Abingdonian 2018

84 The Abingdonian Our Head of House for the year was Joshua McDermott, supported by deputies George Newton and Charlie Craig. Alex Ainslie, Rory Buchanan, Harry Donoghue and Samuel Fenton were the house prefects. They were a remarkably pleasant and friendly group, and ensured that a pleasant atmosphere prevailed from the top. The first event in the calendar was the House Singing Competition. We were led by Rory Buchanan, with Didier Delgorge providing expert piano accompaniment once again. Abba, iconic, fantastic and indeed chiastic, tempted us to Take a Chance on them, and we did. We were both enthusiastic and musical, and gave an excellent performance which the judge somehow missed. I hope he does better next time. Then came the first inter-house sports competition. In chess, our fine team of Seb Watkins, Louis Brosnan and Alister Jamieson competed extremely well, and achieved a fine third place. George Tanner, James Moore and William Quirke came a strong second in the U18 table tennis. Joshua McDermott came second in the U18 badminton. Max Hems, Matthew Hoult, Euan Baldwin and Lawrence Putt came second in the U15 swimming, which was particularly impressive because we were missing our best swimmer in the school, Nicholas Skelton, who was at a national competition! This would certainly have been a first place, so we were really champions. The Road Relay did not take place, for once, as Park Crescent was being dug up. This was frustrating because we have most of the best runners in the school. We look forward to sparkling in this event next year. The second house sporting competition went particularly well for Franklin’s: Euan Baldwin, Lawrence Putt, Lancelot Wilson, Hamish Hardy, Josh Sperrin and Owen Henney competed hard to come third in the water polo. Matty Ball and Alister Jamieson came second in the U16 badminton, and with Oliver Elly, Rohan Gathani, Ashwin Tennant and Jamie Robson also doing well in the U15s, we came third overall. Huba Varady, Rahul Ghandinesen and Kiran Gathani were brilliant in the table tennis and were champions in the U16 competition. Matthew Hoult, Lachlan Jones, Samuel King and Daniel Woodrow were again unbeatable on the ergo and won their competition. Then the day was crowned by the U14 football: Freddie Coode, Sebastian McAllan, Eddie Good, Jay Patel, Dominic Wood and Lucas Marsh were quite brilliant, and they won their competition in great style to take the trophy. The house athletics competition is always a highlight of the summer, and it brought some fine Franklin’s performances. Third places were won by Sam Hayes- Newington in the discus; Cosmo Gooch, Lucas Marsh, Luis Vasconcelos and Harry Watkins in the relay; and Matthew Hoult in the shot. Second places went to Jack Tilley in the high jump, Conrad Smith in the long jump, Oscar Frost in the 200m, Jamie Chick in the 400, and Oscar Frost again in the long jump. Winners of their events were Luis Vasconcelos in the 1500m, Harry Watkins in the high jump, Dominic Wood in the long jump, Nicholas Skelton in the 1500m, and Jamie Chick in the long jump. It was a highly successful day for us as well as a very enjoyable whole- school event. The final sporting competition of the year ended the Summer Term. Oscar Frost and Louis Brosnan tried their hand at golf and did well to come fourth against top opposition. Marcus Williams and William Quirke competed well to win third in the croquet. The triumph of the day, however, was undoubtedly on the river. Matthew Hoult, Daniel Woodrow, Samuel King and Sam Hayes-Newington, coxed by Conrad Smith, were again oarsome to win the competition in great style. Lachlan Jones was commended for brilliant house spirit here because he would certainly have been a winner too, but graciously agreed to stand down to let the others row. There were many individual Franklin’s achievements in the year. Edward Scott- Payne continued his brilliant progress as a GB fencer. Nicholas Skelton set more records and proved himself a national standard swimmer. Alasdair Czaplewski led the MUN at a national level, and Louis Brosnan continued to impress on a big stage with his suavely incisive debating. Joshua McDermott was a fine first team badminton player, and George Newton was a mainstay of the 1st XV. Jimmy Strainge continued to be a leading rugby player in his year group, as he was in tennis. Huba Varady, Kiran Gathani, Rohan Gathani and Alister Jamieson all made great contributions to school tennis, and Seb Watkins was a key member of the school chess team. Franklin’s House