Articles

It’s all Go for the new LSF Sports facility

For many years the main school halls on campus were used as gymnasiums and in 1959, following successful fundraising efforts, a new purpose built gymnasium, to enhance the provision of physical education, was built at Loughborough High School (LHS). An article from November 1959 written upon the opening, notes: ‘on a tour of inspection guests admired the spacious kit-room, changing-room and showers (which have not been used since the Town Council drew attention to the shortage of water and the need for economy) before entering the gymnasium itself, a large, well-lighted building with the latest apparatus which girls of the school demonstrated under supervision of the games mistresses, Miss M Potts and Mrs E Toone.’

60 years on, and the vision for sport across Loughborough Schools Foundation (LSF) continually evolves to promote participation, engagement, variety, competitive success and overall fitness. The current Governors committed to the development of a brand new facility, refurbishing the former High School gymnasium into a dance studio and fitness suite, and adding a multi-use sports hall. In 2018 the #getsetgo Girls Sports Facility Appeal was launched to purchase equipment for this exciting new facility, and it is thanks to a number of donors that the fundraising goal was achieved. The Foundation even received a substantial legacy from Miss Sheila Parkin, a former pupil of Loughborough High School, which enabled us to cross the finish line, and reach the overall target of £168,500 for the equipment. It is for this reason that the new facility is called the ‘Parkin Sports Centre’.

Many alumnae upon reunion tours have recalled ‘the smell of the old gym’ and ‘using the freezing cold communal showers’. I wonder what those of you who remember shimmying up the ropes and vaulting over the ‘horse’ will make of the extensive sports hall, new weights areas, and the treadmills and spin bikes!

Jo Hackett, Director of Sport at LSF notes: ‘the Parkin Sports Centre is a superb indoor sports facility for the Foundation, offering a first-class playing area where our students are able to develop their skills. The sports hall has been used already for a range of activities, as well as competitions from indoor hockey, netball and badminton, through to aerobics, trampolining and Zumba. The fitness suite and studio provides a modern and extensive strength and conditioning suite as well as a purpose-built studio for dance, fitness classes, such as spin and circuits and many other activities.’

The Parkin Sports Centre will be opened officially later this academic year when COVID-19 restrictions allow.

If you wish to find out more about future fundraising initiatives, how to support the Foundation or about leaving a gift to your School in your will please do contact us in the Development Office at development@lsf.org

Tennis Champions Past and Future

Amherst are now into their second year of hosting the elite tennis boarders as part of the Foundation’s partnership with Loughborough University National Tennis Academy (LUNTA). Whilst the girls remain resident at Hahn House, the boys have now moved from School House at Loughborough Grammar School to their own boarding house Glengairn along with Housemistress Marie West and family.

Here, three of the boarders give us an insight into their daily life, in times outside of national lockdown!

A week in the life of the Loughborough University National Tennis Academy players and boarders.

On Monday, it’s an early start. We wake up at 6:20am and have a healthy breakfast to start the day off well. We get our bags ready the night before so straight after breakfast we can hop in the taxi to get to Loughborough University for 7:30am. By 7.45am we’re on court warming up ready to start training at 8.00am until around 9:45am. After a quick change we’re back in the taxi heading for Amherst School and a geography lesson. Straight after geography we have maths for an hour and a half, then we head into the common room to hang out with mates. After a quick lunch it’s back to the University for 2.30pm. Another warm and tennis lesson before a break and snack at 4:30pm after which it’s to the gym for 5.00pm where we have a session until 6.00pm. Then it’s back to the players’ lounge to sort our bags before the taxi arrives at 6.15pm. We enjoy a filling dinner before we walk back to Hahn House (our boarding house) for a nice, warm shower ready to start our homework.

Tuesday is a tough day! We’re back on the Tennis court for 7:30am and a two and a half hours session. We leave the University for Amherst at 10:45am and as soon as we arrive we have maths for half an hour then Physics for an hour and a half. After lunch we have extra science followed by English. School ends at 4.00pm but we’re back on court by 4.30pm. The second tennis session of the day lasts for an hour and a half and we finish at 6:30. We get a taxi to go back to school for dinner, before the short walk to Hahn House for homework and bed by 9.30pm.

On Wednesdays we don’t have training in the morning so we get to sleep in until 7:30am. We have a tasty breakfast at school before lessons start at 9:10am. Following a quick change, it’s off to the gym for session at 11.00am. After an hour of gym, we head back to school for English at 12:10pm. Wednesday is only a half day of school, so we head to Loughborough Uni at 2:15pm where we have a series of meetings either with a Psychologist or Performance Lifestyle Education Manager. After the meetings we have another tennis session and finish at about 6.30pm.

