"The First Thursday Newsletter No. 43."

Guest Evening, our prizegiving for the Middle and Upper Schools, took place in an almost full Hall on Friday 21st November in front of the prizewinners, many other students who were collecting their GCSE and A Level certificates, their parents, staff and many distinguished guests including the Mayors of Dover and Deal, and the Chairman of Dover District Council.

The principal guest, Mr Stephen Talbot, an Old Pharosian, presented the prizes and certificates and then spoke in a very moving and appropriate way about the different meanings that can be attached to the term "success". He used examples from his own life, including his motivation for becoming an athlete (he still holds more school athletics records than anyone else), his educational experiences, his participation in the anti-apartheid movement and his success in the computer software field. Despite these varied experiences he regards his more recent role as a father the most important of all, and the one he would like most to be judged a success at.

As usual the audience was entertained by a number of current students, there were four musical items organised by Mr R S Davies (Director of Music) with performances by the school Jazz Band and the Big Band and two solo items by Michael Wells (piano) and James Parker (trumpet). In addition there was a spoken word item with Nicolas Pillai and Andrew Tempest reading a scene from "The Rivals" by R B Sheridan, arranged by Mr M G Thomas (Head of English).

On Wednesday 26th November the school hosted the Dover District round of the English Speaking Union Schools' Debating Competition. Teams from the Duke of York Royal Military School, Barton Court Grammar School and Chaucer Technology School competed along with Jonathan Spence and Jonathan Slaughter of Year 13 representing DGSB. Winners were Chaucer Technology School and the Duke of York's but our two speakers gave a good account of themselves and Robert Dunstone of Year 12 was an excellent debate chairman. It is to be hoped that more boys will wish to become involved in debating, whether in the Sixth Form or Junior years. Anybody interested should see Mr Thomas or Jonathan Slaughter of 13 Port.

The 'Fulcrum Challenge' is a leadership development programme set up by British Airways, BAA, London Gatwick, the Scientific Exploration Society, the Education Business Partnership and the Institute of Directors for the benefit of pre-'A' level/GNVQ students from the Gatwick area. It is affiliated to the Duke of Edinburgh's Award and has the aim of "developing the required skills for the business and social leaders of the future".

Richard Berridge, the Head Prefect, has recently been chosen following a highly competitive selection weekend at an outdoor centre which combined physical and intellectual challenges. Richard will take part in the Fulcrum Challenge, part of which is an overseas phase in a developing country - in his case India in January 1998. There the experience will include working with the tribal people (the Koli Tribe) on the salt pans and visiting schools.

In order that Richard can take part in this he has, like all Fulcrum Venturers, to raise £900 towards the costs before the end of January and so is seeking sponsorship from local industries and businesses. Anyone who can help him raise this money can contact him through the school.

The Autumn term is proving a busy time for the school's musicians, events before the half term break including the London Mozart Players visit in September and the Autumn Concert in October. Music has also formed an important part of the proceedings at both Junior Prizegiving and Guest Evening.

On Tuesday 18th November a lunchtime Jazz Concert was presented in the School Hall by the DGSB Jazzmen and Big Band. A large audience supported the event and enjoyed a wide ranging programme including such classics as Take Five, Stranger on the Shore and In the Mood.

Three musical events are set to take place in December. On Thursday 11th December musicians from the school will be the guest performers at Dover Music Centre's Christmas Concert which starts at 7.30 pm in Dover Town Hall. Members of the choir will provide a taste of music to come within our own Carol Service the following week and Mr Richard Davies (Director of Music) will perform seasonal music on the Town Hall organ. On the following Tuesday, 16th December, the DGSB Jazzmen and Big Band will give a Jazz Concert at a private function for the British Diabetic Association.

The main event at the end of term will of course be the annual service of Nine Lessons and Carols by Candlelight to be given this year on Wednesday 17th December at 8.00 pm in the Church of St Peter and St Paul, Charlton, Dover.

A wide selection of carols sung by the School Choir together with familiar Christmas hymns for the congregation will be interspersed between the traditional nine Bible readings telling the story of Christmas. The music will range in style from medieval plainsong to twentieth century with the School Brass Ensemble providing striking accompaniments for the congregation carols.

