Abingdonian 2020

87 www.abingdon.org.uk House Reports It was not a vintage year for house debating and I don’t think we won a single debate in any year group. As I said to the house – I’m confident that if we ever start planning our speeches then victory is assured. Usually at this stage I would talk about all of the wonderful sporting and cultural events that occurred during the Lent and Summer Terms, alas the former was curtailed by social distancing and the latter by the national lockdown. However, there are other things to talk about – the house spirit during lockdown was immense, and everyone did some great things. Many in the house threw themselves into some lockdown challenges that I’d set over Easter – the vast array of highly calorific dishes cooked was particularly appealing. Mrs Middleton even knitted a house scarf for her sloth and translated the house motto into Russian! Benjamin Broadbent on the other hand spent the whole of his Easter making PPE for the NHS. Many in the house kept going with their Other Half activities by whatever means necessary. Alexander Fleming garnered praise for his excellent gardening photos, Rory Kind for his devotion to first orchestra, Joe Nicholas, Philip Kimber, and Francesco Bartolini for keeping bellringing going to the bitter end, and Alexey Soloviev, Aidan Coster and Alexander Davies for giving spirited defences of absolute monarchy, fascism and the crusades respectively! Alexander Lees proved to be the busiest in the house during lockdown. He managed to get 24 commendations in the Summer Term and four Other Half Praises. During this time he also managed to make a film and enter various art competitions! Well done. Lockdown sports day was an interesting affair. Under this system all results were self-reported. I saw this as a great opportunity... surely this would be the end of mid-table obscurity? All we had to do was self-report some good times. Well, the third year (our most sporting year group) managed to self-report themselves into seventh place, and the fourth year into fifth place – the epitome of mid-table obscurity. Many of the fifth years took the opportunity the Summer Term afforded to enter into the new extension project competition. There were some fabulous projects and three of them ended up winning prizes: Ross Tselos for his project on prime numbers, Edward Saunders for his project on communicable disease, and Tom Henderson for his video on water security. The winner of the annual house commendation competition this year was Philip Kimber who managed to get an incredible 89 commendations! Alexey Soloviev came a close(ish) second with 69. Honourable mentions to Marc Sheriff (36) who got the most in the fourth year and Will Taylor (26) who got the most in the Lower Sixth. Jai Biswas Gladwin got the most Other Half Praises over the year (10) and therefore got the coveted title of ‘Mr Other Half.’ After rigorous statistical analysis, the prizes for the best reports in the house went to Philip Kimber (third year), Geordie Anderson (fourth year) and Will Taylor (Lower Sixth), and the prizes for the most improved reports went to Ruairi Tilley (third year), Will D’Arcy (fourth year) and Patrick Hannon (Lower Sixth). Lockdown was very difficult for lots of people, but I was incredibly proud of every single member of the house during the Summer Term. A lot of people did good things and channelled the spirit of Aristotle. On the back of this I can personally guarantee every single member of the house a place in heaven... Finally, my deepest thanks go to all the tutors and to Matthew Buhler and Arthur Boulton who were heads of house. They were always willing to attend induction days and house events and were very enthusiastic leaders of the house. Richard Pygott