THE "FIRST THURSDAY" NEWSLETTER

NEWSLETTER MAY 1998 No. 48

YEAR 13 HISTORY TRIP TO THE SOMME

On Friday 24th April the History Department once again returned to the Somme on its annual visit. Surprisingly, events, including perpetual enemies like the weather and flat tyres, ran smoothly.

A comfortable Channel crossing was followed by an uneventful minibus journey, apart from the aversion of a class mutiny sparked by Dr Jackson's continued objection to our Beatles tape. Before we arrived at the battlefields Mr Falconer gave us an informative running commentary on the various landmarks. David Mannall gave an excellent talk on the merits of the indigenous rape seed fields in Northern France.

Our first stop, after we had all eaten lunch, was at the South African Memorial. Here we took part in a small statistical analysis of the ranks and ages of the casualties. This took place in a fairly sombre mood, as for many it was their first visit to a site of such overwhelming proportions. One pupil estimated that the small site contained up to 6,000 graves.

Our next visit was to the site of the Newfoundlanders' Memorial where we were given an excellent guided tour by a lovely (female) Canadian student named Aloma. She explained that Newfoundland was very proud of its position as the first British colony and had sent 700 men to serve in the British Army in 1914. At the Battle of the Somme, their first battlefield experience, they had suffered over 630 casualties. This was obviously a huge blow to such a small colony (estimated population 250,000) yet they continued to send men until 1918.

At close quarters the position of the offensive seemed sheer stupidity. There was a slope which favoured the defenders and a ravine in which the German Army was entrenched. Also, the German Army had the advantage of occupying three sides of the battlefield yet, on 1st July 1916 the British Army was sent into action and suffered the worst day in its history, over 20,000 men failed to return.

We also stopped at several other monuments including the Lochnagar crater which was blown at 7.14 am on 1st July 1916 signalling the beginning of the offensive. It remains as the largest crater made by non-nuclear weapons in the history of warfare.

With an hour to spare there was time to investigate the provincial town of Arras, which both Dr Jackson and Mr Falconer found interesting, especially the abundance of book shops. However, almost to a man the British students remained 'entrenched' in their minibus, only 'going over the top' to visit the lavatory.

Overall, the day proved highly enjoyable and perhaps more importantly, informative. Reading about battles is good, seeing their site and the natural and military barriers to success is better. