On Saturday the 1st XI travelled to Oakham looking to continue the strong set of results seen this season after a couple of early losses. They managed to do this in impressive style, completing a convincing 3-0 victory. The first half saw Oundle dominate the early exchanges, creating many chances on goal, albeit without looking entirely convincing in possession. This sustained pressure on the Oakham goal paid off after 20 minutes, when a save from Joe Green's (B) acrobatic effort saw Harry Evett (B) presented with a simple tap-in to open the scoring. Playing with a strong wind meant that Oundle needed to push for a second goal, since things would become more difficult in the second half and with five minutes left, Ben Learoyd (F) converted a one-on-one, having had the ball rolled to him by the opposition keeper in a momentary lapse in concentration. As was expected, the second half was more difficult for Oundle to get a grip on the game, which led to Oakham having more possession and then playing on the counter attack. This tactic was soon rewarded when Tristan Tusa (S) coolly tucked the ball under the keeper to give Oundle a 3-0 lead, which ultimately proved to be unassailable.
 
The 1st VII netball team played against Oakham. After a blistering first half, Oundle were on the back foot with the score at 13-26 to Oakham. Despite some efforts to recover in the final passage of play, it was too little too late, and the final score was 20-38 to Oakham.

The Oundle fives 1st team participated in two fixtures, the first against Bedford Modern School, and the second being the Midlands U18 tournament.

The match against Bedford Modern started strongly, with two comprehensive singles wins by Jeremy Manger (L) and Tom Barlow (S), and although George Marshall (Sc) and Charles Rogers (S) both lost their singles matches, the scores were close (14-16, 11-15). The doubles was a much more comfortable affair, with no Oundle pair losing a match, and thus the final score was 143 points to 90 in favour of Oundle, a winning margin of 53 points.

The Midlands tournament is typically a tough fixture for Oundle, with no wins for a good number of years. This year only Jeremy Manger and Tom Barlow were able to attend, but nonetheless Oundle left the tournament having won the singles and doubles trophies, with the singles final having been between Jeremy and Tom (eventually won by Jeremy 8-11, 11-0, 11-3). Both doubles and singles were won convincingly, with 2 of the doubles games won to love, and very few points lost in the singles. This is a huge victory for the club, especially considering recent poor form at the tournament, and should set the team up nicely for the national tournament in April.

On Sunday 28th February, the Boat Club travelled to Nottingham to compete at the Head of the Trent. Racing over six kilometres in the first division were the WJ18 4x with Alanna Gilmartin (L), Annabel Hickson (N), Lucy James (L) and Anna van de Braak (L). The first few kilometres saw some close racing, with Alanna fighting to hold the fastest stream on a wide and bendy course whilst weaving through and overtaking a number of crews before the first bridge. The final four kilometres saw a great tussle between Oundle and a crew from Trent RC, with Oundle maintaining an impressive level of work to gradually pull away and win their event; they were also the fastest female Quad on the day.

Later in the day the J16 4x with James Duckitt (G), Ollie Chapman (Sc), Zac Freij (L), Cosmo Gimeno Davis (F) raced over four kilometers. They continued their run of impressive performances this year, not only winning their event but placing third in the division, only being beaten by a couple of Eights. The fourth form girls (WJ15 4x+) also competed in their first race of the year, with cox Phoebe Legard (Sn) negotiating a tricky course with confidence.

The final division saw the senior boys competing in quads, with the J16 boys mixed into alternative crew combinations to compete for a second time. The J18 4x came second in  their event and 8th overall in the division with some great steering and leadership from Anthony Orr (F) at bow, the highlight being a close fight with an Elite 4- from Nottingham RC over the second half of the race.

