Malvern View, Issue 4, Summer 2009

M alvern View Issue 4 | Summer 2009

Outdoor Pursuits

Development Plan

ISFA Champions

www.malcol.org

p.7 p.8 p.16

Keep on running

p.4

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Malvern View • Summer 2009

From the Headmaster Recently the sun has shone on Malvern’s endeavours and, as I write to you, I am conscious of the sound of leather against willow on the Senior and also of the fact that students have their heads bowed in articulating responses to their examiners in Big School.

A Malvern College education is a broad and rich experience and this has been amply borne out by outstanding musical concerts, art of the highest order on display throughout the school and some poignant drama during the course of this year. There are multi-faceted opportunities in kayaking, debating, rock climbing and in academic societies available to our pupils at this inspiring school. And I know that most of our pupils really enjoy the whole Malvern experience most of the time and value being here because an independent team making the school DVD told me that they could hardly believe how overwhelmingly positive our students were about their school. I am not surprised, as Malvern is very much on the move and an exciting place to be with the new sports complex and boarding houses nearing completion, but neither am I complacent about the constant challenge of fulfilling our Mission Statement.

BBC’s ‘Countryfile’ visits Colwall CC In April the BBC’s ‘Countryfile’ film crew arrived at Colwall CC to film for the programme which was broadcast on Saturday 25th April.

This edition of Countryfile featured Malvern, and Colwall in particular, where it is believed, Ladies Cricket began. Chey West, our sports coach, took ten of the girls to Colwall CC to take part in a coaching session run by one of the Womens’ Cricket World Cup winners, Isa Guha. The girls were filmed and interviewed for the programme by Countryfile’s Julia Bradbury and were able to take a close look at the Womens’ Cricket World Cup and pick up a few tips on the television business. All in all it was a very exciting day for us.

I trust that you will enjoy gaining a further insight into our world in this publication.

Antony Clark Headmaster

Rising above it all According to the school calendar, the 13th and 14th of June should have been a busy sporting weekend but with a match against Shrewsbury on Saturday abandoned and an EIGHT8 Cricket tournament on Sunday cancelled, spirits were a bit low.

The weather was set fair but alas no cricket could be played; an outbreak of swine flu in the College meant that only the examination students were still in residence and it looked like being a quiet time with only revision on the horizon.

However the Senior Master was not going to let the fine weather which had been forecast go to waste and to the delight of all the pupils organised hot air balloon rides for everyone during the course of Sunday afternoon. Lots of staff and pupils came out to watch as three people at a time went up in the balloon. Our A Level students will remember this fun weekend which raised them above the present health issues and gave them a look at their school from a different perspective.

Mr Godsland is planning more entertainments for these hard working pupils whilst their examinations continue; they certainly loved the balloon ride and the ‘best barbecue ever’ that took place on Sunday.

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Art Focus

Lower Sixth painters studying for the International Baccalaureate display their fifteen interconnecting canvases showing their personal response to the same panorama. This group project will be exhibited in

the Main School soon. Tim Newsholme, Director of Art says “I have been very impressed by these Artists’ mutual support for this undertaking, and the interest that they have shown in their various approaches”.

100 years on... Morgan returns to Malvern College More than 120 Morgan cars drove into Malvern College at the start of term at the end of their celebratory Centenary run from Repton. There were models ranging from the new AeroMax to a series of seventeen classic three wheelers dating from the 1930s.

Malvern College has historical links with the local Morgan motor car company because Henry Frederick Stanley Morgan assembled the first prototype with the assistance of the Malvern College Engineering Master - William Stephenson-Peach, grandson of George Stephenson of locomotive and ‘Rocket’ fame, in the school workshops.

Sir Henry Every, High Sheriff of Derbyshire and an Old Malvernian (No.2 1961-1965), unveiled a commemorative plaque at the site of the old workshops and said: “It is an honour to be asked to unveil a plaque at my old school. This makes a double celebration, as it is the end of 100 years for the Morgan and marks the beginning of the next 100 years for this privately owned family business.

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Malvern View • Summer 2009

Keep on running Over 500 children from 40 different schools took part in this year’s National Prep Schools’ Cross Country Championships. It was the 17th event at Malvern and there was a large crowd of parents, friends and teachers cheering the runners home.

