Richard Pleming, Headmaster, gave the last lecture in a series for the Godalming Museum on Wednesday 16 March in The Octagon, St Peter and St Paul Parish Church. The lecture ‘Education’ was very successful and well attended.
This Year's Waverley Para Games was hosted by Old Carthusian, Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt. The Games were held on Friday 18 March at Charterhouse Club for the third year running. A record number of SEND children (aged 11-14 years) from schools throughout Surrey took part in a range of sporting activities, including swimming, tennis and boccia.
The event is held in partnership with Active Surrey and has funding support from COINS Foundation and the DFN Charitable Foundation. Paralympian Rachel Morris supports the Para Games, along with International Para Dressage Rider, Erin Orford.
More than 250 people turned out on Sunday 20 March to take part in the Godalming Sport Relief Mile at Charterhouse Club. Milers of all ages were sponsored to walk or run a 1 mile run, a 3 mile run, or a 6 mile run. Volunteer marshals cheered on the participants as they ran the mile loop around grounds of the School.
The day was a massive success with friends and families joining together to go the extra mile for Sport Relief 2016. There was a great atmosphere on the day and despite being chilly, the weather was ideal for the event. Many runners wore Sport Relief merchandise such as headbands and t-shirts, while others opted to wear fancy dress costumes - all adding to the excitement on the day.
Sharon Carter, Deputy Operations Manager at Charterhouse Club, said: “The event was a success and everyone had a great time. Watching the community come together to support such a good cause was brilliant. So many youngsters took part in the longer distances this year and it was really impressive to watch them taking part.
“We feel very proud knowing that the money raised will help people living unimaginably tough lives here in the UK and in some of the world’s poorest countries. Charterhouse Club would like to thank everyone who helped to organise the event, all the people who took part on the day, and also the wonderful volunteer marshals who made sure it all went smoothly.”
Emily Dent, aged 12, added: “It was really good fun running the 3 mile loop. I entered with my friend and we liked the route. I enjoy running longer distances and this was a good run for me.”
Holly Marks, aged 9, went on to say: “I have taken part in lots of activities at Godalming Junior School to help raise funds for Sport Relief. The run at Charterhouse was extra fun for me as I ran 3 miles with my family. It did feel hard running all that way, but it felt good to be part of it all.”
The IB Specialist (Year12) English trip was to the Old Vic, London, on Tuesday 23 February. Review by Anastasia Kolomiets (Year 12):
The First Year Specialists enjoyed an English trip to see David Hare’s fabulous adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s play ‘The Master Builder’, starring Ralph Fiennes as Halvard Solness. If you have not yet seen Hare’s production you should definitely organize a weekend outing to the Old Vic, more so if you appreciate a fascinating, intellectually stimulating plot, high quality, convincing acting and a beautiful set design.
‘The Master Builder’, written in 1892, is a powerful play about the conflict between the old and established and the young and ambitious; about guilt and success; and the price you have to pay to achieve your ambitions. The play is heavily autobiographical, revealing Ibsen’s inner feelings and debates as he reached the height of his career as a playwright: well-established, internationally famous, second most frequently performed after Shakespeare. The play is tragic, full of tension and emotional dynamic with its powerful yet puzzling symbolism raising more questions than giving answers.
The protagonist, Halvard Solness, is a rich and successful architect, jealous of his younger rivals and haunted by guilt. At the start of the play Solness is presented as quite a repellent character. He is brusque, harsh and arrogant, he cheats on his wife with a young secretary who is engaged, the talented fiancé works in Solness’s office. As the play unravels there is a greater insight into Solness’ psychology: it is revealed that he is haunted by ‘demons’, demons of guilt and ambition.
The transition from the world of the real to the world of the symbolic is catalysed by the appearance of the young Hilde Wangel (performed by the Australian actress Sarah Snook) filled with fervour, determination and tempestuousness. Hilde turns up at his house claiming that ten years ago Solness kissed her and promised to carry her away, like a mythical Scandinavian troll, she demands the kingdom that he apparently promised to build for her. The audience never finds out whether this really has happened, but this is not what matters. The story suggests a more symbolic reading of the play and highlights the importance of Hilde to the plot. Throughout the play, Hilde represents youth and energy and is used by Ibsen as a way to reveal the true nature behind Solness’s guilt and ambition, almost an embodiment of Solness’s inner desires. Solness confides to Hilde that he suspects he is the ‘chosen one’ as whatever he thinks or intends actually happens. He claims that others call it luck, but he tries to convince Hilde he really has the power to call on others to serve his inner wishes. Is this why Hilde comes in the first place? In any case, this is precisely the reason why he feels guilty in front of his wife. The desire to become a successful architect materialized because their old home burned down and he can now start building on the cleared plot of land. In fact, the audience is told that Solness and his wife lost their two newborn baby sons following the fire when their old house, the only thing his wife could call a “home”, burned down. Since then his wife has been distraught and crushed under the weight of the guilt she feels about the death of their two children. Soleness desires to atone for his wrongdoing by building a new house for him and his wife with a tall tower and a spire, something his wife can call “home”. This is true, but what Ibsen is suggesting to be a deeper truth is that Solness does not actually care about his wife’s feelings that much (he is brusque and harsh, after all) but instead builds the new house as a symbol of his, or indeed, humanity’s, ambition and creativity.
