The Summer Term Music Calendar may be viewed here by clicking:

http://www.bloxhamschool.com/cmsAdmin/uploads/music_school_brochure_-_summer_term_2014.pdf

Grey skies and a poor forecast - it had to be the tradiotional start of the cricket season. Thanks to the sterling work of our grounds team and a little English stoicism that ignored less than perfect conditions, our 1st XI season got underway last week.

Captain Will Gurney reports:

BLOXHAM V BABLAKE

On Sunday the 27^th April Bloxham 1^st XI took on Bablake and Malvern School on Main Field in the HMC T20 Cup. The weather wasn’t looking good at the start of the day but all the games got played. Bloxham were to take on Bablake in the first game of the triangular tournament, winning the toss Bloxham decided to bat to get first use of the hard wicket. Bloxham got off to a good start with Gurney and Beaver creating an opening partnership of 25 before Gurney got dismissed for 13. This brought Alex Caviezel-Cox to the crease and right from the off he marked his intent with strong hitting to all areas of the ground backed up by the subtle touches of Jack Beaver, on debut, who got dismissed for a valiant 20. C-C carried on the big hitting backed up by Sorabjee and White and after the 20 overs Bloxham managed a competitive score of 98. It was now Bablake’s turn to bat on a wicket which was firm and had a quick outfield. They got off to a steady start due to the tight bowling of Archie Mansfield and Jonny Stirrup giving them nothing to hit. After 2 overs, a moment of brilliance from the debutant Ben Cook picking up the ball inside the ring and with one stump to aim at, hit it sending the first Bablake batsman back to the pavilion. This was largely down to the tight fielding and the pressure exerted by all the fielders. Bablake picked up a bit of momentum and started to cruise getting to 50-1 quite comfortably until another spectacular piece of fielding from Archie Mansfield with  a stunning one handed catch to remove their inform batman off the bowling of Rymer. It was now pressure on Bablake as Bloxham energy rose in the field holding them back with the tight bowling of Manning, Rymer and White. With 2 overs to go Bablake needed just 13 runs, so Gurney turned to Mansfield and Stirrup to bowl them. With a quality over from Mansfield only conceding 4 runs, it was Jonny’s turn to show what he could do in a pressurised situation. Getting a wicket with his first ball of the over was a great start but with one ball left, Bablake needed just 3 runs to win. Jonny produced a variation ball and the batsman mis- timed it straight to Beaver at backward point and Bloxham won the game by 2 runs. A good first win for the Bloxham boys with an excellent fielding and bowling display. Particular mention goes to C-C for an excellent bowling and batting performance and Jonny, Archie and Rymer for their accurate bowling.

BLOXHAM V MALVERN

Next up for Bloxham was Malvern, who had won their game against Bablake comfortably, so this was the decider as to who would go on in the national competition. Bloxham where put into bat first and from the off were struggling losing 3 quick wickets in the first three overs from the Malvern openers. This brought Toby Sorabjee to the crease, who started the ball rolling with a powerful display of batting,  backed up by Rymer, Stirrup and Cook he went on to 36 eventually getting out with Bloxham reaching a below par 87 off their 20 overs. Malvern marked their intent early putting pressure on any loose bowling but with a few quick wickets from Treadwell and Mansfield they started to stutter a bit with their coach seeming to become more and more frustrated. Bloxham dug deep but the lack of runs meant that Malvern reached their target in 16^th over over losing 4 wickets. This was another valiant effort from the boys but Malvern where just too strong for Bloxham on the day.

Overall a very good day with the wicket holding firm and the Bloxham boys putting 100% effort and learning a lot to take forward into the main part of the season.

What an experience! What an honour! One of those 'red letter', 'never-to-be-forgotten days came about this week when the Bloxham School Choir were invited to sing in London at the magnificent St Paul's cathedral. Dan Jordan, Director of Music, takes up the story:

Bloxham School’s Chapel Choir had the fantastic privilege of singing at St Paul’s Cathedral on Monday 28^th April. 50 singers travelled down to sing the Eucharist for St George’s Day, transferred to the 28^th from the 23^rd, due to Easter.