In the longest race of the day Tom Johnson from Eagle House School in Berkshire retained his title in the U/13 Boys’ race, dominating the challenging 3.6 km course. The girls from Spratton Hall made a clean sweep in the U/13 Girls’ race, where sisters Morwenna and Charlotte Underwood finished in first and second place.

Emily Pidgeon presented the trophies and we were very pleased to welcome her back to Malvern as a former winner of the U/13 Girls’ race. She has since become European Junior Champion at 5,000 metres (2005) and said: “I remember really enjoying this race. Events like this are so important to encourage and inspire young children to become involved in running and athletics. For some it can even provide a stepping stone to greater things“.

Every runner went home with a commemorative t-shirt and sports bag, and happy memories of a really exciting day.

Olympic runner Christina Boxer, Head of Sports Development and Director of Girls’ Sport at Malvern said “It was wonderful to see so many young people and their parents at this cross country event. There was a wonderful atmosphere and there seemed to be the perfect balance between enjoyment and performance“.

Emily Pidgeon with two of the runners

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The Junior Race

The Ledder

There was another good turnout for this year’s 3.5 mile Junior Race, taking some 140 runners up into the Hills, past Holy Well, towards the Wyche Cutting, then steeply down the Old Wyche, across the Common and onto the Senior.

“The 2009 Ledbury Run was a stunning event”, writes Richard Hookham.

Winner for the boys this year was last year’s third man in, Will Wright (No.9) of the Remove. Will’s time was 25.40 (record 23.42

by Allfrey in 1985). He has one more go left next year with this race before his age qualifies him for the Ledbury Run but, on the evening after today’s competition, in a reflective mood, Will wondered whether he might give someone else a chance next year. Don’t tell his Housemaster!

First in for the girls, just as she has been first in for several school races this year, was Vicky Moritz (No.6), finishing in a time of 28.42, only a little outside Katie Sloane’s 2004 record of 28.14.

Both winners performed excellently.

In the House competition, even though the victorious Housemistress refused to believe they had won, No.3 finished four points ahead of No.4, and No.2 left No.5 a slightly more comfortable fourteen points behind them. “My thanks go to the various staff and pupils who helped me with this competition”, says Richard Hookham who was in charge of the event. “They are too numerous to name here, but I am very grateful to them all.”

Silver for No.5 Windsurfer Tom Wade’s outdoor pursuits events continued in emphatic form over the Easter holiday when he won the Silver Fleet “Round Hayling Island” national windsurfing race.

“The sun shone, and there was another excellent turnout as 113 pupil runners and some twenty staff and friends of the College lined up to head immediately uphill and through the narrow gate (you will find references to this narrow gate in Matthew 7: 13-14) that takes runners into Frith Wood. A little too warm in fact for running, Sam Baylis (No.9) nevertheless quickly emerged as the lead contender and maintained this lead throughout, finishing in 50:54, over a minute and a half in front of secondplaced Jamie Paterson (SH). Other boy Ledder Cap winners were Ed Davenhill (No.1); Alex Betteridge (No.5); Jannis Fischer (SH); Harry Siviter (No.1); Harry Dunne (SH); Tom Saxton (No.2) and Hugo de Haan (SH). Cap commiserations go to Ferdi Böninger (No.9) who was the next, sadly capless, boy to cross the line.

For the girls, Ros Harvey (No.6) was similarly in the lead from early on in the race and finished in an excellent time of 62:08.

The other girls’ Ledder Cap was awarded to Maria Theis, last year’s winner who finished in 63:37, just a few seconds slower than her 2008 time. The winning Houses in this year’s race were No.8 and SH, with No.4 and No.9 runners-up.

We had a wonderful, colourful afternoon out, cheering officials, water en route, spectators along the way, and exhausted but generally extremely happy runners.”

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Malvern View • Summer 2009

Summer Concert The Summer Concert this year was splendidly performed by various ensembles who were on top form. The Concert Band opened the programme with a challenging medley from ‘Miss Saigon’. Later came performances by the Barbershop Quartet, The Chamber Orchestra, The Chamber Choir, Jazz Band and the Orchestra.

Particular highlights were Plink, Plank, Plonk, a very entertaining piece from The Chamber Orchestra, and the wonderful Barbershop Quartet who performed dressed for the part in matching waistcoats, bow ties and boaters! The Jazz Band was as slick as ever, while The Chamber Choir included a composition by one of the singers - Amy Chichester’s Ave Verum. To conclude The Orchestra gave a sparkling performance of tunes from the film, Pirates of the Caribbean.

