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