Thursday is one of the hardest days. We have to be at the tennis centre for 7:45am for a two hour vigorously hard tennis session followed by a cool down session at 10:15am. We have a warm shower and change into our school uniforms to head to school in a taxi. We arrive at Amherst for a full day of lessons consisting of chemistry, maths and English. After school, we travel back to the Uni to start our second session at 4:30pm. After another long session, our cool down ends at 6:30pm and we travel to the Grammar School to have an evening meal. Looks like we’ll be having a good sleep tonight after a long day!

On Fridays we have an early start as our taxi picks us up at 7:15am. When we arrive at the tennis centre all our bags for school and tennis are pre-packed and the only thing we have left to do is fill our water bottles up do a warm up that is tailored for our own specific development. We have two sessions with a short break in between for a snack to build up energy levels. We always have food in the players’ lounge so we can eat whenever we’re hungry. After a gym session we grab a refreshing shower and quickly get changed and travel to school. We have physics and history on Fridays and private study to catch up on any work we’ve missed. We love Friday’s lunch as it’s fish and chips. At the end of the school day we go back to the University to play a bit more tennis and then head back by taxi to have some well-deserved dinner in the Burton Hall. We walk back to Hahn House to relax and get ready to go to bed. On Saturdays we have a lie in! We get ready to have breakfast before the taxi picks us up at 9:05am. When we arrive at the tennis centre we get ready to go straight onto court so we can start our warm up. The tennis session is one and a half hours – it’s a bit hard as it’s the last session after a tiring week, but we all know that it makes us stronger. We stretch and shower and head back to Hahn House for lunch, which Mrs West and her family often make for us. The rest of the day is free time where we can go into town or meet our friends or even have sleepovers. We are also allowed to stay up just a little bit longer.

Sundays are usually quiet. We like to stay in bed later and then go to brunch at 11.00am. After brunch, we sometimes go to town or we watch a film. We like to chill and chat. At 5.00pm we go to tea at the Grammar School and after that, when we come back to Hahn House, we usually do some homework and get ready for the week to come.

LUNTA (p.12) is not the first relationship that Loughborough Schools Foundation have had with elite tennis. A recent restoration project of a school cup during the first national lockdown lead to John Weitzel’s discovery of a past champion.

The inspiration behind The Hamilton Cup.

By John Weitzel

Hodson Hall (LGS) houses around 100 cups of various ages in the cabinets that surround the hall. The three oldest are the most special, with one in particular, The Hamilton Cup, being perhaps the most intriguing.

The tennis report in the very first Loughburian of 1879 ends with these words ‘The result of this year’s contest for the Captaincy is that Hamilton is not compete, or the result might have been different; but in Hamilton we have one who is likely to develop into a thoroughly good athlete – especially in Cricket.’ 11 years later, aged just 25, Hamilton becomes the first (of three) Irishmen to win Wimbledon.

(James) Willoughby Hamilton was born on 9 December 1864 in Monasterevin, County Kildare, the 7th of nine children of Revd. Canon William Alfred Hamilton, a Church of Ireland rector, and Henrietta Cole. So, the obvious question is - why did they chose LGS as the boarding school for their very sporty son? Surely a more prestigious boarding school would have been their choice? Here, the clue comes from the knowledge that his big brother – 15 years older – is Revd. Henry Balfour Hamilton who we know became the first Rector of the recently restored St Helena’s Church in West Leake in 1882, the year after Willoughby leaves LGS. So, it is likely that he was at another local church prior to that appointment and able to look after little brother at half-terms etc.

Hamilton entered Wimbledon for the first time in 1896, reaching the quarter-finals. In 1887 the County Dublin Championships clashed with the tournament but when he returned in 1888, he reached the semi-finals which he also reached again in 1889. In 1890, he went two stages further. He won the All-Comers competition and qualified to meet William Renshaw, the six times previous winner, for the Championship. The following description of the match is from the Daily News: ‘Some very even play was seen in the first set which was secured by Renshaw by 8 to 6. In the second set Hamilton obtained an easy victory by 6 to 2, whilst the third set went to the holder at 6-3. After this Renshaw did not meet with much success, and Hamilton taking the fourth and fifth sets at 6-1 each, won the Championship by 3 sets to

victorious. Paget was absent and did 2. Of the 45 games played, Hamilton won 27.’ This and other tournament wins meant that Hamilton was ranked Number 1 in the world.

What happened next is one of the great mysteries in sport. He never ever competed in another competitive tennis match and no-one seems to know why. According to more than one source, a serious illness, blood poisoning, was said to be the cause but it is unlikely that he was seriously ill for too long as he married five years later and was working as a stockbroker in 1911. Indeed, there is evidence that he continued playing football and cricket. Was he just fed up playing tennis? He lived for 53 years after his Wimbledon triumph until he died on 27 September 1943 in Dundrum, Dublin, aged 78.