The plot becomes more confusing towards the end, with the wife confessing that the real reason why there could be no other home for her is because her favourite dolls were destroyed in the fire and that Solness has promised Hilde he will build castles in the air – a powerful symbol Ibsen leaved for his audience to decipher. The final scene of the play is a ceremony of putting a wreath on top of the spire of the tower of Solness’ new house. Hilde supports Solness in his impulsive decision to do it himself, even though he could easily fall and die. Ultimately, the play culminates in his fall, but only after he has proved that he can reach to the sky and speak to God.
The acting was skilful and convincing; the intonations and gestures were powerful and did not have that annoyingly exaggerated streak when emotions are expressed too crudely. What particularly struck me was the elegant and elaborate set design with bookshelves rising to the top of the ceiling and fragments of a demolished building in the background, which would light up with fiery red as a reminder of the house fire that started Solness’s career; for me, this really added a sense of surrealism into the realistic, even mundane setting of a living room. Oh, I nearly forgot about the cherry on top: the audience was delighted to see Solness and Hilde kiss.
The play was enjoyable and fascinating; for many it helped to appreciate the magic of Ibsen’s drama and the powerful acting really brought the story to life. Many thanks to Mr Wakeling and Mr Reston for organizing the trip.
The Medical Society lecture was given by Dr Nathaniel Cary (Consultant Forensic Pathologist) on ‘The Curious Case of Alexander Litvinenko’ Thursday 10 March 2016. Review by Charlotte Li (Year 12):
In a much anticipated talk an audience gathered on Thursday evening, to hear the forensic pathologist, Dr Nathaniel Cary. He talked about his experience of being the consultant forensic pathologist on the murder of ex-Russian FSB/KGB intelligence officer, Alexander Litvinenko, described by many media outlets as “the most dangerous post-mortem ever conducted”. He covered the process from beginning to end: retrieving the body through to confirming the cause of death.
Firstly, he gave a brief background to Litvinenko, explaining that he was a KGB officer in Russia who was fired, and fled to Britain to seek political asylum in 2000. It is speculated that Vladimir Putin was behind his murder, as Litvinenko seemed to be his most faithful critic. On 1 November 2006 Litvinenko went to the University College Hospital complaining of nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea after spending the afternoon at the Millenium Hotel in Mayfair, London. From then onwards, his condition worsened, developing jaundice (from liver failure) along with pharyngitis and bone marrow failure, where his white blood cell count shot down to a grim number in a matter of days.
Litvinenko made a claim on his deathbed that he had been poisoned by Russia, and toxicology was able to identify a radioactive substance (Polonium-210) in him, half an hour before he died on the 23 November. Polonium-210 has a short half-life of 138 days, and emits alpha particles with weak gamma radiation, meaning they were sure it was a pure substance which matched all his symptoms. Dr Cary elaborated on some of the physics-based elements of the case, including the Radon-226 cascade from which Polonium-210 is derived. He remarked that 97% of Po-210 is produced in Russia and the fact that it would be an extremely expensive substance to get hold of, as it has to be produced in a nuclear reactor facility.
Dr Cary then went on to describe retrieving Litvinenko’s body, where he had to wear protective equipment and put him into 2 radioactive-blocking body bags - one inside another, to reduce the risk of radiation spreading. The post-mortem examination started with the double bag cut open, and left around the cadaver, so radiation did not spread. He and his colleagues were fitted with not one, but two protective suits, and a filter in the hood, cleaning their breathing air. The post mortem involved many people, with the three pathologists being monitored by the ambulance services, as well as a blood spotter for any radioactive substances on their suits. It was concluded that Litvinenko suffered from Acute Radiation Syndrome from Polonium-210, with the failure of his organs resulting from this and pharyngitis. The source was from a cup of tea. It is thought that the Polonium-210 was put into the teapot when he met with two Russians, working closely with Putin, at a bar in the hotel. The radiation was so strong it left a trail all over London, and 139 people out of 800 people, who came in contact with Litvinenko over the few weeks after poisoning. It was described by Dr Cary as a “mini nuclear attack on London”.
The audience was buzzing with questions after his insightful talk, but there was one inevitable question that would be of great interest to all: given that he is a pathologist, what would be his idea of a perfect murder? Wisely, he did not come up with a straightforward answer, but instead remarked that it is very difficult to commit the perfect murder in our world today given the technological advances, with the ability to track your every move easily. The talk ended on an ominous but eye-opening note, as one audience member questioned the possibility of radiation and poison getting into our water sources easily. This stimulated very imaginative conversations about the possible causes of deaths afterwards, especially amongst our aspiring medics.
