OR Clubs & Societies 2023

Peace Pays

The killing fields of war have robbed us all of our humanity; lives wasted for a cause which most do not believe. They stall our better side which cares and cripple pure embracing love for those who share our world. War’s rally cry is cloaked as patriotic which cons us so our fighting flags unfurl and leave us either dead or just chaotic.

As if this carnage isn’t gross enough, consider all the silver spent to fuel this most expensive habit since the stuff of war is dear; an army needs its gruel.

If we could live in peace, then this would pay for better futures than we have today.

William Greig (1969, C)

William is still ballroom dancing and writing poetry (although not at the same time!)

CARRYING THE TORCH, 20TH MARCH 2022

Thomas Cranmer, tried in St Mary’s, High St, Oxford; burnt outside the Northgate, 21st March 1556. This unequal midnight I walk through from the High, down Catte Street, past the Bod & along the Broad, seeking the stone cross layered in the tarmac opposite Oxfam.

In the small hours it can be not unsafe to stand here. Once I even knelt. Shutting out the streetlight you can hear the flinch of doubt, the crack of thorn & flame.

For all our prayer for peace, our nature does not change. The same opportune power tempts. What can I say, this night of Putin’s war? The barbarians at the gate are always us. Thomas, our burnt Archbishop, pray for us. Help us to trust your doubt, your faltered faith. Help us stretch our hand into the fire.

Andrew Robinson (1960, H)

From In Personam, 2022, £10 from www.hovelpress.co.uk

Poem

A poem is a dream in words when we catch it in mid flight if not, it fades and trails away and the words don’t come out right.

But when they do it brings us close to the dream like state of mind that we all share when, if we dare, we can leave our fears behind.

To dare, to dream, to feel, to yearn to be free of life’s dull woes to live our life in poetry and to leave behind dull prose.

Paul Isolani-Smyth (1960, D)

Where The Spring Violets Softly Grow

Where the spring violets softly grow

Around the moss stone head, A lullaby is stirring slow Beside his body’s bed.

A forest finch with pillowed breast

To twilight turns her tune –She hops the purpled place of rest, And plumps her downy plume.

The gentle melody rocks to sleep

The pinkend cloudy sky; The breeze can hardly dare to peep, Or waken the lullaby.

Perhaps she sang just to the grave, Perhaps it was just for me; Who knew but that she sang to save What darkened eyes can’t see.

As in some thoughtless trance she knew –And so to truth did sing –Of something through the air which blew Of more than suffering.

Charlie Child (2007, F)

Charlie has recently launched his career as a poet, after many years of writing. For more of his work, take a look at his website https://www.charliechild.com/.

Cuba ’62:

Preludes to a World Crisis

James Tennant (1997, D)

Authors: Richard Hollis & JS Tennant https://amzn.eu/d/8ZzdNy4

Publisher: Five Leaves.

The thirteen-day stand-off between the US and USSR in October 1962 was the most dangerous period of the Cold War. Richard Hollis chanced to be in Cuba as the Soviet troops were arriving, documenting his experiences with a camera, through diaries and letters. Months before, the Spanish novelist Juan Goytisolo had toured the island writing the journals he was to turn into a book. The Cuban film-maker Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s masterpiece, Memories of Underdevelopment, is set in 1962 and conjures perfectly the tense atmosphere of that time. Half a century later, JS Tennant visited several of the former missile bases in Cuba, collecting oral histories and photographs. This book provides the reader with a basic political context to the Missile Crisis. More than this, Cuba ’62 attempts to conjure that year through juxtapositions of text and image, past and present; it is a love song to cinema and photography and an elegy for a Cuba that no longer is.

Looking In

Author: Christopher Hill (1948, A)

Publisher: Self-published.

“This very old Old Radleian (Paton’s, 1948-52) has a few copies remaining of the first edition of his memoirs, Looking In. His youth was conventional: a prosperous home in Sussex, Radley, Cambridge, a first job in the City. Then, to his own surprise, he found himself in SIS (MI6) for a few years. That led to a lectureship in Government at the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland at Salisbury, Rhodesia, a short-lived appointment because he offended the authorities and was imprisoned and deported. For the remainder of his career, he taught Politics in the calm surroundings of the University of York and became the Founding Director of the University’s Centre for Southern African Studies. The proceeds of this book go to Médecins Sans Frontières and to a children’s feeding scheme in South Africa. If you would like a copy, please let me know as soon as possible by emailing me at CRHill764@gmail.com.”

