THE ELIZABETHAN 2005

THE ELIZABETHAN 2005ISSUE 724

C O N T E N T S

THE ELIZABETHAN 2005

Published annually by Westminster School17 Dean’s Yard, WestminsterLondon SW1P 3PB, UKTel: +44 (0)20 7963 1000Fax: +44 (0)20 7963 1006Web: www.westminster.org.ukE-mail: [email protected]

For further copies of this magazine contact:The RegistrarWestminster SchoolLittle Dean’s YardLondon SW1P 3PB, UK

Front cover imageThe Weston Building. Photographed by Sandy Crole.

Back cover imageThe Manoukian Music Centre.Photographed by Sandy Crole.

Assistant Editors: Emilia Weber, Julian Walton, Emma Thompsell, Mahima Sukhdev,Michael Stothard, Cleo Nisse, Jamie Macfarlane, Edward Lane, Karan Kanal, Katharine Howell, Adam Grant, Christina Farr, Robertson Eccles, Ellie Buchdahl, Charlotte Blundy

Editor: Sandy Crole Designer: Tam Ying Wah Photography: Richard Allnatt, Harvey Aspeling-Jones, Chris Barton, Martin Boulton,

Alex Cagan, Nikolai Cedraeus, Benjamin Chesler, Jim Cogan, Joshua Cole, Sandy Crole, Natalia Diaz, Alex Dolmanski, Jan Evetts,Christian Foss, Sebastian Fivaz, Richard Green, John Greenland, James Hooper, Cyril Isenberg, Lara Karady, Loren Lam, Jenny Lambert,Edward Miles, Clare Pennington, Frances Ramsey, Eddie Smith, Carla Stevens, Tam Ying Wah, Emma Thompsell, Colin Wagg, Alistair Wallace, Julian Walton, Simon Wurr

THE ELIZABETHAN No. 724. Annum 2005

CONTENTS

31 TRAVEL31 TRAVEL02 SCHOOL02 SCHOOLCONTENTSCONTENTS

43 SOCIETIESAND LECTURES43 SOCIETIESAND LECTURES 69 STATION69 STATION59 ARTS59 ARTS

“It was a complete accident that I went into teaching but I enjoyed it so I ventured into this profession.I would definitely do it again. I love teaching at Westminster which I would never change.It’s great to teach at the best school in the country!”

See page 07 for TJP’s valete and page 09 for his last interview...

“It has been very excitingto watch and David has done a fantastic job in overseeing this transformation.”

See page 10 to read more...

“In the last few yearsWestminster has beentransformed as neverbefore in its history in such a short time.”

03THE ELIZABETHAN 200502 THE ELIZABETHAN 2005

I am sad to report I have taken advantage ofnone of the reputed privileges of office, and Imust apologise to those who made me promiseto grow a beard or ride a horse into school ordrink beer at breakfast, writes John Reicher (CC),this year’s office holder

The Captain’s main jobsaround school are tointroduce and sum up

the speeches at the John Lockesociety every Wednesday and,like the other monitors, tooccasionally deliver the LatinPrayer on a Wednesday morn-ing, to try to ensure that thereis no trouble in the Tuck Shopqueue – no easy task, given the occasional rowdiness andhunger of the Upper Shell –and hand out and collecthymnbooks in the Abbey.While the search for somethingsensible to say at John Lockecan be stressful, speaking Latinin front of seven hundred peo-ple can be thoroughly daunt-ing and trying to assert author-ity whilst retaining a degree ofpopularity can be difficult, butthankfully the job does nottake up too much time.

There had been talk for many years of a newmusic school to replace the older and smallerAdrian Boult Centre, write Ellie Buchdahl(CC) and Katharine Howell (DD).This finallybecame reality in 2004, when plans began for a new building devoted entirely to music atWestminster, paid for by the A.A. Milne legacyand the generous support of the ManoukianCharitable Foundation.After months of hardwork, the long-awaited centre was finally ready for use.

MANOUKIANCENTRE

On 25th February 2005Sir Roger Norrington(OWW), the world-

renowned musician, famous for his work with the Orchestraof the Age of Enlightenment, officially opened the new music centre in a wonderfulevening featuring the best ofWestminster music. Pupilsfrom across the school per-formed pieces by Bach andBrahms, as well as more mod-ern pieces, such as Ligeti’sWind Quintet and AntonioCarlos Jobim’s aptly namedBack at the Chicken Shack.

The Manoukian Centre hasbenefited Westminster Schoolmusicians enormously, with its

superb facilities, from theacoustic umbrellas in the mainhall that do so much for thequality of every performanceheld there, to the specialist jazzand percussion rooms, andeven the simple advantage ofmore space. The only slightquibble is the lingering smell of glue, but we are sure thiswill fade with time.

The Manoukian Centre hasbeen a huge success and isgreatly appreciated by all whostudy music at Westminster. It is a tremendous experience to be involved in anything thathappens there, whether it isplaying, singing, or even justlistening to music.

S C H O O L L I F E

DEDICATING THE

Dedications of memorials are very rare; therehave only been a handful under the present Dean,writes John Reicher (CC). But on Thursday, March3rd 2005, a small congregation gathered for ashort service in the Abbey following evensong todedicate a memorial to Dr Robert Hooke OWW(1635–1703).

ROBERTHOOKEMEMORIAL

The Under Master beganthe service with a sum-mary of the great scien-

tist’s life at Westminster, andafter the school’s string quartethad given beautiful perform-ances of two pieces by Purcell,the President of the RoyalSociety, Lord May of Oxford,gave the main address, whichdiscussed the great breadth ofRobert Hooke’s academicachievements, from his work

in early microscopy to hisarchitectural survey of Londonfor Christopher Wren. This wasfollowed by the laying of flow-ers next to the memorial, aninscription of “Robert Hooke1703” on a black marble stoneunder the pulpit. It was a greatprivilege to attend such a spe-cial service, and to hear fromsuch an eminent scientist aboutone of Westminster’s most distinguished ex-pupils.

There have been other signifi-cant privileges associated withbeing captain. I have had thepleasure of seeing Ian Bostridgeand Sam Coles performing atthe opening of the ManoukianCentre, had lunch with a hostof fascinating people at JohnLocke lunch every week andbeen invited to the Elizabethanand Election Dinners. Now thatI am at the end of my schoolcareer, I will certainly missmany aspects of Westminsterlife, but above all the greatwealth of opportunities availableand the friends I have madeover the last five years.

Left: Exterior and interior views ofthe refurbished Manoukian Centre.

OF SCHOOLCAPTAIN


WESTONBUILDING

Everyone was pretty excit-ed, mainly at the possi-bility of getting lost and

so having a foolproof excuse forbeing late for lessons for at leasttwo weeks. Stepping inside, theplace screamed newness, brightwhite newness everywhere. The first task was finding outwhere to go. History of Art and Economics on the Groundfloor, Modern Languages onthe Second, then English, thenHistory. Of course, no oneknew that at the time. But,intelligent people that we are,we eventually managed it andhad to get down to the boringbusiness of actually learning in the place. This was madeimmeasurably more exciting,though, by all sorts of high-tech gadgets. Not just a com-puter and projector in eachclassroom for showing videos,DVDs or websites but lightsthat seemed to magically turn themselves on and off.Apparently there are sensorsthat adjust how bright they areaccording to the light levelsoutside. Even better, theyswitch off if no motion isdetected for 20 minutes.Although this probably isn’t ofany educational value, it doesgive an incentive for everyonein the class to sit very still.Other exciting discoveries werethe scary basement and the factthat for once there seemed tobe more girls’ toilets than boys’.

The first few weeks were a set-tling in period, the crush ofpeople all trying to get down-stairs at once comforted by Mr Tompkins’ cry ‘At leastwe’re not Mathematicians!’

Things started to go a lot moresmoothly after that and teach-ers took full advantage of hav-ing new classrooms all to them-selves. The CD players in eachmeant we were subjected totheir sometimes dubious tastein music. Given free reign todecorate the formerly identicalwhite rooms, some teacherscame up trumps. Miss Turner’sroom was soon full of posters,very artfully arranged, and thewhole place began to feel a lotless like a sterile hospital, oreven mental asylum. We havelearnt more since then, like tobeware of the broken door han-dle of room D12. If not thenyou are in danger of beingstuck in there forever, or atleast till someone realises andopens it from the other side.Some windowpanes, if leanton, are likely to fall right outand crash down onto the pavement below.

Comedy mishaps aside, thenew facility is undeniably anexcellent addition to the schooland the classrooms more enjoy-able to teach and learn in. Thebuilding is sure to develop inthe future; already the wallshave been spiced up by differ-ent shades of off-white andpinky-cream. All that remainsnow is to give it a catchy nickname, although this maytake some time. ‘The WestonBuilding’ is very official sound-ing, ‘the new building’ can onlylast for so long, ‘three’n’three A’is a bit of a mouthful and theonly other suggestion I’veheard, the frankly bizarre ‘Club Med’, doesn’t seem to becatching on.

The beginning of the Lent Term marked the openingof the new humanities building in Dean’s Yard, reportsGrace Benton (WW).

JOHN LOCKESOCIETY

This year the John Locke Society has welcomedspeakers from many different walks of life, whohave invariably educated and entertained us.While all the talks were engaging and interesting,every so often a speaker would have us hanging onhis or her every word. John Reicher (CC) reports.

The first of this year’sspeakers to do so wasRick Gekoski, a rare

book dealer, who provided uswith an insight into his tradewith great charm and numer-ous witty anecdotes. IanRosenblatt, the immenselyhard-working and successfulsolicitor who sponsors his ownopera recital series, compelling-ly presented his view that one’sjob is solely a means of provid-ing financial security for thepursuit of other passions, aview which provoked muchdebate among members of theUpper School. Late in the LentTerm, the Panorama presenterVivian White candidly spokeabout his views on the currentpolitical climate in Britain andhis concern about the lack ofpolitical interest among ourgeneration.

Other speakers includedauthors Michael Dobbs, MaryKenny, Ann Wroe and DameBeryl Bainbridge; Alex Bellos,former South AmericanCorrespondent for TheGuardian, who explained the cultural background toBrazilian football, and TomHodgkinson, who explained hisbelief that idleness is the key to

leading a fulfilled life. Politicswas often discussed, particular-ly by former Secretary of Statefor Education Estelle Morrisand journalists Adam Raphael,Mark Lawson and TrevorKavanagh, The Sun’s PoliticalEditor. One of the best attend-ed talks this year was by HelenaBonham-Carter, who spokeabout having to go to ‘ApeSchool’ for her part in Planetof the Apes, while StephenPoliakoff told us of variousinfluences on his career, includ-ing his time at Westminster.We also heard a convincing sta-tistical argument from geneti-cist Kathy Archibald againstmedical testing on animals.

The John Locke Society, runwith absolute dedication by MrHargreaves, has been a magnifi-cent success this year and waswell-attended every week bypupils and staff; it is a greatopportunity to listen to andlearn from interesting andoccasionally inspiring people,and the speeches are consistent-ly thought-provoking and oftenexpertly delivered. We look for-ward to the remaining speakersscheduled for later in Electionterm, including Boris Johnsonand George Galloway.

SONIA AMOSSonia Amos is happy to havemade the transition from leafynorth Essex to the bright lightsof London, joining Rigaud’s asMatron.

Originally with a nursing back-ground, she was in charge oftennis at Felsted School, whereshe coached for 15 years. Herdays of full time tennis werenumbered when her knees started complaining! She thenbecame matron of a girl’s house,caring for 50 full time boarders.Her two daughters are regularvisitors to Westminster, and shelooks forward to the new chal-lenges which lie ahead.

PAUL BOTTONPaul Botton joins the Chemistrydepartment at Westminster,having previously taught atMarlborough College and ForestSchool. A graduate of DurhamUniversity, he played BritishStudents football, and is nowcoaching the U15 squad at theschool, and the ISFA U19 team.

PETER CHEQUERPeter Chequer trained as anactor at the Welsh College ofMusic and Drama, and as amime artist with DesmondJones, Adam Darius and others.He has appeared on televisionin “EastEnders”; on film in“The Mummy”, and in theatrefor companies such as HullTruck and the Royal NationalTheatre. He has created charac-ters for video games; organisedevents in nightclubs and direct-ed a number of Youth Theatres.He comes to Westminster fromPeterborough and St Margaret’sSchool where he has been part-time Head of Drama for eightyears.

He says, “The WestminsterDrama Department is fantasti-cally lively and well-resourced,and I am very much lookingforward to adding my skillsand experience to the mix ofenthusiastic class-work andproductions”.

S C H O O L L I F E

SALVETE

Above: Exterior and interior viewsof the refurbished Weston Building.

Above (left to right): Sonia Amos,Paul Botton and Peter Chequer.

CONTINUED...

It was an audacious move onthe part of the GoverningBody to appoint Tristram

Jones Parry to succeed DavidSummerscale in 1998. As aHeadmaster, TJP does not fitcontemporary moulds. He is athrowback to an earlier phaseof public school life where theHead was expected to be anauthority figure and adminis-trator as well as a scholar. TJPbelieved that his primary job asHead was to ensure the deliveryof a high class educational service both in the classroomand outside. And this he did.Secondary activities – market-ing, public relations, fund-rais-ing etc – he regarded as a diver-sion from his main calling andperhaps better left to others.

Relishing the hands-on execu-tive role, he adopted from thestart an autocratic approach,which set little store by consen-sus or consultation. He couldnot tolerate the meanderings ofcommittees and the prolifera-tion of paperwork. But by-passing conventional channelsand dealing with problems onthe spot inevitably meant tres-passing on others’ territory andsometimes on their sensitivities.At that price he introduced a

mood of urgent purposefulnessinto school life where both staffand pupils knew that if theydidn’t measure up they werelikely to get a raspberry. Hemade a point of appearing inthe most unlikely places at themost unlikely times.

Unashamedly TJP embodiedthe work ethic and he had littlesympathy for those who didn’t.In addition to normal duties,his work load included almost

S C H O O L L I F E

06 THE ELIZABETHAN 2005 07THE ELIZABETHAN 2005

DR FEI GAOFei Gao took has joined theModern Foreign Languagesdepartment at Westminster to teach Chinese part time. Born in Beijing, she came tostudy at the School of Orientaland African Studies at LondonUniversity in 1991and hassince continued to teach there.She took a PhD in LanguageEducation at Institute ofEducation and taught for two years at the ChineseInternational School in Hong Kong.

SIMON HAWKENSimon Hawken, who has cometo teach Economics, studiedPPE at Worcester College,Oxford. Although a barristerand solicitor, he has workedmainly as an investmentbanker. His most entertainingjob was setting up an invest-ment bank in Prague, whichexplains the combat-levelCzech. He has also advisedgovernments on capital marketsin Czech Republic, Poland,Slovakia, Rumania and some inthe Balkans. On a good day,he says, they will listen and acton your advice, hence the tie-inwith teaching. He is an ECB

Level One cricket coach andfor golf station is an accom-plished driver, at least of theminibus. He is married withthree off-spring (one sprung,two to go). As an annualpenance, he competes in theLondon Triathlon, havingundertaken six so far, aiming to finish the same day.

JON HINDJon Hind comes from hillySheffield in the downtroddenNorth: you can tell it’s down-trodden because even the ‘a’ in‘the grass’ is flat. He studied atTrinity College, Cambridgewhere he spent the better part oftwo years solving the same equa-tion over and over again. Havinghad this taste of civilisation hedecided the best way to get overit was to move to London toteach at Westminster.

SARAH HITCHSalvete! Sarah was born andraised in Savannah, GA . Shereceived a degree in Classics atEmory University in Georgia,before going onto Harvard for a masters degree in ClassicalPhilology. She is currentlyworking on her Ph.D. for

TRISTRAMJONES-PARRY

HEAD MASTER 1998 – 2005

SALVETE... VALETE

Harvard on the topic, “Sacrificein Homer”. She moved toEngland in 2002 to studyLinear B at CambridgeUniversity, where she worked as a supervisor in Classics andalso taught at the Leys School.She then taught at WinchesterCollege for the academic year2003–4. She finally moved toWestminster for the 2004–5academic year as a replacementfor Jonathan Katz during hissabbatical. She has immenselyenjoyed working here andteaching such bright pupils.She accompanied the schooltwice to Greece: with theRemove to Rhodes and theFifth Form tour around south-ern Greece, two wonderfulexperiences. She will return toHarvard in the Fall to finish herPh.D, a beloved project sevenyears in the making. Manythanks to colleagues and pupilsfor a remarkable year! Valete!

NICK MALONEYNick Maloney studied econom-ics at Cambridge and thenwent straight to Westminster toteach for two years. On leavingWestminster, he spent sevenmonths in Africa, travelling

and working. After a brief spellhelping Westminster rowers upPutney, he took a post teachingat King’s in Worcester. Underhis stewardship, the school boatclub won four championshipgold medals for the school atNational Schools. Outside theschool, he can be found withhis wife wandering around second-hand bookshops andbric-a-brac markets.

CARLA STEVENSCarla Stevens studiedPsychology at Bristol and thentaught Biology and ReligiousStudies for twenty years in thestate sector. Ten years ago shequalified as a learning supportteacher and has worked since,initially in Hackney, and thenin the independent sector, withpupils with all sorts of learningdifficulties. She loves left-han-ders, and those with organiza-tional problems are a source ofparticular pleasure to her!

She already knows Westminsterwell having been Study SkillsCoordinator at WestminsterUnder School since 1999, andhas two sons Will and Ed, whowere pupils here.

half a teaching timetable and inhis off duty moments he likedre-cycling lost property andensuring Little Dean’s Yard wasfree of litter. Colleagues smart-ing from some tart rebukeregarded his unflagging energyas a symptom of a compulsivedisorder syndrome. But in morecharitable moments they admit-ted that his commitment to theschool was absolute and thatallowances had to be made.

His affection for Westminsterran deep. He had been upWren’s in the early sixties whenhe smoked dope with his peersand developed a nicotinedependence which took yearsto break.

His later efficiency as game-keeper – he admitted – camefrom his know-how acquired as a school boy poacher. After Oxford and a brief spellat Dulwich, he returned toWestminster where he built up a legendary reputation as amaths teacher before becomingHousemaster of Busby’s andthen Undermaster.

Unlike most Heads, TJP’s firstlove remained teaching, andthis sympathy with the school’s

CONTINUED...

Above (left to right): Sarah Hitch,Nick Maloney and Carla Stevens.

Above (left to right): Fei Gao,Simon Hawken and Jon Hind.

TJP,Westminster to the core, takes hisleave after seven years as Head Master.

S C H O O L L I F E

VALETE

TJPTHE LAST INTERVIEWBefore he left the school at which he has spent a large part of his life, Christina Farr (MM) andEmma Thompsell (HH) managed to secure a personal interview with TJP.

Are you going to find it difficultto leave Westminster?I will be excited to experiencenew and different things.However, it will be very sad toleave Westminster, I’ll miss it.Especially those times when it’sa summer evening in yard forexample: it’s beautiful.

What is your most memorableWestminster experience foreach phase of your time here?I’d say it was my first day as ahousemaster at Busby’s. Therewas a note on my desk saying‘Sorry sir, we’ve run away’ andthen the next thing I know, acall saying ‘Sorry, sir! We’re halfway down the M1 – can wecome back?’. I’ll remember thefun of the Busby’s Cabaret withthe dancing on the tables.

Is it difficult to see the studentswho you’ve watched grow upthen leave?No, it’s not difficult. The ideaof a school is that people leaveat 18 excited about their livesahead. We hope they have leftwith great memories ofWestminster.

What are the problems of beingso well known as a school andas a person, in the media?Well, many old Westminsterswork in the media and theyseem to have great interest inthe school. Yes, I was surprisedabout the large amount ofattention placed on the issue ofmy Maths teaching abilities butit must have been because therewas nothing more interestingin the news at the time.

What is being done to includea more diverse range of studentsat the school?We try to have diversity but the fees are very high here. I will often approach oldWestminsters and ask if theycan pay for half a Westminsterfor their five years. Some aregenerous enough to agree, especially if this new student isbetter at maths than they were!We do try to aid four to fivestudents a year.

What personal quality to youfeel has helped you most inyour time at Westminster ashead master?

As head master I know not totake myself seriously. I try notto be pompous and to have asense of humour.

As a student did you have anyparticular influential teachersand do you feel that you your-self have been an inspiringteacher? Is an inspiring teachernecessarily a good teacher?My inspirational teachers wereAdolf Prag for Maths andStephen Lushington forEnglish. I hope I’ve been agood and inspirational teacherbut it’s not for me to judge.There are very few eccentricteachers left but undoubtedlythey are all passionate abouttheir fields.

Did you change anything ashead master as a direct conse-quence of your own experienceas a boy at this school?I watched people being bulliedas a boy. As head master I par-ticularly do not want this atWestminster and we aim tostop the problem before itdevelops.

What piece of advice wouldyou most like to give your successor?I would advise him to bearound and available to get to know the students.

What has Westminster taughtyou that you’ve taken to heart?Westminster taught me a greatdeal. I have seen how excep-tionally talented people are. We have great musicians,dramatists and academics. The talent here is staggering.

What are your plans for lifeafter Westminster?I’ve been offered a job teachingin Kampala. That should beexciting as I’d love to continueworking and travelling. I won’tstop to rest, I’m too much ofan workaholic!

Do you have a high opinion ofany political or church leaders?Yes, but mainly the maverick

figures such as Skinner or TonyBenn. However I don’t reallylike politicians. I respect andadmire Rowan Williams andCardinal Hume.

What are the best parts of thejob? And the worst?The best part has been the con-certs and plays, and of coursethe teaching. The worst hasbeen those rare occasions whenit is necessary to expel a stu-dent: I find it very difficult.

Have the pupils or teacherschanged much in the last sevenyears? Or since you first joinedthe staff back in 1973?Yes, Westminster has changed.Believe it or not, the studentsare more well-behaved now. We had a huge drug problemin the early 70’s which I believewe don’t have now. Perhaps, onSaturday evenings at parties butin the 70’s when you saw stu-dents on a Monday morning, it was clear that drugs were aproblem! The overall teachingstandard has also improvednow, which is excellent.

Which living person do youmost admire?At the risk of stating the stan-dard answer, I’d have to sayNelson Mandela.

Will you often be seen atWestminster after the summer?No, I’m afraid I won’t be seenmuch at Westminster. It’s nottraditional for an old head master to return for another 10 years, unfortunately.

If you were starting your lifeagain would you still go toOxbridge, and teach atWestminster?Oxford was very good, I would-n’t change that. It was a com-plete accident that I went intoteaching but I enjoyed it so Iventured into this profession. I would definitely do it again. I love teaching at Westminsterwhich I would never change.It’s great to teach at the bestschool in the country!

08 THE ELIZABETHAN 2005 THE ELIZABETHAN 2005 09

TJP’s was once a house-

master at Busby’s a

nd

remembers fondly his

first day in

this role.

TJP in Yard.

TJP VALETE...

pressure, boys and girls foundWestminster during his stay avery happy place.

While bucking most trends TJPremained a creature of his time.The first mathematician head-master, he presided over theconsolidation of maths as thedominant discipline. In parallelhe enthusiastically promoted theintegration of IT into all aspectsof school life. Sixty per cent ofboys and girls now do maths at‘A’ level. Symbolically and actu-ally, the maths department hastaken over Ashburnham House,reinforced by the large and wellequipped computer room onthe floor above. The Humanitieshave been relegated to the otherside of the larger Yard. TheLibrary – combining elegancewith a buzzy cyber café atmos-phere – maintains a balancebetween digitalised informationsystems and the endangered artof reading books.

Historically TJP’s time as head-master will also be rememberedfor the acquisition of prized real estate close to the school –including a sumptuous refur-bished Edwardian theatre, astate-of-the art music centre,and a block of 72 stately roomsto the right as you come into

Dean’s Yard. Owning few free-hold properties a generationago, Westminster has finallyexploited to the full its posi-tional advantages at the heart ofthe metropolis. Fuddy-duddy,shoe-string Westminster – withno invested capital and no collateral – has gone for ever.

While TJP carried out withgreat efficiency the complexlogistical chores involved in this expansion, I am uncertainhow emotionally committed hewas to the cause, rememberingas he did, a Westminster where material and financialconstraints made the school’sremarkable assets and privilegesunderstated. Displays of wealthare not to his liking.

At the end of most terms,when Thomas Arnold headedfor Wordsworth and the Lake District to recharge hisspiritual batteries, TJP madefor Heathrow with his bicycleand a couple of friends, intenton exploring Third Worldcountries where conspicuousconsumption was not in evidence. Not for him thevoyeuristic pleasures of moderntourism in poor countries.Instead pedal-power for 70kilometres a day, local hotelsand a simple diet. His addressesto the school on his returninsistently stressed the moralimperative for Westminsters to

core function ensured that hewas fully in touch with whatwent on across the disciplines.He had a detailed knowledge ofthe performance and problemsof individual boys and girls and of the teachers themselves.Classrooms at Westminsterremained uniformly well-behaved and well motivated.Standards across the board have never been higher.

But TJP was well aware thatperformance indicators – evenif the school is top of thePremier League – are a crudeyardstick of community healthand happiness. He kept a closeeye on those who – for what-ever reason – were vulnerableor finding life difficult andensured that pastoral supportwas always available. Hisenthusiastic membership ofthe PSHE team for the lowerschool reflected the same con-cern. For similar reasons hegave strong support to theschool’s extraordinary widerange of extra-mural activitieswhich offer alternative optionsfor self-expression and drawon the expressive energies of staff and pupils alike.Although there were occasion-al protests against his regimeand despite the academic

develop a global consciousnesswhile earning their keep in theglobal market place.

TJP's time as Head sadly coin-cided with a period of acutestress in the maintained sector.Ministerial committees issuedfrom Great Smith Street numer-ous initiatives designed to raisestandards, reform the curricu-lum, combat truancy, recruitand retain teachers. But theproblems of indiscipline remainunsolved. A short trip fromtheir offices to watch TJP’s‘Back to Basics’ model in actionmight have helped officials intheir deliberations. An authori-ty-based approach to educationis essential if a school – rich orpoor – is to perform to the bestof its ability. The continuingsuccess of Westminster’s aca-demic, sporting, and culturallife confirms this truism.

But running a successful schoolis bought at a high social price.Few people have seen TJP shedhis official persona. In the pubin the evening or on holiday aquite different figure emerges – full of fun, ready to laugh,and irreverent about authority.Furthermore, TJP is a vora-cious reader with a range ofcontemporary reference embar-rassing to an English teacher.All this he sacrificed to hisconsuming passion.Jim Cogan

S C H O O L L I F E

DAVIDCHAUNDLERBURSAR 1993 – 2005

David Chaundleryomped intoWestminster in August

1993. It was he who was para-chuted into the Falklands totake over 2 Para when ColonelH was killed at Goose Green.David did not have a good startin the Falklands because helanded in the sea and had toswim ashore! Perhaps that wasintentional by the Army! Hethen proceeded to have an“outstanding war”, if that is the right phrase. It will be thebattle before and the taking ofWireless Ridge for which hewill be particularly remem-bered. His final posting in thearmy was as “Army Director of Manning” as a Brigadier.

When David arrived at theschool, a large number of thebuildings appeared to be in astate of imminent collapse. The problem was lack of funds.In some cases this was obvioussuch as when window framesfell out; In others it was con-cealed. 17 Dean’s Yard had noremaining foundations and the 2nd floor of AshburnhamHouse was resting on one inchof rotten beams. Both havebeen sorted out. Then inaround 1994 the Disney corpo-ration became interested in

Winnie the Pooh and the firstsubstantial royalties from themstarted to come in thanks to theMilne legacy which gave a sharein the copyright to his oldschool. From being historicallyimpoverished, Westminsterbegan to be able both to lookafter its existing buildings andthen to acquire new buildingsin what is the most expensivearea in the United Kingdom.

David has presided over anextraordinary transformation of the Westminster environs.Keeping control of architects,builders is a tough and time-consuming job. The Governorswould sometimes start tuttingif a £5 million project went£10,000 over budget but fail to realise that many came inwell under budget. The list ofbuildings renovated, built andacquired under David’s eye isimpressive.

1995: The Boat House is rebuilt.1996: Grant’s Dining Roomwas extended and refurbished.1997: The new house Milne’screated.1999: The AA Milne rightswere sold to Disney, meaningwe could contemplate buyingbuildings near to the school for the first time.

VALETEVALETE

JENNYCOGAN

ic teachers. Often pupils alsohad, for the first time, someonewho was prepared to listen tothem and discuss their prob-lems one to one. This trans-formed their lives.

Apart from Jenny’s work withindividuals, as important atWestminster, has been the waythat Jenny has changed staffunderstanding issues likeDyslexia and Dyspraxia. Shehas explained how some people‘get overload’ and how withlaptops and touch-typing theproblem can be overcome.Where badly spelt and untidilypresented work had once beenthrown back at them withaccusations of laziness or stu-pidity, with a laptop they canproduce essays of which theycan be proud. They then gofrom strength to strength.Jenny regularly met withdepartments to get them to

The Boat House

was rebuilt in 1995.

The Millicent Fawcett Theatre was refurbished in 2001.


2000: The UnderSchool was almostcompletely rebuilt at a cost of £6 million. 2001: In a major project,an empty shell is convert-ed into The MillicentFawcett Theatre. School isrefurbished and the lightingtransformed.2002–4: Liddell’s, College,Grant’s and Busby’s are refur-bished and Busby’s Yard created.2005: The Manoukian Musiccentre opens. The WestonBuilding opens, providing anenormous 25,000 sq ft of newclassrooms on Dean’s Yard.

In the last few yearsWestminster has been trans-formed as never before in itshistory in such a short time.Apart from the major builds wehave moved from the institu-tional to a much more familyfeel. One way this has beenachieved is in throwing out theghastly old strip lights and put-ting in lighting which lifts thesoul. It has been very excitingto watch and David has done afantastic job in overseeing thistransformation.

A Bursar’s job is more than justabout money. Many of the jobsare unsung but involve simply

keeping theschool happy. To be

blunt Westminster food wasnot very good a few years agoand constantly complainedabout. It is now never men-tioned, which whilst perhapsdepressing for those who workso hard to bring it to the table,speaks for itself. Thanks to a tight cleaning contractWestminster now shows anexcellent face. Of course thereare niggles. Have the repairsbeen done during the holidayswhilst pupils and teachers areaway enjoying themselves? Notalways. One gets the brick batsbut not often the praise. Thereis the thankless task of produc-ing those myriad of policies onStress or Legionnaire’s Disease.

We are, though, an organiza-tion with a £14 millionturnover and £20 million ofinvestments. The interest onthose investments goes to pro-vide Bursaries and Scholarshipsat Westminster. It has beengood to work with David insetting up our Westminster

Jenny was one of the first people in the UK IndependentSector to raise the profile of pupils who were very able andyet needed help. Jenny started helping Westminster pupils onad hoc basis from about 1990,pupils who the English depart-ment felt were unaccountablystruggling. In the beginning theywere not diagnosed as dyslexicbecause “Westminster couldnot possibly have any pupilswith ‘Specific LearningDifficulties’” or so some said.How wrong they were, writesTristram Jones-Parry.

LEARNING SUPPORT PIONEER1990 – 2005

11+ Bursary Scheme. Davidalways visits the homes ofBursary applicants and has an eagle eye for the Mercedescarefully parked out of sightaround the corner.

David will also be rememberedfor his addresses in Abbey,often preaching to us in theweek of Remembrance Sunday.David gave us who live in safe-ty some understanding of whatwar is about. He was never‘gung ho’ about war. He told itto us in graphic detail. No onewho was there will ever forgethis images of having to breakthe legs of a soldier when rigormortis had set in because thebody would not fit into thehelicopter, or of having to putweights into the coffin becausethere was nothing left of a soldier who had been blown to bits in Northern Ireland.

