December 2012 Volume 28 Number 16

This year’s cover was designed by Wilkie Hollens. Wilkie was a key member of last year’s Publications team, with a keen interest in pho-tography and graphic design. He is now reading English at Oxford University.

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Contents

Albanian Editorial Team

Editor Noel CassidyDeputy Editor Julia Grieveson

Student Editors Harry Hamer William Floyd

Charlotte FraserHannah Moran

George PrewJames Sinclair

St Albans SchoolAbbey GatewaySt Albans AL3 4HB

Tel: 01727 855521Fax: 01727 843447

Publications email: publics@st-albans.herts.sch.ukSchool Website: www.st-albans.herts.sch.uk

3 Editorial Annus mirabilis

5 Ins & OutsWelcomes and farewells

12 PrizegivingNotable successes

18 Creative WritingPoetry and stories

26 Creative PhotoPhotographs from a wintry Optic project

29 DramaProductions aplenty

37 Creative ArtWork from student artists

43 MusicA feast for the ears

54 CommunityThe School’s contribution to wider St Albans society

58 Creative DesignWork from the design and technology exhibition

60 FeaturesPen Arthur updated

62 Academic EnrichmentLectures and extension activities

68 CCFActivities, camps and shooting

73 TripsAround and about

81 Sports CentreAn account of the School’s major new development

86 HousesFinal scores

88 SportAll the teams, all the games

Contents

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lbanian 2012Editorial

EditorialAnnus MirabilisAs the Headmaster mentioned in his Prizegiving speech (p.12), it has been a remarkable year for the nation and, on a smaller scale, a remark-able one for the School.

The main feature has, of course, been the building of the sports centre. It was remarkable that the project was completed on time and on budget, but it was equally remarkable that the School continued to function perfectly well when a substantial part of the grounds was a building site, with movement of lorries and heavy equipment every day. Access to the orchard playing space was lost, the CCF was displaced and the languages department bore the brunt of noise disturbance. But we made full use of the public spaces around the Abbey at lunchtimes, with little disrup-tion to the public, instead attracting many approbatory comments. The CCF found other places to exercise and the languages staff and students learned to enunciate their French, German and Spanish a little more clearly and a little more loudly.

Just as that huge building project was coming to an end, the opportunity to acquire the adjacent offices at Aquis Court came up. Difficult though the timing and the budgetary constraints were, this was a chance which could not be turned down, as it created perhaps the only chance to increase the physical size of the School in its city centre site.

And now the old gym has disappeared and is taking shape as a new re-fectory, which will allow the hall to be properly developed as a perform-ance space… With the sports centre and Aquis Court, the long term plans become possible, if not immediately affordable.

While these developments were happening, A level and GCSE students recorded tremendous examination results, showing that the prime function of the School is in robust health. The academic focus is clearly maintained, while pupils have ever-increasing opportunties for further activities, whether in sport, CCF, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, or the Community and Partnership Schemes.

Reports on all these aspects of the thriving life of the School can be found in the following pages.

Sixth formers enjoy life in the new Sixth Form Centre in Aquis Court (below)

Aquis Court’s entrance (next page)

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Editorial

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NewArrivalsSeptember 2012First FormADIGWE, KenADLER, Daniel MADOLPH, Sebastian HADSHEAD, George CALI, SamiARTHUR-TINWORTH, Noah FAVRAAM, Alexander LBASKARAN, BranavanBENTLEY, Samuel JBREEN, Fabian JBRICE, Edward BBURNS, Samuel JCAFFERY, Tommy ACARPENTER, Hugo ICARR, Matthew ACHILDS, Louis JCOOPER, James HCOUDERT, Christopher HDANIEL, James RDE JARNE, Lucas HERINLE, TimiESIN, JohnFURLEY, Cameron JGANNON, PatrickGATES, Oliver JGILL, Theodore SGRAFT, AaronGROVES, DavidHARWOOD, CharlesHILL, Matthew JHUANG, OliverHUBBARD, Oliver WJAGSI, Dillon SJOBSON, Sam OKALTSOYANNIS, Matthew CKHAN, Hassan KKHAN, SaleemKILCOYNE, Joseph JLAWRENCE, Darian DMARIES, Jake AMCCLAFFERTY, Murray JMCGUIGAN, Connor JMCKAY, George RMCKELLAR, Marley CMELLMAN, Oscar LMILLER-ROSENTHAL, Adam SNEJAD, Alexander DNEWTON, Thomas JNEYT, Mathias CNORCLIFFE, Daniel MOBADIARU, Ralphael OOFORI, Kwame OOLUKOTUN, Ayo-Oluwa JOLUWATUNMISE, Stephen OOYEBOLA, Kamal-AdeenPANAYIS, James TPARK, Nicholas MPARMAR, Nihal SPATEL, Krishan SPATWALIA, Karan SPAYNE, William LPAZZI-AXWORTHY, Thomas APOPAT, Roan

RAM, JustinRAZALI, Fadhl AROSE, AtabaySAMARASINGHE, James MSEDDON, MichaelSHERMAN, Zackery SSUTCLIFFE, Felix HTHOMAS, Xavier RTYLEY, Owen RVICKERY, Edward TWALTON, Joseph A

Second FormAPPLEYARD, Rhys CLEIGH, George HXUEREB, Ben M

Third FormBAVETTA, DanyaBRICE, Tom JCOOPER, KorayCRAIG, Matthew ECROSSLEY, Matthew ADAVIES, Ben JDEANS, William DFAWOLE, AdedamolaFEAST, James RFREEMAN, James LFREEMAN, Sam LGALLIFORD, Joseph AGILBERT, AlexGRIFFITH, Joe AGUPTA, AdityaHAMMOND, James EHENEIN, Andrew MHENEIN, Anthony MHIGHAM, Michael AHOPPER, Luke NHOPPER, Thomas PHUDSON, GeorgeJOHNSON, Christopher WKALTSOYANNIS, Alexander JLAI, MauriceLAMBERT, James PLARSSON, Jack RLEAR, James JMACKIE, James DMANTE, Emmanuel SM’CAW, Thomas MMEIR, GeorgeMILLS, Zachary DMISTRY, Kaylan SMORRIS, Freddie GNUTT, James DOLIVER, Joshua WPHILLIPS, Christopher JRAJA, Jai BRANCE, Spencer HRIPPER, Adam PROBERTSON, Charlie JSANKEY, Alec TSHAH, VeerSHORTT, Matthew JSTEPHENS, Hugo WSTEWART, William J

SUI, LeonTUINEMA, LarsVARGHESE, Joshua CVIALOU-CLARK, Jacob HWEBB, Niles AWILKINSON, Joseph JYAQUB, Hamza BYASOTHARAN, SpencerYURKWICH, James A

Fourth FormMCGORRIAN, Thomas CHARDING, Hugo A

Sixth FormAKINYEMI, OluwatomiAPPLEYARD, BenjaminBABAYODE, Philippa LBONNER, Lucy MBRACEBRIDGE, Aidan CBROMFIELD, Anna CBROWN, Hannah CBROWNE, Fergus GBURLEY, Elizabeth EBURR, Megan GBUTTERWORTH, Sophie ECALLENDER, Georgina LCHIU, HeidiCLIFFORD, KatieCOUSINS, Rebecca JCUTLER, Emily ADE VAUX-BALBIRNIE, Lucy CDIAMONDI, MichaelaDUNCAN, Eleanor GEASTON, JudithEDMOND, Eric CFAISAL, JamalFERREIRA, Emma JGARNETT, Milly EGREEN, WilliamGROVESTOCK, Conor SHAESAERTS, NatashaHARRIS, Grace EHINDMARSH, Isobel GHUNT, Eleanor CJARMAN, Elena MKENNEDY, Oliver GMARTIN, Isla JMCCORMICK, Callum JMCGAW, Sarah-JaneMILLS, Hamish SMORAN, Lilian EMOSS, Katie ANOLAN, ImogenOMALE, Ufedo-OjoORTHODOXOU, MariaRIANT, Emilia LRYAN-DALTON, Isobel CSALEHI, SophiaSANDLER, Rebecca ETHORPE, Michael TTURNER, Sophie LVICKERS, MollyWHITE, Katie L

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Ins&Outs

Ben Scott

NewArrivalsintheCommonRoom

Ben Scott joined the Chemistry department in September 2011 after studying biochemis-try at York University. He is a real enthusiast for Chemistry and loves in particular talking about and teaching Organic Chemistry, his favourite area of science. His eagerness to see youngsters progress in science has led him to take a key part in the Salters Chemistry Club. A sportsman too, he has a particular interest in hockey and basketball, as well as, unfortu-nately, Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.

Joining the Classics department this year is Lucy Benson. She has a degree in Classics from Birmingham University and last summer did a Masters in Education at Cambridge. Prior to teaching at St Albans School, she has taught at King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelms-ford and Aldenham School. She likes two things about her subject: firstly, the way an author can convey many different meanings with just a few sentences, and secondly, its ability to transport people to another world of monsters, gods and omens! She finds the pupils of St Albans motivated and enthusiastic, and you may see her helping out with the school plays, as she likes drama and stage make-up.

LucyBenson

Linda Bonner joins the Economics department. With a BSc in Economics from Bath, this is her first paid teaching post, but all her career has revolved around jobs that contain aspects of teaching. Having previously worked as an assistant director for a local authority, she wanted to use skills she had learnt there in a new environment. Her hobbies include going to the cinema, music and reading. Her favourite meal would be something plain and simple, an authentic seafood risotto (but it would have to be cooked by somebody else!) She hopes to use her experience to contribute towards helping students choose between the myriad options available to them for higher education and eventual careers.

LindaBonner

MaryBrereton

DanJewison

Dr Mary Brereton is one of two new English teachers, joining the School for her third year of teaching after two years at Hampton. She has a degree in English and a post-doctorate in 18th century history writing from Wadham College, Oxford. She took the step from academia to secondary school teaching because of the great variety of topics she can teach here, a relief from the intensity of specialism. Dr Brereton will be helping to run the Debat-ing Society, as well as drawing on her experience to help the U6 Oxbridge applicants with extension projects. Outside of school life, she has been exploring the history of St Albans, having only just moved into the area.

Dan Jewison also joins the English department as a newly qualified teacher. His previous career was in the field of sports fitness and nutrition, and he holds a BA in Theatre Studies and English Literature from the University of Leeds. He also holds an M Phil from Trinity College Dublin. He likes English because ‘literature expresses what we can’t express our-selves’ – and, of course, because it is the most important subject. His favourite contempo-rary novel is Notes from an Exhibition by Patrick Gale and he also likes W B Yeats. In his spare time, he enjoys a variety of sports and snooker.

Joining the Geography department is Chris Johnston. He joins us from Redborne Upper School, having graduated from Durham. Teaching combines the two things he looked for in a career: something fundamentally enjoyable that involves helping people. He aims to build a good rapport with both teachers and students. He has been impressed with the enthusiasm of everyone at the School, especially outside the classroom, with regard to the contribution made to extra-curricular activities. He is a keen squash and tennis player and hopes to help with the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. He is keen to coach a school rugby team in the future.

ChrisJohnston

TomRobinson

Joining the Biology department is Tom Robinson. With a degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Warwick, he specialises in ecology, especially mosquito luring and trapping. His degree involved the research and presenting of information on various topics and this originally sparked his interest in teaching. Drawn to the School by its excellent reputation and large range of sporting and musical activities, he plans to get involved in many extra-curricular activities as well as teaching. As a singer and oboist, he already sings in the school choir. He will also be helping out with the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and hopes to partici-pate in after school sports such as badminton.

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James Anthoney University of Birmingham Medicine (5 years) #Tomi Ashaye Queen Mary, University of London MedicineJonathan Baker Imperial College, London MedicineJoseph Baker University of Warwick PhilosophyAndrew Ball University of Durham Natural SciencesSam Baloun University of Bath Modern Languages and European StudiesJonathan Bennett** King’s College London HistoryArran Bhatiani University College, London LawManhar Bhojwani University College, London MathematicsDan Bigsby** University College, London Economics and GeographyMichael Bird University of East Anglia DramaJordan Black Nottingham Trent University Marketing, Design and CommunicationHarriet Blackie University of East Anglia Environmental Geography and Climate Change #Chloe Boothby University of Birmingham Modern Languages (4 years)Thomas Brooks University of Birmingham Geography #Ed Callender University of Bristol Geography #Charlotte Campbell University of Nottingham Archaeology and HistoryJoe Chalkley Brighton and Sussex Medical School MedicineSimon Chelley St Edmund Hall, Oxford History and EconomicsKate Christley University of Leeds Management with Marketing #Tim Constantine University of Leeds International DevelopmentWilliam Crede University of Birmingham Physics (International Study) (4 years)James Crookston University of Liverpool ArchitectureRichard D’Rosario University of Birmingham Economics and Political ScienceHenry Dace Oxford Brookes University Real Estate ManagementSam Duke-Wallace University of Birmingham Ancient HistoryJoseph Easter** University of York HistorySam Eley Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford Mathematics (3 or 4 years)Sebastian Evans University of Warwick Accounting and FinanceStephen Farquhar University College, London Mechanical EngineeringDrew Flahive** University of Bristol ManagementSam Flahive** Jesus College, Oxford LawNicholas Fleet University of Durham General EngineeringMatthew Fletcher** London School of Economics EconomicsJasmine Fox University of Newcastle Biomedical SciencesOlivia Goldsmith Oxford Brookes University MidwiferyAlex Goldstone University of Durham HistoryMax Greenfield University College, London Medicine (6 years)William Grimwade Lancaster University HistoryAlex Hadleigh University of Birmingham Biological Sciences (Zoology)Chloe Hall University College, London Natural SciencesDominique Hall University of Leeds Mathematics with FinanceJames Harrison University of Nottingham HistoryKareem Hassanin University of Liverpool MedicineCharles Hickson University of Wales, Aberystwyth Sport and Exercise ScienceWilkie Hollens St Catherine’s College, Oxford English Language and LiteratureMichael Hollins University of York Philosophy, Politics and EconomicsDaniel Holmes University of Durham Natural SciencesNick Holmes** University of Durham Modern LanguagesHarry Hopla University College, London ClassicsAlex Hopps Lancaster University Business StudiesJames Horne** University of St Andrews HistoryRachel Howell** University of York Politics with International RelationsCharlotte Hulse University of Nottingham Art HistoryJonathan Inglis St Anne’s College, Oxford English Language and Literature #William Jacobs University College, London Spanish and Latin American StudiesIsaac Johnson University of Exeter International RelationsElla Kaposi University of York Applied Social Science - Crime and Criminal JusticeMegan Kilby University of Durham Natural SciencesWilliam King University of Nottingham GeographyChristopher Knights University of Bristol Ancient HistoryAlbert Koomson University of Leicester Medical BiochemistryElliot Krieger Leeds Metropolitan University Business and Management

Higher Education Destinations of Old Albanians 2012Names Destination Subject

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Ins&Outs

Abhishek Kulkarni Queen Mary, University of London Biomedical SciencesVikas Kumar University College, London Natural SciencesKathryn Land University of Newcastle Modern LanguagesHarry Lavelle University of Durham Geography #William Leppard University of Southampton GeographyTom Lewis University of Warwick HistoryJack Liggins University of Birmingham HistoryPriyenden Logeswaran University of Bath Civil EngineeringAngus Mackay University of Newcastle AgronomyPhilip Madgwick Merton College, Oxford Biological SciencesSamantha Magnus University of Leeds Politics and Parliamentary StudiesMolly Maguire University of Bath SociologyVictoria Margereson University of Exeter Ancient HistoryKatie Martin University of Nottingham Ancient HistoryJack Maycock University of Leeds International Development #Tom McConnell University of Exeter ClassicsKristian Mendola University of Birmingham GeographyFreddie Mercer University of Southampton Marine Biology (4 years)Duncan Merelie University of Newcastle Mechanical EngineeringChristopher Milsted University of Durham Combined Honours in Social SciencesSanesh Mistry St Benet’s Hall, Oxford Classics IFergus Mitchell University of Bath Mathematics and PhysicsJames Mohajer Canterbury Christ Church Univ. Primary Education, Upper Primary (5-11), QTS #Jamie Morton Corpus Christi College, Oxford LawLuke Morton Imperial College, London Electrical & Electronic EngineeringMichael Mubiru** King’s College, London Biomedical ScienceOliver Ng University of Nottingham Economics with FrenchGeraint Northwood-Smith** Oriel College, Oxford Natural SciencesHannah Oliver University of Birmingham Russian Studies and International Relations (4 years)Roshan Palanee University of Warwick HistoryRhys Parry University of Newcastle Biomedical SciencesElizabeth Pearson University of Bath Accounting and FinanceNick Perry University of Warwick PoliticsJonathan Peters University of Durham English LiteratureRobert Phillips University of Manchester Politics, Philosophy and EconomicsPeter Place University of Bath MathematicsAlex Pluthero** New College of the Humanities Economics and LawNick Pomfret University of Nottingham Civil Engineering #Helena Pryce University of Birmingham GeographyAsif Rajah** King’s College, London Medicine (5 years)Lillie Richardson University of Sussex HistoryLuke Roberts University of Bristol PoliticsJonathan Roche University of Nottingham HistoryEleanor Rosser-Smyth University of Durham HistoryPhilip Ruis Trinity Hall, Cambridge Natural SciencesChristopher Schon Imperial College, London Mathematics with a Year in EuropeJames Scott University of Bristol HistoryKevalraj Shah University of York Computer Science/Mathematics (Equal) (Yr in Ind)Ben Sharp University of Southampton Physics with AstronomyAlex Shavick Trinity College, Oxford MedicineRobert Slater University of Nottingham Mechanical EngineeringJessica Smith University of Birmingham Accounting and FinanceJonathan Spencer University of Bath Sport and Social SciencesChristopher Springthorpe University of Hartford, Connecticut Acoustical Engineering and MusicWilliam Stanley University of Leeds EconomicsPhilippa Stephens University of Bath Chemistry (with Study Abroad)Christopher Stobart Worcester College, Oxford Physics (4 years)Alex Stride** Pembroke College, Cambridge Classics: Greek and LatinGeorge Tasker University of Durham EconomicsMadeleine Taylor University of Manchester American StudiesMax Thomas University of Manchester Music #Annabel Thomson University of Manchester History and American StudiesLucie Toole St Peter’s Hall, Oxford French

Names Destination Subject

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Louis Walpole Oxford Brookes University Real Estate Management #Dan Watt** Loughborough University Industrial Design and TechnologyAdam Winston University of Leeds EconomicsRory Wood University of Durham Ancient HistoryKitty Wright University of Exeter Flexible Combined HonoursPhilippa Wright University of Bristol PoliticsJohn Ye University College, London Medicine (6 years)Brian Yuen University College, London Computer ScienceBen Zacaroli University of Durham General EngineeringVasudev Zaver University of Manchester Medicine ** Post A Level Applicants# Deferred 2013

Names Destination Subject

Dr Guy Higby joined the School in 1978 when he was just 26 years old. Previously, he had taught in Lancashire and before that studied for his PhD at Imperial College, London. He joined a Science Department that was thriving and soon took on the role of Head of Biology. In this posi-tion he helped develop and steer the nascent Biology Department into the successful and well-subscribed A Level subject that it is today.

During his time with the school Guy was particularly popular with Sixth Form classes where his unrivalled understanding and passion for Biology allowed students to access a whole wealth of knowledge and informa-tion to aid their study. He felt privileged to work with the intelligent and enthusiastic students that the School produces and took pride in seeing his pupils go on to take their place at university. Guy also ran the Upper Sixth field trip to Dorset, which provided many a Sixth Former with the opportunity to study succession and zonation. On one memorable oc-casion, after taking a wrong turn through the sand dunes, students were also treated to an anatomy lesson when they stumbled upon the naturist part of the beach!

Earlier in his career Guy was an active participant in the Games Depart-ment, taking all levels and age groups. In the past he has taken football, rugby and cricket teams, the latter right up to his final year working at the School. He would later admit that although he thoroughly enjoyed this responsibility, he certainly will not miss having to wake up early on a Saturday morning during his retirement.

Guy is an exceptional biologist to whom, after his long and illustrious years at St Albans School, the epithet ‘teacher’ does not do justice; he is an educator in the true sense of the word. He was also an absolute pleasure to work with and the type of person who would go out his way to help his colleagues. For this reason he can genuinely be termed a ‘nice Guy’ and will be missed by all who worked with him over his 34 years at the School.

MJS

Guy Higby

StaffFarewells

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Ins&Outs

Ben Clark

When I arrived at St Albans School in September 2006 as a new Head of Department, I was extremely fortunate that Ben, having joined the School in 2004, had his feet firmly on the ground; he had established himself as not only a very successful Classics teacher, but also a valuable member of the wider School community, running cricket and football teams and being involved in various trips. His support, willingness to help and ability to gently warn me off unwise and rash courses of action were critical in enabling me to settle into my new role. Ben was professional in all that he did, motivated by a desire to ensure that all his pupils did as well as they could and that they enjoyed the experience. He was meticu-lous in preparation for lessons and of resources. He brought the classical world to life and made it relevant, without ever compromising academic rigour. Another string to his bow was his willingness to take on new chal-lenges such as running a trip to Italy for over 70 pupils, teaching GCSE Greek and ultimately becoming Deputy Head of Lower School.

Ben cared about every pupil and would always give them the benefit of the doubt. He had a thorough knowledge of all the pupils in the Lower School and seemed to know their names by the end of the first week. He made the role very much his own and was unflappable in the heat of battle, his calm approach helping to keep major events like a lost bag in proportion. Yet he had a knack for getting to the bottom of a more serious situation with some understated detective work. He was great company when running various U14 football teams, although a few of his refereeing decisions baffled even him. In Ben we bid farewell not only to an outstanding teacher of Classics, but also a wonderful colleague and a friend, and we thank him for 8 years of unstinting service to St Albans School. We wish him, Dina and Maya all the very best in their new life in Cambridge at the Perse School for Girls.

DMR & DS

Dina Porovic

Dina Porovic brought a lively enthusiasm to everything she did. She was an excellent teacher who made good use of modern technology and the latest ideas to keep her lessons interesting. Pupils of all ages found her lessons enjoyable and effective. As a form tutor she was sympathetic and supportive, but prepared to be firm when necessary.

Within the department she was always willing to help, readily undertak-ing many tasks, from updating schemes of work to organising trips. She was encouraging in sharing ideas with her colleagues and reorganised the computer-based departmental resources to make them more accessible. Her contributions to discussions about departmental strategy were valu-able and thoughtful.

She took on a wide variety of responsibilities within the school, ranging from the organisation of staff parties and BLR assemblies to helping with Duke of Edinburgh expeditions. Eventually she became Head of PSHE. She tackled this job with energy, rejuvenating the resources and work-schemes and providing tutors with considerable support for the delivery of the material. The success of events such as the ‘Facing Adolescence’ conference for parents is a reflection of her organisational skills and enthusiasm.

After being on maternity leave for much of last year, Dina left us to take up the post of Head of Maths at the Perse School in Cambridge. We shall miss her lively, bubbly, friendly presence.

MOS

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Ben Wall joined the English Department as Second in Department in September 2010 from St Peter’s School, York. In the two years he has been with us, students at all levels have benefited from his meticulous approach to classes and his highly effective teaching. Colleagues have appreciated his highly organised and purposive approach to teaching and learning. He has contributed materially to the continuing success of the Department during this period. Mr Wall has also been a caring and patient tutor in the Middle School and his love of the outdoor life found expression at Pen Arthur and on a number of Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme expeditions. He and Pamela are both keen travellers and they are leaving their current positions to begin a new life together in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, where Ben will join the English department at the prestigious and expanding British International School. We wish them well in their exciting international venture.

MAP

Ben Wall

Sarah Hopkin

Sarah Hopkin joined the Economics Department in September 2010 from Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys School. Energetic, intelligent and forth-right, she brought an enormous amount of enthusiasm and new ideas to the Economics Department. As well as being an outstanding teacher of A Level Economics, GCSE Business Studies and Economics Extension lessons, she also forged new links between the Economics and Politics Departments, being heavily involved with the mock UN competition and the recent trip to Brussels. Perhaps her most enduring legacy, however, will be her knowledge and experience of Higher Education, having worked as an admissions tutor at the University of Southampton. A huge number of our Sixth Form owe her gratitude for the countless hours she spent providing university advice. She leaves us to go to Beaumont School, having secured a promotion to Head of Business Studies and Economics in record time! We wish her well in her new post.

IJB

Melanie Hahn

In her two years at St Albans School, Melanie Hahn contributed greatly to the German department as well as the wider life of the School. She embraced the life of the School fully, participating in a First form Pen Arthur trip and enthusiastically helping to supervise a Gold Duke of Edinburgh training expedition in Snowdonia. Within the German De-partment, Melanie accompanied a Lower School trip to the Christmas markets in Cologne, helped with the Lower School German Lantern festival as well as Sixth Form debates in German against Highgate School. Melanie was full of enthusiasm and always looked to bring German culture into the classroom. She would often wear traditional Bavarian dress to German events and she even dressed up as St Nikolaus for an assembly on Advent. We wish Melanie well as she returns home to continue her teaching career.

JRR

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Prizegiving

Prizegiving2012The Headmaster’s Address

Prizegiving

Chairman, Bishop Alan, Ladies and Gentlemen,

If the past twelve months have not been an annus mirabilis, I’m not sure what a year would have to do to qualify.

Last summer, the isle was full of very different noises: Croydon was ablaze, gangs of feral and larcenous youths were roaming the streets of our great cities and the Guest of Honour and I were lamenting, like Gloucester, in King Lear:

“love cools, friendship falls off, brothers divide: in cities, mutinies; in countries, discord; in palaces, treason; we have seen the best of our time: machinations, hollowness, treachery, and all ruinous disorders, follow us disquietly to our graves,”

just not quite as eloquently.

What a difference a year makes! Far from treason in palaces, most of the population of London, it seemed, were delighted to stand in a June rainstorm worthy of Act 111 to celebrate the jubilee of a monarch slightly older but much wiser than Lear; her younger grandson spent most of the summer playing Prince Hal with no need of a Falstaff to mislead him, whilst Bradley Wiggins gave us a demotic Henry V in sideburns, and was cheered by the French for turning the Tour de France into another Agincourt.

To be part of London 2012 this glorious summer was to experi-ence an extraordinary tide of benevolence towards strangers, of uncharacteristic good humour and tolerance, of a natural courtesy for which the East End of London has not necessarily always been cel-ebrated and it was to see supreme determination, ambition, ideal-ism and commitment from young people at the opposite extreme of the spectrum from the nihilism of summer 2011. Follow that with a Paralympics that was a complete sell-out and received with a passion and fervour to equal the Games

that preceded it and perhaps we really can start to think a little more benignly of human nature in general and of our nation and our society in particular.

The most feral creature we’ve seen has been the Essex lion.

And then, even as the crowds were cheering the victory parades, another Shakespearian hero stepped forth: this time, Coriolanus, a boy raised by a terrifying and am-bitious mother to be a single-mind-ed, sociopathic warrior, capable of storming and capturing a foreign citadel entirely single-handed and defeating the enemy’s champion in face-to-face combat, but struggling in vain to win the hearts of his people – or do you think that’s a bit unfair to Andy Murray and his mum?

For us, too, as a school, it has been a year of wonders. Can there ever have been a better year to open a new Sports Centre and what a superb building it is. Designed by OA architect David Morgan, who was also responsible for the Woollams pavilion as well as many smaller projects around the school site over the last fifty years, it is his masterpiece and will be his memo-rial. Sadly, he did not live to see it completed.

But tribute is due, too, to our contractors, SDC, who faced a dif-ficult site and a tight schedule but brought it in on schedule and on budget, and especially to our own Bursar, Derek Todd, whose work to manage the project over the past year has been little short of superhuman.

He and his team, now much strengthened by Iain Thompson and Gary Douglas, did not pause for breath before moving on from one massive project to the next, at Aquis Court, which was also brought in on an eye-wateringly tight schedule by the same contrac-tors. Taking these challenges in their stride, they have now set out

The Headmaster’s speech given on the occasion of the Prizegiving Ceremony in St Albans Abbey on September 18th

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to accomplish the impossible by Christmas on the entirely enclosed site of the old gym.

For me, what has been happen-ing here on the School site over the past twelve months has been, corny though it may sound, a vision coming to reality, and some parts of that vision date back twenty years. Together, the parts are about making St Albans the nonpareil of day schools.

So we begin this new academic year with an immense, cruciform, brick building at each end of our campus – this Cathedral and Abbey Church at one end and Aquis Court, the former headquarters of accountants KPMG at the other. Sandwiched as we were between temples to God and Mammon, we have overthrown the tables of the money changers in the latter and made of it a place sacred to learn-ing and the Liberal Arts.

Between them, we have construct-ed an enormous six-lane immer-sion font and in three months, from the ruins of the old gymnasium, will rise a place for the breaking and sharing of bread, and sometimes, no doubt, wine.

Around this, in upper rooms, new-ly-constructed facilities for Modern Languages will help to ensure that our students go out into the world possessed of the gift of tongues.

So Bishop, I trust you will agree that in our twenty-first century

way, we are keeping faith with our first Founder, Abbot Wulsin.

There have been a few false notes this summer: among the back-ground static behind the sounds and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not, with which the isle has been full, we heard the Chairman of the British Olympic Association apparently lamenting the pre-dominance of independent school alumni among our medal winners.

I suppose if anyone is entitled to criticise the association between sporting success and an expensive education, the 4th Baron Moynihan, Monmouth School and University and Brasenose Colleges, Oxford, Oxford Blue and Olympic rowing cox, is in a pretty good position to do so.

But in fact, that’s not what he was doing. What he was lamenting was how little investment is made in

sport these days in mainstream state education. Olympic Chief Lord Moynihan Blasts Private School Domi-nance In Games traduced what he intended - which he deserved for expressing himself so clumsily - but it made a much better headline and pandered to the prejudices of the liberal-left chatterati and twitterati. They, clearly, would prefer team GB to win no medals than have them won by pupils from schools like this one.

Thank goodness some of us are still taking sport seriously, say I, and so, I think, say a majority of our countrymen and women. While governments, including this one, continue to allow the selling off of school playing fields, all the high-minded aspirations for the legacy of London 2012 are going to ring pretty hollow and team GB will still be needing in Rio what HMC schools seem to able to provide, whether from their own alumni, or from young people who have ben-efited from the excellent facilities our schools make available at little or no cost to the community.

It makes a good one-liner to hope that the Olympic dressage will inspire kids from every council estate in Kilburn to saddle up their ponies in pursuit of Olympic gold, (I choose Kilburn because that’s where Bradley Wiggins grew up), but Locog would have been in rather a fix if Eton College, for example, hadn’t, some time ago, created a rowing lake from its own resources at no cost at all to the public purse. Eton gets no public thanks for it, of course; only envy and resentment.

Here in St Albans, we have seen something of the same phenom-enon: our Woollam Playing fields, bitterly opposed though they were in the planning, have become an intrinsic part of the sporting provision of this city and the venue of choice for county, district and regional youth fixtures.

