Centenary Blog 7

The year ended as it had begun with a church service. However, unlike in January when we had celebrated the beginning of our Centenary Year by inviting the school into the College Chapel in three groups over the course of the morning, the December gathering took place with all pupils and teaching staff together in a single service held in Southwark Cathedral. Our January services had focussed on the origins of the school and what the founding fathers had laid down as the school’s purpose. Our December Service enabled us to celebrate the birth of the Christ-Child over two thousand years ago, and how this had changed our lives in the Christian world.  I was forced to ask: was this the first time in the last one hundred years that the Senior and Junior Schools had gathered as one to recognise our common identity with a shared sense of purpose?

Once the travelling logistics had been sorted out – it would not have been possible to organise a chartered train to London Bridge for the return journey, and so coach travel was chosen as the preferred option, with 16 (!) coaches required – and the caterers had agreed to serve lunch from 11am, the event was always likely to be unforgettable. Just over 800 pupils and 100 teachers filled the nave with no room for anyone else in the afternoon, and so an evening service was arranged for the rest of the Eltham Community, OEs, parents and friends, and support staff. The Chaplain and Director of Music masterminded the Services with carols, hymns and readings; the afternoon service used pupils and teaching staff for the readings, while an OE, a Governor and a parent were included in the evening. The charm and innocence of the two Year 3 and Year 4 boys who read the first lesson from Isaiah set the tone for the rest of the service.

The music was splendid as it has been throughout the whole year: Mr Alastair Tighe had selected some excellent carols, including one specially commissioned from Tarik O’Regan for this event. They were all performed by the choirs with the quality we come to expect, and the acoustic of the cathedral, more sympathetic than the College Chapel, enhanced the whole experience. Perhaps the Junior School Choir won the hearts of all present by their performance of “Tell out the News!”. When the congregations were invited to join in with the hymns, the addition of the brass and percussions to the organ left us all overwhelmed by the majesty of “Hark the Herald Angels” and “O Come all ye Faithful”.

The response by the pupils, who all represented the school impeccably throughout the long day, and by those who attended the evening Service, has been incredibly positive. While I doubt that we shall use Southwark again for our annual Carol Service in the near future – but perhaps in another 100 years’ time – everyone who was part of this year’s event will remember the beauty of the setting, the purity of the singing and that sense of community which remains at the heart of Eltham College, certainly for the past one hundred years.

So the Centenary Year draws to a close: one thousand copies of Our Century have enriched the lives of member of the Eltham Community, great success has been achieved by pupils and celebrated in music, art and sport. Lord Puttnam reminded us of “Liddellism” and Eric’s daughter helped us focus on doing the right thing; the Olympics came back to London and we were able to be part of this amazing event in many different ways. The PTA have worked tremendously hard to organise social events that are centred on the school’s history, while our link with Kisasa School in Tanzania will grow through future Old Elthamians. The strength of any good team depends so much on the team players, and this year has shown us all how important the team ethic can be and how we should celebrate this. And so on to the next century……..  

PJ Henderson

The PTA Centenary Ball was a triumph for Julie Slatter and her team of organisers. The evening ran well from the R n B band accompanying the Champagne Reception to the 15 piece Dance Band at the end. The marquee looked particularly classy with its table decorations based around black feathers, and the meal was excellently prepared and presented by The Vine. The PTA should be congratulated on a fine evening and will have raised considerable funds through the Raffle and the Silent Auction.

The following weekend included Sports Day, the Official Opening of the College Meadow Pavilion and ECCO Pops extravaganza! Centenary events are just like London buses: you wait a month and then three all come at once. But the summer term events had the additional bonus of a special passenger on the buses: Mrs Patricia Liddell Russell. On the same bus ticket as Mrs Russell came two BBC camera crews – BBC “Songs of Praise” wanting to complete a section for the programme going out on 15^th July; they even confessed to having cut a hymn from the programme to fit in the large quantity of material on EHL! BBC Scotland had been the first TV crew to contact us about filming at Eltham, and although their programme (“Eric Liddell, The Champion’s Story”, on 23^rd July in Scotland) is concentrating on the story of EHL after the 1924 Olympics they were determined to have some footage at Eltham where Eric’s character and faith were moulded.

