Category: Woodbridge News
80 former Woodbridge School pupils have stepped back in time for a special reunion at the school, after leaving more than 50 years ago. The alumni pupils, known as Old Woodbridgians, travelled far and wide to return to their secondary school for the memorable event, including 83-year-old Major Nigel Lewis OBE who arrived in style on a helicopter.
Many of the Old Woodbridgians were returning to Woodbridge School for the first time since leaving between the 1930s and 1970s. Jack Seagers, aged 101, was the oldest pupil at the reunion, having left the school in 1934.
The group enjoyed reminiscing of days gone by during a tour of the school’s new and original buildings and modern facilities, as well as marvelling at the modern ‘home comforts’ in the boarding house where many of the former pupils had lived over the years.
The Old Woodbridgians also enjoyed lunch at the school and a talk on the history of the school’s Combined Cadet Force, given by local cultural historian and former Woodbridge School English teacher, Mark Mitchels. The school’s chamber orchestra also played a special rendition of the original school song which the former pupils enjoyed singing along to.
Melanie Chew, development director at the Seckford Foundation, organised the reunion event for the Old Woodbridgians. Melanie said: “We were thrilled to have such a terrific response to this special event and we loved hearing the fond school memories of our alumni. The history of the school is so important to us, so it was fantastic to capture these memories and hear stories of our school from years gone by.”
This was a truly marvellous culmination of an astonishing fortnight of music making.
The individual competition, in its new guise, was a fantastic success: musicians excelling; extraordinary variety; and the full panoply of instruments on display, from drum kit to voice via woodwind, brass, keyboard, percussion and strings.
It takes a brave person to stand, alone, in front of your peers and elders, and perform. To perform brilliantly adds an impressive twist! To be judged… is intimidating, or could be. But under the wonderfully sympathetic, positive and watchful eye (and ear) of our expert adjudicator Mr Ben Parry (thank you, sir, for your skilful and heartfelt judgments) every one of our contestants must have felt appreciated, guided, and enriched.
But winners there must be, and, acknowledging as he did that on a different night, with a different choice of piece, in front of a different adjudicator things might well have been otherwise, Mr Parry chose the following for particular commendation:
Beginner Class:
1st place: Charlotte (flute – No Dice – Paul Hart)
2nd place: Esme (marimba – Menuet in G – J S Bach)
3rd place: Isaac (drum kit – Barracuda – Heart)
Intermediate Class:
1st place: James (cello – The Gadfly – Shostakovich)
2nd place: George (double bass- America – Bernstein)
3rd place: Ellen (oboe- Gavotte – Boyce)
Advanced Class:
1st place: Lewis (tuba – Concerto for Bass Tuba – Vaughan Williams)
2nd place: Jenny (violin – 3rd Violin Sonata – J S Bach)
3rd place: Billy piano – Sonata No. 4 – Beethoven)
Writing this, I notice only now that nine instruments and eight composers are represented, five boys and four girls – how’s that for diversity and a true reflection of the glorious spectrum music offers at Woodbridge?
Mr Parry was full of praise for the performers; and Mr Turner added his thanks both to them and to their near-hundred peers who took part in the competition, to all the staff who have supported them on the way, and of course to Mr Parry. What an evening. What a finale!
Last Tuesday I and three others went on an exciting chemistry trip to Cambridge. Here, alongside many other schools in the region, we took part in a series of practical experiments and produced a sample of the drug Paracetamol. The sample was then tested for purity using a variety of techniques including Thin Layer Chromatography, TLC, and infra-red spectrometry. The practical was followed up with an exhilarating talk on the periodic table due to its 150 years anniversary. This talk consisted of a short history lesson followed by flames, bright and coloured lights, explosions and other thrilling chemical reactions. It was a captivating and inspiring experience that I would recommend to anyone interested in chemistry.
James, Year 9
The competing voices within a psychotic mind were brought into stark relief by this year’s A level drama students. Sarah Kane’s personal descent into oblivion was presaged in her own writing, and the staging of such an inner tragedy is not to be undertaken lightly. Indeed, there was little of brightness in this harrowing production, although a dark humour leered and smirked around the odd corner. Movement – extraordinary, complex, and balletic – underpinned the sense of shifting mental sands; and the actors’ overlapping voices the quasi-schizophrenic nature of the psychosis. Devastatingly portrayed; difficult in the extreme; mesmerising – in the way of things ‘one would rather not have been party to’.
My goodness, well done our cast of five – you are the survivors and can take your release from the straitjacket, and your other more troubling bonds, with… relief! Phew. Anyone know a good joke?
This was the final match of the season and the league decider. Ipswich School had won the South Suffolk Tournament so we were particularly motivated.
The girls started very well. With a slight change to our usual formation with Georgie at GD and Nancy at C we held Ipswich well for the first half of the match, playing some patient and well thought through netball, coming infront, passing effectively and keeping the strong Ipswich attack in check in defence with Selena, Georgie, Isabel and Nancy turning over the ball a number of times. Up front, Charlotte H and Charlotte C moved and shot well in the circle, and at half time we were still very much in touch at 7-10. Unfortunately the 2nd half saw a number of errors creep into our game, allowing Ipswich to get into their stride and tease out a greater advantage. Our girls’ work rate was excellent throughout and this was a performance with some real areas of strength and positivity, but in terms of victory it wasn’t to be as Ipswich took the honours by 12-27.
This squad has been a pleasure to work with over the season with great work rate and desire to learn. They have a huge amount of promise for the future; well done girls.
Returning to the school next month is OW Lucy-May Turner. Lucy-May is a second year Fine Art student at York St John University, and she is venturing back on 25 April to showcase her very first solo exhibition.
