Well the year 2005/6 passed as so many

do at Camp Hill in a buzz of frenetic

activity, hard work, some disappointments,

dozens of achievements and many good

times.

In sport, our Rugby, Cricket, Hockey,

Basketball, Tennis, Athletics, Fencing and,

despite the empty pool, even Swimming

teams enjoyed fine seasons. Year 9 reached

the final of the Bob Willis Trophy, the

intermediate Tennis players have reached

the regional finals and our intermediate

athletes faired well in all their matches.

However, Year 7 were the star year group

of 2005/6. Their outstanding performances

helped us to win the Foundation Athletics

match for the first time in a generation

and they also won the Stacey Jackson

Bowl, the equivalent of the Birmingham

Championship for Cricket.

In Chess we again did well in the

Birmingham leagues, but losing so

many senior players at the end of the

year may well give other schools a real

chance to challenge next year. Not so for

the Chemistry Quiz team who won the

McDermid trophy for the third consecutive

year and went on to do well in the National

Top of the Bench final in London. Our

Mathematicians again excelled achieving

143 Gold 148 Silver and 138 Bronze medals

in the Mathematics Olympiads. Indeed, 3

junior boys finished in the top 12 nationally

and Lower Sixth student Jos Gibbons was

selected to represent the UK in the Balkan

Mathematical Challenge.

Camp Hill Boys also flourished on stage

during 2005/6 – there was a fine junior

performance of Kes, we also had leading

roles in the girls’ school production of

Brecht’s Threepenny Opera. The highlight

of the year though was another wonderful

show from the Southworth production

company their staging of Oscar Wilde’s

“The Importance of Being Earnest” was

stunning. It came as no surprise when

again our thespians swept the boards at

the Foundation Drama competition.

Camp Hill Tours Incorporated also had

a busy year with an Art trip to Paris, Year

7 in St Malo, Junior Rugby and Hockey in

Cumbria, the seniors in Ireland, a ski trip

to Austria, outward bound in South Wales,

Year 8 residential week in North Wales,

visits to Germany and Poland, Battlefields

tour in France and, at the end of the year, a

holiday in the Czech Republic!

Little wonder that the Ofsted Inspector

who arrived in May, described the

opportunities available to the boys at Camp

Hill as “simply breathtaking”. The school

owes a massive debt to all the teachers who

give up so much of their time to bring such

marvellous enrichment and enjoyment to

the boys’ experience at school.

As you can imagine, I was thrilled by

the many complimentary statements the

Inspector made as he judged the school

to be outstanding – indeed we were

outstanding in almost every category.

Such a wonderful report recognises the

excellence that is expected and achieved in

all aspects of school life and I congratulate

the Governors, the staff, the parents and

above all the boys themselves for making

Camp Hill such a fine school.

At this juncture I also need to thank

the AFS, the Parents’ Association, for their

continued support and I remain grateful

to all at the Rugby Club who ensure that

links with the school remain strong. On

the pitch the Old Boys 1st XV found life in

Division 2 tough, but they still finished mid

table and the Old Boys Cricket teams had

good seasons and a very enjoyable match

against the boys. Our Old Boys’ Association

also remains very active with a number of

enjoyable trips arranged throughout the

year.

On the buildings front, the Sports Hall,

à la Wembley, is fashionably late - we hope

to take possession of this tremendous

new facility at the end of September. The

swimming pool remains closed, but the

Governors of both schools have given the

go ahead for an expensive refurbishment

and repair which will hopefully see the pool

reopen early in 2007.

As the school year 2005/6 drew to a

close, the boys again achieved excellent

results in the SATs, GCSE and A Level

examinations. At GCSE 81% of passes

were at A*/A grades, 17 boys achieved 10

or more A* passes and marks in the top

5 nationally were achieved in 5 different

subject areas – Andrew Simpson achieving

3 of them on his own! At A Level 88% of

passes were at grades A and B and 56 boys

achieved 3 or more grade A passes. Our A

Level and GCSE performance placed Camp

Hill in the top ten performing state schools

in the country.

The boys will be the first to admit

that much of their examination success is

down to the knowledge, commitment and

support of their teachers and the school

said farewell to two of its finest in July.

Dr Bob Whitham retired after 27 years as

an outstanding Head of Chemistry and Mr

Peter Stainton left to pursue a number of

passions after 31 years as an outstanding

Head of Biology. We thank them for all

they did for Camp Hill and wish them

every happiness in the future – see articles

below.

Enjoy reading the Chronicle, my thanks

to Mr Hill and his editorial team and to all

those who helped to make 2005/6 another

memorable year in the history of Camp Hill

Boys.

J.V. Darby

Welcome to the 2006 edition of

The Chronicle.

My role as ‘Editor-in-Chief’

continues, with a student editorial

committee once more being trusted

with the actual editing of the

magazine itself. As such, if there are

any complaints don’t see me, see…

you get the idea. Seriously though,

the students this year have worked

very hard and therefore I would like

to thank them for all of the time they

have put into editing their particular

sections. The team (in no particular

order) are as follows:

Danny Rodwell, William Arnold,

James Pumphrey, Parit Shah,

Nathan Man, Jimmy Xu,

Matthew Carter, Christopher

Pearson, Joe Pick, Boris Tsang

and David Lee.

Thanks must also go to Scott

Fennell and Tom Beardmore for

the cover, Mr. John Dinham for

providing so many of the fantastic

pictures contained within these

pages and Mr. Fred Rogers for all of

his work in actually assembling the

magazine.

As we begin to celebrate Camp

Hill’s50th anniversary year of moving

to the Kings Heath site and with the

Sports Hall finally being finished

(more of which in next year’s

Chronicle), there is much to look

forward to on the horizon. However,

it is pleasing to see that with so

much change ahead, so many things

have remained the same; Camp

Hill’s vibrant extra-curricular life

and high academic standards are

as strong as ever, as demonstrated,

of course, by these very pages.

Therefore, I offer a final thank you

to all who have contributed articles

this year; without you, there would

be no magazine.

N. Hill

Preface by the Headmaster

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Peter arrived at Camp Hill in January 1975 after

a short spell at Churcher’s College in Petersfield,

Hants. The evidence provided by four terms there

persuaded Alan Cholmondeley that Peter was worthy

enough to be appointed as Head of Biology. It proved

to be a typically astute appointment.

The new Head of Biology had an interesting

background. Born on the wrong side of the

Pennines, in Baildon, Yorkshire, he was only five

when the family moved to the West Indies. These

were interesting years for the young Stainton; he

still regales his family with stories of how he fought

snakes, barracuda, manta rays and sharks on an

almost daily basis. (His colleagues tend to think that

these experiences equipped him well for life in the

Prep Room at Camp Hill). He also claimed that he

had hardly set his eyes on a pair of shoes until he

came back to England: perhaps this accounts for his

thick skin! The Staintons returned to England, when

Peter was thirteen, so that he could complete his

education. He duly served his time at RGS Worcester,

Wolverhampton Poly and Dudley, before entering the

exciting world of teaching.

He gave over 31 years of service to Camp Hill.

In those years, Peter proved to be an outstanding

teacher. His students will have been struck by his

professionalism and expertise, his deep knowledge

of, and love for, his subject. Many will recall his

description of the feeding mechanism of the fly: this

involved Peter leaping onto the desk to act this out. I

am told that this demonstration lives in the minds of

all who experienced it. As he enters this fresh period

in his life, post-resignation, he can happily reflect

upon the direct impact he has had, in the Biology

lab, upon so many students at Camp Hill. Camp Hill

is losing a gifted teacher.

He was also a fine Head of Department. He

leaves behind him a very professional and successful

Biology department. It is very popular amongst the

students, even if relatively few (to Peter’s chagrin)

go on to take pure science degrees at university. It

is in safe hands: Theresa Mpofu and Alistair Dawson

are, in ex-Headmaster, Mervyn Brooker’s inimitable

words, “excellent practitioners” and will maintain

the high standards set by Peter. Several of their

predecessors enjoyed similar training; Matthew

Parkin and Tim Bird, for instance, moved on to

greater things, having learned their trade under

Peter. Indeed, Tim’s recent letter informing us that

he had acquired his first Deputy Headship made

eloquent reference to his debt to Peter, even if he

expressed it in terms of assistance in finding good

cheap wine and decent asparagus. I know that they

recognize the debt they owe to Peter, their mentor.

Peter will also be remembered as a man of high

standards. Younger members of the profession would

do well to emulate Peter’s attitude to teaching. In his

old-fashioned way, he believed that he should turn up,

punctually, for work 5 days a week: his attendance

record can scarcely have been bettered by anyone

in the past 30 years. He shrugged aside illness and

often pointed out that dental appointments and the

like should be made outside school time. Perhaps

his high standards and commitment to service help

explain his occasionally intolerant attitude towards

those who did not share his perspective. He

had high expectations of his students too:

they were expected to dress properly, attend

every day and turn up punctually to lessons,

having completed the set work.

Outside the classroom, Peter contributed

much to the general life of the school. He

refereed scores of rugby matches and took

endless lads out on Biology and General

Studies outings. He played a leading role in

the Denis Marsden inspired tours of France,

especially those to the chateaux of the Loire.

He was able to combine his natural interest

in History with an equally strong interest

in bridge (played on the bus there, the bus

back and the bus in between, never mind

in the evening) and in French wine (unless

chosen by Dick Spiby, directly from the

European wine lake).

And, although he might care to forget

it, Peter played an important role in creating

the hugely successful Year 8 residential

trips. We were based in Bockleton, an old

Victorian pile out in the wilds near Tenbury

Wells. Lads enjoyed the Hereford market,

the walk up Cardingmill valley and over the

top of the Long Mynd, the obligatory visit

to the fine town of Ludlow to count the

castles and shoe shops, and the obligatory

showers in the evening. When we moved

the week to Prestatyn, Peter tolerated

sunny North Wales for some years before

deciding that the evening banter, invariably

involving character assassination of the

Senior Management Team, was excessive.

I believe that it offended his sense of

professionalism.

Peter was a permanent fixture in the staff

cricket team, rising to the giddy position of

captain and star bowler. He led us to many

fine defeats, but we were famous for our

hospitality. By the time the evening in the

pub was over, we had transformed defeat

into victory. He has also, at various times,

played social and staff tennis, turned out

on the early golf rounds (on Carol Service

afternoon for instance) and supported school

athletics meets over the years. George

Cookson will recall Peter’s sterling efforts

in the hugely enjoyable annual Foundation

staff/boys rugby match, no longer played

because of rules about adults and students

playing each other. Peter played rugby at

CHOE club for many years, until injury cut

short his playing days. He was a vigorous

and skilful hooker, who enjoyed the fun in

the front row. Peter also figured prominently

in CHAOS productions: he could not act or

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sing for peanuts, so he fitted in very well

with the rest of the cast. The staff bridge

school is also going to find it difficult to

replace him.

He has been a stalwart of the staff

Christmas lunches, especially those at the

Rugby Club. Peter could always be relied

upon to contribute in a major way, providing

dishes and helping prepare the splendid

buffet to be enjoyed by those who bother

to turn up for the event. Peter believed that

this occasion was one for all the staff: he

was never very understanding of those who

had the bad manners to stay away simply

because they wanted to go somewhere

else! And, as NAS/UWT rep at the school

for many years, Peter was responsible

for building up the union: it is now the

strongest in the school. His activities as rep

occasionally brought him into conflict with

senior management, but this never seemed

to bother him too much.

In his post resignation life, Peter will

have his hands full keeping up with his

existing interests. He is an excellent and

innovative chef, an avid fisherman and

a keen walker. When out and about, he

combines his fascination for historical ruins

with his natural interest in flora and fauna.

Perhaps he might find a decent pub where

he can play darts and drink previously

unknown bitter produced by a small brewery

never before encountered.

Peter will be remembered as a formidable

character. He was not always easy to get on

with but this did not concern him. He did his

job to the best of his ability and expected

others to do likewise. He taught at Camp Hill

at a time when it emerged as one of the very

best schools in England: he played a full part

in that transformation. We wish Peter and his

lovely wife, Heather, well as he spends time

on avenues and interests outside teaching:

they will certainly not be bored.

AJB

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Despite being a true son of Lancashire, attending

Burnley Grammar School and later Lancaster

University, Bob Whitham spent his illustrious teaching

career in Birmingham Grammar Schools.

He began at Central Grammar School (which

later became Byng Kendrick) in 1972, moved to

Handsworth Grammar School in 1975 and became

Head of Chemistry at Camp Hill Boys’ in September

1979 - picking up his PhD on the way!

Bob Whitham became an outstandingly

successful teacher of Chemistry - a man who knew

his subject inside out and knew how to transmit his

knowledge and understanding to lads of all ages

even if, on occasions, they might have appeared a

little reluctant to learn it.

So expert did Bob become, that he was soon in

much demand as an examiner. He became a Chief

Examiner for the Cambridge Board, a team leader

for the AQA Board and then Year 9 SATs.

Bob Whitham then is a walking, talking, ticking

machine and he’s so committed to his ticking that

he intends to continue his examiner work well into

retirement.

Bob was also an excellent Head of Department

even though he had to lead teachers who had

emerged from the untamed regions of Cumbria and

Yorkshire. He embraced new technologies and his

computer not only became his mark book and lesson

folder, but allowed him to exercise another of his

passions - tracing his family history.

Bob’s research skills had been apparent years

before when he wrote a book on the cricketer

George Hedley - a copy of which is now stored in

the library at the world famous Melbourne Cricket

Ground (MCG). Perhaps, during his retirement, Bob

will have the time to complete a second on another

legend of the cricketing world - Herbert Sutcliffe.

But the author inside Bob will have to be patient

because he and his wife, Joyce, are about to embark

on another of their exotic trips to New Zealand

and Australia via Hawaii to buy some more flowery

shirts.

Of course, no article on Bob Whitham would be

complete without a line or two on his love of and

talent for cricket. Bob opened the batting for Walsall

Cricket Club for many years and he scored lots of

runs. He was obviously a fine player because only

fine players score lots of runs in the Birmingham

league. Bob plays a little less now, but is still the

Secretary for the Club.

As we all know, Bob has not enjoyed the best of

health in the last year or so and we are all relieved

that he is now fully recovered, fit enough and well

enough to enjoy what we hope will be a long and

happy retirement, travelling, researching and

examining!

After 27 years of outstanding service to Camp

Hill, Bob deserves his retirement. He did a great job

and there are thousands of boys and men who owe

their interest, ability and success in Chemistry to

him. We shall miss Bob and I know that I speak for

the whole school as we wish him all the very best

from Camp Hill Boys.

JVD

Dr Bob Witham

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It came as a bit of a surprise to me when I

was asked, on the basis of my score in the

first Chemistry Olympiad, to attend the second

round at the University of Keele – a weekend

event along to which only fourteen people

from across the country were invited. I happily

accepted the offer, although began to wonder if

I’d made the right decision as my preparation

list arrived and Dr Taylor started piling books

onto me…followed by a revised list arriving,

along with more books…

After taking the train on Friday afternoon,

I arrived at the University campus and was

given my room. Later we all went out for dinner,

along with the organisers, and after briefly

gate-crashing the start of a party happening in

the same place as we were eating, we had a

relatively casual meal over which the organisers

tried to get to know us and we tried to get to

know the questions on the paper the next day.

Saturday featured two exams – a three hour

theory paper in the morning and a three and a

half hour practical in the afternoon. I panicked a

bit when I struggled with the first question in the

theory (having been told the previous evening

that “you’ve got a nice easy question to start

off with”), but managed to eventually solve it,

and got a fair few parts of the other questions

done. The practical was far less successful,

culminating in a purification procedure where

apparently I managed to double the amount of

product I had.

Before leaving, we were told the five people

to go through to the next round: a training

weekend in Cambridge University, from where a

team of four would be chosen to represent the

UK in the International Olympiad in Korea, and

the other would be a “non-travelling reserve”,

attending the London International Youth

Science Forum. Not exactly to my surprise, I

wasn’t one of these five (we weren’t told our

relative positions, however, so the nine of us

that didn’t get through are all happy in thinking

we were sixth). We said our goodbyes, and left,

in my case thinking that was it.

It’s amazing how wrong you can be,

sometimes.

A few weeks later, I received another e-mail

from the Royal Society of Chemists, saying that

the person supposed to be going to the Science

Forum in London would not be able to make it;

therefore would one of us (the nine who didn’t

get through from Round 2) like to go? And, of

course, I wouldn’t be telling you about this if I

hadn’t been lucky and got the place.

Simon Castle

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Six th Form

Chemistr y Day,

Universit y of

Birmingham

Our day at Birmingham University got off

to a fine start, with my colleagues and I

enjoying a hearty Full English Breakfast and

pancakes from the infamous ‘Selly Sausage’.

In a maple syrup induced daze, we advanced

upon the Chemistry department with heavy

stomachs, having fobbed off a tramp along the

way who was brandishing a jaded copy of ‘The

Big Issue’.

Upon arrival at Birmingham University,

we were confronted by an eccentric, bearded

character who issued us with coloured stickers,

denoting the group in which each of us would be

participating. In a cruel twist of fate, however,

my colleagues misplaced their stickers, and

suddenly, we all found ourselves in the same

group as one another.

The chemical marvels that were then

presented to us defied even our wildest

expectations. We read some spectroscopy

graphs, went on the computers, and even made

some pink stuff in a laboratory - where the

seemingly witchcraft driven magnetic stirrers

amused us no end. We then retired to the main

lecture theatre for lunch, and heatedly discussed

the politics of the day. In the afternoon, we

observed a genuinely interesting display using

the “wild card” of under-subscribed Chemistry

departments across the globe: Liquid Nitrogen.

We also got to see a magnet completely

levitating, which admittedly was quite amusing,

as well as reminding us how lucky we were

not living in an age of unsubstantiated witch

burnings.

In our awe inspired stupor, 3:30 soon crept

up on us, and with heavy hearts we departed,

with fond memories of a superb day.

Joseph Atkins

Year 9 Chemistr y :

The Limestone

I nquir y

All of Year 9 was set the task of arguing

for or against whether the Peak District

National Park Quarry could be extended, on

behalf of different groups (quarry owners,

the National Park Authority, limestone users,

environmentalists, trade unions, and local

residents). The teachers then picked the best

representatives of these groups from each class,

to compete head to head in the big debate.

Everyone assembled in the Hall for what

was anticipated to be a close debate. It was

set out as a real inquiry would be, with a panel

that would judge our arguments and decide the

future of the quarry. Each group were to give a

short 5-10 minute presentation putting forward

their case.

It opened with Jay Nathwani and James

Rogers giving a fast-moving PowerPoint

presentation as quarry owners RQH, showing

the importance of such an extension to the

quarry. This was followed by Alex Taylor’s

group’s PowerPoint, as the Peak District NPA,

demonstrating the damage it would have on the

park. The group also had the presence of mind

to demand some limits to the extension even in

case they lost.

Now came two groups showing how more

limestone is still needed because of the major

uses of it in industry. These users of limestone

(first the ‘Fresh Force’ of 9M, followed by Peter

Webb and Vishal Rawji of 9J) brought up some

very interesting facts, not least the fact that the

building of your house used about 50 tonnes of

limestone, and the sports hall that is Mr Darby’s

pride and joy has needed 6.6 tonnes of limestone

PER PUPIL to realise!

The next presentation from the

environmentalists was entirely video, done

as special report on BBC News about how

unnecessary the extension was, as they showed

how much could be recycled. Unfortunately, the

sound quality was not as good as could have

been hoped for. This was meant to be followed

by a talk from the trade union from 9J, but for

some reason this fell through (perhaps they

were on strike!). However, the situation was

saved as Waris Ahmed stepped in to fill us in

on the widespread boost to employment that

extension would bring.

Finally, the residents played their part in

the proceedings. Nathan Brown gave a short

presentation, followed by a live interview

with supposed locals, informing the audience

and panel of the dire consequences that the

limestone quarry has already had on the local

community and tourism.

This feast of opinions and arguments was

followed after break by the feedback session

from the various members of the panel. The

panel consisted of a member of the group from

Birmingham City Council which deals with similar

applications for land use, a former chemical

engineer, and a geologist whose work involves

in assessing the pros and cons from a geological

respective on quarries and (looking as if he had

perhaps stumbled into the wrong school) that

eminent English master Mr. Hill. It was he who

first took to the stage to pass judgment on

our performance, particularly from an English

presentational point of view. His overall feelings

were positive, saying that the standard of

delivery was very high, but he did have a few

axes to grind. These included; repeating exactly

the same text that was on the PowerPoint,

turning to see if the new slide had appeared

and (most importantly), that the time during

which the facts and figures were shown on the

screen was too fast for an aging and slow witted

person such as himself. Comments from the

geologist and the chemical engineer highlighted

how impressed they were with the amount of

work put into the presentations and also the

perceptive and hard hitting numbers that some

groups had researched (the 6.6 tons per pupil

in the new sports hall certainly bolstered the

limestone users group’s case considerably).

But finally, with much anticipation, came the

final decision of the panel. Was the quarry going

to be built or would the power of the people

prevail? They decided to make a compromise

situation where the quarry would be extended but

it would have to operate under certain conditions

and limitations, such as aggregate output and

minimal disruption to the local residents. So,

although all the groups that were arguing for the

extension would ultimately be the happier with

the decision, the opposing campaigners would

not feel that their efforts had been of no avail. At

the end of the discussion, the opportunity to join

a forum group of school children from the area

that would meet and discuss similar issues was

offered, and it was clear that many members

of the assembled group were very interested

in this possibility. Looking back on the exercise

it was clear that it not only honed presentation

skills both verbally and with digital media but

also demonstrated how similar discussions

really work and what sort of arguments could

be constructed on both sides. The whole activity

was enjoyed enormously.

Nathan Brown & Aled Walker

Step I nto Space

In June last year, I was approached by Dr Taylor

to submit an entry for the International Space

School Educational Trust’s “Step Into Space”

competition. The aim was to make a project

using ICT on one of a number of topics, with

the prize of a trip to the Kennedy and Johnson

Space Centers in Florida and Texas respectively.

I chose to create a website on the issue of

whether humans should return to the Moon. My

entry was hastily put together, sent off, and duly

forgotten about as the summer holidays were

imminent.

Two days into the autumn term, I was

summoned to the headmaster’s office, wondering

what damage I could already have caused. My

fears were confirmed when Mr Darby told me

I was being temporarily expelled for four days,

although I would be spending my sentence in

America. I was naturally surprised and once I

had realised what Mr Darby was actually saying,

I was excited until it struck me there must be a

catch. The catch in this case would most likely be

that the trip would be entirely educational, and

this is something I probably would not enjoy!

On the Wednesday before half term, I met

up with the other 24 competition winners at

Gatwick. Even though the winners came from

across the country, there were fortunately no

burberry-sporting chavs. The group comprised

of students from the Midlands, Wales, Norfolk

and Coventry, and after making a few initial

friends at dinner, it was soon time to go to bed,

and prepare for the flight to America.

By the time we had lifted off from Gatwick

on route to Orlando, I had made a few more

friends, which was fortunate since the flight

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would be a long one. We arrived in Newark,

and waited for our connecting flight to Orlando,

from where we would get to the Wakulla Suites

in Cocoa Beach. We arrived at the hotel late,

with barely enough time to wonder what the

following week and a bit would hold for us.

It was Friday now, and for our first day

of activities, we visited the Kennedy Space

Center. After marginally getting through a

stringent security check, we were transported

to the Saturn V centre. Saturn V was the

rocket behind the Apollo missions to the

Moon, seven of which landed man on the

Moon. At the Saturn V centre, we learnt about

the sacrifices made by the three astronauts

tragically killed in the testing phase of Apollo

I, to the tremendous success of Apollo XI,

which saw man finally set foot on the Moon.

The Americans had a vision of man on the

Moon, and while they struggled to achieve this

vision in real life, they finally succeeded, giving

rise to the motto: “Failure is not an option.”

Inspirational stuff! We spent the afternoon in

the gardens, viewing the early rockets which

were on display. The end of a busy day came

soon after.

Saturday was spent mainly at ATX (Astronaut

Training Experience). Here we got a small

taste of what being an astronaut might

entail. This was done in the form of several

simulators. The first of which simulated the

art of Moon walking. This involved being

harnessed to a large spring which

emulated the conditions on

the Moon of one-sixth G. It

looks simple, jumping around

on the Moon. But in reality it is

anything but. Moving is tricky, and

requires practice. The next simulator

we experienced was the notoriously

nauseating tumbler, which

rotated in all directions.

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Fortunately for the cleaners, no one managed

to throw up. In the afternoon, we undertook a

space shuttle mission to the Moon. This involved

simulating Mission Control and the flight itself.

The handbook proved essential in completing

the mission successfully. This was followed by a

visit to the Astronaut Hall of Fame, where along

with learning about the many astronauts, there

was a 4G simulator, which again could have

resulted in a messy clean up job. The day was

completed with a visit to the Planetarium where

we saw two films.

Sunday would be our last full day in Florida

(weather permitting). We visited the Kennedy

Space Center again, where we watched another

inspiring film (this time in 3D), which was

narrated by Tom Hanks. We then had time to

visit the “World’s largest space shop!” where

mostly cheesy space related gifts populated

the shelves. After the mad rush to buy us all to

buy presents for our friends, we were sent to

the transporters from which we would be taken

on a tour around Cape Canaveral, the military

base from which the Shuttle is launched. On

our tour, we saw scenes where great triumphs

were achieved, such as the where first American

satellite was launched. We also saw the site

where the Apollo I disaster occurred, and paid

our respects to the men who gave their life for

mankind’s search into the unknown.

Battling through

the hurricane winds

and the torrential rain

brought by Hurricane

Wilma, we flew out to

Houston, Texas, amd

despite the many scared

faces upon boarding the

plane, we arrived in a

pleasantly warm and

sunny Houston later in

the day.

The rest of the

week did not entirely

revolve around the

Johnson Space Center

and space related

activities. We visited the

city of Galveston where

we went shopping in the

many tourist orientated

shops. The main reason

we went to Galveston

was actually so that

we could go to Moody

Gardens, where we

visited the aquarium

and the nature section.

Back in Houston, we

visited the Armand

Bayou Nature Reserve,

where we got to handle

a live snake, but

unfortunately most of

the other animals were

hiding, and there wasn’t

too much to see.

Back to the space

related activities, we

visited the “Mission Control: Over the Years”

exhibit, where we saw the Mission Control room

used for the Apollo missions, and the Mission

Control rooms currently in use for the American

control of the International Space Station

and the Shuttle missions. We also undertook

a Challenger Mission which involved a Moon

landing and a mission from the Moon to land

on Mars; this obviously being set in the future.

Also at the Johnson Space Center, we took

the ‘Behind the Scenes’ tour, where we saw

the latest technology in space engines, along

with the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, where

astronauts train underwater at zero gravity.

On the final Friday of the trip, we were

invited to the astronaut Scott Kelly’s house for

a party. There we also met the British-born

astronaut, Michael Foale. Both astronauts were

interesting in what they had to say, and showed

that astronauts were still down-to-Earth guys,

which should encourage those of you whose

dream it is to become an astronaut.

Despite my initial fears, I enjoyed myself

immensely on the trip, and I have to thank Dr

Taylor for informing me of this opportunity, the

friends I made on the trip for making even more

enjoyable, and the ISSET team for making it

possible.

Parit Shah

Young

Enterprise

Business

Pro gramme

– E gg w i z eDuring Year 10, eight of us took

part in the Young Enterprise

Company Programme- an exciting

opportunity to start and run a

real company, before liquidating

the company at the end of the

academic year.

Our product was the ‘Magic

Message Egg’, a novelty alternative

to greetings cards. Overall, we sold

more than 100 eggs to the public,

friends and relatives. During this

time, our product evolved in both

design and packaging, with the

new packaging being hand made

by the company members.

In total, we attended 2 stalls,

which were at the NEC Clothes

Show and the Bullring Shopping

Centre. Our biggest success

was at the Bullring, where we

were offered a stall in Borders

Bookshop in the shopping centre.