We would like to thank Dr Cary for his thought-provoking talk, as it was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone.
“I wish to God they were professionals. Then I could sack them” grumbles the volatile Welsh director Dafydd ap Llewellyn as yet another of his painfully slow rehearsals descends into chaos. Llewellyn, magnificently portrayed by James Akka (G), is the long suffering director of PALOS, the Pendon Amateur Light Operatic Society central to Alan Ayckbourn’s light comedy, A Chorus of Disapproval. This is the company in which Guy Jones, a diffident office-worker, finds himself as he seeks distraction from the recent death of his wife. As the sincere Guy, expertly underplayed by Michael Freeman (S), is auditioned by Dafydd and endearingly camp pianist, Mr Ames, Owen Elton (BH), the misfit members of PALOS slip silently into the room. The production is The Beggar’s Opera and Guy is cast in the minor role of Crook-Fingered Jack.
We then follow three months of calamitous rehearsals, shady business propositions, and bedroom shenanigans during which events conspire to catapult Guy into the production’s leading role while he simultaneously makes enemies of the society’s members. The dear but theatrically incompetent Washbrooks – Caroline Smith (S) and Chris Wilkinson (R), fall foul of Dafydd’s directorial impatience. Their daughter, Linda , Alice Gunn (V), has her yobbish boyfriend and reluctant leading man, Crispin, Harry Poil (L), stolen by graceless and confrontational barmaid and prompt, Bridget, Katherine Trafford (P). Guy manages to begin two affairs by accident: Dafydd’s mousy wife, Hannah, and gregarious swinger, Fay, played respectively by Beatrice Rees-Mogg (V) and Olivia Humphreys (F), clash hilariously over a pair of paisley pants in public. Fay’s slimy husband, Harvey Pratt (B), and steam engine fan, Jarvis, complete with Herbie Pyke’s (L) well-observed thick Yorkshire accent, manage to put Guy in an impossibly unethical position with regards the value of a small plot of local land. Rebecca Huntley-Pike, Emma Loubser (L), who is unashamedly middle-class and undismayed by Dafydd’s attempts to hide her behind scenery during performances, manages finally to clinch the leading role for Guy whose precarious promises collapse disastrously during a side-splittingly choreographed lighting rehearsal.
It is widely appreciated by actors and directors that comedy is hard. The frequency and raucousness of the Charterhouse audience’s laughter was a fine indication of the expert guidance given by director Julian Freeman to the cast, several of whom were making their debuts in the Ben Travers Theatre. For those that attended, the production proved a wonderfully uplifting antidote to a gruelling term.
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The Combined Cadet Force (CCF) departed for the CCF Adventurous Training expedition on Saturday 19 March. The Cadets enjoyed four days of activities which included: kayaking; gorge walking in Ceunant Llenerych valley; mountain biking the Marin trail; and sea cliff climbing on Anglesey. Based at Capel Curig Training Centre near Betws-y-Coed in Snowdonia, North Wales, the group was accompanied by four members of staff (Major R Follet, Mr N Coopper, Mr Hewstone and Miss Wilkes).
The expedition was blessed with good weather, remarkably there was no rain for the entire duration. The boys really enjoyed themselves and all of them jumped wholeheartedly into all the activities which included jumping into the cold sea from a height of 3m and mountain biking on a trail with ‘danger of serious injury’ signs.
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A dozen under 15 tennis players went to France for pre-season training during the first week of the Easter holidays. They played at Erquy Tennis Club in Brittany on a variety of surfaces, both in and outdoor. The Head Coach, former Scottish international and Combined Services number one, Austin Coventry, also coaches at Westside Club in Wimbledon. Drills on all shots were practised and the group also worked on personal fitness. They played a number of competitions within themselves and against the local opposition.
Charterhouse Master in Charge of Tennis, James Silvester, commented "the boys did really well and are well prepared now for an enjoyable and successful tennis season".
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Monday 11 to Sunday 17 April
Christian Banks Singing 08130 Distinction
On Friday 15 April there was an excellent Prize Winners’ Concert featuring the very best performances of last terms’ prize competitions. Christian Pethick, Max Kam, Owen Chan, Ben Birch, Ben Gardner and Aster Chun performed very well accompanied by Mr Blatchly (teacher of Academic Music) and Mr Shepherd (Director of Music).
Mr Smeeton (Head of Woodwind) took the Jazz Band on tour to Spain during the Easter holidays. The Band played superbly at a number of high profile venues to large crowds and participated in the Granada Festival.
Monday 11 to Sunday 17 April
The 1st XI team were defeated, in a very tight finish, by two wickets against Dulwich College on Saturday 16 April.
There was an away win for the U18 team against Winchester College on Sunday 17 April.
The Boys 1st team, U16A, U15A and U14A all recorded victories over Dulwich College on 16 April. The U16s did not drop a set all afternoon.
