“Da da da da da da da da da, da da! Da da da da da da da da, da da!”  The more musically astute amongst you will doubtless recognise Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture – the fantastic finale – complete with cannon, musketry and indoor fireworks – to the First Year trip to see Classical Spectacular at the Royal Albert Hall last night.  And what a wonderful show it was. We sang. We clapped. We waved little Union jacks when they did the patriotic songs. Everybody seemed to have a thoroughly fantastic time. Many thanks to the Music Society for subsidising the tickets and transport for this brilliant event – I am sure it will live long in the memory of all who attended.

The boys undertook a muddy rite of passage last Friday, with their first Hampton cross country race.  The 2.5km course round the playing fields produced a high quality race, with Daniel Clarke just having enough pace to out-sprint Oli Drew and Freddie Blair, who finished a close second and third respectively, at the end. Nick Allen, Louis Simmons-Gooding and Henry Donaldson completed the top six.  Many congratulations to these boys, who will represent the School in the upcoming Richmond Borough Championships, and to every boy who ran.

Our Tutee of the Week has been selected, in part, on his performance during the Cross Country race. As Mrs Peattie tells me: “Eddie Baxter has received this award as Miss Willett was particularly impressed with the positive, kind attitude that Eddie displayed in the Inter-Form Cross Country Race.  The boys were all competing against each other and one of Eddie’s peers fell over and hurt himself, Eddie forfeited his position and helped the boy who had hurt himself. This demonstrates excellent strength of character and a very kind, thoughtful attitude”. Well done Eddie, you thoroughly deserve the accolade this week.

On the sports front both the round and oval ball sports have kicked-off again after Half Term, Team Captains William Aust and Sam Brewster give us their take on proceedings:

“On Friday, the 11 of November, Hampton’s U12A Team played a challenging cup game against Ravens Wood.  From the kick off we were a little bit shaky and conceded two goals. But nothing could beat our team’s resolve as a brilliant strike from Jo Treacy put us back in the game and the half ended 2-1. The second half began and an equally brilliant strike from Johnny Evans-Hutchinson levelled the playing field. Unfortunately we did however concede 2 goals and unfortunately the game ended 4-2. Although we lost we had an amazing spirit throughout the game and we have to thank Mr Sims and the other coaches for helping us get to where we are”.- William Aust

“Another difficult game for the Hampton U12A Rugby Team, this time against our local rivals Halliford. Hampton opened with a bright spell but couldn’t quite get over the try line. Halliford then fought back and got the first try before adding a second. Hampton made a strong start to the second half with a good passage of play resulting in a try for Edward Clark. Hampton were back in the game but the equalising try just wouldn’t come. Despite a period of effort from Hampton, it was Halliford who scored next with a break away try. And straight from the kick off Halliford scored again, making the final score 20-5. The main thing we have learnt is that we need to be more aggressive in the rucks and tackles”- Sam Brewster

Well done to all the boys involved in those fixtures, and I look forward to seeing how they all get on over the next few weeks.

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