In addition to that, Eggwize won

the Young Enterprise prize for

‘Innovation and Originality’. The

prize was judged by workers at

the shopping centre and Young

Enterprise officials. Many thanks

must go to Borders Bookshop,

who allowed us to have a total of

3 stalls, in which we sold many

eggs in the run up to Easter and

Mother’s Day.

Our experiences over the year

have offered us an invaluable

insight into the running of

a company, as well as the

opportunity to develop invaluable

and transferable skills, which will

be immensely useful to us in our

later lives.

From our profits, we have donated

a generous amount to the

school’s Club Fund, with the rest

of the profit going towards the

shareholders’ dividends.

Howard Chu & Kunal Sirpal

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CHB_chronicle.indd 7 8/11/06 10:59:18

S cho ol Physics

Trip to JE T

The prospect of a physics-related

school trip was a big hit among

the numerous physics-enthusiasts

in the Lower Sixth. The destination

was the JET nuclear fusion facility in

Oxfordshire; the location of cutting-

edge research into plasma physics

and nuclear fusion. We left school

on a sunny mid-July morning and

after a spell on the motorway, passed

through several innocent-looking

rural hamlets before arriving at the

seemingly out-of-place giant nuclear

reactor. Greeted by Mr Warrick,

we were treated to a lecture about

the basics of nuclear fusion and its

potential to provide inherently safe

CO2-less power. We were also given

a tour of some of the smaller test

reactors used for researching into

plasma stability. Repeated questioning

and the toughest of drillings by my

colleagues revealed that there was

no real way in which the reactor

could be used to kill anybody or cause

mass destruction; a conclusion met

with divided reactions. After lunch,

we were taken on a tour to see some

of the specially designed equipment

for remote maintenance, and catch

a glimpse of the reactor itself, kept

behind giant concrete doors used

to keep the radiation in but which

were also effective at impressing

Mr White. This sadly brought our

short-but-sweet visit to an end.

With our clandestine souvenirs of

visitor passes, complete with plastic

clip-on holders, we headed back to

Birmingham, all of us more informed

about both the peaceful applications

of the technology and its disappointing

lack of lethality. I was an experience

both enjoyable and interesting, and

something that I’m sure all of us

will remember. Special thanks to Mr

Davenall for driving us there and Mr

White for giving up his day.

Ciaran Walmsley

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Once again, we undertook the task

of introducing a number of novices

to the rigours associated with rock

climbing and associated activities,

as well as the more understated,

but nonetheless important, business

of social interaction in a ‘foreign’

environment. To their credit, the

boys this year came through with

flying colours, always seeking to gain

as much enjoyment from the whole

experience and more significantly,

being helpful and sympathetic to those

who did not always find tasks quite

so easy. With a number of Year 8 and

Year 9 boys we certainly hope to build

upon this success by maintaining this

focus on the younger age groups. Many

thanks to all the staff who regularly

and uncomplainingly help year after

year. Without their invaluable input

the whole enterprise would not occur

and boys would miss out on a unique

experience. Thanks to all involved

and also to the AFS for generously

providing funds for equipment over a

number of recent years.PTC

St David ’s – O utdo or Pursuits

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CHB_chronicle.indd 8 8/11/06 10:59:24

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After weeks of revision and a week

of exams, the day Year 8 had been

waiting for had arrived. On Monday

12th June, they left Birmingham

and set off in anticipation towards

Prestatyn, North Wales. The first

stop was in Llangollen, where many

of the pupils were expecting a picnic

and ice cream. However, they were

first faced with a walk up a hill to

a fort (Dinas Bran). Although the

walk was said to be a gentle climb,

many were moaning and groaning as

they walked up. However, Mr Nash

promised sanctions for anybody

who fell behind him. That got people

moving! When they arrived at the top

of the hill, there was some geography

work involving drawing some of the

spectacular scenery which could be

witnessed around the area, much to

the dismay of many pupils.

During the rest of the afternoon,

we continued through Snowdonia, and

arrived at Pontins in Prestatyn. There

was a brief talk (which seemed to last

forever) and then we were allowed

into the chalets. On the first evening,

the group had dinner and then took

part in evening activities, as they

would every night. These included

archery, quad biking, leap-of-faith,

swimming, snooker, zip wire, aero-

ball and more. Aero-ball became very

competitive with teachers getting

involved and they claimed victory.

However, the pupils will tell you that

they let them win...

That night, after being surprised at the

lights out time, many chalets stayed

up until very late and this annoyed

the teachers. However, these people

had to pay the price as they were

woken up, feeling very tired for an

early breakfast the next morning.

On the second day, the two coach

groups both went to Aber Falls.

At Aber Falls, much to everyone’s

dismay there was some Geography

and Biology work to be done, however

not before another ‘short’ and

‘easy’ walk. Although many enjoyed

splashing in the river and collecting

various invertebrates, the key was

to wear plenty of insect repellent as

the midges were a major annoyance.

Also on the second day, we paid a

visit to Caernarfon Castle where we

were showed round in groups by tour

guides, one of whom was very wacky.

He claimed that his dog saw the stones

of the castle and said they were ‘ruff’.

After an interesting second day, we

returned to Pontins for dinner, more

activities and spare time. Much of this

was spent in the shop buying Pringles

as bribes, or should I say,

‘gifts’ for Mr Duncan.

The next two days proved

to be the highlight of the trip

as we went to Plas-y-Brenin,

an adventure centre. After a

long coach journey each day,

we were eager to get started

with the activities. These were

dry slope skiing, indoor rock

climbing, orienteering and

either canoeing or low-ropes

course. Canoeing turned

out to be great fun with Mr

Jones becoming a target for

being splashed and almost

everyone made it through the

orienteering course although

a few groups took a lot

longer than others! However,

these two days were a great

experience for everyone

and I can safely say that we

all greatly appreciated the

help of the staff who ran the

activities at the centre.

The final day brought

many surprises in the staff vs.

pupils matches. However, first

of all, prizes were given out in

the morning for orienteering

success and other things such

as clean chalets. Then the

heat was on as the pupils took

on the staff at cricket and

football. In the end, the staff

won both, much to the dismay

of two highly confident pupil

teams. The highlight of the

football match had to be the

fastest ever goal scored in

Prestatyn history. It was

scored by the teachers only

seconds from kick off, which,

along with some goalkeeping

errors, helped them win the

match overall.

In summary, the trip was

a great success and a great

time was had by all. It was

a brilliant experience for all

of the pupils with so many

high points throughout the

trip. I would like to thank,

on behalf of Year 8, all the

teachers who made this trip

possible and voluntarily gave

up a week to make sure that

we all thoroughly enjoyed

ourselves.

Josh Tibbetts 8M

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CHB_chronicle.indd 9 8/11/06 10:59:30

The annual Battlefields trip took place just

after Easter, without, for the very first time,

Mr Bulloch, who was unable to come with us

because he had been lured to the fleshpots of

Cyprus. Despite this blow, we coped, even

though we missed his singing - as one might

miss a particularly unpleasant toothache!

With 30 boys, the largest group we have so

far taken, we visited all the usual places. The

new museum extension at Sanctuary Wood

was wonderfully bizarre, with gnomes and

stuffed animals intermixed with World War One

artefacts. The new visitor Cent re at Thiepval,

which has an interesting internet facility, proved

a popular site.

Our Hotel at Carvin was again excellent and

the weather was pretty well perfect - clear and

sunny but not too hot. We were very grateful to

two veterans of this trip for their help in all sorts

of ways. Mrs James’s supervision of our delicious

picnic lunches was greatly appreciated while Mr

Carman provided the lads with a mother figure

and all of us with an entertaining quiz on one of

the evenings.

Finally, the boys themselves; they behaved

very well, did themselves and the school much

credit and were generally a pleasure to take on a

visit which continues to be a profoundly moving

experience.

MRS

It was the second week of the Easter holidays

and a group of year 10 boys had assembled

outside the school at about quarter past

midnight. It wasn’t surprising that many of

the boys, including myself, were barely awake.

However we shuffled our way on to the coach

and prepared ourselves for the long trip that

would take us on the Battlefields Trip 2006.

We were searching for inspiration and

knowledge that would ultimately help us with

our coursework that was to be done in Year 11.

Yet, on the coach journey down to the channel

nobody seemed to want to do any learning,

sleeping was far more important. After the

peaceful channel crossing though, excitement

got the better of our sleep deprived minds and

we were wide awake in order to catch a glimpse

of some of the sites we were going to explore.

On that first day we paid a visit to the Cloth

Hall and Menin Gate in Ypres. The modern exhibits

in the Cloth Hall, that was completely rebuilt

after the Great War were highly interesting and

offered an insight into the uniforms used during

the conflict. However, The Menin Gate was a far

more sombre moment as we observed for the

first time the masses of names of those that

were never found. I was lost for words, so many

people who were never found. It really brought

it home.

Soon enough it was time to go to the hotel

on the outskirts of Lille. Although the rooms

were quite small, they were very comfortable

and great for two boys who were always going

to be tired after each day of the trip. When the

evening meal came we were pleasantly surprised.

The three course meals were definitely a bonus

to a good first day.

After meals the cards came out and we sat down

to a nice friendly game of poker. The less said

about that the better, well for me anyway!

Day Two and it was an early start for the

journey down to the Somme. It was here that

60,000 allied soldiers became casualties on July

1st 1916, and the number of cemeteries that

we visited showed some of that number. On

the outskirts of Montauban we learned of the

Manchester and Liverpool Pals Battalion and

their struggle to take their objective. We also

visited Mametz and the site of the Devonshire

Cemetery. We soon found out this was going

to be one of our longest days. After Mametz

we made our way to Thiepval and then on to

the Newfoundland Caribou Memorial, where

the Newfoundland regiment met with almost

complete obliteration. The great Caribou that

stands atop the mound here overlooking the

battlefield complete with trenches was a solemn

reminder of why we were there.

After a good hearty breakfast, Day Three

promised to be another interesting one. Again

we were off to the Somme to learn about the

battle after July 1st. It was on the third day we

followed the progress of the Birmingham Pals

and their aim to take High Wood, one of the

strongest positions on the battlefield. We also

visited some more cemeteries and the great

Thiepval Memorial which again held the names

of the missing and several graves, both French

and British, commemorating those who were

found.

It was on the fourth day that the trip became

mind-blowing as the size of the cemeteries

increased tenfold. The Langemark German

Cemetery had so many bodies crammed into

such a small space that there were a lot of

speechless boys. With a final visit to the Menin

Gate, we left Ypres for the final time on the trip.

This day was the most emotional and yet the

best day of the trip.

Day Five and the final site to see; the Vimy

Ridge memorial commemorated the Canadians

who were killed in the war. It was another stark

reminder of World War I.

The Battlefields Trip 2006 was a truly mind-

blowing and enjoyable trip. Thank you to all the

teachers who were involved and made the trip

a reality!

Robert Cleaver

Saturday 29th July finally arrived. The group of us

were on board of the coach, eager to get going,

and out of sight of our waving parents! Despite a

slightly delayed flight, and with us cleaning out a

Czech McDonalds, the rest of the journey went to

plan.

When we arrived deep into the night, everyone

settled into their huts, wondering what awaited

them over the next few days, and most importantly

for some, what the Czech girls staying on the site

with us would look like when we met them in a few

hours! When we eventually managed to get up, the

first port of call was to get our bearings. The site

seemed to have everything we needed; volleyball

court, table-tennis and pool tables, football pitches,

basketball court, the soon to be famed “swing of

death”, and above all else - the swimming pool!

Once we had all settled in, we went on a short

walk around the countryside of the local area. Then

in the evening, we set out to Marianské Lazné, a

small town which boasts the impressive ‘Singing

Fountain’, a water fountain attraction which, quite

literally, ‘sings’. The lights in the fountain were

particularly stunning against the backdrop of the

night sky. Karlovy Vary was the next excursion, the

following day. Here, we were given the freedom

to wander around in our own groups, and saw the

wonderful water spring.

On the 4th day, there were Czech Republic vs

England sports, and we managed to beat them at,

well…everything! Football, basketball, swimming,

and even volleyball - their alleged national sport.

In the evening, we revelled in the joys of mini-golf,

bowling, and ice skating at Tachov. It seemed that

skating was one thing that the Czechs excelled at!

The ice rink was the Czechs’ turn to show us what

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CHB_chronicle.indd 10 8/11/06 10:59:33

July finally arrived. The group of us

were on board of the coach, eager to get going,

and out of sight of our waving parents! Despite a

slightly delayed flight, and with us cleaning out a

Czech McDonalds, the rest of the journey went to

When we arrived deep into the night, everyone

settled into their huts, wondering what awaited

them over the next few days, and most importantly

for some, what the Czech girls staying on the site

with us would look like when we met them in a few

hours! When we eventually managed to get up, the

first port of call was to get our bearings. The site

seemed to have everything we needed; volleyball

court, table-tennis and pool tables, football pitches,

basketball court, the soon to be famed “swing of

Once we had all settled in, we went on a short

walk around the countryside of the local area. Then

in the evening, we set out to Marianské Lazné, a

small town which boasts the impressive ‘Singing

Fountain’, a water fountain attraction which, quite

literally, ‘sings’. The lights in the fountain were

particularly stunning against the backdrop of the

night sky. Karlovy Vary was the next excursion, the

following day. Here, we were given the freedom

to wander around in our own groups, and saw the

day, there were Czech Republic vs

England sports, and we managed to beat them at,

well…everything! Football, basketball, swimming,

and even volleyball - their alleged national sport.

In the evening, we revelled in the joys of mini-golf,

bowling, and ice skating at Tachov. It seemed that

skating was one thing that the Czechs excelled at!

The ice rink was the Czechs’ turn to show us what

they could do, and we watched on as 5 year

old children raced past us, our backsides glued

firmly to the floor!

The next day was the trip to the magnificent

Prague, where we saw many extraordinary sites,

including the Palace, Town Square, Wenceslas

Square, and the Charles ‘Mission Impossible’

Bridge. It was here that we were able to take

over from the Czech Republic football team, with

a huge collection of fake replica shirts bought at

the markets.

On our penultimate day, we visited a

reasonably large city called Plzen (yes, as in the

beer). Those who felt fit enough managed to

walk up the stairs, or should I say climb on all

fours, to the top of the towering St Barthomelew’s

Cathedral.

When the final day arrived, we could all

look back at this memorable trip. During that

time, two discos were thrown in, where Jon

Doggerel managed to show off more than just

his dancing skills! And of course the window

cracking Singing Competition, which saw brave

performances from everybody. Two of the

more memorable performances include Andrew

Southon taking over from Freddy Mercury,

leading the whole room in Queen’s ‘We Will Rock

You’, and the Year 10 boys in their attempt at

‘Pokémon’, with the ever-confident Cameron

McInnes as the infamous Ash. The winner was a

young Czech girl, who sang so dulcetly that she

left the spectators speechless. Then, we were

entertained by the teachers performing Johnny

Cash’s ‘Ring of Fire’, before finally being treated

to Czech leader Marcella’s beautiful, emotionally

moving performances.

Once sad goodbyes with the Czechs started

to send tears down some of the girls’ cheeks, we

shot off to Prague Ruzyne Airport, with a short

stop at Domažlice on the way. On the final coach

stretch, the week’s awards were distributed.

‘Bottom Bomber’ went to James Hall, who

managed to lose his phone at East Midlands

Airport, dive into the swimming pool with his

wallet in his pocket AND have bottles of beer

smashed in his suitcase on the return trip, *cue

the violins*. I received ‘Top Bomber’ runner-

up, after supposedly ‘volunteering’ to write this

very article…thanks Mr Dawson! But this award

went to a most deserving Andrew Southon, after

all his contributions, including his fascinating

performance in the Singing Competition.

As always, all of the staff put an enormous

amount of effort and enthusiasm into the trip,

for which they receive our greatest thanks; Mr

May, Mr Dawson, Mr Duncan and Mr McDermott.

It is much appreciated by all of us! Thanks must

go to the Czech boys and girls who made the

trip so unique, and the Czech leaders as well;

Peter, Marcella, Martina, Petra and Jindrich (co-

owner of the site). Finally, thanks to the non-

Camp Hillians who came with us; Fred, George

and Emily (Mr May’s family), and of course, the

very popular Kieran (Mr Dawson’s son). You all

helped to make the trip what it was. I’ve made

sure I’m available for next year’s trip, but it’ll be

tough to beat this one!

Andrew Hodgetts and Kiran Boghal

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Our journey to Germany started very early

on Friday morning - at one in the morning

to be exact. After a long journey, which involved

travelling through France, Belgium and The

Netherlands, we arrived at the Schule am Ried

at around six in the evening. Everyone was

anticipating what their host families were going

to be like, but all worries soon passed as we all

realised that every family was very much like

our own and it was not that big of a cultural

change for us to make.

On Saturday morning we all met up at the

local U-Bahn station and pupils got a chance to

talk about their families with their classmates.

The morning was spent sightseeing around

Frankfurt with trips to the Goethe Haus and

town hall where the first national assembly of

Germany was held, along with a visit to the ruins

of the oldest part of the town and the Cathedral.

The afternoon was spent in the Frankfurt zoo, a

visit all the boys thoroughly enjoyed, although it

was a wonder how some us were allowed back

out again.

Sunday was a day for the pupils to spend

with their families and there was no shortage of

things to do. The most popular event was the

‘Stadtfest’ in Bergen, a festival involving lots of

music, food and things to do which was visited

by many of the boys with their host families.

The next day was spent entirely with our

families. This proved to be more of a language

challenge for some but in general all went well

with many opportunities being taken by us to

have fun and explore. Some people made the

most of the festival in the centre of Bergen

where there was dancing, music and of course

food.

On Monday the boys spent the day at school

with their German counterparts following their

timetables; the first lessons were at a quarter

to eight!! Lessons continued until one when

the students went home - except for us and our

German partners. However, as well as giving

us a bit of freedom and responsibility, the tasks

were quite fun and the pupils enjoyed them. We

were given a challenge to do in teams of four

which we had to complete in a set area anywhere

in Bergen-Enkheim; some people even had to

get a bus.

Tuesday saw us travelling to the beautiful

town of Heidelberg. It was, for the majority,

the best and probably for one reason; it was the

day the most money was spent! We went on a

boat trip down the famous Neckar valley and,

even though it was raining, some boys still sang

Celine Dion. This was followed by a cable-car

trip up to the castle with great views, and the

world’s largest wine barrel.

Finally, we all gathered one last time at the

Schule am Ried on Wednesday morning to travel

back to England and I’m sure that all the boys

thoroughly enjoyed the trip. I also have to say

a big thank you to Mrs Rudge, Mr Rudge, Mr

Dinham, Mr Carman and, of course, Wally the

Bus Driver, all of whom made the trip possible.

Alex Riley and Jacob Hanvey

Six boys from Year 10; Kunal Sirpal, Thomas

Brooks, Andrew Southon, Peter Berry, Aaron

Pereira and Jamie Philips, accompanied by Mrs

Rudge and Mr Jackson, travelled to Frankfurt

am Main to attend the third annual invitational

School Science Forum at the University of Applied

Sciences as guests of the Association of German

Engineers (VDI). This annual opportunity has

evolved through our close relationship with our

partner school, Schule am Ried, in Frankfurt.

Their bilingual Powerpoint presentations

on Maglev railways, atmospheric pollution and

robots were very well received by the audience

of German academics, local authority officers

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VDI S chüler forum – Frankfur t 2006 Study Visit to Frankfur t 2006

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CHB_chronicle.indd 12 8/11/06 10:59:39

and students and our boys definitely rose to the

challenge of public speaking in two languages in

a foreign university.

Our visit coincided with the 40th anniversary

of the twinning of Birmingham and Frankfurt

and we were privileged to meet the Lord Mayor

of Birmingham who was representing the city,

both at the University and at a formal reception

after the special evening performance at the

Frankfurt Opera House by the City of Birmingham

Symphony Orchestra.

It rained a lot, but we managed to see the old

centre of the city and the family home of the

celebrated Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The

city was preparing for the World Cup and the

extra security and new building work was most

evident on the transport systems.

Our thanks to the VDI, the University of

Applied Sciences, our German teacher colleagues

of Schule am Ried and their generous German

host families, for working to make this a very

special experience. A special thank you to Mr

Phillips for the last minute tickets for the CBSO

performance.

CJ

On a cold Thursday morning while everyone

was at school, six nervous boys and two even

more nervous members of staff left Birmingham

airport for Frankfurt to give presentations at

the Schülerforum at the Frankfurt Technical

University. Having arrived at the U-Bahn station

we met our exchange partners from the Schüle

am Ried who were willing to take us into their

families for the following three days. After

meeting the families and freshening up after

the journey we immediately met up again to

play football; but rather than play Germany

vs England we decided to leave that to the

professionals and split into teams with our

exchange partners.

The Friday was the day of the presentations

at the Technical University. We met at the U-Bahn

station ready with our notes and disks, fine-

tuning our presentations with our partners and

revising our German. After watching some of the

other student’s well-prepared

and interesting presentations

we were incredibly worried

that ours would not be up to

the same standard. However,

the presentations went almost

without a hitch, although in

two of the three there were

slight problems with videos

stalling. Two of the three

groups were awarded special

prizes, something which had

never happened before at the

Schülerforum. Jamie Phillips

and Aaron Pereira, having

given a speech on the Maglev,

and Peter Berry and Andrew

Southon, having given a

presentation about robots,

each received an MP3 player.

Thomas Brooks and Kunal

Sirpal received a short DVD

for their presentation about

air pollution and its effects on

the German forests. All six of

us received a certificate and

a copy of the accompanying

book, which contained details

of each presentation. We

were very glad that the Lord

Mayor of Birmingham flew out

to Frankfurt to say hello to

us and celebrate the fortieth

anniversary of Birmingham and Frankfurt being

twinned.

On the Saturday Frau Rudge and Mr Jackson

took us on a tour of Frankfurt, stopping at the

place where the famous German author Goethe

grew up and the Frankfurt Cathedral, and gave

us a chance to go souvenir shopping. It was

rather unfortunately raining, as it did not give

us a chance to see Frankfurt in its best light, but

nevertheless it was good fun.

In the evening three boys visited a CBSO

concert at the Frankfurt Opera House, as

coincidentally one of the boy’s fathers was

playing in it. Again the Lord Mayor visited and

gave a speech at the reception afterwards, of

which we listened to some before having to

leave.

The following morning it was time to depart.

We left the U-Bahn Station at the healthy hour

of half past seven, after saying goodbye to our

exchange partners and their families, in time to

arrive at Birmingham airport for approximately

quarter to twelve, where we met up with our

parents.

I would like to thank Frau Rudge and Mr

Jackson for accompanying us on the trip, and

the VDI in Frankfurt for paying for us to be there,

and to the Schüle am Ried for providing us with

exchange partners. We had a fantastic time and

the hard work put into the presentations paid

off.

Peter Berry

VDI S chüler forum – Frankfur t 2006

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In June, a group of six Year 11 students

went to Germany to do two weeks’ work

experience in Bergen–Enkheim, a suburb

of Frankfurt. Two of us worked in primary

schools, two in a hotel, one in a library and

I worked in an estate agent. We stayed with

the families of our exchange partners, who

had come to Birmingham in January to do

their work experience over here. At my work

placement, I did general office work broken

up by going around the area with the estate

agent, Herr Herrmann to visit the various

properties he rented out. I personally found

this really interesting as it provided an insight

into the very different German system,

in which a large proportion of people rent

apartments.

We also had plenty of leisure time, in which

we went to museums with our host families,

went into the middle of Frankfurt as a group

and met up around Bergen-Enkheim to have

a barbeque or go swimming. Every day after

work, we met up at the excellent Eis-Café for

ice creams such as the popular After-Eight and

Spaghetti ice creams. However, the thing that

made the trip for me was that we were there

during the World Cup and the atmosphere

was brilliant, especially when Germany beat

Argentina and everyone went out on the

streets to celebrate!

I found it to be a fantastic experience as it

really helped me gain confidence in speaking

German and also drastically improved my

ability in listening, as you were constantly

surrounded by German speakers and needed

to be able to communicate with them.

However, there were no problems with the

language barrier because if you got stuck, they

were very understanding and would simply try

out their English or give you a bit of time to use

a dictionary. In the end, it was a strange coming

home again as you had got so used to living

in Germany and even thinking in German! I

would recommend this trip to any GCSE German

student, as it is also a fantastic opportunity to

gain highly-regarded work experience abroad.

Mark Davies

I did my work experience in a primary school,

located very near to the house I was staying

in. I spent the majority of my time there with

a fourth-year class of nine and ten year olds. I

found them a little annoying at first, not being

very used to young children, but got used to

them by the later part of the first week. I did the

most work in English lessons, where I helped

the children with their English reading. Overall,

I feel that I quite enjoyed my placement, but

would not want to be a primary school teacher

in the future!

Daniel Martin

I had a brilliant time in Germany; the weather

was hot, 43°C on some days; all the people

were really friendly; and the atmosphere,

because of the world cup, was amazing. I enjoyed

working in a hotel for my work experience: the

hours weren’t too long; the atmosphere was

relaxed and the staff were all really friendly. I

might even go back in the future if I get the

chance!

Jordan Daniels

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This year’s ski trip to Zermatt was, undeniably,

a great success. Comments from the

participating boys were unanimous, endorsing

the choice of resort and accommodation. Even

more encouraging were the excellent mix of

ski-ing conditions from bitterly cold, icy winds

to near “white out”, providing an enjoyable

range of extremes which fully tested the

technical competence of the group. Particularly

pleasing was the attitude which many of the

novice ski-ers displayed in order to progress

throughout the week. Although not the easiest

of learning situations, most of the boys were

thrown in at the deep end and as a consequence

eventually progressed to an acceptable level. All

participating boys were a credit to the school and

their behaviour and positive attitude and should

be commended for that. Many thanks should be

showered upon the staff, who, once again, gave

generously of their time, both on and off the

piste, in order that the boys should enjoy their

holiday to the full. Without their patience and

tolerance, as well as experience, such successful

weeks would be impossible to organise with the

same degree of satisfaction.

2007 will see us in France, at La Plagre/Les

Arc and 2008 in Claviere in Italy. 2009 will very

likely be another visit to Austria or Switzerland

(possibly St Moritz!). 2010 could well be too far

ahead to plan just yet!

PTC

Sk i Trip –

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CHB_chronicle.indd 14 8/11/06 10:59:44

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Camp Hill Boys Chronicle Page 16CamCamCamCamCamCamCamCamCamp Hp Hp Hp Hp Hp Hp Hp Hp Hp Hp Hp Hp Hp Hp Hp Hillillillillillillillillill Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Boys ys ys ys ys ys ChrChrChrChrChrChrChronionionionionionionionionionionionionionionionionionionionionionicleclecleclecleclecle P P Pageageageageage 16161616

As we set of from Camp Hill to the

Portsmouth ferry port, the bus

was full of sleepy kids and teachers.

First stop: the Motorway. This is

where we got off to have some food

and go to the toilet. We then drove for

another ninety minutes to the ferry

terminal. Finally, after an hour’s wait

at the terminal, we got on the ferry.

On the ferry we got so bored that

we played football with a bottle. I also

ate loads of chips and bought some

sweets.

As we arrived in Cherbourg,

another three-hour journey awaited

us. When we finally arrived in St Malo,

we got paired up with our families and

were taken to their houses in time for

a delicious dinner.

The next day (Friday) we went to St

Michael’s Mount. I ate so many chips

I nearly felt sick. I was disappointed

when I heard we couldn’t go into the

abbey because it was overcrowded.

Oh well, more football as we went to

the beach to play football and have

our packed lunches. We came home

knackered and had a cool refreshing

shower.

We spent the next day with our

families. In the morning, we went to

see our family’s grandmother as it

was her birthday and we had loads

of sandwiches (mmmmm!!!). In

the afternoon we went to the local

football ground and had an exciting

evening playing there.

On Sunday, my birthday, we went

the Zoo to see loads of animals like

a crazy gorilla, lions, giraffes and

many more. In the afternoon we

played football again at Dinar Beach.

In the evening I got a present from

the family (an Asterix key ring) and a

lovely chocolate cake (yummy!!!).

On Monday it was time to go home,

and on the way back we stopped at a

hyper market and did lots of shopping.