As you might expect, his triumph at Wimbledon was at the centre of the Chairman of Governors’ speech at prize giving. Mr Hussey Packe mentioned the excitement of the boys over Hamilton’s success and their efforts to establish three silver challenge cups for cricket, football and tennis. Thus, Hamilton’s success establishes the House System which, after many changes, is still in place to this day. The Cups were funded by the boys (parents!) of the new ‘Houses’ : the Football Cup by the Day Boys (with 39 listed donors); the Cricket Cup by Burton House (with 26 donors); and The Hamilton Cup by School House (with 19 donors, including the Headmaster). He was so taken by Hamilton’s triumph that ‘during the Midsummer holidays our Head Master has very generously had the old ash court asphalted at his own expense, and we feel sure that the whole school will heartily join us in thanking him for his great munificence.’ In those days the tennis court was on the quad.

The cups for cricket and tennis have been presented ever since (the football cup went into abeyance when rugby was introduced) but unfortunately eight years ago the Hamilton Cup broke in two and I was forced to ‘fix it’ with Blu-Tack and the cup never left the display case. For four years, until I retired, I tried to find somewhere to repair it locally, without success. Being solid silver, no-one wanted to touch it, including our own design department! In April this year, after about a month in lockdown and getting bored, I started looking for somewhere further afield to do the job and after several failures finally found someone in Cumbria who was happy to do it. The result is that not only is the Hamilton Cup repaired, it has also been fully restored to its former glory. All the dents have been removed and it looks like new – the ‘Repair Shop’ could not have done a better job! A fitting tribute to arguably the School’s greatest sportsman –so far!

We’ve got the CCF covered. By Dan Murphy, Contingent Commander (Class of 1996)Undercover CCF

By Dan Murphy, Contingent Commander (Class of 1996)

Amherst students now get the opportunity to join in with the adventure of the Combined Cadet Force (CCF) over at the Loughborough Grammar School base. 50% of Amherst sixth form pupils are currently developing personal responsibility, leadership and self-discipline through their involvement in the challenging military-themed activities on offer. One particular student who has thrown herself into this is Pippa in Year 12 (pictured below). Pip was awarded her CCF Colours in October for her strong commitment to CCF activities. She is an enthusiastic and effective Non-Commissioned Officer, leading and instructing junior cadets within the RAF section. With one of her colleagues, she led a fascinating interview during lockdown with the first and only female Red Arrow, Squadron Leader Kirsty Murphy. She was also part of the senior team supporting the recent training exercise “October Optimist” held during half term, offering invaluable support to staff in that capacity. Lockdown restrictions didn’t prevent the CCF from continuing with cadet training in each week during the summer term, albeit remotely. The Non-Commissioned Officers impressed by planning and delivering so many of the lessons and activities. Highlights from March-July 2020 include:

daily challenges, discussions and articles from the RAF: Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths Flight video tutorials on military knowledge, seamanship, drill, physical training, navigation and infantry tactics video tutorials on air rifle handling, including an online ‘theory test’ 70% of RAF basic cadets passed their Leading Cadet exams video compilation of cadets paying their respects to accompany the Headmaster’s VE Day address competitions and quizzes including best boots, best back-garden improvised shelter, rangecard assessments, best home-made aircraft and a 5km running challenge

Furthermore, several cadets conducted interviews with alumni and former LGS CCF cadets about their lives in the Jared and Archie discussed life in the navy, flying helicopters, and being a ship’s captain with Commander Pete Higgins AFC RN (Class of 1997)

Tom and Lily interviewed Lieutenant Colonel Adam Foden DSO MBE (Class of 1996), the current Commanding Officer of the Royal Lancers, about life in the armoured cavalry

Ryan and Steffan spoke to Ben Murphy (Class of 1993) about his experiences as an RAF Harrier pilot, leader of the Red Arrows and running Britain’s Red Bull Air Race team.

Al interviewed S/Lt Jack Edwards RN (Class of 2014) about his time as a cadet in LGS CCF, being a member military, including:

of the University Royal Naval Unit, joining the Royal Navy, and life as an officer under training.

We remain thankful for all the support we receive from alumni and parents alike. A very generous donation from the parents of a recent cadet, and the support from the LGS PA, enabled us to procure a superb multi-purpose shelter. Extremely robust and waterproof, the 6m x 3m pop-up gazebo can be used as an HQ tent on exercise, an air rifle and archery firing point, cover at parades such as Annual Review and Remembrance and myriad other uses. We look forward to many years of hard use for this superb gift, and would like to thank those who made it possible.