The Girls 1st, Boys 2nd and U16B teams all won against King Edward’s School Witley. Thank you to those boys who stepped in to play as last minute replacements, after Dulwich and King Edward’s Witley had suffered player losses, due to injury.
On Sunday 17 April, the Boys 1st team enjoyed a hard-fought victory over the Royal Navy team.
George Barlow enjoyed a successful cricket tour to South Africa in March with the Surrey Academy squad.
The team competed in the National Championships from 20 to 25 March at Shrewsbury. The successes came in the under 14s where the first pair reached the quarter finals, losing to the eventual winners Shrewsbury and the second pair won the plate competition.
Jack Hunter Lees (Year 11) represented the ISFA U16 National Squad on their tour to Spain in the first week in April.
Although the weather was not brilliant for fast times on the Sunday 17 April, the Inter House Athletics competition was fierce.
The junior boys event was won by Saunderites, with Weekites second and Lockites third.
The inter boys event was won by Verites with Daviesites second and Robinites third.
The senior boys event was also won by Verites with Lockites second and Robinites third.
The girls event was a joint win by Saunderites and Weekites with Girdlestoneites third.
The Lessington Cup for athletics was won by Saunderites, Verites second and Daviesites third.
Ben Dunscombe won the Maxwell Cup for running, winning both the 800m and 1500m. Other athletes who won two events were: Hamish MacKinnon in the 200m and 400m, Rob Parham in the javelin and discus, Obi Onyejekwe in the 100m and 100m hurdles, Dare Balogun in the 100m and triple jump and Ben Draper won all three of his events: the 100m, the long jump and triple jump for the senior boys.
Holly Campbell and Isla Scott (Year 13) played in the Home Internationals Lacrosse tournament for Scotland U19s, over the weekend of 16 and 17 April.
A group of Carthusians and Dr Baugniet (teacher of Modern Languages) completed their Lawn Tennis Association Level 2 tennis coaching qualification at the Queen’s Club, London. Overall, the programme is the most comprehensive of its type run by any school and Charterhouse is probably unique in developing this number of tennis coaches to such a high level. These pupils are now well along the path to becoming professional tennis coaches and will be able to coach during gap years and at university - as well as benefitting from all the other general skills that the course develops (such as leadership, communication and planning).
A dozen Remove tennis players conducted pre-season tennis training at Erquy Tennis Club, Brittany. Matches and games were also played within the group and against local players. Overall the group had a good time and found the experience useful.
The Public School’s Tennis Doubles was on 16 and 17 March. Toby Rawlings (Year 10) partnered with Alex Moore, (Year 9), reaching the Quarter Finals of the Peter Gray Cup (Junior Colts Competition) with two assured victories over Clifton College and then Winchester. Despite being heavily outgunned they stuck to their game plan and played with a calm assurance and intelligence before exiting to an extremely talented top seeded Tonbridge pair.
Neil MacGregor’s History of the World in 100 Objects, based on artefacts in the British Museum and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 as a series of 15 minute talks, captured the imagination of many people. The History of Charterhouse in 100 Objects is based on a similar concept, exploring the artefacts remaining in our Museum store. Object 16 has now been added to the series.
If you stroll through the archway between the South African Cloister and Founder’s Court you will notice many names carved into a stone archway that leads nowhere. This is the ‘Gownboys Arch’ that originally led into the Gownboys building at Charterhouse in London. Scholars could pay to have their names carved into the arch or into the facing of the Schoolroom building. Rather than lose these historic carvings, the stones were dismantled when the School moved to Godalming and reconstructed on the new site.
In addition to these formally sanctioned carved records, the boys at the London Charterhouse also indulged in unofficial graffiti, scratching their names clandestinely during hashes or whiling away the long evenings in House by inscribing their names into the furniture. There was even a Carthusian term for graffiti, ‘mobbing’ (also the term for pushing and shoving). Our 16th object is a small table-top desk that was given to the Headmaster’s wife, Annie Marion Haig Brown, by the Saunderites butler, Thomas Bayly; it is made from pieces of desk from the London Charterhouse that are covered in Carthusian names.
According to one Old Carthusian, boys who were particularly skilled at carving were in great demand to immortalise their friends’ names, and some of the lettering on this desk is certainly very neatly chiselled. The earliest name dates from the 1820s, although most belong to boys who were pupils during the 1840s. If you would like to know who some of them were and what became of them, read on:
GC Coles: George Godwin Coles, born 17 January 1831, the son of the Reverend George Coles, Vicar of St James’ Croydon. He was in Gownboys from September 1844 to December 1850 and played for the 1st XI Cricket team; he was awarded an Exhibition prize to go on to university, but we have no record of where he went after Charterhouse. He died in Melbourne, Australia, on 14 September 1854, aged only twenty-three.