Many people bought bread and other

French confectioneries. The trip home

was quiet except Mr Amieli threw my

passport over board, but I got it back

because I threatened him and then he

started fishing for it and caught it. I

had lots more chips.

On the coach I fell asleep, waking

up for the toilet break, and then fell

asleep again until we arrived back at

Camp Hill.

Dominik Bründler

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Camp Hill Boys Chronicle Page 17CamCamCamCamCamCamCamCamCamCamCamCamCamCamCamCamp Hp Hp Hp Hp Hp Hp Hp Hp Hp Hp Hp Hp Hp Hp Hp Hp Hp Hp Hp Hillillillillillillillillillillillillillillill Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Bo Boys ys ys ys ys ys ys ys ys ys ys ys ChrChrChrChrChrChrChrChrChrChrChrChrChrChrChronionionionionionionionionioniclecleclecleclecleclecleclecleclecle P P P P P P P P P Pageageageageageage 17171717171717

St Malo 2006

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CHB_chronicle.indd 17 8/11/06 10:59:55

Challenges & Olympiad Success –

The Best Yet?

Camp Hill Mathematics continues to go from

strength to strength. Six times in the past

seven years, a Camp Hill pupil has qualified in

the top 20 in the country for the residential

course and ‘International Maths Olympiad’ trials

at Trinity College, Cambridge. When, in 2000,

Robert Backhouse first achieved this, it was a

Camp Hill ‘once in a generation’ event. Since

then, Bryn Garrod and currently Jos Gibbons

have made this amazing achievement seem

almost commonplace. And more remarkably,

each has gone on further to qualify in the top 8

or 9 as a UK reserve for the actual IMO event.

Camp Hill Mathematics continues to go from

strength to strength. Six times in the past seven

years, a Camp Hill pupil has qualified in the top

20 in the country for the residential course and

‘International Maths Olympiad’ trials at Trinity

College, Cambridge. When, in 2000, Robert

Backhouse first achieved this, it was a Camp

Hill ‘once in a generation’ event. Since then,

Bryn Garrod and currently Jos Gibbons have

made this amazing achievement seem almost

commonplace. And more remarkably, each has

gone on further to qualify in the top 8 or 9 as a

UK reserve for the actual IMO event.

U. K. Junior Maths Challenge: 185 entries, 165

certificates - 62 Gold, 64 Silver, 39 Bronze.

U. K. Intermediate Maths Challenge: 272 entries,

213 certificates - 72 Gold, 63 Silver, 78 Bronze.

U. K. Senior Maths Challenge: 98 entries, 62

certificates - 18 Gold, 24 Silver, 20 Bronze.

U. K. Maths Challenge totals: 555 entries, 440

certificates - 152 Gold, 151 Silver, 137 Bronze.

U. K. Junior Maths Challenge: 240 000 pupils took part

nationwide, and Camp Hill pupils did very well

with almost 90% of them achieving certificates.

In addition seven Y8s and one Y7 qualified for

the follow-up two hour Junior Maths Olympiad

paper for the top 1200 in the country.

Junior Maths Olympiad: The results did them credit.

Chris Carter, Daniel Pun, Staszek Welsh and Ross

Mackie received JMO Certificates of Participation.

Andrew Jeskins, Jack Atack, James Jordan and

Tim Shao received Certificates of Distinction. In

addition, James Jordan’s solutions gained him a

Bronze medal, and Tim Shao won a Silver medal

and book prize for being in the top 50 candidates

in the country.

U. K. Intermediate Maths Challenge: Our Intermediates

also did themselves and the school proud. In

addition to their excellent 213 certificates of

merit, 35 pupils qualified in the top 1% of their

age group for the Kangaroo Maths Challenge,

and a further twelve for the harder Olympiad

papers.

Kangaroo: This mathematical event involved over

one million pupils from 25 countries, so well done

to the many from Camp Hill who qualified, and in

particular to the eleven whose top performances

gained them Certificates of Merit: Mark Davies,

Sam Clear, Ian Trzcinski, Wasim Mir, James

Dow, Tansu Yilmaz, Usman Siddiqui, Richard

Saunders, Richard Gibbs, Andrew Simpson and

David Harvey.

Intermediate Maths Olympiads: These were tough,

2 hour challenges for the top 400 pupils in their

respective age groups nationwide. James Li

received a creditable Certificate of Participation.

Daniel Jackman, Nat Jowitt, Dale Pearce, Michael

Zhang, Andrew Jeskins and Jack Atack all

received Certificates of Merit, and Kieran Child

and James Jordan received Distinctions. Three

pupils did particularly well, each winning top-

50 book prizes. In fact Aaron Pereira, Nathan

Brown, and Aled Walker did better than ‘top-50’.

They each finished in the top 12 in the country

– a superb achievement, enhanced by Aaron’s

invitation to attend the National Maths Summer

School.

National Maths Summer School: This stimulating five

day event at the beginning of July is by invitation

only for around 40 of the UK’s most talented

young mathematicians. With Aaron Pereira’s

attendance this year, Camp Hill has now been

represented for the last eight years.

U. K. Senior Maths Challenge: From the original

55,000 entrants, just 1000 candidates

nationwide were invited to sit the follow-up

British Maths Olympiad paper, including 14 from

Camp Hill. Well done then to: Simon Castle,

James Hall, Tom Kluyver, Neil Chavda, Jonathan

Dodd, Callum Gordon, Arash Rakhshafar and

Tom Hall (Y13); Jos Gibbons, Sailesh Mistry,

Parit Shah and Jonathan Harding (Y12); Aaron

Pereira (Y10) and Nathan Brown (Y9). Of

these, a special mention goes to Simon Castle

whose 121 from 125 placed him 18th equal in

the country, Jos Gibbons who was 21st equal

with 120 and Nathan Brown, whose 115 made

him the highest scoring Year 9 in the country.

British Maths Olympiad Round 1: a challenging 32

hour paper to test the best. Were any of our

candidates foolhardy enough to qualify for the

even harder BMO2? Indeed! Our candidates

averaged an amazing 16/60 marks each – very

creditable considering that Nathan Brown (32

marks), Simon Castle (30) and Jos Gibbons (29)

won top-100 book prizes, and they, together

with Aaron Pereira (19) were then invited with

100 other likely candidates to sit BMO2.

British Maths Olympiad Round 2: Often in maths

puzzles the enjoyment is in the struggle. In

the BMO2 this is just as well. Nathan, Simon

and Aaron certainly had their 32 hours worth

of enjoyment. As did Jos, who not only was

bashing his way through the solutions to come

8th in the whole country, and qualify again for

the IMO trials, but was also being filmed in the

process for a possible BBC Two “Competitors”

documentary series on ‘International

Challenges’ scheduled to appear in the coming

year. This, following filming at the Hungarian

training camp which Jos attended over the New

Year, and anticipating who-knows-what future

filming at Olympiad sessions to come. As

for Simon Castle, despite some exceptionally

strong BMO performances, he just missed out

on the final Maths trials. Instead, by qualifying in

the top eight in the country in the Chemistry

Olympiad, he had the dubious consolation prize

of attending team trials for the UK International

Chemistry Olympiad. What a consolation!

MATHS MAT TERSM

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CHB_chronicle.indd 18 8/11/06 10:59:57

International Maths Olympiad Trials: After four days

intensive training and a two 42 hour selection

papers, Jos was placed in the final squad of

eight from which a team of six would be chosen

for the International Maths Olympiad 2006

in Slovenia in July. Meanwhile as part of his

IMO preparation, which has included training

weeks in Hungary and in Spain, Jos was invited

to represent the UK in the Balkan Maths

Olympiad. This took place in Cyprus, where the

UK was a guest nation. This is the first time that

a Camp Hill pupil has represented his country in

a Maths Olympiad, and Jos did himself and the

school proud. He was among the highest scoring

of the British team, and his superb performance

gained him a Bronze medal (see the following

requisitioned account).

Meanwhile in the last weeks of term, Nathan

Brown also received a letter from Dr. Geoff

Smith, the IMO Team Leader – an invitation to

attend the introductory week’s Training Camp

at the University of Bath in the autumn. This

invitation is offered to just 15 pupils a year,

“to identify and train potential members of the

UK IMO squad”. It is a rare opportunity indeed

– though for Camp Hill pupils perhaps becoming

less rare by the year!

PRJ

Mentoring, MathSoc, Road Shows

and Master Classes

Well done to all the pupils who have enjoyed

success in their mathematics at whatever

level, and especially to those who have taken

advantage of extra curricula opportunities.

Congratulations to James Hall and Jos Gibbons

who gained an honorary mention for their

solutions to the Mathematical Gazette ‘Student

Problem Corner’, and to James and Tim Shao for

similar mention in the Problem Solving Journal

- both national mathematical publications.

Our Sixth Form mentors have continued to

give sterling support to younger mathematicians

under the supervision of Mr Hardy, and a select

few have attended two excellent KES joint

MathSoc lunchtime meetings - the first on

the fascinating world of Fractal Geometry, the

second on the history, variety and mathematics

of Su Doku.

Kings Heath Boys School hosted two gifted

and talented sessions to which Camp Hill sent

representatives. A puzzles and problems maths

road show aimed at Year 8, and for Year 9,

a captivating address by TV legend Johnny

Ball ranging from the Great Pyramid of Giza,

Galileo and Archimedes to the success of British

invention and technological expertise in a very

modern and ever-changing world.

Different pupils and staff have enjoyed the

Saturday School with Mr Bettison, as well as a

Further Maths conference at Cadbury College

and the Saturday master classes facilitated by

Mr Rogers – awesome fascination would be an

added description of the response to Dr. Colin

Wright’s juggling tricks and quick-fire wit.

Finally, a sincere ‘thank you’ to Mr Harvey for

all his work in the department and congratulations

on his appointment to Baverstock School.

PRJ

Mastering the SMC-BMO-IMO Cycle

BMO Round 2 in January 2006 resulted in

me qualifying for a 5-day training course

in Cambridge – again. The cycle then returned

to the start. Let me explain. In the following, I

will abbreviate some unfamiliar terms, the first

occurrence of each being written in full but with

initials in bold.

In 2005 I qualified for the second round

of the British Mathematical Olympiad for the

first time as a result of being in the top 100

nationwide in the first round, which I had entered

in turn for being in the top 1,000 nationwide for

the Senior Mathematics Challenge. After BMO

Round 2 I was in the top 20, so was invited to

a training camp in Trinity College in Cambridge,

from which a squad of eight students would be

selected for further training, ready for a team

of six to represent the United Kingdom of Great

Britain and Northern Ireland in the International

Mathematical Olympiad. Being two or even

three years younger than some of those present

I was not that fortunate, but I was in the next

five, so became a member of the British Shadow

IMO team. Unhappily that resulted in me having

to be a team leader at a Birmingham-based

(specifically Queen’s college) maths camp of

considerably smaller grandeur – one I had

attended in 2004 in a rather bored manner. This

time round was little better; it felt like being

a member of the Cabinet of the Conservative

Party. Nonetheless my team was victorious in

the weeklong competitions, so we each won

a book entitled A Very Short Introduction to

Mathematics. For us that was quite literally too

little too late.

Since September I was recognised as one

of about twenty people with a serious chance

of being in this country’s IMO team, either this

year or next. (This year the host nation was

little-known Slovenia. Oh well.) As a member

of the squad I was sent off for over a week to

do even more mathematics training with the

Hungarians. Of course, we went to them. It

seems only Hungarian airlines will dare take

anyone to or from Hungary, so the flights alone

were unfamiliar. It did not end there, but at

least the universal language of mathematics

remains familiar wherever you go in it – unless

you were one of the people from elsewhere

in the UK to whom I described set theory

or metamathematics, much to a film crew’s

delight!

After that it was back to the more usual

business of sitting the first two rounds of the

BMO, then getting an invite to Trinity. I was

seventh in the country – well, until Daniel

Lightwing’s script was remarked. (He’s taking

a gap year!) This left me in eighth place

nationally on a paper where I scored 40%;

only four scored more than half marks. At

Trinity College, Cambridge I had to sit two 4½

hour exams, each with three tough questions.

My performance got me in to the top eight

for a further camp in Oundle in Peterborough

in May. I spent much of the following week

abroad in Spain working on geometry as part

of a rigorous schedule, and after just three days

back at school I was off to Cyprus for a week to

represent the UK in the Balkan Maths Olympiad

– the other BMO. That was another 4 ½ exam,

this time with 4 questions. Here is one of them:

find all triples (m, n, p) of positive rational

numbers such that m+1/np, n+1/pm, p+1/mn

are all integers. We were a guest nation, like

Kazakhstan. Along with two others, also both

going to Oundle, I got a Bronze Medal. (No one

British managed any better.)

I’ve needed special vaccinations for the IMO in

Slovenia – hepatitis A and tickborne encephalitis

being the targets – and the 2007 IMO in Vietnam

should require some more too. The question of

interest, of course, is: did I get in to the IMO at

Oundle? Well, no. I was made first reserve; a

character I had underestimated by the name of

Jonathan Lee went on to come joint first amongst

UK IMO participants. The UK secured four silvers

and a bronze, while Lee Zhao became the first

UK competitor in several years to miss out on a

medal. He is one of four who cannot try again

next year, so I should have a good chance of

making the UK IMO team. I hope so.

Jos Gibbons

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CHB_chronicle.indd 19 8/11/06 11:00:00

Choral S o ciet y

and Former

Musicians

On a sticky evening prior to study

leave on 11th May, many of the older

Camp Hill musicians from both the boys’

and girls’ schools took part in a Summer

Concert. The venue, St Augustine’s

Parish Church in Edgbaston, proved to be

a beautiful setting in which to hold the

Choral Society’s performance of Faure’s

Requiem, which included solos by James

Hall, Thomas Hall and Anita Longfils. In

the first half the audience was treated

to some fantastic instrumental solos,

which included Sagar Masani on the

flute, William Joy on oboe and Jonathan

Dodd on the Cello.

Many thanks to Darren Hogg,

Director of Music at St Augustine’s for

accompanying the choir so expertly,

and to staff from both schools who

participated in the choir. The excellence

of the performance was due to the hard

work not only of the choir, but also of

both Mr Palmer and Miss Hawthorne in

rehearsing the choir week after week

since January.

Julian Fagan-King

The Choral

S o ciet y Concer t

The Choral Society Concert was also

the very last concert before the

Year 13 boys left school for study leave.

This year we have had to say goodbye

to many quite outstanding musicians,

who have been loyal and dedicated

supporters of school music throughout

their career at Camp Hill.

A number of these performed at

the Choral Society concert: James and

Thomas Hall both performed solos in

the Faure and have been tireless in their

support of school music. I remember

many enjoyable performances with

them in the choir and close harmony

ensembles. Sagar Masani and William

Joy both became leaders of their sections

in the Birmingham Schools’ Symphony

Orchestra and also played in numerous

ensembles in school. Whereas Sagar

will now keep music as his hobby, Will

has a scholarship to study the oboe at

Birmingham Conservatoire.

Jonathan Dodd, supremely talented

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Camp Hill Boys Chronicle Page 20

on both cello and piano, leaves

us after many years supporting

school music in so many ways.

Whether playing jazz piano

with swing band, cello with the

orchestra, or solo piano in so many

roles, other pupils marvelled at his

skill and musicianship and were

then inspired to achieve their

very best. In his final year he

was soloist with the Birmingham

Schools Symphony Orchestra

in Rachmaninov’s Second Piano

Concerto and in school played the

Haydn Cello Concerto with the

boys’ Chamber Orchestra. We will

miss him, but thank him for his

great contribution, and wish him

well in his future music making.

Simon Palmer

CHB_chronicle.indd 20 8/11/06 11:00:04

S enior

Concer t

The excellent quality of

our music was once again

displayed in the Senior Concert

in April. There were the usual

groups such as the Intermediate

Orchestra, who were as large

and strong as ever, as well as the

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Camp Hill Boys Chronicle Page 21

Concert Orchestra, who played a

rousing version of Crown Imperial

by William Walton to complete the

proceedings. It was a long night,

but a huge success. The Concert

Band played a medley of film music

themes, plus some jazz items that

went down very well. The items

that will stay in all our memories,

however, are the pieces played by

the Year 13 leavers. All of them

will be sorely missed, as they

were such great

suppor ters o f

schoo l mus ic .

Examples of these

are William Joy

and Alex Claridge,

w h o s h o w e d

particular talent

on the glasses

and kazoo!

Daniel Jackman

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Summer S oiree

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CHB_chronicle.indd 22 8/11/06 11:00:11

ranging from those of the school’s concerts

to parents, children and clergymen alike in a

Sunday morning sermon. We’ve even had expert

advice from the experienced gospel choir leader

from the CBSO, David Lawrence, coming in one

lunchtime free of charge to shed his expert

advice.

While the gospel choir is destined for greatness,

the brains behind the outfit got together and

formed their own private jazz band initially

dubbed the “Fagan’s Five” but later renamed

“Aurora”. This no-holds-barred band is also

a recent conception, but has already 2 gigs

under the belt, which have provided invaluable

experience to the band. The second of the 2 gigs

was held at the Harborne Chaplaincy, where

the band played for 2 hours straight whilst the

guests chatted, wine glass in hand, and had

dinner. This proved to be a success, with the

band making a profit and being invited back for

a second performance.

Such efforts made in the pursuit of one’s passions

will hopefully encourage more pupils to engage

themselves in more extracurricular activities

and, more importantly, to have fun doing it.

Boris Tsang

Education Sunday

at Al l S aints,

K ings Heath

Four year 10 musicians in Mr Palmer’s GCSE

music group gladly gave up their Sunday

morning, along with Mr Palmer, to play at a church

service at All Saint’s Church, Kings Heath. Peter

Berry, Joe Farrow, David Harvey and Joshua

Wilson played along with the congregation for

a number of hymns at this special educational

service. They provided the foundation of the

accompaniment and were joined for some of the

hymns by the school gospel choir. All of us were

praised for our commitment to helping, and for

the quality of the performance. Mr Palmer was

thanked by the clergy and congregation for our

contribution.

Peter Berry

Swing Band

Under the experienced leadership of Mr Roger

Rae, the Swing Band has relished yet another

successful year. The accomplished performances

in this year’s Senior Concert exhibited the high

level of musicianship of all of the members.

Their renditions of Moondance and Besame

Mucho were received with great enthusiasm,

and still resonate as the highlight of the evening

for many.

Paul Riley

G ospel Choir

and Aurora

The enthusiastic musicians of Camp Hill are

always finding new ways of displaying their

charisma, prowess and, most importantly,

expressing their sincere passion towards their

music. This passion, however, may not always be

accommodated in the numerous groups and

ensembles run by the school itself. Suffice it to

say, such students need some supplementary

involvement in their beloved art.

Over the years, there have been many groups

established and run by the students themselves,

further exploring and developing such things as

their skills, experience and repertoire. More

recently, interest and willingness to partake in

less formal music-making has boosted, with

the growing number of the aforementioned

groups featuring in formal school concerts and

in student-pioneered events and concerts being

testimony to this.

Not stopping there, various students have

even extended their love of music to the public

outside the school community. These groups

consist of differing themes, encompassing

most of the musical spectrum from classical to

contemporary, once again sharing the absolute

plethora of musical variety within the student

population. Be it in the name of charity or of

service, these groups continue to underline the

strong musical base of Camp Hill.

Groups conceived by the current 6th form are

prime examples of this enthusiasm, with groups

such as the Camp Hill Gospel Choir, an effort

between both schools, truly sounding powerfully

in the ears of their various audiences. As the

young gospel choir continues to grow from its

not-so-distant roots in 2004-2005, the soul-

healing allure of the choir is attracting more

and more students to sing as a great big family.

Run by the triumphant trio of Paul Riley, “Jules”

Fagan King and Isaac Ghinai, this year’s head

boy, the choir really owes it to the astoundingly

sound harmonies of Paul, the ambitious mind

of Isaac and the iron fist, as well as larynx, of

Jules. The gospel choir itself has seen audiences

The final concert in the summer term is the Summer Soiree and each year

this concert hosts a wide range of differing styles of music. This year

was no exception. Some of the highlights from the concert included: an

energetic African drumming performance led by Miss Higgins, the student

music teacher for the year, as well as an excellent performance from the

Clarinet Ensemble, conducted by Mrs Wall; a television themed performance

by the Intermediate Orchestra; exciting pieces by the Wind Band; and an

interesting (if rather strange) performance of In C by Terry Riley by the

Minimalist Group, made up of several Year 10 music students, and led by

Miss Higgins. This was certainly the most unusual item in the concert, as it

involved performers spread throughout the concert hall playing passages of

music seemingly at random while Mr Palmer stood on stage playing the same

note over and over again on the xylophone. Different – but the audience

seemed to appreciate it!

James Dow

Mu

si

c

Camp Hill Boys Chronicle Page 23

CHB_chronicle.indd 23 8/11/06 11:00:13

In the summer term a small

group of Year 7 boys were lucky

enough to be given some teaching

in African drumming. This was

great fun, whether you came to

exercise your musical muscles,

or just to hit things and make a

loud noise! A taste of something

refreshingly different, this group

was run by Miss Higgins, a PGCE

student from the University of

Central England. We thank her:

she will be missed as she moves

on to her new career at Fairfax

School.

Henry Pyke

Afr ican Drumming

Mu

si

c

Camp Hill Boys Chronicle Page 24

Cit y O rchestras and CBSO Youth O rchestra

The Birmingham Music Service, run by Birmingham City Council, is

a unique set-up allowing pupils of all ages attending a Birmingham

School or living in Birmingham to receive specialist music education at

either a heavily subsidised cost or for free. As part of the Music Service

scheme, numerous orchestras, bands and choirs are available in order to

help students expand their musical experience into working with others

in an ensemble environment. Not only is this service provided completely

free of charge, but is operated by professional musicians of the highest

quality. Numerous students from Camp Hill attend these orchestras

every Saturday morning, and some rehearse on Monday and Thursday

evenings.

The majority of the musicians in the music service have worked

their way up through the system, starting in one of the most junior

area ensembles, eventually reaching one of the main orchestras or wind

bands. I joined the South Area Brass Band at the age of 7, and have since

remained a dedicated member of the music service. I worked my way into

South Area Jazz Ensemble, through to BS Training Jazz, and eventually

into the Jazz Ensemble. I was also a member of BS Wind Orchestra, and

I am currently principal trumpet in BS Symphony Orchestra. It just goes

to show how far you can go in 8 years!

In May 2006, Jonathan Dodd, Camp Hill leaver and cellist in BSSO

performed Rachmaninov’s 2nd Piano Concerto with the orchestra. Also in

the concert were Webern’s Passacaglia and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No

4. The concert was a fantastic success and a dazzling occasion.

I was pleased to hear recently that I had also gained a place in

the prestigious City of Birmingham Symphony Youth Orchestra, as the

youngest brass player to date. The first concert will be held at Warwick

Arts Centre on Sunday 29th October 2006, with the second on Sunday

18th February 2007 at Symphony Hall, Birmingham. For more details, see

www.cbsoyouthorchestra.com.

Jamie Phillips

CHB_chronicle.indd 24 8/11/06 11:00:16

Under the experienced leadership of Mr Roger Rae, the Swing

Band has relished yet another successful year. The accomplished

performances in this year’s Senior Concert exhibited the high level of

musicianship of all of the members. Their renditions of Moondance

Swing Bandand Besame Mucho were received with great enthusiasm, and

still resonate as the highlight of the evening for many.

Paul Riley

Camp Hill Boys Chronicle Page 25

CHB_chronicle.indd 25 8/11/06 11:00:17

The enthusiastic musicians of Camp Hill

are always finding new ways of displaying

their charisma, prowess and, most importantly,

expressing their sincere passion towards their

music. This passion, however, may not always

be accommodated in the numerous groups and

ensembles run by the school itself. Suffice it to

say, such students need some supplementary

involvement in their beloved art.

Over the years, there have been many groups

established and run by the students themselves,

further exploring and developing such things as

their skills, experience and repertoire. More

recently, interest and willingness to partake in

less formal music-making has boosted, with

the growing number of the aforementioned

groups featuring in formal school concerts and

in student-pioneered events and concerts being

testimony to this.

Not stopping there, various students have

even extended their love of music to the public

outside the school community. These groups

consist of differing themes, encompassing

most of the musical spectrum from classical to

contemporary, once again sharing the absolute

plethora of musical variety within the student

population. Be it in the name of charity or of

service, these groups continue to underline the

strong musical base of Camp Hill.

Groups conceived by the current 6th form are

prime examples of this enthusiasm, with groups

such as the Camp Hill Gospel Choir, an effort

between both schools, truly sounding powerfully

in the ears of their various audiences. As the

young gospel choir continues to grow from its

not-so-distant roots in 2004-2005, the soul-

healing allure of the choir is attracting more

and more students to sing as a great big family.

Run by the triumphant trio of Paul Riley, “Jules”

Fagan King and Isaac Ghinai, this year’s head

boy, the choir really owes it to the astoundingly

sound harmonies of Paul, the ambitious mind

of Isaac and the iron fist, as well as larynx, of

Jules. The gospel choir itself has seen audiences

ranging from those of the school’s concerts

to parents, children and clergymen alike in a

Sunday morning sermon. We’ve even had expert

advice from the experienced gospel choir leader

from the CBSO, David Lawrence, coming in one

lunchtime free of charge to shed his expert

advice.

While the gospel choir is destined for

greatness, the brains behind the outfit got

together and formed their own private jazz

band initially dubbed the “Fagan’s Five” but later

renamed “Aurora”. This no-holds-barred band is

also a recent conception, but has already 2 gigs

under the belt, which have provided invaluable

experience to the band. The second of the 2 gigs

was held at the Harborne Chaplaincy, where

the band played for 2 hours straight whilst the

guests chatted, wine glass in hand, and had

dinner. This proved to be a success, with the

band making a profit and being invited back for

a second performance.

Such efforts made in the pursuit of one’s

passions will hopefully encourage more pupils

to engage themselves in more extracurricular

activities and, more importantly, to have fun

doing it.

Boris Tsang

G ospel Choir and Aurora

Camp Hill Boys Chronicle Page 26

Mu

si

c

CHB_chronicle.indd 26 8/11/06 11:00:19

G ospel Choir and AuroraEducation

Sunday at

All Saints,

Kings Heath

Four year 10 musicians in Mr

Palmer’s GCSE music group

gladly gave up their Sunday

morning, along with Mr Palmer,

to play at a church service at

All Saint’s Church, Kings Heath.

Peter Berry, Joe Farrow, David

Harvey and Joshua Wilson played

along with the congregation

for a number of hymns at this

special educational service.

They provided the foundation

of the accompaniment and were

joined for some of the hymns

by the school gospel choir.

All of us were praised for our

commitment to helping, and for

the quality of the performance.

Mr Palmer was thanked by the

clergy and congregation for our

contribution.

Peter Berry

Camp Hill Boys Chronicle Page 27

Mu

si

c

CHB_chronicle.indd 27 8/11/06 11:00:21

Camp Hill Boys Chronicle Page 28

Dr

am

a It was a cold, dark September

evening and rain lashed down

on the windows of Camp Hill Boys

School… Inside, the long hard slog

towards the first Junior Drama

production for some five years

had begun. Three sixth-formers,

two English teachers and several

discarded cast lists surrounding

an overflowing waste paper bin.

Casting for Kes was underway!

On many occasions, it looked

like it would never happen – some

performers were still working on

their accents and learning their

lines on the morning of the first

performance, while we were busy

banging heads against brick walls.

Not necessarily our own.

I would like to assure you that

no(t many) children were harmed in

the production of Kes.

However, with a concerted effort

from both cast and crew (including

several stressed Sunday rehearsals),

the play came together and was, in

fact, brilliant. Josh Wheway shone

in the lead role of Billy Casper and

was ably supported by Kieran Ahern

as Jud. Other highlights included

Chris Sherwood’s wee cameo as an

innocent school boy and Aled Walker

playing Mr. Farthing with a depth

and maturity far beyond his years.

The Girls’ School also supplied a fine

set of actresses, much to the delight

of many male cast members.

We are hugely indebted to Mr.