The Effects of Lying

Role: Jon Tarcy (2007, G) (plays Steve Nagy)

Broadcast: July 2023, ITVX

Naveen (Ace Bhatti) has lived his life by the book; he’s a loyal husband and loving father. He’s sacrificed everything for his family, but today is going to be different. After finding his teenage daughter Simran (Lauren Patel) secretly gorging and his dissatisfied wife Sangeeta (Laila Rouass) in bed with his brother (Navin Chowdry), lies come pouring out and the truth is uncovered. Naveen must now get to grips with the key relationships in his life that he bases his identity on. What is he, if not a husband, a father, a brother? He’s allowed himself to be passive too long, pushed around by the currents of other people’s whims and desires. He must learn to take responsibility for his own life and his own happiness.

The Vanishing Glaciers of Patagonia - 100 Years in Retrospect

Author: Martin Sessions (1961, H)

Publisher: Inspiring Publishers

In 1839, Charles Darwin remarked, with some amazement, about the occurrence of glaciers at sea level in the Gulf of Penas, Chile, latitude 46° 40’. One glacier to which he referred was the San Quintin glacier. This remark must have triggered the interest of Professor Otto Nordenskjöld, the famed Swedish explorer and geographer. In 1920, Professor Nordenskjöld led a small expedition to explore and document remote parts of South America. The second phase was to the North Patagonian Icefield and its largest glacier, the San Quintin.

This is the story of that episode as told by Nils Pallin, the expedition’s surveyor, with additional extracts illustrating the challenges they faced in this unforgiving region from Allan Bäckman’s letters. In the process of researching this expedition, 200 uncaptioned photographs were assembled and a selection has been added to enhance this story. A chronology of significant events affecting the region has been included together with a summary of subsequent exploration.

Whilst Professor Nordenskjöld may have left this dynamic region feeling that the expedition had not achieved as much as it might have done due to the challenges of the terrain and the inhospitable weather, the expedition’s photographs are used to reveal the mind-shatteringly fast disappearance of the smaller glaciers together with the rapid thinning of the largest glacier, the San Quintin. glaciar-benito.cl

Michael Tippett, The Shadow and the Light

Producer: John Bridcut (1965, A)

Broadcast: June, BBC www.johnbridcut.com

The latest in John Bridcut’s collection of awardwinning films about British composers features the life and music of Sir Michael Tippett, who died 25 years ago in 1998. For many years, Tippett dominated the contemporary classical music scene in the UK. His life spanned almost the whole of the 20th century, and embraced many of the social issues of his time, from pacifism to homosexuality. His most popular work, the oratorio A Child of Our Time, made his name in 1944. Provoked by Kristallnacht – the 1938 Nazi-led pogrom against German Jews – it continues to speak powerfully about refugees and persecution.

Celebrating the Cherry: Growing Around the World

Author: Matthew Hancock (1983, H)

Publisher: Red Communications

This book celebrates the world of cherries by raising awareness of the hard work of producing them: from growing and transportation to retailing. Matthew Hancock’s second edition of his father’s 2007 book provides an update on an industry that has changed massively in the intervening sixteen years. Beautiful photography and brilliant anecdotes create a light, educational read. Sales of Celebrating the Cherry will go towards charities supported by the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers.

Don Roberto, The Adventure of Being Cunninghame Graham

Author: Jamie Jauncey (1963, B)

Publisher: Scotland Street Press

It would be impossible to invent Don Roberto today – a fantastic combination of Don Quixote and Sir Gawain, Indiana Jones and the Lone Ranger. He was so multifaceted, so complex, that every chapter in his story reveals some new and contradictory aspect of his personality. He is best known as the co-founder, with Keir Hardie, of the Scottish Labour Party, and later as the founding president of the Scottish National Party. But in a long and extraordinary life he was many other things besides.

