17th October 2014

Dear Lyttelton parents,
What a week it has been in the house… just when I thought things couldn’t get much better they have!
On Monday Ben Payne (L4) and Justin Clegg (U6th) assisted the Rev in the reenactment of the ‘David and Goliath’ story from the Bible in Chapel. Both boys were good sports and were a key part of a very memorable chapel service.

There has been much excitement in the build up to House Song and the boys were confident they had worked hard, but very aware that competition is always tough. Performing second out of the 11 Houses was always going to be tough but the boys were quite superb. Masterfully led by Joe Philips as conductor and the U6th leading the dancing at the front the boys sang very well and received an applause before the end of the performance which was a huge testament in itself.




Having performed second the boys could only sit and watch as others houses performed; the standard from all houses was considered better than ever. As Olivia Safe (adjudicator, professional singer and OB) sat deciding the results I spoke with Joe Philips. We wondered whether we had done enough to win any of the prizes and whether or not Joe should lean in for a kiss if we had won anything. As the results for ‘Best Conductor’ and ‘Best Creative Performance’ went to other houses our confidence of winning anything decreased. Once it was announced that Mary Windsor had finished runners-up we were sure that we hadn’t got anything… then Olivia started to describe the performance of the winning house, point by point. I thought to myself after the first point it could be us; after the third point pupils from other houses started to turn round and look in our direction. Once she said the “jazz hands finish” topped it off, the boys started to cheer and we knew we had won. Joe went to collect the trophy on behalf of the house; he didn’t get a kiss, just a hug and the trophy. The boys were thrilled and quite rightly so. Some U6th even admitted to having a tear in their eye; this just shows how hard the boys have worked this half term, and how much it means to them to be victorious. Mr Bowen describes House Song as ‘the trophy all houses want to win’. It is the first time Lyttelton have won the House Song trophy in more than a decade, possible several decades! Once the boys got back to the house they did their traditional signing of the song for the last time in the day room. Listening from my office, I was just relieved this wasn’t the performance which the boys were judged on. The house song performance can be viewed on the youtube link below. I will speak to the boys about possibly performing it again later in the year for the parents. According to Olivia, the best bits of the Lyttleton performance included the ‘ballet’ dance moves, the falsetto, Ben Payne’s cameo as Mr Blue Sky and Joe Philips’ enthusiastic conducting, so look out for these when you watch the clip online here. 


My thanks to Joe Philips for conducting, Joe Stokes and the U6th for choreography, Billy Draper-Barr and Patrick Dolan for playing the keyboard and guitar respectively and the boys, for all their energy and enthusiasm throughout the term. I would also like to thank Mr Knight for calm encouragement of the boys through the term. Joe Philips has had a fantastic week, having been appointed as a House Monitor on Tuesday. He has demonstrated a great attitude in the House and House Song has given him the opportunity to really shine; he has shown excellent leadership of the boys over recent weeks.

I said to the boys on Thursday morning that they had achieved something special and that they would remember winning House Song for a long time to come. The boys’ thoughts quickly turned to the next House competition which was House Rugby on Thursday. It was great to see more than 80% of the House wearing the house shirts with the rest out supporting. The Junior B team played well to qualify from the group but unfortunately lost in the semi-final. The Junior A team had a tough group and lost narrowly against School House and Elmshurst which meant they didn’t qualify from the group. The Senior B boys played well to qualify top of the group but lost by one try to Lupton in the semi-final. The Senior A boys went into the competition as favourites but the boys knew they would have to perform well to retain the trophy. Having beaten School and Wendron Gordon in the group we played a strong Housman Hall side in the semi-final. The boys played some good rugby and defended well to win the match 10-0 which meant we would play Elmshurst in the final. The boys saved their best rugby for the final and with tries from William Hands, Tom Ford and Harry Ferguson we secured a 15-0 victory to retain the trophy. To do the ‘double’ in the space of 24 hours was a tremendous achievement for the house and is testament to the superb house spirit among the boys. I couldn't be a prouder Housemaster.



The following boys received academic commendations this week; it should also be noted that all boys were commended for winning House Song and the Senior Rugby side for winning House Rugby.
Rahul Bhalla
Jules Gwinnutt
Ben Payne X 4
Joe Hadlington
Matthew Hegarty
Harry Nichols
Harry Symonds
Jack Day
Tom Swift
Joe Symonds
Tom Ford
Jack Weston
Justin Clegg

In Niall Hegarty’s words, ‘It has been a purple week’… What a superb end to a great half-term in Lyttelton. I wish the boys a restful and productive break over the holidays and look forward to seeing them in November.



Gareth George
Lyttelton Housemaster