Puzey and Mr. Hill who were on hand

to give suggestions throughout,

many of which were very helpful.

We are also very grateful to Mr.

Southworth and Mrs. James who

were fantastic in dealing with

props, costumes, front-of-house

and much more besides, as well as

to Mr Carman and his art students

who were responsible for stage

crew, set design and the artwork

on the programme. All the staff

involved (and there are too many to

name) were wonderfully supportive

and tolerant of our many mistakes

and were always ready to give up

huge chunks of their own free time

to give us the benefit of their advice

and expertise.

Despite the stress, we are now

looking forward to this year’s

production of Willy Russell’s Our

Day Out with all the vigour of three

people addicted to putting their

fingers in plug sockets. Let’s hope

for some live wires; roll on Our Day

Out!

Isaac Ghinai

CHB_chronicle.indd 28 8/11/06 11:00:25

Kes

Camp Hill Boys Chronicle Page 29

Dr

am

a

CHB_chronicle.indd 29 8/11/06 11:00:27

With the academic year 2005/6 marking

another opportunity for the Girls’

School Drama Department to try their hand at

a musical, one could have been forgiven for

expecting a conventional sing-along classic

such as South Pacific or Annie. However,

continuing their long-running trend of more

alternative drama, the eventual decision was

a rather less traditional choice: a modernised

translation of German playwright Bertolt

Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera.

Brecht’s plays have something of a

reputation for being rather heavy on political

message, and his name is rarely thought

to be synonymous with fun and laughter.

However, the exaggerated characters,

superbly witty dialogue and darkly comic

musical numbers of The Threepenny Opera

meant that it was far better suited to a school

production than was apparent at first sight.

The story of the rise and fall of the gangster

Macheath against the seedy backdrop of East

End London meant that the opportunities for

cross-gender casting and inventive costumes

were endless, with the varied character list

including policemen, gangsters, whores and

vicars, all of whom are as corrupt as each

other!

Following his highly memorable

performance as Thénadier in the previous

year’s Boys’ School production of Les

Misérables, Sam Wheway was equally suited

to the lead part of Mack the Knife due to his

strong voice, immaculate comic timing and

perfect intuition for added improvisation.

Kat Hardy was equally impressive as the

glamorous gangster’s moll Polly, proving

that she can add a pitch-perfect singing

voice to the natural flair that she possesses

for both drama and dance. Catherine Grieves

and Adam Hickman were a perfect duo as

the dishonest Mr Peachum and his wife, both

giving their final school performances before

moving on to pastures new.

Other representatives from the Boys’

School also gave memorable performances

in smaller roles with Sikander Chowdry

looking particularly fetching in a feather boa,

Ross Willington playing a corrupt clergyman,

and David Harvey and Josh Malloy as the

comically inept policemen.

The originality of the choice and the

high standard of its execution paid off

when the play was a success across all

three performances with fully packed halls

and highly complimentary feedback from

audience members of all ages. Thanks and

congratulations are due to all members of

the stage crew and technical helpers, as

well as to Miss Hawthorne and the band

for providing the music during rehearsals

and performances. However, the biggest

thank you must go to Mrs Wilde, who was as

creative and innovative as ever in her role as

director for her last production at Camp Hill.

She will be missed!

Christopher Pearson

Camp Hill Boys Chronicle Page 30

Dr

am

a

Th

e T

hre

ep

en

ny

Op

era

CHB_chronicle.indd 30 8/11/06 11:00:30

Camp Hill Boys Chronicle Page 31

Dr

am

a

CHB_chronicle.indd 31 8/11/06 11:00:34

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It is hard to imagine a bigger

contrast with the preceding school

production - no cast of thousands,

no lavish props, none of the colour

and extravagance of Les Misérables,

minimal action and an impact that

depended more on verbal dexterity

than music and décor. This was a

brave choice. Could Mike Southworth

carry off a nineteenth century comedy

of manners as successfully as a big

West End musical? He and the cast

faced three obvious problems:

It was clear from the outset that

they would need a word perfect grip

on their lines. Dialogue built around

an exchange of bons mots is brittle

stuff. The slightest hesitation fluffed

line would kill its effect and there was

no scope for improvisation. Flying in

the face of years of Camp Hill tradition,

the cast mastered the script even for

rehearsals! On the nights I attended

they were faultless in their delivery.

The second challenge they faced

was to make some of the most

famous lines in English literature

fresh and natural. Like the schoolboy

who complained that “Hamlet” was

full of clichés, many in the audience

would know the big lines by heart.

Others would be coming to the play

for the first time. Could they satisfy

both groups?

Finally, they would have to come

to terms with the oddity of the play.

It is more a verbal ballet than a

development of character. The actors

all speak with Wilde’s polished wit -

surface glitter is all, both as a style

and as a central preoccupation of the

play. Could the actors individualise

their rôles and achieve the elegant

urbanity needed? Could they bring

to life a world in which women fall in

love with a name?

“In matters of grave importance,

style, not sincerity, is the vital

thing.”

William Joy, as Algernon Moncrieff,

rose splendidly to the challenge. His

plumy, languid tones and slightly

world weary delivery captured the

effete bachelor about town perfectly.

Effete but not foppish - there was too

much of a barb in his humour to pass

as a mere fop. One sensed he would

happily sell his grandmother for a well

-turned oxymoron. His comments on

social class and contemporary mores

were as subversive as they were

elegant.

“Really, if the lower orders do

not set us a good example,

what on earth is the use

of them?”

William showed the range of

his talents by slipping behind the

keyboard during scene changes and

tripping out Grieg’s tunes while the

men in black did their work.

Alex Hammond, as John Worthing,

managed to portray a less provocative

character who took his responsibility

for his ward seriously. However, his

verbal sparring with his infuriating

friend captured perfectly the sense

of mischievous play and blasé

subversion.

The two leading males acted

out convincingly their exasperated

friendship as both became embroiled

in their own version of “Bunburying”.

Algernon was not simply unflappable

in times of crisis, he positively

relished the thrill of the game. As

his Bunbury ploy began to unravel,

his only acknowledgement of stress

was to reach for another muffin. John

Worthing had the nerve to face up

to the redoubtable Lady Bracknell

and the temerity to admit his

unconventional origins. His reward

was to be handbagged for being

handbagged.

“To lose one parent…may be

regarded as a misfortune; to lose

both looks like carelessness.”

Indeed, this was a world dominated

by the female of the species.

Catherine Grieves, as Lady Bracknell,

cast an intimidating shadow and

negotiated the “handbag” scene with

aplomb. She made the lines sound

fresh and natural. She embodied the

domineering female that was later to

haunt the world of P.G.Wodehouse

- but with one difference. Her

unreconstructed snobbery and sense

of social propriety was laced with

Wilde’s elegant, steely irony. It was

a performance to make any sane man

quail.

“All women become like their

mothers. That is their tragedy. No

man does. That’s his.”

The female characters were not

simply dominant - they knew it and

enjoyed it. Elizabeth O’Connor, playing

Cecily, and Kat Hardy as Gwendolen,

gave the strong impression that

they were Lady Bracknells in the

making. Elizabeth conveyed youthful

innocence and naivety laced with an

unnerving sense of social irony and

an unquestioning belief that Algernon

will be fitted into her plans (whether

he knows it or not). Drawn to the

whiff of scandal that surrounded

him, she enjoyed a sixth month diary

engagement before even meeting

him! When she does, she is more than

a match!

“The old-fashioned respect

for the young is fast dying out.”

Kat Hardy portrayed a more

mature woman, self-possessed and

with clear cut ideas on the rôle of

men. A high point of the play was

the show down between Cecily and

Gwendolen as they come to believe

they are engaged to the same man.

Polite urbanities and sympathy

degenerate into verbal sparring and

an exchange of diary entries before

culminating in the equivalent of a

bear knuckle fight when Cecily puts

sugar in Gwendolen’s tea!

“I never travel without my diary.

One should always have

something sensational to

read in the train.”

These five central characters gave

a very urbane performance whose

blasé sense of irony was never far from

subverting conventional mores. They

were well supported by David Kay and

Christopher Pearson as long suffering

servants. David did a passable

impersonation of Jeeves, always

endeavouring to give satisfaction and

Christopher’s one liner with rising

eyes and intonation stole more than

one scene. Ben Vincent appeared to

have stepped straight from the cover

of a Balzac novel to play a rector whose

interest in Cecily’s governess put his

rectitude to the test. He captured well

the stuffy clergyman giving way to a

late flowering passion.

“Charity, my dear Miss Prism,

charity! None of us are perfect.

I myself am peculiarly

susceptible to draughts.”

Emma Smith, as the pedantic

Miss Prism, captured the haunched

movements of old age. She gave a

polished performance as she ensnared

the Rector and ultimately provided

the key to the dénouement.

Dr

am

a

CHB_chronicle.indd 32 8/11/06 11:00:36

Camp Hill Boys Chronicle Page 33Camp Hill Boys Chronicle Page 33

Backstage work was well up to the

standards we have come to expect.

Costume and props captured the

fin de siècle elegance perfectly and

stage crew and lighting showed their

efficiency by being unobtrusive.

Many in the audience commented

after the play on the maturity of the

performance. A play that was beset

with so many potential pitfalls was

carried off with an ease that only hours

of hard work can secure. Another hit.

Another tour de force. Well done to

Mike Southworth and all involved!

What will they give us next?

MR

The

Importance

of Being

Earnest

Dr

am

a

CHB_chronicle.indd 33 8/11/06 11:00:38

Blue John Cavern with Visitors

The door ajar, there is no need to knock

To walk inside the cavern’s weathered lip

Where once the restless, angry water ripped

And smoothed with force the still resistant rock.

The flowstone forming curtains, miner’s smocks

For workers, and for bosses on the trip –

Their polished shoes alongside rough boots, that slip

And skate – shins scraped and all their senses shocked.

No longer do they feel a pleasant draught ,

Nor sense the warming sun’s reflected gleam;

The darkness chokes them, night as black as tar.

Below them still the bottom of a shaft,

The precious rock though staying silent seems

To ask ‘However did you get this far?

Henry Pyke 7S

O’er the bow of this ship

O’er the bow of this ship,

The horizon lies still,

An impossible distance away,

A divide between land and sea,

A veil for the sun,

Before night turns to day.

The mass of blue vast

And deep, writhing with

Small white creatures of the sea,

Jumping and rolling, swelling,

And sinking, their action such a monotony.

Closer to our former haven,

Those towering crescendos of energy,

Like a stallion emerging from the calm

With it’s mane swaying and powerful legs,

Pounding the spray.

And now we have become so insignificant,

We are just one amongst thousands, so small,

And if all were to go wrong,

Or a man was to fall,

Who would find us?

We are so small.

Lewis Blackwood 8S

The Flying Man

A certain buzz hung in the air,

A certain expectation.

This day, this dawn this rising sun,

Marked a time for jubilation.

The tigers, snakes and elephants,

The antics of the clown;

The townsfolk gathered on the village green

‘Cause the circus had come to town!

This annual feast always drew the crowds,

There was no greater joy

Than hearing in those warming tones,

“Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys.”

And as the first night grew to a close

The audience were rapt with awe.

But onto the stage came a new performer

Who no one had seen before.

He was no giant, no fire eater,

His strength was not in size.

But he straightened up and craned his neck

So he audience could see his eyes.

Those eyes said more than words can say,

They seemed from another world.

They spoke of torment, neglect and pain

While his wings unfurled.

“What wings are those which now I see?

Can it be so?” thought I.

A hallucination, but maybe not,

For he soon began to fly.

He bounded and jumped, he leaped in the air,

His feet never made a sound.

And clad in sparkling turquoise

His being left the ground.

There was not a breath in the great big top,

No one dared to shout.

While the strange man caressed the air,

Twirling round about.

That moving blur of blue and green

Flickered like a fire.

There seemed no end to this soaring leap

As he rose up higher.

And the tigers and the snakes below

In their cages stirred.

For up above in the vaulting void

They viewed a soaring bird.

As it landed on the ground

There was no loud applause.

The crowd moved slowly from their seats

And through the open doors.

But as I wandered in the gloom

I was caught up in surmise.

What was it I had seen that night

In those haunting eyes?

Aled Walker 9J

Po

et

ry Poetry

As ever, Camp Hill boys

excelled themselves in

this year’s Poetry Competition

run by the English Department.

Here are a few examples of

some of the superb poems

found in the Poetry Anthology,

on sale from members of the

English Department for a mere

50p.

Camp Hill Boys Chronicle Page 34

CHB_chronicle.indd 34 8/11/06 11:00:42

Iraq or Iran?

Iraq or Iran?

Well, they’ve both got Oil,

And America doesn’t care,

Whose lives they spoil.

Iran or Iraq?

What do you think Mr. Blair?

“I…shall follow...Mr. Bush…with my…

…exaggerated hands…and…angry stare”

And what of the humble soldiers,

In the U.S. marine core

“Lets kill us some Iraqis,

Man I love war”

And who cares how many die,

It’s for a good cause,

As long as the Oil keeps on flowing,

We’ll keep on having wars.

And what of the cost?

That’s what taxes are for,

Just remember this saying,

In times of war.

A stealth bomber costs two billion dollars,

Smart Bombs sixty thousand each,

A fully loaded aircraft carrier,

7 billion setting off from San Diego Beach.

But the Iraqi and Iranian oil reserves?

They’re priceless forever more,

There are some things money really cannot buy,

But for everything else? There’s war.

Phillip Trzcinski 9J

A Fifteen Year Old Michaelangelo

A canvas, pale white but for a single whisper of fading red

Like old delftware of which the image has long gone

Of which the prospect of colour waits to break free once more

Of which the viewer seeks the relief from his life

And instead to the refuge of his faded artwork

He takes out his steel, carbon overlayed, diamond edged,

5-and-one-half inch brush

From under his once white pillow

And pushes his cotton shirts off his chair so he can sit down

Rolls away the veil of his previous art –

Once intricate, detailed, splatterings of dark red passion

They now fade away again, having never been seen

He takes the brush down onto his paper, takes a second to

collect his thoughts

Then he scribbles and a burst of colour arises

Creeping out over the page, in all its natural beauty

He collapses forwards, kneeling on his white shirts, staring at

his white walls

Concentrating his anger, his pain, on the canvas

The artwork ends, and he lies silent on his white carpet

And as the paint slowly hardens

As it fades away for one more time

As his pain leaves him

He slowly realises

That he could never escape forever.

Kieran Child 10V

Babies Having Babies

What a cruel twist of fate,

He saw her eyes for the first time,

Now should he leave it,

Or see her raised through this life of grime?

And on the surface,

It was true love, where no one could besmirch it.

Then in due time, you,

Began to see the urges through,

Temptations, scandalous thoughts, that adolescence

pursue,

And when the chance arose,

You took advantage on a lonely night,

Knowing that her parents weren’t home.

The moment of eternal bliss has passed,

Now it’s New York thuggin, trying to get some sales on

grass,

The infamous kingpin...though repenting his sins,

It seems, drugs are the only way, of keeping the

currency in,

But back at home,

The arguments are getting restless, and Brenda’s trying

her hardest,

To alleviate the stressness,

But over the months, he sees a change in her figure,

She’s throwing up in the bathroom and her belly’s

getting bigger,

This can only mean one thing,

And he knows that,

But how can he raise a family when his income is crack?

Its 3 months later,

And over time, Brenda’s had her fair share,

Cuz now he’s lost his sensitivity, there’s blood in the air,

Dear Lord, can you save this cursed home?

Cuz now the good times have gone…I can feel it in my

bones,

So now the truth has surfaced, and he knows for sure,

But before he can retaliate, she’s on the kitchen floor,

Her water’s broke,

He can feel his heart racing,

He’s finally met the obstacle, tha6t he’s been dreading to

be faced with,

Deafening screams pierce the air, he can see her head,

A miracles been born,

No need to despair.

For once in his life, his heart melted with love,

Their eyes met,

Truly must be a gift from above,

Such a phenomenal feeling, that the couple had

endorsed,

He felt a yearning to protect her from all satanic force.

Now if that isn’t karma,

I would beg to differ,

This orphan’s got to learn what it means to keep their

upper lip stiffer,

Cuz for a second it seems,

Life has succumbed to your dreams,

But the world is hazy,

Where babies are having babies.

Jasdeep Singh Saggu 10X

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Camp Hill Boys Chronicle Page 35

CHB_chronicle.indd 35 8/11/06 11:00:45

The Four Stallions

They lie in their stable, delinquent in rage

The stallions have lain there for age upon age

Now that they’re called by the demons elect

They wake from their slumber and stand up erect

Trudging through rubble, unknown and unnerving

The distant clap of bullets, dimly disconcerting.

The assassins crouch in the dust of the sand

Each with a thin blade clutched in their hand

With the swiftest of movements the assassins attack

The stallions unknowing with packs on their back

The horses lurch awkwardly, not knowing their fate

As their crumpled bodies lie cold on the slate.

Crawling in pain, with the essence of life

The four stallions go on, weakened by strife.

Whilst the demons laugh at the dead on the soil,

The reckless attempt to search out for oil.

The stallions lie, lonely and cold

After all that time they went out so bold,

With nothing but limited time on their hands

Our elected politicians don’t know how it stands.

Robert Cleaver 10W

Old News

A bare stone platform and not a sound to be heard

Save the rustle of yesterday’s newspaper.

Names and places, facts and figures,

Abandoned, forgotten, soon to be replaced

By fresh disaster and new events that seem just as

important

As the distant memories that lay discarded once did.

A lone man places his briefcase on the ground,

As he straightens his jacket and eases himself on to the

bench,

Waiting for a train to carry his army of clones to the

Same old offices as the day before.

He picks up the paper and scans the headline

With nothing more than a cursory glance before he sees

the date.

Yesterday. He throws it back down.

He hands over a fiver for a paper

And spends the change on a coffee that he could have

made for himself

For pennies just twenty minutes earlier.

On the train, the liquid steams – too hot to drink –

And when he reaches his destination, the cup is left half-

full, abandoned,

The paper lies next to it, the tables of figures stained at

the corners

With drops of brown coffee while

The pages of news, tales of suffering and redemption,

Remain unsullied by human eyes.

The paper lies on the Formica table, as the coffee turns

stone cold,

Waiting to be read before it is too late.

But by the time the designer workforce boards for the

second time

The evening papers are already clutched in their hands.

Too late. Old news.

Christopher Pearson L3

It’s too late

Sunlight pours through the open window.

Lodewijk is dead.

Lodewijk is dead.

Hit by a car, glassy eyed and stiff

In the greenhouse.

Effing speeders. The limit is twenty.

I look from my bedroom.

Speeding.

Speeding.

Speeding.

Speeding.

Speeding.

Five out of five people have no respect whatsoever for

guidelines set to preserve the safety of all residents of

the area, human or otherwise.

“Five out of five’s not bad” – it is now.

‘Our’ government worry – Lose sleep at night.

Their country will

Not reach EY agreements.

Taxing;

Tax them blind;

Quadruple private transport costs;

KYOTO HERE WE COME!!!

But of course this’ll never happen…

In a society is so dependent on the aforementioned

method of movement. What could it ever even hope

to achieve when it is so reliant on something so

destructive?

Bye clean air, it was nice knowing you.

Bye ozone layer, it was nice knowing you.

Bye Lodie, it was nice knowing you.

Yesterday was good though; we spent quite a while

together,

He almost fell asleep in my arms before I went to

percussion.

I must have hugged him about five or six times.

And he was so funny; yesterday mom opened her drawer

to find a stapler,

And there was that little fat thing of fur, smiling up at

her and purring.

And purring.

I close the blind.

Joe Snape 11X

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Camp Hill Boys Chronicle Page 36

CHB_chronicle.indd 36 8/11/06 11:00:49

The Admirer’s Epitaph

It was a mystery as to what drew me

My eyes set upon her with an uncompromising view

The twinkle in her eyes, emblazoned with understanding

Compassion in her smile, lips incarnadine

The epitome of beauty and desire.

The wind blew, and a sea of jet-black wires swayed

Lustfully my eyes persisted

Radiance surrounded her, her face brilliant and fair

Eyes flitting, arms folded, legs crossed – almost serene

Unexpectedly yet with decorum she rose.

Magnificence displayed herself

Dressed modestly yet voluptuousness prevailed

My eyes continued to admire and follow as she glided

At an instance she disappeared

Solemnly sat in my seat my eyes began to lament.

Another distorted dream

Another tearful eye

Another broken heart

Abbasali Haji L3

My Heart Belongs To You

In a heart, of no particular persuasion,

Lived a dream.

In this dream, of no particular interest,

Lived a love (that lived a lie.)

The heart told not a soul,

That told no lips nor eyes nor ears,

To hear or bear, or ever share.

In a heart, of no particular persuasion,

Lived a lie.

In this lie, of one particular dream,

There lurked a thorn.

A thorn that grew from a seed of deceit,

And consumed this heart (beat to beat),

Till this heart of no persuasion longed to die.

The love of another,

Was denied by the lack of lonely love.

The heart was his for the taking,

Yet her breath was silent and trapped behind tight lipped

smiles.

So in his wile, seeing through deceit,

His heart of perculiar persuasion,

Was persuaded to seek the seeds.

So, the boy who loved too little

Crept through a cracked window pane,

And in the dead of night reached for the heart that loved

too much.

In her first romantic gesture he took her heart, and took

her lungs…(breath and love were intertwined)

She woke (in a wake) happy, but dead – yet never dies.

A lesson learnt in lies and love, never the two ought

meet…

And a heart that loves, can never live, if life is now

deceit.

Alex Claridge U3

Tale of Matches

The night is cold,

And in the dark, shrill

sharp blades cut into my chest,

Piercing my bones, turning my fingers to stone.

I need to hurry home,

To a feast prepared and the table adorned,

I can almost smell the goose and the juice,

The chestnuts roasting,

Could almost hear the children laughing, friends

and family singing, their voices ringing.

I open my eye,

and smile,

and quicken my pace.

*

The flame flickered,

a thin vein of smoke,

And died.

How I cried, tears running freely,

Left stinging on my cheeks.

The warm soft glow again engulfed,

The darkness grew cold.

I drew in breath and choked,

The air froze in my throat.

Nana once said,

That those who die,

will fly, into an endless sky,

And be born,

as a star of the night.

How often I have stood and stared,

And wondered why.

The warm,

Rippling curtain enveloped me

in its soft, velvet embrace.

Fireflies twinkled and danced,

And I wanted to dance their dance.

I close my eyes,

and smile.

I need to hurry home…

*

The crunch of glass rang out,

And I stopped dead, eyes

wide, fixed, held…

By a silvery mute.

The pearly shimmer of a thousand diamonds

twinkling in her snowy crown,

Illuminating the crystal stream glazing

her angelic face,

her gleaming red cheeks,

her fair hair,

coated in a frosty sheen…

But not her eyes.

Those black lifeless eyes,

Deep and dark as a dry well,

From which no light could reflect.

I held her close and I could not leave,

The girl who had no one on New Year’s Eve.

Grant Su L5

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Camp Hill Boys Chronicle Page 37

CHB_chronicle.indd 37 8/11/06 11:00:52

Another great year of enrichment at Camp Hill. Much success and

enjoyment to report and read about, the year having ended on a real

high with the success of the U12 cricket team. Congratulations to the vast

number of boys who have taken advantage of the ever growing activities

on offer. The staff who regularly help out and ferry the boys across the

TEAMS PLAYED WON DRAWN LOST FOR AGAINST

RUGBY

1st XV 19 7 1 11 291 511

2nd XV 17 6 0 11 202 378

U/16 8 6 0 2 180 156

U/15 21 4 0 17 166 733

B 2 1 0 1 50 52

U/14 14 9 0 5 418 237

B 6 2 0 4 135 193

U/13 14 11 0 3 388 148

B 8 2 1 5 107 181

C 5 3 2 0 84 37

D 5 2 0 3 117 85

U/12 10 3 0 7 122 156

B 8 3 2 3 171 203

C 7 2 2 3 70 112

D 6 0 0 6 42 163

E 2 1 0 1 40 50

F 1 0 1 0 15 15

Midlands deserve our thanks, as do the parents for their support and

co-operation.

What price our writing about events in the sports hall and swimming

pool this time next year?

MWD

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Camp Hill Boys Chronicle Page 38

HOCKEY

1st XI 16 3 3 10 25 53

2nd XI 16 4 2 10 18 36

U/15 12 4 1 7 26 29

U/14 5 0 1 4 2 11

U/13 1 0 0 1 0 6

BASKETBALL

U/16 7 0 1 6 213 345

U/14 7 4 0 3 279 225

SOCCER

1st XI 8 0 1 7 9 42

2nd XI 4 1 0 3 8 20

CRICKET SUMMARY

PLAYED WON DRAWN LOST BEST BATTING BEST BOWLING

1st XI 13 4 0 9 M Abdullah 99* T Spurgeon 3/13

2nd XI 6 3 0 3 K Hussain 41* K Hussain 6/9

U/15 5 1 0 4 D Panesar 35 P Terry 3/21

U/14 9 6 0 3 H Hussain 89* G Bhangal 7/6

U/13 7 2 0 5 T Hollywood 37 R Bhambra 4/15

U/12 9 7 0 2 A Shoaib 111* A Sahota 4/20

TOTAL 47 21 0 26

TENNIS SUMMARY

PLAYED WON DRAWN LOST

1st IV 4 0 0 4

U/15 A 3 2 1 0

U/15 B 2 2 0 0

U/14 1 0 0 1

U/13 A 8 7 0 1

U/13 B 2 2 0 0

TOTAL 20 13 1 6

ATHLETICS

TOTAL MATCHES TOTAL TEAMS 1st PLACES 2nd PLACES 3rd PLACES

7 21 8 9 2

CHB_chronicle.indd 38 8/11/06 11:00:53

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1st X V Rugby

The season has been as enjoyable

as ever with the boys acquitting

themselves well. There have been a few

issues about lack of discipline, which I

hope have been resolved. The highlight of

the season is about to happen and I hope

the boys can return victorious from their

trip to Ireland. Mr Paul Bassi (parent)

who is Executive Chairman of Bond

Wolfe, has been very kind in sponsoring

and making the tour shirts and ties. All

the staff, parents and boys would like to

say a big “thank you”.

The results for the 1st XV have been

good when you consider the strength

of the fixture list. I mentioned last

year that we are struggling to compete

physically with the better teams, but the

squad are always optimistic when taking

the field. The highlight of the season

was the defeat of KE Stratford who, on

paper, were at least twenty points better.

The game went right to the wire and the boys left the field in an ecstatic

mood.

The team lost to KE Aston (the Headmaster’s old school) in a reversal

of the above game. Aston scored a try in the last play to win by the

narrowest of margins. KE Five Ways were beaten along with Fairfax, Prince

Henry’s and a draw against KE VIII Coventry.

It is always difficult to single out individuals, but I am sorry to see Adam

Hickman, Nick Barker, Jonathan Daniels, Harry Smith, Saad Qureshi and

Gwilym Tudor-Jones leave after seven years of Rugby. The team next year

has to rely on two newcomers, Daniel Derbyshire and Ben Simon to build on

the experience gained in the 1st XV this year. The Lower Sixth have made

up the majority of the side this year and with this in mind the side should

be better. I look forward in anticipation. The support from parents for both

senior teams has been excellent. The support is reflected in the number

accompanying the party to Ireland. No person can say he has really been

on tour until he travels via the minibus, sleeps on the floor on the ferry

and makes the bleary-eyed trip through Ireland to the hotel. The Year 11

parents have still to earn this credibility.

GHC

Camp Hill Boys Chronicle Page 39

Rugby

CHB_chronicle.indd 39 8/11/06 11:00:56

2nd X V Rugby

A very disrupted and ultimately frustrating

season is nearly at its closure; with the

exception of the tour to Ireland. A good start

and some excellent results suddenly came to an

end with the promotion to the 1st XV of several

key players, due to injury and illness. Losing key

players is bad enough, but to also have additional

key players, including the Captain, Thomas Hall,

unavailable due to long term illness and injury

is difficult to cope with at the best of times. At

one stage we were playing with less than 50%

of what should have been the first choice 2nd

XV! However, we managed to ride out those

difficulties and despite some significant losses

to bigger and older teams, we still managed to

keep a positive attitude throughout the winter

months.

