Lancastrian-2015-WEB

Lancastrian 

2015

FROM THE EDITOR 

Welcome to the Lancastrian 2015 

which deals with the academic year 

2013-14. As such, the remembrance 

for the start of the First World War 

had not really got going; however, 

next year’s Lancastrian will feature 

prominently two events which took 

place in Michaelmas Term 2014: the 

History Department’s biennial trip to 

the Flanders and Picardy battlefields 

and the CCF’s Centennial Parade. 

This year has been a busy one – as 

ever – for LRGS, and this magazine in 

its limited space can only report on a 

sample of the activities. A corollary of 

the amount going on is perhaps the 

increasing difficulty which I have had 

coaxing active colleagues (with their 

pulses on the present and eyes to the 

future) to put pen to paper about the 

past. All that I can do is urge staff and 

– especially – boys to send me copy. 

The more boys who write articles, the 

happier that I shall be, since as often 

as not it is their vivid perspective that 

we want to read… 

REGISTER 

Head of School: 

Tim Hendry 

U6RSH 

Deputy Head of School: 

Freddie Brown U6SRB 

Head of Dining Hall: 

Tom Triviais 

U6RSH 

Deputy: 

Simon Kelly 

U6HJC 

Head of Grab and Go: 

Axel Steinert U6CRB 

Deputy: 

George Rettig U6CME 

Head of Lower School: 

Ben Kingcox 

U6NT 

Head of 1st Year: 

Joe Parry 

U6HJC 

Deputy: 

Owen Branford U6HJC 

Head of 2nd Year: 

Robert Beard U6HJC 

Deputy: 

Vincent MacDonald U6CRB 

Head of 3rd Year: 

Krishnan Ram-Prasad U6SRB 

Deputy: 

George Haworth U6CME 

Head of Middle School: 

Freddie Brown U6RSH 

Head of 4th Year: 

Dominic Gardner U6CME 

By the time that you read this, the 

battle for the General Election in May 

2015 will be well under way – in fact 

reading this may prove a pleasant 

antidote to current affairs! The current 

Coalition’s curriculum reforms are 

certainly starting to kick in with a 

vengeance and changes to funding 

formulae without doubt will have made 

an impact at LRGS. With our large 

sixth form, and a massive reduction in 

the per capita grant for each of those 

students, LRGS like many other 

secondary schools – especially 

academic ones – is about to take a 

huge hit… 

In these turbulent times, perhaps 

Lancastrian 2015 represents TS Eliot’s 

‘still point of the turning world’. I do hope 

that you will be able to sit comfortably 

and enjoy the opportunities which 

have been offered to all of our boys 

and the huge successes which most of 

them have made. 

Dr N Thorn 

Deputy: 

Jun-Yeong Kim U6CME 

(4th Year and 5th Year) 

Head of 5th Year: 

Dan Chambers U6CME 

Head of Sanctions: 

Josh Hillis 

U6RSH 

Head of Library: 

Chris Ellison 

U6SJH 

Deputy: 

Adam Richardson U6SJH 

Head of 6th Form Centre: 

Sam Letcher 

U6SJH 

Head of Events and Clubs: 

Andre Dallas 

U6LRB 

Dominic Rastelli-Lewis U6RW 

Head of Boarding and Tours: 

Oscar Taylor U6CME 

Deputy: 

Manni Obale 

U6HJC 

Head of Lost Property and Recycling: 

Ed Dunkley 

U6SJH 

Deputy: 

Alasdair Fairhurst U6CME 

Transitions Prefect: 

Chris Barton 

U6HJC 

InspirUs: 

Alex Titterington 

U6HJC 

Dining Hall Team: 

Scott Abraham U6AMT 

Alex Benachour U6RSH 

James Braithwaite U6SRB 

Alex Briggs 

U6RSH 

Akos Fenemore U6CRB 

Matthew Gardner U6RW 

Rik Ghosh 

U6NT 

Adam Harrison U6SJH 

Michael Jones U6RW 

Jun-Keong Kim U6CME 

Calum Kyle 

U6RSH 

Robert Mossop U6RSH 

Manni Obale 

U6HJC 

Dominic Rastelli-Lewis U6RW 

Grab and Go Team: 

James Atkinson 

Alexander Bell 

Chris Barton 

Isaac Haq 

Edward Hall 

Jack Hatchman 

U6SJH 

U6RSH 

U6HJC 

U6TCM 

U6AMT 

U6HJC 

COVER ARTWORK: James Riach, AS Exam 

CONTENTS 

From the Editor 1 

Register 1 

Headmaster’s Foreword 2 

Diary 2013-14 3 

Farewell to Staff 3 

Speech Day 2013 4 

Lenten Charities 5 

From The Lancastrian 6 

Old Lancastrian Club 7 

Alumni Relations 7 

Founders’ Weekend 2014 8 

Friends of LRGS 9 

School Development 10 

Marketing 12 

Houses 13 

Art 19 

Poetry Competition 29 

Short Story Competition 30 

Theatre and Drama 33 

Music 36 

Chemistry 39 

Junior Masterchef 39 

Geography 40 

Headmaster’s Essay Prize 42 

Spanish Theatre Review 45 

Design & Technology 46 

Comenius 47 

Ireland 50 

Kenya 51 

Sicily 52 

Spanish Exchange 53 

Combined Cadet Force 53 

Duke of Edinburgh’s Award 55 

Glenridding 57 

Armchair Generals 58 

Medical Society 60 

Rugby 61 

Cricket 73 

Cross Country 79 

Football 80 

Climbing 81 

Orienteering 82 

Rowing 83 

University Destinations 2014 90 

Speech Day Prize Winners 2013 93 

Pupil Achievements 2013-14 96 

Tom Hynes 

Vincent MacDonald 

Reuben Pullan 

Thomas Saunders 

Colin Shirras 

Alex Titterington 

Oliver Tomlinson 

Dylan Vignola 

Sixth Form Centre: 

Freddie Carter 

Theo Hargreaves 

Peter Law 

Sam McIlwaine 

U6SRB 

U6CRB 

U6CRB 

U6SJH 

U6HJC 

U6HJC 

U6CRB 

U6SRB 

U6CME 

U6RSH 

U6CME 

U6RW 

Lost Property and Recycling: 

Thomas Boyle U6SRB 

Max Gorse 

U6CRB 

Josef Roome 

U6RW 

Music: 

Francis Bettsworth 

Jack Harrison 

Boarding (Ashton): 

Harry Porter 

U6SRB 

U6NT 

U6AMT 

1

HEADMASTER’S FOREWORD 

Ex antiquis et novissimis optima – The best of the old and 

the new 

I like to think that the Victorian headmasters who built Old School 

House would have been thrilled to see it coming back to life this 

year. There have been some exciting building renovations, many 

of them in that superb listed building. We have converted former 

top floor dorms into excellent classrooms and study space; Sixth 

Formers have a new wifi café; new furniture has brightened the 

Library; InspirUS has moved out of portacabins to a permanent 

home in the heart of the school. 

I am very grateful for the generosity of the wider LRGS family 

which has made much of this possible: in particular the fundraising of the 

Friends Committee, the generosity of alumni at our New York reunion, 

and a significant bequest left by Dr William Sexton (OL 1913-1922). 

New uses for old buildings; tradition and innovation; ex antiquis et 

novissimis optima is a phrase which for me goes to the heart of what 

makes LRGS so remarkable: the best of the old and the new. 

Pupil achievements 

The best thing of all about LRGS is (of course) the pupils. 

Students this year have received international sporting honours or been 

selected by the MCC; they completed ambitious extended projects; 

conducted chamber choirs and acted in professional theatres; studied 

Mandarin with university students; turned down a place at Cambridge for 

a scholarship at Imperial. 

Arriving as boarders far from home, they became mainstays of the school; 

others took the European plunge and applied to university abroad; they 

consistently made the most positive impression on visitors; they did the 

thousand other things showcased in this issue of The Lancastrian. 

Growth mindset 

What is the secret behind these achievements? Is it talent? Or is it effort 

and determination? 

According to psychologist Professor Carol Dweck, an emphasis on talent 

can be extremely unhelpful. Her research shows that students who 

believe strongly in innate ability (“fixed mindset”) are more likely to fear 

failure and to give up when the going gets tough. However, those who 

believe that intelligence can be developed (“growth mindset”) are more 

likely to respond positively to setbacks and persist at difficult tasks. 

There is no such thing as effortless success. In fact hard work and 

application are how you improve at just about anything – from science to 

skateboarding! 

So let’s praise effort, not ability. Let’s look for improvement, not just 

attainment. What really is impressive this year is that as our students 

turned up on time and worked hard – week after week – they improved 

and became more accomplished. 

I hope that you enjoy reading about our pupils’ achievements so far in this 

issue of The Lancastrian. Their potential is unknowable. And that really 

is exciting! 

Dr CJ Pyle 

2

DIARY 2013-14 

As always this was a very busy year. A number of colleagues 

have moved on or retired and as always we welcome a 

number of new staff. 

Matthew Buckland moved on to take up the post of Deputy 

Head of Bloxham School in Oxfordshire after seventeen 

years at LRGS. I have worked very closely with Matt over 

the years in the Geography Department, in boarding and 

on the management side of the school and he has made an 

enormous contribution to the school. My best wishes go with 

him, Jenny and the boys. He has been replaced as Assistant 

Head in charge of teaching and learning by James Hallsworth. 

Andrew Macdonald also left after fifteen years at the school 

to take up a post at St Columba’s College in Hertfordshire. 

He had many rôles at the school; taught English, Careers 

Master, OC RAF Section, boarding, sports teams and many 

more. I hope he settles well at his new school because we will 

certainly miss him here. Emma Novell very kindly stepped 

in during the summer term as his replacement. Also in the 

English Department, Dr Nicholas Thorn stepped down as the 

head of department to be replaced by Stephanie Mitchell. 

Andrew Mawson has left as Head of PE to take up a job 

in London. In his short time here, he made an excellent 

reputation for himself and we wish him all the best for 

the future. Andy Rice has stepped in to take on the rôle 

until Christmas, after which Stuart Clark will take over in 

January. Nicola McDermott who taught Religious Studies 

and Philosophy as well as running the Extended Curriculum 

programme has taken a new job in the Liverpool area and 

our thanks go with her for all her hard work at LRGS. She has 

been replaced by Marjorie Crombie. Rebecca Kenyon left the 

Art Department to be replaced by Celia France. During the 

year we also appointed Tricia Heaton to the role of boarding 

marketing officer. 

Mr ID Whitehouse 

FAREWELL TO STAFF 

MATTHEW BUCKLAND 

Matt joined LRGS in 1997 having 

fallen in love with the area after 

studying Geography at Lancaster 

University (or was it because his girl 

friend, now wife was still in Lancaster?). 

During his seventeen years at LRGS, 

Matthew has taken on a great variety 

of rôles: Geography teacher, Storey 

House tutor, Housemaster of Ashton 

House and Assistant Head teacher 

responsible for the Seward committee, 

Appraisal, Student teachers, Training 

and Development, etc, etc... He 

managed all these very varied rôles 

with a clear vision about what he 

wanted to achieve, always looking to 

improve on what had been done before. 

Matt will certainly be remembered by 

his colleagues as a true professional. 

As a Geography teacher, Matt taught 

all year groups but will be remembered 

most fondly by his GCSE and A-Level 

classes who were inspired by his 

teaching and who achieved outstanding 

exam results. He was always up-todate 

in his knowledge and was able to 

explain clearly the most complicated 

ideas to all his students. His great 

interest was human geography which 

he brought to life often by referring to 

his own experience, for example “Life 

in Wray”, and “Holidaying in Mauritius!” 

There have been many OLs who 

have gone on to study Geography at 

University having been taught by Matt. 

Matt took charge of Ashton House 

for four years. During this time, Matt 

brought in many new initiatives that 

went a long way to ensure that Ashton 

boarders enjoyed a safe and very 

homely stay. It was in this role that Matt 

developed his leadership skills that later 

equipped him to become Assistant 

Headteacher. All the pupils, staff and 

support staff who have worked with 

Matt have really appreciated his efforts. 

Matt is highly competitive in sport 

and enjoys setting himself personal 

challenges. He regularly played staff 

football and 5-a-side on Fridays. He 

usually featured in the top ten of the 

Senior Set Run and in more recent 

years completed a number of cycling 

tours. It was this enjoyment of sport 

and the outdoors that meant Matt 

naturally engaged with the extracurricular 

activities that add so much 

to school days at LRGS. He was a key 

member of staff on the school ski trip; 

he helped at Glenridding, helped with 

school football teams, ran rugby teams 

and even took part in a rugby tour to 

South Africa. 

It was while on this rugby tour that 

Matt managed to give a black eye in 

a game of volley ball to ex-colleague 

Paul Sanderson. It is interesting that 

this incident has not been forgotten 

by Matt’s new Headmaster at Bloxham 

School, Oxfordshire, where Matt is taking 

on the role of Deputy Headteacher. 

Matt told me a reason for moving south 

was so he would be able to see more 

Watford home games. I am sure he 

would have enjoyed watching Norwich 

3 Watford 0! 

We will certainly miss Matt but wish 

him and his family – Jennie, Joseph, 

Jack and Marcus – all the best as they 

begin a new life down south. We look 

forward to seeing Matt when he comes 

back up to Lancaster and to the hills. 

Mr AM Talks 

3

ANDREW MACDONALD 

Andrew Macdonald played a valuable rôle not just in the 

English Department, but in a great many other areas of 

the life of the school. He moved here from his native South 

Africa in 1999 and soon made his presence felt as a cricket 

coach. He was a very concerned teacher, always seeking 

to give his best and willing to give up virtually every lunchtime 

to help boys – especially as public exams approached. 

Often the boys gaining the best marks in English both at 

GCSE and A-Level were some of his charges. Taking over 

several of his classes this year, I am regularly told stories of 

his teaching by the boys and he is still fondly remembered 

by many of them. 

Andrew was an old-fashioned schoolmaster with his fingers 

in a great many pies. For much of his time at LRGS he was 

the Careers Master – or Head of Work Related Learning 

– as one of many government ‘reforms’ made it. He took 

this job very seriously and became extremely well-qualified 

in it, gaining various qualifications which culminated in 

a Master’s degree. He helped many boys make up their 

minds about what apprenticeship or university course was 

most suitable for them, but he ensured that Fifth Formers 

opted for A-Level choices which were sensible for their 

long-term ambitions. For many years he ran Fourth Form 

work-experience fortnights, which were much enjoyed 

and appreciated. He created good relationships with many 

external careers agencies – including Lancashire County 

Council Careers Service and the various Armed Forces 

recruiting officers. Andrew was soon Officer Commanding 

RAF Section and he showed a huge commitment to that; 

he was especially pleased when girls were admitted into 

the RAF Section from LGGS because it then had more 

cadets than the Army Section. There always was a wide 

competitive streak to him! 

As if all of these things were not enough, he was active on 

the games fields and also in a number of boarding houses. 

All-in-all, Andrew worked very long hours and always did 

his very best for the boys for whom he was responsible. 

He moved on at Easter 2014 to St Columba’s College in St 

Albans, Hertfordshire as its Careers Master, and we wish him 

the very best there. 

Dr N Thorn 

SPEECH DAY 2013 

Fifty years after being a prize-winner 

himself, Chris Critchlow OL returned 

to LRGS to present prizes at Speech 

Day. His Honour Judge Christopher 

Critchlow is resident judge at Guildford 

Crown Court in Surrey and Honorary 

Recorder of Guildford. 

Alex Ashworth and Mrs Gill Manklow, 

Chairman of Governors. 

Dr Pyle and Head of School Tim 

Hendry also gave speeches, after 

the distribution of prizes to pupils. 

Parents, pupils, staff and OLs were 

then invited by the Friends of LRGS 

to an enjoyable reception in the Town 

Hall’s Banqueting Suite. 

Rose Welshman 

He left School having been deputy 

head boy. He gained a law degree at 

Exeter University, became a barrister in 

1973 and a Crown Court judge in 2000. 

He is vice-chairman of governors at 

Guildford Royal Grammar School. 

Among the prizes Chris won while at 

school were the TW Helme Prize for 

Reading, the Boarding House Prize 

and EH Keir Memorial Prize. 

Other distinguished guests at the 

School’s glittering annual event, held 

in the Ashton Hall Lancaster, were 

Eric Ollerenshaw MP, The Mayor Cllr 

June Ashworth and Mayoress Miss 

4

LENTEN CHARITIES 

Pupils raised an amazing £18,000 for 

charity this year during the Lent Term. 

They arranged cake sales, discos and 

sponsored swims and took part in the 

Set Run. Staff joined in as well, with 

an arm-wrestling competition and Mr 

Ashbridge shaved his head! 

Dr Pyle said: ‘Support for charities 

both in our local area and around the 

world is an important part of school 

life at LRGS. I am delighted to see our 

pupils taking the initiative in choosing 

suitable causes and raising thousands 

of pounds in so many creative ways! All 

of us have been struck by the amazing 

work of our seven charities this year. I 

hope that many of our pupils will be 

inspired by their involvement with 

them.’ 

The full list of charities receiving the 

£18,000 is: St John’s Hospice, Lancaster; 

Friends of Chernobyl’s Children, 

Lancaster; The Stroke Association; 

The Christie, Manchester; Sunshine 

Orphanage, Egypt; PhysioNET, which 

provides physiotherapy equipment to 

disabled children around the world, 

and MeDICT, which supports disabled 

children in Mexico. 

Rose Welshman 

5

FROM THE LANCASTRIAN 

100 years ago: 1913-1914 

At his first Speech Day, the new 

Headmaster, Dr Shackleton-Bailey 

instituted a prize for useful service 

to the School. This is still presented 

annually, normally to the outgoing 

Head of School. 

Setting was introduced in Mathematics 

and French. 

The application to form a Contingent 

of the OTC (now the CCF) was initially 

turned down, but a second bid was 

successful; new cadets began training 

in the summer term. 

The Whewell Society rejected the forced 

feeding of imprisoned suffragettes but 

approved of compulsory games. 

The XV lost its only two school matches 

0-18 to King Edward’s Lytham and 

0-51 to Sedbergh – the lowest point on 

record. The Soccer XI won six and drew 

two of its twelve games, while bowlers 

in the Cricket XI secured three hat tricks. 

75 years ago: 1938-39 

Dr Shackleton-Bailey retired after twentyfive 

years, to become Vicar of St. Michaelson-Wyre. 

He was replaced as Headmaster 

at Easter by Mr RR Timberlake. 

Mr JH Roberts retired after thirty years 

as Senior Classics master. During that 

time, his pupils won thirty-three open 

awards at Oxford or Cambridge, eleven 

of them subsequently gaining first 

class honours degrees. 

The season was the XV’s best to date, 

with FWG Brodrick’s team enjoying an 

unbeaten season, with nine wins and 

two draws. Leeds GS, Bradford GS and 

Rossall School were among the sides 

defeated. The first inter-school crosscountry 

fixture was held, Blackpool 

GS winning by 35 points to 43. The 

Shooting VIII won the Derby Cup at 

Altcar for a fourth successive year. 

There were 551 pupils on roll, the 

largest number to date. Because of 

the crisis over Hitler’s demands from 

Czechoslovakia, they were issued with 

gas masks, which they were to carry 

daily in the event of war. 

50 years ago: 1963-64 

The demolition of the old Bay View 

Hospital took place during Michaelmas 

Term. It was reported that “the site will 

be used for a new classroom block, 

with a library, administrative offices and 

a masters’ common room.” Although 

plans were drawn up, they came to 

nothing, and two decades ware to 

elapse before the site began to see 

piecemeal development. 

The cross-country team, in its twentyfifth 

year won the Fylde inter-schools 

event and in the Northern School 

Championships the seniors were placed 

third and the Under-16 team second. 

The XI was undefeated with ten wins 

and three draws and the swimming 

team gained a third consecutive win in 

the Fylde championships. 

A thriving Scout troop, with eight 

patrols and two senior patrols, 

numbered 70, with five gaining the 

Queen’s Scout badge. Approval was 

given for the formation of a Royal Air 

Force section of the CCF. 

25 years ago: 1988-89 

Third Master Gordon Robinson retired 

after 39 years teaching mathematics, 

and 33 as an officer in the CCF. For 

26 of those years he had served as 

Contingent Commander, during which 

the whole purpose of the CCF had 

changed. In the era of National Service 

it had been very much a pre-service 

body, but after 1962 the emphasis 

changed to leadership training. He was 

replaced as Third Master by John Lea 

and as a mathematics teacher by Mark 

Chambers. 

A ballot of parents led to an application 

for the new Grant Maintained status, 

but the outcome was not known until 

the following November. 

In association with LGGS, Sandy 

Wilson’s musical “The Boy Friend” and 

Anthony Minghella’s play “Two Planks 

and a Passion” were produced. 

A fourth-year quiz team reached the 

final of a revived “Top of the Form”, and 

a first year pupil, MD Snellgrove won 

the County final of the Mathematics 

Challenge. By winning a Rotary Club 

public speaking competition, sixth 

former J Kelly won a four-week visit to 

the USA. 

A wide range of holiday activities 

included a visit to Rendsburg, a 

Scottish Trek, a Scottish cruise, as well 

as ski trips and the CCF camps. 

The cross country and swimming teams 

had unbeaten seasons, while the Boat 

Club registered eleven regatta wins. 

Mr JW Fidler 

6

OLD LANCASTRIAN CLUB 

As reported in the last issue of The 

Lancastrian, the OL Club celebrated its 

centenary during the year culminating 

in the annual dinner on Founders’ Day. 

The evening, which was less formal than 

usual, took place in the Lancaster Town 

Hall. The centenary president Brian 

Ashton gave an entertaining account 

of some highlights of his career and 

a presentation was made to Andrew 

Wilson in recognition of his role as 

MC at the dinners for many years. A 

significant number of past-presidents 

and their partners attended as guests 

of the Club and a formal photograph 

was taken to mark this unique occasion. 

The strength of the Club lies with the 

branches and the work carried out by 

the secretaries in organising the annual 

dinners. In September a gathering 

of forty-four OLs met in New York 

(including twenty-two from the USA) 

in an extremely enjoyable weekend 

organised by Kevin Roberts. An event 

organised by Richard Batterley in 

Sydney took place this year. Closer 

to home, one hundred OLs and their 

partners attended an informal lunch 

at the Lancaster Brewery in January. 

Preceded by a rugby match and with 

a hot pot meal provided by David 

Dunderdale (Newfields Catering), this 

event is now firmly on the OL calendar. 

The Club was pleased to receive a large 

number of theology books bequeathed 

by the widow of Richard Helmn (1968- 

75) and which were given to the RS 

Department at school. 

The New Year’s Honours list brought 

news that Professor Peter Ratcliffe, 

Nuffield Professor of Clinical Medicine 

at Oxford, had been awarded a 

knighthood. Sir Peter has a research 

interest in the mechanisms by which 

cells sense and signal low oxygen levels. 

The Club continues to support the 

students at school and this year has 

helped to sponsor the senior and junior 

cricket team tours in Barbados and 

has contributed towards the purchase 

of a 3D printer for the Design and 

Technology department. 

Jack Turton has been a superb alumni 

officer this year and I would like to 

thank him and Jenny Cornell in the 

Development Office for their continued 

support and advice. 

Peter V Dyer, 

Secretary, 

OL Club (OL 1968-75) 

ALUMNI RELATIONS 

Returning to LRGS to spend a year as Alumni Officer in the 

Development Office has been a great experience. I must 

firstly thank Jenny and Rose for their advice and support 

over the year, which I have thoroughly enjoyed! 

Like all before me, the return as a member of staff showed 

‘the other side’ to the School, and the weekly 5-a-side 

football quickly snapped me out of addressing former 

teachers as “Sir”. By the time I started, the free school meals 

were merely stories of better times; however the sixth form 

centre canteen provided a more than adequate replacement 

service (still Kate and Steph for the more recent OL vintages). 

During my first seven years at School, I was lucky enough 

to experience the support that the OL Club gives the 

School first hand through three school tours. South Africa 

and Namibia with rugby, then Barbados on cricket tour 

and then Hong Kong, Japan and Australia in my final year 

were certainly highlights in my school career. However, it 

soon became very apparent that this help was much more 

widespread, and the quality of events and the strength of 

the OL network really were something special. The number 

of old boys who give something back to the School in so 

many ways really cannot be appreciated enough and I 

would like to thank all who continue to make this School 

and OL Club what it is today. 

Continued overleaf > 

7

ALUMNI RELATIONS /continued... 

Just as my school career ended with an amazing trip, my 

career as Alumni Officer began with one: my first dinner 

in post was to be New York. Thanks to the hard work 

of my predecessor Rory Hudson, I took over the final 

organisation of the New York Dinner, which I then went 

to (thanks, Dad!). I have been to a number of OL Dinners, 

and had immense fun at them all; however, it is safe to say 

that this one was just ahead of the rest for me! 

On joining the Development Office, the first task was to 

assist in the organisation of Founders’ Day, the biggest 

event in the OL calendar. Thanks to Rory’s tireless work 

and dedication, a superb weekend of events went off 

without any problems. The scale and success of the 

events throughout the Club’s Centenary Year will certainly 

be hard to replicate, although with the expert guidance 

and training that I received from Rory, he gave me the 

tools necessary to carry on his great work. The Dinners 

closer to home have also been hugely enjoyable. Some 

great venues, including the RAF Club in London and the 

delightful St John’s in Cambridge have played unique 

hosts to the bonding and friendship of OLs, a theme 

of the club that became increasingly obvious throughout 

the year. 

My time as Alumni Officer has been a fantastic one, being 

involved with a number of great events and people. 

Thanks must be extended to everyone I have worked with 

throughout the year, for making this a great experience 

and more importantly, an enjoyable one. 

Jack Turton (OL 2002-09) 

FOUNDERS’ WEEKEND 2014 

As is to be expected, The Founders’ Weekend of 2014 was 

a roaring success; generally great weather was matched 

by great company, to create a weekend of celebrations 

enjoyed by all involved. 

In traditional fashion, the spectacle of Founders’ Weekend 

(4th – 6th July) teed off with the Old Lancastrian Golf 

Tournament, as the heavy rains and strong winds proved no 

match for youthful exuberance. The Terry Beatson Trophy 

was collected by Jack Turton, as a fitting leaving gift after a 

year in office, with a score of 37 points. 

Saturday began with the customary Service, which was 

followed by lunch and cricket for around 100 guests up 

on the school site. A focus and commendation of LRGS’ 

sporting esteem was established early, as OLs joined the 

Headmaster, Chris Pyle, and the Head of Rugby, Evan 

Stewart, for the presentation of Larry Lamb’s (1934-41) 

pennant, something he collected during his days spent 

at the top of international rugby refereeing. The cloud 

made way for glorious sunshine towards the afternoon, 

which provided the ultimate platform for fast cricket and 

a competitive game. The cricketing exhibition, and the bar, 

proved a good pre-cursor to a fantastic evening at the Town 

Hall. 

A sparkling reception and canapés was following by an 

excellent spread put on by David Dunderdale. Outgoing 

President Paul Fitton (1961-67) recalled his time as head 

of the OL Club, before passing responsibility to Martin 

Alexander (1968-73). 

Many thanks to all those involved for enjoying Founders’ 

Weekend in true fashion, and making it such a success. 

Jack Turton (OL 2002-09) 

8

FRIENDS OF LRGS 

The Friends of LRGS are a group 

of parents who support the school, 

the boys and other parents in many 

ways: fundraising, social activities, 

help at school events, and the School 

Shop. The Friends Committee meets 

regularly in an informal atmosphere 

to plan activities and everybody is 

welcome to join or to help on an ad 

hoc basis. 

Since being founded in 1973, the 

Friends, a registered charity, have 

raised over £325,000. All funds are 

employed to finance school activities 

and to purchase special items of 

school equipment, for the benefit of 

as many boys as possible. The Friends 

also provide opportunities for parents 

to support the life and work of the 

school whilst making contact with 

other parents. 

The Friends have recently been 

undertaking some big projects, and 

this year they have chosen a substantial 

and fundamental one, helping with 

the vital refurbishment of the Library. 

They have done this by purchasing 

new shelving and study spaces that 

can benefit all of the boys. Another 

essential purchase half-financed by 

the Friends were three defibrillators; 

a grant was kindly given by The 

Galbraith Trust to help buy them. A 

trampoline was funded for PE as well; a 

3D printer for Design and Technology 

and portable lighting for Drama were 

partly funded. 

Smaller, but nevertheless important 

contributions, went to the Debating 

society for travel to national 

competitions; towards purchasing 

practice papers for the National 

Linguistics Olympiad; to the Canoe 

Club for buoyancy aids and spray 

decks; to Food Technology for 

crockery and prizes; to the Sixth 

Form Centre for a Cajun drum; to 

Art for a flat screen TV and an Apple 

TV; towards texts and DVDs to set 

up a Senior Boarders’ Book Group; 

towards the Arts festival; to English 

for prizes for the Poetry and Short 

Story Competition; to PE for weights 

for the sports hall. 

This year the activities started 

energetically with the Supper and 

Fun Run in September, a new and 

very successful fundraising event, 

with all the ingredients for success: 

chip butties, fancy dress and plenty of 

prizes! Another new and entertaining 

event was the Pampered Chef evening 

in November, ideal preparation for 

Christmas. The now traditional Burns’ 

Night Dinner and Dance held on 25th 

of January in the elegant Ashton Hall 

was, as always, greatly popular and 

successful, with all the prescribed 

elements: bagpipe, an address to the 

haggis, great food and lots of dancing! 

A new event on the Friends’ calendar, 

the Spring Plant Sale and Coffee 

Morning, was a great success. Also 

well received was the wine tasting 

evening in June. 

The highlight of the year was 

undoubtedly Martin Roscoe’s piano 

recital on 21st March, an unforgettable 

evening of sublime music that the 

school was really privileged to host and 

for which the Friends are extremely 

grateful to the generous virtuoso. 

The Friends have continued running 

the School Shop and promoting the 

500 Club. As every year, they were 

also present to provide drinks and 

friendly chats at the school events: the 

Welcome Evenings in October, Speech 

Day in the Ashton Hall in November 

and the reception in the Priory after 

the Carol Service in December. 

Thanks are due to all the parents who 

throughout the year have been helping 

organise and run the activities and the 

shop. The Friends are always extremely 

grateful to the School staff, in particular 

the School Development Office, the 

School Office, the Site Staff and the 

invaluable School Dining Hall Staff, who 

have been supporting their initiatives 

and without whose generous work 

many events would not be possible. 

Please join us and support the Friends 

– your contribution would be truly 

valuable. You can check activities 

on the Friends’ pages on the school 

website and/or email the secretary: 

m.masci@lancaster.ac.uk. 

Michela Masci 

Secretary, Friends of LRGS 

9

SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT 

John Gardyner’s endowment in 1472 stated that the School was 

“to educate boys in grammar, freely”. His intentions still resonate 

today. Education at LRGS remains free. Our excellent InspirUS 

outreach programme and Lune Scholarship Bursary Fund are just 

two ways in which we remain true to John Gardyner’s aim and 

help us to educate boys irrespective of background or income. 

Both schemes are funded entirely through the generosity of 

others – by donations from former pupils, parents, staff and 

friends of the School. 

Whilst government funding provides the School with the 

resources for day-to-day school activities, it does not go very far 

towards helping to cover the costs of maintaining or improving 

our facilities. We strive to deliver the highest teaching standards 

and provide top quality facilities. In order to continue to achieve 

this goal we rely on the generosity of our community. 

Over the year considerable progress has been made on a number 

of projects which help us to enrich the lives and the educational 

experience of current as well as future generations of pupils. 

Old School House Renovation 

We are delighted that the renovation of Old School House is 

progressing well converting the old dormitories into attractive 

classrooms. For several months, scaffolding could be seen 

around Old School House as the building was made watertight 

with a new roof and windows. During the 2013 summer holiday 

the first phase of the Old School House redevelopment was 

completed. The old sanatorium was completely renovated to 

provide new facilities for the PE Department and a sparkling new 

Drama studio and classroom emerged from the obsolete staff 

room downstairs. 

A further bid was submitted for government funding allowing us 

to proceed further with our plans for Old School House. Further 

sources of funding were sought as well as approaches to parents 

and former pupils to support the project. We were particularly 

grateful to Old Lancastrian, Christopher Wright, who generously 

made a gift to fund a classroom dedicated to his parents. A 

legacy from another Old Lancastrian, William Sexton, allowed us 

to plan further work in the old building. 

Our plan is to continue to phase the work over a period of time 

allowing us to provide much needed teaching space, to extend 

and enhance the library facilities and study space for pupils, and 

to develop a state-of-the-art Sixth Form Centre. 

New York! New York! 

In September 2013 we were treated to the amazingly generous 

hospitality of Kevin Roberts when he hosted 70 people at the 

New York Old Lancastrian Dinner in the offices of Saatchi and 

Saatchi. The event also generated a tremendous amount of 

support for the InspirUS programme with a huge number of Old 

Lancastrians pledging donations towards our target of £20,000 

for a new InspirUS classroom and teaching facilities in Old School 

House. Our sincere thanks to all those in the States and in the 

UK who pledged their support which has now enabled InspirUS 

to move into a permanent home. 

10

SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT 

InspirUS 

Further support for the InspirUS programme came through 

Trevor Bargh (Old Lancastrian, governor and parent) who 

facilitated two enterprising fundraising opportunities which, 

once again, took advantage of Kevin Roberts’ generosity. 

Trevor invited Kevin to be keynote speaker at the Annual 

Hotel Conference in Manchester. Instead of taking a fee, 

Kevin asked that a donation be made to InspirUS. More 

recently, a sumptuous dinner was hosted and sponsored 

by Brewin Dolphin in Old School House Dining Room with 

Kevin as the focal attraction. Local business people had the 

benefit of his company, views and advice whilst enjoying a 

superb meal created and served by Heathcote & Co. The 

InspirUS programme benefitted from the evening through a 

generous donation from Brewin Dolphin. 

We are indebted to Martin Higginson for his vision and 

continued generosity in establishing and funding the 

scheme. Sincere thanks also to the many Old Lancastrians 

who are contributing towards the initiative. 

Summer Telephone Campaign 2014 

We ended the year with a very successful telephone 

campaign when fifteen recent leavers and undergraduates 

were employed to reconnect with Old Lancastrians across 

the country and overseas. This year’s telephone campaign 

was one of our most successful ever. Our team of callers 

spoke to 750 Old Lancastrians and everyone seemed to 

have a great time, with many stories being relayed about 

Lancaster Royal Grammar School past and present. After 

completing the final call of our two week campaign, an 

impressive £200,000 had been pledged. The pledges 

and donations provided much needed funds towards our 

four current development projects: Old School House 

Renovation, the InspirUS programme, Lune Scholarship and 

New Gym and Fitness Centre. We are immensely grateful 

to those Old Lancastrians who generously supported 

our “Investing in Excellence” Programme. Sincere thanks 

also to the callers who were great ambassadors for 

the School. Feedback from Old Lancastrians has been 

very complimentary: “He was a credit to LRGS”; “highly 

professional”; “I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. It 

brought back pleasant memories of a time now 50 years 

ago”. 

Lune Scholarship 

The Lune Scholarship is funded solely by donations and 

fundraising activities and offers help to families who may 

be struggling financially. Over the past year, a huge number 

of boys have received help towards uniform and sports gear 

costs, travel costs and other expenses for extra-curricular 

activities whilst representing the school or supporting their 

education. The scheme allows boys to take full advantage 

of all that the school has to offer and hopefully provides 

them with opportunities that perhaps they had thought not 

possible. 

New Parents Welcome Evenings 

We welcomed all new families who have joined us this 

year. Our new parents’ evenings continue to be popular 

and provide the opportunity to find out more about school 

life, to make friendships and to become involved with 

the variety of activities on offer. We also hope that, like 

previous generations of parents, our new mums and dads 

will consider supporting the School and contribute to our 

“Investing in Excellence” Programme. 

Thank you so much to everyone who is supporting 

the school by donating to the various projects in our 

Development Programme. We are amazed by the 

level of support that we receive. 

If you would like to help us by contributing to 

the Development plans please contact me at the 

Development Office, LRGS, East Road, Lancaster 

LA1 3EF. Tel: 01524 580608. Email: development@ 

lrgs.org.uk. 

Jenny Cornell 

11

MARKETING 

In April 2014 we were delighted to welcome Tricia 

Heaton as our new Boarding Marketing Officer. 

Tricia is responsible for all stages of the boarding 

applications process including initial enquiry, parent 

liaison and organising visits. She is also leading the 

advertising of boarding and organising boarding 

recruitment events. 

We held several successful marketing events at LRGS 

throughout the year, with teaching, admissions and 

marketing staff all taking part. The Sixth Form Open 

Evening in January was redesigned, starting in City 

View, with visiting students being taken on bespoke 

tours to their chosen subject areas by our L6 students. 

Feedback was very positive and a bumper crop of 52 

new L6 students started at LRGS in September 2014. 

The 11+ Open Day in June was also revamped, with 

much smaller groups of families being taken on 

individualised tours around the School by pupils, 

to the areas they were particularly interested in. 

The Assembly Hall was filled with displays about 

extracurricular activities and information on SEN, 

boarding, financial support and pastoral care and a 

greater array of refreshments was provided, this time 

in City View. Again, feedback from parents at this 

event was very positive. 

In May we held a Boarding Open Morning at which 

many families toured Storey House, met boarders and 

boarding staff and stayed for lunch. We held it on the 

same day as the Friends’ Spring Sale, which added a 

nice, festive element to the occasion. 

In June we updated our School prospectus. The demand for printed prospectuses has reduced over recent years and some 

schools have stopped printing them altogether. While the majority of our prospective parents use our website for information, 

we decided to continue to print some for those who still like to browse through a paper copy. The prospectus can also be 

downloaded on the School website. 

The website remains our key marketing tool and further work was undertaken this year in developing the site, with a redesign 

planned for October 2014. Visits continue to increase each year and stats show that more people than ever are accessing 

the website via mobile devices and tablets. New sections this year included a First Year Induction page which proved very 

popular with new First Year parents and after some issues in the development stages, the online school calendar is now 

working well and being regularly accessed by parents. We continue to develop our engagement with social media, with 

Twitter well established and a Facebook page in development. 

Press coverage of the School was good throughout 

the year, with the School’s A-level results placing LRGS 

as the third best performing state school in the North 

of England and the 10th highest achieving boys’ state 

school nationally (The Times). Local stories covered 

a wide range of pupils’ achievements, such as the 

Business and Economics students who won the Ernst 

& Young Arcade National Enterprise Competition, and 

there was a long feature on how LRGS commemorated 

the anniversary of the First World War. 

Rose Welshman 

Marketing Officer 

12

THE HOUSES 

Ashton House 

Little can fully prepare you for life as a Housemaster and 

much of my first year seems to have passed by in a blur 

of activity. However, I have enjoyed (almost) every minute 

and this is due in no small part to the help and support 

of a great team of staff. Mr Reynolds has a great calming 

influence as Assistant Housemaster and he will be a great 

loss to the house when he leaves boarding shortly. Mr 

Stewart has quickly become the man to be depended 

upon as Resident House Tutor and Mr Furlong-Brown 

continues to be a tower of strength, with his many years 

of experience in the house. The weekly Duty Masters – Mr 

Saul, Mr Sunderland and Mr Mellon – remain as reassuring 

Ashton fixtures. Of course, no boarding house could 

function without the Matrons and we are fortunate indeed 

to have two of the best in Jenny Greathead and Joanne 

Pashley. 