David takes no prisoners and itis perhaps not a good idea to bein the way when the juggernautrolls. That forcefulness, though,has meant that Westminsterfaces the 21st Century in agood state and Westminster hasmuch to be grateful to him for.We wish him well on what willbe his now more frequent jour-neys to Uzbekistan or similarplaces: he always seems tochoose his holiday countrywhere a war has recently broken

out. He leaves the schoolwith an enduring

legacy.

David Chaundler.

We were a little worried before he arrived.A very senior Army man had said on a visit to the school before David arrived:“I hear you have a man called Chaundler coming to you”.“Yes”, I replied.“Very good at killing people is Chaundler” was the comment.There was little one could say to that.This is probably as good a qualification as any to be Bursar at Westminster School, writesTristram Jones-Parry.

Jenny Cogan.

CONTINUED...

The refurbished Weston Building

opened in 2005.

Jenny’s position atWestminster began to be regularised in 1992:

in 1996 she became a part-time member of staff and thenin 1998 became full time. In1994 there were very few, ifany, trained Specific LearningDifficulties teachers in inde-pendent schools. Jenny, alongwith Mary Flecker who is nowretiring from City of LondonSchool, was a catalyst forchange. From 1995 at EmanuelSchool they trained teacherswho, as part of the course,‘practised’ on Emanuel pupils.Many of these teachers havesince got jobs in other inde-pendent schools and spread theword. Several Emanuel pupilshad their academic lives (and sometimes their lives as a whole) transformed. Theyunderstood for the first timethat they had an identifiableproblem, that they were notjust ‘thick or lazy’ somethingthey had come to believe fromthe comments of unsympathet-


S C H O O L L I F E

understand how pupils whomay learn in different ways tothe norm can be helped. Forexample the modern languagedepartments have taken on different ways to get pupils tolearn vocabulary. Westminster’soverall approach to dyslexicpupils has been transformed. I feel proud that parents with bright dyslexic childrenare often advised to tryWestminster because of theunderstanding atmosphere and the way that their childrenwill be individually supported.This is down to Jenny.

On a one-to-one basis Jennyhas been tireless in the way she has helped pupils, going toendless trouble to prepare waysto help pupils in a way uniqueto them. She has read the setbooks they are studying, talkedto their teachers about vocablearning, got hold of the text-books in English and Historyso that she knows what they aredealing with. She has even ven-tured into Maths and Science!She has developed strategies tohelp pupils revise for exams,which are now on the Intranetfor everyone to use. Jenny hasalso acted as counsellor andfriend to many pupils.

Over recent years Jenny andMary Flecker have been working on a book so that their knowledge and experience will not be lost. In 2004 theiraccumulated knowledge andexperience, “Dyslexia inSecondary School: A PracticalHandbook for Teachers, Parentsand Students” was published tomuch acclaim and is selling well.

Sue Balding joinedWestminster in September1990 as Senior Medical

Matron and within a term hadbegun to revolutionise thehealth care structure. In herearly days the Doctor’s surgerywas a small room at the back ofCollege with the College gamesroom doubling as the waitingroom. It was Sue’s vision, hardwork and dogged determinationwhich dragged Westminster’shealth care arrangements out ofthe dark ages and into Grant’s.Sue’s clinical skills were leg-endary and one did sometimeswonder if she did in fact possesssecond sight. Her ability todiagnose at fifty paces was sur-passed only by her ability tosniff out a malingerer at a hun-dred, and for generations ofWestminsters, Sue was thescourge of the late LOs.

Sue managed to combine herrole as Senior Medical Matronto the school with being aHouse Matron. When shejoined in 1990, she was theBusby’s Matron and in 1996she moved to Grants to be atthe head of the new clinicalemporium. There was a periodof about eighteen months whenshe was in fact Matron to both

JENNY COGAN VALETE...

VALETE

BILLPHILLIPSHEAD OF ELECTRONICS1987 – 2004

VALETE

JOHNTROYHOUSE MASTER OF MILNE’S1993 – 2004

Bill was head ofElectronics for 17 Yearshaving joined the school

from Mill Hill in 1987. Bill’soriginal specialism was Biologyand he became interested in the world of electronics whilebuilding monitoring equip-ment for his PhD on the func-tioning of the brain and nerv-ous system in snails – perfectpreparation for a teachingcareer at Westminster. He wasresponsible for the develop-ment of the Robert Hookeelectronics labs and the studyof Electronics at AS and Alevel. Always a keen followerof Information Technology, Billdeveloped a wide range of on-line teaching resources accessi-ble to both Westminster Pupilsand a wider audience via hison-line company DOCTRON-ICS. Bill was the co-author ofthe OUP A-level Biology text-book and also wrote a range ofElectronics project books andcomputer learnware. Bill tookan individual approach to thestudy of electronics and isresponsible for generations of Westminsters referring tomicrochips as ‘beasties’ andcapacitors as ‘buckets’.

Bill was an enthusiastic sup-porter of Westminster’s out-door activities, in particularwalking, climbing and sailing.He led parties to the Picos de Europa, Ecuador and theScottish Highlands where hisunfailing sense of humour andculinary expertise helped bothpupils and colleagues survive the

hardships of life in the greatoutdoors. For years he was amainstay of the Lyke WakeWalk, with ‘Bill’s Café’ servingup tea and hot sausage sand-wiches in the gloom of a colddawn at Rosedale Head. Fewwould forget the sight of Billemerging from a seaside shackin Ecuador bearing a two litrepoly bag of Coca-Cola – bottlesnot being permitted to leave theshop – or the six-day backpack-ing expedition setting off fromCorrour Station into the wilder-ness of Glen Nevis, laden downby Sainsbury’s bags bulging withsteak and McEwan’s.

Always ready to fly the flag for Scotland, Bill retired toBlairgowrie in Perthshire inJuly 2004 where he continuesto write, joined by his wife Vivwho is currently long-distancecommuting to her work asHead of Maths at SouthHampstead High School. We wish them bonny days andwarm nights in Bill’s belovedmountains.D H-B and RMT

houses, such was her efficiencyand capacity for hard work andshe took commuting in herstride. After a day tending tothe sick, Sue would unwind by pairing socks, mendingschool jackets and rustling upomelettes and other gastronom-ic delights for those pupils inher House who had missedsupper for whatever pressingengagement or other.

Sue was very much a presencearound Westminster. She careddeeply for the medical care ofthe community, the welfare ofthe pupils in her House and alsoabout the wider school commu-nity. She was also a cheery pres-ence around the school with awicked sense of humour, a veryastute mind and an uncannyforesight. On reflection, sheseems to have managed at leasttwo full time jobs at any onetime with tireless efficiency andconsiderable aplomb. With Sue’s retirement in July 2004,Westminster has said farewell to one of its true characters.Our loss is her garden’s gain.

John arrived in 1993 from acareer as a solicitor, havingpreviously been in the navy, serving with distinc-

tion on HMS Sheffield in theFalklands war. He brought withhim a wealth of inspiring man-agement experience uncommonat the school, and a passionatecommitment to developmenteconomics. He made this latter area something of a newspeciality in the department,encouraging pupils to look past the confines of classicaleconomics to ideas and effectsbeyond the world familiar tomost Westminsters.

But it is as House Master ofMilne’s that he leaves his mostenduring mark He inauguratedthe new day house in 1997 witha unique spirit of charitable activity, offering a tolerantunderstanding of the foibles of teenage boys and girls, andsupporting them keenly in alltheir activities, while bailingthem out of their morefoolish endeavours andincompetencies. His dis-tinctive and encouraginglaugh could always beheard at house plays,booming out from

the back row however feeble thejokes on stage, willing youngthespians to believe they werethe next Gielgud, Ustinov orperhaps Eddie Izzard. On thefives courts he played a fiercelycompetitive and energetic game,and not a pupil in the houseescaped encouragement for anyschool activity they supported.It has to be said that he waslucky in finding kindred spiritsto support Charlton Athleticbut even here he found the bestin people. Under his benevolenteye Milne’s became famous forthat rarity at Westminster, gen-uine house spirit; voluntary andcharitable work has never beenas much fun under John as anywhere else. With his tirelessenthusiasm and good nature,many charities benefited fromhis plans to make Milnites walkthe length of the Thames andsing carols, though not, fortu-nately, at the same time. Heleaves to take up a position ashousemaster at King’s College,Canterbury and to spend moretime with his beloved Sam. We wish him and Maggie thehappiest of times with Sam inthe shadow of another greatecclesiastical building. AC

SUEBALDINGSENIOR MEDICAL MATRON1990 – 2004

VALETEJenny has been much morethan just a teacher toWestminster. I have kept herhusband Jim out of the storyuntil now but he has to burstin because one cannot mentionJenny in Westminster termswithout Jim and vice versa. In September 1971 Jim wasappointed Master of theQueen’s Scholars and UnderMaster. So started an excep-tional 16 years in Westminster’slife. Jim may have been incharge of College but it wasJenny who made No 3 LittleDean’s Yard the centre of thatlife. There were always col-leagues, pupils or family drop-ping in for meals and the talkand the laughter went on intothe night. It was their home towhich new teachers gravitatedand to both Jim and Jenny thatpupils from all over the schoolwould turn for advice. Jim andJenny have had a profoundeffect for good on hundreds ofboys and girls over the last 35years. They have been the cohe-sive presence that all closedcommunities need. Jenny con-tinued to entertain when theymoved to 5A Dean’s Yard, asshe still does now in VincentSquare. It is always wonderfulto meet old friends there aswell as many, many interestingnew people from varied walksof life. They have a great knackfor involving people and notletting them get away. Jim andJenny have been the heartbeatof the school. Westminster willbe a poorer place without themboth but happily they will notbe far away in Vincent Square.

John Troy.

S C H O O L L I F E

PATRICKMACMAHONMATHEMATICS2000 – 2005

Paddy arrived from a verysmart country girls’school where he was used

to dealing gently and carefullywith delightful and delicateyoung ladies. That it did nottake him long to adapt is illustrated by the five minuteharangue of a boy who had irri-tated him in his second week,reported by the awestruck Fifthformers who heard it, to havecontained the word ‘fathead’ a total of twenty-three times.Since then, Patrick has becomea most valuable colleague, notleast for his contribution to thecheerful and mathematicallylively atmosphere in which wewould all like to work. As wellas being an exceptionally talent-ed cricket player and coach (heespecially asked me to say that),Patrick has run Squash stationfor four years, coping remark-ably well with the fact that theanswer to his bi-weekly cry of“OK for the second session,Graham” always seems to be “no”.

Patrick is a great autodidact,taking courses and degrees in hisspare time in subjects rangingfrom Biology to Swahili though,of course, he is not the first

Westminster teacher tohave learnt more thanhis pupils during histime here.

Paddy and Lynne, formerlyChoulerton, havegiven us the rare pleasureof a Common Room marriageand it has been wonderful to seethem so happy together, espe-cially with the birth of theirdaughter, Sally. Paddy is obvi-ously a devoted and delightednew father, particularly nowthat he has discovered that therange of the baby alarm extendsto the back bar of the Old Oak.

Patrick is leaving to becomeHead of Mathematics atLatymer Upper School, where I am sure that he will be as successful as he has been here. I hope that the fact that he will remain a Common Roomspouse will mean that he cancontinue to be here for theimportant things in the School’slife, such as Maths DepartmentSocial Outings, merely conduct-ing the tiresome business ofearning his living elsewhere.MCD

VALETE VALETE

LYNDSEYTURNERENGLISH AND DRAMA2000 – 2005

The generation of pupilswho have had thepleasure of working

with Lyndsey, will now remem-ber Westminster as a place ofdramatic educational excite-ment. Lyndsey came to us viaBalliol College Oxford and StDunstan’s College and has beenan enormously spirited anddedicated member of both theEnglish and Drama depart-ments ever since. She representsthe best of an innovative teach-ing ethos. An unassuming butpowerful educational enabler,she has offered fare rangingfrom Anglo-Saxon poetry toCabaret. As well as turning hertalents to a formidable numberof texts and productions,Lyndsey has given up her owntime to trips, expeditions, cho-reography, rehearsals, you nameit! All her work has striven toengage her students by directbut demanding routes; her lessons have sparkled with academic rigour and sharp con-temporary idiom. Published innational newspapers and aca-demic journals herself, she hashelped students to launch Pink,a magazine for Westminster’sgossip-mongers and journalisticaspirants. Typically, Lyndseygave full responsibility to an

editorial team; her approachhas always been to work hardbehind the scenes, but to giveher pupils the limelight.

Lyndsey’s perspicacity andhumour have made her greatfun to work with. She hasgiven much valuable support toher colleagues for which theyshould stand her a Guinnessand blackcurrant or two. Theclassroom and the studio (asopposed to Common Roomand pub) are where she’s coolhowever. Not much pleasurefor Lyndsey in a free period:she prefers a classroommomentum that sallies forth to the stage of the MillicentFawcett Hall, a workshop inStratford Upon Avon, theBritish Library or by tube andtrain to plays, productions and(this summer) the EdinburghFringe. Pupils have beenallowed to find their voice inthe intellectually ‘happening’environment she has helped tofoster over the last six years. We all wish her the very bestfor an exciting future.RJP

VALETE

CHARLIEROBINSONBIOLOGY2001 – 2005

Charlie joinedWestminster CommonRoom in 2001 from

an idyllic countryside life in hisnative Kent. Having spent manya hazily remembered eveningwith him at Oxford (we wereboth at D.Phil-ing at TeddyHall and the Plant SciencesDepartment) it was interestingto see colleagues’ reactions tohim. Outspoken, but unafraidto listen, he certainly made a big first impression.

His passion for botany wasoccasionally misinterpreted asan out-and-out obsession buthis fervent enthusiasm for ani-mals was equally obvious toanyone dining with him. Thebiology department greatlyappreciate his knowledge of the local butchers.

Significantly, a number of hispupils have truly excelled: areflection of how much hecould inspire the most ablebiologists. He cared aboutthe pupils and their resultsand was willing to offer extrahelp to those who needed it.

Initially a tutor in College,seeing out the last of the Katzyears, he then moved to Milne’sand saw out John Troy’s lastyear. He was not responsiblefor either housemaster leaving(but maybe there are some

breathing a sigh of relief now!).I’m sure that I speak for manyof my colleagues in praising thecommitment he showed to hispastoral responsibilities and thesupport he has given both cur-rent and past pupils.

He has contributed widely tothe school: several riding expe-ditions giving the horses a goodwork out; Safari trip to SouthAfrica; and most significantly asMaster-in-Charge of shooting.Here was a station made forhim and he seized the opportu-nity to make it a successful andwell managed option for manykeen boys and girls.

We will miss him, but giventhat he lives just around thecorner I’m sure that many of us will bump into him again in the next few years. We wishCharlie and Sarah good luckfor the future.MJM

MRSYIH T’UNGCHINESE STUDIES1995 – 2004

Mrs T’ung came toteach Chinese atWestminster in

1995. Although she taughtpupils ‘out of block’, often atthe end of the school day, shewas a familiar face in theCommon Room, engaging andchatty and many of us remem-ber her with warmth and affec-tion. She remained a lecturer at SOAS during her time here.She is a highly respected academic and a specialist inChinese languages and culture.Indeed, McDonalds consultedher when devising advertisingcampaigns for a remote region

of China as the only personoutside China who couldunderstand the relevant dialect!She was devoted to her pupilsand engendered in them a lovefor the language. Native speak-ers and beginners alike flour-ished under her tutelage, somegoing on to study Chinese atuniversity. She leaves us tospend time working and travel-ling with her husband. In atypically kind leaving gestureshe has presented the Schoolwith a selection of Chinese textbooks. Mrs T’ung left theschool in July 2004.CH

VALETE

Patrick Macmahon.

Lyndsey Turner.

Charlie Robinson.


S C H O O L L I F E

JUSTINMOSTON HOUSE

SINGINGMATHEMATICS 2001 – 2005

When you think of‘Westminster’ and‘Mathematics’,

‘self-effacing’ and ‘sensitive’ are probably not the next twowords that come to mind, soJustin has stood out here forthe exceptionally professionaland unselfish way in which hedeals with his colleagues, buthe has also shown absolutededication to all of his rôles inthe school. There are a consid-erable number of pupils whocan attribute their startlinglygood GCSE or A-level resultsto the willingness with whichJustin has given up his timeafter school to help them.

Mathematician traditionallycount their calculators as theironly friends, but Justin has aremarkable range of interestsoutside school; also, he has afiancée. He is a ball-roomdancer, experiments in theCambridge University fluidmechanics tank, and playschess and hockey.

Newer teachers at Westminsterusually have to work very hardto fulfil the demands of the job– teaching, station, expeditions,pastoral responsibilities – butfew of them can claim to havemade a substantial difference,in their first few years, to theway the school does things.

Justin, while more than amplymastering the former, has alsoachieved the latter – and in twoways. He has re-invigorated theChess Club here – there arenow House competitions,teams of all abilities playing inleagues and friendly matches,professional coaches and, mostimpressively, large numbers ofenthusiastic boys playing chessin his classroom at lunch times, after school and in theevenings. He has also, amazing-ly, despite our limited space forgames, been able to set up whathas become has become thepopular and successful hockeystation. Fifty pupils now playtwice a week, many of themnot previously having beenkeen sportsmen.

Justin is now looking for a newchallenge at the less salubriousend of the education market.He moves to Eton in September,where I am sure he will beequally successful and where we hope that he and Adélie will also be very happy.MCD

VALETE

Ah, House Singing,sighs Karan Kanal(AHH) – a time for

inspired revelry, a time to laydown the tattered shreds ofyour dignity (unless you’re anew pupil) for the good of themany. And all for the honourof the House, obviously.

After a quick word on fire safe-ty (“We'll all die doing what welove”), the ritual slaughter ofthe popular classics that we callHouse Singing began. As usual,there was a wide range of per-formances, from the excellentto the incoherent, with morehouses participating than inprevious years. There was muchheated debate this year overMilne’s, who may or may nothave deserved to enter (I’m notoffering any opinions here), butdid anyway.

In addition to the storm overMilne’s, there was controversyover Liddell’s. For the last twoyears, Liddell’s has failed toqualify and from some quartersthere were murmurings thatthey had only been let in thisyear on a sympathy vote. Oneof the most memorable exam-ples of ‘House spirit’ camefrom Busby’s this year, whotook every opportunity to cheertheir name despite having beeneliminated by the judges.

Rigaud’s sold their sexuality tothe Devil in exchange for victo-ry, and to hammer the pointhome, they were allowed anencore. We walked out thatnight with a painfully clear ideaof the message of ‘In the Navy’in our heads.

Martin Boulton and Simon Wurr

after the Lyke Wake Walk.

Justin Moston.

Caroline Brooke.

VALETECAROLINE BROOKECaroline Brooke came to Westminsterfor the Election Term 2004 and hasbeen invited to return next September,2005. Her students speak for her:‘Funny, witty, inspirational, big-heart-ed, a superb teacher who will be a gift to her new students’ (Tom Gill);‘Caroline’s enthusiasm for and knowl-edge of The High Renaissance gave us all an excitement for the period’(Esmay Luck-Hille); ‘Caroline was bothan excellent teacher and a great person-ality-she was truly inspiring!’ (VenetiaThorneycroft); ‘What a lovely lady!’(Alex Edwards); ‘The Queen of Waysof Seeing’ (Helena Bushman). We welcome her back!

VALETEMIKE MORRISPreviously Head of Economics atDulwich, Mike earned the immensegratitude of the economics departmentby coming out of retirement to joinWestminster at very short notice for twoterms to cover for illness. His experienceand patience were greatly appreciated bypupils. Mike left in July 2004.

LYK

EW

AK

EW

AL

K


S C H O O L L I F E

The focus of the maga-zine was Dean’s Yard,dealing with mainly

school issues. Although it waswritten and edited mainly bythe Sixth form, it tried to appealto all Westminsters. It was pub-lished under the guidance ofMiss Turner.

The first issue of Pink lookedmuch the same as today, twentyphotocopied pages stapledtogether with a lovely pink frontcover. It contained a feature onThe Greaze: Fight Club in dis-guise, an expose on the scandalof the enormous rowing budgetas well as reviews of art, music,film and theatre. It was metwith a mixture of excitementand hostility from its new read-

ership. On one hand there wasan anti-Pink poster campaign,on the other, every issue soldout. Back then it had everychance of dying after the firstissue; few would have thought it would become a permanentfeature of Westminster School.Since then it has been run bySixth formers every year, and

will continue for as long as thereis interest in it.

Every year Pink! dies: When theSixth form editors get too oldand too busy to sprint after apink van in search of a pictureor commission articles on toast,Pink seeps out of their lives andout of the consciousness of theschool for a while. Miss Turnernever advertises or pushes forPink to be reborn again; shewants us to put in the effort, toargue for its survival. This yearNikolai Cedraeus, AndrewNaughtie and I all approachedMiss Turner separately wantingto start up the magazine. Wemet, pooled our ideas andrecruited three other members to the team; Dan Brodie, Izzy

Finkel and Orlando Reade.With this elite team of editorialminds all working together therewas nothing we could not do.All we needed was a magazine.

The best part of editing is thefirst brainstorming session. It isexciting when the ideas startflowing, everyone shouting out

JUNE 2004

SUMMERSATURDAYAwaking to the crisp, fresh morning air, bright blue sky and dazzling sun started off a day we hadbeen meticulously planning for months, claims BenShillito (MM) who, along with Alex Gabriele (MM),helped create the day Westminster went ape forcustard and doughnuts.

Back at Christmas 2003 acommittee assembled ina small room at the top

of Singletons. The plan wassimple: to organise an after-noon which involved the wholeschool, raised a four figure sumfor charity and was enjoyablefor everyone. Piece of cake, wethought – but as it turns outthese things are astonishingly

difficult; from persuad-ing the various authori-ties that we were seriousto encouraging 700pupils on a Mondaymorning that they wantto devise and run a stallwhilst also spending thefamily savings at all theirfriends’ stalls. However as the day approached, inbetween AS levels, thingsbegan to fall into place andthe degree of excitementexceeded that of apprehension.

As pupils loped into school onthat June Saturday, they weregreeted by a 10ft high pinkstructure designed solely torelease up to 80 litres ofCollege Hall’s finest pink cus-tard. By break, with the helpof many willing teachers andpupils two stages had beenbuilt, pyrotechnics had beeninstalled, sound systemschecked and balloons distrib-uted. As the event began, cross-

ing Yard became treacherous;dodging guitars, tables, waterballoons, barbeques, bouncycastles, not to mention the 700pupils who just been let off lastperiod Saturday. The ingenuitywas admirable: stalls where youcould pay to throw an assort-ment of missiles at fifth form-ers, batter staff with pillows orvote to have staff dunked incustard. There was even a frappucino stall, where lengthynegotiations had persuadedStarbucks that they wanted toprovide equipment and stafffree for the day. College Hallcontributed a great barbeque tothe afternoon that matched theatmosphere of the day perfectlywhilst a variety of carefullychosen bands kept everyoneentertained. The staff bandhad large numbers dancing,teachers included! As the finaleapproached there was a nervousair amongst the six brave teach-ers who had volunteered to be dunked, only one thoughwould suffer this ordeal as thevoting system came to a close.To a boisterous countdown,Mr. Moston was drenched by a huge vat of pink custard, andwith a photo from Haklyuts,the day ended. We reallyenjoyed organising it and certainly enjoyed participating;whether it will happen againremains to be seen.

thousands of ideas. Most ideasare rejected as grossly implausi-ble or just not funny; ‘wouldn’tit be great if we covered Dean’sYard in pink bubblewrap?’, ‘Acamel with a Pink! Hat: would-n’t that be cute?’ and ‘Let’s drawsilly hair and moustaches onteachers’. We are left at the endof the session with just enoughcredible ideas to make an issue.

The next stage is a fierce adver-tising campaign and commis-sioning articles. The first issuewas the hardest as we had to getpeople excited about writing themagazine. Generally the processis the same; the articles come in,we edit them and arrange themto look good on the page. Agreat deal of this is done fever-ishly at the last minute, beforeMiss Turner spends hours pho-tocopying two hundred issues.They are then sold the next dayfor a mere 50p.

Sadly, Miss Turner is leavingnext year. A new teacher will beneeded to help with Pink! I hopesomeone brave steps up to help.

The editing process is mad; forexample last issue someone said,‘Let’s all scan our faces and putit in Pink!’, so we did, and twohundred people saw it the nextday. An editor has the power tocompletely control Pink! andallows the rest of the school toexpress themselves through it.Pink! sends people on missionsin London and then gets themto write about it, such as arestaurant review or busking.Striving to make Pink! just thatlittle bit better than last year isalways exciting, fun and fulfill-ing. I strongly recommend thecurrent Upper Shellto take op themantle of Pinknext year: youwouldn’t wantto be the yearthat allowedPink! to die.

Most ideas are rejected as grossly implausible orjust not funny; ‘wouldn’t it be great if we coveredDean’s Yard in pink bubblewrap?’, ‘A camel with aPink! Hat: wouldn’t that be cute?’ and ‘Let’s drawsilly hair and moustaches on teachers’.


PINK!THE MAGAZINETHAT JUST WON’T DIETHE MAGAZINETHAT JUST WON’T DIEI was in the Fifth Form when my sister and her friends decided to startup a school magazine called Pink as an alternative to The Elizabethan,recalls Michael Stothard (BB), now himself an editor of Pink!

I was in the Fifth Form when my sister and her friends decided to startup a school magazine called Pink as an alternative to The Elizabethan,recalls Michael Stothard (BB), now himself an editor of Pink!

Battling tanks.

Bobbing for apples.

Makeovers.

Common Room Rock.

Doughnut eating competition.

KDT supports his lo

cal team.

Impressing the girls.

SIXTH FORMLECTURE DAY

We began our dayexpecting an array of dry, middle-aged

men preaching the evils of sex,drugs and rock’n’roll. However,mid-way into the first lecture on our rights as young people, it became clear that we werethere to be inspired and enter-tained. The lectures that fol-lowed included insights intoWestminster life and informa-tion on life after school from avariety of Old Westminsters.

To celebrate a month of Sixth form at Westminster,and perhaps try something different, a day of lec-tures from a range of speakers was organized onOctober 1st 2004, write Emma Thompsell (HH) andChristina Farr (MM), new sixth formers at the time.

S C H O O L L I F E

FUN RUNYawning and bleary-eyed, beginning to regret having sacrificed a precious Sunday lie-in, JulianWalton (BB) and Emilia Weber (LL) joined manyother volunteer runners who tentatively creptunder Liddell’s Arch contemplating whether ornot they could still go home to the comfort ofduvets and tea.


Perhaps the most enjoyable lec-ture was a talk from a represen-tative of the Portman Group, onthe primarily positive effects ofalcohol, if taken in moderation.Particularly interesting was atalk from three parents on theirexperience of having a teenagerat Westminster. It was insightfulto hear how our experiences atthis school affect other membersof our family. The day overallwas worthwhile and raisedmany issues for reflection.

A s someone new to theschool, I wasn’t surewhat to expect, with

descriptions I was given ranging from ‘a traditionalChristmas service’ to ‘the teachers’ version of the HouseSinging Competition’. But Isoon found out, as I was sud-denly involved in the wholething, carrying a candle in theprocession – not a major task,but enough to conjure upimages of tripping over my surplice and falling flat on myface, or spilling molten wax allover the headmaster.

The service is open to prettymuch anyone in contact withthe school – teachers, pupils,relatives and friends were allinvited and, judging by howfull the Abbey was, many tookup the offer. For weeks before-hand, rehearsals had been

underway, with all the peoplewho made up the Carol Service– singers, readers and musicians– practising like mad. The finalresult was a programme thatwas partly traditional, with theNativity readings, the schoolprayer, and well-known carolslike ‘Hark the Herald AngelsSing’, together with some moremodern additions, such as ahymn by Philip Larkin. Whatamazed me was how relaxedand confident all the soloistsand readers seemed to be, andhow smoothly everything went,considering there had neverbeen a full run-through of the entire service. Afterwards,friends and relatives told mehow much they had enjoyedbeing part of everything: thesinging, the Abbey, the can-dlelit prayers – and the mulledwine after, of course.

CAROL SERVICE2004

Tinsel, crackers and end-of-term exam panic can onlymean one thing – Christmas is coming, as, like manyother schools,Westminster gets ready for its annualcarol service, writes Ellie Buchdahl (CC).

Upon entering yard wewere confronted withour companions for

the next two hours, a gaggle ofsuperheroes and other absurdlydressed charity runners (simi-larly bleary-eyed and yawning).

Mr. Hargreaves, Amelia Young-Abraham, Jenna Barclay andMike Lim organised us fantas-tically and off we ran, feelingeuphoric and surprised at how lovely London looks on aSunday morning. Seven mileslater we weren’t feeling quite as euphoric and London waslooking somewhat less lovely.The run split into the keenathletes, the not-so keen ath-letes, those who did not knowthe meaning of the term

‘athlete’ and the three-legged(in one admirable case, four-legged) participants. Thoughreceiving many odd looksalong the way and overhearingparents’ commendable explana-tions to children about madpeople wearing gorilla suits, itwas genuinely fun and left onewith a warm fuzzy feeling inthe heart. The fastest timeswere Nick Maloney in 45.10with the first student (JohnReicher) in 46.27.

It was worth getting up for,and to all those who missed it, do it next year! Now all wehave to do is collect our spon-sorship money off stingy fifthformers.

A quiet moment in the Greaze.

THE GREAZE

July 2004 saw the 28th suc-cessive Westminster Phabcourse, writes organiser,Andrew Johnson.

My thanks go to all the hosts,guests, staff and supporters.They continue to make Phab special and also helped raiseenough money to buy an electricwheelchair for Dorcas Munday,who all ex-Phabbers will remem-ber fondly. Do stay in touch:[email protected]

PH

AB

2004

Too, too much.

Avast there.Heroic endeavours.

The champ.

Monstrous team.

CHARITIES ANDCOMMUNITY SERVICE

These are all just some of the ways we haveworked to support local,

national and international chari-ties in recent months, and it isgood to see the results of theseefforts in black and white forthe first time in The Elizabethanin the summary on the right.However, these figures onlyreveal one aspect of a muchricher picture. For example,there was the moment whenball games in Yard shiftedtowards Grant’s as a group of local elderly folk were escorted by sixth-formers intoAshburnham Garden for after-noon tea and chat. More of that great British institution isenjoyed by sixth formers andolder folk at the local communi-ty centre during Options onMonday afternoons, and tea isalso provided in our Christmashampers, already legendary atyet another local communitycentre just down the road.Thanks are owed to parents forthe provision of sixty baskets,boxes of chocolates and somevery tempting Christmas cakes.Jenna Barclay writes, ‘visitingthe weekly breakfast organisedby In-Deep Community TaskForce helped us to see the effectsof our efforts. We felt very wel-come during our visit and it wasa pleasure to meet older peoplein the local community’.

Following the tsunami, a smallgroup of Westminsters werekeen to raise money for thebenefit of its victims, and withthe help of parents, we man-aged to find a specific projectto support in Sri Lanka. TheRohan Special School for deafand blind children was notdirectly hit by the tsunami, but

with the local community sobadly affected, donations driedup and the situation becameeven more desperate. Throughvarious events, including a‘Give Something Up Day’, thefun run and a ‘shag’ (non-uni-form) day, the £6000 requiredto renovate and equip theschool has been raised. PaulGiladi writes, ‘on behalf of the student organisers of ‘GiveSomething Up Day’, I wouldlike to express our heartfeltappreciation and profoundgratitude to all those whohelped raise money for theRohan Special School. Thefunds that have been sent havemade remarkable improve-ments in all aspects of theschool; from the most complexparts of the infrastructure tothe most basic facilities.’