In the same way, our new pool is already in use by local clubs and children from local primary schools from dawn until well after dusk and others are beating a path to the Bursar’s door to use the Sports Hall, the dance studio and the climbing wall. To me, it remains a source of great satisfaction that whatever the changes forced upon us for ideological and political reasons, we remain what we have historically been, a school that is part of, and serves, the local com-munity and our partnership work with nine local primary schools and the Cathedral Education Centre, who benefit from the expertise of our staff and students in a variety of subjects, and from access to our

The newly acquired Aquis Court, which now houses the Sixth Form and the Art Department

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specialist facilities, academic and sporting, is something of which we can be proud.

Mindful of this School’s roots and heritage, that is a much more authentic relationship with our community than sponsoring some distant academy as we are repeat-edly urged to do by politicians for whom this is the current ideologi-cal orthodoxy and therefore, for the time being, the only conceivable mantra.

To those who chant this mantra, it is an article of faith that all inde-pendent schools are so awash with money and under-employed staff that they can take the management of another school in their stride without sullying their starched wing collars or removing their tail coats.

It does occur to me that, given just how much we’ve taken on in such a short time, there may be one or two of you sitting out there who have a sneaking suspicion that there may be something in that awash-with-money bit and are wondering why we need a Foundation and a Development Office to raise funds. If you are harbouring such uncharitable thoughts, let me just disabuse you.

We have been able to fund the Sports Centre in its entirety thanks to a windfall from the disposal of a unique asset – the remainder of our lease in the King Harry Lane site – an opportunity that will not come again in your lifetime or mine.

Likewise, the unexpected appear-ance on the market of Aquis Court was a once-in-a-lifetime opportu-nity, and though the timing wasn’t ideal, we could not afford to pass it

up. The purchase and the conver-sion of that and the gym have been funded largely by prudent borrowing, beyond which it would certainly not be prudent to stretch the School’s credit, so to keep the whole show on the road, to avoid deferring essential routine expendi-ture and to complete these and the remaining projects including the conversion of the Hall to a proper Centre for the Performing Arts, to a reasonable timescale, we are reliant on the generosity of those, mostly OAs, who have already responded generously to the call from the Development Office.

At the same time, our ability to offer a St Albans education to boys and girls who have the potential to benefit from it, but whose parents could not otherwise afford the fees, has been significantly enhanced by donations to the Bursary fund, though, of course, we remain far from the ideal of being able to offer places on a needs-blind basis.

There is a belief in some quarters that success and quality are a finite and constant commodity and that you can’t have either except by depriving someone else of it; that is why success and quality breed envy

and resentment and we, as a school and as a sector, are phenomenally successful. But the Olympic Games are the exception that proves the rule that success and quality are not finite. It is true that to win a gold medal is to prevent someone else winning that one, but, as British Cycling, in particular, has demon-strated, there’s no rule that says you can’t learn the habit of success and win your own in the future.

Here at St Albans School, we are happy to help others begin to learn the habit, through the Primary School Partnership Scheme, through master classes and through sharing our superb academic, cultural and sporting facilities and I regard us as extremely fortunate that our location and history, which have deep roots at the heart of this historic community of St Albans, makes it relatively easy for us to do so.

Of success and quality, which is, of course, what a Prizegiving evening is principally about, we have had an abundance this year.

We do, of course, make a very good return on our investment in sport. I’m not going to list all the successes; I’ll just mention one, which I think deserves the palm for 2012. For the second year in succession, our intermediate cross country team won the English Schools Cup and, as national cham-pions, represented their country in the world schools championship in Malta, taking fourth place.

Academically, our Upper Sixth set a record with 95% of all grades at A*-B.

As many of you know, of course I look down with Olympian disdain on league tables, but I do recognise that looking down on anything, with or without disdain, is much more convenient when you occupy an Olympian height.

Some of you also know that the only league table that I think can be taken seriously is the one barely anybody reads, in the Financial Times. This one avoids the usual pitfall of applying crude percent-ages which leads to three A grades being worth more than three A grades and a B, so it was instruc-tive to see Harrow sixteen places below us, Merchant Taylors’ twenty places down, Manchester Grammar thirty, Charterhouse forty and King Edward’s, Birmingham, Highgate, Dulwich and other great names trailing fifty or more places behind.

At GCSE, we emerged largely unscathed from the grading fiasco chiefly due to the fact that in a large number of subjects, notably, now, English, our pupils study for

Guest of Honour at Prizegiving was the Bishop of St Albans,

The Rt Revd Alan Smith

Headmaster Andrew Grant recounts the School’s achievements over the past year

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the IGCSE, the international GCSE, which, though it is set by the same awarding bodies as GCSE, is immune from political or regula-tory interference.

It is also a linear exam, like the O level that will still be familiar to many parents. It’s therefore immune also to the intractable difficulty, peculiar to modular exams, of ap-plying consistent standards across examinations taken by different groups of candidates, not only in different months, but different years, that have eventually to be combined on the principle that a given number of marks achieved in January 2010 reflects exactly the same level of achievement as the same number of marks achieved in June 2012 and added up to give a final overall grade.

This year’s chaos is an exact re-run of what happened in 2002, when the contributing modules sat over the preceding two years for the new modular A levels were added up for the first time and no-one could predict what the effect on the overall pattern of grades would be.

That mess cost an Education Secretary her job and it is deeply depressing to see how little gov-ernments and regulators learn from the mistakes of their predecessors.

IGCSE is to GCSE as independent schools are to the state maintained sector: a benchmark that can’t be fiddled with for political expediency.

That is why strong independent schools are actually vital to our democracy; we don’t have to teach what the politicians decree. We are a constant benchmark, a standing point of reference as to what can be achieved, and therefore, all too often, a reproach to Departments for Education, which is why politi-cians of both sides find us incon-venient and with varying degrees of bluntness, rather wish, ideally, we’d disappear, or failing that, become part of the state sector so that they can fiddle with us, or, failing that, run state schools, called acade-mies, for them, at our expense, but only on their terms, so that they can blame us if it doesn’t work out.

Personally, I think we should stick to our mission, which is to excite the curiosity of our pupils, inspire in them a love of learning, encour-age them to aspire beyond what they can achieve without effort and let the exam grades take care of themselves.

To illustrate this, I’m going to sub-contract my conclusion to an OA, a former pupil of this School who knows a bit about these things. This is part of what he said at the opening ceremony of the London Paralympic Games.

“What is it that breathes fire into the equations, and makes a Universe for them to describe? We live in a Universe governed by

rational laws that we can discover and understand. Look up at the stars, and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the Universe exist. Be curious. There ought to be something very special about the boundary conditions of the Universe, and what can be more special than that there is no boundary?”

“And there should be no bound-ary to human endeavour. When Isaac Newton saw an apple fall to the ground, he suddenly realised that it must be the same force that holds together the beautiful system of the Sun, the planets and the comets.

We are all different, there is no such thing as a standard or run-of-the-mill human being, but we share the same human spirit. What is important is that we have the ability to create. This creativity can take many forms, from physical achievement to theoretical physics. However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at.”

That seems to me a pretty good summary of what true educa-tion is about and I’m not going to quarrel with Stephen Hawking, so let’s move on to a celebration of the achievements of those who are learning that lesson very well: our prizewinners.

Lucie Toole receives her prizes from the bishop

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First Form Prizes

Achievement Awards

Gustav BrincatJames ScraggJamie SandersonWilliam DrakeOliver Barratt-JohnsonWilliam Foxton

Second Form Prizes

Achievement Awards

Jonathan AscottThomas GoldstoneAndrew JenningsOliver NeustenLuke VaghelaDarsh Shah

Third Form Prizes

Achievement Awards

Edward HuntJames KirschOwen PearceTomas Hill Lopez-MencheroThomas AlexanderThomas Sanderson

Fourth Form Prizes

Progress PrizesThomas MatthewsGanesh ChauhanThomas GallifordTimothy Le CouilliardHenry JefferyRobbie Tominey-Nevado

Fifth Form Prizes

Progress Prizes

Jason PhilipThomas WillisGregory ReynoldsTimothy Lynch*Charles Minashi

Fourth Form Subject Prizes

English Declan HoutenMathematics Pius Jude, Patrick SemarkArt Ben HarleyBiology Sebastian BartonEconomics and Business Studies Adam ThorpeChemistry Joshua SouthworthDrama Benedict AnthoneyDT - Electronic Products Christopher RussellDT - Graphic Products Ganesh ChauhanDT - Resistant Materials Benjamin ChrispFrench Daniel AngelGeography Matthew LavelleGerman Oluwaseun AdekoyaGreek Noah LipschitzHistory Robert Tominey-NevadoLatin Milo KnightsMusic Henry JefferyPhysics George MacGregorReligious Studies Harry SampsonSpanish Harry Sampson

Fifth Form Subject Prizes

English Language David Cartwright*English Literature David Cartwright*Mathematics Nicholas Stride*Art Alexander MacraeBiology Edmund Wrigley*Business Studies David Cartwright*Chemistry Christopher Williams*Drama Jem Bosatta*DT - Electronic Products Thomas Kelly*DT - Graphic Products Edward RazzellDT - Resistant Materials Thomas ChapmanFrench Hugh Myers*Geography Alexander Kirsch*German Joseph Zacaroli*Greek Oliver Tasker*History Robert Goldstone*Latin Christopher Williams*Music Joseph Zacaroli*Physical Education Michael SlaterPhysics Thomas Kelly*Religious Studies David Cartwright*Spanish Nicholas Stride*SG F Scase Prize for Languages Jem Bosatta*Higher Project Prize David Cartwright*

*Governors’ Award

Progress Prizes

Benjamin PlumerDean OsuagwuOliver BranleyTimothy Bagnall

Progress Prizes

Michael DaviesSean KelleherAlec Rowe

Progress Prizes

Matthew HallidayCem BalciStanislav KudryashovOliver ConwaySam WhittingtonIan Davidson

Prizewinners 2012

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Fifth Form Governors’ Awards

Matthew Adrian Benjamin CramptonMark Pearce Ayodeji AkintundeNicholas Hill Joseph RedwoodShahir Ali Alexander JohnsonChristopher Wharton Dominic ArmstrongThomas Lee James BarberKiesar Nahami William BarnesMichael Pearson Vincent Chan (2011)Thomas Hughes (2011)

Lower Sixth Subject Prizes

English Literature Kieran VaghelaMathematics Jonathan PhillipsFurther Mathematics Katherine Butler, Patrick ShammasAncient History Robin SykesArt Helen KingBiology Jonathan PhillipsChemistry Jonathan PhillipsDT - Graphic Products Christopher PutmanDT - Resistant Materials Paramesh NatarajanDrama Emily AndersonEconomics James PaveyFrench Alexandra EnglishGeography Robin SykesGerman Hannah MoranGreek James SinclairHistory Harry HamerLatin James SinclairMusic Christopher OatesPhysical Education Isobel ThompsonPhysics Daniel HeydeckerPolitics Ben ReedReligious Studies Alessandro LombardelliSpanish Kieran Vaghela

Upper Sixth Governors’ Awards

Robert Brown Christopher MilstedJohn Ye Simon ChelleyJamie Morton Chloe HallChristopher Schon Philip MadgwickChristopher Stobart Alexander Wright (2011)

Upper Sixth Subject Prizes

English Literature Jonathan Peters*Mathematics Luke Morton*Mathematics (John Godfrey Prize) Sam Eley* Ancient History James Harrison* Ollington Art Exhibiton Prize Harry LavelleBiology Philip Ruis* Chemistry (George Wishart Prize) Philip Ruis*DT - Graphic Products Brian YuenDT - Resistant Materials Jack LigginsDrama Michael BirdDrama - Performance (OA Masonic Lodge Prize) Annabel ThomsonEconomics George Tasker*French Lucinda Toole*Geography Alexander Goldstone*German (EP Debenham Prize) Alex Shavick*Greek Harry Hopla History (Archibald John Eastcott Prize) Lucinda Toole*Latin Thomas McConnell*Music Christopher SpringthorpePhysical Education Jonathan SpencerPhysics Andrew BallPolitics Samantha Magnus*Religious Studies Michael Hollins*Spanish William Jacobs*

*Governors’ Awards

Special Awards

Contribution to Parnership Prize Alexander TerryCommunity Link Prize Stephen BaldwinJosh Handel (Charities) Cup James MohajerExtended Project Prize Wilkie HollensHighstead Cup Michael HollinsPowell-Davies Service Prize Alexander GoldstonePrefects’ Leaving Prize James Anthoney, Annabel Thomson, Wilkie HollensHead Prefect’s Prize James Scott

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MomentsAboutaLeaverPatTaylor

A new door opens as the old one closes; your final essay, sent off to The Board:‘“The future answers no more questions than it poses” Compare/contrast: two hundred words‘.

Freed from the order school imposes – the rules and expectations, once deplored –a new door opens as the old one closes. So forget the blithe conclusions, stating: ‘What this shows, is…’ and accept that learning brings its own reward: the future answers no more questions than it poses. For each poet or musician, who composes something good yet flawed, for each sportsman who, outscoring, gets outscored, a new door opens as the old one closes; as each force has its equal, that opposes, so each moment has a balance that’s explored.The future answers no more questions than it poses and though no life can be a bed of roses it’s better to be busy than admit you’re bored:a new door opens as the old one closes.

Answer the future, all it proposes:that door’s ahead, and all beyond it, yours.

A poem written for the Leavers’ Graduation Ceremony

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Young and friendly, unlike her shrewish sister,But is she ready for courting a mister?To marry or no, Bianca does not mind; She’ll only wed if the perfect man she finds.

Gremio wins the father with offers of gold;Can this make up for the fact that he’s so old?He wants to marry in old age for a last bit of fun,To go out with a bang, like a shot from a gun.

Hortensio’s dressed as a teacher to get the girl;Midway through his lesson, his plan starts to unfurl.He tries to win her by playing the lute,But she’d rather he didn’t and gives him the boot.

Lucentio, dressed as a scholar to woo her heart,Has to teach her Latin; doesn’t know where to start,So gives a message through the foreign lines;She toys with him in response to his clever signs.

Tranio, Lucentio’s servant who’s after the prize,Little does Bianca know he too is in disguise. Helping out his master, all part of the plan,One to win her heart; the other her old man.

Which one will Bianca choose, if she can at all?Will her father do it for her, making the final call?Will she go for Tranio who offers most gold,Or for Gremio, even though he’s so old?Read on in the book to see the story unfold.

Bianca’sDilemmaJamesKirsch

TricksoftheTradeHarrySampsonSilence,The drumming of the black keys,My fingers pumping – up down, up down,The bold black words emerging fromThe blank screen.

The repetitive thud, heavily hammering,Gradually emulating my eloquent thoughts.The greasy keys cause my fingers to slip and slide.Sweat inevitably passes from my fingers to coverThe black keys.

Black,My father’s black, prestigious gown,That intimidates onlookers, but not me.The bleakness and dullness remind him ofHis daily routine.

On entering the courtroom, heads turnTo see the sweeping lawyer,Fastidiously and meticulously arranging his notes.The gown blows involuntarily in the wind,Its complexion matching that of his shiny shoes.

My grandfather’s shiny stethoscope,Connected to the red rubber buds that penetrate his ears,Whilst he leans in to hear the beating of life.On and on it would echo.

Its cold steely rim against the soft yielding skin.His soft, gentle, bedside manner,Reflecting his mood.He would gently hold it in his soft wrinkled hands, probing his patient till all was done.Then back it would be placed,Loyally guarding the chair until it was next required.

He no longer practises,Yet still, my fingers pump –Up down, up down.

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TheVenturerTomasHillLopez-Menchero

The vessels collided before toppling to the ground violently in a cacophony of explosions. Just an average day stacking tins at Worthington’s for Jack, nothing special, nothing new. The manager’s

sharp, hard-working figure strolled past him.“Better luck next time, Thompson!” He pointed at Jack’s collar, “Tie, do

it up properly, now!”Jack sighed as Mr McGregor snuck past him, smiling wickedly to

himself. “Yes sir, I’ll do it up now.” He bent down to pick up the tins of tomato

soup, two at a time. Jack kept an ear on the radio booming across the store. It was virtually the only thing he could look forward to in this hell-hole.

An articulate presenter calmly read the news, in which there was nothing new, bar one article which made Jack sit up,

“And in other news, the Government has launched another effort in a desperate bid to find out if there is life elsewhere. Previous space missions have failed dramatically, due to an underwhelming response, however, the British Space Agency only requests five inexperienced astronauts for this process, and are hoping that this push will be enough to send the Venturer to Mars...”

At this, Jack dropped the soup tins he was holding and snapped back into the real world. Inexperienced astronauts. Inexperienced astronauts. He knew that this was not what the BSA really meant, they obviously were desperate, and needed anybody, meaning anybody, that they could get. Another employee, Eugene, walked past him, staring at the soup cans on the floor.

“Getting a bit excited by that job, are you Jack?” He smiled mockingly at Jack, whilst putting back a tub of peanut butter. “Anyway, who could blame you? Of course being an astronaut is much better than being a shelf-stacker, Jack” he giggled and muttered to himself, marching off. “Honestly, this stuff just writes itself.”

Jack looked on enviously. He hated the job at Worthington’s with passion. He would do anything to get out of there. Jack had always told himself that, but how prepared would he be just to walk out of here? After all, he needed to consult his parents, and the job at Worthington’s paid well. Without a doubt, he knew what he had to do; picking his coat up off of the rail, he marched out of the store. He was aware that customers at the various tills were looking at him, as well as the various employees, but he didn’t care. He was going to be out of this dump as soon as possible. Suddenly, Mr McGregor appeared from the sliding doors.

“Mr Thompson, you come back here right now!”Jack shook his head, “I’m sorry Mr McGregor; I can’t do that.” He stood

defiantly outside the store.“You come back here right now Thompson, or your contract is

terminated!” Mr McGregor looked livid, and his face was red with anger, “You’re fired if you don’t come back here right this instant!”

He knew that what he was about to do could change his life forever, but he didn’t care.

“Goodbye Mr McGregor.” Jack could barely hear his thoughts above the noise. The music was

beyond painful for his ears, but it was fun to wind up his father and relax for once. He knew his father would never come in with music like this on. Eventually the blaring became too much, and he turned the music down. He had been like this for three hours trying to work out what his CV should say. At the moment he only had two qualifications on it; the shelf-stacking jobs at Worthington’s, for which he was almost certain he wouldn’t be able to get a reference and the low B he had achieved at GCSE level in Physics. He remembered being hugely fond of the B, the only good thing he had ever really achieved at school.

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He was still pondering the application form when suddenly the door burst open, making Jack jump. It was his father, wearing a v-neck jumper and looking like he usually did: stressed. His few strands of hair were smoothed back with sweat, and his eyes looked weak, and scared.

“Is it true then, Jack?” He asked anxiously, sweat forming on his forehead.

“Is what true, dad?” “You want to become an astronaut?”Jack nodded. “I see,” his father nodded solemnly, “You’re just going to leave all your

life behind to go up into space? I tell you, that job pays less than being a bus driver. It’s 2050 Jack, not 1966. Being an astronaut sucks.”

“I know, but I’m prepared to take the risk of leaving my life behind, if I even have one, just so I can get out of this place.”

At that his father seemed appalled, and he reeled back in shock. He sighed and stared, confused, at his own son.

“What are you son? A realist or an optimist?”“I’d say I’m a realist.”“Then start acting like one.” With that his father stormed out, angry, but

more so disappointed with his own blood. He couldn’t understand why his father was so angry about him

becoming an astronaut. After all, it wasn’t that bad a job. Sure, the prestige of the job had decreased rapidly since the ‘twenties, but it was still a perfectly acceptable job, surely? He shrugged, and put the music back on.

Jack arrived late to the job interview. His father had refused to take him in the car all the way up to Londonport, which, in fairness, was a long way away. They had had a lengthy argument about what the actual reason for his father not taking him was, before his mother had surrendered, and had bundled him in the car. Jack felt sick, so he kept having to remind himself why he was going to try to get the job.

I’m gonna get out of that place, I’m gonna get out of that place, I’m gonna get out of that place.

He kept repeating this, almost as a religious mantra, until the car finally pulled up at the massive warehouse. His mum dusted off his suit, before wishing him luck.

“Whatever your dad says, Jack, I’m very proud of you,” They both smiled at each other, before Jack gave his mum a kiss.“I’ll promise I’ll do you proud. And anyway, I don’t know why dad’s

getting so tetchy about it, it’s not like it’s a major thing...”His mother cut him short, “He’s got his reasons.”Jack nodded, wondering what his mother meant by that.“I’ll pick you up later,” she said, changing the subject, “Bye for now,”“Bye.” The car manoeuvred before his mum disappeared into the distance. “Tell me Jack, where do you see yourself in three years time?”He didn’t know how to answer that one. Was it him, or had the

temperature been raised by 30 degrees in here? Anyway, it wasn’t like this was one of the hardest job interviews he had faced, but he just wasn’t in the right mood for this.

“Jack..?” The interviewer was getting impatient. However, it seemed that for the whole interview, he had had Jack’s best interests at heart. The BSA was obviously very desperate for somebody, because the interviewer was being kind to him.

Where did he see himself in three years time? Stacking shelves at Smith’s or on a spacecraft? He knew which one he preferred, just not which one was more realistic.

“Not stacking shelves at a supermarket, that’s for sure!”

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His spontaneous and unexpected wit made the interviewer chuckle, and he proceeded to pose the question to Jack differently.

“What do you want to achieve in life?” Jack’s smile turned to a deeply serious expression.“I want to have been successful, having proven my dad wrong. I want

to go up there,” he signalled at the ceiling, “and make a difference.” He was deadly serious, and the interviewer knew it. He nodded. The

interviewer had asked his final question. They both got up. “Oh... and Jack?”“Yes?”“What did you get that GCSE in?”“Physics.”At that his eyes lit up. He shook Jack’s hand, said goodbye, and exited

the room. Jack had got the job. He couldn’t believe it when he opened the

envelope. The BSA had chosen him, the shelf-stacker, the one-time B grade Physicist, to go up into space! His mum had been gloriously ecstatic. His father, on the other hand... He had meant what he had said in the first interview, and he was dead certain that he would achieve it. Despite what his dad had said, he was probably one of a select few people in the world who valued that job highly. It was far more exciting than stacking shelves; that was for sure.

A couple of days later, Jack went up the stairs to see his dad crying through the crack in his parents’ door.

“Dad?”He sobbed, “What? Go away.”Jack opened the door. His father held a pristine picture of a middle-aged

man in his hand. He instantly recognised it, it was his grandfather. Why would he be crying over him though?

“What’s wrong dad?”“Your grandpa, he was a great man.”“I know dad.” His grandfather had fought in the war, or something

like that, but nothing amazingly heroic. He wondered why his father was bringing this up.

“Your grandpa, he was an astronaut,”At this Jack’s eyebrows shot up. Where was his father going with this?“He died in the 2012 Apollo crash.” his father burst back into tears,

“You’ve got to understand Jack, I didn’t want you to fail, I just didn’t want you to suffer the same fate.”

“I understand dad.” A tear came to Jack’s eye but he swallowed it down, “But I’m still going out there. I’m going to do him proud, I’m going to do you proud, I’m going to go into space.”

He could have whispered it, it was so defiant. He and his dad talked, and occasionally broke into tears. They hugged, they wept, and by the end of it, he and his father had agreed that he would go up to space.

Just as Jack was leaving the room, his father took him by the shoulder.“Jack, I’m proud of you.”Youngest spaceman ever makes a big impactIt took almost no time for Jack Thompson to make a name for himself,

after stepping on the Venturer into space. At 21 years old when he first stepped on the craft, he has become the youngest astronaut ever, and is one of the 5 people who will be searching for new life in space, in the coming 12 years. The Herald wishes Jack and his crew the best of luck. Jack had these words to say, “All my life, I’ve just been determined to do this, to go out there, and prove everybody wrong, the people who said I couldn’t do it. I hope to bring prestige to the astronaut vocation.”

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TimeMatthewO’ConnorIt is an elegant blue like the South-Pacific Ocean on a hot summer’s day.It sounds like the Ukrainian Bell Choir playing beautifully on Christmas Eve.It smells like a summer night when the stars are out to play. It feels like an out of control crane, swinging from side to side.It tastes like a freshly iced doughnut that you can’t wait to get your teeth into.Its wish would be to be a clock tower, to show where it takes part.Its dream would be a holiday, because it is an old man that never stops working.

IComeFromRahulPatelI am from the red moon that shines in the cold night.I am from the twin suns from my bus when the sky is still black.I am from the landscape covered with frosty white icing.I am from the buzzing vein of England. I am from the school that was once a prison and in some ways has not changed.I am from the cold wind that burns the skin when it is touched.I am from the place where seconds become minutes and minutes become hours.I am from the moonlit street in which trees always fall.

EmptyWorldTomDilley

I woke up slowly, listening to the silence.The birds weren’t singing as they usually do.

I tugged at the curtains, letting the sunshine pour in and wash over me.Something wasn’t right.

Everything was eerily still.The trees weren’t swaying,The birds weren’t tweeting,The cars weren’t revving,The world wasn’t turning.

I scrambled downstairs and leapt out of the house.Clump.Click.

Clump.The noise of my footsteps suddenly became terrifyingly loud, almost deafening.

Everyone had gone, nowhere to be seen.I tried calling people, but their answer phone message drummed into my head.

What has happened to the world?

The phone wasn’t ringing,The radio wasn’t singing,My alarm wasn’t buzzing,The world was on standby.

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SadSymphonyofAngelsApril 19th 1937

MaddyTaylor

The fire spat at me like the devil his-self. Only the corners of the last picture remained, curled and charred. Mama was wailing as she returned with another picture, smaller this time; must have been the one from Daddy’s pocket because it was all ragged and dirty around the edges. She waggled

her fist at the old man, swallowed in fire, shaking tears from her eyes. They hung on her chest like the sweat on a cold glass of lemonade. I looked back at her in time only to see the billow of her dress as she continued the hunt.

Stuffed with excess fuel, the fire consumed this picture faster than the others. His sallow skin was ablaze; short hair already having been chewed away. Mama had always said that Roosevelt was a great man; said she could tell on account of his strong nose and his powerful voice. But as I watched that nose shrivel into ash, I didn’t think he was a great man at all. And neither did Mama, not anymore. Not since Noah. As the fire jumped and the floorboards cracked under Mama’s feet, all I could think of was that night.

The mosquitos whined around me as I finally broke into the field. Nelson had come to find me. Noah was in trouble. None of us knew what for, just that he’d been hustled into a truck an hour earlier. From one end of the small field to the other was a sea of white necks and hair ruffled by the wind. They made such a ruckus that the mosquito’s singing cut out. They were all hollering, but I couldn’t understand for what.

The last thing I wanted to do was step on any of these white man’s toes. I didn’t want to give them any reason to look on me. So I skirted around the crowd, where more peckerwoods was stumbling from their trucks and into the field. Daddy always told me to stay away from that sour smell on their breath, so I slowed myself until they’d merged with the others. Even at the edges it was hard to see and I started to get more and more afraid of what they was doing to Noah at the front of the crowd. He didn’t get along with the white folk. Mama always said he had too much talk for his own good. But Noah wouldn’t have anyone’s hand clamped over his mouth. Not even God’s.

The men were shouting louder as I shoved myself through a gap in their sweaty bodies. Though at first it was hard to tell, it was definitely Noah down there in the dirt. His eye was a deep purple, swollen shut and weeping, a big smear of clotted blood across his chin. If it was possible, my heart pumped faster. It was the most terrible thing I’d ever seen.

‘Grab the nigger girl!’ someone shouted, and before I could react I felt a pair of hot hands grab at my arms. I shook at them, shrieking and kicking as he tried to pull me towards him. No one was going to stop me getting to Noah. I just wanted to get to Noah.

‘Ali, get out of here!’ Noah’s voice was raspy and shaking. His hands were bound behind his back with a thick brown belt. Bone white rope swung from the tree above him. This had happened three months ago to a young boy at church.

They were going to lynch my brother.

I really screamed then, a scared and uncontrolled scream that caused the pecks to jibe and holler. Tears ran down my cheeks. My chapped elbow opened up and bled as I struggled.

‘Noah! Get up Noah! You have to get up and run!’ He shook his head at me and I could already see death in his eyes.

A big man with a grisly beard hauled him up and set him on top of a truck, just below the large oak. I knew that man; he ran the town store. Mr Wesley. Pleas ran out of my mouth, asking him to stop.

My brother didn’t know better. I’d make sure my Mama gave him a good seeing to. He’s real polite. Would never touch no white lady. Anything.

‘Your hollerin’ aint gonna do nothing, nigger. He’s gettin’ exactly what he deserves.’ He laughed as he wound the length of rope around Noah’s throat.

‘You tell Mama there ain’t nothing that’s gonna change around here, Ali. Tell her to move y’all up north, up to where Daddy said they was makin’ a change.’

‘No Noah! Don’t you talk to me like you ain’t comin’ with us! Please Mr Wesley!’ I sobbed. The truck revved. Then shot forward. Noah dropped like a stone and bounced with a terrifying crack. His legs

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StrokeOctober 1968GeorgePrew

It was in the early autumn, the day before the feast of St Ignatius, that my mother was taken ill. I had got a call from my father at work, and I remember his voice on the other end of the line, husky, small, scared. I had rushed straight home.So there I was, on the brown, wooden doorstep of the home that had raised me with

all its secrets and ghosts. I walked through the door to greet my father and my first thought was how old he looked – surely he hadn’t aged this much in a few months? Or had it been the shock of this, of his wife suddenly taken ill? I asked how she was. Not good. Where was she? In the bedroom. Would she... I couldn’t bring myself to say it. She couldn’t die, not with everything unsaid. Not my mother.

I asked to see her, so he brought me up the familiar seventeen steps to the landing, walking on the old faded rug past the cathedral in the window through which the faint chants and jeers outside were still audible, as our boys took on some English side. Some things never changed.

My mother was asleep when I entered her makeshift ward. It was dark and ripe with the acrid, clinical smell of medicine. My father knelt by her side to pray, while I simply looked at her. At that poor old, sick woman who my father loved so dearly and who had hurt him so deeply. He would never know. If my mother died, then he would never learn of Eddie’s innocence. I had to tell him.

“Father – ”“Son. Please, for once, can we just savour the silence?”That was it. I knelt next to him, so close that I could smell the linen of her bedclothes

and the sweat on his clothes. I recited the old prayers I had learned all those years ago, exhausting them until there was nothing left to say. I got up to leave, but my father stopped me with his strong hands, and there we sat, my father and I, savouring the silence.

jumped around and his one open eye rolled back into his head. He was making an awful sucking sound, his tongue bouncing in and out of his mouth.

I kicked out at the man behind me and felt him buckle. His grip let loose as he wheezed out a clattering breath. Falling forward, my hands and heavy pants scattering the dust, I lost sight of Noah. I scrambled up, blinking my clouded eyes, and caught hold of his swinging legs, tried to heave him up, to give him air. His gasp was loud and hungry. For a second, I thought we were all saved.