AS level. This high standard was then matched by the 5th 

Form and special mention and congratulations must go to 

Diptarko Roy (5L) and Eugene Lin who both achieved the 

‘holy grail’ of 11 A* GCSE grades. 

I would like to congratulate all the boys for their effort 

and commitment throughout the year and thank the 

Heads of House and their prefect team for their passion, 

commitment and service to the house during their time 

at Ashton. We wish all house leavers every success in the 

future. 

Mr CW Atkinson 

The new fourth formers and lower sixth fitted in quickly, 

having been shown the ropes by Heads of House Manny 

Obale and Harry Porter who worked hard to create a friendly 

and respectful atmosphere for us all to live in. Friendships 

were quickly made, in no small part due to ‘Ashton La Liga’ 

inter-house football competition organised by the lower 

sixth and the transfer window saw some frenzied debate 

on the relative merits of those bought and sold. 

Undoubtedly one of the highlights of the year was the ‘rap 

off’ between Thomas Weald (L6DEY) and George Elletson 

(5L) versus Oba Adelaje (L6DJN) and Samuel Titi-Lartey 

(L6TCM). This much anticipated showdown induced tears 

of laughter from staff and boys alike and looks set to 

become an annual event. 

The inter-House sporting rivalry was intense and with so 

many 1st XV players it was nice to see School House turn 

up for the rugby this year. Congratulations to them on their 

narrow victories in rugby and football: enjoy the trophy 

while you can, Mr Millatt. 

Soon after Christmas revision started in earnest and it was 

an incredibly successful year for the House in terms of 

academic achievement. The highest standards were set by 

the Sixth Form with their exam results at both A Level and 

Using School House as a convenient stepping stone 

towards the boarding zenith of Ashton Housemastership 

was the perfect way for the Silver Fox to confirm once and 

for all which was the better house! With the arrival of Mr 

Atkinson came a quick facelift for the house: new sofas 

in the living room for us to all relax and watch the wide 

screen and deer antlers on the walls, reminding us we were 

the alpha male house, who appreciate a bit of shabby chic. 

We quickly organised several events to include all the new 

boys in the first few weeks. This brought us all together 

as a strong community: from wide eyed 4th Formers, 

to the new boys in the 5th and Lower Sixth, we were all 

comfortable in one another’s company. 

13

THE HOUSES /continued... 

On Monday nights the younger boys were now treated to 

a variety of staff members for prep duty, to keep them on 

their toes: from the Annexe’s own Mr Reynolds to the new 

boy Mr ‘Potato’ Stewart, to the vegan pacifist Mr Furlong- 

Brown, to the main man himself. Tuesdays saw another 

return to the house, this time Mr Saul, our much loved zero 

tolerance authoritarian. Wednesday saw the watchful eye 

of an Ashton stalwart, Mr Sunderland, whilst Thursdays put 

you in your place, as you were lured to your downfall at the 

hands of Mr Mellon, at the Perudo table. 

Along with all the other activities, we started an inter-house 

football tournament, La Liga L’Ashton. With a first place 

prize of a £40 order of food from whichever takeaway the 

winners decided, naturally no one wanted to miss the weekly 

fixtures. With tensions running high and many tantrums 

thrown by Omo (Omotako Kay-Ramos), the Swagmeisters 

came out on top. Special congratulations to the current 

deputy head of house, William Albion (L6DJN) for getting 

the most goals and Manaf Safarini for having goal of the 

tournament. 

Christmas in the house only meant one thing: the Ashton 

quiz. This year it had two added categories, a press up 

challenge and a cracker eating competition. With Harry 

Bashall’s (5B) claim to press up fame being short lived by 

the discovery of his cheating it fell to the tantrum throwing 

Omo to be the victor. GB rower Jack Hatchman pulled 

through for his team, eating his way into double digits for 

the cracker challenge. In the end the team which won was 

led by the ever proactive Tim Slater. 

Into the final stretch of the year, with energy running low 

and exam stress building we took to the pitches against 

School House. Although we stood strong in true Ashton 

style, against their masses, we suffered two close defeats. 

The football match, for which they had forecast a crushing 

defeat, was tight to the end, finishing 3-2 on a sodden pitch 

with goals from Matthew Brooke-Naylor (L6APH) and Alex 

Thomas, and a fantastic overhead attempt from Harry Porter. 

Whilst the rugby ended as a 17-5 loss in the summer heat, 

with a late try from myself. They may have had the players to 

win the games but we had the fans and team spirit. 

Ashton House once again showed its true colours this year. 

Integrating the new boys seamlessly, working like a welloiled 

machine throughout, never ending laughter and giving 

everyone true friends for the future. As head of house I’d 

like to thank my co-Head Harry Porter, the prefects – Manaf 

Safarini, Curran McIntosh, Tim Slater, Jack Hatchman – and 

all the boys and staff in the house for a great final year 

which I will never forget. 

Manny Obale, U6HJC 

Heads of House: 

EA Obale, U6HJC; HD Porter, U6AMT. 

Prefects: 

JE Hatchman, U6HJC; C McIntosh, U6CRB; 

M Safarini, U6CRB; TM Slater, U6CRB. 

L6 Leaver: 

JA Henderson, L6RMC. 

5th Year Leavers: 

AR Bevington, 5B; E Lin, 5G; AD Thomas, 5T. 

School House 

It has been a thoroughly enjoyable and successful year at 

School House. The senior figures of the previous year went 

on to bigger things, and a fresh batch of 4th Years arrived. 

The mixture of the support of duty masters Mr Millatt, Viney, 

Young and Wilkinson as well as a particularly friendly set 

of younger boys meant the job for the U6th boys was a 

straightforward one, and for this we remain very grateful. 

The school calendar ran much the same as previous years: a 

plethora of sport fixtures, rushes to complete coursework and 

controlled assessments, and the inevitable and depressing 

furore over approaching exams. Christmas brought about 

a memorable house revue, with Joe Parry notable for his 

wife-beating, vest-wearing rôle as Head of House, Robert 

Beard. Preceding this was a Christmas Dinner in the Dining 

Hall, which unfortunately had less stuffing thrown around 

than ever – perhaps, next year this will make a return. This 

year was notable for being the last in which the decrepit 

school gym was in existence. I for one shall miss the stench 

of rust and sweat; others, probably less so. 

The beginning of Mr Atkinson’s tenure as Housemaster at 

Ashton immediately led to an increased competitiveness 

between the houses, and all house fixtures now held an extra 

importance. Credit to the boys for producing the goods 

when it mattered: all three main fixtures – football, rugby, 

14

set run – were closely fought, but all ultimately saw School 

House emerge victorious. The football was the first played, 

and having won the previous two years comfortably, we 

were confident. New-comer Oli Mathieson (L6MED) scored 

an excellent free kick, followed by a strike from Simon Kelly, 

and despite a nervy last ten minutes, Ed Bellinger sealed the 

3-2 win with a strike towards the end. Rugby turned out to 

be a similarly close affair: 17-5, with the multi-talented Ben 

and Oscar Taylor brothers (5L and U6CME respectively) 

dominant. The set run efforts were as intense and impressive 

as I’ve ever seen, spurred on by Mr Young. Sol White (5R) 

ran superbly in the 5th Year Run, winning in style. Whilst 

sporting endeavours form only a small section of boarding 

life, it has been a pleasure to see the house pulling together 

and to see so many boys excelling, and of course to see 

Ashton House back where they belong. 

Mr Davies remains a welcoming and wise figure on Monday 

nights, often providing moments of humour. Mr Nicholson 

and Mr Lonsdale on Wednesday and Thursday help to 

maintain the excellent atmosphere in the house, and all boys 

appreciate the routine and organization they bring to the 

job. It would be impossible to write a summary of the year 

at School House without mentioning the matrons, Sue and 

Hayley, who continue sewing on name tags and generally 

helping one and all, with never a complaint. In particular, 

huge credit must go to Hayley who worked vast hours this 

year, whilst other members of staff were unfortunately ill. 

School House would not be the same without you. The house 

could not run without the tutelage and direction provided 

by Mr Millatt and Mr Viney, as well as the help provided by 

living in duty masters Mr Wilkinson and Mr Young. 

As the end of the year arrived incredibly quickly, all that 

remained to be done was to say farewell and leave the 

house for the last time. On behalf of the U6th, I must say 

thanks to all who have made the last four years what they 

have been. 

Robert Beard, U6HJC 

Leavers: 

Robert Beard, U6HJC; Alex Bell, U6CME; 

Ed Bellinger, U6SJH; Liam Dransfield, U6HJC; 

Tom Grunshaw, U6AMT; George Haworth,U6CME; 

Jake Hewitt, U6AMT; Toby Hunt, U6RSH; 

Simon Kelly, U6SJH; Eldon Ko, U6SRB; 

Jamie McMillan, U6SJH; Max Midwinter, U6RSH; 

Joe Parry, U6HJC; Alistair Perica, U6TCM; 

George Rettig, U6CME; Axel Steinert, U6CRB; 

Oscar Taylor, U6CME; Sam Walsh, U6TCM. 

Other leavers include: 

Oliver Gornall, 5S; Al-Yasa Khan, 5S; Will Midwinter, 

5B; Joe O’Brien, 5R; Marcus Panchal, 5T; 

Adhitya Srinivasan 5T. 

Intra-House winners: Light Blue 

Photo Gallery – the best of the best! 

15


Frankland House 

Given that the previous year had seen a number of changes in staffing, it 

was quite settling to start a year where the only new faces would be those 

of the boys. Mrs Denwood and Mrs Hargreaves, having previously shared an 

evening duty, now take a night each to fill the space left by Mr Young. 

The TV and Games Rooms were also refurnished, making these areas much 

more comfortable for the boys (who if given a choice head for the red 

chairs!); they look much brighter too. 

We also welcomed Toby Hunt (U6RSH), who made his way down the hill, 

from School to be our Head of House. I am always exceptionally grateful to 

the U6 boys who make the decision to put themselves forward for this job; 

they can make such a difference to the younger boys in the House. 

I’m always slightly nervous when we have our first House meeting of the year, 

looking at the twenty-five new lads in front of me, with the stories we’ve 

heard from Storey going around the back of my mind. Each year, however, it 

as a pleasure to get to know these boys during their brief time with us. 

In terms of getting to know them, the annual Christmas review gives us a real 

insight. As usual, acts ranged from the sublime to the utterly incomprehensible, 

but provided entertainment for all. The highlight was a multimedia feast that 

would challenge the most hardened art house cinema-goer. 

It seems that almost as soon as they arrive, the process of splitting them into 

their new Senior Houses starts and they are heading back up the hill. I’d like to 

thank them and all the staff in the House for another superb year in Frankland. 

Dr AC Shawcross 

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17


Storey House 

It has been a busy year in Storey House with an active 

group of lads who have been involved of every facet of 

school life. 

The new 1st Years settled well and quickly established 

themselves as real characters. We have a number of them 

who are clearly talented sportsmen and this has a positive 

effect in encouraging others to get involved. It has been 

great to see so many members of the House out on the 

pitches and to see so many others keen to join them. Let’s 

hope that this continues next year. 

The boys very much enjoyed the second instalment of The 

Hobbit as the end of term film, which was well-deserved 

after all those weeks of hard work. The take-away 

afterwards was as popular as ever. 

The last week of term brought the Boarders’ Christmas 

Dinner which took place with all four houses and staff 

eating together in the dining hall. As usual the meal was 

accompanied by a huge amount of noise from party 

poppers, balloons and tooters. There was also considerable 

excitement and entertainment provided by the raffle with 

Dr Pyle calling out a seemingly endless stream of winners 

to collect their prizes. 

As is traditional, each dorm provided entertainment for 

everyone after the meal. Everyone put plenty of the effort 

into their sketches, songs, dancing, comedy routines etc. 

It is always tough for the judges to decide on the winner. 

The Christmas quiz always generates a lot of interest and 

the boys enjoyed the chance to test themselves on some 

lighter topics than usual. Mr Buckland left LRGS in July 

after many years, but not before judging the Storey House 

dorm decorating competition with the usual explosion 

of tinsel and lights. Volume and quantity of decorations 

seems to be the key in the eyes of the boys. 

The summer barbecue always makes the Housemasters a 

little nervous as the Lancaster weather can make or break 

this event. All four Houses eat together on the Douthwaite 

field and a sunny evening can make a real difference. This 

year the rain held off and it was great to see there were 

plenty of fun and games involving lads right across the 

year groups. It was terrific to see all the houses interacting 

and enjoying each other’s company. 

LRGS offers a real wealth of activities for the lads to get 

involved in and the Storey House lads have really thrown 

themselves into so many things from rugby and music to 

baking and sci-fi club this year. It has been encouraging to 

see so many of them getting involved in all areas of school 

life. It means that they are making a real effort to get as 

much as they possibly can from their time at LRGS and to 

make sure that they don’t miss any opportunities that are 

available to them. That way they will be able to look back 

on their time here with a real sense of achievement. 

It is always a little sad to see the older lads leave us as 

they move to Frankland House but they are usually ready 

for a change and they can always pop back to see us. The 

matrons will always make them welcome. 

We said goodbye to Dr Thorn and Mr Blackwell this year 

and they will be missed by the boys. However, Mr Yates 

has joined the team and has quickly shown us that he will 

be a valuable addition. The boys are very lucky to have 

such a dedicated team of staff to look after them and 

I would like to offer a big “Thank you”, on behalf of the 

boys, for all their hard work and organising the numerous 

activities that keep the boys busy. They are essential to 

the successful running of a busy boarding house such as 

Storey House. 

Mr AD King 

18

ART 

Out of ten students taking A-level Art in 2014, four achieved 

a grade A*, a record number for the Art Department. A* was 

also the modal grade for Art at AS-level and GCSE where 

seventeen out of fifty-one pupils achieved the top grade. 

These achievements were especially commendable because 

grade boundary hikes of as much as 2½% in 2014 (as 

compared with 2013) made it tougher for pupils to achieve 

all higher grades. Congratulations to all those boys who 

worked so hard to achieve their realistic maximum grade. 

We bid a fond farewell to Mr Alan McKeown, our PGCE student 

teacher, and Miss Rebecca Kenyon, who taught at LRGS for 

one year; we also welcome her successor, Mrs Celia France. My 

sincere thanks, as ever, to Mr Hallsworth for all he does, in and 

around the Department. 

Mr CR Bagnold 

The artwork in the gallery pages continues to demonstrate 

the wide variety of artistic approaches pursued at LRGS. Not 

only is the number of artistic disciplines increasing, so too is 

the variety of intellectual perspectives. Of course, every boy 

needs a ‘grounding’ in the essentials, which is why Lower 

School work may have a more prescriptive feel than work 

at GCSE or A-level. Some artistic disciplines do not lend 

themselves particularly well to photographic reproduction: 

there were many boys, for instance, who made some 

splendid films, one of which appears in the gallery pages in 

the form of a still. 

The Art Department continued to run successful trips to 

galleries in Liverpool (5th Years), Edinburgh (L6th) and 

London (Lower and Upper Sixth), the last of which is the 

focus of Daniel Forde’s article. 

Painting the anti-war banner for the Creative Arts Festival 

ART TRIP TO LONDON 

In February 2014 I went with other boys from the Upper and 

Lower Sixth art classes to London. This was an opportunity 

at the start of a new project to gain valuable information 

and inspiration by experiencing some of the world’s greatest 

pieces of art first hand. 

We left early one Tuesday morning and arrived home on 

Wednesday evening with an overnight stay at a perfectly 

located Premier Inn which was within walking distance of 

Euston. During the two days we explored seven galleries so 

it is fair to say we made excellent use of the time we had. 

Our first stop was the National Gallery, personally my 

favourite, where we had the chance to see works from greats 

such as Monet, Vermeer and Vincent van Gogh. A photo of a 

painting can often not do it justice so it was excellent to see 

these exhibitions in person. Being up close with the paintings 

of such esteemed artists was humbling and it gave me real 

insight into the minds of the painters. The Saatchi Gallery was 

an interesting contrast to the National Gallery. This gave me a 

feel for the more contemporary and ‘stylish’ art. Many artists 

shown at the gallery are unknown not only to the general 

public but also to the commercial art world: showing at the 

gallery has provided a springboard to launch careers. 

On the Wednesday we went to both Tate Britain and Tate 

Modern. A class favourite was Joseph Turner, whose later 

works in the Clore Gallery at Tate Britain were a highpoint 

of the trip. 

Sixth Formers outside the National Gallery 

The trip took an interesting turn of when we had to take the 

river-bus across the Thames due to a public transport strike. 

This was a happy accident as this gave us an opportunity to see 

many of the sites from an unusual and interesting perspective. 

The trip also gave us an opportunity to explore the City of 

London with plenty of chances to take photographs that 

could be used in our project, which was useful for us. 

To summarise, the trip was of great help with the 

development of my project, giving me inspiration and 

material to work from. As well as this it brought the class 

together and improved our group’s studio culture. 

Daniel Forde, L6APH 

19

A2 AND AS-LEVEL ART 

A-level Exhibition 2014 

M Gorse U6CRB A-Level Exam - The Lawnmower 

that wasnt 

D Aston-Clarke U6CRB A2 Exam 

CJ Rees U6CRB A-Level Exam 

CD Hughes L6DJN AS Coursework I 

CD Hughes L6DJN AS Coursework II 

20

A2 AND AS-LEVEL ART 

TW Underwood L6AY AS-Level Photography 

OG Tomlinson U6CRB Still from Movie - 

A2 Exam 

GCSE ART 

GCSE Exam GA Soole 5B 

21

GCSE ART 

GCSE Coursework J Unwin 5T 

GCSE Exam MJ Ashman 5R 

GCSE Coursework ES Duffy 5T 

GCSE Coursework RJ Smith 5L 

GCSE Exam GA Saul 5B 

22

GCSE ART 

GCSE Exam WJ Daunt 5T 

GCSE Coursework T Möller 5S 

LOWER SCHOOL ART 

TN Blakeney-Edwards 3L - Yr Autobiographical Lino Print 

23


CE White 2L - Merz 

AR Bukhart 2L 

CR Downie 2R - Merz 

MZ Absar 3L - Yr Autobiographical Lino Print 

LL Willison-Pirie 2R 

24


FT Clifton-Baron 3T - Autobiographical Lino Print 

R Ackroyd 1G 

Y Choi 2R - Illustration Jabberwocky 

25


JJ Twigg 3G - Autobiographical Lino Print 

Rowan Myall 2R - Merz 

R Ackroyd 1G 

DN Bohm 2R - Illustration for Jabberwocky 

TJ Anderton 1T 

JJ Conefrey 3S - Autobiographical Lino Print 

26


E Chandisingh 1T 

Daniel Gibson 2R - Cover for Oh What a Lovely War 

PA Frost 3L - Autobiographical Lino Print 

JL Taylor-Smith 2L - Merz 

SF McLoughlin 2R - Cover for Oh What a Lovely War 

27

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28

ENGLISH - WINNERS OF POETRY COMPETITIONS 

The Blackbird 

On a cold spring morning the blackbird stood, 

As sunrise burned and streaked across the sky, 

On his bush, in the fringes of the wood, 

Raises his head, lets out a joyous cry. 

Its soft feathers draped in polished midnight 

Flutter gently in the ruffling breeze. 

Its eye, a silhouette, barring back light. 

Wings arch, then flap, then glide, with peaceful ease 

Back to the nest, but stops in great surprise, 

The tree has disappeared before his eyes. 

A lumberman with an axe, as his tool, 

Took the tree, the nest and chicks for his fuel, 

And now today, and again tomorrow, 

The blackbird wears black for his chicks’ sorrow. 

Danny Lusardi, 1L 

The King of Hedonism 

He’s perfected arrogance 

His strut is far more like a prance 

And he’s perfected ignorance 

He doesn’t care for politics 

Those opinions all go unprovoked 

Amongst the crowds familiar folks 

Frightened and ashamed to say 

‘Leave us now!’ ‘Run!’ ‘Go away!’ 

Scandal only ever makes him jealous 

The pleasure seems erotic 

And not some basic act of malice 

A type unknown by lesser mortals 

You’d do well to stay away 

A game, he claims he’s mastered 

Is a game you should not play 

At both ends he’ll burn the candle 

Whilst you and your friends, try to pretend 

That he’s nothing you can’t handle 

Until another night of several sins 

The type you know, nobody wins 

Where all those mothers warnings 

Were long forgotten by the morning 

Leapfrog 

She can be eloquent 

When she wants. 

She can draw. 

But she cannot parrot 

And recite and relate 

Needless words. 

However 

She is not idle. 

She can tell 

Lobelia from laburnum 

But still she cannot tell 

Wessex from Waterloo. 

She is shunned 

By her wooden peers. 

But she can separate 

Classical from Romantic, 

Industrial from Grunge. 

And still they do not 

Understand. 

She does not need 

World War II 

Or economic slumps. 

She does not need 

Evolution 

Or glacial troughs. 

She cannot have such 

Superficial knowledge. 

She is more than that. 

James Huber, 5B 

The king then walked out and said 

As his hands caressed 

His aching head 

‘I was a god until I fell from grace 

And now I run with the human race 

I’ll do what I want, 

Why would I need a reason? 

I am the king of hedonism!’ 

Dominic Rastelli-Lewis, U6RW 

29

WINNERS OF SHORT STORY COMPETITIONS 

A Sandbank, Plymouth Harbour, 

Devon 

A crash resounds through the dark 

depths of a Norwegian forest; a lofty fir 

tree tears itself out of the canopy and 

falls to the carpet of decomposing pine 

needles bellow. Under the axeman’s 

stern gaze, any foliage is hacked away 

before the great tree trunk is carefully 

lifted onto a waiting barge. Men dig 

their quants into the pebbly river bed 

and slowly the vessel starts to move. 

The harsh metallic sounds of many 

hammers hitting many chisels ring out 

from the naval dockyard at Chatham 

and drift across the river Medway. 

Through the early morning mist, 

workers are visible preparing a half 

built warship for the arrival of its lower 

mainmast. At a foreman’s command, 

the great tree trunk is raised from 

where it was placed after its stormy 

North Sea crossing and hoisted into 

an upright position. Using a vast 

network of ropes, pulleys and a couple 

of A-frames, this unwieldy object is 

carefully manoeuvred into position 

above a waiting hole in the freshly 

varnished deck. Then slowly, inch by 

inch, it is lowered. The men above hear 

the slightest of thuds as the keel is 

reached, followed by a wave of frantic 

hammering as the mast is fixed in 

position. For the next six months, the 

mast will remain here, pointing up into 

the sky above Chatham. 

On the podium, an old man, dressed 

in the attire of a vice-admiral, brings 

his speech to a close. Around him the 

crowd of people start to cheer. The 

hard work of the workers has paid 

off; in front of the crowd, a majestic 

warship sits on the slipway. Below her, 

the workers are busily removing the 

blocks of wood keeping her in position. 

A great screeching fills the air as the 

vessel begins to slide along the runners 

and pick up speed. For just a moment, 

there appears a look of surprise on the 

old man’s face and he glances down at 

the bottle of Burgundian wine still in 

his hand. He quickly throws it, however 

it smashes to pieces on the stone 

slipway- just behind the fast receding 

ship’s prow. Not quite what was meant 

to happen, but the crowds don’t mind. 

Neither does the navy, why should 

they? When there is a war to fight, they 

really don’t care about the launching, 

they just want their warship. 

From the crosstrees of a British 

warship, a lookout peers into the fog. 

Despite being many nautical miles 

west of Ushant, he can hear ship’s bells 

coming out of the fog on every side 

of him. Though he can hardly see his 

own deck, never mind another vessel, 

he knows he is surrounded by an entire 

fleet. Hopefully it is the British Channel 

Fleet, if it is the French fleet out of Brest, 

he is in serious trouble. Of course it 

could also be the all-important elusive 

French convoy. Whatever this fleet’s 

nationality, he can do nothing but wait. 

Down on the quarterdeck, another 

lookout peers into the fog, his young 

age and rich blue coat mark him out 

as a midshipman. Suddenly the dark 

shape of another hull looms out of 

the fog to larboard. Lookouts on both 

vessels start to shout. On the gundecks, 

gunners lean over their guns, which are 

already run out for action. The marines 

lined up on the maindeck raise their 

muskets. Back on the quarterdeck 

the helmsmen try to take avoidance 

action. But the midshipman breathes a 

sigh of relief: the other hull is painted 

using the pale yellow favoured by the 

Royal Navy rather than the blood red 

used by the revolutionary bandits. As 

they fend off the other ship with their 

muskets, red coated marines exchange 

compliments. Then the two vessels 

drift apart. Slowly, gunport by gunport, 

they are swallowed up by the fog. 

With the ear-splitting noise of 

splintering wood, a line of cannonballs 

tear their way through his Britannic 

Majesty’s warship. Five more men now 

lie dead. Yet this has little effect on 

a crew of more than one thousand 

men. Soon they will receive the order 

to fire, and then they will send their 

revenge racing towards the vessel they 

know must lie beyond this blanket of 

gunpowder smoke that leaves their 

eyes watery and throats sore. On the 

maindeck, marines are reloading their 

muskets as fast as they possibly can. 

Whenever a gap appears in the smoke, 

they fire volley after volley at the enemy 

deck before the smoke covers the gap 

once more. The French and British 

fleets are spread over several square 

miles of the Atlantic Ocean, loosing 

cannonballs at any ship they see. In the 

heat of battle, smoke often obscures 

a ship’s colours making friendly fire 

all too common. The 1st June 1794 will 

long be remembered. 

There is a jangle of chains and a soft 

splat of oars as the latest batch of 

convicts is taken out to the prison hulk. 

This hulk was once a majestic sailing 

warship, but now she is too old and 

too weary for the navy. Her proud 

masts are now no more, hacked away 

just above the deck to leave a stump. 

Her sides are badly in need of a coat 

of paint and soon will start to rot and 

let in water. When she falls to pieces, 

another elderly warship will be brought 

in to take her place. The conditions 

where the convicts are stored are 

horrendous. They can only hope they 

are taken away from this floating 

prison in Plymouth harbour before it is 

too late. Sometimes old men come to 

the harbour wall and stare at the old 

vessel. Her sailors, though they may 

have retired long ago, still remember 

their ship. On the edge of Plymouth 

town there is a tall town house, home 

to the man who was once the hulk’s 

captain. He remembers her every day, 

when, leaning on his stick, he lovingly 

looks at all that is left of his ship. 

The approach to Plymouth harbour 

is silent. As the tide goes out, a few 

rotting sticks are revealed sticking 

up out of a sandbank. No one looks 

at them anymore: no one knows they 

are there. The old sailors and their 

memories are long dead. The convicts 

have all died, mostly in Australia. 

The tall town house was recently 

demolished to make way for a block 

of flats. In a couple of months these 

few sticks will rot away. All traces of 

what was once on this sandbank will 

disappear, and a majestic vessel will be 

completely forgotten. 

Samuel McLoughlin, 2R 

30

The Best Day Ever 

The atmosphere was phenomenal. 

Ninety thousand fans roared with 

excitement, joy and anticipation as 

players from both sides walked on to the 

pitch, looking nervous yet determined. 

The highly anticipated game, between 

two of football’s most ferocious rivals 

– Preston North End and Blackpool FC 

– was just seconds from kick-off. And 

what more prestigious game for these 

two Lancashire heavyweights to lock 

their horns with one another than the 

FA Cup Final? 

“I can’t believe it!” cried my best friend, 

Jack. “We’re actually here! In Wembley! 

Could this possibly get any better?” 

“It’ll certainly be a whole lot better if 

we win!” I shouted back at the top of 

my voice, trying to be heard over the 

deafening noise of the stand packed 

with loyal Preston supporters. “Even 

though Blackpool are seen as the clear 

favourites, anything can happen in the 

FA Cup!” 

“That’s where you’re extremely 

mistaken!” scoffed my cousin, Peter. 

“Despite being a Preston fan myself, 

I seem to be the only realist here. 

Statistics show Blackpool to be the 

much stronger team both in terms of 

attack and defence, as well as having 

much more experience and depth in 

their squad. I honestly don’t see our 

team standing a chance!” 

Immediately after he made this rather 

pessimistic remark, the referee blew his 

whistle and the match was underway. 

For the first fifteen minutes or so, 

there were very few clear-cut chances, 

as both teams were cancelling each 

other out by playing in an organised 

and disciplined manner. But then, 

after a careless pass from Blackpool’s 

captain, something special was about 

to happen… 

“Preston are on the counter-attack!” 

screamed the commentator. “They’re 

bombing players forward and 

Blackpool have been completely 

opened up – their defending is utterly 

shambolic! And look at this! Preston 

midfielder Josh Brownhill has found 

team-mate Joe Garner in space, who 

shrugs off the last defender and buries 

the ball into the back of the net! Great 

finish!” 

It was a sensational team goal and 

we all just completely lost it. The 

crowd started chanting passionately 

and the game seemed to get more 

exhilarating as time went on. Tackles 

flew in, chances went begging and 

Blackpool even had a strong penalty 

shout turned down, much to the 

sheer annoyance and frustration of 

their fuming supporters. The half-time 

whistle eventually went and, much to 

our sheer delight, Preston North end 

still had their precious 1-0 lead. 

Whilst Jack and I were discussing the 

game in much detail, Peter was still 

constantly insisting that Blackpool 

would turn the game around and 

emerge victorious. 

“Blackpool have come back from 

behind multiple times this season! It 

will only be a matter of time before 

they do it again. Just you wait and see!” 

“You call yourself a Preston fan, Peter!” 

replied Jack. “Have faith in your team!” 

The second half soon got underway 

and continued very much at the 

same tempo as the first, much to 

the satisfaction of all the supporters. 

Both teams showed great desire and 

urgency throughout the match, yet it 

soon seemed to be Blackpool who had 

taken things in their stride and began 

to control the game to their liking. 

And their persistence was eventually 

rewarded… 

“…And Blackpool have equalised!” 

yelled the commentator. “What a welltaken 

goal and they’re now right back 

in it! What a game we have on our 

hands!” 

“Told you!” retorted Peter. “Now 

it won’t be long until they get the 

winning goal!” 

Jack and I sighed with frustration and 

slumped back in our seats. However, 

there was a small part of me which 

felt optimistic and I still had faith in my 

team… 

The game was coming to a close. Only 

two minutes of the normal ninety 

minutes remained. With virtually 

everyone assuming the game would 

have to extend into extra time, the 

totally unthinkable, and quite frankly 

bizarre, thing happened. Preston’s 

goalkeeper, Declan Rudd, in an 

attempt to clear the ball from danger, 

whacked the ball up the field and the 

ball, having been largely caught by 

the ongoing wind, travelled the entire 

length of the pitch and flew past the 

helpless Blackpool keeper, Matt Gilks, 

into the back of the net! 

“YES!” screamed Jack and I, as did the 

rest of the wild Preston supporters, 

apart from Peter, who just looked 

gobsmacked. 

“But… how could this be?” he began. 

“It’s impossible! Blackpool are the far 

better team! This defies logic!” 

Jack just laughed and said, “Now this, 

is the best day ever!” 

And finally, after a nail-biting two 

minutes, plus three equally tense 

minutes of injury time, the final whistle 

went and Preston North End had won 

the FA Cup! 

Yaseen Ahmad, 5S 

Continued overleaf > 

31

WINNERS OF SHORT STORY COMPETITIONS /continued... 

An End of All Things 

“They been lyin’ to you, man.” 

The dark woodland rose up around 

him, casting shadows of his frame far 

into the fields behind the camera’s 

field of vision. His soft, bayou accented 

voice floated through the trees, as 

though sung to a country music tune, 

but somehow maintaining an air of 

authority, an air of control. A slight 

breeze rustled the leaves high in the 

trees above them, and his unkempt 

beard swayed slightly along with them, 

in time with the rocking of his chair, as 

though he were a part of the woods 

surrounding him. His eyes, unblinking 

and in shade under the low brim of 

his old, grey fedora, were a pale blue, 

easily mistaken for white, and stared 

straight down the lens of the camera, 

and his face was at once both calm 

and enraged, both reasonable and 

uncontrollable, both animal and man. 

“They been lyin’ to you since the day 

you were born.” 

He grinned. A look of pure ecstasy and 

unbridled joy on his face, as though 

euphoric at the honesty of his own 

assertion, like a man lifting a weight off 

his chest. 

“Manipulated and lied to, you’re 

addicted. Addicted to the notion, the 

lie, of heroes. There ain’t no such thing 

as a hero!” 

He stood, his rocking chair swaying as 

he did so, and threw his arms out like 

a buzzard, in time with his raising his 

voice. 

“You think you need someone, to tuck 

you in at night, kiss you on the cheek 

and tell you everythin’…” He chuckled, 

and then laughed openly, throwing 

back his head, his shoulders quaking 

beneath his open Hawaiian shirt, under 

which he wore a black t-shirt with 

a rock band’s logo on it, faded and 

cracked with time and use. 

“Everythin’ is alright.” 

‘Alright’ made him laugh again, louder 

this time, like a child delighted with his 

own joke. He laughed for a long time, 

then stopped. He returned his view 

to the lens, his face deadly serious, all 

signs of the joy he displayed seconds 

before had vanished, like the setting 

sun below the horizon behind him. 

Anger filled his eyes, and his face 

started to shake, tremble with barely 

controlled rage. 

“But everythin’ is not alright! They 

been brain washin’ you, controlling 

you, makin’ riddles and lies and mazes 

inside your minds, to keep you down. 

Because they are afraid. They are 

afraid of what you feel, what you think! 

They are scared out of their minds by 

the idea that you might wake up, that 

you might find yourselves a leader, a 

guide, to free you from the prisons of 

your own minds.” 

He stopped, then smiled. 

“A leader like me.” 

He then leaned in close to the camera, 

and dropped his voice to a gentle 

whisper, a hint of a growl in his 

otherwise soft voice. 

“So they passed this fear on, they 

made you fear what they fear, they 

made you fear your own power, your 

own knowledge, your own potential, 

so you wouldn’t use it. They turned 

their back on you, man.” 

Another chuckle. 

“I will never turn my back on you. They 

say they are the shepherds, and you 

their sheep, and they tell you that I am 

the wolf. They got it backwards, man, I 

am your shepherd, I am your salvation, 

and they are the ones who would do 

you harm, they are the hunters, they are 

the wolves. I am telling you the truth 

they do not want you to know, that the 

sheep outnumber the wolves, man, the 

sheep outnumber the wolves.” 

His smile, wide and manic, hung on 

his bearded face in a picture of pure 

euphoria as he spoke, his arms now 

tucked in close to his chest, his dirt 

smattered fingers ran through his 

beard below his chin, as he spoke 

intimately to the camera. 

“They spread their filth, their lies about 

me, man. Through their TVs and their 

Facebooks and their Twitters, they 

say well Bray Wyatt, he’s a liar! He’s a 

hoax!” Chuckling again. “Oh no I’m not. 

No I’m not, you better believe I’m not. 

And then they say well Bray Wyatt, 

he’s just brainwashin’ folks. Well they 

got me on that one. I am brainwashin’ 

you all right now.” 

A smirk crept onto his face, and 

another chuckle slipped past his lips. 

“I am washin’ your brains of all the lies 

and the shit that has been drilled into 

your heads since you took your first 

steps!” 

He threw his head back in laugher 

once more, clutching at his chest as 

his wicked cackle rang out through 

the dark trees. His countenance 

appeared rosier and warmer now, lit 

by just a single gas lamp on the small 

wooden table beside his rocking chair, 

both nestled among the bracken 

on the forest floor. In his laughter 

Wyatt walked back towards his chair, 

staggering as he laughed, as though in 

the midst of a fit of madness. He slowly 

composed himself, facing away from 

the camera, and stood up straight, the 

echoes of the laughter dying away 

through the trees in the distance. He 

stood, as though watching them go. 

He bent slightly, and plucked the gas 

lantern from the table, and held it at 

shoulder height, then turned his head 

slightly, so his back and the profile of 

his face were visible to the camera. 

“The time has come, man.” 

He looked into the lamp, the single 

lick of flame a dancing reflection in 

his eye. He then began to walk away 

through the trees, the flame shrinking 

with distance from the camera’s view. 

Wyatt, still walking, turned over his 

shoulder and shouted back. 

“This ain’t a beginning. It’s an end.” 

He turned his head once more and 

with a single breath, blew out the light. 

The dark wood was still. 

Edward Lees, U6AMT 

32

THEATRE AND DRAMA 

ARTS FESTIVAL 

In July 2014 a small group of the Lower 

Sixth had the privilege of orchestrating 

the running of the annual Arts Festival 

for the Second Year pupils. It was 

a week-long event of exploration 

focusing on drama, music, art and 

history which developed ideas and 

opinions on whether we should go to 

war as well as the justification (or lack 

thereof) for waging war. 

Through drama and performance 

we communicated our initial ideas to 

Second Year students who were then 

pushed to assess their own opinions 

on the topic and consequently were 

driven to choose which side they 

favoured: Pro-War or Anti-War. 

What resulted was a week of fervent 

activity and enthusiasm as both 

Second Year and Sixth Form alike 

built up speeches, manifestos, and 

propaganda – all in preparation for 

a planned series of performances 

and speeches at Lancaster Castle, 

culminating in a climactic mock trial in 

the historic Shire Hall. 

I speak for all the Sixth Form members 

involved in saying that the Arts 

Festival was a thoroughly enjoyable 

and compelling experience, and we 

hope that the members of the Second 

Year took just as much as we did from 

it. It wasn’t an easy feat but I can 

confidently state that the results were 

certainly worth it. 

Alex McCaragher, L6NCM 

All the Second Years in July 2014 not on 

the Normandy trip spent the last week 

of the year painting, debating, chanting 

and learning loads. The arts festival 

began on the Monday after Founders’ 

Weekend. We all filed into the back of 

the hall where we were sat down with 

a few mysterious looking sixth-formers 

sitting with us. Dr Pyle came in and 

began talking about Sports Day which 

had happened the previous Saturday. 

He then spoke about the First World 

War and said that there were some war 

veterans here to see us. We all stood to 

the national anthem as a few more sixformers 

slowly and solemnly walked 

in. One began talking about wars and 

then a few of the sixth-formers who 

were sitting with just suddenly stood 

up and started protesting. Two groups 

were formed: the pro-war group and 

the anti-war group. Then we were all 

sorted out into these two groups. The 

pro-wars stayed in the hall and the antiwars 

went up the hill to the international 

building. The week had begun. 

Now in our different groups we began 

to do our research. In the pro-war 

group we marched around and made 

propaganda and in the anti-war group 

we researched and talked about why 

wars were bad. Everything we were 

doing was leading up to a massive 

debate day at the castle. We were 

going to have a few speeches, a couple 

of debates and a trial. The castle 

courtyards and court rooms would be 

our backdrop. 

At the castle, on the Thursday we had 

a great time. The weather was very hot 

and it was quite hard to listen to many 

speeches and debates. Nevertheless, 

we enjoyed it. By the end of the week 

we had learned loads. But I give you 

this to ponder: Is war necessary or 

does it always fail? Can we ever call a 

war just or does the fact that it takes 

so many lives make it unjust? 

We had a great week and I want to 

thank all the teachers and sixth formers 

who made it happen. 

Lachlan Rurlander, 2G 

33

MOJO 

When given the opportunity to perform Jez Butterworth’s 

Mojo as part of our Theatre Studies final exam, it’s fair to 

say we jumped at the prospect. It is a black comedy set in 

a seedy Soho club during the summer of 1958 and it tells 

the story of a dysfunctional group of low-lifers hustling for 

the big time. Soon enough disaster comes and a tale of two 

halves ensues. 