C Wylde: Charles Wylde, born 25 January 1832, the son of General William Wylde RA. He was in Gownboys from April 1842 to August 1850 and, like his friend George Coles, was in the 1st XI Cricket team and was an Exhibitioner at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He became a civil servant in the Ordnance Office and the War Office, and was appointed as a Gentleman Usher to Queen Victoria in 1873. He retired in 1879 and died at Eastbourne in 1884.
Ward: James Duff Ward, born 9 June 1834, the son of Henry Ward of Brooklands, Havant. James was in Verites from June 1846 to July 1852. He joined the Bengal Civil Service and worked in India from 1854 until his retirement in 1875. He died at Norwood in 1891.
JEB: John Ernest Bode, born 23 February 1816, the son of William Bode. John was at Eton for two and a half years, but transferred to Charterhouse in October 1829, initially as a Day Boy and then as a Gownboy (Dec 1829 to Dec 1833). He won a Talbot Gold Medal for classical scholarship and was the Orator in 1832 (the senior scholar, whose responsibilities included giving an oration in Latin at the end of the autumn term). John won a Charterhouse exhibition to Christ Church Oxford and he had a distinguished career, both as a student and a tutor at Oxford. He was ordained in 1841 and was Rector of Westwell, Oxford and then of Castle Camps, Cambridgeshire until his death in 1874. He married Hester Lodge in 1847. John’s son, also called John Ernest Bode, was a Master at Charterhouse and founder of Bodeites House.
WF Belli: Walter Forbes Belli, born 24 August 1833, the son of William Hallows Belli of the Bengal Civil Service. Walter was born at Hooghley in Bengal and was sent ‘home’ to England to be educated, joining Gownboys in October 1844. He left Charterhouse in December 1849 and returned to India. In 1853 he was commissioned into the Bengal Army as an Ensign in the 40th Native Infantry Regiment and was promoted to Lieutenant in 1857. He died at St Heliers, Jersey, on 22 November 1861.
HW Chapman: Henry William Chapman, born 17 January 1834, the first son of Henry Chapman OC. He was in Saunderites and then Verites between September 1844 and August 1850. He joined the 28th Bengal Native Infantry Regiment in 1852 and retired with the rank of Captain in 1864. William married Julia Robertson in 1869. He died at Folkestone on 24 December 1889.
ME Barnes: Medley Edward Barnes, born 10 February 1832, the son of John Barnes of Braengorhan, Argyleshire. He was in Verites from September 1844 to December 1848. We know nothing about his later life, except that he lived in Scotland, at Rogart, Sutherland, and married, first Catherine Stephenson, and then Catharine Jacobs from Alderswort in Germany.
W Osborne: William Alexander Osborne, born 7 March 1843, son of the Revd. William Alexander Osborne, Headmaster of Rossall. William was in Verites from September 1853 to Aug.1860. He went to Brasenose College, Oxford, graduating with a BA in 1866. He was ordained in 1867 and had a long and varied career in parishes in Cheshire, Cornwall and Norfolk. William married Emma Grimsditch in 1872 and died in November 1925.
C Paget: (another ‘Paget’ also appears on the top): Cecil George Paget, born 19 June 1853, the third son of Colonel Leopold Grimston Paget of Park Homer, Wimborne. Cecil arrived at Charterhouse in July 1864, initially in Saunderites, but then transferred to Gownboys. He won a Gold medal for classical scholarship and played for the 1st XI Football team. Cecil was one of those pupils who experienced school life in both London and Godalming as the School moved during his final term, CQ1872. He was a Charterhouse Exhibitioner at Christ Church College, Oxford, and then was ordained and went into parish ministry. He married Elizabeth Skinner in 1887. He died at Oxford on 24 April 1929.
Footnotes
(i) A chair made in a similar way from London Charterhouse desks was presented to William Haig Brown on his retirement as Headmaster in 1893. It is on display in the Daniel Wray Room.
(ii) E P Eardley-Wilmot and E C Streatfield, Charterhouse Old and New (John C Nimmo, London 1895)
Photographs and details of objects 1-15 are available below.
| History of Charterhouse in 100 objects | PDF |
After winning the toss Charterhouse invited Westminster to bat. George Barlow (V) struck twice early on before a dogged partnership held the home side up. The turgid pitch didn't help anyone as Westminster ground out 151 off an incredible 74 overs. It left Charterhouse just 34 overs in reply. The home side did make a bit of a mess of the run chase, but just about held on for the draw. This was not a game to bring the crowds back.
Tonbridge were the visitors to Green on another very cold and blustery day. After winning the toss and batting, Charterhouse lost Ishaan Rajan (L) and Amartya Kaul (S) quickly before George Barlow (V) and Jack Hunter-Lees (S) put together an excellent partnership on a slow and low wicket that was never straightforward to bat on. When Hunter-Lees fell, so did half the batting as no one was able to support Barlow for any length of time. It took captain Jonny Charles (L) playing sensibly to give Barlow license to expand his shot making and when he fell for 78 it has been an innings of true class. A total of 152 perhaps wasn't the highest, but when Tonbridge fell to 4 - 2 there was hope. An excellent partnership took the game away from Charterhouse and at 135 - 4, the writing appeared to be on the wall. However, needing just 18 to win a spectacular collapse instigated by Charles and Barlow led to Charterhouse running out winners by 6 runs. A truly epic win.
