THE "FIRST THURSDAY" NEWSLETTER

NEWSLETTER MAY 1996 No. 27

TWINNING WITH THE COLLEGE ST PIERRE, CALAIS - Part II

April was a busy month. All Year 7 classes have been on a day trip to Calais to meet their penfriends. They spent up to three hours in the French school and tried a French school dinner. The experiences were varied but can one trust boys judgement when it comes to food? A three course lunch cannot be bad.

Three of the return visits have already taken place and the reactions are as always - amazement at our school uniform and good facilities.

Year 8's French penfriends have now come for two days and it went very well indeed. It was a pleasure to hear everyone relate their experiences at the docks before bidding farewell.

Next month we shall be able to report on our two and three day visits which take place at the end of April and involves 27 Year 8 pupils and 9 from Year 9 together with similar numbers from the Girls' School.

HISTORY VISITS

The History Department has been running a number of visits in the last few weeks:

On March 21st the Year 11 groups visited the Imperial War Museum at Lambeth, South London, where they were able to see a number of films on the First World War and to see the very good exhibits on this, and other topics relevent to the GCSE. For those who have not visited the Museum before, or not for some years, the new galleries and displays are extremely impressive and interesting, with the exhibition of war artists in particular worth examining.

At the end of the Spring Term and start of this term all three Year 8 forms have visited Deal Castle as part of their study of English History 1500 - 1750 ("The Making of the United Kingdom"). We are, of course, very lucky to have three very interesting, but very different, castles nearly on our doorstep and thanks to English Heritage's policy of encouraging the use of their buildings by schools through offering free entrance to pre-booked school parties we can go there cheaply.

MUSIC - School Concert dates for this term

Saturday 29th June at 8.00 pm, Charlton Church Choral Concert - a programme of works by Haydn, Schubert and Mozart sung by the School Choir.

Wednesday 17th July at 7.30 pm, School Hall Concert of Music for a Summer Evening - a programme of instrumental pieces with cheese and wine/light refreshments during the interval.

PFA

200 Club

The winners for the previous two months are as follows:

March - 1st - Mrs S Hadley (122) £25, 2nd - Mr & Mrs D Waller (125) £15 and 3rd - Mr A Norman (37) £10.

April - 1st - Mrs J Adams (120) £25, 2nd - D Waghorn (175) £15 and 3rd - Mrs L Coates (88) £10.

CCF

We are pleased to report that the Combined Cadet Force have raised the sum of £350.35 for Buckland Hospital. A formal presentation will be held at the hospital soon.

There will be about six members of the CCF participating in a parachute jump - this will include one of the adult staff.

Two short accounts follow on activities that took place during the Easter period.

Adventurous Training

During Easter members of the CCF went adventurous training in Sussex at Crowborough Training Camp. Throughout the six days we tried abseiling, archery, shooting, swimming, bowling, hiking and camping. We also went rock climbing on sandstone which was extremely slippery and it didn't help when one route was covered in slimey mud. We also had a day visit to Brighton. We are looking forward to next year's trip. (Written by Cadet Andrew Barnes - Army Section)

RAF Section Easter Camp 1996 - RAF St Mawgan

After a grueling nine hour minibus journey we arrived for a week long camp at RAF St Mawgan, a helicopter search and rescue base in Newquay, Cornwall.

Along with us went Maidstone Grammar School CCF and Churcher's College CCF, Petersfield. The entire camp was divided into four flights (groups) so that the three schools could mix together. It also allowed for there to be an 'inter-flight'competition to add some excitement to the camp.

With wake up at 0630 and lights out at 2300, the days were extremely long and full and we were kept very busy. It wasn't, however, boring.

Among the activities there was shooting, swimming, bowling, a navigation exercise around the local area, a night exercise and karting. Visits took place to the Air Traffic Control (and RADAR) Tower, the Cornwall Air Ambulance Service, the Helicopter Maintenance Facility and the Fire Rescue Section, where we got extremely wet. The Fire Section were also kind enough to organise an exercise for us.

Nearer the end of the camp there was also the opportunity for us to visit the town of Newquay and go to the beaches. The views from the town were amazing. Then, on the last full day there was a surprise visit to (a wet) Flambard's Theme Park, south of Newquay. It gave us a chance to relax after an extremely tiring week.

Unfortunately there was no helicopter flying which was disappointing. However, we did take a good look around them. We later found out that the pilots had come back from leave and if we had stayed a few hours longer we would have got a flight. Another let down was the weather as it rained for most of the week. Nevertheless, it was a thoroughly enjoyable week. A brilliant time was had by all who attended and we got on extremely well with the other schools. The Dover Grammar cadets represented the contingent well with high standards in all areas and were a credit to the school. (Written by Cadet CPL Mitu Islam, RAF Section)

GOOD NEWS

Art Competition

Mitchell Bryant, aged 12, was one of the runners-up in a competition organised by Dover District Council to design a logo for this year's Festival of Dover which starts later this month. The design had to reflect the theme of the festival, Spirit of the Sea, and there were more than 50 entries by children from many Dover schools. Mitchell was presented with his prize by Donna Sowerby, Events Co-ordinator of Dover District Council, and Councillor Gwyn Prosser, Chairman of the Council's Tourism Committee. His design was of a strong image of a cross-Channel ferry and is being used in some of the publicity material for the festival.