We were particularly drawn to the diversity in characters 

and each of us strove to further define our rôles, making 

them as memorable and captivating as possible. The rock 

‘n’ roll genre was also a welcome aspect of the plot and we 

really hoped to capture the essence of the late 50s teddyboy 

scene through music, props and clothing. 

Rehearsing and staging Mojo was a thoroughly enjoyable 

experience for all of us involved, and we hope all who came 

to watch the performance took just as much pleasure out of 

it as we did making it. For those who missed it, there’s talk of 

taking it to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival next year – watch 

this space! And, if nothing else, we’ve certainly developed 

a new found fondness for Gene Vincent’s ‘Be-Bop-A-Lula’. 

Alex McCarragher, L6NCM 

OLIVER 

and every vocal by Mrs Lamb. At last after lots of prop and 

costume sourcing by Mrs Marriott, the play was performed. 

The first day we performed in Christ Church and in the 

afternoon the play was taken on tour to Quernmore Primary 

School where a workshop also took place. The primary 

children were taught the moves to ‘Consider yourself ‘ and 

were able to try on the different costumes; some more 

willingly than others though! 

After the excitement of the Christmas Shakespeare 

pantomimes, there was great enthusiasm for this year’s 

Lower School play. A shortened version of Oliver was 

chosen focusing around Fagin’s gang. Although short, the 

play took the entire Lent Term, rehearsing two lunch times 

every week as every detail was fine-tuned by Mrs Marriott 

As well as being performed in Christ Church twice more, the 

play was lastly taken to St John’s Hospice where it made the 

day for some of the residents. It was very enjoyable to put 

on this play but I know that none of this could have been 

done without Mrs Marriott and Mrs Lamb so I would like to 

say thank you for all of the hard work that was put in by 

them and good luck for next year’s performance. 

George Attwood, 3S 

ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST 

For our AS-Level performance, we put on a small production of the famous 

play One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, as adapted for the stage by Dale 

Wasserman. The experience highlighted to us the authoritarian nature of 

‘the Combine’, serving as a metaphor for an America which was taking 

its first steps to being deinstitutionalised in the 1960s. This overarching 

power is personified through Nurse Ratched who controls the inmates, 

often through coercive methods which suppress their individuality. 

However, this in turn sparks a rebellion against the regime and although 

it fails to overthrow it, provides the audience with the ideology that 

authorities are not immune and that being an individual bears more 

importance in today’s society than ever before. Performing such an iconic 

and revolutionary play was immensely enjoyable and a privilege. 

Matthew Khan, L6NCM 

34

TWELVE ANGRY MEN 

Twelve Angry Men, Reginald Rose’s jury-based drama, 

was intended to simply be a class project in AS Theatre 

Studies before the summer holiday. However, it evolved 

into both a public performance and a portion of the 

Second Year Arts Festival. The titular twelve angry 

men were performed by the AS Theatre Studies set 

plus the last-minute addition of Mr Hurrell, who hadn’t 

rehearsed the script beforehand, thus increasing the 

sense of unpredictability during the voting scenes. The 

play was an example of raw theatre, as it was performed 

entirely from scripts, but the response from each 

audience was highly positive. It was performed in the LRGS 

Governors’ Dining Room; this dramatically heightened the 

atmosphere and believability of the performance. 

The fast-paced rehearsals and the early public showing was 

an exciting and novel way of performing drama and was an 

amazing experience to be part of. 

Christian Powlesland, L6NCM 

LOWER SCHOOL PANTOMIMES 

This year, the annual Lower School pantomime started 

with a new and original theme – the plays of William 

Shakespeare. And, along with a new batch of keen sixth 

formers getting involved, we prepared for what was sure to 

be a fun term with the boys. Having initially assigned them 

roles, we directors completed the arduous task of writing 

the pantomimes, some based on the original, some almost 

entirely from scratch. From this, we ended up with such 

creations as the Bantermime and Twelfth Night. 

Following weeks of intensive rehearsals and drama games, 

the final performances were presented at the end of term. 

The boys all acted, sang and danced their hearts out, and 

each performance was a delight to watch, with the members 

of “S” (ie 1S, 2S and 3S) winning with their production of the 

Hamomelette. 

However, each 

show was 

amazing, and 

the devotion 

that the boys 

had put into 

their roles 

was evident 

throughout. It 

was an honour 

to work with the boys, and I look forward greatly to seeing 

what can be come up with next year. 

Tom Lindsay, L6NCM 

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Tel: 01524 843 199 

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/quitesimplyfrench 

35

MUSIC 

A Year in the Life of the LRGS Music Department 

Yet again it has been a very busy year in the Music 

Department with a wide range of activities. 

With a strong jazz music strand continually working its way 

through our work at LRGS, we started early in the year with 

a Jazz Workshop from More Music as part of the Lancaster 

Jazz Festival 2013. The LRGS Big Band were kept busy with 

preparations for the Barcelona Tour in April 2014 and as a 

run up to this played in the Lancaster Jazz Festival, at one 

of Forest Hills Golf Club’s Jazz Nights and finished their 

playing year, after the Barcelona tour, with a joint concert 

with the Lancashire Youth Jazz Orchestra at St Thomas’s 

Church, Lancaster. In June 2014 we hosted another Jazz 

Workshop with Soweto Kinch, a renowned saxophonist and 

hip-hop producer, and welcomed pupils from Lancaster 

Girls Grammar School, Ripley St Thomas, Holy Cross, 

Chorley and Archbishop Temple, Preston to join us in this. 

Rock School boys were kept busy with not only the usual 

school concerts in November and March, but our bands 

played at the Friends of LRGS Plant Sale and Coffee 

Morning, the Lancashire Music Service Area Concert in 

Lytham and the LRGS Open Day. 

We again visited St John’s Hospice on a number of occasions. 

The Chamber Choir were pleased to be able to sing in the 

wards this year as well as the day lounge in December – we 

haven’t managed this in the last few years due to infection 

risk – and it was touching to be able to sing to the patients 

and their families there. The boys in the lower school also 

visited twice – the drama and music departments joined 

together to present excerpts from ‘Oliver’ in the day lounge 

and the Junior Choir visited in June to perform extracts 

from various choral works. 

Of course, we finished the year with the now annual trip for 

the Music Department to Alton Towers. A fitting, fun end to 

a very busy year – to say thank you to the boys for all their 

hard work and the hours they give to the musical life of the 

school. 

Mrs EL Lamb 

ROCK SCHOOL 

Rock School sessions are held 

on a weekly basis after school on 

Wednesdays. Although the name 

suggests that you are limited only to 

rock music, it is possible to decide 

which genre suits you and your band 

best – for example, Pop, Reggae or 

even Country and Western. 

I enjoy Rock School because we are 

left to our own devices, but help is 

close to hand should we require it. 

During the last school year our group 

had the opportunity of playing at: the 

school concert during Michaelmas 

term, the Lancashire Music Service 

Area concert at the Lytham St Annes 

School of Performing Arts during the 

Lent term and at the LRGS Plant Sale 

& Coffee Morning and the gloriously 

sunny LRGS Open Day during the 

summer term. 

So whether you can play an instrument 

or have decent vocals come along and 

experience the musical talent LRGS 

has to offer. 

Austin Woodcock, 2S 

36

ENSEMBLES CONCERTS AND FOUNDERS’ DAY 

As a new member of the Music 

Department staff in September 2013, 

the “Ensembles Concert” in November 

2013 was the first opportunity I had 

publicly to hear the many varied and 

diverse ensembles our boys regularly 

take part in. I was impressed with 

both the level of enthusiasm and 

commitment of each of the ensembles, 

but also the standard of performance 

which was incredibly high. Notable 

performances were the Choir, led by 

Mrs EL Lamb (Director or Music), The 

Training and Big Bands, run by Mr P 

Frogatt and the Brass Band, led by 

Mr A Warriner. My own contributions 

included the results of a Samba 

workshop which culminated in a lively 

(and noisy!) rhythmic performance, 

accompanying the First Year Choir 

and bumping up the numbers for the 

String Group, led by Mr JN Davies. 

It was an excellent informal evening 

which served to celebrate all the hard 

work which goes on behind the scenes 

for many an exhausted music teacher 

and pupil too for that matter! 

Later in the year I attended the second 

“Ensembles Concert” in Christ Church, 

where many of the groups were 

performing for a second time, along 

with the joint LRGS/LGGS choir who 

were fantastic! Their performances 

were very moving, credit due to Mrs 

Lamb for her hard work and dedication 

in succeeding to unite the two schools 

together in such a meaningful and 

productive way. I thoroughly enjoyed 

both events and will look forward to 

incorporating many more of my own 

musical groups in the future. 

The final event I took part in to round 

off my first year at LRGS was Founders’ 

Day in July 2014. Steeped in tradition 

and deep significance, this service 

celebrated the pride that runs through 

all the boys both past and present. 

Guest speaker and OL Father Paul 

Swarbrick invited us to reflect on our 

experiences during our time at school 

and beyond, and how these days shape 

our future lives. The choir sang “Irish 

Blessing” by Bob Chilcott and “Agnus 

Dei” from ‘‘A Little Jazz Mass’’ also by 

Chilcott. There were also two musical 

interludes, firstly from the Chamber 

Choir, led by Krishnan Ram-Prasad 

(U6SRB), who sang “I know my soul 

hath power” from “Songs of Farewell” 

by Sir Hubert Parry. Secondly the 

Violin Group, led by myself, performed 

a rendition of “Ave Maria” by Gounod 

with piano accompaniment “Prelude in 

C” by JS Bach. 

A very enjoyable and musical year, I 

am very much looking forward to what 

next year holds and I thank Mrs Lamb 

and her team for making me feel such 

a welcomed and valued member of the 

LRGS Music team. 

Mrs S J Edmondson 

OUR TRIP TO BARCELONA 

As the sun began to set on the endless fields of central 

France, and the fifth film was showing on the double-decker 

super deluxe coach, the members of the 2014 LRGS choir 

and Big Band trip to Barcelona began to realise that Spain 

was a long way away. The excitement we first felt had long 

gone, along with the packed lunches, and thoughts about 

sleep and stretching our legs occupied us for most of the 28 

hour journey to Catalonia. 

I remember waking up just before hitting the Pyrenees. We 

were almost there... 

Compared to the dismal grey of Dover, Spain was full of 

dazzling sunshine, and there was not a cloud in the sky as 

we gratefully piled out of our coach. The beach was just 

around the corner from the little suburb where our hotel, 

the Santa Monica, stood. A busy road at the back led out of 

the town towards Barcelona city. After unpacking, we took 

a dip in the bitterly cold pool. But it woke us up and made 

us ready to explore. 

Old footballs from the 1900s sat in glass cases at the 

Neu Camp museum. Having seen the enormous stadium 

everyone now had to make a choice of whether to go to Las 

Ramblas or the Sagrada Familia. At Las Ramblas we kept an 

eye out for pick-pockets whilst at the Cathedral some of us 

were amazed at the sheer size of the building. 

By the end of the week, we were all very tired and ready for 

home. The journey back was filled with Lord of the Rings 

and Star Wars. We had had a holiday we would never 

forget. Thank you very much to Mrs Lamb and all the other 

folk who made it happen. 

Lachlan Rurlander, 2G 

Shouts of ‘Bravo!’ from the audience and an energetic round 

of applause ended the first concert. Loret de Mar had been 

the first location. After walking along the beach, and looking 

in shops, we got onto the bus and headed home. Two of 

the four concerts we did were in outdoor squares, and two 

were in hotels. The last concert was for all the people at 

the hotel at which we were staying. Having spent the last 

week observing us, running around in black and carrying 

instruments, we were sure they enjoyed it. 

37

JOINT LRGS/LGGS CONCERTS 

The first of the joint school concerts was a great success, 

although it did only involve three acts with boys from 

LRGS. Christian Powlesland (L6NCM) and Molly Packwood 

provided the crowd with a teaser of the upcoming joint 

school Sweeney Todd production, a rendition of My Friends, 

which went down really well and surely contributed to the 

excellent tickets sales later in the year of this production! 

The first half was concluded by the Joint Vocal Group 

performing arrangements of the two Freddie Mercury 

numbers ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and ‘Somebody to Love’ 

and the Bill Withers’ number ‘Lean on Me’. The joint school 

orchestra provided a very varied set to finish the whole 

concert: the prelude from ‘Holberg Suite’ by Grieg was 

followed by the upbeat ‘Buckaroo Holiday’ by Copeland. 

Our final piece was Ravel’s famous ‘Bolero’. This provided 

a fitting end to the concert as it featured solos from all 

across the orchestra and is a testament to the hard work 

necessary to prepare such a difficult piece over such a short 

time frame. 

A staple in every year’s calendar is the March concert in the 

cathedral. This is the concert which showcases the orchestra 

and choirs of both schools, who then come together with 

parents and friends to sing a larger-scale work to conclude 

the concert. The orchestra were lucky enough to have three 

different conductors, two of them students, for this concert. 

The concert was opened by Krishnan Ram-Prasad (U6SRB) 

conducting the ‘Egmont’ overture by Beethoven, which was 

followed by Hazel Browne conducting a piece she composed 

as part of her Extended Project Qualification, ‘A Journey 

Through Time’. Both of these were fantastic experiences for 

both the orchestra and the two young conductors. The first 

half was brought to a close by Sibelius’ ‘En Saga’, which is 

a tricky piece to say the least; however the whole orchestra 

rose to the occasion and performed it really well. 

Then it was time for the choirs to take over. First up was 

the LGGS choir performing ‘Seal Lullaby’ and ‘Meadowlarks’ 

before it was our turn singing Bob Chilcott’s ‘Little Jazz 

Mass’, accompanied by three students: Jacob Fowler 

(L6MED) on piano, Adam Harrison (U6SJH) on bass and 

Lachlan Rurlander (2G) on drum-kit. This was a tricky little 

mass for us to learn with many jazz-styled chords and 

harmony, however we loved learning and performing it. The 

concert was concluded by a joint choir of the two schools 

together with parents and friends. We sang ‘In Windsor 

Forest’ by Vaughan-Williams with piano accompaniment by 

Martyn Stringer. This distinctive cantata was a joy to learn 

with many catchy themes and really played to the strength 

of the choir. 

The joint concerts have been a huge success for both 

schools and wouldn’t have been possible without the 

guidance of both musical directors so a big thank you goes 

to Mrs Lamb and Mr Swannell who have got us successfully 

through these concerts. 

Daniel Barnett, L6MAR 

SWEENEY TODD 

Sweeney Todd was my entire life for 

five months: ridiculous amounts of time 

have been spent with Merrill Sheen, 

our director, and Molly Packwood; I 

got to eat pie in front of hundreds of 

people, four nights in a row. I enjoyed 

myself immensely. Five months were 

very well spent! 

The last two months were without a 

doubt, the most stressful period of my 

life so far; so much had to be done, 

and we had dwindling time left. But I 

needn’t have worried, for everything 

came together, as every show seems to 

do, in the final weeks. I can’t remember 

enjoying myself more than working 

on Sweeney Todd over this time. 

The people involved were all been 

absolutely incredible and I will never 

forget a moment of it. The show week 

was a ridiculous and fantastic finale to 

the intensive amount of work we put 

into the show. As a team, we threw our 

lives and souls into the production and 

the final product was unimaginable. 

Hearing the after-show reviews from 

friends, family, teachers, and even 

members of the public on the streets 

was wonderful, and is a huge part of 

why I participate in projects like this. 

I wanted to create something that I 

could be proud of … I’m pleased to say 

that I think we succeeded. 

The feeling of performing on a 

professional stage, to a sell-out 

audience, four nights in a row, is 

genuinely unrivalled. The rush of 

adrenaline and fear before walking out 

for the first time, through to the final 

bows where your heart is hammering 

five times too quickly against your 

ribs. There really is nothing like it. To 

be able to have that chance was just 

unbelievable. 

I would just like to add my absolute 

thanks to each and every person 

involved, be it cast, crew or orchestra. 

The collaborative effort put in by 

the entire team created the most 

memorable and treasured experience 

of my life to date. I just wanted to take 

this final opportunity to say thank you. 

The journey was incredible. 

Christian Powlesland, L6NCM 

38

SALTERS’ FESTIVAL OF CHEMISTRY 

Early on 11 June 2014, Daniel Gibson and 

Sam McLoughlin (both 2R), Will Smith 

(2G) and Matthew Jackson (2T) met at 

Lancaster train station to board a train 

for the Salters’ Festival of Chemistry at 

the University of Manchester. 

On arriving at the University they 

undertook two extensive practical 

tasks as part of a competition in the 

University’s laboratories. The morning 

task saw them carrying out experiments 

to identify various salts, using reactions 

with nitric acid, silver nitrate and 

barium chloride. The boys also used 

paper chromatography to help them 

match the unknown samples. The 

afternoon task was carried out away 

from supervising members of staff 

with only the university technicians 

present. The day ended with a “flash 

bang” demonstration, an impressive 

display of Chemistry in action with 

plenty of explosions. 

The boys were commended for their 

practical work during the festival 

and they were an absolute credit 

to the school throughout the day. 

Many thanks go to Mr Matthew for 

accompanying the boys on the trip. 

Mrs CL Rushton 

FOOD TECHNOLOGY 

Junior Masterchef 

Congratulations go to all the Third Year chefs who took part 

in this year’s Junior Masterchef Final. It was an excellent 

final with a very high standard of entry, which as always, 

impressed the judges and made their job of choosing 

winners very difficult. My thanks go to the judges, especially 

Hannah Diggle of Marcos and Diggles for her very generous 

prizes. 

The winners were: 

Overall Main Course Winner - Pranav Tiwari, 3T: Vegetable 

biriyani with spring rolls and dhoklas. 

Highly Recommended Main Course - Joe Conefrey, 3S: 

Moglai lamb cutlets with toasted black mustard seeds and 

pistachio rice. 

Overall Dessert Winner - Thomas Bowe, 3S: Chocolate 

fondant with vanilla ice cream and raspberry coulis. 

Highly Recommended Dessert - Rebin Reji, 3T: Mint 

chocolate soufflé with raspberry coulis and vanilla ice cream. 

Congratulations to all the finalists for creating such 

imaginative dishes while under pressure: Mohammed Absar, 

3L; Harry Bower, 3G; Angus Clifford, 3G; David Eastham, 

3S; James Eckersley, 3S; Sam Gelder, 3R; Will Minchom, 

3R; Jack Murfitt, 3G; Adam Riley, 3T; Vedant Rungta, 3S; 

Dominic Salzedo, 3L; Joseph Twigg, 3G. 

Mrs CJ Mossop 

39

GEOGRAPHY 

We sat to the side and happily ate our lunch after a long 

time of walking. The stream was flowing gently that day, 

as there hadn’t been much rain for over a month, but we 

were told if there is heavy rainfall the stream can become a 

raging torrent. 

Ingleborough – two views 

On Monday 23rd of June 2014, 1T went on a Geography 

field trip to Ingleborough. Our aim was to learn more about 

how Limestone affects the landscape and how it responds 

to erosion and weathering. We hoped to walk around 

Ingleborough, viewing various swallow holes and sink holes, 

however our search would not just be above ground. We 

planned to go into the Ingleborough cave system, to get a 

different view of the landscape. 

The day began with an hour journey into Clapham and from 

there a walk up towards the Ingleborough Caves. Walking 

up towards the caves, we could tell that the landscape 

was heavily influenced by the limestone. On arrival at the 

caves, we left our bags in a pile, put on our safety helmet 

and listened to our guide. Stepping into the entrance 

of the cave almost felt like a different world. Everywhere 

was damp and the air felt really cool. Our guide taught us 

about stalagmites, which grow towards the ceiling due to 

deposited calcium carbonate from drips off the ceiling, and 

stalactites, which grow down from the ceiling again due to 

deposited calcium carbonate from drips of water. We were 

told that the stalagmites and stalactites’ growth had been 

halted various times, due to ice ages, which meant there 

was no liquid water on the planet. The class also learnt 

that the limestone had come from when Great Britain had 

been on the equator and we were shown various fossilised 

creatures including exotic fish and sea snails. At the furthest 

part of the cave, our guide gave us the option of turning 

off all the lights for a few seconds, to see how really dark 

it was. Although a few people were reluctant, we decided 

to let him. When he did, everywhere went pitch black, the 

darkest place I’ve ever been. After a few gasps and shrieks, 

our guide flicked the light switch on and we turned back to 

the surface. 

On the way back to Clapham, we stopped to listen to the 

‘grim story of Robin Proctor’s Scar’. While listening, we took 

our time to take in the astonishing view of Pen-y-ghent, as 

well as Clapham. Although the story was grim, it was hard 

to imagine Ingleborough on a dark and stormy night, as the 

story had depicted, as this day was glorious. Walking back 

to Clapham, we stopped outside the Cave shop to by some 

food, as well as have a dip in the lovely Fell Beck stream. The 

water was really nice to wade in on this warm day, cooling 

us down. Heading back, we reflected on how much we had 

enjoyed the day at Ingleborough. 

Ben Anderton 1T 

On the day of the trip I woke up thinking that this was 

just another typical school day. Then I remembered the 

Geography field trip and became a bit excited and happy to 

be out of school for the day. I got ready and got the train to 

school and then walked through town to get to form. 

Although Clapham is only about 25km from Lancaster it felt 

a lot further and took almost an hour before we finally got 

there. We were then sorted into forms and set off. 

Starting in the village of Clapham, we walked up through 

woods towards Ingleborogh cave. On the way, Mr Talks told 

us that you could eat the wild garlic, but I didn’t try any! Later 

he also showed our group that wood sorrel was edible and 

when I tried it, it tasted sweet. Eventually the trees thinned 

out and we were in a field and Mr Talks told us about Robin 

Proctor’s Scar. It was called that because of what happened 

to Robin Proctor on one fateful night. Robin Proctor got 

drunk at the local inn on a wild and stormy night. He took 

the wrong horse from the stables and slept as the horse 

took him home, or at least he thought he was going home. 

After a little food and drink break, the form headed up 

Ingleborough. We then encountered a ‘money tree,’ where 

coins had been wedged into the branches of a tree. A few 

people managed to gain a couple of pence, about which 

they were very proud! Walking towards the summit we 

found the limestone pavements. These were very interesting 

as they were extremely flat, with some very deep grykes. 

We then walked on, passing Bar Pot, a shake hole, and then 

Gaping Gill, a large sinkhole which swallows the Fell Beck. 

40

In the storm, the horse lost its way and kept going straight 

over the edge of a great cliff. The horse and Robin were 

both instantly killed. From that day on you can supposedly 

hear the sound of horse hooves on dark nights. 

Eventually we moved on to where the cave entrance was but 

couldn’t go in because we were early, so we ate some ice 

creams and played in the stream. Amazingly nobody fell in. 

Inside the cave, we looked at the limestone features and 

how they were formed. To start off with John, our guide, 

told us about limestone and how it is permeable and 

made of the skeletons of millions of Dead Sea creatures 

After a short while we reached Gaping Gill, the biggest 

waterfall in Britain. It is 100 metres deep and the cavern 

could fit York Minister inside. Here we ate the rest of our 

lunch, had our photo taken, looked over its precipitous edge 

(it’s huge and you can’t see the bottom) and turned around. 

On the way back to the coaches, we saved a baby bird from 

a cat! 

It had been a memorable day out and I knew a few more 

things than when I had started the day. 

James Harvey, 1S 

2nd Year River Wyre 

including corals. It formed about 300-350 million years ago 

underwater near the Equator. To give the limestone its full 

name it is Carboniferous limestone. On being lifted up by 

tectonic forces the limestone was cracked forming joints. 

The limestone is permeable, letting water through and is 

dissolved by rainwater, as rainwater is a weak acid. 

The cave was full of weird formations and different 

passages all intricate and curved. There was a stalactite 

called the Sword of Damocles jutting right over the path 

from the ceiling and a jockey’s cap shaped stalagmite next 

to a formation called Queen Victoria’s bloomers! Stalactites 

are formed when water with dissolved limestone in drips 

from the ceiling and leaves some rock behind to make a 

downwards spire. Stalagmites (growing at just ¼ mm per 

year!) are formed when the water reaches the floor and 

leaves some rock behind. When they join, it is called a 

pillar. When we reached the end of the public section, we 

were told that a woolly rhino tooth had been found in the 

cave and shown the way where, 16 hours on, you would 

find Gaping Gill. We then left the cave to go the faster way 

there… 

Coracle on the Wyre 

A short while on, we found some limestone pavement and 

had some of our lunch. We then played follow the leader 

jumping on the clints (slabs of rock) and over the grykes 

(cracks). I completed the entire course. We then went on, 

looked at Bar Pot and went to Gaping Gill. 

Langdale 

41

THE HEADMASTER’S ESSAY PRIZE 

The Headmaster’s Essay Prize is designed to challenge 

all the Lower Sixth to write with engaging enthusiasm 

but brutal brevity about whatever interests them. We 

hope, naturally, that this will help make them even more 

fascinating conversationalists with their parents at home, 

but also better interviewees, more proficient application 

composers and generally better communicators. 

Of similar length to UCAS personal statements, many 

entries were unsurprisingly and appropriately treated as 

dry runs, so we had the normal LRGS range of academic 

interests, explaining why and how a chameleon actually 

changes its colours, considering the legality of US drones, 

pondering nuclear fusion as the future of energy production, 

speculating on the future of reusable space craft, drawing 

attention to the events in Palestine in 1948, evaluating the 

golden ratio, examining the over-use of antibiotics, judging 

Edmund from King Lear, or analysing the ways economists 

put a value on a human life, to name only some of the more 

lucid ones. 

Summaries of Extended Projects were also of interest, 

as were rehashed Philosophy essays, and often witty 

extensions of that style of thinking and question, from 

“What’s the Point?” through “What’s the point of writing 

this essay?” to the inevitable (but thankfully only one) 

“blank canvas” essay… 

Many, however, took the chance to divert from their normal 

area of study and tackled other questions: Is Google’s 

tailored-search algorithm evil? Who is I? Football or rugby? 

Fat or skinny? How should we deal with psychopaths? What 

has happened to hip hop? And the World Cup loomed 

large, from its football through its cost to the explosion of 

Brazilian street art it detonated. 

Which to show you? Well, Tom Weald’s “Why did the 

chicken cross the road?” is a fascinating mixture of joke, 

shame, sarcasm, wry comment, ethics, blunt common sense 

and sentences and tenses that trip under the unbalanced 

weight of their moral outrage: harder to unravel than a 

chicken tagliatelle and definitely worth a try. Leo Wong and 

Karim Al-Jian submitted pieces of writing as differing in 

style as you could imagine but both hugely accomplished 

meditations on their sense of heritage and identity. John 

Sewell may have had the best pictures, but James Anderton 

was the clear winner with a little of all of the above: a hopeful 

medic presenting his academic enthusiasm but with wit and 

topicality and a picture, all in bite-size brevity: just what the 

doctor ordered. 

Mr SG Hirst 

Why did the Chicken Cross the Road? 

The chicken has been domesticated more than any other 

animal. Worldwide 50 billion chickens are raised annually. 

In the UK alone we consume 29 million eggs, produced 

by chickens, each day. The vast numbers of chickens begs 

the question of why the population of this one bird has 

skyrocketed in recent years. 

Chickens have a brain the size of a pea. Obviously they do 

not have the capacity to apply or consider the moral or 

ethical implications of the decisions they make on a daily 

basis. However for a chicken, this is largely unimportant: 

the decisions they make have limited, if any influence on 

their lives at all because we make the decisions for them. 

We, conversely, are able to apply moral and ethical theories 

to decisions to determine the best outcome for everyone 

involved. Thomas Aquinas’ theory of the right thing to do is 

the decision that results in the greatest average happiness 

of the people involved. Obviously according to this the 

keeping of huge quantities of chickens in battery farms, in 

poor conditions, purely for slaughter is the best decision 

possible. Aquinas also said that animals are “dumb and 

that the natural order has declared animals for Man’s use”, 

however he also declared that “cruel habits might carry 

over into our treatment of human beings.” 

I’d say that if thousands upon thousands of humans were 

locked up in dark cages and grown for food purposes it 

would be an abominable deed to say the least. This technique 

is the most prevalent for keeping chickens in the world. 

What is the justification for man’s discrimination between 

organisms? Huge legal issues are raised at the thought of 

embryo testing yet we eat chickens’ unborn without batting 

an eyelid. Perhaps the reason behind the double standard is 

due to our carnivorous nature and cravings for meat. This is 

perfectly reasonable as we are at the top of our food chain 

and have earned this right here by evolution or God giving 

us wisdom (depending on your beliefs). 

So ever since humans decided that we are superior to every 

single other organism on the planet, perhaps the planned 

slaughter of millions of animals per day is justified. After all 

it is down to us to protect them and to be guardians of 

the planet: something we have succeeded at thus far… But 

since global warming and extinction rates are becoming 

exceedingly worrying, arguably, the one thing which 

separates us from the beasts – the ability to distinguish 

right from wrong and included within this broad category – 

is the ability to apply moral and ethical theories to benefit 

the masses. The point to all this is that before we can claim 

any authority over anything, we must prove ourselves as 

being anything more than a self-centred, blood thirsty 

species and we must learn to distinguish between right and 

wrong truly: if this means re-writing the textbooks then so 

be it because currently our existence is unsustainable and in 

the future there may be no planet to “guard”. 

To conclude the innocent chicken doesn’t usually cross the 

road: it is stuck in a cage but occasionally, it does so in an 

articulated lorry on its way to the slaughter house, to feed 

some people who believe their existence is more important 

than its own. So then, why did the chicken cross the road 

you ask? Because it is tasty. 

Tom Weald, L6DEY 

42

Who am I? Chinese – British – Hongkonger? 

Hong Kong is where I was born. It is a city which leaves me 

a lot of questions. What is my name? It can be Leo Wong 

or Wong Hoi-hang, or maybe Leo Wong Hoi-hang! At the 

same time, who am I? Am I Chinese, British or Hongkonger? 

Hong Kong is part of China. Geographically, Hong Kong 

is located in Southern China, sharing similar geological 

features with the mainland, such as the hilly terrain created 

by active intrusive volcanicity and the Lianhuashan fault 

system. Politically, under the ‘One Country Two System’, 

even though the people of Hong Kong can enjoy the existing 

freedom and high degree of autonomy, the Central People’s 

Government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has the 

power over the city’s diplomacy and defence. Moreover, the 

Chief Executive (Mayor) of Hong Kong has to be ‘approved’ 

by Beijing after winning an election. So Hong Kong is 

undoubtedly a Chinese city, despite that it is a special one, 

as it is subjected to the PRC. But most importantly, it is an 

undeniable fact that most of the people of Hong Kong are 

ethnic Chinese. With an ethnic Chinese living in a Chinese 

city, the answer is simple, which is Chinese. 

However, Hong Kong is actually a British city. Before 1842, 

Hong Kong was nothing but a combination of fishing villages. 

The city was actually built by the British government. With 

155 years of British guidance, this place was transformed 

several times and finally developed to be an International 

Financial Centre while the Chinese government have done 

nothing but spying and creating disturbance. In addition, 

the people of Hong Kong who were born before the 

handover all hold British passports. Although not all of 

Hong Kong residents are British Citizens, some of them 

are known as ‘British Nationals (Overseas)’ which are still 

legally recognised as British nationals and can enjoy British 

consular protection. Therefore, it is clear that a British 

national living in a British city should be called British. 

Hong Kong is Hong Kong, neither British nor Chinese. The 

word ‘Hongkonger’ was introduced to the Oxford Dictionary 

in 2014. Hong Kong is different from anywhere else because 

of its culture. It is a city where the East meets the West. 

For example, Chachaanteng, a Hong Kong-style restaurant, 

serves Hong Kong cuisine such as Hong Kong-style French 

toast and Swiss sauce chicken wings, which are inspired by 

Western ingredients and Chinese ways of cooking. Also, by 

looking at holidays, Hong Kong adopts both Chinese and 

Western calendars so we celebrate Chinese New Year as 

well as Christmas, Chung Yung Festival as well as Easter. 

My identity of being a Hongkonger is shaped from a unique 

culture developed by the meeting of the two distinctly 

different countries. 

Who am I? It seems to me that there is no right or wrong 

answer. It all depends on how I tell the facts and how I 

interpret them. Maybe next time I should ask myself ‘what I 

want to be?’ instead. 

Leo Wong, L6MED 

Brazilian Street Art – Revealing an Uncomfortable Truth 

There are undoubtedly many things that the 2014 FIFA 

World Cup in Brazil will be remembered for: from the 

catastrophic decline of the once almighty Spanish side to 

the ever-controversial Luis Suarez and his biting of Italian 

defender, Giorgio Chiellini. Even amongst the many goals 

and emotional anthem singing that the world has enjoyed as 

it is swept up in the carnival atmosphere that is synonymous 

with the spiritual home of the beautiful game, it is hard to 

forget the circumstances in which this World Cup has come 

to be. 

Brazil is seen to be one of the bright economic prospects 

in the world and is even amongst the ‘BRICS’ group that 

also involves impressive economies such as Russia, South 

Africa, China and India (seen to be the five major emerging 

national economies in the world). Yet in the time since the 

last world cup, in 2010 and held in South Africa, the growth 

of the Brazilian economy has fallen from 7.5% to now only 

Brazilian Street Art - fig 1 


43

THE HEADMASTER’S ESSAY PRIZE /continued... 

a meagre 0.2%. This significant change in economic fortune 

may be due to other factors but with Brazil also due to 

host the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janero, it is clear that 

the people of Brazil are less than satisfied with how the 

economy is shaping. As these two great spectacles come 

and go it appears the political and financial problems in 

Brazil will remain the same. The grievances held by these 

people have been visible to the outside world, most notably 

in the large-scale protests before and even during the 

World Cup, with 2,000 protesters turning out in Sao Paulo 

early on in the tournament. One main cause for the largescale 

protest in the past year has been the inequalities 

between rich and poor, exacerbated by FIFA’s corrupt 

involvements. 

However one means of protest that has certainly caught the 

attention of the football following world on social media, is 

that of the Brazilian street art that has flooded the country’s 

Favelas prior to the tournament. The art can almost always 

be split into two groups. Those that show jubilation and 

great support for their beloved team [fig.1], and those that 

show a deep rooted discontent at the suggested audacity 

of the government to host a World Cup that is so heavily 

centred around commercial profits, while the people on the 

streets struggle and are unlikely to prosper as a result of any 

of the ‘profits’ in the long run. 

The apparent and devastating truth is that the latter group 

heavily outnumbers the first. Many of these pieces are 

similar to [fig.2], which is now iconic on social networks. 

They show how the people feel that as economic situations 

have changed the people feel they have been left to fend for 

themselves as the government, FIFA and large corporations 

profit. However the most poignant images are those such 

as [fig.3] that show the reality of this World Cup for many 

of Brazil’s impoverished population. They are torn between 

their passion (football) and the harsh reality of their 

situation. That involves, as shown in the image, drugs, crime 

and a poor educational system. It is this emotional rift that 

makes it apparent that the people are not entirely against 

the World Cup as for many it is what they live for. However 

they are using its global scale as a vehicle to demonstrate 

the harshness of the disparity between rich and poor in this 

promising nation. 

The economic statistics also demonstrate that the World 

Cup has had little direct impact on welfare spending, 

as many Brazilians fear has been the case. Since the bid 

for the World Cup in 2003 welfare spending has actually 

increased hugely in areas such as housing, social assistance, 

health and education. What it appears therefore is that 

the World Cup is merely a symptom and not a cause of 

problems in Brazil. However the powerful art highlights how 

an unsatisfied population is torn between what is its passion 

and the reality of what is needed to solve their problems 

as they fight against disproportionate wealth and unequal 

opportunity. 

John Sewell, L6MED 


“When man Bites Man”: How Hazardous is the Human 

Bite? 

The prospect of being bitten by another person seems 

almost alien and abhorrent to us, and for a primary care 

physician it can prove mystifying, rare, and difficult to deal 

with. This is of course due to the fact that it almost never 

happens. As we would expect, there has been a wealth of 

research conducted into the bacteriological analysis and 

treatment of animal bites, (dog bites being an obvious 

example), however very little in the way of the most 

uncivilised animal of all – humans. 

Approximately 5% of dog bite wounds become infected, 

which, compared to the 10-15% rate associated with human 

bites, seems rather innocuous. This high rate of human 

infection is partly down to the vast number of bacteria in 

human saliva, with our bacterial inoculum containing 100 

million organisms per millilitre, representing as many as 

190 different species. These bacteria flourish in low redox 

environments provided by tartar between the teeth. 

In a recent study, these infections were mostly due to 

the bacteria streptococcus anginosus (52% of cases), 

Staphylococcus aureus (30%), and Eikenella corrodens 

(30%). However you might also expect to find Hepatitis B, 

Herpes, Syphilis, and Tuberculosis transmitted by a bite, to 

name a few. 

This sheer range of possible bacteria and viruses makes it 

particularly difficult for a doctor to identify the source of the 

infection, and this necessitates that nearly 54% of infected 

bite victims are hospitalized. The subsidiary infection is often 

far advanced by the time a patient receives appropriate 

care – perhaps because we intuitively don’t think of human 

bites as being fundamentally dangerous? 

Although the biting of arms and shoulders might be 

becoming increasingly common in football, the majority 

of human bites occur during fist fights, when someone is 

punched in the teeth. These are known as “closed fist bites” 

and account for 56% of all infected bites. 

44

So just remember, what happens on the pitch, doesn’t 

always stay on the pitch – it may lead to a rather nasty 

subsidiary bacterial infection. 

James Anderton, L6JPJ 

Who is the Woman of my Dreams? 

She is often spoken of to me as if she existed in a fairytale; 

her allure is fed to me solely by the accounts of others. I 

have never seen her, nor do I imagine seeing her any time 

soon. However, her exquisiteness is what drives my ambition 

to witness her beauty firsthand. You may find it fitting to 

notice that she is, without a doubt, not what you may have 

expected her to be. 

As Mark Twain once said, go back as far as you will into 

the vague past, she was always there. To her, years are only 

moments, and decades are only flitting trifles of time. She 

measures time not by days, months and years, but by the 

empires she has seen rise and prosper, then crumble to ruin. 

She is a type of immortality. She witnessed Greece rise and 

flourish two thousand years, and die. In her old age she 

witnessed the birth of Rome, she saw Rome overshadow 

the world with its power; she saw Rome perish. She has 

seen all that has ever occurred on earth, and still she lives. 

She has looked upon the dry bones of a thousand empires, 

and will see the tombs of a thousand more before she dies. 

Though another claims the name, Damascus is by right the 

Eternal City. 

The name itself sounds majestic, shrouded with mystery and 

speculation that span across the millennia. A popular story 

from the Prophet Muhammad’s journey to Syria recounts 

that, upon seeing verdant Damascus, he refused to go in, as 

“man should only enter paradise once”. This paradise indeed 

is a place where one day I will walk down the oldest of her 

alleyways and listen to her ancient walls whisper a thousand 

epic stories of her glorious past. A place where one day I 

will stroll down her antique marketplaces and truly catch 

a drop of the rich culture that she has basked in for ages 

upon ages. She has adorned herself with flowers of sweet 

scented herbs. She is embroidered with elegant tradition 

and sheltered by an impenetrable fortress of moral values, 

diversified with respect and faith. 

She is also known as the “City of Jasmine” due to the sweet 

fragrance of jasmine flowers that distinctively flourish 

throughout the city. But a new era is being written as we 

speak, and flower whose colour emblematises innocence 

and purity now blossoms into the colours of blood and 

fury. Today she bears witness to yet another tyrant who is 

massacring her beloved children before our very own eyes. 