On yet another freezing day Butterflies came to Green in a 35 overs a side match. A raft of changes from the previous day gave some younger players a chance to impress. After winning the toss and batting, Jack Hunter-Lees (S) and Harry Gilbey (W) started with impetus until Gilbey fell. Louis Clayton (P) then joined Hunter-Lees as runs came easily. Clayton went on to score 50 and our score of 186 was a very good performance. In reply both Kai Magee (S) and Sam Browne (S) bowled well, followed by Austin Wilman (W) and Amrtya Kaul (S). Butterflies kept at it though and maintained a good rate throughout. Just 15 was needed off the final over, and once Gilbey had caught the dangerous Stewart the game was over.
Pupils Raphael Boulanger (P) and Tom Walton (V) competed in the England Hockey Under 16 National Finals for their club, Guildford Hockey Club, reaching the top 4 out of 80 teams. They had drawn with the team who were placed second and scored 2 - 0 in the bronze medal match until their fortunes changed before the final whistle. It was all very close and exciting to be a part the event.
The National Championships for Boys took place over two days in early April at the home of England Hockey, the London 2012 Olympics legacy site, at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre. Raphael and Tom played on the pitches used for International competitions including the England and GB teams preparing for Rio 2016. This is the fourth National Finals for each of them and their National Medals include two golds, a bronze and a fourth place over the years.
Hockey participation in England amongst players 16 and under has grown by 40% over the past five years. England Hockey estimate that much of the inspiration for this growth comes from GB’s excellent performance in the London 2012 Olympics, including bronze for the GB women. The growth is also partly driven by players getting more and better exposure to hockey in schools.
Following the England Hockey National Finals, Tom and Raphael won their final Premier League match to top the Premier League in England’s most competitive Boys Hockey League (beating the newly crowned National Champions). They are already looking forward to next season where they will play for both their Club and Charterhouse.
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The Charterhouse Combined Cadet Force (CCF) took part in the annual Brigade Target Rifle Competition, this year held at Stoney Castle ranges on Sunday 24 April. The competition is set under National Rifle Association rules and is shot on distances at 300m and 500m, using issued L81-A2 Cadet Target Rifles.
The Charterhouse CCF team won and will be presented with the Silver Trophy shortly. Alex Fomin also won the Gold Award and Ross Lawson the Silver Award in the individual competitions.
Ross Lawson (P) (Captain)
Alex Fomin (P)
Michael Shutt (D)
James Clegg (V)
Oliver Lofthouse (S) (marker)
Scott Nettelton (g) (marker)
This year's Carthusian Day is on Saturday 28 May. Parents and friends of Charterhouse are most welcome.
The full programme of events will be available shortly.
Charterhouse picnic hampers can be pre-ordered from the Little Picnic Company and collected on the day from inside the marquee on J Ground. If you would like to purchase a hamper, please visit: www.littlepicniccompany.co.uk/charterhouse-carthusian-day/
Orders must be placed by 8am on Friday 20 May 2016.
The Main Programme of Events for Carthusian Day is:
| 10.45am | CHAPEL SERVICE Memorial Chapel |
| 11.30am - 12.15pm | SPEECHES Marquee on J Ground |
| 12.30pm | RECEPTIONS IN HOUSES For parents of current pupils. |
4.00pm | TEA J Ground Marquee and Concert Hall Afternoon tea for all visitors and pupils. |
4.30pm | ADSUM IN HOUSES Pupils must attend prior to departure for Exeat. |
David McDowell, Architect and former Manager in Dame Zaha Hadid's London studio, gave a lecture ‘Designing in A Digital Age’ on Thursday 21 April. Review by Benjamin Lawson (Year 10):
Have you ever wondered how all the amazing modern buildings you see are designed? On 21 April the Lecture Theatre was filled with ecstatic pupils eager to listen to David McDowell from the Studio of Zaha Hadid. Dame Zaha Hadid, who sadly died in March this year, was the first woman and the first Muslim to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize and is still well known today as a ground-breaking architect. Zaha Hadid’s work includes the Aquatic Centre for the London 2012 Olympics, the Broad Art Museum in America, and the Guangzhou, China Opera House. Hadid also undertook some high-profile interior work, including the Mind Zone for the Millennium Dome in London.
A lot has changed in the field of Architecture in recent years and with the world hooked on the digital age, everyone was very interested to know how architects use this digitalization to their advantage. Mr McDowell talked about what makes good innovative architecture. I had no idea of the scale that software development plays in architectural design. Some of the best buildings we see today were designed using the same software, Marionette, as some of our favourite childhood movies (eg Finding Nemo and Toy Story). A similar software called Maya was described as taking a ball of plastercine, and by using the programme, morphing it and changing its shape. And then Rhino, which is like Maya, but also uses mathematical rules to help create the architectural shapes.