Weblink: https://www.jamesjauncey.com/

Sleeping on Islands: A Life in Poetry

Author: Andrew Motion

(1966, A)

Publisher: Faber & Faber Andrew Motion has been close to the centres of British poetry for over fifty years. Sleeping on Islands is his clear-sighted and open-hearted account of this remarkable career. It takes us from scenes of a teenage home-life coloured by tragedy and silence — where writing was as much a refuge as an assertion — to the excruciations of early public appearances, to the decade he spent as Poet Laureate, promoting and ensuring the central place of poetry in a nation’s character. Along the way, we hear about the risks and sacrifices involved, as well as the difficulties of sustaining a commitment to writing within a helix of other obligations. We see in close-up the significance of Motion’s formative relationship with W. H. Auden and his subsequent friendship with Philip Larkin. And during his time as Laureate, we witness memorable encounters with Royalty and Prime Ministers, and discover the costs and complications that accompany such a high-profile role. By turns moving and humorous, this is the intimate story of a rare poetic life. And it proves Motion’s contention that the poems we most enjoy ‘are not weird visitations, or ornaments stuck on the surface of life, but part of life’s daily bread’.

Weblink: https://amzn.eu/d/iK4PaLo

New and Selected Poems 1977-2022

Author: Andrew Motion (1966, A)

Publisher: Faber & Faber

This comprehensive edition draws on Andrew Motion’s distinguished body of work from Secret Narratives (1983) to his most recent volume, Randomly Moving Particles (2020), and includes a substantial selection of new and previously uncollected poems. Certain preoccupations unite the book, which from first to last is particularly concerned with the ways in which our lives are shaped by loss - by wars, by accidents, by the erosion of time and by grief. Motion is an energetic and protean spirit, a listener and a watcher, and while his poems mostly develop his themes by using intimate and lyric forms, they also sometimes adapt from direct speech and documentary sources. In every case, and especially movingly in the long poem ‘Essex Clay’, Motion uses acts of personal witness to reflect the vulnerabilities of the world at large. These are extraordinary poems of and for our times, enlarging our sense of the cost of human experience even as they refine those sensibilities that keep us most alive and engaged with the present.

Weblink: https://amzn.eu/d/6qU0lCd

Pioneer Merchants of Singapore: Johnston, Boustead, Guthrie and Others

Author: Richard Hale, OBE, BBM (Singapore) (1950, G)

Publisher: WSPC

Pioneer Merchants of Singapore tells the stories of some of Singapore’s earliest merchants, including Alexander Laurie Johnston, Edward Boustead, Alexander Guthrie, and eleven others, including Tan Che Sang, Dr Jose d’Almeida, and D S Napier. Much has been written about Sir Stamford Raffles and Lt. Col. Farquhar, but almost nothing has been published about these merchants of all races operating in Singapore during the first few years following its acquisition by the East India Company in 1819. It includes never-before-published information drawn from letters dating back to 1818. These, including letters from Johnston’s first employee and business partner Andrew Hay and a previously unrecorded letter from Raffles himself, shed light on much which otherwise would have been lost to us. This book aims to fill a gap in our knowledge of the early days of Singapore and the challenges faced by its early residents. It is a must-read for those who are interested in the history of Singapore’s early years as a trading colony. Weblink: https://amzn.eu/d/h3coTGV

1964: The Year the Swinging Sixties Began

Author: Christopher Sandford (1970, C)

Publisher: The History Press (UK)

1964 is a living history of the uniquely turbulent year which brought us the likes of the Beatles, the Stones and Goldfinger at one end, and events such as the horrific Moors Murders and the advent of the Vietnam War at the other. Veteran author Christopher Sandford tells the story through the first-hand accounts of those who were there, whether in the forefront of politics, fashion, music or sport, or merely sitting at home watching their furniture-sized black-and-white television sets showing the likes of Harold Wilson or Lyndon Johnson, or the swashbuckling OR Ted Dexter leading the England Test team against the visiting Australians. Christopher Sandford, who’s written bestselling books on everything from cricket down to modern politics, was recently described by Rolling Stone magazine as ‘probably the preeminent author in his field today.’ https://amzn.eu/d/cWG4YB5

The Airliner’s Youth Years: 1945-1970

Author: Rolf Richardson (1947, H)

Publisher: Independently published

When World War Two ended in 1945, travel by air was still restricted to a tiny minority, most of whom in Britain were wealthy or servants of its dying empire. However, those six war years had accelerated the growth of aviation. The airline infant of 1939 had, by 1945, become an ambitious teenager, determined to make its mark on the world. Competition between nations was intense, but onesided, the industrial might of the USA dominating all rivals. However, war-torn Britain was not going to allow her position as the former world number one to go lightly; she was determined to fight her corner, not least in the aviation market.

