CCF Inspection Day A spectacular Chinook helicopter flypast was among the highlights of the Combined Cadet Force (CCF) Inspection in March. Two hundred Tonbridge cadets took part in the annual event, which this year marked the 80th anniversary of the founding of the RAF Section at the school. The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier, was the Inspecting Officer. The Queen, Captain-General of the UK CCF, wrote to congratulate the Tonbridge School RAF Section on its landmark. The parade and inspection included the Royal Navy and Army sections, and was accompanied by the Band of the Parachute Regiment. Flown by Squadron Leader Charlie Young, from 28 Squadron, RAF Benson, the Chinook landed on The Fifty, one of the school’s sports fields. Squadron Leader Jonathan Harber, Contingent Commander for the school’s CCF, said: “Tonbridge is extremely proud of the entire contingent and their performance. The Honour Guard’s drill and rifle display was first class, and all cadets showed characteristic dedication and enthusiasm.” Various displays, including a climbing tower, were set up on school grounds, and other activities were led by the RAF Regiment and the Royal Marines Visibility Unit. There was also an opportunity to go inside the Chinook and look around. Pictures: Clair Miller.
Tonbridge Music celebrated at Cadogan Hall More than one hundred boys from the school took to the stage to perform in a special concert at London’s Cadogan Hall in January. The concert, Celebrating Tonbridge Music, showcased the diverse talents of boys past and present. There were moving performances from an Old Tonbridgian Vocal Group and the Chapel Choir, while members of the cast of this year’s school play, the musical Chess, performed a medley of songs from the production. The Big Band brought the first half to a rousing finish with well-known pieces including Blue Skies, Soul Man and It’s Only A Paper Moon. After the interval, the Massed String Orchestra performed Arvo Pärt’s Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten, while the Symphony Orchestra played the overture from Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet. Mark Forkgen, Director of Music, said: “It was a fantastic opportunity for Tonbridgians from different eras to make music together, performing with dedication and commitment.”
Boys rise to DTE challenge Freddie on top of world Old Tonbridgian Freddie De Tommaso (WH 0611) has won one of the world’s most prestigious singing contests, the Tenor Viñas International Singing Competition, staged at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona.
Problem-solving skills were put to the test in the annual Design Technology and Engineering interhouse challenge. This year’s theme, ‘Bank Raid’, set boys the task of making a device that could lift objects out of a large box, representing a bank vault. Working in teams of four, their creations had to remove ‘valuables’ including a painting, a gold bar, a silver block and a vase in a five minute time limit. Whitworth House (pictured) won first prize, with Parkside a close second and Smythe third. Richard Day, Head of DTE, said: “It was great to see boys producing some ingenious contraptions.”
One of the youngest finalists taking part, Freddie competed against 500 singers, from 60 countries, who auditioned to reach the final stages.
Physics prizes The Physics Olympiad, a national competition for the most able students, saw Tonbridge boys winning five gold medals (awarded only to the top five per cent of pupils nationally), plus four silver medals and a further 23 bronze. There was also a strong showing in the GCSE Physics Olympiad, with seven gold, six silver and 35 bronze medals won.
Hockey champions
Football champions The U16A football team were crowned Southern Independent Schools League Champions in March, having completed a run of 12 wins in a row. During this period they recorded victories over Harrow, St Paul’s, Radley and Haileybury, to name but a few. In all, some 16 Tonbridge football teams took to the field in Lent Term, with more than 300 boys choosing this as their sport for the term.
The U14 hockey team won the Kent Cup in February, beating Simon Langton School in the final. Also in February, the 1st XI hockey team won the Frank Mason Tournament, ending a wait stretching back to 1990. Tonbridge scored 20 goals on their way to the title, beating St Lawrence, Ramsgate in the final.
Oardinary Boys row into record books
Old Tonbridgians George Randell and Oli Glanville became the second fastest pair in history to row across the Atlantic.
The race saw them brave storms, exhaustion, seasickness and extreme danger – on three occasions their boat capsized in stormy waters.
As competitors in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, billed as the ‘world’s toughest row’, the pair took part in a 3,000 mile race which tested their endurance, spirit and teamwork to the limit during the course of 37 gruelling days at sea.
In a hard-fought battle, George (Sc 08-13) and Oli (PH 08-13) – competing under their team name The Oardinary Boys – finished second to rivals Row2Recovery by just two hours.
The pair’s incredible adventure started in the Canary Islands in December 2017 and ended in Antigua on 20 January.
George and Oli also set themselves a goal of raising £60,000 for their chosen charities The Against Malaria Foundation and Alzheimer’s Research UK.
QE Sevens winners
Ben makes scoring start Tonbridge claimed the prestigious Queen Elizabeth’s School Sevens Tournament Trophy with a series of fine performances. The U16s overcame plenty of strong opposition, in a competition that involved 32 rugby-playing schools, to win the trophy. The team beat Wellington College 26-12 in the semi-final, and Whitgift School 19-14 in a closely contested final. The tournament has taken place annually since 1976, with teams coming from all over England and Wales to compete.
Old Tonbridgian Ben Earl (JH 11-16) scored his first Aviva Premiership try on his first start in the competition for Saracens against Exeter Chiefs in March. Despite the fact that the match was won 24-12 by hosts Exeter, Ben said that he was delighted to make his mark. “It was a great feeling,” he said. “We were in the battle for the full 80 minutes and the boys fronted up. I think we showed ourselves in a good light.” Earlier this year Ben was named in the England U20 squad for the second year in a row. Picture: Wired Photos.
