Radley Newsletter 01

Radley The

N e w s l e t t e r

Art and The New Theatre | 4½ weeks in the Jungles of Borneo The Nelson Mass | Radley’s Grounds and Head Groundsman Music and the Community | Electronic Radley

Radley’s founder, William Sewell, believed that boys should grow up surrounded by beautiful objects; by a sort of osmosis, an aesthetic awareness would be fostered. The present day campus has been colonised by boys’ sculpture and painting and the new theatre foyer was created with niches and large spaces the better to show off dramatic work emanating from Radley’s Art Department.

Art & the New Theatre

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ears in the conception, first mooted indeed in the last century, a replacement for the Old Gym (that versatile tin cathedral by Clock Tower which had seen Desmond Llewelyn and Peter Cook start their acting careers) was much needed. But the finances had to be in place and planning negotiated before, in Summer 2004, building alongside the concert hall (the Silk Hall) could commence. Months late, and deep into the Michaelmas term, the project has been finished and all the waiting has indeed been worthwhile. Radley has one of the finest school theatres anywhere, seating nearly 400 in comfort, and with generous

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rehearsal, dressing, lighting and Theatre Studies teaching facilities to enhance Drama at Radley. Equally striking, however, has been the way in which the theatre has been integrated into its surroundings.

The expansive courtyard in front of the glass vestibule is paved with York stone, engraved with names of Radleians from 2004-5, and with those of Common Room, Council and Old Radleians. The foyer for the theatre has been cleverly designed to set off Radleians’ artwork, and the Head of Art, Ian Ellis, has taken up the challenge artfully placing boys’ sculpture, photography and one-off projects. Its sheer scale, and the use of light, immediately strike visitors.

That foyer comfortably hosted a party of over 200 governors, parents and visitors at the end of November for a Gala Opening of the New Theatre. Chairman of Radley’s Council, Lord Wilson of Dinton (O.R.) delivered the opening address. Drama Director David Edwards had chosen to showcase an especially talented group of boys (a number of whom are with the National Youth Theatre) in Sheridan’s The School for Scandal and, for once, we did not collaborate with girls’ schools for the female parts, in order to extract full comic value from an all male cast. Instead Lady Teazle, Lady Sneerwell and others were played by the boys. From the opening sequence,

Peter Cook E S ocial 1 9 5 1 – 1 9 5 6

Peter Cook was at Radley between 1951 and 1956 and was already developing the qualities that would make him a great comedian of the 60s and later years. “Even at school,” wrote his contemporary, Michael Bawtree, “Peter had a greater capacity for making people laugh than anyone I have ever met then or since.” His first written work was for the Marionette Theatre, a humorous fantastical musical called Black and White Blues in which he performed as the voice of Mr Slump, an evangelical who took his jazz band to Africa to convert the natives. Such was the success of Black and White Blues a 78 rpm record was made of its highlights (500 copies) at the Isis Recording Studios in Oxford.

Peter Cook was most famous at Radley among his contemporaries for his impersonations of dons and those in authority.

He was already a brilliant mimic and the seeds of EL Wisty were sown in his mimicking of Mr Boylett, the Steward at the Prefects’ table in Hall. And he loved performing: he once put on a solo conjuring exhibition for the whole school. In the Old Gym he played a variety of roles: typical was his performance as the Wicked Fairy in Peter Ustinov’s Love of Four Colonels. Peter Raby, a contemporary and The Good Fairy in the same play, wrote, “He dominated the production quite naturally with his comic energy and timing.”

To Radleians of his era his success in Beyond the Fringe a few years later cannot have come as a complete surprise.

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a choreographed masque of dressing-up devised to establish character, through to the dénouement when rakish Sir Joseph Surface (the Senior Prefect, Ed. Martineau, Dragon, H Social) is revealed trying to seduce Lady Teazle (Tom Holloway, Packwood Haugh, A Social) by her husband Sir Peter Teazle (Rupert Lazarus, Moulsford, B Social), the technics, direction and boys’ acting were of the highest standard. Many visitors and parents found it hard to credit that it was a school play. They have established a benchmark to which the next generation in the theatre will aspire and it is already clear that the demand to use it is going to be very considerable.

page 2 top right: Radley Crest in Beads made by the Radley Art Department to commemorate the opening of the new theatre. bottom left: Icarus Falling to Earth by Ivan Knapp, (Rodborough School, D Social,) mixed media. bottom right: The Gala Opening of the New Theatre. page 3 top left: Sheridan’s The School for Scandal. bottom left: Childhood memories

by Edward Green, (Cottesmore, C Social,) mixed media.

