The Albanian 2015

The Albanian Decem

ber 2015 The AlbanianDecember 2015

Vol. 28 No. 19

December 2015

S T A L B A N S S C H O O L

1

Contents The Albanian 20152

Contents

3 EditorialSuccessful scrutiny by the Inspectors

4 Ins&OutsWelcomes and farewells

12 PrizegivingAcademic and other prizes

18 CreativeArtGCSE and A Level art from the end of year exhibition

23 DramaImprovised and scripted performances of real calibre

31 CreativeWritingProse, poetry and history re-imagined

38 MusicThe Armed Man and a range of concerts

48 FeaturesThe restoration of the War Memorial

50 CreativeDesignElectronics, architecture, drones and other design

54 CreativePhotoPlaying with light

56 TripsUSA skiing

58 EnrichmentFurthering education beyond the classroom

63 DukesSilver and Gold – expeditions and beyond

69 CommunityWorking in partnership with our neighbours

71 Houses

Final results table

72 CCFAGI, bashas and ambushes

79 SportAll the news from the pitches, courts and tracks

St Albans School is a company limited by guarantee.Registered in England No. 4400125 Charity No. 1092932 Registered Office: Abbey Gateway, St Albans, Herts. AL3 4HB

Albanian Editorial Team

Editor Noel CassidyDeputy Editor Julia GrievesonEditorial Assistant Claire ThriftStudent Editors Emily Childs Alex Jennings Tomás Hill López Menchero Alec McQuarrie Freddie WaltersAssistants Anna Charlesworth Michael Davies Alexandra Keaney Louis Rabinowitz Hugo Stephens

St Albans SchoolAbbey GatewaySt Albans AL3 4HB

Tel: 01727 855521Fax: 01727 843447

Publications email: [email protected] Website: www.st-albans.herts.sch.uk

The cover for this edition of The Albanian was created by Sam Machell. Sam is a former editor of the magazine and provided illustra-tions for last years’ edition. He is now reading Film Studies at the University of Southampton.


The Albanian 2015 Editorial 3

EditorialWho could forget that this academic year began with an earlier-than-expected ISI Inspection? We knew it was due at some point, of course, but not within the first half term of a new Headship. The School was ready anyway, and the week passed as it normally does, but with a few extra people looking at work, talking to staff, parents, pupils, governors, and popping into lessons.

The outcome, as we know, was very pleasing. ‘Exceptional’ was the judge-ment the ISI inspectors made of our pupils’ experience and learning. This is the highest grading possible, only available in this one area. The report further commented that the ‘achievement of pupils across all ages is exceptional’ and that our pupils have ‘exemplary attitudes to learning.’

In praising the achievement of pupils, the report paid tribute to excellent teaching, providing our pupils with ‘intellectual challenge and rigour’. It also noted that pupils’ personal development is excellent, with careful pastoral care and guidance to ensure that they become ‘mature, caring and self-disciplined adults.’

This magazine pays tribute to the academic achievements of pupils in the Prizegiving section and in the list of destinations of post-A Level leavers. But the rest of the pages show how much else goes on, how many op-portunities pupils are able to grasp; it is a demonstration of the wealth of enriching opportunities involving so many pupils which impressed the inspectors. Turn the pages and read for yourself.

Ins&Outs The Albanian 20154

1stFormAFE, TobaANGUS, Christopher EANSELL, ChristopherAZZURI, Oscar SBACKHAUS, Alexander FBADDON, Jonathan HBALACHCHANDREN, RathipBEELUT, AqeelBOCHEL, Hugo MBRICE, OscarBURNS, Louie NCIRKEL, Adam MCOX, Matthew ACULLEN, Jack PDAWE, OliverDELANEY, Robert JDENTON, Callum MEDWARDS, Daniel DFEATHER, Thomas JGARNAI-DAVIES, Ashley JGATES, Thomas AGRAY, Edward CGUY, RobertHAIDER, FarisHEANEY, Robert JHILMI, Dervish MJACK, KimaniJANI, PraneelJASKO, Edgar GJUDE, PaulKULKARNI, AnishKUMAR, AkshayKURR, Matthew ELAKE, Jack RLINES, Harry JMACDOUGALL, Harry FMALTERE, Lukas JMOSAHEBI, Arya JMUKASA, NathanNADAR, Adian JNAGLE, Thomas JNAVEENDRA, NidheshNICHOLSON, Luke JOBIKWU, Justin POLAYOMI, NathanielRANDHAWA, Cameron SRAWLINSON, Thomas OREID, FinleyRENDELL, James ARIDOUT, William JROBERTS, Arthur JROBERTS, Luke SANTOSH, ReubenSELWYN, Liam RSHAH, Kian DSHAH, Syan FSHAHIDULLAH, GabrielSHRIVASTAVA, AanSKEELS, Thomas DSMITH, Oliver JSPAREY, Oscar H

STEWART-HARRIS, Zev FSTUBBS, LucaTANNER, Aidan FTANSLEY, Oscar ITAVACKOLLI FARD, BobakTHOMPSON, Joshua MTUDOR, Alexander RVERNALL, Evan DWANSELL, JoshuaWEGENEK, Aleksander LWERTER, BenWHITEHURST, Toby A

2ndFormSHAH, Apoorv

3rdFormANDERTON, Marcus RAPPLEYARD, Cameron OASPROU, George CBERRINGTON, Thomas RBINDRA, RohitCARTER, Zachary WCHAPMAN, Thomas ACLEWER, James JCOHEN, Max JCRAIG, Hugh JCRIDLAND, JacobCUTLER, Lawrence DDE CAIRES, Joshua MDRAKE, Maximilian JDURKAN-MILLS, Finn MENGLISH, Robert PFORSTER, Thomas AFURAEV, AndreyGARNETT, William GGIWA-MCNEIL, Cameron HGLANVILLE, George WGREENE, NoahGRIGGS, Benjamin MHALAI, AryanHARGROVE, Sam DHART, Gabriel FHICKS, EamonHOLMES, William AIRANI, Matthew CJENKINS, Charles HKAURA, KyleKELSEY, William JKOTA, RahulLIDDIARD, Jude TLUCAS, Bruno BMANGAN, George JMCCURLEY, Daniel FMEHTA, AkhilMULCARE, Tyler JMULHOLLAND, Thomas MNAYAR, RohinNYGATE, Jasper WOGUNNAIKE, JoshuaPERERA, DanielREDDY, Sebastian ARIPPER, Michael

ROBERTSON, CiaranROBERTSON, Finlay JROBERTSON, MaxSALEHIAN, Zane JSANDHU, SamrahnSCHIFF, Philip JSEECHURN, JakeSHAW, Leo JSOLOMONS, Benjamin ASTEIN, Benjamin ATAYLOR, Sebastien WTUDOR, James RUNWIN, James PWHITTAKER, Christopher RWILSON-WHITMAN, JaydenWING, Rowley F

LowerSixthBROOMHEAD, Stephanie GBURDEN, Leonie HCHARLESWORTH, AnnaCOOPER, Sophie HEDWARDS, Lydia MELLIS, Victoria EFRIEND, Eleanor PGANNON, Grace CGARDNER, Lucy FGAY, Sophie EGREENSTEIN, OliverGRIGGS, Amy JHESELWOOD, Scarlett EHOLDEN, Charles WHURST, OliverJONES, Isabelle GKEANEY, Alexandra MKENNY, DarceyLOUGHREY, Catherine VLUCAS, Darcey AMACKENZIE, Thea SMADDEN, AlexandraMILLER-ROSENTHAL, Lara RMORAN, Maria AMORGAN-ADEFARAKAN, AdelleMORRISON, Emily SNICHOLAS, Joshua FNUDD, Alexandra SPINTO, SabrinaPRINGLE, Olivia SQUINTON, Eleanor MRAVICHANDRAN, Mithila NROBERTS, Bethan LROSS, Daniel SSCOTT, Natasha FSEMARK, Alice KSOUS, Ann-Marie GSPENCER, Lucas STURBERVILLE, Lucy RWARREN, KirstynWILKINSON, Phoebe EWILLIAMS, Zoe GWRIGHT, EleanorWRIGLEY, Jessica CZAFARANI, Tannaz

NewPupilsSeptember2015

KevinSquibb

AdamRowley

The Albanian 2015 Ins&Outs 5

NewStaffArrivalsintheCommonRoom

Dept: History

University: York and Cambridge

Previous job: Teaching English and History

Hobbies: Cycling and reading

Hopes to bring to the School: Historical

discussion with humour

AlexAlcoe

Dept: HistoryUniversity: Oxford & Courtauld Institute

Previous job: Teacher at Highgate schoolHobbies: Travel & cultureHopes to bring to the School: Helping to

inspire a love of history in students

ElizabethMilton

Dept: Spanish

University: Exeter

Previous job: Teaching in Hertfordshire

Hobbies: Baking and cooking

Hopes to bring to the School: A sense of fun

to languages with real life applications

Co-curricular Contribution: MUN, Junior

Drama

GeorginaTomsett-Ro

we

Dept: PhysicsUniversity: Exeter and LeedsPrevious job: Teacher at a boarding school in

Shropshire.Hopes to bring to the School: Inspire future

scientist and engineersCo-curricular Contribution: Duke of Edin-

burgh and Partnership

JoJex

Dept: Biology

University: Leicester

Previous job: First teaching post

Hopes to bring to the School: Erase the

misconception that plants are boring

Co-curricular Contribution: Dance club

BethanyNicholsDept: GermanUniversity: ExeterPrevious job: North London ComprehensiveHobbies: Taiko drummingHopes to bring to the School: More students

doing German A level, and a better under-standing of German cultureCo-curricular Contribution: Japanese Club

Dept: EconomicsUniversity: ExeterPrevious job: Investment Banker, photogra-pher

Hobbies: Judo, Fishing, Photography, As-tronomyHopes to bring to the School: A hands on experience in investment banking


DestinationsofLeaversHigherEducationDestinationsofOldAlbanians2015Oluwaseun Adekoya University of Cambridge LawOsawese Aimiuwu University of Nottingham EconomicsAadam Akbar University of Bristol PhysicsDaniel Angel University of Exeter English and FrenchMobolaji Anifalaje University of Sussex EconomicsBenedict Anthoney University of Bristol LawJemma Attar University of Durham Biomedical SciencesJordan Bartlam University of Durham EconomicsJohn Barton University of Warwick HistorySebastian Barton Brunel University London Mechanical EngineeringRosalind Bennett University of Birmingham International Relations with Political ScienceChristian Boothby University of Edinburgh ChemistryJoseph Brennan Gap Year Maximilian Cadman University of Oxford HistoryNadine Carasco Working for Gerald Edelman whilst training with ICAEW Zack Charalambous University of Nottingham PhilosophyGanesh Chauhan Loughborough University Product Design EngineeringBenjamin Chrisp University of Leicester MedicineOlivia Clarke University of Nottingham English with Creative WritingSarena Clarke University of Warwick HistoryDavid Clegg University of Bath Politics with Economics (with placement)Aiden Collins Gap Year James Conlon University of Birmingham KPMG School Leavers Audit Programme Sarah Coop University of Exeter EnglishAdam Craig-Thompson University of Sheffield Civil and Structural EngineeringSophie Devlin University of Southampton Population and GeographyMagdalene Dorling University of Nottingham Ancient HistoryStavros Drakou Queen Mary University of London Science & Engineering Foundation ProgrammeHenry Dyer Brighton and Sussex Medical School MedicinePoppy Edwards University of Nottingham Art HistoryPhilippa English University of Durham GeographyMarissa Epstein University of Nottingham ManagementRaphaella Evagora University of Bristol Ancient HistoryCharlotte Evans University of Nottingham Environmental BiologyMatthew Feast University of Southampton Philosophy and MathematicsNatasha Ferguson Gap Year Harry Fleet University of Nottingham Mechanical EngineeringMiles Fryer University of Oxford EngineeringOliver Gaeton University of Leeds Business AnalyticsPatrick Gaeton University of Leeds PhysicsThomas Galliford University of Nottingham Mechanical EngineeringJack Gannon University College London PhysicsHannah Girdlestone University of Birmingham Medicine (5 years)Rachel Glass Sluckin Birkbeck, University of London Politics, Philosophy and HistoryRiken Gohil University of Warwick Computer ScienceJames Govey University of Leeds GeographyHasnat Hakim University of Birmingham Biomedical ScienceAbigail Hall University of Southampton Ship Science / Naval ArchitectureBen Harley University of Bath ManagementSean Harris University of Nottingham Ancient History and HistoryNicholas Harvey University of Nottingham EnglishRosie Hobster Gap Year Camilla Hoffman University of Durham ChemistryRachel Hoffman University of Durham ChemistryGuy Holden University of Durham EconomicsElizabeth Horton University of Sheffield Biochemistry and Molecular Cell BiologyMax Houghton University of Leeds Mechatronics and RoboticsDeclan Houten University of Durham English LiteratureMatilda Hulse University of Leeds International RelationsMiraj Hussain University of Nottingham Industrial EconomicsTomas Jennings University of Sheffield Aerospace Engineering (Private Pilot Instruction)Pius Jude University College London Computer Science


Adnaan Karim University of Manchester Economics and FinanceMolly Keenan Gap Year Thomas Kirby University of Nottingham Mechanical Engineering including an Industrial YearMilo Knights University of Durham Philosophy, Politics and EconomicsMichael Kossifos Gap Year Matthew Lavelle University of Exeter Conservation Biology and EcologyTimothy Le Couilliard University of Exeter Politics and International RelationsAlexander Lee University of Lancaster PhysicsRonan Lee University of Nottingham Medical Physiology and TherapeuticsClaire Leith Royal Holloway, University of London Drama and Theatre StudiesRobert Lightowler University of Leeds ManagementNoah Lipschitz University of Durham GeographyGeorge MacGregor University of Durham EconomicsSamuel Machell University of Southampton Film StudiesCaroline Maggs University of Nottingham BiologyJaymee Malkan University of Nottingham ArchitectureNicole Marroquin Cornell University Biological SciencesEdward Marsh University of Nottingham Management with FrenchJaques McDermott Gap Year Ellie Mckay University of Bristol Politics and International RelationsLouis Meadows University of Leeds Chinese and International BusinessJonathan Midgen Imperial College, University of London Electrical and Electronic EngineeringKirsty Mitchell University of Oxford Philosophy, Politics and EconomicsPatrick Montgomery University of Newcastle Economics and Business ManagementNaveen Morris University of York EnglishKyriacos Mouzouris University of Sheffield ArchitectureJonathan Muir University of Durham General EngineeringAisha Mukhtar University of Southampton Management Sciences and SpanishDaniel Myers University of Exeter LawThomas Naccarato University of Sussex Biosciences with a Foundation YearLauren Nash University of Aberdeen Biological SciencesThomas Nawas University of Bristol Economics and EconometricsWilliam Norris University of Bath Mech. Engineering with Adv. Design and InnovationDamilola Omotoso University of Kent Politics and Int. Relations with Year in North AmericaAkshay Padki University of Sheffield Aerospace Engineering with a Year in IndustryMaximilian Palmer University of Birmingham Ancient HistoryJack Perrin University of Bristol Electrical and Electronic EngineeringWilliam Pickworth University of Leeds Politics and Parliamentary StudiesEllen Piercy University of Durham BiosciencesAndrew Quigley University of Lancaster Business StudiesJoel Rabinowitz University of Oxford GeographyShivam Raja University of Nottingham LawTim Richards University of Exeter PPE with Study AbroadLauren Rowe University of Durham HistoryChristopher Russell University of Lancaster Ecology and ConservationMatthew Russell University of Sheffield PhysicsHarry Sampson University of Oxford French and SpanishPatrick Scott University of Nottingham Ancient History and HistoryFreddie Scutt Imperial College, University of London BiologyRahul Sehgal LSEPS, University of London Philosophy and EconomicsPatrick Semark University of Bath MathematicsSahil Shah University of Bath Management (with Placement)Matthew Sherriff University of Nottingham Physics Eleanor Shreeves King’s College London Film StudiesTara Sinnott University of Nottingham LawDavid Sous University College London EconomicsJoshua Southworth University of Oxford ChemistryDavid Stojanovski King’s College London Biomedical EngineeringLara Superfine University of Southampton Medicine BMBS and BMedScHannah Sweeney University of Nottingham EnglishSubodh Tailor University of Edinburgh PoliticsJames Thompson University of Leeds Geophysical Sciences (International)

Graduation 2015


Adam Thorpe University of Nottingham Mechanical Engineering including an Industrial YearRichard Thrale University of Newcastle Business ManagementRobert Tominey-Nevado University of Durham ClassicsLeonidas Tsakalotos University of Manchester ArchitectureHarry Turner University of Leeds International History and PoliticsBertram Veres University of Oxford Classics IJames Wilkins University of Oxford LawJames Wilkinson University of Durham ChemistryKeagan Witts Gap Year Tim Xuereb University of Birmingham Business ManagementLouis Yianni University of Sheffield International Relations and PoliticsAlcan Zekia University of Bath Architecture (with placement)Vivien Zhu University of Oxford History


Julia Grieveson retired this year after having devoted 22 years to St Albans School. Julia has made a huge contribution to the School and she will be sadly missed.

First and foremost Julia is a very gifted linguist and teacher of German and French, and was for a time Acting Head of German. She was equally effective in the Lower School as she was in the Sixth Form, where she passed on her love of theatre by teaching Brecht plays to the Sixth Form over the years. Her knowledge and passion enthused many of our top linguists in the Sixth Form, who greatly appreciated her sense of humour. Grammatical accuracy has always been at the centre of her teaching and this solid foundation has meant that her pupils were well prepared for the demands of the GCSE and A-level examinations.

Julia was an outstanding Sixth Form tutor for many years and she offered great support to our pupils. Her experience and sensitivity was greatly appreciated and valued; former pupils remember her fondly.

Amongst other responsibilities, Julia has spent 18 years in the Publications Department, a period which has seen the rapid growth and development of the department’s role in the School, starting with the magazine and now handling all the School’s public communications. In that time she has helped with The Albanian, with an eagle eye for proof reading, and has written numerous reviews of concerts and plays for the magazine and the website. She was responsible for running the department single handed for a term and in recent years has taken particular responsibility for the termly Highlights newsletter. We wish her every happi-ness in her retirement.

JRR

JuliaGrieveson

DavidStone

StaffFarewells

After ten years at St Albans School Dave has left us to take up a well merited Senior Man-agement role as Head of Sixth Form at Stockport Grammar School.

Dave joined the School in 2005 having completed his degree at Southampton and PGCE at Exeter University. He came with a strong academic background and a wide range of inter-ests and skills which were fully utilised over the years. To the History and Politics depart-ments he brought intelligence, organisation and a willingness to turn his hand to anything. His classroom teaching was always well planned and at times displayed a pleasing willingness to experiment with drama or role play. His mastery of the eccentric Powerpoint achieved legendary status. In later years, when he took on the role of Head of the History Depart-ment, he continued in this manner, breathing new life into the History and Politics Society as well as introducing innovations such as the Gateway Chronicle student magazine and Upper Sixth residential trips to Munich and Berlin. Moreover, he managed a hugely success-ful stint as Head of General Studies for good measure.

Outside the classroom, Dave made a significant contribution to the wider school commu-nity. His passion for outdoor activity never waned and he was always involved in running either rugby teams or corps training as well as being a regular at the weekends for various Old Albanian Rugby XVs. His main sporting passion was rugby and he coached various year groups successfully, but most especially the older age groups. One of his prized possessions, holding pride of place on his desk, was a signed rugby ball from his unbeaten U16 tourists to France from 2008.

Alongside all this was his extensive involvement in the Combined Cadet Force where Captain Stone led from the front. He committed significant time to CCF camps both in this country and abroad as well as taking a leading role in the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. At the same time this afforded him opportunities for personal and professional development in acquiring both qualifications and significant experience in outdoor leader-ship. When Dave came to the School he promised commitment to its broader life and he was true to his word. His contributions have been greatly appreciated by many.

Dave and his young family now open a new chapter in their lives and we wish them well in all their future endeavours. St Albans’ loss will prove to be Stockport’s gain.

TJM


After five years at St Albans School Valentin leaves this year in order to take up a teaching post in the International School of Lausanne. Valentin is an extremely witty and intelligent teacher who has been involved in a range of activities in the School. He has primarily taught German at all levels, although he has also taught Latin and French to Lower and Middle School classes. He has run the annual trip to the Cologne Christmas markets over the last four years and count-less pupils have loved and greatly benefited from the experience. His organisational skills have also been employed in the running of internal examinations.

Valentin has been a popular Lower School tutor in all of his years at St Albans School and I have no doubt that his enthusiasm and passion for German is one of the reasons why German has grown in popularity in the First and Second Form.

Valentin is an extremely accom-plished tennis player and also a premier league tennis referee in Germany. He has contributed to sport in the school as a Tennis coach as well as helping with Lower School games teaching.

I would like to thank Valentin for all that he has done over the last five years and wish him well for the future.

JRR

BenScottBen Scott joined us as a fresh faced NQT in 2011 from a PGCE at Newcastle University. From the very start he took an active role in the life of the School, founding and running the Second Form Science Club; the Thorpe Park trip became a landmark on the School calendar. In his second year he took over the running of the Stephen Hawking Society, bringing in speakers from a diverse range of disciplines, from a Nobel Prize winning biologist to a hypnotist. An active sportsman himself, students have benefited from his coaching of basketball and hockey. For the last two years he has also been a Sixth Form tutor with a superb relationship with his students. Amongst all of these other commitments Ben has found the time to be an exceptional teacher who the department will miss greatly. With Harsha Zaver, he redeveloped the GCSE syllabus and he has contributed many new ideas to the department. Outside School Ben is a connoisseur of real ale and live comedy and makes an annual (and thoroughly planned out) pilgrimage to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. He leaves us to become a fresh faced PhD student investigat-ing the biosynthetic enzymes of vitamin B12 synthesis at Queen Mary University.

DSR

ValentinPappert

PatMcGrathPat McGrath joined the school in September 1999 as an Art teacher, working in the Art Department for fifteen years, teaching across the age range of the school. With a very good knowledge of art, and a deep understanding of modern art in particular, he was able to inspire pupils as they prepared their own forays into creativity. He also ac-companied the Art Department on numerous trips abroad. It was on these trips abroad that Pat’s local knowledge came to the fore: not only did he have a very good knowledge of art and artists, but he also seemed to have an encyclopae-dic knowledge of any given locale. His ability to search out the ideal tapas bar for a lunchtime stop was not to be underestimated.

As Housemaster of Marsh, Pat enjoyed organising the many differ-ent sporting and cultural activities of the House year. He also initiated the annual House art competition, which raised interesting questions about competitive creativity; it con-tinues to this day, offering students of all abilities to demonstrate their talents to the wider school.

We wish him well as he leaves us to further his career in teaching.

PWT


SueJexThe end of the Spring term marked the end of Sue Jex’s thirty-five years as librarian at St

Albans. As well as fulfilling her role in a highly professional way, Sue has always been willing to take immense pains to help anyone needing her assistance, regardless of their status,

from a time long before the School motto was changed. Sue was meticulously organised and ensured the Library was too. Libraries, even school libraries tend to be quiet undra-

matic places but over the course of a long career there have been moments of drama, like when the Library roof caught fire when the roofers were using a blow torch. Water used

to quench the flames came through the roof and drenched Sue, much to the amusement of Andrew Grant. We will miss Sue, for that and other happy memories.

AKJ

MelanieRennieMel joined St Albans School in September 2014 as a teacher of French and Spanish. We all quickly warmed to her and we have very much enjoyed working with her. She has bound-

less energy and enthusiasm and genuinely cares about her pupils and the teachers that she works with. She is keen to try out new ideas in class and is an excellent team player. Mel

joined the teaching profession after having pursued a successful career at AstraZeneca and she has passed on her knowledge of industry to our pupils in events such as the Sixth Form

Business conference. Mel is an accomplished sportswoman and she has contributed to the sporting life of the School by teaching swimming in the Middle School. She has also been

spotted by pupils travelling to school on an adult sized scooter. Mel leaves us to take up a part-time teaching post at Beaumont School that will allow her to spend more time with

her young family. We wish her every success for the future.

JRR

PaulNewmanWhen looking for maternity cover for Dr Brereton, the School was surprised to receive a CV from Paul Newman, who we assumed was dead. But with Kenny Everett and Dr Dre already on the staff, these things start to seem less odd. Paul made an immediate impres-sion, the first post-interview comment being that he had ‘very yellow socks’. Those yellow socks, though, were a sign of things to come; quirky, lively, a little bit different. We appreci-ated these things, and so did his pupils. He has kept all his pupils focused and engaged. His methods of achieving this were slightly unorthodox, including Andy Murray impressions and bribery.

One senior colleague offered this august summary of Paul: ‘He has lots of suits’. So, a man of many suits; teacher, musician, actor, businessman, family man, New-man. We have thoroughly enjoyed his contributions and wish him well.

JDH

ElizabethAquilinaElizabeth Aquilina joined the Physics department two years ago and proved herself to be both a highly effective teacher and an expert physicist with an impressive depth of knowl-edge, including geophysics. She has modelled the curiosity for the world around her that we all seek to inspire in our pupils and is also a strong mathematician with an eye for detail.

Coming from Malta, she brought fresh ideas on teaching and learning and developed a number of new resources for the department. Beyond the classroom she contributed to the life of the school as a Sixth Form tutor and was an active member of the Partnership team, leading a series of masterclasses for children from local primary schools.

She leaves us to take up a position at City of London School for Girls, a move that will allow her to make the most of all the capital has to offer and be closer to family and friends. We wish her all the best at her new school, who will be gaining a gifted teacher, excellent physicist, and generous, likeable colleague.

MJG

Prizegiving The Albanian 201512

Priz

egiv

ing The new academic year is well

underway but there remains the task, and a very pleasant one it is, of presiding over the last rites of the previous one, to which end we are gathered this evening. The availability of Abbey means that we are doing so at a later date than we would wish and after the start of Freshers’ Weeks at several universi-ties, so regrettably a number of the prizewinners from last year’s Upper Sixth have had to send their apolo-gies and will therefore be lauded in absentia.

The need to deliver my second Prizegiving address is perhaps a sign that the honeymoon period, if the start of a headship can ever be described as such, is drawing to an end. It does, however, provide me with a final opportunity to thank the very many of you who helped me to settle in so quickly and to make my first year here such a pleasure.

To return to the wedding metaphor briefly, I must confess to sympathis-ing during the preparation of this speech with the sentiment of one of Elizabeth Taylor’s later husbands who was overheard to say on their wedding day: “I know what is expected of me, but how to make it different?”

One Speech Day story tells of a Headmaster who stood up to give his address at which point an angel suddenly appeared and told him that, as a result of his unselfish and exemplary behaviour, he would be rewarded with his choice of infinite wealth, wisdom or beauty. The Headmaster – being blessed with more handsome looks than me – selected, without hesitation, infinite wisdom. “Done” said the angel and disappeared in a bolt of lightning. Everyone looked at the Headmas-ter, who was now surrounded by a faint halo of light, and, after what seemed an extremely long pause, the Chairman of Governors tugged the sleeve of his gown and said “come on man, say something!” The Headmaster looked around at all present, beaming wisely (a natural skill for Headmasters, of course) and eventually declared: “I should have taken the money”.