Drama Practical Performances at Malvern The AS/A2 Drama and Theatre Studies students presented their practical performances at the end of the Lent Term to great effect. The AS group presented extracts from ‘Be My Baby’ by Amanda Whittington, a modern play set in 1960 about teenage pregnancy, whilst the A2 group presented ‘100’ by Christopher Heimann - a physical theatre piece. Both plays were perfect vehicles for demonstrating the students’ dramatic talents.

The Spring Soirée At the end of February, the Lower School was treated to the much-anticipated Spring Ball, held in the Rogers Theatre. “Thanks to the dedicated hard work of The School Council”, says Bami Afolabi, “the event was a resounding success and, as is customary, members of the School Council handed out prizes during the course of the evening. ‘Best Dressed Boy and Girl’ were Daniel Diaz Cazorla (No.9) and Sofia Birman (No.6), ‘Cutest Couple’ were Georgina Farmer (No.8) and Barnaby Davies (No.2) whilst the fiercely contested ‘Best Dancer’ title, went to Tunde Ogundare (No.1).”

The ball raised £2000 in support of F.O.A.G. (Farmers Overseas Action Group), a Worcestershire based independent charity that

aids economic development in Uganda’s rural communities. In March a representative of F.O.A.G., accepted a cheque on behalf of the charity in the College Chapel. He was most appreciative and went on to speak stirringly about the work he does and how important it is. So a night of fun has benefited others who really need help. What could be better!

It was a memorable evening for all involved and would not have been possible without the contribution from various members of staff. We thank them for their considerable help.

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On with Outdoor Pursuits Outdoor Pursuits in the last two terms has encompassed a range of trips to new locations, as well as the regular weekly activities we undertake nearer to home. There was a canoe and climbing trip on the River Wye for anyone keen enough to join us, and a surfing trip to the Gower Peninsula. We had several days out for the newest recruits in the Foundation Year at the Outdoor Centre at Upton Warren. Here the students took part in a variety of rope courses and watersports. All of those involved showed great enthusiasm and a willingness to try something new and challenging.

At the Gower a group of fifteen daring students took to the chilly waters for an initiation in Surfing. The Gower Surf School was in charge of the instruction and provided us with the equipment; we just needed to find the motivation to brave the waters at what proved to be a rather windswept and rainy start.

However, nobody shirked the challenge and, thanks to the warming powers of our neoprene suits and the

hot chocolate at lunch, we were all back in the waves for a second session in the afternoon. This time, our endeavours were rewarded by clean waves and glorious sunshine.

Well almost! This will certainly become a regular activity in the Outdoor Pursuits calendar for Malvern from now on.

Our river trip on the Wye took us paddling from Hereford to Symond’s Yat. The idea was to do

some rock climbing when we got there. In our canoes we had tents, food and clothing in sealed barrels - all lashed tightly. Our campsite for the night was a certain Mr Jones’s field. Simple but perfect!

The next day’s journey involved 40 kilometres of paddling and on the day following we would be climbing. Passing Goodrich Castle, many of the paddlers were now on familiar water; we had been here before. We finished in day light this time and arrived to enjoy the last of the sunshine from the bank. It had been a really great day.

At Symonds Yat some of our students had their first experience of climbing outdoors on rock. “As with all good days out, there was not enough time to do everything we would have liked to, but what we didn’t manage to do, we will certainly return to” said Justin Major.

The trip was a real success thanks to the enthusiasm and good humour of all involved, and similar adventures will be planned in the future.

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Malvern View • Summer 2009

THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN The new Boarding Houses These magnificent buildings have now assumed a significant presence on our campus and, devoid of their scaffolding, they are revealed to be very impressive indeed.

Mindful always that the new buildings should blend in with the local architectural heritage of Malvern itself and our campus in particular, the final result is a significant accomplishment, blending the best of established style and elegance with the advantages brought by new building techniques.

The boys in No.7 will have a superb view across the Severn Valley from their Common Room and views from the balcony outside the Ellerslie House dining room will be delightful for the girls who will join Sarah Angus in the new girls’ house in September.