Dudley Moore and Peter Cook at Comic Relief in Los Angeles, November 1987

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4½ weeks in the Jungles of

Borneo

By Archie Alexander-Sinclair, Winchester House and H Social

Descent from Mt. Kinabalu.

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Ascent of the lower slopes of Mt. Kinabalu.

Archie Alexander-Sinclair bitten by a leech.

fter almost two years of planning, preparation and fundraising (including 3 solid days of Croquet) 22 Radley boys, 12 Downe House girls and 10 leaders (Radley, Downe House and World Challenge) boarded the plane from Heathrow to Brunei.

After 17 hours on a dry flight we finally arrived tired and sober. This is where we parted company with one of the groups who flew to Kota Kinabalu, to climb the largest peak in Malaysia and continued towards Miri (a reasonable sized city in Sarawak).

From here we had two days of frantically checking material orders and stocking up on a whole load of corned beef and tuna. This was when we really realised that this was no package holiday and it was going to be a lot more work than some of us had realised. However we managed to buy what seemed like enough food to feed twenty people, for eight days in the jungle. We boarded a plane to Bario (in the Kelabit Highlands of East Sarawak) and after several negotiations with officials in Miri over the weight of certain team members, we filled the whole of the twenty-seater plane with all our bags, food, hammers, buckets, saws and any number of other assorted building equipment.

From then on it is one enormous blur of fantasy after fantasy and I still cannot quite see how we managed to do so much in what seemed like such a small period of time. Bario was unique, completely cut off from the outside world and everything brought in by plane. We spent 10 days there somehow managing to build a 24' x 15' outside classroom as well as having time to teach the locals how to play Cricket, Rugby and Poi. We also managed to go to the school assembly and present 120kg of books to the school, sing in the local church service and of course several nights shared with locals and rice wine.

We then said goodbye to Bario as we left into the jungle with four local guides, it was the first of eight days of sleeping in hammocks and living off river water. The next eight days were inexplicable, to be completely alone knowing that you would have to walk for two days to find any kind of civilisation. The guides were fantastic showing how to find fresh water from young Pitcher Plants, Giant Bamboo, Vines and Leaves. Teaching us how to trap animals using snares and how to track boars, we managed to kill and eat Wild Boar, Jungle Sevi-cat, Mouse Deer and Barking Deer. We also learned how to use certain plants for shelter and using palm trees for fire starting and cooking rice in and gathered wild mushrooms and tomatoes from the jungle floor.

However this had to come to an end and after eating almost nothing for the last two days most people, although reluctant, were also quite glad to be back in civilisation. However there was no stopping; it was straight on to Sepilok to visit the Orang-utan Sanctuary. Before leaving for the two day climb to the 4100m summit of Mt.Kinabalu, setting off at 2.00 in the morning of the second day to reach the summit for the sunrise at 6.00 am. It was the most incredible end to the expedition standing above the clouds on the top of the mountain and seeing the sun diffuse the early morning mist of the mountain.

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The Nelson

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here was a buzz about the school on the evening of 20th October 2005. The bicentenary of Nelson’s death and victory at Trafalgar was being celebrated with two performances of Haydn’s Nelson Mass, a period feast in Hall (decked up with rigging and cannon) and the sweetness of a fairly comfortable rugby win the same afternoon by the 1st XV against Cheltenham. To add to the excitement the Duchess of Kent was making an appearance at the second performance of the Mass to talk about her Charity, Future Talent.

The sanctuary was full of tenors and basses, the orchestra was in the main aisle and the soloists and speakers in front of them. Behind the altar a large screen displayed pictures from the Nelson archive and contemporary battle scenes. Stephen Clarke, the Precentor, who had rehearsed the Choral Society and co-ordinated the whole event conducted from the aisle. The music was interwoven most imaginatively with scenes from the battle read in character by current Radleians, The School performance started with a masterly exposition of the situation before the battle by Dr Summerly. The Nelson Mass was abridged but included the dramatic Kyrie which immediately

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set the mood of crisis and tension with the dominating timps and trumpets. It was also clear from the first chord that this was going to be an evening of powerful and talented choral singing. After the Senior Prefect had read Nelson’s last letter to Emma and Horatia the whole school sang a unison setting of the Gloria arranged by Stephen Clarke. It was set in a low register (the rumble of the cannons at the battle) and was sung with great rhythm by all present: a most exciting part of the evening.