The second half of August brought much happy news in terms of indi-

vidual pupils’ examination results and the School’s results overall. 45% of our A Level cohort received at least one A* grade, 35 candidates (more than one quarter of our cohort) achieved at least 2 A*s, and one in ten achieved three or more A*s. The overall results saw notable improvements compared to 2014 in our A* % (up by almost one percentage point to over 25%) and the A*A% which increased by 2.5 percentage points to over 67%, which is more than 40 percent-age points above the national A*A rate and all the more encouraging in the context of a slight national decrease in these grades.

The vast majority of last year’s Upper Sixth were successful in securing a place at a Russell Group university with Nottingham, Durham, Leeds and Oxford being the most popular destinations this year, but I am pleased to report, Sir Malcolm, that both York and UCL are represented in our list.

At GCSE we are celebrating an A* grade record for the second year running. Our A* % increased by 2.5 percentage points this year to 59% whereas the national percentage decreased slightly to 6.6%, so our A* rate has increased its lead over the national rate to well in excess of 50 percentage points and almost 25 % points above the A* rate in the independent sector as a whole. 87% of GCSE grades were A*A, an increase of more than 1% on 2014.

Prizegiving2015TheHeadmaster’sAddress

The address given by Headmaster,

Jonathan Gillespie, at the Prizegiving Ceremony on 21 September 2015

The Albanian 2015 Prizegiving 13

More than two thirds of our GCSE candidates achieved at least 5 A*s, over 60% gained at least 6 A*s, almost half the cohort achieved at least 7 A*s, 40% achieved at least 8 A*s, well over a quarter of our candidates achieved at least 9 A*s and 20 boys (just under 20% of the cohort) achieved at least 10 A*s, an outstanding achievement marked this evening by their receipt of a Governors’ Award.

These excellent GCSE results will guarantee our continued position at the foot of government league tables, where we sit proudly with a number of the country’s top academic schools. This is due to the Department for Education’s continued policy of excluding the International GCSE, which our pupils now take in the majority of subjects, from their performance league tables, so by those crite-ria o% of St Albans School pupils achieve 5 more GCSEs including English and Mathematics at grades A*-C. We offer the IGCSE qualifica-tion for several reasons, the most important of which are that it provides a greater intellectual chal-lenge and a better preparation for A Level study.

I will leave you to decide which is the more meaningful statistic from the following two options: either that our boys achieved 83% A* grades in early-entry IGCSE Math-ematics and, coincidentally 83% A grades in the Free Standing Math-ematics Qualification; or that, by the DfE’s criteria, 0% of our pupils achieving 5 A*-C grades at GCSE including English and Mathematics. I will accept answers on a postcard handed to me at the reception afterwards, but there is, I’m afraid, no prize for the correct answer!

More sinisterly in recent months the DfE has been putting its spin doctors to work briefing the press that the IGCSE is an easier qualifi-cation. Let’s be absolutely clear, that is absolutely not true of the IGCSE specifications undertaken here. The track record of serious academic schools is a much more trustwor-thy yardstick of intellectual rigour than that of politicians or their spin doctors.

This is one of the several rounds of the game of ‘bash the independ-ent sector’ to which we have been subject during the last year, in particular in the build up to the general election. In one bout we were accused of restricting social mobility, which I found rather ironic given the history of this School in facilitating such mobility, especially through the Assisted Places and Direct Grant schemes, and the fact that it was politicians who put an end to these arrangements. I have been struck by the number of OAs whom I have met during the last year who remember very warmly the opportunities made available to them through this provision. I know that the governors are absolutely committed to developing our pro-vision of needs-blind places over the years to come, and raising funds to meet this aim will continue to be a central part of the work of the St Albans School Foundation. Yet it seems to me that if politicians are serious about increasing social mo-bility, there is an obvious solution which is to introduce a scheme of education vouchers for parents to spend as they wish in the state or independent sectors.

Another attack on the independent sector came from the then Shadow Secretary of State for Education, Tristram Hunt, whose political point scoring in the heat of the election campaign saw him accuse our sector of being reluctant to enter into partnerships with state-maintained schools. I feel that the poorly informed comments made by Mr Hunt, or to give him his correct title, the Honourable Dr Hunt,- no hint of privilege there then! - do require a response further to the public lambasting he received from the Headmaster of his old school, University College School in Hampstead.

So, for the record: the Partnership scheme run by St Albans School along with local Infant and Primary Schools has expanded in many ways since its inception some 15 years ago. 12 local state schools and the Cathedral Education service now participate, thirteen St Albans School staff are involved and between sixty and seventy

Lower Sixth Form pupils assist with Partnership activities on Friday afternoons. Monday and Friday afternoons see pupils from four local Primary Schools using our pool for their swimming lessons. Our Head of Partnership organises the employment of local qualified coaches to run these sessions, and Sixth Formers and a member of staff act as lifeguards.

Masterclasses in ICT, D&T and Science are run at St Albans School. Every Friday afternoon enthusiastic Primary school pupils come to the School and get involved in a variety of practical activities. They enjoy the opportunity to use facilities not normally available to them in their school and benefit from the expertise and guidance of St Albans School staff. Our special-ist staff help to cover topics in the Primary School curriculum, such as programming in ICT, and in the process provide training for the ac-companying teachers. In so doing we are definitely helping to get expert Maths and Science teaching into Primary Schools which has been identified as a need by the Govern-ment. Furthermore staff from the Drama, Music, Art, Maths and French departments go out each week to local schools where they run classes and share their specialist skills with the children and staff.

Lower Sixth students are vital to the running of these masterclasses; they assist the teachers, run ses-sions themselves and share their passion for the subject with the younger children who look up to them as role models. A number of our Sixth Formers also travel to local schools where they assist with a variety of tasks in the classroom and on the sports field. Their help is highly valued by the staff in the schools that they visit and it enables the students to develop those soft-skills highlighted as vital by future employers.

In addition to the Partnership Scheme St Albans School makes many other contributions to the community. Our Head of Sixth Form works with several State Schools, sharing knowledge and good practice, as well as practical support to students with the UCAS


application process, particularly to Russell Group universities, including Oxbridge. We have recently received a request from another state school for such support to which we have, of course, responded positively. Our CCF now has a formal Ministry of Defence partnership with Marlbor-ough Science Academy, training both cadets and adult staff, with the aim of helping them establish their own self-sufficient unit in the future. As part of our Community Link pro-gramme, a number of Lower Sixth students also volunteer in schools for children with special educational needs. Finally, and certainly not the least of this School’s commitment to partnership work, is the fact that several members of staff are pleased to serve as governors of state-sector schools.

As Mr Hunt is now re-focusing his political efforts on serving his Stoke-on-Trent constituents from the backbenches, we may not hear from him again on this topic, but I believe it is important to record our good practice in this regard with our partnership arrangements bringing benefits to hundreds of local schoolchildren and to their teachers.

I predict that the next bout will see politicians focusing on access to in-dependent schools’ facilities and in particular to playing fields. I venture to suggest that this will be in order to assuage their guilt for having allowed the selling off of thousands of acres of playing fields. So I am happy to take this opportunity to record that our Woollam Playing Fields are, and will continue to be, offered for the hosting of county and regional training, matches and finals in football, rugby and cricket as well as being used by local foot-ball, rugby, cricket and netball clubs.

In my Prizegiving address this time last year I anticipated the immi-nent independence referendum in Scotland and the General Election. At that stage we were bliss-fully unaware of the Independent Schools Inspectorate’s plans to visit much earlier than had been expect-ed. Appropriate preparations were nevertheless already in hand, so when we received the call in early October we were not unduly per-

turbed, even though the prospect of an even-more-frenetic-than-usual final week of the first half of term was not received with unalloyed joy in the Common Room.

The eagerly-awaited outcome was highly pleasing, in particular the rare distinction of the quality of our pupils’ achievements being rated as exceptional. The ‘exception-al’ grade is reserved for the highest echelons of the ‘excellent’ category and therefore an accolade received by very few schools. We were also very pleased to receive the top grade of excellent for curricular and extra-curricular provision; contri-bution of teaching; spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils; pastoral care; and welfare, health and safety.

There is much in the inspectors’ report of which we are proud. A few highlights, therefore, firstly about our pupils’ engagement with their academic work:

The achievement of pupils across all ages is exceptional. The school fully meets its aims to enable pupils to achieve the highest standard of academic success according to ability and similarly in their extra-curricular interests ……. Motivated by a broad-based curriculum, high quality speakers and challenging extension work, pupils have excellent attitudes to learning. They demonstrate resilience and perseverance.

The report continues: Pupils across all ages demonstrate exemplary attitudes to learning. They are eager to learn and respond confidently to intellectual challenge and rigour. The pupils’ excellent behaviour in lessons allows them to develop high levels of concentration and perseverance when work is particularly challenging. Motivated and ambitious for their future success, they are co-operative learners. They show resilience and are prepared to take risks in their learning and deal well with any failure which occurs. They strive for excellence in all aspects of their school life.

Secondly two extracts which underline the strength of the St Albans School ethos which sees academic and intellectual progress at the heart of a holistic, value-rich education:

The pupils’ personal development is excellent. Pupils are highly apprecia-tive of the excellent individual pastoral care and guidance they receive which helps them to grow into mature, caring and self-disciplined adults. The many opportunities provided for them to make valuable contributions to their school, the local community and charity work allows them to develop strong social, moral and cultural awareness and an understanding of the value of service to others.

And finally: As pupils progress through the school they grow into confident and independent people who demonstrate a high standard of personal develop-ment ready to contribute to society by the time they leave. They are mature and responsible citizens well prepared for the next stage of their education or working life. The school fulfils its aim to develop the pupils’ character and personality so as to become caring and self-disciplined adults.

Much excellent music was enjoyed last year under the baton of Mr Stout and his colleagues, and Miss Bruton’s production of Much Ado About Nothing was the highlight of a busy drama calendar. The collabo-ration of these two outstanding departments on this term’s produc-tion of Into the Woods is eagerly anticipated. Another successful sporting year concluded with the 1st XI returning unbeaten from their tour to Sri Lanka in July, albeit with due acknowledgement of the heavy rain that saved them on at least one occasion.

It was the prelude to a splendid Ashes summer during which the excitement proved too much for one senior member of the MCC whose dicky heart finally gave way. He passed through the corridor of uncertainty and approached the great final wicket in the sky. On arriving at the pearly gates he was delighted to see a cricket match taking place. “I didn’t dare dream that there would be cricket in heaven” he told St Peter. “Well, it’s kind of ironic really,” replied St Peter, “God believes that he is Geoffrey Boycott”.

Communications with pupils and parents have been significantly developed over the last year. The


reformed and reinvigorated Pupil Council has brought forward a number of ideas from Year Group representatives that have been implemented, and the parental questionnaire undertaken in the Summer Term provided a wealth of important insights and feedback that have already produced tangible benefits for our pupils, the change to our catering arrangements being one of them. We also have a St Albans School App, providing a portal for key website information and contact details as well as our Twitter feeds.

Mention of Twitter reminds me of the man who walked into his doctor’s consulting room in some distress: “Help me doctor, he said, I’m addicted to Twitter!” After a short delay the doctor replied: “I’m sorry, I don’t follow you!”

On the subject of communica-tions the advent of a new senior post, that of Director of Marketing, Admissions and Communications, indicates our strategic intention to develop further in this important area. This development is a part of the introduction of revised leader-ship arrangements in several key areas. With a new title of Deputy Head Academic Mr Davies now heads an academic leadership team which includes two important new positions: the roles of Assistant Head Teaching & Learning (Mr Smyth) and Data & Curriculum Manager (Dr Saunders) emphasise our commitment never to rest on our laurels but rather to embrace new ideas, to develop further good practice and to identify and imple-ment incremental gains across our provision for the benefit of our pupils. That aim is not just limited to the academic curriculum as we now also have an Assistant Head, Mr Burger, responsible for the Co-curriculum which of course has a fundamental importance to this School’s ethos and values.

The delivery of our ethos and values is a process which depends fundamentally on the quality of our staff. Unsurprisingly the parental surveys identified this as a key factor for parents in their apprecia-tion and expectations of the School, and the ISI inspectors pleasingly

concurred by rating the contribu-tion of teaching rating as excellent, citing as evidence, and I quote, our teachers’ inspirational force both in and beyond the classroom. I take this opportunity to salute my col-leagues, and I commend the many pupils who have achieved excellent things as a result of their inspira-tional teaching this year.

It is a timely reminder that we should never underestimate the im-portance of teachers in the forming of young people. In an article which caught my eye some time ago the then Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks, argued that we don’t honour teachers enough. He wrote:

Teachers open our eyes to the world. They give us curiosity and confidence. They teach us to ask questions. They connect us to our past and future. They’re the guardians of our social heritage. We have lots of heroes today – sportsmen, supermodels, media personalities. They come, they have their 15 minutes of fame, and they go. But the influence of good teachers stays with us. They are the people who really shape our lives.

A few years ago I came across the text of a letter ascribed to Abraham Lincoln and said to have been sent originally to the Headmaster of the school which Abraham Lincoln’s son attended. Some of the language and ideas show it as a product of its age, but in many regards it refers to timeless challenges of education to-gether with some elements which resonate in the context of some of today’s topical issues.

Lincoln wrote: He will have to learn, I know, that all men are not just; all men are not true. But teach him also that for every scoundrel there is a hero; that for every selfish politician, there is a dedicated leader.

Teach him that for every enemy there is a friend. It will take time, I know, but teach him, if you can, that a dollar earned is of far more value than five found. Teach him to learn to lose and also to enjoy winning. Steer him away from envy, if you can. Teach him the secret of quiet laughter. Let him learn early that the bullies are the easiest to lick. Teach him, if you can, the wonder of books, but also give him quiet time

to ponder over the eternal mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun, and flowers on a green hill-side.

In school teach him that it is far more honourable to fail than to cheat. Teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if everyone tells him they are wrong. Teach him to be gentle with gentle people and tough with the tough. Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone is getting on the bandwagon. Teach him to listen to all men but teach him also to filter all he hears on a screen of truth and take only the good that comes through.

Teach him, if you can, how to laugh when he is sad. Teach him there is no shame in tears. Teach him to scoff at cynics and to beware of too much sweetness. Teach him to sell his brawn and brain to the highest bidders; but never to put a price tag on his heart and soul. Teach him to close his ears to a howling mob, and to stand and fight if he thinks he is right.

Treat him gently, but do not cuddle him because only the test of fire makes fine steel. Let him have the courage to be impatient; let him have the patience to be brave. Teach him always to have sublime faith in himself, because then he will always have sublime faith in mankind.

This is a big order; but see what you can do.

By the standards of some 21st Century parents Lincoln appears to be rather modest in his expecta-tions of his son’s school, but to conclude my address this evening we should be very pleased with how St Albans School is faring in 2015 and with how our pupils are responding to my colleagues’ inspirational force. My congratula-tions go to all the prizewinners on their achievements, and those for whom this occasion is definitively their final appearance on the St Albans School stage as well as all our 2015 leavers have my very best wishes for the start of their uni-versity courses. I know that having benefited from everything that this great school has had to offer them over the last few years, they could not be better prepared for the next leg of life’s journey.


FirstFormPrizes

AchievementAwards

Sebastian BennettFrancis HardenFrederick HubbardThomas HughesTharun ManivannanSteven Perrin

SecondFormPrizes

AchievementAwards

Scott BriceSteven FurlongRobert MoyeRonak ParikhHarry ParkerMatthew Rayner

FourthFormSubjectPrizes

English William FoxtonMathematics Oliver Barratt-JohnsonArt Morgan WynneBiology Harry Hemsi Economics Oliver Barratt-JohnsonChemistry Benjamin CraigDrama Oliver BranleyDT - Electronic Products Shivam KohliDT - Graphic Products Khaled ShahidullahDT - Resistant Materials Edward MoyeFrench William FoxtonGeography Oliver Barratt-JohnsonGerman Timothy BagnallGreek Conor NormanHistory Harry HemsiLatin Joe PattisonMusic Edward MoyePhysical Education Stephen HeaneyPhysics Oliver Barratt-JohnsonReligious Studies Harry HemsiSpanish Rhys Appleyard

FifthFormSubjectPrizes

English Language Jonathan AscotEnglish Literature Euan Wallace*Mathematics Leon SuiArt Thomas M’CawBiology Jordan Sweeny*Business Studies Darsh ShahChemistry Veer ShahDrama Joshua RefsonDT - Electronic Products Leon SuiDT - Graphic Products Jonathan AscotDT - Resistant Materials Darsh ShahFrench Joshua Oliver*Geography Amit WangooGerman Lars TuinemaGreek Oliver Neusten*History Anthony Henein*Latin Luke Hopper*Music Thomas DilleyPhysical Education Jonathan CattermolePhysics Joshua Oliver*Religious Studies Leon SuiSpanish James Freeman* *Governors’ Award

ProgressPrizes

Aidan MacGovernNathaniel FuellOluwatamilore Ogunseye

ProgressPrizes

Benjamin CooperShahrouz FarhadiDylan Deb

ProgressPrizes

Noah Arthur-TinworthAaron GraftKamal OyebolaAdebowale OnanugaMatthew KaltsoyannisLorenzo Rossi

Prizewinners2015

ThirdFormPrizes

AchievementAwards

Dimitri ChamayThomas HillmanCharles Le CouilliardWilliam PayneAlasdair TaylorOwen Tyley

FourthFormPrizes

ProgressPrizes

Shivam KohliJoe PattisonJames ScraggShay MehtaCarsten BackhausFelix Trimmer

FifthFormPrizes

ProgressPrizes

Dominic BallSean KelleherDanya BavettaEdward BartholomeuszJames Nutt


FifthFormGovernors’Awards

Michael Davies Ross Ferreira Alexander Gilbert Thomas Goldstone Samuel Goymer Andrew Henein Jack Larsson Louis Rabinowitz Theo Reback Luke Vaghela Jacob Vialou-Clark James Yurkwich

LowerSixthSubjectPrizes

English Literature Cem BalciMathematics William Pavey Toby Barnes Alexander CookFurther Mathematics Benjamin Hemsi Anthony GeorgiouAncient History Oliver BarlowArt Imogen RobertsonBiology Maya MendozaChemistry Alexander CookDT - Electronics Thomas AbreyDT - Graphic Products Jack DobsonDT - Resistant Materials Simon BrooksDrama Rosie HudsonEconomics Georgia KelseyFrench Georgia KelseyGeography Oliver BarlowGreek Alec McQuarrieHistory Maya MendozaLatin Alec McQuarriePhysical Education Elizabeth GeorgiouPhysics Benjamin HemsiPolitics Edward HuntReligious Studies Edward HuntSpanish Tomas Hill Lopez-Menchero

UpperSixthSubjectPrizes

English Literature Daniel AngelMathematics Oluwaseun Adekoya* George Macgregor* Rachel Hoffman*Mathematics (John Godfrey Prize) Ganesh Chauhan*Further Mathematics Guy Holden* Thomas Kirby*Ancient History Matthew Lavelle* Biology Lara Superfine* Chemistry (George Wishart Prize) Rachel Hoffman*DT - Electronics Joshua Southworth*DT - Graphic Products Ganesh Chauhan*DT - Resistant Materials Adam Craig-ThompsonDrama Clare LeithDrama - Performance (OA Masonic Prize) Louis YianniEconomics Jordan Bartlam*French Harry Sampson*Geography Joel RabinowitzGovernment and Politics Milo Knights*Greek Bertram Veres*History (Archibald John Eastcott Prize) Nicholas HarveyLanguages (SGF Scase Prize) Oliver GaetonLatin Robert Tominey-Nevado*Physical Education Michael KossifosPhysics William Norris*Religious Studies Benedict AnthoneySpanish Harry Sampson*Extended Project Prize Olivia ClarkeExtended Project Prize Thomas Nawas*

*Governors’ Awards

SpecialAwards

Contribution to Partnership Prize Kaya Tveito-DuncanCommunity Link Prize Elena PritchardJosh Handel (Charities) Cup Charlotte EvansSwinson Prize for Tech. Drama Elizabeth HortonHighstead Cup Philippa English (left)Powell-Davies Service Prize William Norris Robert LightowlerPrefects’ Leaving Prize Freddie ScuttHead Prefect’s Prize Milo Knights

UpperSixthGovernors’Awards

Maximillian Cadman Benjamin Chrisp James ConlonMiles Fryer Jack Gannon Hannah GirdlestoneBen Harley Camilla Hoffman Declan Houten Pius JudeKirsty Mitchell Jonny Muir Matthew SheriffJames Thompson James Wilkins James WilkinsonVivien Zhu

CreativeArt The Albanian 201518

A2 Art by Molly Keenan

Opposite: 2nd Form work after Matisse

The Albanian 2015 CreativeArt 19


This page:Kyri Mouzouris (A2)Darren Lai (GCSE)Matthew Edwards (AS, House Art)

Opposite page:Portraits by Sean Kelleher (GCSE)Matthew Edwards (AS)Omeiza Haruna (AS)Kyri Mouzouris (A2)

The Albanian 2015 CreativeArt 21


Art work by:Leo Tzakolotos (A2)

Amelia Cook (AS)Imogen Robertson (AS)

The Albanian 2015 Drama 23

Much Ado About Nothing has been, since it was first staged in 1598, amongst the most regularly per-formed of all Shakespeare’s plays. In the last 50 years, it has become a staple of secondary school English Literature, especially at GCSE and O Level. There are good reasons for these two trends: the play has a clear and strong narrative drive, well-defined and memorable char-acters, and a great deal of clever wordplay. It is also perhaps the most obviously ‘modern’ of Shake-speare’s comedies. There is also that godsend to the beleaguered teacher – a relatively recent and largely well-done film. Beyond the schoolroom, the play has also been a fruitful hunting ground for profes-

sional academics: feminist, Freudian and historicist interpretations have weighed down shelves in university libraries since the early 1970s, and continue to do so. At the other end of the spectrum, it is not an unusual play to be chosen in primary schools for a first encounter with Shakespeare. All in all, there is a sense that the play comes close to being all things to all men.

With that in mind, then, Much Ado is a sensible choice for a main school production. But it also comes with a distinct set of challenges. How can such a well-known play and popular play be made new? What (if any) critical interpretation should be favoured? Is it best to play the text as a brisk farce, exploiting its many opportunities for laughter, or to spend more time explor-ing some of its problematic sides? These – and more – are circles any director needs to square.

Mary Bruton’s production success-fully balanced the light and the dark. The decision to set the play in the immediate aftermath of World War One had a pointed echo in the centenary year of 2014, and struck an appropriately bittersweet note. Dramatically, too, this worked well; the necessary stage business of the opening scene was particularly neatly exploited, as the messenger bringing news of the men return-ing home from war took on the form of a telegram delivery. This swiftly segued into the ‘merry war’ of words between Beatrice and Benedict, played by Jemma Attar and Louis Yianni respectively. Period music punctuated the performance, from an instrumental version of ‘Colonel Bogey’ to Katie Shreeves’ robust rendition of ‘Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag’. The set, too, all suffrage banners and Kitchener images, recalled faded

James Hughes, Head of English, argues for the value of Shakespeare productions in his review of this year’s main play.

WW1TwistWorksWellMuchAdoAboutNothing

Shakespeare…atthecentreoftheSchool’sculturalcalendar

Drama The Albanian 201524

cinereel images of late 1918, while catching the play’s textual mood. While the sight of a nurse and a man on crutches were an apt re-minder that not all returned home unscathed, there was nonetheless a moving suggestion of a new start after conflict.

The performance benefited most from Yianni’s excellent Benedick: pure swagger and wit, yet speaking the verse with precision and verve. There were some nice impro-vised moments as well. He also managed to bring out something of his character’s dilemma in being asked to leave a bluff, clubbable and (above all) male world in which he feels comfortable but unful-filled; it is a shallow life but one he knows, and this was rendered well. Attar’s Beatrice brought a quietly thoughtful dimension to a tradition-ally proto-feminist (and sometimes rather shrill) role: her protagonist’s quandary is whether to retain self-determination in solitude, or gain a partner through submission, and this is too often glossed over. The actress’s conception of this difficulty was as welcome as it was unexpected.

As a duo, Attar and Yianni made the expected verbal sparks fly, ably assisted by a range of supporting actors. Don John, played by Max Cadman, was drawn straight from the pantomime villain textbook (in the best possible sense), Alec McQuarrie’s Claudio brought some life and passion to amongst the straightest of Shakespeare’s straight-men, while Peter Gosling cut a fittingly absurd figure as Dogberry. Also worthy of comment was Ronan Lee, who did well to bring a quiet menace to the figure of Antonio (barely an afterthought in most productions). In the play’s most famous scene, Josie Price’s Hero convinced in her transition from demure, blushing bride to falsely slandered ‘rotten orange’, and Seun Adekoya palpably grew into his part as Don Pedro, dem-onstrating the authority required for the primary ‘legislative’ role in the play. Last but not least, the ensemble moments added some memorable colour, particularly the fox-trot and street party scenes.

An evidently committed and ef-ficient lighting team also deserve praise, as do the assistant director (Rebecca Baxter) and the techni-cal supervisor (Guy Lewis) – the unsung heroes of any production. It is always worth remembering, too, the enormous time commit-ment needed to stage a major production – time given by a wide range of staff during arguably the busiest time of the School year. Most credit, however, must go to the cast, the Drama Department

and the director, Mary Bruton, who successfully conceived an intelligent and topical take on a well-known play, then executed it with skill and assurance. As a School, we should be profoundly grateful for their industry, and their rightful insist-ence that drama, and Shakespeare, are worth both the effort and their place at the centre of the School’s cultural calendar. Without these values, such admirable and impor-tant spectacles as Much Ado would be, well, nothing.

A play of deceit, eavesdropping and misunderstanding:

Hero and the Duke (left), Benedick

(above), Leonato and Dogberry (below)


Bookended by movement sequenc-es, the six performers in Agender gave the audience a brave, frank exploration of problems faced by transgender people. The Upper Sixth students devised and wrote the production, based on news stories, internet sources and inter-views with their own peers. The result was often painful, frequently comic, sometimes brutally honest and occasionally shocking.

On a virtually bare stage, just backed by four suspended man-nequins, two female and two male, and fronted by a line of toys, items of clothing and make-up, the piece was carefully choreographed. The ensemble, wearing white t-shirts and grey jogging bottoms, main-tained a continuum of movement while individuals emerged to take on different characters and parts of the narrative. There were moments of stillness too, allowing hushed focus at key moments.

The varied scenes were skilfully chosen and developed, so that the audience heard the authentic voices of young people’s attitudes to gender and sexual relationships. There was much humour here, and some shock, while the frank expression allowed the views to be confronted. Interesting too was the scenes’ juxtaposition of such views with an exploration of stereotypes promulgated in the media and a range of statistics relating to gender – the audience

was implicitly invited to make the link between popular attitudes and media misrepresentation, at a distance from actualities.

Two narratives pinned this range of material together, again drawn from real cases, exploring the cases of a young boy and a young girl dealing with the realisation of their transgender nature, the responses and their friends and families and their own progress. That one of these narratives focused on a suicide note illustrated the potential tragic consequences of confusion and rejection. The other story was more hopeful, emerging from seem-ingly impassable challenges to find a route to a more optimistic future.

Jemma Attar, Ronan Lee, Claire Leith, Ellie Shreeves, Hannah Sweeney and Louis Yianni showed maturity in their handling of this material, as well as a deft under-standing of dramatic presentation. Simply and effectively staged with a blend of individual perform-ances and seamless ensemble work, Agender was a compelling, compact piece of theatre.