The choir had a chance to have a bite to eat before rehearsing in the Cathedral Choir Practice Room. After a fifteen minute break to look around the famous crypt, the choir emerged into the splendour of the Cathedral to perform under the famous dome. The congregation included the Headmaster, Deputy Head, School Chaplain, Governors, Parents, a good number of Old Bloxhamists, plus a few hundred members of the public! The choir sang brilliantly and certainly rose to the occasion, sounding wonderful alongside the magnificent organ and in the huge acoustic.

The Assistant Organist of the Cathedral, Simon Johnson, is an Old Bloxhamist and though not able to accompany us on the day, was instrumental in helping to organise the service.

Thanks go to Richard Moore, the Cathedral’s Organ Scholar who played, the staff who sang and helped supervise the pupils and all those who came to support.

Now the big question…..how do we top that? Any ideas?

The annual Founderstide celebrations were held at School on Saturday 3rd May 2014.

There was an excellent turn out for the morning church service which featured an address by Emma Goldsmith who leaves in the Summer to become head of Winchester House, Brackley. This was followed by coffee back in school and a range of activities that got the grey and red blood cells pumping and stimulated everyone for the usual excellent lunch in Houses.

Throughout the day the Old Boys cricket match v the school was being played out in front of a moving backdrop of spectators who warmly appreciated the exursions of both teams on a perfect day for the English summer sport.. The game ebbed and flowed, favouring first one team and then the other, but in the end it was the resilience, guile and know-how of the OB's who held on for an exciting win.

The following fixtures are planned for the OB Cricket festival 2014:

Old Bloxhamist Cricket Festival 2014

Friday 4^th– Monday 7^th July

        Those interested in playing in any of these matches should contact the relevant match manager as soon as is possible.

Click on the link below to see the copy of the Founders Times published on Saturday at Founderstide. The articles were all produced during the day and while those party revellers were pulling on their glad rags the order was given to start the presses and the first edition (a collectors item in the future perhaps?) started rolling off to be issued distributed at the Ball.

Hopefully this is something that can be repeated next year with another band of promising young journalists and photographers at the ready.

https://bloxhamschool-my.sharepoint.com/personal/djq_bloxhamschool_com/_layouts/15/guestaccess.aspx?guestaccesstoken=RiD7PXxCnMWKJMG3aBjKOLtVLrcrJJqMCyJJSi1nbRo%3d&docid=0e0ffe25962294107b068d830aa123b23

Bloxham School’s equestrian teams had another weekend of spectacular success recently when they took part in the Kingsley and Princethorpe Show Jumping competitions. Taking 6 teams and some individuals to the event Bloxham, who are the current national schools eventing champions, were particularly well represented. 

The organisers did incredibly well to keep the event running (especially so efficiently) after the previous day’s heavy rain and the high winds over the weekend.  The courses were tough and caused problems throughout the day but the Bloxham riders showed their ability and did incredibly well.

The day started  with 70/75cm team .  The quartet of Amy Skan, Sam Canale-Hopwell, Lizzie Neal and George Hopwell did very well and finished in 2^nd place.

George was placed 4^th individually.

The 80/85 cm team was a big class and again Bloxham did well.  We were 2^nd again with our “Bloxham Black” team of

Grace Hopkins, Esther Neal, George Hopwell, India Willes.

In the Individual competition in this class Olivia Edkins was 3^rd and Grace Hopkins 5^th.

With the fences getting raised each time next came the 90/95 cms class  This was another big class with lots of entries.   

After the two runners-up finishes the Bloxham teams were determined to go one better and this class was won by the Bloxham White team who were adorned with rosettes, sashes and trophies.

Liv Edkins, India Willes, Tom Bird, and Grace Hopkins

Liv Edkins did fantastically well and won individually as well.  India Willes 4^th and Tom Bird was 6^th.

 In the same class Bloxham Black team were 5^th with the team of Emily Dove, Esther Neal, Hannah Caudwell ,Tom Bird

 Finally  came the Open team again and again it was Bloxham who proved invincible.  Liv Edkins, India Willes, Tom Bird and Hannah Caudwell

Individual placings were Liv Edkins 2^nd,  India Willes 3^rd and Tom Bird 5^th.

The Bloxham riding teams are coached by Fran Bird from the Regal Equestrian Riding School and Livery.

Half Term saw our riding teams back in action again, this time at the Princethorpe and Kingsley 2 day event.

