OU Club and Societies

OU Golf Society

The Captain’s Meeting 2010 The Captain’s meeting was held by David Downes (L 60) at Trevose in North Cornwall in September 2010. The 32 members who attended with 26 of their wives or girlfriends were blessed with fine sunny weather for the whole weekend. The winner of The Acorn for the best score was Rick Taylor (M 59), The Lee Tankard for the Best Scratch was won by Chris Gotla (H 68), The Johnson Trophy for the best single figure handicap winner was Jeremy Cooke (WB 67) and the winner of the Veterans Salver for the Over 55s was Tim Dickson (SH 67). Tony Pull (M 49) won the Scott Graham Quaich for Over 70s. At the AGM held in the clubhouse Eric Auckland (C 53) was elected as a Vice President and Alan Thomas (H 62) was elected as Captain for 2011 and David Hopkins (WD 60) the Vice Captain. Mike Ingham (M 66), Society Treasurer presented the accounts. Partners for the Fourball on the Sunday morning were drawn at the dinner on Saturday night held in the clubhouse after trophies for Saturday had been presented. This competition was won by Tim Dickson (SH 67) partnered by the Society President Derek Bunting (B 45).

Northern Public Schools

This competition is held each year in March at Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire. The trophy being played for is The Birkdale Bucket. 8 schools send teams each year. Uppingham were not able to retain this trophy which they won last year but they were a close second. Halford Hewitt 2011. The Halford Hewitt Cup is a competition between 64 public schools. It is 10 a side and 640 golfers gather each year at Royal St George’s, Sandwich and at Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club at Deal in Kent. Uppingham is currently ranked 19th out of the 64 schools based on their record since it began in 1924. This year Uppingham won through two rounds beating Ampleforth 3 matches to 2 in the first round and beating Oundle 4 /1 in the second round. In the third round they met Bradfield at Deal. Ewen Wilson (M 85), Captain, Jonathan Linstow (WB 86), Charles Bowman (WD 75) and Damian Pitts (Hf 61) both won their matches convincingly 4/3. Tim Dickson (S 67) and Chris Gotla (H 68) lost 2/1. Nick Freeman (L 70) and Mark Proffitt (H 76) lost at the 19th. Sam Debenham (C 90) and Eddie Allingham (H 81) lost at the 3rd extra hole.

Society Meetings This year’s well attended Merseyside Meeting was held at Wallasey followed two days later by the East Midlands meeting held at Little Aston. Both meetings were won by Brian Cooke (Hf 53) a Vice President of the Society. The Society

currently has over 300 members and welcomes golfers of any age or golfing ability to the well attended meetings and matches played all round the country. Subscriptions are still £10 pa and young members don’t start paying until aged 25. Application forms can be obtained from the Secretary Martin Walker (L 67) email: Martin.walker53@sky.com.

OU Masonic Lodge

The Lodge was formed in 1919 and comprises OUs of all ages, races and creeds and gives them the opportunity to meet regularly. It meets three times a year in London (City University Club, Cornhill) and there is a dinner afterwards. It also meets once a year in Uppingham, on a Saturday, and afterwards there is a dinner when guests may be invited and the Headmaster and other staff members often attend. This event provides a useful and enjoyable way of keeping in touch with the School and its developments.

The true origins of Freemasonry are lost in time. However, today’s Freemasons are no longer active stonemasons as they once were, particularly during the Middle Ages when many of the great European Cathedrals were being built. In the 17th century, stonemasons’ lodges began to admit men who were not involved with their trade but were attracted by their strict code of morality. Many distinguished men of that time, such as Sir Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin and William Hogarth, became Freemasons. This tradition continued into the 20th century and notable Freemasons include HM George VI, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Malcolm Campbell 1899 (a member of the OU Lodge), Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher and Rudyard Kipling.

Freemasonry continues today to be a system of morality. It is emphatically not a religion or a quasi-religious organisation. At Lodge meetings, Freemasons enjoy a private environment in which they are able to share in a common bond based on the commitment each has made to live by three basic principles, Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth. The OU Lodge like all other Masonic Lodges is involved in raising money for a wide range of charities; this has included giving money to the Uppingham Foundation as well as members of the Lodge contributing money to the School for the Chapel extension and the Masonic gates. The OU Lodge is part of the Public Schools Lodges Council, which consists of thirty-two schools Lodges. There is a festival which takes place each year on a Saturday hoisted by each school in turn. The activities at the Festival include a chapel service, music performance and lunch; this provides an opportunity to have a look at other public schools and to see something of what they offer to their pupils. Between 2002 and 2011 the OU Lodge has been successful in attracting a healthy number of new members; however it is still looking to increase the number of members, particularly younger OUs (under 25). The Lodge holds an ‘open invitation’ dinner each year in early January at the City University Club. Therefore any OUs who are interested in attending the ‘open invitation’ dinner or are considering joining the Lodge can contact: - Adrian Lewthwaite: 07961014890 e-mail Adrian.Lewthwaite@btinternet.com Nick Farmer: e-mail nickfarmer1@me.com Clive Burton: 01787247316 e-mail grenville.clive@gmail.com OU Sailing Association The Arrow Trophy 2011 For the 19th successive year, Uppingham competed for the Arrows trophy at Cowes, a weekend regatta in one-design yachts for former pupils of independent schools. The first race lived up to all expectations with perfect conditions and a perfect start from Uppingham where they nailed the line, had an excellent upwind beat and rounded the top mark in first place. Unfortunately they couldn’t quite maintain that standard for the rest of the regatta and finally finished 8th out of 17 in the fleet section, a very creditable result for a crew with three complete novices. On the pre regatta sail over from Plymouth, they summarised their personal objectives. Enjoyment, exhilaration, winning and being safe were all listed, and met over the weekend. Not all crews could say the same, with injuries to both persons and boats being reported elsewhere. Indeed, Shrewsbury had the dubious distinction of bringing the regatta to an early close on Sunday by colliding with the committee boat, damaging it to such an extent that it had to return to harbour. The OU Sailing Association enjoyed an excellent weekend with great sailing and many chances to make and renew acquaintances both on the boat and at the banquet on Saturday night. Special thanks to John Tildesley (WB 72) for skippering the boat and also to David (LH 73) & Philip (LH 74) Gavins for organising the weekend, and ensuring that the team were the best catered boat in the fleet. For more information on how to join the OU Sailing Association please contact:- Mark Gabbertas (Hf 75) mark@gabbertas.com David Gavins (LH 73) david.gavins@btinternet.com Guy Thornton (Fgh 76) gat@gatenergy.co.uk