Dylan Martens (L)

On Saturday 5th the 1st VII netball team played against Bromsgrove at home. With it being the final home game of the season, Oundle made sure to start the match with vigour. The defensive unit played particularly well in the first half with some significant plays from Izzy Myers (Sn) allowing a slim lead of 12-10 at half time. Oundle were not complacent having taken an early lead, and some aggressive play was rewarded with some goals from Ellie Joseland (N) and Dora Nicolle (W). The final score was 45-19 to Oundle, and the team was elated at having won their final appearance at home.
Elsewhere in netball events, the U15 lost their match against Bromsgrove 6-23. The U14Ds won against the previously undefeated Bromsgrove 12-11. The U14E won their match 10-6. The U13Cs won their match against Stanford 14-12.

The badminton teams played against Uppingham on Thursday. The 1st team was under pressure with many of the top players absent, but despite some valiant efforts they lost 5-13. The 2nd team enjoyed some more satisfying results with the majority of games in favour of Oundle. Yat Long (G) and Gusty Williams (K) played especially well. The final score was 16-2 to Oundle.

A busy week for the squash club began with an away fixture against Uppingham on Tuesday. The 1st V showed improvements but they lost in a closely fought 3-2. Kieran Marray (L) and Dylan Martens (L) both won their matches in an impressive manner, in particular Kieran, who lost in an earlier fixture against Uppingham. An inexperienced 2nd V struggled against tough opposition, and they lost 1-4. Stephan Coltman-Rogers (Sc) won his match in a thrilling 5 games.

On Thursday the 1st V continued to show improvements when they played against Bromsgrove at home. A much awaited win was secured 4-1 with Felix Morris (B) and Freddie Woodd (B) performing particularly well.

Away from School, Tom Curry (G), who was recently selected to join England Rugby U18s, along with his brother Ben Curry (S), played in a convincing win over Scotland on Sunday. With two tries helping the team to reach 39-15, Tim was named Man of the Match.

Dylan Martens (L)

On the 26th February, three Oundle School chamber music groups went to Chetham's School of Music in Manchester to take part in the National Young String Quartet Weekend, organised by Wigmore Hall Learning. Over the weekend we were treated to coaching sessions, lectures and concerts, as well as some lovely food in the city of Manchester. Oundle School took two string quartets and a clarinet quintet, which joined other string groups from conservatoires and music schools from around the country and Europe, including groups from Chetham's Music School itself.
 
Each group received individual coaching sessions from mentors including Pavel Fischer (ex-Skampa Quartet violinist), Jana Hrabanová (ex-Skampa Quartet violinist), Mark Messenger (Head of Strings at Royal College of Music), and the Carducci Quartet. The coaching sessions allowed us to develop as a string quartet under the guidance of distinguished chamber musicians, and improve our ability to work together. We also were able to attend lectures related to playing, including a lecture about how to tune our instruments as a string quartet - something you would normally not think to be the problem in perfecting your music, and a lecture about how to practise perfectly, given by the esteemed violinist Pavel Fischer.

Each quartet performed in front of the other musicians who joined them over the weekend, and on the final night we were treated to a concert by the Carducci Quartet, one of Europe's top young string quartets.
 
Not only did the lovely weekend allow us to immerse ourselves in music and performance, but it also gave us the opportunity to socialise with other musicians of our age.

Anneka Shah (L)

As part of the town of Oundle initiative during Fairtrade Fortnight (29th February - 13th March) to host Fairtrade breakfasts in restaurants and churches across town, Oundle’s catering department has been considering the School’s Fairtrade policy and has been looking at how to make purchasing decisions based on better prices and fair terms of trade for farmers and producers.

During Fairtrade fortnight, the School community is selling Fairtrade items during break times and using Fairtrade coffee, tea, sugar and other products, including bananas at breakfast and afternoon tea.

House Food Reps are involved in choosing menus with catering staff, and pupils are encouraged to think about their own personal purchasing at break times, as well as ask shops about their Fairtrade policies.

Food Reps met with Oundle’s Fairtrade Council representative, Eleanor Rayden, who talked about the power of Fairtrade and the ethos behind it. Oundle has been recognised as a Fairtrade town for nine years and Mrs Rayden was pleased that the School was joining in the initiative of the fortnight.