It all looked rather grim at 9am with the rain still coming down and the chances of any athletics taking place seeming rather remote. However, the sun shines on the righteous and by 9.45am we were able to start some races as well as roll the cameras. By the time we reached the end of the usual competitions and introduced events from the 1912 Sports Day (Businessman’s Race and the Go-as-you-please Race), we were more concerned about sunstroke than the rain! Perhaps Mr Mervyn Russell should have had more concerns about his ability to take part in the latter race aged 77+: he returned later in the afternoon from the hospital with his leg in plaster owed to the ruptured Achilles tendon! Back on the track Mrs Headmaster enjoyed the Go-as-you-please Race with dog Murphy acting as her pace-maker! Meanwhile Mrs Russell had handed out the Sports Day prizes, including the paint box, a kite and stylograph pen. She then went on to cut the ribbon to open the College Meadow Pavilion where a board had been placed giving an account of her father’s life at Eltham at the Olympics and in China. She was delighted to meet another OE whose grandfather had been in Tiensin along with EHL. The Olympic football pitch looked like a billiard table lush with fresh grass.

The only real concern for the evening concert was the strength of the wind – would that affect the quality of the sound and would it be safe to launch the fireworks as part of the spectacular finale? In the end all was well with Norman Levy conducting Hot Jazz in their last performance together before the orchestra assembled. The National Anthem, arranged by three Year Nine boys, Joe Beesley, Conor Murphy and Takeo Broadhurst, got the audience of over 1250 to their feet, and we were then taken on a journey through 100 years of film music – Eric Korngold to John Williams, James Bond to Pirates of the Caribbean. The traditional ECCO climax included Jerusalem and Land of Hope and Glory: fireworks lit up the whole of South-East London to the accompaniment of the main theme to Star Wars. An amazing day reached an extraordinary and memorable finale.

Speech Day was an extra special event with two Guests of Honour; in reality we had never been sure that Griff Rhys Jones would actually make it on the night due to his TV filming schedule – and he kept us waiting until 6.32pm before arriving for the normal 6.30pm start! Fortunately Barnaby Lenon OE, recently retired Headmaster of Harrow and now Chairman of the Independent Schools Council, had agreed to come knowing that Griff might or might not make it: all Barnaby insisted on was speaking first if there were going to be two speakers. His memories of his time at Eltham combined with Winston Churchill’s time at Harrow encouraged all those who might not have received a prize to have confidence that having the right motivation would see them succeed at some stage in their lives.  Griff entertained the assembled audience with his nostalgic memories of his time at Brentwood, which included the smell of the polish and seat as well as a humorous version of the school song. I asked the school what EHL would have thought about the school 100 years on and Mrs Russell seemed pleased that we were all trying to avoid making him into an idol, something she had mentioned earlier that day in Chapel – he would have been very upset if he had thought that this would have been his legacy. We all returned home to watch ITV’s “The Real Chariots of Fire” programme with Nigel Havers – rather a lot of Nigel Havers, in truth, but he did carry the show, including 3 minutes at Eltham, with his natural charm!

Every sport had been challenged to organise an event to mark the centenary; in January the hockey team had won the pre-season tournament with considerable confidence, and now it was the turn of the cricketers, hosting the first ever Leslie Gracie 20/20 tournament – I am not sure what Leslie Gracie would have thought about this, but eight Under 16 sides from different schools played enthusiastically in a slightly reduced competition (15 overs a side due to the wet weather) which concluded with Eltham beating Dulwich in the Final. It is now up to the rugby boys to have a straight run of three victories in centenary sports!

I am not sure that the Leavers’ Graduation and Ball necessarily can be deemed a Centenary event, but it will be remembered for two things – most obvious to all was the “impressive” Ferris Wheel outside the Marquee which afforded all those who were brave enough to attempt it a great view of the school’s roof and main driveway past the Plane Tree: one might almost have thought the circus had come to town – but that is planned for next term! The other striking memory I shall hold from the Ball was the number of false eye-lashes on display – I have not seen so many since the 1960s!

