House Notes

But all of them know that to return to Poland would be in effect to sign their death warrants. We must thank Capt. Klossowski for his interesting and informative talk. He certainly made us realise how difficult life is for the Polish soldier to-day.

On the evening of the.19th October we were given an enjoyable pianoforte recital by Miss Vera Henderson. Piano recitals are always popular in the School, and are looked forward to by us all. Mr. Waine had prepared some of us for the concert in his talks on Musical Appreciation. The programme followed the customary convention, and began with works by Scarlatti, which demonstrated Miss Henderson's technical ability. Then followed a virile interpretation of Brahm's Variations and Fugue on a theme by Handel. We were delighted with her playing of Chopin, the Polonaise in A being especially well received. "Scenas Infantis," by a South American composer, Octavio Pinto, followed. Miss Henderson rounded off a carefully arranged programme by playing four pieces by modern composers. The piece most enjoyed of these latter was probably the lovely work by Debussy, "La Cathedrale engloutie."

On the 24th October two talks were given by Miss Lee, a member of the International Wool Secretariat, on the subject of "Wool." The former talk was given to the Sixth Forms. Miss Lee dealt with the scientific aspects of wool and its production. Few of us, even the chemists of the audience could honestly claim fully to understand Miss Lee's scholarly description of the wool molecule. Nevertheless, we enjoyed her talk, and were especially interested in her description of D.D.T., the new wonder insecticide. Lantern slides illustrating points in the talk were also shown. The second talk was given in Big Hall to the whole School and dealt with wool from a geographical, economic, and historical standpoint. We very much enjoyed the film shown after the talk, which showed something of the interesting stages both in the growth of the wool industry and the manufacture of the actual commodity itself.

Only one entertainment film was shown this term, "I Thank You," starring Arthur Askey. This was on the last evening of term, and was much appreciated by the boarders present.

THE MANOR

During the summer holidays, 1 St. Peter's Grove and 24 Clifton were converted into one well-equipped new boarding house for the Manor. There were modern showers installed which were a great improvement to the changing facilities, some armchairs were provided which added to the comfort of the House.

Although we had six members of the 1st XV we were unsuccessful in the Senior Rugger, and in the semi-final were beaten 6-0 by a lively School House team after a good game. We were equally unfortunate in the Junior House matches when our light team were beaten by a heavier Temple team 32-0 after a hard game.

This term we welcomed Mr. Harding as our Assistant Housemaster.

Dook is to be congratulated on being appointed Head of School and Captain of Rugger, Chadwick on being made Chapel Monitor, and Bown, Hutchinson, Dobson and Graham on being made House Monitors. We should also like to record our congratulations to Graham on being appointed Vice-Captain of Rugger, Dook and Graham on being awarded their Rugger Caps, and Frank, Chadwick, Oliver and Dobson their Colours. Carr is to be congratulated on the award of his Fencing Colours and Hutchinson on his 2nd XV Colours.

In the field of sport we have not been very successful, but we hope to do better in the two remaining terms of this year.

THE RISE

At the beginning of this term the Rise was faced with the problem of adapting itself to new quarters in No. 17 Clifton. Most of us, however, were well acquainted with the difficulties presented by sleeping in one building and living in another during the day, and our experience now made things considerably easier for us. In this connection we owe a great deal to Mr. Crews, our new Housemaster, for the tremendous amount of work he put in 'before we arrived. We understand that he did most of the painting and decorating himself. A good deal of interior decoration must also have been going on in the old Rise, where we still have five of our dormitories. Something in the nature of a miracle appears to have been worked on the old senior-middles common room, which is now our new Matron's room. At this point we should like to take the opportunity of welcoming Mrs. Kimberley to the Rise. She is renewing her acquaintance with the School after the lapse of many years.