All exam performances are filmed for assessment purposes; the film of this performance should become essential viewing as part of the PHSE programme, though a record-ing could not catch the viscerality of the group’s stage performance.

NJC

ChallengingMaterialforA2DramaDevisedpiecetreadssensitiveground

Simply and effectively staged with strong ensemble work


The New Place audience was left stunned by the AS drama students’ vibrant performance of an extract from Mark Ravenhill’s play Pool (no water). Performed in Berkoff-style physical theatre, it was challenging and confrontational, and gripped the audience from start to finish.

The play examines the fragility of friendship, and dramatises the story of a famous artist who was once part of a group of closely-knit friends but who abandoned the others after achieving greater success. She invites them to her lavish new house to reunite the group for one night only and to see her new pool, but celebrations are cut short when she experiences a

horrific accident.

Undoubt-edly the most

impressive aspect of

the perform-ance was

the non-stop ensemble

movement. It takes a great deal of effort to sustain such a relentless performance, but the cast was highly energetic, barely pausing for breath. The actors worked as a chorus to full

effect, creating a number of innova-

tive, and indeed disturbing, scenes, using

their bodies to create everything from an aeroplane to the pool itself. The way that the cast worked together was mesmerising, and had the audience following events in a trance-like state. These scenes were made even eerier thanks to James Smillie’s atmospheric lighting.

Each cast member was impressive, creating distinct personalities for each of the various characters they played, and switching between roles with ease. The audience members’ eyes darted from character to character as they became increas-ingly absorbed. As one critic of the original production put it, this is not a play where the audience sits and watches – instead, it is impli-cated in the drama.

Perhaps the most striking scene of the entire performance was its conclusion, which, though inevitable, still managed to stun the audience. As soon as the drunken group of friends decide to go skinny-dipping in a mad frenzy, for old times’ sake, there is as an inescapable sense that something terrible is about to happen – which it does. The shocked silence in the room after the protagonist jumped into the empty pool spoke volumes.

It was a fitting end to an intense performance which had been leading up to the climax. The actors succeeded in holding the audience under their spell, and by the end of the performance, it was not just the cast that were out of breath.

Tomás Hill López-Menchero

ShatteringPhysicalTheatreASDrama



Yet again the Fifth Form produced some fantastic pieces of drama in an evening of performances that shocked, moved and entertained a tense New Place audience.

The first play they were treated to was The Pillowman, written by Irish playwright Martin McDonagh. The play focuses on a writer (Katurian) in a fictitious totalitar-ian state who is questioned over the brutal content of his short stories which have worrying similarities to several child killings that have happened in his town.

Having studied it myself last year I know how chal-lenging it is to bring out the subtle character nuances, while at the same time keeping the black comedy. This play is designed to place the audience in an uncom-fortable limbo, somewhere between feeling horrified at the gruesome narrative, and wanting to laugh at the witty humour. Despite this, the performers gave us five thrilling 15 minute extracts, giving a taste of what The Pillowman is all about.

It’s incredibly difficult to pick out any particular per-formances due to such a high standard on show but Michael Davies and Patrick Rondel played the perfect ‘good-cop, bad-cop’ duo, with a twist. Whilst Davies seemed almost uninterested in the potential psycho child killer in front of him, Rondel took every chance to brutally abuse the suspect. But once Ariel (Rondel) had left the room, Tupolski (Davies) showed his true colours, leaving the audience wondering which detec-tive was the more sadistic.

Josh Refson also deserves a mention for his power-ful portrayal of Katurian’s mentally disabled brother, Michal. He cleverly exploited the dramatic irony in the script and superbly delivered the major turning point in the play while subtly bringing out the humour in the dialogue. Meanwhile Danya Bavetta struck an excellent balance between a sensitive and caring brother and

then switched almost instantly as his anger and horror overcame him.

The second play on show was Mudlarks, by Vickie Donoghue, which is about three teenage boys stranded on the bank of the Thames for a night, after causing mischief in their town. Caught between the rising tide and the police, their friendship is tested and as dawn approaches they are forced to make some very important decisions.

Getting the right chemistry for the three characters is key to success here and the humour is brought out by contrasting their very different personalities. There’s also a fair amount of stage fighting which, of course, is always difficult to carry out convincingly, without forgetting about health and safety. I’m pleased to say the five performances took up the gauntlet that The Pillowman threw down and left the audience wanting more.

Once again it’s tough to name standout performances but I felt both Dom Ball and Josh Hume expertly captured the essence of Charlie, a rash and dominant trouble-maker. They also managed to portray his insecurities well, bringing out an anxious side that isn’t usually allowed to show through his tough exterior.

Matthew Davies also gave a truly convincing perform-ance as Jake, who in most aspects is the complete opposite of Charlie. Davies managed to depict an ambitious young man who is clearly well in over his head. However, he also adeptly presented his ability to make rational decisions in the face of calamity, which in this instance was Wayne, a bumbling and happy-go-lucky character, who acts as the main peacemaker between Jake and Charlie. In the final performance of the evening, Adam Annis delivered some much needed comic relief after a night of high tensions and raw emotion.

Alec McQuarrie

TenseRelationshipsGCSEDramaperformances

A scene from the AS production of Pool

(no water)

Death becomes him: Kalechi Alozi gives a sterling performance

in Mort (right)



BringingDeathtoLifeLowerSchoolProductionofTerryPratchett’sMort

Disgruntled wizard Stratford Ryan turns

butler in Mort

On a wonderful, balmy summer’s evening in June, an excited cast of 22 First and Second Formers produced a witty and refreshing performance of Mort, a play adapted by Stephen Briggs from Terry Pratchett’s novel. Pratchett’s series of Discworld novels are irreverent and in places just plain silly, as they poke fun at the fantasy genre by undercutting the serious issue of a big quest with the mundane and the everyday – think Life of Brian meets Lord of the Rings. In this tale, Mortimer, known as Mort, is the last to be selected at an apprentice fair and the only willing taker is Death, a man with a pen-chant for a full breakfast who will train his apprentice up to be there at the last moments when the old, murdered and plain unlucky throw off their mortal coil. Mort, however, is just too damn nice and messes with the order of things with poten-tially disastrous consequences.

The large and expectant audi-ence of parents, peers and staff were not left waiting long before they realised that they were in highly capable hands. Excellent ensemble work in the opening section brought the apprentice fair gloriously to life with each individual performer committed

to their character and role. Conor Robinson was excellent as Mort’s frustrated father and Nathan Jones gave a memorable turn as the village idiot who is chosen over Mort as an apprentice by the smelly Cyrus, played with brilliant comic timing by Torin Felton. Kelechi Alozie was superb as Death; with a reverberating microphone he knew just when to scare and when to underplay. His relationship with Mort was well built and at times genuinely touching, as the mentor-ing process brought out the kind-ness in a man hardened by death’s experiences. George Penny gave a subtle and confident performance, with the audience warming to this normal boy in his extraordinary role. Both Joshua Walkey-Morais and James Moore were astonish-ingly convincing as Princess Keli and Death’s daughter Ysabel (despite boiling under their wigs on such a hot day). Also particularly notable were Stratford Ryan as the grumpy wizard turned butler, Albert, and Jacob Hougie, who played the excit-able and cowardly wizard Cutwell. In the second half there were explosions galore (Mr Lewis will never let a show go by without a chance to set off a few pyros...) as the Wizards were forced into col-

laboration by the threat of reality catching up with time. Wafa Dajani gave a powerful and comic per-formance as the High Priest whose prayers to the unending list of gods were cut short by yet another explosion, and the whole cast came together brilliantly to support the final expertly choreographed battle sequence between Mort and Death. Mr Blaxill directed the play very well, despite the obvious difficulties of having plenty of the cast in the Brecon Beacons for three weeks prior to the production. The audi-ence really would not have known, such was the polish and confidence of both the big crowd sections and the individual characterisations. It really was a joy to watch so much outstanding acting from the Lower School, with each performer grab-bing their opportunity to shine and then putting a shift in for the good of the company. Ollie Branley must also be congratulation for running the sound with his usual panache and professionalism. The sheer enjoyment that the cast were having was highly infectious and the audience left with a spring in its step – a perfect summer evening’s entertainment and an apt tribute to a great writer.

DS and RJB

The Albanian 2015 CreativeWriting 31

HopeFreddie Houlahan

The perplexed man stepped into the moonlit forest and frowned. He felt tension in the air, as if something was watching him that very moment, preparing to pounce, to quench its thirst for blood…

There was a rustle in the bushes. The man walked faster. When the mystic persuaded him to go to ‘The Faith-bound Forest’, the

man had thought he was crazy. But here it was. Mist swirled around the weather-beaten man’s scuffed boots like oil. His stormy grey eyes were darting around the moonlight-dappled forest, scanning for one of those things he sensed. That was, if he had not already been detected.

The forest was a sea of trees that had been growing long before the lone wolf was born. It was one of the few places not flattened to make motorways or cities. Something rustled in the shadowy bushes in front of him. Like lightning, his loaded gun pointed at the foliage. With a farewell apology a shot rang out. Dark black avian blood dripped from the bush and pooled at his feet, dissipating the swirling fog. Suddenly something else caught his attention: the smell of rotting fish and tar, and then footsteps.

So he ran.Gasping for breath, the man came to a glistening steel fence that

bordered the forest. Surveying his dark, sparse surroundings, he decided his best bet for a speedy exit was a tree that overhung the fence. He clambered on to one of the tree’s lowest branches and proceeded to climb. There was a growl, then a strangled gurgle. Peering down, he saw a dozen or more of those things, just standing and staring up at him. The creatures had a mangled, contorted form but their eyes… they looked almost human. Surely that was impossible? The pack snarled up at the terrified human. He’d nearly reached the overhanging branch when the tree began to sway. He glanced down and gasped. With superhuman strength, they were trying to fell the tree!

With a crack and a snap the tree decided his fate and began its agonisingly slow journey to the forest floor. Like a startled wolf, the frightened man leapt off the branch, missing the fence by a hair’s breadth, and landed painfully on the other side. The creatures turned as one towards him. One ran at the fence and the hopeless man shuddered, fearing they would soon knock it down. As the beast came into contact with the fence, zzzaaaapppp, a surge of electricity flowed out of the fence and the charred body of the creature flew backwards, not even recognisable as a corpse. His hope returned.

The creatures let out a series of angry hisses, but there was no way out. The relieved man smiled in victory as he walked away, leaving the memories – and terrors – behind. It was the first time he’d smiled in a long, long time. He hoped he’d be smiling much more often in the foreseeable future. He had discovered hope.

CreativeWriting The Albanian 201532

The Birth of a StorytellerCiaran Cook

Alfred Smith did not expect to see his grandson outside his bookshop at seven o’clock on a Sunday morning. The twelve-year-old was standing under his bedroom window, hands

wrapped around a smartphone of some kind. Alfred’s daughter was standing behind him. A handbag was on her shoulder, and she looked keen to get away to whatever she had to do.

Letting out a long, wheezing sigh, Alfred pulled up his window and leaned out. His daughter looked up as she heard the clatter of the latch being set in place. When the old man appeared, she smiled.

“I’ll be down in a few minutes!” he called.She adjusted the strap of her handbag and took the device from her son,

while Alfred rapidly pulled a clean shirt on. There were several obnoxious bangs on the door as he rushed

downstairs, presumably from his grandson. As the boy was raising his hand to continue knocking, the door was

flung open, and a rather disheveled old man wearing a crumpled shirt stood in the hall.

“Hello,” said Alfred, slightly confused by the situation. “What can I do for you?”

The boy stuffed his hands into his pockets and scowled as his mother stepped forwards, a pained look on her face.

“Will you be able to look after Ben today? I have some really important work to catch up on and no one else is around to look after him… so –”

“Of course!” cried Alfred, oblivious to the fact that he had interrupted his daughter’s sentence.

At this, the boy rolled his eyes and murmured a few inaudible words. “Thanks.” His mother steered him into the house. “I’d better get going.”“Can’t you stay just for a cup of tea?”“Sorry… I really need to leave now.”“Of course, of course – Goodbye!”The second that he had stopped speaking, his daughter ran off down

the garden path and into a waiting taxi. As it receded into the distance, he closed the door, and turned to see his grandson leaning against the wall, sneering. This did not please Alfred.

“Please… Ben. Would you be able to take yourself into my parlour; it’s just round the back of the shop, while I sort a few things out and make a cup of tea?”

The boy frowned and clumped off down the hall. When Alfred got back his grandson muttered a few phrases. It was obvious that he thought that his grandfather had not heard anything.

“Pardon? I’m sorry, my hearing’s not as it used to be so you’ll have to speak with more volume.”

Grimacing, Ben repeated his mutters, revealing a short set of sentences that Alfred thought very obnoxious indeed.

“I don’t know why mum brought me here for the day; it’s just books! You can’t do anything with books! I wish I was still at home!”

The old man led his grandson to a table that was tucked away in the corner of the room. He held out a chair, and gestured to Ben to sit down. When Ben was sitting, his grandfather took a seat at the opposite end of the table.

Stacks of books surrounded them; leather-bound editions with their titles sewn in gold silk; run-of-the-mill paperbacks, both modern and


classic. Alfred took two sheets of lined paper from a box on the floor. He slid one across to Ben.

“Write,” he said, passing a pencil to his grandson.“But what about?” cried the child, his voice a mixture of confusion and

contempt.“Anything!” was the reply, as Alfred took his own writing tool, a slim

gold pen, and began to write. There was silence for a while, until it was shattered by another enquiry.“But why should I write? I don’t even like reading, let alone writing!

And I can’t think of how to start my story!”Without looking up from his work, Alfred gave some words of advice.“I am getting you to write because it will show you that the authors of

the famous, published books I love, must work a lot harder than you think to end up with a final story. If you are so stuck, take one of the books from around you and read a few lines; then, perhaps you will be able to express your ideas.”

Sighing, Ben took up a dusty paperback from one of the countless piles next to him.

In large, glossy print, the title was written:

THE SWORD of DARKNESS

He flicked through to the first page:

A pallid moon hung in the sky. Branches reached across the horizon, long dark fingers. Cesraungl stood upon the earthen track beneath these sights. In his hand was a sword that shone so brightly, even though it was made of a dull, black metal. This was the Sword of Darkness. And Cesraungl was on a mission.

Suddenly inspired, Ben put the book down on the table and lowered his pencil to the paper. After much time spent pencil biting and writing, he felt his grandfather’s hand on his shoulder.

“I told you it would come,” he said softly; “I knew it would.”There was a loud knock on the door, and Alfred straightened. “I suppose your mother is waiting for you.”Ben smiled weakly, and walked down the hallway with his grandfather,

pencil and paper clutched in one hand. But when the door was opened, Alfred rushed back down the hall. He

returned with a rectangular item that was wrapped up in brown paper, along with another, thinner package.

“Just a little present,” he said as he pressed them into Ben’s hands, “because you worked so hard.”

30 Years Later…

Even after Ben wrote his first real book some years later, and his books became bestsellers and writing awards littered his shelves and walls, he still kept a faded photograph of him and his grandfather, alongside a story. The story was written in pencil on a sheet of lined paper, and was titled:

The Deathly Dancing Skeletons

But even more precious to him were the edition of The Sword of Darkness and his grandfather’s special writing pen that his grandfather had given him that day in the bookshop.


Hello and welcome to the Jutland Cup Final 1916. We are

here today to find out who has the better navy, Britain or Germany. If Britain is victorious today, they will be able to choke Germany into submission through the implementation of a blockade of Germany’s narrow coastline. However, if the Germans are led to victory today, we will see the British blockade get a bit looser for a few months. Previous encounters of these two sides took place in 1914/15 in the group stages. It was Britain who came out on top as they dominated, with high numbers of German soldiers killed and German ships destroyed. Germany, however, were lucky to be allowed a goal as officials were unable to see that the German playmaker, the German High Seas Fleet, was in fact in an offside position and scored in Yorkshire’s goal. This conceded 137 fatalities but boosted the morale of the British players and they responded a few months later, the result of intercepting German radio messages. At the Dogger Bank Stadium, they scored 954 fatalities and the German captain, Armoured Cruiser, was unlucky enough to be a part of the humiliation. As kick off approaches, I would like to remind everyone at home that the bookies at William World War 1 have put Britain as

favourites at 5/1 whereas a German victory is at 10/1. This reflects the strength of the British Navy.

We have kicked off,

and we hope for a thrilling Battle… After twenty minutes, the action has begun and it looks like the British skipper, Jellicoe, is looking for an interception against his opponents. The Grand Fleet raises steam for full speed and prepares to give chase after goalkeeper Rosyth’s long ball forward. At this juncture the Battle Cruiser fleet’s striker Beatty holds the ball up, waiting for the inevitable counter attack that will come from the opposition. After a quiet first half of tactical jiggery-pokery, it’s half time here and would you look at that! Britain appears to be dominating possession but it is Germany who is proving to be more clinical. At the half way mark, Germany has scored 4,127 goals compared to Britain’s 1,459. The bookies are still backing a British victory as they can afford to concede many goals as they have a lot of substitutes. Germany have to

be careful as they are treading on thin ice at

the moment; they cannot afford to

concede any more.

As the second half commences, let’s hope we are able to enjoy some more goals. We are at the hour mark and HMS Indefatigable has suffered a nasty injury. It looks like it’s game over for him! News just keeps going from bad to worse for the British fans. Britain’s number 10, HMS Queen Mary, has also been injured. These two fatal injuries have led to Britain conceding 2,868 goals! Surely there is no hope for Britain now! The British navy is not giving up and you can tell this from their performance over the last one and a half days. The huge British guns have caused the manager of the German Navy, Scheer, to decide that the best option is to sail back to the dressing room.

Both teams made it

into the dressing room successfully, but an argument developed in the tunnel. Both teams have claimed to have won. The WW1 officials have discussed the outcome of the Battle and decided that… Britain remains undefeated against Germany in the Jutland Cup. Although Germany scored more goals, it was Britain who took advantage of the number of substitutes they had on offer. Great Britain was able to soak up the number of goals they conceded and 24 large ships entered the field on the British side. This victory has enabled Great Britain

to maintain its control of the North Sea and is

now able to sustain its blockade of the

north German coast.

The Jutland CupJohn Motson’s Match ReportLorenzo Razzano


Sed ad Rem, Non Potest Memoria FallatLouis DeeSoftly, shaking, silently the trees moaned and croaked,Their branches touching, overhanging as if they were shaking hands.But this peace is never to last. Not in our world,We are blind to the realities of war.Rat-a-tat-tat;The TV screen illuminating your inanimate face,Like a scarecrow still and emotionless,So naïve yet with no morals to bear.Another falls, plummeting to the earth.So what? That’s just another addition to your score.You have killed hundreds but never batted an eyelid.Surely this is not the education you should obtain,You should…No.You should never have to remember these graphic nightmares,Like an elephant’s excellent, eccentric memory.These images never fade; Sed ad rem, non potest memoria fallat.You can close your eyes to reality but not to memories.

BarbarityTaylor BurdettScreams erupt from the silenceThat can only be brought by terror.Pain is the only thing they knowand the only thing that they feel.

The cries of innocent children,Screaming, burning, dying,Fear and pain consume them,Yet the soldiers behind feel none.

Running, fleeing, trying to cease the burning,some half-naked, some crying,even though it is in vain.

Their skin ablaze, devouring their bodies,the one thing in their minds –“When will it end?”

Napalm,the name for the torture,that now maims sinless citizens.Why commit such barbarity?

I Entered the GunfightOliver HarrisI was normal; I liked football, and wildlife and sunlight. But that all changed –When I entered the gunfight.I killed a man.It was me, my shadow; The old me is gone, And a new me is drawn.

I have met another me,Familiar withAtrocity. I look at my reflectionAnd that stranger is me; The face of a boyWho can only destroy.My shadow self, A killer, a monster, Empty and blank;Soulless.

Who is this?I am normal; I like football, and wildlife and sunlight. But that was before – I entered the gunfight.

SecondFormPoetryexploringConflict


A Child WitnessEleanor Sinfield

There are certain kinds of darkness. There’s dark where the shadows are, evening dark where you can still see, and the really dark. The really dark is rare. There are always street lights at night, or a gap

under a door. It’s only when you just turn the light off and run into your bed, then there’s a flash of the really dark before your eyes adjust. But I know a place where your eyes don’t adjust. Where you can sit and it’s more than really dark. It’s more than a colour; darkness has a smell too, and a sound. Darkness smells of wood, and sounds of creaks and breaths.

No matter how hard I try to sit still, or if I hold in my breath, the wood around me creaks and breathes all by itself. Hiding here used to scare me: eyes open and eyes closed you can’t tell the difference, you almost think you’re blind. But mummy said blind people hear better, and if I lean against the side and press my ear against it, I can hear better too. I hear when the seeker patters in and opens the groaning wardrobe and when they thump their knees on the ground to look under the bed. They never find that I’m hiding in here, but even in the darkness I know where they are.

I can hear the seeker now. It’s James, my older brother. First he goes to the wardrobe, then checks under the bed. He pauses. He gets up. He pauses. He steps towards my place. Like going underwater, I take a deep breath. And hold. And hold. And hold. And hold. And my chest begins to hurt. And hold, And hold. And…

The door shuts. My brother has now gone. The darkness pants around me. It too was scared, it seemed. It didn’t want the lid opened, and light to be brought on. I never thought of it before, but light is the death of darkness.

I will wait here a little longer. Listen for the sounds of people being found in other rooms, then sneak out and appear somewhere else and tell them that I’ve won again.

The door purrs. Did James hear the darkness breathing? Has the darkness finally betrayed me, after being my friend for so long?

Click. Click. Click. Click. James’s feet don’t sound like that. Something else squeaks and slides behind it. The door purrs shut. The lock pounces on. “Are you sure one of the rats isn’t in here?” a female voice asks.

It sounds familiar. “Don’t worry darling, I know all their hiding places,” says my father.

An EndingOwain Cooke

Finally the great day dawned. He was dead! The loss of my father, that sweet hearted oaf, meant my acquisition of his entire estate. I knew those long

winter walks, under the pretence of father-son bonding, would take their toll, and finally after a solid six weeks of nothing but “I love you, son” and “You’ll make me proud”, I finally tipped him into an early grave.


The Kopje Greg HacksleyThe kopje crest still marks the place Where Hodge, uncoffined, lies,And through the berg wind’s rasping breath His dusty spirit sighs Interminably of exile, A craving thirst for rain,For coolness from oppressive heat,To douse the scorching pain Within his homely northern breast,Whose shattered bones still houseA yearning for a time long goneWhen horses pulled the ploughs. The meaning of the broad karooRemains a mystery still,As screeching hadedahs, not larks,Wail round his granite hill. Above veld and escarpment as They drum their wings on high,Below in lingering limbo, Hodge Lies broken in goodbye.

Tears: to a TerroristPat Taylor‘It seems I have no tears left’‘Tears’, Edward Thomas Do not think that you know what these tears are.Do not think that you know their enzymes,or the spark across the synapsesthat causes them to fall. Because these are my tears and not yours, after all.The one thing you knowis whether we are after all, or just in between, you, who have so many questions, and so few answers. Do not think these are crocodile tearsor tears of cold-eyed revenge:do not see a gentleness in their falling.Do not think that a tear is a tiny thing, For you do not know the salt of their resolve.Do not think them a sign of weakness,for these are tears of rage: fear them.Do not think I have no tears left.

Adlestrop AgainPat TaylorTwo tracks stretch to a bend, then disappear.A haphazard fence of post and wire lurches between the banked-up ballast and a scrub of larchesBefore being cut from view by bluff arch Of overbridge. Barely visible beneath bramble,willow and willowherb, soft sodden bricks crumble,last vestige of the bare platform Edward Thomas sawthat distant day of heat. Who now will make the linkbetween lines of shimmering steel and a long-dead poet’s sure-handed feelfor words and moods? Who now will catch our time,and distil it into sixteen perfect lines?

Buddha in SwedenGreg Hacksley You’re far from home, here in the needling northand yet you smile still benevolence on all, wishing no harmon those whose lethal, lusting fists snatched you from your supplicant’sdismembered body. Namaste. Gentle as lotus petals,tranquil as evening,seems unequal tothe guttural Goddag which, steely as plunderer’s scythingsword, muscles through thesyllables of peace. Knowingly smiling,you understand whatthose who worship Thorcannot comprehendthat to bow is tocure. Love, wisdom, peacefashion the ploughsharesfor the future ofour humanity.

In 1954, archaeologists excavating a Viking settlement in Sweden found a Buddha statuette from India. The 6th Century statuette was found along with an Irish crosier and an Egyptian Coptic christening ladle, illustrating the vast distances that the Vikings traded over, and the many different cultures and religions they encountered in doing so.

Music The Albanian 201538

The Albanian 2015 Music 39

This year’s annual Steinway Piano Concert was performed to a full hall, featuring performances from students, staff and OAs. Since the first concert a few years ago, created to mark the arrival of the Steinway pianos, this has become an occasion to show the skills of the finest pianists in the school and the achieve-ment of being an All-Steinway School. The standard of this year’s concert was arguably the highest to date, and with music ranging from Chopin to Zappa, it was a recital enjoyable to any ear.

Starting the evening was Max Houghton playing Prelude from Suite Bergamsque by Debussy, a very beautiful piece played with an impressively light touch. Director of Music Mick Stout then gave an incredible performance of his own composition, Étude in B flat minor. Originally a piece for two separate pianos, it proved a perfectly balanced contrast to the Debussy piece, with loud singing melodies as well as intriguing harmonic dissonance. Yet another notable perform-ance came from Sean Bracebridge, who played the very famous Prelude in C major, No.1 by JS Bach. A staple in most concert pianists’ repertoire and one of Bach’s most loved compositions, this was a calming performance that was successful in bringing out the melodic lines that the piece is so well known for.

Music teacher Tom Young continued the evening with his striking performance of Béla Bartók’s Romanian Dance No. 1, Op. 8a. Combining folk-inflected melo-dies with ferocious rhythms of driving intensity, this greatly theatrical piece was played flawlessly, no doubt providing inspiration for the pupils watching and listening. This was followed by a St Albans School first, as William Drake played his own piece New Beginnings, compiled from video game music from over the last few decades. Featuring themes from games such as Tomb Raider, William entertained the audience as he had transformed the music into a very impressive pianistic style.

After a remarkable first half, the second half main-tained the standard. New Third Former Thomas Hillman, playing Waltz in D Flat Major & Waltz in C Sharp Minor, stunned the audience with the maturity and skill of his performance. Thomas Dilley perfectly captured the lyrical melodies of Schubert’s Impromptu in G flat, Op.90, No.3. The concert was closed with two pieces from Rachmaninoff’s Cinq Morceaux de fantaisie. Firstly Prelude in C sharp minor, which at times is notated across four staves and is one of Rach-maninoff ’s most famed pieces, was rousingly played by Joe Griffith and was a real treat for the audience. Then to end the concert Peter Gosling played the Polichinelle (meaning ‘Clown’). Depicting the Punch and Judy-esqe character, this piece uses the whole range the piano, showing off sprawling arpeggios and Rach-maninoff ’s classic Romantic melodies. The concert demonstrated an extremely high level of piano playing from all involved and was yet another success for the music department.