We were taken through the key moments of Nelson’s death so professionally that it was impossible not to be moved by the unfolding of the events. To add to the emotion a shell boy, Jonathan Quicke (Summer Fields, B Social) read a letter home from Sam, a young member of HMS Royal Sovereign, written after the battle. Between these readings the Choral Society sang the Benedictus and the Agnus Dei. The final lines ‘dona eis pacem’ were sung with great optimism as the extraordinary Apotheosis of Nelson was shown on the big screen. This had been a very special event with all the school present, and a triumph both artistically and technically.

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Mass An hour and three quarters later a second performance of the full Mass was given for parents and friends in the presence of Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent. The contrast between the sense of crisis of the Kyrie and the jubilation of the Gloria, the Credo and the Sanctus was fully portrayed, and again the contrast with the profound funereal quality of the Benedictus was most effective, coming as it did immediately after the account of Nelson being hit.

The trumpets were crystal clear and the Incarnatus est section of the Credo was particularly lyrical and sung with great feeling

by Amy Carsen. The earlier performance had given the actors confidence and, if anything, their performance was even more assured. A special moment was the reading of Thomas Hardy’s The Night of Trafalgar by David Edwards, H Social Tutor as we watched the Fighting Temeraire being tugged to her Last Berth.

This was a memorable performance of the Nelson Mass and it could not have been in favour of a more appropriate or worthy cause: Future Talent. In her introduction The Duchess of Kent had spoken about the work of the charity for young musicians and the opportunities it had been able to offer. One sentence seemed to sum up not only the work of the Charity but also the achievement of the evening: “What better way to involve young people in 21st century Britain”.

Adrian Paşcu

W irral G rammar S chool and B S ocial

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was born in Romania and lived and went to schools in the North before coming to Radley in 2001: possibly not the Home Counties background considered typical, but this did not make any difference to my time at Radley. Here, what you can do and what you are like are far more important things.

Probably one of the best things about Radley is the sheer variety of what you can actually get involved in. The wealth of activities - from car maintenance to chess, from scuba diving to shooting - is extraordinary; and what is even more so is the amount of people who actively get involved in these things.

I have been able to continue interests in debating, creative writing, newspaper editing on the Radley College Chronicle, drama, lots of music, and I have even occasionally been spotted at the boathouse; combined with this I have amused myself by translating Romanian poetry into English - a somewhat esoteric pursuit, admittedly, but good fun. There is certainly enough to keep you occupied; indeed, in the Sixth form, where the work gets challenging and becomes a real grounding for university life, there often seems to be too much to do. It’s a nice problem to have, at any rate.

Another aspect of Radley which was very important for me is the really outstanding music department. I am a keen musician and have relished the opportunity to sing and play at some very special occasions, at quite high levels, with groups of similarminded people and spurred on by the enthusiasm of the music department. Similarly, being in the recent school play, Sheridan’s The School for Scandal, at the opening of the new theatre was a real highlight. It’s probably reasonable to doubt I will act again in such a high-profile event; and Radley gave me the chance to do so.

Finally, Radley’s boarding atmosphere is very special. You get to know everybody very well, and you get a very good relationship with both your peers and your dons. It doesn’t happen in a lot of schools, and the end result is a very good relationship with the people teaching you, as well as firm friendships with the people in your year. This all reads like a desperately worthy and dry description of Radley. It’s not: Radley is, above all, great fun to be at, and a place where I have throughly enjoyed my time. ( Adrian has been offered a place to read English at Fitzwilliam, Cambridge in October.)

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Radley’s grounds

&head

groundsman P erhaps the single most impressive thing for a visitor new to Radley is the sight, first, of the games pitches stretching away into the distance and then, in front of the Mansion, of the manicured golf course either side of Capability Brown’s landscaped pond. It is one of the pleasures of being a campus school, it underpins Radley’s sporting reputation, and it makes it a privilege to work in such beautiful surroundings. Head Groundsman Adam King says “to get up and see the early morning mist over the pitches and golf course is a sight with which I can never be bored” and he has been doing the job since he came from Woodbridge School in 2001. It has been a perfect fit for Radley.

He started as a deputy head greenkeeper at Stowmarket Golf Club, developing a deep knowledge which he now applies to Radley’s golf course and greens. His qualifications in turf management, and long experience as a minor counties cricketer with Suffolk, have combined to make him formidably knowledgeable in pitch preparation.

Squares and outfields at Radley, the largest single area of mown grass in England, have been pristine in recent years.

But Adam is unusually talented for he is not only a brilliant head groundsman, but

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also a fine cricket coach, and he loves this aspect of the job. “What a place to work”, he says “with the history of the College and all the top sportsmen it has produced; it is great to play a part in this”. He knows the rich tradition of Dexter, Strauss and most recently England Academy’s Jamie Dalrymple, and helps cricket professional Andy Wagner in winter nets in the Sports Hall, as well as – when time allows – in the summer months.

