Category: Woodbridge News
Pupils at the Abbey have been busy practicing their musical instruments and many decided to participate in our Practice-a-Thon and Music Festival which raised a stunning £884.87 for the CLIC Sargent charity which helps families of children and young people with cancer. This is a terrific achievement and pupils should be commended for their efforts.
The Abbey, the Prep School for Woodbridge School held the inaugural Woodbridge Junior Young Musician of the Year competition on 1 May. We were delighted to welcome thirty-one participants from sixteen different Suffolk schools, all aged eleven and under to be adjudicated by Clio Gould, Leader of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Professor of Violin at the Royal Academy of Music. The level of music making was extremely high, and our distinguished adjudicator was very impressed by all the young musicians. Each participant received a certificate and a written adjudication, but there could only be three prizes. These were awarded to Amelie Clark from Mellis CEVC Primary School who came third playing the flute, Nina Varadarajan from Bealings Primary School who came second playing the piano and Etiane Cheung from Ipswich Preparatory School who came first, also playing the piano. A number of other performers were highly commended and all showed great potential.
The fourteenth annual Woodbridge School CCF Suffolk Cadet Target Rifle competition was held at Middlewick ranges Colchester on Saturday 2 May, and featured teams from Framlingham CCF, Suffolk ACF, Essex ACF and Woodbridge School CCF. The aims of the day include preparing teams for the forthcoming 7 Inf Brigade competition, introducing new shooters to the sport, and of course competing for the Suffolk Challenge shield.
The Woodbridge eight of Toby Young, Jack Popay, Will Woods Ballard, Alistair Jeffreys, Wesley Howseman, Isaac Young, Rob Hayward and Fergus Odam, triumphed over Framlingham College, winning the event by a magnificent 22 points. Also taking part and producing very good scores (strength in depth… an impressive aspect of shooting at school) were: Louis Alexander, Saxon Gallo, Dylan Howseman, Oliver Hood, George King, Miles Budden and Matt Strudwick.
Our first athletics meet this Saturday saw some excellent performances in the fresh winds at RHS.
The Year 9 team was much depleted due to various reasons. However those who stood in: Year 7 Annabel Yates in 800m and Year 8 Maud Peel in the 200m, were real stars. Chloe Outen narrowly came second in triple jump with 9.10m – just 7cm short of first place gained on the last jump; Amelia Brown was first in discus while Eleanor Berridge came 2nd in shot. In the end the team finished a very creditable fourth from six.
The Year 8s did one better, finishing third out of seven. The top results were: Amy Graham first in the 800m with an outstanding time of 2.37 and first in javelin with a throw of 28.43m; and Joanne Garnett first in discus with a throw of 22.99m.
The Year7s came first and dominated their group, with firsts from Vicky Burrows in high jump, Annabel Yates in discus and Sophie Graham in javelin with 30.11m. Many thanks to the gap students and Laura Graham who came along to help manage the team (and roar on her sisters’ dominant performances).
Score: Won 13-8
This was a cool and calm display of rounders against St Felix’s year 10s and 9s. We put St Felix into bat and kept their scoring to a minimum with two of their players being given out on the same ball, which is a great achievement. One player was caught and then one was stumped at second. Harriet Spence and Mollie Biddle took some great catches during the game and our fielding was quick getting their players out at second and first post. They finished on 4.5 after their first innings but we responded with half or full rounders from Millie Cave, Flora Johnston, Chloe Outen, Maddie Felton, Mia King, Mollie Biddle and Katy Garnett. We finished 3 rounders ahead of them and it was all to play for in the second innings.
However, we dominated in the field and got all their team bar one out and there was some great quick fielding to stump a number of their players out. When batting, Eleanor Berridge scored a great half rounder and Zara Lye stepped up to the plate and scored a fantastic rounder (being a lefty has great advantages in this game!) amongst others scoring.
Although we need to work on our placement of the ball when hitting we can be very pleased with this result. Well done girls!