Peter Gosling

PlayingtheFullRangeSteinwayConcert

The Steinway pianos have reinvigorated

piano playing at the School


There was something for eve-rybody in the annual Autumn Concert, as students demonstrated their fine musical talents in the run up to the Carol Service. The variety of pieces and genres was hugely im-pressive, demonstrating the breadth of talent on show.

Fittingly, the concert started with a lively piece composed by pupil Matthew McClafferty called A Modal Moment, performed by the Percus-sion Ensemble. After a subtle intro-duction, the piece burst into life, and this got the evening off to a dynamic start. It also provided a hint of what was to come later in the concert.

Much of the concert consisted of instantly recognisable popular tunes, some from film and TV. The Sinfonietta played a rendition of Apache arranged by Jerry Lordon, and there was a tuneful version of the March from Star Wars from the Flute Group, followed by a haunt-ing performance of Skyfall, which mesmerised the audience.

Next the String Ensemble delighted the audience with Playful Pizzicato by Benjamin Britten, which, as the title implies, was animated and

bouncy in equal measure. The con-stant plucking of the strings kept the audience on tenterhooks and gave the piece its liveliness.

The Senior Brass group performed an impressive version of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, followed by the Sax Group’s jazzy performance of Moondance by Van Morrison. Switching back to classical music, the Third Form Brass group played the regal March from Scipio by Handel, which channeled the spirit of the composer.

Continuing with songs from the screen, the Concert Band played Bond… James Bond and the Theme from The A Team, both strong pieces that stirred the audience. The orchestra’s booming performance of the Medley from Man of Steel was equally epic, and though it was perhaps one of the least well-known pieces of the night, proved to be one of the highlights of the concert.

The concert again took on a more lively tone as the Clarinet Ensem-ble played the exotic Tico Tico by Zequinha Abreu and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice composed by Paul Dukas

and arranged by Christensen (as featured in the Walt Disney film Fantasia). The Clarinet Ensemble managed to convey the full narra-tive behind this piece, enthralling the audience.

It was then time for the Barber-shop led by Dr Saunders, who provided some light relief from the heavier pieces. First they sang Little Road to Bethlehem by Michael Head, and their annual rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas, arranged by Richard Gregory, was as humorous as ever, interspersed with other well-known Christmas tunes.

The evening wound down with a soothing performance of The Blue Bird by Charles Villiers Stanford from the Concert Choir, featuring a fine solo from Thomas Hillman. This was followed by the hugely popular piece The Lion Sleeps Tonight by Coral Julio Dominguez, with a solo by Rachel Glass-Sluckin. While it may have been one of the more untraditional pieces of the night, the choir gave a rousing performance.

The Jazz Band was the most eagerly awaited act of the night, and did not disappoint. A deafen-ing version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow arranged by Dave Wolpe featured two brilliant solos from Jemma Attar and Caroline Maggs, while Peter Gunn by Henry Mancini and arranged by Paul Jennings was just as impressive, with solos from brass players Louis Clayden, Joe Griffith, Michael Roche and Sean Bracebridge. Sweet Home Chicago by Robert Johnson and arranged by Andy Clark provided a slick climax to the night, with each soloist adding their own touch to the piece. Finally the evening ended with a brassy Santa Claus is Coming to Town sung by James Lear, getting the audience in the mood for Christmas.

As always, the concert was a huge success and will live long in the memory. The audience went home extremely satisfied, and it was the perfect taster for the Carol Concert, and indeed the Christ-mas season itself.


SomethingforEveryoneAutumnConcert

Matthew McClafferty performed his own piece with the Percussion Ensemble


Fresh from his success with the English National Opera as Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro, baritone David Stout performed a pro-gramme of song with the theme ‘Love, Hope and Desperation’ to a bustling audience in November. David Stout has performed at many prestigious venues throughout the UK, as well as performing on BBC Radio 3. He was accompanied on piano by répétiteur Susannah Wap-shott, who has a busy career which includes coaching at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

The concert opened with three contrasting songs by Franz Schubert. Of particular note was ‘Der Doppelgänger’, the final lied from Schwanengesang, which was impressive with both its menacing and sinister qualities. David Stout sang such complicated melodies with ease, with Susannah Wapshott accompanying effortlessly at the piano. The programme then moved on to music by Hugo Wolf, with a trio of songs from Eichendorff-Lieder. ‘Der Glücksritter’, with words

written by the poet Joseph Freiherr, was a personal favourite, due to the energetic performance given by both musicians. Three French pieces by Maurice Ravel followed. The rousing, light-hearted last song of the first half, ‘Chanson à Boire’, which translates as ‘Drinking Song’, provided an appropriate end before the interval and refreshments.

Two song cycles delighted members of the audience once they returned to their seats. The first was a collection of Gerald Finzi pieces, with famous works of Shakespeare set to music, bringing together the finest of English litera-ture and music. The second, written by Vaughan Williams, was based on five poems by George Herbert and was entitled Five Mystical Songs. It certainly was as the title suggests, with the school’s Chamber Choir, conducted by Mr Stout, adding an enchanting backdrop to the music. Possibly the most famous of these pieces was ‘The Call’, a piece often heard in church.

SongsonanAutumnEveningProfessionalConcert

The concert received a well-de-served standing ovation. Susannah Wapshott made a hard job look easy, fulfilling the parts of a whole orchestra with just one piano. She played lyrically throughout the concert, whilst David Stout’s rich tone, extensive range and superb stage presence made this evening an event to remember.

William Drake

David Stout has rapidly established himself as one of the UK’s most versatile baritones. His repertoire ranges widely, encompassing early music with period instruments, Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Britten, the bel canto repertoire and contemporary and twentieth-century works. He has earned a formidable reputation for his stage charisma, refined acting and presence on stage, as well as for being a great colleague whom other singers, conductors and directors are keen to work with again and again.

Source: http://www.intermusica.co.uk/stout


On one of the coldest nights of the year, an extensive feast of music was performed by Music Award Holders at their annual concert. There were twenty-seven separate performances, which reflected the breadth and scope of musical talent in the School. The variety of genre, both instrumental and vocal, was most impressive, and the perform-ances were all recorded in prepara-tion for the Herts Young Musicians of the Year Competition.

Cellist Ian Davidson opened the concert with a vigorous, moving performance of the ‘Prayer’ from Jewish Life by Ernest Bloch, an appropriate piece for Holocaust Memorial Week. In lively contrast, clarinettist William Drake played the molto allegro from the Saint-Saëns sonata, followed by Dan Angel, who sang a Gluck aria, ‘O del mio dolce ardour,’ with real confidence and verve. Oboe player Liam Babwah performed the pert, sprightly Italian Dance by Madeleine Dring, followed by the resonant tones of the horn, as George Adshead played the Mendelssohn ‘Nocturne’ from his incidental music to Shakespeare’s A Midsum-mer Night’s Dream. Max Houghton played with delicate precision the ‘Prelude’ from Debussy’s Suite Bergamasque, a beautifully romantic piece, with the composer, even in this early piece, exploiting the full range of the piano’s sonorities. In contrast, violinist Ben Craig per-formed a stately eighteenth century Giga by Francesco Veracini.

Tom and Freddie Pazzi-Axworthy together sang the prayer Day by Day by Martin How with great ex-pression, their voices melding and then contrasting. Henry Avery on trumpet gave a lively, bouncy per-formance of Leonard Bernstein’s Rondo for Lifey, exploiting the full range of his instrument. Recorder player Edward Moye performed a sonata from Hortus Musicus 209 by William Croft, a bright, cheer-ful piece. First Former Albert Martin-Flaven sang ‘Any Dream Will Do’ from Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat by Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Tim Rice (OA) with bright confidence and trum-peter Harry Sampson, in colourful

braces, delivered a solid, melodious performance of ‘Aria’ from the Trumpet Sonata by Flor Peters.

Alex Binnington gave a confident piano performance of a Beethoven slow movement. He was followed by Will Maynard, who sang Schu-mann’s stalwartly romantic declara-tion, ‘Widmung’ from Myrthen. Cellist Matt O’Connor took us Truckin’ Through the South by Aaron Minsky, while clarinettist Brendan Warren exploited the full range of his instrument in the sprightly second movement of the Donizetti Concertino. Thomas Hillman played with grace Prokoviev’s twinkling ‘Prelude’ from Ten Pieces for Piano, with William Foxton closing the first half of the concert in an expressive performance of ‘On the Street Where You Live’ from My Fair Lady.

Trumpeter Jordan Collingwood opened the second half with a stylish performance of the jazzy Red, White and Blues by Leonard Bernstein. Violinist Theo Gill performed Korngold’s lively Mum-menschanz with real panache and James Lear played and sang his own composition Women with real maturity. Clarinettist James Mackie gave a delightful, sensitive perform-ance of the minuet and trio from a Mozart Divertimento and pianist Joe Griffith most expressively played the evergreen Rachmaninoff C# minor Prelude. The deeply resonant tones of the euphonium, played by Will Stewart, did full justice to a Marcello Sonata and pianist Peter Gosling gave a delicately nuanced and liquid performance of the first movement of the Beethoven Opus 10 no 2. Horn player Thomas Dilley delivered a rich and vibrant per-formance of Theme and Variations by Franz Strauss, the first horn in the 1865 Munich premier of Tristan und Isolde and father of Richard Strauss. Pianist Sean Bracebridge closed the concert with a performance of his own composition, The Drums. Both music and lyrics provided a dramatic end to this exceptional evening of music making.

JMG/AKJ

AmazingTechnicolourMusicMusicAwardHoldersConcert

George Adshead, Sean Bracebridge and Matt O’Connor were performers at the Award Holders’ Concert


This year’s Jazz Evening was a high-octane night of driven rhythm and varied vocals. The twenty-strong full band opened with a blast of brass, appropriately with Strommen’s The Opener, followed by classics Night Train and C Jam Blues. The playful balance between horns and trombones in Night Train was very effective, with plenty of solo breaks to allow a display of instrumental expertise – Louis Clayden and Sean Bracebridge’s trumpets and Michael Roche’s trombone particularly to the fore. In C Jam Blues, drummer Jeremiah Joshua Wallace finally got his break, facially impassive above a whirlwind of sticks.

A range of vocal numbers took the audience through a variety of styles, with Sean Bracebridge’s tender rendering of My Funny Valentine followed by James Lear’s own com-position Women, his accompanying staff band augmented by Joely Koos, contributing a haunting cello line and all underpinned by Phil Craig’s brushes on the drums. Will Foxton gained more confidence and swing through his version of Happy Days Are Here Again before the Barber-shop Group stepped forth. Michael Roche took the narrative of Satin Doll above the doo-wops from his colleagues, while the story was shared among the singers in Have Some Madeira M’Dear, above the variety of accompanying rhythms and silly noises. This group of songster staff was clearly entertain-ing itself as much as the audience. James Lear’s performance of Misty showed real sensitivity on the keys, but strikingly impressive here too was drummer JJ Wallace. We had heard him driving hard rhythms earlier in the evening; here, he brushed the skins with delicate feeling and timing, just tantalisingly audible at the end.

A very different mood was created when the full band returned to support Jemma Attar and Lizzie Horton with swagger and bravado in belting out Big Spender. Nadine Carasco and Matthew McClaf-ferty were also impressive, ironi-

cally treating the audience to fancy footwork as well as singing skills in I Won’t Dance, before James Lear stepped up to power through Come By Me, while Peter Gosling kept control at the piano – a proper blowout to leave the audience exhausted before the interval.

The second half unleashed the staff band, taut and skilful, featur-ing Network Support on bass. Supported by Tom Young’s gentle piano, Phil Craig’s control on drums and Jon Saunders’ distant muted trumpet, Mick Stout, red wine in hand – as a stage property only, you understand – gave a suitably smooth but world-weary per-formance of One For My Baby. The trumpets of Saunders and Martin took the theme in an inventive version of Norwegian Wood, with artful improvising from all, including Joely Koos using her striking voice as well as her cello.

Rachel Lee took over for three numbers, her voice at times sultry, at times vivacious. Her mic volume could have done with being raised a notch or two in The Girl from Ipanema as the band’s strident salsa was a little too dominant, but the instrumentation of Young and Foolish allowed her an even greater chance to shine. The audience ap-preciated her tone and emotional modulations, neatly balanced with Jon Saunders’ trumpet. Twisted demanded deft vocal articulation and Rachel Lee got her mouth around the rapid flow of words and scat with aplomb, with a real sense of character and fun shared with the band.

Bringing everything to a rousing end, the band drove and improvised through a version of James Brown’s Pass the Peas – ‘an extended jam’ as Mick Stout called it. Call it what he may, it was skilled and exhilarating. These are teachers who teach and can certainly do.

With musical mastery from performers both young and more experienced, this was a terrific night’s entertainment.

NJC

RhythmandFewBluesGettingintotheswingattheJazzEvening


Back in its traditional venue, the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban, this year’s concert was an ambitious and varied programme. It was performed by pupils and parents from St Albans High School for Girls and St Albans School with invited soloists, under the firm but inspired baton of Mick Stout, Direc-tor of Music at St Albans School.

The concert opened with two beau-tiful, majestic anthems composed by William H Harris. The first, Bring Us, O Lord God, from a prayer by John Donne, was performed with gentle sensitivity by the unaccompanied massed choir. The second, Faire is the Heaven, a setting of Edmund Spenser’s ‘An Hymne of Heavenly Beauty’, was marked by a dazzling crescendo of voices, rising and then falling. Ralph Vaughan Wil-liams’ uplifting, ravishing Serenade to Music, a setting of words taken from

Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, followed. The strings quivered and the soloists, Georgia Davies playing the violin and the soprano Joanna Nolan, delighted the audience with their strong performances. William Walton’s Spitfire Prelude & Fugue, composed in 1942 for part of the film score for The First of the Few, opened with trumpets sounding a vigorous march, quickly followed by swooping and soaring strings, mimicking the plane’s movements in the air. A poignant, lyrical violin solo beautifully played by Thomas Hillman provided an interlude within the composition, before a return to the rousing pace of the opening.

A performance of Karl Jenkins’ thirteen part The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace formed the second half of the concert. The Armed Man was commissioned for the transition from one millennium to

another, reflecting on the war torn nature of the past century and looking forward to a more peaceful future. Receiving its first perform-ance in 2000, it was also specifically dedicated to the victims of the Kosovo conflict. The performance of this work holds additional poign-ancy in the light of the centenary of the Great War and the continuing strife in the Middle East.

The Catholic Mass provides a framework for this composi-tion, whilst the music and lyrics are drawn from several religions and cultures as it unfolds. In this performance, the dynamic opening drumbeat, heralding impend-ing martial conflict, gathered to a stormy pace with the advent of ‘L’homme armé’ (‘The Armed Man’). This was followed by the traditional unaccompanied Muslim Call to Prayer, ‘Adhaan’, announced in striking fashion by Al-Hajj Sheik Ahmud Fareed Aumeer, his voice resounding through the great nave. Soloist Nina Vinther then deli-cately led the choir into the deeply

WarandPeaceJointSchools’Concert


moving ‘Kyrie’, after a solemn orchestral introduction.

Striking contrasts in tone and pace contribute to the impact of this work, as exemplified by what followed the Kyrie. A strong, unaccompanied group of tenors and basses from the choir chanted the words from Psalms 56 and 59, ‘Save Me from Bloody Men’. The calm of this was abruptly and dramatically ended by the sound of a sudden threatening drumbeat. The celebratory, optimistic words of the ‘Sanctus’, beautifully sung by the choir, were then to be undermined by ominous, militaristic music, featuring especially percussion and brass sections of the orchestra. The dark, fateful words of Rudyard Kipling’s ‘Hymn Before Action’, with its notion of sacrifice on the battlefield, were strongly delivered by choir and orchestra. Trumpets and drums then dramatically sounded the ‘Charge!’ A stirring crescendo of music and song, the latter based on a stanza taken from John Dryden’s ‘Ode for St Cecilia’s Day’, itself derived from Horace’s

‘Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori’, was rendered with vigour by choir and orchestra, culminating in screams as battle commenced. The section closed dramatically with silence and then the plaintive sound of the Last Post, the sonic effects augmented by trumpets playing from separate spaces around the abbey.

The effects of war were first given voice by a setting of the words of the Japanese poet Toge Sankichi, ‘Angry Flames’, written after the atom bomb was dropped on Hiro-shima in 1945. Introduced by the striking of a gong, a mournful tolling characterised this lacrimoso with the choir movingly led by four solo-ists, Emma Huggett, Nina Vinther, Tom Robinson and Jon Saunders. ‘Torches’, a setting of part of the Hindu epic The Mahabharata, which illustrates the suffering of animals caught up in warfare, was delivered with strong emotive force.

The ‘Agnus Dei’, conveying a hope for peace, sung calmly and sooth-ingly, provided a further strong con-trast, reinforced by Nina Vinthner’s

moving rendition of ‘Now the Guns have Stopped’, in which a survivor mourns the death of a friend in battle. The introduction to the ‘Benedictus’, a beautiful cello solo from Joe Davies OA, was serenely reflected in the words from the Latin mass sung by the choir, which incorporated a sumptuous and explosive Hosanna. The final move-ment, ‘Better is Peace’, taken from a sentiment expressed by Thomas Malory, took us back to the opening music from ‘Armed Man’, but adjusted to convey a different feeling. A celebratory millennial interlude from the orchestra was followed by a final moving hymn, sung unaccompanied, in words taken from the Book of Revelation.

This closed an evening of immense-ly impressive and very moving choral and orchestral music, performed with enthusiasm and style. This enjoyable and successful concert also reflected, of course, the musical talent, strong teamwork and dynamic leadership, which such a venture necessitates.

JMG

The Joint Schools’ Concert in rehearsal and performance


It was Mr Stout who pointed out that while other schools have their summer performances around this time, St Albans School sensibly chooses to hold its spring concert at the end of April, as summer often takes its time to arrive.

And so, with a nod to the green-fingered members of the audience, the Spring Concert commenced with a quirky rendition of the theme from Ground Force played cheerily by the Senior Brass En-semble. Their rousing theme from The Great Escape stirred the Steve McQueen in many of the audience members, who toe-tapped on invis-ible accelerator pedals throughout.

There were countless highlights throughout the evening, the first being the perfect pairing of the three senior pianists who per-formed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.12 in A Major with the small and perfectly formed chamber orchestra. The ‘Allegro’ played by Peter Gosling was peppered with light-fingered frivolity, while Thomas Dilley’s purposeful ‘Andante’ showed great control and Joe Grif-fith’s ‘Allegretto’ playfully conversed with the strings throughout.

Second Former Robert Moye received a well-deserved handshake and a hearty applause after a tre-men-

dous performance of his mellow composition for the Sinfonietta, aptly entitled Reggae Jam. A laid back rhythm and several soulful solos came together to create a trench town worthy groove enjoyed by all. Our four-strong percussion ensemble picked up the tempo with tight rasps and paradid-dles and a perfectly synchronised and extremely talented Saxophone Ensemble transported the audience to the streets of Manhattan with a jazz infused conclusion to the concert’s first half.

We were welcomed aboard the second half of the concert with the familiar naval drum snares of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. A hearty crescendo complete with thunderclaps preceded an even louder applause from a wired audi-ence and it was up to the string ensemble to bring pulses back from racing to a steadier pace, which they achieved beautifully through Britten’s Simple Symphony in three parts. The playful pizzicato was a delight to experience and the many layers of the ‘Sentimental Saraband’, sombre

and serene.

A trio of exceptional

talents came together to perform

‘Allegro’ from Opus 1, No 2 in E flat major. Thomas

Hillman on piano, Theo Gill on violin and Ian

Davidson on

ChallengingMusicalExpectationsSpringConcert

cello complemented each other with perfect tone and timing, giving a magnificent performance. And in a challenging but delightful version of Danse Macabre for brass, Phil Bainbridge demonstrated how im-portant it is to challenge expecta-tions in music.

It was apparent that the concert band who completed the evening’s performances were enjoying their medley of movie themes and their rendition of the Back to the Future provided an epic ending to the piece before a patriotic march in the form of Elgar’s Pomp and Cir-cumstance brought the evening to a triumphant close.

Congratulations to Mr Stout, Mr Young, Mr Craig and all others involved in the organisation and performance of this highly enjoy-able performance.

CNT


There was a time when Leavers’ Concerts were all about rock bands, and we have had farewell recitals full of cellos, violins and clarinets. The last couple of years have been very much about singers, as each one plays to the strengths of the

musicianship which is about to take its leave from the School. If this concert is anything to go by, we’ve just said goodbye to a fine group of vocalists.

That’s not to say there weren’t a few instrumentalists thrown in. We opened with a fanfare, Bertie Veres hoisting his trumpet to play Ravel’s ‘Pièce en forme de habanera’, controlling the rapid runs and high notes with real finesse. Max Houghton also put the library’s Steinway through its paces in the second movement of Beethoven’s 8th Sonata, the ‘Pathétique’. He particularly enjoyed the movement’s rapid sections, with plenty of weight in the left hand, contrasting with the delicate outer passages. Matt Russell played a less familiar piece, Jun Maeda’s ‘Nagisa: Farewell at the Foot of the Hill’. This was confidently approached without a score, Matt fully involved with the piece and its shifting tones.

The rest of the evening belonged to the singers, though one of them did front a rock duo, with Max Cadman’s classic rock posturing (‘I’ve always wanted to do this in the library,’ he announced) in front of Nick Harvey’s crashing drums and Josh

Southworth’s pounding bass. Full of swagger, Max belted out the vocals of ‘Come on Over’ as the library shelves bounced.

Other songs were gentler, ranging from 50s classics to the latest indie pop, while another departure from tradition was that a number of singers entertained

the audience several times. Nadine Carasco made three appearances, each a little more controlled than her AC/DC tour de force at House Music. On this evening she was able to show greater subtlety, moving from power to gentle tenderness in a version of Adele’s ‘Make You Feel My Love’ and swooping easily between the lower and higher registers in Jennifer Hudson’s ‘One Night Only’ before she unleashed her power towards the end of the evening in Alicia Keys’ ‘If I Ain’t Got You’, Phil Craig’s deli-cate drums providing a jazzy counterpoint. Caroline Maggs, on the other hand, accom-panied herself charmingly on ukulele, providing the rhythm to the winsome ‘Little Talks’, while Max Houghton grabbed the acoustic guitar to provide the picked accompaniment

to Ben Howard’s ‘Old Pine’. Here Caroline’s folky style and catches in the voice were reminiscent of Joni Mitchell.

Just before the interval we were treated to a dose of Ronan Lee’s lovely light tenor, exploited very well on Keaton Henson’s ‘Small Hands’. He showed

real delicacy with the higher notes, the vocals neatly poised over Nick Harvey’s guitar accompaniment. There was just the one number from Ronan, but another

singer who made several appearances was Jemma Attar, another vocalist with real range. This was clearly demonstrated in her version of Birdy’s ‘Skinny Love’. Here she gave the emotional lyrics a lighter, breathy articulation, shaped, to these ears, more successfully than the thin-voiced original. It was a different Jemma who launched into the 50s American torch song ‘Cry Me A River’, layering the vocals with little shivers and syncopations and really filling out for the big phrases with power. It was Jemma too who closed the evening, in duet with Patrick Gaeton, singing Ed Sheeran’s ‘I See Fire’. They developed and built the piece, Patrick gaining in confidence and poise as they went on and the two of them blending very effectively, taking contrast-

ing lines towards the end of the song.

As ever, whatever the varieties in programming, this was a delightful evening of shared music-making, tinged with sadness, but overwhelmingly one of grati-tude for the music the students have given us over the years.

NJC

SongsofLossandFarewellLeavers’Concert

Features The Albanian 201548

Remembrance Service 2014

The Albanian 2015 Features 49

In time for the Remembrance Service and as part of the com-memoration of World War 1, the School’s War Memorial in the Upper Yard has undergone careful restora-tion. The expert team first used a low pressure high steam wash to remove the algae and lichens from the stone surface, as high pres-sure can damage old stone edgings. One of the capstones below the cross had to be removed in order to eradicate vegetation which had rooted itself in the joints. The stone was cleaned and replaced, while other damaged stonework was repaired and pointing replaced with a special mix suitable for Portland stone. Another specialist part of the job was the application of an ammonium clay poultice to the area around the plaque, in order to remove the copper staining from the stones. The memorial is now clean and in excellent condition, though the distressed stone means it still wears a patina of age.

Another key task for the restor-ers was not only redefining the names on the memorial, but also adding new names. The names of George Scott, Frank Wilks and Leslie Shrewsbury had been missing from the memorial because of the difficulties in obtaining accurate information at the time. The School’s archives department and Gareth Hughes, father of an OA, carried out detailed research, using the School’s admission registers, the census and information from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. They discovered the missing names, which have now been carefully added to the memo-rial in the same style as the existing lists.

However, this is not the first time that names have had to be added onto the School’s War Memorial. At the unveiling on 16 February 1925, Major-General Duncan is reported twice as referring to the names of 85 OA soldiers – a shortfall of two, who must have been added later. The Albanian of September 1934 provides a solution, in the form of a statement from the Headmaster of the time for the OAs Club: ‘The Headmaster stated that he had received the names of several Old Albanians omitted from the War Memorial, and it was resolved that they be added in an appropriate place.’ Unfortunately we do not know to whom this related.

Along with the missing names from the War Memorial, Gareth Hughes has also uncovered other interest-ing stories as a part of his research. Three personal anecdotes of OA soldiers provide further detailed illustration of young men’s involve-ment in the Great War.

PhilipEdwardKingham

Philip enlisted in the Hertfordshire Regiment and won the Military Medal on the Somme, but was badly wounded and invalided home. He was very keen to get back to the firing line, but the doctors would not pass him fit, despite many requests. Posted to ‘sedentary duty’ at Folkestone, he shot himself in a fit of depression on 19th May 1918. He was given a full military funeral and is buried in the Hatfield Road cemetery.

EdwardBadenSharp

Aged 16, Edward was an appren-tice on the SS Belgian Prince. The ship was carrying blue clay from Liverpool to Newport News, Virginia, when on 31st July 1917 it was torpedoed by U-55. The 42 crewmen were able to escape into lifeboats. The U-boat surfaced and the British sailors were ordered onto the hull of the submarine. The crew of the U-55, under orders from their captain, took the lifebelts from most of the survivors and

threw them overboard. They then got into the lifeboats, took what they wanted and tossed the rest into the sea, removed the corks and further damaged them with axes to be sure they would sink. The submarine sailed about two miles from the wreck and then sub-merged, throwing the sailors into the water. Three survived to tell the tale. Sharp was not one of them, and the incident was regarded as another German atrocity.

JamesDawbarnYoung

James qualified as a barrister, and enjoyed yachting as a hobby, so when war broke out he enlisted in the RN Volunteer Reserve. He was given command of a motor launch attached to the Dover Patrol, and on St George’s Day, 23rd April 1918, as a Lt Commander, was in command of ML110 on the Zebbrugge Raid – an operation to block the seaward end of the Zee-brugge canal and prevent U-boats entering the English Channel. Young volunteered to precede the blockships and light the entrance of the harbour and canal with calcium buoys. Whilst approaching the en-trance, ML110 was struck by three shells, which killed and wounded half the crew and wrecked the engines. Lieutenant-Commander Young, hit in three places, was mor-tally wounded, but stuck to his post and gave orders to abandon ship, until he collapsed. This very gallant officer died before reaching Dover.