Obviously, there will be time to give credit

and thanks to the many boys who played

through these difficulties, but this is not the

time just yet. However, I would like to take

this opportunity to thank all players who made

a contribution to the team, especially those who

regularly attended training sessions, of which

there were encouragingly many. Our tour to

Ireland beckons and we now have a fit squad

of players, bolstered by some new recruits, who

may well prove to be valuable assets. Well done

for an entertaining season; your collective efforts

have been very much appreciated. Thanks also

to our regular parents supporters club, whose

valuable presence is always appreciated.

PTC

S enior Rugby Tour

After relatively disappointing seasons for both

the 1st and 2nd XVs, the players waited

with baited breath for the commencement of

the senior tour to Ireland – a trip that combines

‘meaty’ rugby, strong team spirit, excellent

Guinness, and a lot of laughs. The antics began

before we even stepped on the blessed Irish soil,

with a tiring but amusing ferry journey involving

a certain Ian Briggs (who couldn’t find anywhere

suitable to sleep) waiting for a slumbering father

to take a toilet break before making the spot

on the sofa his own, much to the surprise of

the poor man’s family. However, Ian got his

comeuppance as he very nearly slept for the

full round trip, and the rugby team almost left

without him.

We finally arrived at the picturesque Dundalk

Hotel in the middle of the morning and, although

we all wanted to have a rest, we were made

to prepare for our first game (which would take

place that afternoon against the local Dundalk

RFC). The games themselves were typical of

rugby tour, proving to be extremely physical and

hard fought encounters. The 2nd team fought

valiantly but eventually succumbed to a narrow

8-13 defeat, which could be blamed on a series

of injuries, notably those received by Jonathon

Scholz and Josh Kretzmer. The 1st XV also

fought in a bruising battle, which was further

exacerbated by the horrendous downpour that

occurred during the match. Yet the outcome

was much more satisfying, a well deserved

17-10 victory was the reward for our all round

perseverance and determination. The players

were looking forward to a well deserved shower,

and James ‘Crouch’ Pumphrey’s excitement

turned to ecstasy as the Dundalk lads decided

to join us ‘au natural’. After this bonding

experience, both teams returned to the hotel in

high spirits and ready for the much awaited first

night of tour.

An early wake up call forced us out of bed,

and we feared the worst when the sight of

Hasan and ‘Bo-torious’ Okafor greeted us at the

breakfast table. However there was some food

left, and after a hearty meal the two teams piled

onto the coach and travelled to Northern Ireland

to face Lisburn Rugby Club. These matches

were very physical, with even Joe ‘Belgian

Trance Dance’ Pick suffering blows in one of the

numerous scraps that took place. However both

teams overcame the opponents’ ill discipline to

play good rugby and come out victorious (the

2nd XV won 13-10 whilst the 1st XV cruised to a

30-7 triumph. The club proved their hospitality

by providing us with lunch and luxurious bar

facilities, with some of the best beer that we had

ever savoured.

After a relaxing day in Dublin, the last match

of the tour proved to be an emotional encounter,

as for the Upper Sixth boys it was their final game

in Camp Hill colours after seven years of service.

The 2nd team put in an inspiring performance,

but in the end were out muscled and denied a

deserved victory with an 8-5 loss against Belfast

High School. However, the real question of the

day was whether the 1st team could continue

their winning streak and complete a hat trick of

victories on foreign soil. This seemed unlikely as

we got off to a dreadful start, and we still trailed

by two scores with five minutes remaining. It

seemed that only a miracle could save us, but

our never-say-die attitude, combined with the

powerful ‘tour spirit’, drove us on towards the

Belfast line. With virtually the last plays of the

game, we scored two rapid tries and secured

a glorious 24-23 win. This was an appropriate

conclusion to the careers of our older boys,

and surely one that they will never forget.

Much praise must go to Ian Briggs who, despite

having the fattest neck in Ireland at the time

(due to some form of fever), had a fantastic

game where he truly lead by example and was

in fact hailed ‘King of Belfast’ by our opponent’s

coach.

With this victory fresh in our minds, we

rejoiced on the way back to Dundalk and

settled down to the final meal of the tour. The

food had proved to be excellent throughout our

stay, and the meat that night was no exception,

as critiqued by Martin Crutchley – ‘Bang On!’

The presentations were both entertaining and

poignant, for certain players, with awards

going to many different people. This was an

outstanding conclusion to tour, and the picture

of that night was similar to the others. Nick

Barker and Josh Kretzmer sat at their own table

in the far corner of the bar laughing at each

other’s poor jokes and James Pumphrey ordered

various effeminate drinks after someone pointed

out that J2O was purely fruit juice.

A great deal of thanks must go to Mr Cookson

and Mr Carman who organized the tour, as well

as the Cookson Posse and various parents who

were pleasant company on a memorable trip.

We wait expectantly for next year’s tour, which

should prove to be equally enjoyable.

Josh Kretzmer and Will Arnold

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Camp Hill Boys Chronicle Page 40

CHB_chronicle.indd 40 8/11/06 11:00:57

U15 Rugby

This year’s campaign began badly for the

U15 rugby team with three heavy defeats,

including an early first round exit from the Daily

Mail Cup losing 41- 0 against a very strong KES

team. However the team continued to show the

grit and determination that had been on display

in all of the three previous years together.

The enthusiasm was soon to pay off when we

managed our first win of the season - 27-0

against Prince Henrys. We showed our ability

to score tries with Cameron Fraser using his

strength to cross the line, Yin Yin Lee and Billy

Welch scoring through powerful running and

Atta Khan getting his try after a mazy run which

showed a great ability to beat players.

Unfortunately we then suffered more heavy

defeats. In attack, silly mistakes were made in

our excitement to cross the line, and lapses in

defense often gave opponents a free reign over

our try line. In a period of our next six games it

seemed it was only Yin Yin Lee and serial man of

the match Andrew Baker who were able to get

over the line. In this period Yin was able to notch

up a tally of five tries and established himself as

a key player. However this tally of five was not

to be improved upon as, on the 14th November

at the Greater Birmingham tournament, he

suffered a bad shoulder dislocation putting him

out for the rest of the season. This team wasn’t

going to give up though, and despite the heavy

beatings we had taken, there was more than a

full squad turning up to training each week and

a positive attitude around the team. Although

we still suffered a number of heavy defeats,

throughout this period the team never gave up.

Atta Khan continued to show great pace and

agility as he scored two tries against Solihull,

the second of which he fly hacked the ball the

length of the field. We then suffered another

devastating period of four matches leading up

to tour where we failed to make our mark on the

scoreboard.

We set off for tour with our loyal band of

parents and were joined by Mr. Caves who had

helped Mr. Duncan with the coaching for most of

the year. Heading off to our first fixture against

Cockermouth we were more determined than

ever after suffering three losses the previous

year on tour. It was a very physical affair on

a very wet and muddy pitch, it should have

been one for the Camp Hill boys if not for one

or two lapses in our defense. In keeping with

the team’s mentality this defeat made us pull

together more rather than causing our heads

to drop. So off we went for our match with St.

Bees, which was to be the Camp Hill time to

shine. In a very close match, Adam Balkham put

his nose on the line to grab a try, and was joined

on the score sheet by Oliver Browne who made it

two for tour after also scoring in our first match.

Helped along by more consistent kicking from

Jon Wilkes we eventually won the match 15-10.

After this match we couldn’t wait to get out on

the pitch the next day, however this wasn’t to be

as a snowstorm saved the opposition from what

was sure to be a heavy defeat!

The tour was nonetheless a great success

for the team that gave us great confidence to go

into our final three fixtures against the touring

sides of St. Bees, Huddersfield and Carlisle.

We were to come out on top in two of these

matches as we made it two out of two against

St. Bees and made up for our loss the previous

year against Carlisle, winning a tight match 23-

22. This capped an impressive end of season

for the boys in the blue and maroon shirts who

had struggled through matches earlier on in the

season. In these last three matches Phillip Terry,

Atta Khan and Nathan Riddell crossed for tries

and Jon Wilkes kept up his reliable kicking with

six penalties, a conversion and also adding a try

to the mix. This gave Jon Wilkes the title of top

points scorer with 49 and Atta Khan the title of

top try scorer with a tally of six.

Congratulations to Oliver Browne, Andrew

Baker, David Baker and James Smith who played

in all but one match and even more impressive

Robert Cleaver who played in all this year’s

games. I think James Smith’s dedication to this

team must be recognized as though missing one

match this year it is the only match he has ever

missed in his school career.

A final mention must go to the Coaching

team of Mr. Duncan and Mr. Caves who gave the

team so much through the season in training

sessions and match days, pushing us forward

and filling us with self belief. We are now all

looking forward to another year of Rugby.

David Baker

U14 Rugby

Throughout the season following on from

last year’s progress we have continued to

develop as a gifted rugby squad and have worked

hard to pick up our skills, which includes props

testing out their new conversion techniques and

wingers jumping in the lineouts.

Our season started in full swing with

everyone raring to go after just purchasing their

new gloves and gum shields, and what’s more,

a fine win over King Henry’s to place under our

belt. This was an especially impressive victory

as they were a top class side and we were

travelling away to a distant city known as…

Coventry. However, our next game only a week

later was less challenging and this was a match

to improve on our team game and experiment

with the rugby ball- we ended up scoring nine

tries past them and 7 conversions from four

different kickers whilst our normal kicker wasn’t

among them. This was where it seemed that

our top three try scorers Damien, Gavin and I

would dominate the season and the matches,

but we all realised during games sessions that

it is more important to contribute as a team not

individually (well nearly all of us).

The next match we played ruined our run

of successful triumphs over teams but it was

to a team we have failed to beat every year-

Old Swinford. This was a real “heart-in-mouth”

match, as we all knew that we were in top form

and had full encouragement from our coach,

Mr.Bruten. Between kick-off and half-time we

dominated, scoring first, second and third tries

and converting two of them. However we began

to get too full of ourselves and let them ease

back into the game, which became anybody’s

for the taking. After nearly an hour we lost 21-

43 after a very enthralling game.

The autumn season ended with 5 eventful

matches being played, and a very smug

looking Gavin Bhangal who fell onto Mr. Bruten

- which was enough to break his leg! During

these matches we had several injuries, several

newcomers to the scene, and one nail biting

match against KES where we only lost by one

point with all of the team giving their heart and

soul into every tackle, every offload, every pass.

All of our matches should be played in the same

intensity as that match. There have been many

opportunities for players to represent the school

this term as we have used a total of twenty three

players. However the biggest challenge came in

2006 – were the team able to maintain the high

standards of 2005? We needed a good team

effort with not just the regular leading players

able to perform to their highest ability.

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Camp Hill Boys Chronicle Page 41

CHB_chronicle.indd 41 8/11/06 11:00:58

After relaxing, eating and lazing around during

the Christmas holiday it was time for 2006! This

meant another term of rugby, and what a term

of rugby we had! We didn’t make a very good

start to the year losing 2 of our 3 matches but

there were some very strong performances from

Gavin Bhangal, Damien Bishop, Alex Taylor and

my right hand man Kaldev Bhogal who never

disappoints with the boot.

Later in the term, following many frozen

pitch training sessions, we were ready for

the U14s rugby tour. We were all hoping for

somewhere exotic, hot and peaceful, so we

were sent to Cumbria! Thanks to the teachers

anyway, especially Mr.Cookson. We had not

played a competitive match for quite some time

so we were all a little uneasy as we headed to

the sloped pitch for our first game. However all

of the nerves quickly went away as we picked

up our pace and played a great team game. We

gave Cockermouth no freedom to move and our

defensive line was the best that it was all year

with everyone tackling aggressively. After all the

hard work we were rewarded with Gavin cruising

over the line to put points on the board for us.

After this we scored another try through Damien

Bishop from a loose ball. The game was sure to

be ours when Kaldev secured the match with a

late penalty.

After repairing ourselves, ironing our clothes

with the exception of one group and some good

food we got up, for our second game against the

local school Austin Friars. We took early control

scoring right from the kick-off. We kept our cool

and ended up winning 21-5. Weather got the

best of us and we were unable to play the final

fixture.

I personally would like to thank Mr Bruten

for his excellent dedication and support towards

his team and for having the confidence to believe

in us and hopefully we did you proud (sorry

about the leg sir, says Gavin!). Also I would like

to thank George and Gavin for playing in every

match with me, which shows real dedication for

the school. Lastly to Kaldev who has helped me

through some decisions that I had to make and

has been an excellent commander of the backs

and a great vice-captain. I wish everyone the

best for next year and hope we can retain our

great record that we have kept with pride.

Nick West

U13 Rugby

The 2005/6 season began with a convincing

31-0 win over King Henry’s Coventry and

ended on a high with the U.13 Rugby team

being awarded the prestigious Robinson Shield.

Our season ended with a total of 11 wins from

14 matches; 389 points for and 132 points

against. In addition to this, we came runners

up to KES in the Greater Birmingham Cup and

reached the semi final stages of the Solihull

Sevens competition.

This season was a contrast to last, with our

possession, dominance and ability to play as a

team showing in our results throughout the year.

Every team member has played an important

part, even those who were drafted in from the

B team; sometimes at very short notice. After

our first win against King Henry’s, our winning

streak continued for another three matches; 62

– 14 against Fairfax, 19 – 7 against Old Swinford

and 33 – 26 against Kings Worcester. Then our

luck changed and our next game against Bablake

gave us our first defeat 20 -37, although we did

suffer from illness and injury prior to the match.

Was this to be the turning point of our season?

We soon managed to put this defeat behind us

when we notched up a superb 32 -7 win against

Hereford Cathedral, yet another team we had

lost to as U.12s. This was then followed by a

sweet 33-5 victory over KE Aston.

Our next game was the hardest of the

season so far as we were searching for our first

ever win over bitter rivals KES. Unfortunately

we lost to them by the narrowest of margins

5 – 7 after some poor conversion and penalty

kicking and a previously disallowed try. Our

finest performance this year was undoubtedly

our 41-0 victory over Camp Hill RUFC. This

showed how when we perform to the best of

our ability we are virtually unstoppable. During

the game, a total of seven people managed to

get their names on the score sheet including for

the first time in two seasons both of our speedy

wingers, Jordan Clarke and Jamie Blakeman.

The next three games, all of which were good

convincing wins, gave us renewed confidence

for our second meeting of the season against

KES. It was a hard match, but our strengths as a

team pulled us through. Some truly astonishing

conversions made by Andrew Stevens lead us to

a fantastic win of 21 – 17.

The season has included superb contributions

from all team members. Firstly the front row led

by Captain Akeel Hussain who seems always

to lead by example, both on and off the pitch.

The Back row made up of Daneer Rahanu, Tom

Pybus and Dominic Fitzgerald also made valuable

contributions and showed great versatility when

asked to swap with, or replace others. Our back

line also performed consistently throughout

the year and strived to reach the best of

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their ability. With a little catching practice for

some and kicking practice for others, this was

achieved with over 300 points being mustered

together over the season. Top point scorers

Jacob Hanvey, Rajan Bhambra and Andrew

Stevens scored over 275 of the team’s points

between them. (44 tries and 35 conversions).

Other members of the squad were Ian Firth,

Pavan Harnal, Sean Miller, Joshua Tibbetts, John

Eraifej, Veer Mann, Ben Amieli, Garen Khaira,

Michael Koppell, Peter Ting, Abbas Merali, Alec

Walmsey and Patrick Murray, all of whom made

a valuable contribution.

We are sure all team members would agree

that the greatest achievement of this year

was winning the Robinson Shield and being

recognised by the school for the effort we have

put in to our games throughout the season. We

would like to say a special and sincere thank you

to Mr Jones on behalf of all the U.13 Rugby team

for the support and exceptional training he has

given to us throughout the season, helping us

to stride forward in all aspects of our game and

as individuals. This has enabled us to complete

a successful season as a team; a success that

we hope we will be able to carry through to next

season.

Akeel Hussein & Jacob Hanvey

U12 Rugby

The U12 Rugby team had a very good season

with some outstanding team and individual

performances. Everyone contributed to a

fantastic season in some way.

The first match of the season was against a

very talented Old Swinford team who seemed to

have a better understanding of the game than

us. They had a lot of possession, and most of

the territory, eventually beating us 55-10. Ben

Smith and John Lutwhiche scored for us.

After a disappointing loss to Leicester

the previous week we were keen to get back

to our best form for our clash against Bishop

Vesey. Unfortunately, we played poorly, and

Mr Hill later correctly described it as our worst

defeat of the season. Our match against Aston

was always going to be tough, but we played

some magical rugby in the end, beating them

convincingly 50-10. Special mention must go to

Robert George who scored a hat trick of tries,

including a brilliant individual effort.

The Schools Cup was always going to be

the biggest test of the season. Luckily we found

ourselves in the easier group with Aston and

Five Ways. Our first match was against Five

Ways and, after a long and tiring game we came

out the victors 5-0. In the next game against

Aston we knew they would be keen to beat us,

as we had beaten them earlier in the season.

But again we had the better of play, and came

out winning 5-0.

In the final we were facing a Fairfax team

who had beaten Bishop Vesey and King Edwards

in the group stages, who had both beaten us

earlier in the season, therefore we were a bit

worried that this might be a one-sided affair.

However, the match was not as one-sided as we

had first thought: after full time it was 5-5, so

we had to play extra-time. In extra-time we had

a lot of good chances, but did not convert any of

them. Then their big centre broke through our

defences, and scored the vital golden try.

It was a shame not to win the cup, but the

team played well throughout, and I would like

to thank Mr Hill and Mr Cookson for helping us

become a really good team.

Oliver Palmer

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1st XI Cr icket

The Cricket season seems to be evermore

affected by the lengthening examination

period. Rarely able to field our best XI, never

able to field the same side twice running,

it is not surprising that performances were

disjointed and results modest. While our batting

was generally quite reliable, our bowling was

inconsistent and we found it difficult to defend

even substantial totals.

It was good to see some loyal 1st XI

players enjoying successful final seasons. Adam

Hickman’s batting was explosive; his destruction

of the King Henry VIII attack –99 off 57 balls

including10 sixes – was awesome, as incidentally

was the 21 ball 58 not out Saad Qureshi scored

against Old Swinford Hospital. Saad opened the

bowling with his usual enthusiasm and benefited

considerably from a decision to sacrifice a little

pace for greater accuracy. Moneeb Riaz was a

very reliable member of the team, one of the

few to keep playing throughout the season. On

the other hand, Viran Palmer appeared in only a

handful of fixtures, robbing us of a very useful

batsman – his 72 against the Old Boys was

impressive - and, potentially, our best bowler.

Owais Habeebullah made a solid contribution

with the bat while Ben Price deservedly made

himself a fixture in the XI.

Encouraging for the future was the form

shown by the Year 11 players. Wasim Mir

and Bupinder Chana are all-rounders of great

promise while we shall expect much of Parminder

Bhomra both as an opening bat and as a spin

bowler.

A final word about Mohammed Abdullah;

he captained the side in the majority of the

games and did well in the role. He made a major

contribution with both bat and ball, his 99 not

out in the victory over Aston being one of the

season’s highlights.

MRS / Mohammed Abdullah

2nd XI Cr icket

The year 2006 has been an entertaining one

for Camp Hill 2nd XI cricket fans across

the globe. Individual performances, resilient

teamwork and above all enjoyment have made

this season a highly memorable one. The facts

are misleading; a won three, lost three record

suggests an average season. However, beneath

this façade lies the truth – we have been a united

team throughout, who have always fought to

the bitter end.

Camp Hill got off to the best possible start –

a win against the highly vaunted King Edward’s

Stratford. The opponents made a respectable

123 for 6 off their allotted 30 overs. However,

lack of match practice was evident, as we gave

away far too many extras. Our batting was also

below par, as we succumbed to 36 for 5. Step in

Captain Ben Price and Kamran Hussain, whose

cool, calm and collected innings of 28 and 21

respectively saw Camp Hill clutch victory from

the jaws of defeat. Ben even had the time to

colour-code the matchbook! A sensible innings

by Danny Du Noyer saw Camp Hill home by

two wickets. In particular, Bhupinder Chana

and Danny bowled excellently, notching up two

wickets each.

The second match of the season was against

the well-fancied Old Swinford Hospital School.

We fought our way to a competitive 156 for 8

off 30 overs. Adeel Najib unfortunately played

his last trademark steady, yet explosive innings

for the 2nds – before a well-deserved promotion

to the 1sts. The experienced Year 13s played

well – Faisal Vanat played the steady role as

he posted 23, along with Oli Wheeler. In direct

contrast, Harjinder Bains smacked 28 (mostly

in boundaries). Shot of the day, and probably

season, went to Mohsin Khan, whose straight

drive over the Old Swinford hedge was a sight

for sore eyes – the man whose eyes were hit

certainly agreed. However, the true star of the

show was Kamran Hussain, who gave us the

greatest individual performance of the season,

(possibly ever). Not only did he compliment

sublime singles with boisterous boundaries on

his way to 41 not out, he decided to be greedy

and took some wickets – not one, not two or

even three … six. His figures of 6 wickets for

only 9 runs single-handedly won the match for

us. The 59 run victory was a morale-boosting

performance for the team, who later thanked

Kamran by picking him up on their shoulders

and parading him around like the World Cup

trophy – Kamran Hussain is still gleaming.

Although we lost against Solihull VI Form,

King Henry’s and Queen Mary’s, possibly due

Cricket

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to exams, there was still an ambience of hope

amongst the players. Extravagant batting from

Umar Farooq and Ian Briggs against Solihull VI

proved to be entertaining. However, man of

the match Ian continued to excel, as he took

4 for 20 to add to his swashbuckling innings of

28 runs. In true all-rounder style, he took two

catches as well.

Against King Henry’s, poor fielding proved to

be our downfall. As the old adage goes, “catches

win matches”, but unfortunately, the sun had its

hat on that day. We started off excellently, with

our first lines of defence - Mobasher Akram and

Razaullah Ahmed -forming a reciprocal-style

opening partnership of 42. Kamran Hussain

again chipped in with a sublime 25, with David

Lee making his long anticipated return to cricket

with a calm and collected 20. Umar Farooq made

a very entertaining 23. Unfortunately, we lost

by 6 wickets, but Razaullah Ahmed’s debut

performance was inspiring, as he notched up

figures of 2 for 6.

Against Queen Mary’s we posted 107 for

8 off 25 overs – a decent score. Although, it

seemed as though there was in inexorable scar

on our batting and at one point our projected

total was 70. However, a flourish of boundaries

from Umar Farooq, in his innings of 25, gave

us a defendable target. Nevertheless, due to

strong opposition batting, we lost by 7 wickets.

Special praise must go to Krishan Odedra, Hasan

Kamal and Bobby Bassi. The former fielded well

and the latter two were deadly accurate. James

Pumphrey yet again showed his considerable

talents as a reliable and athletic wicket keeper,

whilst Mobasher Akram proved to be the true

stabilizing factor during our innings.

Going into the final match against arch-

rivals King Edward’s Aston, we had a 3-2 loss-

win record and were determined to end on

a high. Our 136 for 7 consisted of two main

highlights. Firsty, Razaullah Ahmed played an

aggressive, boundary clad innings of 40. Then,

Josh Kretzmer made his long awaited return to

cricket, showing great maturity in his 29 run

innings. Khurram Tejrar deserves praise for his

continued resilience at cover and Fizaan Anwar

made a pleasing debut at 2nd XI level. Ravi

Davda showed his wide array of skills, as he

wicket-kept extremely well in this match. The

pick of the bowlers was Umar Farooq, with 4

for 34. We were thus able to come together

as a team and win the match. Captain Kamran

Hussain again selflessly batted and bowled for

the team and made the crucial bowling changes

at the right times.

Overall, this team has played excellently.

Deserved thanks must go to Mr Duncan and Mr

Southworth, who have given up their time for

training and matches. Captains Ben Price and

Kamran Hussain have led from the front and

every squad member has played a crucial role.

It is sad to see the Year 13s leave the cricket

squad, but the future is definitely bright, if not

orange. Every player has the ability to progress

to 1st XI level and hopefully we will repeat the

type of team harmony shown this year into

2007.

Kamran Hussain and Umar Farooq

U15 Cricket

Last season was a tough one, with us only

winning one of our five games. We trained

hard and played well in practices, but never

really performed as a unit in the few games we

played. Unfortunately, the poor weather, and

our early exit from the cup competition meant

that we had just five games, and we didn’t really

adjust to the match situation until too late in

the season.

Our first game was against Five Ways,

who batted first and reached 138-5 in their 25

overs. Ross Jones-Morris bowled well and was

unlucky to just pick up one wicket, and Henry

Barber managed 2 wickets for 23 runs from the

five overs he bowled. However the rest of the

bowling was pretty poor and we didn’t pick up

enough wickets to slow their scoring rate down.

Chasing the total, all of our batsmen threw their

wickets away apart from Devinder Panesar who

made 33 runs. We were bowled out for just 66

and lost by 72 runs.

The second game we played was the first

round of the cup. We were unlucky with the

draw and came up against Moseley, a team that

had beaten us in a previous cup final. We made

just 79-5 from 20 overs, which was a pretty

feeble run rate for Moseley to chase down. Atta

Khan scored 21 not out and Nathan Riddell 18

not out. It was always going to be difficult to

prevent Moseley from reaching our total, but we

bowled and fielded very well and it took them

until the 18th over to win, with only 3 wickets

remaining.

Against King Henry VIII we made a good

total of 124 (Henry and Devinder scoring 21

each), but our bowling and fielding was terrible

and we lost by 8 wickets. Against Aston, we

bowled first and kept them to just 114-9 in 25

overs with some good bowling. Gurpreet Ubbey

got 2-38, Ross 2-11 and I took 3-21. 114 was a

total we should have been able to chase down

easily. However, some of our batsmen played

too slowly and we ended up 16 runs short.

The final match of the season saw us up

against Bablake, who had thrashed us the

previous year. Bearing this in mind, it was

a brilliant end to the season to finally get a

win. The top 4 batsmen all played well (apart

from me) and we reached 110 from 20 overs.

Devinder got 35, Devan Raindi 21, and Henry

Barber made 21 not out at the end of our

innings. Our bowling and fielding was excellent,

with every bowler picking up at least one wicket,

and Bablake fell short of our total.

Although it may not have been our best

season, at least we ended on a good note. We

need to improve our batting, which was the

main problem with our performances, and we

could have also been a bit tighter in the field.

Hopefully, next season will be better for us, with

some of the lads pushing for places in the 2nd or

1st XIs.

Phil Terry

U14 Cricket

Emulating the success of the previous year

was always going to be a difficult task but

thanks to great team spirit and, some sensational

cricket at times, we actually excelled ourselves.

Our record speaks for itself: P9 W6 L3, and of

those losses, one was a last ball decider against

Five Ways and another our only poor display of

the season - against Aston.

There were some exceptional matches.

Firstly, against Bablake, when we bowled poorly

and allowed the home side to make a colossal

202-4 off 25 overs. Considering a side had

never made more than 150 against us, you can

understand the enormity of the task. However

thanks to some inspirational words from the

coach and great support from all the boys, we

somehow managed to come through winners

thanks to an amazing, season-high score of 89*

from Harris Hussein and some excellent batting

from Mohammed Asaf, Kaldev Bhogal and Gavin

Bhangal.

Later on in the year we faced Aston in the

Cup semi-final, at the time one of only two teams

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to beat us. Fifty balls later we had dismissed

them for 29, courtesy of a fantastic spell of

bowling from Gavin Bhangal which left him with

a season’s best of 7 wickets for 6 runs.

This win took us to the season finale - the

Bob Willis Trophy final. Yet again we played

Saltley and yet again we finished runners-up.

Off our 30 overs we struggled to 134-5 and the

opposition coasted to an 8 wicket win.

All in all, this was a good season though.