First and foremost, however, he sees his role as producing the best sports surfaces possible. The final results are as even and true as they are, the envy of other schools, at least partly because Adam King has built a happy and effective team “who do the hard graft – countless hours of sitting on rollers in summer and of marking out rugby, hockey and soccer pitches in the winter. And not forgetting the golf course, the bluebell woods and the college lawns”.

Quite as much as the academic Common Room it is the grounds staff who ensure that Radley College remains amongst the very best schools in the land, and we are very fortunate to have Adam to lead them.

He himself concludes that “it really is a fulfilling life here on the grounds because we’re always seeking to achieve perfection”.

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adleians aim high academically, they play their games hard, they perform their music and they act on stage, but in addition there are pockets of excellence where small groups of boys develop exceptional expertise. One such area is that of Electronics where for 16 years or more the Head of Electronics has taught boys to excel. There have been a dozen or more prize winners in the National Young Electronic Designer Awards, one of whom, Alex Chadwick (Cothill and H Social), a current 6th Former, has been working at Oxford University with a team of post-graduates in the summer holidays to develop a pulsed electron spin resonance spectrometer allowing research into the use of nano-technology in Quantum Information Processing.

Electronic Radley

John Morton gives Alex Chadwick some advice on his project.

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He is not the first Radleian to develop research – whilst still at Radley – which is truly ground-breaking in the real world of practical Electronics. His mentor is John Morton O.R., formerly of the Dragon and F Social, who is a Research Fellow at St John’s Oxford, working in the Oxford University Materials Department; when still at Radley he published the first handbook for PIC, the programming of a microcontroller.

Radley benefits in several ways from the expertise of boys in the Electronics Department. The boys when working on productions in the Theatre are manipulating sophisticated electronic lighting and sound desks; George Bishop (Ashdown House, H Social) and Josh Arkell (Elstree, H Social) proved to be real professionals in their technical work for The School for Scandal. And the video unit has recorded almost every significant school event over the past ten years; the subsequent editing onto DVDs for purchase

by Radley parents and friends has been done by a succession of Radleians to a professional standard, the latest of whom – Jonny Langridge (Aldro, C Social) and Richard O’Brien (Caldicott, C Social) – seem destined to go into production careers after university. The Electronics Department is one of the most creative parts of Radley, very much the legacy of Max Horsey who has encouraged the College to invest in new technology and then inspired the boys to employ it imaginatively.

Music Community and the

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adley’s Choral Society has performed great choral works at least once a year since Stephen Clarke has been Precentor; on each occasion it has reached into the village, Abingdon and Oxford, to create a chorus of over 140 singers. But Radleians have also been involved in the local community as part of a programme of Community Partnership to which every 5th Former contributes. Apart from those who work in the Nuffield and Churchill hospitals, or as helpers in primary schools and Instant Muscle (local community projects), the musicians among them have formed themselves into two concert parties to go out and play to retirement homes and community centres in the locality. They have been very popular.

Charlie Milward, a Radley don, organises this and the Precentor and Suzie Naylor rehearse and prepare the boys.

An extract from Charlie Milward’s pep talk gives a flavour of the value of these concerts:

“Briefing for today, guys. The place we’re going to this week has very elderly residents: St Luke’s Hospital, in Headington. We went there before: about 12 people came to the concert, all in wheelchairs; two over 100. They may not respond a lot, except when it comes to the singing – then they all join in, especially The White Cliffs of Dover – that brings back all sorts of memories; one lady cried when we played that before – but don’t worry if someone cries, it’s part of remembering happy times.”

“You’ve got to realise that we really are bringing a lot of happiness to a lot of people. One of the staff at Oaken Holt last week told me that one old lady moved her lips to the song – and that was the first response she had made to anything at all for two months. For a lot of the residents we play to, this is the highlight of their week. You dash from one thing to another at Radley – for you this is just another commitment in a busy life. But for many of our audience this may be their only contact for a week with someone from outside the home. And the pleasure it brings them for a young person to be giving up time for them, smiling and chatting with them – you just can’t imagine. That’s why it’s so

important that you make a real effort to go round and chat. If you’re a bit shy, go round in a pair – take round a plate of cakes, maybe. Ask them if they remembered the songs; pretty soon they’ll want to be telling you about their grandchildren – they’ll love it that you’re taking an interest.”

“One last thought. This is one of those things you’ll do at Radley that isn’t for you – it’s for other people. Of course, when you give then you gain as well – the more you put into this concert party, and each place we go to, then the more you’ll get from the experience.”

