Wykeham Journal 2019 | Page 52

The End of a Tenure: d av i d y e o m a n s the house-dining system makes for a ‘band of brothers, rather than a bunch of individuals.’ And the role of the Housemaster in all this? Yeomans is characteristically generous. ‘The House was in very good shape. Jon Cooper had done a very good job. The rhythm was set and the transition was smooth.’ However, it is clear that he has brought new energy and practicality to the House. ‘It was moving, exhausting and enlightening to interview new boys. There is no other school that invites boys to meet their prospective housemaster aged 11. When I interviewed prospective candidates, what I was looking for was passion. There had to be the academic foundation but that was not enough. You have a busy timetable throughout the whole year here, and so you want boys to put their hands up to help you with things. That is like real life,’ he states. I ask him how you socialise boys to Win Coll? ‘The House does that,’ he tells me firmly. ‘The boys then energise you, and that’s what you need.’ Any idiosyncrasies? ‘Our rivalry with Trant’s,’ comes the immediate reply. ‘We have the Culver Road Derby, a football match called Herman Pot named after Dick Massen, the famous Trant’s Housemaster.’ The actual It’s circular. The boys influence the environment in the House and the House influences the way the boys interact with each other... 46  The Wykeham Journal 2019 silverware is only a couple of years old, though. ‘Before that it was a virtual pot,’ says David. Trant’s also take on Phil’s in other ways. ‘A corps boot went through one of our windows once — a three-man catapult from Trant’s boys in their garden. Highly effective,’ he says, smiling. Croquet too is a passion. ‘Phil’s might be best known for that,’ he says. David and his wife Charlotte stepped down from the House in 2019, after twelve years in post. I ask him about why he thinks Phil’s is so special. ‘It’s circular. The boys influence the environment in the House and the House influences the way the boys interact with each other. We all play a part here — the Housemaster, the Tutors, the staff, the boys, and the architecture of the House.’ I ask him what he would change if he were Dan Pounds, the new Housemaster, with his wife Abi. ‘I can’t think of anything I would change.’ With that, we are off on a whirlwind tour of the House and to chat with the current sixth form. An image of the Duracell bunny pops silently into my head as I follow him off at pace.