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Cricket Report Week Three by Don Topley

06 Monday May 2013

Posted by theroyalhospitalschool in Sports Blog

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cricket, headmaster, RHS, royal hospital school, sport, the royal hospital school

This week has seen some great victories and some extremely exciting cricket matches especially with our local rivals, Ipswich School.

The Senior 1st XI have recorded two wins over Colne Community College and Ipswich School. Against Colne, the 1sts bowlers performed extremely well as a unit as the visitors were restricted to 96 for 6 in their 20 overs. Josh Allday’s concentration was equal to the task on a trying wicket and he batted through with 56 not out to ensure a victory by 8 wickets.

The bowlers, once again, set up victory over Ipswich School with Brendon Tait and acting captain, Ben Moore, taking three wickets each, as Ipswich made 165 all out on a dry old wicket.  In reply, RHS were in deep trouble at 28 for 4, before it was the turn of all-rounders, Matt Rudston with 52 not out and James Rutledge with 42, who put an invaluable and brilliant 79 run partnership to allow us a sniff of a victory. Josh Butt, batting at No10 and making his debut, scored the winning runs in a hard fought game.

Earlier in the week, the 1sts lost a 20/20 to New Hall by 6 wkts on a bitterly cold day at RHS. 113 for 6 in a 20/20 contest was never going to challenge New Hall with only Rudston and Rutledge making runs. However, the 2nds defeated New Hall handsomely with Calder Trewin Marshall making a fine century in just 66 balls. Josh Butt also contributed 40 to the team’s total 209 in 20 overs.  In reply, Ollie Sellers ripped through New Hall with 5 for 9, as RHS won by 143 runs.

The 2nds, however, lost to Ipswich by just a solitary wicket in an exciting and close game. They were bowled out for an under par 98 as Ipswich just made it home. George Petrides claimed 5 for 19 and Cam Kerr bowled aggressively but could not prevent Ipswich winning by one wicket. Ben Cottrell’s reputation for having safe hands improved as the ‘hockey man’ grabbed another two stunning catches.

Similarly, our Senior 3rds lost an incredibly close game at Ipswich by 8 runs with Matt Cantelo making a flamboyant 66 in quick time. Earlier in the week, the 3rds defeated Woodbridge by 45 runs with a competent team performance from all.

Both the Under 15A and B teams lost heavily but well done to Ben Kelland for his two run-outs and Robert Street top scoring with 22.

The Under 14A’s enjoyed a thrilling win defeating Ipswich by an incredibly small margin. Cambridgeshire opening batsman, Michael Cowdrey, contributed a fine 56 out of the team’s total of 156. Initially, the RHS boys bowled tight but Ipswich came back into the game with some lusty late hitting by the lower order. At the death, Ipswich needed just 6 runs off 14 balls with two wkts left, only to lose those two wickets when Toby Buckland bowled the all-important and pressurised last over of a wonderful and compelling game. RHS U14 won by just 4 runs.

Ben Connor and Ben Price of the U14B’s bowled very well, with great accuracy and control. Ipswich’s top order crumbled and very soon they had lost five wickets, with some good catches from Charles Ewen, Jamie Fosker, Matt Saxby and, especially, skipper Alex Finding. RHS bowled Ipswich out for 83 runs. With last week’s top order collapse still in our batsmen’s memory, RHS strolled out determined not to repeat the same mistakes. Jamie Fosker and Sam Le Roy both batted well, ensuring that we were always ahead of the required run rate. Matt Saxby also contributed in tandem with top scorer, Rouxhan De Nysschen. RHS got home comfortably with some aggressive batting from Ollie Williams. De Nysschen and Saxby were voted ‘men of the match’ as RHS won well by 6 wickets.

Against South Lee, our strong Junior 1sts won comprehensively by 10 wickets and the Under 12’s perfomed well with Max Orr making his second 50 of the Summer and putting on 99 for the first wicket and Toby Braybrooke who making a career best of 39. RHS won by 32 runs as we bowled and fielded extremely well in the late afternoon sun.

As is tradition at RHS, the Headmaster presented a cricket bat to new centurion, Calder Trewin Marshall, for his 2nd XI century v New Hall.