Mo Asaf leading by example and providing

great leadership and batting at the top of the

order. He compiled 177 runs in the process with

Harris Hussein scoring a total of 268 coming in

at number 3. Harris weighed in with 15 wickets

as well and Gavin Bhangal took 19 wickets and

scored 122 runs. Kaldev Bhogal scored 115

runs including 7 sixes and worked well with the

ball. Kasim Mirza took 9 wickets and the rest of

the side – Raj Atkar, Suraj Sisodia, Alex Taylor,

James Rogers, Joht Chandan and Nathan Brown

– all made good contributions.

Thanks must go to Mr Bettison for showing

remarkable powers of inspiration, coaching and

patience. Thanks must also go to Mr Tranter for

his work with the squad and to all the parents

who supported us at the matches. Hopefully

next season we can progress even further and

perhaps even finally beat Saltley!

Alexander Taylor

U13 Cricket

The under 13’s season got off to a shaky

start, up against KE Five Ways. Last year

Camp Hill cruised to an easy victory, but this

year Five Ways did not go down without a fight.

Sadly we did not show any sign of consistency

and aggression and lost out because of this.

Camp Hill fought well but lost the game by 7

wickets. This result did not hold us back, with

the next fixture against Broadway coming up

Camp Hill held their heads up and were ready.

Captain Akeel Hussain led the side out to bowl

first. Good bowling spells from Michael Koppell

and Rajan Bhambra meant that we bowled them

all out for 94. We then dominated the batting

until a few wickets fell in the middle order. On 70

for 9 it was up to the tail enders. Everybody was

on the edge of their seats as the match was nail

bitingly close. The last two batsmen survived the

overs making the same total as the opposition.

Camp Hill won by losing fewer wickets with just

one wicket separating both teams.

Next up was Bishop Vesey, all rounder

Andrew Stevens played with both bat and

ball, but we lost out losing by 8 runs. The next

fixture was against King Henry’s. We played

poorly last year losing by 66 runs. There was

no improvement this time around as the score

was yet again a loss by 66 runs. Winning just

1 out of 4 matches did not feel very good. The

season was coming to an end with two fixtures

left to play. It was KE Aston next and Mr.

Duncan gave one of his inspiring speeches to

inject some hope into the team. The batting and

bowling of the team was good enough for a win.

Opening batsmen’s wickets were cheaply taken

but a contribution of 37 from our highest scoring

batsman Tom Hollywood was enough to book

us a victory. Bablake was the final game of the

season for us which was another close match but

Bablake clinched the victory over us in the final

crucial overs of the match. Not a lot of victories

for Camp Hill but the team enjoyed playing even

though they lost some matches. We would like

to thank Mr Duncan for his support and coaching

and don’t you think he should give one of those

inspiring speeches more often!

Akeel Hussain

U12 Cricket

Cricket was one of the last sporting events

of the school year. Year 7 had already

performed well in sports such as: rugby, cross-

country and athletics. So the cricket team had a

lot to live up to.

The season started off well with a match

opposing King Edwards Five Ways at home.

They posted a defendable total of 85 for 9 off

their allotted 20 overs, with Aman Sahota taking

4-20 off 4 overs. Camp Hill started off their

innings shakily with Chris Curtis, Sukhvir Lyall

and Adam Khan getting out cheaply. However,

Alex Weir andAsim Shoaib steadied the ship with

a partnership of 59. In the end Camp Hill cruised

home with six wickets to spare, with Asim top

scoring with 41 not out.

The next match was against King Henry’s.

They narrowly beat us at rugby, so we were

eager to show them what we could do. They

scored 110 all out, with Adam the pick of the

bowlers taking 3-12. We had to go at 5.5 runs

an over from the start to keep up with the rate.

Everyone scored at a good rate with Asim scoring

26, however Robert George scored a useful 10

not out to see us home.

Our next match was against Five Ways,

but this time it was in a cup match. We had

already beaten them once so they were looking

for revenge. They got off to the worst possible

start losing three wickets in quick succession.

However, they pulled back with one of their

players scoring 51*. Asim finished up with 3-

10. They finished off on 104 for 5, which was

an improvement from their previous effort.

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Fortunately for us we got off to a good start,

with Chris and Asim having an opening stand of

84. However, when Chris departed Alex carried

it on and helped guide us on for another win.

Luckily for me I finished up on 74* which, in

actual fact, was a new school record.

We were now on a role as we had won three

out of three games. Queen Mary’s now were the

next victim of our wrath. We posted a decent

134-5 with Alex making a solid 25. Half the job

done, now all we needed to do was bowl them

out. We skittled through their batsmen with

Aman taking 2-15. They ended up on 85-8.

Our next opponents were Saltley in the third

round of the cup. Cup matches had brought out

the best of us as we batted first and posted a

formidable 112 off 20 overs. With Robert getting

a valuable 26 when we were under pressure.

They were going to have to do well if they

were going to surpass our total. This proved

so as we ran through their batting line-up, with

them finishing on 76. Adam and Milan were the

main bowlers who destroyed their middle order,

backed up by some excellent fielding.

Our next two matches were disappointing

for our standards as we lost both of them. The

two matches were against Aston and Bablake.

The first against Aston was a poor bowling

performance as we conceded 117 runs for no

wicket. The batting didn’t start off to well as we

lost early wickets. Chris stuck around and made

39. Bablake were next and we were let down by

not making enough partnerships. We managed

122 off 25 overs. There was good knock from

Oliver Palmer, 37, and some selfless batting

from Bassit Malik. Our opponents knocked

off the runs with ease, owever, and won by 5

wickets.

The last two matches of the season were

the semi-final and the final. We played Small

Heath in the semi. They batted first and scored

107-9, with Alex bowling tight in the last few

stages taking 2-5. We started off shakily with

a few loose shots, but we kept our nerve and

glided to a ten wicket victory with Asim scoring

62*. Next stop was the Final, which was against

our bitter rivals Aston. They batted first on a

scorching day and scored an impressive 167-5.

This was going to be a tough ask, however we

stuck at the task well and built partnerships. In

the end we sailed home with overs to spare with

Asim scoring 111* off 76 balls. This was a great

end to the season - winning the cup and beating

our rivals.

I would like to thank everyone who

participated: C. Curtis, A. Weir, S. Lyall, O.

Palmer, R. George, M. Vashi, A. Khan and A.

Sahota. There were extra contributions from;

B. Malik, M. Sabharwal, D.Warren, K. Ahmed,

J. O’Donnell, A. Hsu and L. P. Cairns. Finally, I

have to say a big thanks to Mr. Tranter and Mr.

Duncan.

Asim Shoaib

1st XI Hockey

Another winter over, and another season of

mediocrity for our hockey players. Despite some

obvious promise, we did not always convert

potential into points. Petros Mylonas has been

solid in goal, as has Abul “Babs” Abdullah with

me at the heart of defence, whilst new signing

Aamer Chaudry and captain Matt Lee have had

flair and initiative in the middle. Matt Lee’s

enthusiasm and effort will be missed next year

as Aamer and I take over the team.

That is not to say the season has been an

entire ‘flop’; far from it. We held out for 90% of

the match against KES and gained a convincing

victory against Adam’s Grammar, not to mention

the hard fought contest against Solihull Sixth

Form. There was a definite improvement in

individual skill and teamwork as the season

progressed, which bodes well for the future as

the team became gradually more secure.

Goals were initially scarce, but eventually

top scorer Tom Beardmore increased the team’s

stats (which also included a sublime nutmeg

from Ross Kenny).

The team’s lack of success is no indication of

Mr Southworth’s ever present optimism; always

ready with a smile, a helpful comment and a

biased decision. Something may need to change

within the school’s attitude towards hockey,

though, if we are to stand up to increasing

competition. Let’s hope the sports hall’s new

indoor pitch helps!

Isaac Ghinai

Ho ckey

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2nd XI Hockey

After losing the majority

of last year’s team, it

was with much trepidation

that the season began. We

did not start too brightly with

a 2-2 draw against a weak

KES team and a 3-0 defeat to

Bablake. However, following a

3-0 win over King Henry’s the

signs were promising, with

the new members of the team

excelling. Bhupinder Chana

netted twice, whilst Kulveer

Rooprai was particularly

impressive in defence. The

team continued to improve

in the coming games, losing

narrowly twice, but playing

well and suffering bad luck in

both games. We then turned

our good form into results

with a 3-0 win against KES,

and a good victory against Old

Swinford. By this stage of the

season the team was playing

its best hockey, with a largely unchanged side

performing well together. The autumn term

ended well with a 2-0 loss to a strong Solihull

team. The signs were good for a successful

spring term.

Unfortunately the spring term could not have

had a worse start, losing 5-2 to KE Aston. This

defeat was the start of a 6 game losing streak

that lasted until the final game of the season.

The team looked to have turned the corner

against a strong Bishop Vesey side, leading 2

-1 after 5 minutes of the second half. However,

despite a series of saves from Kevin Tonry in

goal the match finished in a 4-2 defeat. Our run

of losses finally ended with victory over King

Henry’s in our last match of the season.

Despite a poor run of results after Christmas

the team can look forward to a strong season

next year. With the majority of the squad

remaining in the second team there is reason to

be optimistic about the team’s future.

Special praise must go to the only member

of the party to be leaving; James Audley. Playing

either in central midfield or in the centre of the

defence, his performances were consistently

of a high quality, helping to guide the younger

members of the team.

Those who remain must look forward to

next season after undoubtedly improving their

hockey. Kevin Tonry had a solid season in goal,

producing a series of stunning saves, whilst

rarely putting a foot wrong. Joe Sheldrick led

the team well from the back and together with

Priyank Parikh, Kulveer Rooprai and William

Ramsay formed, at times, an impressive

defensive unit. All three have improved over

the season thanks to increased confidence and

experience. Neelesh Mohan played the central

holding role in the effectively and formed an

impressive partnership with Hassan Kamal, who

finished the season with 4 goals from midfield.

Parin Solanki was a constant threat from the left,

often finding his way through the opposition’s

defence. Nadeem Sidique was similarly attack

minded down the right, always looking to

support the forwards. Our four man strike force

was led by Bhupinder Chana, who finished top

scorer with 5. Danny Rodwell with 4, Edward

Robinson with 3 and Chris Baker with a couple

of goals were also effective in their own ways,

with all three providing a valuable contribution

to the goals scored column.

Joe Sheldrick

U15 Hockey

The season began well with a convincing

5-0 win against Aston, and throughout

the year the team demonstrated many strong

performances against other determined

competitors, including a 1-1 draw against

Bablake. However we did fall to narrow defeats

against well experienced teams such as KES and

Queen Mary’s. These were shortly followed by a

fantastic 7-0 triumph over Old Swinford Hospital

School. All of the players performed exceedingly

well, however special mention must go to Daniel

Tierney, Devan Raindi and Leo Kretzmer, who

were solid in attacking positions and produced

many goals throughout the season. Greg Evans,

Jasdev Bhogal and Nick Watson also played

well as they performed their role in midfield.

The season ended with another convincing win

against St. Bees. Overall, the team performed

remarkably, playing solidly throughout, making

it a successful season.

Jasdev Singh Bhogal

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CHB_chronicle.indd 48 8/11/06 11:01:07

U14 Hockey

This season, only five of the ten scheduled

games were played, mainly due to adverse

weather conditions. The fact that the minibus

broke down in the fast lane of the M42 on the

way to Coventry didn’t help either!

The year was a little disappointing for the

players, not registering a win, but there were

promising signs with a 1-1 draw against Bishop

Vesey in the first game of the season. Some

tough matches later on saw only one further

goal scored and 11 conceded, however there is

clearly enough talent to work with in the future.

The team will hope to gain some form and

win matches in the upcoming year – hopefully

scoring more goals than just the one apiece

from Arun Verma and Jacob Plummer.

James Rogers

Despite a short term and consequently

few matches, Camp Hill Athletics team

has achieved some extraordinary results. The

matches got off to a flying start with the Senior

teams placing 2nd in the Foundation match to KES.

This equalled our best result in this competition

and was partly due to the enthusiasm of many

who have not regularly participated in the past.

The more notable successes in the Sixth Form

team were Jonathan Harding in hurdles, Jared

Warmington in 100m, Matthew Webster in 200m

Robert Obeng-Manu in long jump. For the Year

11s Joshua Olomolaiye and Ben Simon in both

sprint events, Chris Grant in hurdles and Kyle

Johnson in the shot were all victorious.

The second week of competition saw boys

from all 7 years competing over the course of

3 days. The two older teams struggled against

KES and Solihull; however the younger teams,

in the Foundation match, more than made up for

this. With a depleted team the year 10s came

3rd behind KES and K E Aston. Callum Miller

and Cameron Fraser both won their events. The

combined Year 8 and 9 team, following on from

their triumphs last year, won their age group by

just 3 points, 47 to 44. First positions included

Gavin Bhangal, Bradley Orford-Hall, Nick West

and Damien Bishop. Although Damien ran the

fastest time for any athlete, at any age this year

in the 100m, he missed most of the season due

to illness and injury. One of the highlights of the

summer however was the first outing of the Year

7 team. There had been some promise during

training sessions but they really performed from

the outset. No less than 8 performances out of

13 events attained 1st place and the majority

were won by a significant margin. Hurdling is

possibly the most technical event, yet Chris

Williams has mastered the basics remarkably

quickly. A time of 12.94s winning by 1.35s is the

fastest for many years. Josh Distin, Ben Smith,

Athletics

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CHB_chronicle.indd 49 8/11/06 11:01:08

Robert George, John Lutwyche and Ankit Bhatt all came

first, some in 2 events! Assuredly they won their age

group but the outstanding margin ensured that the final

total was Five Ways 90 points, K E Aston 100, KES 137

and Camp Hill winners with 140. A feat not achieved by

Camp Hill athletes for at least 20 years!

The next match was the English Schools’ Cup where

each athlete had to compete in 2 events. The event,

which is normally an enjoyable affair, was competed

in possibly the worst weather ever experienced for a

summer activity. Hostile conditions with no cover for

athletes or spectators meant that performances were

below expectations. Despite this the Intermediate team

came 1st and the Juniors 4th . Since this was a points

system, highest scorers were Dorian John 32, Billy Welch

31, Andrew Stevens 36, Jamie Blakeman 38 and Jacob

Hanvey 39. Both teams qualified for the next round but

sadly this coincided with exams and the Year 8 residential

in Prestatyn.

The following day the Junior teams competed again,

but this time against Solihull, KE Aston and Arden.

Unfortunately, a Year 9 Cricket Cup match was taking

place on the same day, so again the Year 9 team were

depleted and consequently came 4th. Appreciation must

go, however, to those who turned out at the last minute.

Awesome performances from Robert George in both

800m and 1500m, and John Lutwyche in 200m and triple

jump helped the Year 7s secure 1st place. The Year 8s

came 2nd with firsts from Jamie Blakeman and Andrew

Stevens. Despite only one first place in Year 10, from

Cameron Fraser, the team achieved a creditable 2nd

which resulted in a tight finish overall. Solihull won easily

but Camp Hill sneaked into 2nd place beating Arden by

just 3 points, 451 to 448!

The match which we host is always another high

point of the term, due mainly to the efficient organisation

of Mr Duncan and the expertise and enthusiasm of the

staff who act as marshals, time keepers and field judges.

Outstanding performances from many already mentioned

as well as Josh O’Donnell helped the school win outright,

beating worthy competition such as Fairfax, Arden, KE

Stratford, KE Five Ways, Handsworth and Kings Norton.

The West Midlands Championships offer our most

talented individuals the chance of competing against the

best in the region, therefore congratulations must go to

the following for qualifying: Kaldev Bhogal, Gavin Bhangal,

Josh Jacobs, Bradley Orford-Hall, Rajan Bhambra, Jacob

Hanvey, and Jamie Blakeman. Jacob and Jamie placed

2nd and 3rd in the Hurdles, Gavin came third in Shot for

the second time, and Kaldev won his Triple Jump with a

PB of 11.86m to become West Midland Champion. Gavin

and Kaldev were selected to compete for the county in

the Mason Trophy, and placed a very impressive 3rd and

4th respectively.

In the final match, again against Solihull and

Handsworth, we fielded our strongest teams and, despite

having to compete on grass, finished the term in true

style. The Year 10s came 2nd, whilst all the other age

groups won. The final total score was 621, Solihull 616

and Handsworth 306. Again many thanks to those boys

who stepped in at the last moment to help clinch those

vital 5 points!

To beat Solihull is considerable, yet the pinnacle

result of the season was definitely the victory over KES.

Congratulations to all athletes for their endeavours in

achieving what is possibly the most successful season on

record!

Robert Obeng-Manu

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Despite this, the team played with great

passion and the results do little to reflect the

resolve displayed by the whole team. Arob Bol-

Deng (Centre) showed strong defensive play

whilst also netting 59 points in total. Parminder

Bhomra was a constant danger in attack, with

fast breaks and piercing drives towards the

basket, making 49 points in the 7 games. Speedy

play from James Li also made an impact on the

scoreboards, with 19 points. Guards Hassan

Kamal, Hesan Choudhury, Neelesh Mohan and

Chris Wallace did an excellent job controlling the

flow of play during offence, with great vision and

sharp passing.

Much praise must be given, however, to

Cameron Fraser, whose astuteness under the

basket has earned the team 76 points, making

him the top scorer – a feat made all the more

impressive considering that he is only in Year

10. This indeed bodes very well for Camp Hill’s

prospects next year, as the likes of Cameron

and Aaron Suen can hopefully build on the

experience gained this season.

Arob Bol-Deng

U14 Basketbal l

Taking over from last year’s all-conquering

U14s was never going to be easy, however

over a few months our team developed into a

ruthlessly efficient and skilled basketball unit

under the eye of Coach Duncan. In all it was

quite a successful season and we were unlucky

not to progress further.

The 2005/06 season started off with a harsh

reality as we failed to take our chances and

succumbed to a 25-34 loss to Bishop Challoner.

However from there our season really took off,

especially with the new recruits Gavin Bhangal,

Cameron MacInnes and Damien Bishop aiding

our cause. In the next match we comfortably

beat Kings Heath 48-14, including a ‘full house’

and 16 points from Kaldev Bhogal. But it was

‘Big’ Tao-Scott Thompson’s four points that

really provided the fireworks. From there we

strung together another three victories in a row,

including a 61-14 victory against Wheelers Lane,

with 24 points from Alex Taylor, who was always

a constant scorer throughout the season.

The season somewhat petered out after that

with a narrow loss to Lordswood and a heavy

defeat to a very talented Aston Manor side. With

these losses we just missed out on the play-

offs. But in all the season was a success with 4

victories out of 7 and a 279-225 scoring record.

It finished with Alex Taylor as top scorer on 119

points (combining with Kaldev Bhogal to score

70% of the team’s points this season), although

a lot of this stemmed from good work from the

likes of Jayven Athwal, Suraj Sisodia and Gavin

Bhangal at the back. Kaldev Bhogal epitomised

the spirit of the team with driving runs and

useful points, scoring 74 in the end. Kasim Mirza

also flourished towards the end and netted 24

points. James Rogers, Bhavesh Patel, Damien

Bishop, Tao-Scott Thompson and Cameron

MacInnes also made good contributions to the

team. However, most of all we must thank Mr

Duncan for his wise and encouraging words and

coaching.

Hopefully next season some of the players

can take their experience from this year and use

it for an even more successful one in the U16s.

Kaldev Bhogal

B asketball

U16 Basketbal l

It was a real delight to discover

that there would be no seeding

involved in the U16 league this

year!! Instead of a separate

‘Premiership’ league of nationally

renowned Birmingham School

teams, they were to be divided

amongst the rest of us, to whom

basketball comes as a recreational

and fun activity! There have,

therefore, been some variable

results.

The team consisted of a healthy

blend of Year 10 and 11 pupils.

Against schools of similar ability

to ours, we have lost narrowly;

31-34 to Ninestiles and 33-40 to

Kings Heath. In hindsight, this was

mainly due to the poor choice of

defensive strategy employed by the

coach. The first serious encounter

was against the formidable Aston

Manor and a heavy defeat, which

need not be recorded, was the

unenviable experience. Therefore going into

the last match of the term against a team

which beat Aston Manor by 15 points may

not an experience which filled all with great

confidence…into the lion’s den etc. However

an invitation to play KES away a long bench

(this means lots of players!) and so were fresh

on court. The second, and more vital, one was

that Arob Bol-Deng committed his fifth foul and

was therefore fouled out. This wasn’t his fault

as he had played with unbridled determination

throughout and deserved only praise for his

contribution. The final score was 47-64 yet

all the players warrant congratulations for not

only dazzling individual play but also for an

outstanding team performance.

In the second term, the team came

agonisingly close to a win against Yardleys. A

shaky start left us trailing in points for most of

the match but the team battled back, showing

considerable determination, and reduced the

deficit to a single point. We could not, however,

find the net in the ensuing final frantic moments

of the game and were defeated 32-31.

The penultimate match against Wheelers

Lane proved an even better opportunity for a

win. After a strong start our opponents managed

to slowly claw their way back into the game,

thanks to some complacency on our part and

an unlikely 3-pointer, bringing them level at 23-

23. We once again found ourselves desperate

for the basket and our attempts were again

to no avail. Frustratingly the overtime session

sought by both sides was denied due to time

constraints and so Camp Hill had to continue

in search of the elusive win. There was no such

luck however in the final match which resulted

in a 48-28 loss to Lordswood.

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We started the year off with our individual

competition, which helps me select teams

and acts as the qualifying round for the Megafinal.

This year it attracted just under 100 entries,

and the crunch match turned out to be between

Callum Gordon and Aled Walker, with Callum

winning it to retain his school championship.

We also started our usual Year 7 ladder, which

this year attracted 57 entrants. As ever, some

boys come, join, and are then never seen again;

others obviously employ solicitors to advise

them on the finer points of the rules, and try to

develop the black art of winning by default. The

idea is, of course, to play chess against worthy

opponents, and we do appear to be developing

some talent for the future. In this we have been

assisted enormously by Bob Walker, who gave

up many Friday lunchtimes, rugby permitting, to

come in and train our promising young players.

Chess

had to be combined with the Championship.

We proceeded to lose to K.E.S. 2½:3½ in a

disappointing first outing, which lost us the

Premiership, as no other school was ever likely to

beat K.E.S. We had little difficulty in winning the

Championship and Leagues 1 and 2, however,

while our smaller chess players came second to

K.E.S. in both their leagues. Full results can be

found at www.brumjuniorchess.co.uk. We beat

Solihull School 6:0 in the first round of the BCF

national trophy, but were then drawn against

Nottingham High School, so that was that.

In November, we again tried to win the

Warwickshire Schools Trophy by sheer force of

numbers, but failed, with none of our immense

band of Year 7 players managing to score more

than 3/6. The following Saturday, we held our

annual Under 18 tournament at Camp Hill.

This was the morning after the junior drama

production, and the cast deserve our thanks

for helping to move the furniture for us. The

tournament, controlled by Councillor T. Huxtable,

proved to be rather more interesting than usual.

One school withdrew both their teams after

their captain berated the controller. Another

school’s team manager berated the controller

for a random draw he had made. Meanwhile,

we retained Best in Birmingham quite easily,

but even Nottingham High School had to yield

to the irresistible force of Haberdashers’ Aske’s

(apostrophes correct, I hope). Board Prizes were

introduced, and Haberdashers’ won Boards 5, 6,

7 and 8, which amply illustrates their strength

in depth. Callum Gordon won the Best Board 1,

though. In January, we produced a team of keen

young players for the Under 12 tournament

which we also hosted, and they ended the first

round in the lead, but sadly K.E.S. won eight

out of eight in the second round to take an

easy outright victory, with Camp Hill in second

place. Then, in March, eleven Under 14 players

competed in a tournament at Solihull School.

We beat Solihull School 7-1, and then lost by

the same score to Nottingham A. We then drew

4-4 with K.E.S., which I thought was a good

result. The draw then gave us St. Olave’s A, to

whom we lost 5-3, and Torquay Boys’ Grammar

School B, who we beat 7-1. At the same time,

Torquay Boys’ Grammar School A were battling

with K.E.S. and the result of the last game

decided the destination of the Members’ Trophy.

Being a former member of staff at Torquay Boys’

Grammar School, I felt justified in willing them

on, but it was K.E.S. who won. Marvin Miu got

our highest score of the day, with 4/5.

Then there was the Closed Quickplay. Regular

players in the Premiership and the Championship

are barred, so an enormous advantage is given

to schools who only enter teams in the lower

divisions: our Board 13 is playing their Board

1. At least, I think that was Chris Narrayen’s

excuse, but he and the other joint captain, Tom

Hall, did win one point between them. The other

members of the team actually did quite well, but

at one stage it looked like we were about to wring

defeat from the jaws of victory. Fortunately this

did not quite happen, and we managed to bring

the trophy back to school again.

House Chess ran true to form, but only just.

Our professional help, Nick Thomas, has also

given tremendous assistance by tutoring some

of our middle-aged players.

Our first tournament of the term was the

“Invitational”, held at Solihull School in late

September. Unfortunately, Nottingham High

School were present, and easily regained the

trophy that they lost to us last year by carelessly

forgetting to come. We did come second, though,

and Callum Gordon and Nathan Brown won both

their games. We did not go to Millfield this year,

mainly because I was busy riding elephants in

northern Thailand, but we shall return in 2006.

The Birmingham and District Junior Chess

League faces an almost continual crisis, with

staff retiring on a yearly basis and not being

replaced, and yet it lurches on. Our first team

played in the equivalent of the Premiership, but

there were only three teams, so this division

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Great success was achieved by

Camp Hill runners in the South

Birmingham Schools Cross-Country

Championships in the autumn

term. The Year 7s in their first

competition placed an encouraging

fourth. Even more exciting was the

discovery that we have acquired a

remarkable talent. Robert George

ran superbly to come in second

place and Ross Mackie impressed

also in 14th. The combined Year 8

and 9 results positioned us second

with outstanding displays from

Josh Jacobs (4th), Anthony Wood

(9th), Vinson Yeung (10th) and

Nathan Brown (13th). However,

this triumph was surpassed by

the Year 10 and 11 team. Callum

Miller, running in the younger age

band, amazingly came 2nd overall,

Duncan Hodgetts placed 5th, Daniel

Tierney 9th and Alex Evans 11th. It

therefore comes as no surprise that

they won their age group outright.

All the boys above qualified for the

South Birmingham team in the West Midland

Trials in October. From this competition, Robert

and Callum qualified for the West Midland team

itself and have represented the county against

athletes from the rest of the country. In one

race, held in Stoke-on-Trent, Robert finished

10th and Callum 49th.

Nine schools, fielding a total of 22 teams,

participated in the Greater Birmingham Schools

Cross Country Championships, held here at Camp

Hill on 30th March. The event was successfully

organised by the 6th form Sports Leadership

group. The school achieved their best results

since this competition started. The Year 7 team,

led by captain Robert George, finished second.

Scoring runners included Nikesh Parmar (10th)

and Josh Distin (9th), whilst Josh O’Donnell

(3rd) and Robert (2nd ) received deserved

medals for outstanding individual performances.

The Under 14 team found the pace demanding

yet they too placed second. Kaldev Bhogal, an

outstanding track and field athlete, came in 3rd

place with Nathan Brown 10th, Josh Jacobs 13th

and Vinson Yeung 14th. The Year 10 and 11

team continued where they left off the previous

term and won again. No pupil from Camp Hill,

however, had ever placed 1st at any level in this

championship. In the final race Callum Miller

and a Fairfax runner were together, well ahead

of the rest of the field. Callum sensibly allowed

his opponent to set the pace and followed on his

heels. This continued for 2 laps yet early into

the final lap, Callum sensed an opportunity and

kicked hard. His opponent responded but Callum,

who has been working hard in sprinting on the

track recently, maintained his pace and forged

ahead. The result was a certainty - Callum won

comfortably. Andrew Hodgetts, with a pleasantly

surprising effort, was 4th, Alex Evans 5th and

Duncan Hodgetts 6th. Cross-Country running is

by far the most demanding activity of any school

sport as it takes not only ability but courage

and great character to participate. Others who

took part deserve congratulations for facing

the challenge and in many cases achieving a

personal best. They were Ross Mackie, John

Lutwyche, Jamie Taylor, Chris Williams, Patrick

Murray, Anthony Wood, Rajan Bhambra, Max

Harrison and Dorian John.