The Fairtrade foundation seeks to work directly with producers and companies and seeks to improve understanding and awareness of the need for Fairtrade and Fairtrade products globally. In particular, they consider the idea of a ‘Fairtrade premium’, which is money paid on top of the minimum price for goods, which can be invested for environmental, social or economic development projects. There are nearly 1,200 certified Fairtrade producers across 74 different countries and 1.5 million Fairtrade farmers.

Edward Reginald Spofforth was the only son of Mrs Spofforth of Granville Road, Scarborough. He was born in York early in 1891 and was in School House from 1906 - 08. He joined the 5th Yorkshire Regiment and arrived in France in April 1915. Within a week he fought in the 2nd Battle of Ypres but then came down with scarlet fever and was invalided home for a month, stationed at the regimental depot in Scarborough.

He returned to the front line in January 1916 and was mortally wounded by a trench mortar shell on 2nd March 1916, dying in an hour.

His Commanding Officer wrote to his grieving widowed mother: “Your boy was such a keen soldier that we shall find the gap he leaves in the regiment difficult to fill. The gap he leaves in our hearts will be impossible to fill.”

He was 25 years old at the time of his death, and is buried in the military cemetery at Poperinge, a few miles west of Ypres in Belgium.

C Pendrill
Yarrow Fellow

Second Lieutenant John Young Alexander Line was born in 1895 and came to Laxton House, in January 1910. He played cricket for the XI in the summer of 1914 and won an Exhibition in History to Downing College Cambridge, where his father had also been an undergraduate. He played rugby and rowed for his college but towards the end of his first term, he joined up, taking a commission with his local North Staffordshire Regiment.

He arrived in France in July 1915 and died on 13th March 1916, of wounds received the previous day. He was hit by a sniper, near the old battle site of Neuve Chapelle, where five Oundelians had been killed the previous autumn. He was supervising a ‘work party’ which was draining a trench when he was killed. He was the first of thirty-five undergraduates from Downing College to be killed in the war and was just 20 years old.

John Line was an only child and his grieving parents erected a memorial window in the church in Stone, where John’s father had been the vicar and where his son was born. In the top left of the window are the arms and motto of Oundle School, a tribute to the debt his parents felt they owed to Sanderson and his staff.

C Pendrill
 

This year’s Adventure Awards showed a more academic and intellectual focus than has been seen for some years. The ideas were inspiring and often quite quirky. In total, 40 pupils from 12 groups made it through to the final stages in the selection process.

Six winners were chosen, ranging from a physically and technically demanding trip to the Dolomites, to a politically-inspired journey through London.

The most interesting trip was that organised by Stefan Rogers-Coltman (Sc), George Birks (Sc), and Callum Rough (Sc), who are planning to visit the science museums and centres of Amsterdam by bike. They spoke passionately about immersing themselves in the world of science and outlined in great detail what they hoped to gain from the experience.

All the presentations were impressive, both in their organisation, and the ambition of the pupils. It was encouraging to see so much enthusiasm for making the links between subjects studied at school and interests that will be pursued at university.

Read the full list of awards:

• Adventure Awards 2016

T Harris
 

Oundle and Laxton Junior School observed Climate Week from 7-13 March, hoping to inspire a new wave of action to create a sustainable future.

The high points of the week revolved around the visits of Mike Berners-Lee and Sir Ghillean Prance, former Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Mike delivered the annual Sir Peter Scott Memorial Lecture entitled How can Oundle help create a low carbon world? As well as running seminars and workshops with the pupils, Mike ran one with neighbouring Transition groups and community trusts, including Peterborough, Stamford and Kingscliffe. Sir Ghillean Prance lecture focused on the evidence and ethics of climate change.

There were a series of workshops and assemblies at LJS, and at Oundle School, pupils across all year groups studied various aspects of climate, linking the curriculum from Biology and Geography to Drama and History. There were displays around the School, as well as an energy conservation challenge, and low carbon meals in the boarding and day houses.