She feels the agony of her people like a cancer to her heart. 

If strength was made from heartbreak, then mountains she 

could move. But instead, she waits. For time is her greatest 

weapon. Time is what killed the Hittites, Assyrians, Romans, 

Greeks, Mongols and Persians. Time is what will once again 

rid the disease of a tyrant’s genocide from her pure and 

sanctified body. She has all the time in the world. 

She is Damascus. She is the soil that provided mankind’s 

germination. She is the womb of ancient civilisation and the 

graveyard of great empires. She is the woman of my dreams. 

Karim Al-Jian, L6SGB 

SPANISH THEATRE REVIEW 

I was lucky enough to watch the 

performance of La Habitación de 

Mateo and I found it very interesting. 

I was reasonably confident in my 

Spanish at this point and it is still one of 

my favoured subjects. My classmates 

and I were all given a sheet with some 

Spanish vocabulary on it to help us 

out if we didn’t understand any of the 

language used. In the end I found I 

didn’t need it at all. 

As soon as I entered the hall, I saw the 

props they used to make the stage feel 

like a boy’s bedroom, and it worked 

very well. The performance started and 

the actors were very good and said all 

the words clearly and slowly, giving the 

audience the chance to take in what 

they were saying and what was going 

on. They inter-acted with the audience 

a lot, which I felt helped us, especially 

those who weren’t confident in their 

Spanish ability. 

The story turned out to be very funny 

and relevant to our age group, which 

I felt helped keep my attention and 

gave me a lot of laughs along the way. 

As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t look 

at my vocabulary sheet once, as I felt 

I didn’t need it because the actors 

used their tones and actions so well, I 

already knew exactly what was going 

on. The story I particularly liked the 

most, the fact that it was about a boy 

finally getting with two girls at once 

and having to switch between the two 

was perfect for me, and all the other 

boys. Towards the end they got a few 

of the boys up on stage to interact 

which just added to the enjoyment I 

was already experiencing. Once the 

play had ended, I felt my confidence in 

Spanish had risen and that I had learnt 

quite a lot of new vocabulary. It was 

a huge help, and I would like to thank 

the group for coming into school and 

taking the time to help us. 

Mason Hood, 4L 

45

DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY 

It has been a busy year in the 

Technology Centre. Back in 

September 2013 I picked up the reins 

from Siôn Rands, the outgoing Head of 

Department. Since then we have gone 

through a series of developments, 

the first of these was a complete 

overhaul of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd year 

projects. The boys are now working 

in both modern and smart materials 

to produce products such as slim-line 

torches, 3D wall clocks and USB flash 

data pens. We also welcomed Mr 

Daniel Hunt into the department as our 

Technician. Dan takes over from Oak 

Roberts who has moved on to follow 

his dreams of captaining a boat on the 

south coast! 

Our latest cohort of GCSE students 

worked tirelessly all year and produced 

a stunning variety of projects including 

desk lamps, iPod docking stations, 

contactless phone charging stands, 

wake boards, electric guitars, coffee 

tables and ski bikes! 

The A-Level group, many of whom have 

gone to university to study various 

forms of engineering and architecture, 

produced another amazing variety 

of coursework projects including 

cricket training aids, camping lamps, 

Bluetooth speaker systems, walking 

supports for the elderly and even a full 

size spiral staircase! 

This year also saw the introduction of 

3D printing to the department. With 

a kind donation from both the Friends 

of LRGS and the Old Lancastrians we 

were able to purchase a state of the art 

3D printer, which has caused a huge 

amount of interest in its new home in 

our display lobby. The addition of this 

piece of equipment has allowed many 

of our boys to really let their creativity 

loose and design products and 

components which previously would 

have been impossible to manufacture 

in school. 

By the end of the summer term Design 

and Technology finally said goodbye 

to its ‘temporary’ home in Bay View 

building; this was made possible by 

the refurbishment of the Technology 

Centre. In order to accommodate 

Systems and Control in a fully kitted 

out control suite we have renovated 

one of the three workshops. In addition 

to the Control Suite we now have a 

Creative Design Studio in the building 

facilitated by the conversion of one of 

the stock rooms. The computers in the 

CAD suite have also been upgraded 

allowing us to install industry-standard 

CAD software, which our boys are 

using to great effect. 

It was another successful year for our 

Arkwright Scholars, James Carroll 

(L6RTM) and Chris Gaskell (L6RTM), 

who attended various engineering 

courses and took part in work experience 

programs at Thales and Lancaster 

University. The Arkwright Scholarship 

program allows successful applicants 

to participate in engineering courses, 

industrial experiences and receive 

funding during their two years in the 

sixth form. For the coming year we have 

had two more successful applicants, so 

congratulations to Marcus Panchal (5T) 

and Solomon White (5R). 

All in all, it has been a busy year in the 

history of the Design and Technology 

Department and we have plenty more 

developments planned for the coming 

year: Technology never stands still! 

Mr RM Lemon 

46

THE COMENIUS PROJECT - LIVE LONG AND PROSPER 

Poland 

On the 15th of March, we went to Manchester Airport for an 

early flight of 3 hours to Krakow, Poland. When we arrived 

at the airport we were very nervous because none of us 

had ever been to Poland and we didn’t know how to speak 

Polish. Outside the airport our hosts were waiting with a 

sign saying “Comenius” which made it easy for us to identify 

them. At the start we didn’t talk much because we didn’t 

know what to talk about but our hosts tried very hard to 

start the conversation, which helped us to know each other. 

We took a taxi for two hours, which gave us plenty of time 

to get to know our host and their culture. When we arrived 

we got introduced to our hosts’ parents. Some of us went 

shopping with the family straight away and some of us 

stayed at home getting some rest. The day after, we went 

shopping again and visited some local shops outside Biecz 

and tried some traditional Polish cheese known as Oscypek. 

At the end of the day one of us went to a 7D cinema, which 

seemed like a 3D movie with special effects. 

The following morning, we travelled to Zakopane, which is 

well known for the ski jump facilities. We had some food at 

a restaurant next to the ski jump, which was quite enjoyable. 

We took plenty of pictures to remember the lovely town. 

After that day, the school week started and we went to the 

school of our hosts. The school had arranged many icebreaking 

activities with the whole Comenius group, which 

intended for us to get to know everyone. They were quite 

enjoyable. We also had some Polish lessons to help us 

learn enough Polish words to ‘survive.’ Afterwards, we had 

some sports activities, which included a few competitions 

such as volleyball and basketball. At the end of school, we 

had a tour around the most touristic parts of Biecz, which 

included a very old museum that showed us the history of 

Biecz and Poland. The next day we had a trip to Krakow 

and we travelled for around two hours by bus with at least 

20 people. During this time we got to know more about the 

people from different countries involved in Comenius. We 

had a guided tour through Krakow and there was a lot of 

sight seeing. It was a very popular destination for tourists 

as we noticed many people from different countries visiting 

Krakow during the same time we were there. We believe 

Krakow is one of the most beautiful cities we have ever 

visited. 

The day after, we practised a traditional Polish dance that 

we would perform the next day to the whole school and also 

practised singing the song “I’ll be there for you.” We also got 

to dance a very fun and popular dance to the song “’t smidje 

by Laïs.” The final day of school we had a normal school 

lesson with our host and it was a great experience. After 

lunch that same day we had our final dance and singing 

rehearsal for the presentation to the whole school and 

prepared a presentation that evaluated our week in Poland. 

Sadly there were technical difficulties and our PowerPoint 

could not be opened. We wish we had more time in Poland! 

On the day of departure we woke up early to catch our flight 

back to Manchester airport. It was a very sad moment to say 

goodbye to our hosts. We all agree it was one of the best 

experiences we have ever had. 

Mark Chan, L6DEY 

Finland 

In March 2014 Matthew Shackleton (L6JPJ), Rob Shaw 

(L6DEY) and I set out on the Comenius trip to Finland. Over 

the week we would experience a whole range of activities, 

some fun and others completely unimaginable. Travelling to 

Tampere was more of an adventure than expected, missing 

our connection flight (due to flight delays!) proved to be a 

costly mistake as this added a fair amount of travel time onto 

our journey, but using our broad skill set and Finnish phrase 

book we finally made it to Tampere and met our Finnish 

hosts. Nerves soon turned into excitement as our hosts were 

very friendly and filled us in on what was to happen in the 

coming week. 

On the first day we met everyone from the countries of 

France, Hungary, Poland and Germany. Thankfully everyone 

spoke excellent English so it didn’t take long for us to get 

along together and start the project, comparing our nations’ 

cultures. In the evening my partner took me on a tour of 

Tampere, the second largest city in Finland. At night this was 

a very beautiful place draped in snow, and it was hard to 

believe that in only a couple of months it would be like an 

English summer. 

During our stay in Tampere we visited Helvetinärvi National 

Park. This was another stunning place and was protected 

in the same way as our national parks are in the UK. After 

walking through a rather icy path, that involved more than 

one person falling over, we arrived alongside a huge frozen 

lake. Huge noises were coming from underneath it and 

rumour has it that it is a monster snoring underneath the ice 

sheet, when actually it’s just the ice melting, here there were 

huge gorges. Places like this are imposable to find in the UK 

so it was a very memorable experience going there, after our 

walk we had a feast of wild boar, salmon and sausages – an 

interesting combination. To cap the day trip off we met a 

lady that had pet ostriches, not what you would expect in 

below freezing temperatures! 

On another day we went to a primary school and talked 

to three classes about Lancaster and what we do at our 

school with a presentation we had pre-prepared. This was 

a challenging experience as not all the children spoke very 

good English and our Finnish wasn’t the best. We therefore 

let some of the images do the talking and had some of the 

teachers translate for us. Although there was a language 

barrier, the children were very interested in our life back 

in England and asked us many questions about it. Later 

that same day was an event we had all been waiting for: 

ice swimming. Ice swimming in Finland is a tradition that is 

meant to calm and sooth the body, but running from a sauna 

to a hole in the ice may sound anything but that. However, 

this unique experience was a once in a lifetime opportunity 

and one we couldn’t turn it down. 

On the last day we had to present our project to a large 

part of the school, in this we compared foods, pastimes, 

and the culture of all the six countries that were taking part 

in Comenius. Doing this was a very interesting topic as on 

the surface our cultures seem very different but actually we 

share many common interests and hobbies. After this, a few 

of us celebrated by going to a local Ice Hockey match. This 

47

THE COMENIUS PROJECT /continued... 

turned out to be a very brutal sport with fights occurring 

almost every two minutes. Large crowds and impressive 

goals made this a great match to watch even if we didn’t 

quite understand the rules. 

Looking back on my time in Finland, I can only say what a 

great and unique time I had. I met lots of new people and 

have made long lasting friends with whom I am now still 

in contact. I would thoroughly recommend anyone to get 

involved with this Project in any way possible and I am highly 

anticipating this year when I will be able to host a partner. 

Jo Marriott, L6DEY 

France 1 

On the 15th March 2014, Luke Gannon (L6AY) and James 

Casey-Gibbs (L6DEY) and I set off on our adventure to 

the gloriously sunny south of France. We started off at 

Manchester Terminal 1, flew out to the immaculately clean 

Munich Airport and then took another flight on to our 

destination, Marseille. 

Upon arrival we were greeted by Madame Dejean (the host 

teacher at Lycée Emile Zola) and our host families. They were 

all more than welcoming and lived up to the famous kiss on 

either cheek. We then confirmed our ways of transport for 

the trip and then went our separate ways to our respective 

homes for the next week. 

From my moment of arrival, I knew that I was going to get 

along very well with my host family from their great sense 

of humour and generosity. I stayed in a pretty town named 

Pélissanne about 30 minutes’ drive from Marseille and Aixen-Provence 

with Lois, Michael and Celine – not forgetting 

Wange, the adorable dog. 

On my first full day in France, the Angot family took me 

on a day out to the beach in Marseille with some of their 

friends. It was a beautiful day and we also managed to visit 

a small town called Callelongue next to Marseille which had 

stunning views of the sea and off-shore islands from overhanging 

cliffs. 

On Monday the 17th of March, I started the Comenius project 

and went along to Lycée Emile Zola with Lois to take part in 

the lessons he had on that particular day. I took part in (or 

at least attempted to take part in) German, Psychology and 

my favourite, English – I seemed to excel in that particular 

lesson for some reason... The day in the life of Lois was a 

great insight into attending another school in a new country 

and the members of the classes and teachers were all very 

friendly and made it feel much less daunting than I had 

anticipated. 

On the Tuesday, the other pupils from visiting countries and 

I went on a tour of the school, visited the Aix city centre, and 

also went on an expedition to Le camp des Milles. The trip to 

Aix was a brilliant group activity and really gave me a great 

appreciation of the different types of historical stalls within 

the city Centre and how this will continue to be part of the 

culture within Aix for years to come. Le camp des Milles was 

used as a transit camp for Jews during WW2. The visit to 

the camp was very thought-provoking and helped further 

my knowledge of the war and how it affected a generation. 

Not only was the building a piece of history in itself, but the 

train track aon the outside of the camp really helped you to 

picture the events that took place at the camp in the not so 

distant past. 

Wednesday saw the group visit Paul Cezanne’s workshop, 

which was his place of residence for several of his most 

famous pieces. The building had been designed by Cezanne 

himself and we got a good understanding of the reasons 

he chose to design the building in such a way. For example, 

he decided to position large south-facing windows in his 

expansive painting room. The windows made the natural 

48

light in the room clearly present and this was demonstrated 

on the scorching hot day on which we visited. 

On Thursday, we went on a day trip to Marseilles. This was 

definitely not a day to forget; due to the superb weather 

and packed agenda. We first visited an old traditional soap 

factory named ‘La Licorne’ which was a great chance to buy 

some souvenirs that would be greatly appreciated by our 

mothers back in England. After our visit to the soap factory, 

we were then given three hours spare time to do what we 

fancied in the city of Marseille. I swiftly took the opportunity 

to hop on the Ferris wheel, which had picturesque views 

over the harbour and you could even spot the ‘Notre- 

Dame de la Garde’ (a historic Catholic Church over-looking 

Marseille). After my ride on the wheel, I went shopping in 

the city centre with the French girls who seemed to know 

their way around a lot better than I did! We then went onto 

meet up with the group again at the ‘MUCEM’ Museum. This 

was an incredible building with a colossal bridge linking two 

different sections to the museum (worth a google search). 

The museum itself had some tremendous sculptures and art 

work which made great viewing and was the icing on the 

cake of a great day in Marseille. 

On Friday, the last day of the project, we started the day 

by visiting ‘Les Santons Fouque’ (a figures workshop) 

which was in walking distance from Lycee Emile Zola. The 

workshop was in great condition and it was lovely to see 

that the family running the business had kept it going for 

three generations. Later on that day we went by bus to 

‘la Fondation Vasarely’. This was a large art gallery which 

specialised in optical illusions; which makes a lot of sense 

when looking at the building from the exterior (also worth 

a Google search!). The tour was great and was made all the 

better by our tour guide who was very passionate about the 

art work and really interacted with the entire group. 

On returning from la Fondation Vasarely, all of the visiting 

groups presented their pre-prepared presentations to all the 

others on the project, showing where we all came from and 

giving a brief overview of how our cultures differed from 

each other. All of the presentations were enjoyable to watch 

– especially the Finnish with their great sense of humour! 

Once we had all presented our presentations, we went onto 

have a buffet dinner with the group and say our thanks to 

the teachers and governors that had helped organise and 

run an incredible experience for all those involved! After 

this, all members on the project went out into Aix to spend 

their last night together! It was an enjoyable night for all and 

was rather emotional when it came to saying good bye to 

everyone we had made friends with during the week! 

It was an early start on the Saturday morning for Luke and 

James and me as our time on the project had come to an 

end. Our host families brought us to Marseille Airport for a 

slightly emotional departure. But it wasn’t a good-bye as I 

know that the relationship I formed with Lois is one that will 

last a long time and I shall be inviting him to come and stay 

with me next year! 

When we touched down in Manchester we were met by 

Charlie, Mark and Juan who had spent their week in Poland 

on the Comenius project; we exchanged stories of the 

incredible week we had all had for the entire journey back 

to Lancaster! 

The Comenius project was a life-changing experience for 

me. It really opened my eyes to the world outside the UK. I 

had been abroad before, but nothing compares to actually 

experiencing the life-styles and cultures of a new country 

like living with and bonding with people from another 

nation. I learnt that despite our initial language and national 

differences, everyone enjoys meeting new people and 

experiencing how others go about their lives. This is why I 

feel the Comenius Project has furthered my urge to travel 

and meet new people, as with the bonds I formed in that 

one week, I realised that it’s possible to have connections all 

over the world! 

Matthew Varley, L6APH 

France 2 

Well, I suppose we should start at the beginning. At about 

2am I had to wake up to get in a taxi with Matthew and Luke 

in order to get to Manchester airport for around 4.30am. 

But my fun didn’t stop here, instead of flying straight to 

Marseilles airport we had to go via Munich. After a four hour 

wait in Munich Airport we then flew to Marseilles. Meeting 

my host family was quite nerve racking especially when they 

weren’t there on time. However my fears soon went and my 

French lessons from many moons ago came back to me. 

I suppose the thing I never really got used to was all this 

kissing on the cheek business – not really my cup of tea! 

My host family were excellent, the father was a really great 

guy and we appreciated the same music. I spent my week 

in a small block of flats with a rustic French charm. A 

difference I noticed was how much more open they are with 

their neighbours, people stroll into one another’s houses as 

though it were all one big mansion. I taught them how to 

make tea and they showed me some great French food. 

The school was interesting, but in contrast to the hostfamilies, 

people seemed more distant at the school and not 

so open to meeting new people, never the less I soon found 

that my charm works no matter what language someone 

speaks! On the first day I met the other nationalities; the 

Finnish and I got on extremely well, probably because of my 

extensive knowledge of the Finnish language – or perhaps 

it was the other way around? Generally I found that the 

English and the other nationalities bonded extremely well. 

The day-visits were fun but as with life the activity is only fun 

if you are with the right people and I was with some of the 

greatest people I have met. 

Interestingly we met a teacher at the school from England 

specifically Liverpool and he knew where my dad had gone 

to school – small world, eh? Unfortunately my week came to 

an end, I would really love to meet up with everyone again, 

I can still see all their faces and though they may be distant 

they will always be with me. 

James Casey-Gibbs, L6DEY 

49

IRELAND 

locations we stayed in were truly spectacular. Over the 

course of the tour we camped in ruined castles, on sandy 

beaches, cliff-top headlands and even park benches! Along 

the way we visited many sites such as the Giants Causeway, 

the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren National Park, as well as 

experiencing varied Irish culture in cities including Belfast, 

Sligo, Galway and Dublin. 

Last Summer Matthew Shackleton (L6JPJ), James Riach 

(L6AY) and I undertook a three week biking extravaganza! 

We were awarded a very generous travel bursary from the OL 

Society, which we put towards funding a three week cycling 

tour of Ireland. The trip was a great success – throughout 

our seventeen days in Northern and the Republic of Ireland 

we covered approximately a thousand miles and over half of 

the island’s beautiful coastline. 

To get the true Irish experience we decided to wild-camp 

rather than overnight in hostels or B&Bs and some of the 

After cycling to Liverpool we took the ferry to Belfast and 

from there headed north following the coastline, eventually 

crossing the border at Greencastle. From here we continued 

south along the spectacular coastal roads through the 

Republic of Ireland whereupon reaching the Cliffs of Moher 

we turned east and made our way back to the return ferry 

in Dublin. The ferry dropped us in Holyhead and the plan 

was to make our way through Wales over the next two days, 

finishing in Chester. However, when Matthew’s Mum called 

and offered to pick us up early from Conway the temptation 

proved too great and we caved in! 

We greatly appreciate 

the support given to us 

by the OLs which allowed 

us to make the most of a 

fantastic opportunity to 

discover a great part of 

the world none of us had 

experienced before. We 

all thoroughly enjoyed 

the trip and would 

encourage all lower sixth 

boys to take advantage of the bursary scheme on offer and 

make the most of your summer holidays! 

Rob Shaw, L6DEY 

Team Kenya! at 

the Mount Kenya 

Reforestation Project. 

50

KENYA VOLUNTEERING TRIP 

For 11 days at the end of July 2014, nine of us (including two 

veterans from last year’s trip) and Hayley Johns travelled 

to Kenya along with a group from Morecambe Community 

High School to help on the Mount Kenya Reforestation 

Project. Before we left, a large scale fundraising campaign 

was undertaken, which included running Lower School 

discos, collecting textiles and hours of backpacking. 

On the 20th of July we assembled at Manchester Airport 

with a long journey awaiting us, arriving in Nairobi in the 

small hours to be greeted by Priscilla (our trip organiser) 

and Kristine and Robert as well as Hayley who had arrived 

via a different plane. A long drive on a coach followed, and 

as gave many of us our first view of Kenya, so it’s one we 

may never forget – driving through parts of the sleeping 

capital Nairobi, through security points and then witnessing 

hundreds of young school children making their journeys to 

school by foot at first light – an immediate reminder of the 

reality in certain corners of the planet. 

Batian’s View, a hostel located in the Naro Moru area at an 

altitude of seven thousand feet would be our home for the 

next ten days or so. Batian’s had a large garden, a tabletennis 

table, a meal area where we had a filling breakfast 

and dinner every day, and visiting lemurs! 

The strong sense of community was something that really 

struck the group. The local people would all invest time 

in helping each other, especially at the project which not 

only focussed at looking after the environment but also 

the elderly and young in the community. Their unfaltering 

positive outlook in life, friendliness and resourcefulness 

altered all of our outlooks on life. The children especially 

made an impact on all of us, their warmth and humility 

was both incredibly moving and humbling, and they would 

always greet us when our paths crossed! 

Our work at the project consisted of various undertakings 

and was a two mile walk from where were saying. We split 

into three groups, each of us participating in digging up 

the floor of a church, making mud bricks and helping to 

construct a classroom on different days for the first three 

days before all attention turned to the classroom towards 

the end. A hot lunch was served every day at the project 

from where we could also buy gifts such as jewellery and 

wooden animals. We worked from nine until three, under 

the leadership of John and Sammy, with help from other 

locals including James. 

However, project work was not our only occupation. We 

visited two primary schools and secondary schools over 

the course of the trip. At the primary schools we had the 

privilege of being sung to by the welcoming children (an 

incredible experience in itself) and we were invited to sing 

back with the aid of Phil’s (the trip leader from Morecambe) 

guitar playing! We also donated and distributed football kits, 

clothes, stationery, books and hundreds of MCHS jumpers 

to the schools and pupils. Football matches were played 

during two of the school visits which sadly both ended in 

defeat for the visiting team – 3-0 against a team of locals 

and 5-2 against a team from the high school. 

One of the most profound parts of the trip was out visit 

to a home for disabled children who were suffering from a 

range of physical impairments. However, the optimism and 

enjoyment of life displayed by the children despite their 

situations was incredible and affected us all immensely. The 

work carried out by the Italian Sister and her colleagues 

in creating a positive environment and guaranteeing 

physiotherapy and surgery in Italy for the children is 

commendable. We also visited a Safari Park in which we 

were excited to see wild elephants, impalas, a lioness, 

buffalo, rhino, giraffes and many other animals! There was 

also a trek to the Mao Mao caves which allowed us to view 

Kenya’s beautiful countryside. 

On the night before our departure, the community put 

on a barbecue for us – with the sheep butchered on site – 

and a visit from the local chief which ended in singing and 

dancing with the community generously giving each of us 

a gift. 

Visiting Kenya was a truly unforgettable and amazing 

experience and we owe huge thanks to those who made it 

possible – Hayley, Gill, Drew and Phil who accompanied us 

on the trip, Priscilla, Kristine, Robert, John, Sammy, James 

and all the other locals who made the experience, and Mr 

Reynolds who, although he unfortunately couldn’t come 

with us, was vital in its organisation. 

Max Mortimer (L6MED) and Olly Richmond (L6DJN) 

51

KENYA VOLUNTEERING TRIP /continued... 

In the last ten days of July a group of around ten boys from 

LRGS paired with a similar number from Morecambe High 

School in order to embark on a life-changing volunteering trip 

to Kenya. We stayed in the foothills of Mount Kenya in a hostel 

called Batian’s View. The point of the trip was to take part 

in volunteer work to help the local community in a number 

of activities. These included making bricks, building a class 

room and digging out the floor of a church. These activities 

were hard work in the Kenyan humidity as we worked for six 

hours a day everyday apart from the weekends. 

Apart from working, we also took part in activities with 

the local community. Two football games were organised 

against the local village team and against the nearby 

secondary school; we lost both games even though most of 

the other teams played bare foot. We also visited a disabled 

school, which brought a tear to many of our eyes. We also 

walked for two hours to visit caves in which refugees hid in 

times of war. The whole experience is one that I and many 

of who travelled will never forget as it made us all very 

appreciative of what we have in our lives and how lucky we 

are to have what we have. If the opportunity arises to any 

of the boys in the future I would strongly advise them to go 

on the trip. 

Eddie Letcher, L6APH 

SICILY TRIP 

The staff are still relaxed on Day 2... 

Temple Valley at Agrigento 

Monreale 

R & R 

Roman mosaics at Piazza Armerina 

Greek Theatre at Taormina 

Etna towering over the boys 

Frank demonstrates the size of 

the columns at Selinunte 

52

SPANISH EXCHANGE 

We set out from Lancaster in the 

middle of the afternoon full of nervous 

excitement for the week ahead. We 

arrived in Bilbao late in the evening, 

and two hours later we were pulling 

up in Logrono. Our nerves however 

had been over nothing, as all of our 

partners greeted us warmly and we 

immediately felt at home. 

In the morning we reconvened at their 

school for a welcome breakfast and a 

tour of the building, with its interesting 

array of stuffed animals! A fascinating 

day lay ahead for us, spending the 

morning in lessons with our partners, 

then a wonderful tour of the old 

quarter (Casco Antiguo) of Logrono, 

with its many spectacular churches 

and buildings. All in all, it was a brilliant 

start to a memorable week. 

Throughout the week we were 

thoroughly immersed in Spanish 

culture, from visiting the local bodega 

to see how the famous Rioja wine is 

made, to many church tours in the 

very religious region, in particular 

the monasteries of Yuso and Suso. A 

standout visit was the trip to a cookery 

school in a nearby village, where 

the students treated us to a culinary 

master class. 

On our last trip out from Logrono we 

were accompanied by our partners, 

a great way to end a brilliant week 

together. The coach journey was an 

enjoyable one with an education for 

our Spanish counterparts in classic 

English music. The activity for the day 

was a truly fascinating experience at a 

prehistoric archaeological site, where 

we all had the opportunity to take part 

in hands on activities, such as making 

fire using flint. We then went on to 

the historical city of Burgos, were we 

visited a truly stunning cathedral, and 

a brilliant scientific museum. 

It was an emotional affair as we arrived 

at the coach to say our goodbyes, as 

many people had made great friends 

in the week. However we still had a 

full day ahead of us in Bilbao to enjoy 

before we boarded our flight home. 

In Bilbao we had the chance to visit 

the Guggenheim Museum of Modern 

Art, which was an experience and 

an education in the varied forms art 

can take. At the end of a brilliant trip 

we were all very sad to leave but we 

took with us fantastic memories of an 

unforgettable week. 

I would like to say thank you to Mrs 

Marshall and Mr Saul who looked 

after us and made sure that we had a 

fantastic time. 

Philip McKean, L6DEY 

COMBINED CADET FORCE (CCF) 

Army 

The old campaigners keep soldiering 

on. I am grateful for the help of the 

Section officers, Lieutenant Atkinson 

and Captain Channing, as well as the 

Contingent’s staff of RSM Routledge 

and Sqn- Ldr Parker. Lt-Col Thorn 

also put in a couple of appearances 

as well. The upper sixth senior boys 

showed strength both in ability and 

number – RSM Oscar Taylor (U6CME), 

CSM James Cook (U6NT), RQMS 

James Atkinson (U6SJH), C/Sgt 

Eddy Hall (U6AMT), C/Sgt Richard 

Skinner (U6HJC), C/Sgt George 

Rettig (U6CME), C/Sgt Peter Fisher 

(U6NT) and Sgt Jack Harrison (U6NT). 

Recruiting went particularly well this 

year so we had a very large number of 

Third Years to join our slightly depleted 

Fourth Year. 

We started the year zeroing up at 

Warcop in preparation for the Cadet 

Skill-At-Arms Competition. The 

competition itself was much fun but 

no medals this year were won by the 

cadets. Lt Atkinson distinguished 

himself by winning the adult shoot 

again! 

Our Michaelmas Field Day was at 

Halton as usual. With our increased 

numbers time pressure was greater 

than ever but many thanks to all, 

including Dr Shawcross who kindly 

took the cadets climbing using the 

climbing wall. 

The Self-Reliance Exercise at 

Holcombe Moor was our first D of E 

qualifying expedition. This took place 

over a Sunday and Monday. Some 

found the conditions challenging with 

L/Cpl Ben Lymer (4S) managing to 

get around the course. Many thanks to 

Mr Reeve who came out to assess the 

cadets. 

We won the Lancaster Military Heritage 

Group competition at Halton this year. 

The Section again entered the National 

Cadet Orienteering Championships. 

C/Sgt Hall won the individual senior 

class. Our Lent Field Day was at 

Sealand Ranges. On arrival the new 

cadets were taught the rudiments of 

patrolling by the older cadets before 

53

COMBINED CADET FORCE (CCF) /continued... 

enjoying the traditional March BBQ. 

The paucity of ammunition did not 

dampen the spirits and all boys had 

the opportunity to classify and then to 

take part in a March and Shoot. Many 

thanks go to Mr Worden and Oct Poon 

(OL) for coming out to help us. 

The Summer Field Day was at 

Swynnerton. The training area was 

crawling with troops from other units 

but this just served to give the boys 

more enemy to patrol against. After 

catching the enemy in an ambush, the 

friendly harbour was attacked forcing 

the occupation of the alternative 

harbour. Patrols identified the location 

of the enemy base giving the axis for 

an advance to contact in which each 

section was able to have a crack at the 

enemy. C/Sgt Richard Skinner put in 

a particularly impressive performance 

taking over a stalled attack and turning 

it into a success through the force of 

his own personality. L/Cpl Ben Lymer 

showed how his fitness had improved 

when he led a dramatic flanking charge 

which routed the enemy. The enemy 

base proved a tough nut to crack but 

C/Sgt Richard Skinner controlled a 

skilful penetration of the enemy rear 

area leading to the final overthrow of 

General Mikhail. 

Having taken on Bronze DofE we 

decided to put a group through their 

Gold. As such, a minibus drove up 

to the South Lakes for the obligatory 

practice expedition a week before 

summer camp. We had two groups 

of cadets: a lower sixth and a fifth 

form group. Starting at Torver with 

instructors assessing their navigation, 

they patrolled up to Chapel Stile for 

the first camp site. Showers and other 

facilities were available for those who 

wanted them! The following night was 

spent up at Seathwaite Tarn before 

patrolling back to the start for the end. 

Summer Camp this year was at Wathgill 

in deepest Yorkshire. Unusually, we had 

to leave the school on a Saturday, so we 

have a huge thank you to Dr Shawcross 

for keeping Frankland House open for 

the boarders. We arrived in good time 

but in true ‘hurry up and wait’ army 

fashion we were unable to go out on 

exercise for several hours. When we 

did get out, the wait was worth it. The 

exercise started with a night attack at 

1am on Sunday morning on the enemy 

compound. Thousands of rounds and 

pyrotechnics were expended much to 

the cadets’ pleasure. The few enemies 

who survived that maelstrom put in a 

dawn attack on the friendly harbour 

forcing them to relocate. Once recce 

patrols had established the location 

of the enemy base, the assault could 

begin. RQMS Atkinson orchestrated 

the assault with his own interpretation 

of the NATO orders process. This 

assault started well, but the defence 

led by RSM Oscar Taylor and assisted 

by CSM James Cook forced the attack 

to stall and the momentum dissipated. 

RQMS Atkinson suffered a fatal wound 

during his assault and was replaced 

by C/Sgt Anderton after an ad-hoc 

aggressive assault by C/Sgt George 

Rettig. A new axis of advance and 

a great number of smoke grenades 

led to the destruction of the enemy 

position. 

Having gone back to camp, the Third 

Years were bussed back out again to 

start their practice DofE expedition 

with an overnight camp. On the 

Monday morning Mr Dower drove 

over from Lancaster to help us run 

what was essentially a combined DofE 

expedition-cum-nav exercise. A sort of 

giant hide and seek exercise ensued, it 

certainly wasn’t escape and evasion. 

RSM Routledge nearly captured RQMS 

James Atkinson and L/Cpl Chapman 

but they managed to get away. 

RSM Oscar Taylor with L/Cpl Brodie 

Bateman and C/Sgt Richard Skinner 

with Cpl Roy were not so lucky! 

The Tuesday was spent on the range 

where an unfortunate software 

problem led to much fun as the cadets 

got to fire the light support weapon on 

full automatic instead. That night the 

seniors were treated to an introduction 

to the Officers’ Mess with a formal 

dinner. 

The Wednesday was spent on 

orienteering and leadership. Here 

we won the camp orienteering 

competition and no fewer than six 

teams of LRGS cadets beat the 

previous camp record. Well done 

indeed to RSM Routledge and O/Cdt 

Hart who set a further record. The 

evening activity on the assault course 

was cancelled and the cadets enjoyed 

some much appreciated free time. 

However, an ad-hoc game of rugby led 

to a Fisher-Skinner tackle with C/Sgt 

Fisher needing hospital treatment for 

concussion. 

Thursday was a day of adventure 

training: kayaking, climbing, archery 

and volley-ball. The evening was 

spent with the traditional cadet 

presentations after a quick sprint over 

the assault course. L/Cpl Philip Duncan 

(5G) showed what he was made of as 

he manned up and put in a proper 

effort to complete the course. Friday 

was a CTT-organised blank firing 

exercise, before packing up ready for 

transport back to Lancaster on the 

Saturday. The camp statistics stack 

up pretty well this year with the firing 

of 17,500 rounds of ammunition of all 

types, 12 packs of mini-flares, 9 smoke 

grenades, 8 parachute illumination 

rockets and 4 trip flares. The Best 

Third Year Cadet Prize at camp was 

won by Cadet Alexander Royce 3T). 

Major DR Rowe 

54

DUKE OF EDINBURGH’S AWARD 

Gold 

George Mason (L6MED) forgetting 

his walking boots was not the best 

of starts to our Gold DofE assessed 

expedition in the West Highlands of 

Scotland! However, relaxing at the 

campsite that night with the other 

LRGS teams we were all ready for the 

days ahead. That first morning was 

one of the hardest, as we had four days 

of solid walking ahead, and the whole 

morning was pretty much relentlessly 

uphill in overcast conditions. A brief 

stop at an unexpected beach did 

brighten our moods and soon after we 

reached our high point and the first of 

many cracking views and before we 

knew it we had reached the first of 

three wild camp spots. 

Questionably our team brought six 

tents between the seven of us; however 

this decision was well rewarded as we 

all experienced unprecedented room 

and comfort in our tents throughout 

the whole trip! The second day was a 

bit more of a blur, with snow coming as 

an unexpected sight, a relentless uphill 

section towards the end and midges 

plaguing us all the way. A pathless 

section saw a few blisters emerge, 

but we made it along the river to our 

second night’s pitch where we soon 

retreated to the relative midge-free 

safety of our tents. 

The third day was an absolute 

scorcher. It was a beautiful lakeside 

walk, with greatly appreciated flatter 

gradients and shingle beaches. The 

last of the boil-in-the-bag meals was 

eaten and then it was time for a final 

wild sleep. The final day dawned just as 

brightly and we set off in high spirits in 

spite of the bruises and blisters which 

had arisen. A brief stop and across 

the famous 3-wire bridge before we 

reached the car park by Ben Nevis that 

signalled the end of the expedition. A 

well earned pub meal greeted us that 

evening which was a time of reflection 

and laughter about the incredible four 

days we had all experienced together 

as “Team Paul & Co”. 

Thanks must go to the teachers who 

volunteered to be stuck in the middle 

of nowhere with 30-odd teenagers (or 

is that “thirty, odd teenagers”? editor) 

for a week, without whom it simply 

wouldn’t have been possible. Also 

thanks to Mr Love who organised it all, 

kept a cool head throughout and made 

the whole experience enjoyable and as 

stress-free as possible. 

Daniel Barnett, L6MAR 

Silver 

Assessed DofE is always the apex and 

nadir of any academic year, and the 

Class of 2014 was no different. 

We began on Sunday, at the ungodly 

hour of 11 o’clock in the morning. 

After recovering, our team, Two Tents 

– aptly named for we had two tents – 

orientated ourselves (literally; we had 

to find our way out of the car park) and 

set off. We were, as always at the start 

of an expedition, in high spirits, and 

were willing to take on any challenge 

presented to us. Unfortunately, after 

five minutes, we were already slacking 

in our pace as we encountered a 

terrifying phenomenon: Grisedale 

Pike, a huge, horrible colossus which 

dared rear its ugly head. Burdened 

by sleeping bags, food, water, clothes, 

collapsible footballs etc. etc. we began 

to slow down. As we approached the 

summit of Grisedale, the land began 

to undulate, forcing us to bob up and 

down the landscape of the hills. It was 

less a case of two steps forward, one 

step back, than 50 metres down, 100 

metres up. One particularly terrifyingly 

steep path right before the summit 

was only 5m wide before steeply 

plunging down into a valley on either 

side, and was solely constructed out of 

loose shingle and metre-high boulders. 

A while later we approached a small 

stream a little way down the other side 

of the mountain and stopped for half an 

hour for the day’s lunch. In that short 

rest we also built a short dam over the 

stream, providing light entertainment. 

And then, the rest of the day was 

spent walking through ever-green 

hills of rolling scenery, before finally 

descending several hours later to the 

campsite, basked in glorious afternoon 

summer sunshine. However, it was 

then we realised the evening would be 

spent avoiding the swarms of midges 

baying for blood, and so very soon we 

were all in tents, getting some much 

earned sleep. 

The morning of the second day was one 

of hastily packing up the equipment 

and hitting the road before we were 

once again subsumed by the midges. 

We managed to get away just in time, 

and we left the blood-suckers behind. 

The second day much gentler, and 

there was a far smaller climb. Instead 

of going over the hills as we did on the 

first day we decided (as a measure of 

sanity) to stick to the valley. That didn’t 

mean there was no hill undulation: 

instead it merely meant less. Like the 

day before, we dutifully plodded on, 

covering the miles to Portincastle 

55

DUKE OF EDINBURGH’S AWARD /continued... 

on the other side of the massif. All 

the way through the day we leapfrogged 

past another group, whom we 

watched climb hurriedly up the side 

of the valley with much amusement, 

and the whole day elapsed very much 

like this; the atmosphere quiet, gentle 

and peaceful, with the last hour spent 

meandering north through thin riverpaths 

to the campsite just outside 

Keswick. 

Day Three dawned, fresh and rosyfingered, 

and with it so too did the 

feeling of elation: we were almost 

there. We had almost completed the 

expedition and would be out of the 

“wilds”, as they were now known. All 

three groups had planned to spend the 

day beside the lake, walking in glorious 

sunshine. However, very soon The Two 

Tents left, heading halfway up Cat- 

Bells, a mountain on the western coast 

of Derwent Water. Arriving at a road, 

along which we continued for the rest 

of the way, we were greeted by the 

most magnificent view, which made 

the ungodly suffering we had endured 

the night before worth it. And then, an 

hour and a half later, we arrived at the 

end, throwing ourselves down onto 

the grass of the small, abandoned car 

park. 