Gareth Hughes, NJC, Emily Childs

AMemorialofWarTherestorationoftheWarMemorial

promptshistoricalresearch

CreativeDesign The Albanian 201550

AS work in Electronics (opposite)

Plan and manufacture of a drone (below) by Akshay Padki (A2)

The Albanian 2015 CreativeDesign 51

CreativeDesign The Albanian 201552

Speakers by Maurice Lai (GCSE)

Barber’s Chair by Richard Thrale (A2)

Climbing Dome by Ganesh Chauhan (A2)

Red Bull point of sale display by Toby Palmer (GCSE)

The Albanian 2015 CreativeDesign 53

Architectural models:

Bird hide for nature reserve by Hugo Stephens (GCSE)

Cricket pavilion by Jaymee Malkan (A2)

Garden home office design by Sam Machell (A2)

CreativePhoto The Albanian 201554

Optic Photographic Society

Photographs on the theme of Light:

NJC, Keagan Witts, Hugo Stephens

Opposite:

St Albans Cathedral by Hugo Stephens

The Albanian 2015 CreativePhoto 55

Trips The Albanian 201556

With a cruel April fools’ rendez-vous at 6 am there was a subdued atmosphere before the trip to Colorado. There was, though, a definite sense of anticipation, not dispelled by 26 hours of travelling to Denver en route to Winter Park.

Shopping was the first activity, with a trip to a large retail centre in the outskirts of Denver and the opportunity to exploit the cheaper prices to be found in the US. After this we had another coach journey before we would get our first sight of Winter Park, where we were to hire our equipment and get a much

ColoradoBoundSkiingUSA

The Albanian 2015 Trips 57

needed night’s rest before the five days of skiing ahead of us.

After being divided into our groups for the week, the instructors took no time at all to get us on the slopes. The skiing would prove technically and physically chal-lenging, with warm temperatures causing some melt towards the end of the day. However, this did not detract from the enjoyment of the trip.

As part of the advanced group, the varying snow gave me an added challenge to the tough terrain we were presented with, skiing through

tight trees and down steep mogul runs. As well as this we were also shown some tricks for when the slopes are just not enough: 180s, 360s and jumps were all on the list. With blue skies every day, the views over the surrounding moun-tains were spectacular, particularly from the very highest point of the resort, at 3659m. For everyone there was a steep learning curve which left us exhausted at the end of each day. This, however, did not prevent us from taking part in a wide variety of evening activities, ranging from relaxing in the hotel pool and hot tub, to bowling at a

nearby alley. There was also a group outing to see the newest Fast and Furious movie.

My personal highlights include playing American football on skis as well as skiing as superheroes, where no fewer than ten people requested a photograph with us. There were also endless laughs as we inevitably pushed a little too hard and ended up with a mask full of snow.

This was a great week from start to finish, with everyone leaving with lasting memories.

James Kirsch

Enrichment The Albanian 201558

On Friday 7 November, all the First Formers were taken off-timetable for the day and were joined by 30 students from Samuel Ryder Academy in order to participate in the Young Adult Day of the 2014 St Albans Literary Festival.

The morning sessions were split up into two: a panel discussion where Martyn Bedford, Keren David, Natasha Ngan and Emma Pass answered questions about the different aspects of their writing careers was followed by a writing workshop with the authors after that. Our form worked with Keren David, the author of several books, including When I was Joe, Lia’s Guide to Winning the Lottery, and Salvage. She showed us how easy it could be to create our own fictional characters, and also shared her story of success. Overall, these morning sessions were a great success. We learnt a variety of things about the different authors and also improved our writing skills.

Ciaran Cook

First Form pupils met Lucy Saxon, who is the writer of the novel Take Back To The Skies. This is her first title in the six book series she is writing, based in the fictional uni-verse of Tellus. She was interviewed by Natasha Ngan and spoke about her unusual route into writing. At the age of 12 she was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, an illness which meant she was spending a lot of time away from school. Lucy told us that after she got bored of sitting and watching

TV for 24 hours, she remem-bered enjoying creative writing at school and decided to take it up as a hobby. This developed into the writing of her first novel, and she now, at the age of only 19, hopes it will be her future career. We really enjoyed her visit and found her talk inspirational.

Nathan Eastham and Freddie Pazzi-Axworthy

Ben East, a journalist and writer came in to talk about his life and what he does for a living.

Firstly, he gave us a small brief-ing about his job and the cartoon books he writes. He told us how he became a writer, how he publishes books and what kind of things you need to do to make up books and characters.

Then he showed us how easy it is to draw our own characters and write about them, before giving us the opportunity to come up with our own characters and our own rhyming sentences related to our character. I found this more difficult than expected. Some of us were given a chance to read out our work and show everyone our drawings.

I think it was a wonderful experi-ence. I have learnt how to publish books myself and also how to write and create my own characters, which could be very useful when writing in the future.

Nikhil Dhulashia

StAlbansLiteraryFestivalPupilsinvolvedinCityevent

The panel of writers and Sixth Formers at the Literary Festival’s Young Adult Day, hosted by the School

The Albanian 2015 Enrichment 59

There was a sense of anticipation around the form room on the day of the visit. We were all eagerly awaiting the author that many of us loved. I was very interested to hear the words that Tom Palmer had to offer.

The minute I saw him I spotted the vivid English red rose that was printed on his England rugby shirt. This made everybody even more excited about the attraction of sport. There was a hubbub around the room until one of the librarians spoke and we all fell deadly silent. However, it wasn’t the scared kind of silent; it was the silence with broad grins on our faces, intrigued by every word Tom Palmer might speak.

Our first impressions of him were great. The fact that he announced there would be a kicking contest through a pair of rugby posts at the end immediately grabbed our attention. He said whoever answered questions in his quiz correctly would be able to compete. Of course as soon as the first question was asked, a forest of hands shot up eager to answer it. For the first few questions I answered in my head but didn’t want to be chosen in case I mucked up the kicking. Nevertheless, when the last question was asked I couldn’t resist and my hand shot up as another tree in the forest of hands. He turned to me and sud-denly my mind went blank. Typically he had to pick me and I turned my head away in embarrassment because the answer had just gone. Then Tom Palmer asked someone else the question and it suddenly appeared in my head. My hand shot up but of course it was in vain as the question was answered. I was filled with disappointment but at least I had the thrilling kicking contest to watch.

There were only three successful kickers in the first round, but they continued to impress and the contest became more and more enthralling every minute. When the last kick went over we all cheered and had sore throats from all the shouting. When Tom Palmer ended his talk there was an obvious sadness around the library. We were all thoroughly engaged by the fantastic plots of his books and it was a real shame for the talk to be over. We trudged out of the library filled with fantastic stories and events that had happened in the past hour. We may not have all agreed on what was the best sport question, but there was one thing we all agreed on: it had been an amazing visit.

Nick Swan

ScoringGoalswithWordsTomPalmer’svisit

Tom Palmer’s lively style and engaging questions produced a forest of hands. His books have proved very popular.


The Stephen Hawking Society had another busy and fascinating year, beginning with Dr Suze Kundu, Teaching Fellow at Imperial College’s Department of Materials. Describing herself as a ‘nanoscientist, both liter-ally and professionally’, Dr Kundu delivered a talk about Material Science, and the life of a scientist. Her current research examines the use of materials for capturing solar energy to drive a reaction that splits water, consequently evolving hydrogen and oxygen. Addition-ally, Dr Kundu explored the varied career that a scientist can enjoy, be it in research, industry or educa-tional outreach as a few examples. Her lecture gave an inspiring insight into the life and work of a scientist with a particular focus on the pos-sibilities and applications of Material Chemistry.

In contrast, Dr Melanie Windridge explained the science behind the aurora, as well as the effects that it has on weather and commu-nications. She explained that the sun emits energy in the form of photons; these photons travel outwards from the sun, and are attracted to the poles due to the magnetic field of the earth. Then they emit colours as they enter the atmosphere at different speeds. She further explained that the increased solar activity will mean warmer weather, but the photon activity is likely to cause problems in communication at the poles, affecting areas such as

aviation and radio. Her presentation was technical and fascinating.

Consistent with tradition, the final lecture was fol-lowed by a celebra-tory dinner. The guest speaker was Professor Sir John Bertrand Gurdon, FRS, FMedSci, who is highly respected in the field of devel-opmental biology. In 2012, Sir Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for the discovery that mature cells can be converted to stem cells.

Professor Gurdon gave an engaging talk entitled ‘Nuclear Reprogram-ming as a Route to Cell Replace-ment’, tracing the earliest form of human parts replacement back to the Mayans, who used stone in the place of rotten teeth. Through the use of diagrams and footage of cells, he explained how human skin cells can be reprogrammed to form genetically compatible embryonic stem cells, which do not face the normal problem of rejection. He then built on this to explore how nuclear reprogramming is then transferable to cloning, with a single

nucleus transfer.

Professor Gurdon discussed the thera-peutic possibilities of stem cells and

cell replacement,

giving students not only more information about the biology of how stem cells are made and used, but also raising questions about the ethics of therapeutic possibilities.

The Society’s dinner was equally successful, with

the fine three-course meal enjoyed by all. The whole event was greatly appreciated by all who attended and proved an excellent way to finish the Society’s activities for another year.

Richard Borlin, Emily Childs and Jemima Pottinger

StephenHawkingSocietyLecturesprovidefoodforthemindandthestomach

The Stephen Hawking Society in gladrags before Professor Gurdon’s final lecture of the series

The Albanian 2015 Enrichment 61

The Hylocomian Society heard four enlightening and varied lectures, with expert speakers talking to the students on a variety of classics-related topics. A wide variety of historical periods was covered, with lectures covering Roman, Greek and Persian culture.

Two vastly different talks high-lighted the complexity and intricacy of Roman culture. The first, by historical fiction writer Anthony Riches, engagingly covered the life of a Roman soldier, going into great detail about the process of becom-ing a soldier, the armour, training, pay, discipline and evolution of the Legion in a talk that informatively and accessibly communicated a de-tailed picture of life in the Roman army to a large audience. The second, by Dr Charlotte Tupman, an epigrapher from King’s College, London covered an entirely differ-ent area of Roman culture – in-scriptions. Dr Tupman explained the complexities of Latin inscriptions and there was a strong interac-tive element in the talk, which saw students challenged to attempt to interpret some inscriptions for themselves. Despite facing extreme

difficulties, almost all students overcame the challenge and solved the inscriptions.

Another speech delved into Greek culture, focusing on Aristophanes’ satirical comedy The Frogs written during the last days of the Pelo-ponnesian War. Despite its two-thousand year age, this play still possesses relevance to modern day society. Mr Rowland’s talk also explored elements of Greek politics and their links to Athenian strategies, providing a multi-faceted examination of how seemingly separate elements of Greek society often intertwined. This sparked a large amount of lively debate. The fourth and final speech combined the continued study of Ancient Greece with a detailed study of Persia. Dr Angus Bowie from The Queen’s College, Oxford explored the history of Persia with a focus on Persian language, but the main subject of his talk centered on looked at Persia through the eyes of Greek historian Herodotus. Dr Bowie presented an engaging study of Herodotus’ portrayal of Persians in comparison with Greeks. This inspired the students to ask a

ClassicalQuestionsAnsweredTheHylocomianSociety

number of questions about the nature of Herodotus’ reliability as a historian, and Greek descriptions in general, which Dr Bowie ably answered.

Freddie Walters

Is Herodotus a reliable or biased historical source?

RadioforEuropeMFLSymposium

A number of Sixth Form linguists participated in the annual Modern Foreign Languages Symposium at North London Collegiate School. Each student was paired up with a counterpart from NLCS in order to produce a four-minute discussion in the form of a radio broadcast in French or Spanish, on topics ranging from the works of Federico Garcia Lorca to French intellectual opposition to the Alge-rian war of independence. Other topics included the unsuccessful coup d’état in Spain on 23 February 1981, Baudelaire and an analysis of Waiting for Godot. Despite some technical difficulties, the final product was impressive and the students demonstrated a fine grasp of their languages.


JugglingNumbers–GoFigureMathsmatters

We are used to mathematicians juggling figures, but actual juggling and maths were the surprise combination explored by Professor Colin Wright. He wowed younger students during the afternoon and pre-sented the Harry Schofield lecture to the senior mathematicians after school, showing that the juggling balls were travelling back in time – or were they?

There were 9 Gold, 21 silver and 18 bronze certificates awarded in the UKMT Senior Mathematics Challenge. In addition, Patrick Semark from the Upper Sixth and Thomas Hillman from the Third Form were selected to take part in the prestigious British Maths Olympiad in December. This is a gruelling 3½ hour paper testing knowledge and skills but also the candidates’ patience, persistence and determination.

Lower Sixth students attended a ‘Maths in Action’ Lecture at the Institute of Education in November, enjoying enlightening talks on how mathematics is used in fighting disease and forecasting the weather as well as how to interpret the statistics often quoted in the news. The day was lively and informative, giving students an invaluable insight into mathematics outside the school curriculum.

JH


EuropeanUnionDebate

The first meeting of the History and Politics Society staged a clash between two Upper Sixth Formers on the perpetually contested issue of the European Union. David Clegg and Milo Knights argued their cases for and against the UK’s membership of the EU, presenting well-researched cases. Neither held back with their propositions, with cases for a United States of Europe and a total abolition of the Union both argued.

The two took questions from the audience which broadened the talk and enabled the students to scrutinise the current European system and contemplate the future of the UK’s membership. It was an engaging, interactive and interesting debate, which served as an invalu-able insight for new students of Government and Politics.

HousesofParliament

Where better to develop a practi-cal understanding of Government and Politics than the very heart of the UK’s democracy itself – the Houses of Parliament? Lower Sixth students made the trip to develop their understanding of the Execu-tive and the Judiciary. Pupils walked through the Lords Chamber, Westminster Hall, witnessing the procession of the Speaker, John Bercow. St Albans’ MP Anne Main spoke to the students ahead of May’s General Election, and fielded questions on a range of issues that were particularly relevant to the students’ studies. Pupils then intently observed the debate between Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, and his Shadow equivalent, Sadiq Khan, from the public gallery of the House of Commons. Finally it was off to Middlesex Guildhall, the home of the Supreme Court, where students discovered some interesting facts concerning foreign countries and the status of the Supreme Court as their highest appellate body.

‘HowtheEUWorks’

Raj Ghataoura, a civil servant who is based in central London but also

spends time in Brussels, spoke to students to explain ‘How the EU works.’ He explained to us how the four main Institutions of the European Union carry out business and the manner in which they work together to run the EU. Ghataoura spoke in much detail about the Eu-ropean Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. It was particularly interesting to see how some issues were approached by these bodies in different ways and what the roles of civil servants were. The content of the lecture was highly relevant to the Politics course and it was fasci-nating to hear how such complex bodies function from someone who actually experiences it.

ModelUnitedNations

In March, three delegations from St Albans school took part in Haberdashers’ Aske’s Model United Nations. St Albans represented Mauritius, Tonga and Jordan at the event, enjoying three days of impassioned debating along with 420 other delegates from around the world.

At the conference, a broad range of international issues were discussed, similar to those which would feature at the real United Nations conferences, including Ecology, Human Rights, Disarmament and Health, to name but a few. The standard of debating was high with some consummate public speak-ers and insightful points raised, and the Sixth Form representatives of St Albans found themselves under intense scrutiny and becoming aware of new perspectives. Under the leadership of Mr Asch, the weekend was a learning experience for all involved, not to mention an opportunity to make friends whilst coming up with solutions for some of the most pressing issues for our generation.

The debating was divided into various committees and rooms, overseen by chairs who them-selves were members of sixth forms, and discussion of some of the most important issues faced in our time began in earnest. But the intellectually stimulating weekend

was lightened by the humour and enthusiasm that many participants injected to the conference, the delegates of St Albans no excep-tion. Despite debating such heavy issues as the UN’s role in dealing with refugees, a balance was struck between the serious nature of the issues covered and a degree of levity, making the weekend an exhausting but enjoyable one.

The three days concluded with the General Assembly, at which all debaters were present, and the final drafts of resolutions underwent their last bit of evaluation before being passed. Finally there was the closing ceremony when individual and delegation winners were an-nounced. St Albans did particu-larly well in the awards with Tom Alexander, from the Lower Sixth, receiving the ‘Highly Commended’ award in Disarmament and Nick Clegg, from the Upper Sixth, receiv-ing ‘Best Delegate’ in the Security Council. The latter’s award is the highest available to any individual conference participant.

Professor Gary Sheffield of the University of Wolverhampton visited the History and Politics Society in December to give a fasci-nating lecture on the First World War. Professor Sheffield is widely respected within the field of mili-tary history, having written several books on figures of contention, such as Sir Douglas Haig and the Great War as a whole. Professor Sheffield scrutinised and criticised the influential role of Germany in the road to War (in particu-lar, the brazenness and political antagonism of Kaiser Wilhelm) and unsurprisingly displayed an in-depth knowledge of the subject matter, speaking in an engaging manner that conveyed his sincere inter-est in the topic and debated the inevitability of the outbreak of the War, and indeed moved onto some wider issues such as the attributes of Otto von Bismarck. It was an illuminating talk from an intelligent and arresting speaker, which will be of practical use for all those study-ing history in the Upper Sixth.

Editors, Philippa English, Alex Jennings

HistoryandPoliticsExaminingdemocracy,diplomacyanditsfailures

The Albanian 2015 Dukes 63

Dukes The Albanian 201564

Most boys in the Fifth Form participate in the Silver Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. It is composed of four sections: Volunteering, Skill, Physical and an Expedition with a final presentation at the beginning of Lower Sixth.

For Volunteering, students typically work in charity shops, help out neighbours or work at children’s clubs for at least six months. The Physical section is usually the easiest to complete, as many stu-dents already play a sport or quali-fying activity for three months. The Skills section can then be fulfilled by hobbies and other non-physical activities, also for six months.

For the Expedition element, a practice trip is required which is normally completed during the Easter holidays. This is followed by the qualifying expedition after GCSEs. The expedition must be at least three days and two nights.

Training:Brecons

I was a member of the black group, who ventured into the Brecon Beacons hoping for good weather after the shocking news that a DofE volunteer assessor had been struck by lightning and had died only a couple of weeks previously on the top of Pen y Fan.

On arrival in the Brecons, we went on a brief acclimatisation walk near the Usk Reservoir to stretch our legs after the journey, and practise some of our compass work, which had slipped into the distal regions of our brains with GCSE priori-ties. Our first night was spent at Talsarn campsite, near the Red Kite feeding station. Unfortunately the only kite we saw was Mr Taylor’s technicolour version. For the most part this was uneventful, although the weather excused the difficulties encountered by some ‘pitchers’ in constructing their tents.

We woke to a brilliant view over towards Fan Brycheiniog which we would be walking up later in the expedition. My group was then driven to our start location, a small layby at the bottom of a very steep hill – the enjoyment couldn’t last too long; we were in Wales after

all. This hill led up to our first two Roman landmarks, which were the subject of our aim: ‘To discover and take photographs of Roman structures in the Brecon Beacons’. Bizarrely, the Roman road was not straight and the Roman fort seemed to be more defined on a 1:25000 map than in real life. This was to happen several times on our expedition.

A highlight for many people was the Usk Reservoir, kindling memo-ries of geography field trips and all that they entail. Unfortunately our group’s opinion of an almost mythical body was soured rather, after trudging around nearly half of the perimeter in baking sun on a forestry track that seemed to go on forever.

For others the top of Fan Brychein-iog was a highlight, from where we were able to see nearly all of our route, and the distance we had covered. This was one of the busiest stretches of the expedition, and we were frequently greeted by other walkers who shared their ex-periences of what lay ahead. Later the mist descended and the views closed in and we truly felt as if we were in the cloud and could have been anywhere, making navigation more challenging.

Shortly after the highest point of our expedition, whilst descend-ing on a stretch of path known in School circles as the ‘Ridge Walk’, we were met by fierce gusts of wind. Whilst this would not normally be a problem, we were all wearing brightly coloured rucksack covers to help the assessor distin-guish us from the other ramblers on the fell. The said articles had a brilliant aptitude for catching the wind and acting like sails, and con-sequently quite a lot of time was spent chasing them over marshy ground.

On the last day we passed Penwyllt mine which is now abandoned, al-though its impact on the landscape evaded us in the torrential Welsh rain. The rain finally eased when we had left the mine area and had begun crossing a peaty bog, com-plete with a selection of pot holes, swallow holes and shake holes.

Ask a Geographer to discover the difference.

The last leg of our expedition was along the River Neath in a wooded vale, where team tensions reached their peak, as wet, tired and sore feet influenced their owner’s views of the beauty of the Welsh country-side.

The journey back provided an opportunity to reconnect with the modern world if you had managed to save some phone battery, and portable chargers demanded a premium. The Leigh Delamere Services provided a welcome change from instant rice and boil in the bag meals.

Qualifying:PeakDistrict

When the five DofE groups set out to the Peak District, good weather was forecast – this was not ac-curate, however, and on the first morning of the expedition proper we woke up to steady drizzle which would last most of the morning. All the groups had stayed at the same campsite for the first night, and after a briefing from the assessor, with whom we discussed our aim, we set off across the High Peaks.

On the first day we walked along-side the Ladybower reservoir over Win Hill. The historical among you may remember that this was the lo-cation of the practice flights for the Dambusters Raid. After achieving the summit of Win Hill the paths

SeekingSilverHugoStephensexploresthechallengesoftheSilverAward

SkillsSectionPhotography has been the focus of my Skills section for the Silver Award, and I am continuing onto Gold, under the supervision of Mr Cassidy. Over that time, I have developed a keen interest in macro photography, which I discovered has many challenges.

Take, for example, depth of field – how much of an image is in focus. At a high magnification with a field of view comparable to a 325mm optic, the Canon MP-E’s depth of field is reduced to only 0.048mm. This is because DoF is related to the subject distance from the lens, as well as its focal length, both of which in this instance are at the un-favourable extreme. With the lens at f16, a more respectable 0.269mm can be achieved. Consequently, I use a process known as focus stacking, in which the camera is moved microns between shots. The sequence of images can be stacked digitally, with specialist software. All this sounds relatively simple, but in


became indistinct and somewhat different from those marked on the map. If only the sheep stuck to the footpaths. This resulted in a number of short detours to verify our position. That night we stayed on what turned out to be the largest campsite of the expedition, with a long walk to the showers and the taps.

The second day saw us utilise one the best kept paths of the expedi-tion in the form of the Pennine Way. This led up the Vale of Edale to Jacobs Ladder, where we met a DofE group from a school in Devon who had just descended and spoke of the toil to come. Neverthe-less we pressed on to the tortu-ous ascent (not that we had any choice of course). From the top we traversed Brown Knoll along a path largely constructed of large stone slabs acting as stepping stones across the boggy ground. At the top of Brown Knoll, leaning against the Trig Point, was Dr Pines, complet-ing a crossword. He optimistically asked for our suggestions. Cross-word complete, we set off over the bog once more, where a few discovered the reason for stepping stones.

The end of the day was compli-cated by a seemingly unnecessary dog-leg which involved a 200m ascent, but of course this is one of the joys of walking a set route with limited local knowledge. The campsite was busy for the time of year but commanded a stunning

view over the High Peaks and the Hope Valley.

After some discussion with our assessor, we amended the route for day 3, to include some more interesting countryside. This, though, led to some inaccurate checkpoint estimates, which meant we ended up waiting 60 minutes at our final check after the highest point of the expedi-tion, Lose Hill. From the summit we had rewarding views in all directions as we descended to the coach in Hope where the other groups were waiting.

practice that is far from the truth. Some of the problems lie with the degree of precision required. Moving a 3.5kg setup microns in several axes only 20mm from the subject, balanced delicately on a tripod, is very difficult. Lighting is also challenging with an effective aperture of f96 at 5:1 magnifica-tion. Ring flash, mounted at the end of the lens, solves some of these problems, but can lead to bleached results and reduced definition. This means that a balance has to be struck between unrealistically long exposures, and flat lighting typical of a HDR.

My time spent experimenting with macro photography has revealed details normally only observed with a microscope, such as subcellular detail in plant stems, irridescent patterns such as on bank cards, and synthetic detail on pen nibs.

Through pursuing this interest for Dukes, I have learned an enormous amount.

Macro photography reveals tiny details – this is a credit card

number punched through the

hologram


Having completed our practice expedition in the Brecon Beacons following our AS examinations, we were now confronted with the challenge of our qualifying expe-dition. This time we travelled to the Lake District along with two other groups in the same position, unaware that this would be a far more daunting prospect. Over the four-day-four-night period we were to face persistent torrential rain, visibility as low as 10-20 metres and gale force winds, all this whilst living out of, and carrying, a 70 litre rucksack.

Each day consisted of a seven o’clock wake up time with an hour put aside to assess the day’s route, cook breakfast (usually porridge) and dismantle the tents before departure. We would walk for about an hour at a time and take short breaks for snacks and lunch. As we had all completed our Silver Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, we were all relatively confident with our navigating, meaning little time was wasted, and we remained on the correct route for nigh on the entirety of the trip. To ensure this we had two people take separate bearings for the direction we should go. As well as this, we had escape routes marked onto the map. Therefore, should we have gone the wrong way, we could trace these back to known refer-ence points and take new bearings from there. Each day we arrived at the campsite with rapidly deterio-rating visibility. We first erected the tents and cooked communal meals so as to keep washing up and cooking time to a minimum. With long days of walking up to 24km, we often attempted to sleep as early as possible.

The first day consisted of the transport to the area before pitch-ing the tents for the first time on the already sodden ground. The expedition aims were established, and we settled in for one of the few calm nights of the expedition. The following day saw a prompt departure at eight o’clock. We were uplifted instantaneously with the news from our assessor that our route had to be shortened due to the inclement weather; however

the first day’s walk still exceeded 18km, as well as over 1km of cu-mulative ascent. This day culminated with reaching the height of 753m at the top of Dale Head before being led back down to the second youth hostel of the trip. It was during this evening that the remnants of Hur-ricane Gonzalo passed across much of the UK, leading to a particularly turbulent night for all groups.

We woke to find fewer tents upright than had been pitched the night before, the 80mph winds being the primary culprit. Luckily our equipment was relatively un-scathed and remained dry, and our group conjured together the req-uisite morale to brave the condi-tions for the next few days’ walking. With relatively improved visibility following the storm, we were able to appreciate the stunning views on offer. Lake Buttermere, close to the

TheLakesAreWetJamesGoveymakesastartlingdiscoveryontheGoldTrip

location of our third campsite, was particularly picturesque.

The following and final day was to be the toughest yet with steep uphill gradients and appalling vis-ibility impinging on our excitement to finish the expedition. Neverthe-less, we endeavoured never to give up, and completed what was probably the most difficult day’s walking before one o’clock. We were met by our thrilled asses-sor – Mr Thompson – at the foot of Grassmoor, the final peak that we scaled. He was impressed with our progress across the trip, and commended our ability to work together as a team, an essential in-dicator for a successful expedition.

James GoveyClearly delighting in the landscape and the weather, the group presses on


Over the course of five days, sixty two students from St Albans School developed and tested their camp craft and navigational skills in the Brecon Beacons. The weather was itself challenging with the hottest day of the year being recorded on the Tuesday, but with willingness from our students the expedition was a great success.

Four Gold groups worked their way through a challenging four days, starting at the Red Kite Feeding Centre near Pen Arthur and fit-tingly finishing having scaled Pen-Y-Fan. All the participants impressed both the assessor and supervising staff with their competence and

The Brecon Beacons provided the perfect location for seventeen new entrants to test themselves, facing their first challenges as a part of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold Award Scheme.