By the time you are readingthis, we should have managedto produce exclusiveWestminster charity wristbands(in Westminster pink, natural-ly) for the benefit of the RohanSchool in Sri Lanka. There aretoo many people to mentionpersonally here, but it is thanksto the inspiration of pupils,teachers and parents that ourcharitable endeavours havebranched out into new areaslike this one over the past fewmonths. Linda Rickard is wor-thy of a special mention for herhard work and commitmentthroughout this time, and shewill be missed as we work onnew projects next year. EB

S C H O O L L I F E

WESTMINSTER SCHOOL CHARITIES

Summer Remove tea-towel Thames Reach Bondway £750

September Scratch Play Alone in London £223

November Edgar's House Alone in London £138

House Concert Royal British Legion £105

Shag Day Westminster PHAB £1390

Sale of Poppies Royal British Legion £228.24

Sir Christopher Wren’s Shepherd’s Bush £110Birthday Party Homeless Project

Sponsored Walk Trinity Hospice £1223.15

Cantandum concert The Loomba Trust £230

Envision – cake stall Avert – Aids Charity £377and ribbon sale

December Sleaze Alone in London £809

Carol Service Sparrow Schools £1716

Westminster PHAB £1716

Send a Cow Collection including £750£214 Jazz Concert

Play term Hakluyt’s 6th Form £1 perSponsor a Child in Africa month each

January House Play Alone in London £189

February Opera Alone in London £365

March Envision Krispy Kreme Sunbeam Foundation £245China

Shag Day Rohan School £2774Concerts Sri LankaBook SaleDonationsGive Something Up Day

Fun run Rohan School/ £7000Community Task Force

Parents’ Dinner Trinity Hospice/ £2160Rohan School

Total £22498.39 (approx.)

Associated Cantandum Diocesan Lent Appeal £467Event Concert

Fundraising events continue throughout the school year. Not all activities or funds raised are shown in the above list. Some figures are approximate.

What is the link between bringing a tin of pineapple chunks toregistration, performing in a school play, running seven miles andgiving up your favourite chocolate bar?


2004 – 2005

SURVIVINGTHE TSUNAMIFanxi Wang (PP) was one of severalWestminsters who were with their familyand friends in the earthquake zone on BoxingDay when the tsunami struck. Happily for theschool, no one at Westminster was seriouslyhurt in the devastating event. Here Fanxiwrites about the experience.

Witnessing and, moreimportantly, surviv-ing a tsunami, is

the kind of experience that onenever expects to have, especial-ly not on a blissful day in atranquil tropical paradise likePhuket. Disasters and deathsoccur regularly in the world,but they are rarely closeenough to cut deep. This was deep enough to make my blood run cold with thethought that there might havebeen an empty seat at the dinner table tonight. Or that I could be drinking eternaloblivion on the dark oceanfloor, instead of eating dinner.

What was traumatic aboutsuch an experience was theshadow that grew in me afterthe event. After the initial mix-ture of excitement, numbness,and shock had died down, Iwatched the death tolls rise,endlessly. Hearing stories aboutthose who were swept away,and those who lost loved ones,I was filled with an indescrib-able feeling of relief and guilt.I went back to a beach that

only a few hours previouslyhad been filled with cheerfulholiday-makers; it was nowfilled with awful debris – andperhaps later would be withcorpses. The smooth, thunder-ous sound of surging watercomes rushing back to mymind. I find it hard to picturewhat would have happened if Ihad gone snorkelling or wind-surfing that morning, insteadof being lazy and having a lie-in. Or, the most painful of all,the memory of how my moth-er was still swimming in thesea ten minutes before thewave came.

Now, in England, all thosememories seem to belong toanother world. Nothing in thislife seems to have changed. Butpart of me seems to have beensubdued a little, by the imageof the inexorable waves thattook all who came across itspath, rich or poor, kind orcruel, tourist or native. Luck is too small a word. I am gladWestminster found a way tohelp afterwards.

ENVISIONIt has been another successful year forWestminster’s charity and community serviceteam, Envision, report Ellie Buchdahl (CC) andAntony Smith (CC).

We began the yearwith an AIDSawareness cam-

paign to coincide with WorldAids Day in November; a dis-play in the library and a speechin Abbey aimed at tackling theprejudice that HIV sufferersstill have to endure even in the UK. We also raised fundsfor AVERT, an AIDS charitywhich works both in the UKand overseas, through the saleof red ribbons and our hugelypopular cake sale. But thehighlight of the year has to bethe Krispy Kreme doughnutsale in aid of the SunbeamFoundation which supportsorphans and needy children in rural China when, thanks to the charitable nature (orperhaps sugar addiction?) ofWestminster pupils, we man-aged to sell out within the firstfew minutes.

More locally we have estab-lished a relationship with theGandhi Centre in Bow andtwo groups so far have visitedto help with maintenance andredecoration work. We havecontinued and extended ourrecycling initiative, so now twohighly talented collectors everyweek have the enviable task ofdragging bursting bin-bagsfilled with paper throughAshburnham House, theWeston Building, the boardinghouses and finally across Yardto the huge recycling bin. Andthey do it so well.

Thanks to the dedication ofour great team as well as theunwavering support of ourEYEs (Envision YouthEducators) Tom andAphrodite, we have had atremendous year. Well doneeveryone!

Charity fundraising to contribute

towards costs to repaint

Rohan School in Sri Lanka.

Charity fundraising to contribute

towards costs of repairing

the drainage system at

Rohan School in Sri Lanka.

Envision – cake sale for

charity in the School Yard

Preparations began inMarch, when the frame-work was laid for five

potential parties – Labour,Conservative, LiberalDemocrat, Veritas and UKIP.Party meetings began, leafletsbegan to circulate aroundschool and the Lib Dems puttogether a highly professionalwebsite. True to the spirit ofBritish politics, we had ourshare of smear campaigns aswell.

With the election looming, the rallies began. The LiberalDemocrats had the privilege of the first rally, performingadmirably. Next came Labour,who fought bravely against atirade of heckling. Finally theConservatives had their chanceto shine, and did soamidst a barrage ofquestions, most ofwhich had a distinct-ly Lib-Dem feel to

On Thursday 5th May, as Britain went to thepolls, the Westminster school electorateheaded for the library to cast their votes in the Westminster School mock election,report Ellie (CC) and Sam Buchdahl (AHH).

S C H O O L L I F E


them. At the hustings in Yardon 4th May, excitement hadreached fever pitch. The threecandidates – Ben Golden(Labour, RR), Angie Rogan(Conservatives, CC) and MaxKaufman (Liberal Democrats,AHH) – shouted themselveshoarse as supporters and heck-lers alike turned up to enterinto the spirit of democracyand to taste some of therefreshments on offer from the various parties.

Congratulations to everyoneespecially to Mr Hargreaves andMr Crole for their organisation,Giles Robertson, king of theopinion polls, and the librariansfor supervising and counting thevotes. And of course to all the

parties and their candi-dates. The result? Oh

yes – Conservatives137, Lib Dems

130, Labour84.

The reason, of course, is that they are amongst this coun-try’s educational elite (hmm) and accordingly must con-vince a few academics at either one of our two most

prestigious universities that they too deserve to man the decksof the good ship Oxbridge. But how, you ask, does one succeedin this most aspirational of aspirations? Well, for a start it mightbe helpful to know what sort of question you’re going to beasked. Here for you, reprinted with the kind permission of myagent, is the sort of catechism you can expect to receive in atypical Cambridge English interview...

Subject: English Date: 08/12/04Place: Peterhouse, Cambridge No of interviewers: 2

Academic Questions: ‘Why do you think, then, that this bookwas loved and admired by so many readers – and fellow novel-ists – in its day, if, as you claim, it’s the 18th century’s equiva-lent of modern-day ‘trash’? ‘Why did you put a book that youdidn’t like on your personal statement? What is it about thepoems of Hopkins that you like? I see you’ve read some Joyce.Why have you hidden behind the chair? I can still see you.’(Most questions related to what was on my personal statement.)

General Questions: ‘How was the test then? So you like crick-et? You met Harold Pinter? What did he say? You haven’t had a ride on our shock treatment machine yet, have you? Is yourseatbelt on correctly? Are your sacrificial robes clean? Do youstill want to keep hiding behind that chair?’

Comments: One was extremely friendly (the English master)and the other, the Arts admissions tutor (a history ‘beak’), wasthe sardonic, ‘nasty’ one. I showed him, though. Whimpering.Just whimpering. The affair was conducted in a plush, cosyroom with an electric fire and comfy armchairs. The interviewwas meant to last 30 minutes, but was allowed in my case togo on for 45 minutes due to certain aspersions being castabout my mental health. I was allowed to be myself and gotgood vibes. Heartily recommended. Bring your own drinks.£10, no underage.

Well, there you have it. As you can see, playing the ‘Joyce’ cardis a risky procedure indeed. I can imagine that other subjectshave similar deathtraps; mentioning Dali in an Art interview,for instance, or maybe Caesar in Classics, or Eric The Red inASNAC, or Bobby Moore in History, or even Superman inPhysics. But as long as you play your cards safe, keep your fin-ger on the pulse, and repel the urge to house yourself behindthe lushest article of furniture in the room, I assure you thatyou’re in for the smoothest of rides. Tally-ho!

OXBRIDGEINTERVIEWEvery year, around October, tens of thousands ofyoung men and young ladies around the BritishIsles get into an awful tizz, often going as far asbarricading themselves into their bedroomswith only a large pile of books, a bottle of Jack,and a long rope for company (okay, maybe notthe bottle of Jack), writes a world-weary LouisJagger (CC).

A s any OW will tellyou, the end ofWestminster feels like

the end of an era. A-levels andyear book forms done anddusted, we in the Removefound ourselves facing our lastdays in yard, in uniform, UpSchool and, on a cheerier note,at our long awaited Leaver’sBall. Kindly organised by MrsNewton, Mrs Jackman, MrHargreaves and his hand-picked crop of pupils, theevening was a huge success andthe perfect way to mark theend of our time at school. I amwriting this article a significantnumber of months on and over11,000 miles away, and fromhere a few things stick out inmy mind amidst the nostalgia.Firstly, the surprising sight ofalmost our entire year dressedfrom head to toe in black tie;hair brushed, shoes polished,shirts tucked in. Secondly, the

even more surprising, but curi-ously unhealthy, amount of80’s pop music churned outrelentlessly by the dj. Thirdly,Serge and Mrs Newton beingthe first of many acts to hit thedance floor (the Chaplain andMr Hargreaves were swift tofollow). And finally an amaz-ing, electric atmosphere of (for want of a better word) fun.

It is difficult to say exactlywhat the evening meant foreveryone there. Those whohave had a last reunion withtheir school leavers’ year willknow the feeling, those whohave not will some day. Thankyou to everyone who helpedorganise such a brilliant sendoff; our all-singing, all-dancingteachers (whose knowledge of80’s lyrics is seemingly unsur-passed), and of course every-one in the Remove, whereveryou are…

HEADS, SHOULDER,KNEES AND TOES

On the 27th April at 4:20,Westminster set the Guinness World Record (pending ratification) for the largest simultaneous performance of ‘Heads,Shoulders, Knees and Toes’, writes organiser Ed Cumming (BB).

Though rain threatened disrup-tion,Westminsters are made of stern stuff when it comes torecords, and in the end the 500participants were rewarded withglorious sunshine, which showedthe best side of the school.Everyone was on an equal foot-ing, from the lowliest Fifth for-mer to the haughtiest Remove,and tremendous fun was had byall.There was no shortage ofwilling recorders, stewards andphotographers to capture theglorious scene for posterity.

WO

RL

DR

EC

OR

DA

TT

EM

PT

LEAVERS’BALLEmily Lim (OWW) reportson a hitherto well-kept secret.

2004MOCKELECTION

HOUSEREPORTS

S C H O O L L I F E

Oh, our College is a cocktail, not a stew:You can taste the smallest, subtlest tones of anything we do.If you strangled us and beat us black and blueWe’d still be recognisable:The greatest house devisable,Although you think it risible,Is College through and through.

Each one of us knows every other name:A scholarship itself ’s the one prerequisite for fameAnd better: no two children are the same.The forty boys light up the schoolAround the clock, in warm or cool.The six girls just quite simply RULE!(This poem has no shame)

And we’re rather good at winning tournaments.In the Singing we was robbed, I say (let slip the arguments),But in Running and in Netball we did senseA stage on which to introduceOur innate genius, and let looseThe sporting heroes who producedSuccess, ladies and gents!

Amici usque ad aras, arasAmici usque ad aras. Usque ad? Ad aras!Usque, amici, usque ad aras‘Tis graven deep upon each heart;The bouncy prep-school boy at startIn five years grows to be a partOf ‘usque ad aras’.

COLLEGE

Last year’s house report con-veyed that Grant’s experiencedan unexpected range of suc-cesses in academia, sport andthe arts; that the house haddisturbingly raised its headfrom the meagre security ofbleak banality. To set therecord straight, unlike MajorMajor in Catch 22, Grant’shad never been “bornmediocre, achieved mediocrity”or “had mediocrity thrustupon” it. And that is why,

to the great chagrin of some disgruntled and “precocious”curmudgeons, Grant’s has infact continued to succeed.

This year in the Long DistanceRaces, Grant’s performed well with the Juniors andIntermediates putting in solidperformances. Though the age-ravaged legs of the Seniorsconstrained their finishing,their raw grit and determina-tion were more than welcome.

GRANT’S

Another year, another tale ofsporting success for Liddell’s.Once again the house eleven-a-side trophy found its way to its rightful place in Dr Morris’office. We came third in thesix-a sides despite missing ourtwo best players to Spanishorals. There were notable performances from Gaby andLucie Bishop and Matt Chenin fives, and with our defenceof house cricket fast approach-ing, not to mention a sterlingperformance by HenryHepworth in the BringstyRelay, it is safe to say that ourcup runneth over.

This is not to say however thatLiddell’s is merely a ‘sporting’house: far from it. Of late,Westminster drama produc-tions have been littered withLiddellite cast members. EddFranklin and Edmund Digby-Jones are but two of manynames that spring to mind.

LIDDELL’S

In September, Busbites returnedto an altogether more eleganthouse, thanks to a lick ofturquoise paint and a courtyardreplete with a Narnian lamp-post, befitting the fine youngmen and women it continues to produce. We hit the groundrunning, blowing away thecompetition at the Towpathand sportingly taking secondplace to College in the Bringstyrelay and the Netball, as well asputting together our first fivesteam in years. Never a house for

sore losers (more than might besaid for poor Milne’s), we werecontent to abstain from theruckus of house singing thisyear; we saved our musical firefor an impressive house concert,with Lower School musiciansshowing particular potential.With a strong presence in thedrama sphere (including theBusbite-penned Edgar’s House),not to mention another excel-lent edition of the CollegeStreet Clarion, we are simplyunstoppable.

BUSBY’S

However, the star of the Grant’srunning team for the past threeyears has been young TomSamuel. Since the 5th form, he has won the Long DistanceRaces and has continuouslysmashed record after record.He is an outstanding athleteand the house is privileged tohave him as our number one.

The Bringsty Relay, run in bitterly cold weather, had lessromance to it. Indeed, it was a shame that the house failedto defend its crown. Grant’sfinished sixth out of eleven.nonetheless, the promisingJuniors’ team did well and,yes, Tom ran the fastest timein the school.

In House Hockey, Grant’s hasstruck fear into the hearts ofthe other houses under theawesome leadership of TimLai, the Captain of Hockey.The house eleven has dominat-ed the hockey pitch and willcontinue to do so in the yearsto come, especially since themajority of the team are in theLower School. (By the way,Tom’s in it too!)

In Fives, Grant’s, led by PaulGiladi, is looking its strongestin many years with all threepairs having represented theschool in various competitions.

But Grant’s is more than justserious about sport; the househas continued to excel inmusic and academia too. The Grant’s Concert and the

School Concert have seensome of the most outstandingmusical performances inWestminster’s recent history.At the house concert we wit-nessed Benedict Vanderspar’svirtuoso talent on the violin.The School’s Choral Concertsaw a moving performance by Katy Watson, our residentSoprano who is off to Trinity,Cambridge with a ChoralScholarship. Many congratula-tions should also go to JohnnyField (Rem), whose musicaltalent is nothing short ofexceptional. Not only did hepainstakingly train the housefor the House SingingCompetition, but he alsoamazed the crowd with hissinging, had one of his compo-sitions performed during theCarol Service in December andby starred as Gianni Schicci inPaganini’s operetta.

Academically, Grant’s hasremained in the ‘Ivy League’ ofhouses, achieving phenomenalGCSE and A Level grades.Grant’s is unusually bothsporty and scholarly.

All this could not have beenachieved without our HouseMaster, Gavin Griffiths. He has supported and cared for hisflock in an incredibly cool andgenerous manner. His comicskills, ranging from intellectualsatire to slapstick, fill the housewith laughter; he also providesus with a wide variety of music(mostly out of tune). Thanksfor another great year.


In fact given the wealth ofmusical talent on show fromthe Liddellites in many schoolconcerts it is a wonder that wedid not do better in HouseSinging, although it is impor-tant to put things into perspec-tive, this year – unlike the lasttwo – we actually made it intothe main competition!

Of course no year would becomplete without exams andthe like, however in Liddell’s itis the case that we run a tightship and so in addition to ourefforts on other fronts we canexpect to see, again, many verypraiseworthy performancesfrom Liddellites in all sorts ofsubjects and of all age-groups.Finally, we must look to thefuture and while it could besaid that we are doing prettywell and should not be greedy,far be it from us not to strivefor even greater things nextyear.

It has been a year of exertions.Mr Tompkins, coming, shall wesay, from the wrong side of theblanket, Wrens, has turned hishand to boarder-managementwith distressing skill. He hasbeen assisted by our shiningbeacon of a Matron, Mrs Amos,and our towering oak of a Headof House, Aleks Domanski.Last year, Rigaud’s had a glut of achievements, winning theTennis Plate and having stun-ning victories in House Hockeyand House Fives. This year, weachieved nothing, but as MrTompkins suggests, last year’ssuccesses were but a warm upto Rigaud’s most important andmost laudable feat – the mag-nificent display at the HouseSinging competition. Rigaud’s –ever-strong on the music side ofthings – trounced all oppositionwith a spectacularly flamboyantinterpretation of ‘In the Navy’.Following this wonderful highcamp masterpiece, Rigaudsproved itself more than a mereone-hit wonder with an equallyimpressive House Concert.

Despite the inevitable Octoberto May lull, Rigaud’s has seenmarked progress on the domes-tic side of things. After a sur-prise discovery in the ceilings,the much-anticipated construc-tion work has accelerated to afurious pace, as Rigaud’s pre-pares to meet head-on the chal-lenges of the 20th Century. Aswell as the prized “buried treas-ure” recently removed from thewalls, Rigauds also parted wayswith many other old traditions.The fifth form boarders nolonger have to do their prep onthe pool table, the plugs havebeen declared “OK” by theelectrician, and we now have900 satellite channels, all lockedout. Essentially one year’s hardtoil has amounted to one realachievement but it was reallyrather a substantial one. Sowhat has changed in a year ofchanges? In essence, nothing.But we did beat College.

RIGAUD’S

Netball practice.

Summer Saturday.June 2004.

Snowball fight in Yard.

Relaxing after rehearsal, the Summer play.Photographed by A-J Harvey.

CONTINUED...

S C H O O L L I F E

HOUSE REPORTS...

This year in Wren’s has beenthe first full year under Mr.Feltham’s energetic leadership.In some ways very little haschanged: the pool table remainsthe largest in the school andthe only one to require actualskill to play on; there were onceagain heroic, but ultimatelyunsuccessful, attempts at theHouse Football and House six-a-side; we failed in our effortsto defend our House Singingtitle, despite a repeat of lastyear’s strategy of making themost of short skirts.

However, there were somenotable highlights to make theyear a memorable one. The victory in the House Chesscompetition – clearly showingthe effect of having a Mathsteacher as housemaster – was a highpoint equalled by theHouse Play, which saw the pro-duction of two works writtenand directed by members of thehouse, and completely without

staff involvement. The annualparty for Sir ChristopherWren’s birthday again exhibitedthe talent of the new membersof the house, and this year sawthem branch out from musicand literature to magic tricksand juggling.

And there is the promise ofmore to come. The HouseCricket and Tennis competi-tions could yet give the house a chance to exhibit sportingprowess, and the annual houseconcert, shared with neigh-bours Dryden’s, will showcasethe musical talents of thehouse: such is the diversity of Wrenites.

WREN’S

This was a year that saw thebatons pass from Athill toArnold and JCT to KAPW, butsuch is the spirit of this House,established beyond its years,that life at Pooh Corner hasremained as busy and interest-ing as ever. Whilst it did notbring much (well, anything, infact) in the way of silverware,the year did witness manyheroic performances across theboard. Chloe Pickup and AlexElias have emerged as formida-ble debaters and will, no doubtgo from strength to strength,whilst our Towpath andBringsty runners, led by AlexJoseph, were up there with thebest of them. Mention must be made too of Felix Baden-Powell, who ran one leg of the Brigsty having turned up,somewhat reluctantly, as asteward in chilly conditions: atrue act of heroism. Our hock-ey team, inspired by captainAndrew Lloyd-Harris, all butwon the inter-house competi-tion – the future looks verybright in this area and the teamspirit was very much in evi-dence on the football pitch too,where, had the run of the ballgone our way, things wouldhave been very different.

MILNE’S


Another year, another brilliantyet unrewarded house singingperformance from Dryden’s.This year, our rendition of“Love among the Linden trees”(maia hi, maia ha) greatlyimpressed the judges but, outof fear of Rigaud’s hooliganism,victory went to our rivals acrossYard. However, we expect ourjoint house concert with neigh-bouring Wren’s on 29th Aprilto reinstate us as leaders of theWestminster music scene. Alsonoteworthy is the victory wealmost achieved at house chess.

On the sporting front, Dryden’sadded to its many skills; partic-ipating for the first time ininter-house hockey as well asmost other inter-house champi-onships. Particularly brilliantwas our performance at thehouse six-a-side, being onlynarrowly beaten by Liddell’s inthe finals. Equally impressivewere our accomplishments atthe Bringsty relays where theSeniors won, leading to anoverall third position. Naturally,we have high hopes forAthletics day!

Mr. Tocknell has been promoted to Senior Head ofAdministration and so, unfor-tunately, will be leaving us atthe end of the year. After 14years with Dryden’s, we willmiss him for his contributionsto house spirit, expeditions and music as well as his abilityto grin cheekily at all of ourdefeats. A tough act to follow!We wish him all the best at hisnew post. On a happier note,we welcome Dr Boulton as newhousemaster next year and areall excited about the new erathat now dawns upon us… Atlong last, a physics teacher witha keen interest in expeditions.

DRYDEN’S

2004 has been yet another greatyear for Hakluyt’s. Firstly, thehighlight of the play term wasthe notorious House SingingCompetition, where we main-tained our high reputation, fin-ishing third. We couldn’t helpfeeling robbed, finishing behindthe ‘All Glorious’ College. Next came our victory on theTowpath, winning both the sen-ior and junior events. Pleasing,if not excellent, performanceson the pitch from Tom Lloyd,Ian Clancy and AnthonyComninos ensured the return ofthe house six-a-side title to us.Unfortunately we didn’t get thetitle in the eleven-a-sides, wherewe reached the final but lost toLiddell’s. Fear not we do have avalid excuse: due to poor weath-er conditions, play was aban-doned on one day meaning allmatches had to be played dur-ing the next station afternoonand consequentially the teamwere knackered even before the semis.

Sadly we are saying goodbye toour prized mathematician MrMacMahon this year, so wantto thank him for all he’s donefor the house and his tutees,

and wish him all the best forthe future. In return we wel-come Mr Pyatt, head of theEnglish Department who, I amsure, will make sure we are thebest spoken house in the school!

The timing of the writing ofthis report is such that we stillhave the best part of a termremaining and therefore manyevents to take place. Howeverwe are looking forward to theHakluyt’s and Liddell’s houseconcert featuring talentedmusicians from all stages inthe house who consistentlyplay with distinction andwhom we are very lucky tohave as part of Hakluyt’s. Also coming up is Athletics inwhich we usually do extremelywell followed by the eagerly-awaited House tennis.

HAKLUYT’S

The year has been awash withmusic: a superb evening in theManoukian Centre (the firstever House Concert in the new venue) with star turns toonumerous to mention, coordi-nated with typical expertise andenthusiasm by LTT; sadly herswansong, it turns out. Andwho can forget the HouseSinging Competition (try asone might), from which wewalked throats raw but headsheld high? Our link withTrinity Hospice has continuedand burgeoned and we havebeen able, once more, to sup-port their cause whilst enjoyingourselves with events such asthe House Walk and theParents’ Dinner and Fifth formcarol singing at Christmas. Thecultural side of life has featuredtoo, with memorable visits tothe National Gallery,Greenwich Ice Rink and acouple of ventures into theatre-land. All this and we wereredecorated too. Tiddley-pom.

Football at Vincent Square.

Cooling off.

Mock election meeting.

Manoukian Centre entrance area.

Photographed by P Grant.

Sumo wrestling at the fête in June 2004.Fun Run. Photograp

hed

by A Domanski. Leavers

’ Poster 2

004.

Fun Run: the aftermath.

Lower School Greek Trip.

UK TRIPSWalking in the Lake District 32Skye Mountaineering Trip 33Caving in the Mendips 34

TRIPS ABROADRhodes Classicists Trip 35Lost in St Petersburg:Sixth Form Russian Trip 36Paris:Art History Trip 37London to Berlin: German Exchange 38Valladolid: Spanish Trip 39Lower School Greek Trip 40Climbing in the Pyrenees 41Alston Trip 42Florence Trip 42

TRAVEL

Skye. Photographed by Martin Boulton.

30 THE ELIZABETHAN 2005

SCHOOL YEAR2004 – 2005

Fun Run.

Stage construction for Much Ado about Nothing.

The IT Room.

Art History Trip, Paris.

Water team in Philadelphia.

Westminster Coffee Club.

Scene from Sleaze –

a musical based on Shakespeare’s

Measure for Measure.

Detail from a Rodin taken duringthe Art History Trip to Paris.

Snow in Yard.

Head, shoulders, knees and toes...

The Weston Building during the refurbishment process.

Nikolai – the snapper.

Mock election meeting.

Revising on Green.

LAKE DISTRICT

While everyone elsedisappeared intothe pub to celebrate

the end of term, we mad walk-ers climbed into a mini-bus foran 8 hour journey up North.Each morning, fuelled withporridge and fried bacon andarmed with packed lunches,beanies and gloves, we wouldset off for the highest moun-tain that Mr Hooper, ever inshorts, could find. One day we conquered Scafell Pike, thenext we vanquished a snow-covered High Seat in varyingdegrees of pain and howlinggales. Guided by GilesRobertson’s fluorescent yellowanorak, we would reach thetop and scour the mists for aglimpse of a view; if nonecould be found we would

comfort ourselves with singingJerusalem, eating flapjacks andhaving snowball fights. Thenthere was the race against theencroaching darkness backdown the mountain to hotshowers at the hostel, hinderedon High Tove by a treacherousknee-high bog. We filled theevenings with pool, Scrabble,trips into Keswick and, mostmemorably, Mr Ullathorne’sfamed spag bol. Our last stopwas Castlerigg Stone Circlewhere we practised levitationbefore heading South, exhaust-ed, but already missing themajestic hills of ‘our green andpleasant land.’ A huge thankyou is in order for our incom-parable guides, Mr. Hooper,Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Wurr, Mr.Ullathorne and Dr. Boulton.

SKYEMOUNTAINEERING TRIP

For most of the trip wesplit into those twogroups for our activities.

Having arrived in Inverness bythe overnight sleeper train, wedrove to the youth hostel atGlenbrittle and embarked onour first day’s activity; a walkin beautiful weather up CorrieLagan. The weather was so finethat we were even able to swimin the loch up there in March!The weather on the next daywas much the same and, whilstthe D of E people practicednavigation, we climbed thespectacular pinnacle ridge upto Sgurr nam Gillean – thefirst mountain to be climbedin Skye.

For the remaining days of thetrip our luck with the weather

did not hold, but this was justto be expected in north westScotland during early spring.However, in spite of this, westill managed to fit in a variedprogramme including a mixtureof rock climbing and scram-bling. For me the highlight ofthe trip was definitely the climbup the pinnacle ridge, followedclosely by an airy 40 meter rockclimb near Lealt in the north ofthe Island. On Thursday, fivedays after we arrived, we reluc-tantly piled our kit into our bat-tered Land Rovers, and set offfor Inverness. I think the tripwas definitely enjoyed by all.

This year’s Skye trip was bigger than usual, says Tom Samuel (GG), and included a mixture of peo-ple doing Duke of Edinburgh Award and Climbing.

T R AV E LT R AV E L


Above and right:Climbing in Skye.Photographs byMartin Boulton.

Above and left:Lake District trip.

WALKING IN THE

…Alone With a few sheep, withrocks and stones, and kites…It is in truth an utter solitude.

Wordsworth’s impressions were similar to oursclimbing up to Allcock Tarn on our expeditionto the Lake District last December, avow Bella Sanders (DD) and Lily Ash Sakula (GG).

Iwas picked to take the lead,but after struggling throughthe tightest squeezes in my

life, I eventually gave up, unableto find the way on. Mr Hooperpointed out the way on butwhen I reached the hole, Ifound only a squeeze thatwouldn’t allow my helmet to go through. Telling this to themaster speleologist (caver), Iclimbed out and let him try.Confident that I was right andthe end of the cave was nigh, I looked back to the others asthey were coming through tothe small cavern. But when Ilooked to where Mr Hoopershould have been, I saw empti-ness. I was about to shout awarning that the earth hadswallowed the teacher up, but after descending further, Ifound the rabbit-hole sized path(and that’s being generous),then followed. The fun did notstop in this cave as we ended uphaving to descend, then return,via a hole in the ground withno foot holds and few hand-holds, called the ‘Lobster Pot’.

When we reached Swildon’sCavern the following day, wewaited outside a cylindricalbuilding in the middle of afield. There was a pond out-side it, and we thought noth-ing of it until we were told todescend the hole in the littlebuilding that led into a fastmoving stream. Unfortunatelyfor us, we realised that theteachers were not joking and

prepared for the onslaught ofcold water. But this was noth-ing compared to what lay instore for us. Waterfalls! Weended up having to climbdown, and back up, a metalstring ladder with the fullforce of the water falling onour heads. Fortunately thewetsuits, which proved farmore of a problem to get offthan anything we encounteredin the caves, protected us fromfreezing.

All in all the expedition wasenjoyed thoroughly by every-one, and it comes as a a realsurprise to me that there hasbeen little interest in this trip in the last few years. I hopeanyone who read this articlewill decide that this expeditionis a necessary annual event andgo along next year.

T R AV E L


CAVING IN THE

Top:Alistair rejoices – he knowsthere’ll be dinner tonight.

Above (top): Los Pop IdolosRhodos.

Above (middle): Mr Low andDavid sped ahead in the race to the top of the acropolis.

Above (bottom): Alistair concentrates on what really matters in life.

Caving weekend in the Mendips.Benjamin Bonnerjea,Andrew Marshall,

Nicholas Smith, Giles Robertson,Keen Yeung and Jonathan McKinley.

Photographed by Jan Evetts, who helped out on the weekend.

MENDIPS

There were many memorable momentson our caving trip in February, remem-bers Jonathan McKinley (DD), and thesecond cave, Sidcot Swallet proved to

have a vast variety of challenges.

