No. 140 The Trusty Servant a single game all summer. Whilst there was disappointment in losing two Cup semi-finals to KES this term, Lords did well in reaching the last 16 of the National T20 Cup and the quarter finals of the National U17 Plate competition. We’ re hoping some silverware will be secured in 2026.
The sailing team has had an excellent summer season. Not only have victories been chalked up in the interschool fixtures against Bryanston, Milton Abbey, Sherborne and KES Southampton but the squad has been a major force in the area championships, and came 1st in the BSDRA Western Championships.
The tennis squad has shown an abundance of team spirit alongside moments of individual brilliance. Coming to the end of his Win Coll tennis career, Harry Latimer( Coll, 20-25) has captained the senior boys’ squad with incredible skill, both in organisation behind the scenes and in motivation and leadership on the court. A highlight of the season was securing a 9-0 victory against a strong Radley side, where playing as a team, in pairs, rather than as individuals made the difference. The girls’ team, now more established, has flourished and entertained in equal measure under the resilient and reliable leadership of Erica Wettern( A, 24-). The MP year group never looked back after an early defeat to Charterhouse, comfortably winning their remaining fixtures led by the first pair of Barton Li( Coll, 24-) and Mathieu Lassalvy( I, 24-), while a close but welldeserved victory against Eton was one of the many memorable fixtures for the promising group of JP players.
This has been another excellent season of athletics across the age groups with a couple of school records broken. The club has never been out of the top two in any of the events this term and there were notable wins for the Junior Boys at Canford and our home meet; the Inter boys won at Dauntsey’ s and Canford and the Senior Boys took 1st place at Marlborough. Twelve athletes competed at the County Championships with Emmanuel Oyedele( K, 24-) Sam Wang( H, 24-), Osamede Aighe( G, 23-), Jayden Orji( C, 22-) and Felix Coleman( E, 22-) all representing Hampshire at the South East Inter- Counties championships. Emmanuel and Osamede won the Hampshire Combined Events Championships and will represent Hampshire at the SE Champs this weekend. Both these boys were selected to compete for Hampshire at the English Schools Athletics Championships in Birmingham – a superb achievement.
The Boat Club had a busy Cloister Time with training and competing. There were successes at the start of term at the Bristol Avon Regatta with wins for the J14 and J15 coxed fours as well as the 1st VIII. Windy conditions made things difficult at the National Schools Regatta in Nottingham just before Leave-Out, but with the majority of our boats reaching B finals and racing solidly it set things up for the final stretch of the season. There was a good showing at Thames Valley Park Regatta from the juniors and Yasser Adhair( F, 20-25) finished his Boat Club career with an excellent win in the single sculls.
Perhaps insufficient fanfare has been made of the fact that Winchester has had its first ever female Captain of Boats, Martha Morrow( E, 23-25). Martha had never picked up an oar before her arrival at the school, yet a year later was the obvious choice to lead the club. She finished her school career by qualifying for Women’ s Henley; we hope to hear more of her in the years to come.
Salve
Chaplaincy After some lean years( in numbers rather than in quality), Chapel is now served by three ordained ministers. We are delighted to welcome The Reverend Dr Ben Sargent as the new Dean of Chapel, following his twelve years serving as a vicar in the New Forest. Ben read Theology at Oxford and remains active in research and publication in the areas of early Christianity and the theory of interpretation. He is joined by Reverend David Reid( I, 91-96; CoRo, 25-) who is the new College Chaplain, but not, as late-twentieth-century Hopperites will know, new to Winchester. He has over fifteen years of ordained ministry, mostly in a church in Oxford, but most recently as a chaplain at Cranleigh School.
In addition Serenhedd James( CoRo, 25-) continues to be the Polyfilla of the College, by taking over the role of Lay Chaplain, recently vacated by Andy Sparkes( CoRo, 15-25; see TS 139 for Vale).
Moberly Library Those of us who haunt Mob Lib( see leading article) are thrilled that Dr James Willoughby has been appointed its new librarian, joining us after spending eight years living in Brazil with his family. James was a medievalist at Oxford for twenty years, and Research Fellow in Medieval History at New College. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and was elected earlier this year to the Comité international de paléographie latine. His research interests are in intellectual history and the transmission of texts, with a particular interest in medieval books and libraries. We feel very lucky to have lured him back across the Atlantic.
We also welcome Katherine Cole, Housedon-in-waiting for the first girls’ boarding house( currently known as St Cross – we eagerly await its nickname) and German don, Rupert Fitzsimmons as Head of History, Ben Canham as Head of Geography, two new Economics dons, Robert Norman and George Bowman, Edward Chan, to teach Classics, and Fleur Smith, who has joined the English department.
We hope they will all be very happy here.
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