Stopfordian 2010–2011 - Stockport Grammar School

The Stopfordian 2010–2011
that we had Christmas parties and concerts and carols to keep
us happy over the festive period.
The New Year brought a change in fortune as our exceptional
house swimmers brought home a solid 24 points in the House
Swimming Gala, which really represents the team spirit within
Warren as we were able to pick ourselves up after a sluggish
start. In the gala we had notable performances from Luke
Cox, Georgia Burns, Katie Clarke, Ciaran Johnson and Mona
Amet, as well as the usual outstanding performance from
Nicola Reeves. It was fabulous to see so many Warrenites
making the effort for our house. We followed up our success
in the gala with a solid set of results in the annual House
Swimming Standards which firmly put us back in the race for
the Fallows’ Shield.
The rugby events in the junior sections of Warren house
produced some solid results but in the senior event we were
hit with the same problem of numbers of available
participants due to various commitments and so we struggled.
The other Houses were being hit with the same clashes
though – so we can’t complain too much. Special mention
goes to Brady O’Farrell and Tom O’Mahoney who showed
great prowess on the field and have given us lots to look
forward to.
In the girls’ netball, the results were also mixed but the effort
and commitment of the players could not be faulted. Special
mention goes to Katie Clarke, Lily Wolstenholme , Ellen
Mobley, Sarah Doran, Olivia Gorrie and Vicky Cartwright - our
rising stars!
Slowly but surely we started to creep back into contention and
thanks to the efforts of the Sixth Form boys in their football
event we managed to poke our noses in front for the first time.
The Sixth Form boys epitomised everything good about
Warren house on that day. Our seeming Achilles heel of a
lack of numbers had struck once more and so we went into
the tournament with only seven players available. Special
mention at this point has to go to James Collins, who was
plucked from the common room at the last minute to do a
stint “in net” and his effort cannot be faulted. After losing the
first game, the grit and determination that we demonstrated in
coming back to win our last two games, was outstanding. The
jubilant scenes at the end of the tournament reflected our
remarkable victory. The First to Fifth Year footballers were also
in action and demonstrated our school’s prowess in this area
over recent years. Although the standard of competition was
high, Warren held on tight to the shield and remained in first
place. Special mention must go to Harry Allport, David
Wright, Ross Holloway and Angus Hotchkies for their
performance.
The Summer Term was then upon us and it was here that
Warren really came into their own. We had some exceptional
performances in the Senior Tennis with Amanda Bennison
once more dominating play. Lucy Pilling and Zoe Chu also
performed as an awesome pair. In the Boys’ Tennis, Jack
Ronnie made his presence known and Charles Longson, Tom
O’Mahoney and Brady O’Farrell demonstrated their talent
once more. More poignantly, Warren’s performance at
Sports Day made us very proud, with Ellen McPherson and
Charles Longson making every effort to bring home lots of
points for Warren.
Unfortunately, we narrowly lost out on the day and this
proved fatal in our bid to win the Fallows’ Shield as we were
pipped to the post by Arden, but enormous credit must go to
everyone in Warren who competed throughout the year.
Away from the Fallows’ Shield, Warren managed to raise £842
for charity which was a fantastic achievement. This money
was raised through a number of different avenues, from Mr
Hanson’s triathlon bet to James Tilley, Richard Horrocks, Phil
Hanson and Ed McDermott and their basketball “Shoot-athon”
and Sponsored Climb. Our thanks go to Kelsey Nolan
and Grace Jennings in producing and selling candy sticks. Our
success in raising so much money last year has spurred us on
to raise even more in coming years. To help us achieve this
In March, Warren excelled once more in the House Cross
Country with some outstanding individual performances, with
Patrick Magner and Joshua Forlan first and second respectively
for the First Year boys,
Lily Wolstenholme second for the girls, Michael Sidebottom
and Aaron Fairfax second and third respectively for the
Second Year boys and Ellen McPherson third for the girls.
28 Activities and Awards