P J Henderson

Since we are celebrating our Centenary of being on the Mottingham site, it had seemed obvious to try to attract as much media attention to this fact. Although the BBC say that they do not select venues for Songs of Praise because it is 100 years since this or that event, I had suggested that our links with Eric Liddell and the Olympics, Missionaries and Tanzania, and the quality of our singing added to the attraction of Eltham College being an ideal venue for Songs of Praise before the Olympic period. The deathly silence from the Manchester BBC offices suggested that this was a forlorn idea.

Imagine my surprise when the producer of Songs of Praise called my office asking us to be involved in a recording from The Old Naval Chapel Greenwich, and yes, he was interested in the Eric Liddell connection. After some weeks of further negotiation, which included the debate about who should tell the Eric “story” – our pupils or Gordon Brown? – a film crew was booked to come and spend the afternoon with us trying to capture some of the “story” from the school’s point of view.

The recording of the hymn-singing went well, with our 30 trebles sitting in the front row, although the producer rejected my idea that they should be in shirt sleeves claiming the white shirts would not work in the artificial lighting! He probably saw through my idea to make them very obvious within the Chapel. But it was a great setting and I am sure there will be some close ups of the boys.

On the following day, Dan Walker the presenter of Football Focus who like Eric has stated that he will not work on a Sunday, arrived to shoot the footage that will be attached to the hymns of the previous night – which had nothing to do with EHL as far as I could see! We had lined up Tom Wilson and Tolu Odusanya for the story of Eric from the pupils’ point of view; after a few nervous exchanges in the College Chapel, the conversation began the flow with many comments meeting the approval of the Chaplain who listened out of shot but gave plenty of thumbs up! The various EHL memorabilia on public display (the statue, team photos and missionary boards) were filmed before a recreation of “the race” took place on the running track between Tolu (the sprinter) and Rob Yates (the middle distance man). I am not sure whether the dead heat was contrived or not – but it was filmed twice from different angles.

Finally the film crew wanted random “vox pops” just as the pupils were going home, and three “lucky” volunteers were found to say what Eric meant to them! The whole show will be screened on July 15^th, and we are all intrigued to see what will actually appear in the final cut – I suspect that it will probably only last for about 5 minutes between two hymns.

But this might not be the end of the TV visits. Dan Walker seems to have raised some interest in the producers of the One Show, and hopes to return when Eric’s daughter Patricia is visiting us for Sports Day. BBC Scotland are already booked to be at EC on that day for their programme about the EHL story, concentrating on what Eric did after the Olympics. And finally........ ITV have also commissioned a programme to coincide with the rerelease of Chariots of Fire: Nigel Havers is due to visit us shortly retracing Eric’s steps!     

Gerald Moore: Life, Work and Others

After months of building work and years of planning, the Gerald Moore Gallery is finally a reality. I, as a student, have seen much change in my time: the new Junior School, the Music School, the Triangle, the extension to King George’s Hall and the removal of the Tuck Shop. All of which have had, to some degree, an effect on my life at Eltham College. Will the Gerald Moore Gallery be the same? Well, sadly not. Having only roughly three weeks left of my Eltham College career, this addition will not change things for me greatly, however, if utilised to its full potential, it could have an impact as large as the Eric Liddell Sports Centre.

The opening itself was a rather subdued affair, all things considered. Crowded into the ground floor gallery with its fantastic air conditioning system, we listened to Mr Henderson’s insightful speech on the life and works of a man who appears to be a bit of a maverick, and a short but humorous tribute from the sculptor Michael Sandle. From then on, those in attendance were given the freedom to explore the gallery and admire the artwork on show. With such a wide variety of styles on show, I found it difficult to maintain my train of thought on the separate pieces, constantly being drawn away by the others exhibited. In Mr Moore’s authoritative work I could see echoes of Hieronymous Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights and the dreamlike quality of Salvador Dali’s work. However, it would take someone with the descriptive powers of Waldemar Januszczak to do justice to this eclectic body of work which is presently gracing the walls of the Gerald Moore Gallery.