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Headmaster’s Distinctions

06 Monday May 2013

Posted by theroyalhospitalschool in Headmasters Blog

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Academic, Geography, German, headmaster, headmasters distinctions, mathematics

For Achievement in Geography

Gemma Ayling Year 8 Blake
Serena Brown Year 8 Blake
Petrus Du Toit Year 8 Drake
Conrad Graham-Ambrossi Year 8 Drake
Henrietta Murrison Year 8 Blake
Auriol Symons Year 8 Blake
Jorgyella Thorpe Year 8 Blake
Pietro Vendittelli Year 8 Drake
William Walkington Year 8 Drake
Daniel Waterman Year 8 Drake
Camilla Ainsworth Year 9 Raleigh
Rose Arbuthnot Year 9 Raleigh
Sophie Atkinson Year 9 Cornwallis
Helena Carter Year 9 Raleigh
Madison Claridge Year 9 Raleigh
India Coles Year 9 Cornwallis
Guy Cranfield Year 9 Hawke
Charles Hardern Year 9 Hawke
Thomas Harmer Year 9 Collingwood
Sophie Jenkins Year 9 Cornwallis
Hope Moonan Year 9 Howe
Toby Oliver Year 9 Collingwood
Anna Tindale Year 9 Cornwallis
Oliver Williams Year 9 Raleigh
Ami Zhang Year 9 Raleigh

 

 

For Achievement in German

Matthew Saxby Year 9 St. Vincent
Ami Zhang Year 9 Raleigh

For Achievement in Mathematics

Dominic Curtis Year 7 Drake

 

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Headmaster’s Commendations

22 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by theroyalhospitalschool in Headmasters Blog

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commendations, headmaster, success

Sophie Atkinson Year 9 Cornwallis
Nekane Romero-Garcia Year 10 Howe
Charlie Steptoe Year 10 Collingwood
Sean Cuddihy Year 11 Collingwood
Zhesu Crystal Jin Year 11 Howe
Cheng Wai Winnie Lei Year 11 Howe
Francesca Morelli Year 11 Howe
Tabitha Palmer Year 11 Howe
Olivia Peacock Year 11 Howe
Jessica Edney Year 12 Cornwallis
Natasha Jones Year 12 Cornwallis
Kathryn Matous Year 12 Howe
Eloise Allan Year 13 Nelson
Rebecca Anstey Year 13 Nelson
Molly Arthur Year 13 Nelson
Aislin Barraclough Year 13 Nelson
Laura Brown Year 13 Nelson
Wai Yin Christy Chan Year 13 Nelson
Georgina Harmer Year 13 Nelson
Emilly Hassall Year 13 Nelson
Jessica Hazelton Year 13 Nelson
Andrew Kwok Year 13 Nelson
Claire Lambert Year 13 Nelson
Andrew Mitchell Year 13 Nelson
Georgia Moore Year 13 Nelson
Jennifer Myatt Year 13 Nelson
Emily Sweeney Year 13 Nelson
Carys Todd Year 13 Nelson

For Achievement in Drama

Simone Rossouw Year 10 Howe
Rosslyn Trewin-Marshall Year 10 Howe

For Achievement in Mathematics

Petrus Du Toit Year 8 Drake
Benjamin Willis Year 8 Drake
Georgina Harmer Year 13 Nelson

 

For Achievement in Religious Studies

Liam Crismani Year 11 Anson
Francesca Morelli Year 11 Howe

 

 

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The importance of values and being faithful to them

17 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by theroyalhospitalschool in Headmasters Blog

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headmaster, James Lockwood, leadership, RHS, royal hospital school, the royal hospital school, values

A lot has happened in the news over the last three weeks or so. The horrendous story of Mick Philpott – jailed for life for being the “driving force” behind a plot to torch a Derby home which led to the deaths of six children.

International tension continues to grow in relation to North Korea and their threats of launching a missile attack on South Korean territory.

Then, a week ago, there came the news that Baroness Thatcher, Britain’s first female Prime Minister, had died at the age of 87 after suffering a stroke, in her suite at The Ritz Hotel. She had been battling poor health for more than a decade.

In terms of education and a story really relevant to RHS, I was drawn to an article in the Daily Telegraph last Monday. The piece, written by Tom Rowley, described the circumstances of Sophie Strang, an independent School educated graduate of Keble College, Oxford who at the age of 21 cannot find any work. Her 2:1 in English was not enough to impress employers in her desired field of film and TV production, and she has now received nearly 100 rejection letters from a range of job vacancies. At the age of 21 and eight months after she graduated, she is unemployed.