The week presented opportunities for staff and pupils to consider climate change and environmental responsibility thinking.

Oundle School already takes its environmental responsibilities seriously, with a robust boiler replacement programme in the pipeline; a policy of retrofitting LED lighting wherever possible, and PIR/absence control; retrofitting new and often above spec insulation whenever possible; and the Buildings department is now leading the way with a “zero to landfill” policy, which the Operations side of the School will hopefully follow soon. The School is also looking at replacing some vehicles with electric ones, and pledges to keep considering new options as they arise.

P Pitcher

On 8th March, a celebration of Oundle music was held in one of Europe’s premier concert venues, the Symphony Hall, Birmingham.

Every member of Oundle School, all 1110 pupils together with staff, parents, former pupils, governors and guests, travelled to Birmingham for a whole School Concert incorporating both the traditional and innovative elements of music at Oundle. Over three hundred and fifty pupil musicians and singers performed with an emphasis on whole School and massed performance, combining string groups, bands, choirs and large ensembles. The whole School was involved in singing Novello’s Keep the Home Fires Burning and Parry’s Jerusalem. 

Oundle pupils last performed in Symphony Hall in 2011 and prior to that in 2006 as part of the 450th celebrations of the founding of the School.

Before the concert began concert-goers were entertained by members of Oundle Brass, who set the tone for what was a hugely enjoyable afternoon. During the interval, percussion ensembles joined forces to entertain in the foyer.

The concert opened with Curnow’s Fanfare and Flourishes, performed by Oundle’s Wind Orchestra. The Chamber Orchestra followed with the first movement from the Jupiter Symphony by Mozart, after which a strings and percussion with choirs from Laxton Junior School and Oundle School performed Adiemus. Schola Cantorum and Chapel Choir sang Coming Home and Sure on this Shining Night respectively.

The first half concluded with Oundle School’s Jazz Orchestras performing a selection of numbers including It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing) by Duke Ellington.

The Symphony Orchestra opened the second half with the first movement from Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No 2 with former pupil and current teacher, James Kirby on piano. Boys from St Anthony House, the winners of the House Part Song competition performed Let it Go from the Disney film Frozen and the event was drawn to a dramatic close with pipers, snares and organ performing Highland Cathedral and the School’s Combined Cadet Force Drumming Corps and CCF Marching Band performing Olympic Spirit.

Click here to view a photo gallery of images from the concert (gallery is at bottom of page).

On Saturday the 1st XI football team played their last home match of the season against Wellingborough, looking to end a recent poor run of form. Unfortunately, this did not end up being the case, with the game ending 2-1 to Wellingborough.

Oundle started poorly, affording Wellingborough a couple of great early chances which only the excellence of goalkeeper Frankie Hunt (Sc) prevented from becoming the opening goal of the match. However, at the third time of asking, Wellingborough finally converted one of their chances, sweeping in from close range to take the lead. 

From this point onwards, Oundle consistently looked the more likely team to score, with Freddie Howard (S) coming agonisingly close, hitting the post with a long range effort. However, in the closing moments of the match, with Oundle having thrown caution to the wind, Wellingborough won a penalty on the counter attack which was duly converted to effectively seal the contest. Denis Valkov (S) managed to pull a goal back in the last play of the match, providing a tidy finish when presented with a one-on-one with the keeper.

This was another disappointing result for the 1st XI, and a run of form which the team will be looking to reverse in coming fixtures.

The 1^st XI hockey started confidently against Stamford, perhaps too confidently and the first 10 mins were based on defending. However, with a short sharp break, Freddie Johnsrud (Ldr) proceeded to calmly weave through the entire Stamford defence with ease and in typical style, leave the goalie behind him on the ground, and push the ball into the goal, 1-0. Stamford were not giving up easily, and were quick to push an already exhausted, dehydrated Oundle defence. The combination of scrappy Oundle play and Stamford luck brought the score to 1-1. Not a moment later, skipper Charlie Field (Sc) found himself alone on the top of the Stamford D with a clear shot on goal. Typically from Field, a reverse stick hit sent a bullet into the top right. 2-1. An enthralling half of hockey finished 2-2, as Stamford counter-attacked to win a 1 on 1, with the keeper taking it to 2-2.