The two galleries offer entirely different spaces for the art to be viewed, with the dark, almost cramped ground floor gallery and the spacious, very bright first floor gallery. The exhibition accompanied by an audio-guide which provides disarmingly innocent descriptions of these pieces of art by children from the Junior School, a far cry from the analysis offered by Mr Sandle. One Year 3 child had clearly felt the art was secondary to his description, as he amusingly suggested that “you enjoyed his beautiful voice”. Much credit must be given to Ms Goodeve, who has clearly worked extremely hard in creating these audio-guides, to ensure that the opening days of the Gerald Moore Gallery are as memorable as possible.

As a student who won’t be able to truly experience what effect the new gallery will have on the school, I would appeal to all students to explore the new possibilities which both spaces offer. If anything, I imagine this will make the prospect of doing art to GCSE and higher an even more attractive prospect due to the fact that their creations can now be shown in a ‘professional’ environment.

Tom Edwards

What a week that was to start the summer term!

We began with the unveiling of the Junior School Mosaic in the Tuesday afternoon before going to the Centenary Concert in the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the South Bank; and we finished with the OE Girls’ Dinner, celebrating 30 years of girls being in the Sixth Form. Certainly it was a week to remember.

The Mosaic in the Junior School was designed in Workshops for the boys, around the ideas of what has happened over the past 100 years both at school and in British history; using the River Thames as the central focus on which to hang other images of the famous sites of London completed the overall collage. Under the direction of local designer Tamara Froud and Mrs Wrafter, the boys were then instructed in how to attach the tesserae onto a gauze for attaching to the terracotta wall leading down the staircase inside the school into the playground. The overall effect is absolutely stunning, with images of W G Grace, Eric Liddell, George Band and Mervyn Peake clearly recognisable on the inside section; as you move outside the building into the playground, the school’s Plane Tree is accompanied by the symbols of an Eltham Junior School education, with sports, music, chess and fencing all being singled out. It is a most worthy celebration of the last 100 years and one of which the boys should be proud. Let’s hope it stays in place for the next 100!

I shall run out of superlatives remembering the Centenary Concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall! It truly was great celebration of the music-making at the school: with over 120 pupils taking part in Ensembles as varied as the Consort Choir and The Jazz Orchestra. Everyone was at their best, and I was delighted for Mr Alastair Tighe, our Director of Music, and his other staff (especially Mrs Laura Oldfield and Mr Norman Levy) that everything went so well. From the first drum beats of Ives’ Fanfare for the Common Man, through to the last chord of Parry’s Blest Pair of Sirens, there was a genuine feeling of joy at the quality of music being performed. And what an audience! – over 700 seats occupied by parents, friends, grandparents, OEs and their parents – full of admiration for the orchestras and choirs, and clearly enjoying the evening’s entertainment. It was great to see so many old friends, including Tim Johnson, who had been Director of Music for over eight years, all of whom had come back especially  for this evening.

Finally, the week concluded with a gathering over thirty OE Girls with about ten staff to recall the years of co-educational Sixth Form at Eltham College. Perhaps there was a certain irony that it was a girls-only event – since we should be stressing the importance of co-education, but I think that all present had a thoroughly enjoyable evening. It was also difficult to identify correctly why what we were celebrating since the first girl to attend the school (Anne Edwards, then Ricketts) left in 1975 – but she only studied one A level at Eltham while still  at Farrington’s for her other A levels. But who’s counting? I really enjoyed catching up with those OEs who had arrived in my early years, but I sensed that the older former students enjoyed going down memory lane just as much. They even enjoyed trying to find themselves and their friends on the whole school photographs!

P J Henderson

What a great Evening of Jazz we had on Thursday 29^th March.  It was a fitting evening to record as a memory of the high standard of jazz being played by the pupils in 2012.  The original idea to make a recording this year came from the fact that the majority of Hot Jazz had reached their final year – they had first been put together in the Junior School by Mr Steve Thompson, and arrived in the Senior School in 2005 as Hot Seven.  But in the end the audience all agreed that the overall quality of music being made by the boys and girls in all the different groups was excellent.

The evening was begun and finished by the Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Mr Norman Levy. Their Big Band sound was full of energy and power, and for the first time that I can remember the Orchestra was full of current pupils, with no OEs and only two adults, Messrs Thompson and Coates.