Ellerslie House is fully subscribed. No.7 will make the move over the summer holiday and start its new life on the other side of the campus. House spirit remains the most transportable quality of all - and whilst they will miss the old house, there are many good times ahead of them under the leadership of Dan Eglin. Watch their space!

Sports Complex Due for completion at the end of the summer, this stunning complex is unrivalled in the facilities it offers.

Worcestershire County Cricket Club have been involved with the development from the outset and together we have now designed a facility which will provide one of the best indoor cricket facilities in the country and one that can be enjoyed from school to county level.

The pool has good viewing facilities and a panoramic window at the south end designed to give all who swim there a feeling of association with the outdoors. Similarly blessed with panoramic windows with an outlook to the Malvern Hills in the west are the Fitness Suite and the Dance Studio.

There is a double size Sports Hall and a cleverly designed Climbing Wall near the main entrance. The entertainment suite will be served by its own kitchen and will be used for many school functions, as well as being available for hire. There are two glass-backed squash courts and a shooting range as well - a most comprehensive collection of sporting facilities, which Malvern is very fortunate to have been able to build.

We hope to be able to show you the inside in the near future but, in the meantime, you can view the interiors of both developments on the school web-site at this address: www.malcol.org/developmentplan

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Classicists’ tour of Greece April 2009 In just five hours we had traded the chilly weather of Worcestershire for the heat of Athens and by the next day, awakening to a ‘rosyfingered dawn’, we prepared to make an early start to beat the crowds to the Athenian Acropolis.

Clad in scaffolding, it still retains immense power to impress and our students were amazed by the sheer size and ingenuity of the architectural design. Afterwards we descended to the ancient market place of Agora - the haunt of the philosopher Socrates.

On our third day we ‘gazed on the face of Agamemnon’ - the gold death mask from Mycenae and were able to see the iconic golden frog of Kakovatos, the massive marble kouroi statues, the dramatically posed bronzes and the intricately incised vasepaintings. Thence off to Delphi…

Viewed from high up on the slopes of Mount Parnassos, Delphi is the most impressive site. Armed with torches, some of the party clambered underneath the remains of Apollo’s temple to try to find the oracular shrine. Alas, earthquake damage over the centuries means that nothing is left of the place where Apollo’s priestess, the Pythia, gave her ambiguous predictions; but it is clear that the Greeks believed that this was the centre of the religious world.

On the fifth day we reached Olympia, where ancient athletes competed to honour Zeus and glorify their home cities. In keeping with tradition, we all lined up on the starting–line and sprinted as best we could down the 200 metre track; James Eaton (No.2) and Hermione Benest (No.3) were this year’s Olympian victors.

As our trip wound to a close and we headed in the direction of the airport, we were able to visit Heracles’ fortress palace at Tiryns, and the largely Roman remains of Corinth.

Throughout the week the students had been excellent company and obviously got a great deal from exploring the ancient sites “being there really brings the subject alive”, as one of them put it. “We’re off to Rome and the Bay of Naples in April 2010”, says Richard Thurlow, Head of Classics - “I can’t wait!”

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Powder at Les Contamines

Seventeen pupils enjoyed a week of perfect skiing conditions at Les Contamines in the region of Mont Blanc in the French Alps during the February half term.

Neil Willatt, Head of Physics, accompanied them.

“Sixty centimetres of snow had fallen just before we arrived and one day of bad weather in the middle of the week produced another forty centimetres. Our use of fully qualified mountain guides allowed us to take full advantage of the wonderful conditions, cornice jumping, making tracks and getting some air”.

Flying Solo

Sports Dinner 2009

The CCF at Malvern offers pupils the opportunity to learn to fly. There are regular trips up to RAF Cosford in Shropshire to experience flying in a ‘Grob Tutor’ plane, where sessions are run by the RAF. The story of this term for Malvern is that Flying Officer James Weaver (OM - No.2), stationed at RAF Cosford, recently made his first solo flight. His father Mike Weaver, a member of the staff at Malvern, went up with the pupils on one of their regular visits, to see first hand, what life is like for his son in the RAF.

The annual Sports Dinner held at the Grub this year allowed us to pay tribute to those members of the Upper Sixth who have made significant contributions to their sports. After an excellent meal, awards were made and prizes presented by our guest, Leon Lloyd, former Rugby player with Leicester Tigers, Gloucester and England.