And then I was yanked away, my hair ripping from its roots, and thrown into the dust. The smell of rubber filled my nose as the man’s sole pressed to my face. Pebbles bit into my cheek and the sucking sound grew louder, my wail joining it in a screeching harmony. The foot lifted from my face as the man stumbled in his drunkenness. My legs felt hollow, weak. I turned my face to see Mr Wesley heaving a big green barrel out of his truck and sloshing the liquid over Noah. His legs still flailed. I felt blood rushing through me, roaring in my ears. A scream scraped its way up my throat.

A match flared against Noah’s skin and consumed him. Only the thin whisper of a gasp escaped his lips and then the entire field was silent, just for a second. My yell sent waves through the quiet.

‘No! Noah!’ And then a hail of hoots and hollers struck down my lone cry of sorrow. I rocked myself against a dusty root and whimpered as Noah’s still body burned. The smell of charred meat filled the dense night air; it had a sick metallic tinge.

A few of the peckerwoods took a kick at me as they stumbled past. And I sat there. And I took it. For Noah. It wasn’t long before I heard Mama’s screams join my own and Daddy’s cry of grief. We bathed Noah in the sad symphony of angels and though fire battled against his heavenly path, I felt in my heart he’d make it there.

I pulled Mattie onto my lap and smoothed down her wild hair. We sobbed as it grew ever darker, screams breaking out of our hearts and cracking them apart. Ty took Mattie up into his arms and I stood up, lifting my face to the sky. I put two fingers to my eyebrow and the field went silent but for the pop and crackle of the flames.

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Work on a winter theme from Optic, the School’s photographic societyJoe Thomas and Alex Kirsch (left page)

Harry Pottinger and Michael Slater (this page)

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Lighting:Joe Thomas

NJC

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At first thought, there is a certain irony in producing a play set in the height of summer during the depths of winter but, in fact, it turned out to be the ideal time and date for such a play.

Shakespeare wrote A Midsum-mer Night’s Dream in 1595, most likely for performance at an aristocratic wedding. It is thought that this may have been for the marriage of the Lord Chamberlain’s daughter, whose mother had an avid interest in cosmology and wanted to choose an auspicious date for the wedding. The ideal day would be one of a new moon, representing the beginning of a new cycle of fertility and happi-ness for the couple.

For a Renaissance audience the moon was important both sym-bolically and practically; it rep-resented the ideal Renaissance woman who was both chaste and fertile, as well as providing an important source of evening light. Whilst a full moon was viewed as a ‘Lover’s Moon’ (a long night of light would bring greater passions), the absence of the moon was deemed to

bring confusion and chaos in many different forms.

A gloomy mid-December evening, with the moon, although almost full, largely hidden beneath a heavy layer of cloud, was, therefore, the perfect time to see a play about the fickle nature of love and the disorder that darkness can bring.

From the opening lines of the play, when Theseus, King of Athens, declares that “four happy days bring in another moon”, (at which time he will be married to his Amazo-nian bride, Hippolyta) the audience are thrown into a world where the moon, not the sun, governs the action. It soon follows that two young lovers, Hermia and Lysander, who have been forbidden from marrying, decide to elope into the forest during the night. With the changeable moon guiding their way and two other young Athenians, Helena and Demetrius, hot on their tail, it hardly needs the interference of Oberon, King of the Faeries, and his sidekick Puck, for mayhem to begin. Add a jilted Faerie Queen, Titania, and a group of labourers rehearsing for a play of their own into the mix, and pandemonium reigns.

In Chris Bhantoa’s dynamic produc-tion, the atmosphere of anarchy and a sense of entering an alternate night-time reality were paramount. Neon costumes and electro music gave the play a 1980s revamp; the Lovers were rebellious school-uniformed teenagers, Puck and Oberon ruled the forest in match-ing leather jackets, and Titania’s fairy train, decorated with fluores-cent wings, protected her bower in a trance-like state.

The performance opened with a medley of lines from the play, sung to a slightly discordant melody by the ‘Dreamettes’ (Madeleine Taylor, Samantha Magnus, Robyn Parker), whilst the characters from the play swept across the stage, lurching to grasp each others’ hands but being forced apart and controlled by the meddling Puck. Immediately, the audience was made aware that this was not going to be a traditionally romantic version of the play, but one which would explore the heat of love and the dangerous passions which it can breed.

Robert Phillips as Theseus and Philippa Wright as Hippolyta confirmed the feisty tone of this production. Their love was one of witty verbal combat and amorous embraces, suggesting a maturity to their relationship, which added sincerity to the

IllMetByMoonlight…Much to praise in a meeting of solstices

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opening scenes and developed an interesting contrast with the more innocent, yet equally heartfelt, in-fatuation between the young lovers.

Max Thomas was an angry, embit-tered Egeus, blindly resolute in refusing his daughter Hermia’s choice of husband and constantly frustrated by the tendency for Theseus to be distracted by the Amazonian beauty by his side. Philostrate, Theseus’ assistant, (Michael Bird) was dressed in full Goth attire – long leather jacket, studded collar, heavy boots – and stomped across the stage, reluc-tantly obeying commands and strengthening the mounting sense of a brewing rebellion.

No sooner had the ‘adults’ left the stage when the teenage lovers started plotting. Will Jacobs gave an assured performance as the romantic Lysander, speaking the verse with a real appreciation of the poetry in the lines and showing a touching earnestness in his affec-tion for his first love. As Hermia, Eleanor Rosser-Smyth was equally sympathetic; she was sweetly naive and admirably determined to main-tain her chastity, even when alone in the woods with her Lysander.

Not so lucky in love are Helena and Demetrius. Helena loves Demetrius, but Demetrius loves Hermia. So an amusing chase ensues, with Demetrius pursu-ing Hermia and Lysander into the woods, whilst Helena follows him, very much against his will. Kitty Wright was both comical and pitiful as the rejected Helena, desper-ate to reason with Demetrius and convince him of her love, but driven to irrational measures by the power of her passion; at one point she even drops onto all fours, declares herself his “spaniel” to be “spurn[ed]” or “strike[d]”, and barks. Ben Harrison’s Demetrius was full of disdain for her and his hatred was almost palpable, yet when his feelings were reversed by Puck, the switch to ardent lust was immediate and equally convinc-ing. Moreover, despite the flaws in Demetrius’ character, he managed to make him sympathetic; rather than arrogant, he was cheekily charming, and amusingly put out by

Hermia’s choice of Lysander over him, suggesting an underlying boyish self-awareness which made him more endearing to both the audi-ence and to Helena.

All four lovers really came into their own during the fight scenes in the forest. Puck’s confusion over which was the right man in Athe-nian clothes, led to him dropping the love juice into the wrong man’s eyes, and now both men are in love with Helena. Whilst the girls were tearing each others’ hair out, the boys were limbering up in the back-ground, sustaining an impressive level of energy and engendering a comedy from the scenes which brought the first act to a hilarious close and left the audience willing the confusion to be resolved in order that they could have a rest.

But in the world of the forest, further mischief is afoot. The ongoing dispute between the King and Queen of the Faeries has resulted in the disturbance of nature and the seasons. Annabel Thomson as Titania spoke some of the most anthologised speeches of the play with an appreciation of their poetic beauty as well as their modern resonance; in a world where climate change is ever more prominent, her descriptions of “hoary-headed frosts fall[ing] in the fresh lap of the crimson rose” seem surprisingly apt. She gave a powerful performance throughout, capturing perfectly the flashes of anger that provoke her jilted lover, Oberon, into duping her, and the ardour with which she then falls in love with Bottom, the weaver-come-actor-come-ass.

Titania’s fairies gave the impression of

being an extension of Titania herself

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Titania’s fairy train was equally mesmerising. Juliette Mann, Sarah Tilley, Will Barnes and Emily Ander-son created an ethereal yet edgy group of fairies through their clever use of movement and voice. Often moving and speaking as one, they gave the impression of being an extension of Titania herself. Their fluorescent make-up and costumes aided the impression of them be-longing to a magical other world, as did the lighting and electro sound effects operated by Tim Furlong and Daniel Rajan, under the guid-ance of Guy Lewis.

Ganesh Rajaratnam had real pres-ence as the stately Oberon and was aided brilliantly by the cheeky Puck (Adam Annis), a true young talent. Dressed in matching leather jackets, Oberon seemed to enjoy the power that having an appren-tice gave him, and Puck was, at first, an eager assistant. Several mistakes later, however, Oberon was losing

patience, and Puck grew increas-ingly impudent. Once again, the woodland, in the dim light of the moon, became a place of change, rebellion and danger.

One of the most dramatic physical changes in the play is undoubtedly that of Bottom the Weaver into a donkey. Bottom is one of the Mechanicals, a group of tradesmen turned actors for the purposes of producing a play to celebrate the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta (a clever device by Shakespeare to mimic his own endeavour).

The name of each Mechanical is linked to his professions and drawn from Shakespeare’s experience of rural life in Warwickshire. Snug the Joiner was given a sensitive perfor-mance by Matt Armitage. Dressed in an oversized T-shirt and bare feet, his Snug was lacking sense but not sensibility; his tears over Bot-tom’s theatrical death in the final

scene were genuine and somewhat moving. Robert Brooks’ Starveling the tailor was smartly attired and keen to impress, showing a con-ceivable embarrassment during the performance to the Athenians. Joe Eastham was an eccentric Snout the tinker and his performance as the Wall had an amusing Monty Python-like quality. Tom Ling gave a wonderfully subtle performance as Flute the bellows-mender, showing an early reluctance to play the part of the female lover, Thisbe, in their tragedy, but finally finding his falsetto voice with a helping hand from Bottom. Peter Quince the carpenter was characterised as an earnest yet rather nervous director of the play by Isaac Johnson, and his comic relationship with Bottom was superb; despite his best at-tempts to maintain control, Bottom was simply too much of an ass.

And what an ass Elliot Krieger’s Bottom was. From the moment he entered, he dominated the stage (especially when limbering up in a leotard), steering the rest of the Mechanicals with well-intentioned yet amusingly misguided direction. When it seemed as if the bedlam in the woods was at its peak, he was then turned into a real donkey and thrust into a love affair with the beautiful Titania. Ignorant of his ri-diculous appearance, she swore her love with incredible passion, both amusing and angering the watching Oberon, who was clearly longing to restore order and claim his Queen once again for himself.

Thankfully, morning came and order was restored. When, at the end of the play, Puck declared “the pres-ence of the sun follow[s] darkness like a dream” and the characters and audience are blessed with promises of happiness, there was in many ways a sense of relief at this return to normality. Yet, at the same time, there was a definite reluctance for such an engaging, amusing and moving production to come to an end. Walking out of the production into the chilly darkness once again, it was evident that the memory this Dream, which, in the words of Bottom was “past the wit of man to say what dream it was”, would last long after the night was over.

RJB

Puck and Oberon, dressed in matching leather jackets

Next page:Elliot Krieger’s

Bottom in all its glory

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I’m not sure that the great plays of William Shakespeare were designed with a view to fitting three of them into a two-hour evening. Nor, I think, were they written with a particular

love for twenty-first century schoolboy audiences. I like

to see we Fifth Form GCSE Drama students as the ambassadors of the Bard’s work, evangelising through

the modern vernacular for the historic storyteller whose tales everybody should know. However, the unromanticised and more

honest version of the event is as follows: we were told in

September that as part of our GCSE Drama coursework we would be given a Shakespeare play to transpose, rejuvenate and make relevant and acces-sible to an audience of our peers, for performance and assessment in January 2012.

Our first task (and a daunting one) was to translate it for our-selves, since we were then barely, if at all, better acquainted with the language of Shakespeare than those for whom we would be producing the play, our target audi-ence. Once our familiarity with the play was sufficient – we did

not actu-ally

need such a thorough knowledge in the end, bearing in mind the short thirty-five minutes into which we had to fit the story. We began to think about and then decide upon a setting for the story, adapting the characters for each idea. The well-known houses of Montague and Capulet (of Romeo & Juliet) were transformed into rival banking societies, whilst the comic knight Sir John Falstaff was suddenly a retired officer in the Middle East, drinking away his time, whilst the turmoil of an Arab Spring revolu-tion against the Colonel and his son sprang up around him. This was our take on Henry IV Part 1 - the play which my group “reinterpreted” for the following five months.

As you can imagine, Henry IV Part 1 needed some cropping. Having cut out the scenes we didn’t need, we began to experiment with the snappy, the contemporary and the comic, taking full advantage of the lack of original stage directions to form and fashion a new and exciting experience for our prospective audi-ence. Our spectators would see and feel the story’s fury in one scene, transformed to levity and laughter in the space of a scene change, and back and forth between the two subplots. We translated the Shake-spearian pentameter into colloquial English and gave the plot a shot of modern theatre, with injections of synchronised slow-mo combat, physical theatre (including a human toilet, a particular hit with the audi-ence) and music from Eurythmics, Batman and the Pink Panther.

Having attained a reasonable standard, we were subjected to the critical eye of the Fourth form one afternoon in December. Our first performances then were not a rip-roaring success, but they gave us invaluable practice in preparation for the subsequent public showings which came after the Christmas break. For those, we were more ex-perienced and better rehearsed, and when the time came for the exami-nation performance each group had a polished, professional play. What’s more, each actor had a deepened and enhanced understanding of Shakespeare to accompany their considerable achievement over those last months.

TransformingShakespeareJem Bosatta bends the Bard for GCSE

Andrew Lay performed a strikingly modern Malvolio in the adaptation of Twelfth Night

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The haunting power of Sarah Kane’s impending suicide was ex-pressed vividly in the Lower Sixth’s impressive production of 4.48 Psychosis. This was the playwright’s final work, consisting largely of her musings on death. Interpreting the play’s streams of conscious-ness in the ensemble style of Steven Berkoff, the students gave a convincing performance of Kane’s descent into psychosis.

Lasting a mere twenty-two minutes, the actors shifted effectively between a wide range of moods, from feelings of profound depres-sion, to bouts of unremitting aggression, to elusive moments of light humour. The audience was frequently confronted by extreme swearing and violent declarations

of agony; yet this was balanced by scattered outpourings of song and comic imitations of the banalities of human existence: a man reading a newspaper, getting dressed and going to some mundane work. The actors were also able to incorpo-rate semblances of cohesion to the play’s structure, such as the forma-tion of military regiments and the dramatic voice’s interrogation by a psychiatric doctor.

While all the acting was at a high level, Ben Harrison was particularly visceral in his portrayal of suicidal moaning. Charlie Rounds was also effective in his role as army leader and doctor, issuing commands to his fellow actors. Emily Anderson, Matt Armitage, Rob Brooks, Izzy Bachelor and Tom Ling are to be

DescentintoPsychosisLVI Production of 4.48 Psychosis.

Anticipation mounted as news of the Playwriting Challenge faced by the Third Form filtered through. The only introduction was a quick briefing and separation into small groups of six. A brainstorming session followed, which formed the basis of a plot – giving a platform upon which scripts could be written and characters created. It presented us with a fresh challenge, which provided an insight into the creative potential of the Third Form.

commended for their perform-ances.

There seemed a clear parallel between the striped, pyjama-like uniform of the cast and the clothes of those in the concentration camps, which enhanced the sombre undertones of the production. Any sense of individual identity was sinisterly removed by the actors’ starkly white faces, and the often unison movements of the cast. The audience left the perform-ance disturbed and enlivened in equal measure, with memories of madness lingering in the mind.

James Sinclair

Stories gradually made the transi-tion into rough drafts that would form the basis of our final pieces. After five weeks of writing and producing in class and an extra session after school, performance night arrived. Gathering nervously in the Gallery awaiting the judges sent a buzz of anticipation though the performers. Imogen Doel and Matti Houghton, each seasoned ac-tresses from the Royal Shakespeare

Third Form PlaywritingCompany, were impressed by the high standards of the performances.

One boy said: “When it was our turn to go on, silence consumed the studio as we climbed up onto the stage. After three comical deaths, two were left standing and we received our applause as the curtains closed. Our hard work had paid off: the applause was music to our ears.”

Tim Nejad

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In their now traditional summer production, the Lower School Drama Club provided some energetic and amusing entertain-ment together with the occasional frisson. At New Place the pupils staged adaptations of six of Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected, each with their own macabre twist.

Those members of the audience who could distantly recall the origi-nal television adaptations unwisely sensed that they were on familiar territory as the original music from the series seeped across the audi-torium, matched by the familiar title script on the programme.

The key theme of course was still retribution, but presented with humorous and occasional slapstick panache, rather than menace. A circus scenario cleverly provided the link between the six stories, as the circus entertainers made an intermittent dry comment on proceedings. In the first tale, Lamb

to the Slaughter Mary Maloney cheerfully dispatched her husband by bashing him on the head with a leg of lamb, an act performed with considerable gusto. The canny Mrs Maloney was able then to cheer-fully outwit the police in their subsequent investigation. In Parson’s Pleasure four Hertfordshire farmers were able to outwit a villainous antique dealer masquerading as a vicar, the latter role played with roguish delight by Charles Obadi-aru. In The Landlady, the eponymous role was played with great enthu-siasm by Adam Annis. Suspicions are aroused in an apprentice as to the true nature of the business being run by the seemingly sweet, if rather eccentric, lady.

Galloping Foxley followed the inter-val, where an innocent commuter, Perkins, finds his regular seat on the train occupied by another pas-senger. This turns out to be Foxley, the boy who long ago used to bully him at school. A neat retribution

ensues. Dip in the Pool took place on a cruise ship, providing a sharp contrast with the more mundane setting of the previous vignette. A betting scam goes horribly wrong for William Botibol, when he tries to fix the outcome of a betting pool. Skin provided a particularly gruesome end to the evening, when Drioli, who bears a tattoo on his back executed by a now famous artist, attempts to exploit this ‘work of art’.

This was a delightful evening’s en-tertainment, providing both tension and humour in equal measure. This success can be attributed to the varied, exuberant and tal-ented performances of the many Lower School Drama Club pupils who took part. We shall certainly be seeing more of them as they progress through the School.

JMG

TalesoftheUnexpectedLower School Drama Club Production

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Portraits by, clockwise from top left:Alex Macrae GCSEHelen King ASHarry Lavelle A2Joe Redwood GCSE

Previous page:Pencil helix made for House Art by Adam DowneyNext page:Painting by Harry Lavelle A2

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Alex Soames ASCharlotte Hulse A2

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Tanveer Ranshi ASPalakorn Constable GCSE

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First Form Olympic medals projectAlessandro Rossi (GCSE)

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Music

It is rare to have access to pianos of this standard in a school en-vironment and we are truly very fortunate to have them – some-thing the School’s pianists know only too well.

Aside from the benefits provided as far as learning is concerned, the new Model B Grand Piano offers the school’s pianists a chance to perform on a very high quality piano on a regular basis. Most young pianists never get the chance to perform on a piano of this standard, and so the acquisi-tion of this piano provides both a great performing experience for performers but also a wonderful opportunity for them to dem-onstrate their abilities to a much fuller extent than before. I can certainly say from my own personal experience that these new pianos have been of great benefit and are a great addition to the Music De-partment, as well as making piano recitals at the school all the more spectacular.

David McConnell

When I first heard the news that the school was to become an All-Steinway School, I was very excited. As a pianist, the news created in me a kind of excitement normally associated with the arrival of a new sports car or very expensive piece of jewellery. And so it was that when the pianos were delivered early in the new school year, I rushed straight to where they had been delivered to try them all out. It was immediately apparent to me and the other pianists in the room how beneficial they would be to us.

Steinways have a reputation for being amongst the best pianos money can buy and the quality of the newly delivered pianos certainly did not disappoint, the centre piece of course being the Model B Grand Piano. Steinway & Sons as a manufacturer are renowned for producing pianos which reward the ability and technique of the pianist. As such, they are both wonderful to play and encourage the player to improve, which is ideal for some-where with so many budding young pianists.

SteinwaytoHeavenSteinways provide exceptional opportunties

A difficult delivery (above) and the Model B Grand in the library (below)

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SpellbindingSteinwayConcertNew piano receives inaugural performanceYoung pianists were joined by their music teachers and two profes-sional pianists to perform in a sell-out concert held in the Library to celebrate the arrival of the School’s Model B Steinway on the 17th No-vember. The event showcased the huge expressive potential of this instrument, which can range from fiery staccato through majestic fortissimo to a meltingly expressive cantabile.

A type of instrument designed to make possible exciting performanc-es of music from the Romantic era, it was appropriate that a quarter of the programme was by Chopin. Harry Lampert gave a distinctly individual reading of the C# minor Waltz; and Hugh Myers flawlessly negotiated the repeated wide left hand leaps and singing right hand melody of the well-known Eb Nocturne. Alex Shavick and David Cartwright nicely negotiated the emotions of the opening and closing sections of the Op. 10 No. 3 Study with its much more techni-cally demanding middle section and the wind-swept fast sections of the Fantasy Impromptu respectively.

Debussy was well represented too – there have been attempts to orchestrate his piano music, and the fact that it is so hard to do is testament to its wholly idiomatic nature. Nick Fleet played the Valse Romantique with great style and Max Thomas traced the elegant

lines of the first Arabesque with elegance and feeling. Director of Music Mick Stout’s spellbinding recreation of the haunted undersea bells in Debussy’s La Cathédrale Engloutie was one of the evening’s highlights.

Another giant of the piano’s vast literature was recalled in Max Houghton’s moving performance

of the Adagio Cantabile from Beethoven’s Pathétique, comple-mented by his near contempo-rary in death Schubert’s F minor Moment Musical: a brief moment that casts a long shadow when played as well as Ariya Rabbani did.

Before the interval Oliver Ng gave a stormy performance of the Prelude to Grieg’s Holberg Suite and David McConnell a passionate, yet thoughtfully fresh approach to the evergreen Rachmaninov C# minor Prelude. The first half ended with a spirited piano duet jazz waltz composed and played by Phil Craig and Jamie Salisbury.

Unsurprisingly, the best playing of the evening came from the professional and semi-professional players. Matthew Woodward ably commemorated the bicentenary of Liszt’s birth by playing the compos-er’s own reimagining of his earlier song to the text of Petrarch’s Sonnet 123, while Anna Le Hair reimagined the beautifully subtle balance of sound colours in the sixth of Fauré’s Op. 63 Nocturnes.

Alissa Firsova conveyed the melodramatic contrast between the two Op. 32 Poèmes by Scri-abin, a composer who tested the conventions of romantic pianism up to – and some would say beyond – destruction. Whatever a listener’s response to the musical ideas in these pieces, the technical accom-plishment necessary to bring them off is something to marvel at. In her engaging performance of the Op. 59 Dumka by Tchaikovsky, we heard a piece with fewer notes and rather more musical thought.

What was most noticeable in the experience of this concert was the carefully planned range of different music given by players of differ-ent ages, abilities and status and the powerful impression sustained throughout that the players of school age were not at all eclipsed by their elders and – if only in their freshness of approach – could be said to have equalled, if not sur-passed them.

AKJ

Alissa Firsova delivers the melodrama of Scriabin

A stormy performance by

Oliver Ng

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Joe Davies OA and Jennifer Hughes opened the St Albans School evening recital series on 22nd September, performing three heavy-weight works for cello and piano, along with a fascinating piece for solo cello. These most exciting and gifted young British artists gave a wonderful display of supreme musicianship.

The concert opened with Seven Variations on Mozart’s Bei Männern welche Liebe fühlen, composed in 1802 by Beethoven. The variations are based on ‘Bei Männern,’ the Act I duet from Mozart’s Die Zauber-flöte, and were played with engaging warmth as the softer sounds of the piano intersected perfectly with the cello’s imitation of the human voice. The variations range from light and playful to slow and serious and, as Joe commented, ‘full of elegance and wit’.

Following the Beethoven was Suite for Solo Cello Op. 72, by the British composer Benjamin Britten. The suite is typical of Britten: he’s not a cellist, yet is able to write so idiomatically for the instrument it’s as though he’d played it all his life. For me, this was the highlight of the recital – the piece moves across an incredible range of sounds, moods, and even techniques. Every imagina-ble variety of pizzicato is employed, while other parts demand that Joe strikes the cello percussively with the bow. The audience was drawn into this spellbinding and very technically demanding piece that Joe performed with such ease.

We returned to Beethoven to close the first half, this time with his Sonata in C major, Op. 102. The gentle, almost introspective opening was played with expres-sive warmth by pianist and cellist, before the startling juxtaposition of a muscular and at times gruff Allegro vivace movement. A second slow introduction acts as a reminis-cence of the opening, and provides a transition to the next quick movement. Jennifer and Joe handled the mercurial nature of this music with neatness and clarity, catch-ing Beethoven’s shifting moods, from songful lyricism to humour, particularly in the final movement. This was a spirited and enjoyable interpretation of Joe’s.

The second half was devoted to a somewhat neglected work - the ‘triumphant’ Cello Sonata by Prokofiev, which makes huge technical demands upon both pianist and cellist. These were met effortlessly by Jennifer and Joe. It opens with solemnity and dark hues, although yields to Prokofiev’s distinctive melody and harmony, conveyed here mellifluously and with telling inflections and, in the finale, with a blend of delicacy and robust rhythmicality. This was a strong performance from the two artists, and was a fantastic closing to a truly enjoyable evening.

Chris Springthorpe

LyricismandPowerCello and Piano Concert

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TopNotesMusic from the Award HoldersContinuing a series of stunning professional concerts this academic year in the library, the standard of performance at the Music Award Holders’ Concert was maintained at a very high level on 26th January. The concert comprised a diverse range of solos across genres and instruments, with performers from the First Form to the Sixth Form.

Henry Jeffrey opened the evening with a very accomplished cello performance of Vivaldi’s First and Second Movements from “Sonata in E minor”, progressing from the soulful, expressive first movement to the faster, more technically demanding passages of the second. William Drake delivered an equally expressive performance of Gaetona Donizetti’s Andante Sostenuto on the clarinet, a highly lyrical and pleasant piece of music, which was matched by the lyricism of Daniel Angel’s singing of Schubert’s Ave Maria.

The relative serenity of the concert so far was swiftly undercut by Peter Gosling’s aggressive rendition of Prokofiev’s Dance of the Knights from Romeo and Juliet (probably most familiar to a contemporary audience as the theme tune from The Apprentice.) This was balanced by an enchanting piece of music, with lulling repetitions: Allen Vizzutti’s The Enchanting Trumpet, performed by Harry Sampson. Thomas Yates sang with great melodiousness The Birds’ Lament from The Aviary by Richard Rodney Bennett; Matthew O’Connor gave a highly confident performance of the beautifully melancholy Elegy (In Autumn) by Arvids Zilinskis, and, like Peter Gosling before him, impres-sively played without sheet music.

Thomas Dilley’s accomplished playing of Guy Woolfenden’s Lotus Waltz brought out its dulcet melody, followed by William May-nard’s passionate performance of Fly Me to the Moon by Bart Howard. George Scott gave an accomplished performance of the fiendishly difficult Third Movement from Sonatina by Dmitry Kabalevsky, and Henry Avery’s playing of Edward Gregson’s arrangement of Camille Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre was eerily effective.

The clear highlights of the concert, however, came with David Mc-Connell’s light touch and expres-sion in Rachmaninov’s Prelude in D major, Eleanor Rosser-Smyth’s impressive rendition of Evensong by Liza Lehmann, Max Houghton’s expressive playing of Beethoven’s

Second Movement from “Sonata in C minor (Pathétique)” and Chris Springthorpe’s masterful perform-ance of Madrigal in A minor by Enrique Granados. Mr Stout gener-ously accompanied all the evening’s instrumentalists.

In the final concert of a very busy half term for the Music Depart-ment a couple of weeks later (8th February), the School’s Music Scholars showcased their musical abilities to the general public at a lunchtime concert at St Peter’s Church. The programme of music

featured many of the performers who had played at the Music Award Holders’ Concert and also encom-passed a wide range of genres, from JS Bach to Cole Porter. On this occasion Hanja Bantock accompa-nied the performers in addition to Mr Stout. The concert ended with tumultuous applause.

James Sinclair

What is a Hang?

The Hang was created in 2000 by Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer, who are still the only people in the world who create them.

The plural is

hanghang.

The name comes from the Bernese German word for ‘hand’.

Depending on how it is played, it can sound like a harp, bells or steel drums.

It is generally played with the hands or fingers.

It is pronounced (roughly) huong.

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A packed library was treated to a musical spectacle in the form of Living Room in London, in the first of two professional concerts to take place in the Autumn term. There were very few seats left unfilled by the start of the concert, and with good reason; Living Room in London has a truly unique sound, in many ways due to the instru-ments present. Members of a London strings trio, Ellie Fagg and Tom Norris on violin, with Gregor Riddell providing the deep under-tones of the cello, were joined by Austrians Manu Delago and Chris-tophe Pepe Auer playing hang and bass clarinet respectively. The hang, a percussion instrument bearing a strange physical similarity to a wok, was perhaps the most intriguing of the instruments on display, seeming at first like a more subdued steel-pan, but rapidly proving to have a vast array of tones, capable of producing a range of sounds imitat-ing everything from harps to bells and drum kits.

However, that is not to say that the hang was the only instrument of the group to be used in creative new ways. The eight pieces that the group played saw violins used for soaring melodies, violently cacophonous atonal ambience and delicate pizzicato accompaniment, while several times Riddell could be seeing playing the cello in a manner evocative of a bass guitar. The seductive tones of the bass clarinet provided a suitable backing to the sounds of the string instru-ments, but also came into its own for several sultry solos, and once or twice performed a remarkable impression of a didgeridoo!

With the techniques and instru-ments of these musicians many and varied, it was to be expected that the music they produced would be equally intriguing. The group dem-onstrated a remarkable creativity and variety in the eight pieces which they performed. The concert began with Construction, which presented the story of the group, beginning with the London strings trio and Living Room playing different music from opposite ends of the library at first, before moving into a mag-nificent introduction to the style of the ensemble. Their next work,

Without Words, sought to tell a story without words, and an evocative tale it was. Their third piece was a series of movements based on a set of poems by a Syrian poet, in which an ethereal, almost surreal atmosphere was created, in heavy contrast to the first two pieces, perfectly com-plementing the thought-provoking topics of the poetry. The second half of the concert would see Lila Contrast, an adventurous yet subtle piece that wouldn’t be out of place in a film score, and an arrangement of Miles Davis’ So What? complete with saxophone solo courtesy of Pepe. The penultimate piece in the programme was written by Pepe, in-spired by his travels with his clarinet through the Himalayas, and Indian Sandpaper certainly brought his ad-ventures to life, depicting the rush of the cities with rapid violin sections, yet also the spectacular majesty of the great mountains themselves. The final piece provided yet another change of pace for the audience, with a piece by Tom Norris, who traded in his violin for a guitar for the purpose of this work, written first as a ballad to be sung with guitar, and then re-written to be played with the rest of the group. At this, the group received a well-deserved final round of applause, or so the audi-ence thought. However, the group returned to the stage for an encore, with a cheeky rendition of Rondo ala Turk, showcasing all of the unique and inventive ideas that had been

LivingRoominLondonAn unconventional ensemble

seen over the course of the evening in one last, and undeniably fun, piece. The audience left impressed and invigorated, with the tantalising offer of Living Room in London’s debut album embraced by more than a few. Suffice to say that if this concert was anything to go by, great things can be expected of Living Room in London in the future.

