Good evening all – here is my first blog of the new term. I should probably have wrapped up the end of the Michaelmas term with a final blog letting you know how wonderful the end of term was, especially the carol services which I thought were the best yet, but as so many of you came to them, I didn’t really see the need!
This term has started well, if perhaps a little quietly, but there are already a few events to report. On Friday we were very fortunate to welcome Ed Chamberlin, the presenter of ‘Super Sunday’ and ‘Monday Night Football’ on Sky Sports. He spoke to the boys about how to get into journalism and what it takes to put his programmes together. He also displayed an encyclopaedic knowledge of football, perhaps not surprisingly, and admitted to being a life-long Southampton fan…come on the Saints! The boys were totally engrossed by his talk and I have never seen so many hands-up when he opened the floor to questions. Thee were some pretty good ones too, and one boy even had the audacity to ask how much he got paid, as he wanted to know whether it would be worth his while applying for such a job in the future!
Ed Chamberlin with the boys on Friday night
Saturday saw the opening fixtures of the rugby season. I was concerned about the state of the pitches after a reasonably hard frost on Friday night, but Holman was on hand to inform me that the frost would thaw by 11:30am which it duly did – almost to the minute. No one knows the grounds like him! Milbourne Lodge arrived, and our 1st XV and Colts A both recorded comfortable wins to set their seasons in motion. Our Under Nines went away to Milbourne but returned with a less happy outcome. They will undoubtedly come across weaker opposition in the matches ahead. Sadly the 2s and Bs missed out on their fixtures, but they are geared up for Bishopsgate on Wednesday.
On Sunday the boarders were entertained by a Circus performer who spent the afternoon teaching them the skills of plate-spinning, stilt-walking, juggling, diabolo, and feather-balancing to name but a few. It was great fun and we shall definitely have him back for more in the future.
Plate-Spinning
Stilt-Walking
Practising Circus skills....
This week we are off to see one of the boys’ pictures which is currently hanging in the Saatchi gallery in London, as he is down to the final 20 out of 10,000 entrants in the Daily Telegraph school art competition…there is a £10,000 prize for the winning entry – fingers crossed! Friday night is Bingo Night and then Saturday sees the first leg of matches against Sunningdale. There will be a Ski Sale afterwards and then there is an African Drums workshop in the afternoon / evening. On Sunday there will be a Formula One Racing simulator at Woodcote for the boarders to enjoy.
It should be a great week – especially if we win 10 grand!
That is all.