Sunday 11th
November
After Lights Out.
Dear Parents
As prep school
weekends go, this seems to have been one of the better ones and so I
thought I’d share with you some of my feelings of contentment this
evening before Monday morning comes along (as Monday morning has a habit
of doing) and the real world rolls back in. There is a fire in the
hearth, the 3s’ boys have just left me having listened to a story and
humoured me by laughing at all the correct points and lights are now
going out in dormitories across the school.
The sign of a good
weekend is that Saturday lunchtime feels a long way off. Charlie
Middleton commented at tea that the only thing that spoils it is it
being Monday tomorrow. And are there many of us who disagree with him?
Saturday was a
cracking day with the very best of weather – crisp sunshine, low in the
sky and catching the deep red colours on the trees. They do seem to have
been redder this year and there are still some leaves on the trees (plus
plenty on the ground to drag your feet through). The football matches
against Woodcote House entailed some long journeys but were well worth
it with 2nd XI winning by one goal and Colts A losing by the
same margin. U9s earned an honourable draw. Every moment of skill from
the Woodcote boys was explained as belonging to Gary Lineker’s son: I
believe that there were two of them here, but I’m not sure that any
other players had their parents mentioned on the touchline and I wish
that I had a pound for every touchline reference to the compère of
Match of the Day and his offspring. As it happens, one of these boys
managed to score four goals against the 1st XI, but I’m quite
sure that stories of his play will have been suitably exaggerated by the
time we have match reports in prayers tomorrow morning. The 3rd
XI travelled away to Woodcote House and the team was, according to Mr
Gilsenan, playing as though their minds were firmly fixed on Bonfire
entertainments back at school…more of that anon.
The senior girls
were playing against Holmewood House – consistently our toughest match
on the circuit so the news that 1st, 2nd and U12
teams all beat Holmewood was received with much celebration. The U10 and
U9 results were a reminder of why Holmewood are our consistently
toughest opposition…but a veil will be quickly drawn over that news and
much talk of ‘honour in defeat’ instead. The narrow margins of victory
for the senior girls left them breathless with excitement and enjoying
all that’s best about competitive sport. I also think that it reflects
very well on the impact of Mrs Upton’s and Mrs McCarthy’s coaching over
the last few years.
And we all returned
to our Halloween supper in the dining hall (admittedly very late for
Halloween but please remember that schools have Christmas in mid
December so we are allowed to play a little fast and loose with the
conventional calendar). Halloween means the 5s and their pumpkin carving
and their guy-making and then out to enjoy the delights of a bonfire
night without fireworks. The whole world seems to have been having
fireworks for the last two weeks (I would be surprised if there has been
a single night without a bang and a flash in the last fortnight), but
not at Ashdown. Instead, the 1s came up trumps with their indoor
entertainment which saw the barn nearly flooded from burst water
balloons; Messrs Taylor and Hogue the targets of the delightfully named
‘Hit the Teacher’ (with a ball aimed at digital images…but who knows
when they’ll look to take the obvious next step with that game?);
children wrapped in duvets (fixed by sellotape) for bouts of sumo
wrestling. I’m not sure that these stalls have much commercial future
but as long as there are sweets available for prizes and a little
imagination amongst our senior pupils then there will still be children
queuing up outside the barn.
From the barn, we
move to Eifion’s mobile catering unit outside the Blue Block: hot
chocolate, soup, mulled wine, hot dogs, toffee apples and various
devices that wrap round heads or can be waved in the air and emit
fluorescent lights. There was a new coloured torch (?) on offer this
year which attracted the discerning punter, but the toffee apples were
no easier to open and eat than they have ever been….and then we’re
heading down the hill and, avoiding the skateboards that the 3s have
left lying on the drive, we move on to Tony’s bonfire. He has been
building it since January and when he lights it, most of the air traffic
south of London will be aware of Ashdown. I don’t know how he does it
but we get from towering inferno with lots of oohs and ahhs (and
wondering whether a change of wind direction might see it catch the
trees) to glowing pile in half an hour. Glowing pile is too much of a
temptation for the genuine pyromaniacs and so, as the rest of the school
head weary to their beds, they are left chucking anything they can find
at the fire and wondering ‘what will happen with this one?’ But no
fireworks.
Sunday dawned less
brightly and Mr Taylor’s plans for the outdoor act of Remembrance were
looking in doubt. Well, I can assure you that they weren’t looking in
doubt because there was no wet weather plan on the basis that the
soldiers didn’t get a wet weather plan. Never mind, God is an Ashdownian
and the sun came out (or at least the rain stopped at the right time).
There were lots of wonderful moments this morning: most of them
unplanned. The children were magnificent with their singing, reading and
general decorum. We had a serious hair-brushing, shoe-cleaning and
poppy-fixing session this morning so that Sunday best was genuinely
that. Caroline Rundell read from 1 Peter while Charlie Mayne did a
terrific job of giving Owen’s ‘Strange Meeting’ a proper sense of drama.
Outside, William St John played ‘Highland Cathedral’ on the pipes until
he was fit to burst and Miss Flic gave us her ‘Last Post’ and a verse of
‘Oh God Our Help in Ages Past’ al fresco. Once again, I didn’t manage to
time the two minutes’ silence to the guns on the Forest, but I only
counted two boys with their hands in their pockets which I consider a
qualified success.
After lunch, we gave
them our standard range of Ashdown activity. Golf match against
Brambletye (a win!) plus other less structured golf across the Patch;
2s’ boys and girls playing football with Mr Stanton and Mr de Moraville
which finished with a penalty shoot-out: won by Jimmy Ondari of the 3s
(much to the embarrassment of the 2s’ soccer superstars); cooking in the
pantry; fashion shows (!!!) in the Linen Room; football in the barn and
jungle in the Jungle (I will not attempt to define what happens in the
Jungle…you had to have been there). Mr Gilsenan took a group of 1s to
see the latest film about Queen Elizabeth. He described it as stronger
on form than content; they told me that it was ‘cool’ at tea. Oh yes,
and there was also a swim. There were no boring long walks taken by the
headmaster as I was given a few hours off to take Mr Mason out for a run
but, as I warned the 3s girls, they had had a pretty narrow escape and
may not be so lucky next time!
I haven’t told you
about Charles Hendry’s excellent lecture on Wednesday evening; about the
5s’ trip to see Hamlet (yes, Hamlet!) in Tunbridge Wells; about
some fantastic music this week – Tom Glynne-Jones on the clarinet,
Edward Pinnegar’s composition; about how good it is to have Sue back
from Hong Kong… but there are doors to lock and it’s getting late.
Suffice it to say
that it has been a wonderful weekend and tomorrow is still Monday.
With all best wishes