A weekend was spent working on micro-navigation of the local area with a map and compass, as well as culinary skills with a trangia. All this was done within the comforts of Pen Arthur, which provided a base for the new entrants after their strenuous expedition in the misty, rainy conditions of the National Park.

Hiking groups then enjoyed better weather for their walking routes around the Usk Reservoir, finish-ing at the Red Kite campsite and setting themselves up for the night. The Pen Arthur ridge walk, the infamous route undertaken by all First Formers, was the last obstacle that the new entrants had to face on their final day. However, they rose to the challenge, finishing the hike in plenty of time.

The weekend provided an accurate insight into the reality of Gold Award expeditions, whilst the students fulfil the other sections of their Award until the highly antici-pated final expedition.

Emily Childs

GoldNew

EntrantsTraining

character in all aspects of the expedition.

Six Silver groups similarly un-dertook a three-day qualifying expedition over tough terrain on the Black Mountain. They contin-ued where they left off in the Peak District and, having completed the Skill section through their military training in the CCF, are now well placed to complete the DofE Silver Award.

BreconBeaconsTrainingSilver level trainees pass the time with cards (above) while Gold level new entrants prepare a sumptuous meal on a trangia (below)


Students battled extreme weather conditions, moun-tainous terrain and hoards of Tour de France fanatics. However, both groups of Upper Sixth students suc-cessfully managed to navigate their routes and work as a team to cope with the arduous challenge that is the Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. This expedi-tion included four days of hiking and camping, living off only the provisions carried in their rucksacks. A mere few days into the summer holidays, two groups of Upper Sixth students departed for the French Pyrenees. Once the initial disorientation had worn off, and after having stocked up on baguettes and sticks of saucisson, students set off on an acclimatisation walk. The beauty of their mountainous surroundings was mesmerising, but the harsh reality of this expedition soon hit them. At altitude the true nature of the Pyr-enees manifested itself, by combining the unforgiving landscape with 35-degree temperatures. The circling vultures seemed to support these emerging feelings, creating nervousness at the start of the expedi-tion. The two groups then split up and began their separate routes, with both demonstrating their ability

ATourdeForceinFranceBicyclesandbaguettesontheGoldPyreneestrip

to navigate, manage camp and look after themselves. These challenges were made easier by the quality of the footpaths, which were leagues above those which students had experienced in Snowdonia. Not only did students have to complete the physical aspect of their expedition, but they also had to come up with an academic aim. Consequently, both groups brought extra equipment to help with their recording of wind speeds and flora and fauna respectively. Despite the challenges, there were many highlights, ranging from surprisingly great food to watching the Tour de France. Both aspects contributed to a memorable and enrich-ing experience. Any student involved will tell you that the celebratory meal was the highlight of their trip, as everyone was treated to classic French delicacies with the backdrop of a mountain range mid-thun-derstorm. Both groups departed from the Pyrenees having completed an impressive achievement, and with enough memories to occupy the return journey. Luckily no passports were lost, and everyone returned to England safely.

Emily Childs

The Albanian 2015 Community 69

I joined the Community Link Scheme in the hope of experienc-ing something new and working in the Lyndon Care Home as my Friday afternoon activity has been an opportunity like no other. It has enabled me to interact with people outside my own age as well as care for the elderly in a way that one would not expect.

Every Friday afternoon, a taxi would pick up my partner, George, and me from Aquis Court and drive us to the care home. Our first Friday at the voluntary placement was very different from what we assumed it would be like because we did not actually begin in the care home itself. Our supervi-sor, Joan, escorted us to the care home chapel where we met some of the residents. There was an art exhibition being held and some of the pieces had been crafted by the residents themselves. Art pieces ranged from paintings to knitted designs, one of which included a representation of the care home and chapel.

On our second week at the care home, Joan introduced us to the other nurses and gave us an over-view of what we would be doing over the next several months, which included hosting the routine Friday afternoon quiz or cross-word puzzle. For the crossword puzzle, Joan drew the crossword from a newspaper or book onto a white board so it would be easy to involve all the residents. The quiz questions were taken from several different books and the type of quiz varied on a weekly basis. We would also be alternating between cross-word puzzle and quiz so that every Friday would be one or the other. On occasion, we would also take a small group of residents upstairs to the games room where we would play scrabble, chess or participate in a painting class. In hindsight, it was important that we did not do

the exact same thing every Friday otherwise the residents would find it very monotonous.

The cross-word puzzle was always my favourite type of activity to do with the resi-dents. George and I would take it in turns to read out some of the clues and fill in the word when a resident answered cor-rectly. We had to be careful to make sure that everyone could contrib-ute because some of the residents were partially deaf so when one of us was not hosting the quiz, the other would go around to the less involved residents and perhaps repeat the question to them. For the quiz, we functioned in a similar fashion and, in both, had to take extra care in our enunciation and articulation of the questions we asked. Of course, understand-ably, the residents sometimes got frustrated because they could not hear us properly. In such situations, it was crucial to remain calm and be patient with them.

I have learnt a lot from my Com-munity Link placement and it has given me a greater appreciation of what caring for someone entails. Not only is it a commitment but it is one that you have to be very dedicated to as it is by no means straightforward. At the same time, however, it is very rewarding because it encourages one to be altruistic, resulting in a great deal of satisfaction. I will miss going to the Lyndon Care Home every Friday and I am tremendously grateful for having the opportunity to do so.

Aditya Joshi

CareHomeDiaryCommunityLink

Community The Albanian 201570

For the duration of our year in Lower Sixth we have been lucky enough to take part in the Partner-ship Scheme. This happens every Friday afternoon and is a brilliant opportunity for students from our School to contribute to the local primary school community. St Albans students help out in the classroom in primary schools, act as lifeguards for swimming sessions and assist in masterclasses held at our School. For these sessions, children from local primary schools come to St Albans School every Friday to be given a lesson in a particular subject such as Science, Drama, IT and Design & Technology. It is exciting for them to come to such a dif-ferent school environment and be given a taste of our School life; the children really enjoy taking part in the huge range of activities we offer within each subject, and get to make full use of the equipment we have.

We helped out in the Science masterclasses this year. We both study Biology and Chemistry at A Level so we share a keen interest in the sciences. It was extremely enjoyable and rewarding to pass on our passion to the children who attend the classes, especially as the children get the chance to use science equipment that they do not have at primary school.

Every week we explored a different scientific topic and carried out an enjoyable and interesting practi-cal activity with the children. For example, we made slime using PVA, constructed earthquake-proof structures out of marshmallows and spaghetti, and investigated optical illusions. In a particularly popular practical the children got to look at pond water using micro-scopes and watched the interac-

tions between the microorganisms found there – they became even more enthusiastic when the hydra wrapped their tentacles around the water fleas and ate them.

The children always learn a lot from the experiments they carry out, and it was amazing to see the enthusiasm for science that they showed whilst here. Despite the primarily academic nature of these classes, the experiments are always great fun for the children; for example using an exothermic reac-tion in chemistry to make camera film case rockets fly, which inevita-bly caused a lot of excitement for everyone in the room.

The experience of assisting with Science masterclasses was also particularly rewarding as it put us in a position of responsibility. We had to set a good example for the younger children in the lab, and or-ganise getting them to and from the right place every week. On top of this it was a brilliant opportunity to develop our communication skills. Assisting in these lessons meant having to explain a lot of scientific concepts, and work out the best ways to convey these clearly and simply. We even got the chance to lead some of the lessons, which allowed us to practise speaking in front of, and interacting with, an au-dience, giving us a valuable teaching and presenting experience.

It was a privilege being able to teach the

primary school children how to use the scientific equipment, and intro-duce them to working in a laboratory. We are lucky enough to have fantastic facilities which makes both the learning

and teaching accessible and enjoy-able. The whole experience really made us appreciate the roles of teachers in our lessons.

Overall, assisting with the Science masterclasses was a really reward-ing and useful experience for both of us. We thoroughly enjoyed working with the children and it was wonderful to see the apprecia-tion they showed for the effort we made. They were excited to see us every week and told us how much they enjoyed each practi-cal experiment. We hope the new Lower Sixth students continue to enjoy taking part in the Partnership Scheme; it is incredibly worthwhile and loved by the children that come along as well as the students like us who take part in leading the classes. We have both learnt so much from our time in the Partner-ship Scheme and cannot emphasise enough what a fulfilling experience it was.

Imogen Robertson and Maya Mendoza

ScienceMasterclassesThePartnershipSchemeinaction

The Albanian 2015 Houses 71

Houses

Hampson Hawking Marsh Renfrew

Art 3 7 10 5

Golf 10 3 7 5

Netball 3 10 5 7

Football 14 20 14 6

Rugby 20 14 6 10

Maths 3 5 10 7

Shooting 3 7 7 10

Cross Country 7 3 10 5

Creative Writing 3 10 5 7

Basketball 10 7 5 5

Chess 7 3 7 10

Hockey 10 14 20 6

Music 20 6 14 10

General Knowledge 7 5 5 10

Debating 10 7 5 3

Cricket 14 6 10 20

Tennis 3 10 7 7

Junior Drama 5 5 10 7

Drama 5 3 10 7

Athletics 20 6 14 10

Swimming 14 6 20 10

Commendations 20 14 6 10

Total 211 171 207 177

HouseCompetition2015Results

CCF The Albanian 201572

The Albanian 2015 CCF 73

After our third very successful Tanzania expedition we settled down and prepared ourselves for the year ahead. Although this year would probably be seen as one of our quieter ones, we still managed to pack in a lot of training and Duke of Edinburgh successes.

Under the excellent guidance of Mr Wilson, the senior cadets produced a well-structured training pro-gramme, planned and run by our Upper Sixth cadets, without whom our variety of training would not be possible.

I am pleased that we now have archery up and running and it has been a great success with our cadets. I would like to thank SASA for their support in being able to purchase enough archery equip-ment to run this activity both at school and at the Woollam Playing Fields. The Winter Camp was very successful again this year, even the weather was kind to us. Record numbers qualified in both Silver and Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards. The shooting team got the year off to a good start with another very successful tour to Jersey.

In May we saw our cadets on parade producing an excellent Annual General Inspection, start-ing with our traditional parade. This year the Inspecting Officer was Mr Jonathan Trower, the High Sherriff of Hertfordshire, who was deeply impressed by what he saw, praising ‘the discipline, leader-ship and courage’ of cadets. They excelled as usual, but this day was particularly important as it was the first Inspection to include cadets from Marlborough Science Academy. Our neighbouring school has joined our CCF in a partner-ship sponsored by the Cadet Force Association. Fifteen boys and girls from Marlborough train with St Albans School’s Junior Corps every Friday afternoon in a scheme which has been a resounding success. The students are keen and committed, as are the staff who bring them along to work with us every week. The Marlborough students are fully integrated and participated in all the competitive activities with the St Albans students at the Inspec-tion.

On the evening after the Inspec-tion the CCF held its annual dinner, where we said farewell to Captain David Stone, who has been with the contingent for the past ten years. We thank him for all his hard work and wish him well in his new school.

The Summer saw us return to Wathgill for Summer Camp. Here the cadets took part in a range of activities including shooting, canoeing, climbing, team building and archery. On our final exercise we were able to put together all the skills our cadets had learned throughout the year.

A group of our senior cadets travelled to the Peak District for adventure training this year, where they were able to take part in advanced climbing, gorge walking, caving and mountain biking.

Finally I would like to thank all the people who have supported me, Mr Wilson, our Officers and Cadets –especially the Cadet Training Teams, the Coldstream Guards, whose support makes such a difference to us, and the Senior Management for allowing us to continue with our challenging and rewarding pro-gramme.

KJE

OC’sReportCCFinPartnership

Climbing in the Peak District (right) and sunset at Wathgill (below). Overleaf:

images from the AGI



The Combined Cadet Force travelled to the south-east for the annual winter camp, held in a for-ested training area at Mereworth Woods. Promptly after arrival, cadets of the Fourth Form and above split into two platoons, each comprising three sections, while the Third Form cadets formed a third platoon. Each platoon headed into the forest under tactical condi-tions to set up platoon harbours, all cadets in control of an SA80 rifle and holding a bergen rucksack that held sleeping equipment and food rations for 48 hours. The first night required sections to navigate in complete darkness to enemy posi-tions and listen in for intelligence that would be used to plan attacks on the enemy forces. After com-pleting the first activity, the sections

returned to their platoon harbours for some all-important sleep.

Although the first night was rainy, through the effectiveness of the cadets’ bashas, every cadet awoke dry and well rested. The day began with a first aid stand, where the cadets were given a scenario of rescuing a pilot from a downed aircraft behind enemy lines. The first aid was administered dili-gently yet quickly, while the whole operation was carried out tactically and effectively. Afterwards, the cadets performed consecutive platoon attacks on three enemy positions with great success. This was followed by a full debrief, witnessed by the Headmaster, in which section and platoon commanders were commended

WinterCampWorkinginthedarkanddamp

for their organisation during the exercise. That night, the Third Form platoon planned and practised an ambush on an enemy convoy, which involved night navigation to the ambush site together with stealth and battlefield discipline. Whilst this was happening, the other platoons took part in a night orienteering exercise around the area, trying to complete the course as quickly as possible. Thankfully the second night was dry, a great improvement on the night before. The cadets awoke, cooked their breakfasts and packed up their equipment, and moved out of the training area to the coach park, where the cadets could finally relax after their tough 48 hour exercise, and begin their Christmas holidays.

Thomas Halling

The Army Section of the CCF em-barked on its annual Summer Camp in high spirits as usual, travelling to Wathgill Camp in North Yorkshire. As a very junior contingent of two platoons, many of the cadets were Third and Fourth Formers, for most of whom this would be their first camp. All the cadets were raring to go, putting into practice their weapon handling skills on the Dismounted Close Combat Trainer, where they were able to use state-of-the-art equipment to practise effective use of marksmanship principles. This was in preparation for the ranges stand the following day, where cadets were able to fire Scorpion Air Rifles, Light Support Weapons, GP rifles and try their hand at clay pigeon shooting. This proved to be a very exciting and informative day for the cadets, with some learning the correct way to fire in the prone position, and others learning that the clay pigeons do actually hurt if they land on your head. On the next day, the cadets took part in water and land sports, including kayaking, canoe-ing, raft building, volleyball, archery and climbing. This was pivotal in developing a sense of teamwork

and achievement amongst the younger years, a quality the CCF promotes through the activities both back in school, and on camps. This was clearly shown when the cadets eased through the Leader-ship day, with one group setting the orienteering course record, and all the others completing the various command task stands in fast times. The interesting stand called ‘Operation Reflect’, which focused on remembering the events of World War I on its centenary, proved captivating for the cadets who were able to handle some of the weapons used during various battles, and read letters sent from those on the front line.

The end of the week saw both pla-toons deploy on a 24 hour exercise in a military training area, where ambushes and platoon attacks were conducted. Cadets were able to fire blank rounds and develop their campcraft skills, sleeping out over-night. The end of the exercise was marked with the hand over of the senior command positions as well as promotions for the worthy Section 2ic’s as well as awards for those who excelled over the course of the camp. The cadets would like to thank CUO Robbie Lightowler and RSM Will Norris, who ably led the contingent for the year, and were in charge of the ‘enemy’ platoon on Winter Camp, assisted by CSM David Clegg and Sgt Tim Richards. A more emotional farewell was made to Captain DJ Stone, who having been part of the contingent for many years, has done an incredible job in leading the Fifth Form cadets through their Duke of Edinburgh’s awards. As always, special thanks go to Major Everitt and RSM Wilson, as well as all of the other officers, who willingly gave up their summer holidays to allow the cadets to go on this camp.

Rob Williams

SummerCampAction,thoughtandfarewelltoMrStone

Taking up defensive positions at Summer

Camp


The start of the year is always a busy one for the shooting team. The House competition sees an influx of novices flooding the range on a Monday evening. However, with the depth of experience within the squad remaining strong, the older shooters did an excel-lent job of coaching the newbies through the experience. It was a very close run competition with the standard rising yet again. 11 points separated the Houses in the team competition and 11 students this year hit the 100 mark. The lead changed several times over the course of the term but in the end Renfrew and Hampson shared the bragging rights. The standard was equally high in the individual competition. It was Hawking who came to the fore at this point and Kyriacos Mouzouris stole the show with a very impressive double 96 which also won him the Captain’s Cup. In the end it was Renfrew House who took the title owing to their breadth and depth of skill.

During this period, a core group of eight students jetted off to Jersey on our annual tour. The first stop was at Victoria College to take on their school team at smallbore. It was another win for the Vic senior team. In the junior competition St Albans ran away with the win, including an impressive 196/200 by Joe Pattison. The next day saw the team at the Jersey Pistol Club. Apart from this being a discipline unavailable in the UK, it provides an excellent opportunity for the stu-dents to develop their understand-ing of the marksmanship principles. The final day was spent with the Jersey Rifle Association, shooting fullbore at 300 yards. Once again the experienced students stepped up to the mark coaching their less experienced peers through the morning’s shoot. Ollie Thwaites stood out in particular with a 46 with 1 v-bull in his first shoot.

In the British School’s Smallbore Rifle Association league competi-tions, the Senior A team shot con-sistently throughout the term but finished the division in 4th place. Aidan Collins was the top shot for the team, finishing 6th overall with a 94.4 average. It was always going

to be a big ask of the Junior A team to compete in the first division, and despite some excellent shooting they finished in 6th place. Matt Crossley shot two 100s and aver-aged 97.8, placing him 14th overall. Jacob Viallou-Clark also hit 100 but was unable to finish his cards owing to injury. The Junior B team was looking at a top 3 finish until a disappointing final round that saw them slip to 4th place. However, Piers Dorward’s 98.6 average saw him take 2nd place in the division overall.

The final act of the autumn term is competing for the Hertfordshire Schools’ Trophy, The Emsall. Last year we entered five teams and the A Team set the record with a score of 390. In comparison, six teams were entered this year and the A Team recorded a score of 394 (after handicapping). Indeed combined, the team only dropped 2 shots. The B Team also won their competition with a score of 387 (one higher than last year). Aidan Collins, Kyriacos Mouzouris and Matt Crossley need special mention for each hitting a ton.

Spring:Club,CountyandCountry

The spring term is the time when new talent discovered through the House competition is nurtured and developed. This year was no different, with a large crop of Third Formers opting to pursue shooting as a hobby. However, we were set a new challenge by the MOD who shut the range for several weeks as part of a national rewriting of paperwork. As we were unsure about how long the range was going to be shut, alternative ar-rangements were made. We were

very grateful to Vauxhall Shooting Club in Luton who lent us the use of their range, allowing the Senior A Team to complete their cards (with each member of the team shooting 6 times in one after-noon). Thankfully, the closure was short-lived and the remaining squad members completed their BSSRA cards before the end of term. It seems that those who shot on home soil fared far better than the A Team who finished 6th in their division. In contrast the B and D Teams finished 1st and 2nd in their respective divisions.

This term also saw the culmina-tion of the County competitions in which several squad members were involved. Aidan Collins won the Middlesex Junior Smallbore competition and helped his county to fourth place in the Home Coun-ties competition. However, Ben Chrisp went one better, helping the Hertfordshire team to first place in the same competition. Eight students were selected for the Hertfordshire County Squad for the National Smallbore Rifle Association Winter Leagues. This consists of 10 rounds, with each team going head to head with another in each round.

AYearintheRangeTheShootingReport

St Albans School ‘A’ Team St Albans School ‘B’ Team

Name Score Name Score

Aidan Collins 100 Matt Crossley 100

Kyriacos Mouzouris 100 Piers Dorward 98

Hamish Tyler 99 Simon Brooks 98

Ben Chrisp 99 Stan Kudryashov 95

Total gunscore 398 Total gunscore 391

H/C for target rifles -4 H/C for target rifles -4

Final Score 394 Final Score 387

Joe Pattison won the Junior Herts Winter

Handicap


A first for the School’s current shooting incarnation, Aidan Collins was also selected for the BSSRA UK squad. Shooting for the D team he produced scores of 99 and 92 over the two card competition.

Summer:Reunion,ClocksandColes

We were inundated in the summer with old boys returning to put the current squad through their paces. This began at Bisley when the Clock competition was reborn. Unfortunately for the School team, first blood went to the Old Albani-ans who won decisively. Later in the term, to mark their Golden Jubilee graduation year, Andrew Wilkie, Alun Lewis and Alfie Coles visited the range for a trip down memory lane. Alfie’s family dedicated the Coles’ Trophy which is still shot between the School and OAs. We were pleased to welcome these three OAs as well as many more a few weeks later to shoot the competition. This time it was the School who triumphed, pulling one win ahead of the OAs. Jess Goldie won the OA Trophy for achieving the highest handicapped score in the competition.

The BSSRA leagues continued throughout the term, although owing to extracurricular events all cards were required to be shot before half term. Five teams entered, three seniors and two juniors. This was achieved by several of the Third Formers step-ping into Junior Teams and allowing the more able Juniors to take part in Senior Competitions. The Senior A squad finished second in Division 2, just one point behind Greshams.

Simon Brooks impressed with an average of 95.5, the second best average in the league. The Senior B and C teams finished 3rd and 5th respectively in Division 3. The

Junior A team were once again in the First Division and this time finished 4th and the Junior B team finished 5th in Division 2.

The final act of the year is the Ashburton. This year, due to a last minute rule change, we entered the full Eight. With a squad of nine, half of whom were competing for the first time, and only three practice sessions before the competition, the aim was a top 20 finish. It was a steep learning curve for many, but having several experienced coaches

School Handicap Score

OAs Handicap Score

Jess Goldie 100.146 Owen Simons

100.180

Simon Brooks

100.082 John Simmons

100.000

Joe Pattison 100.063 Alessandro Rossi

99.846

Ollie Thwaites

99.832 Martin Warr 99.675

Tessa Coudert

99.824 Alun Lewis 99.667

Richard Lu 99.580 Andrew Wilkie

99.553

Piers Dorward

99.036 Tom Chapman

99.538

Roger Cluff 99.500

Derek Cole 99.350

Total 400.123 Total 399.701

Team Results Individual Results

Ashburton Eights 16th 300 Aggregate Aidan Collins 64th

The CCF Bisley Shield (South)

2nd Cadet Monday Aggregate

Matt Crossley 59th

The Babcock Trophy

32nd and 37th

Cadet Wednesday Aggregate

Aidan Collins 52nd

The Devon 22nd School Staff Shoot David Russell

Simon Hughes

Owen Simmons

14th

16th

20th

The Meltis Cup 3rd The Spencer Mellish

Aidan Collins 11th

The Victoria College Trophy

20th and 36th

The Silenta Trophy Piers Dorward

Matt Crossley

55th

97th

Schools Veterans 1st Team

29th The Wellington Aidan Collins

Matt Crossley

22nd

31st

to guide them through the day to day routine produced an efficient squad. I was very impressed with their organisation and willingness to help each other. More and more names started appearing on the boards as the week progressed, most notably Aidan Collins and Matt Crossley (fresh from his heroic plotting efforts last year). When Ashburton Day arrived, feelings were happy if somewhat muted. The intention was to enjoy the experience and see what happened. Once again the team worked as a very effective unit, completing all shoots well within the time limit. We were unsure if we had done enough but the result was far better than anticipated as we came in in 16th place. As is the departing captain’s prerogative, Aidan also shot the Spencer-Mellish. This is a self-coached shoot of two sighters and ten shots to count. He finished in a very respectable 11th place with a score of 44.3.

Thanks

The shooting club could not func-tion without the support of a wide range of people. I would like to thank Mr Everitt, Mr Wilson, Owen Simmons, Mr Lockhart, Dr Hughes, The Old Albanian Rifle Club and St Albans School Foundation. The final word of thanks has to go to the students who put in hours of effort and who support each other so well.

DSR


the gorge scrambling proved highly entertaining, with both group and individual challenges including a competition to create the

largest tidal wave, resulting in some painful belly flops. The

scramble also involved climbing a small wa-terfall and traversing underneath ledges, testing our nerve.

The other highlight was the caving. Carrying ropes

AdventureTrainingCadetshopetogorgethemselvesonclimbsandscrambles

and bags full of climbing equipment, we headed underground. We were presented with climbs, abseils and tight spaces in the pitch black, with only a head-torch to light the way. While initially daunting, the abseil down a waterfall was for many our favourite part of the week, being so different from any previous caving experience. Finally all ten cadets made it out of the caves without the aid of our torches, moving by touch to navigate the way.

In the evenings we were treated to barbeques, expertly cooked by Mr Wilson, as well as games of rugby, football and cricket. There was also the chance to eat out in Castleton.

Ultimately the week was a fantastic way to celebrate a successful summer camp with constant humour, allowing everyone to take away some great memories.

James Kirsch

Three days after the end of the summer camp, four members of the outgoing Upper Sixth and six from the Lower Sixth departed from St Albans for Pindale Farm in Hope for some much needed down time amongst the fan-tastic views that the Peak

Dis-trict has

to offer. Over the course of the six-day trip

we would enjoy a wide range of outdoor activities including visits to Hope, Castleton and Sheffield.

After the high intensity of the summer camp, and in some cases a leadership course as well, the slower pace and later starts were a relief. Following a long drive, the group settled in to our accom-modation, which was basic but would cater for our needs. With sleeping arrangements sorted and a local takeaway in our stomachs, we walked up the hill to watch the sunset over Hope valley and talk about the week ahead.

The week consisted of four daytime activities: climbing, moun-tain biking, gorge scrambling and caving, with each activity providing different challenges as well as the chance to laugh at and with each other. Significantly, the highlights of the week were gorge scrabbling and caving. Although it was cold,

The Albanian 2015 Sport 79

Sport The Albanian 201580

Starting the season against Berkhamsted School is always tough. This time we were without the Captain, Hudson, and the very experienced fly-half, Scott, and by half time we had missed two penal-ties and conceded two tries. It got worse and we were beaten 0-43. Against Merchant Taylors’, however, we had a pleasing resurgence of confidence and were 14-0 up at half-time. The second half was similar with determined rucking to occasionally turn-over possession and we won 28-5.

The Herts Cup Match against Verulam proved rather one-sided, but it was a good chance to run opposed plays as we won 65-3. The Old Boys saw an excellent display against Haberdashers’, romping to a 18-0 lead in twenty minutes. We then gave away too many penalties, but dominated the second-half, with Scott scoring 14 points and Russell nipping blind for 5 more to finish 37-0. Hampton School have beaten us for the last five years so it was going to be tough. By half time we had scored a try, converted it and taken a penalty and the score was 10-10. The game was always against us and in the end we competed with credit against 7 Academy players. Brown started the match against Haileybury by fielding his own kick to score under the posts. Scott converted and then added 3 points for a penalty. Scott then scored two further penalties and converted Russell’s try. Haileybury also scored but the game finished with Okine scoring out wide, completing a 28-7 win.

The next fixture with St Columba’s College was not a full contest as they were very short of players and it was 41-0 at half-time and ended 76-0 against a demoralised opposition.

The second half of term began with Richard Hale at home in the Herts U18 Cup, an evening match under floodlights. It was a strong, com-petitive game ending 20-5. Watford were spirited opposition. A Sayers try gave a 7-6 lead at half-time; an exchange of tries followed, then a Thomson try and a Scott conver-sion. The reverse then happened and at 21-18 nerves were obvious, but

with five minutes to go Thomson settled the contest with a snipe from short-range which Scott con-verted to win 28-18. A dogged win followed against QE Barnet, 33-17, with tries from MacGregor, Sayers (2), Southworth and Thrale.