Chris Oates

Three hanghang in their natural habitat

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The Autumn Concert impressed the evening’s audience with an array of group performances from across the musical spectrum.

The concert commenced in great spirit with the String Orchestra’s performance of Copland’s Hoe Down from Rodeo, directed by Mr Byrom. The Rodeo Suite is a ballet suite with orchestral accompani-ment, telling the story of a wild western romance – Hoe Down forms the happy conclusion of the romance. The variation in dynamics and intonation effectively brought out the shifting moods of the piece, with a strong tempo maintained throughout. The occasional note failed to sound, but overall the per-formance was finely controlled. Musical delights continued with the Saxophone Ensemble, a swingin’ sextet of Sixth formers playing So We Too by Wood and directed by Miss Simmons. The perform-ance was good, and the enjoyment these talented players brought to the concert shone through in their music, in sharp contrast to the more classical styles of other groups. Their lively outburst was set off nicely by an outstanding perform-ance of Gounod’s classic piece,

Marche funèbre d’une Marionette: the funeral march of a marionette, with the school’s clarinet ensemble. There were some odd squeaks I’m sure the composer didn’t plan, but the performers did give a very at-mospheric and tragic performance. Their second piece, Clarinetwise, was somewhat cheerier and nicely offset the black humour of their first piece. Modulating back into the blues, we had the Barbershop group, starting with a seasonally spiritual, Little Lamb, focusing on the resolu-tion that ‘I’m going to serve God ’till I die’. They continued with a classic Beatles number, Yesterday, by Lennon and McCartney, and fin-ished with the anonymously written George Jones, a comic debate by two new parents on what to name their child. The comedy of the final piece was a great combination with the intense melancholy of the second and the innocence of the first piece. The first half of the concert fin-ished with the Choir and Symphony Orchestra playing Ralph Vaughan William’s Fantasia on Christmas Carols. The piece opens with a mel-ancholy baritone solo, performed by Dr Saunders, telling of man’s creation and fall, before moving on to the more cheery description of Jesus’ birth, before the joyous and seasonal conclusion wishing us all a Happy New Year.

After the interval the Mainstream Jazz Band began playing Night Train, arranged by Norred, and Broadway, by Wood, Bird and McRae. Their first piece was a medley of solo pieces between the ensemble sec-tions. The members of the group took the opportunity to demon-strate their fine skills in both the solo and ensemble sections.

Following this came the lively per-formance from the percussion of the Curupira from Mitos Brasileiros, telling the tail of a mischievous jungle devil leading travellers and hunters astray. The performance was an excellent representation of the lively, playful character, and they were directed by Mr Craig, whose suitable evil cackle and addition of falling tin cans added greatly to the performance. Continuing the Latin theme of the percussion was the Senior String Quartet. Brother and sister Jonath-an and Frances Roche were playing violin, Angus Cross played the viola and the quartet was completed by Harry Lampert on the cello. They were playing La Cumparista – The Little Parade, a Uruguayan carnival march by Rodriguez, and one of the most famous tango pieces in musical history. The Brass Group bought us back to even more recognisable music with their canonization of Frère Jaques /Brüder Martin. Starting out in the cheery major key, it reached a satisfying conclusion before delving into a minor mode after the style of Mahler’s First Symphony, before resolving once more into a major finish. More melancholy was the student-led singing group MSG, who were singing, among others, the Ed Sheeran hit, the A-Team, about the slow decline of a girl stuck in her daydream. The group did not make the cheeriest of performances, but the quality of the singing of all five students was beyond reproach. Congratulations to all the singers involved. The concert concluded with the Senior Concert Band – a com-bination of brass, woodwind and percussion directed by Mr Craig – playing Barnard Castle, a march by Goff Richards, and Where No Man Has Gone Before. As the name sug-gests, it was a medley of film music from classic sci-fis including Star Trek and Star Wars. Whatever else, their performance certainly could not be criticised for lack of gusto.

Daniel Heydecker

Violins,Voicesand…TinCansA range of musical styles at the Autumn Concert

Jonathan and Frances Roche perform at the concert

a suitable evil cackle and addition of falling tin cans added greatly to the

performance

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The library was filled with the syncopated rhythms of jazz music for a concert on 17th March, as Mainstream – the School Jazz Band – the Barbershop Group, Chamber Choir and JPF Trio all contributed towards a lively evening of high-class performances, solely devoted to the genre.

The Mainstream Jazz Band, directed by John Mole, opened proceedings with several impressive numbers, including such classics as Broadway and Come Rain or Come Shine. The group’s ensemble work particularly shone in their performance of Caravan, blending a rich mixture of harmonies, and in C Jam Blues: the first opportunity for the band to showcase their improvisational abilities.

These musical delights were swiftly augmented by those of Upper Sixth student Max Thomas, as he displayed his virtuosity with a technically accomplished rendition of Gershwin’s Prelude No. 1 on the Steinway grand piano. As ever, the five Barbershop singers entertained with their witty trio of songs – Bermuda Buggy Ride, Satin Doll and George Jones. Chris Springthorpe stood out with his lyrical verve, yet the group were especially impres-sive in their dulcet harmonies. Joe Zacaroli joined Mr Stout on the piano and two members of the JPF

Jazz Trio to show off his improvisa-tional skills in Improvisation in C.

A highlight of the evening was the Chamber Choir’s beautiful render-ing of Bob Chilcott’s A Little Jazz Mass, accompanied by the JPF Jazz Trio. Chilcott’s original setting of these ancient prayers was truly mesmerising and invigorating, particularly the Kyrie and Agnus Dei. This was followed by a moving performance of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot featuring Nick Fleet. Max Thomas shone in the spotlight for a second time when he sang John Legend’s Ordinary People while playing the piano.

Mainstream closed the evening with a terrific trio of numbers: a lively American Patrol, cool Night Train and spirited Sing Sing Sing. Night Train was a second opportunity for soloists to excel themselves, but on this occasion the pairing of ‘rival’ performers built for a con-frontation of musicianship. While Nick Perry and David McConnell excelled themselves, all the players were winners.

Yet the greatest victory of all was for the School and the Music Department, which can now claim equal success in the jazz genre as other more traditional modes. The audience were left with a plethora of catchy tunes to play in their minds – or at least I was.

James Sinclair

AllThatJazzSyncopated rhythms in the library

Night at the MusicThe Biss Trio gave a performance of the highest calibre in hte library on 12th March. The Biss Trio consists of Rosie Biss (Cello), David Stout (baritone) and James Southall (piano) all of whom are, as Mr Stout Jnr. said, ‘superb performers in their own right’. He was certainly correct. The audi-ence was treated to a mixture of Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, and others before culminating with a trio of pieces by Borodin which, as the audience were informed by the amusing recollections of David Stout, were the only three pieces in the set originally written for Cello, Piano and Baritone trio. In fact, the set was designed to reflect the features of these final three pieces and build into them – something that was extremely evident to all who attended. In the words of David Stout, the trio aim to ‘find a balance between two similar voices: the cello and the baritone’, and they managed to do this in truly spectacular fashion, with a great variety of playfulness and wrenching melan-choly communicated superbly by all the performers (particularly during a heart-wrenching rendi-tion of Head’s I arise from dreams of thee). The concert was a great success, displaying a formidable array of musical talent.

David McConnell

Rhythm time

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Every available space was used to house the prodigious performers of the St Albans School and St Albans High School for Girls Joint Choral Society and Orchestra concert of 2012. Numerous pupils, teachers and community members, including many parents, from both schools gave an outstanding concert to a sell-out audience at the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban on Wednesday 21 March.

An assured beginning to the evening was had with the or-chestra’s opening bars of George Frideric Handel’s Coronation Anthem Zadok the Priest. The depth of sound from the orchestra, led by Pia Jeppesen, provided a firm foundation for the choir’s glori-ous entry. The one hundred and fifty extra singers that joined for Zadok, made a choir of well over two hundred and fifty on stage. Their attack, comprising both tonal and dynamic precision, was thrilling and set the tone for the rest of the concert. After such a power-ful beginning it was remarkable to see such contrasting delicacy in the second movement And all the people rejoic’d followed by the crispness of the semiquavers in God save the King which is notori-ously difficult especially with such large forces. Throughout all three movements the excellent trumpet playing of Georgina Marsay, Nick Perry and Joe Zacaroli was worthy of note.

The eerie opening to the Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis showcased a very accomplished string section. Many consider the work his first indisputable masterpiece using the various levels of string orchestra

vividly, juxtaposing the chamber sounds of a smaller orchestra with the massive sounds of the full string orchestra. Strong leadership from Nigel Springthorpe, conductor, and the expert solos of Pia Jeppesen (violin) and Karen Bradley (viola)

enhanced a passionate performance of this challenging music demon-strating the very high standard of musicianship from all participating.

After a short interval the choir and orchestra were joined on stage by soloists Ann De Renais, Anna Huntley, Philip Sheffield and Gavin Horsley for the Mozart Requiem. A favoured piece for choral society performances for its balance of

challenging music, beautiful melo-dies and a fantastic ensemble, the Mozart Requiem was the climax of this concert and was dedicated to the memory of Lady Runcie, who was a piano teacher at both St Albans School (1980-2012) and St Albans High School (1991-2011).

Each section of the choir shone throughout from the solid entries by the stout bass section, the dec-lamatory phrases from the tenors, richness from the altos (particularly in Rex tremendae) and the delicate line of the sopranos. To highlight some of the best moments: the busy Kyrie section was skilfully performed especially by the tenors and the cellos led by Christopher Springthorpe; Confutatis maledictis featured fiery entries from the men in the choir in contrast to the pure, serene sounding sopranos and altos; Lacrimosa, with its beautiful melody from the violins, was stead-ily performed and the echoes of

the marvellous body of sound rung on throughout the Abbey.

The Recordare where the four solo-ists sing some of the most beautiful music of the Requiem was exqui-sitely performed by De Renais, Huntley, Sheffield and Horsley at moments evoking the operatic feel and intensity of the trio Soave sia il vento from Mozart’s Così fan tutte. Tenor and bass soli, Sheffield and

Horsley, both successfully negoti-ated their tricky opening solos in Tuba mirum and particular mention should go here to Matt Harrison OA on trombone for his outstand-ing solo. Gavin Horsley demon-strated an attractive and flexible bass voice and Ann de Renais was astonishing and delivered some of the most sensitive singing of the evening in the Lux aeterna.

Music of this quality is rarely heard outside of a professional setting. The pupils involved will no doubt remember this for years to come and having the opportunity to perform these works to such a high standard should be treasured. We are already eagerly awaiting next year’s concert where Mick Stout will lead the choral society and or-chestra in Fauré’s Requiem, amongst other works.

Catherine Strange

MassiveSoundsFillAbbeyLady Runcie remembered in Joint Schools’ Concert

The annual concert by musicians of the two schools fills the

Abbey with music

Their attack, comprising both tonal and dynamic precision,

was thrilling

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The Spring Concert defied the rainy weather with an enjoyable and varied programme in early May. The String Ensemble opened with an accomplished and contrasting performance of Andante Cantabile, closely followed by the Clarinet En-semble’s lively rendition of Helen’s Dance and the Two Norwegian Dances. The audience were then encouraged to ‘guess the theme tune’ with The Sinfonietta’s vibrant performance of the Match of the Day theme. After a quickly resolved minor music sheet mishap, the Senior Brass Ensemble entertained with Goldfinger and the humorous Come Landlord and Fill the Flowing Bowl. The Sax Ensemble show-cased The Man I Love and the aptly named Sax Classics, which featured some impressive improvisation from various instrumentalists. The Concert Band played the audience into the interval with enthusiasm, with the high energy Take Five and Slipstream under the direction of Mr Phil Craig.

‘Mainstream’ Jazz Band was as entertaining as always in their dynamic performances of Now is the Time, Come Rain or Shine and the well-known Caravan – offering op-portunities for many musicians to show off their improvisational skills. The Young Wind Band played the inventive Five Chord Trick, whilst the string quartet delivered Mozart’s Presto and Rondo with great accom-plishment, despite their unconven-tional arrangement of two violins and two cellos.

The evening incorporated a number of solo performances from members of the Upper Sixth leaving this year, Nick Fleet giving a beautifully lyrical performance of Brahms’ Romance from op. 118, Max Thomas also playing the piano in a rich and assured rendition of Liebesträume by Franz Liszt. Ellie Rosser-Smyth entertained with the lively Donne Vaghe from Paisiello’s opera La Serva Padrona, contrasting with James Mohajer’s haunting per-formance of Is My Team Ploughing, an arrangement of AE Housman’s poem.

The Barbershop – also composed of outgoing Upper Sixth – was enjoyable as ever and a decided

DiverseHarmomiesThe Spring Concert

highlight of the evening with their confident performances of Steal Away, Aura Lee and Bushes and Briars. They impressed the audi-ence with their diverse harmonies and tight rhythms, all achieved without the help of a conductor. The Percussion Ensemble ended the evening on a high with the World Premiere of their own piece Heaventh 7even, which was both energetic and varied and within which each performer had the op-portunity to come to the forefront of their ensemble and showcase their individual talent.

All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable music event, skilfully demonstrat-ing the significant and diverse musical talents of St Albans School’s students.

Eleanor Rosser-Smyth

Ellie Rosser-Smyth, one of the Sixth

form’s most assured vocalists (above)

and scenes from the Hits of the Seventies

evening (right)

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On Thursday 24 May, family, friends, students and staff met together in the Library for the bitter sweet, traditional, yet always novel experience of the annual Leavers’ Concert. Though extra musical emotions are properly stirred on such an occasion, there was much to be excited and moved by in what the audience heard and witnessed from the performers as performers, not just as soon-to-be Old Albanians.

In the classical music genre, Jonathan Roche performed the delightfully lilting second movement

of Edvard Grieg’s first violin sonata with some style and Max Thomas gave a controlled, yet powerful account of Debussy’s Claire de Lune. Also as pianist, Alex Shavick played the Opus 23 No 6 Rachmaninoff Prelude, controlling well the shifting chromatic inner parts and handling the rising semiquavers at the end with real aplomb. In the second half of the concert Chris Springthorpe’s ‘cello soared and sang in the Jewish Prayer by Ernest Bloch.

Also in the first half, we heard Nick Fleet, Will Leppard, Phil Madgwick, James Mohajer, Chris Springthorpe, George Tasker and Max Thomas sing Vaughan Williams’ lovely ar-rangement of the folksong Through Bushes and Through Briars and a smooth close harmony version of What I Did for Love. Phil Ruis sang Father and Son by Cat Stevens with great commitment and Ellie Rosser-Smyth, an able musician and Head of Choir of outstanding loyalty and commitment, sang Someone is Sending Me Flowers by David Baker. The beguiling combination of Annabel Thomson and Kitty Wright inter alia, charmed in a rendering of Newton Faulkner’s Dream Catch Me.

In the second half the jazz trio of Nick Fleet, Louis Grant and Ben Zacaroli excited the audience with a performance of Under the Bridge by Stanley Clarke. In this, Louis Grant let rip on the drums, undeterred by the frosty gaze of Nicholas Bacon’s bust just over his right shoulder. Arran Bhatiani, Michael Bird, Simon Chelley and Nimah Salehi gave us Pick Up the Pieces from The Average White Band and James Mohajer, Nimah Salehi and Ben Zacaroli performed James’ powerful song Run Away. Indeed, James was in many ways the student kingpin of the concert as motivator, organiser and performer.

The adult kingpins were Messrs Stout and McCord, who along with the School’s instrumental tutors were given heartfelt thanks from the student performers’ repre-sentatives, after a warmly rousing rendering of a Beach Boys medley, which concluded this delightful and moving evening.

AKJ

So,Farewell,then…The Leavers’ Concert

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What is the scheme?

St Albans School believes it is of utmost importance for students and teachers to contribute to the local community. This is facilitated through its Community Link pro-gramme, which provides students with a range of opportunities in which they can become involved, such as care homes for the elderly, charity shops and special-needs schools. Teachers too are provided with opportunities to contribute by utilising their specific skills for alternative audiences. For both teacher and student, the experi-ence is hugely rewarding, positive and educational.

It was about six years ago that I first became involved with Com-munity Link by providing art classes in local primary schools through the Partnership Scheme. Over time, however, I felt that there must be more opportunities to provide specialist art classes to the older, usually forgotten generation. I had previously been a volunteer with The Winged Fellowship (founded in 1963, later becoming Vitalise) and that experience had taught me the importance of stimulation for the older generation. I was aware the School already had established links with some care homes in the local area; armed with this information

I resolved that I must make this a reality and went to put my case to the Director of Studies and the Community Link Co-ordinator. I was very pleased to say that the art club was approved with relative ease. I was informed that the care home to be involved would be Verulam House.

Art promotes wellbeing at every age. When I am teaching in school, art seems to empower students. I know when a lesson has gone well: when I see students relaxed, ex-ploring the materials, sharing their discoveries and enjoying them-selves. Likewise I knew that I wanted to provide a similar experi-ence for the elderly residents: an experience of relaxation, explora-tion, sharing, and an enjoyment of art’s creative and social aspects… I wanted my time with them to be rewarding, appealing and fun!

I recall being quite apprehensive the day before the first occasion and racking my brain thinking of what would be suitable for such an age group in such circumstances. I was worried that the residents may not engage with me and reject taking guidance. I read round the subject and came to learn that art used in therapeutic ways seems to help older adults cope with complex age related issues including mental and physical illness or limitation,

TherapeuticArtArt classes at Verulam House Care Home

Miss Lillian with one of her pupils at Verulam House, presenting a framed painting done during the classes

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lifestyle transition, end-of-life deci-sions, grief and a growing inability to communicate effectively.

I recall arriving at Verulam House and being struck by the warm and calming atmosphere. It immediately put me at ease. Tanya Manteer, Ac-tivities Organiser, was very friendly and showed me around Verulam House.

The residents who had opted to be at the art club were aged between 70 and 100 years, and of both sexes. I could see the anticipation in their eyes and I only hoped that I would be able to fulfil their expectations.

As it was, all my anxiety evaporated as soon as we started chatting, sketching and getting to know each other. Over time we progressed to pastels, watercolours and personal cards with subject matter of land-scapes and still life.

The excitement when we exhib-ited the residents’ work during the Linkages Christmas party was tangible. It was indeed the icing on the cake.

Importance

The importance of the school maintaining and promoting the Community Link programme, and specifically the art classes with the elderly residents, is manifold, includ-ing, but not limited to, the following:

i) For the students and the school:

Students learn to become more responsible adults, learning skills such as decision making, initiative, negotiation and patience.

Learning becomes more relevant as it becomes more apparent (to the students) how the skills and knowledge acquired at School will assist career and life paths.

It encourages an enhanced sense of belonging to the local community and pride in it, hopefully leading to active participation as they mature.

The community becomes more aware of the School, its ethos, standards and practices.

ii) For the residents:

The Social Care Institute for Excel-lence reminds us that: ‘It is easy to

become very insular in a care home and forget that we are as much a part of the local community as a school.’(Care home manager)

Creating better links with the local community generally allows resi-dents a greater variety of and choice of activities, including more social stimulation, as as well as helping residents maintain existing interests and introduces them to new people, faces, ideas and experiences.

The residents that I have been in-volved with have considered the art classes as social gatherings which have provided them with an oppor-tunity to make choices and take re-sponsibility, such as which colours to use and tone. The classes have stimulated both physical and mental well-being of the residents as they have become engaged with the art, considered the best way forward, sought guidance and have produced excellent pieces, despite some having suppressed motor skills.

‘What you have taught us is just amazing; you have made the lesson practical and enjoyable, and not difficult for anybody.’ (Eileen – Verulam House resident and art club member)

Overall, the art club has been very positive for residents, as Tanya Mateer explains: ‘The art club has been very successful. It has built on residents’ confidence and given them something to look forward to. Regardless of their health, needs

and age, they have produced some wonderful pieces.’

iii) Personally:

The time I spent at the residential home with older adults was ex-tremely rewarding. Art can be used as an alternative form of commu-nication for those with any degree of impairment and I hope that the residents were able to express themselves fully in a manner that perhaps they had not been able to do so before this.

Some residents told me that art was new to them and they had enjoyed learning something new whilst others had showed emotion in reigniting their passion for skills that had lain dormant.

Exhibiting the artwork was also important because it served as a visual reminder for participants of what they can still accomplish despite limited mobility or cogni-tion. Importantly, exhibiting the artwork makes it possible for the staff at the care home and the family to see the older adult and know their life story beyond their limitations.

At School, students have to follow the art curriculum and art is often seen as just another subject. Working with the elderly has proved useful as it has to some extent helped me rethink and reinvent my art teaching in School. I now give students greater oppor-tunities to engage in the creative process and provide them with extra time in lessons to commu-nicate their emotions. I have also learned, from working with the elderly, that slowing a lesson down helps to reinforce students’ under-standing of the subject.

What now?

I am pleased to say that there has been interest from other care homes in the vicinity who have enquired about the possibility of a similar arrangement – I sincerely hope that we are able to assist and, who knows, perhaps more schools will be encouraged to do the same in their local areas.

KKL

At work in the calm surroundings of Verulam House

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The Sixth form Partnership Scheme that St Albans School has set up provides a fantastic opportunity for its pupils to really give something back to the com-munity, by offering their services in all kinds of ways. All of these opportunities are unique and the spectrum covers coaching football to the more academic, which I found myself taking part in.

I had chosen to help at St Peter’s Primary School and before we were assigned a year group, the Headmaster asked if there were any mathematicians studying Maths and Further Maths at A level. Being the only one, I was asked if I would like to mentor a very talented ten year old in Year Five.

For the rest of the year I guided this incredibly gifted boy through some of the more fun A level mathematics. Not only would I like to think I helped nurture his passion for the subject, but we both had a great time, and I couldn’t think of a more reward-ing way to spend my Friday afternoons.

This was not an easy task, however, and there were many problems that I faced. Complex ideas had to be broken down into very basic terms, and with zero teaching experience, this was a serious challenge. It was all about taking principles that my pupil already knew and developing them much further. For example, although he knew Pythagoras’

theorem, I showed him how to prove it.

This proof worked brilliantly as it was building on something he already knew; it was also very visual and simple in principle. However, introducing new ideas entirely, as I tried to do with logarithms, proved much more difficult. Although chal-lenging, I got the very basics across to him after a whole lesson. This was the balancing act that was very hard to get right. Every week I had to come up with one hour’s worth of mathematics that was fun and interesting, yet difficult enough to stretch him. I found just reteaching him a lesson that I had sat through was not the sort of thing that held a ten year old’s attention and in some parts was much too compli-cated. So, over the weeks I devel-oped my own style and gave him fun little bits and bobs of maths, which were short enough not to become boring. Mathematical non-sense was his personal favourite:

If: a = b

Then multiply both sides by a: a2 = ab

Then take away b2 from both sides: a2 – b2 = ab – b2

Factorise both sides: (a + b) (a – b) = b (a – b)

Remove from both sides the factor of (a – b): a + b = b

Subtract b from both sides and you’re left with a = 0

I went through problems like these with him and then explained to him why they don’t work. I could then develop these ideas into more complex fields, such as messing around with infinite series. However, then proving why those sequences produced nonsense broke into university level analysis. I often found that my pupil’s limited understanding was down to my own limitations, which was quite remarkable.

In fact, remarkable is a very ap-propriate word to sum up my partnership. It was an honour to be given the responsibility to teach this young lad, and it even made me look at maths differently. Not only

has he taught me a thing or two, but I have learnt so much about how to engage children, how to have fun and yet still get learning points across. It has been a truly enlightening experience and I wouldn’t have changed it one bit.

Alex Terry

BigSumsforaSmallBoyPartnership Scheme at St Peter’s Primary School

The Partnership SchemeSt Albans School works in Partnership with ten local primary schools and the Cathedral Education Service. Over 50 Sixth form pupils and several staff are involved with teaching primary school pupils in subject areas such as maths, science, music, art, drama, languages, ICT and creative literacy. As well as our Sixth formers visiting the partner schools, the younger pupils themselves come to our school to use such facilities as the computer rooms, design and technol-ogy workshops, language lab and swimming pool.

See the ITN film about the School’s Partnership Scheme on the School’s website or at: http://www.educationnews.itn.co.uk/All/94/a-multi-million-pound-investment-in-facilities-at-st-albans-school-boost-community-partnerships

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For the past year, I have been given the opportunity to volunteer at St Luke’s Special School in Redbourn, which is a school for 11-18 year olds who have learning difficulties of many varieties. For the entire period of Community Link at this school, I was placed in ‘Ver’ group, which was a classroom with pupils who were all autistic, with a range of severity. Throughout this experience, I had to help teach sign language to them, which was a challenge, as I didn’t know any, prior to this. Furthermore, I was teaching them simple lessons that would significantly improve their lives, such as the value of money, and how to cross the road, the importance of both of which I had underestimated.

Many of these pupils have no com-munication skills, which is obviously a massive obstacle. To overcome this, I had to try and find common interests with each individual to try and get them to open up to me. I really enjoyed building relationships with these pupils and eventually getting them to trust me and be confident when around me. This was a huge achievement because these pupils are very selective about who they communicate with.

Another chal-lenge that I struggled to overcome was the level of violence that I saw. Many pupils got quickly ag-gressive when they couldn’t communicate their feelings to a member of staff. I was later informed by the teachers that the children didn’t understand that

they were hurting themselves or others, yet it did take me a long time to get over it whilst volun-teering there.

I believe that I have gained in-valuable teaching and presentation experience, both of which are life skills which will be very helpful in the future. I have also gained the ability to help those in need and those with disabilities, which gives me a great sense of personal achievement.

RisingtotheChallengeCommunity Link at St Luke’s

With pupils requiring constant help, the teachers are often busy. There-fore, when a challenge arose, I had to make decisions and think them through, meaning my judgement and initiative have increased signifi-cantly over my time at St Luke’s. This experience has also prompted me to question my priorities and beliefs. Each week the pupils’ dis-abilities reminded me how lucky I truly am and have allowed me to realise how insignificant some of my problems in life are. I have really enjoyed being able to give something back to the community, and especially to those that are less privileged than I am.

Community Link offers pupils of St Albans School another dimension to school life. Many schools offer the opportunity to get involved in sport, music and to excel in aca-demic areas. However, I believe that my time at St Luke’s is unique, and it has given me a life experience that I will always remember and be grateful for.

Stephen Baldwin

Community Link

The School’s Community Link programme aims to broaden pupils’ horizons and nurture the School’s relationships with the local community. It can also help to clarify pupils’ degree or career choices and support their UCAS applications and DofE Awards.

Approximately 25-30 students are involved each year and meet varying challenges in the following placements:

St Luke’s School, Redbournschool for students with complex moderate learning difficulties

Watling View Special Schoolschool for children and young people with severe learning difficulties

Vesta Lodge Care Homecare home for elderly residents, including those suffering from dementia

Fosse House Care Homecare home for elderly residents, including those suffering from dementia

Verulam House Nursing Homenursing and residential care home for elderly residents

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Creative

Beth Kirby ASScale model of a pillar drill

Jem Bosatta GCSEPoint of sale display

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Clockwise:Scale model of corkscrew : Daniel Fellowes ASPoint of sale display: Palakorn Constable GCSERestaurant design: Brian Yuen A2DVD cabinet: Daniel Gott CGSEDrawer detail: George Rossow GCSE

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PenArthurinthe21stCenturyUpdating the School’s tradition

Pen Arthur is, and always has been, a very special place, widely talked about, and provider of many fond memories for Old Albanians and current pupils and staff alike. Much has always been made of its basic lifestyle and quirkiness, with mouldy walls and plants growing in the toilet cubicles, not to mention the power cuts and running out of water, quite a problem when you are two miles up a mountain track.

These fond memories are priceless and I fully understand the raising of some eyebrows when we decided to update Pen Arthur.

To be able to accommodate the needs of our modern day society, however, we were duty bound to update and improve the place without losing any of its character.

Current health and safety legisla-tion demanded that we make some changes, but we also wanted to offer our boys a better experience.

Therefore, in 2011 we decided to carry out works to update Pen Arthur and to provide our pupils with more sleeping space.

The work was carried out over the winter of 2011/2012 and Pen Arthur re-opened in March 2012, now with three dormitories and much improved single accommoda-tion.

We even found time to raise the roof of the entrance from the lounge to the dining room, prevent-ing many further sore heads.

The new look Pen Arthur is not a lot different from the old place, but running more efficiently, whilst keeping the lounge and dining rooms largely untouched, still with its large open fireplace. The sleep-ing accommodation is also much improved.

KJE

Pen Arthur (above) still looks reassuringly familiar, though the new dormitories (right) would amaze old timers, and health and safety legislation insists on new fire escapes (below). Whatever the changes, Pen Arthur is still a great place to learn new skills (far right).

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In October, following the half term break, eleven enthusiastic Upper Sixth physicists travelled to Geneva to visit CERN, home of the Large Hadron Collider.

The first morning was spent having a guided tour around the main site, given by a particle physicist. The main accelerator is a huge 27km in circumference, mostly buried un-derground. However, even the small sections accessible to us seemed enormous. The large machinery was impressive from the outside and the nature of the contents and the implications of potential discoveries within, provided sober thought.

One of the first things we saw upon our arrival was the linear ac-celerator, used to give the protons the energy needed to get around the LHC. All these protons came from a tiny canister of hydrogen, but as only a few protons are used at a time, it could theoretically last CERN for hundreds of years.

We were also introduced to the amazing LHCb experimental facili-ties. The ‘b’ stands for ‘beauty’ as its main use is to investigate beauty quarks. This and other experiments should hopefully help science understand why there is so much matter in the universe but so little antimatter.

SpottheQuarkScientists inspect the facilities at CERN

Finally, we had some free time to go round the microcosm museum which contained interactive exhib-its and interesting displays, which helped improve our knowledge and understanding of particle physics and the origins of the universe. In addition, the giant Globe of Science and Innovation exhibition provided us with a multimedia experience in-cluding an extraordinary film about the Big Bang.

After this, we were fortunate enough to have an inspirational guided tour of the magnificent UN building in Geneva. The next day, as the trip drew to a close, we saw the more conventional sights of Geneva on a fascinating walking tour, before our flight home.

Sam Eley & George Tasker

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There is no argument against the proposition I am putting forward: that the successes of this year’s Debating Society are unrivalled. I shall give you a series of instances in which the teams have outdone themselves in their rhetorical, oratorical and dialectical faculties, and I shall also provide examples where other students have given us a paradigm on which to build in future years. There will be no opposition or points of information.

The School’s participation in the Cambridge Union Debating Com-petition is a case in point. Con-ducted in the British Parliamentary style of debating, teams were given a mere fifteen minutes to prepare cogent, analytical and persuasive speeches. Allocated a position on either side of the debates, speak-ers had to give the impression that they had utter conviction in their arguments.

