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8 Football Festival was again a great success
(won by Eaton House, The Manor) and the
Oxford Half Marathon included eight entries
from Summer Fields staff members.
A large number of boys represented the
school in football matches during the term,
and on some days we fielded as many as
19 or 20 teams, with our seniors more
successful, on the whole, than the juniors. In
our big block fixtures, honours were roughly
even against Moulsford and Ludgrove, whilst
we got the better of Elstree, Lambrook and,
emphatically, Cheam. The Junior Colts teams
all came away from Crosfields victorious
for the first time in living memory – ‘an
impossible dream’, according to coach RBL.
The season finished strongly with twelve
wins out of eighteen matches against
Cothill on the last Saturday of the season.
Unfortunately, in a staff football match
between the two schools the following day,
our ‘Black Hole’ XI were unable to replicate
this success; with some of the older players
not selected, it was thought that our
team lacked valuable experience! Earlier
in the term, on the traditional OS football
afternoon, the staff successfully dispatched
the sixth-formers 4-2.
Throughout the term rugby made its
presence felt, as the minor sports programme
for the Juniors included an introduction to
the new laws and other arrangements that
were due to take effect in the forthcoming
season. Touch rugby, under the guidance
of DRW, was frequently on offer as a
Sunday activity and there was an enjoyable
tournament at the end of September.
This event was unfortunately followed
immediately by the sad exit of the England
team from the RugbyWorld Cup, but the
boys’ enthusiasm for the game remained
undiminished.
In the run-up to Long Leave we started
preparing for the migration to the new
pavilion, soon to be officially named the
Salata Pavilion; everything was cleared out of
the changing room and the Matrons’ room
(temporarily located in what had previously
been the Removes’ Day Room, next to the
staff room).When we returned from the
half-term break, the building compound
had been dismantled, the view of the
cricket square from the Headmaster’s study
restored, turf relaid as necessary – in short,
the new building was ready for us to begin
inhabiting, although we had to wait a little
while longer before the upstairs was available
for use. However, it wasn’t until the start of
the 3rd Short Leave (3rd December) that
the official opening was able to take place.
We welcomed Mr and Mrs Salata, together
with Laurence Clarke (OS), to perform the
ceremony and the senior boys present were
very attentive as our young Olympian spoke
about how, as a boy at SF, he had not been
one of the top sportsmen; he encouraged all
of them to go as far as they could with their
own ambitions.
Words of wisdom and inspiration, of
information and education, were also in
plentiful supply from a range of visiting
speakers during the term, whether in
Chapel or in Macmillan Hall. At the pulpit
we experienced: MAI quoting from Elvis
Presley, “Before you abuse, criticise or accuse,
walk a mile in my shoes”; the Reverend
Rupert Shelley (from the Titus Trust) taking
the example of David and Jonathan to
advise, “If you want to find a friend, be a
friend”;William Moore (Assistant Registrar,
Eton College) distributing edible treats to
illustrate his talk on The Feeding of the Five
Thousand; Richard Pleming (Headmaster,
Charterhouse) explaining how private
language and expressions can be used to
exclude others and urging us to consider how
powerful words can be; Dr Eric Sie (Registrar,
Harrow School) drawing parallels between
the Good Samaritan and Old Harrovian
Lord Shaftesbury; Gavin Hannah (GWH), on
Remembrance Sunday, sharing his research
into the SF class of 1897 (Moseley’s year)
and expounding on the metaphor of seeds
that die in the ground in order to bear fruit;
the Reverend Katie Jones (Associate Priest at
our local parish church and mother of MWIJ)
telling us about Holman Hunt’s picture,
The Light of theWorld
; and Bishop Jennings
illuminating the significance of the Eucharist
as he presided over the service.
We again marked ‘Jeans for Genes’ day
with a relaxation of the school uniform
code and also learned much from Dr Annie
“theseniorboys
presentwerevery
attentiveasour
youngOlympian
spoke”
S u m m e r F i e l d s
2 0 1 5 – 2 0 1 6
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