Abingdonian 2020

74 The Abingdonian School House Despite the year in school being curtailed in March, there were the usual high levels of participation in the inter-house events and huge numbers of outstanding performances from individuals in many different areas. Alvin Tam, Jacob de Jongh and Alex Glover were not only hugely talented musicians across a number of orchestras and groups but showed the younger boys how musical and academic successes could be combined to great success. A large number of younger musicians will hope to follow in their footsteps in the years to come on both string and wind instruments. Despite our rendition of Coldplay’s Viva la Vida being very well rehearsed and catching the enthusiasm of the whole house, it was a disappointment to only follow last year’s success in the House Singing Competition with second place. The minor solace that the song was greatly enjoyed by those listening in the Amey Theatre didn’t seem to cut it at the time... The boys who worked so hard to bring such a great performance together deserve a lot of praise, particularly Alvin Tam for his accompaniment on the piano and Alex Glover who skillfully conducted the choir with good humour throughout. The annual AFU screening featured films from three School House pupils; James McRae’s The Great Emu War used shadow puppetry and evoked 1920s-style newsreel footage magnificently; Leon Guan’s The Sun in the Morning was an interview with his grandparents talking about how they had lived through Mao’s Cultural Revolution; whilst the Michael Grigsby Young Filmmaker of the Year Award went to Tristan Mann-Powter’s film A Bitter End about the closure of the Morlands and subsequent birth of the Loose Cannon brewery. The whole house had the chance to see these in a whole house event in the Amey Theatre in November. Hector Chambers was the Upper Sixth’s stand out sportsman, having played first team in three major sports (rugby, football and cricket) for a number of years, as well as the occasional appearance at squash. Daniel Hollis was central to the success of the 1st XI at football whilst he was in the sixth form. Together Daniel and Hector were the foundation for good performances in many house sporting events over the years. Harry Baston-Hall leaves