RHODESCLASSICISTS TRIP

For a week last October, nine pupils andthree teachers from Westminster enjoyeda hot classical time in this beautiful island,reading, orating and catching octopus,opines Alistair Wallace (DD). Celestial,magnificent, inspiring and with brilliantteaching, bounteous food, blazing sun andbronzed skin, our blissful memories willlast a lifetime. Many thanks to everyonefor organising such a good trip.

T R AV E L

LOST INST PETERSBURG

SIXTH FORM RUSSIAN TRIP

Looking back over the vast residential area ofPrimorskaya, swathed in

darkness and snow, we saw thatall the huge apartment buildingswere identical and we had noidea which one we had comefrom. That was the first night of the Sixth form trip to St.Petersburg and after finally find-ing our way back we sat downwith our hosts our two weekstay and tucked into a plate ofpelmeni, a surprisingly addictivekind of Russian ravioli. We tooklessons in the morning with ourheartbreakingly patient teacher,Diana, at a nearby school andthen would leave for other pur-suits in the afternoon. We visit-ed all the usual places of interestlike the Hermitage, the cathe-drals and the Russian Museumand also had the time for moreunusual amusements.

One day the group headed forthe country packed into a busfull of excitable, singing anddancing Russian students.When we got to the snowyRussian countryside weindulged in some time-hon-oured Russian sports such asboot-throwing, wheel-rolling,

wood-sawing and finally, ice-skating (which seemed prettydull in comparison, I thought).The day proved really satisfying,mainly because one of the bestways to bond with Russians isto have them pelt you repeated-ly with snowballs.

Probably the best thing we gotfrom our stay in St. Petersburgwas an understanding of the cityand its people. For the first fewdays, some struggled with theidea of living a happy existencein the city. If it wasn’t the dilapi-dation of the buildings, the filthcoating the cars or the custom-ary rudeness of Russian citizens,then it was the unmistakeabletaint of Soviet oppression thathas left its mark on literallyeverything in the city. St.Petersburg, however, grew on me particularly quickly. Ilearned to appreciate the warmspirit of its people, the beauty ofits architecture and the tones ofits language. As my substantialnew neighbour Victor said, staring into my eyes on the long bus journey back to St.Petersburg. “It must be love.”

“No, seriously.Which one is it again?”cried one of Adam Grant’s (GG) lostand confused companions on this year’sRussian trip.

36 THE ELIZABETHAN 2005 THE ELIZABETHAN 2005

PARISART HISTORY TRIP

It was in the company ofDoctors Cockburn andJacobi and Mr Johnson

that our group boarded theEurostar, revision material inbags and thinking caps ready togo on. Tired, coffee-addled andsuffering from morning hair, itmight not have occurred to apassing stranger that the threedays ahead of this group wereto be not only interesting, butvitally fun. It is safe to say thatstudying Art History changes astudent’s experience of a galleryfor the better. The word“schlep” did not even loomonce over the course of theexpedition. Not that it hadtime; on the first day, thegroup tackled a series of stun-ning gothic churches, includingSt Denis and St Chappelle, andover the next two days followedthe Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay,the houses of Rodin andPicasso, and the PompidouCentre…not only that, but afull mock exam, a module eachevening, was completed, theday’s art still fresh in thegroup’s mind.

Thinking back, of course, thetrip was hard work. Yet we allcame away truly inspired whenviewing the striking paintingswhich we had been studying in

class. We all learnt about differ-ent artistic movements andstyles and came across manyworks we had never seen beforewhich we were eager to learnmore about. Humorously, thestrategies employed to get intosome of the group-unfriendlymuseums created small sagas alltheir own, with the group split-ting into twos and threes andpretending to be Russian,Australian, et al. Fortunately onour last night we were usheredinto a near-empty Notre Dame,which appeared so beautiful thatwe were overcome and manyshed tears. Following this, as noparticipant in the trip woulddispute, there was the unforget-table evening we spent at a trulyFrench jazz club not far fromNotre Dame on the last night.“Sizzlin’!” only begins todescribe it, and by the stroke of twelve thirty there was not asingle pupil – or teacher – whohadn’t thrown aside their inhibi-tions and danced the art away.

Many, if not all, of the groupwere sorry to return to London,and it is perhaps a gross under-statement to say that on thisyear’s Paris exhibition, a goodtime was had by all.

Ah, Paris.The city of love (and all things romantic),sigh Christina Farr (MM) and Andrew Naughtie (GG),who explored the great city artistically.As the Sixthform Art Historians discovered, however, there’s farmore to it than that.

Below (top):The Russianistas.Below (bottom): River Neva, St Petersburg.Below (right):The Church of Spilt Blood, St Petersburg.All Photographed by J Greenland.

37

THE ELIZABETHAN 2005 39

LONDONTO BERLIN

GERMAN EXCHANGE

As I made my way down Wren’s corridor to meetHendrik, my German exchange, for the first time,I realised my enthusiasm for having a Germanstranger living in my house for ten days hadsomewhat waned, admits James Wan (RR).

an English speaking guide. We started at the last remainingbit of the wall that still stands,and she brought the history ofthe war and the subsequent sepa-ration of the city alive with herdetailed knowledge and anec-dotes of daring escapes. I wonderhow many people who passthrough the Mohrenstraßeunderground station, realise thatthe marble walls and pillars actu-ally came from Hitler’s offices?

We visited the CheckpointCharlie Museum, and travelledout of Berlin to the small townof Oranienburg to visit thememorial and museum atSachsenhausen, a former Naziand Stasi concentration/prisoncamp. There were poignantreminders of what the prisonershad suffered, and RPR displayedhis impressive knowledge of thepolitics and events that broughtabout so much suffering. It was a depressing outing, but a verynecessary one and as the pupilsare now two generationsremoved from WWII, it isimportant that the lessons learnt are not forgotten, and the mistakes not repeated.

To consolidate all they had heardabout the war we took the boysto see the German film SophieScholl. An excellent film, fortu-nately with English subtitles, ittold the true and tragic story of ayoung resistance fighter and herbrother. It was thought provok-ing, and engendered much discussion afterwards.

We also visited Europe’s largestzoo, went up the Fernsehturmon Alexanderplatz, visited theBauhaus and walked for miles!And of course the ice creams atPotsdamer Platz were a big draw.

The boys had trips out withtheir host families, and if all thegossip is true, did their best tofurther Anglo-German relationsin the evenings. Apparently theBrandenburg Gate will never bethe same again after a visit fromMing.

T R AV E L

VALLADOLIDSPANISH TRIP 2005

This year the Spanish Trip contained all the trappingsof an O.C episode; drugs, cat-fights, love-triangles andbattles with ice cream addiction, imagines Ed Miles(RR), fondly:

A ctually, we spent arather uneventful tendays in Spain. We

stayed in Valladolid, for themain part spending most ofour time in the city, frequentlytravelling to places beyond thecity in order to appreciate othercultural aspects.

The trips to Segovia, Avila andSalamanca passed without inci-dent, each containing someconstruction of antiquity. In Segovia there was the castle,in Avila there were the wallsand in Salamanca there werethe churches. Unfortunately wehad to limit ourselves to onlythe university and the pick ofthe twenty-eight churches on

offer, due to time restrictions,and our time was spent mostlyexamining the walls in thehope of seeing an eroded frog.

Elsewhere the Villa Romanaand model village providedlight entertainment, enlivenedby a spot of car-park football.Equally successful was the tourround a winery, where manytried and failed to purchasewine; the fear of the “botellon”was too much for Mr. Bartlett.

Other highlights included atrip to El Escorial where theguide, Carlos, gave us aninsight into the “very nice” surroundings and the history ofthe “donk”. I think it’s fair tosay that the tour was the bestevent of the intensive Spanishlearning course, although somemight say that the chance tocreate a painting at the MuseoPateo Herriano was an oppor-tunity to exhibit flair and awealth of hidden artistic talent.Unfortunately, as the resultsshowed, the more accom-plished painters were in fact in Paris on the extended ArtHistory weekend.

The whole tone of the trip was perhaps best representedby the Last Supper, in whichmost people gorged themselvesand the Champions’ Leagueextracted emotions on a parwith Mr. Bartlett’s heart-warm-ing closing speech.

The one thing I particularlynoticed about Berlin was that asa capital city it seemed to lackthe hustle and bustle that onenormally associates with ametropolis. It is a very clean citywith wide streets, but there areno crowds or traffic jams. It is atantalising mixture of the old,the very modern, beautiful andwell designed and of ghastly 60saberrations, particularly in theeastern side. Everywhere you gothere is evidence of building construction, regeneration andrepair. This is a city which,though financially bankrupt, isstriving to regain its reputationas a city where things happen.The people are optimistic andproud of their city, and with verygood reason. In 10 years timethis city will be as bustling as any other European capital.

But don’t misunderstand me.There is still plenty to do andsee. And Berlin does have a his-tory, though a more recent onethan most tourists are used to.There is plenty of art too, andthere is a thriving cultural life,with our very own Sir SimonRattle wielding his baton at theBerlin Philharmonic, three operahouses, multiplex cinemas, and acosmopolitan cuisine.

The atrocities of the war are notsomething that Germans haveallowed to be forgotten. Thebombed Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche inKurfürstendamm still stands in astate of disrepair. Inside is a sim-ple cross made from three nailsfound in the ruins of CoventryCathedral. A modern church hasbeen built next to its predeces-sor. From the outside it lookslike a hideous concrete block,but the concrete walls contain a grid of blue stained glass windows, and from inside thechurch it is both unexpected andbeautiful. It was the quietest andmost awed that I saw our 20Upper Shell boys that week.

Our first day trip was an excel-lent walking tour of the city with

‘Have you enjoyedyourself today?’ I asked, having

met him for the first time. ‘Yes,many’ he replied. This dialoguewas followed by a series of longsilences interrupted by theoccasional question and oneword answer. The awkwardnesswas not particularly helped thesecond time he saw me, as Iturned up in skinny whiteshorts, a white shirt and apaper hat that read ‘HMSRigaud’s’, surrounded by arowdy crowd of eccentric ‘foreigners’. The definition of‘house singing’ I had given himmoments before seemed all of a sudden somewhat redundant.

By the time we got home thatevening, he was hungry andexhausted. We were a little wary at first and I was worriedhe might not like the food. The memory of Antoine, aka‘Trotter’, my French exchange,throwing up after eating rice for the first time had remainedimprinted in my family’s minds.So, we were relieved andpleased as he looked up grin-ning ‘Chinese is good, chickenis good’. He was pleased so wewere pleased and that is how Ibelieve exchanges work. We didall we could to make him feel at home and he was the perfectgentleman, while at the sametime being the perfect German.

THE ELIZABETHAN 200538

His suitcase was a haven oforder and efficiency; he re-organised his money after everyMonopoly cash transaction andhe was ready to leave the houseevery day at the exact time wesuggested.

Hendrik was great to havearound and every afternoon as I got to know him better, I enjoyed his company moreand more. Having exhaustedmy mental list of conversationtopics, we reverted to the common ground between anyteenage boys: video games. Wemet up with other exchangesand I was pleased if not a littlesurprised to see that all myclassmates were getting onwith their exchanges as well as I was with mine.

I saw this again on the day theyleft, as we all gathered outsidethe school to say our goodbyes.The entire group was very closeand although we all formedbonds with our German coun-terparts, I noticed in the natureof a few of the goodbyes thatsome people got a little closerthan others…

I have promised to keep incontact with my exchange untilEaster when we land in Berlinfor ten days. I have no doubtthat the Germans will be ashospitable as I believe we wereto them. The only problemuntil then will be having tolearn German.

LATER IN BERLIN…

Whatever my preconceptionsof Berlin might have been, says Penny Wright, they werewrong.

Berlin does not have the archi-tecture and tourist attractionsthat we are perhaps accustomedto visiting in other Europeancapital cities. Whatever beauti-ful squares and buildings Berlinhad in 1939 it no longer did soin 1945.

Above:The Valle de los

Caídos where Franco was buried.

Below:The Villa Romana where

most people caught up onsleep and car-park football

was the only highlight.

T R AV E L

PYRENEESDuring the early summer holidays in 2004 agroup of intrepid climbing Station members(Dennis Kolesnikov,Tommy Cattell,Tom Clinton,Ben Newmark,Will Pickering and Freddy Lyon)

set off for a week’s climbing in the SpanishPyrenees, writes Freddy Lyon.

Under the expert guid-ance of Dr “Docky B”Boulton and Mr

“Tockers” Tocknell, we wereconfident of a safe and success-ful trip, along with our superband friendly guides for theweek, Ollie and G (his fullname being far too difficultand long to say), who some ofus had met on previous trips.We travelled first to anextremely hot area of the coun-tryside. Eating ice cream besidea lake, we reflected on the suc-cess of the trip so far. Higherinto the mountains it wasmuch colder and few of us hadbrought clothes suitable forthese conditions. Despite this,

the cabin, the food and thehospitality of the local peoplewere truly excellent. On theclimbing front there was a hugevariety of routes to challengeevery member of our partyranging from tricky balancinggranite slabs to overhangingbuttresses. Of us all, top marksfor effort went to Ben who bat-tled against excess height and aslippery rock surface to com-plete a route after 15 attempts.Overall a good time was had byall with everyone performing totheir own ability and beyond.

CLIMBING IN THE


GREEK TRIPLOWER SCHOOL

The austere beauty of theParthenon was incredi-ble, as were the famous

Caryatids holding up the porchof the Erechtheion. From hereyou can gaze upon the whole of Athens, including the newlybuilt Olympic stadiums. We later caught the sunset at Sounion – a temple ofPoseidon situated right on the tip of a headland and afavourite haunt of Lord Byronwho carved his name into theDoric ruins.

For the next week we journeyedthrough the Peloponnese, downone side and up the other. First stop was the sanctuary ofAsclepius at Epidaurus with itstheatre famed for its acoustics.This was demonstrated by anemployee of the site, who,hushing the various groups

into silence then reverentlydropped a coin onto the stonetablet at the centre of the“stage”. The tinkle was audibleright at the top of the seating.

After visiting Mycenae, thefamous citadel of Agamemnon,we left the coast with its coldbut fantastically clear water forSparta and the Byzantine cityof Mystras.

Set on the sides of the snow-capped Taygetus Mountains,Mystras is a magical and incred-ibly well-preserved medievalcity. Its labyrinthine alleys andstreets have caused many agroup to be split up in the past.The only residents of Mystrastoday are the wildlife, a colonyof cats and a group of nunsfrom one of the beautifully frescoed churches that remains.

Three days from the end of the Lent Term weswapped the rigours of school life for the culture

and comforts of Greece, boasts Jeremy Holt (CC),beginning a ten-day tour of the sites on the

mainland and the Peloponnese.

Crossing the Taygetus range thenext day, we stopped midwayacross to sample and buy someGreek honey. The owner servedplates of yoghurt with morehoney than yoghurt on them,and sold large jars and tins ofsimilar honey. Figuring that thejars would break, I bought twotins. So I was surprised to finda large pool of honey in my bagwhen I came home.

Basing ourselves in Pylos for the next two days, we visited the island of Sphacteria, the siteof an early Athenian victoryover the Spartans in thePeloponnesian War, and thememorials there to the Russianand French sailors who died in the battle of Navarino Bay.From here we went to theVenetian fortress of Methone,

the “Camelot of Greece”. Thecauseway to the picturesqueTurkish Bourzi tower sheltersthe bay from the choppy seasoutside and also the hundreds of sea urchins that live in theshallow water near the causeway.

The bay provided us with ourfirst real chance to sit and soakup the sun or play a decentgame of football, the latter taking place in the shade of the fortress walls.

Back up the west coast wewent, to Olympia and thenonto Delphi, on the other sideof the Gulf of Corinth. Itseemed that with spring thetwo sites had suddenly explod-ed with life. Olympia was carpeted with thousands ofwildflowers, filling in the gaps

between the ruins of thefamous temple of Zeus and the workshop of Pheidias.

We had our second sprint racewhere the first Olympic runnerswould have competed, in a sta-dium designed to house 40,000spectators. Mr Harrison andTheo Gordon easily outstrippedthe rest, though our leader, DrKatz, would wish me to addthat he came a near third.

Delphi, site of the famous ora-cle, was similarly covered withflowers which added to theimmense beauty of the settingand the site itself. This shinewas tarnished by an employeeat the stadium above the tem-ple. Within two minutes of ourarriving he quickly hurried usout again, all the time lookingup the mountain and speakinginto his radio. The site closedat six but a complex alarm sys-tem would go off in the stadi-um if we walked around it at

twenty minutes to, or so heclaimed. The following morn-ing we made a return visit andsaw things properly – and rananother race.

The last site to visit before re-entering Attica was theByzantine monastery of OsiosLoukas. The two churches hereare famed for their mosaics andfrescoes. It was breathtaking todiscover the inside completelycovered with these scenes, con-trasting with the starkness of theexterior. To the side, we foundthe body of a lesser saint clothedin black and placed in a glasscoffin, one skeletal hand visible.

We returned to Attica, beforecoming back to Athens andtaking the plane home forLondon, considerably morecultured but exhausted, havingcompleted a concentrated andhighly enjoyable tour of Greeceand three and a half thousandyears of history.


PRIZE ESSAYSEconomics Prize: Hidden Capital 44John House Art History Prize:Luc Tymans 44Gumbleton Prize: III 45Phillimore Prize: The Corrections 46Gibbon Prize: Holy War 46Fifth Form Creative Writing Prize:Picture on the Wall 47Prize Giving 2004 48

LECTURES AND DEPARTMENTSArt History Society Lecture:Murderous Screams of Recognition 49Tercentenary Lecture: John Locke 52British Biology Olympiad 52Camden Lecture:Henry III and Westminster Abbey 53Hooke Lectures 54Hooke Lecture: Ross Lovegrove 54Physics Olympiad 55Classics Lecture 55Tizard Lecture: Chemistry 56

CLUBS AND SOCIETIESSenior Debating 57Junior Debating 57Hunting Day 58History of Art Society 58

SOCIETIESLECTURES

CLUBS

Thames skyline. Photographed by Nikolai Cedraeus.

COLLEGE ON THE

IMAGES FROM THE

FLORENCETRIP

ALSTON TRIP

S O C I E T I E S A N DL E C T U R E S

LUCTYMANS

JOHN HOUSEART HISTORY PRIZE

Ibecame interested in thework of Luc Tuymans afterseeing his most recent

exhibition at the Tate Modern (23 June – 26 Sept). My interestwas triggered by the difficulty I found in viewing many of theworks. I became uncomfortableand left the exhibition after see-ing only half of it. I returnedlater because I was intrigued bywhy the seemingly banal paint-ings had had this effect on me…

Tuymans’ work is a vast ‘reposi-tory of data’, an extendedpatchwork of dissimilar paint-ing styles. His work ranges fromthe banal (door handles, repeat-ing patterns and Christmas dec-orations), through existentialimplications (mannequins, portraits and dolls), to historypaintings of some of the mosthorrific events of the last centu-ry (the Holocaust, the political

turmoil of the Belgian Congo).It is for this reason that manycritics find that ‘Tuymans’ workis hard to compartmentalise.’ In 2004, Tuymans’ work wasexhibited at the Tate Modernwhere the Director described itas a ‘paradoxical combination(of paintings),’ and the exhibi-tion was, unusually, notchronologically arranged partlyfor this reason. This view iscompounded in an essay aboutthe exhibition in which JesusFeunmayor says that there is ‘no obvious way of ordering it.’Tuymans disagrees that there is no single thread linking hiswork and asserts: ‘my work is anever-ending story’ stating thatthe structure underlying hiswork is violence…

Violence is a recurring theme inTuymans’ work. The violenceinherent in Gaskamer1986 is a

Alex Edwards (BB) won this year’sprize with his essay on Luc Tymans.Below is an extract of his piece.

Night had begun like an ever dimmerLightbulb filtered through clutching red fingers.Over the horizon, sun slipped and shimmered

Casting rays of glow which seemed to lingerAfter the edge of darkness’ sun had passed.The eyes and mind remained deceived until

A sudden snapshot showed them that, at last,The first real hours of night, slowly, ontoThe glade had arrived. All the light had gone

And it was now the absolute blacknessWhere nothing – neither the sun nor stars – shone,And as my eyes adjusted, night was light-less.

It reminded me of nights as a small childSpent in summer on the Spanish south coast.Every evening it grew dark so fast that while

Outside, one could see the sun sink past the boatsThat had set anchors to see the sea’s wavesTurn into reds and golds as the world turned.

I would walk home along the dusty sandPaths, still warm from midday when the sun had burntAll on which it had shone. Cicadas had

Then begun to sing; little invisiblechirps merged as a symphony of sharedad-libbing, an opaque combined babble

From the dry wire thorns innocently tearingAt my bare, scratch-covered ten year old feet.And returning home, ceiling watching, lying back;

A frail insect net enveloped me, to keepMy blood to myself. Lights dimmed: sheer black…In one forgotten moment I was asleep.


As a society, we imaginethat by limiting proper-ty and wealth inheri-

tance, we have solved the prob-lem that history poses for socialinequality. Thus, even with theaddition of inheritance of prop-erty, society should reflect theequality of opportunity, and anessentially classless structure.However, evidence suggeststhat this is not the case.

A 1997 study found that chil-dren born in the middle-classeshad an 89 per cent chance ofattaining a comparable positionin the social hierarchy, whilstbetween 80 and 90 per cent ofchildren born into less advan-taged backgrounds wouldremain in a similarly unprivi-leged social position. Theresults are striking: classremains as solid as ever. Thisinequality is basically reflectedin the academic achievement of the different class fractions.Ability tests scores show thatthe ratio of ‘high’ to ‘low’ ability sons of professionals is87:13, whilst the ratio for thesons of unskilled manuallabourers is 32:68. Classappears to be mediated throughthe differing levels of academicsuccess between social classes;children from privileged back-grounds do better in educationthan children from less privi-leged backgrounds. A theory to explain this inequality wassuggested by the French sociol-ogist, Pierre Bourdieu.

According to Bourdieu, we can understand the problem by reintroducing hidden formsof capital into the economic

model. Besides economic capi-tal (wealth), Bourdieu suggeststhat there are two other typesof capital: ‘cultural’ and ‘social’.Cultural capital describesknowledge, understanding orideas. These are a form of capi-tal because they can be used asan asset in the social or produc-tive world. Cultural capital isdescribed as ‘embodied’ when itis internalised by a person; it isthe knowledge, cultivation, orthe level of understanding andcapability that a person has. It is acquired through learning.Accordingly, somebody who is highly educated has a largeamount of embodied culturalcapital, whilst somebody who ispoorly educated will inevitablyhave a low amount of embod-ied cultural capital. In order toembody capital, a person makesan investment in himself in theform of an education. The costof this investment is the timetaken for the education tooccur. Therefore, unlike economic capital, embodiedcultural capital cannot beacquired instantaneously…

It is clear that an understand-ing of the hidden forms of cap-ital allows for a greater under-standing of the way in whichthe social world functions, andconsequently the existence of,and the processes underlyingsocial immobility. Current policies, inappropriate in education, and non-existenttowards social capital, fail toresolve this immobility. If wetruly desire meritocracy, thenthe first step towards its acqui-sition must be the recognitionof the hidden forms of capital.

HIDDEN CAPITALAND ITS EFFECTSON SOCIAL MOBILITY

ECONOMICS PRIZE

Yusuf Blunt’s (LL) winning Economics essay was a discus-sion of the concept of 'hidden capital', with application tounderstanding social mobility, particularly via education.Neo-classical economic theory is insufficient to explaincertain economic or social phenomena, but the inclusionof these forms of capital into the model can facilitate anunderstanding of them.An extract is printed here.

particularly telling example,bleak corridors, unpopulatedchambers and rooms representthe violence that took place inthe gas chambers of the holo-caust. Rather than a pictorialrepresentation, the title itselfinfers the violence in the collec-tive unconscious of the viewer.The empty room, throughbeing empty, implies violencegreater than could be portrayedand so the history paintingbecomes more graphic by beinga dream history. In this way, theviewer paints the horror of thescene himself with Tuymansproviding the scenery. Theatmosphere of the chamber isbland but a feeling of claustro-phobia pervades through theabsence of what you expect tosee there. The blandness of thebeige palette highlights whatcolour there is, and it is uponcloser inspection that the darkshadows that decorate the floorbecome the stain of blood sur-rounding the drainage grates.

The underlying theme inTuymans work is the ability the work has to annihilate theexpectations of the viewer andin doing so unsettle and isolatethem. Tuymans achieves thisthrough his technique thatdetaches the viewer from thesubject. This is the uncannythat imbues the most inani-mate objects with horrific characteristics and robs humansubjects of their humanitycrowned by the overriding airof blandness that tries to tell a viewer that despite all theabove intentions there is nothing going on in his work.

It is the passive aggressivestance he takes as the creator ofthese paintings that is perhapsthe most consistently violentaspect of his work, as he himself says in the video thataccompanied the Tate exhibi-tion “the less spectacular theviolence the more violent it is.”

Nikolai Cedraeus (GG) won this year’sGumbleton creative writing prize with apoem in several parts entitled ‘Memories of a Night’.We print an extract in which hetakes the reader on a journey from a forestto a city suffused with orange light, thenback to the shadowy depths of night.

GUMBLETON PRIZE 2004

IIITHE LASTGLIMMER OF DAY


In writing ‘The Corrections’Jonathan Franzen aimed toreflect the ills and anxieties

of America and her culturethrough the tragic saga of a sin-gle dysfunctional midwesternfamily. Don DeLillo’s perceptionof the writer as ‘the person whostands outside society, inde-pendent of affiliation and inde-pendent of influence’1, reflectsFranzen’s sense of ‘responsibilityto dramatise important issues ofthe day’ and ‘engage with theculture’. Indeed, he tacklesmany current issues such asalcoholism, mental depression,home surveillance and global-ized greed. Yet the centre of thenovel is the inner dynamics ofan unhappy family and Franzencaptures the small, deeply personal tragedies of life…

A ‘blend of postmodernmeganovel and Victorian familysaga’3, Franzen constructs thefirst two sections of ‘TheCorrections’ and the fourth andfifth as short novels, each revolv-ing around a single situation,one dramatic event. Around thisevent, Franzen reveals the per-sonality of each of his charac-ters. The stately length of ‘TheCorrections’ enables Franzen toaccumulate perspective gradual-ly and persistently, so that thereader gathers a real sense ofeach of the Lamberts. Franzenportrays the ironic culture ofchildren looking after parentsdeclining in authority, yet wesee that none of the Lambertchildren are free, because theyare still, above all, parented.Subconciously, all the childrens’decisions are made in relation to their parents, to oppose or toappease. Family is the catalyst.Franzen develops the idea that

the ‘correction’ is the doomedstruggle against this determin-ism. The Lambert childrenbelieve themselves to be livinglives that correct those of theirparents. Franzen writes of Garythat ‘his entire life was set up asa correction of his father’s life’.Franzen shows, however, thatfamily determinism can turncorrection into repetition.Despite the fact that Gary’sfavourite compliment fromCaroline is ‘You’re nothing at alllike your father’, he has inherit-ed his father’s unhappiness andalienation from his children.When Gary accuses his father of being depressed, Alfred saysthat, on the contrary, he (Gary)is the one who is depressed, atwhich Gary bursts out: ‘My lifeis on a fundamentally differentbasis than yours.’ He is blind tothis repetition. On the contrary,Alfred’s favourite is Chip, his‘intellectual son’, the son who is most unlike him, the son who has not repeated his own mistakes…

Franzen’s writing is often simple,following Hemingway’s ideathat the novel should be easy toread and full of subtlety. Whilethe writing and presentationseem effortless, there are suddenchanges in tone with complexand lengthy sentences. Thebook is a blend between post-modern and plain and old-fash-ioned storytelling – making iteasily accessible. Franzen oftenwrites with an easy journalismof narrative style.

1. Don DeLillo

(1998 interview by Ann Arensberg)

3. James Schiff – News & Observer

In contrast to the Christianview of relations in theaftermath of the First

Crusade – according to KarenArmstrong, the Franks fought a ceaseless war of expansionagainst the Muslims in theCrusader States’ first fifty yearsof existence – it was not untilmuch later that the Muslimseven began to consider theirconflict against the Christiansas a ‘Holy War’. Indeed it hasbeen stated that Usama ibnMunqidh’s writings are ‘devoidof any sense of holy war’although the concept does seemto have entered his thoughts bySaladin’s time. Holy War wasan entirely Christian notionuntil Nur ed Din, in responseto the unrelenting and seeming-ly unprovoked Crusader aggres-sion of the previous fifty years,called for a ‘Jihad’ against theChristians. However, evenbefore the adoption of the idea,relations were overshadowed by

Fred often talked of howshe would wake up, oftenlate at night, and call out,

pleading with him to tell herthat there wasn’t a womanstanding in the room. Heviewed it as comical, and wouldat first laugh, and tell her not tobe silly, and to go back to sleep.But after she had begun to dothis with increasing regularity,and over a period of severalmonths every night, he beganto become worried for his love’sstate of mind.

I can see the dress now…… it is long, flowing, and a deep,emerald green. I can almost seemyself wearing it; it is so beau-tiful, and it is so well made,and so fitting to the characterthat lurks behind those eyes.But still I see of her face onlythe eyes- I can’t help but won-der what lies on that face…….

Fred eventually became so wor-ried about what he described as his “darling’s little sillinesses”that he took her to my practice

for assessment. That was how I first met this tragic lady.

At our first meeting, she satdown, and told me, in a levelvoice, whilst Fred sat in thewaiting room, that she wasbeing followed by a womanwho had gone mad and died in a mental institution. I wasdisturbed by this statement,and asked her to give me moredetails. She described everyaspect of her strange dreams,stuck in the corridor, walkingtowards the woman in the dresswith the eyes she had oncebeen so keen to copy.

However, when Fred came in,and I was able to see both ofthem together, it seemed imme-diately apparent that she didn’twant to say anything about the dreams in front of him. Itold her to keep a diary of thedreams, giving dates, details ofevents, and I told her that itwould be advisable to maintainmonthly meetings. What tran-scribed in those dreams wasbasically to build up more andmore complete pictures of theface at the end of the corridor.After about our fourth meetingshe had built a more or lesscomplete image of the face, andat this same meeting, it tran-spired that her long-awaitedwedding with Fred was the following day. I sent her away,telling her to have the best daypossible, and went home frommy practice hoping she wouldimprove once matrimony had settled into a routine.She hadn’t told me she wassleeping with a knife underher pillow.

THECORRECTIONS

PHILLIMORE PRIZE

Below is an extract of his year’s winning essay byGeorgina Cox (GG) entitled:To what extent isJonathan Franzen’s ‘The Corrections’ an attemptto ‘correct’ society?

PICTURE ONTHE WALL

FIFTH FORMCREATIVE WRITING PRIZE

By Robert Ellard (HH) In this extract, a psychia-trist tells of a young patient’s ghastly experience.


conflict which, although per-haps not strictly recognised as‘Holy’ by both sides, was effec-tively so in the sense that itsbasis was religious. TheChristians’ desire to expandtheir empire in the East wasapparent throughout most ofthe 12th Century. It can beseen in the continuous expan-sionism shown by the firstSettlers – the capture of Acre,Tyre and countless other towns in the Levant – that theChristians primary desire wasnot to settle and integrate butto attack and expand. Any possible rejection of aggressive,anti-Muslim ideology in favourof assimilation and integrationwas made unfeasible by theChristians’ reliance on supportfrom the West for manpowerand money. Thus ‘too manyhad interests and loyalties thatlay outside the country’ and theCrusaders became an ‘outpostof a western world to which

they increasingly turned’. The Settlers, whatever their realdesires, were forced to pursuethe policy of Holy War and toremain ‘emphatically not…integrated’. Apparently, ‘nordid they ever seek to be’ so. Itis unclear exactly why this was the case: they might have beenactively avoiding the develop-ment of relations or simplymight have never though them-selves in a stable enough posi-tion to be able to interact withthose who were fundamentallytheir enemy.