As this term was the beginning of the school year we have many appointments to announce. First we congratulate Sykes on his appointment as Head of the House, and Rayson and Wilson on becoming School Monitors. Congratulations also to Amos, Dixon, and Tate, who are the new House Monitors in the Rise, and to Wilson again on his appointment as Captain of House Rugger.

In the field of sport we can be more than satisfied with this term. After an absence of three years the Senior Rugger Cup has returned to its rightful place on the Rise shelf. We must admit, however, that the cup took a great deal of getting. In the semi-finals, against Temple, we drew the first match, three all, and in the replay only a fine penalty kick by Stuart tipped the scales in our favour. At halftime in the final against School House it looked as though there was

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to be another draw, for the House, playing with the wind, had been pressing hard and yet had not quite managed to score. In the second half, however, most of the game was around the School House "twenty-five," and a piece of very quick thinking by Dixon, following a well-placed kick to touch by Stuart, managed to secure us the necessary try. In all three matches the team played excellently, and Stuart, Dodgson, and Smith, who were awarded their House Colours, all deserve special mention.

Although our Junior XV played a hard game it failed to come up to expectations and was beaten by School House in the semi-finals.

Dixon, Stuart, Wilson, and Amos are to be congratulated on the award of their 1st XV Colours, and D. H. Tate on the award of his 2nd XV Colours. Also we congratulate Sykes on his appointments as Captain of School Fencing and Chess.

This term we say goodbye to Rignall, Claybourn, Simpson and Dee, who have all pulled their weight for the House. We shall be sorry to see them go and we wish them the best of luck in the future.

SCHOOL HOUSE

Soon after the beginning of term, we were unfortunate in losing Mr. Rhodes through sudden illness, and we hope that he will be with us again next term. In the meantime Mr. Howat has been acting as Housemaster.

In the rugger this term we beat the Manor 'by 6 points to nil in the semi-finals after a very good game. We lost to the Rise in the final by 3 points to nil, and we must congratulate them on their success. Our team played very well in both matches, and Ryder, Walter, McDermid and Thomas are to ibe congratulated on the award of their House Rugger Colours. We must not forget the Junior House team, however, who won the cup, and we congratulate Eccles and his team on a very good performance.

We have been well represented in the various School teams this term, and we congratulate Hudson, Griffiths (T. M. A.) and Edinger on the award of their 1st XV Colours ; Ryder and Shardlow (P. J.) on their 2nd XV Colours ; and Walter and Baker on their Colts Rugger Colours.

Hudson is also to be congratulated on being one of the first people to win Fencing Colours.

In the School Shooting team we have been well represented, and at last after several years we have the majority of people in it, having wrested this distinction from the Manor. With Hudson, Edinger, Parker, Hannon and Knowlson all available, our hopes are high for the Team Shooting Cup in the Summer Term.

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The Flag Competition in the J.T.C. raised little enthusiasm in the House Platoon at the beginning of term, and at one time we were 5 points behind the third place ! By half-term, however, the House realised that it was not up to its usual standard, and by a good effort brought itself up to second place. Had it done as well at the beginning of the term there would have been no doubt as to its position by the end.

We cannot finish without mentioning Macpherson, our previous Head of House, who was so seriously ill, and we are glad to hear that he is very much better and will probably not have to postpone his entry into Cranwell.

Lastly, we say goodbye to Thomas, who left us before the end of term. We wish him every success and thank him for his good work in the House, especially for his work and weight in the House rugger pack !

TEMPLE

Once again there are nearly eighty boys in the House, and since we lost our quarters in No. 1 St. Peter's Grove, we are more crowded than ever. But work and games have gone on as usual and we can only look forward to the time when the new buildings are completed and we have plenty of room to do all we want to do.

We have suffered two narrow defeats in games this term. In the Senior Rugger we met the Rise in the semi-final, and after drming 3-3, we lost 3-0. Congratulations to the Rise on beating School House, 3-0, in the final. The Junior team started well by beating the Manor 10_2 .._ o •