Uppingham Veteran Rifle Club

Over the past 12 months OUs have continued to demonstrate their superior marksmanship skills by winning numerous individual competitions, and representing the home countries and Great Britain in international matches.

Gareth Morris (L 89) placed 8th in the individual Queen’s Prize competition during the Commonwealth Games in October last year. Equipment failures and scoring irregularities plagued the competition; although despite some adverse media reports, the accommodation and food in the athletes’ village were quite acceptable!

During the 2011 National Championships at Bisley, UVRC shooters won six competitions outright and had fifty “top 10” places out of a total of 1100 competitors. Chris Watson (M 92) was the success story of the meeting; he won the club championship with some particularly fine shooting which saw him placed in the top 10 of two of the “majors” contested and 11th in the third, a remarkable feat of skill. He also won several competitions outright, including the first stage of Her Majesty the Queen’s Prize. The club won the Public Schools Veterans’ A Team match and was well represented in county and international matches. In the home countries matches Nick Hinchliffe (Fgh 71), John Webster (C 70), Jonathan Hull (F 74), Antony Ringer (B 79) and James Watson (L 88) represented England; while Gareth Morris and Chris Watson represented Wales. Gareth, Chris and Antony were also picked to shoot for the successful Great Britain Team in the prestigious Kolapore Cup match against the other international teams touring this year.

The UVRC is looking forward to 2012 with a smallbore match against the School proposed for the weekend of the 3rd of March, with a club dinner to be held at the School afterwards. Further details will be sent out to club members in due course. Any OUs interested in joining the club should contact the Secretary Briony Hinson at brionyhinson1@gmail.com

World Rifle Report

The Great Britain Rifle Team has returned from three weeks in Australia, where they were competing in the World Long Range Rifle Championships. Great Britain retained the team title, recording a third successive win. The team included Chris Watson (M 92), Gareth Morris (L 89), John Webster (C 70), James Watson (L 88) and Antony Ringer (B 79) all of whom have now shot in all the top five International matches in the sport (only 96 people have achieved this in over 100 years of competition).

In the Australia Match (at both short and long ranges), Great Britain was also victorious, again beating the South Africans into second place. The Palma Match, or World Championship of Long Range Rifle Shooting, is the most prestigious team event in the sport, held every four years with teams preparing for it for three years each time. Shooters have competed for this honour since September 1876, when the Great Centennial Rifle Match was held on Creedmoor rifle range in New York State. The match is shot over two days with 16 firers divided into 4 target teams, each with its own wind reader optimising performance in the weather conditions under the guidance of a ‘main coach’ or tactician. All firers shoot fifteen shots to count at a 50cm bullseye from 800, 900 and 1000 yards away each day.

The team, consisting of 26 members drawn from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, won both international team matches shot over distances from 300 yards to 1000 yards. Great Britain set a number of new records, beating their 2007 record total (equivalent to 7000 under the new scoring system) by 27, setting a new 900 yards range benchmark (1182 out of 1200) and becoming the first team to win both days of a two day Palma match.

The Championships were held at the Belmont shooting complex, near Brisbane, in Queensland, Australia, the host range of the 1982 Commonwealth Games shooting events and, if the Gold Coast bid is successful, those in 2018.

Match Results (top 4)

Palma Match (Worlds) Great Britain 7027.651 South Africa 6992.651 USA 6980.655 Australia 6966.603 Australia Match Great Britain 1969.203 South Africa 1965.189 USA 1962.195 Australia 1957.203

OU Cross Country ‘Georgie’s Trophy’ 22nd January 2011

This year the OU cross country team ran in memory of Georgie Bealby (Fd 85) who sadly passed away last year. Georgie excelled in many sports at Uppingham and so it was fitting that this year’s race was in her name.

Inspired by Georgie, the OU men’s team ran a fine race coming 7th out of the 10 teams competing, and soundly beating a Worsksop ‘A’ team and a strong Oundle ‘B’ team. The OU ladies beat Repton and Wellingborough and produced a very impressive team result, especially as this was the first year the OUs had entered a ladies team.

The performance of the day was from Alex Potts (HF 82) who produced an outstanding run to finish 17th overall, which would have qualified him to run in the current Uppingham VIII.

After the race, the OUs awarded ‘Georgie’s Trophy’ to the first Uppingham schoolgirl. This was awarded to Impke Salander (L) Captain of Girls Cross Country and fittingly the overall winner of the girls race.

The OUs had a brilliant day and many thanks to the school for hosting us again – and making it such a special day.

Next year’s run will be held on Saturday 21st January 2012. If you would like to take part please contact Iain Wakefield (WB 82) iwakefield@haynes.co.uk). – 07831 122799.

OU Rugby Match 18th September 2011