Callum Miller

Cross Countr y

The new format does appear to be working better,

and plenty of serious chess was played. Howard,

who eventually finished fourth, unexpectedly

ran Seymour very close in the last match. Tudor

were second.

We could not defend our impressive-

sounding Under 14 National Schools Trophy,

because the tournament this year fell during

“Sacred Week” when pupils had to be in school

for examination post-mortems. And we did not

host the Megafinal this year, mainly because

I was fed up with the school being filled with

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Camp Hill Boys Chronicle Page 54

litter: instead we were invited to a bewildering

variety of Megafinals in such places as Leek and

Worcester. Most Camp Hill boys decided to go

to Worcester, and did very well. Santhosh Karri

travelled there from Derby.

And now, the really bad news: we say

goodbye this year to so many good players, that

I fear we shall have to enter what Torquay Boys’

Grammar School called a “rebuilding” period

for a while. Callum Gordon and Andrew Moxley

have been fixtures in school chess for such a

long time, it really is difficult to imagine a first

team without them. Indeed, a cherubic Moxley

is looking down on me as I type this at home,

from a framed picture (“Millfield Chess Team

1999”) given to me by the class of 2000. Also

James Hall, Tom Hall, James Howley and Chris

Narrayen are moving on. I shall miss them all,

but let’s end on a high: Callum Gordon was

selected to play chess for England during the

summer.

AMR

We are the interesting bunch

who meet in the gym every

Wednesday after school to don

plastron and mask, and demonstrate

our prowess with swords. Most of us

are grade 3 Sabre, having achieved

our grades in quick consecutive

succession – that is Duncan Hardy,

Uwais Ilyas, Shamas Ilyas, Andrew

Southon, Peter Berry, Thomas

Brooks, Aaron Pereira, James Dow

and Benedict Hardy.

After the delightfully challenging

West Midlands qualifiers on a Sunday

in October, one of our number,

Jordan Daniels, beat off considerable

competition, which included a former

England player, coming third to

qualify for the semi-finals in the

senior category. The rest of us had

very good fights against opponents

from various schools.

CHB_chronicle.indd 54 8/11/06 11:01:17

Fo otball

Fencing

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Camp Hill Boys Chronicle Page 55

Another competition the week after

saw James Dow, Andrew Southon and

Peter Berry as first, second and third

respectively in the sabreurs’ category.

A change in safety regulations

after the international conference

in Dubai 2006 meant that, despite

the introduction of compulsory knee

breeches and new underplastrons,

we were able to fence using electrical

equipment more and more often, which

involved at least 4 layers of clothing,

one of them metal!

Overall, the year has been relatively

productive, with its fair share of

surprise victories and, inevitably,

defeats; we look forward to using our

British Fencing Association card more

often in years to come!

Aaron Pereira

1st XI Footbal l

With a new season ready to kick off

and the team spirit greater than ever,

coaches Mr Garrod and Mr Speake led the way

to a potentially successful year. Our campaign

began with a journey to Coleshill, where Oliver

Wheeler heroically made a goal-line clearance

early on in the game, followed by two goals in

quick succession from the opposition. However

debutant Chetan Mistry looked sharp after

taking the ball around the keeper and slotting it

into the back of the net. Half time found Camp

Hill 3-1 down but the Captain, Nida Khan, led

the way with a corner resulting in an own goal.

Although Oliver Wheeler put in a magnificent

display, any hope of a come back was taken

from our grasp by a late Coleshill goal, resulting

in a 4-2 defeat.

Following encouraging

debut performances by

Faisal Vanat, Chris Dowling,

Khurram Tejrar, Omar Khan,

Jarred Warmington, Scott

Fennell and Shane Khaki,

we were hopeful for our first

win of the season against

Bishop Challoners. How

wrong we were. In the first

half we remained strong,

but still managed to enter

the second half trailing 3-0.

From here on poor defending

and low team morale led to

goalkeeper Scott Fennell

leaving the pitch with a back

injury, having had to collect

the ball out of the back of the net another six

times.

Still in search of our first win, Camp Hill

played the best half of the season so far at Old

Swinford, with goals courtesy of an accurate

finish from Nida Khan and an overhead kick from

Kieran Maher. Camp Hill held out for most of the

second half but conceded one just 15 minutes

from time. Whether it was a stroke of luck, or

a stroke of the hand, a debatable goal by Old

Swinford with less than a minute from full-time

pulled it back to finish the match 2-2, with Omar

Khan being awarded man of the match. We

thought this would be our turning point of the

season, from which we would start to produce

the results we knew we were capable of.

The New Year looked promising as Nida Kahn

eventually got a shot away putting us 1-0 up

against Kings Worcester. However, due to lack

of organisation the team failed to hold on, with

the match finishing 3-1. The best chance of the

game fell to debutant Ali Megjee, who somehow

missed the goal from only four yards out.

Both Mr Garrod and Mr Speake continued

to work with us and training sessions allowed

the team to gel; as a result the passion and

commitment within the team remained strong.

Our next victims were Kings Norton Boys,

but our physical presence

couldn’t quite match the

opposition’s, and we were

consequently muscled out of

any chance of a victory. The

final score was an undeserved

4-0. The penultimate match

was against Old Swinford, giving

us another chance to grab the

win we should have taken from

our last meeting. No doubt

the worst performance of the

season, but nevertheless Kazim

Noormohamed offered a late

consolation in a match ending

7-1.

In the final match of the

season and the last opportunity

to get that elusive first win, Camp Hill gave

everything they had. After going down 1-0, Nida

Khan and Omar Khan fired in a goal each to make

it 2-1, however a harsh penalty decision meant

it was 2-2 at the break. The second half took a

turn for the worse, summing up our season as a

whole. With Camp Hill reduced to 9 men through

injury, Worcester took advantage, scoring 3 late

goals, leaving Camp Hill with a very unfortunate

5-2 defeat.

It was good to see a mixture of Lower and

Upper Sixth playing regularly in the first team,

showing healthy competition for all positions

and getting the best out of our players. Despite

the results, the entire Camp Hill football team

showed phenomenal character not just on, but

off the pitch as well, and that is something

that we can all take pride from. It has been an

enjoyable season, with consistent performances

from Oliver Wheeler, Scott Fennell, Kieran

Maher, Lewis Bishop, Kazim Noormohamed and

Nida Khan.

Chetan Mistry

2nd XI Footbal l

It was a season of few games and even fewer

wins for the 2nd XI this year, with just 4

fixtures against Bishop Challoner, Old Swinford

(twice) and Kings Worcester.

Our opening match on October 12th saw us

taking on Bishop Challoner. As this was our first

outing of the season, and the majority of players

were new to the team, we struggled to get going

and were comfortably beaten 6-1, our only goal

coming from one of the opposition players.

Much more promising was our performance

in our first match against Old Swinford on 9th

November. In this 8 goal thriller, the team began

strongly, but we found ourselves 2-0 down

going in at half time. In the 2nd half we went

a further goal behind before deservedly pulling

one back through Islam Issa. However, Old

Swinford continued to attack and were soon 5-1

up, but a free kick from Ben Price and a penalty

by Khurram Tejrar brought that back to 5-3,

CHB_chronicle.indd 55 8/11/06 11:01:18

before our spirited comeback was halted by the

final whistle. Overall, it was a much improved

performance from the whole team, but especially

man of the match Jack O’Mahoney.

8th February saw us looking to avenge that

defeat against Old Swinford. In another thrilling

encounter, we again attacked well and were

rewarded with a goal through Khurram Tejrar.

Despite Sailesh Mistry clearing a shot off the

line, we eventually conceded and went in level

at half time. In the second half, great build up

allowed Daniel Cottam to finish from close range

performance was not at the same level as in the

previous game, the defence being caught out

on a number of set pieces, and we eventually

finished on the wrong end of a 6-0 score line.

So, one win out of four, but there were still

many positives to be had from this season.

The emergence of a number of Lower Sixth

players means that hopefully our teams this

coming season will be able to improve on these

performances, and in any case, the 2nd XI did

manage to win a match, which is more than can

be said for the 1st XI.

Daniel CottamSp

or

t

Tennis

S enior Tennis

The following boys represented the school in

the Autumn term Senior Students League;

Nick Barker, Isaac Ghinai, Tom Beardmore,

Andrew Hodgetts, Jack Mao, Fergus Morris and

Matthew Chan. Unfortunately, the team failed

to win a match against some good teams in the

Birmingham area.

The Senior Team’s summer season consisted

of only one match. In the Glanville Cup, we were

drawn against a strong Tettenhall College Team

and made an early exit from the competition.

Most of the team will be available next year and

these players, combined with some strong Year

11 players coming through, should lead to a more

successful Autumn term league programme.

U15 Tennis

The U.15 ‘A’ team comprising of Cameron

Fraser & Stefan Harries of Year 10 and

Cameron Macinnes & James Rogers of Year 9,

have had a very successful league programme

in which they beat KE Aston 6-1 and Kings

Norton 6-0. Special mention must go to the

two Camerons who were unbeaten in all their

singles and doubles matches. Unfortunately,

the team’s first match proved to be the league

decider against KES. Although Camp Hill drew

the match, league points were decided on the

number of games won and we lost out 25-26.

We have subsequently learned that due to KES

not completing their league programme, Camp

Hill will go through as league winners and will

now represent the Birmingham area in the next

stage of the competition. Cameron Macinnes &

James Rogers together with Sean Miller & Tony

Song of Year 8 represented the school in the

Warwickshire Doubles and gained runners up

spot after losing to Arthur Terry.

The U.15 ‘B’ team comprising of Mikal

Chaudhry, Jon Wilkes, Tarik Ross Cameron,

Danny Kerrigan and George Symes won their

league defeating Bishop Challoner and St

Georges 4-2, before drawing with Arthur Terry.

The improvement in these players has been

impressive and I hope they continue to play

in Year 11 and challenge some of the more

established players.

and restore our lead, but Old Swinford hit back

immediately. We took the lead for the third time

through Khurram Tejrar, only for Old Swinford

to equalise again. At 3-3 the game seemed

destined to be a draw until Jared Warmington

went on a dazzling run through the Old Swinford

defence and was brought down in the box,

giving us a penalty that captain Ben Harrison

coolly converted (on the third attempt) to give

the team a well deserved 4-3 victory.

Our final game saw us take on Kings

Worcester on 22nd February. Unfortunately our

U13 Tennis

The U.13 ‘A’ team

comprising of Sean

Miller & Tony Song of

Year 8 and Oliver Palmer

& Chris Williams of Year

7 won two of their league

games against KE Aston

4-2 & Kings Norton 6-0,

drew with Arthur Terry

and lost to KES. It has

been particularly pleasing

to see Oliver and Chris

not only holding their

own, but occasionally

beating players older

than themselves.

The U.13 ‘B’ team

comprising of Michael

Koppell & Garen Khaira of

Year 8 and Luke Pritchard-

Cairns & Lawrence Welch

won two out of their

three matches, defeating

Bishop Challoner &

Sheldon Heath 4-2.

With four Year 7 players

gaining match experience

and some other talent

in the year group, the

prospects for next year

look very promising.

Sean, Tony, Oliver,

Chris, Michael and

Garen also represented

the school in the Raw

Tennis Finals at Billesley

Tennis Centre. The team

turned in outstanding performances to win

the tournament convincingly, defeating Kings

Norton, Handsworth GS, KE Fiveways and Bishop

Vesey. As a result they qualified to represent the

Birmingham area at The Greater Warwickshire

Day of Sport. Given a bye in the first round, they

beat Sir Thomas More School in the semi final

before losing out to Arden School in the final.

Participation in the Nestle ladders has been

less impressive this year, but some junior and

intermediate boys have taken the opportunity to

make use of the facilities the school offers. The

Intermediate Ladder was won by Cameron Fraser

of Year 10 and the Junior Ladder was won by Tony

Song of Year 8.

CMJ

Camp Hill Boys Chronicle Page 56

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Beaufort

After the triumph of 2005, the big question

was could Beaufort win back-to-back House

Championships for the first time since 1967. The

answer sadly was no. We spent most of the year

in hot pursuit of Tudor, who had opened up a

commanding lead by late February. We made a

strong effort to catch up but the gap was always

a little too wide so that, while Tudor emerged as

worthy Champions, we had to be satisfied with

second place – not, on reflection, a bad reward

for a year of solid hard work.

What were the highlights? Certainly, these

were our thumping victories in the Cross-

country and in the Swimming, where after years

at the bottom we seem to have floated to the

top! And one poor baton change robbed us of

victory in an exciting and closely fought Athletics

competition. Our junior basketball players were

impressive but the rest under achieved. The

Senior Rugby team fought well - the will was

there but the talent was a little thinly spread.

On the other hand, the Senior Cricketers raced

to a convincing success while the Year 8 and

Year 7 teams tried hard but struggled to make

an impact. In the end, although we never came

last, there were simply too few firsts.

It was a pleasure at the end of the year to

award the Vivian Bird Trophy for outstanding

contributions to the House to Saad Qureshi.

Rarely can any House have been so well served

by a single individual. For seven years, Saad

put his heart and soul into Beaufort; he must

have felt great satisfaction that in his Sixth

Form Years, when Beaufort came first and then

second. He should be an inspiration to those

who follow him.

Our last campaign demonstrated the

outstanding quality of our Year 8 and Year 9

lads. They should be the basis of a formidable

Beaufort challenge in 2006 – 2007.

MRS

Howard

Unfortunately, another disappointing year

which highlighted some regular failings

and happily some occasional high points. This

situation is now becoming rather too

frequent to be acceptable and we

hope to begin next year’s campaign

in a positive frame of mind with a

new House Captain in Joe Pick and

a number of very dependable and

talented senior boys who will form

the driving force towards success in

2006/2007.

In retrospect, there have

been some excellent individual

performances during the year.

Many boys have made great efforts

in order to gain additional points in a

wide range of sports but, inevitably,

even this level of dedication and

effort cannot compensate for

an inability to win vital games

at critical moments. I would

therefore ask all boys in Howard to examine

their commitment throughout the last year and

ask whether they could, perhaps, have made a

difference with just a small amount of additional

effort. Remember, the star performers do not

win House Championships, collective effort and

commitment through 11 months does!

PTC

Seymour

We have not always been successful in our

attempts to keep up with the leading

houses this year and we look set for a repeat of

our third place finish from last year.

First place in chess has been supported by

second places in swimming, rugby, badminton

and basketball during the first two terms.

Unfortunately our performances outside of these

events meant that we trailed Tudor by too large

a margin at the start of the summer term for us

to realistically hope for overall victory.

Athletics standards were disappointing

this year and, whilst sports day gave some

encouragement, we whimpered to third place

rather than finding ourselves challenging for a

top position overall; better luck next year!

The junior and intermediate tennis players

(T. Song, M. Koppel, C. Fraser & L. Daly)

performed very well in both age sections. The

juniors ended their competition in second, which

when added to the excellent first place gained by

the intermediates and the third place achieved

by the seniors earlier in the term placed us

second overall.

Cricket has seen something of resurgence

in our fortunes. The seniors managed third

in their competition but the boys in year 7, 8

and the intermediates began their respective

competitions perfectly, with six wins out of six

so far. The final rounds of matches continued

in similar vein and we gained a confidence

boosting victory in the competition. There have

been some excellent displays across the age

groups but consecutive fifties for A. Shoaib in

year 7 and a fifty for C. Fraser in the inters are

the pick of the batting shows. Well Done!

As we end another enjoyable year we are not

in a position to challenge in the championship

but Tudor should beware as the gold of Seymour

will be back to fight on next year. I would like

to thank the boys for their enthusiasm and help

this year and to congratulate Faisal Vanat for

securing the Vivian Bird award in recognition

of his contribution to the house while at school.

Thanks also to Nida Khan for all his help and

support as House Captain.

PAB

Tudor

Some may have doubted our house

master- but not me. I knew that his quiet

strength of character, diligent organisation and

sheer determination would win us the House

Championship in the end. And it did. But Mr.

Nash was not the only one who contributed to the

victory (because that would just be stupid). No-

this victory belongs to all those in the Seymour,

Beaufort and Howard teams who failed to beat

us, and ensured that we came out winners... So

cheers. Now let’s take a brief look at how we did

it- “for all you avid readers out there”.

I have no idea of how well we normally do

during the autumn term, but this year we were

slicker than a greased up eel doing the luge.

Soccer, Rugby, Basketball and Table Tennis- what

do these sports have in common? Tudor won

them all. O yes, we’re good. Actually we won

in all the age groups that played in the autumn,

but meh- same difference. Special note must be

made of the performance of the intermediate

Rugby team- who proved everybody wrong by

winning intermediate Rugby- despite all of the

speculation that Beaufort would come out on

top. He he he- we proved them wrong. The less

said about cross- country standards the better.

Spring term seems to be bereft of results;

however, we came a well-earned second in chess

and senior/ intermediate Basketball. Pretty good

if you ask me- but you’re not asking me are

you? I’m telling you what I think. Aaanyway, I

thought that we did quite well considering the

well-known rule of statistics- that you cannot

win everything all of the time (It’s true- ask Mr.

Jack).

The summer term was crucial in ensuring

our victory. Winning the year 8 and 10 sections

of sports day, coming second overall in cricket,

and second in Tennis ensured that we took home

the House Championship trophy for the first time

in a long time. At least Mr. Nash came good in

the end (unlike Sven, which is a whole different

kettle of cod).

Finally, congratulations to the whole house-

even those of you who (like me) were not called

upon to take part in house events *glares

angrily*. Extra special thanks must go to Nick

Barker (who won the Vivian Bird trophy in

recognition of his contribution to the house) as

well as Jonathan Daniels who was instrumental

in our success as House Captain. *Gives warm

pat on back*. Well that’s it. Get on with the rest

of your lives with a smile on your face and a

warm feeling in your belly.

Uwais Ilyas and AJN

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Camp Hill Boys Chronicle Page 58

Chaiman’s Repor t

The Annual General Meeting of the Association

was held at the School on Tuesday, 13th

June 2006. The officers and committee elected

were:-

President Headmaster Mr J.V.Darby;

Chairman Mr K.P.Birrell;

Vice Chairman Mr M.Crutchley;

Hon Secretary Mr R.L.Staples;

Hon Treasurer Mr M Castle.

Committee:- Messrs G.Cookson, F.Depper,

J.Hutton, D.W.Phillips, D.Russell,

Oscar Twiby, Dr A.J.Taylor, and the

youngest recruit- Andrew Caves who has

joined the School as a graduate teacher

trainee.

He is a former Army Officer and we feel

that he will relate to the pupils which will lead

to the recruitment of boys to the Association

when they leave the School. Adrian Jones was

elected Honorary Auditor, we are seeking a

replacement in 2007 as he wishes to terminate

his appointment. Thanks are extended to Harry

Smith for serving as School representative on

the committee. The co-option of a replacement

sixth former will be made by the committee.

At the meeting the reports of the President

and the Chairman were accepted and the

accounts approved. The Treasurer again

expressed concern at the number of subscriptions

in arrear, the annual subscription remains at £10

(life membership - £100). Membership for boys

leaving School is £5 which covers a period of

4 years, excellent value as it covers postages,

stationery and the receipt of the Chronicle,

keeping members in touch with the School over

this period.

Visits were made to the National Memorial

at Alrewas, Staffordshire on 12 July, Uxbridge

Flight Command Centre, used in the Battle of

Britain, and the RAF Museum, Hendon on 29th

March and the Black Country Living Museum

on 10th May. Roland Staples and David Phillips

are to be congratulated on the success of these

excursions.

A re-union of 1976 leavers was organised

by Jon Bevan, which proved to be an enormous

success and an account will be in the next

Chronicle. A new supply of club blazers is in

process, orders should be sent to the School

for the attention of Mr George Cookson stating

chest size and fitting – short, regular or long.

The Annual Dinner will be held at the School

on 2nd February 2007. The idea of a mixed

dinner in addition to our Annual Dinner was

raised in committee and put into our Annual

Report, but there has been no response.

Authors have appeared amongst our

membership:- Jim Corke – “War Memorials in

Great Britain” and Steve Lewis – “Police Dogs

are Fun”, please contact Ken Birrell on 0121 430

4221 for the purchase of these. Graham Zeitlin

– “Staying on Track” - Graham has donated 60

copies to the Association and if £5 is sent to him

at 27, Flambard Road, Harrow HA1 2NB he will

use £1 towards postage and packing and donate

the balance to the Association.

The projects of removing the Memorial

Gates and Fives Court from the old School,

the collation of the panoramic school group

photographs over many years and the provision

of a stained glass window in the Kings Heath

School to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary

of the move to this site are still being pursued.

We regret to report the decease of the following

members:

Norman George aged 79 on

1st January 2006.

Ron Allen aged 76 on 23rd February 2006.

Peter Whitnall aged 78 on

10th March 2006.

Len Burrel aged 79 on 5th May 2006.

Bill Jack Jones aged 64 on 20th June 2006

Comprehensive obituaries appear in this

edition of the Chronicle.

Finally, we thank our Honorary Secretary

for the work he does, especially as he has been

nursing his wife for some time. Sadly, she passed

away on 1st July. Our most sincere condolences

are extended to him.

K.P.Birrell

A Step Back I nto H istor y

On a very cold Wednesday morning, 29th

March 2006, a group of nearly 40 strong

met in the car park of ‘Notcutts’ to board a

coach for a trip back to the past. A visit to RAF

Uxbridge – the home of the ‘Battle of Britain’

- and the RAF Museum at Hendon beckoned for

the intrepid travellers.

Only the organiser, resplendent in RAF tie

and matching blazer with insignia, was really

dressed for the occasion but the rest tried not to

let the side down.

We set off on time, 8.30 am. and were soon

bowling along the M40 towards our destination.

The coach struggled a little up the hills (on the

M40?) but, despite our fears, we did not have

to get out and push! Two hours later we found

ourselves at the gates of RAF Uxbridge with the

driver being forced to confirm his identity before

we were let in.

We were met by a charming young female

curator who led us down 76 steps into the

bunker that was the heart of the operations to

repel the German air threat in 1940. Before us

lay the plotting table, which we have all seen

in films, and the implements used to move all

the blocks indicating how many German planes

were about to bomb airfields and do battle with

our pilots. Sadly, no WAAFS were on hand.

The curator gave us a most interesting

and informative narration on how the battle

progressed – the whole room was set out as

it was on 15th September 1940 – pointing out

the airfields like Biggin Hill, where our planes

were located. The whole of the back wall of the

room was covered in different coloured lights,

showing the state of our defences at any one

time, available planes, pilots etc., etc. Questions

were invited and a number of our party showed

that they had a deep knowledge of the events of

that time.

Then we were able to visit a comprehensive

display of memorabilia as well as sitting in the

actual seats on the balcony, overlooking the

plotting room, used by the controllers.

All too soon it was time for lunch but first we

had to climb those 76 steps. Oh dear, oh dear,

they now seemed like 176, but we all survived.

After a convivial lunch, we moved on to the RAF

Museum at Hendon. We were struggling for time

and the hour and a half left to us did not give us

time to do justice to a wonderful museum full of

planes from both World Wars and other historic

aircraft. The Spitfire, Hurricane, ME 109 were all

C a m p H i l l O l d E d w a r d i a n ’ s A s s o c i a t i o n

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Camp Hill Boys Chronicle Page 59

there as well as the Lancaster, Heinkel and the

Mosquito, unbelievably built of plywood.

The museum staff were most helpful in

giving details about the exhibits but the coach

beckoned. We all agreed that we should have

another visit to the museum. It just remained

for us to thank our splendid organiser, Roland

“Basher” Staples, for a great day out as the

coach arrived back at the car park at just turned

seven.

David Shaw

1953 - 1958

A Ver y Old Edwardian

My name is Dennis Mellor, born 25th May

1923, and recently I have joined the Camp

Old Edwardians Association. The reason that I

have become a member belatedly is due to the

fact that I have spent only a small part of my life

in Birmingham.

In 1925, when I was 2 years old one of my

brothers age 10 had an appointment to see a

consultant at Birmingham Eye Hospital. My

mother took me as well because she had no one

to look after me. The consultant took one look

at me and said that there was something wrong

with my left eye – it transpired that I had a brain

tumour behind the eye and I would have died

within two weeks. My left eye and tumour were

removed; all of this was related to me by my

mother.

I joined Camp Hill in September 1934 – the

head being T.F.Rogers and spent five very happy

years there known as “Dickie”. The School would

not let me play cricket or rugby so I had double

swimming, P.E., House & School chess and fives.

I did play cricket and soccer with other friends

away from school!

I left in May 1939 and became a junior clerk

in an insurance company a few days before my

sixteenth birthday.

On 3rd September 1939 war was declared,

there was a long period before much happened

until the German Blitzkrieg against the Allied

forces in the spring of 1940; France surrendered

, the British Army evacuated from Dunkirk and

Air Raids commenced. The Home Guard was

formed and I joined at the T.A. barracks in

Stoney Lane and was in a Royal Warwickshire

Infantry Company consisting of a C O WWI

and many others from that war. Birmingham

was never mentioned but it was second only to

London for bombs. I was called up on 18th June

1942 and had basic training consisting of assault

courses, testing DM gas and being taught how

to kill the enemy!

I was then posted to the Royal Signals for

several months and then transferred to Royal

Army Service Corps where I received special

training before being attached to the Intelligence

Corps in December 1942. At the end of December

I boarded a troopship and after a long and very

rough passage reached North Africa and joined

the 1st Army (the 8th Army was in Egypt). I am

not describing the war, which was fully reported

after it ended but there were many casualties-

both Allied and German.

The next move was over the Mediterranean

Sea to land on the heel of Italy from where

we moved up country with the Allies suffering

terrible losses. I saw Vesuvius erupt in May (I

think), a lovely and amazing event.

When the war in Italy ended I moved into Austria

and was stationed in Vienna at the Schoenbroun

Palace where the Allied Commission of four

powers (Britain, France, Russia & USA) was

established.

The war in Europe ended in May 1945 and

my first leave home was in October 1945 when I

married Mary after our engagement in December

1942. I had four weeks leave before going back

to Austria until the end of 1946. I had reached

the rank of sergeant during my service and

finally transferred to the Army Reserve on 29th

April 1947.

I resumed work at my office and, after

promotion, was transferred to Nottingham in

September 1947. Whilst there, the “Cold War”

began and I joined the Civil Defence - back to

uniform but only at nights. I became a controller

of one of three sub-areas in charge of Staff

Officers Operations, Staff Officers Intelligence,

Scientific Intelligence Officer, Signal Masters and

clerks etc. I spent a week from the office to go

to the Civil Defence College at Sunningdale on

a senior officers’ course. The Civil Defence was

eventually stood down.

During my time in the Army I passed my

driving test. Driving all my life over many

thousands of miles (with the full knowledge of

the DVLA) and still driving. After 15 years in

Nottingham I gained a higher management post

and moved to Sheffield for 13 years.

When I retired my wife and I moved to Malvern

to be near our family in Worcester. Sadly my

wife died in January 2004 after eight years of

a very painful illness; it was our 59th year of

marriage.

David Mellor

1934-39

Antarc t ic Expedit ions

A former Camp Hill pupil served on the

“Endurance” Expedition to Antarctica in

1914/16 – James A McIlroy.

James A McIlroy was born in Ulster on

3rd November 1879. He was brought up and

educated in Birmingham. His father, James, was

a shopkeeper and he and his wife, Maggie, their

four children –James, Esther, Ruby and Effie lived

in Grove Avenue, Kings Norton. James entered

Camp Hill Grammar School and graduated in

Medicine (Anatomy and Physiology) from the

Royal College of Surgeons and Physicians in

1900. He served as resident House Surgeon at

Queens Hospital, Birmingham. He was a Medical

Officer in the Straits Settlement, practised in

Egypt and Japan and also served as surgeon

aboard East Indian Steamers.

During his interview with Shackleton he was

visibly shaking from the effects of Malaria;

Shackleton insisted that he should have a

medical and McIlroy persuaded a doctor friend

to pass him as fit. It is possible that he stated

his incorrect age; his date of birth is given as

1887 by a number of sources. He was the second

of two surgeons, the other being Alexander

Macklin, the pair were known as “Mick and

Mack” to their comrades.