The part of the lecture that interested me the most was on biomimicry, which is using aspects found in nature to understand and build amazing structures. The example we were shown was Hadid’s beautiful superyacht ‘Jazz’ designed to look like natural marine formations. The lecture ended with two videos detailing more of Dame Hadid’s amazing work.
I thoroughly enjoyed this lecture, the speaker and the atmosphere was amazing. This talk has inspired me to broaden knowledge of architecture and design.
Artifex is now in its third year and, from humble beginnings, we have reached a total of over fifty events centred on everything from art, music, drama, film to food and photography. This year sees the introduction of an exciting new temporary venue on J Ground - our Artifex Dome. The Dome will play host to our Jazz Night (this is a ticketed event), Summer Concert, Late Night Shakespeare among many other events. In the Ben Travers Theatre, we have performances of And Then There Were None, produced, performed and directed by pupils. Following in our tradition of outdoor productions we have the extraordinary exploration of Mozart in Peter Shaffer's play Amadeus, which will be given in two performances on the Friday and Saturday. This year also sees the introduction of a three-night series of early evening recitals curated by our pupils: Concert in the Cloister. Throughout the Festival we also have running exhibitions of work by our Pre-U Artists, the Designer of the Yearcompetitions and exhibitions of photography. Among the more unusual events on offer is the return of our Cinema on the Ceiling in Chapel, as well as workshops on sugar art from the award-winning Michelle Wibowo. Our pupils are also undertaking the serious enterprise of a full reading of The Odyssey over three days. The Festival will draw to a close with theSummer Concert in the Artifex Dome on Sunday 26 June, followed by a drinks reception.
Pupils, parents and Old Carthusians are all warmly invited to join us for what promises to be another exciting Artifex, which will be a great opportunity to see the extraordinary cultural talent on show here at Charterhouse. Almost all of the events are open to parents and it would be a real pleasure to welcome you. Please feel free to come along to as many events as you would like. Some events are ticketed and will need prior booking to ensure a place (on a first come, first served basis).
| Artifex Programme of Events and Booking | PDF |
| Wednesday 22 June | |
| TBA | Life and Death: Photography Exhibition (All Day) |
| 1:30pm | House Lunch Concerts |
| 4:00pm | Summertime with Gershwin |
| 4:30pm | Fourths Creative Arts Exhibition |
| 5:30pm | Concert in the Cloister |
| 6:30pm | Pre-U Art Exhibition Launch |
| 8:00pm | International Fair |
| 9:15pm | Cinema on the Ceiling |
| 9:30pm | Late Night Shakespeare: As You Like It |
| Thursday 23 June | |
| TBA | Life and Death: Photography Exhibition (All Day) |
| 1:30pm | House Lunch Concerts |
| 2:45pm | Greyhound Cafe |
| 5:30pm | Designer of the Year Award |
| 6:00pm | Ubuntu - languages evening |
| 8:00pm | Jazz Night |
| 9:15pm | Cinema on the Ceiling |
| 10:00pm | Late Night Mindfulness |
| Friday 24 June | |
| TBA | Life and Death: Photography Exhibition (All Day) |
| 1:30pm | House Lunch Concerts |
| 4:30pm | Greyhound Cafe |
| 5:30pm | Designer of the Year Award |
| 6:30pm | Hymn Book Art Installation |
| 7:00pm | Artifex Brewery Evening |
| 8:00pm | Perceptions |
| 9:30pm | The Charterhouse Short Film Competition |
| Saturday 25 June | |
| TBA | Life and Death: Photography Exhibition (All Day) |
| 1:30pm | Sugar and Chocolate Painting Workshop with Michelle Wibowo (award-winning sugar artist and cake sculptor) |
| 4:00pm | Sugar Sculpture Workshop with Michelle Wibowo (award-winning sugar artist and cake sculptor) |
| 5:30pm | Lieder Recital: Ben Munden and Joe Deery |
| 6:30pm | Carthusians vs Brooke Hall: The Quiz |
| 7:30pm | Amadeus: outdoor theatre |
| 10:00pm | Unplugged L8 Sessions |
| Sunday 26 June | |
| TBA | Pre-U Art Exhibition (All Day) |
| 10:45am | Choral Matins with Guildford Cathedral Girls Choir |
| 1:00pm | Hot Air Ballooning |
| 3:00pm | Treasure Island: The Play (Bodeites) |
| 8:00pm | Summer Concert in the Park |
The top shooting schools in the country competed in the Sawyer Cup on the Century Range at Bisley on Saturday 7 May. Due to range restrictions the team shot at 300 and 600 yards in a tricky wind conditions.
The Prizes were presented by Major Martin Farnan.
