggering amount of stuffed animals. Prague was an important home for Franz Ferdinand, his wife and their three children.

We then went to Lidice, a small town outside Prague that was destroyed after Heydrich’s assassination. There are many arguments about whether it was right to assassinate Heydrich. Whilst the assassination showed the Nazis that the Czechs could fight back, it was also very likely to provoke reprisals. Lidice was completely destroyed and is now simply a large area of grass with paths and a museum. Lidice also has a memorial, dedicated to the children who lived in Lidice and died, as well as to all the children who have died in war. In the Nazis’ revenge, all the men were shot and the women sent to concentration camps. Seventeen children were seen fit to be Germanised, and were taken away to live with German families. The remaining 85 children were taken away by truck to a concentration camp. However, the fumes from the trucks were pumped back inside, causing all the children to die. At the end of the war, when the 17 Germanised children were reunited with their mothers, they only spoke German, while the mothers who survived, only spoke Czech.

As we walked down the hill to the memorial, the group fell silent. As Mr Brighton told us the story, no one said a word, we were all listening and looking at the memorial made up of life-size and realistic statues of children, to which the artist had given personalities. There were caring older sisters, holding their little brother or sister, and there was the naughty ones, who seemed to have a cheeky glint in their eyes. Below the memorial, there were little gifts - Barbie dolls and teddy bears, a toy car and a stuffed broccoli, all sodden, left for the children.

As we walked back up the hill, the silence began to break, until the chatter returned to its normal volume. Outside the museum we all were faced with the question about whether it was right to assassinate Heydrich. The group split roughly in half, with those saying yes, that it could not have been known how the Nazis would react, and the act was for a greater cause, necessary to finally defeat the Nazis. The other half concluded that it was never right to do such a thing.

For a city like Prague, so architecturally magnificent and so beautiful, one might think that it has had a similarity beautiful history, that it would not have been home to a man whose death sent Europe spiralling into war, that it hadn’t been the location of an assassination, let alone one that would obliterate a town. Prague seemed fragile and delicate, all its elegant buildings seemed to need protection. The city holds deep secrets and sins, but it is resilient and beautiful.

Alice Broadbent (L)