This is not to say, however,that Holy War was a conceptembraced only by theChristians; Usama’s commentson Saladin – ‘he did not spenda dinar or a drachma except onthe war’ – show this explicitly.However, the time it took forthe Muslims to adopt the idea and the fact that this wasvery much a reaction to the

Christians’ aggression suggestthat Holy War, and the detri-mental effect that it had oninteraction, was the result ofthe Christians’ approach. Dr.A. Atiya writes that the Islamic‘Jihad’ was ‘the natural count-er-action to Western incur-sions’. This view would sug-gest that, for Muslims, HolyWar was not initially a necessi-ty but a response that becamenecessary only because of theCrusaders’ behaviour. If this isthe case then it is not surpris-ing that the idea of Holy War– although clearly extraordi-narily dominant in relations inthe East in the 12th Century –was not all-encompassing.

HOLYWARHOLYWAR

GIBBON PRIZEGIBBON PRIZE

How far was ‘Holy War’ the dominanttheme in relations between Christiansand Muslims in Outremer in the 12thCentury? This abstract is by the winnerof the Gibbon Prize, Clem Naylor, (CC).

How far was ‘Holy War’ the dominanttheme in relations between Christiansand Muslims in Outremer in the 12thCentury? This abstract is by the winnerof the Gibbon Prize, Clem Naylor, (CC).

Sarah Cullen is an art gradu-ate who discovers an oldpainting in the attic of herparents’ home. Fascinated,she takes it home to copy,but not before she discoversthat it is the portrait of amurderer who hanged her-self in a mental institutionafter killing her husband.

Sarah seems happy enoughmoving into her fiancée’sflat, but she is plagued byrecurring dreams…

GreekRemove Stefan Sienkiewicz Grant’s

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Khash Mohajerani AshburnhamElectronicsRemove Chris Ziegler Dryden’sVI Daniel Lee Hakluyt’sUS Hugh Leonard CollegeLS Nicholas Keller Rigaud’sEnglishRemove Pippa McCarthy Hakluyt’sUS Antony Smith CollegeLS Frederick Weyman Grant’sFrenchRemove Aditi Bagri Rigaud’sVI Harriet Mason Purcell’s

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Those murderous screamswere emitted in theAbbey on 28th June

1838, at the coronation ofQueen Victoria, by the boys ofWestminster School acclaimingher from the Triforium, towhich they had been banished.They were so described by oneof the canons present, whoexposes the feelings of theChapter for the School at thatpoint in their long shared histo-ry. “It might have been as well”,he adds, “had they been ban-ished entirely from the Abbey.”

The school has been in certainand continuous existence for634 years, give or take a year or two. For 500 of those yearsit was a branch of the Abbey, initially a charitable school run by the Benedictines, thenrelaunched by two Tudor monarchs and governed andfinanced by the Dean andChapter. It has had an inde-pendent existence of 137 years,barely one fifth of its long his-tory. 1868 was like the separa-tion of Siamese twins and the

consequences are with us still.The school had a gymnasium,but no legal access to it; theundercroft of the monastic

rere-dorter, now called theDungeons, belonged half to theschool, half to the Abbey. Thereconstruction of Little Cloisterafter bomb damage sealed theaccess to the Abbey half, whichcan now only be gained bycrossing school territory.

The School’s OriginsAt various times before 1540there were four differentschools under Benedictinepatronage: a claustral school for novice monks, an almonryschool, a school for singingboys and a school for grammarchildren. The last of these isWestminster School’s ancestor.The grammar children are list-ed in the accounts up to 1539;they were the promising sons of tradesmen serving themonastery, who were given afree education of an academiccharacter, and a uniform –gowns of russet fustian linedwith yellow.

We tend to think of theReformation in England as a time of revolution, but in

social and administrativeterms the emphasis was oncontinuity rather than change.At Westminster the last abbot,

MURDEROUSSCREAMS OFRECOGNITION

ART HISTORY SOCIETYLECTURE

The following account of the fascinating and oftendifficult relationship between the Abbey and theSchool is extracted from the lecture given to theArt History Society in March by John Field.


Adrian Whitelegge AwardTim Lai Grant’s

Cheyne Mathematics Senior Timothy Woodward Hakluyt’sJunior Takaki Oshima CollegeSpecial VI Form Classics

Victoria Young Dryden’sSpecial V Form Classics

Elizabeth Bennett Greycoat Sch.Special Drama

Jonathan Richards Grant’sFred d’ArcyEnglish

E Benjamin Arnold Milne’sGibb French

Galina Stepanova CollegeGumbleton English

A Max Kaufman AshburnhamHugo Garten German

Harry Weeks Wren’sThe Martin Ball Piano

Timothy Woodward Hakluyt’sMitchell History

Edward Eccles CollegeC Anna Sanderson Rigaud’s

Neale HistoryPhilip Aspin AshburnhamSam Pritchard Grant’s

John House History of ArtPippa McCarthy Hakluyt’s

Ollie Bennett Drama AwardChris Namih Dryden’sChris Ziegler Dryden’s

Philip Webb FrenchNabeel Bhanji Grant’s

Phillimore First prizeRebecca Greig Busby’sRose McLaren Purcell’s

Poetry PrizeBenjamin Wigoder Liddell’s

Stuart Leaf Modern Languages FrenchOliver Eccles College

Stuart Leaf Modern Languages GermanThomas Carter Wren’s

Stuart Leaf Modern Languages SpanishSofia Kaba Ferreiro Milne’s

Stuart Leaf Modern Languages RussianAdam Grant Grant’s

Walker HistoryJohn Ashton Wren’s

Whitmore HistoryEmily Lim College

Elizabethan Magazine PhotographyNikolai Cedraeus Grant’s

Harvard Book PrizeTimothy Woodward Hakluyt’s

Elizabethan Club Head Master’s PrizeDominic O’Mahony College

Maundy PrizeMarianna Hay AshburnhamPeter Kennedy Rigaud’sJohann Koehler Milne’sAlyson Thompson Rigaud’sAlexander Gabriele Milne’sDavid Thomas Busby’sHamish Falconer Hakluyt’sRobin Low Liddell’s

The school has been in certain and continuousexistence for 634 years, give or take a year or two.

CONTINUED...


2004

PRIZEGIVING

Nicholas Wareham Wren’sUS Edward Casserley Liddell’s

Pen Stuart Liddell’sLS Maximilian Bryant College

Thomas Samuel Grant’sV Sebastian Bray Dryden’s

Charles Howell Busby’sHistory of ArtRemove Benjamin Martin Wren’s

Rebecca Lewin Wren’sFrancesca Church Liddell’s

VI Helen Hodges Purcell’sE Venetia Thorneycroft College

MathematicsRemove Bilal Khan Dryden’sVI Jian Wu Wren’sUS Antony Smith College

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Rawad Marrouche Grant’sV Aleksandar Nikolic Dryden’s

Joshua Borin Wren’sMusicRemove Marianna Hay AshburnhamUS Gamal Khamis Dryden’sPELS Thomas Boles Liddell’sV Thomas Lloyd Hakluyt’sPhysicsRemove Adam Newgas Dryden’sVI Jesse Fleminger Dryden’sUS K Yean Chooi Grant’sLS Tom Henderson Grant’sV Aleksandar Nikolic Dryden’sReligious StudiesRemove Thea Goodsell Wren’sVI Sam Pritchard Grant’s

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Alexander Critchley Busby’sTechnologyRemove Dev Sodagar Milne’s

Basil Jradeh Liddell’sVI Aleks Domanski Rigaud’sUS Denis Kolesnikov Wren’sLS Nicholas Smith Liddell’s

Commemorative PrizesFifth form Creative Writing

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Ezra Rubenstein College

00 THE ELIZABETHAN 200500THE ELIZABETHAN 2005


Benson, became the first dean;several monks became preben-daries, and the terms ‘masterof the Scholars’ and ‘GrammarChildren’ are continuitieswhich cross the divide. The 40Grammar children educatedin 1558, the last year ofMary’s reign, were likewiseconfirmed by the Elizabethanstatutes of 1560. WestminsterSchool had been both nation-alised and royalised.

The Age of GoldElizabeth honoured her father’splan for Westminster andextended it with Oxbridge con-nections at Christchurch andTrinity. The College was led bythe Dean, whose responsibilityfor the school was greater than that of the Head Master.Crucially different from theexamples of Winchester and

Eton was the collegiate life ofWestminster. It was a familybusiness. Dean, Prebendaries,Head Master and Scholars wererequired to dine together inCollege Hall. The stimulus ofthe commons in College Hallfostered the rise of the habits ofpublic performance in the formof epigrams, declamations andorations which continue insome form in the school’sbloodstream to the present day;likewise the performance thereof plays in Latin, which aremade mandatory in the 1560statutes, as are music and games.

The common life of theCollege continued from time to time at a country base. Thecity was highly susceptible toplague, especially in the hotsummer months. Dean GabrielGoodman ordered most of theCollege to take refuge by riverto Putney from June toMichaelmas in 1565.

The Age of SilverThe monastic tradition ofcelibacy endured for about 60 years. Richard Busby main-tained the celibacy of HeadMasters until 1695; after himmarriage was the norm.

Technically the school has hada longer continuous historythan the Chapter. Despite twonotable occasions when thescholars had rallied in support,first in 1641 when they helpeddefend the besieged Abbeyagainst the rampant appren-tices, and again in 1666 whenDean Dolben led them off tofight the Great Fire of London,Abbey and School were grow-ing apart.

Two conflicts vividly charac-terise relations between Schooland Abbey in the age of silver:

the construction of the newDormitory, and the remodel-ling of Dean’s Yard. The storyof the Dormitory is an epicsoap opera spread over 25years, beginning in 1708, with a cast including George I, Christopher Wren, a madoculist, the courts of Chanceryand King’s Bench, the House ofLords, the Tower of London,Brussels, and a Dean at logger-heads with both the Chapterand the Head Master, who hadbeen an old school friend whenthey were both in College, theinstitution over which battlewas joined. Even when thescholars finally took possessionof a new dormitory in 1730,there was still no internal stair-case, and for 3 years they hadto climb ladders to get to bed,at which level the blind win-dows in Burlington’s façadeprevented them from seeingwhat the wicked prebendarieswere up to in their garden.

The story of Dean’s Yard ismuch simpler. The Dean and Chapter had allowed themonastic farm at the south endof what we now recognise asDean’s Yard to degenerate intoa warren of slums housing hundreds of poor labourers and artisans. In 1755 the HeadMaster, William Markham, put before Parliament an act to open up a square and buildhouses. The Dean and Chapterapproved the scheme with onedissenting voice, that of

Prebendary Thomas Wilson,who published a vituperativepamphlet against the projectunder the anonymity of ‘ASufferer’. His rhetoric is memo-rable: ‘behind the shield ofpublic good we must expect tosee the dagger of self-interest’;hundreds of innocent andindustrious families will be dispossessed and starved; theconcentration of boarderswould provoke licentiousness;in combination no porters orgatekeepers would dare to with-

emerged: ‘Not dead yet,Doctor Scott.’

EpilogueAbbey and School parted onthe most poisonous of terms.The Chapter published a state-ment in The Times, expressingrelief at yielding up the arduousand thankless task of adminis-tering the School. And down

the years the collective memorycan still be stirred. A mentionat the wrong moment ofCollege Garden, AshburnhamHouse, or the use of Green isstill capable of freezing smilesand raising hackles.

There have been leaden, silverand golden phases in the yearsof independence. In the 1930’sa rotund canon used to rise veryearly on a Monday morning towrite his name on the bookingsheet for the College Gardentennis court during the only slotin the week available for mastersand their families. When themoment came, he would unfoldhis deckchair in mid court andtake a snooze. Certainly theimpact of an ever-growingschool upon the precinct is attri-tional, unremitting. It is a rareteenager who has any idea of the effect on others of his or her stridency of language and

conduct. When theologicallucubrations are swept away bya torrent of expletives outsidethe window, canons must wish,with the Shepherd in TheWinter’s Tale, ‘that there wereno age between 10 and 3 and20, for there is nothing in thebetween but getting wencheswith child, fighting and wrong-ing the ancientry.’

But silver, fortunately, has beenthe norm. By some mysterioussymbiosis deans and head mas-ters have been matching pairs,much to the advantage of thecommunity. Alan Don andJohn Christie, Don again andWalter Hamilton: unworldly,shy academics; Eric Abbott andJohn Carleton polished, affableand well-connected courtiers;Edward Carpenter and JohnRae engaging liberal mavericks.Perhaps the two institutions still beat with a single heart inappointing their chief execu-tives. And there have been gold-en times enough to make theancient neighbours grateful forone another. Religious, cultural,social events have witnessed theoccasional resurgence of the oldcommon life. Individuals suchas Lawrence Tanner, JohnCarleton, Edward Carpenter, athome in both places, nurturedmutual understanding. Peter

Foster and DonaldButtress most generouslywelcomed school groupsto the dizzy heights of the scaffolding during thelong building works, andnever pushed anyone off.Abbey and School shareone of the most perfecturban living spaces on the planet. To all those atpresent living and workinghere, I urge you to useyour eyes freshly every dayto notice something new.

stand them and they wouldsally out to strike terrorthrough the whole neighbour-hood; an unenclosed school isbest suited to the free spirits ofa freeborn people’. He does notreveal that he had purchased ahouse adjoining the old dormi-tory, and also bought from theBishop of Norwich his interestin two further houses thatwould be demolished underMarkham’s plan. His legalaction failed, and he retired ina huff to Little Cloister. Theschool’s prosperity for much of the 18th Century seems tohave driven a wedge betweenitself and the Chapter. The ageof lead is approaching.

The Age of LeadAll the great schools were sus-ceptible to anarchic violencebetween the French Revolutionand the Great Reform Act. In 1793 Samuel Smith atWestminster had scuppered aschool rebellion by felling theringleader, Francis Burdett, witha cudgel. In 1818 the Riot Actwas read at Winchester, andtroops called in to restore order.At Eton the formidable Keatewas hissed and jeered all thoughprayers, and next day his greatthrone of state in upper schoolwas smashed to pieces. AtWestminster fighting, oneanother and the local yobs, wasall the rage. “If you want to senda boy to rough it in the army’,declared the Duke of York with approval, ‘send him toWestminster School.” Individualfights in the Cloister Garth andviolent games of hockey roundthe cloisters destroyed monu-ments and disturbed services.William Carey, Smith’s successoras Head Master, encouragedfighting and set an example of brutality from the top.

But the school was dying.Between 1831 and 1841, numbers collapsed from 202 to67. In barely 20 years TothillFields, Battersea, Belgravia hadall been built over. Suddenlythe school was hemmed in by

slums, the smoke of industry,wharves, prisons, and all thesqualor of an explodingmetropolis. Samuel Wilberforce,briefly appointed Dean in1845, wrote: ‘It is in a dreadfulstate, and very much from theneed of greater comforts, clean-liness and attendance, whichwe ought to supply. If you treat boys as savages, they willbe savages.’

The Commission wasWestminster’s last hope. It tookevidence from 1861, and pub-lished a report in 1867 whichwas followed by the PublicSchools Act of 1868. TheSchool’s reduced condition waspainfully exposed. For genera-tions the Chapter had regardedthe School as a business ven-ture, in which masters’ incomewas provided by tuition feesand voluntary leaving presents.The Clarendon report recom-mended an independent gov-erning body for Westminster,the regularising of its funding,the transfer of property fromAbbey to School to give it morespace, and the regular admis-sion of all pupils to CollegeGarden. The house occupied bythe Sub Dean was to pass to theGoverning Body in exchangefor 4000 pounds when thecanonry next became vacant.

The School now had property,but no freeholds; all was torevert to the ChurchCommissioners in the event ofthe school’s move. A new epicsoap opera had been launched:the Battle for AshburnhamHouse. Though the Chapteraccepted Clarendon’s proposalsin November 1868, theprospect of the loss ofAshburnham rankled. CharlesBroderick Scott, who had succeeded Liddell in 1855,believing that the occupantwas away, took a ladder,propped it against the wall ofAshburnham and ascended fora reconnaissance. But a sashwindow opened and the chillyvoice of Thynne, the Sub Dean

Even when the scholars finally took possession of a new dormitory in 1730, there was still nointernal staircase, and for 3 years they had toclimb ladders to get to bed...

...canons must wish, with the Shepherd in The Winter’sTale, ‘that there were no age between 10 and 3 and 20,for there is nothing in the between but getting wencheswith child, fighting and wronging the ancientry.’

MURDEROUS SCREAMS...



Locke was a pupil of thelegendary Dr. Busby(who he affectionately

referred to as Buzz Buzz).Locke was concerned at thelevel of violence within theschool, as he himself wouldhave often been at the brunt of it. After his two year spell atWestminster, Locke went on tostudy at Christchurch, Oxford,which he did not enjoy. Whilethere, he became interested inmedicine. Proof that blood wascirculated around the body bythe heart had been recentlydemonstrated by WilliamHarvey, upsetting Galen’s long held theory that copiousamounts of blood were con-stantly being produced. Thistriggered off a period of ener-getic medical research.

After the Restoration in 1660,many doctors migrated toLondon, due to there beingmore work being available inthe capital.

Seven years later, Locke himself moved to London to stay withAnthony Cooper, who was tobecome the Lord Chancellorand the first Earl of Shaftsbury.While there, Locke supervisedan operation on Cooper, whohad a cyst on his liver and lung,saving his life. Shortly after this,Locke moved to France, perhapsin order to improve his knowl-edge of medicine. He was notimpressed by the divide betweenrich and poor in France, andwhile there wrote his two trea-tises on government. Afterreturning to England for a short time, he then travelled toHolland. This journey was pos-sibly for political reasons, as it islikely that Locke was involvedin a plot to try and stop JamesII from succeeding the Englishthrone. While in Holland,Locke finalised his Essay onHuman Understanding, theonly piece of his work whichactually bears his name. On28th October 1704, afterreturning to England on the

same ship as the futureQueen Mary, John Lockedied after a prolongeddecline in health.

Professor Rogers was anexcellent speaker and theaudience wanted to hear

more about John Locke’sphilosophy. It was clear that

the professor had much moreto say on this subject and he

answered a string ofquestions from

the audience insatisfying detail.

Birmingham to BeijingWhen I found out that, alongwith two other WestminsterRemoves, I had got through to the final 12 of the BritishBiology Olympiad, I wasn’tentirely sure if they hadn’t gotmy paper mixed up with some-one else’s.

However, I wasn’t about to turn down a trip to sunny

Birmingham, and so it was thatwe trotted off on a windsweptMonday morning, each armedwith a spanking new biologytextbook that weighed roughlyas much as a newborn child.When we arrived, we wereplunged, without lunch, intothe murky underworld of allthings botanical, including awhistlestop tour of various ‘old-school’ plants, most of which

It was given by ProfessorDavid Carpenter (OWW)from Kings, who, as well as

being an old Westminster, waslucky enough to be an under-graduate at the same universityas our headmaster, Mr. Jones-Parry. It started seriously as wewere told that England hadbeen transformed during thereign of Henry III, but that hehad never got the recognitionwhich he deserved. Howeverthe lecture was to continue in amuch more light-hearted vein.First we were told about whatHenry III might have lookedlike, and what his personalitywould have been like. He wasapparently a “simple and god-fearing” man (Dante placedHenry in Purgatory in TheDivine Comedy), fabled for the number of peasants he fed.Henry believed that by feedingthe poor he could ‘harvest’their prayers, and so go toheaven. On an average day hewould feed around 150 peas-ants, on Christmas day around450 peasants were fed, and onthe two feast days of Edwardthe Confessor 1500 and 5016peasants were fed. These factsshow how important Edwardthe Confessor was to HenryIII. Apparently having been

told that St. Edward dressedausterely, Henry took to doingthe same, he had a mural of St. Edward painted in his bed-room, and he named his eldestson after the saint.

Naturally, Westminster Abbey,being the burial place of Edwardthe Confessor, would have alsobeen very important to Henry.It was Henry who designatedWestminster as the fixed seat ofpower in England. Henry alsoappointed French architects in1245 to renovate the Abbey.Unsurprisingly, the centrepieceof the Abbey would be a shrineto St. Edward. It is unknownwhether Henry purely felt admiration towards Edward the Confessor, or whether hewas trying to become a newEdward, and so trying tobecome canonised himself.

Professor Carpenter was anexcellent speaker, and with our school being so close toWestminster Abbey, everythinghe talked about was especiallyinteresting. This lecture was anexcellent start to the Camdenlectures; hopefully next year’swill be just as good.

BRITISHBIOLOGYOLYMPIAD

TRIUMPH AT THE

Westminster School has an excellent record in thisannual competition run by the Institute of Biology,but 2005 has proved to be the best year ever,records JAL, Head of Biology.Three of our students,Edward Bataillard (LL), Loren Lam (BB), and JohnXue (MM) did so well that they all got into the finalstage of the competition in Birmingham. ButEdward and Loren capped even this achievement byboth getting selected for the UK team bound forBeijing in July.This is both a first for Westminsterand for the BBO. Our students are to be congratu-lated on their outstanding achievement and we wishthem every success in the 16th InternationalBiology Olympiad. John Xue reports below on hisexperience in the competition.

HENRY III ANDWESTMINSTERABBEY

CAMDEN LECTURE

The inaugural Camden lecture took place onThursday 11th November, 2004, reports JulianWalton (BB).

are unfortunately no longerconsidered plants. If that hadn’tbeen enough excitement forone day, after supper we weretreated to a primer on popula-tion genetics. By the time itfinished, at 9.30pm, we retiredto our rooms shuddering at thethought of being tested on allwe’d heard.

The next morning, the first ofour four daily exams was uponus. This meant struggling witha piece of celery for an hourand a quarter, until I managedto break my one successfulslide. After the briefest of teabreaks, our second exam was afunfest for all the family, withabout 30 obscure specimensthat were each to be identified.Lunch was definitely a welcomebreak, but straight afterwardswe had a two and a half hourexperiment on germs. Althoughvery swish pipettes with dispos-able tips were involved, myphotometer gave up on mehalfway through and threw uperror messages that confoundedour supervisor, and while theytried to find a replacement mygerms slowly turned to a brightyellow sludge.

Our last exam was a theorypaper, which I liken Who Wantsto Be a Millionaire, only without any money andbased exclusively on themore esoteric areas ofbiology. As a reward forthe day, we then wentout for dinner, whereour end of the tablediscussed ice creamflavours while the otherend talked about theever-increasing entropyin the universe. Several

curries later, however, they werelolling about on the floor com-paring the colours of each oth-ers’ tongues, and so we wereprobably the more intellectualbiologists at the table after all.

The final day contained twoexams, the first a much-antici-pated dissection timed impecca-bly to come just after breakfast;although fortunately we weren’tasked to do much more than“not to get entrails everywhere”.By then the end was withinsight, and our final exam wason flowers, including a light-ning round in which we had to put names to 20 plants in 8 minutes. The next two hourswere anxious ones, as every single one of us convinced our-selves that our Olympic preten-sions were to end here while thesupervisors talked about us. Asit turned out, my Olympic pre-tensions did indeed come to aclose, but in a momentous firstfor both Westminster and theOlympiad, two of us were suc-cessful and will represent onehalf of the UK’s team of elitebiologists. Obviously I’m notbitter. In fact, the dreams aboutthe entire IBO team beingeaten by a giant Venus flytrapstopped last week.

THE ELIZABETHAN 2005 53

If Professor Rogers of Keele University is right, thenJohn Locke is England’s greatest philosopher as wellas Westminster’s greatest pupil, and certainly thelecture successfully tried to convince us of this.This commemorated the tercentenary of the greatman’s death, focusing on the events of Locke’s life,which included elements of his philosophy. JulianWalton (BB) reports.

JOHN LOCKETERCENTENARY LECTURE

5252 THE ELIZABETHAN 2005THE ELIZABETHAN 2005


The first topic was“Cyborg Engineering”given by Professor

Kevin Warwick from theUniversity of Reading. He toldus about his experiments that hehopes will not only further thescientific understanding of thebrain and computers but alsocould help physically handi-capped people to regain func-tion with the help of computers.

In the second lecture productdesigner Ross Lovegrovedemonstrated some of thethinking at the forefront of the design world and gave the audience an insight intowhat it is like to be a part of it(For further details, see LaraKarady’s report following).

In the third lecture Dr. CyrilIsenberg from the University of Kent enlightened us on “thescience of soap bubbles”. Dr.Isenberg explained the simpleprinciples that underlie the science of bubbles and evendemonstrated how these rulescould be applied to use bubblesto solve problems in mathemat-ics and in the wider world.

Next was Dr. Richard Woodfrom the Met. Office, anexpert in the study of climatechange, particularly the impli-cations of global warming onthe North Atlantic Conveyor,

commonly called the GulfStream. Some people fear glob-al warming could cause the saltlevels in the oceans to alter sig-nificantly due to large amountsof fresh water being added bymelting ice. However Dr.Wood dismissed the apocalyp-tic predictions as beingextremely unlikely but saidthat global warming in generalwas not to be underestimated.

The last lecture was given byDr. Jeremy Tompkinson of the National Non-Food CropsCentre in York. Which collectsdata about research into usingplant derived materials for usesother than food. This workcovers an enormous variety of different applications, forexample fuels and materialssuch as biodegradable plasticsand even car body parts.

Overall the Hooke Lectures2005 were a great success. I would like to thank all thespeakers and Dr. Walsh fororganising the series and I am sure we are all looking forward to another brilliantseries next year.

A small group of enthu-siastic Westminstersvisited the work studio

of one this year’s most creativeRobert Hooke lecturers. Thetalk introduced us to variousdesign concepts and the stepshe takes to bring these to life.Lovegrove’s design explores theidea that the most successfulproducts should stem from theconvoluted patterns of the nat-ural world. Hence he toys withthe idea of artificial versus nat-ural. Environmental issues arealso of importance. He firmlybelieves that design inspiredfrom nature should not in turnharm it.

Despite his over-booked sched-ule, which, along with a con-stant high pressure work ethic,is the daily lot of an eminentdesigner, Mr Lovegrove kept uscaptivated with a two-hour tourof his working environment.He surrounds himself with aneclectic collection of objects,and personal mementoes of hisprevious designs. A stunningexample was his spiralling fibre-glass staircase, inspired by thedouble-helix structure of theDNA molecule.

One of the highlights of theouting occurred when he hand-ed us each in turn a metal toolwhich belonged previously toBarbara Hepworth, one of the20th century’s most celebrateBritish sculptors. Feeling therough surface and worked texture of the tool seemed to kindle a desire to create.

The visit certainly impressedeveryone, and emphasized ournatural human need for materi-alism in a new and completelypositive light.

Coming to Westminster for the first time this yearthe Hooke lectures have been one of the highlightsof my first two terms, says Sam Mindel (MM).

HOOKELECTURES

On 5 November Westminsterwelcomed Professor Oliver Lyne,Fellow in Classics at BalliolCollege, Oxford. Professor Lyne,perhaps the most eminentVirgilian scholar of his genera-tion, discussed Aeneas’ departurefrom Troy. He compared Aeneas’loss of his wife Creusa withVirgil’s own story of Eurydice,who is led from the Underworldby her husband Orpheus, but islost forever as he looks back ather out of love. Lyne’s lectureencompassed the theme of dyingfor love and what that mightmean for Aeneas as a hero.The talk was very well receivedby pupils studying at all levelswithin the school. FGS

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As a designer, Ross Lovegrovemanages to intertwine beautyand functionality in his approachto modern products, writes aninspired Lara Karady (MM).

HOOKE LECTURE

AN INSPIRATIONAL VISIT

British Physics Olympiad Team.Adam Newgas on the left.April 2004.

Adam Newgas (OW), shownabove on the far left of the photo-graph wearing his Lyke Wake Walktie, was the highest placed UKcompetitor in the British team atthe 2004 Physics Olympiad whichtook place in South Korea. Hewon a silver medal, a remarkableachievement.The competition was attended by Professor FrankClose, centre, the distinguishedparticle physicist and author.

The photographs above show theBritish team at the Presentationat the Royal Society in London inApril 2004.P

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British Physics

Olympiad Team.

April 2004.


David Phillips has along-held interest inthe role that light can

play in chemical processes,most specifically in this lecturewith the ability to treat variousconditions ranging from life-threatening malignancies todistressing but non-fatal psoria-sis using chemotherapies that

can be targeted to the diseasesite and which can then be acti-vated using light. The advan-tages are evident – the therapyis targeted very precisely andcan be easily controlled. A par-ticularly striking case was thatof a sufferer from a sub-lingualtumour whose disease, had itbeen removed surgically, would

probably have resulted in lossof the tongue, whereas lightirradiation of an active sub-stance administered to thetumour resulted in its disap-pearance in a few weeks.

The earlier parts of his lecture– unusual for a Tizard Lecturein that Prof. Phillips brought agreat deal of gear with him anddid a number of experiments –dealt briefly with light-produc-ing reactions in chemistry, aparticularly nice touch for mesince I have long held a notionof finding out what Will o’theWisp is. I didn’t find out (I don’t think anyone knows) but the production of variouscolours of light by light-stickswas entertaining – and the flu-orescence of tonic water nicelydemonstrated.

Like many effective discoveries,the essence of the therapeutictechnique is simple – you havea molecule that will bindspecifically to the desired site;you attach a light-sensitivemolecule to this; and you zap itwith a suitable laser light. Andlike all virtuoso techniques thesimplicity hides an enormousamount of difficult chemistryand biochemistry, and some-times that most precious of scientific abilities, the ability tosee what everyone else has seenbut think what no-one else hasthought. This was the casewith, for example, the treat-ment of jaundice in new-bornchildren; there was some evi-dence decades ago that lightmight have some helpful effectin treating it, but sadly the firstattempts at treatment were abit over-enthusiastic. The prob-lem is that bilirubin, the yellowmaterial, is not water solubleand therefore not easily excret-ed. Adults can convert the

water-insoluble (but fat-solu-ble) form into a soluble one,but babies can’t. However, irra-diation with a suitable wave-length of light will do the samething. So, in the spirit of the-atre, Prof. Phillips produced alarge glass baby, with a tap in a rather obvious place, contain-ing a solution of bilirubin in anorganic solvent. Shake this withwater (the treatment of the realbaby is less dramatic) and thebilirubin stays where it is; afterirradiation with u.v. light theshaking showed the dissolutionof some of the yellow materialinto the water layer. The tapthen proved its worth…Simple, but vital; bilirubin is damaging if not excreted. The lecture was highly enter-taining, and the audience(with, encouragingly, numer-ous other schools’ studentspresent) went away very happywith what they had heard.Some certainly would haveliked a more chemical explana-tion of a number of the pointsmade, but the Lecture achievedexactly what I asked of it, toinform as well as entertain. I am very grateful to Prof.Phillips for the trouble that hetook to make the 2005 TizardLecture a memorable one.

Information on Sir HenryTizard, previous lecturers, andthe text of some recent lectures,can be found on the ScienceDepartment pages of theSchool website. If you wouldlike to be added to the invita-tion list – particularly if youwould like to bring students to the lecture – please email the Head of Science: [email protected]

some comfort from the fact thatthe team that beat them wenton to win the whole competi-tion. The Westminster team ofJamie Macfarlane and RichardTrainor also had a good run inthe Oxford Union event, win-ning the first round in Londonbefore, after three preliminaryrounds on finals day itself,reaching the semi-finals. Wenarrowly missed out on a placein the final after a staunchdefence of the EU constitution.