Tonbridge team ski to success in Switzerland
The British Schoolboys’ International Races in Wengen, Switzerland saw the Tonbridge School team land 11 medals (five golds) and two other awards – the British Association Ski Instructors’ Award and the Downhill Only Ski Club Award.
The CRAS
Hundreds of boys took part in the annual Tonbridge School cross-country race, The CRAS, on a chilly afternoon in February. The CRAS Winners’ Cup was won by Oakeshott House, with the Overall House Points Cup being claimed by Welldon House. It was a good day for Oakeshott and Welldon as they claimed other top honours. Oakeshott won the Senior Team competition, with Welldon
winning the Junior Team and Novi Team prizes. The Senior Individual champion was Charlie Crick (SH4), the Junior winner was Finn Harvey (HS3) and the Novi event was won by Joe Baldwin (HS1). The Headmaster, Tim Haynes, ran with the Novi, and through sponsorship raised more than £11,000 for his chosen cause, the Marsh Academy Travel Fund. Pictures: Graeme Gales.
Intermediate Maths Challenge: New record set The school was awarded a total of 67 gold medals in the latest Intermediate Maths Challenge – making this its best ever result in the competition. Organised by the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust, challenges are lively and intriguing multiplechoice question papers, which are designed to stimulate interest in maths in large numbers of pupils. The competition attracts over 600,000 entries from some 4,000 schools and colleges. Eleven Tonbridge boys qualified for the follow-up Olympiad round, due to being placed in the top
500 in their year group across the whole country. Ian Jackson, the school’s Head of Mathematics, said: “These excellent results typify the hard work that goes on in the department. “However, most of the credit must go to the boys themselves, who have worked extremely hard to set a new record.”
Chess showcases school’s musical talent The school’s Drama and Music departments combined during the Michaelmas Term to create a wonderful production of the musical, Chess. The performance featured a cast of 70 and an orchestra of 35, who were in turn supported by a large team of boys within the technical department. The production played for five nights, selling to a record audience of more than 1,700 people. With classic songs such as One Night in Bangkok and I Know Him So Well, Chess was a huge hit, attracting rapturous reviews and showcasing the depth of singing talent and musicianship at the school.
Community Concert “The best night of the year” was the verdict from one of the senior citizens who attended the school’s Community Concert. More than 180 guests braved a cold night in February to attend the hugely popular annual event, run by the Tonbridge Community Action (TCA) team. Senior citizens were collected by fleets of volunteer staff and parent drivers, and brought to Big School for an evening’s entertainment. Throughout the night the guests were looked after by the many Tonbridge boys who carry out regular volunteer work in the community.
Compered by Head of School Matthew Hayes (OH5), the audience was treated to a varied musical programme. The event was opened by younger boys in the Concert Band, who performed numbers ranging from film scores to The Muppet Show theme, while later on boys gave performances of pieces by Schubert, Schumann and Mendelssohn. The evening was rounded off in spectacular fashion by the Big Band and a selection of numbers which again had guests tapping toes. The Mayor and Mayoress of Tonbridge and Malling, Cllr Roger Dalton and Mrs Hazel Dalton, co-hosted the event. Pictures: Clair Miller.
School in the snow
Jun Xian Lee (PH3)
Thomas Rochussen (Sc4)
Visit to Parliament
Tobias Harrison (WW2) and Takuya Boehringer (FH2) visited the Houses of Parliament in order to help promote the UK Youth Rocketry Challenge, in which the school finished as runners-up last year. They explained how their rocket was successful in launching an egg up to 800ft in the air! Among those the boys met was Tom Tugendhat, MP for Tonbridge and Malling.
Mock Trial final The school’s aspiring lawyers took part in the final of the inaugural Independent School’s Mock Trial Competition 2018.
Jack Dalton (FH4) A number of Tonbridge boys took advantage of the wintry days in late February and early March to send in some excellent pictures of the school in the snow. Here are a few of the best we received.
A team of eleven boys took part in the contest, organised by the Citizenship Foundation and held at London’s Wood Green Crown Court in February. Presented with cases specially prepared by professionals in the legal profession, students had to display skills in teamwork, public speaking and verbal reasoning. The final was described by competition judges as “at a level equivalent to mooting by postgraduates at the Inns of Court”.
Super safe-crackers Sixth formers displayed their physics and engineering credentials as they took first place in Weizmann UK’s safe-cracking tournament. The winning team, made up of five boys from the Lower Sixth, saw off challenges from one hundred students and a dozen other schools to claim top spot. The competition saw students using their physics knowledge to break into securely locked devices created by other teams. Each team had to be able to open their own safe in under five minutes, but needed to keep their opponents stumped for at least ten minutes. The Tonbridge team later travelled to the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel to take part in an international safe-cracking tournament, where they competed against teams from a dozen countries.
The winners with Professor Marcus du Sautoy OBE Phil Deakin, Head of Physics, said: “What makes the Weizmann Institute’s competition so special is the combination of the theoretical physics side with the practical skills needed to build the safe. There is also a bit of creativity thrown in. It is excellent preparation for university applications, undergraduate study and future careers in science.”