Abingdonian 2017

77 www.abingdon.org.uk Summer Term play an active role in society. In light of recent events both in the UK, and around the world, I think it’s paramount that we realise that it is us who have to take action to engender change, and use what we have learnt here for a need greater than our own. The theme of today seems to be to give advice. Now I won’t impart any of my own valuable wisdom, but rather I take the advice of my housemaster, Mr James, who told his house that if you ever run out of words yourself, to copy somebody else’s. So in the spirit of Mr James’ sound wisdom, I’d like to point you in the direction of the guidance Sir James Cobban left to Abingdonians in a manual called ‘How to do it’. This is object 56 out of the School’s 63 objects. I’m sure you have all come across this when you’ve been browsing through the School’s archives, but in the unlikely instance that you haven’t already, then I’d suggest you find it and give it a read. Sir Cobban offers us help on how to make Wedding Day speeches, which according to the Yearbook Polls may only be right around the corner for some of us. I won’t name any names. He also imparts crucial wisdom on ‘How to get what you want’ and there’s a section towards the end called ‘advice on drinking’ which I’m sure will be very useful indeed for some of us, especially with the Griffen Ball next week. So with that in mind, I hope you all have a fantastic summer. I wish you all the best of luck in the future and I look forward to seeing which Yearbook predictions turn out to be true. Thank you. George Jeffreys, VIIM Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen, Well, this is the end for us. The life expectancy in the UK is 80, so I’m afraid gentlemen we’ve already had a quarter of it. I’ll let that sink in. A quarter of our lives spent trying to build up our school tie collection, and registering with tutors. We tend to think of school as a preparation for life, but I don’t think this quite does justice to the last decade and a half we have spent in full-time education. We mustn’t forget that school is a significant part of life in and of itself. Maybe one of the easy times of life, after all. At the end of the day, food is provided for you, and despite what we may have said on our personal statements, the bell eliminates the need for time- management. School has protected us from the real world, in short. In 2012, whilst the armies of the Arab Spring were being raised to fight for democracy, we third years were busy avoiding conscription in to the CCF by learning to touch type or talk to the elderly. Whilst bankrupt Greece became the unwilling prey of marauding European nations, we were similarly the unwilling prey of ospreys in our GCSE English Language exam. In 2015, the UK was debating the legality of same-sex marriage, and after our painfully awkward general studies sessions at St Helen’s we followed this debate with keen interest, thinking it didn’t sound like such a bad thing. And whilst America made an *interesting* electoral choice, Southwell-Sander’s was similarly robbed in an interesting House Singing competition result. That’s not to say we haven’t experienced change - there’s the Science Centre, and the many incredible teachers we’ve had George Jeffreys