The final competition of theyear was the overnight DurhamUnion competition. Attendedby nearly 100 schools compet-ing in five rounds over twodays, this was a gruelling andvery enjoyable weekend withthe Westminster contingent of

Max Kaufman, Olga Polunina,Giles Robertson and RichardTrainor acquitting themselveswell over the many rounds.

Though without the big winsof last year, this year has seenWestminster performing con-sistently well at the top level of school’s debating. Moreimportantly, the glory has beenshared amongst a large squadand participation, particularlyin the house competition, hasbeen very high. This year asalways, debating is where it’s at.

Thanks go to our coaches,Richard Allnatt and SandyCrole, who both supported usand consoled where necessary,as well as judging all the housecompetitions.

DEBATINGSENIOR

“Good for UCAS, Good for YOU” ran the posterthat kick-started Westminster’s house competi-tion in the Play Term, helping perhaps to drawimpressive crowds throughout the course of theleague and for the final itself, asserts Captain ofDebating Richard Trainor (AHH).

League matches wereentertaining and closelyfought, providing an

opportunity for new debatersto get involved and for moreexperienced ones to limber upfor the coming season. Aftertwo rounds, Ashburnham,Grant’s, Purcell’s and Wren’sdebated the final motion “ThisHouse believes liberal democra-cies can have no room for reli-gious fundamentalism” whichwas narrowly won in front of a packed Camden Room by the Ashburnham team of MaxKaufman and Richard Trainor.

Though not traditionally a big term for competitions, thePlay term did offer some inter-school action. In the LondonSchool’s Debating League:Emma Thompsell, OlgaPolunina, Jamie Macfarlane,Chloë Pickup, David Alty,Giles Robertson and RichardTrainor all managed to getdebates in before the organiserstopped running it, the latterfour winning matches. Also inthis term Giles Robertson andRichard Trainor competed incompetitions at MPW andDulwich College while MaxKaufman and Richard Trainorventured north of the border to

finish second at Glasgow. Thesame team progressed throughthe first round of the School’sMace only to be knocked outin January proposing the samemotion (“This house wouldbuild on the green belt”) thathad cost us the London finaltwo years ago. Oh Well!

Westminster’s season reallykicked off in the Lent termwith David Alty, MaxKaufman, Jamie Macfarlane,Chloë Pickup, Olga Polunina,Edward Randell and RichardTrainor all making the journeyto the first of the national com-petitions at Bristol University.We were delighted to see thequality of our squad rewardedwith semi-final places for boththe A and B teams of MaxKaufman, Richard Trainor,Jamie Macfarlane and EdwardRandell.

For the Cambridge competitionwe were able to enter two teamsof Giles Robertson and RichardTrainor as well as Max Kaufmanand Jamie Macfarlane (all ofwhom have been ‘A’ teamdebaters this year). Both teamsprogressed to the second roundand, though both were knockedout at that stage, we can take

It was about time, I thought, for the Tizard to gowith a bang, writes JRGB, and therefore we shouldsee whether a Chemist would be willing to give thelecture. So it was that Prof David Phillips, HofmannProfessor of Chemistry and Dean of the Facultiesof Life and of Physical Sciences at Imperial College,came to ignite a mixture of oxygen and hydrogenboth at the start and at the finish of his lecture inMarch. Not that this had much to do with the lec-ture itself, but chemistry is nothing if not theatre,and this was most effective theatre.

Junior Debating provides a platform for boththose who wish to complain about the generalstate of the world and those who wish toprogress to competition level, declaresSamuel Littlejohns (RR).

The focus is usually upon current affairs, with issuessuch as Iran’s nuclear programme and the notion ofcompensating Germany featuring recently.The moodis often jovial, and despite Mr Crole’s best efforts,the discussions are not always completely civil!

Our two junior teams won through to the Finals Dayof the National Competition for Young Debaters atthe end of April, with considerable success.We werefaced once more with a challenge.Westminster B,James Shaw (MM) and Jonathan Tham (WW), per-formed admirably, but narrowly failed to make thesemi-final break.Westminster A, Samuel Littlejohns(RR) and Dara Barkhordar (RR), debated excellently,gaining themselves a position in the National Finals,placing them in the top four teams in the countryfor their age group.This bodes well for the future ofdebating at Westminster.

JUNIOR DEBATING


CHEMISTRYTIZARD LECTURE

00

ONE TRUTHABOUTHUNTING

My family and afriend, also goinghunting for the first

time, set off for the meet atseven in the morning. We weregoing to be joining the Dukeof Beaufort’s Hunt, wherePrince Charles, Prince William,and the philosopher RogerScruton, sometimes hunt.

When we arrived at the farmthe horses from the hirelingyard were already waiting forus, and soon we were beingintroduced to our companionsfor the day. I got a beautifulgrey called Merlin and myfriend Susannah got a ponycalled Ace. After mounting werode back up to the farm andmade our way down to a largefield where there stood aroundeighty immaculately turned outhorses and riders. As soon asour horses set foot into thefield, we were offered somesherry and chatted to a fewpeople. Everyone we talked towas very friendly, and extreme-ly pleased to discover that wewere hunting for the first time.

Soon we were off! A hundredhorses trotted down the pathleading onto the road in pairs,and then turned off into a fieldon the right. On reaching thefield we stopped, but only for afew seconds. Suddenly I sawthe horses in front cascadingdown the expanse of grass; the chase was on! An invitingstone wall lay ahead. Merlincleared it beautifully and galloped on. Everything wasgoing smoothly until I came tothe third fence. My indecisionmade Merlin refuse at the lastmoment. I toppled over hisright shoulder, landing in a soft

patch of mud. Unperturbed, I remounted and steered myhorse towards the other fence,which he cleared successfully.

The feeling of galloping acrosscountry with so many horses is almost indescribable. Theirexcitement multiplies your own,creating an immense feeling ofexhilaration. Time is of noimportance; only the presentmoment exists. The houndsworking together are a beautifulsight, especially when they gointo a perfect single file afterpicking up the scent. Indeed itis easy to forget that you are inpursuit of a fox. People who areagainst hunting because theythink that hunters take pleasurein the fox’s death are mistaken.Most of the Field doesn’t evensee the fox, let alone witness itsdeath. I still don’t know whetherwe caught a fox or not.

Three hours into the hunt I found myself galloping across Badminton where theBadminton Horse Trials areheld every year. I couldn’tbelieve that I was riding whereall the stars of the horse worldcome to compete. It was herethat we had to return the hors-es. Although feeling extremelysore after galloping practicallynon-stop for so long, I racedmy friend to the horseboxes.Reluctantly we dismounted andthanked our horses for givingus such a wonderful day.

Despite the months that havepassed, I often think back tomy first hunt and appreciatehow lucky I was to experiencesomething so wonderful. Banor no ban, I would love to havea go at it again.

Only five years ago I was a strong anti, but afterthe government ban I decided I was going to takepart in a hunt, writes Cassandra Lo.


HISTORY OFART SOCIETY

In the Play term the distin-guished art critic AndrewGraham-Dixon came to lec-

ture on the hidden details andstories concealed in well knownpictures, and then CarolineBrook, an expert on Raphaelwho taught at Westminster for a term last year (and who isreturning), talked about a lesswell-known side of the painter’shistory, the hundreds of draw-ings he made both as studiesand as pieces in themselves. Thefocus of the Lent term’s lectureswas Westminster Abbey, to cele-brate the Art History depart-ment’s successful move from thebottom of Ashburnham Houseto a swish new suite of roomsup Weston. There were fourspeakers in the ‘Abbey Lectures’series; Peter Draper, TimTatton-Brown, John Field andPaul Binski, and each covered adifferent part of the history ofthe building which has playedsuch a crucial role in the

school’s history. John Field’s lecture, provocatively entitled‘Murderous screams of recogni-tion’ (see elsewhere in the maga-zine), was concerned with thisspecific relationship between theschool and the Abbey, a unionwhich has not been entirely harmonious over the centuries.In the Play term things took amore modern angle; in hisannual lecture Professor JohnHouse (OWW) discussed theTurner Whistler Monet exhibi-tion at Tate Britain, and SeanRainbird spoke of the difficul-ties of exhibiting Joseph Beuys,an artist for whose work physi-cal processes were fundamental.In all it was a very successfulyear for the Society; the varioustalks offered a mixture of focuson a specific theme, detailedexpertise on slightly unusual his-tories and discussion of contem-porary events in the art world.Hats off to Dr. Cockburn fororganising it all.

The History of Art Society has been spoiltthis year, writes Ed Cumming (BB), with anunprecedented number of speakers comingto talk on a wide range of topics.

MUSICContemporary Music Concert 60Rock Concert 60Cantandum:There must be singing 61Cantandum: Concert review 61

DRAMAShakespeare in the Garden:Much Ado about Nothing 62Scratch Play: Return of the Gothic 63Edgar’s House 64Sleaze 65Trestle Theatre Company 65Wren’s House Play:Purgatory and Bedroom Lyrics 66Opera: Gianni Schicchi 66Private Lives 67

VISUAL ARTWestminster Art and Photography 68

ARTS

A RT S : M U S I C

CONTEMPORARYMUSIC

Steve Reich isn’t known forsticking to the rules, andhis 1985 piece New York

Counterpoint, performed byDavid Campbell (ten clarinets,recorded), and Beth Hardie(one clarinet, live) immersedthe audience in an elegant –and almost incomprehensible – multiple canon. Elegant near-incomprehension characterisedthe concert, which featuredworks by twentieth-centurycomposers, as well as morerecent compositions by members of the school.

Gamal Khamis gave a sparklingrecital of Schoenberg’s crys-talline Opus 19: Six Little Pieces;Janácek was represented by hisfirst String Quartet; Ligeti byan early woodwind quintet,while Shostakovich’s fiery thirdstring quartet opened theevening with great panache.

Fanxi Wang played her trans-cultural composition Mists ofAvalon, creating an etherealsense of presence, offset by an emotive rendition on solopiano. Laurence Keegan-Fischer’s interpretation of hisown piano composition inrondo form provided an inter-esting contrast; he began com-posing it while his neighbour’shouse was burning, and so it iscalled “Fire Next Door”!

Julia Gomelskaya’s 1996Bagatelle, introducing a soloFrench horn to this variedrange of recent compositions,was performed by CharlieHutchinson and Andrew Law,and provided a lively contrastto the surrounding pieces.

Jonathon Field’s performanceof three songs from HarrietBushman’s James Joyce songcycle – the words taken fromJoyce’s Pomes Penyeach – was

both moving and enthralling.Field later sang his own, verypersonal, song, Bungee JumpingToday, accompanying himselfon the guitar.

Repeating their success last year,the Experimental Drama Groupperformed another 1969 pieceby John White; this time,Drinking and Hooting Machine.As members of the group drankmore from the bottles across thetop of which they were blowing,the piece moved to greater dis-cord, and finally concluding in alow, empty, unity – reminiscentof 1960’s “mixed media” per-formance art.

A mesmerising and at timesdisorientating, quadraphonicpre-recorded soundscape fromCharlie Allen showed whatcapabilities the new music cen-tre in Tufton Street has givenus. Flowing in all directions,Starscape was mixed live by thecomposer, and recorded byhim and Chris French in thenew studios.

Three of Stravinsky’s FourEtudes – originally for stringquartet, but arranged by himfor orchestra – formed thepenultimate item. Written in1914, as the storm clouds gath-ered over Europe, the piececonveys the violent tension ofthat time, forming the seeds of his landmark ballet Rite ofSpring. The concert ended withan enthralling sideways glanceat twentieth-century orchestralneo-classicism. Composed byGamal Khamis, the SchoolOrchestra, conducted by SinanC Savaskan, and led by HelenaBushman, the swirling melodypowerfully encapsulated, in itssolid orchestration, the moodof the evening.

Clarinets do not, as a rule, come inpacks of eleven, writes Giles Robertson.

ROCKCONCERTThe rock concert is one of the few events in theWestminster calendar which, I feel, allows pupilstruly to let loose and be themselves, reportsAndrew Naughtie. One has to offer an

experience that mem-bers want to come

back for more of: high qualitysinging, with a fine overallsound, quick learning and nolack of ambition. Cantandumis distinguished by the out-standing quality of the corpo-rate sound made by a body of,on average, eleven singers. As ten good voices can soundlike thirty, the whole becomesgreater than the sum of theparts, and if people are on topform the results are staggering.

Programme planning is another thing to get right, and absolutely the nicest thingabout being a conductor is thatyou get to choose the music.Shorter concerts are alwayspreferable to longer concerts,for both the performers and theaudience, and a concert accom-panied by, for example a harp,will generate much more inter-est than one accompanied bypiano. Concerts in which near-ly everybody gets to do a soloare nicer than those in which

one or two people do them all,and concerts in beautiful placesare the best of all. In its shortexistence Cantandum has per-formed Up School and also atSt Stephen’s Rochester Row(great acoustic), Church HouseChapel (a little masterpiecewith an acoustic to dream of ),Westminster Abbey and StJohn’s Smith Square (both byinvitation), and AshburnhamGarden, one of the most his-torically fascinating outdoorvenues in London.

Sometimes it is appropriate toperform a major work withorgan rather than orchestra,but more often it isn't andplayers have to be found. With a strict policy of free con-certs we can’t raise the revenuerequired to pay for musicalaccompaniment. With charac-teristic generosity theWestminster School Societysprang to the rescue, offeringus a sizeable grant to help.

CANTANDUMTHERE MUST BE SINGING

Cantandum is the Westminster Choralgroup that is becoming increasingly wellknown around the school, writes founder,Gilly French, long-time frustrated singerand choral conductor. It owes its name to Fiona Smart, Latinist member of thesoprano section.After lengthy researchinto possible singers and venues to promote her own type of choral music,Gilly found it on her own doorstep.Membership is drawn from the widerWestminster community – academic,administrative and works staff and theirspouses as well as OWs, parents and former parents and provides a cheerfulmeans of social intercourse as much asanything else. Cantandum was born.

Whether or not this is a good thingdepends on your

point of view, of course.However, you would have to besomething of a killjoy to argueagainst the spiritedness whichall this year’s acts shared. Thereis nothing worse than a semi-audible, sub-Linkin Park groupof schoolboys who not onlywaste the audience’s time withoverlong solos and derivativelyrics, but don’t seem to enjoydoing it. This is, of course, the stereotype, and PureMannequin, who kicked off theevent, tackled it brilliantly withshort songs, original and engag-ing songwriting, and somethingwhich resembled actual musi-cality. Smothered in feedbackthey may have been at the start,but it worked for the Jesus andMary Chain. Thankfully thisset the tone for the rest of theevening. The next band wereled by Alex Edwards, and while

their song choices were perhapsa little less striking than PureMannequin’s, the musical con-nection between bassist EddFranklin and guitarist EdCumming was tangible andmade for tight, satisfying listen-ing. And so the concert pro-gressed, taking us throughchoices as unexpectedly dig-gable as “The King of theSwingers” (performed by EdRandell and Adam Holmes’The Plurals) and finishing on alarge but – for once – excellentUpper Shell band, the YoungHollywoods. While the rockconcert will always suffer fromthe teenage band stereotype,and may only live on as some-thing we regret when we’reolder, the release – and in thiscase, the pleasure – it providesis worth the occasional three-minute guitar solo. In short, a good time was had by all.


The concert opened withtwo anthems, the typethat one might expect

from this small a capella choir– Tallis’ If Ye Love Me andGibbons’ O clap Your Hands.They provided an approachableintroduction to the music thatwas to follow.

Britten’s Ceremony of Carols hada striking effect – the hugelycontrasting movements main-tained the audience’s interestthrough the long work.Although perhaps my abidingmemory of the piece was the

Interlude (played on solo harp),which was stunning. The variedtimbres the instrument canproduce are marvellous and itwas a fantastic instrument foraccompanying.

However, my favourite piece of the evening was the Brahms– four songs for female voices,two horns, organ and harp.These songs were intrinsicallybeautiful and this can onlyhave made them more difficultto perform, but the choir andinstrumentalists carried it offvery well.

Otcenas by Janacek finished theprogramme – a stunning finale.The writing for organ and harpmade me smile at some partsand the lyricism of the writingfor tenor solo, Teehan Page,brought a tear to the eye.

One thing that struck me mostforcibly during the evening wasthe enormous professionalismand talent shown by the choirunder the direction of GillyFrench. I am in awe of the factthat not only do most of thepeople in the choir have excel-lent degrees and are high-classteachers, but are also often keensportspeople and find the timeto sing to a staggeringly highstandard. Perhaps the idea of theRenaissance man/woman hasnot been lost. I’d like to thankthem all for reminding me ofhow much we can strive for!

The Cantandum concertwas an impressive specta-cle, writes Lizzie Samuels(GG).The audience wasseated facing the organand in front of it stood the Cantandum choir,professionally dressed all in black.The most strikingfeature was the largeebony harp that stoodslightly off centre stage.

CANTANDUMIN CONCERT

63THE ELIZABETHAN 2005

A RT S : D R A M A

‘Man on stage, writing’, by EdCumming, was a wonderfulscript focusing on a writer’simagination run wild. The bril-liant dialogue seemed authenticenough, but the scene becamemore and more absurd: Therewas a transvestite and a beauti-ful dancing lady who seemed to love a monkey in a less thanplatonic way. Suddenly, onerealised it was all just the manon stage writing. Hilarious, sin-ister bestiality, thought-provok-ing and slickly directed, this wasthe best piece of the evening.

The next was an adaptation ofDracula which was undercut by the comic morbidity of the previous plays. The previousplays were so funny that it wasdifficult to take the genuinelyfrightening Dracula as seriouslyas it was meant to be. Even so,the actors pressed on and cameout with a well edited and suit-ably evil, almost gothic, end tothe night.

The first play, ‘HomeAgain’ by AndrewNaughtie introduced

the running theme of morbidcomedy when an evil husband-turned-zombie jumps out of abox. It was short, sweet, dark,and curiously funny. ‘Tea’, alsoby Andrew Naughtie, let uswatch two characters drink poisoned tea and discuss all thethings they deserve to die for.‘A Prudent Joke’, by BenArnold, mocked the audiences(unreasonable) fear of little girlssinging nursery rhymes throughdark corridors. It had an excel-lent twist, which, in a tenminute play, is hard to pull off.

‘Doctor Faust’ was seamlesslyedited and visually spectacular.With only two main characters,nine skimpily dressed ‘devils’amply filled the extra space.They constantly ran, snarledand whispered for Satanaround the powerful Faust.This accentuated his presence,power and menace.

This year’s Scratch play consisted ofsix themed pieces written, adaptedand directed by Westminster pupils,records Michael Stothard (BB).In 2004 Westminster went gothic.

RETURN OFTHE GOTHIC

THE SCRATCH PLAY


On a fine midsummer evening, thesixth form’s production of Much Ado About Nothing in AshburnhamGarden proved a fitting climax inperiod costume to a year of dramatictriumphs, muses Ben Chesler (MM).

A lthough the play isknown as a comedy, the actors’ performanc-

es skilfully reflected the darker elements of the dual plot. DonPedro, Prince of Aragon (playedwith impressive power andnobility by Edd Franklin), with his companions Claudioand Benedick, visits Leonato,Governor of Messina (an agedyet curiously vigorous SamPritchard), father of Hero anduncle of Beatrice. Claudio fallsin love with Hero (a bond movingly developed by WilliamIrwin and Olivia Percival). Atthe same time, Beatrice renewsa teasing relationship withsworn bachelor Benedick,which becomes a duel of witbetween the two (the bold andsprightly Kate O’Connor anexcellent foil to Ben Arnold’selegant, merry joker). As theplay progresses, each is tricked

into believing the otherin love, and this reveals

a genuine affection.

Meanwhile Don John (a villainous Oliver Campion-

Awwad), the malcontent broth-er of the prince, arranges forClaudio to witness a flirtationbetween his friend Borachio(played with outstanding physi-cal presence by Tom Gill) and‘Hero’ – really her veiled wait-ing-woman Margaret (LauraStojcevic). The woundedClaudio publicly denouncesHero at the altar; she faints,and apparently dies.Outraged and grief-stricken,

MUCH ADOABOUTNOTHING

SHAKESPEAREIN THE GARDEN

Beatrice insists that Benedickchallenge Claudio to a duel.Just in time, the plot by DonJohn and Borachio is exposedby the fumbling constableDogberry (John Reicher).Claudio, mortified, promises tomake Leonato amends for hisdaughter’s death, and is askedto marry a cousin of Hero’s;when her veil is lifted, it isrevealed that she is Hero her-self. Benedick then asks for thehand of Beatrice, to which sheagrees. The play ended with alively dance, skilfully choreo-graphed by Lyndsey Turner and exuberantly executed bythe entire company.

Ashburnham Garden was usedto full effect, providing naturalshrubby cover for those in hid-ing. The intimacy of the his-toric courtyard and the closeproximity of the action meantthat the audience became thoroughly involved with theunfolding emotions of the play.Not that this was without hazard – one spectator had to dodge an advancing spear. The twists and turns of plotand mood were complementedby beautifully played periodmusic, which was sadly unac-knowledged in the programme.Credit is also due to the wholeproduction team, with ChrisFrench, Alex Gabriele and BenShillito in charge of lightingand sound and Chris Barton as director, whose efforts madethis excellent production anight to remember.

A RT S : D R A M A

Sleaze was an original musical, based onShakespeare’s Measure for Measure, says

Jamie Macfarlane (WW), relating the storyof an acting prime minister using his tem-porary power to try and introduce radicallaws on pre-marital sex, while at the same

time abusing his position in his attempts toseduce an innocent young girl.

The production wasflawless, with an excit-ing combination of

poignant drama, comedy andlarge full company scores. Theseamless transition betweenthese various states was largelydue to the phenomenalstrength of the acting. The castwas led by Edd Franklin andEd Randell whose joint abilitygenuinely to portray the com-plexity of their characters madetheir performances compelling.The diversity of the actingmeant that the audience’sattention was constantlyswitching from the comedy ofTom Hoare, Jake Robson andTom Gill to the tragedy of thevivid relationship betweenAlice Rowell and JohnnyFields. The ultimate exhilara-tion of the production was

without question the ability ofits lead singer. The audienceerupted into spontaneousapplause after every one ofKaty Watson’s songs, whosevocal strength was onlymatched by her ability to portray the isolation and vulnerability of her character.

The production successfullyengaged the audience turningthe play into a real experience.This was done through rapidscene changes, where the audi-ence was smoothly transportedfrom Parliament to a brothel,then to a club and finally to aprison. The inclusion of a liveband meant that the thrill ofthe score was amplified by elec-trifying music, confirming thatthe play really was a major collaboration between musicand drama at Westminster.


SLEAZE

The Trestle Theatre company,founded in 1981, has devel-oped into one of the coun-try’s leading group of maskactors, writes JamieMacfarlane (WW).

The excitement of having a com-pany of such renown was evidentfrom the size of the audience thatpacked the Millicent Fawcett Hallin November.The reason forTrestle’s popularity was clearlyevident, with the actors’ remark-able physical talent combiningwith a highly amusing and touch-ing storyline.The versatility of thecast was only evident at the end,when it was revealed that thedozens of masked characters inthe story had only been played byfive actors.The evening was highlyenjoyable and it was very excitingto be exposed to such an unusualand exciting form of theatre

TR

ES

TL

ET

HE

AT

RE

EDGAR’SHOUSE

while the characters areunaware of this. The play fol-lows two boys on a search fortheir father through a whirl-wind of bizarre events likegoose-eating or waging war ona bath. A superb cast height-ened the hilarious script, andhad the audience in frequentfits of hysterics. The atmos-phere of weird and wacky wasestablished from the beginningwith several ‘doozers’, the repre-sentations of Edgar’s invisiblehand in the house who mimedand amused the audience. Thisplay was refreshingly weird andwitty; a great success!

Edgar’s House, a new play co-written by Ed Randall (BB), was premiered in

October, report Emma Thompsell(HH) and Christina Farr (MM).

This surreal comedy washilarious and engaging.The story centres

around a house from which noone can escape, whose occu-pants include: an evil master-mind, a Greek philosopher anda ‘chav’ Pope. There is no heroin this play, only the eternalpresence of the landlord Edgarwho controls the proceedings,

A RT S : V I S UA L A RT


Purgatory, a harsh andcynical analysis of thehuman psyche when

confronted with its true nature,was kept expertly afloat by lash-ings of black humour. The castput on a magnificent perform-ance. The ever-present DanBrodie was captivating asDominic, occupying his posi-tion with great power and poise,to the extent that the Chaplainasked him to repeat some of thelines during an abbey sermon.Isaac, a mentally-challengedtramp, was played by the wild-eyed Max Hoehn, who capturedthe essence of drunken tramp-dom to perfection, perturbingthe audience by howling out thewords to ‘Jerusalem’ at intervalsbefore falling back into an alco-

hol-induced stupor. These per-formances highlight the excel-lent overall quality of the acting.Ultimate credit must rest withthe director and writer, JamieMacfarlane, who did an exem-plary job at taking his ideas andtranslating them into a thought-provoking piece of drama.

Matt Johnson’s play, on theother hand, was a sardonic look at the life of caricatures ofWestminster students, focusingon the lives of two hedonisticcharacters, Ben and Nick playedby, and allegedly based upon,real characters familiar to theaudience. Nick, the unsuccess-ful one, reverts for a time tobeing a contemplative character,commenting upon the endlessrepetition of his life, yet forget-ting these philosophical ques-tions in favour of getting drunkand vomiting the night away.Tiffany Kaba, Rachel Griffithsand the rest of the cast were asgood. The play was less hard-hitting, in terms of its emotion-al content, than Purgatory butcertainly hit our proverbialfunny bones. Together theymade for a night of contrastingmoods which was all the moreenjoyable for it.

As a child I used to lis-ten over and over again

to my father’s LP ofNoel Coward and GertrudeLawrence performing excerptsfrom Private Lives. So therewere moments during this pro-duction when certain passagesof dialogue suddenly echoedwith a distorted familiarity.Distorted, because through theeyes of this cast the charactershad a rougher, more cynicaledge. Where Coward andLawrence played to the hilt the yearning ache of a love toopowerful for its own comfort,Nat Gordon portrayed Elyot asmore of an amoral roué, com-placently self-satisfied with theafter-shocks of his own badbehaviour, and Lara Karady’sknowing Amanda was nobody’sdupe. More conventional (ifoccasionally shrill) support wasprovided by Ed Digby-Jonesand Nicky Goulimis as theirrespective wounded partners,and Ellie Buchdahl wasted notan insolent moment of herbrief appearance as the stroppyFrench maid. Mike Lim’s set

did enthusiastic battle with theCamden Room, and we werequite prepared to accept thatwe were in the South of Franceand later Paris; though I sus-pect that the cast would havepreferred a little more room toswing their thespian cat. The(uncredited) costume designwas effective, despite one ortwo items of clothing seemingto take on a life of their own.Emilia Weber and Cleo Nissedirected with energy and con-viction, and are to be congrat-ulated on pulling the wholething off with only minimalsupport from staff.

PRIVATELIVES

WREN’S HOUSE PLAY

A comedy in one act, thisopera portrays the mis-ery of Buoso Donati’s

relatives at his death, having justrealized he’s left them no inheri-tance. Desperate for Donati’swealth, they resolve to call incommoner Gianni Schicchi tosave the day. He concocts a cun-ning scheme to fool the lawyer,Amantio, into believing that he,Gianni Schicchi, is really thebed-ridden Donati desiring tochange his will. Schicchi’s plansomehow means he ends upwith most of the money himself,but the story ends happily for all since Schicchi’s daughter,

Lauretta, now has the dowrynecessary to marry her belovedRinuccio, the true heir.

Chris Barton and Dee Shulman’sset design was astute in its use of perspective and opulentthroughout. With three per-formances over two nights andhigh notes all over, the consis-tent brilliancy of GianniSchicchi’s cast was impressive.Jonny Field’s interpretation of the title role was perfectlypoised between grouchy andhumourous. William Blake andKaty Watson were passionateand moving as the lovers,

Strolling along to the Millicent Fawcett Hall, we wereunaware of what awaited us in the Wren’s houseplays, confess Mahima Sukhdev (LL) and RobertsonEccles (LL); Purgatory, written and directed by JamieMacfarlane; and Bedroom Lyrics, written and directedby Matt Johnson, both of Wren’s.

PURGATORYAND BEDROOMLYRICS

Rinuccio and Lauretta. OllieStevenson’s portrayal of Simoneand Bella Sanders’s of Zitta, rela-tions of Donati’s, enhanced thehumour thanks to their comicdelivery as well as Ollie’s formi-dable moustache. The couples,Marco and La Ciesca, played by Tim de Faramond and SofiaBarclay, along with Gherardoand Nella with their sonGherardino, played byChristopher White, Asma Maniand Max Gill, were amusing intheir greedy false mourningwhilst Lawrence Keegan-Fisher’simpoverished Betto was some-what more sympathetic in hisdistress. Ed Randell’s lawyerAmantio, Tom Hoare’s doctorSpinelloccio, and the will’s witnesses Pinellino and Guccio,Adam Grant and Max Barton,added humanity as well as thesuspense of potential discovery.Sam Pritchard brought Donatito life with his rendering of the

corpse. Guy Hopkins’s conduct-ing, Toby Purser on the pianoand Tim Lai’s percussion provid-ed invaluable support. Overall,this was a great performance,funny and moving; a lovelyevening for all.

OPERA

On the last two days of term,Westminsterpupils delayed their usual rush to see this year’s opera, maintains Nicky Goulimis (DD).Together, the Music and Drama departmentsstaged a production of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi.

GIANNISCHICCHI

Football: 1st XI 70Football: 2nd XI 71Football: Under 16 A 72Football: Under 16B 72Football: Under 15A 73Football: Under 15B 73Football: Under 14A 74Football: Under 14B 74

Water 75Cricket: 1st XI 76Cricket: Under 15 78Cricket: Under 14 78Fencing 79Hockey 79Cross Country 80Athletics 80Tennis 81Eton Fives 82Netball 82Martial Arts 83Shooting 83

COMMUNITY SERVICEBurdett Coutts Primary School 84Pullen Day Centre 84

STATION

A Critchley and F Tusa at Banjoles.Photographed by Oscar Mitchell (MM).


WESTMINSTER

ART ANDPHOTOGRAPHY


S TAT I O N

Trying to put a positive spin onthis season’s results may looklike an impossible task, butwithout compromising myintegrity, and acting as an eternal optimist, I feel ready to try. It may sound like classicColemanballs but our problemsthis season stemmed from anextraordinary inability to finishoff promising moves, leavingus bereft of anything to workwith when games became tight.To compound our misery wewere unable to defend with sufficient skill to keep evenmoderate sides from scoring –in many cases we contributedsignificantly to presenting easyopportunities in one-on-onesituations. So, unable to stopsides scoring and an inability to score ourselves sound like a poor side. This would beunfair, as throughout the sea-son we played attractive andexpansive football based upon

good movement and good ballretention. In addition, therewas an excellent team spiritwhich remained undimmedthroughout the season. Theside was drawn from two yeargroups who had struggled tofind success as junior teamsand so some of their perform-ances this season as senior players were very pleasing and a testament to a good attitudeand some good technical work.