Performing for Charity

Four of our boys got together last month to raise money for charity. Jonathan Pascoe, Thomas Reay, Thomas Robinson and Fabian Trevelyan all of 8CA, formed MACS, an organisation set up to raise money for the good of others. Last year they staged their first concert and raised £225 for Comic Relief. In April they organised another concert in aid of Childline at St Martin's Church Hall in Dover when they raised £64.86. The event was described as a "massive compendium of comedy, music and fun".

SPORTS NEWS

ANGLING

During the Easter holidays Jonathan Brothwell (16) won a Gold Medal (Team Prize) in the World Junior Sea Angling Championships held in Holland.

FOOTBALL

Staff -v- Prefects Football - This annual fixture took place on a very sunny morning at the end of the Spring Term, watched by the whole school. In an exciting game the prefects opened a two goal lead before the staff, showing that experience can, at times, defeat youth, hit back to win 5 goals to 3/4??, avenging the 2 - 1 defeat in 1995.

During the holidays Grant Sanders, James Wilde and Jon Coates represented the school playing football for the Kent 'A' side in the English Schools F.A. Festival at Lowestoft.

GOLF

The 1996 BHF Championships

Unfortunately this year's team didn't qualify for the S.E. England Final but they put up a very creditable performance at the NIZELS Golf Club near Sevenoaks in very difficult conditions.

Winners were Knole Park Golf Club with 70 pts (2x 35).

Kent School Golf Championships at Deal - 25 April

Our three lads did quite well:-

All three finished in the top 20 places - the winner scored an impressive 73, 70 (143) around the Cinque Ports Championship Course.

Cricket

The new school cricket nets on the top field are very shortly to be opened for the first time and should prove a valuable asset in improving the standard of cricket being played. Specific lunch hours will be allocated to each Year group/team squad and will be posted in the near future.

Two early season cricket matches were played last week by the 1st XI, both at home. On Wednesday 24th the team lost to Borden G.S. in a limited overs League match. Borden G.S. were 119 all out, the school made 97 all out.

In the first round of the County Cup the team played Queen Elizabeth's, Faversham on the Thursday and recorded the first win of the season. After a slow start, opener Jon Brothwell and No.5 batsman Ian Matthews achieved the run with just over 1 over left. Particularly good bowling was shown by Paul Padfield taking 3 wickets for 11 runs in 7 overs.

In the next round we play at home against either St. George's Gravesend or Erith School.

Within the next ten days the other school teams will be playing in their County Cup matches and we wish them luck. These games are not in the school calender.

This Wednesday, 1st May, the 1st XI play a fixture at Howard School, Gillingham in the season's 2nd League.

Cricket Fixtures:

May - Wed. 8th at 2.00 pm 1st XI -v- Chatham House G.S. at home. Tues. 14th at 4.00 pm Yr 8 XI -v- Astor at home. Wed. 15th at 2.00 pm 1st XI -v- Norton Knatchbull G.S. away. Thurs. 16th at 4.00 pm Yr7 XI -v- Astor away and also at 4.00 pm Yr 9 XI -v- Astor at home. Wed. 22nd at 2.00 pm 1st Xi -v- Simon Langton G.S. at home.

June - Tues 4th at 3.45 pm Yr9 XI -v- Norton Knatchbull at home and also at 4.00 pm Yr10 XI -v- Norton Knatchbull away.

Athletics

There is a friendly meeting at Brockhill Park School near Hythe this Wednesday 1st May for Years 7, 8, 9 and 11. Results will be reported in next month's issue. The South East Kent Inter Schools Athletics Championships take place at D.Y.K.M.S. on Wednesday 8th May at 4.00 pm from Years 9 and 11.

Any athlete interested in improving their performances, particularly in throwing events, please see Mr Grant or Mr Blakeley. Coaching is available in this area.

Athletics Fixtures: Tues. 21st May Yrs 7,8 & 9 -v- Harvey and Astor at Astor School.

Rugby

Following a successful season with the Dover Rugby Club, where Dan Holdsworth and Jonathan Coates made the Kent Under 17 Team, the Club U17 seven-a-side team reached the final of the prestigious Kent Tournament involving Clubs from all over Kent including Senior Clubs.

The team recorded excellent victories over Blackheath, Sidcup and Tunbridge Wells in the preliminary rounds and destroyed a strong Whitstable side in the quarter final.

In the semi-final a close fought encounter with Folkestone saw Dover run out victorious.

The final against Sevenoaks, however, was a very different proposition. Without Dan Holdsworth, the key playmaker injured against Whitstable, and an early injury to Kristian Allen, Dover's balance was disrupted and Sevenoaks emerged easy winners.

However, Dover showed the many senior clubs present how to win in style and, eventually, how to take defeat with dignity.

Grammar School boys made up the backbone of the team with Jonathan Coates - Captain, Kristian Allen, Dan Holdsworth, Matthew Waller, James Wakeham ably assisted by boys from Sir Roger Manwood's, Sandwich and St. Edmunds.

Table Tennis

The final position of the league tables are shown above. The Player's Player this year was David Tilbee, Yr 7, with 14 votes. the player in the 'B' Division with the best average who played the qualifying number of games is Alan Tilbee (David's father) with 42 wins from 44 games and an average of 95.45%.
The winners of the Ron Edwards Trophy were Northbourne who played Walmer B on 29 April at The Whitfield Club. Northbourne beat Walmer 7 - 2.