This case study reinforces my view that whist it should every good school’s primary aim to secure the highest possible academic outcomes for its pupils, this is not always enough. Exam results and higher education qualifications open doors to university courses and job interviews. However, they are not enough to secure employment beyond the field of education.

As demonstrated by our Easter trips and activities, RHS offers all its pupils the opportunity to develop life skills which will make the difference at a job interview and, once in employment, allow you to progress and develop in your chosen career. As I look across this chapel I see the leaders of tomorrow. However, in order to realise my ambition for you all, you need to make the most of all the opportunities afforded to you at RHS and in doing so you will need to display some courage.

Courage is not a word one immediately associates with leadership. To many the word stirs thoughts of the physical acts of valour on the battlefield. However, to my mind, in the civilian world, courage is really mental, spiritual and moral. In the face of the unknown, potential risks and opposition, courage means being certain that you are right – in terms of fact and values. Lady Thatcher had this in spades throughout her political career. If you have that certainty then the possibilities are limitless. Conversely, without that kind of courage all your grand ambitions for your career and journey through adult life, all the good intentions you might have to make a lasting difference to people’s lives may never come to fruition.

Viscount Slim wrote eloquently of ‘moral courage’. Few people have it naturally, he believed, so it has to be taught. Most people learn it in their youth; in their school and from their teachers and parents.

I would not necessarily describe myself as naturally brave. Far from it; as I am often too cautious.  I tend to only embark on a course of action when I think I am sure of the consequences and have assessed the risks.  But I would admit to being driven by a fear of failure and a wish not merely to achieve one set of goals but to continue to succeed. Experiencing failure and still pursuing audacious goal is, in my opinion at least, a real form of courage.

Such demand for ambition – and courage – provokes the usual responses, ‘I haven’t the time to do anything else’ and ‘I can’t take on any more’. In my experience people are always capable of doing more than they think. This is surely well exemplified by the achievement of our D/W squad who have managed to balance their training and preparation for their marathon Easter weekend with all their academic and other school commitments.

The Victorian writer and thinker, Samuel Smiles, said of Napoleon that his favorite maxim was ‘The truest wisdom is a resolute determination’.

Napoleon was told the Alps stood in the way of his armies – ‘there shall be no Alps’, he said, and the road across the Simplon was constructed through a district formerly inaccessible.  ‘Impossible’, said he, ‘is a word only to be found in the dictionary of fools’.

As you, the leaders of tomorrow will find out for yourselves, such resolution and determination is critical to make courageous aims a reality – so  long as, and this is really important, that in the drive to achieve something, you do not forget your values. As a pupil of this school, more than any other, you should know a thing or two about values and the importance of being faithful to them.

Values govern how we behave, what we see as important and what we do when faced with a problem.

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Pupils Awarded Certificates for Cambridge English Exams

13 Wednesday Mar 2013

Posted by theroyalhospitalschool in School News

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cambridge ESOL level 1, English Language, headmaster, languages, success, the royal hospital school

Congratulations to the following pupils who have been awarded their Cambridge ESOL Level 1 Certificates by the Headmaster.

Zhangir Balgimbaev Year 10 Collingwood
Bogdan Padalko Year 10 Anson
Jessie Fong Year 11 Howe
Zhesu Crystal Jin Year 11 Howe
Wai To Allen Lin Year 11 St. Vincent
Ilya Tkhoruk Year 11 Anson
Cheuk Wing Victor Shing Year 11 St. Vincent
Ho Tin Peter Yuen Year 11 St. Vincent

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Headmaster’s Distinctions Awarded

05 Tuesday Mar 2013

Posted by theroyalhospitalschool in School News

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Academic, Distinction, headmaster, James Lockwood, royal hospital school, the royal hospital school

For achievement in English

Sean Cuddihy Year   11 Collingwood
Lauren   Jones Year   13 Nelson

Drama Certificates

LAMDA
Harry Salter Year   10 Raleigh
Jamie Warren Year   10 Hawke
Tara Biles Year   11 Raleigh
Abigail Donald Year   11 Howe
Russell Farrer Year   11 Hawke
Francesca Morelli Year   11 Howe
Elizabeth Perrott-Griffiths Year   11 Cornwallis
Cameron Williams Year   11 Hawke
Hannah Corrie Year   12 Hood
Katherine Taylor Year   12 Hood
Trinity College London
Matthew Adams Year   10 Anson
Joseph Curtis Year   10 Anson
William Falk Year   10 Collingwood
Sebastian Lucas Year   10 St.   Vincent
Achala Matthews Year   10 Cornwallis
Matthew Everest Year   12 Collingwood

