Governors: The Governors of Harrow School

Committee of Management: Dr. O. Arwel Hughes (Chairman)

W.D.Ashcroft (O.L.) • M.J.Ames (O.L.) • J.S. Kettle • N. Stuart C.B .• Dr. A.B. Cooke OBE • Mrs. B.W. Connolly Mrs. S.c. Hargreaves • C.M. Nunn (O.L.) • w.G.S. Massey QC

B.J. Lenon (Head Master of Harrow School) • A.J.F. Stebbings (Clerk to the Governors)

Headmaster: C. Ray. BA (London). Ph.D. (Can tab). C.Phys.

Second Master. Deputy Headmaster (Staff): E.D.A. Barnes. BA (Oxon). History Deputy Headmaster (Academic): S. Miles. B.Mus. (London). A.R.C.O .• A.R.C.M .• A.Mus .. LCM. Director of Music

Deputy Headmaster (Pastoral): DA Rimmer. B.Sc. (London). M.Sc. (London). Mathematics Director of Academic Administration: R.L McNae. B.Sc. (Birmingham). C. Phys .. M.lnst.p, Physics and Electronics

RV. French. B.Sc. (Hertfordshire). C.Biol .• M.lnst.Biol .. Biology. Head of Sixth Form LR. Parker. B.Sc. (Loughborough). P.E. and Geography. Head of Upper School Ms. P. Waldron. BA (Reading). Modern languages and English. Head of Oldfield and Lower School

T.). Adnitt, B.Sc. (City University). MA (City University). Music Technology Miss C.E. Allkins. BA (Durham). Modern languages B.I.D. Aschenbrenner. M.A. (St. Andrews). Mathematics. Physics. Physical Education S. Brown. B.Des. (Dundee). MA (Cardiff). Art and Design L.D. Budd. BA (Wales). MA (Wales). English. SEN Co-ordinator P.M. Clarke. BA (Newcastle). M.Sc. (London). Mathematics. Learning Strategies Co-ordinator R.L. Cobb. B.Ed. (Birmingham). B.A. (Open University). Head of Economics and Business Studies Miss BA Consedine. B.A. (Canterbury NZ). History Mrs. J. da Silva. BA (Madras) P.G. Dip. A.L.A. (N. London). librarian O.S. Druker. B.Mus. (T.C.M.). Music RA Freeborn. B.Sc. (London). M.Sc. (Hertfordshire). Computing.lCT and Mathematics. Computer Manager Miss D. Gibbs. BA (Surrey). Director of Drama C.D. Gladwell. BA (London). History and Politics. Senior Tutor (Careers) C. Grey. B.Mus (RAM).l.RAM .• MusidMusic Technology Ms. B. Guyomard. B.A. (Nanterre). MA (Nanterre). Modern Languages G. Haines. BA. B.Ed. (Montreal). MA (Chicago). Psychology Miss C.M.E. Harrison. B.A. (London). MA (Sussex). Head of Art and Design Mrs. P.J. Hawes. BA (Open University). R.SA SpLD Diploma. Dyslexia Specialist Mrs. CA Higson. B.A. (London). Dip. Drama. Drama B. Holgate. B.Sc. (Coventry). C.Phys .• M.lnst.P.. Head of Physics. Head of Butler House Mrs. E.J. Ingham. B.Sc. (Leicester). M.Sc. (Bradford). Physics. Chemistry and Biology ).l.lrvine. MA (Glasgow). Head of German. Senior Tutor (Sixth Form) A.L. Jones. B.Sc. (Brunei). Physical Education. Head of Norwood House c.J. Jones. M.Sc. (Brunei). Director of Physical Education. Head of Moore House Mrs. M. Leach. MA (Bucharest). English N. Loudon. BA (Birmingham). Head of languages J. MacLeod. BA (Oxon) Head of English T. Mahon. B.Sc. (Surrey). M.A. (London). B.Sc. (London). Physics and Chemistry. Head ofVaughan House Mrs. E.J. Marden. BA (Exeter). Modern languages Mrs.).P. Mason. B.Sc. (Sussex). MBA (Leicester). Head of Science Mrs.J.L. Morris. M.B.A. (Leicester). MA (London). Modern Languages. Senior Careers and HE Advisor Miss A. L. Mullin. BA (York). Head of History and Politics N.H. Parsons. BA (Nottingham). English. Information Officer Mrs. J.M. Perdue. Cert. Ed. (London). Biology and Chemistry. Head of Internal Administration P.N.B. Perdue. Cert.Ed. (Brunei). Art and Design. Technical Bursar Mrs. L.S. Plum mer. BA (Middlesex). Religious Studies. Head of SPACE. Senior Tutor (Third Form) J.R. Preston. B.Sc. (Exeter). Geography. Senior Tutor (Fourth Form) P. Ratinckx. BA (Leeds) Economics and Business Studies A. Roy. BA (Reading). English. Senior Tutor (Second Form & SPACE) G.J. Ryder. B.Sc. (London). MA (London). Head of Biology. Academic Senior Master M.J. Sadler. BA (Bristol). Head of Latin P. Sanders. B.Sc. (London). Head of Chemistry. Staff Senior Master Mrs.L Sassaroli. BA (Ostrava). Mathematics RA Shaw. B.Sc. (London). MA (London). Head of Geography Miss E.K. Sigston. BA (Sheffield Hallam). Art and Design, Director of Activities. Senior Tutor (Fifth Form) D.P. Vosper Singleton. M.Math. (Oxon). Mathematics C.L.M.Tucker. MA (Oxon). Mathematics W.R.J. Waite. B.Sc. (Sheffield). Head of Mathematics D.F.Weedon. MA (Oxon.). Chemistry. Assistant Director of Academic Administration The Rev. A.S. Westlake. BA (Southampton). BA (Bristol). Head of Religious Studies. Assistant Head of Oldfield ).Woodhall. MA (Kingston). LTCL. ALCM. Music A.P.Wright, B.Sc. (Open University). Computing.lCT and Mathematics. Academic Administrator

Foundation Bursar: NA Shryane. M.B.E .• BA. M.Phi!. PA to the Headmaster: Mrs. H.S. Cade

School Bursar: G.F. Arscott. B.Sc. Admissions Officer: Miss D. Holland

SPEECHES

Activities

During the course of last year, we increased the number of activities taking place, at lunchtimes and after school. We also started the new Friday afternoon programme, under the leadership of Elaine Sigston, with the first year boys involved in activities such as hockey, archery, and water polo. This programme has now been expanded to embrace all years up to and including the Lower Sixth.

Drama

We have seen two outstanding major productions, together with many fine performances in our Drama Studio. The year began with an accomplished production of The Crucible in the Autumn, directed by one of our English teachers, Dom Roy; and, in the Spring Term, our new Director of Drama, Deborah Gibbs, produced a

A. V. Lakhani, Head Boy, 2002/03, delivers his speech.

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magnificent musical Guys and Dolls - to great acclaim - in the Ryan Theatre, with strong support from Stuart Miles and the Music Department.Those who attended one ofthe three performances of Guys and Dolls will not forget the sheer joy evident amongst the cast and the immense professionalism of Deborah's first major production here. In addition, there have been many fine performances in our Drama Studio. An especially notable event was a spirited joint production with Harrow School, involving our Third Form and their Shell. Finally, I am proud to announce that Jonathan Bullock, who was selected for the National Youth Theatre last year and who is later to receive a special award for Drama, is our first Timothy West Drama Scholar.

Music

The enthusiasm, commitment and musical skills of our boys performing at all levels are remarkable. Throughout the year we have enjoyed a terrific range of music - wind, strings, piano, choral, sal sa, and rock. There have been many wonderful occasions - the Commemoration Concert with Harrow School here in the Speech Room, with an outstanding flute solo from Jiten Halai, the Autumn Concert, which included two songs performed by the entire First Form, the packed Christmas Concert at St John's, Greenhill and in July, the John Lyon Rock Band,Jackoby Night, performing on the Southbank in the Queen Elizabeth Hall in the finals of the National Youth Music Festival. Matthew Collins,Joshua Sasto,Anup Paul, and Jai Paul are to be congratulated on the considerable success they have achieved.

Art

I was delighted to attend an exhibition of GCSE and AS examination work in Art in the Summer Term. Under the leadership of Caroline Harrison, the new Head of Art and DeSign, the standards reached were high and promise much for the future of this subject at John Lyon.

Academic

During the last two years, I have asked our boys to raise their academic Sights. I am delighted to say that their response has been terrific. ConSistency and an upwards trend are the hallmarks of a very good school: and our boys have achieved exceptionally good results for GCSE, at AS level and at A level. The previous records in each of our public examination years have not so much been broken, but smashed, by this generation of boys. Also gratifying is the fact that well over 80% of our Upper Sixth boys gained their first university choice. The success of our boys at all levels - well

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ahead of national improvements - has now firmly established this school as one of the top twenty boys' independent day schools in the country. Staff and parents too have played a critical part in helping our boys to achieve so much. Particular thanks must go to Stuart Miles. our Academic Deputy Head. to Graham Ryder. in charge of university entrance procedures. and to Durell Barnes. the Second Master. who is doing sterling work vigorously promoting the professional development of our teachers. Finally. I am delighted to announce that Mark Gettleson. who leaves us to read History at King's College Cambridge. has been awarded the prize for the outstanding John Lyon Scholar of2003.

Changes

Three key developments have taken place during the last twelve months. I believe that each will have a lasting and positive effect upon the School and its community.

I. The establishment of the Sixth Form Centre in the Red House which is not just a space for our sixth-form students to occupy and enjoy. but a place for which they will take responsibility and help to develop.

2. The enhancement of our computer facilities - essential if we are to promote effective. responsible. independent learning. These IT facilities include: a new language laboratory. a zone for individual and group work in the library. a room for sixth-form use in the Red house; and a direct link with the computer systems at Harrow School.

3. An increase in the number of scholarships. means-tested bursaries and prizes available. largely thanks to the generosity of individual donors and to the John Lyon Charity.

Much has been done. but if we are to deliver the education our boys deserve. we cannot relax our efforts.

Inspection

Next year. in the Autumn Term of 2004. the School will be inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate. When John Lyon was last visited by inspectors in 1998. they qUite rightly emphasised the pastoral strengths of the school. paying particular tribute to the excellent relationships between staff and boys and amongst the boys. However. the school was asked to rethink much. in particular: its approach to the management of the school. to the curriculum and to the Sixth Form. We have done so. and we have involved staff. boys. parents and the heads of our 'feeder' schools in our deliberations. Reflecting upon all that was said proved most helpful as we identified our aims for the next five years.

SPEECHES

Aims

Critical amongst our aims are the needs to: • Improve the academic standing of the School. support and

challenge all abilities. and encourage enthusiastic teaching and learning.

• Develop our pastoral strengths. establish a structured personal and social education programme and provide further support for those with learning difficulties.

• Promote creativity, not just through Art, Drama. and Music, but also through the mainstream academic curriculum. activities and sports.

• Create a DevelopmentAppeal Office to help us to fund new capital projects and to establish new bursaries and scholarships.

We shall retain the best of John Lyon, but develop new strengths. Our aspirations are high ... but our pupils. your sons. these boys. deserve nothing less.

Dr Christopher Ray

The new, purpose-built reception area.

a

COMMEMORATION DAY thelyonian2003

The Service In

Commemoration

of the Founder,

At 10.30, on the morning following the Commemoration Concert, representatives of Harrow and The John Lyon School joined with members of the congregation of St Mary's Church for Eucharist, Harrow-on-the-Hi", to commemorate the founder and other benefactors, and to witness the formal laying of a wreath at the tomb of John Lyon.The Head Master of Harrow School read the words of commemoration and the Headmaster of The John Lyon School, read the first lesson from Genesis, Chapter 12.

In his sermon, reproduced in full below,James Power, the Chaplain of Harrow School, linked the words of George Herbert's poem, The Call, sung by Owen Peachey, the previous evening, with John Lyon's most important and enduring legacies of the two schools and the John Lyon Charity. The Plainsong Choir, augmented by musicians from The John Lyon School, led the singing and performed the anthem, The New Commonwealth' by Vaughan Williams.

The following sermon was delivered By James Power, Harrow School Chaplain, on the 5th October; at the Service of Commemoration of our founder, John Lyon, at St Mary's The Eucharist.

Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life! Such a Way as gives us breath: Such a Truth as ends a" strife: Such a Life as ki"eth Death.

These lines form the first stanza of George Herbert's poem, The Call, the fourth ofVaughan Williams' Five Mystical Songs which those lucky enough to have attended yesterday evening's concert would have heard sung by Owen Peachey.

John Lyon's legacy was a road and a School, initially; now, there are two schools and the charity which bears his name, funding some of the most exciting educational projects in this part of London, John Lyon's Charity. In their different ways, roads and schools imply journeys, movement from one place to another - in the first case, geographical movement and in the second, spiritual and academic 'movement'.To journey is a mark of life: animals migrate and since the dawn of time humans have journeyed across the face of the globe.Abram and Sarai's journey was indicative of the mass migrations of peoples at the time: explorers of every age are driven by the desire to cross horizons and expand frontiers. Like them, we each search for our 'Promised Land', our 'Canaan'. And far from being journeys which tire and diminish us, these are explorations which excite and energise us:'Such a Way as gives us breath'.

There are forty eight young people preparing for confirmation at Harrow this term and immediately after this service we are going on a day's retreat. Early on in their time of preparation I invite them to draw a "time line" of their lives, marking on it those significant events

John Lyon that remain in the memory: first memory, first day at school, the arrival of the first family pet, or indeed the death of a pet, the death of a member of the family - the events which punctuate our lives. I do that because very often these are events in which we can become aware of God in our lives: moments of recognition, moments of revelation, moments which give us breath or sometimes take our breath away, stations on the journey of time.

In Greek, there are two words for time: Chronos meaning the passing time, the background to a" our lives and Kairos, sometimes translated as the time of decision, the moment of crisis. In 'time line terms', the every day is chronos, while the significant memories are kairos moments.

Today we look back over 400 years of history since John Lyon was granted a charter for the foundation of a school at Harrow-on­the-Hill in 1572; six years later, in 1578, he founded a charity to maintain the Harrow Road. Those actions ensured that when he died 41 I years ago last Friday, the journey that is this Foundation was one that was available for others to travel. In 1876, The John Lyon School was founded in an attempt to recapture some of Lyon's original vision and in 1991 John Lyon's Charity, using the capital originally set aside for the road, came into being. These might be considered our kairos moments: those moments when new breath is given to those who travel John Lyon's way.

Today we give thanks for those moments when God's eternal presence is revealed in our own lives and on our own journeys, but above a" we give thanks for the journey of John Lyon and pray that we are worthy travellers on that road.

In a moment, we will make our way to the altar to receive communion or a blessing. For the Christian, this can be a kairos moment, just as it was for the travellers on the road to Emmaus, who recognised the risen Christ in the breaking of the bread, having struggled to come to terms with the events of the past few days which had seen their friend and co"eague,Jesus of Nazareth, crucified as a common criminal. We shall be walking Christ's way, to be his guests, at his table. This need not be an exclusive journey; rather Christ as the Way, the Truth and the Life, invites a" to join him walking the way, exploring the truth and living the life ...

Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life! Such a Way as gives us breath: Such a Truth as ends a" strife: Such a Life as killeth Death.

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Ludovic Aldersley EisaAli James Backer Vickna Balarajah Tom Banyard Christopher Barbaric Matthew Bellamy Daniel Bennett Thomas Bowen Harpal Chokkar Jonathan Childs Paul Choy Simon Colwill Eoin Connolly Thomas Cook Ryan Dale David Delameillure Gregory Dillon Josh Dmochowski Alexander Ferguson Jamie Furer Mark Gettleson Indrajeet Ghosh Edward Hemming Amit Hindocha Philip Ho Os man Ishaq Rhodri James Suresh Joshi Andrew Karim Sameer Karimbhai Tarang Katira Paul King Atish Lakhani James Lancaster Kevin Larkin Albert Lau Lorenzo Lim Vincent Man Jiten Mashru Giles Matthews Charles Mukherjee Arsalan Noon Alexander Ofosu-Adjei Ryosuke Okazaki Robert Palmer Alpesh Patel Arpit Patel Dylan Patel Neer Pate I Nikhil Patel Nishil Patel Raoul Patel Kunal Radia Amish Raichura

Jasdip Sagoo Aneek Sarkar Mark Selvarajah Senthooran Selvarajah Hemal Shah Rajeev Shah

UNIVERSITY

University Destinations September 2003

Bristol Bristol, University of West of England Warwick Queen Mary College London Edinburgh Warwick Southampton Oxford (Regent's College) Oxford Brookes University of East Anglia Surrey Sussex Durham York Exeter Warwick Oxford (Exeter College) John Moores Brighton School of Medical Sciences Reading University of East Anglia Cambridge (King's College) Birmingham Warwick Manchester Imperial King's College London Birmingham Luton Leeds Warwick Cambridge (King's College) Portsmouth Warwick University of East Anglia York Birmingham Middlesex University College London Hertfordshire Portsmouth University College London York Manchester Bristol Warwick Nottingham King's College London City Newcastle Hertfordshire Brighton King's College London Leicester Kings College London Leeds Manchester Imperial College London Leicester Nottingham King's College London

Economics & Econometrics inc European Study Law & Politics (2004) Computer Science Medicine Mathematics French with International Studies History Modern History Retail Business Management Accountancy & Law Business Management Geography & Anthropology Chemistry (Industrial) English (2004) Economics (2004) Law Molecular & Cellular Biochemistry Business Studies Medicine French Law History Medicine Film & Literature (2004) Economics Electrical Engineering Computer science Geography Psychology & Criminology Economics Law Economics Geography Law Law Politics Economics Engineering Geography Economics & Management Studies Product Design & Innovation Medicine Accounting & Finance Economic History & Economics Music History Medicine Medicine Civil Engineering Medicine Economics

Foundation in Pharmaceuticals & Chemical Science Dentistry Law Dentistry Dentistry

Computing with Industrial Experience Electrical Engineering Immunology Economics

Maths with Management

UNIVERSITY

Sagar Shah Sunit Shah Vinal Shah James Silvester Antony Singer Jasbir Sohal Daniel Stock Edward Swain James Taylor Amar Thakkar Rahul Thakkrar Ravi Thakkrar Saavan Thakkrar Robin Turner Samit Unadkat Jugal Vansia Benjamin Wilks

Namel Alahakoon Abidali Alibhai Thomas Alibone Nader Amir-Alikhani Neil Brown Steven Bull Alexander Burnley Richard Coleman Paul Coney Kaushik Das Nilantha De Zoysa Jaamit Durrani Samuel Foster David Franklyn Stephen Greek James Hutton Christopher Jago Vladimir Kara-Murza Kyriacos Karseras Kyle Kensett Yatish Kerai Martin Larkman Stuart Lawrence James Lazarus David Lemmon Lavan Manmatharajah Jatish Mistry Kajen Mohanadas Yusuke Okazaki David Palmer Nikhil Patel Nishit Patel Vivek Patel Umang Paw Justin Powell William Ryan Daniel Sasto Jeremy Shere Nicholas Smart Kevin Somaratne Nishil Tanna RajivTanna Matthew Willis

University College London Manchester Metropolitan Manchester Exeter Leeds Brunei Manchester Bangor University of East Anglia Manchester Metropolitan University College London Manchester Manchester Institute of Science & Technology Southampton Imperial College London University College London Manchester Institute of Science & Technology

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Economics Business Management Politics. Philosophy and Economics Mathematics (2004) Sociology Foundations of Information Technology History Psychology Law Foundation in Business & Economics Law Modern Language & Business Management Mathematics. Statistics & Operational Research Politics & Sociology Medicine Pharmacology Electronic Systems Engineering

Qualification results September 2003

KCL Manchester Manchester UCL Warwick Reading UCL Sussex Reading Manchester UCL Sussex Cambridge Cardiff Birmingham UCL Reading Cambridge University College London Plymouth Hertfordshire Nottingham University of Leeds Birmingham Manchester KCL Portsmouth Cambridge Edinburgh Durham City Southampton University of Kingston City UMIST Anglia Birmingham Coventry Reading Southampton Southampton Reading Nottingham

Law Economics English Architecture Maths and Computing English Jewish History (200 I) Law History Economics Medicine English Maths & Physics Music & Philosophy Politics (200 I ) Statistics & Computer Sciences English History BA Archaeology.Classics. Classical Art HND Computer Sciences Foundation - Computer Sciences Ancient History LAW LLB (Hons) Social Science History Medicine Pharmacology Economics Sociology & Social Anthropology History Business & Computing Systems Bio Medical Sciences Computer Science Computer Sciences Engineering Forensic Science & Microbiology Business & Commerce Equine & Human Sports Sci. Economics & Accountancy Economics BSc Economics Accounting & Economic Studies Manufacturing Eng & Man with French

LAW (LLB) 2:2

English Literature + Language (BA Hons) 2:2

English Literature 2: I

2:2

English with Development Studies 2: I

2:2

2:1 BA (Hons) 2: I

2:1

2:1

B.Eng 2:2

Bcom(Hons) 2: I (HND)

2:1 2:1

Hons 2:1

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F A R E w E

Brian Simmons Brian became a member of John Lyon's Mathematics Department in January 1971, following a short spell at The Nautical College, Greenwich. His enthusiasm and dedication to the teaching of mathematics was immediately evident and he was appointed Head of Department within three years.

The Department flourished and its reputation and profile increased under his quiet and firm management. His vision for the teaching of Mathematics in the school was gradually implemented and found its expression in good teaching and excellent examination results.

His support for the members of his department was unswerving and he gave his teachers the confidence to develop their teaching skills. Indeed many have since gone on to become heads of Mathematics departments elsewhere. Often Brian would increase his own teaching commitments to allow others to develop their interests in areas of school life quite separate from Mathematics.

During recent years, Brian has devoted himself to teaching his subject at all levels. However, he has also been deeply involved in the extra-curricular life of the school. He managed a cricket team for many years, has regularly contributed to House activities and has been an active member of the Parents' Association, helping to forge an essential link between parents and teaching staff.We will miss his reassuring presence in school and we wish him well in his retirement.

D.A.Rimmer

L

STAFF NEWS

L

lan Read lan Read joined the school in January 1988 as Head of the Art Department.An extremely talented artist himself, he introduced pottery, printing and sculpture to the boys of John Lyon. Many boys have cause to thank him for broadening their knowledge and experiences through museum and art gallery visits. His art history trips to Russia and Italy stand as a model of how to make learning enjoyable.

However, his talents extend far beyond the Art Department. He is a keen sportsman and has been energetically involved in coaching, refereeing and umpiring. He has given up many a lunchtime and Saturday to train or accompany football and cricket teams to away matches.

He is also a great helper of other people and has supervised groups on the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, the Outward Bound expedition, and latterly the school cricket tour to South Africa.This is in addition to his work painting sets for school plays and producing graphics and stunning photographs for the Lyonian, our school magazine.

His warm-heartedness and dedication have been greatly appreciated by the boys in his care and the applause he received after his speech of farewell at the final school assembly of the year was a measure of the affection and esteem in which he is held. We wish him well as he retires to Spain to paint in that wonderful Spanish sunlight.

I.R. Parker

¥

STAFF NEWS

Paul Flanagan Paul Flanagan came to the John Lyon School in September 1999 as a teacher of Economics and History. He quickly established himself, both as an excellent classroom teacher and a 'schoolmaster', in the widest sense of the term. Though firm in the classroom, he was easily able to understand and empathise with the interests and concerns of boys whom he treated as individuals.

These qualities strongly emerged in his role as a form tutor. Boys were always able to discuss personal issues but. by the same token, learned much about current affairs, sport and what was expected of a 'John Lyon boy.' On occasions, desks were pushed aside while boys were shown the difference between a googly and an off break! I know he was very moved by the care and effort his form took in creating his leaving present.

Paul was able to use his strong relationship with the boys in leading the school charity effort for two consecutive years. The amounts collected and the personal effort involved were remarkable and much appreciated. However, his charity work is only one strand of his extra­curricular contribution. An excellent cricketer himself, Paul has been able to develop the sporting talents of many boys who have enormously appreciated the hours and care he has put into the coaching and management of school teams.

He has been innovative in many areas; he has established a very successful Econo­mics Society, and has pioneered the dev­elopment of Business Studies. On a pers­onal note, I will miss his friendship, wit and humour, as will other members of staff. He has moved on to become Head of Eco­nomics and Business Studies at Reigate Grammar School where he will undoubt­edly make a similarly energetic contribution.

R.L.Cobb

Ben Hull After two very successful years teaching saxophone, we say farewell to Mr Ben Hull. Ben is a dynamic and versatile player and some twenty boys have valued his expertise. He founded the highly successful John Lyon Saxophone Ensemble and this group has entertained us at numerous concerts.A particular highlight was their performance of ' Watermelon Man' at Speeches in September.

Ben is emigrating to Australia to pursue his musical career.We wish him well.

S.Miles

Tim Pender Tim Pender joined the English Department at John Lyon in 200 I and became a cornerstone of the Department so quickly that it is hard to remember a time when he was not around. He rapidly established himself, taking a full part in the life of the School and giving every job he took on his all.

Tim is a remarkable teacher, enthusiastic, energetic and committed. He loves teaching and enjoys working with young people. As his classes will confirm, he manages to create a purposeful and good­humoured atmosphere where hard work is the order of the day but where there is always room for the frequent good joke.

He has been a marvellous colleague, stimulating, full of good ideas and always ready to discuss new approaches and strategies. His energy and passion for his subject has encouraged many boys to decide to study English at the highest level.

Drama is one of his great loves and he is a fine director. Many will remember his remarkable production of Twelve Angry Men in the Drama Studio - a highly intelligent and tightly acted work that stayed in the mind long after the final curtain. However, as with all good teachers, he has gained promotion, and is now Head of Drama at Merchant Taylors' School, and while we miss his lively presence, we wish him all the very best in his new post.

N.H. Parsons

Sarah Bishop Sarah joined the Biology Department in September 2002 on a temporary one-term contract. She had previously spent one term at Burnham Grammar School, having left a long-term post in New Zealand as she embarked upon the traditional 'Kiwi World Tour'.

Within days of her arrival, we were all very impressed by her dynamism, enthusiasm for science, and the way she related to the boys. Above all she quickly proved to be an excellent colleague, well liked and respected by all. It took a number of weeks but she was persuaded to modify her plans and spend the year with us. She had a very heavy timetable, teaching all three ofthe sciences to all age groups. She emerged from this at the end of the year still smiling and still willing to help wherever she could.

Sarah has left a great legacy to the Biology Department. She has introduced new styles of teaching and learning and has

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persuaded the older members of staff such as myself that the intranet and Internet are really useful tools that can be integrated into the curriculum. We now have access to several ICT projectors and we use them! She also introduced a number of team­building games which we have adopted -those that have taken the spaghetti and wine gum tower challenge will have good cause to remember her!

Sarah is currently touring Europe with a group of friends in a stretched minibus and then she plans to devote herself to some serious skiing. I am sure she will be missed by boys and staff alike - we all wish her well in the future.

G.J. Ryder

Jessie Horn Jessie Horn joined the administration staff as a part-time secretary in Se pt 1994. Within a matter of weeks she had been promoted to the position of Headmaster's secretary on the resignation of the previous incumbent.

Jessie very soon became an active member of the school community and was a great supporter of school concerts, drama productions and other such activities. She was a committee member helping to organise the last three Spring Fairs and was pivotal in encouraging the support of local businesses.

There are many old boys of the School who are indebted to Jessie for her help and support with the Duke of Edinburgh expeditions in both the South Downs and Snowdonia. She tirelessly drove along Welsh mountain roads, often in the rain and pitch black, until all of the boys were accounted for and safely in camp.