In the results to hand so far we can record another team win with our 90 cms class team of India Willes, Esme Hatton, Liv Edkins and Thomas Bird. The team are pictured here with coach Fran Bird who was picking up Tom's prize  on his behalf!

On top of the team accolade there was also individual success for India, who came 1st, and Esme who finished in 2nd spot.

     India collects her prize

                                                                                                                                                         Esme with her trophy and rosette.

In the dressage sections India and Liv won prizes with Liv's score being the best dressage score for the whole event.

Liv was in the prizes again after a great dressage performance

We are most grateful to Jules Williams for once again coming up with the photographs.

Our own equestrian event, The Bloxham Eventer Challenge, will be held on Sunday 21 September 2014 at Foxhill Farm, Eydon. Further details will be available on this website soon.

Princethorpe College and Kingsley School’s Offchurch Bury Schools Two Day Event

 Words from Fran Bird Photos from Julia Williams

On Friday as school broke up for half term, many of the riding team set off to walk the cross country course at Offchurch Bury near Leamington Spa for the School’s Two Day Event to be held on Saturday the 24^th and Sunday the 25^th May. 

Saturday dawned with the first competitors arriving at the event with their horses at just after 8.00am to warm up for the 80cm class dressage.  Sadly the promised rained also arrived in torrentsand we were all soaked to the skin within minutes and had to change clothes many times throughout the day.  Moving around was hard going in heavy mud.  This did nothing to dampen spirits however and  all three 80, 90 and 100 teams and individuals all rode good dressage tests throughout the day with two of our riders Liv Edkins and India Willes leading their sections and Esme Hatton in Second place.  The riding teams had been training hard with dressage training Fran Bird and dressage judges that had been organised to come and do practice test riding with them.  The hard work had paid off.

The first day also included the show jumping phase.  In the mud and rain there were faults more akin to cricket scores accumulated.  We had walked the course carefully talking about the conditions and undulating ground and this and our training again paid off as we jumped several clear rounds and those that had faults had significantly less than many of the competitors there.  We finished the first day with our three teams in strong positions and individuals having had great rides also.  Sadly one of the 100 team  had to retire their young horse which meant it was all to play for for the remaining team members as all of their scores had to count on Sunday.

The final task to fit in on Saturday around dressage and show jumping part of the competition, was to walk, cylce or ride the roads and tracks phase in preparation for Sunday. This involved 3km at 200m/min on phase A and 4km at 150km/min for phase C which followed a steeplechase section.  Again we had run training sessions setting up distances and practicing speeds but as this was a first Two Day Event for many, the roads and tracks still needed careful planning to ensure everyone got back within the time without overtiring their horses or ponies.

Our last horse show jumped at 8.10pm after a long delay so we all retired home to put horses to bed and to try and grab some tea and sleep before returning the next day.

Fortunately the rain had stopped on Sunday.  The organisers did an amazing job to keep the event going and shortened the steeplechase phase and made minor alterations on the times and cross country to ensure the safety of horses and riders.  One of our regular visiting trainers Claire Deuten kindly came to help me support our riders and parents as there was a lot to do to ensure riders were confident and prepared before setting off, before the Steeple Chase and in the 10 minute Box before setting off for the Phase D Cross Country.    Our 80 team did well as several of them are not yet very experienced and Lilly Bailey had kindely stepped in to the team at short notice in the midst of her GCSE’s.  The team of Lilly, Grace Hopkins, Sam Canalle-Hopwell and George Hopwell finished a very respectable 6^th out of 13 teams and Grace was placed 5^th individually in her section.  Lizzie Neal also completed well on an inexperienced horse.

Next to go were our 90 team.  They rode brilliantly picking up very few faults and the team of Esme Hatton, India Willes, Liv Edkins and Tom Bird WON.  There were also individual wins for India Willes and Esme Hatton, a 10^th place for Tom Bird and Best dressage for Liv Edkins.

The 100 team of Toby Steele, Hannah Cauldwell and Alice Haynes followed and continued to fly the Bloxham flag and finished in 6^th place.

Parents and pupils worked so hard and deserved their success.  I know parents and pupils would all like to join me in thanking Lucy Haynes for the hours of hard work she puts in co-ordinating everything and sorting out entries.