Bedford Modern have perhaps their best side for some years but an excellent start from SAS put the home side under pressure. However, after this initial phase, Bedford played clear. Several missed tackles saw 0-17 at half-time and Bedford’s final points came from four pick-and-drives. We lost 0-32.

We faced Haileybury in the Herts U18 semi-final. Under lights at Hertford Rugby Club with a very damp evening and dense fog, conditions were poor. MacGregor scored early, followed by a try for the home side after we dropped the ball in mid-field. Brown kicked a penalty for offside to give a narrow half-time lead. After the break we kept trying to play wide, but the connections just didn’t work; we couldn’t maintain enough pressure and lost 8-12.

Following this effort there were in-juries and we were very flat facing Stamford School. In the event, against seven Academy players from Leicester Tigers we competed at first phase, but were out-powered beyond. Anifalaje, back after long-term injury, scored a consolation try as we lost 7-73. The Aylesbury game saw many errors on both sides. Sayers opened the scoring from first-phase only to see an immediate reply. Brown ran in for a try only to see no guard posted and another 7 points conceded. MacGregor rounded his man and Russell, taking over kicking duties, converted. At half-time it was 20-20. In the second half Russell scored another 3 but Aylesbury scored a try through the centre. Russell achieved another penalty and then with one minute to go we were awarded another penalty on the 10m line. At 26-28 the kick could win it, but it was very hard. Russell decided to kick and we all held our breath. Through the middle it went for a rousing 29-28 win.

The last match of a very good season was at home to St George’s. The opposition played admirably, but without apparent strategy. Our side played with nearly a full team and enjoyed a chance to run wide, scoring several pleasing tries. The season ended with a 32-16 win.

CCH

CopingWithouttheCaptain1stXVRugby

Action from the victory against QE Barnet

Learn-ingCurvesU15XVRugbyThe U15 season got off to a tough start with losses

to Berkhamsted, Merchant Taylors’ and Haberdashers’. This

was heavily due to the injury list of 14 men many of who

were key to the A team’s success and this continued to be a

theme throughout the year. Next was a bright performance against

Hampton but due to some questionable refereeing we were denied

a well-deserved victory. Our first NatWest Cup match came against

Sandringham School; we won convincingly cruising to a 61-10 win on

the back of excellent team play by all. This was then backed by an equally

strong win against Haileybury in very tough conditions with ideas from

the training pitch transferring to the game. With spirits high we tackled

St Columba’s in a grudge match against our bitter foes, coming up just

short losing by a solitary point in an entertaining tussle for all to watch.

Unfortunately, in the next round of the cup we came up against a very

strong Bedford side losing convincingly, and again injuries took their toll

on the outcome of this match. We had been knocked out of the cup and

we were put into the Vase with the opportunity to progress to the latter

stages. After half term, the rest paid off and we had convincing wins over

Watford Grammar and Bedford Modern, and we had progressed to

the 5th round of the Vase with wins over St George’s and Dame Alice

Owen’s. A narrow win against a much improved and determined St

George’s saw the end of the regular season leaving just a match

against St Columba’s to move into Round 6 and a potential

quarter final of the NatWest Vase. Unfortunately injury to

key players again played its part in a fierce but losing

resistance. Key lessons have been learnt this season

and with a more proactive attitude to training and hopefully fewer injuries the foundations

have been laid for next year. TNR


The U16s started the season in style with an enjoyable pre-season tour to the Ge Tur Sports Village in Northern Italy. With two superb wins and some tough training sessions in the Italian sunshine, we set a high standard for the rest of the season. On return to the UK, we started the domestic campaign with a solid win against Berkham-sted School. This boded well for the upcoming fixtures, but a lack of focus meant that we lost a few close games which we should have won. Despite mixed fortunes, we did enjoy key victories against two of our strongest rivals, Bedford Modern School and Hampton School, where we played with im-proved focus and showed what we were really capable of. The highlight of the season was no doubt the penultimate game, away at Stamford School. In a tough, tense contest, two equally strong teams battled it out to the last minute, until the bounce of the ball didn’t go our way (literally) and we lost by the nar-rowest of margins: 19-18. Despite the loss, we certainly showed that we could compete with the tradi-tional rugby schools and show just what potential we had. In our final game of the season, we were able to round off five great years of rugby together, by gaining an emphatic victory over Aylesbury Grammar School. It was a tremendous victory to finish on and we will all be looking forward to the challenges of senior rugby next year. I‘d like to thank Mr Burger for putting up with us, and giving up his time to help us develop into an impressive group of players.

Gregor Farrell-Binns

OutstandingPotentialU16XVRugby

The U16 tour to Italy was very

successful

Junior boys will need to follow the example of the senior teams (above and below)


The U14 teams showed tremen-dous progress throughout the season, both in terms of results and development of new skills. The teams started the season with an early flourish of wins, which brought on the “smash top” competition where the player who worked and tackled the hardest won the opportunity to wear a sought-after Olorun Kamikaze Sevens shirt during training. With everyone aiming to be the proud wearer of this our own equivalent of the yellow jersey, the teams maintained high standards and ethics, which were evident in the performances they produced. The ‘A’ XV played 14 games winning 11, striving to work to the best of their ability, whilst learning new skills to be implemented into the game.

The A team returned from a deficit against Aylesbury Grammar School, after conceding two tries, turning the game around to win 19-17. The composition of the team changed considerably over

this season with the arrival of new players and players moving between teams. Progression was high and during each match the boys found themselves pushing towards higher standards. The ‘B’ XV produced the most formidable win ratio of any team, playing 12 games and winning 11, coping very well with the changes between teams and positions. The highlight of many high performances came when they gained a 10-7 victory over Watford Grammar School, working vigorously and demonstrating an outstanding defence. The ‘C’ XV played 6 games and winning 3, high-lighting signs of improvement in all categories of their game. Their best performance was against Hailey-bury, who were beaten 51-0. These boys will have many more opportu-nities to develop into better players in season.

Ayo-Oluwa Olukotun

PerfectProgressionU14XVRugby

GreatDefendersU13XVRugby

The U13A team showed much im-provement throughout the season in terms of results and player devel-opment. The first game against Hab-erdashers’ was a well-fought draw finishing 31-31, but the following week the team struggled against a very strong Hampton team and was punished for early mistakes in the game. Several changes to the team including several promotions from a strong B team made instant impact with wins against St Columba’s, Watford, QE and Bedford Modern. Stamford was the only team to stop this winning streak and the team got to play against several academy players. The boys still did the school justice with excellent defensive play. Two final wins against Aylesbury and St George’s sealed a very success-ful season (78% win ratio). Notable mentions in the team are for: Will Murphy (most improved player) for tackling everything on the pitch and playing multiple roles before settling into his role at flanker; J-J Wallace for his flair and pace in his role at centre; Toby Adegembile (player of season) and Alex Lines for their pace and power in the forward pack; Gethin Wynne (Cpt) for his experience and ability on the pitch. I would like to say a big thank you to all the parental support the team has had from the side-lines, from distant away fixtures to ones at home.

RDD



Everyone in the Hockey squad was excited about the prospect of a jam-packed season and a fantas-tic tour to Brussels, all of which lay ahead over the forthcoming months.

The season started with the annual fixture against Harpenden XI. With a few solid days of pre-season beforehand, the team managed to continue the long tradition of drawing this fixture with a promis-ing 3-3 result.

The Merchant Taylors’ away match has provided a tough challenge over the last few years and this

year was no different. Having gone down 1-2, the team recovered to bring it back to 3-2 and managed to withstand the pressure for the last 10 minutes and earn themselves a great win. This provided a solid platform to build on throughout the season.

Haberdashers’ provided a differ-ent challenge, with teams in recent years unable to adapt tactically to their style of play. It was a mental challenge more than anything and although the final result was a 3-3 draw, the team felt they could have done better.

Our first mid-week game was against Windsor. We struggled to break the deadlock in the first half but a few cheeky deflections by Olly Edmond early in the second half opened up the game and it finished 3-0.

Travelling to Dulwich is a test for any school team and the need to start with some intensity was vital. Having squandered some chances in the first half, we couldn’t quite find the back of the net and in the last few minutes, with their only shot of the game, they scored and we suffered a 1-0 loss.

Felsted is one of the top teams on the School’s fixture list and the team knew that it was vital to start strong and stay in contention, particularly in the first half. An in-depth tactical strategy deployed by Mr Langston before the match con-tributed to the team’s incredible start going 2-0 within the first 15 minutes. Felsted recovered to draw level but in the final moments, we managed to grab the winner to end on 3-2. The result demonstrated a great team performance and was a real highlight of the season.

Two games followed soon after against Haileybury and Hitchin,

both ending in a 2-2 draw. The game against Hitchin saw debutant Joe Sayers score one of the most memorable last minute goals in school hockey with a cracking finish into the bottom corner.

Injury and absence hurt the team when they played the Leys in mid-March. An unorthodox press left the team struggling tactically. A 5-1 loss was the final result. A bounce back fixture four days late against Mill Hill provided less of a challenge and we were able to come away with a 2-0 win with young talent Jonny Cattermole sweeping in the first and Dan Metcalf finishing off a well-executed short corner rattling the top of the net for the second.

A three-way tournament against Harpenden and Framlingham enabled the team to experiment with a newly developed Aussie press and work on specific areas of development. 3-0 and 2-0 wins saw the team perform at a much higher standard, just what they needed after a couple of nervy weeks.

The final match of the domestic season was against Dr Challoner’s. Starting slowly, the team had to try to find something to spur them on and end the season on a high. The second half saw the team dig in but the opposition proved too strong, winning 5-3.

Post-season, the team departed for Brussels on what promised to be a tour that would cap off a great campaign with a final few challeng-ing games against some of Belgium’s top club sides. Three tough games gave all players a new experience into how Hockey and more gener-ally, sport is perceived and played abroad.

Many thanks to Mr Langston for organising the trip as well as managing and developing the team throughout the season and many of us throughout our entire school hockey career. In addition, congrat-ulations to Olly Edmond for being selected to captain next year’s first team. Finally, we must mention Mr Gillespie, whose commitment and encouragement throughout the whole season was fully appreciated.

Tim Richards

BrusselsTourCapsMemorableSeason1stXIHockey

Author in action


90%Wins2ndXIHockey

In a highly successful season the mighty 2nd XI fin-ished with a superb 90% win ratio. The team started well with a 4-1 win at Merchant Taylor’s, and 7-0 win against Windsor Boys’. Two respectable draws against our historically strong opposition (Dulwich College, 1-1 and Watford Grammar 3-3) hinted at a potential unbeaten season. Wins followed at Aldenham (3-2), Felsted (4-3), The Leys (2-1), Mill Hill (3-0) and a 1-1 draw at Haileybury, leaving a win in the last game against Berkhamsted 1st XI to remain unbeaten. A nail-biting game saw both teams match each other goal for goal. Playing with 10 men after a sending off late in the second half, we let Berkhamsted edge ahead with a lucky goal. This proved too much, and we lost 4-5. The whole team deserve a mention for their individual performances particularly Vinny Sriganesh, Harry Turner (Captain) and Michael Roche who disrupted the opposition attack and distributed the ball wonderfully; Rob Williams, Matthew Halliday and Adam Spooner, for their great goals; Tom Galliford (2nd XI 2015 Most Improved Player) for controlling the game in the middle with excellent distribution and Max Houghton for his excellent saves. It has been a great pleasure to coach this year’s 2nd XI.

RDD

RunningHotandColdU16XIHockey

We began the season formally with a home match against Merchant Taylors’ School 3rd XI and a newly organised side. It was a good opportunity to organise and evaluate. Despite being one down at half time we were rewarded with two well-worked goals and a pleasing 2-1 win.

Due to frost, January offered just one match per side. The team played Watford at Oaklands and continuity was lacking against a good opponent, resulting in a 1-3 loss.

Against Felsted School the opposition cut large holes in our defence with good pace and but for a great per-formance by Sam Alexander in goal, it would certainly have been worse than a final score of 1-4. A disastrous 0-6 loss followed at Hitchin, where we could not find control on a difficult pitch and failed to mark tightly against a good side.

We came away from the re-arranged match against High Wycombe with a fortunate 4-3 win, with the deciding goal coming in the last minute. Haberdashers’ witnessed one of the better games played by the team all season. The home side gave us the space to play our patterns and we took our opportunities with two goals in each half without reply.

LateBlossomingU15XIHockey

The U15 squad looked very promising at pre-season training with some exciting talent. However, the season did not get off to the best of starts with two early losses to Merchant Taylor’s and Dulwich College. They had many chances to score in these matches but were unable to get a goal, something that would continue to haunt the team for most of the first half of the season. In the third match the team had success against Harrow with a conclusive 7-0 win, but the following match was a 0-0 draw against Aldenham. The team went into the match confident but were surprised by a much stronger team than in previous years. In retrospect a draw was a good result but really should have been a win. The next match against Hitchin was again very close but they conceded a goal from a short corner and were unable to recover from a 0-1 deficit.

In the second half of the season the U15s performed much better, finally clearing the goal drought and winning four out of five matches. Next was their toughest match of the season against Felsted, where the boys played their best hockey of the season, managing to take the win in the final second of the match with a quick counterattack resulting in a 3-2 victory. Next up were High Wycombe, another strong team, but yet again the boys scored a late goal to win 1-0, followed by Haileybury where they played solidly to take a good 4-0 win. The team faced The Leys towards the end of the season, renowned for being a strong hockey school. However, after a tiring game, the team just lost 2-3 with an unfortunate own goal – though this was a great improvement on last year’s comprehensive loss. Finally the team played Dr Chal-loner’s, where they initially struggled to deal with the opponent’s tactical formation and were also weakened by the loss of a key player. However they kept working hard and eventually some good play earned them a comfortable 4-2 win.

VLS

At The Leys School it was a different story as the opposition dominated. We were 0-3 down at half-time and finished with a 1-7 defeat.

Mill Hill, however, were not strong and a 10-0 win at Oaklands against a make-shift side was enjoyable for the players, yet no real test. The last game was against Dr Challoner’s and it was a very good, competitive match. A fluke first goal saw the opposition slash a shot into the roof of the net. A St Albans goal from a well-worked short corner made it 1-1 at half time, but then an individual piece of high skill and the beating of five tackles made it 1-2. Pressing hard for an equaliser, we were left exposed to concede a third with five minutes to go.

CCH


ChallengingSeasonU14XIHockey

The season did not start well, with a 4-0 thrashing by a strong Merchant Taylors’ side. This was followed by a testing match against Dulwich, who have a strong hockey reputation. Strong play ensured we were only a goal down at half time, and in the second half an Ed Vickery cross was picked up by Ashwin Batey, who then slotted home a scorcher with his reverse stick. The 1-1 draw felt more like a victory.

The next four games were a miserable run of defeats. A shock 3-0 defeat against Watford, one of the strongest hockey schools, was a huge blow to the team, though there were positive signs. At Aldenham, Cameron Furley returned to the side and instantly provided a goal, but two shocking umpiring deci-sions later, we found ourselves walking off the pitch with a 2-1 loss. Against Hitchin Grammar we were short of numbers, so had to call upon the services of three B-team players in the last minute before the match. We deserved to lose, especially without star man Ken Adigwe, but the 6-0 score line flattered the opposition. The next defeat was at home to Felsted. Noah Arthur-Tinworth scored a brilliant goal, George Adshead and Ed Vickery continued to link up well and there was some better defending at the back. Every-thing else was one-way traffic, however; we were out muscled in the midfield and overpowered in defence.

It is great to report on a remarkable turnaround, then. Royal Grammar School High Wycombe is one of the most prestigious hockey schools in the country. The result wasn’t a lucky 1-0 victory, but a 4-0 thrashing. A ‘cool as you like’ penalty flick was put away by our skipper, Ashwin Batey while Cameron Furley, Noah Arthur-Tinworth and Salem Kahn were also scorers.

At Haileybury we dominated the match, though managed to win only 1-0, with a goal from Noah Arthur-Tinworth. Our next triumph was at Harrow, within view of the whole London skyline. The first half was disappointing and the opposition scored on the stroke of half time. Things were put right in the second half, with goals from Cameron Furley and Noah Arthur-Tinworth.

While the season ended with two losses, there were some gains, not least the delicious post-match tea at the Leys School in Cambridge. There we played against the U15 side, a more physically developed team, so it was important to remain defensively astute as well as skilful in possession. Both of these goals were achieved, but the Leys scored a goal in the final seconds to clinch victory.

The final home defeat to Dr Challoner’s was a bitter pill to swallow, but Noah Arthur-Tinworth scored a good goal to cap an excellent season.

Ed Vickery

LearningtheHardWayU13XIHockey

The U13 Hockey season started with a difficult trip to Dulwich College having missed the opening games due to snow cancellations. Three mini-teams went and while there was a big loss for the As, the Bs and Cs competed well showing signs of promise for the season. As the season progressed difficult lessons were learnt in losses against Aldenham and Watford, but through these matches the teams built up experi-ence and took this into the County Tournament. Stronger performances against sides that had beaten us earlier in the season made us competitive and only narrow losses halted progression in the tournament. Taking confidence from this led to good wins against Haberdashers’ Aske’s, Hitchin and Aldwickbury at the end of the season before a last tough fixture against a very good Dr Challoner’s side. While the score didn’t reflect the game here, the experiences will be able to be taken into next season with the influx of new players.

TNR

The 1st XI had three tough but

enjoyable matches while on tour to

Brussels



Excellent weather for pre-season training allowed for plenty of prac-tice, but our first game against Dr Challoner’s caught us very cold and an experimental batting order saw us only amass 134 in the allotted 30 overs. We were always struggling to restrict them, and a four wicket loss was the eventual result.

The first weekend game saw us visit Haileybury College where the early swing caused the opening batsmen some problems. We managed to post a score of 248-6 with Captain Patrick Scott and Alex Cook scoring half centuries. The total was too much for the opposi-tion and the game ended as a tame draw with the score on 183-6, despite a single over that produced two wickets from Jonny Muir.

The following day saw the Regional draw of the National T20 Competi-tion at Woollams with Aldenham School, Forest School and Hailey-bury College. We played Forest School in the first game and got off to a dreadful start with Scott out very first ball. Noah Lipschitz got off to a speedy start and with a fine knock from Charlie Scott (71); together with George MacGregor (43) we posted 172-7, which was, in the circumstances, a tremendous score. Forest never looked in the game and a solid all round perform-ance restricted them to just 115-5, seeing us through to the final of the Group Stages against Haileybury. Unfortunately Patrick Scott made it two consecutive golden ducks, and Charlie Scott was also out cheaply in the next over. Lipschitz soon followed, only for an amazing stand between Jack Perrin (60) and Will Pickworth (36) to salvage the innings and see us post a decent score of 151-5. In response we bowled well and fielded brilliantly, winning by 33 runs.

The Regional Final against Merchant Taylors’ School was highly antici-pated. Unfortunately, an awesome piece of wicket-keeping from their England player saw Patrick Scott stumped, first ball again, and once we had Charlie Scott, Lipschitz (42) and Cook removed, a poor total seemed likely. However, our strength in depth was evident with MacGregor and Pickworth running

beautifully between the wickets along with dispatching bad balls to the boundary. We finished up posting 133-8. Wickets fell consist-ently (Cook 3-18) and eventu-ally the powerhouse team on our circuit was dismissed for just 99.

Berkhamsted was probably the best game of the season between two very well matched sides. They had an England ladies player in their side and had she not tried the reverse ramp shot off Milo Knights then she may have won the game for them. Instead a very small edge through to Tom Goldstone saw the back of her and probably Berkhamsted’s best chance. A very tight finish saw St Albans come out winners by just 6 runs after posting a very good 245-7.

In the London Final of the National T20 we played Reed’s School with several players on cricket or sports scholarships. We batted first and the first thing for Patrick Scott to do was score a run. He did this but it was Lipschitz who was playing the aggressor and was

going along very nicely until one big shot too many saw him depart. We lost wickets at key times but managed to post 147-6. Reed’s is a very small ground so the total was rather flattering. Earlier in the competition they had chased over 200 with overs to spare. We had them worried though; at three down we were buzzing, believing that an upset could be on the cards. Their star player, however, showed why he is thought of so highly in Surrey cricket. He can bowl near to mid-80s and is a strong batsman. He smashed 90 in about 60 balls; his reverse-sweep 6 that never went more than 30 feet off the ground is one I’ll remember for a long time. We lost by 7 wickets but certainly did not disgrace ourselves.

The T20 tournament was held at Woollams with 8 different sides, although St Albans had a second team playing this year. We enjoyed strong victories against Hitchin Grammar, St Benedict’s and St Joseph’s. In the final on the follow-ing day against a strong Shenfield High School we were set to chase 142. Needing a good start, wickets fell at inopportune times and scoreboard pressure got to us. We ended 32 shorts after a good knock from stand-in Ben Anthoney.

All in all, it was a good season. Apart from two poor perform-ances we were always together as a team, we stuck to the task and managed to consistently apply pres-sure. Some fine individual perform-ances namely from Cook (Player of the Year), Charlie Scott (Batsman of the Year), Will Pickworth (Bowler of the Year), MacGregor (Fielder of the Year) and the side was always well captained by Patrick Scott. A special mention also to Perrin who, after being left out at the start of the season, showed real character fighting his way back in to the side and helped the team win on a number of occasions. Kyle Douglas also made several appearances in the 1st XI and got better on each occasion; he could certainly strike fear into many opposing batters next year if he gets it right.

MCI

StrongTeamPerformance1stXICricket

Twenty/20 batting requires both deft placement (above) and the grand hoick (below)


This was a relatively successful season for the 2nd XI. With half of last year’s regular players having either left school or been pro-moted to the 1st XI, a host of new young players were welcomed into the fold.

Facing Dr Challoner’s in the first match of the season, St Albans batted first and amassed 170 runs for the loss of only 4 wickets off their 25 overs. Challoner’s were only able to manage 156 in reply, with Callum Townsend picking up a valuable 4 wickets.

An encouraging 14 run win sent us into the second match with confidence as the 2nd XI continued their form with a commanding 91 run win against Haileybury, helped by a strong batting performance from Tom Goldstone.

Batting first against Bancroft’s School the following week, Jaymee Malkan’s 80 not out off 75 balls provided the spine of the St Albans’ innings of 164. Bancroft’s stuttered to 56 for the loss of 8 wickets in their 25 overs in their run-chase.

In the first away fixture at QE Barnet, St Albans once again batted first and amassed a formidable total of 219 in their 35 overs. Oliver Edmond and Alex Thomson shared 2 wickets apiece and Daniel Angel made amends with the ball as he captured 3 wickets, but once again it was Stewart who wrapped up the tail, his 3 wickets for 14 coming off 4 overs.

Going into the home match against Haberdashers’, the 2nd XI hoped to reverse the loss of last year’s fixture, but unfortunately, the

winning streak was halted and For-tress Woollams crumbled against a very strong unit. After a flying start from Haberdashers’, who chose to bat first, St Albans needed to get off to a good start, but the top order were tied down by some very tight bowling and when they started to force the run-rate, the wickets started to tumble. Most batsmen reached double figures but did not pass 20 and eventually were all out for 141 in the 32nd over.

YoungPlayersinaSuccessfulSeason2ndXICricket

The following week, the 2nd XI travelled to Berkhamsted. After de-ciding to bat first, the Seconds got off to a steady start. Thomas Carter and Edmond each gained 3 wickets to their name as the opposition was dismissed for 137 helping the side to record their 4th win of a margin greater than 70 runs, despite fielding with 10 men for the duration of the second innings.

Fortress Woollams was restored as Merchant Taylors’ came and were put to the sword. A brutal 27 off 18 balls from Ben Anthoney got us off to a flying start and Wick continued in a similar vein although regular wickets fell. Our final score of 180 for 9 off 30 overs seemed competi-tive, and inevitably proved to be just so as Merchant Taylors’ lurched to 169. The hero with the bat, William Stewart also starred with the ball, as the opposition tail was unable to read his slower ball, his 3 for 20 came off 4 overs.

With the Aylesbury fixture washed out, the 2nd XI travelled to Bedford for the final match of the season. With many of the regular squad absent, due to Duke of Edinburgh expeditions, this meant we took to the field with a much-weakened side. Bowling first, St Albans did well to restrict their opponents to 179 for 5 off their 30 overs. Despite the air of inevitability hanging over the result for some time, both played positively. With the target reduced to less than 50 with 6 overs remaining, was an un-likely upset on the cards? Unfortu-nately, it was not to be, despite an exciting end to the match.

CJE

Patrick Scott (1st XI) in full flow


The U15s enjoyed a season of mixed fortunes, starting with a win against Haileybury, with William Thomson scoring an unbeaten 77. Victory also came against Ban-croft’s, thanks to Liam Babwah’s 4-21, Gus Laws-Mather’s 38 and Kyle Douglas’ quickfire 22* at the end.

It was a different story against Queen Elizabeth’s Barnet, however, even though the team was only chasing a target of 99 runs. The spinners took six wickets, which required the batsmen to show steady application to grind out the win. Thomson and Benjamin Craig hit too hard and were out caught, though Louis Heap and Harry Wilcox took their singles well. A foolish run out sealed our fate and an unexpected loss. Babwah took the first three wickets against Haberdashers’ as they put on 147 and in reply Thomson led the way with 44*. Unfortunately, too many forcing but technically indifferent shots led to a decline to 102 all out.

The team faced Verulam after half term in the County and District Cup combined. Charlie Scott re-joined the team from the 1st XI and scored 59 with Heap 60*, con-tributing to a total of 171. In reply Verulam made just 59-8, giving us the win by 112 runs. The team did not fare as well against Berkhamst-ed, batting first on a low wicket. Top score was Laws-Mather’s 23 and

the opposition took the victory by 2 wickets in the penultimate over.

A magnificent century by Charlie Scott and a half century from Laws-Mather set up a total of 196 in the County Cup game against Alden-ham. Though Douglas’ first over went for 25, Bull took a hat-trick and the team romped to victory by 61 runs. It was a reverse against Merchant Taylors’ as their opener scored a century to which our batsmen could not respond, leading to an 80 run defeat.

This was bad enough, but perhaps the lowest point of the season came in the County Cup against Watford Grammar. We bowled poorly after putting the opposition in to bat, allowing a total of 147. In reply, Scott was bowled cheaply and Laws-Mather and Thomson used up too many deliveries, setting back the run rate. Even the Watford players were surprised to dismiss us for 104. Slow scoring was also a problem against Dr Challoner’s; 122 from 30 overs was not enough to prevent a loss by 5 wickets. Similarly a lacklustre performance against Bedford resulted in a loss by 8 wickets after setting only 120-8.

Though this was a disappointing way to end the season, it was a different matter in the Berkham-sted 6-a-side competition, where the team was seeking to retain the trophy. There was a blister-ing start against High Wycombe as Scott (64*) and Laws-Mather

LowsandHighsU15XICricket

(39*) put on 107 runs without loss in five overs; in reply, Wycombe could only manage 47-4. Merchant Taylors’ was a different proposition, setting 72-1. Though Scott scored 34, we fell short by 15 runs. In the play-offs we faced Haberdashers’ and restricted them to just 48 and though Scott was out first ball, we chased down the runs with ball to spare. The semi-final brought Merchant Taylors’ yet again, but Henry Callender took two wickets in the final over to put the brakes on their scoring. Laws-Mather hit the winning runs with a 6. And so to a final against Dr Challoner’s, where this time Thomson finished the innings with a 6 to take us to 83, but tight bowling, especially Scott’s 1-6, clinched the win and the trophy.