Recently,Jessie and her husband, Anthony, moved to a village in Oxfordshire which is near to Anthony'S new job in Cheltenham. We wish them both every success for the future.

j.M. Perdue

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w E L c

Mr Haines My we ask your age? Older than you are. I'm probably one of the oldest members of staff.

What were your first impressions of John Lyon? A friendly, co-operative and helpful atmosphere.

Was the school how you expeaed it to be? I've been at many schools and John Lyon is the best in terms of how teachers are treated, the relationship between student and teacher and in terms of atmosphere.

What employment have you been in previously? I worked as part of a crime prevention project in South Kilburn as part of the National Association and Re-settlement for Offenders. I've also worked at St Claire's College in Oxford.

How does England compare with Canada? I love Montreal, but it has very cold and long winters. I can't stand that, so I escaped to England for the weather. Most English people think I'm mad when I say that.

What are your hobbies? I enjoy singing. I've sung in choirs at the Royal Albert Hall and at St Paul's Cathedral. I like going to the theatre, playing the piano and music in general.

Do you have any bad habits? Many, but I'm not sure if should tell you them all.

What are your pet hates? Noise. I hate noise pollution.

1J@

o M E

What is your favourite place in the world? Cairo. The standard of life is very, very basic. It's like going back 2000 years when you go to Egypt.

What's your favourite band? Most orchestras.

What do you consider to be your greatest achievement? The work that I did working with academics, faculty and administrators to resolve conflicts, acting as a third party.

What is the craziest thing you've ever done? There are so many.

What would you wish for if you had three wishes? I'm a pretty ordinary person so I can't think of anything off the top of my head.

Who would you most like to be stuck in a lift with? A Canadian woman called Margaret Atwood. She's a novel writer and she's been shortlisted for the Booker Prize List.

Who would you least like to be stuck in a lift with? The lead singer from Metallica. I wouldn't want him screaming at me.

What would you do if you had the power to do it? Bring about some reform in the school system throughout the U.K.

Where would you go if you could go back in time? The War of the Roses or to the Slave Trade.

What would you take with you if you were stranded on a desert island? The Bible or the works of Shakespeare to read. A person to talk to. Music.

How would you describe yourself? Always wanting to self-improve.

Interview conducted by Tom Hinton and Daniel Hooper

STAFF NEWS

Mrs Joy Mason, Head of Science

Why did you choose a job at John Lyon? Because it has a reputation for being a friendly school - a real family school. I know a lot of people who have children here.

What are your first impressions? The staff and pupils are very friendly. Their enthusiasm is important. Only with enthusiasm can success be obtained.

Who has been your greatest influence? One of my chemistry teachers at school influenced me greatly. His passion and interest in the subject is what made me want to teach.

Who would you least like to be stuck in a lift with? Tony Blair:

Who would you most like to be stuck in a lift with? I actually was stuck in a lift with my husband; he ended up marrying me, so in retrospect it was quite lucky.

What is your favourite film? I have seen The Matrix a few times.

What has been your most embarrassing moment? The real one is not suitable for publishing! At my last school the pupils did impressions of staff, which was quite funny but also embarrassing.

What's your favourite TV programme? Casualty - it's pure escapism.

What is your ideal night in? A bottle of wine, a nice meal and a DVD.

STAFF NEWS

Ideal night aut? Lots of friends with me and the opportunity to talk. Perhaps a nice dinner party.

Da you have a favourite authar? I like quite a few different styles - some Steven Donaldson.1 like science fiction and fantasy and Donaldson mixes the two together nicely.

Where in the world would you most like to visit and why? Australia - I would love to scuba dive in the Barrier Reef.

What wauld you spend your winnings an if yau won the lottery? A round-the-world-ticket to Thailand, Australia, Switzerland and many more.

What's the most adventurous thing you've done? Skiing, although in April I am going to Iceland to go and explore the landscape in a 'Super-Jeep'.

Who was your favourite children's TV charaaer? Spock from Star Trek.

Can you cook, and if so, what is your speciality? I do enjoy cooking, especially French cuisine but I like to try different dishes.

Do you have a favourite quotation or philosophy? Live for today.

Describe yourself in three words . .. Enthusiastic, independent, inquisitive.

What would you say is the best thing about yourself? I care about people.

What is the worst thing about you? I don't know when to stop working!

What music do you like? A mixture - I do like classical, but I'm also quite into folk rock. I have a lot of music by groups like Queen.

If you had an opportunity to have lunch with anybody, past or present, who would they be? Nils Bohr, Louis Pasteur, ProfessorWinston or someone like Tony Benn or Ken Livingstone - not for political reasons; I just think they are great speakers.

Interview conducted by Samit Mapara and Liam Moore

Mrs E. J. Marden

What is your full name? Ellie Jane Marden

What is your nickname? Dennis the Menace (my maiden name is Dennis)

Where were you born? Bournemouth, Dorset.

Where were you educated? Primary school: Evershot, Dorset;

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Secondary school:Wellington School, Somerset (incidentally the same school as Mr Loudon) French and Fine Art at the University of Exeter; PGCE in Modern Languages at Goldsmith's College, London.

What was your previous job? I was Acting Head of Languages, Heathland School, Hounslow.

What were your ffrst impressions of John Lyon? Very friendly and quite laid back.

Why French? When I went on a year abroad I taught in a primary school there and I fell in love with it.

What was your favourite subjea at school? Art.You thought I was going to say French.

And why at John Lyon? Well, I actually could have been at Godolphin and Latymer; the interviews were on the same day. So I weighed up the two and thought "I don't want to teach at a girls' school," so I came here.

How would you describe yourself in three words? Oh my Gawd ... ! Oh those aren't the words by the way ... Actually they'll do.

What are your hobbies? Swimming, squash, I play the guitar. I'm one of those people who play loads of sport.

What are your pet hates? Squeezing toothpaste in the middle of the tube - that really annoys me. Poor presentation - when people don't underline.

Do you have any bad habits? Not being able to learn names and being untidy.

What about your talents? Sing, play the guitar, and I communicate well with people.

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What was your scariest moment? My first day at John Lyon.

Your most embarrassing moment? I couldn't possibly say.

Do you have any fears/phobias? Getting things wrong. It's a silly fear! Oh and upsetting people.

If you could meet anyone from past, present or future, who would it be? Billie Holliday, a famous jazz singer from the '20s. I read her biography this year and I find her really interesting. She had a hard life.

What's your favourite music? Indie mostly. Although I have been listening to lots of jazz lately. My favourites are Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holliday.

Where is your favourite place in the world? Barcelona. It was absolutely fantastic. Lots of art and architecture - all the things that I love.

What about your favourite book? Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres.

What's your favourite food and drink? Lasagne and Oasis.

Together?! No! It would probably be a nice glass of red with the lasagne.

What's your favourite film or TV programme? Let me think about the film because I love films ... it would probably be Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but there's loads in second place. On TV I love comedies ... 'Coupling', that was hilarious. It's like 'Friends' but funny.

What would be your ideal night out? A nice meal and some cocktails.

And a night in? A take away pizza and a nice slushy film with my husband of course.

If you won the lottery what would you do? I've never thought about that ... Anybody I know who's in debt, I would bailout for a starter.

If your house were on fire, what would you save? My guitar and a painting my friend did for me.

Do you have a claim to fame? I was interviewed on French TV as a foreigner living in France on France Normandie.

If you could be any animal, which would you be? A quetzal, because it has amazing bright feathers and lives in the rainforest.

What were are your life ambitions? To become a French teacher at John Lyon -no ... just to have a family and be happy.

If you could teach one life lesson to your pupils, what would it be? Put yourself first, but don't be selfish. In other words, you've got to have a sense of balance.

Finally, what would you like your gravestone epitaph to read? 'Here lies the best French teacher in the world'

Interview conducted by Nikul Gore and Jiten Halai

STAFF NEWS

Damon Peter Vosper­Singleton

Why John Lyon? It was in the right area of town and I was looking for a job in London. I was interested in trying a different experience other than at mixed comprehensive schools.

What does John Lyon's motto mean? I have absolutely no idea! But it is Stet Fortuna Domus.

What's better, teaching first formers or sixth formers? Interesting. I would like to say that first formers are much more childish, but that isn't true. First formers are more biddable but sixth formers do more interesting maths. It balances out.

Your first crush? Ha. Ha. Ha. That's all the answer you're getting for that one.

Who would you most like to be stuck in a lift with? A mechanic.

What is your most terrifying experience? Oh. The airbag going off in my car when I bumped the car in front. That was incredibly scary!

What's the most boring experience you have ever had? I do remember being literally bored to tears in a German lesson once. Not because I hate German, just because I didn't know what was happening. And also waiting for trains!

STAFF NEWS

Pet hates? Paisley. And people who use the phrase "come with". No that's transitive!

Favourite drink? Non-alcoholic: water Alcoholic: it would be a toss up between red wine and vodka.

Favourite TV programme? A comedy. It would be Will and Grace. Yes, that'lI do!

Favourite (rim? The Last Emperor or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Ideal night in? Obviously not a school night, because I have to go to bed at ten o'clock. But, friends, conversation, wine.

I(you could be any animal what would it be? Preferably not any kind of endangered species, I wouldn't want the responsibility to have to go out and breed! Something that can fly. But nothing that anybody would want to shoot. So ... an albatross

Who would you most like to put in Room 10 I ? New metal, grunge, garage and anything that may come close to that type of music. Modern classical. Bring it on!

What did you want to be as a child? For a while being a bus driver seemed very tempting.Then a fireman. Later I toyed with being an accountant, but that's incredibly dull.

Where do you see yourself in twenty years time? Paris.

Can you speak French? Not yet!

Most embarrassing moment? I wouldn't want to relive it again, so it's not going to be shared with you guys.

Interview conducted by Johan Breakell and Daniel Hooper

Mr B.I.D. Aschenbrenner What is your full name? Ben Isaac Delano Aschenbrenner.

What qualifications do you have? MSc. Mathematics and Theoretical Physics from St Andrews University.

We hear you're from Alaska? Yes, a place called Fairbanks in the interior: About 60,000 people live there.

What made you move? To go to university but not for the golf!

Why John Lyon? It was too good an opportunity to pass up really.

How do you find the climate here? It's nice here when it's like this, but I preferred Scotland.

Have you ever lived in an igloo? (Laughs) No, unfortunately not, but I did build an ice house when I was five.

Did you ever do anything out of the ordinary in Alaska? No, not really. I was never a hunter or anything like that but I've eaten moose, caribou and beaver heart.

What is your favourite food? I used to be a chef so I enjoy all good food.

What past-times do you enjoy? I play rugby on the weekend and like to play the guitar and cook.

Who are your three favourite musicians? Bob Dylan, Robert Earl King Jr.,Tom Waits.

How have you been received here with your accent? I find the British are reserved enough to say nothing, but my friends make jokes about

Americans.

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Have you ever been confronted by a polar bear? No, but there were moose in the back yard quite often in Alaska.

What do you miss the most? Friends and family.

Favourite football team? Chelsea, but don't ask why. (We checked and it wasn't for the hooligans).

What is your favourite music? Pretty much anything.

What is your ultimate ambition? To die happy.

Have you ever had any really scary experiences? I once capsized in a boat in the middle of a lake at night.

Who would be your perfect date? I don't know really; celebrities seem too arrogant to me.

How would you like to be remembered? As a happy guy, but people can make up their own mind about me.

Interview conducted byWilliam Deacon

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Mr John Wood hall

What were your ftrst impressions of the school? Very favourable. John Lyon has a friendly, warm atmosphere and I think the boys are quite polite and industrious. I also think that the Music Department here is very strong indeed.

In your career what is the most enjoyable experience you have ever had? The music I am playing at the time. In other words, I enjoy all styles of music so whatever I'm involved in at the time, I enjoy. I suppose one of the highlights was the premiere of my composition, A Tableau for String Orchestra, performed in 1998 at St Paul's, Robert Adams Street in London.

What would you say is your greatest achievement? The greatest achievement may yet appear, but ... I would have to say I am devoted to my teenage son and daughter. The greatest achievement is to see that they are happy, settled and doing well in life.

Do you have any hobbies? Yes. I enjoy gardening and making and decorating cakes professionally. I have done a course in sugar craft and can make models out of sugar.

What is you're favourite food? I love Italian food, especially cannelloni; I also love Indian food.

If you had to be stuck in a lift with somebody, who would it be? Probably my son, because he has such a sense of humour and if you are in that type of situation I think you need a bit of humour.

Have you had any particular role models in you're life? Obviously my parents. Also my violin teacher, Nick Roth, who knew Bartok, Shostakovich and Ravel, which made him a fascinating man to study with. He also had a wide experience of not only teaching, but playing.

If you could go back in history, which event or era would you go back to? I do like the style of the eighteenth century, but I would also have liked to have been alive at the time of Christ to see the impact that he had on the world. However, I believe life must go forward and it would be retrograde to look back.

Do you have any pet hates? Yes. I can't bear untidiness and sloppiness or inefficiency. If someone says, I'm going to do something, I'd expect them to do it. So I do like people to be true to their word.

Do you have any pets? Not at the moment. But at one time we had a terrapin, called Mr. Spock.

If you had three wishes what would you wish far? I'd wish for health and happiness for my son and daughter. And that they would be successful in the lives and with their careers.The third wish would probably be to serve the best I can in my daily work.

Where do you see yourself in twenty years' time? I'd quite like to develop some more composition once I have retired from teaching. I have just written a score for Hamlet, which is going to be performed this week at the Sandpit Theatre in StAlbans.

Interview conducted by Richard Nobrega and John Breakell

STAFF NEWS

Mr Jim MacLeod

Full Name? James MacLeod

It sounds as if you have some Scottish blood in you? I have. My father is Scottish and I had lots of childhood holidays in Scotland.

What brought you to John Lyon? I came to John Lyon because Mr Roy persuaded me to. We used to work together in my previous school.

What were your ftrst impressions of the school? The boys seemed genuinely friendly. I remember someone holding the door open for me when I came for my interview and I thought that was very pleasant.

What were your previous positions? Going backwards in time,l was an English teacher atWatford Grammar School for Boys, a solicitor in the City and before I went to university I took a year off during which I taught in a rural Zimbabwean secondary school.

Why did you become a lawyer? I think it is intellectually a very interesting subject, and I felt that I had to do a 'proper job' after university before I went off to do what I really wanted - to be an English teacher. But I found the practice of law extremely tedious and I really do love being a teacher. It is the most fantastic job. An English teacher has a tremendous amount of choice in what to teach and every day you meet a huge amount of people with whom you spend all day talking about what you enjoy.

Et

STAFF NEWS

What are your pet hates? I do hate queues, waiting for inefficient people; and Manchester United.

So which football team to you support? West Ham United. (interview stops brieffy as interviewers attempt to control their laughter).

What is your favourite television programme? This is actually true. You'd better get this right. It's 'Jeff Stelling's Soccer Saturday'.

What is your ideal night in? I think it's watching Sky's mid-week football coverage when all my friends' teams are losing, and having enough credit on my phone to text them to gloat.

Do you have a favourite music genre? What kind of music can't you stand? I am a huge Bob Dylan fan and I think that listening to anything else is a wasted opportunity.

What would you put in Roam 10 I ? David Beckham, Robert Mugabe ... That'lI do.

What would you put on the Trafalgar Square plinth? I think it should be Samuel Pepys, Samuel Johnson or Charles Dickens because they all helped to define London as a place.

Where would you have your ashes scattered? Probably Victoria Falls.

If you were Mayor of London, what would you change? I have never understood why tubes stop running at around midnight. I would make the tubes run for 24 hours a day.

What has been your most memorable night out? Certainly not at Upton Park.

Who would you most like to be stranded with on a desert island? Not a bunch of school kids (I am currently teaching Lord of the Flies).

Last book or CD you bought? The Corrections by Jonathan Franson was the last book and the last CD that I bought was the soundtrack to a film called Masked and Anonymous because it was full of covers of Bob Dylan songs, including Japanese and rap versions. I cite that as evidence that I am not narrow-minded in my music.

What was the last thing that made you cry? Birmingham City 2-2 West Ham United

Interview by Christopher Leonard and Cameron Houston

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Mr Stephen Brown

May we ask your age? Thirty.

What is your star sign? Capricorn.

What is your favourite film? The Recruit'.

What is your favourite book? The A to Z of London.

What is your favourite TV programme? Property Ladder.

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What is the craziest thing you have ever done? Going to Las Vegas.

Who would be your ideal celebrity to have dinner with? Delia Smith.

What is your favourite type of music? Capital FM music.

Who is your favourite artist? Daniel Bedingfield.

What was your most embarrassing moment? Calling the school register for the first time.

Why did you decide to come to The John Lyon School? To experience new things and further my career.

What are your hobbies? Ceramics and DIY because I've just bought a new house.

Where is the most interesting place you have been? A road trip round California.

Do you have any bad habits? Uh,no!

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Where did you go to university? Dundee for three years, then Cardiff for two.

If there wos a frre in your house what item would you save and why? My car keys and my wallet.

What is your claim to fame? I met Pat Butcher at an exhibition.

Have you ever won anything? I won a holiday for two to Athens in a raffle in Dundee.

Apart from teaching at The John Lyon School, what is your dream job? To landscape my own island.

What three words would best describe you? Modest, sharp, good.

What would you do if you won the lottery? Emigrate to Australia.

What would you have as your epitaph? 'Look after my island!'

Interview conducted by Sunjit Kamboj and Sukhraj Singh

Mrs Heather Cade

What frrst attracted you to the John Lyon School? I was born and brought up in Harrow so I had seen the boys going by. The reputation of the school also attracted me. I was keen to come here and meet new challenges.

What would you say your greatest achievement is? Apart from getting this job, of course, I have two daughters which is a great achievement.

Do you have any 'pet hates'? The only thing I don't like is inconsiderate drivers! And I'm not too fond of spiders either!

What were your frrst impressions of John Lyon? It is a very warm school and all the staff and boys here made me feel very welcome.

What is your favourite food? I suppose my favourite meal would be roast beef and Yorkshire pudding!

What would your ideal night in be? It would be in the winter ... watching a film with my family, with a bottle of wine and a log fire.

What is your favourite television programme? I like comedies:'Friends' and 'Only Fools and Horses'

Where do you see yourself in ten years' time? Hopefully healthy and happy. It would be nice to have won the lottery as well!

STAFF NEWS

What is your favourite holiday destination? Somewhere hot, sunny and by the sea. But as long as it had all those I wouldn't mind where!

What would your ideal night out be? Going out with friends, having a nice meal and then going on to the theatre.

If you could be any animal, what animal would you be? A black Labrador; they have a nice life as far as I can see!

Do you have a favourite book? Not really ... I read a wide range of books and it all depends on what I'm feeling like!

What would you soy is the most boring experience you have ever had? Probably waiting in A & E - daughter's thumb needed to be X-rayed.

Is there a period of history that you would have liked to have witnessed? Probably the eighteenth or nineteenth century; I think that that would have been an interesting time to have lived.

What did you want to be as a child? Happy!

Interview conducted by John Breakell and Richard Nobrega

STAFF NEWS

Mrs Penny Hawes

Why did you choose to come to John Lyon, and what are your first impressions? I'd heard it was a lovely school, and I had read about it for a long time. I always thought it would be a nice school to work in. I think the staff and boys are very friendly.

As a Special Needs teacher, what kind of special needs will you be addressing? Mainly dyslexia, but there may also be some people who have dyspraxia.

What motivated you to want to help those with special needs? A long time ago I met a very clever boy named Mark who could answer every question in class, but could do absolutely nothing when it came to writing it down. I just wanted to help him.

What is the main thing you hope to achieve in your new role? To make people comfortable with being dyslexic and make them realise it won't stop them achieving their ambitions.

Where do you see yourself in ten years' time? At home with grandchildren.

Who would you least like to be stuck in a lift with? George W. Bush.

Who would you most like to be stuck in a lift with? Eddie Izzard; his jokes would make the time pass very quickly.

What's your favourite TV programme? The News is the only thing that I watch regularly. Also CNN.

What would be your ideal night in? With my family at home.

And your ideal night out? The Spellbound Ball which raises money in aid of Dyslexia.

If you could be any animal for a day, what would you be? My dog Sugar.

What is your favourite book? Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy.

Where in the world would you most like to visit and why? Australia. It's beautiful. I'd like to go to Ayers Rock.

If you won the lottery, what would you spend your winnings on? I'd give a lot to children's charities. I've got all the things I need.

What is the worst thing about you? I make terrible cakes. We always have to buy them.

What kind of music do you like? I like many classical artists and also the Rolling Stones.

If you had the opportunity to have lunch with anybody, living or dead, who would they be? I always thought it would be interesting to meet somebody like ClementAttlee.

What would you say is the best thing about yourself? I'm willing to listen to people - I'm not prejudiced.

Interview conducted by Samit Mapara and Liam Moore

Mrs Michaela Leach

Why did you choose John Lyon? I've been associated with school in some way or another, for a long time, either through friends who were teaching here or through my son who came to the school at eleven and left in 2002. I knew the type of caring community that the school offers and the individual attention given to each boy.

Where do you see yourself in ten years' time? In France - on the Loire Valley or in Italy, in some little Tuscan town with my red wine and a good book. Oh, and the prerequisite 'olive oil'.

Have you always dreamt of being a teacher? Not really! I always wanted to act, but I arrived at the conclusion that most failed

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actors become teachers. All is not lost though; my son promised me 'a supporting role' in his first film.

What are your favourite TV programmes? 'Have I got News for You' and any murder­mystery drama plus 'CSI','Six Feet Under' and The West Wing'.

If you could be any animal for the day, which one would you be? Definitely a cheetah - lean and fast.

Do you have a favourite author? The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery - there's something there for everyone.

What would you spend your winnings on if you won the lottery? A good chef.

What's the most adventurous thing you've done? Getting married and raising children.

What would you say is the best thing about yourself? My brain.

What music do you like? Most operas, classical music and ... Evanescence and Coldplay.

If you had an opportunity to have lunch with anybody, past or present, who would they be? Sorry to be previsible but it has to be William Shakespeare, the 'coolest' man that ever lived. Alternatively, Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin.

Describe yourself in three words . .. Undertall not overweight.

Interview conducted by Samit Mapara and Liam Moore

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Miss Catherine Allkins May we ask your full name? Catherine EmmaAllkins.

Education: StAlbans.

Previous Job: Hebron School, South India.

Where were you born? London.

What were your (lrst impressions of John Lyon? Hectic, but in a good way of course!

What do you teach? I teach mainly French with some Spanish and Italian.

What are your hobbies? Horse riding.

How would you describe yourself in three words? Adventurous, enthusiastic and excitable.

Do you have any pet hates? Profanity and having to get up early!

What was your most embarrassing moment? Trying to avoid embarrassing moments.

Who would you most like to meet? Friends that I left back in India.

Where would you most like to go? Kavalum beach in Kerala,lndia.

Do you have any bad habits? Giggling at highly inappropriate moments!

Why did you decides to teach? Because I love the fluency of the languages I teach.

If you had one life lesson to give to pupils, what would it be? Don't just live for the moment.

If you could be an animal, which one would it be and why? A cat because they get to sleep a lot!

What was your favourite subject at school? English literature

Interview conducted by Nikul Gore and Jiten Halai

MrTimothy J.Adnitt

What brought you to John Lyon and what were your (lrst impressions? I wanted to do some teaching. and I saw the job advertised on a classical music magazine's website. My first impressions were of a friendly department with good facilities and keen to develop them ...

What were your previous positions in teaching posts or any other work? Most of my work has been freelance; I'm still at another college as head of Music Technology there. Otherwise I've done a range of work, most recently on Sibelius, a piece of music software, and a lot of freelance bass playing around the country. I've also worked with Django Bates as assistant composer.

Can you describe yourself in three words? A perfectionist, I'm afraid; artistic, I'd hope and everyone else tells me I'm a workaholic.

Do you have a claim to fame? No, not really; but the closest I've been to music technology fame has been an article published in Sound on Sound magazine with Django Bates regarding work we'd done with computers in live music.

What are your life ambitions? Writing music for dance is something I really enjoy. Working with choreographers, is something I'm already doing a lot of but I'd like to develop it a lot more. Also writing and recording with my ensemble.

If money were no object, where would you live? Totteridge Lane, in a nice big, detached house, with a studio. That would be ideal.

What would be your idea of an ideal night out? I think it would be to go to a nice restaurant and a concert, with some form of live music; jazz, classical, something like that.

What's your favourite music genre and what can't you stand? I like most musical genres on the whole; my least favourite genres would be commercial hip-hop and garage, if I had to be sweeping about it. That said, I keep an open mind about it because there are always good things to hear in any piece of music.

What would you put in Room I 0 I ? Microsoft.

Who would you most like to meet from past, present and future? I decided Stravinsky would be an interesting person to meet.

Who would you want to be stranded on a desert island with? If I didn't say my girlfriend I'd be a dead man.

What was the last CD or book you bought? Gavin Bryars' 'Men in a Room Gambling' and before that it was David Bowie's 'Reality'. The last book I bought was on the John Coltrane album, 'A Love Supreme'.

If your house were on (Ire which three things would you save? Well, my bass, CDs, and my girlfriend.

What is your life philosophy? To go for what you believe in, no matter how many people tell you that you can't do it.

Interview conducted by Cameron Houston and Chris Leonard

AIlT and Design It has been an exciting year of development and change for art and design atJohn Lyon. It heralded the amalgamation of the Design Technology and Art Departments under the umbrella of a new combined Art and Design Faculty.This entailed the gradual shifting of materials and resources from the Oldfield site to the Main Building - a mammoth task for staff and students alike! Studio spaces and workshops have been redesigned to accommodate painting and sculpture spaces, as well as the creation of an entirely new Sixth Form studio. Beneath these, and literally carved from the earth, a brand new print-making facility, soon to be complemented by a darkroom and specialist IT room, will house an artist in residence, Mr Dan Llywelyn Hall, in the Autumn Term of 2003. An exhibiting practitioner, Dan will play an important part contributing his expertise to a broadening curriculum and should provide an exciting source of inspiration for everyone, both within and outside the faculty.

Having served John Lyon for fifteen years, lan Read has moved on to retirement in Spain. His creativity, good humour and personal care for the boys past and present was greatly appreciated and we all wish him well for the future. His departure precipitated the appointment of Stephen Brown. Stephen was formerly at Eton College, and his skills and experience in ceramics and sculpture will bring fresh and vibrant perspectives to the imaginations of our creative community, whilst his energy and enthusiasm will no doubt be welcome throughout the school.

A talented and committed group of Fifth Form artists were to set their Sights high, starting the second year of their GCSE course with projects inspired by digital imagery. Twice weekly open studios after school were an opportunity for the boys to make the most of their time and this clearly paid dividends with a superb set of results in the summer. Our AS Art student, Matthew Collins has also proved a mature and committed artist, achieving an A grade with three varied and ambitious projects.

The Design and Technology results were also extremely pleasing, demonstrating real potential for the future as the course develops into three-dimensional studies. For example, the Lower Sixth guided by Elaine Sigston and Peter Perdue, produced a wide range of seating designs. The Fourth Form completed a highly successful wine rack project, and School as usual entered and enjoyed the Harrow Rotary Technology Tournament.

For the first time the end of year art and design show was held in the Mall.This light and airy space was an ideal setting for a broad range of work. The show was the culmination ofthe year's efforts and was admired by all who passed by. Special mention should be made of some outstanding screen prints by Stephen Rhodes and Thomas Hinton's impressionistic urban landscapes. The evening of the private view was a success, affording local feeder school head teachers and parents the opportunity to enjoy the work, to the sound of music from Jai Paul and company.

This year we will be introducing life classes and are hoping to incorporate some weekend artist workshops during the Summer Term. The new activities programme has further broadened the scope for self­expression, with the First Year creating some impressively scaled (!) fish sculptures and during the coming year the First and Second years will be makingVenetian masks and insect-inspired wire sculptures. The opportunity now exists for keen craftsmen to develop their skills as cabinet makers with Peter Perdue.As well as proposed museum and gallery visits, we are also hoping to organise a Fifth Year and Lower Sixth trip to Paris in the autumn of 2004.