Serious thought was required in the first round of debates held at Queen Elizabeth School, in which debaters had to argue for or against the view that nuclear weapons should be made available to all countries, and whether dicta-tors should be granted amnesty in return for their deposition. By the narrowest of margins, the Lower Sixth team of Tom Foxton and I scraped past rival schools to qualify for the second round of the

competition. Of the sixteen teams present, only the top four made it to the next level.

The mood of the debates shifted in the second round of the competi-tion, which took place at John Lyon School. The motions were ‘This House would not allow parents to remove children from sex and relationship education’, and ‘This House would allow people to marry more than one person at a time’, with the St Albans team proposing both. The challenge of proposing polygamy might have daunted a less committed team than our own - such was the fate of our rivals on the Proposition, who whole-heartedly embraced the doctrine of Percy Sledge: “When a man loves a woman, he can’t keep his mind on nothing else”. In our case, the necessary separation of Church and State was crucial to our qualification for the Finals, not mentioning our avoidance of any self-contradictory double negatives.

We found that debating in the Finals, held at the Cambridge Union itself, was a significantly greater challenge than in our previous rounds of debating. Out of the original field of 550 entries to the overall competition from across the United Kingdom, only the top 40 made it to this round; moreo-ver, throughout the day we spoke in four different debates. Despite

the intensity of this schedule, we managed to win the third of our debates, largely due to my col-league’s sophisticated economic analysis of why ‘giving bonuses to banks which had been bailed out by the tax-payer’ was actually beneficial to growth. Nevertheless, the extremely high standard of the competition meant that we did not get through to the ‘Break’- the top eight teams at the Finals.

The example of the speakers before us was truly inspirational. The semi-final debate - ‘This House would abolish the institute of mar-riage’- generated some passionate oratory on the meaning of love, and of relationships, but the final debate, on whether countries have a moral obligation to intervene in despotic regimes to impose democracy, was true perfection in argument and rhetoric. So spell-binding, indeed, were the top four teams’ speeches that I found myself constantly shifting in my allegiance between each speaker. The judges had a very difficult decision in de-termining the overall winner of the competition: in the last, Dulwich College came away as ultimate champions. Our team was greatly inspired by the experience, and we hope to build on what they have learnt for future school debating.

Upper Sixth debaters Phil Ruis and Michael Hollins have also been highly successful this year in their quest for debating glory, making it to the Regional Finals of the English Speaking Union Mace Debating Competition. After their first victory debating at St Albans School, the team also won their second round at Merchant Taylors’ School, but sadly did not qualify beyond the regional round.

And so, I hope you will agree that the Debating Society have been extremely successful this aca-demic year. The experiences have given me a great determination to advance the endeavours of the society in the future.

I implore you to vote for the proposition.

ThisHouseBelieves…James Sinclair orates on the Debating Society’s success

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ScientificCuriosityThe Stephen Hawking Society’s YearReflecting on another year of varied and thought-provoking lec-tures, the Stephen Hawking Society has proved to be a continuing success. The autumn term saw the prominent scientific figure Prof Sir Alec Jeffreys discuss his pioneer-ing work on the development of DNA fingerprinting techniques. He explained how repeating DNA sec-tions, or microsatellites, are used to build an individual DNA profile - thus contributing to huge leaps in forensic science, paternal disputes and high profile immigration cases.

The society then welcomed Peter Brimblecombe, Professor of At-mospheric Chemistry, in the new calendar year. He described how dust, including that from deserts and Icelandic volcanoes, controls the Earth’s climate. Professor Brim-blecombe detailed the complex chemical interactions involved, stretching the A level chemists well beyond the demands of the syllabus and extending their wider knowledge.

The second of the year’s lectures, ‘The Gizmo Games’ was delivered by Glenn Hunter from UK Sport. He described some of the improve-

ments in training, technology and understanding that led to the successes at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and, without disclosing any secrets, hinted at some of the areas where Team GB might have the edge in London 2012. The audi-ence also learned of the cost of an Olympic gold medal and some of the politics and industrial espionage that go on during such a high-pro-file competition.

The Naked Scientists, a very popular science radio group, were next on the bill. Students filled the hall in the afternoon for an interac-tive lesson on the nervous system, answering questions about why we feel, think and behave in certain ways. In a fascinating demonstra-tion, one (un)willing pupil even had his brain wired up to monitor the difference in electrical activ-ity with our eyes open or closed. Later that afternoon Dr Chris Smith, the founder of The Naked Scientists and Cambridge University pathology lecturer, gave an inspiring talk on science communication. Quirky questions such as ‘How fast does a sneeze travel?’ were deftly answered.

Finally, Richard Harrison, operat-ing system developer and avid pyrotechnic, delivered a talk on fireworks. Much to the surprise of the audience, Mr Harrison ignited a rocket in the BLR to demonstrate how the burning speed of a compo-sition can be enhanced through finer particle size and paper tubes of insulation. He also discussed how the variable composition of the firework can produce desired colours and effects, accompanied by much smoke, light and sound. This was followed by the now tradition-al black tie annual dinner, rounded off with an inspirational recorded message from Professor Stephen Hawking himself.

Just as the Paralympic opening ceremony in London was made remarkable by its association with Professor Hawking, St Albans School is proud of this thriving society that nurtures inquisitive minds. This year’s standard was no exception and we thank the speak-ers, the committee and Dr Tanner, who is stepping back after seven years at the helm.

Alex Shavick/RET

The Empire Strikes BackLVI History Trip to Cadogan Hall

Cadogan Hall became the meeting point of a dozen Lower Sixth Form students studying History, as a panel of six speakers provided them with a fresh angle on this year’s course. The diverse group of speak-ers ranged from Labour and Conservative MPs right through to writers and an expert on North Africa.

The debate was held on 17th November, and the motion in speculation was: “Britain’s former colonies should stop blaming the empire for their ills.” Prior to embarking on the motion, the audience of nearly 400 were torn between being undecided and supporting the motion. Throughout the talk, topics featuring the pottery of Stoke to the slightly more relevant lack of Kashmiri reparations, gradually progressed to whether India had England to thank for cricket. The eventual outcome was unchanged, with only the uncertain voters going down proportionally. Overall, it was both an enjoyable and worthwhile evening.

Les Femmes SavantesA French Lecture

Students were treated to an enlightening lecture, delivered by Professor Richard Parish of Oxford University on Molière’s Les Femmes Savantes, which is being studied by U6 pupils. Professor Parish examined the comedic side of the play, looking at it within the context of other works of the time, as well as shed-ding light upon the elusive and unstable “honnêteté”. He concluded that there are two different meanings of the word – a masculine and a feminine, and that when Molière played one of his characters in drag, it wasn’t simply for comedic effect, but also served to highlight this difference in meaning. The lecture was well attended, and students certainly benefited from hearing the views of this world expert.

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The classical world was on full display this year as the school was treated to a cornucopia of activi-ties.

The collection of seminar meet-ings of the Hylocomian Society in the academic year was, on several levels, an explosive start. Follow-ing the ten year anniversary since the terrible terrorist attacks of 9/11, pupils and teachers alike were invited to consider whether Antigone, the eponymous character in Sophocles’ tragedy, written over two thousand years ago, was the world’s first suicide bomber. After reading sections of the first part of the play aloud, a lively discussion ensued. Do we sympathise with the quest of the hapless heroine, or do we submit to a greater authority? These ambiguities, together with Sophocles’ mesmerising mastery of language, combined beautifully to portray the sempiternal sorrows of the human condition with effort-less realism. A stimulating experi-ence was had by all, and we could not wait for the conclusion of the tragedy in the second seminar.

What is reality? Professor D Sedley, from the University of Cambridge, attempted to answer this question with his enlightening lecture on the ideas of Plato, on 7th December. Challenging common preconcep-tions about the utility of philoso-phy, and its ability to answer such difficult questions, Professor Sedley highlighted that some problems are soluble. He also explained how differently ancient philosophers viewed our world, considering the ‘goodness’ of something simply in terms of its ability to fulfil its nec-essary function, and informed us of the bedrock of Platonic philosophy: the idea of the ‘Cave’. Combin-ing Plato’s unattractive ideas to a modern audience - his hatred of democracy, loathing of poetry and insistence that the ruler must lie to the hoi polloi – with his more at-tractive principles, such as his belief in gender equality among his philos-opher-kings, we were all given a brilliant insight into the philosophy of an incredible mind whose ideas, more than any other philosopher, have had a lasting impact on the Western tradition.

TragicallyInterestingThe Hylocomian Society continues to fascinate

The Hylocomian Society gratefully received Dr J Prag from Merton College, Oxford on 15th March for a talk on the life of the great Roman orator Cicero and the un-precedented changes in Rome that occurred during his lifetime. This focused on the fall of the Roman Senate and the rise of hugely pow-erful individuals, and ranged from the Social War at the beginning of the first century BC right up to the Civil War between Octa-vian and Mark Antony. Students were treated to a combination of selected writings from the great orator and archaeological evidence, providing oft-overlooked facts to help with their studies, such as what a “Triumvirate” actually was. The talk ended with a Rome on the cusp of leaving the Republic behind to become a true Empire - the audience was left in no doubt that the price you pay for total security and stability is freedom.

James Sinclair and George Prew

TheChristianFellowshipCrosswaysIt has been a joy and a privilege to have been part of the School’s Christian Fellowship. Our purpose is to strengthen one another through a variety of different ways, be it meeting together, praying or talking through some ethical minefields. This year we have looked at a smorgasbord of issues ranging from why Jesus had to die to whether the Devil exists. There is no denominational requirement or indeed a need to believe at all; anyone and everyone, who wants to wrestle with difficult areas and talk through the Christian take on many philosophical and ethical problems, is welcome. The School’s Christian Fellowship meets once a week in the West Gate Room on Thursdays at 1:30.

Michael Hollins

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On one of those rare occurrences, the Lower Sixth Further Mathema-ticians stopped work and went on a school trip. We travelled into the heart of London for the ‘Maths in Action’ lectures at the University of London. The lectures comprised mathematicians presenting the real-life uses of maths as well as some of its interesting kinks. Many schools from around the country convened at the Institute of Educa-tion to enjoy some mathematical fun – and no, these two words aren’t mutually exclusive.

To start off, we had David Singleton from Google explaining the math-ematics behind its search engine that so many take for granted. He warmed up the audience by introducing Auction Theory; then going on to illustrate how Google works: the usage of Eigenvectors and a copy of the internet to find the most relevant website for the keywords used. Finally, he went through the technology of speech recognition in which the sounds are read in bi-grams (2 words), then using probability to work out the most probable sentence construct-ed. Of course, he subsequently used this to search for “Pygmy Marmosets”. Obviously.

The following speaker was Matt Keeling of Warwick University, whose speciality is epidemiology: the study of diseases to you and I, and the mapping of diseases using mathematical algorithms. Using this, he was able to show how diseases have been controlled and contained utilising data collection and analysis. He mapped how a disease would spread if someone had caught the disease in the lecture hall.

David Percy of Salford University followed on, introducing some of the real world applications of maths such as Simpson’s Paradox, when a correlation present in different groups is reversed when the groups are combined together. A common example can be shown below, pertaining to kidney stones:

As shown, despite Treatment 1 having higher success percentage in both large and small stones (93% and 73%), when you combine the two figures together, Treatment 2 has a higher percentage (83%). Another useful and again, potential-ly confusing strand of mathematics is Bayes’ Theorem which stipulates that the probability of event A given that event B has occurred can be

calculated by

For example, a drugs test that has a probability of testing 99% true for drug users and non-drug users, given that 0.5% of the population are drug users gives a probability of approximately 33.2% accuracy when someone is tested positive, that they have taken drugs.

After that rather harrowing elucidation, it was nice to get back to basics with Alex Bellos (author of Sunday Times bestseller Alex’s Adventures in Numberland), who ran through the history of numbers from their early origins demon-strating the different systems depending on their country of origin as well as the first incarna-tion of the modern number system; created in India. After this enjoyable promenade down memory lane, it was back to business boggling our minds as he went on to show us how (most of us at least) were inferior to a chimpanzee at a memory game. If you would like to challenge said ape, postulating that you could not be beaten by such a primitive creature, all you have to do is search ‘Ayumu’ into Youtube and see how you fare.

When it was thought that our brains could suffer no more hard-ship, up stepped the final speaker for the day: Matt Parker (Queen Mary College, University of London). In an attempt to distract us from the rather ominous title of ‘the Fourth Dimension’, he produced some stand-up comedy about maths. Speaking for the audience, if at first we had our doubts they were wiped from our memories as he reduced the crowd to hysterics. Back to the serious matter in hand though, he was able

to guide us through the wondrous world of dimensions going through the known examples such as the Möbius Strip and the not so well known, such as the Klein Bottle. Explaining how an ant with a piece of string could tell the difference between a sphere and a torus (aka a doughnut), we delved deeper into the mathematics and image crea-tion of multi-dimensional shapes.

The day came to an end abruptly and we returned home much wiser and more knowledgeable people than those who had set off that same morning. Many thanks to the Maths Department for organising the whole trip as well as Dr Saun-ders, Mr Balden and Mrs Gott for accompanying the expedition.

Treatment 1 Treatment 2

Large Stones 93% (81/87) 87% (234/270)

Small Stones 73% (192/263) 69% (55/80)

Both 78% (273/350) 83% (289/350)

MathsinActionHarry Hamer sums up a fascinating day

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“Mr Hollins, you’ll take our disarmament policy then.” A disarmament minister for The Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea (or North Korea to you and me) … interesting. Still, the Model United Nations held at Haberdashers Aske’s School looked to be an intriguing opportunity. ‘Model’ of course can have two meanings: an ideal or perfect way of things or a scale replica which is supposed to be realistic. We put emphasis on the latter definition – why try to build a better tomorrow when the Capitalist pigs had destroyed our yesterday?! Oh yes, we were ready to undertake democracy in a true North Korean fashion.

The minibus (aka diplomatic saloon) roared into to life with Mr Asch at the wheel.

“Right, has everyone got their red ties on?”

“Yes sir!”

“And remember, you are to refer to one another as comrades.”

“Yes sir!”

Several ‘wastrels’ later we had reached Habs for what was to be the first evening of our three day conference. After a typically generic welcoming speech we entered into our various committees and lobbied hard against the Capitalist Dogs. This may come as a surprise to you but North Korea doesn’t actually have many friends in the diplomatic sphere… Right: time to cosy up to our fellow freedom fighters – Cuba, Syria, Iran, China and Russia. After an evening of propositions, signatures and inside deals we left, confident in ourselves and our allies.

Day Two – so began the opening speeches. They started in typical bureaucratic lugubriousness as most nations were constrained by a Western-styled formality: not us, however. After an EU style parliamentary set of bland nothingness (“death is bad” etc), the red tie took the podium for disarmament. “Comrades

Democracy–NorthKoreanStyleThe Model United Nations Conference

and Capitalists! Let’s discuss disarmament…” Following the looks of amusement, wonder, disgust and just sheer confusion, there was not only rapturous applause from my allies but also from other Third World countries and even some members of NATO (they clearly were facing an identity crisis).

After lunch we resumed to discuss various bills that were being proposed by some nation states (for SOME reason, my bill forcing America to fully demilitarise in South Korea was not debated…) One particularly vexing bill proposed by the Iraqi delegate forced me to take the floor in disgust. However, as Iraq was recently invaded and made a proxy by the USA, I thought I’d start with the positives of the bill: “Well, this bill does makes good toilet paper…” The tirade went on from there with comparable vivacity (and coherence…) to the Communist Manifesto (though unfortunately for my fellow delegates, it did not carry forward the merit of brevity). The Secretariat did not appreciate the lack of decorum – “I thought this was a model UN?” I said.

Day Three – here, the entire assembly gathered for a whole day of ‘discussion’ (I use the term loosely here as it followed the American and European Parliamentary Protocols whereby one person gets an allotted time and speaks for about 2 minutes with no interruptions or rebuttals permitted at the time – simply incomparable with the House of Commons). There were six delegates from each nation from over seventy nations – a vast assembly. After three hours, Comrade Zak Armstrong yelled: “Point of Parliamentary Procedure!” – this is the only time the floor has to be yielded beyond the control of the Secretariat (who, by now, were looking nervously at one another).

“The Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea feels that the Capitalist, Zionist Pigs of the Secretariat are decidedly biased in refusing to yield any floor time to us and, as such,

we will no longer take part in any further proceedings.” Despite the pleas of the Secretary a round of applause ensued and we marched with pride out of the conference hall. We were, after all, just trying to be democratic…

In the end Tom Foxton received a merited delegate award and Zak Armstrong a distinguished delegate. Overall, the North Korean delegation won a ‘distinguished delegation’ award and we effectively came joint 2nd out of over 70 different delegations (we were beaten by Guatemala … well- known for their foreign policy…) We took home the first ever Politics Departmental Trophy to the delight of a slowly bearding Mr Asch (who, clearly inspired by our Communist fervour now intends to look like Karl Marx, non?)

The delegates were as follows: Michael Hollins, Ed Baker, Harry Di-Lieto, Toby Taylor, Tom Foxton and Zak Armstrong.

Michael Hollins

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The year started with the construction of the Sports Centre well under way. The CCF was looking round for areas to train in and still working out of our con-tainer office, but we were not demoralised.

We were soon organising ourselves, providing our cadets with yet another challenging and enjoyable year. As the autumn term progressed we settled into a routine shared between Cheapside and the School site. As well as our own training we were also lucky to have visits from the Coldstream Guards training team who support us so kindly.

In the course of this year, the shooting team trav-elled to Jersey, the RAF section took part in the RAF ground competition and 100 cadets attended winter camp.

We began the year by preparing for a biannual inspec-tion, which was to take place in May, and intensive training for our Fifth form section, ahead of the Duke of Edinburgh practice in the Peak District.

The biannual inspection was to be an RAF reviewing year, and we were honoured to have Group Captain IF Bruton as our Inspecting Officer, who in his report graded the contingent as excellent. The Captain com-mented about the parade that, ‘given the pressures of a normal school day, the effort and dedication required to construct and execute displays of this standard speaks volumes about the commitment of the cadets.’

In Easter we embarked on Duke of Edinburgh’s training with 44 Silver and 20 Gold participants. The weather made it a very challenging expedition, as it rained non stop for the whole four days,. However, the cadets rose to the challenge and all of them went forward to take part in their qualifying expeditions.

As the year draws to a close, we are now able to move back into our own offices and admire the new training grounds available to us, including the area behind the newly acquired Aquis Court.

Wet and Windy Winter CampOn the 16th of December 2011, 100 cadets from St Albans School CCF deployed to Longmoor training area. We aimed to practise the military skills we had learnt during the previous term on Friday afternoons and to tackle a gang of escaped Upper Sixth criminals!

On arrival, the cadets moved into harbour areas, quickly setting up bashas and posting sentries. After eating, the cadets prepared to go out on a night re-connaissance patrol to find the enemy. They worked at section strength to get close to several known enemy positions without being detected. They gathered intelligence on the enemy’s plans in spite of constant rain and successfully remained undetected. The biggest challenge of the camp came at night when cadets struggled to stay warm due to rain and low tempera-tures. After a difficult night’s sleep, especially for those in leadership positions, morale was restored by hot food and drink.

The next challenge after the weather were the enemy; during the night they had moved into commanding positions across the training area and had to be identi-fied and removed from the area. The cadets worked well in their platoons and attacked the positions with aggression and speed, which led to the eventual destruction of the enemy. Having been on the receiv-ing end of over 6000 blank rounds and many smoke grenades, I can testify to all of the effort that they put in, which could be seen by the amount of sleeping cadets on the bus home.

The Upper Sixth and members of staff worked behind the scenes to make sure the camp ran smoothly. Senior cadets including myself arrived early to the training area to prepare for the arrival of the cadets, unloading vehicles and filling magazines. As well as playing the role of the enemy, the Upper Sixth worked as instructors on stands and also helped with the organisation of younger cadets as this became espe-cially difficult when kit became wet and the cadets themselves got cold and tired.

The cadets learnt a great deal about operating in the field and those in command positions developed leadership and motivation skills. The camp, despite the weather, was enjoyed by all.

Henry Dace

DisplacedbutThrivingOC’s Report

I have to finish by thanking all the people that have supported me: Mr Wilson, our Officers and cadets, but especially the cadet training teams, the Coldstream Guards, and the Bursar for putting up with all our demands.

KJE

Cooking skills on view at the Inspection

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Adventure Training WalesAfter a very challenging summer camp, 22 cadets and four staff left School for an adventure training trip that was to take us from one end of Wales to the other.

Arriving at Pen Arthur for a four day visit, we were treated to a first night meal in a local hotel. Over the following four days we travelled from Hay-on-Wye to Brecon and Oxwich Beach, where we took part in adventure training activi-ties, including canoeing, climbing, sea canoeing and sailing. On day five we drove the length of Wales to LLangollen in North Wales and stayed the night at a field centre owned by the University of Lanca-shire. Whilst there, the group took part in archery, BMX biking, gorge walking and some very challenging command tasks.

We ended by travelling to Caer-navon for the night. The next day, we climbed Mount Snowdon; all the party successfully completed the challenge and we returned to our hotel to enjoy a final dinner.

Harry Di-Lieto

For summer camp this year we returned to Wathgill Camp in North Yorkshire to train in the Catterick area, one of the largest in the country.

During the first two days, we did adventure training and prepared to defend the victories in the drill competition that we had previously won. The adventure training in-cluded a high ropes course and zip wires on the first day followed by canoeing, raft building and archery on the following day.

The drill competition was soon upon us, and our reputation as a Guards Contingent was on the line. The squad of 15 led by under Officer Joe Chalkley, took to the square, wearing immaculate uni-forms, which were prepared by the great teamwork of all the cadets on camp. All the hard work paid off, and after a flawless perform-

The RAF section is a well-estab-lished and highly valued branch of the CCF. We train cadets in first aid, shooting, drill and leadership but also give lessons in areas such as aircraft recognition and, excitingly, how to fly aeroplanes.

This year, the RAF section has been extremely busy. There have been an extraordinary number of sorties for both flying and gliding and, despite the best efforts of the English weather, many cadets were able to fly this year at RAF Halton and RAF Wyton. In addition, we have been involved in the regional ground training competition and, of course, the Biannual General Inspection. Our drill standards have been impeccable and the ‘pilot down’ exercise run for the BGI saw many cadets pushed to their limits

ance, later that week we were to learn we had won the competition, competed for by contingents over the whole 3 weeks of camp.

The week continued with orien-teering, leadership tasks, ranges, obstacle course training and a very valuable tactics day where we once again were declared best on camp.

It was soon time to venture out on our own exercise, the highlight of the week for most of our cadets.

The exercise was a 24 hour operation to capture and destroy the enemy. The exercise gives the cadets an opportunity to put into practice all the skills learned throughout the year, including camp craft, basha building and section attacks.This was a very successful week at summer camp.

Joe Chalkley

dealing with traumatised shock victims, broken arms with squirting blood and an enemy squad which killed many of them.

The RAF training exams have also gone remarkably well leading to a large number of cadets passing the necessary tests for promotion. Being of a modest size (about 20 or so), everyone in the section knows everyone else leading to a spirit of camaraderie and cohesion, which has been noted on several command tasks. Highlights of the year include the outstanding drill sequence for BGI, a number of gliding scholarships and Corporal Lampert throwing up after a spell of aerobatics.

It has been an honour to lead them this year and I would like to add

my personal thanks to Squadron Leader Stubbs for all his untold service to the section, to Sergeants Goldsmith and Blackie for helping me run training sessions and to Corporals Beatie, Chapman and Rossi for their dedication and commitment to the RAF. Under the direction of Mr Forbes-Whitehead for the coming year, I have every confidence that the RAF Section will continue to prosper and remain a valuable part of the Com-bined Cadet Force.

Michael Hollins

On a Wing and a PrayerRAF Section

Enemies at WathgillSummer Camp 2012

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TopShotsOn target throughout the yearAutumn Term

House Shooting and The Captain’s CupThe shooting year started as always with House Shooting. Access to the range was handicapped by the Sports Hall development work. However, the boys showed great resilience in turning up each week. Most keen were the boys of Hawking and Hampson, with Nabeel Sayed (1.2) attending virtu-ally every session! It was therefore unsurprising that at the close of play Hampson and Hawking were battling for first place: Hampson on 941 and Hawking on 912. Marsh looked like they had an outsiders chance on 731 and Renfrew were all but out of the running with 384.

In the Captain’s Cup, two shots are selected from each house. They are then randomly drawn against shots from other houses to shoot 5-bull cards in a knock-out system. Only the winning card has their score added to the House total and so any house has the potential to score up to 700 points if their two shots make it to the final. This year’s standard was very high, as only one student competing was not a member of the Shooting Team. Tom Foxton eased through his side of the draw for Hampson, but it was the other side of the draw that provided the most thrill-ing action. Trudy Cammack battled Chris Oates until Chris prevailed and had to face last year’s top shot, Olivia Goldsmith. Both scored a maximum 100 but Chris held his nerve to win a nail-biting 10-bull shoot-out. With both competitors shooting so well, it was unsurpris-ing that the result came down to the width of a line. He went on to win the final with another 100 to Tom Foxton’s 97.

Jersey TourOur base in Jersey was Victoria College, from where we headed to the outdoor ranges. The students shot two five round groupings and a ten round rapid with the L98 rifles, impressing the SSI from Victoria College with their weapon handling skills.

Victoria College has a particularly long history of top level shooting, producing many world champions over the last hundred years. It was therefore unsurprising that they won both the senior and junior competitions. However, the latter was only secured by one point. Top scorer for the senior team was Chris Oates, and Tom Chapman took the honours for the junior team.

Another trip to the full-bore range followed, this time to join in 7.62 shooting with the Jersey Rifle As-sociation. Only two of the students had any experience of this kind of shooting but their good practice in the School range quickly came to their aid. All students impressed the Jersey coaches with their rapid im-provement through the two shoots and all seemed to thoroughly enjoy the day.

BSSRA Autumn LeaguesThe Senior team showed rapid progress through the autumn term as they finished 5th in their division. The top shot in the team was Chris Oates, finishing 7th in the division as a whole.

Right from the start of the year, the Junior team started hitting the high marks with scores in the high nine-ties, well above their competitors.

Because of a handicap system, the team finished joint 3rd in their divi-sion. However, Tom Chapman shot the top score for both the School and the division.

Emsall TrophyThe high point of the autumn term came in the Hertfordshire School’s competition, better known as the Emsall Trophy. Last year we had a shock victory, winning through some consistent shooting. This year we were keen to repeat this success. The big difference this year was that we were able to enter three teams and each team was eager to outdo the next. As a result the St Albans Squad took the first three places, pushing the Hab’s A Team down to 4th place. Chris Oates was superior in form once again, attaining another 100 score. The bar has been set very high for next year’s competition.

Spring Term

BSSRA Lent LeaguesThe Senior team put in a strong combined effort and were disap-pointed to finish one point short of the top spot, beaten by an equally strong Habs A team. The Junior team once more showed their strong depth of talent and secured the overall win in their league. Aidan Collins was the top shot in the league with Tom Chapman, Harry Lampert and Alessan-dro Rossi finishing in 4th, 5th and 15th positions respectively.

Full-bore preparationThe first practice with the new rifles suggested that we were not going to have a smooth run into the summer. We had rain, we had wind and by the end we had snow. There was every reason for the students to give up and go home at that point, with the weather turning so bad that it was not possible to record any scores (the marking cards had turned to papier mâché). However, it was fantastic to see all the students raise their frost-bitten thumbs to say they were looking forward to the next practice.

Extra training from the Jersey Rifle

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This practice was delayed by the MOD taking the rifles for servic-ing and numerous other problems interfered with progress. Things were looking precarious for the Ashburton meeting as on average each member of the team had only achieved two practices.

Summer Term

BSSRA Summer LeaguesUnsurprisingly, Greshams domi-nated the senior division, winning the first three rounds. However, St Albans came through to win the final round much against expecta-tions and pushing the team up to third place. Individually the students shot very well, with almost all im-proving upon their year’s averages. Chris Oates capped off an excel-lent year by finishing 3rd and Trudy Cammack finished 5th. Abhishek Kulkarni, who had not shot all term owing to cricketing commitments, stepped in as a last minute substi-tute, produced a first-rate 7th place finish and a personal best average. Olivia Goldsmith saw in the team with a 14th place finish.

Greshams were also dominant in the junior division; their first team won all four rounds. It was a steep learning curve for the St Albans juniors and they finished in 5th place. However, the league did show a return of form for Aidan Collins who finished in 8th place in a very strong field. Harry Lampert and Tom Chapman finished in joint 14th place and Alessandro Rossi finished 18th.

Cole’s TrophyThis year’s competition between the current squad and the OA team took place on the 4th July in the School range. The students rose to the challenge, shooting well above their averages. Chris Oates once again improved on his impres-sive form but was pipped to the top post by Aidan Collins. It must be noted that this was only the third 10 bull target that Aidan had shot but one that any member of the senior team would have been proud to achieve. Phil Ruis also performed well to attain the third place.

AshburtonWith a possible top score of 35.5v at each range, it was hoped that the cadets would be able to attain scores in the high twenties for their first meeting. Trudy Cammack set the standard on the first day on the first target, attaining a score of 30.2v, quickly followed by Chris Oates hitting a 31.1v. Alessandro Rossi out shot the whole team and was the first squad member to make it onto the results boards, attaining a place on the Monday Cadet 100 list.

The greatest competition came on the Wednesday between Chris Oates and Tom Foxton. It began with Tom producing a 33.3v at 300, only to be bested by Chris with a 33.4v; this score being attained after a hitting a Magpie 3 as his second shot. However, Tom hit back at 500 with a 32.2v to Chris’ 31.1v. This piled on the pressure at 600 to who would take the glory for the day and after a thunderstorm that closed the range for an hour it was Tom who prospered with a final 30.1v.

Students were also able to take part in competitions involving clays, gallery rifles and F-class long range rifles. Once again the competi-tiveness between team members helped to propel them up the standings in each competition with the highlight coming in the F-class where they finished second.

Ashburton day arrived to bright blue skies and was started in the typical manner by Dollar School marching down the point to a piper. Aidan Collins was the first to shoot with the honour of the reserve and he put in a very respectable score to attain 8th place. It was then the turn of the main squad. Trudy Cammack had proved herself to be a very reliable lead-off shot and so was given the responsibility to start the team competition. A solid start at 300 was followed by a slightly below par 600 shoot. It would therefore take some good shooting at the final distance if we were to make it onto the results board. Trudy started with a 30.1v, which was then followed by Chris Oates’ 32.3v, Tom Foxton’s 28.1v and finally Tom Chapman’s 31.0v.

Our first position on the board was at 2nd but there was a lot of the afternoon left for other teams to hand in their results. It was a nervous wait, cleaning rifles and packing away equipment but by 16.00 it seemed certain that we were to finish 3rd, a momentous achievement in our first year.