Oundle punched back early in the second half, stringing a number passes together before Ali Mason (F) flicked on to take the leader. Lapses of concentration and losing strong leads have been poor elements of this side’s season and it did not change, resulting in Stamford slotting past the keeper yet again. Oundle, aching for another goal, let Charlie Field loose, scampering into the opposition D and releasing a lethal reverse stick to score the winner for Oundle. They could have played better, but they did take a 4-3 win over their local rivals.

On Saturday the netball 1st VII travelled to Wisbech to play a triangular tournament involving Gresham’s, Wisbech and Oundle.  This was the penultimate fixture of the season.

Oundle’s first fixture was against Gresham’s School who we had drawn with previously in the season, so a tough game was expected. However, Oundle were not fazed by the quick pace and maintained their composure, taking a 3-6 lead at the end of the first quarter. Through good, consistent work throughout the court, Oundle maintained the slim 3 goal lead to end the first half 12-9. The third quarter was where Oundle really got going, showing good fitness and stamina. The shooting, notably by Dora Nicolle (W) was exceptional and the defence only conceded two goals in the third quarter. Going into the final quarter Oundle had extended their lead to 20-11. However, the final quarter proved to be a nail biting one, finishing 21-18 to Oundle. This was a disappointing final quarter, but the previous 3 quarters of success just protected Oundle against the strong Gresham’s comeback.  Player of the match was Dora.

The match against Wisbech was to be played immediately after, so the team had to pick themselves up from the previous match and rely on their fitness to keep up another 45 minutes of intense play. Oundle again took an early lead, and led after the first quarter 6-4. The match continued to be very close fought with vital turnovers being made by Evie Gardner (K) and Mairi Donaldson (N) at centre passes, and when the Wisbech attack threatened to convert goals.  At halftime, Oundle led 12-8. The shooters were constantly improving as the match went on, and were not fazed by strong defensive marking from the opposition. The match continued with Oundle leading from the front and finished 28-19 to Oundle. Player of the match was Evie.

These matches were really a credit to the team, showing the fitness levels that we have managed to reach, and a real desire to win every 50:50 ball to come together as a team to finish our season strongly.

Doug Russell (L)

On 12 March, Oundle School held a topping out ceremony on the roof of SciTec to mark the completion of the external structure of the new SciTec Campus development.

The ceremony was attended by guests, including staff from the School and representatives from Kier, the construction company.

The development of the SciTec Campus (due to open in September 2016) completes the original vision for the award-winning science complex of SciTec which was built in 2007. It sees the construction of a new Mathematics department, new Science labs and a complete refurbishment of the Patrick Engineering Centre. It will link Science, Mathematics, Design, Technology and Engineering both physically and philosophically, providing state-of-the-art facilities for tomorrow’s scientists and engineers.

The School is extremely grateful to all donors for their commitment to educating the scientists and engineers of the future. The aim is to provide practical hands-on experience, with pupils able to move seamlessly from theory to practice and from pure science to the achievement of workable technology, whilst embracing new fields such as nanotechnology and mechatronics.
 

Oundle School is delighted to announce the appointment of Mr Daniel Grewcock as Director of Sport from the start of the next academic year. Mr Grewcock comes to Oundle from Bath Rugby Academy where he has been Academy Director since 2011. Under his leadership the Academy has become very highly regarded for the way in which it nurtures young players and the importance given to their wider education and development.

Prior to joining the education sector, Mr Grewcock enjoyed a distinguished career as a professional rugby player, with Coventry, Saracens and then Bath. He has 69 England caps, was selected for two British Lions tours and was awarded the MBE for his services to rugby. He is married with a daughter and a son.