The future bodes well for art and design.

CM.E. Harrison

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James Lloyd

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Mitesh Parikh

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The New Memorial Library

"There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which. if taken at the flood. leads on to fortune;

Omitted. all the voyage of their life ... Is bound in shallows and in miseries:'

Julius Caesar:Act IV, sc iii (William Shakespeare)

For all the boys at John Lyon School. I would say that the New Memorial library ought to be envisaged as the 'tide' in their lives' at this moment in time and my advice therefore is for all of them to 'take it at the flood' and absorb all the facilities provided. For today is the day of opportunity. and tomorrow may be too late. Considerable advances and innovations have been made in the library for the benefit of students. Furthermore. we intend to persevere. and keep pace with technological progress. so that we will be able to provide a high quality service for the boys at John Lyon School for years to come.

The library has been given a brand new face­lift. All of the shelving and floor plan has been reorganised and set out in a much more user­friendly fashion than ever before. As a result of this. use of the library facilities has increased twofold. The library has also been equipped with an additional computer room and now boasts over twenty five liqUid crystal display screen computer terminals in the Computer Section and a further six in the main library. The Computer Section within the library can now be booked by classes or used by boys to do research at other times. There are now two colour and four black and white laser printers. three scanners and a photocopying machine. all available for boys to print. copy or reproduce their work. All these facilities have strengthened and expanded possibilities and challenges for the boys in terms of gaining outstanding research and IT skills.

The Library is well equipped with a DVDNideo player and a 26 inch television. Videos and DVDs covering almost every subject area in the School are now available on loan and a further £2000 will be spent on expanding the video and DVD

collection this year. The junior library that formerly existed in the Lower School building. Oldfield. has now been incorporated into the main stock in the library.

The School library would not have functioned to its fullest potential without the dedication. time and support provided by Mrs Carlene Anderson who has been with us for two years now. We are also deeply indebted to Mr Martin Sayers. our Computer Technician. who is meticulous. competent and diligent and always willing to lend a helping hand. We shall miss him tremendously as he retires in December this year. He will be a hard act to follow. I am particularly pleased with my Library Monitor. Prasanna De-Alwis. my Senior Library Prefect.Joshil Lhodia and my Computer Room Prefect. James Wang. all three of whom have displayed exceptional supervisory and management skills. All the library Prefects have been trained to operate the Computerised Library Management System. In the meantime. library induction for all the Year 7 boys and the new Year 9 boys has been conducted successfully and careers induction for all of the Year II boys is in the offing.

We continue to provide a stimulating and studious environment. encouraging the boys in the School to develop their own experience of education. to cultivate a habit of in-depth reading and as a result improve their writing. expand their research skills and help sustain their intellectual curiosity. We can confidently say that The New Memorial Library has now been fully established to achieve just that.

Mrs Jani da Silva. Head of Library and Learning Resources

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The Viptual Language

The John Lyon School Virtual Language Laboratory was installed in September 2003. It runs on twenty-five designated desktop computers in the Language Laboratory upstairs in the Oldfield Building. The system works using software called Can-S, a Canadian product that is used in schools and universities around the world.

This software allows the user to manipulate text, voice recordings, video clips and even songs with the aim of teaching and learning language. The laboratory 'exists' via the computer screens and headphones, allowing the student to hear or watch a recorded clip and then respond either by typing in an answer or by recording his own voice. This voice recording will be stored digitally, allowing the teacher to listen to the recording subsequently. The teacher can then assess the recording and leave suggestions or comments for the student to hear the next time he logs on to the system. This feedback can of course be given immediately as the teacher can listen in to students as they are recording.

When working on pronunciation, the student can see on the screen a 'voice graph' which maps the intonation and stresses needed to mimic the correct patterns. The student can record and rerecord his voice continually until he is happy with his final product. This helps give confidence to the student as he is the only one who can hear his early attempts - the computer is infinitely patient.

In the case of listening work, the student can be given full control or none at all, of what he hears, thus allowing him to go back over sections he has not fully understood as many time as he wants. This is an ideal training ground for the AS and A-Level examinations where each student has his own cassette.

The system will allow a teacher to set up exercises for listening and reading practice where the student will be given immediate feedback by the computer as to how he has performed. These would typically be gap-filling, multiple choice or true/false exercises - all of which are very common exercises at both GCSE and A-Level. This will allow students to work independently of the teacher and still get a certain amount of necessary feedback.

The system will be equally useful to those just starting out on learning a new language as it will be to those preparing for the highest levels of university entrance. The materials on the system are all installed by the language teachers at John Lyon, therefore ensuring everything is totally appropriate to the students' needs.

N.Loudon

! I

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hority Following October Half Term, preparation for the year's fundraising proceeded in earnest. Every form elected a representative, who coordinated his class's fund raising. The newly created Student Council strongly supported a proposal to sponsor Amar Patel, a former pupil who had suffered a severe stroke during his second year at the School. The year's fundraising efforts started with an astonishingly generous collection after the Autumn Concert, which itself raised over £600!

As ever, many forms entered into the spirit of fundraising, particularly in Oldfield.The traditional 'Word-Build', where pupils from the first three years are sponsored to make as many words as possible from one long word, continued to be a great success, raising a considerable amount of money. Many forms also went into business, competing against each other in the selling of cakes and sweets! Memories of the raucous, energetic Oldfield Market, co­ordinated by the Second Year, are etched in my memory.

The highlight of the Autumn Term had to be the Christmas Charity Staff Pantomime. For the reasonable price of just £2 every boy had the opportunity to watch the teachers' energetic performance. I dare say that I will never forget the image of Mr French and Mr Ryder, appearing dressed up as small children with wooden horses, or Mr Gladwell's 'grinch-like' interpretation of Father Christmas! Many thanks must go to the Head of Drama, Ms Gibbs, who wrote the script, and coerced many members of staff into participating!

In the Spring Term, the stalwart Parents' Association Quiz Supper was held.Thanks must go to Mrs Ingham for co-coordinating the event with the Parents' Association. The event proved to be a great success, being both enormous fun for the participants, and raising well over £ I 000 for charity. However, shortly afterwards, we heard the tragic news of Amar's death following a second stroke. With Ms Waldron, Mrs Perdue, and Mr Parker, I attended Amar's funeral which was a very moving occasion. After the inevitable shock of this news, the School decided to continue its fund raising in Amar's memory. A 'Wear what you want day', the sale of red noses for Comic Relief and the selling of cakes raised just short of £ I 000. This concluded the year's fundraising - a year with several notable successes, but permeated with tragedy. A considerable amount of money has been raised and the decision as to its donation will be made in the near future.

Sam Dennis

(

Economics Society The spring term saw the formation of the first ever John Lyon School Economics Society. The aim was to create an informal discussion group, in which members could debate relevant economic issues that might also supplement their AS and A2 Level studies in Economics. The society is primarily aimed at students of Economics and particularly those considering continuing with the subject at university. However, the extensive influence of economics soon became apparent, with a large number of students who do not study the subject attending the meetings.

The first session involved elections for the administrative section of the society. With the positions established, the first speaker was invited to give a presentation.Tarang Katira, a member of the Upper Sixth Form who had just won a place to read Economics at King's College, Cambridge, talked to us about the Cambridge application experience:The actual application forms; what is required in terms of preparation; and most importantly, the interview.

The next meeting included our first debate. Nikul Gore, Christopher Lam, Vishal Shah and Mayan Uthayakumar, all Lower Sixth formers, argued whether pay increases for the country's fire­fighters, who were on strike at the time, were economically viable.

At the next fortnightly meeting, Sunjit Kamboj, another Lower Sixth former, presented a case for and against the Congestion Charge in London.This presentation was particularly useful for those students studying similar methods of taxation for their Unit 2 Eco~()mics examination.

Two members of the Upper Sixth, Kevin Larkin and Albert Lau, then produced a highly technical and stimulating presentation on Oligopolies - a form of market structure.We were informed of the dominance of a small number of firms in the newspaper industry, and the effect this has upon the overall market.

At our first meeting of this term,Josh Sasto gave an excellent presentation on the prospect of the UK joining the single currency, a topic likely to emerge in university interviews. The presentation provided a case for both sides of the argument, and it was interesting to see that after the presentation, the only members of the audience who voted to join the Euro were people who did not study Economics AS Level!

Subsequent topics that will be presented later this term include: 'Should the official retirement age be raised!' by Mayan Uthayakumar, and a discussion on whether the wages of very high earners should be capped, presented byVishal Shah. It promises to be another eventful year for the Economics SOciety. A big thank you to all who attended.

Samit Mapara, President

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Photographic Society This has been a good year for the society. Our membership has mainly been drawn from the Third Year to the Lower Sixth. We have met once a week and have covered a one year programme starting from the basics and moving up through traditional techniques into digital photography.

A number of the fifth formers have used this experience to complete their skills section ofThe Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award. Many of the boys have become sufficiently interested to purchase their own SLR cameras and these were put to good use at Sports Day. Some examples of their work are represented in this magazine.

It is hoped that photography will become much more embedded in the Art and Design Department next year and it is probable that the darkroom facility will move to this area from Oldfield House in the near future. Digital photography is still relatively new but, as it gains in popularity, it will become an integral part of any photography course at John Lyon.

G .. J. Ryder

The Film Club The FirstYear Film Club provides boys with the opportunity to reflect on important contemporary issues through the medium of video. The first film to be viewed was Minority Report which uses a futuristic science-fiction context to examine issues surrounding the sanctity of life and society'S response to crime. The second film, Bend it like Beckham, explores attitudes towards women in sport and the tensions arising from inter-racial relationships. Several 'James Bond' movies provided an action-packed conclusion to the year's viewings.

A.S. Westlake

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Union This year has seen a wide range of speakers coming to talk to us at our Union periods. It was enjoyable to hear a range of topics being discussed so that the speeches always felt informative and fresh. It was also stimulating to encounter different methods of delivery from the calm to the fiery. For instance on two consecutive weeks we were presented with opposing arguments on the Palestine/Israel conflict from John Levy and Gillian Watt. The issue is of course a controversial one and so it was only fair that we heard the various arguments in this balanced way. I am sure that everyone's opinion on the matter was in some way changed and informed by the speakers. The relevance of this debate and also of the 'Britain and the Euro' discussion cannot be doubted and so it was useful to be acquainted with the facts at school.

However, I have to say that those were not my favourite speeches. The prize for style must go to Anthony Slinn for his lively talk on Salvador Dali.1 had heard him before discussing Vincent Van Gogh and remember vividly the moment when he illustrated the master-painter's suicide by firing a blank from a gun. Anyone not captivated by his speech was certainly awoken with a start by the deafening roar. This year he did not fail to entertain us again, although admittedly it would be difficult not to as the painter in question this time is something of an 'odd ball'.

The props he used this time were not unfortunately weaponry but they were just as interesting: tape recordings of Dali's explicitly surreal musings rendered in his unmistakeably cacophonous intonation, pictures of rocks, which look like faces and some of Dali's paintings in which one was encouraged to ponder the eternal question: just where is the greyhound supposed to bel The speaker himself most certainly had an affinity with his subject. It was a thrill to hear him suddenly put tremendous emphasis on the word 'painter' at random in the middle of a sentence. His passion for art shone through in a most bizarre but wonderful way.

The prize for content has to go Allan Conway for his speech on the science of graphology, or, to those not clued up in this field, the study of handwriting and what it can tell us. A seemingly innocent piece of handwriting was fervently scrutinised and made to reveal the secrets of its owner: arrogance, timidity and even schizophrenia. He also told us, quite interestingly, that the idle doodles we draw in fits of boredom in class almost all have highly significant connotations.

All in all we were pleasantly taught a great many things in Union and we were occasionally encouraged to relax, such as the occasion we spent listening to the musically gifted Jackoby Night and their powerful brand of rock and roll. Every Union period proved a very congenial way to spend a period in school and thanks must of course go to Mr French for introducing us to such a fascinating group of speakers.

Charles Booth

CLUBS & SOCIETIES

The Philosophers' Club The Philosophers' Club offers boys in Years 1-3 the opportunity to become acquainted with the wonders of philosophy. The club takes its inspiration from Socrates' statement that the unexamined life in not worth living. Each week a philosophical question is discussed, the boys share their own ideas and the views of one important philosopher are explored.

A.S. Westlake

Activities Monday to Friday This year saw the start of a weekly activity programme offering the boys opportunities beyond the rigours of their lessons and enabling them to experience a wide range of challenges.We have had enthusiastic pupils looking after the aquarium, with guidance from Mrs J. Perdue, through to the Young Enterprise Scheme under the guidance of Mr AndrewWright.Young Enterprise is the perfect training ground for those sixth formers thinking of running their own companies. Maybe we have the next Richard Branson in our midst!

All of the activities on offer encourage our students to broaden their minds and opinions. Options include debating and philosophy clubs, funk, salsa and rock bands and many more. Action-packed lunch times are filled with cricket practice in the nets and athletics training for field and track events. Currently, 64 activities are available to all pupils, every week, during the Summer Term and options change each term.

Miss E.K. Sigston Director of Activities

The Friday afternoon activity programme has had a very successful start.The FirstYears have had an action-packed carousel of creative and challenging experiences including hockey, water polo, art, and sculpture, to name only a few. The long traditions of the school have also made it possible for all pupils to learn the ancient skills of archery, an opportunity which has existed, almost uninterrupted, at John Lyon, for 125 years, and one we hope to see continue throughout the coming generations.

From September 2003, all pupils from the First Year through to the Lower Sixth will be taking part in Action, Creative and Service activities. The Lower School is enjoying the carousel of events, while the Upper School and Sixth Form will choose one event from each area for a term, from the option booklet.

Miss E.K. Sigston Director of Activities

CLUBS & SOCIETIES

Children of Courage Awards On Wednesday II th December, eleven boys, Samit Unadkat, our monitor, Ms Waldron and Mr Westlake, attended the Children of Courage awards, which was held at Westminster Abbey. We left school at eight twenty and arrived in London, via the tube, at about nine thirty. In London, all eleven boys and Samit were kindly treated to drinks. at Starbucks, by Ms Waldron (Thanks Ma'am.). It was quite an eventful drink. When we had gone in, Kashif Shirazi noticed that two actors from a Coronation Street were seated at a table and he and a few ")thers got their autograph.

Amo; ;st the crowd in Westminster Abbey were: Roger Moore, Gary Rh, les, Hand Claire from Steps, Greg Rusedski and even Desmon Lynam. Most celebrities signed autographs. The idea of the cerel ony was to reward children for showing courage and characte; over the past year. The awards varied between saving lives and COp:I',; bravely with life-threatening diseases.

Ross Kemp also made an appearance; it was he who had the honour of kicking-off the ceremony with a poem, A 'Christmas Tribute', Later that evening, on the news, he said he was very nervous. This reading was then followed by a series of hymns and carols. Then it was the presentation of the awards.

I think the most remarkable two winners are ChristopherVince, who was twelve. He made a split second decision to save his older brother at the expense of his own life. The pair were walking in a viok torm, when a thirty-foot tree came crashing down. Christ ):)her dived and pushed his brother out of the path of the tree and was struck by the tree. Hayley Okines, is four and from Bexhill. She suffers from a serious case of progeria. This is a rare, and cruel condition, which means that her body is ageing eight times faster than it, should. She already has the heart and lungs of a thirty two year old. Hayley is also crippled with arthritis and has lost nearly all of her hair. But with these conditions, she refuses to feel sorry for herself.

After the award ceremony, we managed to fit in lunch at McDonald's before arriving back at school for the last two lessons. We would all like to thank Mrs Gill Branston for her kind invitation for us to attend the Children of Courage Awards. We had a wonderful time.

Lavan Krishnamohan

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SPORT

Join the

John Lyon Parents' and Friends' Association

The John Lyon Parents' and Friends' Association has a long tradition of supporting our boys and our School. Working alongside the School and the Old Lyonians' Association, our aims are to:

• organise activities and events that benefit the boys and the School, including fund raising for significant projects;

• promote a wider sense of community and involvement with the life of the School - amongst the existing parents, boys and former students working with the Old Lyonians' Association, and also with former members of staff and interested people and organisations in the local community;

• help promote and maintain the School's values -particularly the strong sense of pastoral care which attracts so many of us as parents to John Lyon.

and support our :chool

What does the Association do? In previous years the Association has run numE events and social activities at the School, and r"

JS

·d funds for much needed resources from tents for Johr Ion Outward Bound activities such as the Duke of f inburgh Award Scheme, to stage lighting for performanc i in the Boyd Campbell Hall, and contributions to the be IS' Sixth Form charity appeal.

Association members have also supported school events from Association Day and summer fairs to parents' evenings and sports trips.

What are we doing next term? Our next event will be an evening meeting for fonner students, and boys in the fourth, fifth and sixth forn:s who are making subject and career choices.

Former students working in the arts, profession" business and the academic world will be on hand to tell our boys about their experiences and the career choices they have made.

We'll also be on hand at Association Day if you'd like to talk to us. Look for our stall, bar and cream teas in the marquee, or for members wearing the Association badge shown above.

How to support the Association We're always keen to welcome new members, so if you'd like to help us organize events, or have enthusiasm, skills or resources that you feel might benefit the boys and the School do contact us at the addresses in the box.

We especially want to hear from you if you'd like to

tell the boys about your own career choices and work experiences at our evening meeting in the September term. This will be an informal event but a really valuable one for our boys - and we hope old boys and friends of the school with true stories to tell about the world of work beyond school and college will enjoy sharing them. Drop us a note and we'll tell you more.

To contact the Parents' and Friends' Association: either email us at: jlpfa@lycos.co.uk or drop a note to the Chairman, Peter Whitfield clo the School Office.

Philip Ellaway

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Monito r S 1003-1004

Standing: Christopher lam; Christopher leonard; Owen Peachey; William Deacon; Ryan Nicholas; Cameron Houston; Mayan Uthayakamur. Seated: Prasanna Oe-Alwis; Samit Mapara; Joel Bubbers; Mr D. Rimmer. Deputy Head (Pastoral); James Mott. Head Boy; Joshua Sasto;

Jiten Halai; Swaraj Thancanamootoo.

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The John Lyon Leavers' Ball was quite simply the highlight of the school's social calendar. Exam pressure out of the way we were free to put on our glad rags and have a good time with old friends before parting our various ways. Speaking of glad rags there was an eclectic mixture of black tie attire. Almost all made the effort to look the part, which produced some brilliant examples of evening wear. Some wore white jackets, (one presumes to emulate the classical style of James Bond), some wore cravats and embroidered waistcoats (to dazzle those around them with garish colour) and others, (well

· me), wore jacket tails · and a cummerbund and

braved criticisms such as,"Are you taking drinks orders or are you just our food waiterl" in order to be peerlessly suave.

The setting was wonderfully decorated,

... the clothes were stylish, the music suited many tastes so that everyone found at least one track to dance to and the

. food tasted good. All that was left to ,. the mood was the shared

· experiences we wert all reliving, the friendships we had formed and of course copious amounts of alcohol. So much for good gracel All good things must come to an end, (except of course for death and taxes but

• they weren't Invited), and In the wee hours of the night we were thrown out onto the streets still laughing all the WIlf. A shining success, which will be difficult to top next year.

Charles Booth

of talented future stars were on in Guys and Dolls,John Lyon's

at the Ryan Theatre, Harrow-on-the 2nd-4th April 2003. The cast, which

nearly forty pupils, included girls from Northwood College and Mill Hill

High School, performing alongside boys.

the moment the audience stepped the beautifully equipped Ryan Theatre. we overwhelmed by a sense of

ifo,~,:in"':lIi'tlm and theatrical magic.The front team, dressed in immaculate and clearly totally engaged, in their

set the audience buzzing in anticipation. were not disappOinted. The cast were full

.Of'"""',",,,,, putting their hearts into well­mmrm .. r" such as 'Sit Down You're the Boat', for which soloist jQnath~n as Nicely-Nicely should get a special

.... , .. nf"iinn has remarkable ~e

... ' ... c .. n,.. .. and is clearly a talent to watch: Maja Raskovic and Joel'Bubbers, MIsS

IfAdel.lide and Nathan,Detroit respectively, , the perfect comic coupte, exchanging: banter in 'poifect' New York accenr,s.J

PJ'SOIIUtE!1Y adored their rendition of 'Sue Me' perfectly demonstrated their talenu.

has a wonderful face and a lovely stage , ~ "'· .. c~'n,..~ The audiences adored him.

Sarah Wakefield and Owen Peachey played 'prim soul-saver Sarah Brown and Incl,lrable gambler Sky Masterson, and managed to convey their developing relationship VerY convincingly. Owen has a beautiful singing voice and I was struck by the emotional, range he brought to Sky's dramas.TheHot~,

, Girls and Crapshooters, both shonei~ th8lr . big numbers,'A Bushel andA Pe«;k'".,..al<!t8licI( Your Mink',The Crapshooters' Dance aricI 'Luck Be A Lady'.

Stefan Hargreaves playingArvlde Abemathy performed a beautiful rehdttion of 'More I Cannot Wish You'. Daniel Stock, " hilariously portrayed Ueutenant Brannlgan and Ryan Nicholas performed the most successful Big Julie I have ever seen. The Crapshooters, including Charles Booth and ' Swaraj Thancanamootoo who were both outstanding, were hugely energetic and filled the stage with vitality and professionall~m.

The dancing was superb. The girls beautJtil1Jr captured the atmosphere of the Hotbox Club. The Havana dance sequence was brea~ and it was amazing to see so manylatln daIlce experts. The boys displayed outstanding enthusiasm and their skill, commitment anc! cf~r

continued on page 43

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The Crucible The Crucible by Arthur Miller was

the main Autumn Term production this year. Directed by Mr Arindom Roy, and performed to full houses over the three days from the 28th to 30th November, it comprised a cast mainly of fifth and sixth form students from St Helen's and The John Lyon School.·

The play is a devilishly -I use the word deliberately - difficult one to pull off. To quote Mr Roy's programme notes, 'Salem Massachusetts, 1692, is where our tale is set. Arthur Miller's classic parable of mass hysteria draws a chilling parallel between the Salem witch-hunt of 1692 and the irrational fear of communism which gripped America in the 1950s. This story of how the small community of Salem is stirred into madness by superstition, paranoia and malice, culminating in a violent climax, is a true reflection of one of the strangest and most awful chapters in human history:

As you can imagine, the task Mr Roy set himself was particularly challenging but he rose to it magnificently and with his customary good humour and determination. Beginning his auditions in July and completing in September he arrived at his cast of 16 girls and II boys all of considerable talent.

The play opens inside Reverend Parris' home where his daughter Batty lies in bed unable to move. Parris questions his servant girl, Abigail Williams, here powerfully played by Eiram Haq, as a troubled and troublemaking young woman of seventeen, about events that have taken place in the forest. Parris suspects 'abominations', have taken place and the entrance of Sarah Putnam and her subsequent questions implying suggestions of witchcraft, set in train a series of events culminating in tragedy.

There were so many remarkable performances coaxed from the players that it seems unfair to single out individuals. However, I must congratulate Daniel StoCk for his powerful portrayal of Jo~n Proctor. Daniel gave a performance of great force and conviction. He made

DRAMA

~ .. ------------------------------------------

...

DRAMA

Proctor's decision to take the honOurable path leading to his " ble death both entirely believable and heartbreaking at the same time. It was a performance which will stay In the

".memory. He was sensitively supported by Natasha Watson with ;a wonderful coolness and restraint as his emotionally buttoned ':up wife Elizabeth. But make no mistake this production was an ensemble performance and it will be hard to forget Charles

~'Booth's portrayal of John Hale as a thoroughly decent man jt caught up in terrible events and believably possessed by the

potent Idea that he might eventually face 'a bloody fight with the Fiend himself. Sam Dennls as Governor Danforth continued this uncompromising theme in a performance of calculated exactitude which truly chilled the blood.

." The cast worked seamlessly together and it was marvellously -. horrifying to witness the group hysteria of the girls and note how :;,well they worked together and their power and capacity to ~ ·engage the audience's sense of horror. Although of course the

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play was emphatically a group effort, a number of other performances remain in the mind. Joel Bubbers gave a rollicking performance as Marshal Herrick, and Eoin Connolly, Richard Jago and Lorenzo Um turned in customarily accomplished performances as Judge Hathome, Giles Cory and Thomas Putnam, respectively. Congratulations to Daniel Hooper for. taking on the role of Ezekial Cheever so successfully at the eleventh hour.

We are particularly indebted to the girls of St Helen's for their enthusiasm, stamina and sheer talent. I have already mentioned Natalie Watson and Eiram Haq but Emily Warburton gave her character, Tituba, a real emotional power and Rachel Haas as Mary Warren proved a very believable witness. It is, I know, invidious to single out particular actors and I should like to stress the high quality of performance - a tribute to the marvellous company spirit and Hr Roy's inspiring direction.

continued on page 41

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I~@ I

DRAMA

Sodew~e[!je oVe[!j t~e Reinbow Somewhere over the Rainbow was the November 2002 production. performed in the drama studio. It was directed and produced by our new Director of Drama. Miss Deborah Gibbs and the cast was made up solely of years one to four. The basic plot which was very close to our hearts. is based on a very contemporary event. the 2002 World Cup Finals. held in Japan. The event takes control of the lives of the characters. who are all England football supporters. and the audience is treated to the roller coaster ride that is the tantalizing dream of qualifying for the competition and the obsession it creates. Finally. the play deals with the way these characters will deal with the sad truth that the England. is not destined for greatness this time round.

The nature of the drama meant that the characters were very defined and clearly played true to playwright's intention. Richard. played by Alykhan Kassam. came across as a very controlled character. However. when thought-tracking occurred and he revealed his psychological secrets. his gestures and movement really came to life.

Michael Berryman played Mr Prime. Richard's boss. as a cold. unemotional man. He spoke very clearly - well as far as is possible when the character has a tricky Scottish accent. The child characters. Mickey.Adam Trepczynski.Jason.Joe Morell. and Matt. Simon Winkler. however. added to the flavour. having a great on-stage relationship with each other as well as showing powerful emotional contrast.

Convincing performances also came from Ravi Sodha as Mr Pass and Nasri EI­Sayegh as Mr Strange. playing evil teachers. a speciality of the dramatist. The commentators. who where also narrators during the piece. played very clearly drawn and believable characters. Sven played by Stuart Onslow and Beckham by Alistair Milne. added to the humour by playing them very satirically. But those who played the crowd. which ranged from the thugs to an OAp, created neat contrasts. and delivered realistic and memorable monologues.

The concept of the play was an interesting one and it had the effect on me of recreating a recent and powerful experience and reflected the way the nation reacted at the time. The unity achieved at the end of the play clearly mirrored the sense of unity in the country as a whole. The set was very open and simple with a raised audience occupying one side and the flags of many nations hanging in the background. The lighting. with Daniel Hooper in charge. and the music. certainly created the necessary atmosphere and allowed for the use of a simple set.

The audience were attentive throughout the play and the ensuing applause at the end was a measure of how the play had gripped them. The play as a whole was a great success and it made all the late night rehearsals and learning lines and movements worth it. which was very obvious from the buzz in the dressing room afterwards. I am sure that many of these boys will continue their interest in drama and 0; course we are to expect many more productions directed and written by Ms Gibbs.