The great thing about the evening was that we were given the full range of Jazz styles with the Dixieland, the R ‘n’ B, the Sax Quartet,  the Django Jazz Guitar Group (a first outing!), as well as Hot Jazz themselves and their heirs, Cool Jazz, the youngsters following in the seniors’ footsteps!  In the spirit of a true Jazz Evening soloists were invited to improvise throughout.  I really enjoyed Eleanor Barton’s work on the Saxophone, Jack Worlidge on the trombone and Louis Barclay on the trumpet. Tom Wilson improvised in a different way when he lost one of his drumsticks in Tequila, showing considerable presence of mind to keep the piece moving.  It was a delightful surprise to have Amy Cleary’s dulcet tones in front of the Jazz Orchestra, and Patrick Pamment coming off keyboards to sing with Hot Jazz.  Perhaps there were a few too many improvisations? - it is always a difficult line to tread between being self-indulgent to the leavers and giving a chance to learn the skill to the young ones.

Steve Thompson and Michael Coates provided wit and humour, as they introduced their ensembles, while Norman Levy (right) gave us the stories behind the songs and their composers; he can be really proud of his achievements – the only thing missing of this night was his traditional and repeated appeal to the audience to give the “Jazz Orchestra” their appropriate praise at the end of the evening.  We didn’t mind – we were happy to cheer the “Jazz Orchestra” anyway!

March 1st – 25th

What a great day for the Big (and little) Run! Despite my sleepless nights about how many would actually take part, in the end we had about 300 runners, and when they all reached the finish line to receive their centenary medal, there was a great feeling of community with us all in this together. There were pupils from the Junior School right through to members of the Upper Sixth, boys and girls; there were teachers, parents, friends and even two Governors of the school; Mrs Henderson ran with Murphy, the dog; Perhaps the two outstanding images of the day were of the 80 year old Old Elthamian David Jordan who had travelled up from Worthing to complete the 4 miles, and at the other end of the scale the four year 8 boys who completed the course sewn together in a Caterpillar costume singing “From Blackheath to Mottingham” all the way – certainly examples from the sublime to the endearingly ridiculous.

It was one of those days where it really did not matter who won (for most) and it was just important to be there and take part. The Rhythm ‘n’ Blues Band and Michael Coates serenaded the runners at the finish line, and Mrs Julie Slatter and family organised a barbecue Brunch for all.

Out of the sight of most, the morning had begun with a ceremony at Winchester House, the out-patients section of the Blackheath Hospital. This building had originally been built for the School for the Sons of Missionaries in 1857, and it was from this building the school moved to our current home in Fairy Hall, with an Official Opening on March 23^rd 1912. At 9.30am Mr David Robins, Chairman of Governors unveiled a plaque recalling the history of the building in the presence of dignitaries from The Blackheath Hospital, including two parents who hold clinics there. Also present was Mrs Barsham-Rolfe with the Senior Cross Country team and the Head Prefect. After the unveiling of the plaque, the boys ran to the start of the Big Run on the Heath with a flaming torch, symbolising of the flames of Missionary Zeal or of the Olympics, depending what you stand point is! The torch proved quite a challenge for the runners who were either afraid of setting their own hair on fire or of the torch itself melting! The PR photos will show no such problems of course, and the Head prefect, Charlie-Sid Speller brought it home to Mottingham in style.

Earlier in the month Mr Andrew Beattie had devised and directed “A Centenary Fireside” in Central hall. With pupils and staff combining in the performance, audiences on two nights enjoyed extracts from literature and music with links to 1912. Historical events of the year were recalled (the Titanic and Scott in the Antarctic), while scenes from plays by J B Priestley and Ionescu, and music (or the lack of it!) by Cage, the latter two both born in 1912, provided wit and entertainment. All this material was punctuated by quotes from first-hand accounts of the early days of the school’s arrival in Mottingham. It was a charming evocation of the period while providing us with a greater understanding of our school’s history.

This month’s various musical performances have hinted at the delights promised at forthcoming concert in the Queen Elizabeth Hall. The jubilee Concert in Greenwich Old Naval Chapel was one of the very best I can recall in the last 12 years at Eltham College. Next week’s Evening of Jazz will use a different genre to entertain, but it will no doubt be just as enjoyable!