Mr Grewcock will take up the position of Director of Sport at Oundle as the School progresses to the next stage with its Sports MasterPlan. The Plan incorporates the building of a new Sports Centre housing a 50 metre swimming pool, an eight court sports hall, a high-quality fitness suite and dance studios. The current athletics track will be relocated,and there will also be the installation of two additional AstroTurf pitches (making a total of four), ten natural grass and ten artificial cricket nets, twelve netball and twelve tennis courts.

The appointment of Mr Grewcock as Director of Sport and the significant development of Sports facilities demonstrates the importance of Sport at Oundle. In undertaking the role, Mr Grewcock will lead in all aspects of both traditional team and individual sports, ensuring that Oundle pupils develop healthy lifestyles, and that they succeed personally in their chosen sporting direction. Working alongside the Director of Sport as Assistant Director of Sport and Head of PE will be Richard Finch. Richard is currently Director of Sport at Harrow International in Hong Kong, and was previously Head of Physical Education at St Benedict’s Ealing.
 

On the 12th of March ten members of the swimming team headed down to London to participate in the Bath & Otter cup at the Olympic pool in Stratford. Being in the Olympic pool and having well over 100 schools participating gave the event a real sense of occasion. The competition was very fierce, but unfortunately they missed out on qualifying for the final ten in both boys and girls. Both teams swam extremely well in both the individual medley and freestyle relays and a few records were broken. Stand out swims came from James Alley (G) and Maddy Farley (L).

On Friday the Oundle School Boat Club put in an exceptional performance at one of the premier events of the year, the Junior Sculling Head. Held at Dorney Lake, it is a hugely competitive event with crews attending from all over the country. The Fifth Form boys, comprised of Oliver Chapman (Sc), Zac Freij (L), Cosmo Davis-Gimeno (F) and James Duckitt (G), were always expected to do well. They outshone even those high expectations, coming fifth in the country. This was a huge achievement, beating Windsor Boys’ School and coming just one second behind Henley Rowing Club in fourth place. It is extremely likely that they will be selected to represent the Eastern region at the inter-regional regatta later this year; an honour for themselves, the club and the school.

The U15a netball team completed an unbeaten season on Saturday with a very competitive and closely contested match against Rugby School. They had to play without Captain Hannah Wakeford who had been selected for the 1st VII due to their injury issues, but Stella Simpson (L) stepped in to play out of position in a convincing and effective manner.

The 4th netball team played their final match on Saturday away at Rugby School and won 31-27. Elsewhere, the U14C played against Rugby and lost 16-11. The U14 E Netball team played against Uppingham and won 13-29.

On Thursday 17th the squash club hosted the Oakham fixture. The ever improving 1st team managed to pull off the win of the season 4-1, having lost 1-4 in the previous fixture. The highlight of the fixture was Sam Boscawen's (B) heroics in which he saved 5 match balls to scrape a win. The 2nd team featured members of the girl's team, however the depth of Oakham's standard was too good and they lost 1-4. The ever confident Daisy Stanton (W) won her match 3-0.

Archie Parkinson (L) finished an outstanding 23rd out of 337 runners in the junior boys event in this year’s English schools national cross country comp, held at Wollaton park. This the highest position achieved by an Oundle athlete for many years. Archie was less than a minute from the winning time, and still has a year left in this age group.

Dylan Martens (L)

For the last eight years, girls from Oundle’s Sixth Form have joined together to play a game of rugby in memory of former pupil, Thommy Purbrook.

For this year’s match, the 1st Xv captain, Honor Murison (Sn) and vice-captain Catie Gilchrist (D), each organised a team with Honor captaining a team from Sanderson and Kirkeby Houses and Catie captaining a team from Dryden, Laxton, Wyatt and New Houses.

The end result of the match was a 21-17 win to Catie’s team who proudly received The Thommy Purbrook Plate from Mr and Mrs Purbrook. 