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Loyalty

27 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by theroyalhospitalschool in Headmasters Blog

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headmaster, loyalty, success, the royal hospital school

Over the half term break I was thinking a fair amount about the notion of loyalty and loyalty towards one’s school. Before you label me a saddo, this was prompted by the fact that I attended the birthday party of an old school friend. I guess – or at least hope – that whilst you are at RHS, all of you enjoy school pride: it gives us a chance to celebrate our successes, both individually and collectively. The last few days before the half term break saw the School come together to support the Talent Show and the wonderful School Play – this is as good an opportunity as any to publically thank Mr Kerr, the cast, and all those involved in what was an absolute triumph. It is great moments like these that really remind us of what a special place RHS is.

But are there risks here, too? Surely; it is one thing for us to declare ourselves a good school; it is quite another for us to declare another school inferior. Positive pride? Excessive arrogance? Although I think we have handled this well for the most part, the line can get murky. In my job, I struggle with this constantly. As you know, I spend a fair amount of time marketing the School and meeting with prospective parents. I am constantly talking about RHS. On the one hand, I want to speak proudly of the School and what you pupils and staff have accomplished. But how far do I go? Here is a personal confession. I often talk and refer to RHS as a “good” school. I use the word “good” because I like the moral connotation; I want RHS, most importantly, to be a place of good people. But I try not to use the word “great.” That is not because I do not have strong positive feelings about this place. It’s because declaring one’s school “great” makes me nervous.

Moving from school, to an individual level, these questions arise. Am I allowed to feel proud of the “A*” I just got in a recent examination? Can I share my good news with my friends? How can I be proud of getting the lead in the play, or the leadership post in my house or sports team, without coming across as acting arrogant and self-serving? There is an expression that many of us have heard frequently: one may feel “justifiably proud” of having accomplished something. Do I have to justify my pride?

Here’s another reason I struggle with this notion of pride. As I watch some of the most accomplished people in our society, they often come across as arrogant.

Not surprisingly, some of the clearest examples come from the world of sports. Back in the 1980’s the most exciting and feared batsman in the world was the West Indian, Vivian Richards. Hugh McIlvanney, of The Observer, once wrote: “standing at an inch under 6 feet and weighing upwards of 13 stone [Richards] might be expected to look bulky, perhaps ponderously solid, but in him grace is as basic as breathing. Just watching him walk slowly to the wicket can be more of a thrill than seeing other famous sportsmen at the height of their performances”.

Richards carried himself in a way that said, “I am simply better than anyone else. The hard realization I came to after years of watching him was that he needed to have a certain measure of arrogance to perform as well as he did; he needed to believe he was better than anyone else. I think this is true for any elite athlete. The margin of talent among these top performers is so thin that they cannot afford to be kind or gracious.

So, how does that translate to you all? Given the School’s values, does it seem right for a team or an individual to walk onto a sports arena and expect to win?

My answer is absolutely yes. I would hope you would be able to celebrate appropriately what you have achieved. Indeed, I think that is only human. We would be in a sad state of affairs if we could not take joy in what we have accomplished in life. In fact, we can even fail and still feel proud of our efforts. Not everyone can make the team or get the lead part in the School …this is part of life. But if you have made a good, honest effort, you should be able to keep your head up high.

Turning to one of the top news stories over the past few days: Oscar Pistorius, the “bladerunner” and idol to millions, has been arrested and charged with the premeditated murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.  The South African double amputee is the most famous disabled athlete in the world.  Thousands of children facing a future of disability would have felt a little less limited and a little more inspired thanks to his amazing example on the track.  It just seems impossible that he could have picked up a gun and shot someone.

He has pleaded “not guilty” to premeditated murder but he does admit that he fired the gun thinking intruders were in the house.  The scenes in the courthouse in Pretoria with Pistorius sobbing uncontrollably as his defence lawyer explained he had no intention of killing Steenkamp and that it was all a terrible accident, are inconceivable and shocking to anyone who had seen him competing.

It was also difficult to believe the stories that emerged the second the news broke; stories that depicted Pistorius as an adrenaline junkie who loved guns, a man with a hot temper and a pugnacious nature lurking beneath his diplomatic surface.  In the terrible story of Pistorius, there is not only the shock of the act itself, but of the revelations that someone people thought they knew, was not quite as they seemed.