On Thursday, 23 April 2015 Year 5 became journalists for an afternoon and interviewed Noel Hunt and Zeki Fryers from ITFC. Year 5 actually called themselves The Abbey Press! The Abbey Press asked them what they did when they weren’t training for their big matches. The reply from them both was the electronic game, ‘Fifa!’ They said it was weird to see themselves on the computer game.
Here is a scoop you wouldn’t find in The Sunday Times, The Sun or even The Daily Mail – neither of them thought of football as a sport they would be playing professionally. It turns out Hunt wanted to be a vet and Fryers had a dream of being an athlete running against Usain Bolt!
We asked them many questions, but here is one more: we asked them who was the hardest player they had come across? Fryers replied that for him it was Falcao and the old Italian Captain Callivaro.
To be up close to players we usually see from a distance was a privilege. We were also lucky enough at the end of the interviews to be able to get their autographs. We would like to thank Noel Hunt and Zeki Fryers for coming to visit us at The Abbey and ITFC for allowing them to come.
By James H, Harvey G and Samuel B
The u13B girls continued their good form winning all 4 singles and both doubles matches. Freya Huxley started the afternoon off well securing the first win, beating her opposite no1 ranked player 6-2. The rest of the team followed suit, only dropping four games in three singles matches. Sophie Graham again paired up well with Freya to win the first doubles match. Saffron Holliday and Annabel Yates were pushed to the wire in an exciting last match but in the end the girls showed good composure under pressure to win the match 7-5. This was another dominant performance the team can be proud of.
The u13A boys were less successful with only Alex Weir-Simmons managing to score points for Woodbridge by winning his rubber 6-1. Alex Evans Lombe played an outstanding singles match coming back from 2-5 down to force a tie-break. The ultimate comeback was not to be and Alex narrowly lost the tie-break. Alex Hammond made his debut for the u13A team under a baptism of fire but showing that he will be a player to watch in the future.
The tennis season kicked off with a busy day of fixtures, Woodbridge welcoming 3 different school and 4 teams.
The u13B girls made light work of their opponents from Ipswich High School. The team of Freya Huxley, Sophie Graham, Saffron Holliday and Annabel Yates played excellent tennis individually and also combined well in their doubles matches. Woodbridge won 5 of the 6 matches.
The u13B boys beat their opponents from Brandeston Hall. Charlie Mayhew, Joshua Graves, Oliver Buchanan and Giles Kelleway only dropped 5 games in six sets, dominating the fixture.
It was less easy going for the u13A team but they frustrated a strong Ipswich team. The result went down to the wire will nail biting doubles matches which could swing the tie either way. Alex Evans Lombe and John Max lost their enthralling doubles match 6-7 in the end whilst James Martin and Alex Weir-Simmons came back from behind to upset the Ipswich no.1 pairing 7-6. Woodbridge lost the match by 4 rubbers to 2, making for an exciting afternoon of tennis.
The u15A boys also faced tough opponents from Ipswich School. Their cause was not helped when Adam Wildbore suffered an injury midway through the first doubles match. Adam showed true character attempting to continue the fixture with a damaged playing hand. The team of Eden Wigzell, Oliver Bacon, Hugo Kelley and Adam unfortunately came out second best this time, but have gained valuable experience for the rest of the season.
The next fixtures are u13A boys and u13B girls against Orwell Park on Tuesday 28 April.
Please be aware that the fixtures printed in the red book have changed and are no longer correct.
The correct times and venues are:
1st XI @ Woodbridge 11am
15A @ Woodbridge 2pm
14A @ King’s 11am, depart 9.15am
14B @ King’s 11am, depart 9.15am
The U15B match has been cancelled.
We are delighted to announce that our Cantabile choir will be performing at the Junior Concert (Friday 8 May, 4.30pm in St Mary’s Church); this performance will take the place of the originally planned lunchtime Cantabile Concert on Tuesday 19 May.