CCH

Celebrating a catch at the wicket

U13 player Eddie Beal in his delivery stride


The U14 cricket season began with an away fixture against Haileybury. St Albans were put in to field, and with some tight bowling they managed to restrict Haileybury to only 106-8 from their 30 overs, Dillon Jagsi claiming 3 wickets for only 7 runs. An unbeaten innings of 30 off 27 balls from Ben Yurkwich secured a successful run chase and got the season off to a winning start.

The District Cup campaign began against St George’s. In an unusually low scoring game, St Albans batted first and only managed to reach 92-7 off their 20 overs. Although it was a low score, St Albans managed to pull off a 9 run win, restricting St George’s to 83-8 with some gutsy bowling from Rahil Thapar.

In the next round, Queen Eliza-beth’s posted a score of 166-4, and an impressive innings of 74 from Thapar couldn’t save St Albans from falling 20 runs short.

The following weeks included more tough fixtures against Haberdash-ers’ and Berkhamsted. Unfortu-nately, St Albans struggled to find success in these games, losing by 8 wickets to Haberdashers’ and by 34 runs to Berkhamsted.

The next game was the quarter final of the District Cup, and St Albans were up against Beaumont. St Albans posted a respectable score of 134-4 from the 20 overs, with a stand out innings of 51* from Yurkwich. The St Albans performance in the field was even better and Beaumont only managed

to score 63-9 off 20 overs, with Ben Skinner taking 3 wickets and Lawrence Gallagher taking 2.

St Albans faced Aldenham in a nail-biting County Cup quarter-final, where Aldenham managed to surpass St Albans’ score of 118 with just one ball to spare. The St Albans players were deeply disap-pointed to lose so narrowly, but decided to focus on winning the District Cup instead.

Much to the players’ relief, more District Cup success came when St Albans beat Verulam School in the semi-final. A faultless innings of 85 from Thapar helped St Albans post a winning score of 165-3. Verulam put up a fight, but in the end, St Albans pulled off a 60 run win as they progressed through to the Final.

The District Cup final was played at Woollams on the 7th of July, and St Albans elected to bowl first. Sir John Lawes got off to a racing start, and were 30 for no loss after only 3 overs. However, both Brendan Warren and Thapar took 5 wickets apiece, with help from Louis Childs, taking 2 catches and 2 stumpings behind the stumps. In the end, Yurk-wich and William Davis reached the score of 56 in the 7th over without any trouble at all, seeing St Albans home with a 10 wicket victory and a great end to the season.

Brendan Warren

ResoundingDistrictCupWinU14XICricket


LovefortheGameU12XICricketThe U12 cricket season of 2015 proved to be one of the most suc-cessful in recent years. The season started with a tough encounter against Bancroft’s School which saw us chasing down 151 in less than 25 overs, with Steven Perrin making an impressive 83 not out.

This was an excellent team effort which would set the standard for the weeks that followed, as we produced excellent victories against traditional rivals QE Barnet,

The U13 season was a season of improvement. The team showed promise but a tough fixture list meant that we were going to have to keep working hard to compete. We did produce some results to be proud of, for example, the win against Bancroft’s School where the team showed great spirit to close out the game. Joss Lotzof scored 35 with the bat; an excellent contribution in a low scoring game, and Nick Swan took 3-20 from his 4 overs. We were also victorious against a strong Merchant Taylors’ side with the batting performance of the season from Alex Barlow who scored 55 though eventu-ally injured. We also owed a lot to our spinners George Little (3-23) and Lotzof (4-22). On reaching the final of the District cup we came up against a strong Verulam side. Sharouz Farhardi bowled well taking 3 wickets for only 5 runs in just 2 overs, and a good batting perform-ance by Captain Jamie Deane, who scored 33, got us close to the target, but unfortunately we fell short and came runners up. Player of the season, Will Shepherd bowled well throughout the season showing consistency of line and length with some strong in-swingers, and finished as top wicket taker with 18, including a best of 4-12. Madhav Krishnan finished as the top run scorer with 171 runs, with 39 not out his top total, and Deane was the top fielder with 7 catches. This season should be viewed as a build-ing block as we progress to higher levels of cricket as we move up through the school.

Jamie Deane

DevelopmentYearU13XICricket

Haberdasher’s, Berkhamsted and Merchant Taylor’s. The only game the team would go on to lose on a Saturday would be the Bedford Prep fixture, where we fell short by 20 runs, despite an excellent innings of 46 by Hubbard. Unfortu-nately, as a result of losing players to the Pen Arthur trip, our County Cup campaign was brought to end when we lost to Haberdashers’.

The success of this year’s team was built around the excellent all round contributions of Freddie Hubbard, Toby Marlow, Thomas Platts and Daniel Eaves, who all performed well with both bat and ball, and showed a genuine love for the game. This, together with the valu-able contributions of the rest of the squad, meant that we had ex-cellent balance as a team, covering all departments. However, without doubt the best player of the season was Perrin, whose batting was absolutely fantastic and won many games for us. His batting average of 100 which he maintained up to half term was unprecedented and I will be watching his development with great interest.

I would like to congratulate all the boys who contributed to the U12 team this season; in particular, I would like to thank the unsung heroes who contributed with en-thusiasm and selflessly committed to our Saturday fixtures, despite not getting to bat or bowl much. Without them, such a successful season would not have been pos-sible.

GSB

Junior players celebrate a wicket

A batsman prepares



The season started with a bang in the County Cup with an emphatic 6-0 win over John Warner School. Having the hockey players present as well as Arsenal and England star Tolaji Bola at our disposal meant we were at full strength and we did indeed look very strong. But Bola was not often available and hockey commitments took away the Captain, Robbie Tominey-Ne-vado, as well as both strikers and several of the midfield too – this meant that we took the field more often than not with several Lower VI players than was planned at the start of the season. However, this was not much of a hindrance…

In the next round we lost a very close game to eventual finalists in Mount Grace but certainly did ourselves proud. 2014 then ended in fine style with a 2-1 victory over Roundwood Park School. Mike Slater had never beaten this school in all his time as an Albanian so this was a very sweet victory – and we deserved it.

The start of 2015 saw a game against the Corinthian Casuals where, had the players had canoes it wouldn’t have looked out of place such was the standing water. A great game was had, in Corinthian spirit, and a 2-2 draw was the outcome – some ‘backs to the wall’ defending was required, but we came out with a draw nonetheless. A loss followed at Oakham School where we came up against YouTube sen-sation Tyrese Johnson whose pace was quite outstanding – stand-in captain Jack Swan had his hands full that day!

We then played Berkhamsted School in the LB Cup and yet another loss ensued, 2-1, although a much better performance. We were still losing the tight games, which was frustrating for all involved, but the progress the players were making, especially Swan, Laurie Kelly, Tom Razzell and Tom Carter, was very

prom-ising.

And then we played Haberdash-ers’ Aske’s. It was a blustery day and not particularly conducive to good football, leading to an average Habs team coming away victors with a final score of 4-1. This hit the boys hard as we were beginning to look better in training and in those tight matches we were losing

against decent opposition. A few more losses followed,

then a draw in the County

League against Sir John Lawes with a fine per-formance. Then, the District Cup was about to start. We had saved our best perform-ance until last. We had a narrow victory on penalties over Beaumont School and then a great game saw us victors over Nicholas Break-

spear 3-2 with a truly memora-ble performance. We were then

to play Verulam in the semi-final – with several players who were known to Slater through his scout-ing role for Norwich City. They were a good side. We eventually lost 2-1, but it was a terrific per-formance from the team; everyone could hold their heads up high.

The results may tell a story of a poor season but in my eyes it was a truly enjoyable season as my first

ATrulyEnjoyableSeason1stXIFootball

in charge and with so many of the Lower VI playing the vast major-ity of games it can only bode well for 2015/16, especially as many of those players are not Hockey players. The incoming captain, Swan, and midfield dynamo Carter were the stand out players but special mentions to Razzell, Joel Rabinow-itz, Kelly and Joe Riant as they showed great promise and effort, as well as training hard all season. It was a pleasure to have Bola on the few occasions he was available – I have rarely seen a game of sport that has been so affected by one

player.

MCI

Tolaji Bola in action against Verulam, District Cup semi-final

Matthew Feast lines up a free kick (left)


The 2015 season was a roller-coaster ride for the U14, beginning positively with a resounding 5 -0 win over a 9-man St Edmund’s side. Tommy Caffrey’s hat-trick and Sam Frost’s dominance in central midfield set the attacking tone for the next few games. In the following two matches, a 3-2 win against Kings Langley, followed by a 9-2 hammering of Marlbor-ough, allowed our forward trio of Tommy Caffery, Kwame Ofori and Louis Howard to link together and produce a sparkling attacking per-formance that became typical of St Albans’ play throughout the season. Howard was particularly ruth-less against Marlborough, scoring practically at will to end the game with a double hat trick. Defensively we were less secure, switching off at times and conceding cheap goals against the run of play.

In the next match, Haileybury exploited our defensive frail-ties, scoring 4 without reply in a lacklustre first half performance by St Albans. In a stirring second half comeback we pulled 4 goals back but then got a little too gung-ho and conceded a further 3, to end up on the wrong end of a 4-7 score line.

Still hurting from the heavy loss in the previous match, St Albans responded positively with a 3-1 win

over Roundwood. Louis Howard and Ofori were again on the score sheet, but this was followed by their second defeat of the season, going down 2-4 against Dr Chal-loner’s.

A bye put us directly through to the second round in the District Cup, where we faced Nicholas Breakspear away. A-team hockey players Noah Arthur-Tinworth and James Cooper joined the regular Saturday players in our strong-est line-up of the season so far. Conceding early in the first half, Howard and Arthur-Tinworth pounced on defensive errors to provide a triple blow ten minutes ahead of the break. St Albans were confident of holding onto the advantage, but two unanswered goals in the second half saw the game go into extra time. With the deadlock unbroken at the end of the extended period, the result was decided by a penalty shootout. After valiant efforts by all penalty takers and goalie Connor McGui-gan (who got a hand to 4 out of 5 spot kicks) we were knocked out of the cup 3-5 on penalties after a 3-3 draw.

The following match against Sandringham saw a return to our winning ways, with the 4 -0 score reflecting one of our best perform-ances of the season. Unfortunately

we came up against an organised Beaumont side a week later. The tika-taka football that we had used to unlock opposition defences with ease all season was unable to break down a very physical defensive unit. We were only 1-0 down at half-time, but Beaumont counter-attacked and our own defence conceded 4 in the second half.

Going into the final match the team was determined to overturn Sir John Lawes. An early Caffrey goal was cancelled out just before the interval, but he struck again just after the break and added his third between efforts by Adam Barton and Howard. The 5-1 victory was a pleasing way to end the season.

A staggering 42 goals scored in 10 matches indicated what an at-tacking force this team posed, but the 26 conceded demonstrated the fragility of our defence against stronger sides. This was com-pounded by not being able to settle on a regular keeper, four being used during the season. Striker Louis Howard ended the season top goal scorer with 12, Caffrey close behind with 11 and Angelo Lazari topped the assists chart with 6.

Ofori played with dazzling foot-work and balance throughout the season, and was awarded player of the season. Barton had an intense work rate around the centre of the park and was dogged in his pursuit of winning the ball back; this earned Adam the award of most improved player.

Overall, the season was punctuated by exhilarating highs and disap-pointing lows, but was a triumphant season nonetheless. The side can look forward with confidence and excitement to next season, for which the impending tour to Spain will no doubt become an experi-ence of a lifetime.

CJE and DS

GoalsAplentyU14XIFootball

Freddie Scutt of the 1st XI weaves through Oakham’s defence



The season started with a friendly pre-season netball session, where the Upper and new Lower Sixth girls were able to get a feel for each other’s playing styles. The squad took a while to settle down, with such a number of brilliant players to choose from. However it was eventually finalised with 9 solid players, consisting of a mixture of Lower and Upper Sixth girls.

Having not played together as a team before, the girls took a few matches to really get into their stride and decide which combina-tions of positions were the most effective. The initial match was a battle against St Helen’s School in the Invitational League, result-ing in a 15-6 loss. Coming back fighting, the squad won an intense 19-17 IL match against Dame Alice Owen’s. Captain Philippa English,

SolidSquadFindsItsStride1stTeamNetball

originally from Dame Alice, made the competitive edge on our side even higher.

Alongside matches, the girls also played in several tournaments. They placed 3rd at the Stanborough School Tournament, having some noble box matches including a 17-0 win against Loreto. They also played in the Roundwood School Tournament, winning all their box matches.

Unfortunately, at this point during the season the team suffered a setback. Hannah Girdlestone, one of our shooters and strongest players, was injured during an out of school match. Being a well-rounded team, the girls stepped up to the mark and produced some wonderful shooting, mainly from Jemma Attar, an A team player from last year. The team went on to win

19-9 against Sandringham, and 35-3 against Verulam.

The girls had tough training ses-sions every week throughout the term. With many of the girls having other extra curricular commit-ments, sporting, drama and music, the team gelled fabulously and did very well to remain consistent and come out with some very en-couraging results, after only being together for a few months.

VLSNovices’DebutSeason1stTeamLacrosseThe lacrosse season was kicked off by a successful pre-season Christmas tournament, hosted by Abbot’s Hill in November. While the girls only won one match, drawing and losing three each, the result promised much for the season, especially considering that this was the first time the girls had played together as a team. Unfortunately, the first match of season saw a 4-3 loss to St James in very poor weather. We started out strongly, but St James were able to score the winning goal during the last few minutes of the match. Despite this, the team remained positive and won an excellent match against Princess Helena College 10-1. Though the girls were playing on an unfamiliar surface, they played confidently. This encouraging result was followed by another deserved win against St Albans High School, a keen lacrosse school. Even though the score was level coming into the second half, our girls pulled together to take the lead and win 9-6.

The following week saw a triumphant performance during a tournament hosted by North London Collegiate. We were placed 4th, winning three matches against St James and St Helen’s, to whom we had lost at the start of the season, and Pipers Corner. There were some textbook goal set-ups behind goal by Jemma Attar and some victo-rious fast breaks made straight from the centre draw. The team played its first indoor match against Abbot’s Hill, which was lost by 2 goals. Abby MacGregor seemed to be in her natural element playing indoors, scoring some remarkable goals. This was followed by a great 11-9 win against Oakham. This was a particularly tense match, with the score fluctuating, but with some solid teamwork we pulled ahead to take the win.

Towards the end of the season we played Haileybury twice, and disappointingly lost both matches. Nonetheless, the team’s spirit wasn’t dampened and we ended the season with an 8-4 win against Abbot’s Hill, with the first goal being scored within the first minute of the match after winning the centre draw. This was a very pleasing season for the lacrosse team, gaining wins against schools who have been playing together for years.

VLS

The netball team poses for the last time, with outgoing captain Philippa English(centre)


The cross-country season started as usual with the team assembling at Pen Arthur to take on the chal-lenge of mountain trails and sand dunes for Cross Country training week. This challenging week which we have been attending each year for the past 15 years, really does set the team up for what always seems to be a challenging season ahead. Such is the reputation of running at St Albans School, much is always expected from our runners and they never fail to impress us.

The season started off with a visit to Wimbledon Common for the King’s Trophy, a race we were defending for the third time in succession – a very challenging course that can throw up the most surprising results. On this occasion our team was in fine form and ran well to retain the cup. Honours though really have to go to our Captain, Robbie Lightowler, who came first for the third year in a row, a feat only achieved once before since 1979. We now had to focus on our trip to Washington DC and the east coast champion-ships. We had done well in this event before but never managed to win both the Senior and Junior Varsity at the same time. On the day of the race we were expecting a good result but were very aware of the high standard of running that the event attracted. The Varsity Race was first up, and over the 5km course it was very competitive, so no one could be sure about the result until near the end. Eventually, Lightowler took individual honours and with Adam Thorpe (5th), Ben Clarke (7th), Dan Myers (8th) and

Lightowler’sLastLapsSeniorCrossCountry

Alex Cook (12th) also performing strongly, we won the race comfort-ably. The pressure was now on the Junior Varsity team but they also excelled and with Tom Fulton coming 1st, Ben Hemsi 2nd, Oliver Edmond 3rd, Tom Halling 4th and Tom Alexander 9th we swept the board to record a most impres-sive win. After our most successful tour in Washington it was back to the cold trails of England, and we went to the Haskell Cup as holders. This is a four-boy relay event where we have a very good track record. Again, the team were able to retain the cup they had won previ-ously. This was followed by our own 6 boy relay at the Woollams playing fields where we were behind all the way until the last lap where Lightowler ran a true captain’s race to turn a full minute’s deficit into a seven second win allowing us to win back our cup. Meanwhile, our In-termediate team were again in the Final of the English Schools Cup. The New Year began with a visit to Sevenoaks and the Knole Run - the most challenging cross-country course a boy could face, over a distance of 6 miles, which winds through the Knole Park. With eight to score it was a big challenge and we finished in second place out of the 50 schools running and a field of 350 runners. The Goater cup at Haberdashers’ Aske’s was next - a race where one runner from each year runs in a team of 6 runners. We were placed third in this event. The next race was the King Henry VIIII relay. This was a 6 leg race

which is seen as the premier cross country race in the country, at-tracting 55 teams from all over the UK. As holders, and as the team with the best track record at this race we knew well what we were up against.

On the day our team ran well and were always in contention but were edged out into second place on the last legs of the race. In February the team were running in Richmond Park at the Goater

Cup, a mob race hosted by Tiffin school. The race was won by Lightowler and the team won the event to get back to winning ways. The season’s big finale is always the South East Championships at

Harrow school and we were ready for the challenge. This was, again, an event that attracts all the top cross country schools and is run over a very challenging course that includes hills, a golf course and a pig farm. This was the final race for our senior boys (Lightowler, Thorpe and Myers)

and having given so much to the team over the years, it was a fitting way for them to finish and for the rest of us to say a big thank you to them. The race was again a good win for Robbie and with the others two in 10th and 12th places we were able to win a with a comfort-able 40 points to spare.

A very difficult season, but overall, another very successful year for St Albans School Cross Country.

KJE



This year’s swimming calendar has seen the traditional highs and lows of many sporting endeavours. Overall, the juniors have shown the most consistency with the majority of the team who swam last year as First Formers performing well in all galas. Individual mentions must go to Noah Barnard in the freestyle and Will Murphy in the backstroke who have always challenged for top honours, and the freestyle relay team of Scott Brice, Sam Mc-Donald, Eddie Bourn and Barnard who again have constantly set the pace against all teams. Next year continues to look strong for the Juniors with the emergence of Year 7 swimmers coming to the fore in their own galas, especially Ciaran Cook, Sam McDonald and Benji Refson. This season the Juniors have finished fourth in the Herts League, improving on their points tally of the previous year.

Unfortunately the Intermedi-ates have struggled against strong opposition, but have nevertheless shown personal development with PB’s constantly dropping through the season and good performances in both the medley and freestyle relays.

For the Seniors it has been a frustrating year; having shown the potential to compete at a National Level, absence and injury depleted the team on a few occasions. However, when fully fit the team has competed excellently with Captain Matt Sherriff dominating the individual freestyle event and Robbie Lightowler doing the same in the individual backstroke. Our usual control of the freestyle relay was challenged by a very strong Harrow team, with both teams pulling away from the rest of the field in the final gala of the year, but Harrow’s strength showed in the end.

Although it hasn’t been a vintage year, the continued emergence of strong Junior teams bode well for the future, and after having given 7 years of service to the swimming team Lightowler has bowed out on a high in his favoured event. Last of all Captain Sherriff has not only led from the front with his perform-ances in the pool but taken time to coach the other teams and pass on his wisdom.

TNR

EmergingJuniorsMakeWavesSwimming

DistrictVictoriesAthleticsA very busy and highly successful athletics season saw District wins by the Seniors and U15s, a county league plate final win by the U14s and several top individual perform-ances.

In the Senior District Champion-ships, a full boys squad and a select girls squad competed at Westmin-ster Lodge. Sarena Clarke won her 100m and 200m and there were wins for Bolaji Anifalage in the 100m, Adam Thorpe in the 400m, Tom Halling in the 1500m, George Grant in the Pole Vault and Omeiza Haruna in the Triple Jump. These efforts helped the team secure vic-tory over St Columba’s and Veru-lam, meaning St Albans retained the Senior District Championships title.

A select team of Cameron Furley, Seb Adolph, Jeremiah Joshua Wallace and Alex Lines competed at the County Multi events champi-onships in Stevenage, coming 3rd in the team competition. Furley came 5th out of 40 of the county’s best athletes to secure himself a place in the County reserve squad.

A selection of the school’s best individual Junior and Intermedi-ate athletes competed at the

Mid-butterfly at the swimming gala

(below)


County Championships at Jarman Park. The competition included the County’s best athletes, with winners qualifying for the English School Competitions. Notable personal performances included Scott Brice, who ran a personal best in the 1500m final and Ollie Larsson, who qualified for the final of the 200m and came 5th. Greg Hurley ran an excellent 300m time of 39 seconds, coming 4th, Arty McKee came 2nd in the U15 boys Discus Final and Ben Clarke came 2nd in the U17 1500m final, running a personal best. Tom Fulton ran the race of the day against a very strong field of runners, lying 4th in the final 250mof the 800 metres race. He chased down the 1st place runner’s 15 metre lead, passing the 3rd and 2nd place runners on the bend to win with an outstand-ing time of 1 minute 59 seconds. He became the 2015 Herts County Champion and was selected for the English Schools Competition at Gateshead.

A Second, Third and Fourth Form team competed at the all day annual District Athletics competi-tion, with all 16 district schools

competing. Some great perform-ances include district titles wins for:

Second FormAlex Lines 300m

Third FormGreg Hurley 300mArty Mckee DiscusCameron Furley Hurdles The 3rd Form relay team of Seb Adolph, Ollie Larsson, Jake Maries and Cameron Furley.

Fourth FormMax Swan 200mTom Fulton 800mGus Laws Mather Javelin

The Fourth Form relay team of Seb Larsson, Piers Dorward, Cameron George and Max Swan.

The Fourth Form team was in 3rd place going into the final relay race of the day, and winning the relay changed the final standings to a St Albans victory by 1 point, taking the U15 District Champion Title.

RDD

Charlotte Jackman at the starting line



Shortbut

SweetSeason

forSeniorsSeniorTennis

The Senior Tennis team has had a very successful season, starting with the first round of the National Schools Cham-pionship where the players enjoyed a very convincing win over Watford Grammar School. Winning three out of their four singles matches, they easily secured victory when Charlie Broom and Tom Boon won the deciding doubles rubber 6-0, 6-0. In the second round against Barnet and Southgate College all four players in the team – Broom, Boon, James Wilkinson and Tim Richards – won their singles comfortably. The doubles wins were a formality in securing a place in the third round.

Unfortunately, in the third round the early success finally came to a halt against UCS. The UCS players were very experienced and al-though we fought hard, only Broom managed a win in the singles. He secured victory 10-6 in a cham-pionship tiebreak. The doubles were well matched but UCS again triumphed. This was not without a fight, however. Broom and Richards were only narrowly defeated 10-6 in a championship deciding set, while Wilkinson and Boon lost 6-2 6-4. In a friendly match against Mer-chant Taylors, St Albans won 11 out of 12 matches in both the singles and the doubles. It was a short season, but overall a very successful one for the tennis team.

James Wilkinson

MixedFortunesU13Tennis

While we all played relatively well as a team, we needed greater con-sistency and patience.

The UCS match was very difficult for all of us due to the conditions, but some of their players were simply better than us. However, in some cases our players played well and managed to win the matches.

We were up against it in the final county match against Berkhamsted, as we were missing a player. I strug-gled against a far better player and we came away with no wins from this fixture.

The final tennis meet of the season was the Haberdashers’ tournament, when we all got to play a good few matches. The opposition was good and the matches were tough, and we enjoyed mixed fortunes.

Matt Hoole

Runners-UpU15Tennis

Everyone winning their singles in an opening friendly against Merchant Taylors’ was a promising start. The first pair won their doubles, but the second pair lost their doubles even though they were much stronger. After this the team played Berkhamsted and Hitchin. Both teams were beaten comfortably which took us to the semi final.

The semi, St Edmunds was a big step up with everyone facing an opponent with a much higher rating. Bertie Arbuthnott and Chris Fletcher were swiftly beaten by their one and two in the singles, but Liam Babwah and Alex Schole-field managed to pull off great wins. In the doubles Liam and Alex lost as their opponents made a strong pairing. Then Bertie and Chris managed to get a largely unex-pected win in a tiebreak. The scores were equal after the matches, leading to a deciding tiebreak. Liam and Bertie held their nerve and won 10-7, putting us through to the final.

The final again was tough with eve-ryone again faced a higher ranked opponent. This time it did not go so well as everyone was quickly beaten with only Liam looking as if he could get a win. In the doubles everyone had lost heart, leading to a 6-0 loss.

Bertie Arbuthnott

The U15 tennis team was runner-up in the County Championships



Rugby Cricket

Team Played Won Draw Lost Team Played Won Drawn Lost

1st XV 16 11 0 5 1st XI 10 4 1 5

2nd XV 14 7 0 7 2nd XI 8 6 0 2

3rd XV 8 5 0 3 3rd XI 6 4 0 2

4th XV 1 1 0 0 4th XI 1 1 0 0

U16 XV 10 7 0 3 U15 XI 7 2 0 5

U16 B XV 11 7 0 4 U15 B XI 9 7 0 2

U15 XV 15 6 0 9 U15 C XI 6 6 0 0

U15 B XV 10 3 0 7 U14 XI 8 1 0 7

U15 C XV 7 4 0 3 U14 B XI 8 3 0 5

U14 XV 14 11 0 3 U14 C XI 5 4 0 1

U14 B XV 9 9 0 0 U13 XI 7 2 0 5

U14 C XV 6 2 0 4 U13 B XI 7 1 0 6

U14 D XV 5 4 0 1 U12 XI 8 6 0 2

U13 XV 5 3 1 1 U12 B XI 4 2 0 2

U13 B XV 8 7 0 1 Totals: 94 49 1 44

U12 XV 7 2 0 5

U12 B XV 6 3 0 3

Totals: 152 92 1 59

Hockey Netball

Team Played Won Draw Lost Team Played Won Draw Lost

1st XI 15 6 4 5 1st VII 9 6 1 2

2nd XI 11 6 3 2 2nd VII 5 2 0 3

3rd XI 7 3 1 3 Totals 14 8 1 5

U16 XI 9 4 0 5 Football

U16 B XI 5 0 1 4 1st XI 15 4 2 9

U15 XI 14 9 1 4 2nd XI 6 3 1 2

U15 B XI 8 5 0 3 U16 XI 9 3 3 3

U14 XI 11 3 1 7 U15 XI 9 5 1 3

U14 B XI 8 3 2 3 U14 XI 10 6 0 4

U13 XI 7 3 0 4 U13 XI 8 1 3 4

U13 B XI 7 2 1 4 Totals: 57 22 10 25

U12 XI 3 3 0 0

U12 B XI 3 1 0 2

Totals: 108 48 14 46

TeamSportsResults2014-15

The Albanian Decem

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The Albanian 2015