Silver Duke of Edinburgh was great 

fun, especially as the expedition is 

designed to get you working as a team 

to navigate your way through the 

wilds, as it were, and I would seriously 

recommend taking part in the 

award scheme. Not only is it a great 

achievement to trumpet about, but 

you will also get a tremendous amount 

out of it, for it is a superb characterbuilding 

activity – an experience not to 

be missed out on. You too could then 

say the immortal words: “I came, I saw, 

I completed Duke of Edinburgh.” 

George Manklow (L6SJH) and Anamay 

Shetty (L6RSH) 

Bronze 

The backdrop was perhaps not the 

most usual one for a Duke of Edinburgh 

Bronze expedition this year. With just 

two weeks to go until the Tour de 

France passed through, the Yorkshire 

Dales was putting the final touches 

to its preparations. Bunting, painted 

yellow bikes, hay bale sculptures and 

a general bonhomie atmosphere 

greeted the five teams whenever they 

came out of the hills and had a brush 

with civilisation. The weather, too, was 

seemingly borrowed from the South 

of France, and with little shade to be 

found in limestone country, it wasn’t 

long on the first day before the boys 

were feeling the heat and wishing for 

the perhaps more traditional Yorkshire 

drizzle. 

Nonetheless, all teams persevered, 

carefully navigating particularly long, 

challenging routes. Indeed, one team 

(Operation V), in a display of classic 

LRGS and DofE heroics went out of 

their way to rescue two lost dogs and 

deliver them safely some miles away at 

the next village. So it was that with the 

warm glow of a job well done (or was 

that just minor heatstroke?) all teams 

arrived at the somewhat minimalist 

campsite with enough time to spare to 

eat and cool off before what they say 

is God’s own country released a plague 

of midgies of biblical proportions that 

meant an early night and a frantic, 

hand-swatting getaway the next 

morning. 

The second day followed form and 

the boys managed the heat well, 

supporting and helping each other to 

arrive at the endpoint via the classic 

Dales landmarks of Malham Tarn and 

Malham Cove. I’m pleased to say that 

all the teams proved that they are 

made of stern stuff and completed 

the expedition in good style; the 

culmination of a year’s hard work. 

Well done! I would also like to express 

my thanks to the many staff who 

have given up their time throughout 

the year to help either on this or the 

other expeditions as well as in the 

preparation and training of the boys at 

school. 

Mr D Love 

56

GLENRIDDING 

On the water 

Unsuspecting boys about to get wet! 

Another chance to get wet! 

Off on a watery adventure 

Mr Mellon shows the boys how it is done 

Not yet mastered steering! 

Gladiators! 

The steep climb to 

the crag 

Good belaying 

demonstration 

Descending at the end of a 

long day! 

Jump! 

Happy campers? 

At the crag 

It’s a long way down 

57

ARMCHAIR GENERALS’ SOCIETY 

The society has continued to be very 

active over the last two years with 

typically 8 to 16 members attending 

every Friday after school until 6pm, 

and similar numbers at the occasional 

weekend long games. There has been 

a good cross section of ages from right 

across the school year groups. Friday 

sessions continue to be dominated 

by strategy board games as they are 

quick to set up, quick to pack up, and 

they are flexible as each game can 

involve from 2 to 8 players. Diplomacy 

remains the most popular of these 

games, set in Europe about 1900, 

followed by Civilisation (Ancients) and 

Kingmaker (Wars of the Roses) The 

card and strategy game “Illuminati” 

which OL John Armitage donated is 

also enjoyed. 

Recent weekend-long mega-games 

have been varied. In summer 2013, to 

commemorate the 200th anniversary 

of the titanic 1813 Napoleonic campaign 

in Germany, Armchair Generals ran a 

re-enactment of the strategic situation 

at the time of the little known minor 

battle of Colditz (May 5th, 1813). This 

saw a mainly Franco-Italian Corps 

under Prince Eugene attempt to fight 

their way across the River Mulde river 

against Russo-Prussian rearguard 

forces under General Miloradowitch. 

The small Russo-Prussian rearguard 

had to hold the river crossing points 

below the small town and fortress of 

Colditz long enough for their main 

forces to be able to pass through a 

defile and escape encirclement. This 

followed the Russo-Prussian retreat 

following their defeat at the battle 

of Lutzen. Part of the game involved 

some map movement with forces 

carrying out reconnaissance for other 

river crossings. The crisis of the game 

was when Russian sappers attempted 

to destroy the wooden Colditz bridge 

as a large traffic jam of frantically 

retreating Prussians were still crossing 

it, having been ordered to retire across 

the river somewhat too late, when the 

full extent of the French pursuit force 

came into view. Rampaging Russian 

Cossacks and light cavalry caused 

serious problems for the French side, 

who were very short of their own 

cavalry. Honours were about even in 

this game, with the Allied advance 

being delayed considerably, as 

happened historically. 

The Mexican American War was 

brought into focus just before 

Christmas 2013 with LRGS pupils 

involved with the recreation of an 

invading US Army column led by 

General “Rough and Ready” Taylor 

(Aidan Ray) encountering a Mexican 

force led by General Santa Anna (Owen 

Burrell) close to Mexico City in 1846. 

The battle was not a precise recreation 

of an actual battle, so commanders 

could not look up on the internet 

beforehand what the enemy side had 

done, and could not find out which 

tactics had worked. The forces involved 

in it were however representative of 

the forces engaged in this theatre 

of war. Some information about 

visible enemy forces in the area was 

given to the opposing commanders 

beforehand and map movement and 

pre game planning set up the two 

sides’ deployments, which heavily 

influenced the nature and outcome 

of the wargames battle. The rules 

set used reflected the very different 

characteristics of the US Regulars and 

volunteers, not to mention the poor 

training and gunpowder which dogged 

the Mexican forces throughout the 

war. In this case during the game the 

Mexican side came off better than they 

as almost always did historically, partly 

because the American side arguably 

mishandled their potent mobile horse 

artillery which was the cream of their 

army, and also because the Americans 

began the battle more dispersed and 

had chosen to retire in part overnight; 

a sensible decision given what they 

knew at the time, but something which 

58

turned out to cause them problems 

as the Mexican side chose to advance 

overnight. This taught all the players 

how important initial deployment 

decisions can be in influencing the 

outcome of battles. The results of the 

real war were also studied - Mexico 

was forced to hand over large areas 

of territory and renounce its claim to 

Texas, California, Nevada, Colorado, 

New Mexico and Arizona. So, if our 

wargame commanders had been in 

charge in 1846, then this might never 

have happened. 

Bringing us a bit more up to date 

during Lent Half Term Holiday 2014 

came: “Operation Peace for Galilee” 

- this being the Israeli invasion of 

Lebanon in 1982. This featured in a 

multi-sided multi-player game using 

15mm figures and the “AK-47” rules. 

Israelis, Syrians, six PLO and six 

Lebanese factions were all involved, 

each with different forces and secret 

objectives and victory conditions. 

The game also involved a degree of 

role-play, for example in a pre-game 

stage the faction of the PLO whose 

leader could most convincingly insult 

the Israeli state received more young 

Palestinian recruit figures to use in the 

game. With both the LRGS History 

Department and the Geography 

Department studying aspects of the 

Arab Israeli dispute, trying to help 

students understand the byzantine 

nature of Lebanese politics, why Israel 

invaded, why Israel was able to get 

all the way to Beirut, why the UN was 

incapable of stopping the invasion, the 

plight and disunity of the Palestinian 

diaspora and the infamous massacres 

of Palestinians in refugee camps by 

Christian Phalangist militias were all 

built into the game. Hopefully some 

interest and further understanding 

resulted. During the roleplay stage the 

Lebanese Army player managed to 

persuade his ally the Israelis that the 

PLO titular head Yasser Arafat had 

done a deal with Pierre Gemayel the 

Christian Phalangist leader, and they 

were both driving to Syria to get the 

Syrian leadership on board in a deal 

to stop the Israelis. The Israelis then 

used their air superiority to attack the 

motorcade and confusion reigned as 

claim and counter claim hit the game 

in simulated news flashes, claims, 

denials and counter claims. In the 

game Gemayel had been assassinated, 

though this continued to be denied 

for some time, and Yasser Arafat was 

never involved. On the second day of 

the game the situation had developed 

somewhat so that some PLO factions 

opted to try and escape for possible 

annihilation by the Israeli juggernaut 

and get out of Lebanon by land, sea 

or air. The UN which started with only 

very weak forces ‘won’ the game on 

points by skilfully exploiting their 

ability to persuade factions not to do 

certain things and by documenting 

atrocities and attacks. In the game the 

Phalangist militias did manage to enter 

the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps 

and massacre Palestinians there, 

though this was not done with Israeli 

connivance as happened historically. 

Force / Nation / Faction Player Victory 

Points 

Score 

Israeli “Defence” Forces (invading Lebanon from the south) led by Ariel Sharon Andrew Ross, 3R 105 

Syrian Army (the so called “Arab Deterrent Force”) under the control of 

President Hafez Al-Assad Harry Langhorn, 5R 95 

Maronite Christian / Phalangist Lebanese Militias eg ‘Kata’eb’ (= The Phalanx) 

led by Pierre Gemayel Laurence Charnock, 4B 45 

Islamic/ Secular Lebanese Militia/Paramilitary The Amal (= ‘Hope’) Militia Peter Wild, 2T 19 

Sunni Islamic Lebanese Militia/Paramilitary Mourabitoun ( = ‘Saviours’) James Dawson, 3R 70 

Shi’ite Islamic Lebanese Militia/Paramilitary Hezballah (= ‘Party of God’) Harry Pickthall, 3R 40 

Druze Lebanese Militia led by Walid Jumblatt Sebastian Wilson, 2S 50 

The Regular Lebanese Army Aidan Ray, L6JPJ 84 

The South Lebanese “Army” led by Major Sa’ad Hadadd Adam Fyfe, 5L 28 

El Fatah (= ‘Conquest’) = a PLO Faction led by Yasser Arafat, also in overall 

charge of the PLO . . . in theory Peter Wild 80 

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLO) Adam Fyfe 56 

The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLO) Harry Pickthall 28 

The Palestine Liberation Front (PLO) James Dawson 52 

As-Sa’iqa (= The Lightning Bolt) (PLO) Sebastian Wilson 44 

UN Peacekeepers from Ghana and Finland Aidan Ray 128 

At the start of the Summer Term’s halfterm 

break a weekend game set in the 

American Indian Wars took place. This 

was the Battle of The Rosebud 1876, 

which was fought a couple of weeks 

before the Little Bighorn defeat of 

General Custer. At the real Battle of the 

Rosebud General Crook (described by 

a contemporary as: “meaner than a 

59

ARMCHAIR GENERALS’ SOCIETY /continued... 

badger in a barrel”) fought off attacks 

by large numbers of mounted Indians 

fairly successfully despite being 

caught unawares with his men having 

breakfast. In our re-enactment the US 

Army were “Little Bighorned” due to a 

combination of some bad luck about 

where the Indians kept arriving, and 

an irresponsible issuing of a “Charge” 

order by the officer in command of 

the Army’s elite troops – the Indian 

Scouts. If the Scout commander 

(Owen Burrell, 4B) had survived, then 

he would have undoubtedly have been 

facing a Court Martial. This large and 

powerful unit was then committed to 

fruitlessly chasing after a withdrawing 

Indian unit, which they could not really 

hope to overtake, and the Scouts were 

then set upon by numerous fresh 

Sioux and Cheyenne tribesmen and 

simply overwhelmed. Crook himself 

(Andrew Ross) and the rest of his HQ 

were killed as was an entire battalion 

of US Cavalry led by Gabriel Jotishky- 

Hull as hordes of jubilant mounted 

Indian warriors rolled in on the Army’s 

extreme left flank, rolling it up before 

an effective firing line could ever be 

established. Crazy Horse (Laurence 

Charnock) and his warriors took plenty 

of scalps home from this battle. 

The club has also been involved again 

in helping out at LRGS Open Days 

putting on a display in 2013 in the 

upstairs of the New Building above the 

foyer and in June 2014 in room 4. 

During 2014 we have developed the 

ability to cover the 1066 period on the 

tabletop by rebasing some 15mm high 

previously donated figures which have 

lain unused for some time, as we now 

have a suitable set of wargames rules 

to use. 

Thanks are due to Lancaster Wargames 

Club for the loan of some figures 

and scenery for some of the bigger 

weekend games; to the caretaking 

staff who have to work around us as 

they clean the classrooms on a Friday; 

and to the older members who largely 

teach the younger ones how to play. 

Particular thanks to Aidan Ray who 

took the photos of the various games 

which accompany this article. 

Mr RG Thompson 

MEDICAL SOCIETY 

A key part of the Lower Sixth Medical Society this year has 

been the various talks given by guest speakers throughout 

the year. Both Hemant Kumar (L6MAR) and Vipin Kammath 

(L6JPJ), as well as others in the Medical Society have been 

involved in inviting Guest Speakers and organising talks 

which would happen up to twice a month on Fridays after 

school in the Library, finishing with an informal competition 

between our boys in the Sixth Form and aspiring medics 

who joined us from the Girls’ Grammar to see who could ask 

the best questions. 

The first talk was given by Ms Clare Peckham, a paediatric 

surgeon from Lancaster. She provided what was for many 

of us our first look at the Paediatric field – why she chose 

it, the challenges it entails and what the rewards are. Also 

being involved in University admissions, she gave us the 

first of many useful tips for our personal statements and 

interviews which we would receive throughout the year. 

The guest speakers who followed gave us a tremendously 

varied look at the profession: Dr Anne Garden (Head 

of Lancaster Medical school), Dr. Marwan Bukhari 

(Rheumatologist), Professor Peter Kay (Immunologist) and 

Dr Muamer Al-Mudhaffer (Pathologist). That so many busy 

professionals were happy to give up their time to come 

and talk to us is itself another illustration of the dedication 

that is characteristic of healthcare. We also had some 

insight from medical students, for which many thanks to 

some older brothers and friends - Vishnu Kammath, Chetan 

Khatri, Joe Ayathamattam - and from the first U6th to finish 

his personal statement: Isaac Haq (U6TCM). 

We heard about the science involved in medicine, various 

specialities, the admissions process, personal statements 

and MMIs as well as the universities themselves and student 

life. We will find what we learned very useful in the coming 

months as we write our personal statements and make our 

university choices, but I personally found them particularly 

useful because even after each talk had finished and the 

guests had gone, they really got me thinking about why 

I want to do Medicine, and how I am going to go about 

getting that university offer next year. 

Rayhan Munavvar, L6APH 

60

SPORT 

1ST XV RUGBY 

In the final analysis, it would be fair to say that this year’s 1st 

XV exceeded many of the expectations that some may have 

had for the squad; unlike previous years there were few 

“superstar” players that could turn a game single-handedly. 

It quickly became obvious though that whatever the side 

may have lacked in stand-out individuals, it more than 

made up for with a group of players who were individually 

very good, worked extremely hard and never gave an inch 

without fighting for it. 

The season began with a residential training camp for the 

extended first team squad. This consisted of upper sixth, 

lower sixth and fifth formers. Competition for places was 

high and ensured we set a high standard for the rest of 

the season. The camp saw the lads take responsibility for 

cooking for the younger boys, brought them together and 

by the end of the week the 1st XV rugby had already started 

to come together. 

The week built towards entering a side in the King’s 

Macclesfield Festival, which is the first opportunity to see 

the boys in a real game and size up the opposition for the 

season. The lads played well overall winning a number of 

games but also learnt important lessons about concentration 

in defence and being clinical in attack. Another plus was 

the opportunity to try boys out in different positions; James 

Moorby (U6TCM) was an instant hit on the wing, scoring 

with his first touch of the ball. 

The first full game of the season was at home against 

Crossley Heath from Halifax, and LRGS avenged a heavy 

defeat inflicted by the Yorkshire side the previous year, 

with a convincing 24-12 victory. The backline combined 

well throughout the game, building on the solid platform 

established by a dominant forward pack, ably led by the 

captain, Calum Kyle (U6RSH), and marshalled by a vocal 

Billy Swarbrick (U6TCM) at nine. 

The team returned to winning ways in the midweek fixture 

against QES Kirkby Lonsdale in the round 2 of the Natwest 

Cup, having received a bye in the first round. This is always 

a banana-skin of a fixture as QES often produce some 

very talented boys. The fact that many of the boys know 

each other also adds additional spice! James Wroe (L6AY 

– a former QES pupil until 6th form) found this out quickly 

as he came in to play his first game for the 1st XV. As it 

transpired, though the opposition put in a spirited display, 

they rarely threatened the LRGS line. Strong performances 

throughout the team resulted in a dominant display leading 

to a 55-5 victory, with both Sam Timpany (L6AY) and Phil 

McKean (L6DEY) crossing the whitewash for two tries 

each, with the latter’s second try owing much to the vision 

of scrum half Jack Vaughan-Jones (L6JPJ). Other notable 

performances included a strong front row display from 

Jun-Yeong Kim (U6CME), Matt Gardner (U6RW) and Sîon 

Roberts (L6MAR). 

There was a quick turnaround to face a strong side from 

the King’s School, Macclesfield the following Saturday. This 

was a hotly-tipped side which had already put in some 

significant performances. At the Memorial Fields though, 

no win comes easily and it was LRGS who took the early 

initiative, good interplay between Scott Abraham (U6AMT), 

Adam Gardner (U6AMT), Oscar Taylor (U6CME), Joe 

Bywater (U6RW) and James Moorby gave LRGS and early 

lead. Macclesfield were clearly taken aback by both the 

ferocity of tackling and the quality of play, but eventually 

began to fight their way back and take control of the game. 

Concentration and conditioning told in the end. The visitors 

ran-in several tries out wide at the death leading to a narrow 

19-13 defeat for LRGS. Still, there were lots of positives to be 

taken from the game and lots to work on mid-week. 

The visit to the Grammar School at Leeds was therefore 

The following week the team travelled full of confidence 

to QEGS Wakefield, who traditionally provide tough 

opposition. This was the case once again as the team found 

itself in a very close and hard fought game. In an even first 

half LRGS scored the opening try, with a fantastic driving 

maul creating front-foot ball for the backs to unleash 

Dominic Gardner through the Wakefield defence to score 

in the corner. Wakefield soon rallied though and organised 

themselves to scored just before half time. With the score 

tied both teams battered each other for a full 35 minutes in 

the second half, but neither could make the breakthrough 

and chances went begging for both sides. A lack of 

discipline told in the end; at the break-down Wakefield were 

awarded a penalty, which they moved quickly to set up a 

match winning try in the corner, winning the game 10-5. It 

was very disappointing to see the lads loose such a hardfought 

contest, where a draw would probably have been 

a fair result as neither team deserved to lose. There were 

important lessons to learn though and we vowed not to 

make the same mistakes again. 

61

SPORT /continued... 

a chastening affair. With a very strong team built around 

the side that had won the national Daily Mail Cup at U15 

level, Leeds were always going to be formidable. However, 

LRGS continued doggedly and forced Leeds to have to 

work for the full 70 minutes. In the end superior strength, 

physicality and game awareness meant that the Leeds side 

ran out comfortable winners, 41-0. The score-line reflected 

the dominance of the Leeds side though and LRGS were 

unlucky not to register a score – they threatened the Leeds 

try line on many occasions but couldn’t find that final pass. 

With current England coach Stuart Lancaster looking on, it 

would have been nice to register a score! 

In many ways the ‘biggest’ game of the season was to 

be the home fixture against Kirkham Grammar School. 

In recent times this match has produced some thrilling 

encounters but LRGS had been without a win in the last 

four meetings and with the Kirkham side unbeaten thus 

far in the 2013/14 season it was a tough challenge in store. 

Both boys and the coaching staff were looking forward to 

the game and training in the week prior was intense. The 

game itself did not disappoint and as both sides battled 

hard to secure the bragging rights for the season, a proper 

spectacle of all things good about schoolboy rugby ensued. 

The challenge brought out the best in the boys and many 

boys had their best game thus far. Manni Obale (U6HJC), 

who was returning from injury, was outstanding at the 

breakdown and the twin powerhouses of Sam Timpany 

and Richard Skinner (U6HJC) in the second row, helped 

to secure the ball for the LRGS backline to work with. No 

quarter was given and with only minutes on the clock the 

score was tied at 13-13. In the final moments both sides had 

chances to seal the win but desperate defending from both 

sides maintained parity. 

A draw was looking likely until the final seconds when 

ill-discipline at the breakdown afforded LRGS a penalty. 

Although directly in front of the posts, the penalty was inside 

the LRGS half and Calum Kyle initially looked to be going 

for touch. With time running out, fly half Harry Bashall (5B) 

who was playing his second game for 1st XV rugby stepped 

up with confidence and signalled to his captain that that he 

wanted a shot at goal. Mouths fell open around the ground 

as the tee was run on to the pitch. To say you could have 

heard a pin drop around the Memo fields would have been 

an understatement as Harry lined up his kick, a dull thud 

permeated the silence followed seconds later by complete 

bedlam from LRGS players, coaches and spectators alike as 

the ball sailed cleanly through the uprights. The final whistle 

blew and LRGS won 16-13. The neutral spectator may have 

said a draw would have been the best result, but on the day 

none could be found for comment! 

Just a week after the heights of the performance against 

Kirkham, the team were brought firmly back down to earth 

at the hands of a big and powerful Stonyhurst college side 

that inflicted a heavy defeat. The team failed to defend as 

well as they had in previous games and we never really 

got on the front foot in attack. It was a tough afternoon 

and we came away feeling a little disappointed having not 

performed as well as we had done previously. 

The next round of the NatWest Cup took us to Penrith to 

play Queen Elizabeth Grammar School; a team we had little 

advanced information about, save for the fact that they had 

put a big score on QES Kirby Lonsdale earlier in the season. 

Unlike the previous week, we started very sharply, putting 

the opposition on the back foot from the start. After a close 

first half we took control of the game in the second period 

and ran in a number of tries - a final score of 44-12 returned 

us to winning ways and saw us through to the next round. 

The following week we made the trip to the AASE rugby 

college, Myerscough College. Though Myerscough probably 

had at least a stone-a-man advantage in terms of size, it was 

LRGS who dominated early proceedings with Ozzie Taylor 

and Dom Gardner linking well through the middle of the 

park. LRGS took the lead early and an upset looked to be 

on the cards. Deep into the second half, with time running 

out and LRGS leading 14-19, Myerscough were forced to 

throw on the cavalry, putting their AASE Academy players 

on. This led to one of the moments of the season, where the 

replacement prop, a rather large creatine-pumped specimen 

who probably had a good 6 inches in height and two stones 

in weight on Sîon Roberts, came on the pitch. After much 

hullabaloo, screaming and shouting about “a pushover try” 

from a five meter scrum (not possible at U18 level as the 

scrum can only be driven 1.5m) Sîon proceeded to prop the 

next scrum about four inches off the floor, folding the guy in 

half. In spite of some heroic play in the last ten minutes the 

now greatly strengthened Myerscough side started to take 

control and in the final minutes they scored a converted try 

to win 21-19. 

The next week we drew St Edward’s College, Liverpool in 

the Lancashire Cup – another school we knew little about 

before the game, as they turned up to the game there were 

a few looks exchanged as once again we were up against a 

big, physical side. As with previous games, the boys just got 

on with things and they started well, keeping themselves on 

the attack throughout the game. For the first time all season 

the LRGS side imposed their game plan on the opposition 

and controlled the game throughout. A 29-3 victory was 

well deserved and kept us on course for another meeting 

with Stonyhurst later in the season. 

Sedbergh always provide a unique challenge and the team 

were looking forward to pitting themselves against the very 

best in the country. As we travelled north there was very little 

that needed to be said, the team looked focussed and ready 

for the challenge. In spite of a good preparation we looked 

nervous for the first fifteen minutes, seemingly waiting to 

see what Sedbergh had to throw at us. We allowed them to 

play and they duly obliged and at half time the score was 

29-0. There were a few short words exchanged at half-time 

as the boys were frustrated with themselves for letting the 

opposition get ahead so easily. The second half was much 

stronger and we played significantly better; we created a 

62

number of opportunities to score but some excellent cover 

defence from the opposition saved them a couple of times. 

We also defended well and conceded only once in the 

second half. The final score was 36-0 but I hope the boys 

learnt a valuable lesson for the future. 

In the fourth round of the NatWest cup the team travelled 

to Austin Friars St Monica’s School in Carlisle. We started 

brightly and built a commanding lead, with some impressive 

carrying from the forwards and the backs linking up well. The 

LRGS side made hard work of proceedings though and some 

lapses in concentration allowed the opposition back into the 

game to set up a tense last five minutes. We held on to win 

36-30 – another meeting with Stonyhurst was on the cards. 

With Captain Calum Kyle being rested for his Lancashire 

duties, Manni Obale took the captain’s armband against 

Wilmslow. Prior to the game, he assured the coaching staff 

that he would have the referee “in his back pocket.” His 

captaincy was somewhat short lived however as the referee 

took exception to Manni’s incessant chatting and after about 

20 minutes he asked for a replacement captain! Aside from 

Manni’s antics, the game was highly competitive with good 

rugby from both sides. LRGS were worthy winners 24-15 

having fought hard against strong opposition. 

The fixture against Manchester Grammar School is always a 

tricky game where the boys expect a tough challenge. This 

year the stakes were high as it was an evening kick-off under 

the floodlights of Fylde Rugby Club and played in front of 

an impressive crowd. The evening was cold and windy and 

these difficult conditions made it hard for both teams to 

play free flowing rugby. As it transpired LRGS played the 

conditions better and took their opportunities when they 

presented themselves. Although Manchester Grammar 

School fought hard the LRGS team always had the edge 

and finished the game as worthy victors with the score line 

at 27-24. It was an excellent evening which showcased the 

school to the public. 

St Ambrose visited a week later and narrowly won, sneaking 

past us in a low-scoring but very physical encounter 

The away game at Merchant Taylors’ School, Crosby truly 

was a game of two halves. In the first half LRGS put in a 

committed performance against a much bigger and more 

physical Merchant Taylors’ side and at half time neither side 

had managed to put a point on the score board. However, 

the exertions of the first half started to tell on the LRGS side 

and the opposition took total control of the game and ran 

in a number of tries to inflict a heavy defeat. 

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63


As the season drew to a close we played Stonyhurst College 

twice more, in both the Country Cup and the NatWest 

Cup – despite a much improved performance at home the 

opposition proved too strong for us on both occasions 

and the old enemy put an end to our run in both cup 

competitions. 

The final game of the season was away to Daily Mail Trophy 

winners Woodhouse Grove. They played some very fast and 

free-flowing rugby and despite our best efforts they had 

players in key positions that turned the game against us. 

Unfortunately the game was ended early due to an injury to 

one of their players. 

In a season of mixed results there were a number of real 

highlights and memories that will live long for those involved, 

the boys learnt a lot about what it takes to compete at 

the highest level in sport and both Mr Stewart and I were 

incredibly proud of the way that boys represented the shirt. 

We continued to improve as the season wore on and learnt 

from the lessons of the close-losses early on. Many thanks 

to all those who were involved this season as well as the 

army of parents who travelled the length and breadth of the 

North to support their boys. 

Mr AE Wilkinson 

Date Opposition Result Competition 

07-Sep-13 Crossley Heath School Won 24 - 12 Daily Mail Trophy 

14-Sep-13 Queen Elizabeth Grammar School (QEGS), Wakefield Lost 5 - 10 Daily Mail Trophy 

18-Sep-13 Queen Elizabeth School (QES), Kirkby Lonsdale Won 50 - 5 NatWest Cup - Rd 2 

21-Sep-13 The King’s School, Macclesfield Lost 13 - 19 Daily Mail Trophy 

28-Sep-13 The Grammar School at Leeds Lost 0 - 41 Daily Mail Trophy 

05-Oct-13 Kirkham Grammar School Won 16 - 13 Daily Mail Trophy 

12-Oct-13 Stonyhurst College Lost 0 - 60 

16-Oct-13 Queen Elizabeth Grammar School (QEGS), Penrith Won 44 - 12 NatWest Cup - Rd 3 

23-Oct-13 Myerscough College Lost 19 - 21 Friendly 

06-Nov-13 St Edward’s College, Liverpool Won 29 - 3 County Cup Rd 1 

09-Nov-13 Sedbergh School Lost 0 - 36 Daily Mail Trophy 

13-Nov-13 Austin Friars St Monica’s School Won 36 - 30 NatWest Cup - Rd 4 

16-Nov-13 Wilmslow High School Won 24 - 15 Daily Mail Trophy 

20-Nov-13 The Manchester Grammar School Won 27 - 24 Daily Mail Trophy 

23-Nov-13 St Ambrose College Lost 10 - 15 Daily Mail Trophy 

27-Nov-13 Stonyhurst College Lost 10 - 26 NatWest Cup - Rd 5 

30-Nov-13 Merchant Taylors’ School, Crosby Lost 0 - 42 

04-Dec-13 Liverpool College Won 49 - 27 County Cup Qtr Final 

07-Dec-13 Woodhouse Grove School Lost 0 - 43 Daily Mail Trophy 

P W D L PF PA PD 

19 9 0 10 356 454 -98 

64

3RD XV RUGBY 

The life of a 3rd XV coach is never easy. The 1st XV generally 

play 1st teams, the 2nd XV generally play 2nd teams and 

the 3rd XV often play 1st and 2nd teams. Further to this, 

any gifted player with aspirations from the previous season 

is gazumped into the teams above and all the new talent 

decide it’s now their chance to show off their football skills. 

Fortunately I managed to have a few passionate players 

who just loved to play rugby, win or lose and in some ways 

this is what the Third Team is about – however it was only 

a few. Before each match I had to search long and hard for 

enough players to get a team together. Practices usually 

involved just seven or eight of us, but we were there. The 

Fishers, Kit Rees and Gavin Neil were always willing to play 

a full on no-holds-barred game even if there were only four 

of us. Fixtures generally started with a new group of XV – 

or in one case XIV – but we never cancelled any game and 

even managing to raise a 4th Team again Sedbergh. We had 

no subs, but we went and played. Actually we would have 

won the fourth team game apart from the fact the Umar 

Falalu (U6CME) knocked himself out at the same time as 

scoring a try, or so rumour had it. 

It was my worst season as coach in terms of results but on 

reflection we beat a few big names. As long as that passion 

to play still exists among any boy we will be out there to 

practice, encourage and endeavour to do all we can to 

prevail. 

This year we say goodbye to: DW Allen (Captain), U6CRB; 

TE Boyle, U6SRB; JA Cook, U6NT; U Falalu, U6CME; ES 

Fisher, U6AMT; PG Fisher, U6NT, A Ghosh, U6NT; ET Hall, 

U6AMT; GF Haworth, U6CME; GJ, Neil U6NT; M Orwin, 

U6NT; JE Parry, U6HJC; HD Porter, U6AMT; CJ Rees, U6CRB; 

SE Taylor-Smith, U6RSH. 

Well done, boys, even when times were tough you kept your 

spirits up! Thanks to Mr Talks and Mr Curran for all their help 

during the season, and special thanks to all the parents who 

came to support. 

Mr S Blackwell 

Opposition 

Result 

Kirkbie Kendal 1st XV L 20-33 

Clitheroe R.G.S. 1st XV L 36-41 

Stonyhurst College 3rd XV W 12-58 

Abingdon School XV L 22-24 

Kirbie Kendal 1st XV L 33-0 

Sedbergh 3rd XV L 0-68 

Giggleswick 3rd XV W 17-12 

Bolton School 2nd XV W 0-41 

Morecambe HS 2nd XV W 22-41 

Woodhouse Grove 3rd XV L 26-7 

U16A SENIOR COLTS RUGBY 

The Senior Colts had a tremendous start to the season with 

a huge physical confrontation against rivals QEGS Wakefield 

and after showing much by way of bravery and skilful tactics, 

they came out winners over the national giants. They took 

this momentum into their next match where they won a 

hard fought game against King’s Macclesfield, ultimately 

coming out champions. The Grammar School at Leeds were 

dispatched with an icy professionalism by the Senior Colts 

whose interplay between the aggressive pack and clinical 

backs blew away the Yorkshiremen. Unfortunately due to 

injuries and certain players being called to play for other 

teams, the Colts lost the next few games in epic matches of 

hard work and determination against very strong opposition. 

Nevertheless, they never let their heads go down and gave 

Stonyhurst a bloody nose when they came to the Memorial 

Fields in the annual rival match. We lost a few games due 

to the appalling weather but continued to battle on until 

a poor performance in poor conditions against Merchant 

Taylors’ in the Lancashire Cup semi-final meant, that for the 

first time ever, our year group would not be competing in 

the Lancashire Cup finals. 

The sevens season never really got going for the Senior 

Colts after having a few tournaments cancelled due to some 

pretty horrific weather. However we did have some notable 

performances, one of which was an awesome victory over 

Rosslyn Park favourites – Dubai International College. 

The forwards were the backbone of the team and I certainly 

can’t think of a better pack in the country. The front row of 

Dave Bennett (5R), Matty Lack (5T) and Greg Wilson (5G) 

was devastating. They dominated scrum time but were 

65


also mobile and performed bone crunching tackles and 

steals any back-row would be proud of. The pairing of Zach 

Barrow (5G) and Matthew Pettit (5G) in the second row was 

unparalleled, they produced great balls at scrum time and 

certainly Matthew Pettit owned the lineout, crucially winning 

and stealing valuable possession. Zach was certainly a force 

to be reckoned with and improved massively over the 

season with his strong running and direct lines. The back 

row of Robbie McVickers (5R), Harry Robb (capt – 5S) and 

Ben Taylor (5L), was much better than most teams as they 

were effective in both defence and attack; they put in bonecrunching 

hits and stole many a ball from the unfortunate 

opposition. 

The backs displayed dazzling skills throughout the season. 

Initially controlled by Harry Bashall (5S) in the number ten 

shirt and scored a hoard of points with his left boot however 

when he was called up to the first XV Lewis Clare (5S) 

readily filled his spot. Rikki Dallas (5G) and Dan Ruscillo (5G) 

were the centres, who displayed immense speed, strength 

and aggression throughout the season. Alex Thomas (5T) 

played on the wing but stepped into the centres when he 

was needed, as did Robbie McVickers. Finally the back three 

consisted of Ed Duffy (5T), Jack Karim (5S), Hamish Nash 

(5L) and Jamie Todd (5L), who all put in vital, game-saving 

tackles and scored many tries. 

Although the Senior Colts did not have the season they 

hoped for and didn’t finish with any silver-ware, they can 

hold their heads up high as they played some of the best 

rugby at that age group and should go into the senior 1st 

XXX with confidence and prove why they are the best the 

school has to offer! Finally many thanks to Mr Ralston and 

Mr Rice for giving up their time to coach us and helping us 

to develop as players. 

Harry Robb, 5S 

U15A JUNIOR COLTS RUGBY 

The Junior Colts had an excellent season producing a 

brand of exciting rugby throughout and deserved all the 

success they achieved. They won all their Saturday fixtures 

which in itself is an outstanding achievement considering 

the strength of our fixture list. They also got through to the 

last 16 of the national NatWest Cup and won the Lancashire 

Cup. 

There was an all round strength to the side. The forwards 

provided good ball in all the games and the backs had both 

power and pace which proved to be a delight to coach 

and watch play. The front five were dominant in nearly 

all the games and were particularly strong in the scrum. 

Surya Nardeosingh (4S), Scott McGowan (4T), Prakash 

Thanikachalam (4R) and Joe Chapman (4S) made up a 

very strong front row both in the tight and the loose. They 

were all powerful ball carriers as well. Tom Fyfe (4B) and 

Luke Milner (4S) worked tirelessly in the second row. This is 

not the most glamorous position in the team but these two 

were crucial to the success of the side – Luke with his power 

and strength at close quarters and Tom with his tackling 

and work rate. The back row was a very effective unit. Oliver 

Helme (4G), Laurence Cheetham (4T) and Will Sewell (4R) 

dominated many games and scored or made many tries. 

They were later joined by Josh Wheatley (4R) who also had 

some outstanding performances. 

In the backs, the half backs of Callum Robinson-Brooks (4L) 

and Will Fraser-Gray (4G) ran the side with great skill and 

improved massively over the season. Their performance 

in the Lancashire cup final went a long way to ensuring a 

hard fought win. Callum Owen (4R) and Sam Stott (4R) 

formed a very powerful and skilful centre partnership. They 

complemented each other perfectly and scored many great 

tries. On the wings were Dominic Thompson (4B) and Isaac 

Thornton (4L) both great athletes who finished off many 

team tries. Matthew Bargh (4T) was an outstanding full 

back with real pace and elusive running. All the backs had 

Opposition 

Result 

Crossley Heath Won 34-13 

QEGS Wakefield Won 62-12 

King’s School, Macclesfield Won 58-12 

Leeds GS Won 70-0 

Kirkham GS Won 39-5 

Sedbergh Won 26-12 

Wilmslow Won 45-10 

Merchant Taylors’, Crosby Won 40-0 

Woodhouse Grove Won 32-10 

NatWest Cup (national competition) 

3rd Round v Stonyhurst Won 43-7 

4th Round v Kirkham Won 34-14 

5th Round v St Benedict’s Won 44-7 

6th Round v RGS Newcastle Won 19-7 

7th Round v QEGS Wakefield Lost 7-20 

Lancashire U15 County Cup 

1st Round v Bolton School Won 53-0 

Semi-final v Manchester GS Drew 15-15 

(LRGS won on scoring more tries). 

Final v Kirkham GS Won 24-7 

P W D L 

18 16 1 1 

66

immense individual skills but they all played for each other 

and developed into a very good unit. 

The sevens season was also very successful and exciting. 

The team won the Giggleswick sevens, lost in the final of the 

Warwick sevens against Millfield having beaten some very 

good sides on the way. They also reached the semi-finals of 

the Macclesfield and Bradford sevens. Will Fraser-Gray was 

the pick of a great squad and his performances in this form 

of the game proved to be the deciding factor in him winning 

the player of the year. 

All of this wouldn’t have happened without the great 

commitment of the boys – they were a credit. Mr Viney’s 

assistance with the coaching and the management of 

the team was essential to our success. I would also like to 

thank Mr Stewart and Mr Wilkinson for their help with some 

specialist sessions. Finally the parental support was second 

to none – they went all over the north of England to watch 

the team. Thank you to you all. 


U15B RUGBY 

This season was tough, but rewarding for the U15Bs. It saw 

us develop as a team, achieve convincing wins against 6 of 

our 8 opponents, draw another and unfortunately lose to a 

very strong Morecambe High team. 

The first home game was against QEGS Wakefield. It was a 

cracking start to the season, in which Connor Parkinson (4G) 

led the team to a mighty 45-5 victory. The backs rattled the 

opposition both out wide and through the middle, bringing 

tries in the first half for Judd Bennett (4L), Josh Wheatley 

(4R) and Jia Yang (4B). With the momentum behind us, 

George Fishwick (4L), Andrew Hughes (4S), Parkinson, 

Callum Rowley (4L) added to our early lead, scoring 

try after try, barely giving the opposition room to run. 

Parkinson kicked 5 out of 7 conversions, adding 10 extra, 

and well-deserved, points to the final count. We eventually 

succumbed to exhaustion and conceded a try in the final 

play of the game. The whistle blew, and we left the pitch 

with our heads held high, knowing that in that moment of 

triumph, that we could be proud of our performance and 

that we had a strong season ahead of us. 

