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.