In this way, and this way alone, it echoes other less tragic tales of sportsmen once placed on a pedestal who have shown their feet of clay.  People thought Tiger Woods was a God, until he crashed his car into a tree late at night after an argument with his then wife, and the façade of the perfect family man cracked to reveal the serial adulterer.  Ryan Giggs looked like the perfect role model and spent a great deal of money protecting that image through the courts to stop the emergence of his affairs, including one with his sister-in-law.  The most terrifying allegations about Lance Armstrong are not simply his use of his performance-enhancing drugs to make him the best, but the bullying and intimidation he used to preserve his super clean, super cool image.  Those stories are hard to square with his previous public image as a cancer survivor intent on doing good.  No wonder his Foundation no longer bears his name.

I am not suggesting that having an affair is the same as cheating at sport, or that either is equivalent to a murder charge, but in their different ways, each revelation shows how little we know about these men whom we endow not only with super human sporting ability, but extraordinary personal qualities.  Yet these figures in the public eye are ultimately flawed and unknowable.  They show us only what they want us to see.

Despite numerous post-match interviews, their intimate thoughts, their vulnerabilities, their ugliness, are all hidden from view.

What fools we are to put such faith in them.  As I have already said, the nature of sporting success requires a high degree of confidence and arrogance, an inflated sense of your own worth and a single-minded pursuit of your goals.  Indeed, it requires many of the qualities that actually work against goodness, kindness and being nice and loyal to the people closest to you.  This does not make all sportsmen and women bad.  Still less does it make them likely to shoot someone, but it is a salutary reminder that we should not necessarily admire them for anything more than what we know they can do in sporting terms.  We should praise their single-mindedness, natural ability and talent, but it is stupid and unreasonable to expect that they should somehow reward us for our devotion by leading blameless lives.

We should always be shocked by a murder charge, but not by the fallibility of our heroes; indeed if we could get their achievements and their value into some kind of perspective, then the world of sport might be a saner and better place.

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Perseverance is not a long race but many short races one after another

29 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by theroyalhospitalschool in Headmasters Blog

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assembly, headmaster, perseverance, school life

Following on from Mrs Pearson’s excellent chapel talk last week where she talked about success and failure, it got me thinking about the qualities one needs to overcome a setback – a failure in a test; a poor half term or end of term attainment grade. To me the quality that immediately springs to mind is perseverance.

School life is no different from real life: in order to succeed in the classroom, on the games field, or in music and drama we will all need, at some point, to show perseverance. Someone once said that perseverance is not a long race but many short races one after another. And that is how life is: attack each challenge one step at a time.

And what of achievement? Well, as I have said before, success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which have been overcome while trying to succeed.

In another excellent chapel address last week, Prof Ted Evans, of Gideons International, made reference to Abraham Lincoln’s bible being used at the inauguration of President Barrack Obama’s second term as President of the United States. Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster movie , “Lincoln” was released in the UK last Friday. I have not yet seen it or read any reviews; therefore, I do not know how faithful the film will be to Abraham Lincoln’s life. However, as well as being a lawyer from Illinois, just like Barack Obama, Abraham Lincoln was no stranger to the notion of perseverance. A Potted history of Abraham Lincoln’s career reads as follows:

  • Failed in business in 1831
  • Defeated for legislature in 1832
  • Second failure in business 1833
  • Suffered a nervous breakdown in 1836
  • Defeated for Speaker 1838
  • Defeated for Elector 1840
  • Defeated for Congress 1843 and again in 1848
  • Defeated for Senate 1855
  • Defeated for Vice-President 1856
  • Defeated for Senate 1858
  • Elected President 1860

Let this be a lesson to us all – perseverance is not a long race but many short races one after another.

The Royal Hospital School is a co-educational boarding and day school for 11 to 18 years olds set in 200 acres of Suffolk countryside overlooking the River Stour. http://www.royalhospitalschool.org

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New Deputy Head Announced

27 Tuesday Nov 2012

Posted by theroyalhospitalschool in School News

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chemistry, deputy headmaster, Haileybury, headmaster, Oxford, RHS, royal hospital school, suffolk, the royal hospital school

We are delighted to announce that Mr Steven Dixon will join the Royal Hospital School as Deputy Headmaster with effect from September 2013.