Sable Grantham in BelgraviaPart Two: In Pursuit of Power

Author: Roderick Archer (1963, G)

Publisher: Pegasus Publishers

Sable Grantham returned to London after her unexpected and magical weekend away in Gibraltar with Hugh Mannston. Her divorce behind her, she now has to build herself a new and stable private life and combine that with her satisfying career in the Foreign Office. And she is ambitious. Happy to help the prime minister, she visits Chequers in a semi-business capacity and makes certain observations. She also visits his constituency, gets a feel for the place and gives him valuable advice. Temporarily distracted by the Dutch prime minister who wants an affair with her, she builds her life and is careful to avoid predators. Then her career begins to take off when she is promoted and is posted to the embassy in Brussels. She continues to offer help and advice to the prime minister purely as a friend, but especially when he loses his seat and his world is turned upside down. She clearly demonstrates her skills as a diplomat in Brussels and also befriends the Military Attache. But when she finally retires, her commitment is to enter politics. A new door opens for her … https://amzn.eu/d/6lftYA5

Strongholds of Satan: Volume One – The South-East

Author: William Morgan (1972, C) Publisher: Mainholm Press www.mainholmpress.co.uk

The first of the series, published in 2022, concentrates on the populous south eastern counties of England. Its 1032 pages contain a wealth of information and images. More than just a racing enthusiast’s reference work, this sumptuous book also reveals the social history behind the events and the impact of the local geography on the way they were run, and how changes in both altered the way that the sport evolved. It’s a big book, in its scope and in its physical dimensions, and readers will be sure to find many fascinating nuggets of information in its meticulously researched pages.

Vol 1: The South-East and East Anglia: the area surrounding the capital was home to some of the most interesting – and outrageous – fixtures, especially those that mushroomed in the 1860s which caused Parliament to intervene after the Jockey Club failed to bring them to heel. Hampton was as big an occasion for Londoners as Epsom, yet the hilly countryside around Harrow was one of the first centres of steeplechasing. Further away, the headquarters of Flat racing at Newmarket invigorated many of the fixtures for miles about and several of the county meetings.

To Leslie

Co-producer: Henry Hereford (1989, G) (Co-producer)

Broadcast: Premiered in March 2022, and thereafter distributed by Momentum Pictures

To Leslie is a 2022 American drama film directed by Michael Morris in his feature directorial debut, and written by Ryan Binaco.

The film stars Andrea Riseborough as Leslie Rowland, a single mother and alcoholic who squanders all the prize money she receives after winning the lottery. She soon finds the chance to redeem herself when a motel owner offers her a job. Allison Janney, Marc Maron, Andre Royo, Owen Teague, and Stephen Root are featured in supporting roles. To Leslie premiered at South by Southwest on 12 March 2022, and was given a limited release on 7 October 2022 by Momentum Pictures. The film received critical acclaim, with Riseborough’s performance garnering widespread praise and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Ten Pound Poms

Executive Producer: Jamie Campbell (1990, A) (Executive Producer)

Broadcast: May, BBC www.elevenfilm.com

One million Britons were sold the dream of a modern way of life in Australia and were seduced by a fare of just £10. Follow the story of the largest planned migration of the 20th century. In this series, a group of Brits leave post-war Britain in 1956 to embark on an adventure.

Bright the VisionPublic School Missions from the Victorian Age

Editor: Malcolm

Tozer Publisher:

Sunnyrest Books

Edward Thring, Headmaster of Uppingham School, encouraged his privileged boys to remember the plight of the poor and to assist them through charitable donation and direct action. They responded by founding a public school mission in 1870, at North Woolwich in London’s East End. Over the course of the next 40 years, many more schools and two universities followed this example. Bright the Vision is the story of 22 of those school missions and their legacy, including Radley College.