Awards:There was little difficulty in select-ing the junior and senior shots of the season with both students performing at the top level in all competitions this year.

Top Junior Shot of the Season: Aidan Collins

Top Shot of the Season 2011-2012: Chris Oates

ThanksThe first thanks must go to Major Everitt and Mr Wilson who have had to put up with my constant requests for extra equipment and transport over the year but who have supported the squad unconditionally. Secondly, I would like to thank Miss Bruton who bravely took on the responsibility of coming to Bisley to act as female supervision, not really realising what she was getting herself into. She proved to be an indispensable part of the team, throwing herself into all aspects of the week and even suggesting that she may be willing to come back next year. The Old Albanians have once again been of immense support to the team. There was a change of coach this year with Andrew Wilkie retiring to the south coast. Owen Simmons generously stepped in to take his place and has helped develop the squad both at .22 and our new pursuit with full-bore. I have been extremely grateful to him all year and especially touched when he chose to give up a week of his time to join us at Bisley for the Ashbur-ton week. The final thanks goes to the squad whose hard work and dedication are the real reason for our continuing success and devel-opment.

DSR

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As soon as we arrived in Iceland on Sunday July 22nd, we were taken to the Blue Lagoon. The water appears an opaque blue colour because of a rich supply of various silicate minerals and bacteria. These minerals are apparently curative for certain skin disease, and they certainly enhance the experience with the distinctive smell of sulphur. Nonetheless, everyone was excited to get in and the water was deli-ciously warm, somewhere around 37°C, thanks to geothermal activity below and around the lagoon.

Our first night’s lodging was to be at the Hotel Cabin in the centre of Reykjavik. Once we had arrived and found our rooms, our guides Richard and Tom introduced us to the week ahead. We were then allowed in the fading light to explore the area’s streets, shops and waterfront.

The next morning we drove east through the ‘hot zone’ – where magma from the underlying ridge reaches nearer to the surface – spotting on our way several geothermal power stations belching sulphurous steam, and even some geothermally-heated greenhouses, which contribute to the island’s self-sufficiency in salad crops. We embarked on a small ferry headed for the Westmann Islands where, in 1973, the volcano Eldfell erupted. Half the town was lost to the lava but the residual heat now warms the islanders’ new houses and keeps the pavements free of ice. Climbing up Eldfell was like walking through a huge gritty sand dune in places, but arriving at the top validated the effort as we were greeted with spectacular views of the ocean.

As we left the next morning we were given stunning views of Eyjafjallajökull, the glacier above the volcano that brought airports to a standstill in 2010. Hugging the southern coast we soon came to our first stop of the day, Skógarfoss, an amazing waterfall surrounded by moss-covered cliffs. The 60m fall showered us with spray as we climbed to the top where we could see rainbows formed from light passing through the spray, not to mention extraordinary views. Our

next stop of the day was Sólheima-jökull, an ash-covered glacier sitting at the end of a valley. We had the rare opportunity to walk upon the glacier and along immensely deep crevasses, in order to see the dirty-ing effect of the 2010 eruption.

The beach at Reynishverfi was next on the itinerary. It has incredible hexagonal basalt columns, formed as lava flows cool and contract; and it was also here that we first encountered the national bird of Iceland, the puffin. We watched as they flew out from their high perches over our heads and out to sea, returning to their young with fish. We headed on eastwards; paused for lunch at the south-ernmost point in Iceland; crossed deserted lava fields from an 18th century eruption; through the barren Skeidararsandur outwash plains, site of the 1996 glacial burst; stopping only at Skaftafell National Park to see the Black Falls, named for its impressive dark basalt columns. We continued east past the Vatnajökull ice cap, heading for the Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon. This stunning lake (which was used in two Bond films) is spotted with millennia-old icebergs calved from the Breiðmerkujökull glacier that feeds the lake with meltwater. After an amphibious tour round the lake, we ended the day after 350km of travelling at the harbour town of Höfn for pizzas and a night in a youth hostel.

The fourth day involved travelling north on Route 1, a huge ring-road around the whole of Iceland. We followed it to Eglisstadir, stopping to photograph mist-shrouded fjords and the rocky deserts where in the 1960s NASA trained astronauts and even trialled the moon buggy. Another stop at a remote farmstead called Möðruda-lur became suddenly very exciting when we spotted a pair of Arctic Fox cubs. Our final destination and accommodation was at Grimstunga, an isolated spot in vast and majestic heathland.

To start what was probably the best day of the trip, we travelled north to Detifoss, the largest waterfall in Europe. There was little to alert or protect tourists of and from danger; we could walk to the very edge of the freezing, thundering falls. We moved on to the Asbyrgi gorge, a geographer’s dream landscape, formed under a glacier during a huge glacial burst. After lunch we reached the north-ern town of Hùsavik to go whale watching. Following a rainy souvenir hunt we boarded an old whaling vessel to enter the Greenland Sea, where after half an hour of distant dolphins and cold fingers we finally met a giant humpback whale. In an awe-inspiring display he breached and glided and spouted right up close to the side of the ship. It was one of the most amazing things I have seen in my life. We returned,

WhalesandBasaltGeographers travel to Iceland

The raging Goðafoss in northern Iceland

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fortified by cocoa and biscuits, to Grimstunga for the night.

Heading west the next morning, we travelled through the vast desert, with stunning views of the mountains that surround the bleak landscape. After a short time we came to the Njamafjall geothermal area, where the lava of the mantle is very close to the surface at the plate boundary. A volcano with many colours of rock towered over boiling mud pools, accompanied by the sharp smell of sulphur, to which we were now (thankfully) habitu-ated. We went on, and, passing over the crest of a hill, we were pre-sented our first view of the islands, peninsulas and mountains that form the stunning scene of Lake Myvatn. We followed the shoreline, stop-ping before lunch to ascend to the 4km crater of a lakeside volcano. Our effort was rewarded upon descent with a lunch of delicious traditional Icelandic lamb soup.

After lunch we visited the nearby lava formations, Dimmuborgir, where giant spires of lava jut out of the ground to form a giant maze leading towards a fascinating cave called “The Church”. Further west we found the incredible Waterfall of the Gods or Godafoss, sitting against a flattering backdrop of mountains. It gained its curious name because when Iceland became Christian, idols of the Norse Gods were flung into its depths. Our final stop was in the coastal town of Akureyri. We were

met with great views of the Arctic Ocean and a buffet, followed by a swim, a shopping jaunt and the Olympic Opening Ceremony.

The next day saw us leave Akureyri and pass through the battle-scarred area of Oxnadular, after which we joined the Kjolur pass. This is a gravelled highland road, only open in season, which passes between two ice-caps and is one of the most important routes through Iceland. We had the chance to admire the sheer size of the ice-caps, and what’s more, the chance for a quick but glorious dip in a geothermally heated outdoor bath in Hveravellir. We spent a slightly cramped night in a quaint mountain cabin with no electricity – instead, a wonderfully barbequed lamb.

On the last full day we hit the Golden Circle, one of Iceland’s most popular tourist attractions. Our first stop was the beautiful and unique Gullfoss waterfall, followed by a visit to Geysir, a world-famous geothermal area, which displayed a fantastic array of – you’d never guess – geysers, going off all around at regular intervals. We moved on to Pingvallavatn, the site of the first Icelandic Parliament. Its cul-tural significance came with great geographical interest too; it lies on the mid-Atlantic ridge, which had recently pulled apart to form a new crack at the end of our footpath.

It was then time to return to Reykjavik and the Hotel Cabin, via

a huge water tower structure with a revolving restaurant called Perlan. The evening took us to a steak res-taurant for supper followed by an engaging hour of ten-pin bowling.

On our last morning, heaviness of heart was mirrored by leaden skies. Nevertheless, after vacat-ing rooms and storing luggage, we ventured out on a city sightsee-ing tour. We began at the highest point of the city at the church of Hallgrímskirkja, before heading to the centre via the modern Icelandic parliament building, the council offices and a giant 3D model of the whole country. Here there was just about time for a spot of last-minute souvenir hunting before we had to begin the journey to the airport and back home.

Alex Kirsch, Dilan Dhulashia, Harry Pottinger, Edmund Wrigley, Greg

Reynolds, CPAG

Alex Kirsch dressed for the weather

The rugged landscape of the Hverfell crater

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On Thursday 9th February, in bitter temperatures, 32 students and four staff from St Albans School set off for a tour of the First World War battlefields and cemeteries in order to reinforce our understanding of this terrible event. We had been told that this visit would be poignant, moving even, and despite being surrounded by my peers, I found this to be true.

Day 1

Sanctuary Wood, Belgium

After the failure of the Schlieffen plan, both sides were keen to gain control of the coast. The British Expedi-tionary Force quickly built up a network of trenches in the cover of the woods to defend themselves from the German assault. Sanctuary Wood has maintained these trenches so people can see for themselves, the terrible conditions soldiers had to contend with.

We were able to walk freely amongst the maze of trenches, shocked by the simplicity of the structures that were little more than ditches in the ground. It seemed remarkable that they saved any lives at all. Great craters from shells and mines were scattered about the battlefield and the rank, dark tunnels had an effect on all who walked through them.

From here, we were able to look round the ramshack-le museum, holding whole sheds worth of weaponry and equipment found buried in the trenches. The walls were covered in dusty photos of horrific injuries suf-fered by the young men who fought in the war.

Day 2

The Somme, France

Vimy Ridge was a great vantage point, overlooking the plains of Artois. It was seized by the Germans in 1914. The town of Arras was flattened by the German mili-tary and the task of recapturing the Ridge was handed to the Canadian Corps who eventually succeeded, gaining control of it on the 12th April 1917.

Today a monument has been erected, inscribed with the names of over 11,000 brave men who were missing in action or dead. We were in awe of the scale of this memorial and the impact it had, with its vast columns pointing heavenward into the clear skies, was profound.

We then went on to visit the Notre Dame de Lorette, the largest WW1 French cemetery. A hush descended upon the group, as we looked over the 45,000 graves and the real enormity of the conflict dawned on us. It was nice to see, however, that respect for the fallen was still being shown, for all the lawns were well manicured and the graves were kept in immaculate condition, each holding an individual inscription.

We were also able to see Thiepval, a monument standing 150 foot high and holding 73,357 names. Too often the scale of these losses is simply too large to fully comprehend.

Day 3

Ypres, Belgium

Ypres was reduced to little more than a pile of rubble during the war, but today it has been rebuilt to look like it did in its prime. We were taken to see the Menin Gate, a tribute to the missing British and Com-monwealth soldiers. At 8 o’clock every night since 1927, the Last Post is played to commemorate the lives of many of those who died in the Great War.

The bodies of over 11,000 men lie at Tyne Cot cem-etery, the largest British cemetery in the world. Row upon row of ivory coloured head stones blanketed the ground and the Cross of Sacrifice stands beneath the sun. Amidst the hundreds of noble Common-wealth soldiers, three Germans are buried side-by-side with their enemy where they were killed in hand to hand fighting.

Of particular significance to me is the fact that my great-uncle, William Henry Lavelle was killed in October 1918. He was 21. His grave lies in the tiny Duhallow cemetery just outside of Ypres.

Matthew Lavelle

PersonalStoriesAmongThousandsWorld War One Battlefields trip

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Even the earliest of awakenings at around 5 o’clock in the morning couldn’t dampen our mood. On arriving at the Porto Maggiore Hotel in Rome, we had a short but welcome rest. We headed out soon after to the Vatican City, which was a short distance away. St Peter’s Basilica is huge, and although it doesn’t have many ties with the ancient world, it was nice to have a look round, and get a first feel for Italy’s culture. A short walk across the nearby bridge then showed us the impressive Pantheon. Dr Tanner told us how it had been rebuilt at the time of Emperor Hadrian, but still bore the inscription of its original maker, “M·AGRIPPA·L·F·COS·TERTIUM·FECIT” meaning; “Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, consul for the third time, built this.”

After a good sleep in the Porto Maggiore, many of us needed a wake-up call. Eventually with everybody down, we set off in our groups to the baths of Caracalla. Sadly, the baths are not suitable to dip into nowadays, and remain as ruins. This is not to say that the baths were just for relaxing, in fact, the whole complex was more like a leisure centre, housing the bath rooms, a swimming pool, gyms and even a public library. Even though they are only ruins, the baths still look just as impressive as they might have done all those years ago.

On the way to the Roman forum, we walked past the site of the Circus Maximus, where chariot races took place on the long strip of land, as well as gladiatorial battles and occasionally proces-sions. We then walked on to the Forum Romanum, once the beating heart of Rome. The large site consists of only ruins, but these are fairly intact and bring to life Roman culture. It only helps that the at-traction is so crowded, the huge array of tourists can compare to the Romans that would have come daily to the forum.

The Colosseum was the next ancient attraction on the agenda, once another centre of Roman tradition. The place already looks impressive from the outside, but inside is even more interesting. The floor has been stripped of its cover to reveal the ruins of what would have been underneath every gladiatorial battle or animal hunt. This part is out of bounds, but you can look over the rails. From here, if you look outwards and upwards, the Italians’ sense of cultural pride is clear. It towers up 48 metres and 4 storeys, dwarfing even the most spectacular football grounds. It is like a football stadium in many ways, in the sense that fanatics would have shouted from these stands, albeit for one of the gladiator’s blood. “What further en-couragement does a teenager need to devote their life to Classics?” thought Mr Rowland to himself.

Later in the week we came to an even more intriguing place, the ancient Roman town of Hercula-neum, which was lost in the erup-tion of Vesuvius. It has been kept eerily intact, to a certain extent, by archaeologists, and work still goes on today, as demonstrated by the lady cleaning a column with a toothbrush. This town can really give you an idea of ancient Roman culture at the time. Indeed, the many frescos painted at the time can still be seen on the walls from which modern artists could perhaps learn a thing or two. The day wasn’t over there though, and we were soon off to the “terrible mountain” after lunch. We were dropped off halfway up Vesuvius to walk the remaining distance. It was challenging to a certain extent, but we still got time to appreciate how huge and deadly the volcano could be. I must say, the volcano was enormous and magnificent, and it was probably my favourite part of the trip.

After a trip to the Archaeological museum in Naples, we arrived at the centrepiece of our journey: Pompeii. Herculaneum and the pic-turesque Ostia Antica were great, of course, but it seemed to me that Pompeii, even without its legendary name, was far more captivating. Everything has been left virtually untouched (except, of course, by lava) and from the tombs outside the town to inside Pompeii itself, it was a fascinating place to go.

The trip transformed the Classics classroom to ancient reality.

Tomas Hill Lopez-Menchero

RomamMMXIADThe biannual Classics trip to Rome and Naples

The boys outside the grand Colosseum

Treading the ancient streets of

Pompeii

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From the 15th – 21st July, one solitary DofE group travelled to the Dolomites in Italy. Setting off in the early hours of the morning, the group emerged bleary-eyed into the rising sun at Gatwick Airport. Travelling over to Venice airport, we were welcomed by a sudden downpour of rain which soaked our bags before we even started walking. Luckily for us, this wasn’t a portent for the trip ahead.

We were dropped off at our campsite ‘Dolomiti’, which would be our base campsite for the trip ahead. After getting our tents set up, we were taken out for a meal at a local pizzeria in Cortina: this is Italy of course! This would be our last meal that we wouldn’t have to carry in our bags. Therefore, we ate as much as our stomachs could take before the long expedition. After a night in the tents, we went out for an acclimatising trip. With lightened bags, we walked around a hill where we would be finish-ing on the last day. Walking behind waterfalls and climbing up sheer faces using via ferratas, we were shown places where we could fill up our water and general tips on protecting yourself from the sun. From this walk, we were able to gain experience of the terrain – it was not the distance that would be the main factor contributing to fatigue but the gradients of the hills. Looking down at the route card for the next four days we would be climbing three to four km in height alone. During the evening, we visited the shops to get the food for the long days ahead. Cereal bars were the order of the day as we stocked up on vast quantities of pasta.

For the first day of the expedition we were up and ready for the day

ahead. Driving to our starting point, we slowly made our way towards the first hill, applying sun cream as we went. The first hill is always the hardest, and in this case, it definitely felt that way. In terms of height climbed it was by no means the largest that we would face, but we as a group, were unfit and our bags extremely heavy. It was a baptism of perspiration. We

trudged onwards and made our way through a forest, along a mountain and back to our origi-nal campsite. Although this was good by virtue of the fact that we knew that it had excellent facilities, it was rather demoral-ising that we had walked all of that day just to get back to the campsite where we were that previous night.

The second day of the expedi-tion brought with it the added bonus of being the night in which

we would be sleeping in the wilder-ness. The campsite would be off a road (so not completely isolated), but it was hidden from view and was beside a running river. First we had to ascend yet another hill with the added incentive of stopping off for lunch at the side of a lake. After a morning of continuous climbing, we finally reached the lake. There we met our assessor Mrs Walker with whom we had

a friendly chat. She reported that we were doing extremely well and that we were on schedule. Carrying on, we walked on a path along the side of a mountain. It seemed that this path was popular for cyclists, particularly German cyclists. No fewer than eight rode past us. One of them seemed so tired that he nearly fell down the hill after his bicycle slipped on the rocky path. Finally, we could see the campsite! Unfortunately, it was down a steep hill that was painful to say the least

OnTopofItalyDukes Gold Dolomites trip

Intrepid expeditioners take a

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on our knees. When we made it, the teachers were there to greet us with containers of waters.

We settled down for the night not prepared for the events that were about to unfold. The teach-ers had warned our group not to leave food or our bags out and so we brought those in, still sceptical over whether wild animals would come to feast. On our food. It just so happened that a wild animal did come. Tearing at one of the tents, the fox smelled the scent of bread left on a bag (and of course, the smell of human blood). The three people in the tent - Vince, Tom and Ed – could hear the fox tear the outside covering, then feel its claw slashing at the inner casing. Having to take the bread and to drag trangias, shoes and bags out of some of the tents, the night time was not necessarily the restful period that we had hoped for. With the fox still sniffing around our tents, I saw its nose poke in. The group resolved to scare it off, bursting out with torches from the tents. It seemed to work with the last glimpse of the savage fox being its eyes glinting in the moonlight.

The ordeal of the wild campsite was over, and even more hearten-ing to us was the knowledge that we would have a solid roof over our heads, beds and the ability to sit up during the night. Before us lay many hours walking past amazing peaks, through boulder fields and up a seemingly never-ending hill with a killer gradient. Of course, those prizes earned through sweat and toil are always more gratifying than those received wihtout effort. In this case, we felt that we really earned a prize after many hours of walking and much perspiration. We did eventually make it to the Refuge

Hut Dibona, which was a sight for sore legs, arms and backs. Imme-diately we made for the showers, a relief for both the group and the teachers.

On the final day of walking, there was a sense of jubilation that we were nearly finished. We still had another day of walking, but the mood was upbeat. The last day was, in comparison to the previous three days, the easiest and so we powered through to the finishing line with Mr Byrom, Mrs Walker and Mr Smithson all there to con-gratulate us on our achievement of completing our Gold Assessed Expedition. After driving to the base campsite to set up our tents for the final night, we went into Cortina (the local town) for a cel-ebratory meal. It seemed Italy also wanted to celebrate our success, giving us a dazzling lightshow with much thunder and lightening. It was

all plain sailing from there, driving to the airport, travelling over to Gatwick and travelling on the minibus back to School.

Many thanks to Mr Ford for or-ganising the trip, Mr Byrom and Mr Smithson for accompanying us and Mrs Walker for assessing the group. The trip was brilliant in every sense (excluding the hills) and so I would recommend anybody doing DofE Gold to travel abroad.

Harry Hamer

Stunning mountain vistas in the Dolomites

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school schedule and had a final go on the school’s climbing wall on Friday 28th. Finally on the 29th we bade farewell to our exchange partners.

Reflecting on the week, I think that visiting Frankfurt with my exchange family and being in school with my exchange partner were the two best experiences. I especially enjoyed being in school in Germany because I met so many new people and made lots of new friends who I hope to visit again in the near future. I was surprised at how different the way of living there is from our way in England, and I was also surprised by how good the food is there!

stamp the pieces that are needed. These giant metal presses have a force of around 600 tonnes and cost tens of millions of Euros each.

The next day, the whole group went on another day trip, this time to Frankfurt itself. Firstly we stopped off in central Frankfurt and took the 200m elevator up the Main tower, which only took an amazing 45 seconds. Afterwards we had a walk around Frankfurt to see some of the historical features, such as the first bridge to be built across the river Main in Frankfurt, and Goethe’s house. This was followed by an hour break in the shopping district of Frank-furt, where we had a brief mosey around with our exchange partners.

As the week drew to an end, we spent our last two full days in CWS on normal

Members of the Fifth Form travelled in October to the Christian-Wirth School to spend an enjoyable and educational week with their German exchange families.

I was expecting the trip to be enjoyable, but more of an aca-demic trip than a fun-filled one as it turned out to be. Expecting the worst in weather over the week, we found that cold was vastly made up for by beautiful sunrises and sunsets with the occasional glimpse of beautiful blue sky in Unsingen. The town is surrounded by low mountains covered in beautiful forests that lie on the edge of the Main valley.

On 23rd October, the free day with our partner’s families, I was lucky enough to be taken out to Frank-furt am Main for the day. We went to the Seckenberg Natural History Museum and its special exhibition on animal structure. Afterwards we strolled past Messe Frankfurt and hitched a ride on the Ebbelwei-Expreß, which is a tour tram ride around the city.

The next day was our first day in CWS (Christian-Wirth-Schule). After having such an exciting day before, I was given the lovely pleas-ure of a wake-up call at 6:30am. School promptly started at 8am, which is the price one pays for the day to end at 1:00pm. After school had ended we had a cooking challenge in groups, in which we had to make our own grüne Soße ‘green sauce’, a delicacy from Hessen which was one of Goethe’s favourite dishes. After we had made our sauce, which would turn out to be our dinner for the evening, we had a lesson in apple juice pressing taught by my exchange partner’s parents.

On Tuesday, the whole group met up for a day trip to Russelsheim’s Opel factory, which is the main provider of Opel (Vauxhall’s Euro-pean brand) Insignias and Astras in Germany and Europe. On the tour of the plant, we were given the pleasure of seeing most of the main production line. The plant is given sheet metal for the production of cars, because in the factory there are several metal presses which

DeutschsprechenamMainHarry Lampert on the 5th Form German exchange

On top of the Main Tower

Making grüne Soße

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St Albans School has been building a reputation for audacious ventures of late, and the development of the School Sports Hall proved no exception. The latest landmark in the School’s evolution stands to epitomise just how far sport has come since our Headmaster, Andrew Grant, was appointed in 1993. Born out of a desire to provide students with a multitude of genuine sporting opportunities, the vision of the Headmaster – adopted by many others along the way – recently came to fruition, on time and on budget.

A Tough Beginning

As we become more accustomed to the view from the top of the School Orchard, it is easy to forget just how much planning, hard work and innovation went in to produce what will become the identity of sport at St Albans School.

The seeds were sown through what appeared to be a facilities gap in the early 1990s, the headmaster claiming that a swimming pool was all that the School was missing, as it was already committed to the de-velopment of the Woollams Playing Fields. If the nine years of develop-ment and two public enquiries that this took were anything to go by, then we may have expected an arduous journey to where we are today. Initial planning proved to be a closely guarded secret, shared only with the chief architect David Morgan. Early stages in the planning indicated the challenge it would be to cater for the interests of the landscape, as well as those of the School. This challenge sparked the design of a building that would

blend perfectly into the landscape – the idea was that the building wouldn’t intrude on any of the scenery in Verulamium Park. Lights were set up within the proposed dimensions to ensure that the development wouldn’t compromise a view of the Abbey. Following the green light from the conservation-ists, the process of having planning permissions granted was relatively smooth – certainly a change from previous experiences.

As with any project of this magni-tude, frustration is a state of mind that we have to take as inevitable at some stage along the way. With planning permissions granted rela-tively quickly, the project turned its attention to putting the ideas into reality. Lengthy negotiations around the sale of the lease of the King Harry Lane site put the project into limbo temporarily, though the eventual deal provided funds that drove our architects and plan-ners toward slight improvements in the building’s design. With the permissions granted, consultants briefed, and Mr Hudson hardly able to contain his excitement, ‘Project Apple’ got underway in June 2010.

Difficulty eventually arose in an unfamiliar form; whilst the non-chalance of the owners of Aquis Court aided the planning phase, it proved a hindrance in forcing the relatively trivial processes through. In order to connect the sewers to the sewer network, our consultants needed the permission of those that owned Aquis Court to link us into the sewage system. With the public enquiries required for the development to advance, the project suffered its first hitch. As ever, just as doubts began to arise around whether permission would ever be granted, a response came from the owners in South Africa – papers were signed, and delays were concluded as the project resumed progress.

Upheaval andDevelopment

The go-ahead finally went through in July 2010 following the sale of the lease of the King Harry Lane sports fields. Work began on the Sports Hall Project in February 2011 as SDC, the construction company charged with this project, moved in. As the Sports Centre was designed to sit neatly into the natural incline of the land, it was necessary to dig out a huge amount of earth. The existing area known as the Orchard was dug up (much to the disappointment of many of the school’s pupils – as this was where football was played at lunch-time). The process of removing all the earth, flattening the base out and fitting foundations was arduous and time-consuming (see left); as hundreds of tonnes of dirt were unearthed and deposited on the old tennis courts as well as being used to level out the land adjacent to the River Ver.

Then the building started to rise, slowly creeping up behind the fences and the covering that sur-rounded the development. Equip-ment, materials and men were soon being ferried at a furious pace to and from the Orchard. The frame-work for the centre was erected and soon the building was brought to life; we had a good idea of what the building would eventually look like by the end of 2011.

Work in progress in the orchard – a huge hole to be transformed into the Sports Centre

FurtherBoostforSchoolSportMagnificent Sports Centre and pool opens on time

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Over the winter and into the New Year, the Sports Centre gained the infrastructure needed to imple-ment the project (pipes, measuring dials and containers for sewage and water) and of course, the climbing wall was installed – an essential part of any sports facility. By March 2012, the swimming pool had been tiled, sealed and filled up with water; the sports hall floor was being polished with lines being painted and the general amenities

had been put in. Finally in April, the project was complete. You can see how the whole project developed accompanied by pictures on the Sports Hall Blog http://www.st-albans.herts.sch.uk/sascms/sports-hall-blog.

What Does it Bring?

Ever since the Headmaster first put forward the idea of the Sports Centre with an integrated swim-ming pool, the School has been tirelessly working towards provid-ing these facilities, not just for ourselves, but for the community as a whole. The enhancement of the School through this project also means that the School will be even more attractive to prospective students.

The swimming pool means that swimming can be brought into PE and Games lessons, with times also allocated for public usage. The School gym and sports hall have moved from the former languages block (that space is now going to be used to build a new school caf-eteria), to the centre. The gym has been expanded and updated with new equipment; whilst the sports

hall is bigger than the former gym, with features such as cameras designed to capture the action in the hall. This can help the teaching staff outline areas of improvement to pupils. Housing the entire PE department, many changing rooms and a dance studio to boot, the Sports Centre will greatly enrich the School experience.

The Pool and Hall

Mr Tom Ross, Head of Swimming, described the impact that the pool would have. He believes the new pool will attract people to the School, alongside new sporting and swimming talent. A 25m pool with 6 lanes, touchpad timing, a colour TV to announce results and features such as a ‘grippier’ floor in the shallow end and an ‘endless pool’ – one which accelerates the water past the swimmer to keep them in place – it is clear that it will be a magnificent place to swim. The swimming pool has already opened to the public and local schools, and is set to host swim-ming galas for the first time at the School. Furthermore, historically the swimmers who represent the School are those who swim for a club. Now the School can nurture

our own swimming talent. This can be applied to the other sports that are housed by the centre. The closer and better equipped facilities should ‘change the culture’ ac-cording to the Director of Physical Education, Chris Hudson, encourag-ing students to try out new sports like martial arts, table tennis and badminton.

General Facilities

There is a sense that no space is left unused in the Centre, with eve-rywhere being a place of frenetic activity. The lack of seating in the swimming pool has meant that this otherwise unused space can be utilised to house the climbing wall and the dance studio. To quote Mr Grant – ‘it is better to have more activities than more people to watch such activities’. The Games staff has been fully catered for, with a teaching room added for Physical Education at GCSE and A-level. On the bottom floor, there are seven changing rooms and an office for the site manager, who administers the affairs of the centre. The Sports Centre as an entity (along with the new Aquis Court development)

Huge pipes need huge spanners – plumbing on a grand scale for the swimming pool

A climbing wall (right) creates new sporting opportunities

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should reduce the wear and tear on form rooms as well as enlarge the capacity for sports at the School.

A Grand Opening

An official inauguration had to wait until September 2012, when the school proudly unveiled the new facility. The honour of cutting the ribbon fell to Duncan Goodhew, a former captain of the England swimming team and gold medal winner in Moscow in 1980, as he

declared the £6.6 million project complete and ready to redefine sport at St Albans School. Its impact will extend beyond that of sport at the School, as was reflected in the delight on the faces of members of local swimming clubs. In par-ticular, the CoStA swimming club expressed the benefits the centre afforded them, describing how the ‘excellent facilities’ would enable increased membership, and create the opportunity to provide children – whether pupils of the school or not – with the benefit of one of the area’s leading amenities.

After nineteen years of planning, hard work and innovation, the

most daring venture in the School’s 1,064 year history was complete. It stands tribute to the talents of the late David Morgan; a former pupil of the school, without whom the success of this incredible project simply would not have been pos-sible.

Harry Hamer and Will Floyd

Indoor cricket nets in the Sports Hall (left) and Duncan Goodhew demonstrating his strokes at the official opening of the Centre (below)

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The new Sports Centre caters for a wide range of activities:

Illustrated are zumba, fitness training, netball, swimming, climbing, badminton and weights

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Hampson Hawking Marsh Renfrew

Art 5 10 7 5

Golf 7 3 10 7

Netball 7 10 3 5

Football 20 10 14 6

Rugby 20 20 10 6

Maths 5 7 5 10

Shooting 10 7 5 3

CrossCountry 14 6 20 14

Badminton 10 5 7 3

Basketball 10 7 3 5

Chess 7 3 5 10

Hockey 6 14 20 10

Music 20 14 6 10

GeneralKnowledge 5 7 3 10

Debating 10 3 5 7

Cricket 20 10 20 6

Tennis 5 3 7 10

JuniorDrama 7 5 3 10

Drama 10 7 3 5

Athletics 20 6 14 10

Swimming 20 6 10 14

Commendations 6 10 20 14

Total 233 163 180 180

House Competition 2012 Results

Houses

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HouseMusicImages of the day

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TryingSeason1st XV Rugby

The 1st XV in action

Berkhamsted School is now the opening domestic season fixture and it is always tough. Seven penalties from the boot of Dan Watt, four in the first half (12-7) and three in the second, produced the welcome victory, although conceding a try in each half gave some concern (21-12). At home to Merchant Taylors’ was a game spent playing ‘catch-up’. Watt kicked a penalty, but two visitor’s tries before half-time due to ineffectual tackling meant we were 10-24 down at the turn around. A goal and a penalty from Watt were met by two visitor’s penalties and the momentum dipped. Watt struck again and then a great team try from our 22m line, finished by Koomson in the corner and con-verted from the touchline by Watt, brought the scores level at 30-30. With the visitors down to 14 with five minutes to go because of a sin-bin, the game should have been ours but, ended at 30-36.

