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Ashmolean
Museum
2nd Years – May
Early in the Summer Term the SecondYears
paid another visit to Oxford’s famous museum,
this time under the auspices of the Classics
department.They enjoyed visiting the galleries
(Roman to Japanese), handling ancient Roman
artefacts (coins, pots and jewellery) and making
their own Latin inscriptions from clay (and
painting the letters in red afterwards).They
learnt a lot and really found it to be a series of
very interesting experiences (including taking
the bus from Summertown). In the end, all the
boys ‘survived’ and so did the museum!
CILM
Cotswold Farm Park and Blenheim
1st Years – May
The FirstYears undertook a
three-day camping experience in
our own Plantation, which also
included a couple of excursions
to local places of interest.
The first trip was to the Cotswold Farm Park,
run byAdam Henson (of BBC’s ‘Country
File’). Here the boys carried out a number of
activities to complement their Science work:
a farm tour by tractor, feeding the goats and
sheep, handling and learning about the life-
cycle of chicks and ducks, pond dipping and
finding out about
Field to Fork
. Of course,
when you ask the boys what they enjoyed
most, they will probably refer instead to
the bouncy inflatable pillow! The next
day, after making their packed lunches and
carrying out a carousel of activities in the
Plantation, including Basic First Aid, team
building and butchering pigeons, we headed
off to Blenheim Palace for the afternoon. The
weather was kind with only the smallest of
showers falling briefly on the second morning.
Back at camp there was lots of fun playing
in the woods, plenty of food and washing
up, some singing, hot chocolate and stories
around the campfire and a surprising amount
of sleep at night-time! We ate very well
and particularly enjoyed a small mountain
of sausages, crumpets, jelly and an excellent
bread and butter pudding which our catering
manager, MHT, cooked on the campfire on
the last night!Well done to all the boys for
stepping out of their comfort zones and for
making the experience such fun.
TMLE
The Somme
Vth Form & 5E – June
This year’s Somme Battlefield
tripwas threatened bymassive
thunder storms andfloodedfields.
Fortunately, we had all the luck in the world
and the only time the heavens opened was
when we were on the coach.The boys were
massively impressed by the preserved trenches
of the Newfoundland Memorial Park and the
enormous crater at Lochnagar.They enjoyed
walking the fields looking for evidence of the
battle and there was plenty to go around!
The Thiepval Memorial to the missing was
resplendent having just been fully renovated
in preparation for the 100th anniversary at the
end of the month. At various stages the boys
were told stories of Old Summerfieldians who
gave their lives in acts of great bravery. In two
locations the Last Post was played for them by
Henry Minter
and
Beau Swallow
– moving
and memorable.
CS
S u m m e r F i e l d s
2 0 1 5 – 2 0 1 6
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