Thommy’s time at Oundle was marked by her enthusiasm, energy and determination, and one of her many talents was rugby – she was captain of the girls rugby team.

The money raised this year will go to Meningitis Now, a charity dedicated to helping those affected with meningitis providing vital support into the research for its treatment. This year’s match took place on Sunday 20th March, and so far has already raised £4100.

Aged 35, Major Geoffrey Spencer Bull was the second oldest Oundelian to die in the conflict. He was born in Rawal Pindi in India in 1880 and came to Laxton House at the age of 10. Whilst at school, he developed a fine baritone voice described in the Laxtonian magazine as “one of the best we have heard”, and was a keen debater. He played a few games for the cricket XI. Although seen as “a fair fielder”, the Laxtonian judged that “he was absolutely useless as a bat.” Despite this deficiency, he was a senior scholar, became Head of School in 1897, and was a member of the XV for several seasons, described as the best all-round forward of the team in his last season. 

After leaving Oundle he went to Woolwich – he passed 12th in the entrance exams - and was gazetted to the Royal Garrison Artillery and sent back to India. In 1903, he transferred to the 58th (Vaughan’s) Rifles and from 1908-13, he served on India’s lawless and troubled North-West Frontier, seeing active service for most of that time. In 1913 he came home on a year’s leave, spending part of the time in Turkey.

When war broke out in 1914, he was attached as Major to the 6th East Lancashire Regiment and sent to France. In November 1914, he rejoined his old regiment when it came to Europe with the Meerut Division. There is no doubting his gallantry and courage under fire. He won the DSO and Military Cross for “his gallant defence of a trench near Festubert”. In May 1915, he was seriously wounded in the right arm and recuperated back in England, where he married.

Fully recovered, he was sent to Egypt, to help guard the Suez Canal from the Turks and it was there that he died on 25th March 1916. There are no details about the circumstances surrounding his death, but one book on the deaths of army officers during the war claimed that his death was “self-inflicted”. Possibly this might mean an accident of some kind, but more likely it hints at suicide. Unusually, Geoffrey Bull has his own memorial plaque in the School Chapel, which says that he died “in a further heroic effort to serve his country”.

However he died, Geoffrey Bull was a great soldier who suffered and died for country. As the Chapel plaque dedicated to his memory concludes: “Who dies if England lives?”

C Pendrill
Yarrow Fellow
 

The Head presented Sports Colours to pupils at an assembly marking the start of the Trinity Quarter.

Sports Colours are awarded to pupils for excellent contribution to a recognised School sport. The awards are presented in the Sixth Form, although for exceptional performance they may be awarded to younger years. In order to qualify for an award, pupils must demonstrate qualities of good sportsmanship in addition to outstanding performance.

For performances in swimming, cross country, hockey, netball, fives, squash, football and badminton, the Head presented 35 full Colours. The full list of awards can be viewed below.

• Sports Colours Trinity 2016 | PDF
•  

Douglas William McMichael was an Oundle boy from birth, and is the only one of the fallen to be counted as being a pupil at both Laxton and Oundle Schools. His name appears on the Laxton memorial plaque in the Long Room and on the stone plaques in the Oundle School Chapel. He was at Laxton School throughout his school career, but in the Sixth Form, because of his academic prowess, he was allowed to attend lessons at Oundle School. There is no record of him as an official Oundle School day boy or of him being a boarder, though some sources made the mistake of claiming that he transferred to Laxton House in 1910.

In 1912, he won a scholarship in Natural Science to Clare College, Cambridge. He rowed for his college in 1913 and 1914, but left at the outbreak of war to join the Public Schools Battalion. Later he was gazetted as Second Lieutenant in the Bedfordshire Regiment. He survived the Battle of Loos in the autumn of 1915, but died near Ypres on April 20th 1916 of wounds received the day before when his regiment had been on the receiving end of a day long barrage from the Germans.