Competitors in the 2DE:

80cm

Grace Hopkins

George Hopwell

Sam canale-Hopwell

Lilly Bailey

Individual

Lizzie Neal

90cm

Liv Edkins

India Willes

Esme Hatton

Thomas Bird

Individual

Esther Neal

1.00m

Hannah Cauldwell

Toby Steel

Andrew Smith

Alice Haynes

Wellingborough School Show Jumping, Keysoe.  Thursday 29^th May

We sent off teams for the 85 , 95 and 105cm classes. Sadly it was not to be our day in the 85cm class this time but Bloxham WON both the 95 and 105 cm classes with a team of Liv Edkins, Katy Bell, Toby Steel and Tom Bird so bringing two more pieces of silverware back to school.  Liv and Katy were 3^rd and 4^th respectively in the 105cm class.  Other competitors all represented their school well and were their usual credit to Bloxham.

Competitors at Wellingborough School Show jumping:

75cm

George Hopwell

85cm

Ione Dalla Mura

George Hopwell

Sam Canale Hopwell

Tom Bird- 

95cm

Bloxham Black

Tom Bird

Olivia Edkins

Toby Steele

Katy Bell

95cm

 Bloxham White

Eliza Rymer

Tom Bird

Sam Canale Hopwell

1.05m

Tom Bird-Tara

Olivia Edkins

Toby Steele

Katy Bell

Individual

Eliza Rymer

Photo Gallery

                                                                                                                                                                          Team Jumping for Joy!

Katy Bell in Action

Tom Bird in the show-jumping arena

Toby Steele on Monty

Team with 2 trophies. Liv also came 3rd and Katy 4th in the individual open and both now qualify for NSEA Intermediate and Open competitions.

Liv in the show jumping.

On this day in history (5^th June 1916) the senior Old Bloxhamist to perish in the Great War, Brigadier-General Wilfrid Ellershaw, died alongside his chief, Field Marshal the Lord Kitchener, when the ship on which they were travelling to Russia, HMS Hampshire, struck a mine laid by a German submarine off the Orkneys and sank, with the loss of 650 lives. One of the 12 survivors stated that Ellershaw was standing next to Kitchener when the ship struck the mine.

On the 70^th anniversary of D Day (6^th June 1944) the pupils of Bloxham School remembered in Chapel those Bloxhamists who were involved in the landings and the subsequent Battle of Normandy, including the long-serving Chairman of the Old Bloxhamists, Spencer Lester, and one time Housemaster of Wilberforce House, John Fiori, who won the Military Cross for his actions with the Royal Engineers. Both men, now deceased, landed on Sword Beach. So too did Lieutenant Robert (Bob) Bell-Walker, who died on this day seventy years ago.

Bob Bell-Walker was in the 1^st Battalion South Lancashire Regiment and landed on Sword Beach at 07:45 as part of the second wave of assault troops on D Day. As second in command of B Company, he took command of the Battalion minutes after landing, when the Company Commander Major R.H. Harrison was fatally wounded. Lieutenant Bell-Walker personally dealt with a concrete pill-box, creeping around the back, throwing a grenade in through the gun-slit and then giving the interior a burst of Sten Gun fire. He was killed instantly by a burst of machine-gun fire from another position, but his action had enabled the rest of his company to get off the beach. He was buried in the British Military Cemetery at Hermanville-sur-Mer. He left a wife who was six months pregnant. His daughter Angie, who was born in the September after he was killed, visited the school in 2007 and attended the Remembrance Service in Chapel.  She passed away in 2010 but her husband still lives in Bloxham and the family were deeply moved to hear of the school’s act of commemoration.

Bloxham School was again the chosen venue for the Bloxham Festival of Faith and Literature which was organised by The Church Times and sponsored by Hymns Ancient & Modern in half term.

The gathering attracted a widevariety of influential presenters which made for a lively, stimulating and thoroughly thought provoking programme that explored the overarching theme of 'Reflections on War and Peace', a most apposite topic in the year 2014 and, sadly, many other years.

The following gallery of photos shows a sample of those who gave presenattions over the three days of this national festival.

The Poet Laureate,Carol Ann Duffy started the weekend off  with a selection of readings and accompanied by John Sampson (musician).

Artist Stephen Raw displayed and explained his work inspired by the poetry of Wilfred Owen

Lucy Wnkett & Graham Turner explored the power of silence.