The Carol Service is one of the highlights of the school year and we look forward to a large number of pupils, parents, friends and family joining us. Please make this event known amongst those who may be interested.

After the service coffee and mince pies will be served in the Church Hall. Many parents are kind enough to send in mince pies in the week of the Carol Service and once again these will be gratefully received (and eaten!).

On sale after the service will be the cassette recording "Music from Dover Grammar School for Boys". This has a selection of instrumental music on Side 1 and on Side 2 a programme of carols sung by the School Choir. The price is £5.00 and the tape can also be purchased through the School Office. The recording was produced by Pharos Enterprises and is being marketed by the PFA to raise school funds.

Readers may also like to know that one of our former pupils, Peter Futcher, has recently made his first CD recording conducting his chamber choir, The Academic Scholars, in a recording of English choral music. This will also be on sale after the Carol Service (price £10.00) and may be acquired through the School Office.

Thank you to everyone who supported the Wine & Wisdom on Friday evening when Paul Hough provided an excellent evening's entertainment.

We would like to remind you that the Christmas Draw takes place on 18th December. Please return your counterfoils and money by 15th December.

Our next social event will be the barn Dance/American Supper to be held on 31st January. The music will be provided by Desperate Measures.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy Christmas and New Year.

1st (£25) Mrs S Hadley (122), 2nd (£15) Mrs J Adams (120) and 3rd (£10) Mr & Mrs K Clay (112)

The committee of the Old Pharosians - the old boys' association - met a couple of weeks ago and agreed to spend £1,000 on various items of equipment for the school including additions to the Local History section of the library, a new set of rugby posts and hopefully a new school flag.

We are receiving more communications from former pupils all over the world these days by e-mail. They find it a much more convenient way to keep in contact with the school. As a result, we are now considering putting the Old Pharosians' newsletters on the internet. The next newsletter is due to be published in January.

We currently have more than 750 members but there must be thousands of former DGSB pupils out there, and we are hoping to organise a membership drive in 1998. It may well be that many of the fathers of present pupils are old boys of the school but have never joined the association. The annual membership fee is only £5. If you are among them why not join now? Membership forms are available from the school. And if you are still in contact with some of your former classmates, why not ask for an extra membership form or two (or three) and send one on to them.

Adrian David Spink - awarded a 3rd Class Combined Honours Degree in Mathematics and Computer Science.

The CCF has two activities planned for December. One is an exercise lasting two days at Lydden, one of the local military training areas. The other event is a Target Shooting Practice Day on Lydd Ranges.

There are plenty of activities in hand for the New Year. We have bookings up to Easter and beyond and we are looking forward to the arrival of 1998.

In the District Cup Football competition the following results have been achieved.

U19 drew 1 - 1 against Archers Court. In the replay they won 4-3 after something of a collapse in the last part of the second half.

Year 11 won 1-0 in an excellent team performance against Walmer School. This was the first time we were able to field our full team.

Year 9 have a bye as Castle Community School have withdrawn from the competition.

Year 8 won against St Edmunds in a convincing team performance 5-0 and play against Sandwich at home on Friday 5th December.

Year 7 play away to Archer's Court next Tuesday in their District cup reply after drawing 1-1 at home.

Year 10 have had two postponements of their County Cup match against Hereson School, Ramsgate due to waterlogged pitches. The game will now be played on Friday 5th December at Ramsgate, kick off at 2.15 pm.

On Wednesday 26th November the 2nd XI lost in a close match against Charles Darwin School in the last two minutes of extra time 2-1. This was in the County Cup 2nd XI Competition.

Weather prevented year 10 and the 1st and 2nd XIs playing against Harvey Grammar School on Saturday 29th November. The two senior games have been re-arranged as have the matches for these sides against Borden Grammar School.

On Saturday 6th December two Year 7 rugby teams play against Chatham House School away at Ramsgate.

Another patchy performance but a good win against a strong Simon Langton side. In the first half we took our chances well but it was slightly flattering to turn round 2 - 0 up after Langton had dominated. In truth they didn't trouble Ian Matthews in goal even when James Durrant went off injured after 20 minutes. our problem still seems to be that we stop and start during the game so that we always give the opposition a good chance.