Our pre-season pitted usagainst a robust and effectiveBlackburn side and a talentedOW side. We suffered heavydefeats but learnt in theprocess. We continued tostrengthen our high reputationin the ISFA sixes with a semi-final spot in the plate competi-tion and were beaten 0–1 byBradfield who went on to winthe trophy in the final. Goodperformances against Ardingly

and Witley gave the side someconfidence and an opportunityto develop a style of play. Our frailties were exposed by a direct and athletic Eton sidethat capitalised on some defen-sive indecisions and were notmade to pay when we createdrare chances. An excellent winning performance against a competitive John Lyon side(Byron Orme outstanding)gave us a lift before the firstround of the cup. Ely felt confident when they arrived at the square but were quicklydisabused of this by one of thebest Westminster displays ofthe season. The side workedthe ball around the pitch very effectively, stretching abemused Ely eleven. The Forestresult was hard to bear, becausealthough a successful schoolside themselves, a result of 3–0flattered them. Lancing was anugly affair and with a few min-utes to go before half time andhaving edged ourselves back inthe game at 1–1, we managedto fashion a classic defensivefiasco from a position of domi-nance and concede a vital goalbefore the break (cf. England v Brazil 2002). After a rousingteam talk from the master i/cwe contrived to concede a thirdimmediately after half time and

from then on were having towork hard to stay in the game.With the help of a player whocould throw the ball into thebox from the half way line,Lancing finished us off by theunsophisticated but effectivetactic of launching the ball intoour box at every opportunity.Our weakness in the air wasexposed and two more goalsfollowed. Yet again we playedsome really good football in patches but left Sussex empty handed. Latymer andAlleyn’s were tight games butCharterhouse again presentedus with a direct style of footballwhich relied on pace and earlydelivery – we couldn’t copeeffectively with this and wentdown to a heavy defeat. Otherresults demonstrated our vul-nerability to sharp and pacyattacks but Aldenham reversedthat trend for a game and the3–1 win against their best sidein years was gratefully received.The Hampton result was per-haps the most dramatic but we were playing an excellentschool side at the top of theirgame just prior to their meet-ing with Millfield in the finalof the ISFA Boodle andDunthorne cup at FilbertStreet. This is perhaps anopportune moment to remem-

FOOTBALL2ND XI

This was no ordinary seasoneven though the team’s recordmight suggest otherwise. Whatthese results can’t reveal is thededication and commitmentdisplayed by each player overthe past year. Everybody concerned was determined toimprove. This eventually result-ed in a 2nd XI team that wasable to compete admirablyagainst some of the strongestfootball schools on the circuit.Wins against Forest (1–0),Lancing (0–5), and BishopStopford (3–2) were particular-ly satisfying, while narrowdefeats later in the seasonagainst the quality teams ofHampton (2–0) and Bradfield(1–2) were testament to howmuch the 2nd XI team hadimproved.

Twenty two different playersrepresented the 2nd XI but ofthese only thirteen were select-ed on a regular basis. SamAllen was our keeper for mostof the year and as his confi-dence in goal improved so didhis performances. Louis Jaggerreplaced an injured Sam for thelast three games and performedextremely well. Tim Hunter-Jones, Alex Hall, MarkBaghdadi and Ben Deanfieldworked tirelessly in defence. In fact, Tim Hunter-Jones wasprobably our most improvedplayer over the season.

Our regular midfield playersincluded Ben Scrace, MartinBriscoe-Wilson, TomSteuerman, Rohan Chapman,Dan Brodie, Alex Estorick and

Tommy Cattell. A great dealwas asked of them, fromdefence to attack, and as theirfitness improved so did thequality of the team’s perform-ance. Martin Briscoe-Wilsonworked like a steam engine inthe middle of the park and thequality of his football began tomatch his outstanding effort inthe later stages of the year. Itwould certainly be appropriateto consider him our player ofthe season. In attack, JackKember battled away as oursolitary striker and scored amemorable hat-trick againstLancing. When Jack was calledup to the 1st XI, Alex Ashertook over this position andscored two vital goals in ourimpressive victory againstBishop Stopford. Several otherplayers made a significant con-tribution to the team at onepoint or another during theseason and they included Max Zamkow, Tom Gill, JohnReicher, and Hamza Khan.

All in all it’s been an entertain-ing season peppered with highsand lows. And from my pointof view, it’s been a pleasure towork with such a highly moti-vated bunch of players. Welldone team!

Played: 18 Won: 7 Drew: 2 Lost: 9

SEASON: 2004 – 2005

FOOTBALL1ST XIPlayed: 26 Won: 5 Drew: 3 Lost: 18

SEASON: 2004 – 2005

ber that our fixture list is verystrong, comprising the bestfootballing independent schoolsin the south of England.Conceding a goal in the firstfew minutes and last few sec-onds made the result againstHarrow seem emphatic but the‘bit in the middle’ was veryevenly contested. The teammanaged to raise themselves fora final flourish, avoiding defeatagainst St. Paul’s and winningcomfortably against King’sCanterbury.

During the season, the side was captained by AssadollahRashidian who led by exampleon the pitch and never failed togive of his best – my thanks tohim and all the Remove whowill be leaving us this year.

Special mention must be givento IRM for his tremendoussupport and commitment andto JB who will sadly be leavingfootball station next year topursue a long held desire topromote basketball at

Westminster and to afford himadditional time to follow hisbeloved Liverpool – we will allmiss him and hope his returnwill be swift. JAI was there atthe birth of the 3rd XI and hasbecome inextricably linked toits fortunes.

House Competitions;Winners of the 6-a-sides HHWinners of the 11-a-sides LL

JJK

THE PLAYERS

A. Rashidian, H. Hepworth,J. Lloyd-Thomas, N. Grosse,A. Joseph, J. Reicher, A. Byrne,C. Cooke, A. Hall, H. Kahn,J. Kember, B. Scrace, L. Jagger,A. Comninos, B. Golden,H. Feridun, M. Baghdadi,B. Orme,T. Lloyd, M Zamkow.

As always huge thanks to the dedi-cated team of coaches who make it all possible: IRM, PAH, JB, PDH,MHF, CJU, PB, NJH, AJ, JDK, JAI,RRS, MNR, KAPW.

FOOTBALLU16 A

SEASON: 2004 – 2005

FOOTBALLU16 B

SEASON: 2004 – 2005 SEASON: 2004 – 2005

Played: 11 Won: 2 Drew: 1 Lost: 8 Played: 8 Won: 2 Drew: 1 Lost: 5

FOOTBALLU15 B

SEASON: 2004 – 2005


There was a frustrating elementto our first three matches of theseason. The plan had been tomake a pass-and-move sidebased around a midfield ofHines-Green and Orme in the centre and Taylor andTheodosiou out wide. This hadentailed changing the defencefrom the previous year and, inparticular, finding new centrebacks to replace Burnett, whowas to struggle with his fitnessall season, and Hines-Green.Astaire and Musciacco took the roles in the first match butstruggled in windy conditionsin a 2–1 loss to Ardingly.Thomas replaced Musciacco for the Eton match, where wetwice came back into the gamethrough excellent finishingfrom McPherson only to lose4–3. McPherson showed theability to take the ball with hisback to goal, turn and run atand beat defenders.

The match against Lancing wasin a similar vein. They scoredwith their only two opportuni-ties of the game in another 2–1loss. The defence was now start-ing to settle down. Knox wasdependable at left back thoughhe found the faster players ahandful. In the centre Jelly wascoming to terms with the newrole, accompanied by eitherBurnett or Thomas. At rightback Brent was able to fill inthough Scantlebury was to claimthis place later in the season.

For the Alleyn’s match Porterreplaced Grovit in goal andAstaire took the place of Ormein midfield. I was confident that we would give them a goodgame but at half-time we were4–1 down after some superbgoals from the opposition. Whatfollowed was a stunning come-back. We finished 5–5 with

goals from Taylor, Yuen, Astaireand two from McPherson. Yuenhad now scored in each of thelast three games and Taylor wasalways productive down the left-wing. Astaire, too, in midfieldwas starting to exert an influ-ence on proceedings.

After this game a bad kneeinjury to McPherson, sustainedplaying yard football, made himunavailable for the rest of theseason. Although Donovan andZeimer both showed promise inreplacement, we were to strug-gle against the better opposi-tion. Against Charterhouse(6–0), Bradfield (6–2) andHarrow (6–1) we played withsuper character and determina-tion but were soundly beatenby excellent sides. Our winagainst Aldenham (8–0) wastoo one-sided to be really satis-fying but more pleasing was the3–2 win against Chigwell wherewe probably played our bestfootball of the season.

It was encouraging to see theplayers develop. By the endThomas was an accomplishedcentre back who may well seefirst eleven football before toolong. Taylor scored 7 goals from midfield and has as good a left foot as anyone else in theschool. Yuen has good anticipa-tion and excellent pace andmanaged 7 goals. Hines-Greenis a thoughtful and skilful playerwho will fit well into any side.The rangy Astaire and hawk-likeMcPherson are both players ofconsiderable potential. Ourscores were disappointing butthe positive attitude and hardwork of the players, whoshowed themselves ready to listen and try out new ideas,have made this a tremendousseason for all involved. MHF

FOOTBALLU15 A

The season started off well withan excellent performance awayto Ardingly, the win setting usup in good stead for the seasonto come. Unfortunately a loss to Eton dented the confidentmood, but a hard fought drawagainst a physical, and in somecases over-aggressive, Lancingteam put us back on track.However in the match againstCharterhouse a 2–0 lead for theteam was thrown away due tocomplacency to lose 3–2, a gut-ting result. The rollercoaster ridecontinued with a well deserved

win against Chigwell – one ofthe highlights of the season, butinjuries and illness took theirtoll, and the remaining matcheswere too much for the depletedside. Keeping Harrow to nil-nilfor much of the match was theonly real highlight of the secondterm, although the mood wasconfident before the St Paul’smatch, only for them to pullout at the last minute (some saythey were scared of losing…)

Now to mention the fine bandof men that formed the squadthis season. The goalkeepingwas initially performed by WillPorter before his rise to the firstteam led to Adrien ‘Rocky’Roux dit Buisson admirablystepping up, and filling thenumber 1 shirt with style. In central defence the likes

of Jamie Stoker, and EduMusciacco were solid, and diffi-cult to get past, both taking oncaptaincy duties when calledupon. Cem ‘The Diamond’Kemahli came into the squadlater on, and showed a talentfor aggressive tackling, includ-ing some crunching tackles onthe coach! The early seasoncaptain, Joe Scantlebury wassoon spotted for his talent and moved up to the A squad.In midfield Arthur ‘Mad Dog’Campbell and Rupert ‘Rollingin the’ Eyles prowled the wings,

whilst Hugh Logan-Ellis, MaxZiemer and Joe Smith all dom-inated the centre of the park.Hugo ‘Beefie’ Brent was a play-er who never gave up, andshowed impressive determina-tion and strength on the ball.In attack Tom Brutton, andChris Donovan always lookeddangerous, later supported byMisha ‘The Bear’ Kaletsky. Thesquad showed depth with ‘TheAngel’ Gabriel Chipperfield,Joe Bakes, Kobe Arthur, ShivShah, and later Naveed Tafreshiand Vikesh Kirpalani all repre-senting the team.

Finally a mention for the player of the season – notmissing a game, or indeed a tackle, at right back, wasJulian Harvard-Barnes.CJRU

Let’s get straight to the point;the U15B team was the mostsuccessful team in the Schoolthis year. We played 17, won11, drew 4, and lost only 2. Wescored 57 goals and concededonly 18. The lads should beenormously proud of this andit was thoroughly deserved. Areal team spirit developed thisyear, which was fantastic to see,great to work with, and certain-ly contributed to the results onthe pitch. In every position wehad quality of a standard thatin other years would have

graced an A team; indeed, several players played for bothA and B teams. Highlightsincluded the opening day 7–0thumping of Ardingly, the 8–0demolition of John Lyon, andthe 6–1 and 7–1 local derbytriumphs over Dulwich andHighgate respectively.

It is hard to single out individu-als, so instead let’s comment on the team’s overall shape andstyle. At the back both keepers(Hadcock and Khan) playedvital roles (and I hope Rameezremembers his penalty save atthe ISFA six-a-sides that won us the tournament plate). Our defence was built aroundthe organisation, commitment,speed and muscle of Langton,

Howell, Noorani and Mepstead.The midfield was anchoredsuperbly by Meadows who fedthe driving runs of Benger andGodfrey-Fawcett, as well as liberating our skipper Dunningto support the attack. Up frontplay was orchestrated masterful-ly by Pimlott, who tore apartdefences with his incisive passing and helped Athill to a personal goal tally of 18.

Whilst that may have been thefirst choice 11, so many othersplayed vital roles and in true

premiership style this was asquad season. Praise and thanks must go to B Shashou,Capildeo, Wheeler, Imrie,Obiekwe, Rose, Start, Johnson, Harrison, Duchateau,Rothschild, Wilkins, Behchet.Many of these players would ina less spectacular season havebeen regular starters in the B team. Thanks to you all.

Finally the management wouldlike to thank each other –Hinze, Johnson and Botton –for the mutual support,Chinese hats and general enthusiasm. We’ve all had agreat season – staff and squad – that will be remembered for a long time. Well done!NJH and AJ

S TAT I O N


point of our attacks, notchingup 19 goals. Alex Shashoudeserves special mention, as theplayer who regularly started,with the versatility to play in avariety of positions. Hadcockand Khan shared the goalkeep-ing role, and both proved valuable members of the team.Whilst it was Hugo who endedthe season between the sticksfor the A team, Rameez was thedecisive player in the ISFA sixesPlate final victory, saving a crucial penalty after extra time.

The team finished the seasonwith a 3–0 defeat of rivals St.Pauls, with an Alex Shashouhat-trick.

The unique difficulty encoun-tered this year was that posedby the embarrassment of richesat our disposal, and how todecide on the best starting XI.Praise must go to all the 15Bplayers who played their part in the team. Athill, Benger,Dunning, Godfrey-Faussett,Howell, Imrie, Langton,Mepstead, Noorani and Pimlottall featured, and will help tomaintain the competition for A team places next year.

Well done to the players for persevering during thedemanding phase of the season,and showing commitmentthroughout in training. Thanks also to coaches Hinzeand Johnson for settling meinto Westminster football.PAB

The season began in style witha record equalling seven succes-sive victories. This spell includ-ed defeats of Ardingly (10–0),King’s Ely (6–1) and KESWitley (6–2), but arguably themost impressive performancewas saved for the touring sidefrom Brisbane Boys College.Westminster matched theirimpressive opponents for skill,speed and determination andrecovered from a 2–1 deficit torecord an astonishing result. Alate 30 yard strike from Lloydgave us a 3–2 win. Followingthe record sequence, an influxof Chinese hats, and a little tin-kering ensued, and the desiredeffect took a little more time to materialise than anticipated.Once the strongest team settledinto its most effective structure,Dulwich and Highgate wereoverwhelmed by the intensityof their opponents play. Theteam began playing as a cohe-sive unit, with quick, accuratepassing, and selfless runningbecoming a theme to theirfootball. Defensively, theyimproved considerably. Thetenacious back four of Flynn,Sasaki-Nasseri, Harrison andHerbert were ably supported byClancy in his role as the mid-field anchor. His tireless defen-sive work in the midfield, gavefree rein to Lloyd and Bensonto cause havoc, at times, in theopponents third. At their best,this midfield trio were difficultto match. Width was providedby Wheeler on the right andJohnson on the left, with topscorer Rubenstein the focal

Photographed by Richard Green.

FOOTBALLU14 A

SEASON: 2004 – 2005

FOOTBALLU14 B

SEASON: 2004 – 2005



If truth be told this was not avintage season for the U14s,although they were always likely to struggle in comparisonto the previous year’s excellentside. However, this is still ateam that promises much forthe future, and that kept onworking hard throughout theseason despite results not goingtheir way. Although they lost anumber of games, they battledgamely at all times and wereonly seriously defeated on twooccasions.

In terms of results, the besthappened early in the piece.First up came an excellent 2–2draw with a confident Ardinglyside thanks to a brace fromCharles Chichester. The teamdid go one better in the nextgame, comprehensively defeat-ing a King’s Ely team by 6–0with Chichester this timenotching an excellent hat-trick.However, this early promisewas to remain somewhat unful-

filled as this was the team’s only victory of the year.

Following our first two defeats,there came a frustrating 4–4draw with John Lyon. Thisreally was a game we shouldhave won with another hat-trick from the prolificChichester, but we concededsome soft goals and the chancewas lost. Unfortunately, eventsthen took a turn for the worseas, despite all efforts fromcoaching staff and players alike,we went on an eight game losing streak either side ofChristmas. To be fair, theopposition during this time fea-tured many of the best footballschools on the ISFA circuit.

The run was finally brokenwith an outstanding 2–2 drawagainst Harrow, and then camethat strangest of U14 scorelines– a 0–0 draw (only the secondsuch result in some 11 years oftaking football matches at this

This has not been the easiestseason for the U14s. They did not quite sustain the earlypromise they showed and theloss, which is only, one hopes,temporary, of several importantplayers from the Station didnot help. The best football wasplayed in an exciting 3–3 drawat Lancing (scorers N. Tolkein,H. Asher, J. Northover) and ina hard-fought 3–1 reverse at

Chigwell (scorer O. Tagi).Undaunted after several heavydefeats, the boys finished theirseason on a high with an excel-lent, free-flowing and grittyperformance at St. Paul’s (1–1,scorer B. Collis) in a game we really should have won.Defensive frailties handicappedthe team all season but whenthese boys become strongerphysically their technical ability

ly they snapped an oar withinthe first minute of the race andended up a rather miserablelast! However, having pickedthemselves up from thatmishap and with a new set ofoars, they trained hard on theircamp in Seville.

The J15’s also have improvedas a squad, coming 8th in theschool’s head. Special mentionhas to go to Guy Arnold andJo Gross, impressive in smallboats in the winter and Bronzemedal winners in doubles atthe Inter-regionals.

The J16’s have matured as asquad and having undergonesome gruelling training overthe winter are now all set for afruitful summer season. Theycame an impressive 7th in J168’s at the School’s Head Race,one of the most competitiveevents. They finished the termwith a resounding three-nilmatch victory over local rivals,St. Paul’s.

Early in Election term a fourfrom the J16 eight took silvermedals at the Inter-regionalchampionships in Nottingham,following a successful Eastertraining camp in Philadelphiaand Princeton, together withthe Girls’ eight.

WSBC has had an ever grow-ing Girl’s squad over the pastfew years, and this year provedno exception. The top four of Jenny Ellis Logan, SarahLinthwaite, Lucy Webb Wilsonand Emily Smith have beenvery successful this year, win-ning at Hampton Head and in Philadelphia. They are in astrong position with only a fewweeks to go before the NationalSchools Regatta. The novicegirls’ eight have also demon-strated their potential with asolid performance in theschool’s head.

Westminster’s top four this year consists of Matthew Neve,Charles and Jamie Moran andPhillipp Braunwalder. The toppair consists of Charles Royceand Alex Murley. We enduredmuch suffering over the winterseason racing in single sculls,and produced some soundresults in the winter head races.We came a team second toEton at Pangbourne sculls andput in a solid performance at the Armada Cup inSwitzerland. The Armada Cupis a prestigious internationalsculling race near Berne atwhich the J16s and a few select girls accompanied the top squad. Congratulations toSarah and Jenny who, despitebeing knocked into the freezinglake, climbed back into theirboats and finished the 9kmrace, the consolation prizebeing an interview on Swiss television! The top squad thenbegan to train in pairs and havejust returned from a productivetraining camp in Seville. They, like the girls four, havehad a good season, winningHampton head and coming an impressive second at theschool’s head, frustrated byRGS Worcester who were vic-torious by a mere two seconds!

Bill Mason, top squad coach,has done a fantastic job thisyear and expectations are highfor the summer regatta season.Many thanks to CD Richeswho manages to hold the wholeoperation together, coach theJ16’s and (by far the mostimpressive feat) run the LondonMarathon in an Elvis suit!

Matthew Neve (HH)Captain of Rowing

For more information, news and results go towww.wsbc.org.uk

S TAT I O N

WATER


level!). This happened away toSt. Paul’s, although credit mustbe given to the St Paul’s refereewho rightly disallowed a win-ning goal to his team from thevery last kick of the game.

Most importantly, credit mustbe given to those players whoworked so hard and with suchenthusiasm throughout theyear. I feel certain that, withcontinued efforts, results willturn their way as they progressup through the School.

In goal, Jeremy Holt wasdependable and reliablethroughout, and, was particular-ly well-shielded by the outstand-ing defensive efforts of TomSurr. At the back, HunterFarquhar-Thomson was fearlessin the challenge, and MaxwellDikkers improved immeasurablyduring the season. In midfield,Joshua Benson and HughSultoon were the outstandingfigures in the centre, ably

supported by Sammy Talalayand Mark Fellows out wide. Up front, Charles Chichesterled the line admirably withdetermined help from GuyNakamura and NicholasTolkien. Special mention mustalso be made of Ben Collis whoperformed constant heroics ingoal for the B team, and would,in most other years, have beenan ever-present for the A’s.Thanks also to Oliver Rees, SamFishwick and Thomas Hieronswho all performed with distinc-tion when called upon.

I thank all of the above-men-tioned for their efforts this sea-son and wish them all the verybest for the rest of their foot-ball at Westminster. I wouldalso like to thank all those staffconnected with U14 footballfor their untiring efforts thisyear, and, all those loyal parentswho gave the team such devot-ed support throughout.JDK

and commitment to a crisppassing game will pay rich divi-dends. Many thanks to all whohave played and well done forkeeping heads up during long,fruitless away trips. The team’sstalwarts were Alex Stephens,Humphrey Thomas, AlexAllen, Ben Collis (whose out-standing goalkeeping woulddeservedly win him a man ofthe season award), Tom

Hierons, Amar Patel, KushaalVed, Orfeo Tagi, Oliver Rees,Hannibal Asher and Ed Myung.Alex Fisken looks a goodprospect, too, as does MilanVadher. Francis Jagger, PeterSmith, Jonathan Roberts,Haroun Hickman, KempeBrydges and Gabriel Broadhurstalso played for the team this year.JAI

Westminster School Boat Clubhad a fairly successful summerregatta season last year. At theNational Schools regatta thefirst eight unfortunately wentout in the semi finals of schooleights. The J15s managed animpressive bronze in J15 eights,with the two halves of the eightboth making the final in thefours event with the ‘B’ foursnatching another bronze andthe ‘A’ four finishing 5th. Thefirst eight redeemed themselvesslightly by a having a great row at Marlow regatta, losingby just a canvas to Bedford.WSBC qualified the 1st 8 forthe Princess Elizabeth Cup forJM8 at Henley Royal Regatta.They raced St Andrews School

(USA), the silver medallistsfrom the American equivalentof National Schools, sadly losing out in the first round bya few lengths, despite one oftheir best rows of the season –the Americans just proved toobig, and too strong for ourboys to beat them. After a welldeserved summer break andwith some new arrivals atWestminster, WSBC got down to training in September.The J14 squad, coached by theexperienced Nick Maloney,have proved to be a very prom-ising year, with over twenty 5thformers participating. The topoctuple looked like very seriouscontenders going into theschool’s head, but unfortunate-

S TAT I O N


outstanding partnership of the season to take the score from14–1 to 169–1. UnfortunatelyBamford (94) missed out on a well-deserved century butBrodie (68*) survived to see theteam through to an outstand-ing seven-wicket victory withthree overs to spare.

There then followed a couple of competitive but rather tamedraws against Alleyn’s andChigwell. In the former, severaldropped catches cost us dear asthe opposition were restricted to 154–7 off their 40 overs withGoppers taking a very creditable4–49. In reply, no Westminsterbatsman was able to build asubstantial innings, and it wasleft to Hunter Jones (22*) andPeter Kennedy (21) to securethe draw at 112–6 off 35 overs.

Having started quite slowly,Chigwell were able to score 130runs off their last 20 overs toreach 188–8 declared with Low,Bamford and Radhakrishnan alltaking two wickets. At 6–3 and28–5 in reply, defeat seemed agenuine prospect until Cooke(47) and Low (37) steadied theship with a partnership of 63,before Rajiv Patel (21) madesure of the draw.

Next up came a visit to Etonand a 35 overs-a-side matchagainst their XXXIII. This sawthe worst bowling and fieldingdisplay of the season as theopposition reached a daunting197–3 off their allotted overs.Useful knocks from Bamford(30), Cooke (36) and HunterJones (25) kept Westminster upwith the rate before Low (25*)and James Lloyd-Thomas (11*)applied the ‘coup de grace’ fora 5 wicket victory with threeballs to spare.

The team was bolstered by thepresence of a couple of ‘guest’staff members in the nextgame against the traditionallystrong Trinity GrammarSchool from Melbourne.However, the Aussies did notlive up to expectations as theystruggled in the face of accu-rate bowling to 151 all out off60 overs with Cooke and Lowpicking up a couple of wicketseach and JAI scooping 4–37.A poor start placed the resultin doubt before brutal hittingfrom Cooke (41 off 36 balls)and Simon Massey (54 off 27balls) allowed Bamford (28*)to guide the team to a fourwicket victory with plenty ofovers to spare.

For the 1st XI, 2004 was inmany ways an annus mirabiliswhich saw the team achieve itsmost successful season since1987. This was a side whosesum proved far greater than thetotal of its parts in winning fivegames, drawing four and losingonly one (with four moreunfortunately lost to the weath-er). All this seemed highlyunlikely during the cheerful,but bracing, pre-season trainingsessions Up Fields in April, and my hopes and those of thecoach, Jonathan Hall, were notterribly high, if truth be told.How wrong we were.

The season began with a rela-tively gentle loosener againstthe Lords and Commons, and all was progressing quietlyuntil Charles Cooke saunteredto the crease and proceeded toplay the first of several devas-tating innings for the year.

He smashed 73 not out offonly 44 balls with seven 4’sand three 6’s, and was ablysupported by several cameoknocks, chief of which wasDan Brodie’s 37. This enabledthe School to declare at 222–6,leaving the opposition thesame amount of overs to getthe runs. In reply, the parlia-mentarians seemed completelyshell-shocked by the blitz theirbowlers had endured and stut-tered to a paltry 99–8 off their41 overs. Robin Low did mostof the damage taking 5–15with some excellent swingbowling. He was well support-ed by Gopalan Radhakrishnan(‘Goppers’ for short) who took 2–42 with his gentle off-breaks. A word also for JoeSmith who took a wicket withhis third ball on his 1st XIdebut. A good start then:maybe it wasn’t going to besuch a barren season after all.

Next up was a Butterflies sidewhose powerful batting line-upeased effortlessly to 195–5declared, leaving themselves 39 overs to bowl us out – or so they thought! In the first of several extraordinary chasesfor the year, the School set offslowly with the captain, DanielBamford, anchoring the battingin his first appearance after arecent bout of illness. At the start of the final 20 oversWestminster required a further151 runs with 8 wickets left – adraw maybe, but no chance ofvictory surely? At which point,Bamford (78), supported byBrodie and Cooke, unleashed afusillade of shots until he per-ished with 25 still needed offonly 3 overs and 4 wickets left.Time to shut up shop? Not so,according to Robin Low, whoseflailing bat sent the ball to allparts of the ground as he smote19 off only 7 balls to win thegame with 3 balls to spare.Cue the jubilation – as well as the generous congratulationsof a bemused, but impressed,opposition.

The weather then intervened asthree of the toughest matches(Charterhouse, M.C.C. andMerchant Taylors) were allabandoned without a ball being

bowled. Yet we hit the groundrunning in the next game as we turned in our best bowlingand fielding performance of theyear, squeezing the life out ofAldenham to skittle them foronly 95 with Cooke taking2–27 and Goppers, an out-standing return of 5–31. With 42 overs to get the runs, we were cruising at 67–3with 16 overs to go and Tim Hunter Jones (37) going well.However, his dismissal saw thewheels fall completely off in theface of some valiant oppositionbowling and fielding. Even a‘dolly drop’ at nine down with6 runs needed couldn’t save usas we capitulated to 90 all outand defeat by 5 runs. This wasa very sobering and frustratingexperience, but it was one welearnt from, and we did nottaste defeat again.

Next up came another strongadult side in the shape of theOld Westminsters who had sev-eral Cricketer Cup players ondisplay. Radhakrishnan (3–67)and Low (2–20) were the onlywicket-takers as the Old Boyseased to a generous declarationof 185–5 off 40 overs leavingthe same amount in return.After a slow start, Bamford and Brodie put together the

SEASON: 2004

CRICKET1ST XIPlayed: 10 Won: 5 Drew: 4 Lost: 1

taking 20 wickets at 17 apieceand scoring 146 runs at anaverage of 48, and, he receivedexcellent support with the ballfrom Radhakrishnan, who took19 wickets at 23 apiece.

Although the statistics aredominated by five players,there were useful contributionsthroughout the team with eachmember playing their part, andparticular mention must go toJake Robson who showed greatpotential by keeping wicketmost ably throughout much of the summer.

I would like to thank all thestaff and coaches connectedwith cricket Station for theirefforts throughout the year,and especially Jonathan Hallfor his knowledgeable inputand constant cheeriness in run-ning the 1st XI with myself. I owe Tony Japhet an immeas-urable debt for continuing toscore for us, as I do to thegroundsman, Ian Monk, andhis able assistant, David Wicks.Also, special thanks to the ven-erable Ray Wallis (Methuselahhimself!) for his umpiring serv-ices throughout. Thank youalso, for their devoted support,to the many parents who cameto Vincent Square throughoutthe season.

In summary, it was a record-breaking and hugely enjoyableseason in the company of agroup of talented, committedand very personable pupils. Ithank them for their hard workand enthusiasm and wish themall the very best with their crick-et. Particularly, I would hopethat all those School-leaverscontinue playing regularly,whether it be in League cricketor elsewhere. There is too muchability there to let it go to waste! JDK

The next match againstKingston Grammar was allabout the batting of DanielBamford as he finally scored awell-merited century. His 117came at quicker than a run-a-ball, containing fourteen 4’sand one six, and dominated animposing total of 198–6 off theallotted 37 overs. The drawwas never really in doubt asKingston tried to accelerate toolate in the face of good medi-um-pace bowling from Low(2–40) and Bamford (3–23).

The last match of the seasonsaw Reigate Grammar make agenerous declaration at 171–5off 38 overs despite the excellentefforts of Low (4–51). This leftthe School 37 overs to try andend the season on a real high,and solid efforts from AdamHines-Green (30) and Brodie(26) left the stage clear forCooke to do what he had donefor most of the season by takingthe bowling apart. His 56 notout came off only 49 balls andcontained ten 4’s which wasenough to see the team home toa comfortable six wicket victoryand the perfect finish to an out-standing team effort.

In summary, some may say thatthe results were flattered by theabandonment of three of thetoughest fixtures. But who isto say that this surprising unitwould not have obtained posi-tive results in those matches as well. This was an efficientbowling and fielding sidewhose real strength lay in theirability to engineer exceptionallymature and ‘professional’ runchases. Bamford and Cookewere the outstanding batsmen,both scoring over 300 runs ataverages of 48 and 52 respec-tively, although Brodie alsoscored consistently well. Lowwas the leading all-rounder,

LEADING BOWLERS

R. Low 20 wickets at 16.85G. Radhakrishnan 19 wickets at 22.95

LEADING BATSMEN

D. Bamford 382 runs at 47.73C. Cooke 309 runs at 51.50D. Brodie 180 runs at 25.71R. Low 146 runs at 48.67

Cricket Club 1st XI. May 2004.Photographed by Everitt Photography.