Nathaniel Caiden

Cast Richard Alykhan Kassam Commentator 6 James Perkins Mickey Adam Trepczynski Commentator 7 Ravi Pattni

Jason Joe Morell Commentator 8 Raminda Karalliadde Matt Simon Winkler Commentator 9 Sagar Shah Mr Prime Michael Berryman Commentator 10 Luke Archer Mr Pass Ravi Sodha Commentator I I Priyan Pankhan ia Mr Strange Nasri EI-Sayegh David Beckham Alistair Milne Dan Kunal Thakker Sven Stuart Onslow Bobby Dylan Liew Crowds. footballers Mithunan Sothilingam. The Lost Man Atif Siddiqui Anuj Patel. Harold Andrew Morrisby Asantha DeAlwis. Commentator I Milan Shah Pavan Paw. Commentator 2 Alastair Kidner Michael Leedham. Commentator 3 Jaysil Patel Mitesh Hathiramani Commentator 4 Meeth Katira Commentator 5 Vikash Seth Written and directed by Deborah Gibbs

The Crucible concluded from page 39

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I must also mention Caroline Harrison's and Sam Moreli's minimalist set which cleverly recreated the narrow and claustrophobic world of Salem and provided an effective framework for the tragic events of the drama to unfold. Also. a quick glance at the cast list below will reveal how many people have been involved in this production both on stage and off and so again many congratulations to Mr Roy not only for such a marvellous production but for juggling so many balls in the air and sustaining such a tremendous team spirit in the company.

N.H.P.

Cast Reverend Parris Thomas Putnam John Proctor Giles Corey Reverend John Hale Francis Nurse Ezekiel Cheever Judge Hathorne Marshal Herrick Officer Hopkins Governor Danforth Betty Parris Abigail Williams Tituba Susanna Walcott Mrs. Putnam Mercy Lewis Mary Warren Rebecca Nurse Martha Corey Sarah Good Abigail's gang

Lighting Sound Stage Managers

Stage Crew

Set Design and Painting

Back Drop

Anuj Bhardwaj Lorenzo Lim Daniel Stock Richard Jago Charles Booth Daniel Winkler Daniel Hooper Eoin Connolly Joel Bubbers Oliver Booth Sam Dennis Rosemary Cronin Eiram Haq Emily Warburton Jennifer Morgan Hannah Ritchie Carla Gauci Rachel Haas Hannah Rosenthal Laura Bosier Alice Pervezer Jennifer Morgan. Carla Gauci. Laura Bosier. Alice Pervezer. Rosemary Cronin. Emily Warburton

Deborah Gibbs. Rajiv Koya Deborah Gibbs. Matthew Dodd Kate Higson. Antony Singer. James Backer Adam Sharp. Nathan Langford. Manjit Chita. Luke Archer Caroline Harrison. Dom Roy. Daniel Hooper. Eliot Haigh. Adam Sharpe. Nathan Langford. Manjit Chita. Luke Archer. Martin Thompson Caroline Harrison. Sam Morell

Make-up and Costume Kate Higson. Judith Perdue. the girls

Box Office Ticket Distribution Front of House

in Abigail's gang Lyndon Budd. Atish Lakhani Kevin Larkin. James Sylvester Nabila Khalid. Chris Tucker. Atish Lakhani. Greg Dillon

Photography Michael Sadler Video Production Martin Thompson Programme & Admin Nina Holland Publicity and Posters Jaymit Patel. Atish Lakhani Catering Bruce Burrows Other help and assistance Danni Sinclair and Michelle Head for communication with St. Helen's School

Director and Producer Dom Roy

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DRAMAEvents Summer Term 2003

Two Households The Summer Term witnessed a very exciting new drama project between The John Lyon School and Harrow School. Thirty boys were brought together from both schools to perform a new play written for them by our Director of Drama, Deborah Gibbs.

Set in the Big Brother House of 2020, the play draws parallels with Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet by introducing two opposing households, accustomed to a celebrity lifestyle. Key members of the Beckham and Ferguson families are put under the microscope and, like the Capulets and Montagues before them, they are not able to forget their differences.

The piece was extremely well delivered, with some highly exciting performances. Nasri EI-Sayegh,Vijay Doshi and Stuart Onslow showed great passion as three of the house members. Atif Siddiqui performed with great confidence as one of the hosts and Simon Winkler made a highly convincing psychologist. The other six John Lyon boys, Kofi Asante, Sam Belazka,Omar Butt, Nathan Ireland, Krishan Patel and Kashif Shirazi, displayed excellent commitment and enthusiasm in a range of roles. They had created some wonderfully slick adverts, which really demonstrated the power of the media over us. Performing in Harrow School's Ryan Theatre, once again students had the opportunity of working in a professional theatre venue. Bringing together boys from the two schools has been a highly exciting creative venture and has provided a valuable new experience for all concerned.

Drama House Competition On I st July a new style House Drama Competition was staged, involving students from the First and Second Year. Both year groups had to enter competitors in a variety of categories:

• a published monologue; • a published duologue; • an improvisation; • group work.

There were a total of 48 different items throughout the day, involving about two-thirds of all boys. Standards were extremely high and reflected the effort and commitment demonstrated over the rehearsal period. There were many outstanding performances and there is clearly a great deal of talent in the school. I would like to mention a few of the performers.

First Year Raminda Karalliadde (Butler) and Dylan Liew (Moore) for monologue performances;Anuj Patel and Ravi Patel (Butler) for performance of a published duologue;Abraham Hassan and Ashwanth Ravindrarajah (Moore) for their improvised work.

Second Year JackAbelson (Butler) and David Titone (Vaughan) for monologue performances; Jordan Thompson and Nikhil Raghavan (Butler) and Andrew Watters and Pavan Paw (Norwood) for performance of a published monologue; Meeth Katira and James MacDonald (Butler), Declan Edwards and James Sellu (Norwood) and Gilbert Leaman and Matthew Jobson (Vaughan) for improvised work; Gejen Kamalatharan, Faisal Islam and Roshan Bhalla (Norwood) for their advert.

DRAMA

The competition was very tight at the top and the lead kept changing all day. Eventually Vaughan just took first place beating Butler by just five points.

Bernie & His Intended Tuesday I st July brought together the two sixth form drama groups, four teachers and invited guests to perform a one-act play entitled 'Bernie and his Intended', written by Deborah Gibbs.This comedy explores what happens when tempestuous family members, friends and neighbours are thrown together to meet Bernie's 'intended'. Modelling themselves on Elizabethan actors who had very short rehearsal periods, the cast had one main day of intensive preparation. There was only one performance to an audience of friends and drama students. The whole experience was tremendous fun, performed with remarkable slickness and enthusiastically received. It was an exciting and fitting end to a very busy and innovative year

Miss Deborah Gibbs

Whizzing from School to Street First and Second Year Drama

The John Lyon School production, Whizzing from School to Street, was held in the Drama Studio on the 3rd of March, 2003. The

school production was a mix of four different sorts of plays to make a whole production. The four plays included were Grease, West Side Story, Oliver and The Wizard of Oz.

The lighting of the play was controlled by Daniel Hooper and Matthew Dodd. The play included the school's first and second formers and the director of the play was Mrs Higson.

Backstage we were helped by Mrs Sharma who kindly helped the performers to get into their places and put on different types of costumes for The Wizard of Oz. We were also helped by Miss Gibbs who was in charge of other productions. Avinash Murthy was a performer in the production and this is what he had to say about the play:"1 was pleased with how the play went and I would like to be a part of another play like this soon."

I played the part of Oliver and A-Rab in the play and thought that the play was fun and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Raminda Karalliadde

Bernie and His Intended

Bernie and His Intended was a light hearted comedy written by Ms Gibbs which witnessed Bernie and a group of ill-assorted

guests, including his mother's three ex-husbands, his eccentric godmother and a professional clown, wait for his wife to be. Performed at the end of the summer term, the cast included staff from John Lyon, Mrs Higson and Mr Roy and the author herself, Ms Gibbs.We also had a guest appearance by Miss Bethan Davies from Harrow School. The students taking part were the departing Upper Sixth boys and the Lower Sixth, ably supported by Daniel Hooper on lights and Johnathon Bullock on sound.

We (the cast) took on Elizabethan style performance conditions, all actors meeting for one intense rehearsal after having learnt their lines. Despite this challenging task, the group quickly gelled, no doubt spurred on by an increasing sense of panic as we realised it was now the day we were due to perform and we were still missing cues. However, as is often the case, this mixture of nerves and adrenalin fuelled our performances and gave an extra frisson to the performance. I think many of us felt we were arriving

DRAMA thelyonian2003

at a bizarre party and were not quite sure what would happen next. The play is very reminiscent of Abigail's Party. as in the end we

do not actually meet the intended.We await the sequel with enthusiasm.

heaved a huge sigh of relief at having got through it without too many obvious blunders but it was actually a very enjoyable experience and many thanks to Ms Gibbs for organising this event at the end of such a busy term.

Our performance was very well received by an audience who clearly enjoyed the wit and humour of the piece. The performers all

Ryan Nicholas

Guys and Dolls concluded from page 37

was infectious. The set and costumes were spectacular. and really helped to evoke a

sense of place and time. as well as comedy! The stage crew and technical teams performed with absolute professionalism. The stage crew had clearly spent hours rehearsing difficult transitions and it was wonderful seeing them integrated into the production in their own costumes.

Alongside a talented cast was a wonderfully professional band led by Stuart Miles. I have seen Guys and Dolls many times. but I have never enjoyed the music as much as I did at this production. It was altogether a fun-filled evening. skillfully directed and choreographed by Deborah Gibbs and performed by an enthusiastic cast who were obviously enjoying every moment!

Rachel Holt

From the first auditions to the final performance. the Guys and Dolls 'experience' was an incredible journey and one not to be forgotten by

those involved. Having been through the initial and nervy audition process - in my case my first experience of public singing - the pleasure at gaining a significant role was indescribable. especially with the added curiosity of it being musical theatre. something that none of us had ever experienced before.

The start of the Spring Term brought with it much excitement as rehearsals got underway and friendships were formed through our demanding but always exciting schedule - typified by five consecutive days of rehearsals during half term. It was this desire to get it right which drove the production throughout and made it so memorable for all. as the professional attitude of those in charge rubbed off on the performers and raised the standards immeasurably. This was increased by the first-time use of the Ryan Theatre which. with its incredible facilities. gave everyone added impev~. and combined with the use of microphones. stunning costumes and our own professional band. made the cast feel more and more like they were part of a West End musical rather than a traditional school production. Never have I been in a show that produced as much enthusiasm among the cast. with spontaneous outbursts of song and dance becoming a regular feature of school life for those involved.

The performances themselves were hugely enjoyable. and although each dressing room was full of nerves. every person was fully prepared and focused on their role within the show. which meant that the sell-out audiences only added to the experience. It was this camaraderie built up among those involved that made it such a success; whether it was the performers themselves. the technicians. stage crew or front-of-house. each person was fully confident in the quality of their show and those around them. That this was so was due partly to the tremendous work of Mr Miles who brought the musical numbers to life. but largely due to the drive and inspiration of Miss Gibbs whose energy and enthusiasm astounded us all and raised the standards of everyone involved.

Overall. Guys and Dolls was an incredible experience that brought together boys and girls from three different schools. and gave us all the chance to act. sing and dance - and in the end. left us all wanting more.

Joel Bubbers

Cast in order of appearance Nicely-Nicely Benny Southstreet Harry the Horse Sarah Brown Arvide Abernathy lieutenant Brannigan Nathan Detroit Miss Adelaide Sky Masterson joey Biltmore MC Bigjule General Cartwright Craps hooters

Hot Box Dancers

Mission Band

Bar Customers. New Yorkers

jonathan Bullock Swaraj Thancanamootoo Charles Booth Sarah Wakefield Stefan Hargreaves Daniel Stock joel Bubbers Maja Raskovic Owen Peachey Richard jago Anuj Bhardwaj Ryan Nicholas james Backer Kofi Asante. Nasri EI-Sayegh.joshua Golga. Ishil Mehta. Stuart Onslow,Atif Siddiqui. Sagar Shah Leanne Bean. Holly Coulson. Roseanne Feinberg. Lenice Fry. Paula Hynd. Natalie Karim. Elizabeth Moore.lindsay Muir. Amy Ross. Hannah Rowland Paul Burke.Alistair Milne. Krishan Patel. Robert Young Luke Archer, Daniel Artus. Omar Butt. jaysil Patel. Ravi Sodha

The girls of Northwood College appear by kind permission of Miss Celeste McCoy The girls of Mill Hill County High School appear by kind permission of Or Alan Davison

The Band Flute Reeds Law. French Horn Trumpets

Trombone Bass Drums Keyboards

Production Team Stage Management Stage Crew

Technical Director lighting Operators Sound Operators Spodight Operators Set provided by Signs and Pipes produced by

Costumes provided by Box Office

Front of House Managers Front of House

jiten Halai Nathan Hassall. Will Henry. Ben Hull. Tom

Kathryn Stagg Viv Davies joe Auckland. Pablo Mendelssohn. Robbie Robson Oliver Druker lan King jason Holling Chris Grey. Stuart Miles

Anuj Bhardwaj. Richard jago Zaid AI-Katib. Luke Archer. Oliver Booth. Sunal Das. Varun Goel. Krishan Parmar. jai Paul. Benjamin Sehovic. Ravi Sodha Curt Peirson Daniel Hooper. Vikash Seth Andrew Karim. Bhavik Shah Nathaniel Caiden. Yousuf Salmasi Stage Productions Grant Braithwaite. Shiv Tailor. Caroline Harrison & pupils Theatrical Costume House. Southend-on-Sea Nick Loudon. Shiv Tailor.joel Bubbers. Charles Booth Shiv Tailor. Richard Stevens Prasanna De-Alwis. Grant Morris. Osman Ishaq

Photographs Graham Ryder Programme Nina Holland Musical Director Stuart Miles Choreographer and Director Deborah Gibbs Special thanks to the Ryan Theatre especially Martin Tyrel/. Curt Peirson. Dave and Kieron

thelyonian2003

Guitar Ensemble The guitar ensemble has gone from strength to strength this year, expanding our repertoire even further.james Perkins and Nima Imani joined Adam Sharp,james Matthams, Rory jackson and me, jonathan Mizler in the Autumn Term. From then on, the six of us in the Guitar Ensemble have been invited by the Headmaster to play at the John Lyon School Open Day, and by the music school to play at the Winter Chamber Concert and the Autumn and Summer Concerts, playing a wide range of music from the Baroque period to twentieth century and world music. Many thanks to our guitar teacher Mr Boyle for his kind and patient support over the year. Next year we are going to strive even harder in our practice and rehearsals to bring an even higher standard of music to our audience. To end with, we in the Guitar Ensemble, say goodbye to Nima who has now left the school and we wish him all the best.

jonathan Mizler

Jazz Band This past year has been a very successful year for the John Lyon jazz Band.Yet again Mr. Grey has selected and arranged a great range of traditional and popular jazz songs. Highlights of the year have included solo performances by Sam Pickering and Gareth james playing a particularly tricky Charlie Parker tune, along with a performance ofWes Montgomery's West Coast Blues by myself.A special mention also goes out to the extremely tight rhythm section of Anup Paul on bass,jai Paul on the drums and Mr.Grey on piano.

Mark johnson

MUSIC

Training Band Throughout the year the Training Band gives young musicians the opportunity to play in an ensemble with other pupils of the same standard. The first couple of years are always fairly difficult when learning an instrument. In the Training Band the pupils get to hear their instruments in a different musical environment which helps individual technique a great deal. With many boys arriving at John Lyon already quite advanced on their instrument the standard of music in the Training Band is getting better year after year.

During the year the band performed contrasting pieces of music ranging from pop songs to African Tribal music. The bands performances at both School concerts were a tribute to their hard work and determination with special praise for the young clarinet section of Anuj Patel, Francis Handzel, Rishi Sethi and jasjote Bhasin. It has been a tremendous year with many musical high points!

Oliver Druker

L

MUSIC

Salsa Band A friend of mine who heard the salsa band this year remarked on how surprised she was that none of the band is South American, despite, as she put it in her thick Colombian accent, "their r;tma and groove". As a sax player in the group, I'd have to agree with her assessment of the rhythm section, expertly headed up by our resident timbo/era and bandleader,Jason Holling.Jason, who is a faultless drummer in his own right, has brought a lot of authenticity to what started as just a school ensemble - securing arrangements of everything from Santana's ubiquitous cover of Oye Cama Vo to traditional Cuban arrangements, and bringing those deciding touches of sovo;r (o;re to our horn line, which as well as playing, can also dance (thanks to Miss Gibbs for the lessons). Next year, the band hopes to play the final set with its current line-up in Italy, which should mark its complete transformation from musical gringos into fully-fledged salseros, a process already well under way.

Cameron Houston

Funk Band After 125 years the school is moving with the times by adding a new flavour to musical life. The funk band, led by the master of groove, lan King, is leading a group of young "talented" individuals to echo the sound of great funk songs and artists ranging from Prince, to Stevie Wonder, and now moving to James Brown. The band is in its infancy but Mark Johnson (lead guitar), Gareth James (bass), Freddie Atkinson (drums) and I (vocals) are striding forward into the light!

See you next year!

Michal Len

thelyonian2003

Finals of the

National Festival of Music for Youth Queen Elizabeth Hall

Thursday July 10th 2003

On May 1st 2003, four handsome but modest young men prepared for the annual show extraordinaire that is the Summer Concert. Sweaty and nervous, we braced ourselves for what was to be a lesson to the audience in harmonious indie rock. Ten minutes later, relieved and tired, we were bemused to see our Headmaster climbing the stairs to the stage. He spoke about our band,Jackoby Night, now officially branded the school rock band, and a certain competition that had been long forgotten. It seemed that our very first raw attempt at producing a demo had actually been listened to by the panel for the Music for Youth National Festival. Not only this, but they had actually liked it and had chosen us to perform at the finals in July.An eruption of applause; ecstatic hysteria - our mothers were in the audience - exploded upon these dumbfounded soon-to­be rock legends ...

July 10th finally arrived. Having lined our stomachs with the finest breakfast on offer, from Waitrose, our chauffeurs, Messrs Miles and Druker, effortlessly glided the stretch-minibus to the South Bank.To our dismay, the four superstars were forced to wait for another two hours prior to the unloading of equipment. "Where were our baths of Evian, our pure Egyptian cotton towels and bowls of fresh organic pasta?" Settling for a bag of crisps and cartons of Ribena, our roadies, Messrs. Miles and Druker, set about the unenviable task of moving the immovable - my infamous clavi nova keyboard.To my relief, it was unharmed, unlike Mr Miles's back.

After the three-minute sound check, we were almost set for action. With Sir Matthew Collins applying the final spray of deodorant, the band was escorted to the Green Area backstage in preparation for our performance. Tensions were running high. Adrenaline was pumping. This was it.

As soon as we bombarded the stage, we felt like we were home. We could feel the support of all our teachers, family and friends who had made the long trip to see us on this hot day. It was a moment of honour, of pure amazement, to play in front of such a large crowd on such an important evening. During our performance, the excitement buzzing between the four of us was simply awesome - we just looked at each other, smiled and knew this was where we belonged.

On behalf of Matt Collins, Anup Paul and Jai Paul, I would like to say a huge thank you to our chauffeurs, roadies and devoted teachers who made this whole event possible, as it will live long in our memories.

See you at Glastonbury ...

Joshua Sasto

thelyonian2003

Inter House Music Competition 2002 Prizewinner's Concert

Thursday 21st November Adjudicator:Jo Rowley Jones,Assistant Director of Music,

Trinity School, Croydon

1st Moore (37) 3rdVaughan (24)

2nd Butler (35) 4th Norwood (22)

I st and 2nd Forms 1st Jack Turton (Butler House)

Stray Cat Strut Brian Setzer

2nd Gejen Kamalatharan (Norwood House) Proud Horseman R. Fuchs

1st Avinash Murthy (Moore House) An Evening in the Village Bartok

1st Edward Matthams (Butler House) Air R.Milford

2nd Avinash Murthy (Moore House) The Bottom Line J. Rae

1st James Macdonald (Butler House) Little Piece No. I G.Jacob

3rd and 4th Forms 1st Joel Levitt (Moore House)

Tequila Sunrise P.Wedgwood

2nd Narin Hengrung (Vaughan House) Prelude Delius

1st Paul Burke (Vaughan House) The Artful Dodger John McCabe

2nd Stefan Hargreaves (Butler House) Scherzo Daniel Van Goens

1st Christopher Grover (Moore House) Violin Concerto in G major Haydn

1st Thomas Ashwood (Vaughan House) Palotas and Friss Balogh

5th and 6th Form 2nd ShivTailor (Butler House)

Raindrop Prelude Chopin

1st Ryosuke Okazaki (Moore House) Allegro: Sonata in F (I st Movement) Mozart

2nd Tommy Bowen (Moore House) Gavotta - con due Variazioni Stravinsky

1st Matthew Collins (Vaughan House) It's Okay Delirious

1st Mayan Uthayakumar (Vaughan House) Improvisation (Beat Solo) Mirudangan

2nd Cameron Houston (Moore House) Sal ut D'amour Elgar

1st Jiten Halai (Moore House) Duet for Flute and Piano (Movement I) Copland

1st Owen Peachey (Vaughan House) Concerto in Bb (Movement I) Mozart

MUSIC

Associated Board Spring Term 2003

Examination Results

Matthew Dodd Grade 2 Clarinet 102 Pass David Knight-Johnson Grade 3 Clarinet I11 Pass Christopher Duncan Grade 2 Clarinet 118 Pass Thomas Ashwood Grade 5 Clarinet 124 Pass with merit James Matthams Grade 5 Guitar 120 Pass with merit James Perkins Grade I Guitar 126 Pass with merit Paul Burke Grade 7 Piano 121 Pass with merit James Caldecourt Grade 2 Piano 130 Pass with distinction Alexander Shaw Grade 2 Piano 120 Pass with merit Avinash Murthy Grade 5 Piano 115 Pass Jack Li Grade 3 Violin 101 Pass Jenk Elkiner Grade 5 Violin 115 Pass John Lou Grade 3 Violin 118 Pass Abhiram Sahathevan Grade I Trumpet 141 Pass with distinction Nima Imani Grade 4 Trumpet I11 Pass Selwyn Sivagumar Grade 3 Trumpet 116 Pass Stephen Harland Grade 3 Trumpet 124 Pass with merit Shaffi Chogley Grade I Trombone 115 Pass Kwasi Yeboah Grade I Trombone 115 Pass Jacob Sharp Grade 3 Trombone 134 Pass with distinction Baiju Vaidya Grade 4 Trombone 118 Pass Rishi Sethi Grade 5 Clarinet 127 Pass with merit Jason Powell Grade 7 Clarinet 118 Pass

Associated Board Summer Term 2003

Practical Results Stefan Hargreaves Grade 6 organ 131 Pass with distinction Michal Len Grade 5 guitar 122 Pass with merit Benjamin Sehovic Grade 3 piano 118 Pass Harry Campbell Grade 2 trumpet 113 Pass Karam Ismail Grade 2 trumpet 102 Pass Joel Levitt Grade 5 trumpet 115 Pass Angelo Arulanantham Grade I trumpet 105 Pass Adam Sharp Grade 5 guitar 112 Pass Rory Jackson Grade 3 guitar 105 Pass Nima Imani Grade 2 guitar 127 Pass with merit Jonathan Mizler Grade 2 guitar 139 Pass with distinction Milan Shah Grade I guitar I11 Pass Sameer Jethwa Grade 4 saxophone 126 Pass with merit Cameron Houston Grade 6 saxophone 124 Pass with merit Jasjote Bhasin Grade 2 viola 123 Pass with merit Krishan Patel Grade 4 viola 104 Pass Gareth Corfield Grade 5 clarinet 113 Pass Rickesh Shah Grade 2 clarinet 125 Pass with merit Max Hird Grade 2 clarinet 108 Pass Meeth Katira Grade I piano 114 Pass Jes Dulay Grade I piano 116 Pass Adam Neidle Grade 3 piano 100 Pass Matthew Whitfield Grade 2 piano II1 Pass Andrew Watters Grade 2 piano 116 Pass Adam Branston Grade 2 piano 102 pass

' ....

Concealment They have bright eyes, Which catch you by surprise, They have padded paws, Terrifying claws, Nine lives each. Whatever could they bel

They have feet that clack, Enough to make the floorboards crack. They have tickly tongues, And savage teeth. Whatever could they bel

Christian Binder- Skagnaes

It's Edward Again It's Eclward again. He's rebellious again. Go to bed! He wonders why he is tired. Do your homework! He wonders why he is in trouble. Have a bath! He wonders why he smells. Eat up! He wonders why he is hungry. But then it struck me; Why not tell him to do the oppositel Stay awake! He's up with the larks. Don't do your homework! He receives a merit. Starve! He is quite plump. So life now is very good. I just hope he does not realize, The psychological truth.

Robert Haines

IJ2 Sweet sneakers, Chair squeakers, Teacher freakers, Door peekers, Football kickers, Ice cream lickers, Homework trickers, Choir singers Moaning mingers, Door knockers, Watch clockers, Messy lockers, Chair rockers, Children hitters, Child critters, No homework kidders.

Abraham Pirry

The Cheetah He needs to show his brave. ferocious body. He needs to be contemptuous and cruel with his praying prey. He needs his legs to run 60 mph to catch his prey. He needs his shark-sharp. stabbing. shocking. shiny. Slashing. slaughtering. smashing white teeth. To tear the tearful. tense. tasty. puny prey.

James limbrey

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'tt'lng volcano. A lava-spl Amazing colours. A fire light, Great explosions. Falling fire. Zooming fire. Many colours. Roaring red. Grassy green. Sky blue. Sunlight yellow. Dark to see. Noise-maker. lighting light.

Clement Hutin

The Child It is a fierce fighter. A devious dodger. A city slicker. A rinning growler.

g h disobeyer. A roug A scruffy giggler, A fast eater. A tedious trickster. A hell raiser. A destructive destroyer. A weird weapon. A toy hunter. A fiery volcano.

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How to make a Leopard He needs, The light of the sun for his soft fur, The darkness of the night for his spots, Sharp teeth like a swan's beak, Claws to cling on to trees. He pounces on his prey to pin it to the ground. He comes out at night to hunt, So that no one knows he's out there, Creeps up on his prey and stabs it to death. His speed is just right So that he could outrun any of his prey.

He makes his den deep deep down in a cave, So that it is so dark when you creep in, You can only see his eye.

Clement Hutin

He needs, Spots which splinter on his smooth-skinned, Streamlined structure, Teeth that tear titanium, Dig like thunder into the catch, Paws that stiffen, Waiting, watching, whispering, Speed as swift as stars starting in the sky, Eyes ignoring everything except its prey, laziness lingering onto him, As he lies in lush leaves.

Adam Trepczynski

Underwater I see a slim figure that glides over me, Followed by a pair of legs kicking frantically. I hear funny noises I don't expect to hear, like little air bubbles passing by my ear.

I feel my body agree with the flow. At this stage I feel I don't want to go. I can't see anything if my goggles aren't on, But once they're over my eyes The pain is gone.

I don't hear anything when I'm down below; The most I can make of it is a faint echo. I don't feel I'm in this world, When I'm down under. I don't feel any less sharp than a roar of thunder.

Anon.

yellowpages

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The Sea The sea is lovely. A limber pusher. A soothing sound. A relaxing rider. A galloping grinder. Of slippery stones. To peaceful pebbles. And shiny sand. A super splasher. A serene swerver. Of whirling waves. And ghostly greens. Into merging sky. A mystery mover.

Ashwanth Ravindrajah

Writing to the Beloved From her eye a tear swelled. Back to the page the ink gasped. like a feather the tear quivered. like a race the ink neared end:

The transparent fell to the opaque. And the empty full stop engulfed. The flow of ink ceased. And a living became a deceased.

Gagandeep Aulja

yellowpages

The Australian Bush An empty plain. Thousands of miles of emptiness. Shivers sent on cloudless nights. To small creatures. Swimming under the sand. Scorching heat, Ridges the day. And drought is. Cast over the empty space. The sun pounds the bush. Towering. High in its heaven. Civilisation some distance away. And surviving. Something nears impossible. The bush boy. Someone quite remarkable. Living. Surviving!