James Weaver, Mike Weaver, Fg Off Tom Loucaides

Amongst the winners was Hannah Jefferson (No.4) who was awarded ‘Player of the Year’ not just in one sport but in three, for Tennis, Lacrosse and Netball and James Eaton (No.2) who won the prestigious top athlete award for the second year in succession.

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Poetry and birthday cake to celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday In Twelfth Night when Malvolio reproves Sir Toby Belch and his cronies for their rowdy behaviour, Sir Toby responds, ‘Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more Cakes and Ale?’ There was no ale and virtue wasn’t at issue in the English Department corridor on the 23rd April, but there was certainly plenty of cake to celebrate the 445th anniversary of Shakespeare’s Birthday. All passers-by were treated to a cake and an intellectually nourishing quotation or two.

Many classes were following a Shakespeare-led sequence of lessons that day, with a particular focus on poetry. In this spirit, we were delighted to welcome Mr Jonty Driver to the College.

Mr Driver has combined a career in schools (he retired as Master of Wellington in 2000) with a prolific output of prose and poetry, including - to date - six collections of verse, five novels and a biography. He led an invigorating seminar for sixth formers in the afternoon and in the evening concluded our celebrations with a lively and engaging reading of his poems from across his writing career. For more information about Jonty Driver’s life and work follow the weblink: www.malcol.org/malvernview/4/shakespearesbirthday

Visit of Old Malvernian MEP Philip Bushill Philip Bushill-Matthews, Old Malvernian and Member of the European Parliament, recently returned to Malvern to lead a seminar on the European Union for all those studying A level Politics. He engaged the group from the outset with a series of questions relating to the EU which provoked many interesting and even some correct answers. He explained the different functions of the main institutions and spoke about why he thought being part of the EU was very much in the UK’s interest. Felix Black (No.7) remained unconvinced whilst Matthieu Fittus (No.1) pointed to the trade advantages.

Had Mr Bushill visited several weeks later he might have had to field questions on MEP’s expenses too but he had his work cut out as it was with questions posed by Hannah Campbell (No.8), who has ‘political ambitions’ of her own and who kept him on his toes.

Matthieu Fittus, Philip Bushill-Matthews, Hannah Campbell, Hugo de Haan, Will Jones

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Malvern View • Summer 2009

A talented young writer from Poppy was presented with a copy of the anthology containing her Malvern College is having story ‘The Cry of the Wolf and Other Short Stories’, at Malvern her short story published College. She is looking forward to seeing her story published. after winning a prestigious competition organised to coincide “I was quite surprised when I found out that I had won the with World Book Day. Fifteen year-old Poppy Donaldson’s story competition,” she said. “I really enjoy writing and it is quite hard ‘The Gatekeeper’ is one of just twenty-two selected for publication to imagine what it will be like seeing my story in print.” from more than 2,700 entries into the 2009 Evans Schools Short Story Competition.

Poppy would like to be a professional writer and is now hoping to write a trilogy of ghost stories taking Malvern College as her More than 500 schools took part in the competition, and each inspiration. school was given a unique first line for its pupils to use as the starting point for their stories. Poppy used a first line provided The Cry of the Wolf and Other Short Stories is on sale now priced by leading author Mark Walden to create a tale described as a £3.99 and all proceeds from its sale will be donated to World “thrilling horror story with an entertaining twist”.

Book Day.

Published!

Conference season Dicey Conference

The Beacons Conference

On the 17th and 18th of March, Oliver Marshall and Joann Ezeoba participated in the 2009 Dicey Conference at Trinity College Oxford, on “Knife and Gun Crime: Who is more to blame, parents or the State?”. The conference brought together around eighty Sixth Form students from across the country.

Guest speaker at the formal dinner on the Tuesday night was the Duchess of York.

at Malvern College Eighty eight members of the Lower Sixth studying for the International Baccalaureate were invited to attend this conference about World Poverty, Corruption and Development.

Presented by Beacons - an organisation which informs and raises awareness of the issues - the guest speakers included Dr Paul Jackson, Head of the School of Government and Society at Birmingham University, Dr Heather Marquette, Lecturer in Governance at Birmingham University and Debbie Stenner of the charity Concern Universal. Our thanks go to David Terry of Beacons and Mr Frayn and Miss Pugh for organising the event on behalf of the school. We would also like to thank all members of the Economics Department for chairing the sessions throughout a very informative day.