In a typical concert, the boys travel by minibus to a retirement home, quickly tune up and – introduced by one of the more outgoing of their number – proceed to give short instrumental pieces on violin, sax, cello, piano and flute. Then come the song sheets and the audience is led through their favourites – Lili Marleen, Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner and – of course – The White Cliffs of Dover. Sometimes there are concerts at Radley for the Radley Retirement Club and people from nearby.

In all, this year, there will be twenty-eight visits and a Silk Hall concert and a great deal of innocent pleasure will have been given.

above: Gregory Williams and Peter Barker speak with one of the residents after the concert. right: The team - from left to right: Peter Barker (Aldro, D Social), Rory van Zwanenberg (Moulsford, D Social, Suzie Naylor (Head of Academic Music), Gregory Williams (Norman Court, C Social) and Alex Easedale (St Johns Beaumont, A Social).

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Will Hill

Moulsford and B Social

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came to Radley in the Autumn of 2002 with a Music Exhibition.

I enjoyed both music and sport very much at my prep school, and subsequently I realised that I would be very busy with both of the commitments, but I hoped that I would be able to combine the two, alongside my academic studies.

I very much enjoy rugby at Radley, more than any other of my extra-curricular activities at school. As soon as I came to Radley, I was extremely excited about the sport. It was hard work to begin with, new coaches and new people and a lot of hard graft, but I made the top XV in my year, and we remained unbeaten until the season of 2004. This was due to excellent coaching and the brilliant attitude of my team peers, who wished constantly to progress. Now I have made the school’s 1st XV, where I wish to remain and retain my place next season, in my final year.

I never rowed at my prep school, but it was something that I was very keen to begin at Radley, when I arrived. It is true that it makes physical demands and also consumes time if you are keen on making the best boat possible. I started sculling in the Michaelmas term of my first year, once a week between playing rugby. It became apparent that single-sculls were extremely difficult to balance and falling into the icy cold Thames soon became commonplace –

Will Hill (no. 6) packs down against Tonbridge. three, four or perhaps five times in half an hour. But I made the top boat in my first year, where I have remained ever since.

It seems remarkable that just two years after those Wednesday evenings spent entangled under my boat in the Thames, I rowed at the Henley qualifiers.

I am extremely fortunate to have an outstanding boat, and we have won regattas and Head races at Bedford, Wallingford, Marlow, Reading and Wycliffe, most of these two or three times.

Rowing at the Henley qualifiers was an incredible experience and something which I wish to do this year.

As a Music Exhibitioner, I have considerable music commitments, whereby I play in the school orchestra, brass ensemble, big band and concert

band. I rehearse for these during my two hour lunch time break, in the week. Twice a term I will play in various concerts in these ensembles. As in my sport, the music commitments are also hard work, but the concerts are very enjoyable and are a compliment to the hard work of all the school’s musicians.

Even though I am quite busy with all these commitments, I thoroughly enjoy what I do and I can fit it all in. Most importantly, I am able to stay on top of my academic work, which is my priority. I hope to leave next year with top A level results, an unbeaten rugby season and win the Princess Elizabeth Cup at Henley, but of course it all requires a lot of work; I am extremely fortunate to be able to be in a realistic position to achieve all of these things.

From Basra to the 4th XV Kevin Mosedale, formerly an officer in the British Army now Physics teacher at Radley from September 2004

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s I stand on the touchline watching rugby, I am often struck by how much of the character of a school can be deduced from the way it approaches sport. With this in mind, I believe that the view from the 4th XV touchline gives an excellent insight into the psyche of Radley, because it is far more representative of the rugby that most boys will play in their time at the school than the dizzy heights of the 1st XV. I am lucky, because I inherit a lot of excellent coaching lower down the school, but more than anything else, what characterises the rugby that I see is great team spirit and commitment. There is no shortage of boys who want to play at the

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highest level their ability permits, rather than taking the easier option in lower teams and because of this we enjoy a continuity and desire for success that is difficult for most schools to match. Training is always keenly anticipated and on the odd occasion that it has had to be cancelled this season there has been no shortage of boys asking why and seeking reassurance that there will be enough time to prepare for the next match.

Having arrived just over a year ago at Radley from the Army, where my final job was leading a Squadron in Iraq, I am very keenly aware of the value of teamwork, commitment and self-discipline. I am also

aware that these characteristics seem to be increasingly rare in society and so it is always a great pleasure to see the 4th XV going about their business. If you visit the College on a match day, do consider bypassing the more obvious attractions of the 1st XV and come and join me on the touchline to feel the real pulse of Radley rugby.

Website: www.radley.org.uk . Admissions enqiries: 01235 543174 . admissions@radley.org.uk