If I Knew Then What I Know Now …

Author: Gavin Spickett (1969, E)

Publisher: The Crowood Press https://amzn.eu/d/fjZyxa2

From park run to ultras, this book gives you the support and encouragement you need to start – and keep you – running injuryfree. This thorough handbook gives detailed practical advice to all adult runners. It covers everything you need to embark on a running career, but goes further and explains training needs and regimes to established runners. Written in an accessible easy style, it answers all your questions – before you’ve thought of them –and encourages everyone to get fit and enjoy your running safely.

Radley Mariners

The Boat Club enjoyed another successful season across all the age groups. Highlights for the senior squad included a win at the Fours Head in the J18 Coxless Four event, in a new record time, and a second place in the J18 Coxed Four event. There was also a win in the J18 1st Eight at the Wallingford Head, as well as a win in the Junior Fours event. At the Schools’ Head of the River, the 1st Eight achieved 2nd place as did the 2nd Eight, with the 3rd Eight winning their division. Radley also won the Thames Team Trophy for the topperforming school in the senior division for the second year in a row.

At the National Schools’ Regatta, the 1st Eight narrowly missed out on the medals, finishing in 4th place overall. The 2nd and 3rd Eights both won the gold medal in their respective divisions. Special mention should also be made about our J15 group who won the gold medal in the 15.1 and 15.2 events with the 15.3 crew winning bronze in the 15.2 division. Sixty-five Shell rowers were also active on the river this season, which bodes well for the future of the club.

At the Henley Royal Regatta, the 1st Eight came up against a strong crew from the USA, St Joseph’s Preparatory School, in the first round and managed to win fairly comfortably. They then had good wins against Reading Blue Coat School and King’s College School to advance to the semi-finals. In the semi-final they raced a strong St Edward’s crew who had won the gold medal at the National Schools’ Regatta. The Radley crew raced very well, holding overlap with St Edward’s all the way down the course, but unfortunately were not able to get their bows into the lead in what was one of the fastest times in the event. St Edward’s went on to win the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup.

After Henley we had seven candidates who had qualified for the final GB Trials after some intensive testing during the course of the year. Niamh Murphy (2018, C) was selected as cox for the England U19 women’s team and went on to win a gold medal in the Eights event and a silver medal in the Coxed Fours event at the Home International Regatta. Adam Fowler (2018, E) and Angus (6.2) were selected for the GB Team for the Coupe de la Jeunesse in Amsterdam which has finals on both the last two days of the event. Adam won two gold medals in the Coxed Four and a gold and silver in the Eight. Angus won a gold and silver in the Coxless Four event. Ben German (2018, H) was also selected for the GB team, but unfortunately had to pull out due to an injury suffered in training during the event.

Hector (6.2) won the junior beach sprint title at the British Coastal Rowing Championships during the summer holidays. This achievement gained him selection to represent GB at the European Coastal Rowing Championships and the World Coastal Rowing

Tom George and Ollie Wynne-Griffith, silver medalists in the Men’s Pair at the Senior World Rowing Championships.

Championships which take place in October. Bob (6.2) and Gabriel (6.2) were selected for the GB Eight for the U19 World Rowing Championships which was held on the Olympic rowing course in Paris. The Eight won the gold medal in the final. This was the first time since 2018 that GB has won the gold medal in this event. Old Radleians were also very active and successful in their rowing endeavours over the past season. At Henley Royal Regatta we had two Mariners crews who both narrowly missed qualifying for the Brittania Challenge Cup. Ned Rae Smith (2014,A) competed for Dartmouth University in the Wyfold Challenge Cup, Joshua Bowesman-Jones (2012, J) reached the final racing for Leander Club in the Visitors’ Challenge Cup, and Cameron Tasker (2017, E) raced with Washington University in the Temple Challenge Cup (during the season Cameron also raced for the Washington University 1st Eight which came a very close second in the Inter-Collegiate Championships, the premier rowing event in the USA). Tom George (2008, G) and Ollie Wynne-Griffith (2007, D/J) won the Silver Goblets and Nickalls’ Challenge Cup in the pair, and Felix Rawlinson (2014,F) raced in the GB U23 eight in the Ladies’ Challenge Plate.