The Book of Forgiving. Rev.Mpho Tutu, daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tuto, was interviewed by the Bishop of Oxford, John Pritchard.

Douglas Hurd (Lord Hurd) who with Richard Harries navigated the choppy waters betwixt war and peace.

Michael Ardetti with Richard Harries

Celebrated author Simon Heffer discussed the Vicorians and the Birth of Moderrn Britain with Canon Ed Newall.

Rami Elhanan and Bassam Aramin , two bereaved fathers, one an Israeli the other a Palestinian, talked about their unlikely friendship and campaign for peace in the Holy Land.

It has been some time since we could record kayaking as an activity at Bloxham but now, with the advent of a Wednesday afternoon activity on the water at Cropredy Canoeing Club  we can do so again!

Not only is there an activity but also we are enjoying some success in the sport due to the prowess of Arthur Urquhart in the gruelling and tactical discipline of marathon canoeing. Recently Arthur, who is in the 4th Form was promoted into division 4 and came very close to achieving a rare double promotion when finishing 5th out of over 20 competitorsat a race in Oxford and was within 30 seconds of the additional promotion which would have taken him into a level where he would find himself competing against regional and national kayakers..

Sudents interested in this activity should contact either Mr Best (DRB) or the Bursar.

We were very happy to welcome a new batch of budding Forensic Scientists from Great Tew Primary School and Windrush Valley School, to help us solve the mysterious case of ‘Who killed Mr Hatton?’. Our team conducted scientific research, looking at blood sampling from blood left at the crime scene, drug analysis (a white powder was found on the rim of Mr Hatton’s favourite mug), and finger -printing techniques. A blackmail note was also found in Mr Hatton’s desk, and chromatography of the suspects’ pens confirmed our suspicions.

 A good day was had by all, and we’re pleased to announce that the murderer has now been identified!

 The day was part of Bloxham School’s ongoing programme of outreach with local primary schools. In recent years organised events have included mathematics, geography, design and technology, literature, music and many sporting opportunities.

  If you are keen to find out more or get involved please contact the school via marketing@bloxhamschool.com.

To see the poster for the Bloxham bands at The Mill Arts Centre in Banbury on Tuesday 17th June Click here:

http://www.bloxhamschool.com/cmsAdmin/uploads/Mill_Poster_2014.pdf

Please click the link below for a copy of the schedule and entry forms in pdf format:

http://www.bloxhamschool.com/cmsAdmin/uploads/Eventer_Challenge_Schedule_(Draft)_2014.pdf

 Richard van Emden (left), who spoke movingly about Britain’s 250,000 underage soldiers of the Great War was introduced by Simon Batten from the Bloxham School History Department..

This year, EFB's 4F English set prepared and performed an abridged version of the iGCSE set text 'An Inspector Calls' by JB Priestly.

Oliver Brown writes:

"By learning and performing the script, it has helped us to remember key lines and understand the characters and the structure better. We delivered it as a script-in-hand performance. We started rehearsals in our English classroom, before moving into the Wesley Drama Studio. The cast featured Oliver Brown as Inspector Goole, Roland Swift and Rachel Rubin as Mr and Mrs Birling, Imogen McColl as Sheila, Jack Beever as Eric and Andrew White as Gerald Croft. Credit should also be given to Alice Gibbons for the set design as well as Ben Cook and William Childs-Carlisle for lighting. Everybody in the class had an important role to play in the final production, including costume, props and understudies. Many thanks to Mrs Brittin-Snell for overseeing costume and set design, and to Mrs Bradley for putting the performance together."

The MCC match is always the most prestigious on any cricket club’s fixture list, and the Old Bloxhamists recorded a fine win yesterday by three wickets over an MCC side itself containing two OBs, Sam Ryan and captain Jolyon Griffiths. A young and committed OB side bowled and fielded tightly to dismiss the MCC for 173 and openers Tom Gurney (79) and Harry Smith (49) put on 80 for the first wicket before a collapse made it a tenser finish than it should have been. Harry Loxton saw the OBs home to a fine win for Jak Soppet’s side on a beautiful summer’s day. After two good wins already this year, the Old Bloxhamists now look forward to their Festival, held at Bloxham between Friday 4^th and Monday 7^th July.