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Three Peaks Challenge magnificently accomplished “The National Three Peaks climb involves the summit in good time, where we took scaling the highest mountains in England, the group photo beside the cairn before Scotland and Wales. These are Scafell Pike, we descended.

Ben Nevis and Snowdon respectively.

Different people will take different periods The final part of the Challenge lay in Wales of time to do the 3 peaks. Those who are - Mount Snowdon - but we had only four brave, noble, or just plain stupid, try to hours left to complete the task. Visibility do all 3 within the space of 24 hours - The was worsening, making this last climb a Three Peaks Challenge.” The National hard slog. We were amazed that most of Trust our fellow climbers were wearing what seemed like the wrong kit: shoes, jeans and “We decided that the Combined Cadet perhaps a jumper. We were now feeling a Force (CCF) should try a more audacious little over dressed in our full mountain gear and demanding activity in the Leave Out in but pleased to have two successful climbs May this year. We wanted a challenge, and under our belts and even more pleased to we wanted to raise some money for Help eventually plant ourselves (and the College flag), at the highest point in Wales. for Heroes” says SSI John Nichols.

Arriving at Ben Nevis, there were many other teams preparing to climb to the top.

Time would tell its own story - that only five teams from the 50 present, would make it to the summit because the weather would defeat them, but with stout hearts we set off to the top. Walkers we passed on the way talked of ‘white-outs’ and treacherous conditions. Undaunted and with our secret weapon – our Royal Marine mountain guide, we soon encountered the layer of snow and mist at the 900m Contour, 400m short of the summit which others had found so difficult; but we made it to the top successfully and down again.

With a few hours of snatched sleep on the drive down to Scafell Pike in England, we set off on what proved to be a beautifully cool morning. It was wonderful to have the mountain to ourselves and we reached

With less than two hours to make the descent, a wrong path added ten minutes to our time, leaving us with only thirty

minutes to complete the job. A few more kilometres and there, at the base, was the faithful Admin and Support team and some family supporters to watch us cross the line - with time to spare.

The Cadets who volunteered for this event were supported so professionally by the CCF staff on this expedition and all deserve praise and recognition for completing the task. Congratulations go to Sgt Lawrence Beesley-Peck, Cpl Richard Hadamovsky, Cpl Alex Jupp, LCpl Robert Nolan, Cdt Matt Cramp, Cdt Edward George and Cdt Josh Wilkes who walked a distance of 40 kms, climbed 3400mts and endured 1044 miles by road and achieved all this in 23hrs 30 mins.

They raised more than £1000 for the charity Help for Heroes.

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Malvern View • Summer 2009

Scottish Winter Mountaineering Trip Robert Nolan (No.2) and Quentin Spottiswoode (No.2) went to Scotland on a school mountaineering course and report as follows: “At half term in February, ten of us, accompanied by members of the Malvern staff and two Royal Marine Mountain Leaders, took on the task of climbing the Cairngorm Mountains in Scotland. A tough and taxing expedition it turned out to be too, leading us through near ‘white-out’ conditions and stretching us continually to learn new skills. Of course we did also have a lot of fun as well!

It was an early start for us each day, but with a hearty breakfast inside us we were off. We learned to use ice axes, how to test for

avalanche risk, how to construct snow anchors and even how to dig ‘snow holes’ - some bordering on the palatial!

The culmination of the trip was a two-day expedition with the two groups (advanced and even more advanced) heading out to different bothies, one going to Glen Feshie and the other to the remote Culra Bothy and Ben Alder.

By the last day we were all pretty exhausted but we had all enjoyed this week of ‘yomping’ and our huge thanks go to Malvern’s staff (Mssrs. Lacey, Major, Davidson, Nichols, Brown and O’Neil), the Royal Marine Mountain Leaders (Sgt Majors Bates and Thompson) and to Sam James.”

Profile: Justin Major - Outdoor Pursuits (OM No.8, 1986 - 91) Likes: All active sports whether ball sports, or sports involving ropes or boats, languages and travel Dislikes: Sprouts and whingeing Justin joined the teaching staff last September to teach Modern Languages and to run the Outdoor Pursuits programme which he has transformed.