On the journey to Elephant Island McIlroy

was in the smallest and least seaworthy boat,

the Seacomb Wills, which narrowly escaped

being crushed in the pack ice. On establishing

camp on Elephant Island it was inevitable that

the two surgeons should stay behind, and it is to

their credit, as well as Shackleton’s that all the

men survived.

On returning to England McIlroy joined the

Army, served in France, was wounded at Ypres

and was invalided home.

He was farming cotton in Nyasaland with

Frank Wild, Shackleton’s Second-in-Command

when word came that Shackleton was planning

a further expedition using an old sailing vessel,

the Quest. McIlroy and comrades arrived in

South Georgia. After Shackleton’s death and the

return of the Quest he collaborated with Hussey

in writing a meteorological appendix to Wild’s

book, ‘Shackleton’s Last Voyage’.

McIlroy remained a ship’s surgeon joining

the Orient Line, later P&O. In 1942 he was,

once more, at sea in an open boat after his ship,

the S.S. Oransay was torpedoed by an Italian

submarine. After five days adrift he and his

companions were picked up by a French ship

and landed at Dakar.

It is thought that McIlroy retired in his late

seventies and died in Surrey in 1968.

Eighteen Silver Medals (or clasps) and six

Bronze Medals were awarded to the men of the

Endurance Expedition.

McIlroy’s octagonal Silver Medal with Clasp,

Antarctica 1914/16 was sold by Morton and

Eden in association with Sotherbys for £21,850.

Acknowledgements to John Mortonfor the above facts.

James A McIlroy

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Armed S er vices Lapel Badge

If any member served in the U.K. Armed

Services during World War I & II including

National Service up to 1959 you are entitled to

a Veteran’s Badge.

To apply, visit the Veteran’s Agency Website

– www.veteransagency.mod.uk or call for free

the helpline on 0800 1692277. There is no

charge for the badge, all you will require is your

service number (and who can ever forget that?),

length of service, which branch you served in

and National Health number, though the latter,

generally, is not essential.

Black Countr y

Living Museum

On 10th May 2006, on a warm and sunny

day, our party of 18 members under the

watchful eye of Dave Phillips, our organizer for

the day, left the wide spaces of Notcutts car park

for the Black Country Living Museum at Dudley.

Despite the relative late time of departure at

09.30 we passed miles and miles of stationary

traffic heading north, a problem which had

caused us delays in the past. The coach was a

comfortable small Mercedes which made light

of the journey or would have if the road to the

museum had been open; it wasn’t and a detour

was necessary.

Five more members joined us having arrived

under their own steam and we were met at the

entrance by one of the Black Country speaking

guides who advised us that coming to “werk”

was like “gooin ‘um”. After a short time he found

that he had “summet” else to do and we were

released into the museum where we broke into

small groups with a reminder to be down at the

fish and chip shop at 12.45.

The vehicles and machinery were very

interesting, goodness knows how some of the

enormous chains were made in the cottages and

the links threaded. Wilf (Meadows) and I spent

some time on that puzzle. On the way to the

tram we spotted a house made of bolted iron

plates, an early example of prefabrication which

was a 1920’s trial and proved too expensive –

only 20 were made. Inside however, we spoke to

the guardian and it transpired that his son was

an old boy of the School!

Then it was time for the tram down to the

“cut”, the driver of which had worked on the

old Birmingham trams from the Coventry Road

depot as had my grandfather’s brother. Sadly

the gauge was different on the Birmingham

trams and they are unable to run on the Museum

track.

As we passed the village inn certain members

of ours were comfortably taking refreshment

on the benches outside in the sun. The inn is

part of the village shops and having now met

Alan Sheath, who is one of the “gaffers” of the

museum, we entered several and, taking his

advice, went into one house where one of the

local wenches was “werking” and spoke “wot”

we understood. We remembered the fire in the

grate and the rice puddings in the oven ready

for lunch because we’d had the same fittings

at home. As we left we were wished “tara” and

advised to mind the ‘orse’ road. Then it was time

to join the small queue for our fish and chips

all wrapped in hygienic paper and retired, with

most of the party, to the pub for a very nice pint

or two of “Bonks’s”.

A short walk at 13.50 took us to the “narrer”

boat leaving at 14.00 for a tour of the limestone

cavern taking about an hour or so. This was well

described by the skipper assisted by a video

in the tunnel describing the early formation of

the limestone beds. Unfortunately this was only

projected onto one side wall and as half of the

passengers faced the other way not everyone

got the message. It is possible to get married in

the tunnel but I rather doubt that it would appeal

to many as the “werter” was dripping from the

roof. Two of the passengers (not members,

age considered) volunteered to leg the boat

for a short distance which they achieved quite

easily. Back at the dock we disembarked and

had time for a cup “ot tae befower” returning

to the entrance by tram to await the impressive

49 seater coach (30 minutes late) but which

speedily returned us to Notcutts without hold

up. An enjoyable day in the sun was agreed by

all and our thanks to Dave Phillips for a “bostin”

day. Roland L Staples (Basher) 1939-44

Hon Secretary

CHOEA Elevated to the

Peerage – Vis it to the House

of Commons December 2005

December 7th dawned cold and frosty. The

coach arrived promptly for an 8.40 am start

from ‘Notcutts’. This was more than could be

said for several of our party, in particular Eddy

Rudge, who did not arrive at all – although,

courtesy of the mobile telephone network, we

were constantly informed that he was on his

way. This led to a departure some thirty minutes

behind schedule. Thankfully, our driver was up

to the challenge and we made it to the Palace

of Westminster, aka the Houses of Parliament,

on time.

Entrance was via the ‘Queens Gate’ where

we were met by our two guides and informed

that the chamber of the House of Commons

was off limits as it was in session with David

Cameron, the newly elected leader of the

Conservative Party, opposing Tony Blair (New

Labour) in Prime Minister’s Question Time. The

visitors’ gallery was long since fully booked and

we were, therefore to be shown around the

House of Lords instead. Our visit was none the

worse for that, as our guide had a wealth of

knowledge regarding this quaint and antiquated

establishment, like many of its members by all

accounts.

To distinguish it from the House of Commons,

the benches of the Lords are a glorious shade

of red leather, as opposed to the green of

the Commons. Law Lords have their special

places, as do the Bishops. No one except

their Lords and Ladyships and a few duly

authorised officials is allowed to sit on the

hallowed benches. Don Phillips, seeking to

rest his tired limbs, did try a quick sit down

to be immediately reprimanded.

The House of Lords functions in much the

same way as the Commons, with members

able to introduce Bills. Government Bills can

also be presented for the first reading as in

the Commons.

The oak carving is magnificent and dates

from 1834 when the original Palace of

Westminster was destroyed by fire. The

present building was designed by Charles

Barry assisted by Augustus Pugin, two great

Victorian architects.

We ultimately moved on through into the

lobby of the House where we spotted a few well-

known faces and saw Nick Robinson (BBC) bald

headed successor to Andrew Marr, preparing to

go on camera.

On then to Westminster Hall, an imposing

building with a magnificent carved oak ceiling

dating back to Tudor times. The building itself

survived the fire of 1834 and in its 700 year

history it has witnessed many dramatic events,

not the least the trial of Charles I who was

then executed on Tower Hill in January 1649

(acknowledgements to Doc Smith).

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Our party was able to meet with the newly

elected MP for Solihull, Lorely Burt, and a number

of photographs were taken. In his excitement

Ken Birrell dropped his camera and could be

seen frantically trying to scoop its contents

from the ancient floor. I think that I detected a

certain amount of ‘schadenfreude’ arising from

this occurrence.

We then progressed, for lunch, to the

RAF Club at 128 Piccadilly, an impressive and

exclusive establishment for officers only. No

chance then for S/21045304 Private Simpson,

C J (RASC) retired, who could not join even if

he was willing to pay £106 per annum for the

privilege.

We are grateful to Squadron Leader Peter

Challis for his assistance in making the luncheon

arrangements, and Roland Staples, who once

again proved that a Camp Hill education makes

for a good administrator. Thanks are due to him

for his hard work in organising this informative

and interesting day out.

Colin Simpson (1940-47)

(Victor Ludorum Cup 1947)

I ntel l igence Museum;

M edmenham Col lec t ion;

Shutt lewor th Col lec t ion

On 19th October a party of 31 Old Boys

and companions set off by coach in an

easterly direction from the usual rallying point

at Notcutts.

The first objective was the Ministry of

Defence site at Chicksands in Bedfordshire

where the Intelligence Corps Museum and the

Medmenham Collection are housed.

As the Primus stove on the coach was u/s,

no tea or coffee was available en route, but a

swift call ahead put the WRVS on standby and

upon arrival urgently needed refreshments were

forthcoming.

We were met at the entrance to Chicksands

by Wing Commander(Rtd) Mike Mockford OBE,

whose magic piece of paper, when waved at

armed guard, enabled the whole party to be

wafted through without interrogation or body

searches.

At the museum we had a short welcoming

talk from Major (Rtd) Alan Edwards OBE, ex

Intelligence Corps, after which the party split

into two groups, one to tour the Corps Museum

and the other the Medmenham Collection. At

half time we changed ends.

Mike Mockford talked us through the history

of photographic interpretation, more recently

known as imagery analysis, with the aid of

the fascinating exhibits in the Medmenham

Collection of which he is a trustee. For the other

group Alan Edwards explained the extremely

varied roles of the Corps, past and present, as

displayed in the Corps Museum.

Inevitably, with so much to absorb, this part

of the day overran its allotted time and when we

left for lunch at the White Swan in Shefford we

were well behind schedule. After lunch, which

was not the high point of the day, it was on to

Old Warden for a guided tour of the famous

Shuttleworth Collection of historic aircraft and

vehicles.

Again, as in the morning, there was an

enormous amount to see, and not enough time

in which to see it all, so the tour concentrated

on the magnificent collection of aircraft, leaving

the vehicles for another day. All the aircraft

are kept in flying condition, and, as many are

unique examples, impossible to insure, this is a

tremendous task.

Altogether it was a very interesting day, with

perhaps scope for a repeat performance in the

future, possibly with a more generous timescale

at each venue.

Maurice Powell.

1951 - 1958

Obituaries

LEONARD CHARLES BURRELL died on 5th

May 2006. He was born in Birmingham on

14th March 1927. During the last six years of

his life he suffered from Parkinsons disease and

osteoporosis. Despite this he tried to, with great

fortitude, live as normal a life as possible.

Len and his parents moved to Stafford

where he attended a Stafford council school.

From there, he gained a place at King Edward

VI Grammar School in 1939. The Burrell family

however, returned to Birmingham and Len

entered Camp Hill School on 5th February 1940.

He left on 16th July 1943.

After leaving school he was employed in

the banking sector, followed by a position in

‘Perry & Co.’ (pens). Len was not accepted into

the Forces, as he had suffered from rheumatic

fever when young. This had left him with a weak

heart but he still played a little soccer and he

kept wicket at cricket. In 1954 he moved to

Middlesex and studied and qualified for the

‘Chartered Institute of Secretaries’. Following

this, he worked for ‘United Artists’, the film

company, before working, some years later, in

the leisure industry. His final employment was

Group visiting the House of Commons, 7th December 2005, including newly elected M.P. for Solihull, Lorely Burt

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with a company building boats with fibre glass.

He retired in 1992.

FAMILY:- Len married Iris in 1955. His son,

David, was born in 1962 and his daughter,

Lynne, in 1965.

Very soon after our Association was re-

formed in 1999 Len joined and enjoyed contact

once more with his old school.

Sincere condolences are extended by the

Association to Len’s wife and children.

(Thanks to Iris for many of these details.)

JACK WILLIAM JONES (known to all as Bill

of course) died on 23rd June 2006. He was

born on 15th August 1941 and was educated at

Camp Hill School 1952 – 1957, thus experiencing

life at the old and new school buildings. He

joined the Association at its reincarnation in

1999 and gave an excellent commentary on the

video/DVD of the Association’s visit to the old

school in 1999. His articles in the Chronicle were

superb.

Bill was formally a ‘Post and Mail’ journalist

and P.R. specialist; he also worked for the

‘Tamworth Herald’, ‘Express and Star’ and ‘The

Sun’, in both news and sports, during a 40

year career in journalism. He had worked on a

freelance basis for the last five years. He carried

out P.R. work for ‘Advantage West Midlands’ and

provided marketing, journalism and lobbying

support for the ‘West Midlands Minority Ethnic

Business Forum’. Right up to his death, he was

a regular columnist for publications including

the ‘Birmingham Mail’ and his last article in

the ‘Tamworth Herald’ was published on 22nd

June. The theme concerned education – quote,

“Everyone can write a letter, not everyone can

re-wire a kitchen”. His humour also appeared in

the article, writing, “Now you all know that my

maths – apart from where there are expenses to

be made – is not brilliant’’.

When he left Camp Hill he played for Camp

Hill Old Edwardians Cricket Club but found that

journalism had to take priority. He was also a

rugby referee and a respected umpire both for

Warwickshire seconds and in the Birmingham

League since its reformation in 1998. In fact,

he had been umpiring in the Whitchurch vs.

Ombersley match on the Saturday before his

death.

A memorial service for Bill was held at

Tamworth Big Church on 19th September.

The Association’s sincere condolences are

extended to his wife Linda, whom he married

in 1963, his daughter Jacqueline and his three

grandchildren.

RONALD LAWSON ALLAN, Ron as he

liked to be known, was born in Glasgow on

10th December1930 and died on 23rd February

2006. He was evacuated to northern Scotland

during the Second World War and returned in a

schools scholarship for Alanglens School where

he received his education in his younger years.

He moved to Birmingham and continued his

education at Camp Hill School from 3rd October

1945 to 25th July 1947. He excelled there,

particularly in languages. He was always an avid

sportsman and in the early years his interest

was primarily rugby; he was a true supporter of

C.H. Rugby Club.

National Service saw him join the RAF and

he served in Egypt; such was his character

that he swam the width of the Nile and back

before dusk. He captained C.H. ‘B’ XV in

1966/67 and was vice captain in 1967/69. He

was a Vice President of C.H. Rugby Club from

1971 and likewise of C.H. Cricket Club from

1966. He became a member of the Camp Hill

Old Edwardians Association when it reformed in

1999.

He pursued other sporting activities, enjoying

regular tennis matches, bowls and snooker. His

passion for sport was also as a spectator; a

season ticket holder at Birmingham City F.C. and

a member at Warwickshire C.C.C. where he and

his family visited whenever weather conditions

were deemed suitable! He was a highly regarded

business man, renowned in his profession as

an achiever and results orientated by clients

and colleagues alike; very few could have met

his standards and professionalism and he was

exemplary to those who knew him.

Ron and Betty shared a love of jazz and

spent many enjoyable weekends with friends.

After the birth of his two daughters, Sue and

Kate, many happy hours were spent at Croyde,

North Devon, where he enjoyed a challenging

walk and looked forward to a well earned pint

afterwards. There was rarely a year missed

when the family did not go there at some point

and in later years, his two grandsons, William

and Tim, enjoyed the family experience as well.

Ron always enjoyed his holidays, cruising on the

Q.E.II with his wife Betty and many other cruises

taking them to countries across the world. For a

number of years, Ron and Betty always looked

forward to their February break in Spain, where

they enjoyed the relaxing sunshine.

Many paid their respects to Ron at the Robin

Hood Crematorium on Friday, 10th March 2006.

He passed away in Spain on holiday. He was

operated on suffering from peritonitis and, it is

believed, died from a heart attack.

Our sincere condolences are extended to his

wife, Betty (whom we thank for many details

in this obituary), daughters Susan and Kathryn

and grandchildren William and Tim.

NORMAN HARPER GEORGE was born

in Small Heath, Birmingham on 19th

April 1926. He died on 1st January 2006. He

attended Christ Church School, Stratford Road,

and qualified for Camp Hill School, starting

there 14th September 1938 and leaving on 20th

December 1940.

He was a very keen sportsman and took part

in whatever he could; activities included cricket,

rugby, athletics, boxing and his favourite,

football.

When he left Camp Hill he worked for

‘Gaskell and Chambers’ in Dale End, Birmingham

in the pay office as figures were his forte. He

was a prominent member of his employer’s

football team for some years and played in a

cup final at Villa Park. At one stage he signed for

Birmingham City Football Club but all his friends

were Villa supporters and whenever “Blues”

wanted him to play, they, his friends, reckoned

they had an important match on. He went on

to play for Colchester United but the weekend

travelling proved too much and he finished

playing for Worcester City.

During the War he volunteered for the RAF

hoping to become a pilot, he was offered only

navigation, and so joined the Royal Staffordshire

Regiment in 1944. Most of his service was in

Norway and he was there when it was liberated.

He was proud of the South Staffs Regiment

and often visited Whittington Barracks near

Lichfield. Not long ago, he donated a photograph

of himself in uniform and a framed certificate

of the liberation of Norway to the Regiment. A

standard bearer represented the Regiment at

his funeral.

It was whilst he was in the Army, stationed

at Spalding Lincolnshire, that he met Irene

who was to be his wife for 57 years. Sadly she

passed away in September 2004. They both

loved dancing, indeed, that was how they met

and this recreation continued throughout their

married life. He could still whisk one round the

dance floor whenever he had the chance. In fact

he was dancing the night before he was taken ill

on 20th December 2005.

In recent years he has enjoyed his

membership with Camp Hill Old Edwardians

Association, in particular the nostalgic visit to

Warwick Castle in July 2004. He was proud to

wear his membership tie and looked forward to

receiving the Chronicle each year and he never

disposed of them.

Norman and Irene had three children, John,

Marilyn and Anita. He was a devoted family

man, providing lots of love and care. He had a

saying, “If they are happy then I am happy”.

One could not wish for a better husband father

or friend; he is truly missed by all the family and

those who knew him. Our sincere condolences

are extended to his family.

Many thanks to daughter Marilyn Langdell

for the above facts.

K.P.B.

PETER JOHN WHITNALL was born 12th

June 1927 and died 10th March 2006. He

entered Camp Hill School 14th September 1938

and left 28th July 1943. He was evacuated with

the school to Warwick on the outbreak of war

in 1939.

When he left school in 1943 he was employed

by the ‘Inland Revenue’ at the old Beacon

building, Stratford Road, Hall Green. He joined

the Fleet Air Arm in 1945 and was stationed at

Portsmouth.

Upon leaving the service, he joined the

‘3 M’ company for a short time, leaving that

organisation to spend the rest of his working

life at ‘Fattorinis’ in the Jewellery Quarter. He

married in 1952 and was widowed in 1989.

He taught Airmanship to the A.T.C. for

many years in the 80s and 90s and was a big

supporter of that organisation. He was also an

active member of the Royal Air Force Association

until his death.

He leaves a daughter, Sally, son-in-law Mike

and grandchildren, to all of whom we extend our

deepest sympathy.

R.L.S.

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JACK THOMAS MADDISON died 1st

September 2006. He was born 29th Ocober

1919 and attended Camp Hill School 1930 -

1936. We extend condolences to his daughter,

Mrs Sue Phillips. Comprehensive details will be

in the 2007 Chronicle.

‘Piranhas, Crocodi les & Wild

Bul ls’ – David ’s M et Them Al l !

Old B oy ’s Long Road to the

M inistr y

Life as a Baptist minister must seem very

‘run-of-the-mill’ when you have experienced

some of the things that old boy David Marson

has. During his first four/five years at Camp Hill,

David was not renowned for his commitment to

academic work. Indeed, he showed such a zest

for social activities that he was nicknamed ‘Dave

the Rave’! However, shortly before entering

the sixth form David experienced a conversion

to Christianity, as a result of which his whole

attitude changed. He worked hard with his ‘A’

level subjects and he also revived and led the

Christian Union, becoming a very mature and

sensible member of the sixth form.

David left Camp Hill in 1993 to take a

degree in Latin American Studies at Liverpool

University. After one year he switched to a

degree course in occupational therapy. He

graduated in this subject and spent most of the

next eight years working as an occupational

therapist in neurological rehabilitation. During

this time he travelled widely in Africa, Asia and

Latin America. One of his most vivid memories is

of travelling along a very narrow, winding road

in the Bolivian Andes Mountains, reputed to be

the most dangerous road in the world. There

were parts where the road dropped away over

1000 feet and there was two-way traffic even

though the road was only 1 ½ cars wide! David

has also stroked the back of a crocodile in a

West African river and fished for piranhas in the

Amazon. Another vivid – and scary – memory

is of the night he crashed his Land Rover into a

wild bull in pitch-black darkness during his stay

in Botswana.

David has also worked with victims of

HIV/AIDS in Zambia and spent some time at a

leprosy hospital in Nepal. It was in Nepal that he

met his future wife, Nicki. He’s convinced that

he didn’t make a good first impression on her.

Nicki’s work for her podiatry degree involved

helping people with foot problems. Watching

open-foot surgery one day, David almost fainted

in front of her. As he says: “Hardly the macho

image you might want to impress on the girl you

like!” However, David and Nicki kept in touch

when they returned to Britain and romance and

marriage followed. They now have a 7-month-

old son, Luke.

David’s other activities have included

running a gap-year discipleship programme

in Zambia and studying for, and completing,

a theology degree at the London School of

Theology, Northwood. He also enjoys sport, such

as tennis, football and squash, and he plays the

guitar.

On Sunday 10th September, the latest

episode in David’s life began in Chelmsford,

Essex, where he was ordained as a Baptist

minister. He’ll be based in Chelmsford as a

member of the ministry team at the thriving

Central Baptist Church. David will have particular

responsibility for evangelism. We all wish David

and his family lots of happiness and every

success in the future.

PWW

Strange Things Happen When

You Play for the 4th Team

About four years ago, I innocently answered

the phone one Saturday morning. A voice

from the past echoed in my ear. The hairs stood

up on the back of my neck and I broke into a

sweat. It was Ken Birrell. Now I haven’t turned

out for the 4th team at Camp Hill for thirty years

and I think that the “Three Horse Shoes” is now

a set of flats. “Ken” I said weakly! I already

knew that the phone call was going to cost me

something. It was too late to pretend he had

dialled a wrong number or that I had moved

house. Ken launched into his recognisable

sales pitch. He was restarting the “Camp Hill

Old Edwardians” and would I join! It was only

going to cost me £10. It was a bargain. Refusal

was clearly not going to be an option. I joined.

I was relieved that the 4th team were not short.

I had realised that if they had been I would have

struggled with the warm up.

I thought nothing more. I sent my cheque

off and received a glossy magazine resembling

“HELLO” except it was called “The Chronicle”. A

few weeks later I thumbed the pages during a

quiet moment and saw that Pete Jack, George

Cookson, John Dinham, Pete Stainton and Keith

Phipps were still around. None of them seemed

to be getting any older. It must be those long

holidays. It always was the best paid part time

job around! I enjoyed reading that Seymour was

still top of the Premiership and Beaufort was still

fighting relegation. Some things never change.

A year or two passed and another “Chronicle”

came and went. Seymour still champions and

the same staff remained.

Then, out of the blue, came an E-Mail from an

old classmate of 5R in 1974. He was suggesting

a reunion of the “Class of 74”. It was for those

who left Camp Hill in 1976 after sitting their

A levels. He had obtained my E-Mail address

from the Old Edwardians Association register. I

thought about it and was utterly undecided. A

reunion after 30 years? How bizarre! It conjures

up all sorts of thoughts. Will I be the only bald,

overweight, divorced under-achiever? What

will the others be like? Wealthy, cutting edge

executives with international lifestyles, stunning

wives and perfect children. I had to know. I

replied and contributed to the subsequent e-

options and e-ideas and ended up with a date,

time and location.

We met at school at 15.30 and had “tea and

buns” in the School library. It was still the same

place apparently. I am not sure I ever knew where

it was all those years ago! Old acquaintances

were renewed and the stories started. A tour

of School followed. The prefect’s room had

become a broom cupboard. Blackboards had

become whiteboards and OHPs had become

PowerPoint presentations. The fives’ courts had

disappeared, the swimming pool had sprung a

leak and the boys could now walk up the girls’

drive. Sacrilege!

George Cookson produced our confidential

school files from 30 years ago with accompanying

photographs! Much entertainment at haircuts

and fringes. The staff at the School seemed

really pleased to see us and were superb hosts.

A guided tour was followed by a Maths lesson by

Pete Jack. I didn’t understand it then and I still

didn’t understand it. Spinning eggs, Moments of

Inertia … time for a drink! We all retired to “The

Drift” in Moseley Village where some late joiners

arrived. We then had a tasty and sociable meal

at “La Plancha’ Tapas Bar”. We are meeting again

next year when, hopefully, more will be able to

attend.

Moral of the story: it was worth turning out

for the 4th team on those few occasions as Ken

still had my phone number in his enormous

database. If he hadn’t called, I wouldn’t have

been a member and would have missed a really

good night.

P.S. The down side – everyone has more hair

than me. They clearly don’t eat for Britain and

their kids are all perfect. Next year I will have

lost two stone, put the kids up for adoption and

be wearing a toupee.

P.P.S. Jenny Nunney used to change the clocks

in the sixth form block in spring and autumn. I

used to take the chair away so she was stuck on

top of the lockers for days. We found her there

30 years later so Jenny has become an honorary

member of the “Class of 74”.

Attendees were Russ Williams, Mitch Castle,

Robert Boswell, Brin Helliwell, Mark Gibbins,

Jon Bevan (organiser in chief), Chris Greenhill,

Jon Hawtin, Robert Colvin, Richard Davis, Ralph

Harndon, Martin Lowe, Mark Williamson and

Jenny!

Russell Williams

Visit to the National

M emorial Arboretum

A group of middle aged people gathering

on Notcutts car park on a very pleasant

summer’s day heralded another outing of the

Camp Hill Old Edwardians Association on 12 July

2006.

The destination was the National Arboretum

at Alrewas Staffordshire, a comparative short

drive from Shirley.

On arrival we were allocated guides who

took us first of all to the Millennium Chapel to

participate in the two minutes silence which is

observed every day, coupled with the playing of

the Last Post and Reveille. The Chapel is worthy

of note and is full of symbolism, from the twelve

supporting trunks of Douglas fir representing

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the twelve apostles, a representation of whom

is carved on each trunk, to the alter, lectern and

pulpit made by local young offenders.

The Memorial Arboretum was the idea of

Commander Childs, a naval officer, following a

visit to the Arlington National Cemetery in the

USA which also includes an arboretum. He was

supported in the idea by Leonard Cheshire V.C.

Both felt that a memorial should be created to all

those who died in the conflicts of the twentieth

century and beyond. So whilst most of the

memorials tend to have a services connection,

there are also non military memorials, a

particularly poignant one being the SANDS

garden dedicated to the memory of stillborn and

neonatal deaths.

The total area is 150 acres generously given

by a local gravel extraction company who still

operate on an area adjoining the site and when

those workings are exhausted they will become

part of the arboretum. The site is part of the

National Forest and since 1997 over 50,000 trees

have been planted. There is a rich diversity of

wildlife on the site and their habitats are actively

managed.

There are over a hundred memorials,

all highly individualistic and relevant to their

subjects. One can hardly fail to be moved by

the Japanese prisoner of war display, or be

amused by the quirky Suez Canal pyramid with

representation of the blue canal laid on desert

sand.

A pleasant lunch was provided,

an ugly rumour that no alcohol

was available was proved to be

false. There were of course lighter

moments, the representational

figure of the lifeboat man on the

R.N.L.I. memorial was thought to

have been modelled on Ken, who

has categorically denied this.

Every outing has its

‘scrimshankers’, regretfully this

trip was no exception. Two of

the brethren were seen using

scooters usually provided for

elderly ladies, no wonder they

never made the first XV!!

To sum up, a very enjoyable and

interesting outing worthy of a

visit at any time for those who

were unable to make the trip on this occasion.

Once again particular thanks to Roland for

the organisation which, members may not be

aware of, was made against a background of

personal bereavement.

Eddie Rudge (1942/46)

A group pretending that buildingthe railway and bridge over theRiver Kwai would be easy!

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