We played Habs away on a beauti-ful day. The first half traded points exactly for 10-10 at half-time, but Farquhar went over for Watt to convert and kick a further penalty. Watt then converted his own individual try, to which Habs re-sponded with a well-taken penalty. Some lack of concentration and poor decision-making saw us back to defend a line-out from 10m. A catch-and-drive seemed obvious to all except our pack and 17-18 made the last ten minutes exciting.

At home to Hampton School on 1st October was another tough game. Watt kicked us ahead, but repetitive drives by strong forwards pushed us back again and again in our 22m until they scored and con-verted. This was quickly followed by a penalty for off-side in the backs and then poor blindside defence from a scrum made the score 3-17 at half-time. A good restart and pressure on their defence from determined rucking followed. Unfortunately, their response was equally determined.Eventually we cracked, leaving no guard on the blindside for another goal against us. In the dying moments Hampton scored out wide on the counter-attack to put an end to our spirited efforts, and we lost 9-29.

A very strong Haileybury College side, with several scholars, were 0-5 up in the first five, which was then followed by a penalty for offside. Watt responded with two penalties before half-time, but Haileybury crossed out wide after a quick tap penalty. With enormous effort we were rewarded with two penalties within range and a final try from Zacaroli, we lost 19-32.

At the Verulam match the Wednes-day commitment just wasn’t there, but a 32-13 result was a very welcome victory. This story was highlighted on the Saturday away to St George’s School. The game plan was good, but we couldn’t make any ground in contact. Support was determined and players tried so hard, fired up by strong feelings. At 13-17 there were nearly ten minutes to play, but determined defence kept us on the 22m for a very disappointing loss.

Away to Watford GS, the policy to play Scott and Watt interchange-ably at 10 and 12 worked very well. Watford, being unbeaten, were con-fident of breaking us down, particu-larly in the first half. However, we were up 6-3 at half-time and their confidence was diminishing. An exciting game finished when their kick of possession away from the 22m for ‘no-side’ was met with calls of ‘party-poopers’ and a 6-6 finish. Away at QE Barnet, Mercer moved to fly-half and had an excellent game: confident, agile and passing with speed and accuracy. We were 9-6 up at half time with three very good penalties from Crookston. We had territorial advantage and the pressure told with Palanee diving over from the ruck. In wet conditions and trying to finish the game, there was a QE break away and, although there was good cover, they scored after four phases, but were still too far behind to make the last few minutes difficult. We won 24-16.

At home to Bedford Modern School there was some unchar-acteristically poor tackling from the opposition, allowing Koomson to twist through and score from half-way and this seemed to open the floodgates. By the end we had scored three more tries and

recorded a 51-13 victory. The annual mid-week match against St Columba’s College was next and a brilliant start left the visitors spinning. By half-time the visitors had settled; scoring a well-taken try and 20-7 seemed enough. However, two tries then followed with just a Crookston penalty left and we won 23-17.

Next was a long journey to Stamford School and an opponent enjoying an excellent season. The strain against a powerful unit began to tell and we conceded a try from a catch and drive. A try from Koomson was followed by a mad

ten minutes when poor defensive decisions and dispirited play led to 12 points conceded. Two penalties for us were converted, but still their pace of attack and strong forward runners in the backs allowed two more tries and a half-time score of 18-29. Desperately we attacked, leaving ourselves vul-nerable, leading to a loss of 41-18. The last game against an unbeaten Aylesbury GS was cancelled two hours before, due to frozen pitches.

CCH

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The season got off to a poor start against Berkhamsted, as the team took some time to merge together and develop a winning mentality; a lack of focus cost us the game as we went down 23-6. The team picked itself up against Merchant Taylors’, running out 15-10 winners.

Despite the improvement, we had a lot to work on for our next game against the old rival, Haberdashers. A fired-up St Albans 2nd XV walked out determined to make up for a poor start to the season; early tries from Toby Sweeney and Nial Parkash settled the nerves. Tries came from Hugo Henson and an outstanding solo effort from Sebastian Evans to lead the way to a 53-10 win.

Our next opponents were the extremely strong Hampton. We entered the match with injuries to key players and without the captain, yet despite this, the team started well, taking an early lead through the distinctive finishing of Jonathan Andrew. This success proved to be short lived and the match ended up with us losing 57-10.

The next match was against Hailey-bury. After a tough start, half time appeared to be a turning point in the game. As the team fought in all areas, we ground out tries through Elliot Krieger and Jonny Andrews. The strong team spirit and bond was evidently on show and was capped off nicely by a 60-yard try by winger Kypros Petrou.

Verulam followed in a game under the floodlights, and as soon as we kicked off we showed our attack-ing prowess. There were some very strong forward performances

by Ben Harrison, Caleb Patel and Robert Slater, backed up by a masterful kicking display from Alex Goldstone, as we won with a com-fortable 40-0. The team started to pick up its performances, winning strongly against St. George’s with spectacular tries from Ben Reed and Elliot Krieger. Watford Grammar proved to be much more of a challenge as we battled to a 20-5 win. This was due to our domination in the lineouts and a strong throwing game from Ed Cal-lender, with the centre pairing of Hugo Henson and Sebastian Evans the key to a vital win.

The result against Haberdashers was followed up by a landslide victory over Queen Elizabeth

Ups and Downs2nd XV Rugby

The Third team this year had to cope with a variety of illnesses and injuries that led to depleted squads for all three senior teams. Thus the 50% win ratio is a good achievement, with some inexperienced players stepping into pivotal roles.

The lack of team cohesion at the start led to our disappointing 12-0 loss to Berkhamsted, but we bounced straight back from this defeat to win three games on the trot with some amazing results. A 25-17 win against Merchant Taylors’ was made all the sweeter bearing in mind that we were 17-3 down at half time. Two tries from the big second row Myles Ekanem helped to seal this victory.

Perhaps the most satisfying result of the season came against the old enemy, Habs. A 59-0 victory was facilitated by the excellent distribution and goal kicking of the fly half and captain for the season, Harry Di-Lieto, a brace each for Will King and Toby Sweeney and tries from Chris Nott and Rhys ‘the hands’ Parry helped to compound the result. Two further victories against the same Hampton side, the only senior team to beat Hampton, completed our victories for the season. The last three games for the season were one loss and two cancelled due to the opposition not being able to raise a team, an anti-climactic end to the season but a good one for the Third team.

Harry Di-Lieto

Valiant Thirds3rd XV Rugby

Boys, with an overwhelming score of 60-17; a hat-trick from James Quigley capped off a strong team performance. We cruised past Bedford Modern with a 35-12 win. This was followed up by a tough local derby against St Columba’s, of which we made hard work, but gave a strong defensive perform-ance to win 11-5.

Sadly, what was supposed to be the penultimate game of the season against Stamford brought an abrupt end to the season, as we were overpowered and succumbed to a heavy defeat. However, we wouldn’t let this dampen our spirits as we looked back on successful season together, in which I was proud to play with all of my team mates.

Elliot Krieger

Match action at Woollams

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‘Mr Payne, don’t you think you might be expecting too much of them?’ Early in the season, this was the question asked of me by a parent as, once again, I had kept the boys on the pitch after the game to identify areas where they could improve. ‘I don’t think so,’ I replied, ‘for they have the opportunity to do something special.’

Our march to an unbeaten season was nearly over before it had begun. An away trip to Berkham-sted very nearly saw us come unstuck, with a tendency to force the game producing a number of unforced errors, whilst putting ourselves under pressure through conceding needless penalties, which saw the home side leading for most of the game. However, a try by fly half Scott saw us sneak away with an 8-6 win. The coach had much to ponder.

Haberdashers Aske’s were next up, and the boys had the privilege of playing on the first team pitch at Woollams. Despite a history of tight fixtures and negative results against our local rivals, the boys started well and put the opposi-tion under pressure, followed by a period of resolute defence towards the end. Ultimately, the 36 to 7 score line flattered us, but the boys had overcome their bogey team and confidence was high. The coach remained frustrated by wasted scoring opportunities.

Hampton were the next visitors to St Albans and with a powerful pack

allied to some pacey backs threat-ened to run away with the game in the first 20 minutes. However, a strong finish to the first half saw us get back into the game. We were fortunate not to concede in the final stages of the match, but finally the whistle blew and we scraped home, 24-22. There was much to praise, but the coach focused on his significant defensive concerns.

So we travelled to Bedford Modern to a team physical upfront and with some useful inside backs; and so they provided a stern test. However, we were steadfast in defence, aside from conceding a couple of weak scores early on, and had the beating of them on the outside. Felix Turk had an immense game and, in the absence of Dan Gott, Euan McGonagle had an outstanding game at inside centre. However, all of the boys put in a fantastic shift and we recorded a hugely impressive 25-19 win. Despite his continued defensive concerns ahead of next week’s fixture, the coach was quietly proud.

The biggest game of the season saw Stamford travel down to Woollams. They too were defending an unbeaten record and arrived with a pack of enormous forwards. The game was one of contrasting styles as we tried to play with pace and width, whilst the opposition played to their strengths, using their forward runners off the scrum half. Defeat would have been tough on either side but eventually we won

UndefeatedU16 XV Rugby

through, by 20 points to 15. The coach was moved to praise his team afterwards.

The final fixture saw Aylesbury Grammar School travel down to Woollams. Preparation for this fixture had been focused on guard-ing against complacency, and all the boys arrived early, palpably nervous. However, a strong start saw us score three tries in the first ten minutes, and we eventually ran out winners by 45 points to 10.

Thus, the Under 16s completed an exceptional season, winning all ten games and scoring more than 350 points in the process. They deserve huge credit for this achievement. Given that this success was based upon the performance of the col-lective, it would be inappropriate to pick out individuals. However, captain Nick Stride led by out-standing example throughout the season, dealing with his peers and a testy coach with great maturity.

My thanks to the boys for all their efforts and Messrs Stone, Ross and Nichols for their coaching input. Finally, my sincere thanks must go to the parents whose continued attendance on the touchline made this the best-supported team that I have had the pleasure to coach. Ex-pecting too much? I don’t think so.

DMP

Beach rugby – enjoyable training on tour

A swift pass

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out on top of a tough game 25-21 against St George’s. Resuming the Daily Mail Cup, we again came up against Haberdashers – proving less of a challenge as we took a 41-7 victory. The ongoing winning streak was furthered by victory against QE Barnet, where our confidence was boosted with a 57-7 score line. An intense affair against Bedford, with their unbeaten record, was looming. It lived up to the pressure, as we scraped a well-earned 15-12 victory, with the Daily Mail report-ers watching on.

Because of the intensity of the previous game, we came on the receiving end of 17-37 defeat to Bedford Modern, which was a score we vowed to reverse next season. Our next Daily Mail Cup game was against Wymondham College, where we won 27-13 with a dominant performance and thereby moved our way into the top 16 teams in the country. This was the furthest the school had ever been. An easier game against Aylesbury finished our normal

The season began with a well-balanced encounter with a strong Berkhamsted side. Fortunately we were able to score a try in the last ten minutes of the intense game and end with a satisfying first victory. A victory against a poor Merchant Taylors’ side soon followed, which gave us confidence for our match against rivals Haberdashers Aske’s School, leaving us with a win after a pocket of brilliant key players picked up the game in the second half, including the notable Tom Savage.

A gruelling week later, we faced Hampton School’s very well-drilled side. With neither side scoring early on, Hampton managed to score a try in the dying minutes of the first half. We battled well through the second half, but in the last

minutes Hampton used quick hands to score a try in the corner. We bounced back well against Hailey-bury, coming out with a convincing 40-17 win. Mention must be made of Omeiza Haruna, scoring five tries, and Ollie Edmond, for an ex-ceptional performance in his debut appearance.

A convincing start to the second half of term followed, with a strong win against St. George’s. We knew that a good Watford Grammar side was on its way, but with a good performance from our forwards, and some good hands from the backs, we managed a 41-0 victory.

We won a hard-fought victory over Dr Challoner’s School, although missing captain Ollie Barlow and coach Mr Burger. This was capped by a broken collarbone ahead of an encounter with Queen Elizabeth’s

Good Rugby and Mixed EmotionsU14 XV Rugby

The pressure, building up as the season approached, was eased as we received a bye into the second round of a highly competitive cup tournament. We opened on a positive note with consecutive wins against Merchant Taylors’ (62-3) and local rivals Haberdashers (34-0), but at the expense of losing star player Travis Hudson to a groin injury. We headed into our opening Daily Mail Cup match against Hitchin with optimism – though the match was cut short after a bad injury to our replacement centre Harry Turner, keeping him out for the rest of the season. Unfazed by early-season injuries, our un-beaten start was added to by 53-17 and 29-7 against Hampton and Haileybury respectively. We were paired against familiar opposition in Berkhamsted as the second round of the Daily Mail Cup lay ahead. After a superb performance includ-ing a last-gasp try, we edged into the next round of the tournament. Performances outside the tourna-ment continued to flourish, coming

Overcoming InjuriesU15 XV Rugby

season off with a 39-15 victory. With a quarter final of the Daily Mail Cup on the cards, fitness ses-sions were pencilled into the diary, to maintain stamina for the biggest match of the season against Stowe School. The match was played under floodlights on the Old Alba-nians 1st XV pitch with hundreds of spectators coming along to watch. Unfortunately the game didn’t quite go to plan with mistakes in the first 15 minutes that proved too much to come back from. The true St Albans School spirit was displayed in each player and come the final whistle it was a huge disappoint-ment for everyone involved. A huge well done to all of the team for a host of great performances. A special thank you is needed for Mr Ross for supporting the team and giving up so much of his time to help us grow and develop as players as we head towards the top end of the School.

Will Norris

Barnet. However we earned an easy 50-0 win, with a fantastic performance from three players, Ollie Brown, Omeiza Haruna and James Gallagher. Spurred on by our success, we came up against a strongly built Bedford Modern School team. After a late slip-up, we gave away a 24-19 lead, to draw the match 24-24. We drove two hours away for a tough game against the rugby-orientated school, Oakham. Although ready for hard competi-tion, we could not have anticipated how strong a team they would be, and ended with a comparatively respectable loss of 12-52. The last match of the season was sadly can-celled due to the freezing weather.

All in all, the season was a good one, and there is great hope for the future.

Ollie Barlow and James Gallagher

Determination: Patrick Scott wards

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The U13s finished a highly suc-cessful season with a 94% win rate. Just one game denied an unbeaten season, playing a highly drilled and physical Bedford Modern team. The team has seen much improve-ment in the two years I have had the pleasure of coaching them. The forward pack has been the greatest asset with some superb individual performances from Callum Innes, Patrick Rondel, Gregor Farrell-Binns and Sean Kelleher. The physicality of these players has certainly impressed with fantastic breakthrough tries and try saving tackles from Kelleher in particular. The backline has improved greatly in terms of structure and given the team greater shape when attack-ing. Tolaji Bola has impressed on several occasions with his pace and ability to score multiple tries but now makes some important cover tackles, closely aided by Joe Riant who has also had an excel-lent season. Ollie Neusten also deserves a special mention for his strong carries into the opposition’s defence. Finally, I would like to say a big thank you to all the parents who have supported the team from the sidelines.

RDD

Passion PlayU13 XV Rugby

At the beginning of the rugby season the first year coach was Mr Forbes-Whitehead. He started the first game with some experienced and fast players who were new to rugby. Max Swan immediately stood out with his extreme pace down the wing. Another player that stood out was our big number 8, Kyle Douglas, who showed he can tackle, run and almost score at will. Our first game was against Hampton School, where we got off to a slightly shaky start but then found ourselves winning 24-5 when the final whistle blew. This was a good result for us, yet we knew there were things we could still improve on. Our captain was Freddie Deacon-Gregory who gave excellent support to the team. Stephen Heaney (outside-centre) picked up 8 tries from the first 2 games. Although we looked good, we couldn’t hold on against local rivals St Columba’s who just managed to edge the win; the final score was 25-19 to Columba’s.

The remainder of the first half of the season went by after some convincing wins over QE Barnet (53-0), Dr Challoner’s (49-0) and Bedford Modern (61-0).

After Christmas, Mr Burger took over as coach and added Tim Bagnall and Max Swain to the team because of their strong perform-ances in the B team and in training. We were off to a good start with some brilliant performances from Kyle Douglas, Stephen Heaney and Max Swan until we hit a slight dip in form. Despite this, we still

won most of our games. Our game against Verulam was very eye opening, as their physicality taught us a harsh lesson and we were comfortably outplayed and lost 29-10.

It is fair to say that overall we were pleased with the progress we had made all season. The last bit of rugby we got to play was a Tens tournament held by Berkhamsted where we qualified through to the knockout stages with ease. Managing to reach the semi-final, we found ourselves playing against Verulam, the team who had beaten us earlier in the season, so we were hungry for revenge. Even though it was a much closer game than last time, Verulam just edged it from one conversion and the game was up. While we were devastated, we realised we would have to play Columba’s in the 3rd and 4th play-offs. Starting extremely well, we managed to pick up 3 tries when the half time whistle went. We were feeling quite confident so we sat back a bit and after a few missed tackles it was all square. In the closing minutes Columba’s burst through the middle of our defence and the game was over. The whole team was very disappointed in themselves and once again learnt a lot about the need to defend and be physical.

The team would like to give many thanks to our coaches Mr Forbes-Whitehead and Mr Burger who helped develop and mould us into what we are all hoping will be another successful St Albans School rugby team.

Max Sahota

Strong Progress from JuniorsU12 XV Rugby

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PerseveranceonthePitch1st XI HockeyThe 1st XI Hockey team started the season off with a mini-tour down to Taunton. First up were West Buckland and after a convinc-ing performance we came out 5-2 winners. After a snack lunch the team were back out to face Wellington. The team put in a solid performance wiping the floor with Wellington and putting eleven past them with no reply. This was an ex-cellent start to the season and put us in high spirits for the matches ahead.

We had our first main fixture of the season against Merchant Taylors’. After going down to an early drag flick the team managed to pull together and put in a strong second half performance with Hadleigh grabbing two goals for the team to come out on top. Up next at Woollams was Haberdashers. Again we went down to an early drag flick but this time we came back stronger and dominated the game going into half time 4-1 up. After a slightly slow start back in, the team managed to switch back on and we held out for a deserved win. With another victory to our name we focused our attention on our next opponents, Windsor Boys. An outstanding all round team per-

formance left us run away winners with a 7-0 score.

After half term we lined up against Dr Challoner’s who are usually tough opposition. Despite a positive start after the first half the score was 2-2. Determination and character saw us through in the second half to secure our winning streak with a 3-2 victory. For the first time in fixture list we faced Felsted; we knew they would prove to be a threat as their team was full of regional and club players. Region-al credentials were put aside after a strong performance left us in the lead with two minutes to go until they managed to score an excellent drag flick. Nevertheless, we came away with a well-deserved victory.

Unfortunately the next match did not go to plan, as we experienced our first loss of the season to Haileybury. However, we did not have time to dwell on this as we soon faced our next fixture against The Leys.

The first half produced a very good game of hockey with both sides evenly matched. Five minutes after the restart, we nicked a goal before winning a penalty flick that was coolly converted to put us two up. Even with two junior internation-

als in their team, we managed to prevent the Leys from creating many chances and another excel-lent team performance, including an impressive performance from Spencer, saw us get another goal before finishing the game 3-0 winners, giving us revenge for last year.

Finally, our last game of the season was against Mill Hill. We didn’t play well in the first half but after con-ceding early on we managed to pull one back. However, just before half time our keeper, Grant, dislocated his shoulder so we were forced to call Watt out of defence and into goal. Not surprisingly they scored from the resulting short corner and we went into half time 2-1 down. Things weren’t looking good but an early second half goal to level the scores looked to have turned things around. It was an exciting finish as with five minutes to go we were still equal. A last minute short corner allowed us to grab the win and round off what had been a fantastic season. With twelve wins and only one defeat this was one of the best seasons the Firsts have ever had. We would all like to thank Mr Langston for his fantastic coaching; we could not have done it without him.

Nick PomfretBeautiful Midfield2nd XI HockeyIn a highly successful season, the mighty 2nd XI finished with a superb 83% win ratio, seconded only by the 1st XI’s fantastic season. The team recorded several big wins against historically strong opposi-tion (5-1 vs Merchant Taylors’, 4-0 vs Haileybury and 5-0 vs The Leys School Cambridge) and only lost two games from a one-goal difference. The best team performance was against a very strong Dulwich team, which held both teams at a 1-1 stalemate at half time; Vincent Chan secured victory only with a last minute goal. The whole team deserve a special mention for their individual performances but must include Alex Terry and Edward Lewis, who rarely let the opposi-tion’s attack break through to shoot on goal and the excellent saves from Harry Di-Lieto when they did! James Oliver, Tan Ranshi and Harry Hamer worked the mid field beautifully and distributed the ball to the fully recovered Christian Bevan to score some spec-tacular goals. Thanks must go to Sam Baloun (Captain) for organising socials and Mr Langston for his invalu-able knowledge at team training.

RDD

If St Albans School’s mighty 3rd XI had the talent to match their extraordinary enthusiasm, they would probably be the best side in the world.

Overall, the season was a successful one. We began with an early victory as we narrowly beat Haberdash-ers 3-2 in an extremely tight match due to our hard work and perseverance. Although some matches did not go our way, we ended the season on a high, playing against UCS 1st XI with a well-deserved 4-3 victory. Tom Latham should be mentioned for contributing two of these fine goals, as well as many more through-out the season.

I would also like to thank Mr Stout for being a brilliant coach. Thanks for all the hard work and time that he has dedicated to the 3rd XI.

Freddie Mercer

Ending on a High3rd XI Hockey

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The new season began with a visit from Dr Challoner’s, who are in-variably strong. We took a first half lead in an enthralling match, only to lose shape and go behind to a well-taken drag-flick at the short corner. The remainder of the first half was played to strategy and the game was very much in their left-hand corner. Unfortunately we couldn’t move the ball on and many attacks petered out. The second half witnessed their shift to play down our left. A goal from them was matched and with fifteen minutes to go we took the lead, only to concede an equaliser and complete the game with honours even: 3-3. We began on a white frosty surface at Merchant Taylors’ with the game reduced to twenty minutes each way. A lucky goal for MTS with their only first half foray to our D was seemingly unjust. After half time we equalised with a goal from Bevis, but ultimately lost 1-2.

In the match against Haberdash-ers at Woollams, the opposition attacked hard through the middle with good pace and scored two early goals. Stung by this, we started to dominate with our right-sided play, but took long trying to set up the ‘perfect position’. Some great play by Bevis on the right-wing was not rewarded fully. We did manage to convert a short-corner, only for Habs to break away a few minutes later and go 3-1 up. A more fired-up SAS side begun to long-haul back after the break. Although falling further back at 1-4, the team deservedly drew level with right-sided drives. At 4-4 a draw seemed just, but Habs scored with ten minutes to go and we couldn’t work another opening. After half term we played a frustrating match against Watford. Watford, often very strong, were below par, but, despite valiant efforts, we suf-fered an undeserved 1-2 loss. We had dominated the first half, then sustained two injuries and ran out of players and energy.

Away to Habs, we were looking for revenge. Scott had been moved to a more commanding position and also coached to drag and strike our short-corners. In the first two attempts he struck the ball like a tracer bullet and both went in. With

an open play score for B. Rose, the Habs heads started to drop. A third for Scott was matched by a home team break away. At 4-1 there may have been a fight but a fifth for SAS sealed a very good performance, though Habs scored a consolation goal in the dying moments. The following Saturday our U16 guests were Felsted School. The team was up 3-0 at half time and won 4-2. The match against Hitchin GS took place on a difficult sand-strewn pitch. The players had difficulty keeping their feet and their first touch was not assured. Neverthe-less, despite a half time score of 0-2 we picked ourselves up and scored three in the space of fifteen minutes through Burnley, B Rose and Bevis. A final goal from Hitchin meant it ended a 3-3 draw.

At the Leys School, the new style pitch, with its extra bounce, was difficult for our players to settle on. The first touch was frequently poor and many opportunities were squandered. Down 0-2 in the first half, we fought back with a

Strong All SeasonU16 XI Hockey

fortunate goal, but conceded again to be 1-3 at half time. We drew the second half with a goal apiece, which showed much about our ability to learn quickly. The final match of the season was away to Mill Hill, perhaps an opponent less practised than many. They had some individuals of good potential, but their structure had obvious holes and we poured through to be 5-0 up at half time. Mill Hill responded well, as the second half saw just a goal each, leaving us 6-1 winners.

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Players in training at Woollams

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Against Dr. Challoner’s side as the first game of the season, we had a disappointing result, but there were plenty of encouraging signs in the performance, with the team showing much promise and hunger.

A week of hard work in training allowed us to learn the lessons from our defeat, as we went into a game against Haberdashers Aske’s much improved but a late goal brought frustration, as we were denied victory in the closing moments of the game.

Despite the results, our perform-ances certainly brought confidence going into the tour of Somerset. The prospect of four games in four days was daunting – but a challenge we embraced. Some of the best local facilities available played host to hard-fought games, which gave us useful and constructive experi-ence that we could take into the remainder of the season.

Hitchin Grammar School were the next opponents, and we drew because of a nasty injury to the face, having played very well.

The end of the season saw another match against Haberdashers and we showed how far we had come over the season with a comprehen-sive 4-0 win. The U13s ended the season on a high note with some fantastic hockey being played re-sulting in a 0-0 draw at Haileybury College, with Jeevun Singh making several spectacular saves.

Tom Goldstone

Embracing ChallengesU13 Hockey

The U14s started their season looking strong in training and opened their first match against a robust Dr Challoner’s side. Unfortunately, they lost 4-1. The next match was against strong rivals, Merchant Taylors’, but the U14s overcame them with vigour. The season progressed with a draw against Haberdashers and a win against Dulwich and Watford.

Our next fixture was against Aldenham where we sadly lost after a spirited performance. The next match was the lowest point of the U14s’ season with a 4-0 loss against Felsted.

The team did not hang their heads in shame for too long, and bounced back against Hitchin with an amazing 7-1 win. The game left the team in high spirits, who won the rest of the matches against Haileybury and Harrow.

The Leys was the final match of the season. Paired up against their U15s side, the U14s were disadvantaged with their size and strength. The team won despite the challenge that faced them.

This was an excellent season for the U14s, with only two losses.

Dan Metcalf

Only Downed TwiceU14 Hockey

The U15 hockey team started the term with an unfortunate loss to a persistent Dr Challoner’s side. Although taking the lead on a number of occasions through some excellent creative play, we were unable to sustain this and suffered a defeat of 3-4. Lessons were learnt and the boys worked hard in training; this was evident in the next few matches when they won against Haberdashers, Watford Grammar School and Haileybury, as well as two end-to-end matches resulting in draws against Felsted and Merchant Taylors’.

Although they were off to a slow start, the team improved each week, under the Captaincy of Harry Turner, and showed great commitment to training. They learned lessons individually and as a team that they will hopefully carry with them towards another successful season next year.

EMC

Slow StartU15 Hockey

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It was a very exciting and successful season for these talented players. In the National Twenty/20 they tied the London Regional Final with Whitgift, retaining their enlarged domestic Two-Day Twenty/20 Competition, beating Abingdon in the Final and in all achieving a 71% win ratio.

The first four matches of the season were cancelled due to rain, so the first actual match took place on 12th May at home to QE Barnet. Winning the toss we elected to bowl, reducing our visitors to 82-9 after 40 overs. Good bowling by all with J Scott finishing with 2-17 from 8 overs and his brother P Scott 3-6 from just three overs. In difficult conditions we made 86-5 hitting four to win the match in just 21 overs. P Scott top scored with 27.

After much re-organisation we were drawn against Chigwell School in the National Twenty/20. This was played on the Sunday just to try and complete the Draw. In the event SAS were put in and scored 155 for 7 with J Scott 58 and A Kulkarni 39. In reply Chigwell were all out for 50 with J Scott 3-8 and P Scott 2-0. The next match was home against Aldenham School. Winning the toss we elected to bat and the day was decided by a great innings from G Scott, making 107 not out. A huge total of 218 in

just twenty overs was going to be very hard to eclipse. In the event Aldenham were all out for 87 with Parkash taking 5-9 and Kulkarni 4-9. That was Wednesday and the next match was Friday against Westmin-ster School. Winning the toss we elected to bat once more with the best of the daylight. Once more we set an impressive total of 161-6. In reply Westminster had just one batsman who made any in-road to the total with 56 not out after opening and they finished on 103 all out in the last over.

The following day we had HABS as our guest at Woollams. Winning the toss we elected to field and hoped for quick wickets. G Scott bowled very well for two wickets and the same for N Parkash. Kulkarni was unlucky several times as HABS amassed 172-5 from their 40 overs. No player really established them-selves and top score was 30 from N Perry, but we finished on 157 all out in the 39th over with a very disappointing loss by 15 runs.

Next was an away to Berkhamsted School. Tight bowling by G Scott (1-25), Kulkarni (2-28), Parkash (2-30) and the Captain restricting the batsmen to just 19 runs from his 8 overs of off-spin. Berkhamsted finished on 151-7 from their 40 overs. James Scott, struggling with a leg injury, batted with great skill and composure, playing down that which was difficult and striking hard anything a fraction off-line or length. He finished the day with a six to win the match and to amass his own unbeaten century (103). L Walpole, promoted in the order, enjoyed an unbeaten 21 to assist in a comfortable win in the 35th over.

We welcomed Whitgift School for our first ever encounter in the National Twenty /20 London Final. A good early scoring rate by the Scott brothers for the powerplay was pleasing on a slow outfield. When their powerful opener was caught brilliantly by G Scott on the boundary they needed just 24 to win with four overs to go. A Gold-stone bowled superbly, restricting Whitgift to 5 runs and taking three wickets in two overs. In the last over, the visitors needed 7 runs to win. They managed just 6, resulting

in a tie! Having lost 5 wickets to our 6, Whitgift went through.

Aylesbury GS at Woollams on the Saturday elected to bat and reached just 96 all out in 32 overs and SAS won by eight wickets. Centurion from South Africa were our visitors on the Friday and we just did not score enough to win. The following day was an away to a new fixture at Bedford School, and our total of 167 in an all day match was unlikely to be enough. G Scott bowled fast and accurately to take three wickets and give them cause for concern. However, with a couple of chances being missed Bedford made the total for five wickets and ten overs to go.