On the international front, Tom George and Ollie Wynne-Griffith won the silver medal in the men’s pair event at the Senior World Championships, Felix Rawlinson was in the GB U23 Eight that won the gold at the U23 World Championships, and Charlie Elwes (2010, J) won gold in the GB Eight at the Senior World Championships. 2023 was the first time ever that a single nation (Great Britain) had won all three eights’ events at the three official World Championship events (Senior, U23 and U19) and the only school that had pupils or past pupils in all three boats was Radley College.

John Gearing, Head Coach Sam Townsend, MiC Rowing

For more information about joining or supporting the Radley Mariners, visit their webpage: https://www.radley.org.uk/radleian-society/clubs-societies/

Radley Galleons

2023 was a somewhat quiet year for the Galleons as we struggled to find enough old-boy teams who were able to field sides against us. However, as we look to the end of the year and 2024, the fixtures list is thankfully busier and we aim to keep it that way!

In January we managed to pencil in a fixture against Cheltenham Old Boys at Battersea Park. As typical with Hockey at this time of the year, it was a cold and windy affair but this did little to deter the Galleons from turning up for this fixture. The team sheet featured a mixture of ages, with recent ORs such as Tommy Williams (2016, H) making their Galleons debut, whilst Harry Swift (2006, F) bravely agreed to play his first game of hockey in twelve years. To make it a full family affair, Toby Swift (2008, F) also featured in the line-up. What he hadn’t been told was that we were missing a keeper but he keenly agreed to pad up and go in goal for us. The Stalder family was also strongly represented with Luke (2011, E) and Marcus (2014, E) turning up, as well as other Galleons usuals such as Ben Dezelsky (2016, C).

It is safe to say that both teams showed signs of rustiness at the beginning of the game, but Cheltenham quickly took the lead with a goal just before half time. Fortunately, we were quick to respond in the second half with a characteristically clinical short corner finish from James Cunningham (2012, G). The Galleons did brilliantly to fend off various attempts at goal and also did well to keep up with Cheltenham who had brought an army of substitutes compared to our empty bench. Furthermore, there were some valiant saves from Toby Swift in goal. Our efforts were rewarded with a lateish goal from Tommy Williams to make it 2-1 and thankfully the result stayed this way until the final whistle. All in all, a great game and thank you to Cheltenham who are always up for playing us in London – we look forward to further battles with you in the future.

In March it was time for the annual Galleons Day back at Radley. Our goal this year was to make Galleons Day bigger and better than previous years. The day featured: two games of hockey (boys & dons), a slap-up lunch in Hall, followed by drinks in the JCR. With boys always eager to roll back the years and return to the College, turnout for the Galleons is always strong. This year we returned with a squad of twenty, featuring both recent and more “mature” ORs. Our first game was against the boys’ team who were coming off the back of an incredibly successful unbeaten season. Much to our relief, we learnt that they were missing their star player due to England Hockey obligations.

Against a strong boys’ side, the Galleons began the first half slightly apprehensive. However, much to our surprise, we found ourselves 3-0 up at halftime after some short corner wizardry and a fantastic counter-attack goal. I’m afraid the goalscorers’ names escape me!

After a stern halftime talk from their coaches, the boys returned with renewed energy to show us who was boss. With fitness on their side, the boys beat us on the counter countlessly and, after some mishaps at the back from yours truly, the boys made it 3-1. Despite chances of a Liverpool 2005-style comeback, the Galleons maintained their lead and even managed to top it up with a goal in the closing minutes. The game ended 4-1 and the boys’ unbeaten status was in tatters –although I believe they did not count this one!

After a hearty Sunday roast in Hall and some generous glasses of red wine, we headed back to the Astro for the dons game. The dons game is a chance for the Galleons to face their old teachers, but since the previous year it seems the College has made various changes to the Common Room, as their team consisted largely of teenage boys. Yet despite the youthful nature of the dons team, the Galleons managed to achieve their second victory of the day by beating the dons 2-0. Some standout performances during the day were James

Todd’s powerful mastery of the central midfield role, some speedy wing play from James Bilderbeck (1985, A) and strong defending from Max Jardine-Brown (2016, K). After another successful and hugely enjoyable Galleons Day, we ended things in the JCR. My thanks to the College, in particular Mike Hills, Pete Bennett and Sophie Torrance, who continue to make the day possible – we look forward to next year.

