TITLE HERE 1 THE SALOPIAN Issue No. 158 - Summer 2016 ith the shock waves of the recent decision to leave the EU still CONTENTS Wreverberating around the world, rarely has the Shrewsbury bubble seemed so disconcertingly seductive. But of course the bubble Academic News 4 is, and should be, an illusion, and it is perhaps more important than School Prizewinners 2016 7 ever for Shrewsbury’s pupils to be aware of what is going on outside the Scholarships 8 McEachran Prize 2016 8 bubble, so that their entry into a world which looks very different from Walking towards a Better Future 10 that into which, speaking for myself, I graduated in the late 1970s does Head of School 10 not come as too much of a shock. Jim Kennedy - obituary 11 Michael Schützer-Weissmann 12 That the rough seas of the wider world lap, or perhaps crash, against Ingsoc and Stalin 14 Our World is Beautiful 16 Shrewsbury’s walls, and that the chronic geopolitical instability we see The Pupil Voice 17 not only in Europe, but around the world, are not new phenomena, is Old Salopians in WWI - 1916 18 obvious, but we are sharply reminded of it in this issue by the centenary Ten Trees 20 article on 1916 and the Battle of the Somme in which many Salopians Art at Shrewsbury 26 lost their lives at a time when it must have seemed that Europe was Drama 28 Music 30 irreparably fractured. It is important for us all, whatever our political Miles Clark Travel Scholarship 32 persuasion, to keep such memories alive, for many reasons, but not least Rovers Return 35 to provide us with some perspective on the challenges which face us in RSSH 36 our own time. Rugby 40 Fives 42 RSSBC 45 Shrewsbury pupils had no choice but to engage with the wider world Commemorating 150 years of RSSBC 46 in the 1914-1918 war, if not directly, certainly in the sense of being Lacrosse 50 aware of what was happening to their families, former schoolmates and Netball 51 teachers. Within this issue will be seen a very different way in which Squash 51 pupils are increasingly recognising that we are an indivisible part of the Fencing 52 Basketball 53 wider world, a world which does not always look so pleasant as the From the Director 54 Shrewsbury Arcadia depicted on the front cover. Salopian Club Events 55 Salopian Arts 57 In September the quinquennial sponsored walk in support of the ‘The News of Old Salopians 58 Shewsy’ will take place, this year’s target £70,000, a sum which will The British Gurkhas 64 Sabrina 66 provide vital support to this wholly admirable institution in one of the Old Salopian Golfing Society 68 most deprived areas in Europe. Through numerous other fundraising Old Salopian Hunt 72 activities in support of a whole variety of charities, the School Old Salopian Football Club 74 community has in 2015-16 raised £56,000, an increase of £18,000 on the Saracens 75 previous year’s total of £38,000. Thanks to the inspirational leadership Old Salopian Women’s Sport 77 of Lesley Drew there is now a culture of fundraising within the School Old Salopian Rugby 78 Old Salopian Yacht Club 78 and a real sense amongst an increasing number of pupils that privilege Old Salopian Squash 79 should go hand-in-hand with social responsibility. Publications 80 Obituaries 82 The centre pages of this issue feature an article on those ‘unresting Editor castles’ of the School Site, its magnificent trees. Retiring head of biology Richard Hudson Andrew Allott has selected ten of the most significant and provided them Churchill’s Hall, Shrewsbury School, Shrewsbury SY3 7AT with pithy biographies. Apart from one millennial addition, they have 01743 280630 [email protected] all witnessed and survived the turbulence of the 20th century, and one Assistant Editor Annabel Warburg fervently hopes that many of them may live to see this present century Obituaries Editor out, and perhaps even the century after that. There’s surely a message Martin Knox for all of us in their ability to, in Larkin’s immortal words, ‘begin afresh, Salopian Club Nick Jenkins (Director) afresh, afresh.’ Salopian Club, The Schools, Shrewsbury SY3 7BA 01743 280891 (Director) 01743 280892 (Administrator) Front Cover: ‘Begin afresh, afresh, afresh’. mail to: [email protected] Design: Tom Sullivan www.grand-design.eu Inside Front cover: Reeling Society Summer Ceilidh Print: www.lavenhampress.com 4 SCHOOL NEWS Academic News The following pre-A Level candidates have been offered conditional places: Sasha Arridge (Rb) Philosophy, Politics and Economics at St Anne’s College, Oxford Chloe Chen (MSH) Maths at Jesus College, Cambridge James Chen (I) Law at St John’s College, Cambridge Joe Davies (M) Biological Sciences at Magdalen College, Oxford Thomas Dodd (Rb) Physics at Hertford College, Oxford *Ursule Taujanskaite (MSH) Psychological and Behavioural Sciences at Selwyn College, Cambridge Tiger Vechamamontien (M) Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford The following pupils applied post-A Pictured with the Headmaster are six of the successful Pre-A Level Oxbridge applicants. L-R: Sasha Arridge, Tom Dodd, Tiger Vechamamontien, Joe Davies, Ursule Taujanskaite and Chloe Chen Level and have been given firm offers: Alex Bird (S) Oxbridge Land Economy at St Catharine’s It has been another successful year for applications to Oxford and Cambridge College, Cambridge Universities, with a total of 13 Salopians being offered places – nine at Oxford and Olivia Bradley (EDH) four at Cambridge – in a range of different disciplines. There was an interesting English at Christ Church, Oxford balance between traditional academic subjects such as Mathematics and English Theodora Briggs (EDH) Literature and more specialised courses such as Psychological and Behavioural English at Somerville College, Oxford Sciences, Law and Land Economy. We feel this shows that our strongest pupils can Charles Gillow (Ch) not only prove their expertise in the subjects they study at Shrewsbury, but that Human Sciences at St Hugh’s College, they can also demonstrate their aptitude for new academic courses. Oxford It is also interesting to see the link between ‘supercurricular’ activities and Oxbridge Cecily Price (EDH) applications. This year’s successful applicants have been stalwarts of Shrewsbury Biological Sciences at Pembroke societies, such as Creative Writing, Darwin, Heseltine and Model United Nations, College, Oxford and have taken part in competitions such as the International Young Physicists’ Theo Simmons (Ch) Tournament and the Senior Maths Team Challenge. English at St John’s College, Oxford Pre- and post-A level applicants were finely balanced this year. Seven applicants *Ursule Taujanskaite has also been awarded have received offers conditional on achieving high A level grades, while six post a Choral Scholarship to Selwyn College, A-level applicants have received firm offers of places. Cambridge International physics magazine publishes Shrewsbury Sixth Former’s scientific paper Sherry Xu (MSH UVI) has achieved the notable distinction of having a scientific paper accepted for publication in an international peer-reviewed physics magazine. Last summer, she was a member of the Shrewsbury School team that represented the UK in the International Young Physicists’ Tournament in Thailand, where they won a bronze medal. One of the projects she worked on and presented involved the physics of a model hovercraft. After the competition, she continued to refine her research and submitted a paper describing the behaviour of a model hovercraft powered by a party balloon to the International Young Physicists’ Journal. It will be published in the next edition Sherry with fellow IYPT 2015 team members Dom Dootson, Rory Champion and Tom Dodd SCHOOL NEWS 5 British Biology Olympiad Biology Challenge Four Sixth Form Biology students entered the British Biology Olympiad this year Thirteen Fourth and Fifth Form pupils and all of them won awards. Olivia Papaioannou (EDH) and Tom Edwards (S) volunteered to take part in the Royal were among the 6.6% of students who won Gold medals. Olivia’s particularly high Society of Biology’s ‘Biology Challenge’, score meant that she was one of a very small group who qualified for the next an Olympiad-style competition for year round of selection for the British Biology Olympiad team, which will take part in 9 and 10 pupils. Many of them won the International Olympiad during the summer. She is only the second Salopian to awards: achieve this. Will Hope (Ch) won a Gold medal Joe Davies (M) won a Bronze medal and Tom Cheung (SH) was Commended. Anna Cowan (MSH) and Otto Rothwell- Hurley (Ch) won Silver medals George Clowes (O) and Levi Reich (O) won Bronze medals Edward Evans (PH), Ben Hulme (PH) and Oscar Mitchell (S) were Highly Commended Mollie Matthews (EDH) and Olivia Moir (MSH) were Commended RSC Chemistry Schools’ Quiz Competition A team of Fourth and Fifth Form chemists won through to the final of the RSC Chemistry Schools’ Quiz Competition, which was held at Birmingham University in March. Nearly 50 schools from across the Midlands region entered the competition; just eight made it through to the final. After Tom Edwards and Olivia Papaioannou twelve rounds of stiff questioning, during which Fifth Formers Boris Chemistry Olympiad Kwok (Ch) and Henry Mayhew (Ch) and Fourth Formers Adam Pattenden Thirteen students from the Lower Sixth and four students from the Upper Sixth (S) and Otto Rothwell-Hurley (Ch) took part in Round 1 of the International Chemistry Olympiad this year. performed extremely well in a closely- Gold Medals were awarded to: William Bedson (Rb LVI), Edward Chapman (Rb fought battle, they finished just outside LVI), Tom Dodd (Rb UVI), Joshua Himsworth (Ch LVI) the top three teams.