The next game was against a tough King’s Macclesfield side. 

The breakthrough came just before half time, when both 

sides put points on the board. Their fly half put a 3 point 

penalty through the posts and Jake Taylor (4R) scored a 

dramatic try. With the game on a knife edge at half time, Mr 

Viney delivered an inspirational speech, which gave us the 

courage to go out and not just play well, but outstandingly. 

Our early efforts in the game fatigued the opposition and 

this combined with the burst of inspiration injected by Mr 

Viney, let us to another victory. 

The third game, a mid-week one, saw us clash in a hardfought 

game against Kirbie Kendal, in which we fought to 

the end, managing to keep hold of a 17-17 draw, with strong 

captainship throughout, keeping us together as a team. 

During this game, you could see top class performances in 

the team as key players started to shine. 

The next two games were ones that saw us recover from 

the draw, with two great wins. The first game was a much 

deserved one in a close game against a strong opponent, 

Leeds Grammar School, ending 17-7. Following this game, 

was an outstanding game against Kirkham, which showed 

the team just what they could do when it really mattered. 

The team never faltered and came away with a 41-10 victory. 

Then came defeat... The whole team felt saddened and 

deflated as we lost by just two points. We played hard but 

lost 32-30. In the changing room after the match, was an 

atmosphere like no other. Every player thinking about what 

they could have done differently in their own performances. 

Every time they were a step too late, every time that they 

were a step too fast or slow and did not quite catch it. 

Silently, we vowed that day, never again. We stayed true to 

that vow through the rest of the season. 

Next was the Sedbergh game, which despite the 19-12 

victory is a game that many are keen to forget. Just before 

half time, Rowley saw that the opposition had the ball and 

ran in for the tackle. He planted his foot and brought down 

the player, but the thick mud clamped down on his foot and 

saw him out for the rest of the season with a broken and 

dislocated ankle. Sadly, Parkinson too had been taken out 

for the rest of the season just prior to the game. But what 

67


the team lacked without these two was made up for by the 

rest of the players. The team fought on in their place. The 

wise words from Mr Viney once again inspired the team to 

go on and fight in the names of our fellow team mates. 

The season was drawing to a close and a few players had 

fallen but others had rose to the challenge and plugged the 

gaps. It was the final game against Woodhouse Grove that 

showed the opponents just what the LRGS U15B Team was 

made of. This day was a day that would be remembered 

through to the next season. The stage was set; players knew 

what was expected of them. Now all they had to do was 

deliver and that is exactly what they did. Blast after blast, 

the forwards punched holes in their defence. The backs ran 

like a peregrine falcon can fly. It was a performance like no 

other, unprecedented. The final whistle blew and the score 

was 42-0. We had not conceded a single point! 

Overall, the season was a great one for the B Team. We 

found our own personal sponsor, Swire Oilfield Services, 

who got us through the season in a kit fit for the best and 

that was shown in the results. Next season, it is clear that 

more of the same will be shown. All we have to do is keep 

up our fitness, skill and power: easy, right? 

Callum Rowley (4L) and Connor Parkinson (4G) 

P W D L PF PA PD LBP TBP LP Win Ratio 

8 6 1 1 213 61 152 1 4 31 81.25% 

U14A RUGBY 

The U14A XV endured a difficult season. Against some of 

the strongest schools sides in the north of England they 

struggled to match the physicality and running power of 

their opponents. This gap will narrow over the coming years. 

However if they are to compete against these sides their 

skill levels need to improve significantly, especially passing 

the ball. Over the course of the season there were many fine 

individual performances, often in the face of adversity. 

The backs were always stronger when Matty Clay (3T) 

and Adam Riley (3T) played in midfield since their tackling 

was excellent. Overall far too many tackles were missed, 

resulting in soft tries being conceded, many at the start of 

games. Patrick Procter (3R) on the wing never let the side 

down while William Ritchie (3T) at centre improved greatly. 

Towards the end of the season Andrew Beet (3G) proved to 

be a highly competitive scrum half. No one who played in 

the backs was able to catch and pass consistently. 

The scrums were the one area where we were able to 

compete against all sides. Prabu Thanikachalam (3S) and 

Dominic Salzado (3L) were excellent. Both competed 

effectively in the loose but must improve their mobility. 

Joseph Fogg (3L) made much progress in the second row. 

His attitude to both training and games was first class at all 

times. The same also applies to Joe Collin (3L) and Jonathan 

White (3T), who were often asked to play out of position but 

always gave their all. The back row of William Burrow (3G), 

Jamie Webber (3T) and Alvin Wong (3G) did many good 

things, especially at the breakdown but missed too many 

tackles. All have the potential to become good players. 

Finally, my thanks go to Mr Stewart and Mr Armstrong for 

their unstinting support over the course of the season. 

Mr TR Glover 

P W D L PF PA 

18 7 0 11 381 540 

U14B RUGBY 

It was a really enjoyable term of rugby with these boys. 

Probably the smallest team physically, I have been involved 

with at this age group but their skill, determination and 

commitment was second to none. Some truly “beyond the 

call of duty” efforts from all these boys enabled the team to 

finish the season with six wins from their eight games, the 

two defeats being to QEGS Wakefield and Sedbergh both 

being narrow defeats. 

Many boys (39 in total) represented the B Team at some 

time during the season with several going on to represent 

the A Team. Many more will go on to play A Team rugby in 

the coming years. It is very difficult to single out individuals 

but the back row of Angus Clifford (3G), Joe Atkinson (3G) 

and Daniel Kozma-Percy (3L) always created problems for 

the opposition and became a settled unit after we lost Alvin 

Wong (3G), Jonathan White (3T) and Alistair McMillan (3R) 

to the A Team very early in the season. Ross Coulton (3L) 

captained the side well and controlled games from fly half 

improving his defensive qualities as the term progressed. 

James Marsh (3L) and Andrew Beet (3G) were reliable and 

exciting in the centre, with James Eckersley (3S) solid in 

68

defence at full back. John Tobin (3G) made one wing position 

his own and on two occasions scored six tries in a game. 

Opposition 

Result 

The scrum half role was shared between Jake Brown (3S) 

and Alex Royce (3T) with both boys adding their different 

qualities to the team. Up front the entertainment and 

some skill were provided by Connor McKenzie-Tomlinson 

(3T) while potentially George Oyston (3G) and Cameron 

Rowbottom (3T) showed the potential to go on to higher 

levels with their rugby talents. Thanks to all the boys who 

made the season so enjoyable and successful and to 

Mr Chambers for providing me with many moments of 

discussion with his refereeing. 

QEGS Wakefield Lost 17-19 

King’s School, Macclesfield Won 34-21 

Leeds GS Won 15-5 

Kirkham GS Won 66-0 

Ripley St Thomas Won 63-7 

Newcastle GS Won 34-12 

Sedbergh School Lost 12-24 

Merchant Taylors’, Crosby Won 17-0 

Mr B Armstrong 

U13A RUGBY 

The U13A Team has had a mixed season this year. As a matter 

of fact the only thing that has been consistent has been our 

inconsistency. There has been a very steep learning curve! 

We have fought valiantly in games despite massively being 

the underdogs. 

We have actually had some notable success. In the 15s 

matches: 

• 55-0 against Merchant Taylors’. 

• 47-7 against St Mary’s Hall. 

• Coming from 2 tries down to win against a touring 

Belfast team – Grosvenor Grammar School. 

• Getting to the semi-finals of the Lancashire Cup to be 

knocked out by our nemesis, Kirkham Grammar School 15-24. 

• Such was our great skill that when we went to play Leeds 

Grammar even Stuart Lancaster came to watch. (Nothing 

to do with his son playing in the other side at all!) 

This season hasn’t been all about the winning, but I think we 

have now got the basis of an excellent and talented team 

that can move forward in seasons to come. Were often 

physically prepared, we were sometimes mentally prepared. 

We just need to be both at the same time – I believe that 

we can do it! 

Will Eagles, 2L 

In the Sevens: 

• We made it to the quarter-finals of the cup at Warwick, 

to be knocked out by Warwick. 

• We lost in the Cup Final at Stonyhurst Sevens to Kirkham 

again. Two first years played amazingly throughout the 

day, Will Bowker (1S) and Jak Kyriakou (1L – who scored 

the “golden try” in the semi). 

• At Rosslyn Park, we didn’t play so well. But we got a free 

tour of Twickenham so we were happy enough! 

The U13s would like to thank the coaches for all their efforts 

and time commitment: 

• Mr Stewart, with his sadistic hill sprints and splendid accent. 

• Mr Rice, the smallest member of our team. 

• Mr Atkinson, for his words of gentle encouragement from 

the side lines (OK, I lied about the gentle bit). 

• And finally, Mr Millatt, for being with us every step of the way 

and for believing in us, Thank, you sir, you have been amazing. 

69


U13B RUGBY 

This was a hugely enjoyable season, with the U13B Team 

recording 10 wins and just 2 losses. The team played 

attacking rugby and the early games focussed on passing 

the ball quickly to our flying centres and wingers: Laszlo 

Willison-Pirie (2R), Matt Field (2R), Ronan McGrath (2R) 

and Joseph Klein (2G). Quality ball was supplied by the half 

backs Jack Chetham (2G), Harrison Price-Booth (2G) and 

George Neave (2G). One of the highlights of the season 

was a 64-0 victory at Macclesfield where LRGS did not drop 

the ball once in the first half and Willison-Pirie recorded a 

hat-trick on his way to becoming the leading try scorer for 

the season. 

However, as the season progressed, injuries in the A team 

meant that the backs were promoted and this is where the 

forwards came into their own, with the development of a 

‘pick and drive’ game. John Glass (2S), George Marshall (2T), 

Jack Robinson (2S), Charlie Bosson (2R), Jack Bolland (2L), 

Pinadu Peries (2T) and Joe Kelly-Bird (2T) often proved 

unstoppable as they smashed up the middle and support 

runners fed off the disarray created in the opposition 

defence. The match away at unbeaten St Ambrose won 

by 60 points was an excellent demonstration of how much 

the team developed over the season. Bolland was on hand 

throughout to kick the resulting conversions and seldom 

can an U13 player have kicked so far or so consistently. 

The two defeats came away at Wakefield: in the first game 

of the season and at Morecambe against a strong A Team – 

but these results served to spur the team on to new highs. 

An excellent effort from all the boys involved and special 

thanks to all those parents who supported the team home 

and away, in all weathers. 


U12A RUGBY 

A good rugby team needs a strong work ethic and good 

spirit but to become a team with excellent prospects you 

particularly need talented players at 8, 9 and 10. The U12A 

Team certainly have that and plenty more, so I have high 

hopes as they move through the school and look forward 

to watching them in the sixth form. There are two X-factors 

in the shape of Jak Kyriakou (1L) in the centre and also the 

rapid winger/centre Jonathan Evans (1G). 

This was a really successful season from a number of 

perspectives; a large number of players within the squad 

made excellent progress with their handling skills and loose 

play, not to mention some ferocious tackling in defence. 

There was a fine sense of camaraderie and team spirit 

as the boys won with grace and accepted losses with 

magnanimity. A number of natural leaders emerged with 

William Bowker (1S), Patrick Bishop (1G) and Curtis Liddle 

(1G) driving many aspects of play and showing strong 

direction. The trio are very skilful and excellent ball players 

with a fierce determination to win. They led by example all 

season moulding many of their team mates in the process, 

this was so obvious in the game of the season at Merchant 

Taylors’ in the penultimate match. Many of the Merchants 

side were members of a very strong Waterloo Club side to 

tour North Lancashire and Scotland, they beat us 17-7 in the 

game on the Memo First Team pitch. It was really satisfying 

for LRGS to record a 47-7 victory on a wild and windy pitch 

on the Crosby coastline in January against Merchants with 

some sublime, flowing rugby and powerful running. 

Dan Cooper (1T) and Morgan Frith-Jones (1T) were the pick 

of the front five with strong running and deft handling skills, 

Coops was a pocket battleship! They were ably supported 

by Ben Edge (1L) who was flexible enough to play loose 

forward, prop and second row at different times and never 

complained. Aaron Hartin (1G) is a strong runner at prop 

and good ball handler, provided he does the summer 

running and fitness training then he should gain his place 

next year. Lucas Atherton (1R) was promoted from the 

B Team to play as a versatile and combative flanker and 

second row. The regular back row of Charlie Smith (1T), Will 

Bowker and Noah Randall (1S) were prolific as a pack of 

ball hunters and distributors by the end of the season; Will 

was ubiquitous at number eight and has a huge engine for 

work, Charlie developed his self-belief and Noah scythed 

opposition runners down with a smile! 

Curtis Liddle was one of the finds of the season at scrum 

half; previously playing at centre he was thrust into the 

position where he blossomed as nippy, strong and robust 

link man. Patrick Bishop is a smouldering talent at fly half 

with super game knowledge and reading loose situations, 

he will develop his decision-making as he moves through 

school, the decision of when to pass, kick or go for the gap 

is tough for 12 year olds to master. He will be by the B Team 

fly-half Nathaniel Archer (1L), who came up to play at full 

back towards the latter end of the season. Oliver Davies 

is a powerful centre and has real pace over 30-40 metres, 

sadly injury robbed him of a fair part of the season but I was 

delighted to see him return as the sevens season opened. 

Jak Kyriakou was like a Duracell bunny, he just didn’t stop! 

Fantastic feet, superb hands and so brave in the tackle area 

he was king of the rucks. 

Jonathan Evans was the LRGS express (he broke the long 

standing first year 100 metres record at sports day) he was 

the top try scorer by a decent margin from Jak Kyriakou and 

Will Bowker. ‘Jonny’ is fast and given any space he will dance 

around defenders and scorch his way to the try line from just 

about anywhere on the pitch. William Nutter (1R) and Charlie 

Wilkinson (1S) played wing and full back at different times 

with the former showing great bravery in tackling boys often 

70

twice his size as the last line of defence. Will Dunk (1L) and 

Tom Anderton (1T) are big lads and played a number of 

games at second row and I hope they can push for regular 

places next season, remember ‘red eyes’! 

It was a thoroughly enjoyable season with great parental 

support and my ever present co-coach Mr Barney 

Calvert who could turn white wine to Prosecco with his 

effervescence! In the cold winter sessions and the driving 

rain up on the astro at Cumbria University, he kept the boys 

and me going... I wish everyone success next year in the 

Lancashire Cup! 

Mr IW Ledward 

P W D L PF PA 

11 7 0 4 245 90 

U12B TEAM 

The U12B Team had an excellent season, playing a large 

number of opponents, finishing with an excellent record of 

12 wins to only 2 losses. 

The team was lead ably by captain and scrum half Ben 

Anderton (1T), a promising talent who having never 

played rugby prior to joining the grammar was identified 

by Mr Armstrong as a 1st Team number 9 in the making, 

and quickly established himself as a vital member of the 

squad. He was aided for the majority of the season by fly 

half Nathanial Archer, who was also learning the game from 

scratch but quickly demonstrated a natural flair for the 

game with strong running and brave defence. 

With the A Team backs performing well as a group, 

the B Team backs were a relatively stable group. Adam 

Hargreaves(1T), Cameron Scullion (1T), Joe Gornall (1S) and 

Isaac Backhouse (1L) became regulars in the B Team. Luke 

Briggs (1T), Boromand Zeidaabadi (1S) and Jack Casson 

(1T) joined the squad as the season progressed and there 

was healthy competition for places throughout the year. 

Both Adam and Nat showed good progress and had stints 

in the A Team, but all the back division deserve credit for 

the way they trained and played, and the excellent progress 

they made throughout the year. 

With the A Team forwards a less consistent selection, 

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71


the B Team pack changed on an almost weekly basis 

and was a real proving ground for the forwards as many 

players progressed quickly and demonstrated the hunger 

and desire to move up to a more challenging level. Front 

row regulars Dev Sharma (1R), Alex Conlon (1S) and Kane 

Donaghy (1G) provided the grunt in the scrum, whilst Finley 

Alcock (1R) and Alex Bonnick (1G) became a regular fixture 

at 2nd row in the later stages of the season. The back row 

rotated regularly, but with players like Tom Atherton (1S), 

Tom Anderton, Frank Burgess (1G) and Will Dunk (1L) to 

pick from, regardless of who was selected for the A Team 

the B Team were also left with good quality options. 

A big thanks go to all those who trained with and played 

for the B Team throughout the year who are too numerous 

to mention here. It was a long season, with matches 

starting only a few short weeks into September. Despite 

the incredibly steep learning curve the boys were a great 

credit to the school and showed the real strength and depth 

the school has to choose from with some really impressive 

results throughout the season. It was a season to remember 

and a record to be proud of. 

Opposition 

Result 

Heysham High School H Won 23-12 

The Grammar School at Leeds H Won 20-14 

Kirkham Grammar School H Won 31-5 

Ripley St Thomas A Won 47-7 

St Mary’s Hall H Won 29-0 

Morecambe Community High School A Won 17-15 

QEGS Wakefield A Won 29-12 

Waterloo RFC H Won 55-7 

RGS, Newcastle H Lost 2-35 

Wilmslow High School A Won 24-0 

St Ambrose College H Lost 5-41 

Merchant Taylors’ School, Crosby A Won 17-15 

Woodhouse Grove School A Won 50-0 

Manchester Grammar School H Won 50-0 

Mr BJ Calvert 

U12 SEVENS 

The U12s regularly attend two 

tournaments after the completion of 

the 15-a-side season at Warwick and 

at Bradford Grammar School. Both are 

prestigious competitions featuring the 

best schools from across the country 

and allow the boys to test themselves 

against really tough opposition. 

Following the rather disrupted end 

to the XV’s season because of poor 

weather, the boys began training in 

earnest for the sevens season. With 

only 12 places up for grabs it was great 

to see so much competition for places, 

and all the boys who trained saw their 

skill levels increase as a result. 

The first competition at Warwick, 

involving an overnight stop at the local 

Holiday Inn, is always an impressive 

event and the boys were excited about 

taking part in their first competition. 

Placed in a group against Bablake, King 

Edward VI and St Joseph’s College 

the team was quickly established 

themselves as proficient sevens players 

and possible favourites by winning all 3 

games by a comfortable margin, scoring 

22 tries throughout the group whilst 

conceding only 2. In hindsight a tougher 

group draw 

may have been 

beneficial in the 

long run as the 

first knock out 

game against 

home team Warwick saw them lose 

29-14. Despite the disappointment a 

lot of lessons were learnt, particularly 

about the mental strength required to 

be successful throughout a long day of 

competition. 

The second sevens tournament of the 

year for the U12 was Bradford Grammar 

school, and with a group consisting of 

6 teams, squad strength and fitness 

would prove a decisive factor. Another 

dominant group performance saw 5 

wins out of 5, and a total points-score of 

154-31. This result put the team into the 

semi finals, against the much fancied 

Wirral Grammar. This time however the 

boys had learnt from previous mistakes 

and put in a superb performance 

beating the previously unbeaten 

team 33-14. The final was against RGS 

Newcastle, whose 15 a side team had 

beaten LRGS early in the season by a 

comfortable margin. Despite this, the 

boys started the game strongly, and 

were 2 tries up just before half time, 

before disapprovingly conceding just 

before the whistle. In the second half, 

Newcastle were much the stronger, 

putting on a lot of pressure to even 

the scores, but not managing to take 

the lead before the final whistle which 

meant Sudden death – Golden try! Both 

teams had opportunities to score, but 

in the end the strength of Newcastle 

was too much as they powered over 

for the decisive try. 

Despite the final loss it was a great 

tournament and the boys had a great 

time, and improved hugely as a result. 

Standout performances from Will 

Bowker (1S), Jonny Evans (1G), Jak 

Kyriacou (1L) and Curtis Liddle (1G) 

deserve a mention, but the whole 

team demonstrated they will surely 

be a force to be reckoned with in the 

coming seasons. 

Mr BJ Calvert 

72

1ST XI CRICKET 

Opening the season with clear views over Morecambe Bay 

to the Lake District from the Douthwaite, it is easy to see 

why boys, staff and visiting teams alike find it one of the 

most picturesque grounds around. Hard work goes into 

the preparation and maintenance of the squares by our 

groundsman, Mr Ian Leak, who can always be seen around 

the ground during summer cutting and marking wickets. 

The 1st XI has had a very successful season, even if the loss 

of competitive fixtures against Bolton School – Manchester 

GS and Leeds GS to the weather – meant it was sadly 

shortened. Although such interventions by the British 

Summer are hardly unusual, this year was exceptionally 

wet! However, despite these setbacks the squad showed a 

very strong team spirit throughout, with every member of 

the side contributing during the season, most often in very 

challenging situations. 

There were many highlights, but notably the victory at 

the prestigious Royal Grammar Schools Cricket Festival 

in Newcastle – a first for LRGS! Several performances by 

individuals also deserve highlighting, with captain Dan 

Chambers (U6CME) taking a brilliant and very well deserved 

5-47 against the Old Lancastrian XI, arguably the strongest 

opposition all season! There were also three other 5 wicket 

hauls by Tom Williamson (L6DJN), Adam Derham (L6SGB 

– who as well as bowling and taking 14 wickets, solidly 

opened the batting all year with his counterpart Williamson, 

and racked up an impressive 271 runs), and Callum East 

(L6NCM). East’s brutal demolition of the Merchant Taylors’ 

top and middle order was quite a sight as he took 6 wickets 

for 13 runs, five of these clean bowled. 

The game against Merchant Taylors’ was one of three 

victories by over one hundred runs, with Tom Williamson 

hitting his second 1st XI century, having also knocked 

exactly 100 earlier in the year against Cheadle Hulme (both 

contributing to him breaking the 500-run mark for the 

season). Two other comprehensive victory margins came 

against King’s Macclesfield and then later in the season away 

at Giggleswick. The latter game characterised the ability of 

the team to all ‘chip in’ and accumulate of a winning total as 

they posted 240 – despite no one reaching a half century 

(although the ever-effervescent wicket keepers Billy 

Swarbrick (U6TCM) and Adam Gardner (U6AMT) came 

close with quick scores of 41 and 38 respectively). 

A specific mention has to go to the 1st XI captain, Dan 

Chambers, who masterminded every field setting, and 

team ‘bonding’ activity (in the form of extra fitness training - 

which, as you can imagine, went down well with the squad!). 

These responsibilities didn’t detract from his performance 

with both bat and ball, as he took 21 wickets at an average 

of just 19.3 over the year, and also struck a belligerent runa-ball 

63 early in the season, setting the tone well. Other 

Upper Sixth members in the side were also pivotal to LRGS’s 

successes and will be sorely missed next year: Vice-captain 

Sam Letcher (U6SJH), opening the bowling, swinging the 

ball in all conditions but not getting the wickets as often 

as he deserved and contributing significantly with the 

bat in the middle order (averaging 24). The indefatigable 

Alex Briggs (U6RSH) also deserves acclaim, as he fielded 

athletically in slip and gully and then supported the middle 

order with aplomb! This was especially evident in a narrow 

loss to Woodhouse Grove as he skilfully guided a young 

tail-end whilst helping himself to a sterling 55, sweeping a 

county-level spinner out of the attack and driving a Durham 

academy bowler through the covers for two successive 

fours. Declan Tracey (U6TCM) will also be missed next year, 

providing the team with a nice balance with both bat and 

ball, and will not be forgotten at King’s Macclesfield as he 

hoisted their opening bowler out of the ground, over the 

trees and easily clearing the road – a significant distance! 

It was also pleasing to see the younger members of the 

side progress well: Mark Bevan (5L), (Harry Robb (5S) 

and Will Fraser-Gray (4G) showed considerable talent 

and established themselves easily in the side, coming to 

the fore at the RGS Festival, playing vital roles in the side 

with both bat and ball. Although Matthew Rosbottom 

(L6RTM) will have been disappointed to miss most of the 

season to injury, his availability later in the season proved 

invaluable, especially in the RGS Festival, where he showed 

his experience at the crease. 

The team is also gifted by having the most efficient, 

organised and neat scorer on the school cricket circuit 

in George Crow (L6RTM), who not only colour codes his 

scorebook, but provides live-updates of the scores online 

and makes ‘Wagon Wheels’ and other graphs for every 

player, batsmen and bowlers. 

One final mention of thanks from all the squad is to Mr 

Ledward and Mr Perryman for their roles as coaches to 

the side, guiding everyone through victories and defeats 

alike. Mr Ledward was ever present on the boundary at all 

games, ‘living every ball’ and was there for anyone at any 

time for cricketing advice, both in and out of school. It is 

that commitment which makes playing for LRGS so special 

and such an honour. 

Tom Williamson, L6DJN 

73


2ND XI CRICKET 

The season was curtailed by poor weather and the exam 

season is making it harder each year to play a large number 

of fixtures. The side won all their games apart from the 

Sedbergh match and we had strength both on bowling and 

batting. Shesank Raju (L6DEY) played a superb innings at 

Manchester Grammar School to ensure a great win in our 

first match. Hassan Sultan (L6APH) and Will Denby (5L) 

bowled Merchant Taylors’ Crosby out and Harry Bashall 

(5B) hit the winning runs. He also batted very well against 

Sedbergh. Dominic Gardner captained the side expertly 

and made important runs with ‘Rick’ Ghosh (U6NT) against 

Bradford GS James Beet (L6APH) had a fine all round 

performance along with Amir Nakhuda (L6AY) in the win 

at Wakefield. All in all, it was a very enjoyable season with a 

great bunch of lads. 


RGS Festival 2014 

With the prospect of a week of cricket ahead, spirits were 

high on the bus to Newcastle. Chants of “We’re gonna win 

the week” could probably have been heard by the cars 

surrounding the minibus. Upon arriving in Newcastle we 

were greeted by a brief opening ceremony and were all 

presented with an RGS festival tie. Eventually we made it 

to our hotel, which was very nice. We all ventured off into 

Newcastle centre to find restaurants and prepared for the 

first game the following day. 

Lancaster RGS v RGS Colchester 

Our first game took place at Jesmond Cricket Club, which 

was an extraordinary ground, with a lightning out field 

and large boundaries. After winning the toss and LRGS 

electing to bat, we were bowled out for 175 on what 

could only be described as a batting wicket. Williamson 

scored 35 and Adam Gardner 42, batting at number 9, 

recovering the innings somewhat. At the half way point we 

were disappointed, however after being motivated by our 

coaching staff, Mr Ledward and Mr Perryman, the team was 

ready to try to defend our moderate total and defend it we 

did. It was an outstanding bowling and fielding performance 

from the whole team. Bevan opened the bowling with left 

arm orthodox and piled on the pressure with figures of 10 

overs for 7 runs and 1 wicket. Willamson contributed well 

with 4 wickets for 25 runs. Colchester fell short with a score 

of 126 all out after 43 overs. A great start to the week. 

Lancaster RGS v RGS Worcester 

LRGS won the toss again, elected to bat first, playing at the 

same ground as the previous day. Billy Swarbrick (U6TCM) 

scored 33 and Mark Bevan (5L) played a mature innings 

scoring 41 and holding up one end. A special mention must 

go to Fraser-Gray who scored a quick and thrilling 54, 

hitting six 6s and two 4s. LRGS posted 234 all out, a much 

improved performance on the day before. LRGS bowled 

Worcester out after 47 overs for 207 in another close game. 

Bevan bowling 10 overs for 30 runs and Williamson taking 3 

wickets for 30 runs in his full allocation of 10 overs. 

Lancaster RGS v RGS Newcastle 

Again LRGS won the toss and chose to occupy the crease, 

this time playing at a smaller ground called Blaydon Park. 

Together the team posted 215 with Williamson 40, Fraser- 

Gray 42 and Sam Letcher (U6SJH) 32. Not a bad effort, 

but we would have to do well to defend it against the 

host school. LRGS again successfully defended their total. 

Bevan made exceptional figures of 10 overs for just 12 runs. 

Derham bowled well on a spinning wicket taking 3 for 34 off 

10. Newcastle finished just short on 204, the closest game 

so far with a nerve-racking end. 

Lancaster RGS v RGS Guildford 

Returning again to Blaydon Park, LRGS lost the toss and 

were given the ball; the first time we had to bowl first. In 

normal fashion Bevan gave us an exceptional start, bowling 

10 overs for 16 runs. This was followed by some hostile 

bowling from East and Fraser-Gray, with East taking 4 

for 25 and Fraser-Gray taking 3 for 24. LRGS restricted 

Guildford to 187 off 47. In reply, Williamson again set the 

standard getting the team off to a great start scoring 35. 

At 166 for 8 with 8 overs left it wasn’t looking good for 

LRGS, until Harry Robb (5S) and Letcher batting 9 and 10 

respectively, saw the game home in the penultimate over. It 

was an exhilarating end to our fourth game. 

Lancaster RGS v RGS High Wycombe 

As we entered the final day, LRGS and High Wycombe 

had played 4, won 4. Essentially this was the final of the 

tournament. It was taking place at a smaller ground on what 

could only be described as a ‘road’, both teams expected 

to score lots of runs. LRGS lost the toss and were asked 

to bowl. After a poor start, High Wycombe were 114 for 

1 after 18 overs. Chambers and Williamson took 3 crucial 

wickets giving the team a glimmer of hope to restrict High 

Wycombe to a moderate total. High Wycombe ended on 

251 off their 50 overs. This was a good score but definitely 

not out of our reach on this high scoring ground. Fired up 

Opposition 

Result 

Manchester Grammar School Won by 51 runs. 

LRGS 147 for 8 (S Raju 65). 

MGS 95 All Out. 

Merchant Taylors’ Crosby 

Won by 7 wickets. 

MTS 59 All Out (H Sultan 5 for 4: WI Denby 4 for 9). 

LRGS 60 for 3 (HJ Bashall 26 not out). 

Bradford GS 

Won by 81 runs. 

LRGS 171 for 8 (DP Gardner 31; A Ghosh 25). 

BGS 90 All Out (A Nakuda 5 for 13). 

Sedbergh 

Lost by 6 wickets. 

LRGS 134 All Out (MJ Rosbottom 43; HJ Bashall 37) 

Sedbergh 135 for 4 

QEGS Wakefield 

Won by 85 runs. 

LRGS 140 for 9 (JC Beet 28) 

QEGS 55 All Out (JC Beet 4 for 11: A Nakhuda 3 for 14) 

74

and ready to go out, the rain started to fall. Unfortunately 

the rain didn’t stop and in the end the game was a draw, 

which meant the trophy was shared between LRGS and 

High Wycombe. 

After an exceptional week of hard cricket we took home 

the trophy for the first time in LRGS history and ended the 

season in style. It was the perfect way to finish the school 

cricket careers of the upper sixth and the memory will live 

with the team forever. 

Dan Chambers, U6CME 

U15A CRICKET 

The batting for the majority of the season was strong with 

three people scoring at least 50. Callum Robinson-Brooks 

(4L) scored 72* against King’s Macclesfield and 57* against 

Woodhouse Grove, he also scored 50 against Wakefield. 

Laurie Atkinson (4R) scored 54* against Kirkham Grammar 

School, he also scored 56 against Wakefield. Will Fraser-Gray 

(4G) scored 68* against Ripley, then continued his form by 

scoring 72* in the next game. Other notable mentions are 

for Alistair Grunshaw (4L) who made runs when nobody 

else did at Sedbergh, with a fine batting display scoring 24; 

he also made 25* against Rossall. 

The bowling was also strong with Kyle Weston (4S) taking 

4 wickets to win us the game against QEGS Wakefield; 

Kyle also got 4 for 8 against Woodhouse Grove to keep 

the opposition’s total low. Judd Bennett (4L) took 4 for 

5 against Rossall. Other notable mentions are for Laurie 

Atkinson, Will Fraser-Gray and Aravind Kumar (4B) who all 

took 3 wickets sometime in the season. 

The season started off against a district XI, a team which 

contained some of the best players in the local area. We 

started off very well with Fraser-Gray clean bowling their 

opening batsmen. We continued this rhythm throughout 

the match and with good bowling from Atkinson, Bennett 

and Robinson-Brooks we managed to restrict them to 91, 

which was an easily achievable total. With the bat, we got 

off to a great start, with Atkinson and Fraser-Gray putting 

on 32 for the opening partnership. However we suffered a 

middle order collapse and saw ourselves at 84-6; however 

with good batting from Kumar and Matthew Bargh (4T) we 

managed to steer over the line. With this good win under 

our belts we felt that this would propel us to have a great 

year of cricket. 

The cup run for the U15 started against Rossall. It proved 

to be quite a comfortable victory in the end with LRGS 

bowling Rossall out for just 63 with the stand out bowler 

being Bennett with figures of 4 for 5 off his 4 overs. Kumar 

also bowled well and ended up with figures off 3 for 12 off 

his 4 overs. The reply was solid and fairly comfortable as 

we managed to win by 9 wickets, with Grunshaw (25no) 

and Robinson-Brooks (21no) seeing the game home. The 

next Lancashire Cup game for the U15 was against Ripley, 

who we had beaten on many occasions before, however 

this game would prove to be a more difficult test. We took 

a couple off early wickets through Fraser-Gray; however we 

let Ripley develop a few partnerships, which took them to 71 

for 4 in the 15th over, however with great death bowling from 

Atkinson, Bennett and Fraser-Gray we managed to restrict 

them to 84 off their 20 overs. The pick of the bowlers was 

Atkinson, who finished up with figures of 3 for 13 off 3.4 

overs. We expected this to be a hard chase especially as 

though the wicket was extremely damp, but when Fraser- 

Gray got to the crease this would prove to be a different 

story. We managed to win the game by 10 wickets with the 

2 batsmen Fraser-Gay (68no) and Grunshaw (16no) playing 

tremendously well. 

Our next game of the cup was against Balshaws High 

School. After hearing that they had a few Lancashire players 

we knew would be in for a test. The game was then reduced 

to 16 overs because of time arrangements on their behalf. In 

this game we let our form slip with the ball and let them get 

to 104 off their 16 overs. The stand out bowler was Kumar 

with figures of 2 for 26. We were unsure whether we could 

knock this off, but after an inspirational team talk by Mr 

Ralston we were confident we could do it. Will Fraser-Gray 

continued his great run off form by scoring 72no and seeing 

us into the quarter final of the Lancashire Cup. 

Our next game was against AKS, a team that we had beaten 

comfortable many times before. However they now looked 

to be a well-drilled side and we knew we couldn’t get 

complacent. AKS batted first scoring 140 with their opener 

scoring 58. The 3 wickets came from Fraser-Gray (2) and 

Atkinson (1). Unfortunately this total was going to be too 

much to chase down as we just fell short. Our batting was 

put to shame as there were only 2 batsmen who got into 

double figures Atkinson (44no) and Robinson-Brooks (31). 

We were defeated by 16 runs. 

Some other notable mentions should go to Will Sewell (4R) 

as the raised team morale and made this year a much more 

enjoyable year of cricket. Jacob Thomas (4L) should also 

deserve a mention as he batted well scoring consistent 

20s, to steer us out of difficult positions; his bowling was 

also very good restricting the batsmen to very little runs. 

Michael Padfield (4S) was drafted in from the B team to 

play towards the end of the season and some of his bowling 

performances were outstanding. Ruairidh Barker (3L) 

stepped up a year to play with us on some occasions; he 

showed great composure and confidence both on the field 

and off the field. I also want to thank Mr Ralston and Mr 

Millet for making this year so memorable. 

Laurie Atkinson, 4R 

75


U15B CRICKET 

At a first glance at the fixture list for 

this season I think all the team knew 

that it was going to be a tough one. 

With both the A and B Teams riddled 

with injuries the squad was often 

stretched to its very limits and this 

fact did reflect in our results. A valiant 

effort in the first match of the season 

saw LRGS be beaten by the narrowest 

of margins against a strong Sedbergh 

B side. After only posting 76 batting 

first, with their backs against the walls, 

outstanding bowling from Abhishek 

Kamath, 4R (3-7) and a somewhat 

unplayable spell of accurate swing 

bowling from Tom Turner, 4G (3-2) 

brought LRGS back from what should 

have been a humiliating defeat to 

losing only by one wicket in a match 

we could have even gone on to win. 

The next game was a comfortable 

victory against Heysham High with 

Sam Stott, 4R (30*) and Michael 

Padfield, 4S (27) sharing an opening 

U14A CRICKET 

partnership of 75. It was at that very 

point in the season, just as momentum 

was building, that our ever reliable 

keeper Ben Hynes (4T) suffered an 

injury to his thumb, rendering him unfit 

for the rest of the season and with Liam 

Quirke (4T) breaking his collarbone 

not long after, there was now a lack 

of flair in the bowling attack. But once 

again the LRGS spirit shone through 

with Jason Parkin (4S) ably adopting 

the gloves and with Kamath proving 

almost impossible to score off in the 

next few games. Thankfully Dominic 

Brown (4R) returned from injury and 

Aditya Chakravarty (4L) was finding 

form with the bat in hand. And so came 

the Local Schools Festival, in which we 

were by far not the favourites. With 

the matches only lasting 8 overs a side 

some fine power hitting from Christian 

Tetlow (4L) and Stott eased us through 

the first two games. After having 

been defeated in the tournament by 

a surprisingly strong Central side we 

prepared ourselves for an extremely 

tough game against QEGS Blackburn. 

Upon arrival you could sense the 

relief in our batsmen that Lancashire’s 

opening bowler in our age group, who 

is a student at QEGS, was injured and 

so incapable of playing. However, even 

in his absence we came up against a 

formidable QEGS side. Once again the 

issue was that we didn’t get enough 

runs batting first. But, as ever, the 

bowlers stepped up with Kamath, 

Padfield, Tom Turner (4G) and Harry 

Rowlands (4L) only conceding 11 runs 

off the opening 7 overs. In the end 

we struggled to contain a fantastic 

unbeaten 48 from their captain and 

lost the game with only 3 balls to spare. 

All in all, it was a difficult but 

thoroughly enjoyable season. S Stott 

amassed 121 with the bat and Kamath 

took 9 wickets as well as regular B 

Team players like William Ellison (4R), 

Guy Maloney (4R), Parkin, Padfield and 

Tetlow making their A Team débuts. 

Michael Padfield, 4S 

It was a season of two halves for the U14A XI. Until half term, 

the batsmen found scoring runs on slow, low wickets to be 

difficult. Whilst many could stay at the crease, few had the 

power to hit the bad ball. The damp, cold conditions meant 

the bowlers were unable to bowl consistently. However 

after half term, as the wickets quickened, along with the 

outfields, the XI became much more competitive, only 

losing two of the seven games played. There were some 

excellent performances against Shrewsbury, where an early 

departure prevented victory, and wins against RGS High 

Wycombe and Woodhouse Grove. 

George Oyston (3G) was the pick of the batsmen; starting 

the season at No. 10, he moved up to open the batting after 

half term with much success, scoring two 80s and a 50. This 

was just reward for his application and diligence in practice. 

He is a keen cricketer with much potential, not least his 

ability to bowl slow left arm accurately. Ruairidh Barker (3L) 

played the innings of the season, scoring 96 against RGS 

High Wycombe. He also had a 60 and 45 not out. He has 

much ability but much appreciate runs can only be scored 

at the crease not in the Pavilion! He could become a good 

all-rounder but at present he gives away too many runs 

when bowling. Of the remaining batsmen Ben Woodruff 

(3T), George Attwood (3S) and Andrew Beet (3G) played 

respectable innings but there were not enough of these. 

The batting will improve and more runs will be scored as 

the boys become physically bigger and stronger. However if 

they are to score consistently they must develop a hunger 

to remain at the crease and not surrender their wicket. The 

key to this is knowing where the off stump is. Why do nearly 

all batsmen take middle as a guard? 