The last two years have seen Lucy-May experiment with materials and techniques to find herself as an artist. The exhibition is work from her current project in which she has been looking at distortion using high-end imagery from magazines which are bright, bold and vibrant. She would love your support – everyone is welcome!
The exhibition will be held on 25 April 2019 from 6-7pm in the Art Department.
It was marvellous!
Friday’s concert in St Edmundsbury Cathedral was as magnificent as the setting.
Beethoven – the first symphony – composed by a young man… conducted by a younger one! Lewis – here he stood as a Year 13, yet he had the poise of a past master, the calm authority of someone far more experienced; and an orchestra in front of him at the top of its game. The music soared, the melodies sang and danced, the audience sat in rapt attention. And that fourth movement, with, in Lewis’s own words (yes, he wrote the programme notes as well!), its ‘brazen ending’! No wonder we stood – not just for Beethoven, or the orchestra, but also for Lewis, for youth, for passion and for virtuosity.
Follow that.
No sooner said than done, sir.
Mozart’s Requiem. Oh my goodness. The soloists – Miss Weston, Amy Lyddon, Jonathan Hanley and Kieran Rayner – breathtaking! The orchestra, led my Mrs Scott-Smissen – outstanding! The chorus – well, to say we enjoyed ourselves would be a start… to say we are all no doubt humming away even now, and still sent a-tingle by the memories, would be to get a little closer. And the audience agreed – once more brought to their feet at the close in celebration of all that is wonderful about the best of music played in the mightiest of settings by the finest of musicians. Woodbridge School at its best. Thank you, St Edmundsbury Cathedral for your hospitality; thank you – and congratulations! – to Mr Turner, Miss Weston, Mrs Stafford and all the performers for an unforgettable evening.
Haydn reports: On 17 March, a team of 11 Woodbridge boys travelled to Wisbech Grammar School and competed in a total of five games. Our first game was against Ipswich School, who went on to win the tournament. From the start, we unfortunately played with a more relaxed attitude which led to Ipswich scoring several tries. After the first game we changed our approach and played with a higher level of intensity. Although we ended up with a loss, we played well and took the positives from the game.
Our next game was against Wisbech with whom we have a competitive history. We came onto the pitch with a whole new attitude which resulted in us playing a much better game, with better ball handling, avoiding contact, and using the width more. The end result was 24-0 to Woodbridge – a very satisfying win to say the least.
We then went on to play Oundle, a game that concluded with a disappointing loss, especially as we had scored the first try. We played to our strengths and tried to target their weaknesses which overall made a good performance for the match.
After qualifying for the Shield, we played Robert Clack School in the semi-final, winning 12-5. This was more of a 15s style game because of the pure aggression shown by their team. We exploited the fact that they lacked certain skills by putting the ball wide and simply running around them.
Our final game was against The Perse; this was a brutal and tiring game as we were down to our last 7 men with a number of injuries.
On the whole, we played some good rugby and we are proud of the effort and time that we put in.
The run in to the finish for the league is proving exciting for the U13A team!
Against Ipswich High things could hardly have been closer: it was always going to go to the wire and we knew we had to win to give ourselves a chance in winning the league. We were down at quarter time 4-7 with the High gaining the early advantage but with some great attacking play and determination from Maddie, Steph and Esme we pulled our way back to draw level at half time. Libbie gained the measure of her GA and Ada was brilliant as GK. Ruby was, as ever, active around the whole court and did a fantastic job feeding the circle along with Izzy, Maggie and Chloe, helping them get the ball up the court. We went into the last quarter four goals up… could we hold our nerve? Yes, thank goodness and victory was secured by 22-20! It was a close run thing with only two goals in it but there were huge sighs of relief on the sidelines.
Next was Ipswich School… and another thriller…. full of pressure… and nerves. Although we were always chasing the game we had some fantastic periods of play and the girls did themselves and the school, (and Mrs Johnson!), (and all the parents on the sidelines!) really proud. Maddie showed her utter determination and worked well in the attack with Ruby, Esme, Steph and Izzy. The defence of Maggie, Chloe, Ada and Libbie showed that they work indomitably well together too – indeed no one’s effort ever flagged. In the end, though, Ipswich squeezed out the win by 15-14, so our A team now have to play our B team and score lots of goals to win the league. Now there’s a prospect!
The annual Staff vs Leavers football match is always an eagerly awaited contest and the large crowd on Tollers were treated to a gladiatorial epic. The Leavers took an early lead when Chisom outjumped everyone at a well delivered corner to powerfully head home from close range; was a thrashing on the cards? The Staff showed great resolve to thwart the early running of their much younger counterparts; Messrs Denvir, Capjon and Patten were strong at the back while Messrs Wright, Simpson and Walsh provided the steel in midfield. With half-time approaching a terrible mix-up in the Leavers defence led to a catastrophic own-goal and the sides went in at the break all-square. The second half saw a number of good chances at both ends but it took a very good goal to break the deadlock: Joe turned neatly on to his favoured right peg and unleashed an unsaveable shot into the far corner. Once again the staff came back as Mr Walsh fired one in-off the post to bring the score back to 2 – 2. The Staff were then awarded a penalty kick with some sections of the crowd accusing Mr Smith of simulation. Up stepped the “Inbetweener” – Mr Cotton – who saw his penalty well-saved by the excellent Ali. It wasn’t long before the Leavers found themselves in front again when the unlikely footballer Oliver W pounced upon a defensive error. But once again the Leavers were pegged back as Mr Denvir forced home a scrappy third after a goalmouth scramble. More chances came thick and fast at both ends with fatigued bodies (mainly Staff) being pushed to their limit. With time seemingly up, a Leavers’ long throw was not dealt with and Seb slammed home from close range with what turned out to be the last kick of the game. This was a game fought in excellent spirit and was superbly refereed by James; the final result 4 – 3, well played the Leavers!