It Is the Responsibility of Any Person Playing for the Club in Any Sport to Have in Place Adequate Public Liability Insurance Cover.”
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CONTENTS Club Notes 2 - Cross Country 18 Peter Currie 4 OS Golfing Society 19 New members 6 School reports: Obituary 7 - Cricket 24 Managers 7 - Rugby 26 Pilgrims reports: - Hockey 31 - Cricket 7 Club administration: - Rugby 12 - Accounts 33 - Hockey 14 - Committee 2014 34 - Soccer 16 - Club colours 34 - Squash 17 - Officers 1923-2014 35 - Tennis 18 - Rules 36 *** A REMINDER OF RULE 4 *** “It is the responsibility of any person playing for the Club in any sport to have in place adequate public liability insurance cover.” 1 CLUB NOTES The usual way to approach the Chapel would be via the far corner of the Courts from the main School entrance. The crunch of gravel and tap of leather on stone corridor would generate noise in crescendo, and then there would be another sound. Of boys walking up wide stairs, their voices echoing all the more off the sandstone walls. That addendum to the Chapel came after the First World War and the reason for its coming into being is obvious as soon as you turn the corner from the cloistered corridor. Name upon name of OS taken before their time carved boldly into the stone, now also with the book of the services old boy dead from two global conflicts and scattered others besides at the top of the stairs before you enter the Chapel itself. It is now nearly 100 years since the Great War began, shattering lives across the Continent. The Pilgrims were not yet in existence when events in Sarajevo in the summer of 1914 swiftly precipitated war on such a colossal scale; that inauguration would come in the following decade. But of course there were OS sports teams before 1923 – and OS sportsmen, many of whom fought for the Allied cause. I recently paused on the collection of School rugby and cricket photographs assembled by Rachel Hassall, the impressively diligent School archivist, on the OSS website. Look there at the 1914 XI: Max Westlake leading the side, who would fight in the war and survive it to become a long-time master at Sherborne and housemaster of Abbey House. There too Alec Waugh, who would also serve in the Army and come out the other side as a successful writer, albeit not without controversy. Not all, of course, did come back. Look now at the 1913 XV. Westlake is there again, but out of the 15 boys staring at the camera, seven would perish on behalf of King and Country. It was a successful side, too, with away victories over Dulwich and Llandovery in particular to savour. The next time G.M. Carey prepared a rugby side, the country was at war, and he had to contend with a season of three captains, as military call-ups had an impact on the School. The reason for having this and much else about the events of a century ago is largely down to reading Patrick Francis’s comprehensive and stylish new book, Vivat Shirburnia. Available via the School, Patrick has meticulously and with no little enterprise drawn together a range of threads encompassing the war and the School. It was a delight to proofread it in advance of publication and I learnt much. I commend it both to Club members and anyone with an interest in public schools of that time, it is not so narrow in focus that only those “who of Sherborne know” can enjoy it. 2 Sportsmen these days do not have to contend so much with the threat of war hanging over them but they still have battles to win. You can read in the subsequent pages of how the Club has fared over this sporting year but what I always derive great heart from in helping to prepare the reports for publication here is the obvious pleasure taken from the close contest and the renewal of old acquaintances and rivalries. The two-day match that the cricketers played against the Hampshire Hogs last July, for example, showed so much of that sheer enjoyment – without forgetting a competitive streak. The outstanding OS sporting achievement was surely, though, the lesser-publicised Wimbledon triumph. Never mind Andy Murray and 77 years of waiting, victory for Sherborne in the annual alumni race on Wimbledon Common in December for the first time was a tremendous effort after two decades of coming close. Many congratulations to the team and in particular recognition for Angus Cater, who I think has run in most, if not all, of those 20 years of entering, and whose unflagging determination must surely have been inspirational in coaxing his younger team- mates to this moment of glory. A runner at a more elevated level and one of Sherborne’s most celebrated sporting products, Chris Chataway, died earlier this year. It will be hard to think that another OS might emulate his achievement in being the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year, as Chataway was in its first year, in 1954. Remarkably, Chataway did not win a race until he was 16; perhaps gradually those Lenthay runs built him up – I’d like to think so. When I joined the School, I had thought the naming of the Chataway debating society was some ancient and not especially witty joke – given the range of Chris’s achievements during and after his days at Sherborne, I know rather better now. It will also be hard to think of many men more devoted to OS and OS sport than Peter Currie, who has also passed away recently. Richard Hardie, himself no mean sportsman, has paid a generous and thoughtful tribute to Peter that you can read following these notes. My memories of Peter are of a man full of enthusiasm and vitality, even in old age. His work for the OSGS in particular was immense and OS of many vintages will have mourned his passing. The School reports give you a flavour of how the Pilgrims talent of tomorrow is progressing (and it is particularly instructive to read David Muckalt’s comprehensive rugby assessment, not least in how he feels the culture needs to change if Sherborne is to be a genuine force on the circuit) but also to be noted is the final season of service for a man who has dealt with so much of the talent of yesterday. Mike Davis has finally called it a day as a rugby coach – I am still not completely sure I believe this, given his dedication to the sport and to the School going back to 3 the early Seventies – I have written about Mike before and have the highest regard for him; grand slam-winning coach he may have been with England (1980, remember that team?), but his work at schoolboy level has been a far greater and more long-lasting legacy to the game he has loved ever since rampaging up and down pitches as a youthful forward more than half a century ago. One of my favourite “obiter dicta” that appeared in the Shirburnian was AMD’s: “Clichés cut no ice with me”. I have always tried to avoid them, Mike. Like the plague. The Cricketer Cup side begin their 2014 campaign on the Upper against Old Brightonians on Sunday June 15 and will welcome all supporters in Sherborne that day. The date of the Club’s AGM is Saturday October 4th in the Westcott Room at Sherborne at 12.15pm. The XV will be playing Marlborough that day – please do come along if you can. My thanks as ever go to Charles Eglington for his work in helping me to produce this booklet. Robert Hands May 2014 PETER CURRIE The sadness of Peter Currie’s death has been mitigated for me by two great honours: invitations to speak at his memorial service in the Abbey, and to write in these pages about his contribution to Sherborne’s sport. I would have first met Peter in the early 1950s at Canford but I confess I don’t remember it. My father was Headmaster and captained the Dorset county hockey XI, playing full-back (as he had for Wales) with Peter on the right wing, his position for Oxford and Scotland. Our next encounter was in the Junior Colts at Sherborne. I have a vivid memory of Peter racing down the right touchline, brandishing in one hand an almost straight, ancient hockey stick, shouting instructions in stentorian tones while struggling to find with his other hand the whistle flapping uselessly out of reach behind his back. Peter Dixon recalls that hockey became the third major sport at Sherborne in 1950, energetically promoted by Micky Walford and Peter Currie. He says that Peter taught him the key skill of stopping the ball as it bobbled towards him through the mud churned up by the inter-house rugby matches in the previous weeks. It still held that junior and grass-free status in my time a decade later, but it didn’t stop Peter from encouraging me and so many other OS from developing a lifelong love of the game. Bill Ellison, an OS who went on to play hockey for his county and the Combined Services, retained throughout his hockey career “the Peter Currie maxim: if you don’t get the ball, get the man”. Knowing Peter, this surely couldn’t have been 4 the basis of Sherborne’s early reputation for a particularly physical style of play. Or could it? My affection and respect for Peter began when I moved from Westcott to The Digby on its opening in 1964. He was deeply and sincerely interested in every boy’s progress, and believed that he was there to help us all fulfil our potential.