Overall the bowling was no better than average. There 

appeared a reluctance to bowl 6 balls in the same place to 

prevent the batsmen from scoring. Many were too keen to 

try variations which resulted in easy scoring opportunities. 

Mr Warne put down his success as a Test Match bowler to 

denying the batsmen runs: if this was good enough for him, 

then... John Tobin (3G) and Attwood showed potential, as 

did Woodruff with his off spin. Little has ability but lacked 

consistency. All of these could turn into good all-round 

cricketers but they must show a thirst for practice. Jordan 

Conefrey (3S) is a complete one-off who one day may open 

the bowling for the 1st. XI. A special mention must be made 

of Alex Royce (3T): he is an excellent fielder, fine deputy 

behind the stumps for Hunter, talented batsman and a real 

threat bowling his leg spin. His bowling was a delight to 

watch. He has the ability to dismiss very good batsmen. 

Overall the season was enjoyable and progress was made 

both individually and collectively. The captaincy was shared 

by Barker and Attwood and both did well. 

I am indebted for the support, dedication and wisdom of 

both Mr Cameron and Mr Whitehouse. Their input was 

greatly valued by both the boys and me. 

Player of the season: George Oyston 

Most improved player: Alex Royce 

Mr TR Glover 

Played 12 Won 5 Lost 6 Drawn 1 

76

U13A CRICKET 

The U13A Team enjoyed a very 

successful season, improving steadily 

throughout and playing their best 

cricket in the County Cup competition. 

The dedication and determination 

of the team to improve, after three 

early season losses to some powerful 

independent school sides, was clearly 

in evidence as they swept aside all 

before them. A superb team effort 

was rewarded with victory in the 

Lancashire Cup final, as a strong 

Kirkham team could only amass 104 

in their innings and LRGS knocked off 

the runs required to win by 6 wickets, 

with four overs to spare. 

In all the team completed thirteen 

matches and won ten. Matt Mitchell 

(2G) should take great credit for taking 

over the captaincy part way through 

the season and he led with quiet 

authority and was able to contribute 

regular wickets bowling first change. 

He was supported by George Marshall 

(2T) who opened both batting and 

bowling: always scoring runs and 

bowling miserly opening spells. 

Indeed, George produced the standout 

performance of the season with a half 

century and six wickets in the cup 

match at Blackburn. Joe Wills (2G) was 

the player of the season for scoring 

most runs and being the immovable 

rock around which many totals were 

built. The most improved player was 

John Hallam (2T) who contributed 

vital runs batting at four and bowled 

accurate spells throughout. Special 

mentions must go to Rohan Parekh 

(2T), who took most wickets with 

his left arm spin and hit the ball hard 

batting at number three. Also to Jack 

Chetham (2G) who was superb behind 

the stumps. Dan Curwen (2R) enjoyed 

Yorkshire grounds with his six wickets 

at Bradford and match winning runs at 

Woodhouse Grove. Francis Branford 

(2S), Henry Higginson (2T), Will Eagles 

(2L), Jack Bolland (2L) and Gregory 

McCaragher (2T) all had their moments 

during the season and the excellent 

performances of Tom Anderton (1T) 

and Charlie Wilkinson (1S), who were 

promoted from the U12s bodes well for 

next season’s campaign. 

All involved give their great thanks 

to the many parents who followed 

us around the north of England and 

provided that vital taxi service to and 

from practice sessions. My thanks 

to all the boys for their unrelenting 

enthusiasm and willingness to learn 

and improve: a most enjoyable season 

in which you demonstrated the best 

qualities of LRGS sportsmen. 


U13B CRICKET 

Four games were cancelled because 

of the weather; sadly, three of these 

were the big tests against Sedbergh, 

QEGS Wakefield and Leeds GS. The 

team ended the season unbeaten 

with victories over QEGS Blackburn, 

King’s Macclesfield, Heysham and 

Morecambe as well as winning the 

District tournament against A Teams 

from the other local schools beating 

Ripley St Thomas in the final. 

Trials were held at the indoor nets pre 

season and the following boys made 

up the squad: Dylan Bohm (2R); Will 

Eagles (2L); Bobby Clark (2L); Joe 

Green (2T); Henry Higginson (2T); 

Adam Hill (2G); Will Howard (2L); Joe 

Kelly-Bird (2T); Joseph Klein (2G); Joe 

McDermott (2L); Ronan McGrath(2R); 

Tony Statter (2R); Ben Whitfield-Bartle 

(2S). As the season progressed we lost 

Will Eagles and Henry Higginson to 

the A Team and gained Dan Leighton 

(2L) and Arya Shanmuganathan (2G). 

Generally the team used the same boys 

to do the bowling with Arya taking six 

wickets, Adam, Joe and Dylan taking 

four each while Joseph chipped in with 

three. Henry and Will were the major 

run scorers with Ben showing good 

ability with the bat at the end of the 

season. 

Bobby Clark always provided 

momentum in the middle order with 

some powerful hitting and improving 

shot selection. Most catches were 

taken by Will Eagles, Joseph Klein and 

Joe McDermott with three each. Well 

done to all the boys, everyone making 

some valuable contribution to the 

success of the team at some time. 

Mr B Armstrong 

Results 

QEGS Blackburn (A Team) 64 runs after 20 overs LRGS 65 for 6 

King’s School, Macclesfield 49 all out LRGS 50 for 1 

Heysham (A Team) 80 for 8 after 20 overs LRGS 82 for 2 

Morecambe (A Team) 52 all out 

LRGS 150 for 1 after 20 overs 

77


U12A CRICKET 

At the start of every cricket season 

there is always a sense of anticipation, 

not only because everyone is keen to 

get back into playing again, but also 

because there is a new First Year side 

which might just have one or two 

superstars for the future. 

This year’s group of boys were very 

definitely a team. There are potential 

stars of the future, but this side’s 

greatest strength was their reliance 

on each other for success. With an 

excellent fixture list for the boys to test 

themselves against and the Lancashire 

Cup competition, which could see 

them enter national competition in the 

future, all things were possible at the 

start of the season. 

The curtain-raiser to the season 

should have been the toughest game 

of the season. Manchester GS have a 

reputation as a very strong side but 

disappointingly it was rained off. The 

actual first game turned out to be 

against Blackburn. It went from the 

toughest game of the season to the 

easiest, as it turned out. What this did 

do was give some boys who had very 

little experience of competitive cricket 

a chance to find their feet in an easy 

game; one, which in fact, turned out to 

be two games. In the first, Blackburn 

were bowled out for 17 and the score 

was easily knocked off by Liam 

Burns (1T) and Raju Jivitesh (1G); the 

second attempt was not much more 

challenging. These two games did 

demonstrate how effective our bowling 

would be throughout the season. Also, 

our fielding was outstanding with 

Cooper showing in the first game that 

he was to be the star in the field. 

The first Saturday fixture was against 

Bradford Grammar School. This would 

be a significant test for the boys. 

Batting first, they managed to muster 

a respectable total of 94 which was by 

no means as high a score as they could 

have achieved, but for a first attempt in 

a full 30 over game was a positive start. 

Burns again batted with composure for 

a long period and was the back bone 

to the innings. However, the impetus 

was initially provided by Daniel Cooper 

(1T) and then Malik Hamza (1T) who 

finished the innings off with a flourish. 

Bowling was again good and was 

backed up by some excellent fielding. 

One highlight would be Joel Derham 

(1T), who, having dropped a difficult 

low chance, recovered to pick up the 

ball and run out the batter. Derham 

will not mind me saying that dropping 

catches became something of a 

speciality, however his ground fielding 

improved immensely throughout the 

season. Some of Bradford’s lower 

order batters demonstrated more than 

sound technique and struck the ball 

sweetly. The game was heading to a 

very tight finish when a couple of quick 

wickets turned the tide in our favour 

and the game was won with overs and 

runs to spare. 

Arnold-King Edward’s were the first 

challenge in the Lancashire Cup. 

This was again a comfortable win in 

glorious weather on an excellent pitch. 

The boys bowled and fielded well and 

won comfortably. With Bolton rained 

off, it was King’s Macclesfield who 

would allow the boys to show how 

much progress they had made. King’s 

batted first and initially dominated. 

Their top order had two or three 

players who played with excellent 

technique, including their opener who 

scored a classy and quick 50. However, 

the rest of the team found ways to 

get out. This was mainly due to very 

sensible field placements as well as 

excellent catching; again Cooper 

taking a skied catch on the boundary 

and Anderson taking 3 catches at midon. 

Thomas Padfield (1R) showed how 

important he would be to the bowling 

department as his extremely accurate 

medium pace limited scoring and took 

wickets. The batting display was where 

real improvement became apparent. 

All the top order batters played 

their part in chasing the 100 runs for 

victory. It was the running between 

the wickets that made the difference 

as Thomas Anderton (1T) and Jivitesh 

both scored well and ran excellently. 

This was complimented by Cooper 

who hit the ball with more force but 

continued the outstanding running 

between the wickets. This running left 

even King’s best bowlers unable to 

curb the run scoring and the total was 

reached with time to spare. At an older, 

more experienced level, people would 

describe this as a very professional 

performance. 

With an easy win in the Lancashire 

Cup against Broughton and the game 

against Leeds rained off it came to 

the next round of the Lancashire 

Cup against our old rivals Ripley. The 

side line story to this was the U12 B 

Team’s dramatic final ball defeat to 

Ripley a week earlier which added 

a further element of intrigue to the 

game. As it was, The A team scored 

a commanding 163-2 in their 30 overs 

and bowled Ripley out for 64 – a 

commanding win which demonstrated 

the confidence that was growing 

within the team. And so we were off to 

the quarter final ... The boys were so up 

for this game but knew it was always 

going to be difficult. Merchant Taylors’ 

brought a side which were equally full 

of confidence and their batting display 

demonstrated why. For the first time 

the fielding let the team down, with 

balls being missed on the ground and 

some catches dropped. However, the 

team rallied and despite the weight 

of runs kept plugging away. A total of 

167 was not insurmountable but would 

be too much for the team who battled 

hard but could not put together a 

partnership which would make the 

chase possible. This Merchant Taylors’ 

team were unquestionably the best 

team we came up against this year and 

I fully expected them to cruise the Cup, 

so it came as a real surprise they had 

succumbed to Manchester in the final. 

Following this game, the boys 

continued to train hard and develop 

their skills. Unfortunately they only had 

a few games left. The game against 

Wakefield would provide the first 50 

of the season and another successful 

run chase. Kane Donaghy (1G) coming 

in lower down the order and at a time 

when the team were struggling held 

the rest of the innings together to score 

a confident half century and prove yet 

again that he has the attitude to be an 

excellent cricketer. 

This season was one which, as I said at 

the beginning, brought together a team. 

There were regularly performances of 

note throughout the season. All the 

boys aspired to be the very best they 

could be and worked extremely hard. 

Patrick Bishop (1T) must take great 

credit for both his performances as a 

batter and a bowler. He drove the ball 

straight down the ground better than 

anyone and scored valuable quick runs 

whenever required. He bowled with 

pace and accuracy often coming on 

last change and taking wickets. He also 

led the team as captain, something he 

initially found difficult but with the 

help of Malik and Corey Wilson (1G), 

he developed confidence and became 

very effective. 

I could talk at length about the 

78

individual players of this squad. 

Anderton, Liam Burns (1T), Donaghy, 

Malik, Raju, and Dev Sharma (1R) 

all showed real potential with the 

bat. Cooper was the outstanding 

fielder and developed his batting and 

bowling and would never forgive me if 

I didn’t mention his six hitting ability! 

Anderton, Euan Atkinson-Cowan (1G), 

Padfield, and Charlie Wilkinson (1S) 

were all outstanding with the ball and 

Burns showed continued development 

as a keeper throughout the season. 

As I said, this was not a team reliant 

on superstars but a squad of very 

inexperienced boys who worked 

tremendously hard together as a team. 

They lost a game to a side of boys who 

had been playing together for a long 

time and yet they competed with them 

throughout. This is a side who I will 

watch with great interest because they 

could all one day represent the school 

1st XI or even higher honours. This was 

a group of boys whom I thoroughly 

enjoyed working with. 

Mr AD Mawson 

CROSS COUNTRY 

The Manchester Grammar School 

Relays served as our annual opener, 

the flat course of just over a mile 

easing the transition from the 

uniformity of the running track into 

the unpredictability of the mud and 

hills. The high point of the afternoon 

was our Seniors reclaiming their title, 

comfortably distancing themselves 

from the rest. We weren’t strong 

enough to compete for the overall 

title this year, but were one of the few 

schools able to turn out at least one 

team in every race. 

Between the MGS Relays and the 

Northern Schools there were few 

fixtures, either locally or further afield, 

so we kept the squads going with 

time trials in Games on Wednesday 

and Thursday afternoons. These 

afternoons have been invaluable 

for the club over the years, serving 

two vital purposes: the front runners 

can measure their progress whilst 

enjoying the various runs which have 

acquired institutional status over the 

decades; equally important, however, 

are the boys who find themselves 

“choosing” cross-country as their 

Games option and swiftly discover 

that they are very good at it, becoming 

key team members by the end of the 

season. 

The Northern Schools ended our 

season, and although we were again 

pipped by St Anselm’s for the Roses, 

for me this was a strong ending to the 

year; looking at the individual results 

of each race I see many excellent 

efforts, proving how much the boys 

realise the importance of, and rise to, 

this occasion. Our Seniors ended the 

afternoon’s racing, packing several 

counters into the first fifteen runners. 

The ever-decreasing popularity of 

Cross Country, a trend which began 

perhaps as early as the late-Seventies, 

has led me to a point where the 

dearth of fixtures has made writing 

this report difficult. Within the school 

our squads remain both numerous 

and enthusiastic. This is partly due to 

the extraordinary network of support 

on which I am able to rely; I could not 

possibly name all the people who have 

unexpectedly stepped into the breach 

when needed, but Mr Mawson and Mr 

Ryan are just two of many who gave 

up hours of their time enabling us to 

attend fixtures. The boys’ team spirit, 

however, is what really matters, and as 

long as both of these elements remain 

strong, then we can continue to buck 

the national trend of apathy and carry 

on with the mud, sweat and spikes. 

Mr A Yelland 

79


FOOTBALL 1ST XI 

Opposition Result Scorers 

Man of match points 

Kirkby Lonsdale (friendly) A L 3-2 KD Rafferty, U6CRB Helme 3, Hewitt 2, Jones 1 

AT Harrison, U6SJH 

Baines (Lancs Cup) H W 5-1 JA Hewitt, U6AMT (2) Hewitt 3, Dallas 2, Barton 1 

Rafferty (2), TD Hird, L6SGB 

St Mary’s (Lancs Cup) H W 2-1 Rafferty (2) Cook 3, Dallas 2, Rafferty 1 

Rossall (friendly) H W 3-2 AJ Dallas, U6CRB (2) Dallas 3, MI Jones U6RW 2, 

OA Mathieson, L6MED Harrison 1 

Central Lancaster (DC) A W 0-2 Mathieson Helme 3, Hird 2, Cook 1 

JR Cairns, U6RW 

Morecambe High (Lancs Cup) A L 4-3 GS Mason, L6MED (2) Mathieson 3, Mason 2, Rafferty 1 

CP Barton, U6HJC 

Heysham HS (DC) A D 2-2 JA Cook, U6NT, Cook 3, Dallas 2, Harrison 1 

Hewitt 

Stonyhurst H W 2-1 Mason, Rafferty Harrison 3, Mathieson 2, Cook 1 

Our Lady’s High School (DC) A W 0-3 HT Tod-Hunter, U6TCM Mathieson 3, JC Beet L6APH 2, 

Mathieson (2) Dallas 1 

Morecambe High (DC) H D 1-1 Hewitt Cook 3, Hewitt 2, Helme 1 

Rossall (friendly) A W 0-6 Mason, Hewitt, Hewitt 3, Helme 2, Barton 1 

MY Suleman, L6SGB, Dallas, 

Mathieson, Own Goal 

Ripley (DC) A W 1-5 Mathieson (4), Rafferty Mathieson 3, Mason 2, Cook 1 

Ripley (DC Final) Neutral L 1-1 (lost 5-4 pens) Mathieson Mason 3, Cook 2, Barton 1 

FOOTBALL 2ND XI 

This was yet another season disrupted by weather and the 

lack of an adequate home playing surface meant games 

were at a premium for the 2nd XI. That being said they were 

a lively bunch of lads who trained hard and would have 

played whenever and wherever they could. The practice 

matches against the 1st XI were competitive and close, a big 

help to Mr Wareing in his bid for another District Cup win. 

Our most disappointing moment would have to be against 

Dallam where we tamely submitted, albeit to a strong, 

largely 1st XI Team side 3-0, but the squad recovered well, 

with wins against Stonyhurst (in torrential conditions) and 

Morecambe being particularly memorable. Particular stars 

were Mark Chan, who has developed into a solid and reliable 

centre half and Mo Suleman, who made appearances for 

the 1st XI. 

If we could have had more fixtures, I have little doubt that 

the whole 1st and 2nd XI Squad would have been stronger 

and developed more rapidly. My hope is that next season, 

with both sides entered into the Lancashire Cup, this will 

improve. 

Squad list: Oba Adelaja, L6DJN; Alex Allen, U6NT; Daniel 

Barnett, L6MAR; Josh Cairns, U6RW; Mark Chan, L6DEY; 

Mark Church, L6DJN; Adam Derham, L6SGB; Alex Dyson, 

L6DJN; Callum East, L6NCM; James Harries, U6HJC; 

Matthew James, L6MAR; Michael Jones, U6RW; Eddie 

Letcher, L6APH; Joe Shore, L6RTM; Mo Suleman, L6SGB; 

Sam Titi-Lartey, L6NCM. 

Mr J Reynolds 

80

CLIMBING 

Particularly fine weather always 

seemed to appear on a Wednesday 

afternoon this year for the Climbing 

Senior Games Option and coupled 

with one of the keenest groups we’ve 

had in a while, most of our sessions 

were outside on the local crags. 

Whether on the sun-kissed limestone 

of Hutton Roof, or out on the wild and 

windy moor at Thorn Crag the boys 

were always up for a new challenge, 

normally set by the (not so) old master 

Mr Blackwell, or the young tyro Mr 

Young. 

It’s a testament to the lad’s positive 

attitude that we even managed a 

relatively long session at the brutal 

Craig-y-Longridge, where the easy 

access and comfortable grass at the 

bottom of the crag are in complete 

contrast to the rock above, where 

everything is on the wrong side of 

vertical. 

Dr AC Shawcross 

81


ORIENTEERING 

A group of 39 boys travelled to the British Schools 

Orienteering Championships in Shipley Park, Derbyshire 

in November 2013 accompanied by the team coach Mr 

Young who was generously supported by Mrs Introna and 

Mr Mellon, following the previous year’s success, in which 

the LRGS third years were crowned champions of their age 

group. Every year of the school was represented in their 

respective categories and five teams (of six orienteerers) 

were put forward. Fierce competition was expected not only 

with the other schools but also between representatives of 

LRGS and many of our contestants navigated effectively, 

swiftly and more importantly correctly! Finley Johnson and 

Danny Lusardi, both running for Lancaster in the Year Seven 

category, were positioned joint sixth with the exact same 

time over their course to the second! A number of other 

boys were placed high up in their age group’s rankings. 

In the team results LRGS had three years in a medal 

position: the third years gaining bronze and both the First 

Years and Lower Sixth achieving silver, with the Year Twelve 

team matching Ulverston Victoria High School on points 

but edging the rivals on third man positioning. Meanwhile 

the year sevens were three points shy of the top spot with 

48 points. Elsewhere the Third Years were placed eighth 

while the second years came seventh. Overall LRGS came 

tenth. In general it was a successful year for the school’s 

orienteerers, despite not repeating the feat of winning an 

age group, like in the previous year. There are now greater 

expectations than ever for the Championships 2014! 

Mr S Young 

Results: * = the members of each year group’s team whose 

points count for the team; n/c = non competitive; mp = 

mis-punched control. 

Year 7 Boys – 2nd overall 

6 Finley Johnson* (1T); 6 Danny Lusardi* (1L); 36 Will 

Duffy* (1L); 39 Callum Currie (1S); 50 Isaac Mort (1G); 

n/c Patrick Thomas (1T); n/c Tom Shaw (1L); n/c Harry 

Steele; (1S); mp Nathaniel Archer (1L); Leon Mitchell 

(1G). 

Year 8 Boys – 7th overall 

24 Patrick Wilkinson* (2L); 31 Henry Jackson* (2G); 40 

Tom Pyle* (2G); 57 Ben Winterborn (2G); 59 Chris White 

(2L); n/c Adam Borqhart (2L); n/c Ben Eaton (2G); mp 

Ewan Powell (2L). 

Year 9 Boys – 8th overall 

31 James Marsh* (3L); 33 Alvin Wong* (3G); 38 Jonathan 

White* (3T); 39 Seb White (3R); 47 Tim Bolton (3G); mp 

Angus Clifford (3G). 

Year 10 Boys – 3rd overall 

14 Jacob Roberts* (4S); 22 Jacob Steele* (4R); 26 

Matthew Nutter (4S); 29 Riordan de Vries (4L); 31 

Jamie Sykes MacLeod (4G); 47 Morgan Screen (4G); 

n/c Aditya Chakravarty (4L). 

Year 12 Boys – 2nd overall 

11 Rob Shaw* (L6DEY); 13 George Appleyard* (L6RTM); 

19 Sol White* (5R - running a year above age category); 

32 James Riach (L6AY); 37 Thomas Manklow (L6RTM); 

mp Matthew Shackleton (L6JPJ). 

Year 13 Boys 

16 George Rettig (U6CME); 22 Tom Grunshaw (U6AMT). 

82

ROWING 

The LRGS Boat Club has enjoyed a very busy and successful 

season. During 2013-14 a large number of determined 

scullers have developed from within the new J14 squad; 

these, coupled with a seasoned group of J16 and J18 rowers 

who have acted to show them the way, indicate that the 

Club has a healthy balance of active oarsmen across most of 

the age ranges. The Michaelmas Term was spent developing 

watermanship skills and fitness with regular water sessions 

every Saturday morning and in the gym on Mondays after 

school, as well as the scheduled games afternoons. 

Northwich Autumn Head, 17th November 2013 

In Division 1 the water conditions were excellent and the J16 

individual scullers enjoyed their paddle in the now rather 

ancient LRGS single sculls with the following results: JW 

Mapp (5B, 7th), DE Hammond (5R, 9th), J Unwin (5T, 10th), 

DP King-Cox (5S, 11th) out of 13 J16 scullers. Mapp would 

have done considerably better time wise but for a severe 

collision with the bank, several others also had steering 

problems. Commiserations also go to Fyfe who was one of 

a number of scullers at the event who made an unplanned 

sub aqua demonstration near the finish line. 

Northwich Division 2 Results: 

J16 2x (JK Wong, 5B & JW Watts, 5S) 09:56 6th 

(winners: Northwich RC). 

J17 2x (RB Bell, L6MAR & A Patel, L6DJN) 10:28 4th 

(winners: The Grange School). 

J18 2x (TB Kane, U6SRB & JR Fenna, L6SGB) 10:00 3rd 

(winners: Warrington RC). 

The newly formed coxed four of VD Kammath (L6JPJ), 

M Brooke-Naylor (L6APH), MB Edgecombe (L6RML), MT 

Ashall (U6TCM), AJ Titterington (U6HJC, cox) had their first 

race together in a coxed four. They came an impressive 3rd 

in a time of 09:12 really close behind Trafford RC (09:06), 

and the King’s School, Chester (09:08). 

Northwich Division 3: 

For the first time, LRGSBC managed to race two J16 coxless 

quads which reflected the numbers of committed oarsmen 

training. “Jack Storey”, the new coxless four/quad, was used 

for the first time competitively in this role. J164x- Results: 

1st The Grange School 08:30; 2nd Northwich RC 08:43; 3rd 

Trafford RC 09:05; 4th LRGSBC (Mapp, Unwin, King-Cox, 

AD Fyfe (5L)) 09:11; 5th Liverpool Victoria BC 09:35; 6th 

LRGSBC (Hammond, HJ McAdam (5T), T Nixon (5G), C 

Stuart-Burgess (5B)) 09:48. 

The LRGSBC four of Kammath, Edgecombe, Brooke-Naylor, 

R Munavvar (L6APH), Titterington (cox) moved up from J17 

to J18 to race the King’s School, Chester. The latter showing 

their dominance of sweep oar junior rowing in the area by 

winning this event and the other King’s School J18 Crew 

won the top senior (adult) coxed four event (IM3 4+) and 

were thus able to beat all the adult entries. 

Red Rose Head, 7th December 2013 

This is an event held on the Lune for all four of the local 

clubs, involving a time trial. The J14s participated in their 

first ever race and entered 3 coxed quads. Some 19 crews 

entered the event in total. Our J16 4x A Crew won the entire 

event in a time of 16.36, beating Lancaster University’s first 

eight by some 30 seconds. Our J18 4+ was placed third and 

LRGS crews occupied six of the top 8 positions in the final 

ranking, with all three of the J14 quads beating at least 3 

other crews. 

Head of the Mersey (Warrington), 9th February 2014 

A large squad of J14, J16 and J18 boys (28 boys) gathered 

at Warrington Rowing Club. This is the home club of this 

year’s LRGSBC Captain of Boats – JE Hatchman (U6HJC) – 

who boarded, rowed and fitness trained at LRGS during the 

week, and turned out in Warrington Rowing Club’s coxless 

quad at the weekend and for major events. His Warrington 

crew were placed 5th in J18 Quad sculls at this year’s 

National Rowing Championships, and competed at Henley 

Royal Regatta. 

In Division 1, the J16 boys (King-Cox (stroke), Mapp, Fyfe, 

OJ Tidswell (5B, steers)) had an impressive race, chasing 

down their opposition from Trafford RC and Warrington RC. 

They won impressively and this gave this year group a great 

morale boost. 

83

ROWING /continued... 

The J14 double scull of L MacPherson (3R, stroke) and SP 

Gelder (3R) also looked the part and started off well, racing 

their opposition from Hollingworth Lake RC, Warrington 

RC, Merchant Taylors’ School BC and North Staffordshire 

RC. Unfortunately, at the very point where supporters had 

gathered to shout encouragement, they caught a bad crab 

and both went for a dip. It was cold in the winter water but 

both boys handled the mishap very well, Mr RG Thompson 

was temporarily brought out of rowing retirement to scull 

the double back from the capsize point to the landing 

stages. 

In Division 3, LRGBC fielded two J14 coxed quads, two 

J16 double sculls and a Novice four. The Novice four of 

Brooke-Naylor (stroke), Ashall, Kammath, Munavvar and 

Titterington (cox) outclassed their opposition from Chester 

University, Grosvenor RC, and Mersey RC to win a medal in 

an adult event. 

The J14 coxed quad of TR Kerr (3G, stroke), Burrow, CM 

Whittaker (3R), BD Heseltine (3G) and CJ Hopkinson (3L, 

cox) looked very impressive, beating North Staffordshire 

RC A and B Crews, Trafford RC, LRGSBC B and narrowly 

coming second to the home club Warrington RC. 

LRGSBC B of CJ Nicholls (3R, stroke), JE Morphet (3L), JL 

Murfitt (3G), WJH Hornby Phillips (3T), and T Bolton (3G, 

cox) got caught in the bushes at the start which unsettled 

them. The J16 double sculls of Stuart-Burgess & Unwin and 

Hammond & Nixon battled with Runcorn RC who proved 

too strong. 

In Division 4, LRGSBC entered a J18 4+ but no one else did. 

So, the crew had to row for a time only. The crew was the 

same as the Novice 4+ winners. This was a bit unlucky for 

Max Edgecombe, who had chosen to take a place in this 

event instead of Rayhan Munavvar who had won in the 

Novice 4+. Finally, Bell and Patel tried to take on some 

more experienced scullers from Liverpool Victoria RC and 

Pengwern BC in J17 double sculls. 

Yorkshire Head, 15th March 2014 

LRGSBC entered two crews in the morning Division of the 

Yorkshire Head. Our J16 coxless quad of Fyfe, Mapp, Nixon 

and Tidswell were the first crew to boat, followed by our 

Novice Men’s coxed quad of Stuart-Burgess, Unwin, Bell, 

Hammond and Mr DE Yates (cox). 

The J16s were racing against four other crews including an 

exceptionally big and hirsute crew from Doncaster Rowing 

Association who are known have a lot of ‘form’ at national 

level. The Novice Quad were up against crews from York 

City RC and Talkin Tarn RC. Both crews had good races and 

our hopes were up for the Novice Quad which sculled a 

consistently strong race, encouraged all the way by their 

enthusiastically vocal coxswain. 

Once both crews returned, we set about preparing the J14s 

for their race in the afternoon division. It would be another 

good spectacle, especially as one of the top School Boat 

Clubs in the country, Hampton, had surprisingly turned up 

on tour with two of their eights. Our J14 coxed quad of Kerr, 

Burrow, Whittaker, Heseltine and Hopkinson (cox) enjoyed 

rowing up to the start beside them. Mr Yates followed on 

his bike. 

The J14s set off and it looked as if the York City Crew had 

made a strong start but had then faded. 

LRGSBC had a good row and all was 

going well until they ‘met’ a women’s 

quad. Details are a little unclear as to 

what actually happened at this stage, 

but they somehow sustained damage of 

a bent rudder and a broken rudder wire. 

With no working rudder on a busy river 

and bends to come, Mr Yates thought 

the game was over but he was amazed 

how Chris Hopkinson (cox) and the 

crew managed to get round the ‘Z’ bend 

and carry on in a relatively straight line 

with some quick thinking and steering 

by differential blade pressure. For this 

feat and his organisation, reliability and 

influence on his crew over the year 

– he has really matured and learned 

and grown into his role – the cox, Chris 

Hopkinson was awarded the Boat Club 

Prize for “most improved rower” at the 

end of the season. 

84

Results: 

Div 1 – J16 4x-: 

1st Doncaster Schools Rowing Association 18:08; 2nd 

LRGSBC 18:48; 3rd Bradford ARC 18:58; 4th Doncaster 

SRA 19:26. 

Men’s Novice Coxed Quad: 

1st LRGSBC 19:36; 2nd Talkin Tarn RC 19:57; 3rd York 

City RC 20:33 

Div 2 – J14 4x+: 

1st York City RC 21:13.9; 2nd LRGSBC 21:14.5 

As you can see there was only 0.6 seconds between 

these two J14 crews. This was as superb result from LRGS 

against a crew from a big club with a considerable home 

advantage and achieved after a delaying collision and 

without the services of a rudder. This was really (and frankly 

bit annoyingly) close to a win at this stage in a J14 season, 

and a great credit to all concerned. 

is the home of the Scottish National Rowing Centre, this 

being a multi-lane lake course that is usually 2000 metres 

in length. At this year’s event the distance was reduced to 

1500 m due to preparations for the Commonwealth Games 

triathlon swimming competition at one end of the pond. 

Matthew Ashall and Tom Kane’s Open Restricted 2 1x 

event was full of Club and University student scullers. 

Matthew and Tom did well to race with these older scullers, 

but sadly they did not get through the heats. Tom came 7th 

(time 7:33) in his heat and Matthew came 6th (time 6:28) 

in a time that would have seen him come fourth if he 

had been a bit luckier and had been drawn to race in the 

previous heat. 

The J16 group of eight boys raced J16 double sculls in the 

morning, and then J16 quad sculls in the afternoon. LRGSBC 

had entered four J16 double scull crews. There were two 

heats with two LRGSBC crews in each. LRGSBC A and C 

raced the first heat. The A Crew of Fyfe and Tidswell got 

through to the final behind Nithsdale RC. The C Crew of 

Unwin and Stuart-Burgess came 5th in the heat, beating 

Clydesdale RC but coming behind Glasgow Academy and 

Aberdeen SRA. LRGSBC B and D Crews raced the second 

heat. LRGSBC D Crew of King-Cox and Mapp got through 

behind Clydesdale A but LRGSBC B of Nixon and Hammond 

came 4th behind George Watson’s College and missed the 

cut. 

The final was competitive with Clydesdale showing that 

they were the dominant force early on. Out of the LRGSBC 

crews, Fyfe and Tidswell looked the most threatening and 

powerful. At any lesser event, they may have won it as this 

was effectively a Scottish Championship level event. 

Open Junior Under 16 Double Scull Final. 

Times are at: 500m; 1000m; 1500m/Finish: 

1 Clydesdale ARC A 01:52.5; 04:03.1; 6:21.30 

2 Nithsdale ARC 02:01.0; 04:17.1; 6:28.50 

Red Rose Head Race, 29th March 2014 

The J16 4x- A Crew once again came out as the overall 

winners based on handicapped times with Matthew Ashall 

in his 1x finishing second overall. Despite fewer crews 

entering due to several changes in the date, it was pleasing 

to see the event go ahead, including an LRGS 8x+ (octuple 

sculler) in a race for the first time ever. 

3 LRGSBC A 02:00.3; 04:22.2; 6:39.90 

(Tidswell, Fyfe) 

4 Glasgow Academy 02:09.5; 04:33.2; 6:46.90 

5 George Watson’s 02:11.8; 04:34.0; 6:48.10 

6 LRGSBC D 02:08.5; 04:35.5; 7:04.10 

(King-Cox, Mapp) 

Strathclyde Park Regatta, 27th April 2014 

Early on Sunday morning, J14, and J16 squads as well as J18 

scullers headed north to Strathclyde Park near Glasgow. It 

In Jack Hatchman’s J18 single scull race, three scullers were 

to go through. Unfortunately Jack came 4th (time 6:29), just 

missing out by 0.4 seconds to Aberdeen Schools, George 

Watson’s and Stirling RC. 

85


It was the J14’s first regatta and also their first multi-lane, 

and their first high powered event, so there was plenty to 

take onboard. LRGSBC entered two J14 coxed quads and 

the entry size produced a straight final. Their race lived 

up to their expectations with LRGSBC A running side by 

side with the highly fancied Inverness Rowing Club Juniors 

for much of the course. It was only when Inverness put a 

push in the final 500m that the Scottish crew drew out a 

half length lead which they then extended to a length and 

maintained through the finish line. The LRGSBC B Crew also 

produced a great race speed which showed a huge leap in 

skill, fitness and performance since Warrington Head. 

Open Junior Under 16 Quad Scull 

Times at: 500m; 1000m; 1500m/Finish: 

1 George Watson’s 01:44.1; 03:36.1; 5:26.80 

2 LRGSBC A 01:46.6; 03:42.4; 5:38.90 

(Tidswell, Unwin, Fyfe, Mapp) 

3 LRGSBC B 01:56.1; 03:58.5; 6:01.00 

(Hammond, King-Cox, Nixon, Stuart-Burgess) 

4 Clydesdale ARC 02:00.2; 04:05.5; 6:11.50 

Open Junior U14 Coxed Quad Scull 

Times at: 500m; 1000m; 1500m/Finish: 

1 Inverness RC 02:00.4; 04:14.9; 6:16.90 

2 LRGSBC A 02:01.6; 04:15.0; 6:20.80 

(Heseltine, Burrow, Whittaker, Kerr, Hopkinson) 

3 Aberdeen Schools RA 02:05.1; 04:27.7; 6:28.20 

4 LRGSBC B 02:09.3; 04:52.2; 6:53.10 

(Morphet, Gelder, Murfitt, 

MacPherson, Bolton) 

5 George Watson’s 02:23.4; – , 7:32.90 

Finally there was the J16 coxless quad final against George 

Watson’s College and Clydesdale. In a reversal of the 

fortunes in the J16 double scull event, George Watson’s 

College were the class act which LRGS were unable to 

catch and both LRGSBC crews beat Clydesdale ARC. 

The National Schools Regatta, 25th May 2014 

This year, for the first time ever, LRGSBC entered crews at 

J14 level at National Schools. The regatta spans three days 

with the younger crews racing on Friday. The number of 

entries into events means that the first round is a time trial 

to reduce the number of crews that go on to race in multilane 

races. This takes place at the start of the day’s racing. 

There are two boys J14 coxed quad (4x+) events, the 

“Nautics Cup” for School second crews, and the “Canterbury 

Cup” for School first crews. Each event had about 23 entries 

which had to be reduced to 12 crews after a time trial. First 

up were the J14 B crews. LRGSBC started behind Windsor 

School B crew. They raced well over the 1000 metres on flat, 

near perfect conditions. Their time of 4mins 10.5 seconds 

was not good enough to get through to the next round, 

but placed them beside Bradford Grammar School and just 

beating our other ‘local’ rivals from Teeside, Yarm School 

Boat Club. The fastest non-qualifier was Bryanston School 

with a time of 4mins .05 seconds. 

Results of Time Trial J14 4x+ B event, 

fastest listed first: 

Windsor Boys School A 3:45.41; Norwich School 

3:46.73; Windsor Boys School B 3:47.95; Westminster 

School A 3:48.40; WBS Windsor Boys School D 

3:49.66; Oratory School 3:50.86; Claires Court School 

3:52.57; Warrington Rowing Club 3:53.56; Westminster 

School B 3:53.68; Windsor Boys School E 4:01.62; 

Yarm School A 4:02.48; London Oratory School 4:04.74. 

Non-qualifiers: Bryanston School 4:05.42; Windsor Boys 

School 4:08.33; Dulwich College 4:09.16; Winchester 

School 4:09.98. Bradford Grammar School S 4:10.05; 

LRGS 4:10.48; Yarm B 4:11.23; Monkton Coombe School 

4:15.11; Monmouth School 4:23.0. 

The A Crew time trial went very well with LRGSBC qualifying 

reasonably comfortably and going through to the semifinals. 

86

Results of Time Trial J14 4x+ A event: 

Walton Rowing Club 3:33.00; Radley College 3:33.24; 

Henley Rowing Club 3:35.72; Windsor Boys School 

3:36.25; Trentham Rowing Club 3:39.54; Norwich School 

3:41.23; Canford School 3:43.03; Westminster School 

3:43.10; Winchester School 3:43.31; Bryanston School 

3:46.29; Warrington Rowing Club 3:46.90; Claires Court 

School 3:47.07; LRGS 3:47.74; Bradford GS 3:50.33; High 

Wycombe RGS 3:50.83; Yarm School 3:53.34; London 

Oratory School 4:00.11; Monkton Coombe School 

4:02.44. 

Non-Qualifiers: 

Monmouth Comprehensive School 4:03.39; Monmouth 

School 4:08.60; Kings Canterbury School 4:08.61; 

Dulwich College. 4:11.02; Bedford School 4:14.59; 

Hereford Cathedral School 4:19.03; Oratory School 

4:25.89; Hinksey GS 4:29.29; LRGS A Crew was: Kerr 

(Stroke), Whittaker, Burrow, Heseltine, Hopkinson (Cox). 

The semi-finals were in the afternoon. LRGSBC got Lane 

6 which indicated that we were not the fastest of the 

qualifiers and potentially had the roughest lane conditions. 

The crew gave it their all, coming 5th in their semi-final in a 

time of 3.50.01, three seconds ahead of the 6th placed crew 

from Yarm School. The winner of this semi-final was Henley 

Rowing Club who went on to win the silver medal, Radley 

College winning the gold in a remarkable time of 3.36.55. 

Red Rose Sprint Regattas, Summer Term 2014 

LRGS maintained its local dominance in these cleverly 

organised handicap events with individual wins each time 

for Tidswell in a J16 single, and wins overall in the inter club 

competitions for LRGSBC. 

often in the older boat, they were awarded the prize. In J14 

singles Whittaker came out on top of the six scullers who 

entered after five rounds of three lane racing. 