The first day of our Twenty/20 Tournament and a new opponent for SAS in St Joseph’s College, Ipswich. We lost two early wickets, but with G Scott scoring 66 not out and 58 from Watt, SAS totalled an impressive 167-7 from 20 overs. The reply fell far short at 96-8 with Parkash and J Scott both taking 3 wickets. The afternoon match was St Benedict’s. Top scorer was J Scott (39) and P Scott next with (30). A relatively low total of 136 had to be defended. With 5-2 from Kulkarni and 3-10 from P Scott St Benedict’s collapsed to 44 all out. On Day 2 Shenfield School came to Top Field and SAS won by 7 wickets. The Final was against an impressive Abingdon School side. Electing to bat, wickets fell rapidly and it was only G Scott (23), Watt (16) and A Goldstone (19) who helped us to just 106-9. Four late wickets for P Scott as well as two each for Parkash and Kulkarni bowled Abingdon out for just 77 and an SAS win by 29 runs. We have now won the Twenty/20 for both years having previously won its predeces-sor, Bedford Modern’s Tournament, for both years we entered. The Batsman of the Tournament went to George Scott.

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Twenty/20ChampionsAgain1st XI Cricket

Skipper James Scott opens his scoring account

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The season started on a sodden note; the wettest April on record meant that rain forced many of the training sessions indoors and washed out the first two matches. The rain subsided enough to allow the first match to be played at home against QE Barnet, but the wicket had not had sufficient time to dry out, therefore playing low and slow. This caught out players of both sides due to the lack of prac-tice on grass. The winning of the toss proved vital, with the St Albans bowlers running rampant through the QEB top order. Captain Vikas Kumar’s opening spell was unplay-able, bowling five maidens in as many overs and taking one wicket. Tan Ranshi got much assistance from the wicket, his leg spin beguil-ing his opponents into giving away their wickets, ending with figures 3-14 from 6 overs. Chris Schon and Ben Reed chipped in with two wickets apiece to dismiss QEB for a dismal fifty two. The SAS batsmen made hard work of the run chase, losing wickets at regular intervals, but eventually hauled down the meagre total in the 19th over with only two wickets in hand.

The team travelled to Habs the following week and were involved in yet another traditional grudge match between the two rival schools. In a reverse of form from the previous week, the batting was much more solid on a wicket which provided less assistance for the bowlers. Batting first, SAS batted conservatively, Dan Burnley anchoring the middle order with a well-compiled thirty-eight and Gareth Taylor and Jack Killen chip-ping in with hard-hitting cameos at the end. A total of 183 from their 35 overs seemed like a defend-

able total after the low scoring first match. Although the opening bowlers dismissed the top order cheaply, the Habs middle order batted sensibly, and without talis-man Vikas Kumar, who had been called up to the 1st XI, the bowlers struggled, giving away far too many extras. Habs reached the target in the penultimate over with five wickets remaining.

After suffering such a bitter loss to Habs, the team bounced back to win their next two games. High-lights of these matches were Dom Armstrong’s 50 off just 31 balls against Berkhamsted and Jack Kil-len’s five wicket haul against a weak Aylesbury.

A tough match was expected against Bedford for the final game of the season and the match that unfolded did not disappoint. Bedford batted first and posted a respectable, but gettable total of 162 for 5. Due to the absence of the side’s main bowling spear-head of the past three years, Chris Schon, Vikas Kumar made a welcome return, bowling a vital spell, taking 3 wickets for 34 runs in his seven overs. The ever-reliable Anish Khiroya was miserly, conced-ing just 17 runs off his 7 overs and taking an important wicket. In St Albans’ reply, and with two of the regular top order batsmen also absent, it was important to get off to a good start. What followed was dramatic and tense! The start was poor; Kumar holing out to the only fielder on the leg side in the first over and the rest of the SAS top order managing to get starts but unable to kick on, while soaking up valuable deliveries. By drinks, with only 58 runs on the board

and 4 wickets down, the run-rate needed to double for the remaining overs. Any betting man would have backed the Bedford bowlers. But not if he knew Jack Killen would be coming in at number eight. Just when they thought they had the game by the throat with twelve overs remaining and ninety one runs still required, the tall, curly-haired fifth former strode to the crease. His innings of 40 runs off 28 balls saw the game swing back within reach, but when he fell in the 29th over, there was still much work for the tail to do. Needing 48 runs from the last 5 overs, the SAS lower order started running quick singles for everything, forcing uncharacteristic errors in the field. Some well-timed boundaries in the dying overs struck by Ben Reed helped us reach the final over requiring 9 runs with only 1 wicket in hand. Everyone watching from the pavilion held their collective breath as the first two balls went for singles. But when Reed pelted the third ball to the boundary, the equation was reduced to 3 off 3 balls. Two more singles meant the game was tied and a solitary run was needed off the last ball. Helped by some poor Bedford fielding, Rajan Bains scrambled home for the single, sealing a well-fought victory.

In what was a rain-shortened season that saw the 2nd XI squad changing on a weekly basis, it was pleasing to end with an 80% win rate. The most valuable player of the season was Jack Killen, and the most improved player was Tan Ranshi, also top wicket-taker with 8 wickets at an average of 14.8.

CJE

Overcoming Frustrations2nd XI Cricket

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The U15A Cricket team achieved the treble of County Champi-ons, District Cup Winners and Berkhamsted 6s’ Trophy Winners during this outstanding season. After a waterlogged start to the season with the first three matches being cancelled the team started with a convincing win over Queen Elizabeth’s School Barnet. Jack Perrin, the captain leading the way carrying his bat through the innings, ending with a score of 62 not out. Luke Wilde did the damage with his off spin taking 4 for 11 to see the team to a 100 run victory. In the following match, Perrin’s opening partner Noah Lipschitz did the damage to Haberdashers’ Aske’s bowling attack, hitting them to all corners in his aggressive innings of 91. This was backed up by a good team bowling and fielding display and Habs were beaten by 67 runs. Further convincing wins against Dr Challoner’s and Aylesbury Grammar School concluded the Saturday programme and the team had improved all aspects of their cricket skills during the course of the season. The only defeats of the season were against Bedford School, when a large total proved too much to chase down, and against Watford Grammar, where an individual’s performance took the game away from us.

In the County Cup the team pro-gressed quickly and comfortably to the semi-finals, winning convincingly against Rickmansworth, Verulam & St Clement Danes before encoun-tering Watford Grammar School in the last four. Watford had caused the only defeat of the season to this point in a midweek match when their opener had smashed us to all parts of the ground scoring 120 not out including 11 sixes. With this in mind and a heavy

defeat behind them, the under 15s took on the challenge and played brilliantly to bowl out Watford in the semi for only 39 runs with Will Pickworth and Jamie Malkan inflicting the damage. The score was chased down without a wicket being lost and probably the best team performance of the season in the field resulted in a place in the county final. The team beat Richard Hale in the final on a very wet pitch batting first and struggling to score 85, with George MacGregor top scoring with 40 runs. Richard Hale were bowled out for 64 in response and the reward of County Cup winners was well earned.

In the District Cup the oppor-tunity for players who had less opportunities to lead in the batting and bowling was provided and the team responded positively winning matches against St Columba’s, St George’s and Verulam on their way to this trophy. It was pleasing to see the depth of talent that was involved in this successful season.

Treble ChampionsU15 XI Cricket

The Berkhamsted 6s was a tourna-ment held over one day and involv-ing five overs per side matches. It proved a challenge, but highlighted the strength of this group. We dominated each of the matches we played and batted superbly with Patrick Scott and George MacGre-gor outstanding in playing good cricket shots to score quickly. We averaged 60 runs per innings which no other schools could match. Our bowling and fielding were excellent and the captaincy of Jack Perrin demonstrated his ability to keep calm and composed under severe pressure. It was an excellent day’s cricket and it was commented upon by the organisers and other schools how the best team on the day had won, playing the best style of cricket.

This proved to be an outstand-ingly successful season in terms of trophies, but was also memorable for the depth of talent in the squad and the contribution made by all the players to the team’s high quality of performance. It has been a pleasure to work with them and I look forward to their continued progress in this sport.

MJL

A rash shot leads to an opposition

wicket

There were some impressive bowling

performances during the season

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This was a frustrating season. The overall record was played 8 won 3 lost 5. The most significant number here is 8. I have, on occa-sion, written played 17. The wettest drought in April was quickly fol-lowed by the wettest summer in May and June.

Despite this the A team began the season in good form. As U12s they had not won any Saturday game and had not really given anyone a hard match. We won a cup game against Roundwood Park. We bowled well to restrict them to 71 for 9 off 20 overs with Farrell-Binns taking 4 wickets for 10 runs from his 4 overs and Innes leading the run chase with 19 not out. Then we lost narrowly to QEB having been beaten by them heavily the previ-ous year. Again the loss to Parmit-ers only occurred in the last over.

The performance of the season was our triumph against Habs. Habs were 69 for no wicket after 10 overs and we were fearing a target in excess of 200. However

we bowled and fielded well for the next 20 overs and they were restricted to a total of 161 for 6. A partnership of 89 between Innes (55) and Goldstone (58 not out) with Alexander scoring 23 not out at the end saw us home with three balls to spare and a victory by seven wickets. The year before the result had been a heavy defeat. The following week saw another victory- by 5 wickets against Berkhamsted with McLoughlin taking 4 wickets for 26 runs and Vora taking 3 for 6.

However then the hiatus of half-term and poor weather did not see us play again for another 4 weeks! This early season promise of winning and giving both a good account of ourselves and every-one a hard game was dissipated. We lost and played poorly in our last three games. However, having proved to themselves that they can win, future seasons should be faced with optimism. Credit should go to three batsmen who scored over 100 runs from so few games: Gold-stone with 179, Innes with 119 and Alexander with 108 (who also fielded electrically). Townsend was our best bowler with 10 wickets. The whole team was captained ably by Goldstone from behind the stumps.

The B team also played well, with 5 wins in the 8 games that were played. Notable wins against Berkamsted and QE Barnet were recorded and the sheer number of boys turning up to regular training increased the depth of talent in the team. Jeevun Singh was awarded the most improved player for his excellent contributions to the batting and bowling line ups. Oliver Neusten and Harry Helliar were the team’s top fielders taking some great catches. Marco Radic, Alex Dines and James Norris had a fan-tastic season bowling. Euan Wallace and Jacob O’Donnell had the best batting performances of the season and recorded an excellent partner-ship (40 no and 44 no respectively) against Watford Grammar School. Sam Kasoulis enthusiastically cap-tained the team from behind the stumps.

BSB/RDD

Only Eight Matches PlayedU13 XI Cricket

The U14s had an up and down season, with the rain usually winning. Being able to retain the District Cup by a landslide of 111 runs against Sir John Lawes, with standout performances from Alex Thomson 64* and Harvey Presence 51* to take us to a great total of 168/2 (20), was by far the highlight of the season. We then went on to bowl Sir John Lawes out for 57 (15.2), with Tom Sanderson taking 5-9 off 3.2 overs. Unfortunately, we ended the County Cup disappointingly, crashing out to Habs in the 3rd round.

But in other fixtures we managed to beat Dr Challoner’s by 36 runs with Lathan Mahalingham scoring 40 and Tom Carter taking 4-26 with the ball. Also a win against QE Barnet and Haberdashers, with Lathan Mahalingham taking 5-16 against Habs. We also beat Watford Grammar by 36 runs with Alex Cook scoring 47 and Tom Carter taking 5-10 with the ball. Unfortunately we lost to Berkhamsted, Aylesbury Grammar School and Bedford School.

Alex Cook was outstanding with both the bat and ball, with the best batting average in the team of 24 and by far the largest run scorer with 192, also one of the best bowler with an economy of 2.9. Other stand out performers have to be Lathan Mahalingham and Oliver Laws-Mather (wicketkeeper) in the top order scoring consistently and always getting us off to a good start along with Alex Cook. Bowler Yasin Hassanin took 16 wickets throughout the season, as did Tom Carter and Lathan Mahalingham, while Harvey Presence and John Saunders kept the batsmen on edge. There were other great performances from many players also those coming up from the B-team to play in the District Cup.

With a win ratio of 69% overall, this was a good season for the team as a whole.

Adam Spooner

Developing TeamU14 XI Cricket

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Over the season there were many highs and many lows. We started off the season with a relatively inexperienced side, fielding four 5th years in the first match. However, over time the team gelled well and managed to string together a number of consecutive victories, unheard of in previous years. Through the management of Messrs Forbes-Whitehead, Wilson, and Martin the team played with eye-catching style; fluid, attacking, possession football. This built the foundations for a strong start and we quickly notched up 10 wins, scoring 4.4 goals per game.

It was time to take our football to the European stage and Cyprus was the destination for the squad, who looked to take their crea-tive brand of football and test it against Europe’s elite. Our first match was tight, however we forced a 1-0 victory with a late free kick. The second game was a greater contest, with the team ‘claiming’ to be U18, a claim that was widely disputed within the St Albans ranks. Nonetheless, we battled to 0-2 at half time, as the heavy fixture list caught up with some of the players. However, a goal midway through the second half looked to change the game, yet from the resulting celebrations a fracas ensued. It was apparent that there was a racial under-tone to the abuse of one of our players and the referee made the decision to abandon the match. In our last match, with a few players rested we went to play the U21 side of the team from the first match. From the off we could tell they were a class act, playing the sort of possession football we pride ourselves on playing. Going in 2-0 down at the break, some inspirational words were needed from Mr Forbes-Whitehead. We reappeared for the second half and played wearing our hearts on our sleeves. Battling hard, we lost the game 2-1 and it emerged that they had fielded two Greek U21 internationals in their team.

We arrived back from our tour, needing to kick on domestically. Teams like Dame Alice Owens and Corinthian Casuals, usually tough opponents, were swept aside.

We were in the quarter final of the County Cup, and semi final of the LB Cup (Independent Schools National Cup). Playing away at Cavendish school, a finalist from the previous year, we were unlucky not to finish on top. An injury to a key defender in the second half spelt defeat and a lack of creation stemmed from the poor playing surface did not make matters any better. In the semi final of the LB Cup, played away at Radley College, another very prestigious football-ing school we suffered only our third loss of the season. Playing great attacking football we were somewhat unlucky to only go in 1-1 at half time. In the second half a poor refereeing decision led to a last minute penalty being conceded: losing in that fashion really affected the team morale.

However, we were still in one cup. The remaining fixture was away at Sir John Lawes in the District Cup. The boys knew the impor-tance of this match more than any other, and really stepped up to the mark. The result ended 5-0 to St. Albans, but in truth, the score line could have been double figures. A dominant display led to the School’s first final for a Senior Football team. After a few weeks of postponement, it was time to play. The senior players and I were worried that the nerves associated

with a big match may overcome our young side, however this was far from the case. Our youthful side stepped onto the turf at Clarence Park Stadium as if this was their home pitch. The first encounters of the match were cagey, with no team outplaying the other. There were some strong tackles flying around, with a certain member of the team lucky to stay on the pitch midway through the first half. Yet, out of the blue a Kit Akin drive from the edge of the box beat the goalkeeper and nestled into the bottom corner. Just before half time Alex Goldstone doubled the lead through a clinical counter attack, his nonchalant finish into the top corner gave the opposing goalkeep-er no chance. The second half was a strong defensive display, with James Anthoney organising and leading

the back four solidly; he was backed up by some magnificent saves from Ben Reed as Verulam sensed a comeback. But, from a Verulam corner St Albans broke up the field and a run by Kane Vincent-Young followed by a cool finish ended any chance of a comeback. The match was then controlled by St Albans and victory was ours! The final result and trophy were very much deserved and the opposition were gracious in defeat to a superior St Albans team.

Richard d’Rosario

DistrictChampions1st XI Football

Kane Vincent-Young about to score the

final goal in the District Cup final

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The U15s had a very success-ful tour of Cyprus, winning all three of their matches. Their first opponents, Panayides Football Academy, proved no match for St Albans’ quick passing and clinical finish, which was evident as the U15s scored five impressive goals without conceding. Robbie Tominey-Nevado was man of the match for his performance in the centre of midfield.

In the second match, playing against the Paphos Warriors, there was another flurry of well-worked goals with men of the match Patrick Scott and Robbie Tominey-Nevado both scoring two goals each. Unfortunately, with the St Albans defence pushing forward and playing a dangerously high line, they allowed opposition to strike back with two late goals in the second half. The final score was 6-2 to St Albans.

The third and final game against Atromitos Geroskipou Academy proved to be their toughest match yet. Playing in the local stadium St Albans conceded an early break away goal to go 1-0 down, however it was only a matter of minutes until the team had responded in impressive fashion by scoring an equaliser. They then got into their stride and managed to score two more goals against a very strong opposition; the game finished with a 3-1 win for the U15s which rounded off a great set of results for the tour. Man of the match was Marcus Diamondi who was a solid presence in the centre of the St Albans’ defence.

In the three games St Albans had scored fourteen goals while conceding just three. Patrick Scott was the MVP of the tour, taking home the golden boot with 6 goals, his pace, control and finishing proving too deadly against the Cypriot defenders.

Ben Anthoney

The U16s got off to a strong start to their season with a 2-1 victory at home to Berkhamsted; St Albans had a one goal lead at half time through a delicate finish from Jonny Muir. However, Berkhamsted equalised in the second-half but the match was not level for very long as Ben Crampton scored from close-range, his celebration being thoroughly enjoyed by his team mates! In the second fixture of the season, St Albans played a strong St Edmund’s College side and emerged 1-0 winners in the game. St Albans played well but scoring proved difficult until Bayer-Gold-man put the home side in front with an effort from just outside the area.

Next on the menu for St Albans was the Perse School’s 2nd XI, con-taining boys aged up to eighteen. Nevertheless, St Albans found themselves ahead within the first five minutes of the game – an own goal was the first of many in the 6-2 victory. Chances were created at both ends and the final goal of the game came from a well-created

chance made by Akin but was finished clinically by Alex Kirsch.

Two 1-0 victories followed, one against Dr Challoner’s and the latter against Harrow.

Against Dr Challoner’s tenacious work from Adriano Morini in the

centre of midfield won a free-kick which Slater curled into the box, only to be met by a flick-on from the lofty Jonny Muir. A

visit to Harrow in the only away fixture of the season started with the

team coming off the bus in awe of Harrow’s first team pitch. The grass was razor sharp and crisp white lines marked out the pitch. However it turned out that St Albans would not be playing on what appeared to be a Premier League standard pitch, they would be playing in the far corner of Har-row’s playing fields on a pitch that sloped towards the goal at one end. St Albans struggled to find their passing rhythm and were perplexed by the referee’s refusal to have linesmen. A long-throw from the ever-consistent Dom Armstrong was headed into the top corner by

A Ball in CyprusU15 Football Tour

Football DevelopingU16 XI Football

LacrosseLaying Foundations

This year of lacrosse has been very successful with forty girls participating in the squad, this made selection for the team fiercely competitive.

The girls worked very hard to improve their basic skills and un-derstanding of the game which paid off in their matches. Although they did not win a match, the team’s focus and determination was excel-lent resulting in some close scores, 4-5 loss to St Margaret’s Bushey and 6-7 loss against Princess Helena College.

Lucie Toole was named most im-proved player of the season along with Charlotte Fraser named as the best player of the season. However, the team as a whole improved dra-matically over the lacrosse season, particularly Molly Maguire and Lillie Richardson being impressive in both attack and defensive positions. Kamalia Mohamad was excellent in goal having never played goalkeeper before. Overall, this was a great second year of lacrosse for St Albans School.

EMC

Jake Yeboa, whose lively perform-ance was justifiably rewarded by his goal.

The final game of the season was away to Haileybury, a tough op-ponent in previous years. St Albans found themselves behind early on but fought back from two goals by Akin, one of which was a delightful lob over the Haileybury goalkeeper. A superb performance in midfield from Kane Vincent-Young was aided by resolute defending at the back by Luke Bevis and George Rose, St Albans created few chances and was punished when Haileybury’s striker ran through on goal in the final minutes, finishing well to end the game a 2-2 draw.

Michael Slater

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The six galas this year have highlighted the strong foundation of talent that will help develop school swimming with the opening of the new School pool. Under the captaincy of Chris Milsted, the squad developed into a positive and focused group that supported each other during each race. Across six evening galas, each age group competed against ten local schools that all have their own pools. The Senior’s won an improvers award for gaining more points overall than last year. They scored 220 points, coming 4th behind Berkhamsted (269 points), Merchant Taylor’s (265 points) and Haberdashers (233 points). Several individuals showed their particular strengths, most notably Nick Shone in the butterfly and Bernie Zondagh in the breast stroke. Billy Dawson, Chris Wil-liams, Luke Bevis and James Bates are all very talented swimmers, which is very encouraging for next year. The Intermediates also came fourth, with a total of 201 points, whilst the Juniors came sixth, with a total of 176 points. However, there were some excellent individual per-formances from Robbie Lightowler, Charles Oliver, Jash Pooni, Ross Ferreira, Jordan Sweeny and Jamie Scragg.

AJB

MakingaSplashMilsted’s swimmers enjoy success

Netball2011 was a very successful year for St Albans School netball teams; more girls than ever were keen to represent the school and did so with enthusiasm and commitment.

The 1st VII had a number of victories in the District League with wins over Sandringham 14-5, Sir John Lawes 27-8 and a very close match against St Albans High School where St Albans School came out on top 23-20. A defeat against a strong Richard Hale side, 10-20, and a nail biting draw against St George’s 24-24 saw the team even more determined to finish the season in style with a convincing win over Roundwood Park School, 14-9.

The 2nd VII had a season of very close matches, many being decided by just a couple of goals. A match against Richard Hale ended in a 10-13 defeat and another against St Albans Girls School 11-16. The season finished with a riveting match against St George’s, it was end-to-end netball and the winner was to be decided by the final whistle, St George’s scored the winning goal with seconds to spare. The match finished 11-12 in St George’s favour.

District Plate Final

On Tuesday 4th October the 1st VII netball team travelled to Sandring-ham School to compete against Loreto School in the District Plate Final.

St Albans School started with confi-dence and purpose, they dominated the first quarter 6-0 and didn’t allow Loreto to gather any mo-mentum. The second quarter saw St Albans School take a 10-3 lead, a few passing errors had allowed Loreto to capitalise on our mis-takes. The standard of netball from St Albans School proved too much for Loreto when the girls raised their game in the third quarter taking a 14-3 with excellent shoot-ing from Gohar Khodadoost and Charlie Meredith. The game finished 16-4 with superb defensive work from Steph Parrot and Jess Smith. Molly Maguire and Izzy Batchelor dominated the centre and linked well in attack and defence.

An overall team performance and thoroughly deserved victory. Player of the match was Gohar Khoda-doost.

EMC

In future, both netball and

swimming can take place in our own

facilities

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In March 2011, in the grounds of Alnwick Castle, the running team successfully brought the National Cup to St Albans School. It was last won by the School in 2002. As we received the trophy, I knew that we had a bigger goal to achieve, and a few months later, we were confirmed as the team to repre-sent England at the World Schools

StAlbansSchoolRepresent…Cross Country World Championships, Malta

Championships in Malta in April 2012.

Our coach, George Harrison, devised a hard training regime for the months ahead as we prepared both physically and mentally. We had to achieve a balance, as working too hard every session would result in an injury, but not working enough would lead to a poor performance. Training takes commitment and dedication, in every sport, and motivating yourself and the team each session is dif-ficult. Our dedicated management team included George, experienced in managing teams at international events, Mr Everitt, and the 2012 Captain Tom Brooks.

In the build up to Malta, the younger part of the squad again lifted the National Cup, which boosted our confidence. In the week prior to Malta we had the privilege to entertain and train with the New Zealand team. The school kitted us out with blazers, England vests and tracksuits and on March 25th at 7am we assembled at school ahead of the flight to Malta. As we arrived at the airport in Valetta, we met the Australian and Turkish teams.

The day before the race we had examined the course, which com-prised several football pitches and

a cricket field. We were relieved to find the course relatively flat. On race day, we had to control our nerves, particularly when we discovered that the Headmaster had flown to Malta the previous day to support us. However, Tom Brooks took the whole team away from the marshalling area and led the warm up. Thirty minutes later we were lining up with the 24 other teams, making it the largest race of the day’s events. A 90% bend within 100 metres of the start required a fast start, and within the first minutes, the entire squad was in the top half of the field. That advantage was maintained over the approximate fifteen minutes running time and we successfully had our fastest four in the top 30 places. Only Turkey and Algeria, both of whom had runners in the top age category, were able to emulate this. In the end result, by a mere 5 points, the Australian team managed to pip us to the 3rd spot, despite their 4th runner coming in behind our 5th runner. However, we matched the highest ever England team performance in the event and really enjoyed the experience of representing the School, and England, internationally.

Robbie Lightowler

This was a challenging season, quite a statement about a team that has won the last two English Schools Cups, and represented England, in a World Championships. However it has been just that for our Senior team dogged by injury and running against fully fit and very talented opposition. It is well known that in Cross Country we run at the highest level, and every one of our 15 senior races is the equivalent of a championship race, attracting the best cross country schools in the Britain.

The season started with an excellent individual win for Joe Redwood in the King’s Trophy, run over a gruelling 4.5 Miles on Wimbledon Common, the first

runner outside the Sixth form to win this event for 20 years. But as a team we had to settle for second place, beaten by the in form team the Judd School. This was to be a feature in many of our races this season.

The big challenge was the Haskell Cup, a four runner relay hosted by RGS Guildford, where an excellent run by all our teams won us this event, relegating Judd School into second place. The rest of the Autumn term saw us dominate in the Abbots Langley Tough Ten and finish second in our own relay.

The major success story of the term was the Intermediate team, who won both the Preliminary

and the Regional rounds in the English schools Cup, convincingly enough to be going to the final in December as favourites to win this competition for the second year in a row. The Team led by Robbie Lightowler, finishing in 3rd place, followed by Adam Thorpe 6th, Joe Brennan 11th, and Dan Myers 21st, went on to win the competition and confirm our selection to represent England in the World Championships to be held in Malta in March 2012.

2012 started with both County Clubs and Schools County Championships, where many of our runners were selected to represent Hertfordshire. Our first Major challenge as a school was

A Challenging Season for the Runners

Adam Thorpe and Joe Brennan representing England in Malta

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The athlet-ics squads produced another strong season with the fourth formers qualify-ing for the County League Final yet again! They squeezed Richard Hale into third place by just half a point and finished runners up in the County League. It was an achievement that was impressive due to the large number of injuries to key com-petitors that removed them

from the

team at vital moments. The

second years were similarly pushed out of the top four to miss out on the finals this year despite some good

individual performances over the course of the season and a lot of commitment.

We kicked off May in fine style winning the

Senior Championships from Sir John Lawes who

were left ruing the absence of their GB superstar James

McMurray and we were soon fully engaged in the County Leagues and District competitions. The excellent Harrow meets were also soon upon us and our teams

go from strength to strength in their competitions, due

to the high standard. We had our best

result for some years with our intermediate team narrowly

being pipped for second place by St

Paul’s. Adam Thorpe running up for the senior team, ran away with the race in his first ever stee-plechase. Adam went on to secure a place in the Herts County team for the English Schools Competi-tion at Gateshead and then to win the County Championships later in the term. As the season progressed it was gratifying to see the emergence of some new

talent. Amongst the first years Tom Fulton on the track and Piers Dorward and Kyle Douglas who have the potential to be good multi eventers and would later pick up medals at the District Champion-ships. Amongst our regular athletes Robbie Lightowler continued to make progress and was dominant in the middle distance races going on to secure a Herts English Schools team place along with Mark Pearce and Lizzie Bird. Pearce also retained his 3000m title in the County championships. George Rose was also dominant in the same competition over 400m. Having led all the way to the last bend he found himself overhauled by a Haileybury boy in the home straight, but he dug in to overtake him within sight of the line to take the victory.

Despite the awful summer weather and a slow start this season contin-ued to build on the high standards and traditions which the boys have established in recent years.

DFW

the Knole Run in Sevenoaks, a very challenging 6 mile race over steep muddy parkland, real cross country terrain. With six from eight to score and excellent runs from both Robbie Lightowler in 7th and Adam Thorpe in 13th place, both two years young in hte group, we were not strong enough to beat the Judd School and ended up in second place. In the Girls Race Lizzie Bird finished in third place and the team were placed 9th.

The Goater Cup came next, a race for six runners with one runner from each of our first four years, and two seniors, we were narrowly beaten into second place by Southend High at this event. February saw us at the King

Henry VIII Relay, widely seen as the top run in the country, this event attracts 55 teams from all over Britain. As always this 6 runner relay was a very exciting event and went right down to the wire, our team saw themselves narrowly beaten into third place by Shrewsbury School. In the Girls Race Lizzie Bird posted the 4th fastest time and the team finished 4th.

In March we saw our junior boys run in Trent Park, The Keble School Run, finishing a very good second, narrowly beaten by St Columba’s College.

The Season ended with a visit to Harrow School and the South East

Schools Championships, where we ran teams in all three age groups, with our junior boys finishing in third, and Harrison Pyrke third individual. The final day again belonged to our Intermediate team, with excellent runs from Adam Thorpe in second place and Joe Brennan and Mark Pearce in third and fourth places respectively to ensure we won the Brunivels trophy. A fitting end to the season for a team that was about take part in a World Championships.

KJE

Beating theWeatherAthletics

George Rose, seen here in the relay, was a dominant middle distance runner over the season

Rugby Cricket

Team Played Won Draw Lost Team Played Won Drawn Lost

1st XV 12 5 1 6 1st XI 14 10 0 3

2nd XV 12 9 0 3 2nd XI 5 4 0 1

3rd XV 9 5 0 4 3rd XI 3 2 0 1

4th XV 1 1 0 0 U15 14 12 0 2

U16 11 11 0 0 U15 B 7 7 0 0

U16 B 10 5 0 5 U15 C 4 4 0 0

U15 19 16 1 2 U14 13 9 0 4

U15 B 12 12 0 0 U14 B 7 4 0 3

U15 C 7 4 1 2 U14 C 5 2 0 3

U14 11 8 1 2 U14 D 2 0 0 2

U14 B 11 3 0 8 U13 7 3 0 4

U14 C 6 4 1 1 U13 B 5 3 0 2

U13 10 8 1 1 U12 12 9 0 3

U13 B 11 1 2 8 U12 B 7 2 0 5

U12 15 13 0 2 Totals: 105 71 0 33

U12B 14 8 0 6

Totals: 171 113 8 50

Hockey Netball

Team Played Won Draw Lost Team Played Won Draw Lost

1st XI 6 5 0 1 1st VII 9 6 1 2

2nd XI 4 2 1 1 2nd VII 3 0 0 3

3rd XI 2 1 1 0 Totals 12 6 1 5

U16 2 1 0 1 Football

U16 B 3 3 0 0 1st XI 18 15 1 2

U15 4 3 0 1 2nd XI 7 4 1 2

U15 B 5 3 2 0 U16 7 5 1 1

U14 6 5 1 0 U15 8 5 1 2

U14 B 5 3 2 0 U14 7 2 1 4

U13 3 1 1 1 U13 8 4 1 3

U13 B 4 3 0 1 U12 1 0 0 1

U12 1 1 0 0 Totals: 56 35 6 15

U12 B 1 1 0 0

Totals: 46 32 8 6

NONNOBIS

NATI

TeamSportsResults2011-2012

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