Jay Jadva

Elephant A rumpled-wrinkler. Flabby-fleshed. Elegant-eared. Tremendous tusks. Twirling-trunk. Padded feet. Mud-wallower. Tree-eater. Loud stomper. Jungle King.

Arun Sharma

Guess Who? Fierce fighter. Fast and furious. Big and bold. Eager eyes. Bloodthirsty jaws. Clever and cruel. Hot-headed. Barbaric brain. Tangy teeth. It has to be a lion!

Sanjeiv Asokan

Elephant A ruling race. Heir of herds. A never forgetful nomad. A slow stomper. A definite daredevil. A fat figure. An enormous eater. A valued vegetarian. A grumpy groaner. And a jubilant joker.

Adam Trepczynski

yellowpages

Lightning I am as dangerous as any disaster. Ripping down brick. roof and plaster. Like a sheet of light, I brighten the sky. Brilliant dashes of sparks fly up high.

I whip the ground with all my might, Like an alligator holding its bite. I smash the earth. like a pile of bricks. Denting it, chaotically shaped like a fist.

Seconds after smashing the ground. I am followed by a gigantic sound. And. after clearing the night's shrouding mist, Everything silences into utter bliss.

Rajiv Chabria

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Chapter One: The Lost Flower It was cold, very cold that evening. The icy wind sent shivers up the spines of all those who had gathered at the local cemetery, and threatened to chill their tones. But nobody complained - this was not an appropriate time to do so.

There was an unprecedented silence in the normally deafening neighbourhood. For once, the streets were silent. All the shops, factories and even schools were closed. There were no grey clouds of smoke to damage people's health and no masses of voices, which prevented anybody from hearing someone three inches away. Nothing was as usual. Everybody was in mourning.

The silence was suddenly broken by the sound of horses' hooves rhythmically trotting along the cobbled streets. The people nearby looked up with tears streaming down their faces and with orderly respect. A carriage, driven by a man who himself seemed to be wallowing in misery, carried the object of the people's sadness - their flower ...

One of the onlookers was a young boy, no older than three or four years of age. He was dressed smartly, in an all-black gentleman's suit. His blonde hair almost covered his big, round eyes, which were filled with sadness of course, but also confusion. For this boy, being so young, found it difficult to understand the seriousness of what had happened. His small right wrist held on to a gigantic left hand, which almost eclipsed his miniature one. A kind- looking face stared down at the boy, a face, which forced a smile, although it was perfectly clear that the owner was filled with devastation. The owner of the face, a tall, well-built man, dressed exactly like the boy, except his clothes were about ten times larger, began to sob. Silently expressing his feelings unashamedly was not out of place that day. This was because, for once, all others around the man shared his feelings. They were united in their sorrow.

This day would be the boy's earliest recollection. In the years to come, whenever he tried to look back into his past and attempt to remember his childhood, this would be the most ancient thing he would be able to think of. All the elders would talk about the deceased for decades and every time this happened, the boy would remember this black evening. Many people nowadays would be astonished by the love that so many residents of that neighbourhood felt for the man who had had his life so tragically taken from him. But those people would be simply ignorant. The youngster, who was only in his early twenties when he died, had achieved so much in his short life. On top of that, he had shared his glory with all those from his hometown. He had been very modest too, and despite his superstar status, lived very humbly and treated all as his equals. He had been the people's flower.

As dusk began to settle. the people began to slowly make their way home.A few had stayed to gaze longingly at the cold. stony grave of their flower, the small boy amongst them. As he began to tear his eyes away from the new home of the star. something caught his attention. He leaned forward and saw a stalk - alone. surrounded by eerie gravestones and filthy brownness. It was the stalk of a flower. which had just started to bud.

The boy thought for a moment. Something about the flower triggered a new sensation inside him. He suddenly dreamed of becoming the next flower of the town. It was almost as if he had been sent a sign. It was ironic that it had come in the shape of a flower. The boy walked away. confused yet excited. This was the start of something bold. something fresh. Many had thought that this was a day that a legend died, but for the young boy, it was a birth. a new beginning. Yes. one flower had been lost, but now a new one had begun to bud.

Meer Shah

yellowpages Opening Lines A dry leaf drifted from above and settled on the hard. moistureless ground. The soft wind whistled in the trees as if it were birdsong. but it was not. There were no birds here. Neither the piercing laugh of the Kookaburra nor the screech of the magpie pervaded the summer stillness. On the side of the track. a blue tongue moved leisurely out of the bush and up the side of an arid, lifeless gum tree. to its peaceful rest in a branch.

A long, slender snake appeared from a crack at the base of the hollow eucalyptus. It lay there, basking in the scorching heat of the sun. but not for 10ng.An unusual sound was coming through the bush. one not often heard by the animals that dwelt there. It became progressively louder. but the reptiles kept their ground, having no reason yet to fear this alien sound.

As lightning. out of the bush. shot a gleaming red vehicle, large in size and vile of resonance, piercing the tranquillity. The lizard leapt from his branch to scatter back into the bush, while the snake spun its head around as it returned to tree. But the wailing entity was gone as quickly as it had come, and with its departure the bush returned to its original concord.

Suddenly. a young. dishevelled man materialised from the side of the track. He was short and weakly built, with dark hair and a scarred face. His jeans were torn and, wearing only a vest, he may have been attempting to show his impressive muscles. should he have had any. looking around frantically, he unscrewed the cap of a can he was holding and threw whatever liquid was inside. deep into the undergrowth. and taking his cigarette. tossed that in with it, before running down the side of the track in an indeterminate direction. Flames erupted behind him.

There was a loud whirring sounded overhead, and the man paused. RealiSing what it was. he leapt off the track and scrambled away into the bush in the fashion of a frightened rabbit. As the footsteps faded. the snake again emerged to find itself faced with flames. the power of which could not be superseded. But no other life was here. as any animal with sense had fled. Only evil resided in the bush. From the south. came a roar that heralded the arrival of the greatest evil of all. the most hideous roar that any animal could possibly hear, worse than the roar of a lion in the Sahara. From the south. came the bushfires.

Stefan Hargreaves

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the john lyon school 2 L "P.> ..

Mouse A cheese-eater, A hole-maker, A cat-teaser, An enemy of Tom, A fast-scurrier, A good hider, A timid person, A Mickey-mouse, A scary-monster, A funny fur ball, As quiet as ... A perfect pet.

WiIIWilson

The Struggle Two huge monsters, Both of the same species, Capable of decent thought, Frustrated and angry,

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They stood not far from one another,

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And small white flowers lay crushed under their feet.

There would never be a victor, Inseparable as they were, Only victims.

Danny Brett

yellowpages The Boat The harbour,like my mother, Gives me birth, And sets me on my journey, My journey of life. The people are my food, They fill me up inside, The sea, the path ahead of me. I must choose the right path, To reach my destination. The crew are my blood, Which circulates around my body, The blood that keeps me to my destination. The sea ahead of me. There will be obstacles in my way, The way ahead of me, My departure behind.

RaamJoshi

TV Pictures The camera keeps its steady vigil on the distant skyline Waiting, expectant, A sentry at the end of the world, A cold, impartial viewer. Its eyes see the slaughter, The sky lit with burning, Or the misleading calm. Through it we witness, The murder of hundreds; Lives snuffed out in an instant, Each explosion adding to the casualty list.

And yet I'm still indifferent, It all seems strangely detached Like a computer game or a film, But not real life. The buildings are empty, Each air raid is just another firework display Am I so desensitised as to become a machine, like the camera~ Able to observe everything, but feel nothing.

Narin Hengrung ..... -.7

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Media This was a battle fought on TV, Joumalists died to show you and me, We've never seen anything like it before, So much media coverage of the war, Saddam proved he could use these tactics well, He went on TV to show he wasn't in hell, We saw tanks, explosions, fighting and pain, But still it won't stop us from fighting again.

Jimmy Irwin

2003

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Christmas A joyful time,

A prayerful time, Christmas time, Family gathering, Mince pie-eating, Pudding-steaming, Turkey-roasting, Present buying,

Gift-giving, House-decorating,

Tree-preparing, Tinsel glittering, Light-twinkling, Snow-fluttering,

Ice-glittering, Fire-crackling, Coal-glowing,

Christmas-time.

Arun Sharma

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Spirit of the Battlefield I sit on the fields where, Soldiers have tried, To bring home their, Longing countries' pride.

As the wind brushes past, The spirit is felt, Of the marching soldiers, As they fought and battled.

The presence of ghosts, Makes you quiver with fear, As they rush past you, Chanting their war song.

Death is present, As the ghastly smell is unearthed, From beneath the ground, Which is the spirit of the battlefield.

Anand Mistry

yellowpages Growing Up I know a lad named Robert He's a funny cheeky lad; He raves and rants, He scowls and pants, And his mum thinks he's quite bad.

This boy I know called Robert. I know that he really tries hard. His sisters are tough, So he has to be rough, But he sends them a birthday card.

Thinks he's got talent that Robert, He works 50 hard in sports, He scores some goals, And steps on moles, And when he's losing, he supports.

Strange looking boy that Robert, He's eyelashes grow like trees, His ears stick out, Anc! cabbages grow out, And he has terribly knobbly knees. That Robert is finally maturing; His growling days are through. His old self has gone, And the new one has come, And his jolly self shines through and through.

Robert Rowland

Shakespeare Trigger Is Brutus sick and is it physical To walk unbraced and suck up the humours Of the dank morning When the birds will make sounds, And the sun will shine through window, And my hand will touch your face, And see you 1111 God help you. May you be healed by your faith in the Gods, As the gods are almighty, And they will save you. For if they do not you will go to the lakes of fire.

RaamJoshi

Dangers in the State It is the bright day which brings forth the adder And that craves wary walking, That serpents may bite, Pardon serpents, pardon. Why are you biting todayl Your hearts are full of mutiny and rage, The sufferance of our souls is destroying us, Tell them not to come today, There is not a nobler serpent than you, dear friend, Tell your army to retreat, From the beautiful City of Rome!

Anon

A Fearsome Serpent kis the bright day Which brings forth the adder. Whoever knew a serpent menace so? A Roman hfear. Cast awa:t his bosom joy. A monstrous quality. Open graves. brofdeath. To see fierce impatience Of a serpent. A matter of envisaging death. o Grief! The serpent entombs the Capitol. Who goes farthest on the Ides of March? Man or beast. A tale told by a soothsayer.

Jay Jadva

The Bright Day It is the bright day which brings forth the adder, And all the greybeards have walking sticks in hand. As the streetboys are having fun chasing a badger, To the sound of music being played by the band. As Cassius thinks up a plan. To put Caesar in his grave. Will Caesar be a scared man. Or will he be brave?

Suraj Shah

Disaster It is the bright day which brings forth the adder, Something which could make the universe shudder, Deadlier than any natural disaster. Worse than a tornado. faster.

Its first sign will be to brighten the sky. Omni-directional sparks will fly up high. Could God be the creator of this cause? For all the time we've bent the laws.

Is there any way out of this frightening disasterl Or will we end. facing the master? Maybe panels. pores or hidden doors. Will save us from this disastrous cause.

Rajiv Chabria

yellowpages It is ... It is the bright day which brings forth the adder. It commands the ground; It doth so in a frightful manner. Cowering all beings with its greatness. Thy art is colourless. no odour too. Moving at free will. Thou canst swallow the earth in one gulp. Where will thy destroyer go? Thy art is all around. No escape. none at all. not even a sound.

Priam Patel

Wolf Slashing claws. Digging teeth. Razor-sharp. Fighting fit, A howl of hunger; A fast sprinter. A skilful seeker. A greedy eater; A goat hunter; A heavy pelt. Excellent eyes. Elegant ears. A bushy tail. Softly misleading.

Priyanth Yoganathan

Rat Wiry whiskers. Dangly tail. Curled claws. Pied-piper followers. Goofy toothed. Verminous. Flea-infested. Quadruped runner. Sewe ... lurker. Junk-eater. Suspicious-scavenger, Big-breeder. Feisty-fighter. Nocturnally-natured. Sharp-eyed and beady. Running rat, Round rodent.

Anon

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The Old Lyonian Association What is 'it? '

Where is iO'

What does it do?

Who are the mejb'ers?

How do you make contact?

What else would you .' it to do? I#,if

The Association is open to all former pupils of the John Ly , hool. Under the current arrangements, all boys who leave the school are automatically life members. T "is a complete mix therefore of Old Lyonians from 18 years to 80 years plus. ,.~"

The Association is based at its clubhouse and sports ground ~ Pinner View, Harrow, HAl 4QF

The Association is a contact forum for Old Lyonians and grot'of Old Lyonians. It runs "le avers nights", year group reunions, an annual dinner, cricket teams for Ass~tion Day against the school and a news ~~.

Under the auspices of the Old Lyonian Sports and Social Clui'::::"'t the Pinner View club house, the following sports are available: archery (Fridays), badminton (, " nesdays), cricket (Saturday and Sunday), Football (Saturday and Sunday), and petanque (available mo ',~ the time). (A fee of £25 p.a. is payable if you wish to join the sports and social club sections, £35 for thcrjI'chery and £45 for the cricket and football sections )\t,·,

There is also a licensed bar and when this is open, darts, put~ billiards and snooker are available. Various social events are organised by the sports sections throughout the year from curry nights to full medieval feasts.

The members are YOU or potentially YOU, (Parents are also most welcome to visit Pinner View as are Sixth Formers and younger boys who·are involved with the sports sections, e.g. Archery.)

To contact us you can phone the clubhouse on 0208 424 2641 or E-Mail editor@oldlyonians.demon.co.uk

You can contact any of the sports sections by writing to the section secretaries at the Pinner View address. By far the best method however, is to come and see us on site. Friday nights and Saturday and Sunday lunch times are popular times and there is usually a good crowd in the bar. As Chairman of the archery section I am around most Friday evenings - please make yourself known to me.

I hope to see you soon at Pinner View

ColinMNunn (President, the Old Lyonian Association)

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Debating Senior House Debate This year's competition was particularly well contested, over two sessions, with two tricky motions and eight debaters battling with their wits before staff, the entire Sixth Form and some guest Upper School boys.

Moore and Butler, contested the first event, the motion being: 'This House believes that terrorism is no more of a threat today than it has been for many years.'

Moore proposed and Butler opposed, and in this post 9/11 world, Moore had the more tricky task from the outset. All that we currently read and hear in the news suggests that international terrorism is more of a threat now than ever before.

Moore adopted the 'historical perspective' approach - quite convincingly, given that their first speaker, Sam Dennis, is a Cambridge History applicant. He reminded the audience that 'terrorism' - even if under a different name or incarnation in previous generations - has always been with us, and has in the past spurred on far worse international events than 9/11, World War One for example! Sam amassed a lot of information in a convincing style. English scholar, Cameron Houston, who had a more gentle delivery, but equal conviction, ably assisted him.

Tarang Katira and Kevin Larkin of Butler House, tried to incorporate some humour into the proceedings by propelling a fake 'bomb' into the audience and commenting on the response. Whether this tactic had the desired response, is in itself'debatable'. Kevin, adopting a political approach, had also amassed an impressive selection of fact and example in his speech. Questions from the audience were diverse and informed. Overall, the debate was of excellent quality.

The second event, following two days after the first, sawVaughan and Norwood debating the motion:'This House believes that sport and politics should not mix.'

This is a bit of an old chestnut in the debating world, but coming as it did hard on the heels of the England/Zimbabwe cricket matches, it remains as relevant as ever.

Norwood, in opposing, had the difficult task, as most of the audience supported the motion, but once again the teams came up with sophisticated ideas where definitions of what is actually 'political' pertained, and a constant pattern of idea and counter-idea set in between the teams, spurred on by good questions from the audience.A very close competition for dominance ensued.

The opportunity to incorporate humour into the proceedings was, as with the first talk, limited, but the battle of wits was close and fascinating, so much so that the teams tied in quality. The speakers forVaughan were Charles Booth and Owen Peacheyand for Norwood,Atish Lakhani and Mark Gettleson. Many thanks to Mr Barnes for adjudicating.

Final results:

L.D. Budd

Moore 1st. Norwood and Vaughan 2nd. Butler 4th.

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Junior House Debate This year's competition was notable for the complexity of the motions in relation to the year groups involved. Debates on the proposed new Wembley Stadium and England playing cricket with Zimbabwe, may sound like debates on 'football' and 'cricket' but in fact are so much more than that. Through the debates and floor questions some of these complexities emerged.

The first debate was contested between Moore who proposed and Norwood who opposed, and the motion was: 'This House believes that the new Wembley Stadium will be a huge waste of money.'.

Pardeep Bahra was the first speaker for Moore and he had amassed a large array of statistics and figures which spelled out the huge cost involved for this enterprise. He compared it with the hapless Millennium Dome and the fact that it would cost more than twice as much as Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, and so why wasn't it sited somewhere cheaper than a North London suburb?

The first opposer, Declan Edwards pointed out the matter of national pride involved and the unsatisfactory nature of travelling between different stadia. The question as to its unsatisfactory nature was later posited from the Floor and, though delivering a brief speech, Declan was qUite stirring.

Avinash Murthy and James Perkins respectively, made up the remaining members of each team and not a great deal more substance could really be added to the speeches of the first two speakers.

The proposers had a hard job to persuade London boys that London does not need a national football stadium but they won the debate, convincing many to change their mind.

The second debate was contested between Butler, proposing andVaughan opposing and the motion was:'This House believes that England should not be playing cricket with Zimbabwe in the current circumstances.'.

The amount of time that one could spend on talking about cricket is obviously limited here, and before long the messy business of racism and the muddy waters of politics and international relations and to what degree 'sport' had something to play in all this ensued.

Jack Turton and Edward Matthams of Butler delivered pleasing and rational debate and Max Hird and Matthew Jobson replied, stating that cricketers should not be picked on or discriminated against for something beyond their control.

Once again there were many questions from the floor and the final responses to them were quite well managed.

Mr Barnes, as adjudicator, declared his appreciation and enjoyment of the event and declared the rank order as follows: Final reslyst: Butler I st.

L.D. Budd

Moore 2nd. Vaughan 3rd. Norwood 4th.

thelyonian2003

Reading Junior Reading Competition This Year's competition was particularly hard to judge as a number of boys gave good performances in their public reading, and the range of literature chosen and voices adopted was so varied in scope and style that comparisons of quality were hard to make.

As it turned out, the first reader of the afternoon was the winner - by a hair's breadth!

Nima Imani read a section from the late Douglas Adams' Restaurant at the End of the Universe, a satirical follow up to the equally hilarious Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The difficulty in this reading lay in the varied voices, the contrived and made up language, and the satirical tone required for it to work. For a second year boy, this was a tall order indeed. Nima rose admirably to the challenge, and sustained the pace and humour of the piece.

A close second in performance was Nicholas Hallam, who read a very different piece, an excerpt from Slaves of the Mastery by William Nicholson. A very evocative and descriptive piece with a gentle and 'easy on the ear' rendition. It was a bit like listening to Radio Four and 'Book at Bedtime' - an interesting contrast after some of the high-energy renditions that preceded it. As this was such a different reading, it was difficult to judge one as being 'better', but there could only be one winner and Nicholas came very close to being that.

Michael Leedham, the eventual winner, read a passage from Pig Heart Boy by Mallory Blackman, and this was an excellent choice. The idea of having to have a heart transplant is difficult enough to take on board and the idea of it being an animal heart is even more perplexing. The extract Michael read was very affecting and he read it excellently.

The other participants were Karan Sharma and Jacob Sharp of the First Year, Max Hird of the Second Year, and Omar Butt, Stuart Onslow, Nasri EI-Sayegh and Tardeh Kraskian of the third Year. Well done all.

L.D. Budd

Senior Reading Competition What a pleasant afternoon I had adjudicating the Senior Reading Competition. It was not because the sun was shining through the window, nor my sudden release from the last two lessons of the day, but because the eight boys that took part were so keen to share their books and so positive in their support of each other.The selection of texts was varied and impressive, and showed that a great deal of very worthy reading is taking place outside the classroom. All the competitors showed a real sense of control and delivered their pieces with great clarity. As an English teacher, I find myself constantly fighting the cause of punctuation, and it was pleasing to hear pupils responding intelligently to the way this had been used to shape meaning.

Of the eight pieces we heard, there were three that particularly stood out.Jonathan Bullock delivered a sensitive reading of Wladyslaw Szpilman's The Pianist. He brought the piece to life with the use of accents for the characters. He demonstrated a high degree of control, allowing the pace to build but knowing when to let the words speak for themselves. It all amounted to a very moving performance. This was balanced by the humour provided by Richard Jago's reading from Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson. He phrased things beautifully, used a variety of voices to engage the listener and, perhaps most importantly, knew what made the jokes funny. Here again, the control of pace and tone were superb.

On the day, however, there has to be a winner, and Charles Booth's delivery of Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock was impressive enough to take the prize. It is a difficult text and Charles used his intelligence to cut through the challenge of the language. He produced an impassioned performance that conveyed both the drama and the humour of the piece. His rich voice is certainly an asset and was used to its full effect, showing great variety in cadence and volume.

It is a tribute to all the competitors that their readings left me wanting to experience or re-visit the books they had chosen; I certainly came away with several additions to a holiday reading list that already has my suitcase straining.

The competitors (and their books) were: Ahmed AI-Nahir (Northern Ughts - Philip Pulman); Charles Booth (The Rape of the Lock - Alexander Pope);John Breakell (Leisure - W H Davies); Jonathan Bullock (The Pianist - Wladysaw Szpilman); Paul Burke (The Alchemist - Paul Coelho); Matthew Dodd (Unless I am much mistaken - MurrayWalker); Richard Jago (Notes from a Small Island - Bill Bryson); Christopher Leonard (A Child called It - David Petzer).

T.D. Pender

Young Enterprise

The motto of the Young Enterprise Programme is 'Learning by Doing', and this is exactly what we did. We did things, learnt things, and then did more things! Sometimes the things we did weren't that good, but we learnt the good and the bad from everything that we did.

At the start of the year, we were told about YE, and three companies emerged; New Era, Diavlo, and Xcellerate. We were all intrigued about the concept of starting up a company, creating and making a product, and selling it to the public.

As financial director of New Era, I oversaw all the financial transactions and credit and debit accounts; which actually means that I kept the money and kept records. But in fact, everyone in New Era had many roles to play within the company, and we all helped each other out. Through our experiences, we learnt to work together; and gained some good friends as a result.

To begin with, we had no idea what to make as our product.We first thought of making a bouncy ball that lights up, but then we realised what we needed to do to make it, and scrapped that idea! In fact, we spent so long thinking about a product that we didn't really leave much time to make the eventual product, which was The Versafile'. The first opportunity to showcase our product was the first Trade Fair at Harrow Shopping Centre. Here, companies from the Harrow Area meet up to sell their products to the general public. This event was a big success for us, with all ourVersafiles sold within the morning!

Every company had help from Mr Wright, who was the Young Enterprise link teacher for our school, and he kept us all in check when we weren't doing any work, which was fairly often! There was always a scramble before a big event to get things organised and get products made, but somehow we always managed it!

However, all our hard work paid off, when at the finals, New Era won the Most Innovative Product award for the Versafile. The judges said our product had the most original design and fully deserved to win.

At the end of this programme, everyone who took part gained something from this experience, whether it was learning how to make fliers, or keeping order in company meetings.This is an experience I found nowhere else, and I'm glad that I had the chance to take part.

I would like to thank everyone who participated, and for the teachers who helped us on our way to success. Good luck to next year's Young Enterprise companies!

Christopher Lam Financial Director of New Era

thelyonian2003

bronzeexpedition Day I When we arrived at Chesham Station, everyone was keen and ready to start the day and reach the first checkpoint. The teachers checked that we had all the equipment and we were ready to go. However, the first checkpoint took a bit longer than expected.We left at 9:45am and arrived at II :OOam. During the walk, I had a blister on my foot but a plaster soon sorted this out. As we were walking along a footpath we came across some bulls who had a decidedly aggressive look in their eyes. However, we decided to ignore them and continued our walk.

The second checkpoint also took longer than expected because at the start we took the wrong route which cost us 30 minutes.We left at 11: 10 and reached the checkpoint at 12:40. Our morale was still good and no one was injured or tired. Every half an hour we had something to eat and drink while we were walking which helped to keep our spirits up.

The third checkpoint was one of the best we had because we arrived there in 45 minutes. We started at I 2:50pm and reached it at I :35pm. Our morale was excellent and we couldn't wait to reach Green Park.

The fourth checkpoint was the Green Park checkpoint, and we reached it in 45 minutes which was good going. We did not get lost once throughout the walk. Our morale was high but took a bit of a knock when we found out we were the second group there.We talked with the other group and hoped the next day would be as successful as this.

Day 2 On the second day, just before leaving, I felt a little dehydrated because I had not had enough water to drink and I had to rest for 30 minutes before we could leave. By the time we left though, it was about one and a half hours later than everyone else so our morale was rather low. It was extremely cold as well.We reached the first checkpoint at a reasonable time, having left at 8:25am and arrived there at 9:45am. Morale got better as we walked because the sun appeared and helped us out a bit.

We reached the second checkpoint in good time - about 45 minutes and there we had a 15 minute break where we ate some food and rested. Morale was getting even better.

The third checkpoint was a little harder.We nearly got lost but in the end found our way and arrived at the checkpoint at 12:45pm. It took us about I hour 55 minutes. Morale was still good.

The final checkpoint took one hour although we thought we

had walked about five miles.We arrived at 2:00pm and our spirits were in excellent shape.We handed in our kit to the stalwart teachers still waiting for us and bought our train ticket home, our minds intent on food and a warm bath.

Many thanks to the teachers who supervised us and especially to Miss Sigston for providing us with the opportunity to go on the expedition.

Bhavik Shah

silverexpedition I was awoken at 5:30 am on a very cold December morning by my alarm clock and as I opened my eyes I knew that there was going to be a very long four days ahead of me. I met up with the rest of my group at Watford Junction Station and by about seven we were on our way to the South Downs. We made it to Hassocks Station, our start and finish point, at 8:30 and got stuck in to the walk straightaway.

Unfortunately, we got lost between the first and second checkpoints and ended up walking aimlessly for three hours. None of us was really ready for the intensity of the walk and we made little headway during the day. Eventually, we made it to our campsite at Ford Farm, having walked through the rain in pitch black conditions for an hour and a half. None of us at this point had the stomach for a further three days' walking and camping, but we managed to get our tents up and went to sleep.

On the morning of the second day, we were an hour later than the other group to leave the campsite and I felt a real

sense of desperation as I saw the hours of sunlight going to waste. This was always a major problem as the sun rose at 8 am and set at 4 pm and if you were walking outside this time period, you were going to experience real trouble. Remarkably, the group rallied behind James Mott's map reading skills and we had a very successful day.We reached the Lancing College campsite with plenty of daylight left and were able to take full advantage of the heated changing room facilities. A particular highlight of the day was when we scaled a hill and were able to see much of where we had walked

thelyonian2003

and where we were going. The following day, about half our route matched a fellow group

of the three on the expedition and so many of the local residents awoke to see thirteen teenagers in full walking gear and fluorescent backpacks walking down their street. Although we were all settled into the expedition at this point, we were comforted by the thought that what was left was only going to be equivalent of the D of E Bronze expedition. However, we all agreed that David Selby was going to find it hard adjusting to home life when we got back. He had spent a lot on equipment before the expedition and could now only walk using his poles. Furthermore, all of his clothing was completely watertight meaning the deepest of puddles were no problem for him. As well as this, all of his drinking :,ate~ was . supplied to him through tubes in his backpack-makmg him look like some sort of walking machine. As such, we affectionately nicknamed him 'AT-DS' - the 'All Terrain David Selby'.

