Clubs and Activities

CLUBS & ACTIVITIES

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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Amnesty International had a very successful year, managing to get many members of the school writing letters to foreign governments and Christmas cards to prisoners.

Fund-raising this year took the form of the now traditional cake bakes, a collection in chapel, and concerts by some of the school's musicians after which collections were taken and raffle tickets were sold.

This year also saw the establishing of close links with the York Amnesty Group. During the annual Amnesty Week we held two very successful letter-writing sessions and a Christmas card writing session. We were overwhelmed by the response from the school and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who came to write letters.

Several members of the Amnesty Group attended at debate with other Amnesty groups on whether Amnesty International should support armed intervention; the result of this was that supporting armed intervention would tarnish Amnesty's reputation and could interfere witii its effectiveness in drawing attention to the human rights dimension to crisis.

I would like to thank his year's very successful committee of Felicity Bevan, Wendy Chung, Catherine Hopkinson, Rosie Neave and Emma Cox for all the hard work that they put in; altogether this year we raised £150 for Amnesty, and I hope that next year's committee led by Catherine Hopkinson can keep the good work going. I would also like to thank Mr. Drysdale for all his hard work and guidance.

Stephen Mulryne

TOP HOUSE QUIZ

The creation of a ninth House caused us to alter the usual format of the competition this year. The opening round was run on the lines of a "pub quiz", with each House seated at a table well away from one another. It was a successful occasion and the four highest scoring teams went through to the semi-finals. Alas, The Manor and Grove, quiz "experts" of past years, did not survive. The eventual finalists, Linton and Temple, came face to face in the Hall at the end of March. Both teams fought hard and Temple emerged as winners by fifty-two points to forty-four. Congratulations to their team — Oliver Button, Richard Collier, James Tilston and Christopher Maitland. My special thanks to everyone who helped make this year's quiz so enjoyable.

The coach was full: a large group of sixth formers, guests from Fothergill and Burton Croft, wheelchairs and walking frames — we were off on the "mystery tour", which everyone knew to be a drive via Ampleforfh and Byland to Easingwold where a splendid afternoon tea would be waiting at the Galtres Centre. Another successful year for the Community Service group was being celebrated with our annual summer outing. All went well, although it was a rather quiet affair compared with our Christmas Party in the Memorial Hall when forty guests were brilliantly entertained by Mr. Blood and the Swing Band, songs from 'Cabaret' beautifully sung by Katie Dowds, Christmas carols led by "that lovely young man" Mr. Spencer and a lively bingo session run by Claire Lawson and Briony "the poshest bingo caller I've ever heard" Ix)ng. Our most ambitious project so far has been the Christmas Appeal for the homeless. Parents, staff and pupils responded wonderfully with gifts of food, toys, clothing and cash and we were able to deliver over two hundred gifts to York's shelters on Christmas Eve.

A group of loyal regulars have helped with street collections and envelope deliveries, frequently in pouring rain. We have had grateful thanks from several local groups including RNIB, SENSE, AGE CONCERN and recently the North Yorkshire branch of the BRITISH RED CROSS.

Fundraising is important, of course, but far more significant is the giving of time. Many residents of Fothergill have commented on the cheerful welcome they receive at our get-togethers and as guests at school concerts, and the home visits are very special, too. Volunteers who help with the children's schemes at York District Hospital and The Glen are always complimented on their reliability and sensitivity.

We were very pleased to award the Old Peterite Prize for Community Service to Fiona Gregory and Lynsay Hoggard who have given loyal support and a lot of time to many projects over the last two years. J. Bainbridge

R.A.F. SECTION

This year started well, with the R.A.F. and Army sections of the C.C.F. being amalgamated for their week to week activities. This not only gave the R.A.F. cadets a chance to join in with all the army activities, but it also gave some of the Army cadets the opportunity to do some flying.

This year has been a good one for individual cadets from the section as well. Congratulations must go to Jim Mee for being awarded a sixth form scholarship for the General Duties Branch (navigator) and Robin Gill for being awarded a Flying Scholarship. Jim is also due to go on the Cadet Leadership course to Halton this summer which is very hard work, but extremely worthwhile. I was selected to go on the International Cadet Exchange to Canada in the summer, and have been awarded a Bursary (university sponsorship) for the General Duties Branch (pilot).

With all this going on in the section, hopefully we will start to eliminate the misguided view that the A.T.C. is better than the C.C.F. Robin Gill, Jim Mee and Peter Liddle also went to Germany for a week in the Easter holidays, and all said they had a great time and the trip was very worthwhile. As long as people make sure they use the openings given to the section then it will ensure that the section will continue to be given them in the future.

Steve Whalley

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