Promoted to the rank of Lieutenant shortly before, Douglas McMichael was laid to rest in Essex Farm Cemetery north of Ypres where fellow Oundelian, Eric Yarrow was also buried. On his gravestone are inscribed the words ‘We grudge not our life if it give larger life unto them that live’. Douglas McMichael was just 23 years old at the time of his death.

His Colonel wrote: ‘He was one of the best officers I have come across – always cool, confident and self-reliant, and absolutely devoid of fear. I had intended to give him command of the next vacant company. He was a great favourite with all ranks, and leaves a gap which cannot be filled.’

C Pendrill
Yarrow Fellow

On the Sunday the 24th of April, eight members of the Hockey Club played for Northamptonshire at the regional tournaments. In the U16 tournament in Wolverhampton, Maya Nicolson (K) and Ella Johnsrud (Sn) played a tough set of matches, both contributing to the team’s success in finishing fourth.

Six girls played for the U18s at Burton on Trent; Issy Myers (Sn), Fran Aldridge (K), Alice Wilson (W), Miranda Joicey (W), Lara Chapman (D) and Kara Kimber (K). Northants started the tournament with a tight 1-0 over West Midlands, with Fran Aldridge scoring the winning goal. This was followed by a fine second half performance in the next match against Derbyshire. With the scores level at one all at half time, the girls showed their class and scored three unanswered goals.

With a guaranteed spot in the semi-finals, the final group game against Staffordshire was a non-event and key players were rested. The girls then prepared themselves for a semi-final against Leicestershire. After a nervous start the girls showed their class and Issy produced a fine back footshot, which she has been working on throughout the term, to take the lead. Others had their chances too, with Fran breaking through the defence, which sadly was not converted. Northants allowed Leicestershire back into the game, but fine goalkeeping kept them at bay, even when a penalty corner was given after time.

In the final against a strong Nottingham team, the girls played very well, but ran out of legs, and then had to chase the game, with the coach taking off defenders to try and gain a foothold in the game. The team place second in the tournament and came home with a well-deserved medal.

Ed Pryor’s (Sc) poem ‘Driving Lesson’ was selected as one of the six winning poems in the 2016 Christopher Tower Poetry Competition. His poem was commended and awarded a prize of £250 at a presentation ceremony at Christ Church College, Oxford on 20th April.

The Tower Poetry Competition is the UK’s most prestigious poetry competition for young people aged 16-18, with a top prize of £3000. This year’s theme of ‘Wonder’, attracted over 1,100 entrants. Over 100 poems were longlisted and judged by Peter McDonald, Christopher Tower Student and Tutor in Poetry at Christ Church, Scottish poet and critic, Alan Gillis and Katherine Rundell, author and Fellow of All Souls College. 

Prizes were awarded by the Dean of Christ Church, after which the winners were interviewed by the media and filmed reading their poems.

Photographs after the presentation were taken in the Dean's garden, which was once Alice Liddell's garden, and the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland. 

After winning the Mid Anglian regional round of the Royal Society of Chemistry Top of the Bench competition in November, a team of four pupils - Rebecca Siddall (L), Gordon Lin (C), Alice Sze (N) and Polly Brown (K) - represented the region in the national final at Loughborough University in April and placed 4th, competing against 31 other regional winners from across the UK.

The final comprised a difficult chemistry quiz testing the contestants’ general chemical knowledge, and a very tricky practical section where they had to perform a complexometric titration (A2 standard), an experiment involving electrode potentials, and finally an exercise building a model of the ethylene diaminetetraacetate ion.

All of the activities were of A2 standard or above and the team were highly stretched by these challenges but coped admirably. This is all the more impressive because two of the regional heat winning team (James Duckitt (G) and Will Parker Jennings (Ldr) were unable to attend the final and were replaced by Rebecca and Polly.

The last section of the day was spent listening to four very interesting presentations from current PhD research projects by Loughborough Chemistry graduates. Oundle has now won four regional heats since entering the Top of Bench competition in 2009 for the first time, with teams coming 13th, 6th, 2nd and 4th in the four national finals.