International Youth Games, Almere, Holland 

14-17th July 2014 

The Youth Games is part of Lancaster City Council’s cooperation 

with Lancaster’s European twin towns. This was a 

very successful excursion into international rowing for four 

of our J14 group, who formed a rowing team representing 

the City of Lancaster, combining with some female junior 

members of John O’Gaunt Rowing Club. Kerr, Burrow, 

Gelder and MacPherson were our rowing ambassadors. 

Between them they won two gold and three silver medals. 

Rowing Barbecue Regatta 

This internal event was held close to the end of the summer 

term. Lots of racing was arranged with the object of 

involving any and every oarsman, of all ages and abilities, 

in some racing. This was all masterminded by Mr DE Yates 

and older members of the club assisted him very effectively 

in organising the younger crews. The racing was often 

extremely close. The biggest event involved some 18 boys 

of various ages competing in a doubles time trial. The 

winners of this were Kerr and MacPherson, though four 

other doubles were within four seconds of their winning 

time. The J16 singles competition had an entry of just four 

and was won by Tidswell with King-Cox coming second. 

The Quads event had four teams in it and after 6 rounds of 

racing produced an amazing three way tie for first place with 

three teams on 4 points each. Because the team containing 

R Watkins-New (4B) and Hornby Phillips had raced more 

87


Overview of the season 

This J14 squad performed very well indeed in their first year 

of rowing. The older coaches view them as the strongest J14 

group seen for more than ten years. The results achieved 

show that LRGSBC have great potential to do well in the 

forthcoming years with this age group. It is important to 

state that this is not just a group of four strong ones; this 

year group has the numbers of keen athletes needed for a 

good squad. This strength in depth is vital, as experience 

suggests that on average only half the current A Crew are 

likely to be still A Crew members by the time of the Sixth 

Form. There are boys not even in the current B Crew who 

have real potential, and with dedication they are capable 

of developing into formidable oarsmen. But for the Youth 

Games commitments clash, the J14 squad would have had 

a great chance of reaching a final at the National Rowing 

Championships held in July, but though this was not 

possible this year, there is always next year. As is always 

the case almost all the J14 opposition they have faced 

have been rowing for much longer than them. Next year, 

and in following years, that experience advantage will be 

proportionately reduced, as long as they train hard. So, 

boys, why not aim to enter as an eight or a coxless quad 

at the Henley Royal Regatta in a couple of years? Many 

thanks need to go to Mr DE Yates for his insightful coaching 

input, encouragement, and the many hours of time spent at 

weekends and in the gym with this J14 group. 

The J16s started the season with promise, reasonably good 

commitment and they improved considerably (mainly 

under Ciro Prisco’s coaching); but despite building up their 

strength in the gym effectively, they never at any point 

during the year quite reached the speeds that allowed 

us to believe they might be worth taking to national level 

events in sculling. If they remain injury free then this may 

still happen, but their metier may well turn out to be in 

sweeping in coxed fours which they are now old enough 

and big enough to race adults in, and their skills and fitness 

are considerable and they will certainly surpass, shock and 

defeat a lot of university age and older adult rowers over 

the coming two years. 

The J17/J18 group quickly looked promising with the various 

combinations in the coxed four; then they went through 

a spell where with hindsight they probably ‘raced’ too 

much in training outings, and this caused their technique 

to deteriorate. Following this they struggled manfully for 

a month or so to improve their technique again, finally 

succeeded, only for certain key individuals to then decide 

to go off and do something else. This was disappointing for 

those who remained, but LRGSBC has always been a 100% 

volunteer force – whatever it is and whatever it does, it has to 

be done with the willing alone, we encourage; but we don’t 

resort to conscription. Then U6 external exams loomed, 

and there wasn’t time to build a crew up again from those 

remaining, so their season fizzled out a bit. What was really 

pleasing in this group was their adaptability to different 

combinations and boat types and the improvements in 

fitness and skills made by individuals during the year. It 

was very useful to have several of the older boys opting to 

do some “community service” by spending their Thursday 

afternoons down at the river helping the coaches to 

organise and supervise the legions of younger beginners. 

Matthew Ashall was awarded the prize of LRGS Sculling 

Champion at Speech Day. He had been a highly dynamic and 

determined member of the group throughout the year, and 

in the only time his performance in the single could actually 

be compared to the other contender – Jack Hatchman – 

Matthew beat him down the Strathclyde Park course by 

one second. Thanks are also due to Rayhan Munavvar who 

was an effective group communication co-ordinator using 

social media as well as being a most versatile oarsman who 

commuted all year from Preston for his weekend outings; 

real commitment showing there. It is pleasing that many of 

the J18 leavers are going on to Universities where they can 

continue their rowing. We look forward to seeing, or hearing 

from some of them on the circuit, they will be real assets to 

their new clubs. 

Equipment wise in terms of the number of boats the club 

is perhaps now better placed overall than it has been for 

some years, though we have more rowers wanting to use 

them. Thanks are due to the Rowing Foundation Charity 

which kindly gave us a grant of £2,000 to buy blades 

so we could convert the eight into an octuple sculler for 

88

eginners. Two older wooden quads, which 

are still very useful for beginners, have lain 

unused throughout the entire year. They 

await some carpentry repairs and hull 

refurbishment that would give them (yet) 

another lease of life. All seven of the single 

sculls are really long past their sell by date 

and though still adequate for learners they 

are inadequate for external competition. It 

remains a constant juggling and balancing 

act to maintain the launches, engines and 

trailer as well as the stock of racing boats. 

Maintenance, boat storage and launching 

facilities on our site are far from ideal; and 

minor repairs consume a significant amount 

of staff time, but the cost of paying for 

outsiders to conduct maintenance is often 

beyond our budget. 

Thanks as always are most due to the boys who work so hard 

to improve; to all the many parents who have got involved 

and have helped with transport, supplying hot food at 

local events, support at races and fundraising through the 

reinvigorated ROCAP. Thanks also to the Army Camp for 

allowing us to be based there and to the Friends of LRGS for 

their generous financial support, and of course thanks to the 

rowing coaches Mr RG Thompson, Mr ME Davies, Mr DE Yates 

and our Italian coach Ciro Prisco, for their tireless efforts. 

Mr JP Jago 

St Pius X Catholic Preparatory School 

& Oak House Nursery 

Congratulations 

to 17 of our current year 6 pupils who have passed 

grammar school entrance exams 

Oak House Nursery 

Stimulating, fun-filled 

environment 

Spacious outdoor play and 

learning areas 

Music, French, tennis and 

ballet sessions 

St Pius X Preparatory School 

Small classes allow tailored 

learning 

Superb dedicated ICT and 

music facilities 

Extensive choice of afterschool 

activities 

A private bus is available for pupils living in the 

Lancaster and Garstang area 

200 Garstang Road Fulwood Preston Lancashire PR2 8RD 

Tel 01772 719937 / 713630 

www.stpiusx.co.uk email: enquiries@st-piusx.lancs.sch.uk 

An outstanding all-round education for children aged from two to eleven years 

89

UNIVERSITY DESTINATIONS 2014 

Matthew Ashall: Leeds, Biology; Daniel Aston-Clarke: 

Liverpool, Architecture; Adam Baldwin: Sheffield, Computer 

Science Foundation Year (4 or 5 years); Samuel Bannon: 

Oxford, Biochemistry (Molecular and Cellular); Chris Barton: 

Loughborough, Mathematics and Sports Science; Robert 

Beard: Edinburgh, History and Politics; Matthew Beaty: 

Manchester, International Management with American 

Business Studies (2015); Alex Bell: Newcastle, Biomedical 

Sciences; Edward Bellinger: Leicester, French and Spanish; 

Alexander Benachour: Lancaster, French and Spanish; Jacob 

Bennett: Leeds, Geological Sciences; Jack Bennett: Liverpool, 

Law; Thomas Boyle: St Andrews, Economics; Owen Branford: 

Bangor History; Freddie Brown: Warwick, Mathematics 

and Statistics; Thomas Burrows-Smith: York, Economics; 

Joseph Bywater: Northumbria, Finance and Investment 

Management; Joshua Cairns: Newcastle, Accounting and 

Finance (2015); Frederick Carter: Manchester, Medicine; 

Matthew Chadwick: Loughborough, Accounting (2015); 

Ben Clegg: Birmingham City, Film Production Technology; 

Lawrence Armstrong Cwerner: Leeds, Broadcast Journalism 

(2015); Neal Dalal: Newcastle, Biomedical Sciences; Andre 

Dallas: Oxford, Economics and Management; Mauro 

Diggle-Messina: Sheffield, Landscape Architecture; Liam 

Dransfield: Bristol, Chemistry with Industrial Experience; 

Edward Dunkley: Bath, Modern Languages and European 

Studies (French and Spanish); Peter Duong: Bath, 

Mechanical Engineering (Sandwich); Euan Dyson: Hull, 

York Medical School Medicine; Max Eccles: Salford, 

Multimedia and Internet Technology; Christopher Ellison: 

Oxford, French and German (4 years); Alasdair Fairhurst: 

Edinburgh, Chemical Engineering; Umar Falalu: Aberdeen, 

Accountancy; Akos Fenemore: Cambridge, Engineering (4 

years); Elliot Fisher: Leicester, Geography; Callum Forbes: 

Leeds, Medicine; Matthew Gardner: Durham, Economics 

with Management; Adam Gardner: Birmingham Geology 

and Physical Geography; Dominic Gardner: Edinburgh, 

Medicine; Arkyajit Ghosh: Newcastle, Law; Max Gorse: York, 

English; Thomas Grunshaw: Oxford, Chemistry; Edward 

Hall: Oxford, Engineering (4 years); Isaac Haq: Cambridge, 

Medicine; Sam Harding: Liverpool, Diagnostic Radiography; 

Theo Hargreaves: Leeds, Economics and French; James 

Harries: York, English; Jack Harrison: University College 

London, Medicinal Chemistry; Adam Harrison: Cambridge, 

Medicine; Jack Hatchman: Glasgow, Economics; George 

Haworth: Imperial College, Biomedical Engineering; Robert 

Helme: Liverpool, Geography; Tim Hendry: St Andrews, 

Classics (2015); Jake Hewitt: Glasgow, Geography; Joshua 

Hillis: Oxford, History (2015); Marek Hilton: Imperial College, 

Electrical & Electronic Engineering (2015); Max Jeffery: 

Salford, Journalism and English; Freddy Jones: Manchester, 

French and Spanish; Michael Jones: Leicester, International 

Relations; Thomas Jowett: Aberdeen, English (2015); 

Thomas Kane: Leicester, Mechanical Engineering (with Year 

in Industry); Amruth Karthik: Leicester, Medicine; Simon Kelly: 

Oxford, Mathematics; Finn Kempers: Teeside, Aerospace 

Engineering (Extended) (2015); Jun-Yeong Kim: Bath, 

Mechanical Engineering; Ben King-Cox: Edinburgh, English 

Literature; Eldon Ko: Sheffield, Mechatronic and Robotic 

Engineering with a Year in Industry (MEng); Steven Lane: 

Leeds Metropolitan University, Accounting and Finance; 

Peter Law: Leeds, French and Linguistics; Mark Lawrence: 

York, Law; Louis Le Masurier: Durham, General Engineering 

(2015); Andrew Lee: Bath, Management (with Placement) 

(2015); Ed Lees: Sheffield, English Literature; Sam Letcher: 

University College London, Chemistry; Matthew Liver: Bath, 

Biology; Vincent MacDonald: Newcastle, Architecture; Niall 

McGuinness: Loughborough, Computer Science and Artificial 

Intelligence; Max Midwinter: Loughborough, Aeronautical 

Engineering; James Moorby: Hull, York Medical School 

Medicine; Charles Murray: Huddersfield, Music; Gavin Neil: 

Glasgow, English Literature; Matthew Orwin: Loughborough, 

Criminology and Social Policy; Jack O’Sullivan: Newcastle, 

Medicine (Stage 1 entry); Joseph Edward Parry: Newcastle, 

Economics; Safwaan Patel: Cambridge, Medicine; Harry 

Porter: York, Environmental Geography; Dale Postlethwaite: 

Edinburgh, Mathematics and Statistics; George Potter: 

Oxford, French; Kamran Prihar: East Anglia, Medicine; Reuben 

Pullan: Lancaster, Marketing Management; Kieran Rafferty: 

Falmouth, Creative Advertising; Krishnan Ram-Prasad: 

90

Cambridge, Linguistics; Dominic Rastelli-Lewis: York, 

Economics; George Rettig: Oxford, Engineering (4 years); 

Adam Richardson: Warwick, History; Josef Roome: Durham, 

Economics; Alexander Rose: University College London, 

Modern Languages (4 years); Manaf Safarini: King’s College 

London, International Relations; Jacob Sanderson: Leicester, 

European Studies; Luke Saul: Central Lancashire Fire and 

Leadership Studies; Thomas Saunders: Bristol, German and 

Russian (4 years); Colin Shirras: Nottingham Mechanical 

Engineering; Timothy Slater: Reading Accounting and 

Finance (with Placement Experience); Timothy Smith: 

Birmingham Chemistry; 

Thomas Spencer: Leeds, 

Mathematics; Axel 

Steinert: Bath, Automotive 

Engineering (with 

placement); Samuel Storey: 

Newcastle, Mathematics 

(4 years); James Strahan: 

Edinburgh, Artificial 

Intelligence & Computer 

Science; Zain Sultan: 

Manchester, Medicine; Sam 

Taylor-Smith: Manchester, 

Medicine; Oliver Tomlinson, 

Goldsmiths’, Media and 

Communications; Declan 

Tracey: Bradford, Clinical 

Sciences/Medicine Foundation (Year 0); Tom Triviais: 

Bristol, Mathematics; Dylan Vignola: Southampton, 

Aeronautics & Astronautics (4 years); Alexander Wain: 

Nottingham Art History (2015); Samuel Walsh: Sheffield, 

Mechanical Engineering with a Year in Industry; Jack Wilson: 

York, Environmental Geography; Berry Wong: Warsaw, 

Bioveterinary Sciences; George Wood-Greaves: London 

School of Economics, Mathematics and Economics. 

01524 843215 

07711 212271 

info@newfields-catering.co.uk 

Newfields-catering.co.uk 

Unit 12 

Lansil Industrial Estate 

Caton Road 

Lancaster LA1 3PQ 

Whether you are planning a small or large wedding 

reception for 10 or 50 guests, or a function of any type, 

Newfields Catering Services can cater for functions of 

any size. A consultation with David Dunderdale will open 

up a wide variety of available menus including canapés 

and finger food, cold and hot buffets and the more formal 

three, four or possibly five course meals. 

David’s many years of experience in the catering 

industry are reflected in his meticulous planning and 

delivery of the finest cuisine to the tables of wedding 

parties and their guests throughout the north west. 

By specialising in weddings they have the experience of 

catering in a variety of venues from 

local village halls to lawn 

marquees, and locally at a number 

of Lancaster’s most prominent 

landmarks including the Town Hall 

and Forrest Hills (pictured right), 

South Lancaster’s hidden gem. 

91

Bowker Ltd is delighted to support 

Lancaster Royal Grammar School 

We sincerely wish its pupils and staff both past and 

present all the best in their endeavours. 

As a local business, Bowker Ltd is proud to have been one 

of the North West’s leading building services engineering 

contractors since our launch in Morecambe in 1968. 

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the borough lancaster | @theboroughlancs 

92

SPEECH DAY PRIZE WINNERS 2014 

RR Timberlake Form Prizes: DM Lusardi, 1L; SB Manasse, 1R; IA Mort, 1G; JJ Harvey, 1S; PJ Harvey, 1T; 

CE White, 2L; DT Gibson, 2R; BA Mattinson, 2G; LE Gillin, 2S; PS Gellersen, 2T. 

William George Form Prizes: AN Leech, 3L; JR Carter, 3R; JJ Twigg, 3G; DJ Eastham, 3S; JJ White, 3T. 

Fourth Form Prizes: 

GJ Place, 4L; P Thanikachalam, 4R; MW Screen, 4G; J Aung, 4S; NR Beamer, 

4T; TI Fyfe, 4B. 

Fifth Form Prizes: BJ Taylor, 5L; M Masci-Gore, 5R; ZM Barrow, 5G; IC Medhurst, 5S; 

MO Panchal, 5T; JP Greathead, 5B. 

J Stuart Oglethorpe Prizes for English: NJ Archer, 1L; AJ Leigh, 2T; WJ Hornby Phillips, 3T; JM King-Cox, 4S; 

RS Stennett, 5L. 

TW Helme Prizes for Reading: IB Backhouse, 1L; LT Rurlander, 2G; KF Conway, 3G; R Watkins-New, 4B. 

Ashton Memorial Prizes for French: DM Lusardi, 1L; BA Mattinson, 2G; TT Ye, 3L; MJ Padfield, 4S; T Möller, 5G. 

The German Prizes: CE White, 2L; A Bhattacharyya, 3T; A Kamath, 4R; GW Elletson, 5T. 

The Spanish Prizes: DT Gibson, 2R; JJ White, 3T. 

Spanish Essay Prize: ZJ Harper, 4G. 

Spanish Essay Prize: JA Hothersall, 5T. 

JC Jackson Prizes for Mathematics: JF Weir, 1L; WN Smith, 2G; TT Ye, 3L; RS de Vries, 4L; MH Pettit, 5G. 

Sunderland Prize for Language & Learning: DM Lusardi, 1L. 

Frank Storey Cliff Prizes for Latin: SF McLoughlin, 2R; TT Ye, 3L; J Pritchard, 4B; OM Cheung, 5L. 

Sunderland Prize for Greek: DJ Eastham, 3S. 

The Bishop Lee Greek Testament Prize: A Long, 4B. 

Greek Prizes: MJ Padfield, 4S; WT Croft, 5R. 

WJ Garnett Prizes for Geography: NJ Archer, 1L; BA Mattinson, 2G; AD Royce, 3T; J Pritchard, 4B; JP Huber, 5B. 

Parkinson Science Prizes for Biology: R Ackroyd, 1G; PS Gellersen, 2T; JJ White, 3T. 

Parkinson Science Prizes for Chemistry: DM Lusardi, 1L; BA Mattinson, 2G; JJ White, 3T. 

Parkinson Science Prizes for Physics: DM Lusardi, 1L; SF McLoughlin, 2R; AJ Ross, 3R. 

Parkinson Physics Prizes: MJ Padfield, 4S; DS Roy, 5L. 

Parkinson Biology Prizes: JA Sykes Macleod, 4G; MM Adam, 5S. 

Arthur Huck Prizes for Chemistry: SF Milligan, 4T; DS Roy, 5L. 

George Alan Wilkinson Prizes for History: IA Mort, 1G; BA Mattinson, 2G; A Singh, 3R; MJ Padfield, 4S; SW Flint, 5T. 

Michael M Watson Prizes for Divinity: DM Lusardi, 1L; DT Gibson, 2R; GB Jotischky-Hull, 3G; OG Burrell, 4B; 

JD Prendeville, 5S. 

Junior Drama Prize: JD Procter, 1S. 

Drama Prizes: CJ Rowley, 4L; D Kilby-Leahy, 5G. 

Technology Prizes: WF Duffy, 1L; JJ Elvey, 2T; AM Beet, 3G; BR Nuttall, 4L; ES Duffy, 5T. 

Art Prizes: TJ Anderton, 1T; SF McLoughlin, 2R; AJ Clifford, 3G. 

HE Landon Prizes for Art: 

Old Lancastrian Prize for English: 

JS Burrough Prize for French: 

CT Southgate, 4B; OM Cheung, 5L; CD Hughes, L6DJN. 

JJ Ashbridge, L6NCM. 

JT Morphet, L6AY. 

93

SPEECH DAY PRIZE WINNERS 2014 /continued... 

The German Prize: 

Mrs Lee Prize for Spanish: 

J & R Creighton Prize for Mathematics: 

RH Bruton Prize for History: 

WJ Garnett Prize for Geography: 

RHA Wain Prize for Economics: 

Barclays Bank Business & Management Prize: 

Watson Memorial Prize for Classics: 

Sunderland Prize for Latin: 

Storey Gardner Prize for Chemistry: 

Frankland Prize for Physics: 

Parkinson Prize for Biology: 

JK Wood Technology Prize: 

Michael M Watson Prize for Divinity: 

Philosophy Prize: 

Theatre Studies Prize: 

RC Penhale Extended Project Prize: 

Old Lancastrian Prize for English: 

Norval Helme Prize for French: 

Greg Gold Medal for Mathematics: 

Lawrence Holden Prize for History: 

Far East Prize for Geography: 

Tom Tyson Prize for Economics: 

Barclays Bank Business & Management Prize: 

Peter J Hustings Prize for Classics: 

Sunderland Prize for Latin: 

Michael M Watson Prize for Divinity: 

Philosophy Prize: 

WS Rickaby Memorial Prize for Art: 

AP Browne, L6JPJ. 

CJ Denby, L6RTM. 

SW Burch, L6RTM. 

MR Mortimer, L6MED. 

EK Letcher, L6APH. 

MR Mortimer, L6MED. 

JJ Guria-Garnett, L6DJN. 

EJ Pickthall, L6MED. 

JJ Ayathamattam, L6MAR. 

R Herlekar, L6DEY. 

HS Kumar, L6MAR. 

NV Goddard, L6MAR. 

KT Quinn, L6APH. 

JJ Guria-Garnett, L6DJN. 

AL Ray, L6JPJ. 

AJ McCaragher, L6NCM 

AJ Richardson, U6SJH. 

C Ellison, U6SJH. 


SM Kelly, U6HJC. 

JL Hillis, U6RSH. 

A Ghosh, U6NT. 

AJ Richardson, U6SJH. 

AG Lee, U6AMT. 

TJ Hendry, U6RSH. 

KJ Ram-Prasad, U6SRB. 

A Ghosh, U6NT. 

AD Rose, U6SJH. 

OG Tomlinson, U6CRB. 

Judge Cunliffe Prizes for Music: DM Lusardi, 1L; DM Whyatt, 2G; A Bhattacharyya, 3T. 

Stocks Memorial Prizes for Music: D Ackroyd, 4R; DS Roy, 5L. 

John L Spencer Prize for Music: 

Armitage Prize for Chemistry: 

Armitage Prize for Physics: 

Owen Prize for Biology: 

JK Wood Technology Prize: 

JM Fowler, L6MED. 

DP Gardner, U6CME. 

TM Hynes, U6SRB. 

I Haq, U6TCM. 

L Le Masurier, U6AMT. 

94

The German Prize: 

JG Swainson Prize for Spanish: 

The Richard Wilson Chemistry Prize: 

The Eric Taylor Prize for Debating Senior School: 


K J Ram-Prasad, U6SRB. 

TJ Grunshaw, U6 AMT. 

DA Rastelli-Lewis, U6RW. 

Greg Holdcroft Prize: AN Leech, 3L. 

TW Helme Prize for Reading: 

Knowles Prize for Spoken English: 

C Knowles Prize for Social Service: 

Rev S Coey Prize for Charitable Work: 

The Rugby Cap: 

The Cricket Bat: 

LRGS Sculling Champion: 

R Munvvar, L6APH. 

AR Kay, L6RML. 

OD Taylor, U6CME. 

EA Dunkley, U6SJH. 

CJ Kyle, U6RSH. 

DI Chambers, U6CME. 

MT Ashall, TCM. 

Cambridge Local Prize: DN Hacking, 2S. 

A Huck Memorial Prize: 

OD Taylor, U6CME. 

Alec J Sanders Memorial Prize: JH Steele, 4R. 

Margaret Pettitt Memorial Prize: JF Weir, 1L. 

Robert A Coates Memorial Prize: 

Boarding House Prizes: 

LH Wong, L6JPJ. 

HD Porter, U6AMT; RT Beard, U6HJC. 

D Sharratt Junior Athletics Prize: J Evans, 1G. 

DS Rowbotham Athletics Prize: 

JJ Moorby, U6RSH. 

The Johnson Trophy: G Oyston, 3G. 

The Douglas Cameron Trophy: MH Bevan, 5L. 

The Richard Hutton Swimming Trophy: MG Sallis, 4T. 

The Sid and Leah Gunn Prize for Cross Country: 

Peter Atkinson Memorial Trophy: 

Rev FA Cliff and Dr KS Cliff Prize: 

Sir John E Singleton Prize: 

EA Dunkley, U6SJH. 

BS Swarbrick, U6TCM. 

FF Brown, U6SRB. 

JL Hillis, U6RSH. 

The Queen’s Prizes: E Lin, 5G; D S Roy, 5L; A Shetty, 5G; 

RS Stennett, 5L. 

Shackleton Bailey Prize: 

Victoria Scholarships & Leaving Exhibitions: 

TJ Hendry, U6RSH. 

C Ellison, U6SJH; TJ Grunshaw, U6AMT; 

ET Hall, U6AMT; G Rettig, U6CME; 

AJ Richardson, U6 SJH. 

Old Lancastrian Albert Henderson Prize for Progress and Effort in Lower School: L J Kamijo-Flanagan, 3T. 

Professor Oglesby Prize for Progress and effort in the Sixth Form: 

AG Lee, U6AMT. 

The Ian McFarlane Third World Development Prize: A Bhattacharyya, 3T. 

95

PUPIL ACHIEVEMENTS 2013-14 

ACADEMIC 

A-level results 2014 

78.4% of subject entries were awarded A*, A or B 

57.8% of subject entries were awarded A* or A 

23.5% of subject entries were awarded A* 

23 students gained three or more A* grades 

GCSE results 2014 

95.9% of subject entries were awarded A*-C 

59.8% of subject entries were awarded A* or A 

30.1% of subject entries were awarded A* 

Three students gained 11 A* grades and three students gained 10 A* grades 

OXBRIDGE PLACES 

Oxford 

Sam Bannon 

Biochemistry, Queen’s 

Andre Dallas 

Economics & Management, St Edmund Hall 

Chris Ellison 

French & German, Lady Margaret Hall 

Tom Grunshaw 

Chemistry, Exeter 

Edward Hall 

Engineering, Oriel 

Joshua Hillis 

History, Christ Church 

Liam Howarth 

Physics, Oriel 

Simon Kelly 

Maths, Balliol 

George Potter 

French, Keble 

George Rettig 

Engineering, Balliol 

Cambridge 

Akos Fenemore 

Isaac Haq 

Adam Harrison 

Marek Hilton 

Safwaan Patel 

Krishnan Ram-Prasad 

Engineering, Peterhouse 

Medicine, St John’s 

Medicine, Clare 

Engineering, Queens’ 

Medicine, Girton 

Linguistics, Trinity 

George Haworth received an offer from Clare College, Cambridge to study engineering but decided to take up an offer from 

Imperial College, London. 

ATHLETICS 

Jonathan Evans and Calum Owen broke the School 100m records; Ben Winterburn and Michael Sallis represented LRGS at 

the British Schools Modern Biathlon Championships; Jacob Steele represented England at fell running. 

BIOLOGY OLYMPIAD 

Gold: 

Silver: 

Highly Commended: 

Commended: 

BIOLOGY CHALLENGE 

Gold: 

Adam Harrison 

Samuel Bannon, Dominic Gardner, Isaac Haq, Safwaan Patel 

Samuel Taylor-Smith, Josh Teasdale 

Amruth Karthik, Reuben Pullan, Luke Wilson 

Judd Bennett, Dominic Brown, Owain Burrell, Aditya Chakravarty, Riordan de Vries, Joseph Fenna, Zachary 

Harper, Abhishek Kamath, Joshua Kingcox, Adam Long, Eugene Magee, Robert Mason, Sean Milligan, Ben Nuttall, 

Jacob Roberts, Callum Robinson-Brooks, Sulaiman Siddiqui, Thomas Squire, James Sykes Macleod, Jake Taylor, 

Prakash Thanikachalam, Robin Watkins-New. 

Silver: 

Ali Abbasi, Nathan Beamer, Harry Best, James Crabtree, Thomas Fyfe, Zachariah Gilbert, Ewan Gilliat, 

Alasdair Grunshaw, Liam Hamilton, Oliver Helme, Aravind Kumar, Brian Kwok, Jack McClements, Scott McGowan, 

Alex McKay, Harry Page, Cole Parkin, Joseph Pritchard, Harry Rowlands, Morgan Screen, Sam Stott, Jack Taylor, 

Christian Tetlow, Thomas Turner, Michael Walsh, Joe Wilkinson. 

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Bronze: Benjamin Adams, Tom Atherton, Samuel Atkinson, Matthew Bargh, Willem Barton, Alexander Beeching, 

Laurence Cheetham, Daniel Clemson, Samuel Farey, Jacob Gavaghan, Eliot Greenwood, Ismaeel Haq, Daniel Harrison, 

Luke Harwood, Thom Haslam, Hussain Hassan, Riccardo Macari, Hamish Mackie, Ryan McHugh, Henry Potter, 

James Rayson, Adam Robson, Callum Rowley, Joseph Schofield, Adam Seth, Nathan Slack, Callum Southgate, 

Frank Stone, Jacob Thomas, Adam Thompson, Dominic Thompson, Jack Walker, Henry Young, Jimmy Yu. 

Highly Commended: Laurence Atkinson, Gabriel Bowles, Jack Bradfield, Luke Calvey, James Canty, Jed Capstick-Newell, 

Jonson Chan, Joseph Chapman, James Cressey, Andrew Crooks, William Ellison, William Fraser- 

Gray, Mason Hood, George Ibbetson, Tom Lane, Ben Lymer, Guy Maloney, William McLean, 

Luke Milner, Umayr Mir, Dylan Morgan, Bilal Nakhuda, Matthew Nutter, Connor Parkinson, Daniel Rillie, 

Michael Sallis, Felix Scholl, William Sewell, Jacob Steele, Aadil Vadva, Thomas Woodcock. 

Commended: Joshua Banks, Jack Boynton, George Fishwick, Jack Hampsey-Cook, Christian Harris, Andrew Hughes, 

Benjamin Hynes, Jed Mawson, Surya Nardeosingh, Calum Owen, Joe Pearson, Gregory Place, Isaac Thornton, 

Kyle Weston, Jia Hao Yang. 

BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT 

Ben Cannon, Luke Gannon, Jake Guria-Garnett, Jo Marriott and Matt Varley won the Ernst & Young Arcade National Enterprise 

Competition. Andrew Lee achieved the highest mark nationally in the Cambridge Pre-U exam in 2014. 

CHARITY FUNDRAISING 

Pupils raised £18,000 for the following charities, chosen by form representatives at the Seward Committee: St John’s Hospice, 

Lancaster; Friends of Chernobyl’s Children, Lancaster; The Stroke Association; The Christie, Manchester; Sunshine Orphanage, 

Egypt; PhysioNET and MeDiCT. 

CHEMISTRY 

Daniel Gibson, Matthew Jackson, Samuel McLoughlin and Will Smith represented LRGS at the Salters’ Festival of Chemistry 

at the University of Manchester and were commended for their efforts. 

CRICKET 

LRGS were joint winners of Royal Grammar Schools Cricket Festival; the U16s reached the final on the tour to Barbados; 

the U13s won the Lancashire Cup; the U13Bs won District Cup; Tom Williamson was selected to represent the MCC against 

the England U17 team at Lord’s. 

CCF 

The CCF orienteering team won the Senior Boys and Overall Cadet Orienteering Championships in Catterick. Colour Sergeant 

Edward Hall won the individual competition. 

DUKE OF EDINBURGH AWARD 

Gold: 

Sam Bannon, Philip Compton, Edward Dunkley, George Elley, Isaac Haq, George Haworth, Joshua Hillis, 

Liam Howarth, Ben Kingcox, Max Midwinter, James Moorby, Adam Richardson, Sam Schofield, Colin Shirras, 

Axel Steinert, Tom Triviais, Tom Welshman. 

Silver: 

James Anderton, James Ayathamattam, Daniel Barnett, Toby Broadbent, Alexander Browne, Stuart Burch, 

James Carroll, Harish Chari, Charles Clarke, Elliot Davies Taylor, Naveen Goddard, Vipin Kammath, Matthew 

Khan, Thomas Manklow, George Mason, Philip McKean, Joseph Morphet, Hirak Mukherjee, Rayhan Munavvar, 

Nicholas Phillips, Edward Pickthall, James Riach, Sion Roberts, Jonathan Seddon, Matthew Shackleton, Robert Shaw, 

Thomas Underwood, Jack Vaughan-Jones, Thomas Weald, Thomas Williamson, Joshua Wilson, Larry Wong. 

Bronze: Zach Barrow, David Bennett, Oliver Blackett-Ord, Adam Buckland, Patrick Collins-Price, Jay Darlington, 

Joe Greenwood, Declan Hammond, Ronan Harris, James Huber, Daniel Kingcox, George Manklow, Max Marroni, 

Zach Mason, Matthew Pettit, Abhishek Roy, Gregoire Saul, Anamay Shetty, Adhvik Shetty, Adhitya Srinivasan, 

Sam Thompson, Joseph Unwin, Matthew Walton, Craig Welsh. 

97

PUPIL ACHIEVEMENTS 2013-14 /continued... 

ENGINEERING 

Chris Gaskell and James Carroll were awarded Arkwright Engineering Scholarships by the Institution of Engineering and 

Technology. 

FOOTBALL 

The 1st XI reached the final of the District Cup. 

JUNIOR MASTER CHEF 

Overall Main Course Winner: Pranav Tiwari; Highly Recommended Main Course: Joe Conefrey; Overall Dessert Winner: 

Thomas Bowe; Highly Recommended Dessert: Rebin Reji; Congratulations to all the finalists: Zahin Absar, Harry Bower, 

Angus Clifford, David Eastham, James Eckersly, Sam Gelder, Will Minchom, Jack Murfitt , Adam Riley, Vedant Rungta, 

Dominic Salzedo, Joseph Twigg. 

HOCKEY 

Joshua Dawson represented England Hockey in goal at the Sainsbury’s Schools International Games. 

MFL 

Chris Ellison won the University of London Institute in Paris essay-writing competition. 

LINGUISTICS OLYMPIAD 

Gold: 

George Manklow; Temiloluwa Onilogbo 

Silver: 

Elliot Davies-Taylor, Robin Parkinson, George Potter 

Bronze: Will Croft, Patrick Collins-Price, John Gellerson, Adam Harrison, Edward Pickthall, Krishnan Ram-Prasad, 

Anamay Shetty, Owen Smith, Ronan Smith, Rowan Stennet, Alex Thompson. 

MATHS 

UK MT Team Challenge 

Robert Ackroyd, Saul Manasse, Isaac Mort and James Weir came second in the regional finals of the UK Maths Team Challenge. 

UK MT Challenge – Individual results 

First Year: Saul Manasse was Best in School, Best in Year and gained Distinction in the Junior Olympiad. Isaac Mort qualified 

for the Olympiad. 

Gold: 

Silver: 

Bronze: 

Robert Ackroyd, Nathaniel Archer, Elias Chandisingh, Oliver Davies, Will Duffy, Gregory Fyfe, Aashray Gangalam, 

James Harvey, Andreas Ho, Jake Knowles, Danny Lusardi, Saul Manasse, Caolan McCafferty, Isaac Mort, 

Anubhav Roy, James Weir, Samuel Wood, Xiyue Zhuang. 

Abdalmalek Al-Rifai, Thomas Atherton, Riley Banks, Tommy Branch, Liam Burns, Ben Cadman, Joseph Gornall, 

Mohammad Haq, Patrick Harvey, Tom Little. 

Dominik Aspin, Callam Dooley, Danny He, Ronan Kaighin, Craig Marett, Samarpit Oli, Angus Taylor, Patrick Thomas. 

Second Year 

Adam Hill, John Glass and Harrison Price-Booth were joint Best in Year. 

Gold: 

Jamal Ahmed, Ethan Auty, Dylan Bohm, Charles Bosson, Adam Burkhart, Jack Collingwood, Nathaniel Cooke, 

Edward Creamer, Amos Daw, Edward Eastham, Nathan Farrer, Paul Gellersen, Daniel Gibson, John Glass, 

Henry Higginson, Adam Hill, Matthew Jackson, Ethan Kidd, Daniel Leighton, Ben Mattinson, Samuel McLoughlin, 

Matthew Mitchell, George Neave, Joshua Pollick, Harrison Price-Booth, Samuel Proctor, Jaidan Reeder, William Smith. 

98

Silver: 

Suleman Adam, Oliver Burrow, Yuhwan Choi, Robert Cotton, Daniel Curwen, Nathan Devany, Jared Dutton, 

Will Eagles, Benjamin Eaton, Jack Elvey, Bryce Ferguson, Matthew Field, Seth Fowler, Patrick Francey, 

Lewis Gillin, Aryan Goel, Matthew Hanratty, James Helm, George Hollinrake, George Horsfield, William Howard, 

James Hyde, Henry Jackson, Joseph Kelly-Bird, Callum Kershaw, Joseph Klein, George Marshall, Mark McCafferty, 

Richard Mead, Joshua Melling, James Morgan, Benjamin Norris, Rohan Parekh, Thomas Pyle, Nathan Rillie, 

Jack Robinson, Oscar Ross, Lachlan Rurlander, Jackson Taylor-Smith, Harry Vause, Christopher White, Peter Wild, 

Patrick Wilkinson, Joseph Wills. 

Bronze: Guy Atherton, Harry Beadell, Callum Bell, Francis Branford, Evan Butcher, Jack Chetham, Charles Crozier, 

Abdurrahmaan Desai, Joshua Fowler, Elias Giles, Joseph Green, Daniel Hacking, John Hallam, Muhammad Khan, 

Aaron Leigh, Joseph Lloyd, Gregory McCaragher, Ronan McGrath, Jaeden Page, Adam Palmer, 

Pruthivi Parameshwaran, Raees Patel, Benjamin Peacock, Pinidu Peries, Isaac Peters, Robert Reeder, 

Matthew Ruscillo, Joseph Scotucci, Cameron Weatherburn, Benjamin Whitford-Bartle, Oliver Wilson, 

Benjamin Winterburn. 

MUSIC 

Ben Taylor passed his Grade 8 Keyboard Music exam. 

ORIENTEERING 

The First Year and L6 Teams came second and the Fourth Year Team came third in the British Schools Orienteering 

Championship. 

POETRY COMPETITION WINNERS 

James Huber, Danny Lusardi and Dominic Rastelli-Lewis. 

READING 

Patrick Thomas was named Reader of the Year in the new Accelerated Reader Scheme. 

ROWING 

The J14s reached the semi-finals of the National Schools Regatta. 

RUGBY 

Lancashire Champions: U15; Giggleswick Sevens Champions: U15; Finalists of Warwick Sevens: U15; Finalists of Stonyhurst 

Sevens: U13; Finalists of Bradford Sevens: U12. 

SHORT STORY COMPETITION WINNERS 

Yaseen Ahmad, Ed Lees and Sam McLoughlin. 

SWIMMING 

Josh Thompson broke the championship record for 100m breaststroke by over a second at the English Schools Swimming 

Championships. 

WATER POLO 

Matty Alderson was selected for the Great Britain Talent Trials for water polo and for the North West Region Under 14s. 

99

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100

ENDOWED 1472 

Lancaster Royal 

Grammar School 

Tel: 01524 580 600 

Email: genoffice@lrgs.org.uk 

www.lrgs.org.uk 

Lancaster Royal Grammar School: 

a Company Limited by Guarantee 

Registered in England: 

Company Number 07469330 

Registered Office: Lancaster Royal Grammar School, 

East Road, Lancaster LA1 3EF 

Vol.28 No.5

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