It was good to see Ian Banks back to fitness and he certainly deserved the two goals that he scored. John Castle scored a tap in goal after the Langton goalie fumbled a fierce shot from Gary Beeden, who felt that he deserved a definite penalty in the first half. Langton scored a good goal following a strong run from their left winger but we held out reasonably well thanks mainly to Ian Banks's non-stop running and Marc Garrood's excellent defending.

A significant improvement but still a lot to learn particularly when we lost possession.

This was always going to be a hard fixture against a strong Archers Court side especially with five or six regulars missing for various reasons.

It also didn't help when we went to sleep for the first ten minutes and let in two sloppy goals. Gradually we got back into the game with goals from Lee Neiles and a penalty from Gary Beeden and seemed in control.

We scored against in the second half through John Castle but conceded the equaliser when the erratic referee failed to see a passback picked up by the Archers Court keeper and the ball was swept to the other end. We must keep concentrating until the end!

An extraordinary result from a game that we completely dominated against a surprisingly weak NKS side. Ian Matthews who made a couple of excellent saves was hardly called into action, except to pick the ball out of the net.

The match summed up our season in many ways with periods of excellent play interspersed with mistake-ridden terrible play. Despite my advice to play "long-ball" we continued to play "pretty" stuff out of defence - it looks good but on a pitch with virtually no room it was a recipe for disaster.

We took the lead through Ian Banks after a couple of minutes play when he burst through several tackles. We then sat back and allowed NKS to equalise with a sloppy goal after JC was caught in possession. Jon Spence regained the lead with an excellent free-kick into the top left corner from 25 yards after he had been brought down. Yet again within one minutes NKS scored when we failed to clear our lines. Just before half time John Castle restored the lead from a clear header at a corner but we were not satisfied.

After half time we played much better with a hatful of chances. Gary Beeden, in particular, seemed determined not to score even from the penalty spot or from a free header from 10 yards. Remarkably NKS equalised again - but yet again when we failed to clear an easy ball and allowed a clear run on goal.

It looked as though we might even lose until Lee Neiles gratefully accepted a near post chance. After that there were few chances for NKS and we would have scored more but for their excellent keeper. We must finish off teams!

We made really hard work of this win, only secured in the last two minutes, against a weak Astor side yet to win a game in the League this year.

The very bumpy pitch didn't help but we were lack-lustre and made too many basic errors all over the pitch. Astor went ahead after 10 minutes following a typical mix-up at the back. Lee Neiles converted one of the many through-balls to equalise, only for a repeat of the first two goals before half-time. Adrian Bailes and Dan Trenowden made impressive debuts with Dan scoring the vital third goal when he latched on to yet another through ball.

Obviously we must have thought the game was over as we pressed for a fourth. At one corner we were caught with no defence as Astor attacked with six against Ian Matthews - luckily they shot wide! Jon Spence made sure of the win when he chipped the keeper in the last minutes (Jon came on at half-time and made quite a difference. This was after participating in the Debating Competition - see earlier article).

There were several sub-standard performances from our regulars and we will have to play a lot better on Saturday against Harvey.

Dover Grammar Boys put up a good performance in the Kent Schools Table Tennis Championships held at Folkestone on Saturday 15th November with the 'A' side eventually losing 7 - 1 in the semi final to a strong Maidstone 'A' side which included Dominic Hall ranked no.10 England Cadet Boys.

Junior League DGSB 'A' - David Tilbee, Christopher Hadley, Nicholas Bannister and Darren Howard.

Lost to Harvey Grammar 2 - 6 (James Eaton beat Bobby Huntley and Alan Mann beat S. Fell).

Dover Table Tennis Adult League Division 'B' - Singles
Team	Points	Played
Whitfield E	56	9
Fire Brigade	52	6
Borstal A	49	6
Borstal B	49	8
Walmer	47	6
Police	43	7
Grammar B	41	7
Grammar D	37	8
Grammar C	12	7
Grammar E	12	9
Grammar F	2	7
Doubles
Borstal A	6	6
Fire Brigade	6	6
Whitfield E	6	9
Borstal B	5	8
Walmer	4	6
Grammar B	4	7
Police	4	7
Grammar D	3	8
Grammar C	1	7
Grammar E	1	9
Grammar F	0	7

On the last day of term the buses will collect the boys at 1.30 pm.

Spring Term: Commences on Monday 5th January 1998 for both staff and pupils.