SEASON: 2004

CRICKETU15

The statistics do not reflectwhat was a good season from avery talented year group. Thenew-ball attack of Josh Bensonand Frederick Johnson, backedup by man-of-the-season RossWheeler as first-change seamer,proved a handful to all oppo-nents. Alex Scott supportedthem ably with his leg-spinand, when he learns how tobowl consistently when underpressure, will certainly jointhem as future First XI players.The batting was underscoredby the indefatigable wicket-keeper-captain Ian Clancy andled by Hugo Hadcock, assistedby Johnson and Wheeler’s middle-order fireworks. Severalplayers also showed great prom-ise. Maatin Patel, whose tacticalnous and undoubted abilityaugur well, and the very steadyall-rounder Laurie Brock arejust two of them.

The boys began with a compet-itive draw against Kingston,which should really have been avictory. An innings of 66 fromFrederick Johnson propelled the U14s to 160–6 dec. By the close the opposition werereeling at 78–8 (Johnson8–0–16–3). After having theworse of the draw at St. Paul’s(129–9, with Laurie Brock6–0–21–5; Westminster 70–8)they moved on to an excellentvictory over Aldenham by 20runs. Hugo Hadcock made 66(Westminster 144 a/o) andJohnson again starred with theball (8–2–17–5). At this stagein the season the team wereplaying their best cricket andAlleyn’s (71 a/o) couldn’t cope.Josh Benson 6–1–11–3 andJohnson 5.1–0–10–3 led therout and, after a stutter, IanClancy and Alex Scott saw the

U14s home to win by 4 wick-ets. The most disappointingperformance was at Eton wheretechnical deficiencies on a diffi-cult pitch led to the boys beingdismissed for 81 and losing by3 wickets. Honourable men-tions, however, for Clancy (23)whose application was a lessonto his team-mates, and Benson(5–1–22–2) whose hostilitynearly won us the game anyway.This knocked the team’s confi-dence and they lost to Chigwell171–6 (Benson 7–0–26–3) whobeat Westminster 139 (Clancy34). The best match of the sea-son was also the last, at Harrow.In a win/loss 25 over match,Harrow exploited an indifferentWestminster’s performance in the field to score 140–8(Benson 5–1–28–2) and beatWestminster 139–8 by thegrand total of one run.Needing to score a boundaryoff the last ball, the team’sman-of-the-season award win-ner, Ross Wheeler, could onlymanage to hit it for two afterClancy (30) and Johnson (38)had provided the platform forthe run-chase.

Many thanks to all who repre-sented the School at A and Bteam level and I very muchhope that they will continue toenjoy Cricket Station further upthe School. They are FrederickHerbert, Ikenna Obiekwe,Karan Rangarajan, MatthewBenger, Michael Taylor, SamClarke, Tom Harrison, StephenHowell, Sahil Kanani, WilliamDenton (B captain).

Special thanks also to Mr.Ullathorne, Dr. Walsh andcoach Valence Similien for all their efforts throughout the season.

Our opening match againstKingston Grammar School wasdominated by an outstandingall-round performance by oneof the opposition. Kingstonscored an impressive 229 oftheir 32 overs with a 100 fromtheir number 4 batsman. Taylorwas the pick of our bowlers,finishing with 5 for 44 from 10 overs. The centurion turnedout to be a promising fastbowler who then quickly brokethrough our top order. Despitedogged resistance from Thomasand Knox we were unable tohold on for a draw. This provedto be the pattern of many ofour games. Our batting neverquite fulfilled its promise anddespite bowling steadily westruggled to dismiss the betteropposition batsmen. As always,we would look back at half-chances in the field that wouldhave made a difference if taken.

We played well against St Paul’sbut failed to post a sufficientlychallenging target. Hines-Greenand Taylor both batted steadilybut neither made it to 50.Aldenham’s total of 198 for 5 off 25 overs proved out ofreach but Orme batted withgreat fluency for 41 in ourreply. Alleyn’s also providedtough opposition; Jelly andThomas batted well but wecould not match their total.Steady contributions fromHines-Green, Burnett, Smithand Thomas helped us to 128

against Eton and we took sixwickets as they chased downthe total. Taylor batted well for 43 in pursuit of Chigwell’sscore but again he lacked sup-port and we came up short. In the London Cup we beatErnest Bevin School comfort-ably, with an unbeaten 50 fromHines-Green and wickets forTaylor and Smith; we lost aclose game against Latymer inthe next round. Throughoutthe season we played with great spirit and determination.

It was disappointing not to winor draw more games but thereis much promise in this group.Taylor, Smith and Donovan allbowled well and Burnett, Jelly,Thomas and Enoch also pro-vided steady support. Neitherof the spinners, Cardona andHines-Green, really settleddown but it was good opposi-tion batting that did not givethem the chance to settle. Withthe batting, Hines-Green hasshown that he has the ability tooccupy the crease and will scoremore fluently as he grows instrength. Taylor has a wonder-ful eye but needs to continueto work on his foot movement.Orme has a graceful cover driveand the potential to take hisgame a lot further. Manythanks to Simon Massey andMichael Milner for their enthu-siastic and informed coaching. MHF

S TAT I O N

SEASON: 2004

CRICKETU14Played: 7 Won: 2 Drew: 2 Lost: 3

tion. All houses played excel-lently, although the title went to Grant’s, who came back frombehind to beat Milne’s in a sud-den death play off in the final.

While this season was marredby frustration and less success,amiability and team spirit weremore than welcome as suitablereplacements.Tim Lai (GG)

arranged, and that both ofthese were cancelled at the 11th hour, leaving only the twomatches against the CommonRoom. Nonetheless, this wasmore than enough to displayour intricately mastered penalty corner routines which, even by Premier League standards,were excellent.

To finish off the season, weheld a House Hockey competi-

With last season now a distantmemory, the squad of 2004/5season had a lot to live up to. A more than convincing victoryagainst UCS and a last gasp drawagainst Haberdashers’ Askes wereprevalent in the minds of thosewho remained with us.

There were huge holes to fillafter over half of the Senior XIwent their separate ways, butwith fresh talent from the new-

comers and some members of theLower School, notably AlexanderScott and Benedict Vanderspar,the Hockey Team fared ratherwell. The old guard though wasconsiderably bolstered by our stargoal-keeper, Leon-Sing Foong,and Olga Polunina. So, the voidleft by the departures was some-what alleviated.

It was a shame that only twointerschool matches were

HOCKEY

FENCING

This year has been anotherhighly successful one for fenc-ing station. The season endedwith Westminster winning the Public Schools FencingChampionships for the fourthyear in a row (though this timetied for equal place with archrivals Brentwood). The schoolalso won the Paddy Power Cupfor the best results in all thejunior events which bodes wellfor the future.

Individually, notable highlightsincluded Marcus Mepstead (LL)beating Rashid Ajami (HH) inthe Boys Junior Foil final, andBasil MacDonald (LL), SamiStart (HH), Nicholas Wareham(WW) and Jonathan Tham(WW) all finishing in the top 8in various events. Other strongperformances were seen fromLucian Trestler (WW) andOliver Campion-Awwad (RR)in the senior events, andEdward Wormington (RR),Serge Isakov (AHH), Sam Carr(GG) and Damian Winter(GG) in the juniors.

These excellent results were followed soon after as twoWestminsters represented Great Britain at the WorldChampionships. MarcusMepstead finished 37th in the U17 boys foil, and SophieTroiano (AHH) fenced spectac-ularly well to finish 23rd in theU20 women’s foil, going out tothe eventual runner-up. Theseresults followed a season inwhich both fencers had per-formed to a very high level,with Marcus ranked as the UK’sNumber 1 U17 foilist aftermaking finals in internationalcompetitions all over Europeand Sophie achieving thebronze medal in the Women’sSenior Championship. BothMarcus and Sophie train almostevery night a week at their club,Salle Paul, and dedicate a hugeamount of time to fencing inorder to be able to perform tosuch a high standard.

A number of other Westminsterfencers were also involved ininternational competitions this

year. At foil, Lucian Trestler andRashid Ajami both representedGreat Britain at the Leon PaulCup, an international U20competition. In epee NicholasWareham and Oliver Campion-Awwad went to U20 world cup events in Pont-de-Sor and Luxembourg, and BasilMacDonald and EdmundWareham (WW) were bothselected to fence in the U17international in Dinant,Belgium. Edmund Warehamalso qualified for the EnglandU16 team for the Junior HomeInternational in NorthernIreland.

This year has also seen the con-tinued rise in the profile of epeeand sabre within the station.This year’s fifth form epeeists are a particularly talented group,and the potential in the youngeryears is very encouraging for the future. The emergence ofWestminster’s first internationalfencers at epee this year is a signof the huge progress that hasbeen made over the past four

years in particular, andWestminster fencers continue to train at London ThamesFencing Club in the evenings.

This year, Jo Maynard has takenover the role of sabre coaching,David Buist has joined to coachepee, and Maciag Wostkowiak,former member of the PolishU20 team, has joined to coachfoil and epee. These three joinTomek Walicki and Leo Suarezour foil coaches to make up avery impressive coaching team.The coaches’ tireless efforts bothat station, and in travelling tocompetitions with fencers, con-tinue to be of great help, and wethank both them together withRussell Dudley-Smith and TomKennedy, who both continue toput in a large amount of theirtime organising the station andarrangements for competitions,for helping to giving the mem-bers of the station the opportu-nity to train and compete at atop level. Nicholas Wareham (WW)Captain of Fencing


CROSSCOUNTRY

ever finish in the RanelaghSchools Cup in Richmond Park two days later in finishing2nd out of 14 schools. TyroneCummins (AAH) had the raceof the day in 18th out of 140runners despite giving awaythree years to most of the othercompetitors. After such a set of performances, it was fittingthat three Westminsters (JamieMoran, Tom Samuel & FelixHale) were rewarded with selec-tion for the prestigious EnglishSchools Cross Country inNorwich in their respective agegroups – a terrific achievementin itself.

As summer approaches, it is hoped that as manyWestminsters as possible willtake the opportunity to race inthe Assembly League – a set ofthree mile road races held fromApril to September. The Schoolteam has shown what it is capa-ble of this year, and it is hopedthat as virtually all of the cur-rent team will still be presentnext year, these can be betterednext winter. SDW

This year has seen the School’scross country team make signif-icant progress: more runnershave been involved, thestrength of performances haveimproved and the team hasbuilt on its previous successes.There is now ability in everyyear in the School, and it ishoped that with continuedeffort and application, some of the current crop of athletescan make the step up to com-pete at an even higher level.

The towpath races inSeptember demonstrated theimprovement in standards, as all three races were thestrongest they have been fornearly ten years. Individual victories were earned by AlexJoseph (MM), Oriel Carew(WW), Felix Hale (BB) andTom Samuel (GG), the lattersetting a new course record of14:14 for the 2.5 mile course,with Busby’s comfortably win-ning the overall team event.The School team comfortablydispatched the Common Roomand OWs in the Towpath Cupas Nick Drake (AAH) led the

field home, before the B teamwon their category over thegruelling 5 mile course at theKing’s Trophy on WimbledonCommon. The RGS Guildfordrelays were one of the high-lights of the year as out of 28teams our A, B and C teamsfinished 6th, 12th and 15threspectively, with Tom Samuelrunning the 3rd fastest time ofthe day out of over 160 run-ners. Such was the strength ofthe School’s performance thatall three Westminster teamsbeat St Paul’s and Latymer’s Ateams, and this was largely dueto an emerging crop of youngerrunners: Laurie Brock (BB),Tyrone Cummins (AHH) andTom Jelly (CC).

After such a good start to theseason, the Senior team contin-ued their fine run of success inwinning the London SchoolsChampionships over a testingcourse on Hampstead Heath.Jamie Moran (DD), AlexJoseph (MM), Matthew Neve(HH) and Alex Murley (MM)were the victorious quartet andshowed the Inters (4th) and

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80 THE ELIZABETHAN 2005 THE ELIZABETHAN 2005 81

Juniors (7th) how it should be done. After a run of goodperformances, the School was invited to compete in theRadley Relays where our teamsmore than held our ownagainst some very high qualityopposition. Tom Samuel’s run of 9 mins 53 second forthe undulating 3 kilometreloop was easily the fastestIntermediate time of the dayand was only bettered by oneSenior, whilst Felix Hale wasthe 5th fastest Junior andhelped our Fifth form teamdefeat the hosts.

The Bringsty Relays providedthe usual mixture of surprises,storming performances andslippery corners with Dryden’sSenior and Busby’s Juniorteams taking the individualspoils, whilst superb consisten-cy from College brought themthe overall title and the covetedBringsty baton. Given thestrength of performances at theBringsty Relays, it was there-fore unsurprising that evenwith a slightly weakened team,the School claimed their best

ATHLETICSof the day however came in theGirls 4 x 100 metre relay as awell-drilled Grant’s team anni-hilated the School record witha time of 57.3 seconds.

At the London SchoolsChampionships, three athletesrepresented the borough –Nikolai Cedraeus was 8th inthe Intermediate 800 metres,Dominic Parsons ran 53 sec-onds in his heat of the 400metres before being forced topull out with a recurrence of a hamstring injury that had

Hakluyt’s retained their title inthe Athletic Sports, marginallyahead of Grant’s and Milne’s.Dominic Parsons (HH) andTom Lloyd (HH) were instru-mental in helping Hakluyt’s tovictory as they dominated theirrespective sprint events, whilstPeter Kennedy (RR) showedtremendous versatility in win-ning three individual events.Robin Low (LL) powered hisway to a win in the Senior Shotand Tom Samuel ran a gun totape victory in the Inter 1500metres. The best performance

plagued his summer, and TomSamuel was 2nd in the final ofthe 1500 metres steeplechase.Dominic Parsons was subse-quently selected to compete forLondon in the English Schools

Championships where he ran51.5 seconds in the semi-final,a time he would easily havebettered were it not for hisrecurring hamstring injury.SDW

TENNISThe 2004 season began withour traditional fixture againstthe American School atPaddington Recreation Centre.We took a 1st IV comprised of Marc Baghdadi and VadimVarvarin as 1st pair, and NedYounger and Jamie Cochran as2nd pair. Our 2nd IV consist-ed of Annabel Clifford andFelix Garthwaite and MattWebb and Chris Anguelov.The team achieved a resound-ing 9–0 win which was com-pleted just before the heavensopened at 5 o’clock. Baghdadiand Varvarin were so strongthat they did not actually losea set.

On Saturday 8th May theschool played Putney TennisClub at Vincent Square. Weonce again fielded a 1st IV and2nd IV, and won a close match8–6. Baghdadi and Varvarinwere invincible once again, buteveryone played well, and itwas extremely encouraging that Matt Webb and BenVanderspar won 2 of their 3matches, particularly as Benwas only in the 5th form.

On Tuesday 11th May, wetook a 1st VI, U14 VI andU15 VI to Eton. AlthoughVarvarin and Baghdadi won alltheir 3 matches, we were out-classed elsewhere, and the finalresult has been convenientlymislaid. However, the playersgave it their best shot, and, at the junior level, PeterNoorani and Harry Rose both impressed in particular.

On Thursday 13th May, wetook 24 players to Harrow. We won the senior match 6–3,but, suffice it to say, came sec-ond in the juniors. Varvarinand Baghdadi simply outplayedevery opponent, not droppinga single game in four sets

against every opposing pair.They were a complete pleasureto watch, chalking up 24 sets,and their games drew ruefulgasps from their opponents onthe rare occasions when theygave away a point. Our 3rdpair, Garthwaite andVanderspar also won all thefour sets they played.

On Tuesday 18th May, we took16 players away a new fixtureat Winchester. It was an idyllicsummer’s day, and we arrivedto the pleasant surprise of dis-covering we would be playingon grass. The 1st VI halvedtheir match 41/2 – 41/2.Amazingly, although Baghdadiand Varvarin managed to winall 4 sets that they played, theydid actually lose 7 games alongthe way. Webb and Cochranhalved their match against their corresponding pair, andVanderspar and Garthwaitemanaged a point from theirmatch. In the U15s, Amin-Smith and Morris played wellto win both their matches,whilst the U14s played welldespite losing 6–3.

On Thursday 20th May theSchool played the CommonRoom, but seeing as I have no record of the result, I can only assume the School musthave won by some margin.

The match against Highgateproduced very mixed results. Inthe seniors, the team won 8–1.Baghdadi and Varvarin were, asusual, 1st pair, Jamie Cochranand Ned Younger 2nd, andAnnabel Clifford and MattWebb third. The U15s lost 71/2 – 11/2 , however, TomTredinnick and Rupert Eylesdid play well to beat their 3rd pair 6–2, and KarnigManoukian and Daniel Stokerdid manage to scrape a half.

After half-term, with the delugeof examinations, competitivematches were restricted to thehousematches and our secondyear in the Youll Cup. Asregards the former, Hakluyt’s,in the guise of Marc Baghdadiand Babak Eslamian, beatRigaud’s convincingly in thefinal. Babak definitely made all the difference.

In the Youll Cup, we had veryhigh expectations, as our drawwas good, and we were able tofield our top 4 players: MarcBaghdadi and Vadim Varvarin(1st pair) and Jamie Cochranand Ned Younger (2nd pair).After sailing through the earlyrounds, we then faced KCSWimbledon in the semi-final.We drew the 2 doubles matcheswhich then meant the tiewould be decided by a singleset rubber between the two topplayers from each team. I was

extremely confident, but,although Marc played his heartout, it was not to be, and wewere knocked out. One slightconsolation is that King’s wenton to win the final. Regardless,we should be extremely proudof reaching the semi-finals ofthe Independent SchoolsAssociation’s most prestigioustournament, a competitionwhich is represented by the bestsporting independent schoolsthroughout the country. SC

ETON FIVESthan their D team. This is aclear indicator of the regard inwhich we are held. I was partic-ularly impressed with the U15sand U16s where we have someexceptionally good players who look as if they are winnerson court (a trait rare in theWestminsters that I encoun-tered when taking over!). Somuch of the game is aboutbody language.

The Schools’ NationalChampionships were held atShrewsbury. I think that it is fairto say that it was the most suc-cessful ever performance by aWestminster team. In the sen-iors, Krespi (DD) and Peterson(QSS) failed to adapt to thenorthern conditions and under-achieved, reaching only the 3rd round. They have been thelynchpin of the seniors and areexcellent players. Expect to seethem back playing for the OldWestminsters soon. The girlsdid fantastically well. TheBishop sisters were beaten in theSemi Finals and Luck-Hille andStojcevic were robbed in an agonizing plate final. Leese and

Amin-Smith reached the 3rdround of the U16s but look a talented pair for next year’s seniors. In the U15s we hadunprecedented success: Bourne(MM) and Rankine (RR) werebeaten in the semi final by thesame Harrow pair that eliminat-ed Brock (BB) and Bott (GG)in the quarters. To have twopairs get into the quarter finalswas a stunning achievement. To add to that Illingworth andDuchateau won the plate com-petition. In the U14 beginners,Burrell (WW) and Leese (DD)put a poor run of results overthe season behind them to getto the quarter finals. Theyplayed with great determinationand maturity.

It is with some sadness that Ipass on control of the stationto James Harrison. He inheritsa large group of boys and girlswho show great determinationand potential. Matthew Chen(LL) and Ed Miles (RR) havebeen appointed Captain andVice Captain, Alex Leese willbe Secretary. MJM

It has been an outstanding yearfor Eton Fives at Westminster.Matthew Wiseman wasbrought in to coach for bothStation afternoons and Fridayafternoons. His increased presence has had a profoundimpact on the game here; weare lucky to have his services.We have been ably assisted by James Harrison, RichardHuscroft and Richard Stokesover the year and staff interestgenerally remains high. CharlesUllathorne and I competed inthe Northern Championshipsat Shrewsbury, only to beknocked out of the Festival bythe eventual winners of thatcompetition: Will Illingworth(RR) and a player from StOlave’s Grammar School.

When I took over from KenZetie four years ago, I wouldnot have predicted the explo-sion in interest within theschool and wealth of talent cur-rently available. We have threecourts whereas the big fourschools i.e. Eton, Shrewsbury,Highgate and Harrow all haveat least twelve each. If we can

compete with these schoolsthen we have achieved some-thing special at Westminster.

One of the catalysts for recentresurgence has been the girlsstarting to play. Esmay Luck-Hille (DD), Lucie and GabyBishop (LL), Oriel Carew(WW) and Laura Stojcevic(MM) surprised all of us bycarrying on with immense ded-ication through their Removeyear. The current 6th Form will be captained by SashaMitiukova (AHH) next yearand I predict that our girls’team will achieve great thingsover the next few years.

2004 saw the return of theWestminster IndividualChallenge Cup. A lovely cuplast awarded in 1937 was presented to Alex Leese (DD)by the Head Master at the endof a close final match.

Results against other schoolswere generally good. We can now send teams to goodschools knowing that they willput out their best players rather

S TAT I O N


NETBALLAfter the beginnings of some-success last year, led by theNational player Jesse Meyers,we decided to work really hardas a team this year and to ‘gofor gold’ ourselves.

Thanks to the enthusiasm andorganisation of Mrs Sharp, our brilliant ‘Coach (not)’, the dedication of my fellowplayers and a little militantencouragement from yourstruly, we were successful. Theteam remained unbeaten forthe first two months of thenetball season, finally just

losing to City of London.However their coach was sur-prised at the marked improve-ment and suggested we enterthe tournament. We then wenton to beat South Hampstead(who had recently come froma netball tour of South Africa)and Godolfin and Latymer,amongst many other victories.Finally, wearing our own regu-lation kit with a ‘Westminsterpink’ trim, we entered into the Middlesex tournamentwhere we came third to Cityof London and North LondonCollegiate.

We are now proud to havebeen one of the most successfulsports teams at Westminster in2005 and to have played notonly in the rain, but in thesnow and hail (whilst the foot-ball team sat in the library).Thanks again to Mrs Sharp,Mrs Jorgensen, Dr Cockburn,Miss Harrison and Mrs Harrisfor making it happen. Let mesee you one two-step.Elle Graham-Dixon (WW)

MARTIAL ARTS2005 was an excellent year forthe Martial Arts station, whichhas gone from strength tostrength. We have had a num-ber of additional fixtures atwhich last years grading suc-cesses were converted to an

excellent success rate in compe-titions. The station has contin-ued to flourish with boys par-ticipating from the full range of years. We have also seen agrowing number of girls partic-ipating. Larry, our coach, hascontinued to keep the Judotraining sessions lively andentertaining, with clear divi-dends being paid for his (andstation member) efforts in theform of competition results!

We were involved in a total of 6 competitions. The onlyblemishes to our record werethe home and away resultsagainst Eton, mainly due to an unbelievable number of“lucky” decisions going Eton’sway. Against Charterhouse wegot a 2–2 draw at home, withwins from Sebastian Nadaland Marc Scrimshire. We alsowon away against Harrow-sweet revenge after being beaten last year.

The London Schools’ competi-tion saw excellent performancesfrom our two entrants –Sebastian won a silver medaland Tom Moore won a bronze.The highlight of the year was

clearly the independent schoolscompetition at High Wycombewhich we missed last year. We entered seven players andwalked away with four medals.Everyone fought very hard andcongratulations should be given

to the whole team. EdmundFokschaner won a bronze inthe open weight, Sebastian andI won silver medals and HughLeonard won gold. We alsocame significantly higher thanEton in the school rankings-perhaps reflecting the nature ofdecisions made in the friendlycompetitions against them!

Well done to all the stationmembers. A particular mentionshould go to Natalia Diaz –although she didn’t get theopportunity to fight in any com-petitions she beats most of thelower school with ease. Thankyou to Mr Allnatt for runningthe station, supporting us andorganizing all the competitions. Marc Scrimshire (BB)

SHOOTINGWe are thankful for anotherbrilliant year in ShootingStation. Though members andstaff alike were unsure if wewould be able to live up to previous standards, we haveremained as proud of ourefforts as ever. The first VIIIhave shot in a series of match-es; both home and away againstHarrow and a postal matchagainst Wellington. Our friend-ly Play term fixture at Harrowproduced a comfortable win of737 to their 681. RobinBurkill, Loren Lam, Ed Jeffrey,Keunyoung Oh, GamalKhamis, Ted Marcus and, new-comer to the team, MoonheeHong shot both ten-spot delib-erates and skirmishes, provingour mettle in both disciplines.Following games, such as afive-spot deliberate postalagainst Wellington and anotherhome match with Harrow alsoproduced victories, with scoresof 737 vs 736 (which wasclose!), and 732 vs 715 respec-tively. This has resulted in ourthird year of being unbeaten insmall bore matches.

Now a yearly tradition, we also took part in the BritishSchools’ Smallbore Rifle competitions in the Play term2004. Despite only droppingsix points from 600, stiff com-petition from other schoolswith strong shooting back-grounds unfortunately landedus with fifth place. Our scoreof 594 in five spot deliberates is admirable nevertheless.

With respect to full-bore rifles,we were not so lucky in amatch against Wellington atBisley shooting grounds duringelection term 2003. Their superiority at 300m resulted in their marginal win, but the Westminster squad, mosthaving never shot these riflesbefore, put in a credible per-formance. We hope to facethem soon in a rematch!

New to Shooting this year wasour very own station websitethanks to Loren Lam. By farthe snazziest page on theWestminster School net, stationmembers can now look upinformation about upcomingmatches or personal averages atwww.wsrc.tk.

On the range front, with helpfrom a modest budget increase,we have acquired a new lefthanded rifle and new eardefenders, though the purchaseof a new gun cabinet has beendelayed and our tasteful purpleand green jackets will still haveto have some life in them. Wehave also tidied up the range,having thrown out all the junkor moved it out of the way.Perhaps a sofa for next year?

Thanks to the station’s ban onLower Shell being lifted, talentis already emerging amongstour numerous new faces.Congratulations to CaptainRobin Burkill who currentlyholds the station’s highest aver-age of over 96. Although hewas submitted for the BritishSchools Team, his applicationwas unfortunately lost in thepost, we hope for better lucknext year amongst our promis-ing sixth formers.

Finally, thank you to MarkPearce for his coaching skills,dedication and kind advice.Thanks to Ms French and MsTurner for their patience andefforts in keeping the stationrunning. And last but not least,thank you to the master incharge, Dr Robinson, whoalways strives to improve shooting station and keepseverybody in high spirits. Good luck for the future; wewill miss the Station sorely.Robin Burkill (WW) andKeunyoung Oh (BB)


LEAVERS 2004

Pooja Agrawal PPKareem Ahmed MMKenichi Akito GGAzzam Al Kadhi HHHelen Alexander BBDanny Amliwalla RRJames Anderson LLJohn Ashton WWFreddie Athill MMNicola Atkins CCNezam Bagherzade DDJames Bagnall WWAditi Bagri RRAnton Baker LLDaniel Bamford LLNabeel Bhanji GGThomas Borsay HHPhilippe Bradley RRHenrietta Brooks LLNick Budd GGJohn Bussetil WWJames Buxton HHRay Cai GGThomas Carter WWSarah Castor-Perry RRJohn-William Chaldecott BBYou-Jin Chang DDGrace Chatto BBPhin Chooi GGHamza Choudhry RRFrancesca Church LLOlivia Ciardi AHHKristina Clark MMAnnabel Clifford BBJames Cochran GGJames Cook RRArjun Coomaraswamy CCGeorgina Corbet Burcher PPAndrew Couroussopoulos RRAndrea Cox LLBill Day LLSamuel Dub BBHarriet Dykes PPAnthony Ellis AHHAdam Fair RRHamish Falconer HHJack Farthing BBThomas Fitzgerald GGCharlie Fitzgerald DDMiia-Mari Forbes BBNatasha Forrester DDAndrew Freedman WWRobert Freudenthal HHRobert Furber CCPia Gadkari HHOliver Garthwaite AHHMurat Gokmen CC

Benjamin Goldsmith LLThea Goodsell WWFred Gordon CCWilliam Gore-Randall AHHRebecca Greig BBMatthew Greig Taylor RRSimon Hammond BBChristopher Hanges RRJoshua Hardie BBMarianna Hay AHHLuke Hearn AHHTheo Hessing BBTomas Hirst BBArthur Hobhouse GGAndrew Holgate DDSi Si Huang PPGeorgie Hunt WWNikolai Japp HHMatthew Jayne WWDarius Jehangir HHAlexandra Jenkins WWBenjamin Jones MMBasil Jradeh LLSofia Kaba Ferreiro MMChristos Kaplanis RRChristopher Karageorgis HHPeter Kennedy RRBenjamin Kent WWBilal Khan DDSasha Klimov AHHJohann Koehler MMIlya Kondrashov AHHCharlene Kong MMJake Levy CCRebecca Lewin WWEmily Lim CCMin-Kai Lin GGSerge Lioutyi DDNicholas Loder GGKenny Loke AHHRobin Low LLAndrew Luk GGOliver Lyttelton HHThomas Mackenzie BBChristian Malagon BBNathalie Malamatinas HHSabrina Malpas HHJamie Manfield CCNatalia Marrin AAEleanor Marsh RRBenjamin Martin WWNickil Mashru AHHLydia Mason PPPippa McCarthy HHCarina McLain BBRose McLaren PPJesse Mears GG

Jonathan Mendelowitz AHHKeren Mitchell WWHarry Moore LLWilliam Mulholland WWChris Namih DDLara Nassif AHHAdam Newgas DDBertrand Nicoli MMWilliam Oates LLDominic O'Mahony CCBen Paget GGRupert Paines MMYong Park CCCharlotte Parker GGAlice Pillar DDSanjay Pindoria MMGopalan Radhakrishnan GGJonathan Richards GGSarah Rogers DDHarshavardhan Sancheti MMAndrew Sanderson RRNed Scott MMGerard Scott GGDeepon Sen Gupta BBChaand Shah GGBenedict Sheppard GGManraj Sidhu BBStefan Sienkiewicz GGMax Silver GGMichael Smith MMMartine Sobey LLDev Sodagar MMAnthony Staples BBGalina Stepanova CCToby Stevens DDBobby Talalay HHAthavan Thirunavukarasu RRDavid Thomas BBAlyson Thompson RRCornelius Trestler WWErim Tuc GGAntonia Turrell PPVadim Varvarin RROliver Waddington-Ball AHHLavish Wadhwani DDMatthew Webb BBHarry Weeks WWCharles Willison LLJack Wolton WWTimothy Woodward HHPhilip Wroe BBNed Younger LLOsman Yousef HHAlexander Zafiriou DDAdley Zayan GGChris Ziegler DD

PULLENDAYCENTREThe Pullen Centre is a day carecentre for old people who livearound the Pimlico area. It hashad strong links of friendshipwith Westminster for a longtime. Each year, a number ofpupils visit the centre everyweek for Community Service,and they have always found theexperience immensely valuableand enjoyable. Many of themembers have had rich, diverseand fascinating experiences intheir lives, and we learn a lotfrom their lively and spiritedapproaches to happiness in oldage. The courage and compas-sion of the staff are alsoadmirable. Fanxi Wang

COMMUNITY SERVICE

BURDETTCOUTTSPRIMARYThe kids in 4F can never quiteget over the fact that I live athome with my Mum and Dadand go to school just like them.To them I am enormous and afully-fledged grown up; ‘MissGrace’. Some of several inter-esting things about going toBurdett Coutts Primary hasbeen getting to know some ofthem and remembering justwhat it was like to be nineyears old. I have been going tothe school once a week sinceSeptember to help out and ithas proved to be a really enjoy-able way to spend the after-noon. It has given me a greatinsight into just how muchhard work it is being a teacher,

which I had definitely underes-timated. I had also underesti-mated just how tough it can be being in Year 4 if you don’talways know the answer or justdon’t like school. One of thebest days I had there was whenafter persevering all afternoon,three children on my tablefinally got the hang of tellingthe time. Hopefully I’ve helpedthem out a bit and they haveenjoyed Thursday afternoons as much as I have. Grace Benton

COMMUNITY SERVICE

THE ELIZABETHAN 2005ISSUE 724

THE ELIZABETHAN 2005

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