The third day went smoothly, but we were sad to see our map reader extraordinaire,James Mott leaving that day due to prior commitments.That night at the campsite, we were glad to know that there were to be no more nights after this one, sleeping in tents and so we eagerly went to sleep knowing it would all be over

the next day. On the fourth day, we walked with real enthusiasm and

whenever the conversation dipped it was clear that everyone was just thinking of what they would do when they got back home.We managed only one slight detour at the beginning of the day but otherwise the walk went without incident. Before arriving at the fourth checkpoint, we reached the top of a large hill and saw the motorway that we had walked across three days earlier to begin the expedition In front of us. There was a real feeling of achievement as we strolled back over the bridge towards Hassocks Station and from this point onwards we steamed towards the finish line. When we got there we were congratulated by Ms Sigston, Ms Hinson, Mr Read, Mrs Perdue, Mr Perdue and Mr Sadler, who very kindly supervised our expedition and for which we are all very grateful. The train on the way back dropped us off at Harrow and Wealdstone Station and from then on all that was left was to do was to go home and tend to the slabs of meat that were once our

feet. Group: Rabeeha Daba,William Deacon, Richard Jago,James

Mott, David Selby,James Stiff.

William Deacon

III i i

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goldaward After the annual Lower Sixth Outward Bound in the Autumn Term. I was offered a scholarship to take another course with Outward Bound. It was a fantastic opportunity and I took full advantage and accepted to sign up to the classic course the following summer. My reason was that it seemed extremely challenging and it also gave me the chance to add the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award to my tally of Bronze and Silver.

After the summer of AS exams. I believe this three-week break was well deserved. At first. I was anxious that it might just be twenty one days in a tent eating dehydrated food. On arrival at Aberdovey.Wales I saw the itinerary and found I wasn't too far off the mark. There were no problems settling in. in a group of four boys and five girls. Paul. our instructor let us in on all the activities we would do as we walked from Aberdovey. north to Porthmadog in sixteen days before we took a final ninety kilometre hike back down south to the Outward Bound Centre.This meant covering some one hundred and fifty miles in the twenty one days.

The idea was to take us north while providing us with the essential skills needed for the final four day hike. However. some of the activities such as gorging. rock climbing and canoeing were simply for pleasure. Out of these. gorging had to be the most thrilling. It was something I had never heard of. let alone tried. until I got to the centre. The idea was to walk in fast flowing water while speeding down natural slide.The rocks were worn down so the rock itself was extremely smooth and you could pick up speed quite quickly.We also jumped of a forty foot waterfall. which was very

SPORT

scary as I looked down. I treasure the moment we reached the summit of Cadar Idris.

893 metres high.We could see the cloud cover move over us as the heat from the valleys rose. Unfortunately. just as we go to the top we could not see the sunset. but the idea of staying at the top was great. Regrettably. I got no sleep and waited for sunrise but the cloud cover had not cleared in the morning.

One exceptional challenge was the forty eight hours that we had to spend in a forest by ourselves.We were given four pieces of string and a plastic sheet about two metres by one from which we had to make a temporary shelter. Having only four items of food: an apple. a packet of crisps. a Mars bar and a flapjack. we had to ration our food well. This was not as bad as it sounds. as we had to stay put in one place in the forest. We were made to spread out so that nobody could see each other.The two main problems were midges and coping with the sheer boredom as watches. books and walkmans were all taken away.

The final expedition back south seemed to pass quickly. as we just wanted to get back and have a shower and eat some good food. It does make you realise the privileges we have in our concrete jungle and without a doubt the experience has had a big impact on my present life. If I were to recommend this course or any other with the Outward Bound. I would do so without thinking twice. Having completed the Gold Award. I am looking for new and more exhilarating challenges to extend my limits and most of all to find out more about myself.

Joshil Lodhia

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Daniel Hooper intends to join the army. Below are two articles which describe two · of the hurdles he has J·umped to achieve his ambition.

The Army Scholarship Earlier in the year I applied for an Army Sixth Form Scholarship and in February I was asked to attend an interview at Horse Guards, in Whitehall, for the first stage of the process.

An Army Scholarship allows a sixteen-year-old to secure a place at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, (RMAS), for officer training with added financial support. Over 10,000 people apply yet only 43 are given the award, and I was fortunate enough to be one ofthe 43.

The interview was based on current affairs, and so the war in Iraq was discussed. I was also asked to give a short presentation along with providing all I know about the way the UN works when discussing Iraq. After managing to pass the interview, I was asked to attend the Regular Commissions Board, (RCB), at which every soldier has to pass if they wish to train, as officers, at RMAS. Being only sixteen, I only had to attend a two-day assessment whereas it would usually be four days for a soldier.

During the RCB we were put into teams of eight and participated in various activities including a run and various command tasks, testing our teamwork and leadership abilities.These involved getting a burden, and the team, across an obstacle with restrictions. I felt I was given the hardest task to lead when I had to take a life size casualty over, whereas the others had a block of wood. Out of the eight tasks, we completed one; it wasn't mine.

We also took part in aptitude tests, interviews, mission planning and an army medical. On the second day it was up at 6:30, running until 7:30, then breakfast.The RCB ended with the individual obstacle course and whilst doing that I began to realise my strengths and my weaknesses.

Within a week of completing the RCB, I was notified that I had passed with scholarship marks.

I would recommend the scholarship to any who wish to join the army because it has already planned my career for me and it is definitely rewarding.

Daniel Hooper

Army Adventurous Training Due to gaining an Army Scholarship, I was invited to attend a Summer Mountaineering Proficiency Course, or SMp, with the army - all expenses paid. This took place in Snowdonia National Park, North Wales, and due to being in Wales, the army had booked us rain for the week.

Over the course of the week the group had scrambled rock faces and mountains, all without ropes. Due to this I felt, at various points, that I was going to die and so would you if you were hanging on with no ropes with a 100-ft drop below you!

We learned navigational skills over mountainous areas over the week and so we were ready for an expedition up on the mountain ranges. During the expedition, we climbed the third highest peak in the National Park, Carnedd Llewelyn, at I 064m. Over night we experienced gale force winds and so it was to no surprise that I woke up at 6:00 to find that my tent had torn in half.

After the expedition, the group returned back to base very wet yet morale was high due to the fact that we had completed the course. Every person on the course was an Army Scholar and so there was always something to talk about. including talking to various psychopaths who wished to join the Paras.Within my 4-man group was a MerchantTaylor's student which tells us that the army is going soft.

The SMP award does not come into effect until I attend Sandhurst where I'll be qualified to take walkers up on the mountain ranges. The next step will be to take a Mountain Leadership course, (MLT), which will enable me to organise mountaineering expeditions.

Daniel Hooper

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bound

It was a cold, rainy winter evening when we arrived in FortWilliam. Expecting the worst, we got off the coach to be greeted by several Outward Bound representatives, who welcomed

us and ushered us into a large warmly room. After the initial shock of the group selections, our team leader then showed us to our rooms for the week. This room was where we were going to sleep and live for the next week, and the people in the group were the people we were going to live with. It was vital we got off to a good start and we did.

After we had unpacked our bags and eaten, we were straight into the activities. These were co­ordinated in military fashion which meant that if we were late even by one minute we would have to get down and do five press-ups. Although we did not like this, we later realised that it was only our team leader who made us do this. The first activity we did was the zip wire, by far one of the better and more enjoyable activities.

Our activities during the next two days were designed to help us during the big expedition, which was going to take place later on in the week. Activities like Jacob's Ladder - climbing a ladder with ever increasing gaps between the rungs - helped us co-ordinate ourselves in teams, whereas activities like kayaking helped us to build our own personal skills. Another good confidence-building exercise was the daily report we had to do after each day of our activities. This small exercise provided us with information as well as providing the instructor with information on our progress and what we felt.

On the three-night expedition, we walked up two mountains or as our instructor said two wee burns. These mountains were coupled with another twenty-mile walk over the two days that we were there. Apart from the bitter cold that we had to face when sleeping, we found the expedition fun and a new challenge to get through, which we had to achieve as a group. From a Duke of Edinburgh perspective, this was excellent training for our Silver Award. The kit, tents and hiking were ideal for the Silver expedition.

The whole purpose of the training and the Outward-Bound experience was to get an understanding of our team members and to fine-tune our leadership skills. For me it did just that and helped

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in more ways. From the year above we were taunted about the fact that we had to run three miles then dip into a cold lake. Outward Bound was nothing like this. It was a fun experience, one that the current Lower Sixth will enjoy as much as we did.

I'd like to thank several people for making the experience what it was. Mr A. Jones, Miss Sigston, Mr French, Miss Gibbs and Mr Wright were instrumental in the success of the course. An extra thanks goes out to the all the instructors including our instructor, Oily Baylis, whose comedy and language made the week what it was.

ShivTailor (from the concrete jungle)

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It was a cold and gloomy morning. I was awoken at some unearthly hour by my father who with an evil glint in his eyes reminded me that it was time to leave cold, wet England for ... even colder, even wetter Scotland. I think it is fair to say that I had been pretty much dreading the

Outward Bound trip for my year group. Whyl Because plenty of obliging Upper Sixth Formers who had been on the trip the previous year happily described the freezing mornings which were started off with the legendary run and dip, and then of course there would be the three day long expedition into the middle of nowhere. Still, I thought to myself, at least everybody else in my year group had to go through it too which was scant consolation.

Having reached Euston Station, we were reminded of the promptness of British trains, as we had to wait what seemed like hours for our train to be ready for us. In reality it was about half an hour, but with all the excitement, it seemed much longer. Finally, we were on our way. The gruelling nine­hour journey passed agonisingly slowly.

Upon arrival at the Outward Bound Centre, we were randomly sorted into our 'clans'. I was in the MacDonald Clan. Looking forward to a large portion of fries (!), my clan was led through the canteen into a small room ...

First up on the agenda, however, was the safety harness initiation. I listened intently as the instructions for how to put on the harness and make sure it was tight enough were given to us. I soon realised the emphasis that would be placed on safety. It was the first and foremost issue on everybody's mind. Satisfied that the harnesses would support us, we proceeded to the first activity, the zip line over a fast-flowing river and in complete darkness - a serious adrenaline rush!

During the next few days, we completed various activities including abseiling, kayaking and the legendary Jacob's Ladder. I was amazed at the amount of teamwork required to succeed in almost all of these tasks, and this was the fundamental message behind the trip - with teamwork and co-operation, almost anything can be accomplished.

On Friday morning we set off for the expedition. A three day­long camping expedition on a mountain didn't seem like it would be much fun to us, but how wrong we were.

After a short (!) trek to our destination, we set up the tents and Oily, our enthusiastic instructor, decided to take us on a trek to the top ofa mountain, just to 'warm us up' for the longer, more gruelling trek the following day.

After finishing the delicious meal of spaghetti veggienaise -people will eat anything hot in the freezing cold weather - we

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decided to get some well-earned sleep. At least. that was the idea. Unfortunately, due to a combination of the energetic stags, a lot of snoring, and the freezing weather conditions - there was snow around our tents in the morning - some of us woke up the next morning feeling less than refreshed. Those who laughed when I packed multiple fleeces in my bag were left eating their words. The main part of the expedition was on the second day - a long walk with amazing picturesque landscapes was the best part of the trip for many of us.

Sunday morning was spent packing up the tents and ensuring that no litter was left anywhere, followed by a long, but enjoyable walk back to the minibus that would take us back to the centre.

That evening was spent orienteering - we all had to run

around the centre looking for certain checking points, and the clan with the most points would win. Simple in theory, but a bit more difficult in practice - some of us ended up very wet and muddy.

On Monday, after having packed everything away and survived the kit inspection, we said our goodbyes to the instructors and left for London. The somewhat anti-climactic journey back to London seemed to take forever, but once we got there, I was disappointed to see that in the week we were away from most of civilisation, the London public transport system hadn't changed - wishful thinking!

Upon reflection, the Outward Bound Course really did show me the value of teamwork, perseverance, compromise ... and a lot of warm jumpers. I am sure that I speak for all of my year-group when I say that the Outward Bound was a fantastic experience. On behalf of the John Lyon Lower Sixth of 2002/3, I would like to say thank you to Mr French, Miss Sigston, Mr A. Jones and Miss Gibbs for organising and taking us on such a great trip.

Samit Mapara

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Biology Field Course

rielton Field Centre Pembrokeshire

middle of November, the nineteen­Upper 6th Biology set left behind the

iar surroundings of Harrow and the John School for the coast of South Wales.

we were split into three rooms and the introductions soon over we got

straight to work. The first few days taught us about the ecology of the area as we visited various parts of the coast during the day, studying the features unique to each site. Evenings were spent mainly in the classroom analysing the data collected in the field while our free time was used 'recovering' in the games room. Much to our dismay and

, teachers' delight, we were expected to work until 9 pm, well past an Upper 6th former's bedtime!

The preliminary studies of the first few days were to help us with our coursework investigations conducted over the rest of the

, week. For our coursework, the group spent its time spread over two shares, counting and measuring up to 200 snails, barnacles and sea weeds. Who says science is all theory?

On the last night we presented our findings to the group, describing the aims, methods and results of our investigations. This was followed by an impromptu awards ceremony where prizes included a bubble blowing sheep and then a slide show.

Exhausted and deprived of sleep, we packed our bags and enjoyed a trial of a card game renamed for the teachers' benefit. The next day we boarded the Yellow Perils and set off down the M4 with more legroom due to one of our members leaving earlier in the week.

Fortunately, the weather had not been too bad for November except for the night we were awoken by the fire alarm at 4am and forced to assemble in the middle of a field in our pyjamas. Many thanks to the field centre staff,Jo our tutor, Mrs Perdue and Mr Ryder for organising and accompanying us on such a memorable trip.

Charles Mukherjee

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Second and Third Year Trip Normandy : Pare Asterix

May 2003

At five o'clock on the 23rd of May, forty five sleepy second and third years left Lower Road and headed for our destination, Chateau du Tertre, north west France. The journey to Dover was ... eventful, and surprisingly enough, not many of us slept on the coach.This was partly due to Priam Patel subjecting us to The Patel Rap' for a good half hour!

We arrived at Dover, in the ferry we all gathered together on the top deck and despite the cold winds we were all in high spirits. At Calais we all embarked on to the coach and met Alien, a jolly chap who would be driving us around for the next five days. We discovered that the motorways of France look strangely like their British Counterparts, but we actually felt like we were in France when we spoke to a service station clerk in French.

Three hours later and we arrived at the chateau, where Sagar said, dismayed," This is in the middle of nowhere!" We all settled in to our rooms and went off to dinner where we met the girls from a school in West Birmingham. Their accents were a bit too annoying for us, so the majority of our group left them at that, but one boy made some fans ... Yes, it was Stuart.

We had some free time after dinner where we all played either football or pool and Nikhil proved himself a master of the latter.

One turbulent night later we all shoved back into the coach and headed for Fougeres, where we saw the largest standing medieval castle in Europe. We all wandered round the bustling market where I found some great cheese, and everyone else bought rings and chains from a dodgy-looking Frenchman.We then headed for Mont St Michel, a beautiful mountain capped by a cathedral built in 709 AD. Up the winding road we found sugar crepes, and went thirsty when we saw the extortionate price of a can of coke, but as Mr Gladwell pointed out, "You can't get drinks anywhere else, therefore they can sell a can for 2.50 euros."

Back at the chateau, we had dinner and got dressed in old clothes for 'capture of the flag' in the woods and where Priam caught a barrage of mud in his eye! It was a draw in the end. It was another turbulent night in which a room was raided ... by teachers!

The next morning we headed to see the famous Bayeux Tapestry and marvelled at the wonderful models of castles and medieval towns. Next we went to Omaha Beach which was the set of Saving Private Ryan and also fierce battles at D-Day. We saw horrific scenes replayed on a 3600 cinema screen.We were overcome by the sight of 10,000 American graves at the American Military Cemetery where we saw American Gls perform a service.

That night there was a disco, and we all sat admiring the views. The highlight was Grandfunk MasterVijay dancing the night away.

We said goodbye to John 'ige' and Hayley'ige' our PGL staff. After a great tour of Paris and stopping at the Eiffel Tower, we checked into the hotel at Villepenten, called the Brit Hotel, where no one spoke English! We nicknamed the hotel manager'Mario' as in Super Mario, because of his great moustache.

The dinner was great - miles better than PGL.We stayed up for a while watching French TV and were surprised to find that the Simpsons didn't have the same voices! We departed for Parc Asterix in the morning and we loved the wooden roller coaster, and the

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water rides. On the ferry on the way back, we were all amused at Dev being

searched by the guards at the Sea France Shop. We had a sleepy journey back from Dover, but were all glad to be home. "My Mummy, my Mummy!" shouted a jubilant Sagar as we got off the coach after an exhausting five days.

Many thanks to Mr Loudon, who organised the trip, Mr Gladwell, for keeping discipline, Mr Roy, the paramedic, Mr Irvine, French speaker, and last but not least Miss Gibbs.

Omar Butt

Lower 6th Geography Field Trip Lake District

After beautiful weather in Norfolk, two weeks earlier, hopes were high as Mr Preston assured us again that the weather would hold during the half week we were going to spend in the Lake District at the end of March. He has, as yet, to have bad weather during a field trip at our school. We did, however, hold serious doubts that the weather in late March in the Lake District could possibly stay sunny, so we all packed our bags full of warm pullovers and wet-proof jackets.

On that Wednesday morning, we set off early from school, semi­prepared for the long journey that awaited us. Several music CDs and magazines later, we found ourselves only half way to our destination and were glad to stop off at a motorway service station for some lunch.We were reluctant to remount the minibus, but were rewarded by a magnificent view when we finally reached the Lake District and drove towards the Field Centre.

Awoken early each morning, we wandered slowly down to the canteen and made ourselves a packed lunch and had breakfast before we had to go to a classroom to do some initial work for the day, kindly taught by Mr Shaw and Mr Preston, but with enough time to relax and wake up before we actually set out.

Thursday was undoubtedly the most tiring, but also one of the most rewarding days. We hiked up Easedale, a very tiring task, but made easier and more worthwhile both by the stops made to make field notes to aid our A2 exams, and also by the amazing views.

Friday and Sunday morning, before we headed back home, saw us walking along the River Glenderaterra, which was the river to be studied if we had decided to do rivers for our coursework.This was a welcome and easier walk than the one on Thursday, but no less spectacular for the scenery, and it proved to be very funny each time someone fell into the water.

We woke up on Saturday morning to find what Mr Preston had told us might become true; the weather remained sunny, or at its worst, just cloudy.A field-centre teacher joined us on this day, to teach us, as JLS hit Carlisle, and we tried to explore the different patterns of buildings and land uses. This was a welcome day as we returned, temporarily, to a city environment so familiar to many of us.

We finally arrived back at school late on Sunday, after a long and tiring week. However, we all found the work to be fun and rewarding, and it will be a time none of us will forget quickly.

Julian Bennett

First Year Trip France

Thirty-nine first years and five teachers met atWhitmore Road on Monday 14th April to board our coach to Dover.We were all very excited as we approached the ferry for Calais as its giant doors opened to let the coach drive on. The journey lasted about an, hour and we eventually reached Calais.We had about another hours journey to Hardelot, near the town of Boulogne, where we were staying at a PGL centre. . .

We all huddled into our room to unpack and when It was time for dinner, we rushed down the stairs as fast as we could for pasta bolognaise. After dinner we went down to the beach to play football - the final score was 3-1 and then back to the hotel to make our ten o'clock curfew.

Tuesday came all too soon as we were woken at 7.30 am. Before breakfast we had to tidy our rooms, as Mr Read inspected them each day. In the morning we had to complete various activities including the assault course, boulder wall, nightline and initiative tasks.We ate our own home-made baguettes for lunch. Then we went to the Nausiccaa Sea life Centre, where we saw exotic fish, sharks and giant crabs. We also had the opportunity to touch live stingrays!

Back at PGL we ate dinner - chicken nuggets and chips - at last something English for a change. Then we set off for another expedition to a French cafe where we learned to order a drink in French with the help of the staff.When we came back from the cafe it was very dark and humid.We found our way back to the centre and had a shower. The water was boiling!

Wednesday arrived in no time at all.We rushed out of bed, eager to eat breakfast. We completed some more activities at the centre and then jumped onto the coach for a visit to La Coupole,

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the World War Two V2 bomb site. It was interesting but very cold inside because it was built inside a mountain. Afterwards it was back to the beach to play some more games and then another boiling shower.After lights out all was quiet until about 2 am. Then there was a loud shout of'Ugh!' Unfortunately someone had been sick. Mr Roy nobly changed the bedcovers!

Thursday was the day everybody had been particularly looking to. After a breakfast of croissants and yoghurt we went to Le Touquet where there was a traditional French market. In the afternoon, we went to a massive swimming pool called Aqualud which had lots of slides and one of them went at 45 kph.

When we got back to the PGL centre we had a traditional French dinner, including French bread and butter, chicken in garlic sauce followed by snails and frogs' legs and then fruit salad. Mr Westlake and Mr Read were so hungry they had to resort to just eating just snails and frogs' legs to survive!

After dinner, at about eight o'clock, we all got ready to go out to a nightclub PGL had hired for us. Before we went,James,As~ntha and Nick all styled up Mrs Plummer's hair so it looked like Davld Beckham's.The best dancer was Mr Roy. His slick moves impressed the girls, Mrs Plummer and Ms Sigston! Eventually the evening drew to an end with a last Eminem song. Our curfew was extended by an extra half an hour. Then we all had a decent night's sleep.

Finally, Friday, the last day.We were sad to leave PGL as we were going back home. After an hour on the coach, we arrived in Calais, where we boarded the ferry for England.We arrived safe and sound at Whitmore Road again where our happy parents awaited us. This trip was enormously successful and we had a great time.We would like to give a special thanks to the PGL staff, Mr Read, Mrs Plummer, Mr Roy, Miss Sigston, and an especially big thank you to MrWestlake for organising the trip.

James Caldecourt and Asantha De-Alwis

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Soccer 1st XI A brand new team with many boys new to senior football always presents particular difficulties at this senior level. The boys in the squad this term have worked very hard to make up for their lack of experience and once again lack of physical stature which is a factor when playing against sixth form colleges and many of the larger football-playing schools. That the players have made such progress. is testament to their ability and determination to make up any shortfall very quickly.

Autumn Term Ryan Dale. despite being hampered by a nagging thigh injury. has been a very influential figure in our matches. with his play maturing in each game. both in terms of his overall contribution particularly in his distribution and in terms of captaincy. Ludovic Aldersley. in his third year in the I st X I. has used all of the experience he has gained and has probably been the most consistent performer. proving an equal to most of the strong attacking units he has faced. Rhodri James has made real progress in his ability to knit the team together in midfield and is still improving in this aspect. However. his enthusiasm and ability to deliver has been one of our most potent weapons as he was joint top goal-scorer in the first term with eight goals from midfield. representing an excellent return.

With so many newcomers it has been almost inevitable that the squad has lacked consistency. They had their wins. particularly against St Ignatius. Christ's College and St Edmunds. showing that they possess enough quality to become a real force if they are able to sustain their improvement. Ryan Nicholas and Peter Fernandes in midfield have both made a real impact. Fifth formers. David Choy. in goal. Charles De Haan. Chris Gooder and in particular the emerging Craig Lynch and Paul Choy up front represent an ever improving strike force.

The overall review of the first term is best summed up in our performance against Brentwood in the ISFA Cup. As holders. Brentwood were a strong powerful side who expected to win. Having conceded a poor early goal that turned into three by half time. the signs were ominous although our display was far stronger that the half time score suggested. Then. in an inspired thirty minutes. we got back to 3-2. with Christopher Gooder's goal in

, particular. scored from a move that involved at least six different players. showing all that we had the ability to match any opposition. Unfortunately. we were unable to get back on level terms and again conceded some late goals. as finally our strength waned. to finish with a very unflattering score line that does no justice at all to our efforts on that day.

The final game of this term was a prestige friendly against a mature Corinthian Casuals team boasting five ex-professionals in their ranks. A 4-0 loss did not hide the enjoyment of a game where the boys played against men of true quality but also showed enough of their own skills to suggest good things for the future. The Boxing Day encounter. with a very strong Old Lyonian side. was its usual success in the Somme-like conditions of PinnerView which ensured that any remaining Christmas indulgence was run out of the system just moving around in the cloying mud.

Spring Term The second term was a frustrating one. When at full strength. the squad really had made progress but so rarely was the whole squad fit and available at the same time that there was very little chance of real. cohesive team improvement. I think that so many boys were having to play flat out just to cope with the standard of I st XI soccer. that this took its toll and niggling injuries to the likes of Ryan Dale. Rhodri James. Ryan Nicholas and Paul Choy. meant that the squad strength was severely compromised throughout the latter part of the season.

However. there was still one stunning performance to look back on. that again summed up the essential quality of the squad. At . Brentwood. in our traditional fixture. a mixture of inspired performances by the likes of Ryan Dale. Rhodri James. Ludovic Aldersley and David Choy in goal. saving a penalty. plus real resilience. saw us triumph 3-2 against the reigning national independent school champions. This was a result to savour for this squad. Not surprisingly. this was the only occasion in the whole of the second term that we had a full. healthy squad to choose from

With a rather tame. final few games of the season. the h was probably the debut of fourth former Daniel Hawes in the Barnet League game. who showed real assurance and quality. In Corinthian Casuals match. other fourth formers. David Jones. Neil Changela and Ben Gill had all shown real promise. However. we now look to next year with optimism but also say farewell to a group of boys who have served the senior soccer programme for

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three years with real distinction. Ryan Dale. Ludovic Aldersley. who was 'oted player of the year this year. Rhodri James. who was voted Ist).1 clubman of the year. and Andrew Karim have all been invo! led with the I st XI for three years and we thank them for their sterling service and enthusiastic support. The changing room will t ertainly be a quieter place on a Saturday morning without Andl 'ew's vocal contribution. We wish all of these boys and all those in th'~ squad who leave school this year such as Alessandro Pasquino. who worked so hard to improve throughout the year. James Lancaster and James Narine. much success in their footballing future.

Team from: D.J-H. Choy. LT. Aldersley. AP. Pasquino. A Karim.JA Lancaster, R.J. Nicholas. E.C De Haan. R.T. James. R.C Dale. P.M. Fernandes, S.J. Morrell. P.M.J-W.J. Choy, CD. Gooder. Cj. Lynch. JA Narine

CJ·Jones

2nd XI Played: 24 Goals for: 52

Won: 5 Drawn: 5 Goals against: 76

Lost: 14

The 2nd XI squad embraced players from all the senior year groups. Only four players remained from the previous season ensuring places were available to those with confidence. ability and commitment. Encouraging signs were evident during the first few training sessions and in the opening fixtures of the season.

T ,e younger players adapted quickly to the demands of senior footb lit was clear that Ben Moss. Rajiv Koya. Raheem Jivraj. Jasmr r Bhatti and Rahim Manji would all make significant cont! Jutions as the season unfolded. Rajiv Koya proved to be the mostersatile of players. performing with credit in goal, midfield and as a striker. Ben was our most effective front player and, with nine goals. was top scorer. All made impressive progress and should be pressing claims for a regular slot at the next level.

Confidence and commitment formed the cornerstone of the individual and collective development of the team. A Willingness to listen and to support one another also led to the excellent team spirit that prevailed throughout the long season. In fact. the spirit was as good as I can remember and a credit to all the players. particularly to the tremendous efforts of Robin Turner. captain and midfield general. Robin set an example through his endeavours and the positive attitude to all aspects of the game.

He was supported by Eoin Connolly who remained calm at all times. organised the defence and gave great encouragement to the younger players. His reading of the game ensured he compensated for any lack of pace. and provided the necessary structure that restricted most opposition forwards to few genuine sights of goal. Eoin deservedly collected the player of the season award at the annual dinner. Owen Bennett. our regular keeper, certainly found more protection than one could normally expect at this level. When he was called upon. he displayed a high level of agility. bravery and positional sense. As the season progressed he displayed a growing confidence in dealing with crosses and a sharper awareness in his distribution; he has been one of the consistently good performers.