Steven is currently a Boarding Housemaster and Head of Chemistry at Haileybury, Hertfordshire. He was educated at Benet Biscop High School, Bedlington and went on to gain a Natural Science (Chemistry) degree at Exeter College, Oxford.

Steven started his teaching career at Monmouth School as a teacher of Chemistry and Resident Boarding House tutor. He then spent 5 years teaching Chemistry at St. Paul’s School, London.

As well as his Housemastering and Head of Department duties at Haileybury, Steven has a whole-school role in the performance management and appraisal of teaching staff, and is a major contributor to the extensive continued professional development programme at the School. He is married to Sue and has three children.

We look forward to welcoming him to the Royal Hospital School.

The Royal Hospital School is a coeducational boarding and day school for 11 to 18 years olds set in 200 acres of Suffolk countryside overlooking the River Stour. http://www.royalhospitalschool.org

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True leaders have the courage to serve the greatest good

12 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by theroyalhospitalschool in Headmasters Blog

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headmaster, James Lockwood, leadership, royal hospital school, the royal hospital school

Hillsborough was a national disaster, but it is now officially a national scandal. The sheer scale of wrongdoing is shocking; the collusion, the doctoring of statements, the lies and spin and political manoeuvring. However, for me there is something else about Hillsborough, something that isn’t in the report and goes back to what happened when I went to watch a football match with my father back in 1985.

The match was played between Bradford City and Lincoln City on the final day of the 84/85 season.  Bradford had already been crowned Division 3 champion and this was set to be a day of real celebration. Sadly, that’s not how things turned out. On that day 56 people died as a result of a fire in one of the stands, but it is difficult to imagine what the death toll would have been had the pitch not been open and an accessible escape route.  That’s how my father and I escaped the burning stand.  I was only 12 at the time, sitting with my dad when the smoke started to lick through the floorboards.  When the flames took hold he managed to drag me onto the pitch.

Four years later on that sunny day in Sheffield, I remember watching on television the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.  That afternoon I remember all the memories of the fire flooding back and asking my father why the fences didn’t come down after Bradford.  It was obvious to me as a 12-year old and was even more obvious to me now as a 16-year old that it was the one lesson that should have been learned.  As ever, and not a lot has changed, football was too arrogant, too pleased with itself and utterly dim-witted to take on board the crucial lessons of what happened when a fire engulfed the old wooden stadium at Bradford home ground, Valley Parade.

Bradford City back then with a turnover in excess of £600,000 had the money in place to make their ground safe. They chose to spend it on creating a promotion-winning team, chasing the dream despite the potential fire risk of litter gathering beneath the timber structure being drawn to their attention by the Health & Safety Executive twice in 1981, and the County Council in 1984.  After the fire, most likely started by a discarded match or cigarette, a charred copy of the Bradford Telegraph and Argus newspaper from Monday 4 November 1968 was discovered in the debris.  An empty packet of peanuts was also found costing 6 old pennies, decimalisation being in 1971.  It had been there at least 14 years.  Valley Parade was a monument to neglect, a ticking time-bomb that should have told us football desperately had to change its ways, except football more or less carried on as it was.

The Popplewell enquiry into Bradford did make safety recommendations, including that all grounds should require a safety certificate and that fences must be designed to deal with emergencies, but they were not met.  The politicians moved onto the next subject and in 1989, on Merseyside, they set off for a football match at a ground with no safety certificate, a history of crushes and a fence caging them in, 10 feet high, padlocked with spikes on top.  Two days after the Bradford fire, I remember the then Home Secretary, Leon Brittan, promising parliament that there is no question of putting up a fence that would create a trap.  For all the government contrition, the key question that remains unanswered is that why did it take another 96 deaths to make good on that promise?

So where am I going with all of this?  Well, I want the Royal Hospital School to be an environment that prepares young people to go out into the world ready to lead with courage and moral purpose. For those of you who aspire to leadership roles in your chosen field, there is no place for cowardliness, arrogance or complacency.  Leadership is about having the vision, nerve and perspective to see what really needs to be done and possessing the courage to serve the greatest good.  True leaders are honest and genuine and able to adapt to the needs of the moment without seeking reward or recognition for their efforts; these are the qualities that we seek to nurture at the Royal Hospital School. In my opinion, these leadership qualities were sadly lacking throughout the Bradford and Hillsborough disaster stories.

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