We had planned to play a game of hockey for OR Day at Radley in September, but due to our opponents pulling out at the last minute we regrettably had to cancel this. However, we plan to play a game next year in addition to the London fixtures in Autumn 2023 and Winter 2024 – stay tuned! If you are interested in playing hockey for the Galleons, please do get in touch. Due to the continued generous support of the Radleian Society, we charge no annual subs or match fees.

Will Swift (2010, F), Captain of the Radley Galleons swifwd@gmail.com

Old Radleian Golfing Society

ORGS is a hundred years old this year! We may not be the earliest established of the OR sports societies, but we can probably claim to have the oldest OR sportsmen and the greatest age range of active participants amongst our membership (from 18 to 87!). One of our best players arrived at D Social in 1950, with at least three others, including the past and present President, starting at Radley in the 1950s. Our youngest member started at Radley in 2018, and half of the 2023 Halford Hewitt team were under 25 years of age. ORGS now also has two presidents among its membership: David Harvey (1955, B) is President of Royal St George’s and Christopher Clarke (1958, F) is President Elect of Huntercombe Golf Club. 2023 was not our year in the Halford Hewitt, losing in the first round to a strong Haileybury side. The Halford Hewitt Cup celebrates its own centenary in 2024. Richard Palmer (1956, D), President and evergreen stalwart of the Hewitt, writes:

“Although we were drawn to play in the first Halford Hewitt Cup as one of the 16 senior public schools selected, we failed to enter a side for six years giving a bye to our opponents. This was in spite of the fact that Radley had two current internationals in Sir Ernest Holderness (1903, F), also that year the current Amateur Champion, and Noel Layton (1902, E).

It took us until 1930 to get to the 1st tee, losing in the first round to Malvern. Since then, we have played each year with varying degrees of success, winning in 1996, runners up in 2016 and a number of times with excellent performances, which means that we rank in the top 15 of the 64 schools who compete.”

The Halford Hewitt Centenary Dinner will be hosted on January 10th at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London, and details can be found on the ORGS website (www.orgs.org.uk). Players from our 1996 winning side will be at the dinner, sporting their medals if they can find them, alongside other past players.

The 1996 winning team was: TJ Etridge* (1985, A), JTA MartinJenkins (1986, B), MN Walker (1987, E), HN Mackeown (1955, A), CJ Ball (1958, A), SJE Peck* (1985, C), RH Palmer (1956, D), AD Chilvers (1979, F), WES Bailey (1968, D) and MN Gareth-Jones (1960, F) *played in the 2023 team.

In addition to these, we had two new fixtures in 2023. A weekend at Aldeburgh hosted by Hugh Wolley (1970, F), past Captain of ORGS and Captain of Aldeburgh GC, and a match against Ampleforth at Royal Liverpool Golf Club, hosted by Tim Marshall (1960, A).

A special mention goes to the match managers for organising their teams: Philip Godden (1979, B), Clive Seigal (1960, F), Jonathan Eliot (1979, B), Tobin Ashby (1985, F), Duncan Ritchie (1964, C) and Angus Chilvers (1979, F).

Congratulations to Tom Etridge, who teamed up with Hugh Mackeown, for an extraordinary achievement in winning the Royal Medal for the lowest scratch score in the Royal & Ancient Autumn Medal. He carded an 8 under par 64 on the Old Course – the best score since the medal was presented by King William IV in 1837.

Matches and meetings are always well subscribed with a wide variety of ages, but there’s always room for more. Please register at www.orgs.org.uk, and join us – you will get to play great courses, with a good lunch and with like-minded people. Generous subsidies are available for ORs under 30.

Those who attend our Spring (Berkshire GC) and Autumn Meetings (Royal St Georges GC), know how much fun and great value these events are. I joined the ORGS late and it was one of the best things I have done. Golf and lunch at great clubs is legendary. Meeting old and young faces and making connections ... reminiscing about singing Jerusalem in the back of the coach coming back from an away match is an added bonus! There’s something about a Radleian … Tim Rowntree (1971, B), Captain