Now there is a whole range of outdoor activities and choices available to pupils including regular weekly activities in Kayaking, Canoeing and Climbing and Mountain biking as well as Sailing which continues under the tiller of Bert Lacey and Lee Appleby.

The Mountain biking is run by Dean Sibthorpe.

“Snow holes - here’s one we dug earlier”

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Alex Page, Anna Wagner and Stephanie Schohl were three of 45 Lower Sixth International Baccalaureate students who set out for South Wales on the trip and this is their account.

“There was heavy rain with strong winds forecast. Thankfully the worst of the weather held off, so that we could explore the ecology of the seashore and estuary of this far-flung stretch of the Welsh coastline.

Arriving at Dale, which overlooks the vast natural harbour of Milford Haven and its giant oil refineries, we made the short walk to the Field Centre from which we were immediately dispatched to fieldcourse action on the rocky shores of Jetty and Castle Beaches. We used quadrants and callipers on our first exercise, which involved counting purple top shells and measuring rough periwinkles. The data we collected had to be analysed and this led to a hard evening of statistical analysis with instruction by the tutors at the centre. They lightened the task for us by imparting their encyclopaedic knowledge of local wildlife and the associated variety of methods of reproduction. (Did you know that slipper limpets change sex as they mate?)

The next day we went down to Frenchman’s Steps Beach to study Species Abundance and Distribution. That evening we processed all the data, struggling to turn it into huge graphs of terrible complexity (and questionable accuracy)!

On Sunday, covered head to toe in waterproofs and wellies, we made for the Gann estuary and to the Salt Marsh. The first challenge of the day was to cross the very sticky ‘trench of doom’ where some had a closer encounter with the mud than they had planned! A survey of the salt marsh gave an excellent insight into this harsh environment and the process of ecological succession. (Did you know that glasswort is edible, even if it is a bit salty?)

On Castle Beach we donned fetching bright blue rubber gloves to catch sand hoppers (small crustaceans that live amongst the smelly rotting seaweed on the strandline).

After much squealing, (mostly, we have to say, from the girls) we managed to deal with the jumping antics of the captured sand hoppers, which kept escaping their

pots. They had to be counted and then painted before being released.

After supper our last evening was spent doing some manic packing and watching Mr Hall’s entertaining slide show of our trip. On our final morning we awoke to warm sunshine. Back at Castle Beach we collected sand hoppers again to calculate the population density (about 25,000 per square metre) and then walked along the

coastal path and across fields to a tranquil pond where we used nets to collect organisms to look at the diversity.

We would like to thank our teachers, Mr Wastie, Mr Hall and Miss Miller for giving up their time and for passing on their enthusiasm. This was an excellent field trip.”

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Malvern View • Summer 2009

Malvern College are Independent Schools’ Football Champions of the Midlands Syd Hill - former Master i/c of Football and now Secretary to the OM Society writes: The College 1st XI (Under 19) enjoyed a very successful Lent Term, ending up as Champions of the Mercian (South) Division and then beating Loughborough Grammar School, champions of the North Division, in the all-Midlands Final at Ludlow Town’s ground on 19th March. Congratulations to the team and to Matt Cleal, their coach.

Here is his account of the Final: “Wow, what a game! Our season ended in the best possible way with this exciting victory, following a penalty shoot-out.

After a poor start, we began to take control of the game but still found ourselves two goals down at the interval. We certainly dominated the second half and goals from Harry Sinclair and Alex Magee levelled the scores at full-time. In fact, we had enough chances to have wrapped the game up, but were unable to capitalise on these opportunities.

Going into extra-time, the College continued to press; the team’s sheer workrate and determination were admirable.

Difficult as it is to mention names, Ramón Blanco Villar, Dominic Stanley, Greg Kirchoff and Alex Magee, it must be said,

Future Activities Monday 3rd August - Friday 7th August Young Malvern

were outstanding. However, there were no more goals and so the Final went to penalties!

The penalty takers had already been chosen earlier in the day for just this eventuality: 1 Dhont, 2 Kirchoff, 3 Magee, 4 Stanley and 5 Sinclair. Harry Sinclair was not needed. Fortunately, Odge Davey in goal was in terrific form and saved two of the Loughborough penalties, while Malvern converted all of their opportunities to win 4-2; an unassailable position. I am really proud of the boys.”