Abingdonian 2017

98 The Abingdonian It has been an extremely busy and enjoyable year in O’Doherty’s House and the variety of activities and trips the boys have been involved in during the course of the year and how willing they have been to get stuck into house competitions have never ceased to amaze me. We have had some notable successes in the sports competitions and were overall winners in the tennis, badminton and U18 ergo. In the Road Relay our Lower Sixth team were overall fastest team, our fourth years were the fastest in their year group and Mr Taylor was crowned fastest member of staff. Our debating teams were especially strong, with the fifth year progressing to the final. Their dedication to the research and planning was impressive and they dealt with some pretty harsh questioning by teachers in some of the later rounds. Boys have also been busy with CCF, drama, music, filmmaking and many other endeavours, too many to mention here! The highlight has to be winning the House Singing Competition though, something Charlie Landells sums up perfectly here: “As a year group, we had been planning our song for years. Hooked on a feeling by Blue Swede, chosen after seeing Guardians of the galaxy , was sure to be our winning ticket. By some mistake the responsibility fell on my shoulders to stand up in front of 80 boys, at least half of whom couldn’t think of anything worse than singing, and convince them that the hours of rehearsals really would be worth it, and it was just another thing we had to get done. But really, we sixth formers had a far larger agenda - win back that trophy again before we left for good. We pulled out all the stops: flowery shirts, a huge band, and even some minor choreography. The competition was fierce, but we kept it simple and stuck to what we knew. Now you can probably see where this is leading. As first place was announced, I think an air of disbelief and excitement ran over everyone in about half a second. House Singing truly was a pleasure to organise and conduct. The band was superb, made up of extremely talented musicians and directed by Edward Hall on piano. The choir, or “mob” as I referred to them, really got behind it and frankly, I think we actually had some fun in the process. I wish all the best of luck to those sixth formers whom we pass the baton onto for next year, and I hope to see that trophy still happily sitting where it should be in many years’ time.” Alongside all the personal successes, O’Doherty’s