Another player crucial to the balance of the side was Joshua Sasto. Joshua played a number of games for the first team but was unable to secure a regular slot. However. at this level he was composed and his poise on the ball provided a starting point for most attacks. The solid defence was enhanced by the presence of James Mott and Chris Cook whilst the team were deprived of the regular services of Daniel Rosenberg and Joshua Golga through

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injury.Jason Powell and Philip Johnson both worked selflessly for the team and their contribution must not be underestimated.

Although wins were hard to come by. most of the positive results were achieved in the Middlesex League fixtures. As a result the team qualified for the league play-offs. Harrow College had inflicted two heavy defeats on the side during the course of the season. However, the performance during this game gave a clear indication of the measurable improvement. Trailing by a goal after ten minutes. the response was to dominate the rest of the half. deservedly levelling through a Koya drive. Both sides created chances in the second half with each keeper excelling. However. a goal conceded three minutes from time was cruel reward for an outstanding effort against the league leaders and winners of the final.

Many players appear ready to make the transition to the first team. I wish them well for next season and thank them for their endeavour and commitment.

Team from: R.D.R. Turner (Captain). E.F. Connolly. CJ. Barbaric.JA Taylor. R.D. Palmer. P.M.J-W.J. Choy. AK. Ferguson. O.M. Bennett, P.R. Johnson. AA Sodha. J.L Sasto. J.E. Golga. JA Powell. D. Rosenberg, J.E. Mott, JA Narine, S.J. Morell. R. Manji. B.R Moss. R Jivraj. R. Koya.

D.A. Rimmer

U15 XI Played: 16 Goals for: 23

Won: 1 Drawn: 1 Lost: 14 Goals against: 68

The overall statistics do not really reflect the efforts of the team and the competitiveness of the matches played. In five of the matches. defeat was by the odd goal to many of the strong traditional soccer schools. Enfield Grammar. Finchley. Chigwell. Latymer Edmonton and East Barnet.

The season has been one of disruption to the boys in the squad. mainly due to staff changes and having a number of different managers/coaches. which prevented the continuity that is essential to the success of a team. Also. a number of key players from the previous season had other commitments with Ben Gill training at Arsenal and playing regularly in their under sixteen and under seventeen teams. Daniel Hawes at Fulham and Simon Childs playing national and county tennis for Bucks U 18s. David Jones. arguably one of the best goalkeepers of his age in the county, was also injured for a number of matches.

However. many positives could be gained from this; it opened up the opportunity for other boys to play representative soccer for the school and for boys who had been in the squad previously. to take greater responsibility and show leadership qualities. Neil Changela, in the centre of defence. was probably the pick of the players. Anthony McCarthy. in the centre of midfield, improved in every game and Kwaku Pepera. who took on the difficult role of captain. organised the team both on and off the field in a positive manner.

Arun Nahal, Bhavik Shah and Bunkim Patel played with great spirit. In defence. Nikin Ruparelia. Roy Elie and Steven Palmer. worked hard to develop their tackling and passing skills in midfield and Emerson San-Andres andVikash Seth improved their understanding of forward runs and creating space by pulling away from defenders in each game.

The only victory of the season was a 4-2 win at Enfield. with Ruparelia scoring a hat trick. and reversing the narrow defeat at home earlier in the season. This. above all. illustrates the spirit and

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U, 5 6-a-side team winners of the Plate trophy at Malvern

enthusiasm displayed by the team. The team entered the Independent Schools National Six-a-side

competition at Malvern in September, winning the plate competition. The squad was probably as strong as any other team there, and narrowly failed to qualify for the main competition. Only Millfield, the overall winners, had the skills to match our boys. We dominated the plate competition, beating Wolverhampton in the final.

I am sure the boys will be disappointed with the statistics, but the talent is there. Many of the boys will go on to represent the senior sides next year and I am sure they will show the same commitment and get the enjoyment, comradeship and spirit generated in playing team sports.

Goals scored: Childs 4, Elie 4, Ruparelia 4, Seth 3, Hawes 2, San-Andres 2, Shah 2, Changela I, Mistry I.

Team from: KAAC. Pepera (Captain), AT. McCarthy (Vice-Captain), N.C. Changela, S.W.P. Childs, RA Elie, B.o. Gill, D. Hawes, D.W.M. Jones, AS. Mistry, AS. Nahal, S.J. Palmer, BH Patel, N. Ruparelia, E.R. San-Andres, V.S. Seth, B.o. Shah.

I.R. Parker

U14 XI The under 14s season got off to a thrilling start at Sudbury playing fields on a sunny Saturday morning in September. Playing the ever­strong Chigwell,John Lyon won a nine-goal thriller by 5 goals to 4, with the winner coming from an Adam Gill shot from outside the area. The squad continued its impressive form into its next couple of games with wins against Hampton (2-1) and another 5-4 win against St Ignatius with a hat-trick from the team's top scorer, Elliott Bertram, and two from Michael Betts.

However, this rich vein of form was not to last and despite showing a great deal of grit and determination, the team was heavily defeated by both Dr Challenor's and Enfield Grammar School. It is a credit to the squad that despite these results they managed to maintain their levels of enthusiasm and courage in the next couple of games. A hard fought out 1-0 victory at home to Finchley was capped by a great goal from captain, Stuart Onslow, and was followed by the crushing 6-0 win against East Barnet where the team showed just how well they really can play.

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The next game was the return match against Enfield, and following the last meeting of the two sides, it was always going to be a tough game. However, the players were inspired and played out of the skins. Despite going 2-0 down early on, and goals from Elliott Bertram, Michael Betts and Philip Whatley, the team went down 4-3. This was not only a fantastic performance conSidering the last time that these teams met, but also a game in which all the players showed their true worth and one which they also should have won.

This fine performance helped in the final few matches of the season, with fines against CardinalVaughan and another thrilling game against Latymer Upper, which was lost 2-0.

This was an enjoyable first season for me as a soccer coach at John Lyon and I wish the whole squad the greatest success next year whoever takes them. The captain, Stuart Onslow, Elliott Bertram, Raam Joshi, Michael Betts, Stefano Perdoni and Nathan Ireland should all be congratulated for making up the spine of the squad, as well as Michael Moriarty for helping to keep up the team spirits with some of his antics.

Team from: L.K.C. Hurst, N.J. Ireland, T.M. Kraskian, S. Perdoni, SA Belazka, E.N. Bertram, O.N. Gattas, AS. Gill, T. Higgins, M.J. Moriarty, S.R. Onslow, PH Whatley, K.Y. Asante, MA Betts, R.Joshi, N.G. Kraskian, AJ. Milne, P.J. Patel, F.V. Stahl, V. Doshi.

AL.Jones

U13 XI The Under 13 football team played with such enthusiasm and determination that it is amazing to think they have ended the season without a win. The level of performance after Christmas was exceptional, and they were close to winning on more than one occasion. The camaraderie amongst the boys was one of the outstanding features of the year, and they were an extremely pleasant and receptive team to coach.

The pre-Christmas term saw various formations and permutations tried out and many different players given a chance. It was unfortunate, in some ways, that many of the hardest games, such as Chigwell, Finchley and St Ignatius came so early in the year. It was clear though that the spirit of the boys would stay high, even in defeat. Rishi Patel in goal, epitomised this wholehearted approach. often keeping the score in single figures! Suki Mann, Russell Elie and Alfred Showunnmi, also began to perform with skill and passion, with Russell becoming a regular scorer.

After Christmas, results began to improve: a close defeat to Dr Challenor's. a 2-2 draw with Latymer Upper and a 5-4 'thriller' versus East Barnet showed there had been a huge improvement. The game versus East Barnet could so eaSily have gone our way; the boys were 3-0 down at half time and eventually hit the post in the last minute that would have made the score SoS - one to savour!

As mentioned, the whole team were a pleasure to coach but it . would be unfair to finish the report without mentioning three other . members of the team. Kristofer Milne, Jack Abelson and Declan Edwards formed the heart of the team and played with great skill and invention. Kristofer dominated the defence and when moved into ~idfield became a real goal scoring threat. Jack made the opposite move and his reading of the game and general awareness were exceptional. Declan captained the team and was the main ball. carrie~ from midfield - dangerous in attack, he frequently deceived J

oppOSition with his excellent close skills.Together these three,and Russell, were the main scorers.

I would like to thank the whole squad for their time and efforts this year. They approached games and training sessions alike with determination and good humour and I hope that some of the

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less' ·s learnt will stay with them into next year wish them the best of luck as a team. We' done!

Te<! I from: j.S. Abelson. S.N.P. Childs. DA Edw ·ds. S. Mann. E.J. I ltthams. AS. Mhajan. K.P. Milne. P. Nar lkumar. J. Patel. R. Patel. J.H. ~lIu. V.N. Shah. N. Varsani. R. Elie. MA.N. Job n. G. Kamalatharan. J.R. Perkins. AA Sh( unnmi. N. Balarajah. A Murthy

J.R 'reston

U12 XI This has been another pleasing year for our Ur,der U 12s. I am indebted to Mr Read for his assistance during the season. and he will be missed at Saturday morning football. The be 1S and I wish him well on his retirement fr lm JLS.

This season has been one in which many ( our pupils have had the opportunity to r ay against strong. competitive schools in a 1 iendly six-a-side league. The emphasis is on : <ill. passing and positional awareness. The quad is coached during games sessions on hese areas. I have been particularly pleased vith how our boys have developed and ;ained confidence in their own abilities.

There have been so many good )erformances. that it is with regret I cannot mention all of them. However. the energy of James Neidle as captain cannot go unacknowledged. nor the physical strength of Kwasi Yeboah. or the skills of Sonny Flynn.

I look forward to next season and wish my current squad well for the future.

Team from: J.M. Neidle. S. Flynn. R. V.E.c. Rowland. M.W. Barker. K.J. McPhee. K. Yeboah.J.E. Kerley. C.H.M. Hutin. M. Leedham. B.H. Khan. W.E. Wilson. D.W. Knight-Johnson. A Sawhney. F. Karmali.

T.Mahon

1st XI Played: 16 Won: 7

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Cricket

Drawn: 4 Lost: 5

A tremendous team spirit. an enthusiasm to learn and play the game in the right manner. have made it a pleasure to be master in change of the I st XI this season. The team has followed the very high standards set by Rhodri James. the I st XI captain. and has made progress throughout the term against some very strong cricketing schools.

Easter Saturday. dry but overcast. saw our first match of the season at Sudbury against a very strong Hampton side. We lost the toss and were put in to bat by Hampton. with only Silvester coming to terms with the tight bowling.We were unable to score quickly enough. and so Hampton won comfortably. However. the response to this defeat could not have been better and the next five matches brought four victories and one draw.

Aldenham were bowled out for 57. Johnson taking 3-10. James 2-0. Rughani 2-15 and Swain 2-16. and we scored the runs for the loss of two wickets. A draw against Berkhamsted was followed by a win against Greenford in the Middlesex Cup.James scoring 73 not out. De Alwis 27 not out. and Johnson taking 3-1 to rip the heart out of the Greenford innings. Then there was a 9-wicket win over the traditionally strong Enfield Grammar School. who were bowled out for 65.Johnson taking 4-11. Desai 2-6 and Cook 2-11. Patel and James put on 51 for the second wicket to see us home.

A nail-biting 40-over match followed against Haberdashers'. Habs scored 113-8 in the 40 overs.Vasa. 3-18. being the pick of the bowlers.We reached 115-9 in the 40th over. winning by one wicket - Rughani. 33. held the innings together.

A disappointing defeat against Q.E Barnet was followed by a draw against St Benedict's. John Lyon scoring 13 I all out. St Benedict's scored 75-9. and just held on despite Desai taking 5-17 - the start of remarkable streak in which Desai took 33 wickets at an average of 10.54.

This was followed by a 9-wicket win over Harrow College in the Middlesex Cup (lames 48 not out. Rughani 21 not out). and then a win by 187 runs against St Edmunds. Ware: I st XI 228-5 declared (lames 60. Rughani 59. Patel 53); St Edmunds 41 all out (lohnson 2-3. Cook 2-5.Vasa 2-16 • Desai 3-7).

We experienced two disappointing defeats. by Harrow School. and by Enfield Grammar in the semi-final of the Middlesex Cup (we had beaten Enfield so convincingly earlier in the season). A drawn match at Mill Hill. with Desai 4-32 and Cook 4-41 being the pick of the bowlers. was followed by another nail-biter at Merchant Taylors': the I st XI scored 128-9 (Rughani 56 in 56 overs!) and then Merchant Taylors' were 10-4 but won narrowly. scoring 128-9 with seven balls to spare - their last wicket partnership put on 16 runs. one of the highest partnerships of the match; Desai took 5-12 and Cook 3-27 were the pick of the bowlers.

The traditional fixture against the MCC was drawn. The MCC side was captained by Old Lyonian C. Gupte. who took 5 wickets. and another Old Lyonian. N. Goh. took 3 wickets and caused the I st XI the most problems. Our last pair.Juma and Cook. batted out the last 9 overs to ensure the draw.

The team enjoyed a comfortable 3-wickets win against the Staff XI. with only Mr C. Jones putting up resistance with the bat. Cook took 4-12. and then James and Silvester put on 63 for the second wicket.

Association Day brought a wonderful finale to the season. and many recent Old Boys came back to play and entertain the many spectators. Rughani was the pick of the batsman and Swain of the bowlers. The Old Lyonians were captained by D. Mehta who picked up 3 wickets and G. Hughes was top scorer in the run chase.

It has been a very enjoyable season. the many Fifth Formers performed well in their debut season in the I st XI. Desai. Rughani. D. Patel.Juma. De Zoysa. A Mehta and De Haan will all have important roles to play next year.

Johnson.Vasa and De Alwis will build on their experience last season.and with Ruparelia and Hawes coming through from the Fourth Form. it should become a strong squad. I would like to thank Rhodri James for his contribution as captain and for the influence he has had on the team with his outstanding fielding. batting. and his occasional off spin. leg spin and medium pace.Thanks also to J. Silvester.T. Cook. E. Swain and R. Dale for their inputs into the team and support during the exam period.

I would also like to thank Mr A. Jones. Mr Preston and Mr Gladwell for coaching the other sides and I am sure the boys will miss Mr. Flanagan and Mr. Read and remain grateful to them for all the coaching and umpiring they have done over recent years as they move on from John Lyon.

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Thanks also to John Jarvis for umpiring, to Bruce, Liam and the many mums who volunteer to help with cricket teas, and to Andy and Lee, the groundsmen, for preparing such excellent wickets. Thanks are also due to Massey's for providing the Massey bat, this year won by Rhodri James.

The Fraser bowling award was won by Krunal Desai and the Gupte fielding award was won by James Silvester.

Boys, thank you for an enjoyable season.

Team from: R.T. James (Captain), J.MH Silvester 01. Captain), D.J-H. Choy, E.F. Connoliy, T. Cook, R.C Dale, P.B De-Alwis, E.C De Haan, K. Desai, M.K. De Zoysa, P.R. Johnson, S.H. Juma (wk), S.N. Mapara, A. Mehta, DN. Patel, N. Rughani, N. Ruparelia, E. Swain, K. Vasa.

I st XI Averages

Batting (Qualifrcation: 50 runs) Inns N/O Runs

R.T.James 16 5 476 N. Rughani 16 2 322 D.N.Patel 12 I 186 M.K. De Zoysa 7 3 65 J.M.H. Silvester 10 I 113 R.CDale 8 2 65 E.Swain 10 0 101 K. Desai 10 2 51

(Fewer than 50 runs) P.B. De-Alwis 10 3 44 S.H.Juma 8 3 23 K.Vasa 10 0 38 T.Cook 6 4 7 P.R.Johnson 3 I 6

Also batted:

HIS 73* 59 53 28* 35 13* 23 13

27* 7* 9 3* 5*

N. Ruparelia 10; D.J-H. Choy 7; E.C De Haan 16*; E.F. Connoliy 4*

Bowling (Qualifrcation: 10 wickets) 0 M R W BIB

K.Desai 113.4 25 348 33 5-17 P.R.Johnson 47.3 10 175 15 4-11 T. Cook 110.2 17 359 20 4-12 R.T.James 97 17 297 13 2-0 N. Rughani 86.2 11 302 12 2-8

Also bowled: P.B. De-Alwis 3-1-4-1; K.Vasa 18-5-56-5; M.K. De Zoysa 6-2-12-1; E. Swain 54-8-174-7; D.N. Patel 20.5-0-127-4; R.C Dale 5-1-20-0; E.F. Connolly 4-2-4-0; A. Mehta 1-0-5-0; S.N. Mapara 1-0-1 1-0

Catches

Ave 43.27 23.00 16.90 16.25 12.55 10.83 10.10 6.37

6.28 4.60 3.80 3.50 3.00

Ave 10.34 11.66 17.95 22.84 25.16

15:James; 6 (+2 stumpings):Juma; 4:Vasa; 3: De-Alwis,Johnson, Dale; 2: Desai, DN. Patel; I: Silvester, Rughani, Cook, De Zoysa, Choy

I.R. Parker

2nd XI Played: 7 Won: 2 Drawn: 2

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Lost: 3

It was evident from the number of those attending net sessions from September 2002 that I would have a large and talented pool of players to choose from. I am pleased to say that my early optimism was not misplaced. I have been impressed with the ability and enthusiasm of so many that played for the Seconds this year.

One note of disappointment must be that of the fixtures that were originally scheduled, our opponents, due to player shortages caused by examination pressures, cancelled a large minority. I have not experienced that problem atJohn Lyon, which is a credit to the members of our squad.

Our record this year is two wins, two draws and three losses with four cancelled. This year's squad has been harder to beat and has shown a pleasing determination. This was typified in the hard­fought draw with Berkhamsted. Our opponents amassed over two hundred on a placid pitch but, with a fine show of batting resolve, we secured a creditable draw.

We have also been able to regroup after batting first against sides which appear to be gaining the upper hand. Such an example was against QE Barnet, who were replying well to our good total of 166-8. A number of wickets were taken quickly to put our hosts under severe pressure, although they did well to claim a draw. These matches displayed the ability of the squad to respond to challenging situations.

Not all performances, however, were so commendable. Both Haberdasher's and Merchant Taylor's overwhelmed our batting with accurate and controlled bowling. There is a lesson for the future with regard to patience and concentration, but I am sure that this will be absorbed for next year. The major disappointment came when we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory againstAldenham in our first match of the season. Silly batting left us defeated by just two runs.

Two fine victories should also be discussed. Christ's College was put to the sword by a very good bowling and fielding performance. Defeat last year to Enfield was avenged with an excellent all-round display from the entire team. What was most pleasing about this result was the way that initial batting reverses were calmly overcome and a sizeable total constructed with thoughtful innings from several of the side that day. This was the most complete performance of the year.

There are many individuals to be mentioned from this year's squad. Chetan Gagoo bowled superbly all season but often did not get the rewards his endeavour warranted. Shaan Bhatnagar bowled and batted excellently with commitment, skill and great heart. AIi Somani supplied two particularly devastating spells of spin bowling that gave a little more variety to the attack. Both Joel Bubbers and Charles De Haan batted with authority and patience to give us solidity at the top of the order. Shiv Tailor showed in glimpses why he is capable of being a fine opening batsman. Divian Patel batted very well at the start of the season and, with a half-century against Berkhamsted, deserved his call-up to the I st XI squad. Samik Patel displayed with the ball and bat why is he such a useful cricketer. Rajiv Koya and David Choy both kept wicket impeccably, and Rajiv's explosive batting in the lower-middle order was a vital weapon. Joshil Lodhia again excelled in the field, and he should look to carry his batting form from the nets into match situations. Samit Mapara, although not as successful as last year, still performed well as an all­rounder.

I have been very pleased with all members of the squad this season. I do believe, however, that one individual stands out as my 'Player of the Year'. Amar Mehta's commanding batting, his useful

•

&l

Football: I st XI

Football: 2nd XI

Football 3 rd XI

Football: U 15 XI

Football: U 14 XI Football: U 13 XI

Football: U I 2 A & B squad

Cricket: I st XI

Cricket: 2nd XI

Cricket U 15 XI

Cricket: U 14 A XI Cricket: U 14 B XI

Cricket: U 13 XI Cricket: U 12 XI

Basketball: U 19

Tennis: U 14 & U 15

Tennis: UI2 & U 13

Athletics: Intermediate

r--

Athletics: Junior

Cross Country: U I 5

Cross Country: U 14

34

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spin and his outstanding fielding has given the team an extra dimension. His enthusiasm has also been first-rate. He should be proud of what he has achieved this year.

My final mention with regard to squad members must go to Tal ang Katira and Eoin Connolly. For the last two years they have be,n Captain and Vice-Captain, respectively, and I have greatly va Jed their fine contributions to the 2nd XI. As they leave the se 1001, I wish them well for the future.

Although we played most of our matches away from Sudbury, I Vv )uld still like to thankAndy and Lee for yet again preparing such e cellent pitches when we did act as hosts. I am also grateful to the p rents who supported the squad this year.

My final thanks go to lan Parker, Master-in-Charge of cricket at J( ,n Lyon. His organisational skills and support make my task as c ach of the 2nd XI that much more simple.

1 ~am from:T.K. Katira (Captain), E.F. Connolly (Vice-Captain), $ :. Bhatnagar, IN. Bubbers, N.]. Caiden, D.J-H. Choy, R.e. Dale, [ :. De Haan, M.K. De Zoysa, e. Gagoo, P.R. Johnson, S. Jothinath, , Koya, ].V. Lodhia, SN. Mapara, A Mehta, AH. Noon, D.N. Patel,

Patel, N. Rughani, AH. Somani, S. Sundaralingam, S.u. Tailor.

~.D. Gladwell

U15 XI Our opening fixture of the year saw John Lyon plunder the Aldenham School attack. We scored 190-3, with Ruparelia hitting 80 not out, Seth an unbeaten, and maiden, fifty, and Desai picking up 5-34. A convincing win was secured, confidence was high, the sun was shining, and commentators were talking of cups for once, and not of plates.

The Berkhamsted bowlers were despatched on the following Saturday in equally cavalier fashion with Hawes scoring 97 not out; our bowlers, however, were unable to dismiss the last of their batsmen and the game was drawn but our opponents finished 90 runs in arrears. The temperature started to climb, buckles were swashed, and hakkas were performed as we approached our first round game in the Middlesex Cup. But cricket, as we know, is a great leveller; the boys from Christ's College skittled us for 67 and they were on their way back to north London in less than 90 minutes with a 9-wicket victory under the belt.

Our rehabilitation was less certain and took longer than had been anticipated although our first game 'back in the saddle' saw us secure an 80 run win over Enfield Grammar; however, the batting was shaky apart from the exocets that Parikh launched towards the end of our innings and, although Ruparelia (3-12) and Patel (4-4) bowled tidily, we were flattered by the score line. A 62 run defeat at the hands of Dr Challoners in the next match confirmed the false dawn.

In a much more competitive game against St Benedict's, however,John Lyon played with the panache and skill they had shown at the beginning of the season and we won the match by 10 runs; Ruparelia's 46 was the innings of the season scored on a seaming green top. At Teddington, in the middle of June, Hawes and Ruparelia smashed 186-0 (Ruparelia 101 not out; Hawes 50 not out) in 14 overs and victory was secured by 114 runs. And by the time we faced Rooks Heath, confidence again was brimming over; Hawes picked up a triple wicket maiden and we came home as I I run victors.

In our final fixture, we just couldn't shoot out the last of Merchant Taylors' batsmen (in spite of 5-17 from Nahal) and we had to settle for a draw with our opponents still 40 runs short and 9 wickets down. Still, the playing record - P9W5 D2 L2 - was a good

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one with a number of important performance standards established: Ruparelia averaged over 54 scoring nearly 400 runs, and our leading bowlers, Desai, Nahal and Patel recorded season figures of 14 for I 17, 10 for 87, and 10 for 114, respectively. Patel, in his role as captain, was outstanding; he was cunning and shrewd, and his field placings were insightful. He is an excellent motivator and leader.

Throughout the team there is a great deal of potential and there are promising cricketing futures for those who are prepared to work on the game. Ruparelia was our most prolific batsman but he was also the most improved player and he worked deliberately on playing through the line of the ball. Hawes, Patel, and Seth, all great strikers of the ball, must get their feet moving more qUickly; they were all trapped on the crease, or played inside the line, far too frequently and they fell short in terms of the runs they could have amassed. In the middle order, Nahal showed he could both bat and bowl, and won our single wicket competition by a country mile, but he needs to bowl much more consistently to a length; Sundaralingam swings the ball prodigiously and, whilst he looks elegant at the crease, he could get a little rowdier with the bat in his hands; and Desai, deadly accurate with the ball, needs to inject the same kind of ruthlessness into his batting.Juma and Joshi both demonstrated they could bat a bit, and bowl quickly, but sometimes the desire was lacking; and Lad, for whom desire was never an issue, could be prone to letting enthusiasm and excitability get in the way of the gloves! Nonetheless, he stuck to his task manfully in the face of claims from at least two pretenders and proved to be a vital team motivator from behind the stumps. Good luck to you all, and to the many players vying for contention from the wings, in your cricketing futures at the school.

May I thank Nick 'hole-in-one' Loudon and Brian 'albatross' Holgate for covering in my absence and may I also record my gratitude to lan 'the wand' Parker whose organisational skill, support, and infectious love of the game have made running cricket sides at John Lyon a real pleasure, and never a chore.

Team from: S.P. Patel (Captain), S. Jothinath, KAAe. Pepera, PJ Shah, S. Sundaralingam, RA Clarke, N.K. Desai, B.o. Gill, AS. Gill, J.H. Sellu, MAK. Parikh, V.S. Seth, B.o. Shah, K.R. Shah, D. Hawes, Z Juma, A Lad, AT. McCarthy, AS. Nahal, N. Ruparelia.

P.A Flanagan

U14 XI The U 14 team has been very enthusiastic over the course of the year and all through winter nets, there have been over thirty boys working hard to improve their skills and trying to impress with their enthusiasm for the game. I expected this enthusiasm to wane but the opposite occurred and numbers increased in the Summer Term. Selection became very difficult and many boys were disappointed when the time for choosing the team arrived. This is, without doubt, the most improved group of cricketers I have had the pleasure of working with over the years at John Lyon and their improving skills and enthusiasm have made team selection easy in one respect but extremely tough in terms of whom to leave out. I was confident in knowing that whoever was selected to play, I would always have a strong squad and that it would take a very good team or a lucky one to beat us.

We lost the first game, at Berkhamsted, in the last over of the day and this harsh warning served to be the inspiration for a more focused approach to the following games. The batting, bowling and fielding improved-throughout the year and the boys who had been most famous for their lack of fielding skills, became heroic in their efforts and this was a major contribution to the team's success.

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In a team with so much potential and promise. I am reluctant to name individuals but Gurpreet Dhami is proving to be a very good all-round cricketer who bats with style and bowls leg breaks.

Adam Gill is 'Mr Enthusiasm' and drives the team on with his total commitment to all aspects of the game; his fielding is outstanding and his batting seldom lets the team down.

Tommy Higgins is developing into one of the best bowlers I have seen at John Lyon and this is the boy who only started playing cricket last year. His bowling technique still needs a great deal of work but he hits the ball hard and looks capable of achieving very high scores in the future.

The Captain. Priam Patel. leads by example; he is thoughtful in his captaincy. a good fielder and occasional bowler. but also an outstanding opening bat who has frequently laid a good foundation for the team to build on.