Results:
| 1 | Wellington | Sawyer Cup, Gold Medals | 476.20 |
| 2 | Epsom | Silver Medals | 472.17 |
| 3 | Marlborough | Bronze Medals | 472.15 |
| 4 | RGS Guildford | 458.20 | |
| 5 | Bradfield | 451.16 | |
| 6 | Charterhouse | 438.16 | |
| 7 | The Oratory | 434.16 | |
| 8 | Lancing | 432.14 | |
| 9 | St John's | 430.10 | |
| 10 | Tonbridge | 426.16 | |
| 11 | Cheltenham | 380.14 | |
| 12 | Nottingham High (seven firers only) | 243.08 |
Scores
| Sergeant, Ross Lawson | 30.04 | 32.02 | 62.06 |
| Colour Sergeant, Alex Fomin | 30.02 | 28.02 | 58.04 |
| Cadet, Oscar Daglish | 27.00 | 28.01 | 55.01 |
| Army Sergeant, Caius Patel | 28.02 | 26.01 | 54.03 |
| Cadet, Nathan Rowland | 24.00 | 30.01 | 54.01 |
| Petty Officer, James Clegg | 29.01 | 24.00 | 53.01 |
| Cadet, Michael Shutt | 24.00 | 29.00 | 53.00 |
| Lance Corporal, Ben Zarbafi | 27.00 | 22.00 | 49.00 |
| VIIIs TOTAL | 219.09 | 219.07 | 438.16 |
A group of forty one boys from the Fourth Form (Year 9) and four teachers departed from Charterhouse early on Sunday 8 May bound for the World War One battlefields of Ypres. The first point of call was the Bayernwald trench system, this section of German trench overlooking Ypres has been preserved for visitors. It is said to be one of the sectors where Adolf Hitler served as a soldier. To get another perspective on the battlefield the group moved to Hill 60. As the Hill was a small area of elevated land in a flat landscape, it had strategic importance in the battle for Ypres. Following the end of the War, the land was left relatively undisturbed and the boys were able to explore some of the bunkers and defensive positions that remain. A short walk from Hill 60 is Caterpillar crater, which was formed when a mine containing a million pounds of explosives was detonated under the German trenches in June 1917. The blast was said to have rattled windows in London.
After settling into the Menin Gate Schools Hotel, and a fortifying supper of chicken and chips, the boys then managed to keep the chocolatiers of Ypres in business before attending the moving Menin Gate Last Post ceremony.
On Monday after breakfast, the group visited the site of the advanced dressing station at Essex Farm where the Canadian doctor, John McCrae, wrote the famous poem ‘In Flanders Fields’. In the cemetery is buried Rifleman Valentine Strudwick who had lied about his age to join the Army and was killed aged just 15. It was then on to the ridge near Passchendaele, where a quarter of a million British and Empire soldiers and 200,000 Germans were killed in the Third Battle of Ypres. From the vantage point on top of German built concrete machine gun bunkers, the boys were able to get a sense of the scale and difficulty encountered in 1917. Alexander Tsang (R) was able to see the inscription to his great great grandfather John Henry Stokes who was killed in August 1917 aged 36 leaving a wife and five children. John Stokes’ body was never found.
Our last act of the trip was a short remembrance service at the graveside of Thomas Thorp, who left Weekites in 1915 and was killed in action in 1917. Current Weekites Tom Jackson and Loius Ward laid a wreath.
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The 3rd XI and U14Cs both enjoyed wins against Cranleigh on Thursday 5 May as did the U16As for whom Jai Chopra took a hat-trick.
Mark Adshead won the recent Charterhouse Golf Singles Stableford Competition, whilst on Sunday 8 May the Halford Hewitt Family Foursomes saw the Farrell Family win the Hollingsworth Cup for 2016.
There was success at the Ball Cup on Sunday 8 May with gold in J18 double sculls and J16 coxless quad. There were also bronze medals for the J15 coxed quad and Yaroslav Chichvarkin in the J17 single scull.
Congratulations to Piers Bowden who enjoyed success in the ASA South East Regional Swimming Championships at the start of May.
On Wednesday 4 May, the girls 2nds defeated Christ's Hospital, whilst there was only one loss in the boys' block fixture versus Winchester. On Friday 6 May the U15s defeated Claremont Fan Court School. On the Saturday they had a further 6 wins against Cranleigh.
The Senior Water Polo team beat Cranleigh 12 - 0 on Thursday 5 May.
Hodgsonites won the Junior House Basketball Cup 2016, beating Daviesites in overtime. Saunderites and Weekites made the semi-finals. Particular mention should go to Nicholas Dieke (B) (Year 12) who, in his new role as Captain of Basketball, ran the tournament with organising referees, marshalling pupils and collating scores. He and his team ensured the tournament ran smoothly without any teacher intervention required.
In the House Tennis final Weekites won the battle of the 3rd pairs with Robinites winning the 1st pair match, meaning it all came down to the 2nd pairs. Their match went the distance, with Robinites winning the final set on a sudden death game. It was as close a final as you could possibly get.