I have also been impressed with the improvement of Rajan Seth who is developing into a very good all-round cricketer and Michael Moriarty who is always totally driven to do his best. His poor mother must spend a fortune on keeping his whites clean after all his diving about on the field. Apart from all those I have mentioned. I think Nicholas Hallam and Raam Joshi are developing really well and will mature into very good cricketers next year.

I apologise for not mentioning all the other players who have impressed me but I would like to say that all the extra time has been worth the effort. I know that the future of cricket at John Lyon is in safe hands while this group of boys continues to work hard and to improve at the present rate. I am sorry I could not organise more second eleven games but I know this will be addressed next season and your talents will be displayed to the full. Thank you all for making it such a happy time for me and many thanks for the regular support from the parents. especially Mr Higgins and Mr Gill. A final thank you to all the mums who provided the lovely teas and to Andy. the groundsman. for his skill and time in providing the best ground in the area and to Mr Parker for giving us more away fixtures than home which meant we really appreciated our time down at Sudbury.

Boys. enjoy your cricket and continue to search for perfection and remember. it is a game to enjoy and you will enjoy it more by winning with good grace and style.

Team from: P.J. Patel. (Captain). AAN. Arulunantham. K.Y. Asante. M. Chandran. S.P. Clements. D. Chauhan. G. Dhami. AS. Gill. N.S.L. Hallam. T. Higgins. J.M. Holas. J. Jadva. R. Joshi. L. Krishnamohan. M.J. Moriarty. AI. Neidle. AP. Patel. N. Patel. R. Seth. AJ. Shah. S.N. Shah. K. Shirazi.

I.R. Read

U13 XI Played: 12 Abandoned: 3

Won: 8 Lost: 3 Drawn: 1

The U 13s enjoyed a successful and entertaining season last year and can be extremely pleased with the way in which they approached their cricket. They tried at all times to play positively. and the fact that they only drew one of their matches suggests this has been the case. They built on their hugely promising first year at John Lyon and have the potential to be one of the best school year groups in recent years. Only the failure to convert a good position in the Middlesex Cup semi-final at Enfield cast a shadow over the season.

The all-round ability in the side was obvious from the first game of the year. Avinash Murthy thumped Aldenham's bowlers to all parts on a difficult pitch and never allowed the opposition to settle.

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His century (103*) was matched by Jack Abelson (I 02*) against St. Benedicts Ealing. and at this level that is a fine achievement indeed. Other batsmen to shine were Anek Mhajan. who scored the most runs in the team and played a number of patient and well timed innings. Declan Edwards who was particularly strong through the offside. Kris Milne and Rishi Patel. Both Kris and Rishi will hope to

score with more regularity next year. Because of the strength of the top six. the bowlers rarely had the opportunity to show off their skills but Suki Mann revealed a penchant for hitting sixes.

Most of the matches resulted in easy wins. often batting first to

put the opposition under pressure with runs on the board. Only against St. Martins in the Jet National Cup did we bat first and lose. only scoring 98 in our 25 overs. The Middlesex Cup was more successful and three facile wins took us to the semi against Enfield. A target of 135 in 25 overs was. in the end. ten too many for the team with only Jack and Rishi able to come to terms with the scoring rate.

The race for the leading wicket taker was keenly contested. Jasjote Bhasin bowled superbly all year. and almost always took wickets with his flighted off spin. Jesal Patel bowled some wicked inswingers and had the ability to bowl straight. which is generally underrated as a means of attack at this age group. Anek Mhajan and Kris Milne both bowled some highly testing spells of leg spin and probably deserved more wickets than they actually got and Rishi Pate I got in on the action with a hat-trick against Berkhamsted.The seam attack was led by NiravVarsani and Praveen Nandakumar: Praveen suffered from an early attack of the 'wides' but could swing the ball away from batsmen. Nirav. though. proved to be the most adept bowler and took wickets almost at will early on. He has a simple. yet effective. approach to bowling and is the most even­tempered of young men.

Even though the bowling and batting skills of the side were high, they were surpassed by the fielding ofthe team. The wicket-keeping duties were shared between Declan and Jack and both performed admirably. Jack was the outstanding outfielder though, and was a constant source of encouragement to the rest of the team. Kris was not far behind in terms of ability and commitment, although it would be unfair to single out only two individuals; everyone played his part.

End of season junior colours were awarded to Avinash Murthy, NiravVarsani and Anek Mhajan. Anek led the side with pride and skill and proved to be capable of , running' a cricket match and all itS nuances with ease. He has a great future ahead of him as a captain" and cricketer. I offer my sincere thanks to the whole squad who ' were a pleasure to coach and encourage all year. My best wishes them for all the seasons ahead. On behalf of them could I thanks to the groundsmen and tea ladies and gents. Your efforts not go unnoticed.

Team from: A.S. Mhajan, A Murthy. R. Patel.J.S. Abelson, DA Edwards. K.P. Milne, J. Patel. J.S. Bhasin. P. Nandakumar. N. Varsan~ I.M. Keshani. S. Mann. G. Kamalatharan. P.S. Bahra. J.H. Sellu.

J.R. Preston

U12 XI Played: 10 Won: 6 Drawn: 1 Lost: 3

As expected after basking in glorious sunshine throughout the Easter holidays the first cricket match of the season started in pouring rain. The first years opening game against Latymer Upper resulted in an overwhelming defeat. However. the squad soon realised just what was needed to succeed and set about laying the

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foundations for a gloriously spectacular summer. A close 8 run victory over Berkhamsted where

captain Asantha De-Alwis recorded bowling figures of ( -19 was quickly followed by easy victories over w< cnbley High (Dhruv Barchha hat-trick) and En eld Grammar School (De-Alwis 83 not out). H wever. more often than not while the team's b( .vling figures showed depth throughout the squad ar I we were able to bowl out most teams. the first y' lrs often struggled with the bat. either relying h wily on a few individuals to knock up the runs or tI = bowlers to keep the opposition score down. T le defeat against St. Johns is just such an example.

It is thus because of this that despite the defeat a ainst Q.E. Barnet it was one of our best batting prformances with MitulVora hitting an excellent " I and Kumar Patel 37. If these boys can be more ( ',nsistent next year we should be a handful for any 1 am we play.

Victory against Haberdashers' was also followed I ya comfortable win over Erdington (Vora 37). and n impressive draw against St. Benedict's which saw

JS bowl them out for 128 (Jack Turton. hat-trick. 5-18) and after some embarrassing batting. when we looked to have grasped defeat from the hands of victory. David Knight Johnson and Sanjeiv Asokan batted superbly to allow us to hang on for a draw.

The final game of the season was away to Merchant Taylor·s. After hitting a sound I 19-7 (De­Alwis 57) Merchant Taylors' seemed to have victory in their grasp. With three overs remaining they only required eight runs to win with three wickets remaining. at which point Jack Turton who had bowled so well and consistently throughout the year stepped up and bowled his second hat trick of the year to win us the game. Fantastic stuff.

This has been a particularly enjoyable and successful year and Captain. Asantha De-Alwis.Vice Captain.Jathu Shasiharan. Anuj Patel. MitulVora and JackTurton should all be congratulated on consistently performing at the highest standard. Well done.

Averages Batting Asantha De-Alwis (83*) 44.7 Jathu Shasiharan (22*) 13.7 MitulVora (40) 12.3 Kumar Pate I (37) 8.5

Bowling Asantha De-Alwis 53-8-138-14 9.9 JackTurton 57-6-202-19 10.6 Anuj Patel 35-4-130-9 14.4 Dhruv Barchha 36-1-157-10 15.7 Jathu Shasiharan 36-0-165-6 27.5

Team from: S. Asokan. S.M. Girling-Heathcote. D.W. Knight-Johnson. A Ravindrarajah. AR. Trepczynski. M. Vora. W.E. Wilson. P. Yoganathan. DA Barchha. AI. De­Alwis. J.M. Neidle. J. Shasiharan. JA T urton. A.K. Patel. K.H. Patel. A. Sahay.

AL.Jones

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Tennis Senior The Senior Tennis team again enjoyed many successes despite to a great extent relying on younger players. The season started in March with a fine 6-0 win over Twyford C of E School in the Senior Students Cup. After other schools withdrew from the competition this proved to be the vital match and we were declared the London Area Champions.

Next. in the Glanvill Cup. the main national competition. came more quality tennis in convincing wins over Latymer Upper and Chigwell to reach the regional semi-final. Unfortunately. we then met a very strong team from Coopers Company and Coborn School. consisting entirely of Essex county players. so we just missed out on a second successive London regional final.

Finally. in the Independent Schools' Championships at Eton. we enjoyed two more stunning victories; first RGS Guildford were outplayed. then Cheltenham School were convincingly brushed aside. Having reached the third round of the main event. we could not maintain our good form and on damp. overcast morning we rather meekly succumbed to our old rivals UCS.

Simon Childs. despite being only a 4th year in 2003. is clearly the school's top player. He has developed a most mature game and has a very promising future in the sport. With James Silvester not always available due to exams. we often relied on the talents of Avinash Murthy and Alex Golding. who amazingly made their senior debuts as a 2nd year and I st year respectively. Thanks also go to all the other members of the team; David Jones. Nathaniel Caiden. Mark Webster and Ben Wealthy. We are looking forward to our young talent bringing us even more success next year.

CL.M. Tucker

Junior and Intermediate The season started with trials for Years 7 to 9 at the Esporta Riverside Tennis Club. Northwood. Many of the youngsters had been regularly attending the club; some had been playing for fun; others had honed their skills on the Astroturf courts. preparing for possible team selection. Four main players. and two reserves were chosen from each age group. Year 10 players also had trials and similarly a squad offour was formed.

The Year 7 squad played against Rooks Heath. Sam Deacon and Alex Golding winning their doubles. Year 8 played the same school. and won comfortably. thanks to Alex Golding and Anek Mhajan. Golding being good enough to play in the age group above his own.

Both the Year 8s and Year 10s won against Drayton Manor School. all four players winning their singles and doubles. I would like to thank Mrs. Golding for arranging our match at the very plush David Lloyd Centre in Bushey.

The Year 7 and 8 squads had a cup match against a very scary looking Kidbrooke School team in south London! It turned out to be a one-sided match with hardly any games lost.

The season finale came in the You 11 Cup. at Eton School's courts. The pairing of Alex Golding and Stuart Childs did exceedingly well to reach the Under 15 quarter finals. beating much bigger and stronger boys in the process. Their final opponents were Harrow School. and in a tempestuous match the smaller combination of Alex and Stuart lost two close sets. They should take heart from this as their opposition were physically stronger. We could go further next year.

The school has many promising players in Years 7 to 10. Robert Rowlands. Matthew Lee and Sam Deacon have made significant improvements. Stuart Childs. Neil Ewington. James Sellu and Anek Mhajan. of Year 8. also improved.Avinash Murthy continued to be in a league of his own. which has unfortunately exempted him from most competitions. Raam Joshi and Richard Pacey remained as steady and thoughtful players.

I am looking forward to next season. when we hope to have more matches. Thanks to all the players - they have worked hard and have been thoroughly committed!

thelyonian2003

Our Trip to Wimbledon On Friday 4th July, I, members of the tennis team, spent the day at Wimbledon. Anek's grandfather, previously an umpire at Wimbledon, had given us ground tickets.

The players in the Year 7 and 8 tennis teams, with Mr Roy and Mr Budd, arrived early enough to allow us to wander around the seventeen outside courts. We watched players practice and chased stars like Andy Roddick through the grounds, before settling into a few games of mini-tennis in the kids' zone.

Mini-tennis, played on small courts with soft balls, is often used as an introduction to the game. We entered short competitions and for every game won were awarded a sticker. Once a player had collected a few stickers, these could be exchanged for rewards such as pens etc. This was great fun and became quite competitive.

Before lunch, Anek's grandfather, Mr Mhajan, arranged for us watch the spectacular Number I men's doubles pair in action on Court I.

The weather was good, and we had lunch on Henman Hill and soaked up the atmosphere of the place, cheering as the players fought on the big screen for their places in the next round. After lunch, a few of us made our way to Centre Court where we met some fans leaving. They offered us their tickets and of course we didn't hesitate to take up their offer. We were seated in Row D on Centre Court and watched Martina Navratilova and Leander Paes win their exciting mixed doubles match - they subsequently won the tournament.

Thanks to Mr Roy, Mr Budd and especially Anek's grandfather. for giving us the opportunity to be part of this great British tradition.

Neil Ewington

Volleyball Inter-House Moore beat Butler Norwood beat Vaughan Norwood beat Butler Vaughan beat Moore Vaughan beat Butler Norwood beat Moore

P W Norwood 3 3 Vaughan 3 2 Moore 3 I Butler 3 0

I.R. Parker

L 0 I 2 3

Pts 6 4 2

Badminton Inter-House Colts Vaughan beat Norwood Norwood beat Butler Vaughan beat Moore Vaughan beat Butler Butler beat Moore Norwood beat Moore

P W Vaughan 3 3 Norwood 3 2 Butler 3 I Moore 3 0

Seniors Butler beat Moore Vaughan beat Norwood Butler beat Norwood Vaughan beat Moore Vaughan beat Butler Norwood beat Moore

P W Vaughan 3 3 Butler 3 2 Norwood 3 I Moore 3 0

I.R. Parker

L 0 I 2 3

L 0 I 2 3

Basktball Inter-House Seniors Moore beat Butler Norwood beat Vaughan Vaughan beat Moore Norwood beat Butler Vaughan beat Butler Norwood beat Moore

P W Norwood 3 3 Vaughan 3 2 Moore 3 I Butler 3 0

Colts Butler beat Moore Vaughan beat Norwood Norwood beat Butler Vaughan beat Moore Vaughan beat Butler Norwood beat Moore

P W Vaughan 3 3 Norwood 3 2 Butler 3 I Moore 3 0

I.R. Parker

L 0 I 2 3

L 0 I 2 3

Pts 6 4 2

Pes 6 4 2

Pts 6 4 2

Pts 6 4 2

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Cross Country This was another successful season for the John Lyon cross country team, with a number of new faces helping to support the achievements gained last year by many of the runners.

The Under 12s had an impressive season with Matthew Barker finishing 6th in the Hatch End Open Cross Country Competition at the start of the year. This was followed by 4th in the Harrow School Championships, and with Alex Golding 25th, Sonny Flynn 35th and William Wilson 38th the team finished a very creditable 4th overall. Matthew was also selected to represent Harrow in the Middlesex championships where he finished a notable 23rd.

The under 13s continued where they had left off last season, by performing well in a number of relays, as well as the Hatch End Open race. The team of Matthew Barker; Declan Edwards, Kris Milne, NiravVarsani, Alex Golding and Avinash Murphy finished 2nd in the St Martins relays where Matthew claimed the third fastest time of the day. Also with the help of Jack Abelson, the squad went on to finish 3rd in the 'OTI' relays at Belmont School. The team has shown a great deal of strength in depth throughout the year and does not have to rely on one or two individuals to see it through. This will hold the team in good stead for the future.

The Under 14 team demonstrated the enthusiasm and motivation over the year which has helped them to become a year group with a strong sporting reputation. At the Hatch End cross-country race, a depleted team finished a very creditable 10th overall. With Adam Gill finishing 12th, Florian Stahl 24th, Stefano Perdoni 5 I st and Elliott Bertranf 71 st. The squad also performed well at the Harrow Schools championships.With two teams entered, the A team took 4th place Stuart Onslow finishing an impressive 9th, Florian Stahl 27th, Nathan Ireland 44th and Elliott Bertram 47th.

The Under 15s had another excellent cross-country season, with three athletes selected to represent Harrow at the County Championships. In the Harrow School trials, David Jones finished 4th and Neil Changela - both fantastic performances. The team took third place in the team completion at Hatch End cross-country. Ben Gill 4th, Neil Changela 12th, Sam Steel 13th and Daniel Hawes 36th, should all be congratulated.

This was a fine season and I look to seeing the boys build upon their su,:<;,,:,~'" next year. Well done to all those who represented the school over the mud!

A.L.Jones

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Athletics The athletics season has been condensed into a frenetic 5-week p )riod, which started with the Harrow Championships in May at the refurbished Bannister Stadium. With so little time to prepare for 1 hese championships it is always pleasing to see how many boys still ; .ctually manage to come through on the day and end up competing or Harrow in the Middlesex Championships in June.

This year we had five boys who were selected for Harrow :hanks to their efforts in the championships. Ben Gill again qualified n the 400 metres with a personal best time of 55.6 seconds. His ·un in the heats at the County championships reflected his )erformance and it was sufficient to give him fifth fastest place )verall in the Intermediate section. Next year he will be able to lave a real attack on the top three places as he enters the top end ::>f the age range.

Adam Gill as district champion in the discus was not able to take on the challenge of the Middlesex Championships on the day because of other sporting commitments, which was a disappointment for him, as it was a chance to match up against some very talented athletes. Robert Clarke, although probably not competing in what he would consider to be his strongest event, won the district javelin event with a throw of 31 metres. At the Middlesex Championships he threw 33 metres to record a personal best and finish sixth in the final of that event, again competing at the bottom end of this two-year age range.

David Jones gained real experience in running in the 1500 metres. He finished fifth in the final with a respectable time of 4m. 44 secs. but undoubtedly will gain real benefit from the tactical awareness he gained running in such a high quality field. He had a very prominent season showing his versatility in winning both at 100 metres and at high jump in the Harrow League meetings

Our most successful athlete on the day of the Middlesex Championships was Brett Heasman. With limited opportunities to run his favourite 200 metres, Brett, as district champion, competed in the long jump. On the day the winner was a class above everyone else in the field jumping over 6.3 metres. Brett however jumped a very impressive personal best of 5.67 metres to finish second in the county which was an excellent performance.

As well as our top athletes getting the chance to compete, this season has seen the emergence of many athletes lower down in the School who gained valuable experience in both the Harrow Championships as well as the Harrow league meetings. The St Ignatius trophy meeting also gave our first formers a chance to compete against the very best athletes from four different London Boroughs. Sonny Flynn was the pick of these, showing not only ability in the 200 metres but also great determination and heart when competing, which shone through in his relay leg as well as his debut in the Harrow Championships where he was competing against athletes a year older than himself. The likes of KwasiYeboah, Clement Hutin, David Knight Johnson and Robert Rowland also showed the potential to do well as they go through the school.

In the rest ofthe juniors, Jack Abelson led the way with ever improving performances in the hurdles, with Kris Milne,Veer Shah, Declan Edwards and NirajVarsani all making real progress. In the third form many athletes really broke through. Michael Betts showed increasing maturity as a sprinter, whilst Elliot Bertram displayed a real taste for sprinting and sprint hurdles. Stuart Onslow was the most successful athlete winning the very competitive St Ignatius trophy 1500 metres as well as the Harrow League meeting.

The Inter-House Athletics Championships took place at the impressive Woodside Stadium for the second year running.This

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allowed our athletes a great opportunity to perform at their best. The Junior section was dominated by Moore House who won

10 of the 13 events including the 4x I 00 metres relay, which they won in a new school record time of 56.8 seconds. Kris Milne won both his individual events in the 100 and 400 metres as well as anchoring the relay win. NiravVarsani also won both individual events in the 800 metres and the high jump.A first former, Sonny Flynn made a big impression, carrying on his progress throughout the season with a storming win in the 200 metres in a personal best time of 27.7 seconds and also finishing a narrow second in the 100 metres.

Praveen Nandakumar threw a respectable 23.75 metres in the javelin and JackAbelson continued his rapid improvement in the high hurdles in a respectable 15.6 seconds.

Final scores Moore 165 Vaughan I I I Norwood 106 Butler 104

In the Colts there were fine individual performances from several athletes. Ben Gill won both the 400 metres in 58.4 seconds and the 1500 metres in 4m. 41 seconds. Robert Clarke won both the javelin, with a throw of 3 1.81 metres, and, showing his versatility, the 800 metres in 2m. 20.5 seconds. Eliot Bertram produced one of the most impressive performances in this section with a win in the 100 metres in 12.9 seconds and Michael Betts ran well to win the 200 metres in 26.4 seconds.

It wasVaughan who completely dominated this section winning by over 60 points.

Final scores Vaughan 191.5 Norwood 129 Moore 107 Butler 90.5

In the Senior section, Rhodri James was a comfortable winner in both the distance races the 1500 and the 3000 metres which was an impressive double! Christopher Cook also won both of his individual events the 800 metres in 2m. 18 seconds and also the high jump in I m. 45 cms.

It was Brett Heasman however who produced the outstanding performance of the day winning the 200 metres in 25.3 seconds and the long jump in 5.30 metres. He also anchored Norwood to a fine relay win in the 4x I 00 metres relay which helped secure a thrilling section win for Norwood by just four points.

Final scores Norwood 144 Butler 140 Vaughan I 18.5 Moore 101.5

c.J.Jones

thelyonian2003

Archery

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Many fifth and sixth form boys have chosen archery as a games option in the past. This year, all first form boys also had the opportunity to shoot as part of the new activities programme. Supposedly a 'minority sport', many thousands of archers regularly attend practice and competition meetings across the country every week. So what's the attraction?

For many, the club that they join soon becomes a firm part of their social life, with regular events such as barbeques and 'fun­shoots' organised. In the winter months, although the indoor season may be in full swing, 'frostbite' competitions are still shot outside.

Many are drawn to the sport by an interest in the historical aspects. Being one of man's earliest and most-used weapons, the bow and arrow have contributed greatly to the shifting powers of past monarchies and political groups and everyone has heard of Robin Hood of course!

Whilst many are happy to have a relaxing day's archery every now and again, other people thrive on the more competitive aspect. Regularly winning a medal or trophy soon becomes addictive! As well as competing against other people, those in the know improve their shooting by competing against themselves. The most satisfying feeling comes from beating a 'personal best' score.

One of the tricks to consistent shooting is to control the breathing so that the chest movement does not disturb the aiming process. I find this the best aspect of archery, as controlled

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breathing is very relaxing. Top Olympic archers have this down to a fine art - tests have shown a recent British medallist is capable of slowing his heart rate down to just a few beats per minute whilst shooting!

Mixed with the adrenaline rush that comes with the knowledge that I could win a competition, the relaxing quality of the repetitive sequence of events and the social times have made archery the perfect sport for me. Those who start this sport rarely stop and, as the first years are now aware, the rewards that are brought by steady personal improvement are very satisfying.

For information about local clubs in your area, please contact Mrs Ingham.

Mrs E.J. Ingham

Karate Shotokan Karate is taught at The John Lyon School by two sen instructors of Shotokan Karate International, a world renown organisation set up by Mr Kanazawa.This martial art style is recognised at GCSE and at 'A' Level as part of the sports curriculum. This year the boys of John Lyon put forward a tea enter the National Championships and finished in second plac Club practises straight after school on Thursdays and is open boys of the School and outsiders.

In Japan nearly every pupil and student practises a martial improve concentration, confidence and academic progress.

Mrs Brenda Wise

The Archery team, with coach, Mrs E.J. Ingham, receive the Silver Arrow t h S L f

. h . . rop y at peeches e t to fig t: Wllham Deacon, Mrs E.J. Ingham, Sujeevan Nandagopal M "t Ch' . , an]1 Ita, Tarang Katira.

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Swimming Inter-House Gala February 2003 The Inter House swimming gala was a very competitive event reflecting the strength of swimming that is growing rapidly within the school.

It is noticeable how competitive the events are throughout the age groups with each House able to produce swimmers of a high calibre and very competitive nature. In the Junior Section. no less than three of the events were won by first formers with Clement Hutin. Robert Rowland and Sam Deacon winning the back crawl. front crawl and butterfly races. respectively. with Kristofer Milne just holding off another promising first former. Matthew Barker. by half a second in the breast stroke. It was Butler House who emerged victorious. helped by wins in both the freestyle and medley relay to secure the section win from Vaughan with Moore third and Norwood fourth.

Final points totals: Juniors I Butler 35 2 Vaughan 25 3 Moore 23 4 Norwood 17

In the Intermediate Section. RichardVoke of Norwood won two of the individual events both the butterfly and the front crawl. In the latter. he set the only new school record of the day with an impressive time of 28.98 seconds. Robert Clarke was among the other individual winners in what was a very strong age group with Sam Steel completing a very strong trio of county standard swimmers. with a host of very competitive and competent swimmers such as David Jones. Simon Childs. Ben Gill. Khilan Shah and Neil Changela just behind them.

thelyonian2003

Not surprisingly.Vaughan dominated this age group. accumulating twice the amount of points of the next House. Butler.

Final scores: Colts Vaughan 41 Butler 22 Moore 13 Norwood II

In the Senior Section. Peter Davis Adkins. Andrew Karim and Richard Jago all had impressive and relatively comfortable wins in the individual events. in the Individual Medley backstroke and butterfly. respectively. with Rabeeha Daba and James Cuthbert both winning exciting races by less than a second in the front crawl and breaststroke races. It was Moore who. perhaps surprisingly. won the closest section overall with a dramatic win in the freestyle relay and a second place in the medley relay producing a win by just four points from second place Vaughan.

So an extremely successful and competitive gala with much thanks to the staff for their time in officiating and scoring and for the work of the house tutors for organising teams. for the enthusiastic spectators. staff. students and parents and especially the swimmers for their expertise and enthusiasm.

Final scores in the Senior Section: Seniors Moore 33 Vaughan 29 Butler 16 Norwood 13

C.J.Jones

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thelyonian2003

The Solar Challenge - Munich 2003 Having been given permission by the Headmaster to take a day off school. I travelled. on Friday 27th March. with twenty one other members of my swim club (Ealing). the Head and Assistant Head Coach and some parents to Munich. Germany.We were to take part in the Solar Challenge at the Olympic pool which is in the Olympic Park. just to the north of the city. where the Olympics were held in 1972.

We arrived in the afternoon and travelled by a very efficient train and tram service to our hotel which was about a twenty minute walk from the park. After a team talk. we had dinner before going to bed at 9:00pm as we had to be up and at the pool by 7.30am.The hotel arranged to bring staff in early so that we could breakfast at 6.30am. As in all sports. it is important to eat properly to keep your energy up.

The swimming hall is amazing; it has eight lanes and is fifty metres long. Underneath the 2500 spectator stand. are another two pools which cannot be seen by those watching. The rest of the park consists of an Olympic hall. used for gymnastics. an Olympic stadium for track and field and other small areas for cycling and other leisure activities.

This was a huge gala. There were eighty plus teams from twelve countries including Germany. Switzerland. Croatia. Slovenia. Americans and Canadians from the European Forces League and. of course. our team from England.

like all galas. the teams set up as a group around the pool.We placed ourselves near the start by the diving pool. The swimmers stayed there unless they were competing or cheering on other members of the squad.

On the first day I took part in three single events. the 200 metres backstroke. I 00 metres freestyle and SO metres backstroke. In the first. there were some one hundred and twenty eight competitors. with age groups ranging from ten years to twenty years plus. I took gold in my group and on my time would have won the next two age groups above me. In the second. two hundred and eighty eight competitors and I took bronze in my group. The SO metres backstroke was slightly different as it is an open event and

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has finals which the others do not. I came second in my age group. I also took part in two relays the backstroke which our team won and the freestyle in which we came third.

During lunch I was able to look around the park before eating at the Olympic restaurant. The weather was fantastic and the park was full of people on roller blades. cycles. and skateboards or just relaxing in the sun. Some of our parents found the Olympic Beer garden and enjoyed Sitting in the sun with a glass of famous Munich beer and eating German sausages.

That evening after dinner in the hotel. it was early to bed as the clocks were going forward and we had an early start. After another early breakfast we were back at the pool. I had another three events. the 100 metre backstroke. the 100 metre butterfly and the 200 freestyle. In the first. I took gold. fifth place in the second and gold in the third and on that time would have won the next age group. Although I took three individual gold medals I am most pleased with the time improvements that I made in the 100 and 200 free.

After my last event. we made a quick dash back to the hotel to collect our luggage and made our way to the airport for the last flight to Heathrow. It was an exhausting but great time.

Samuel Steel

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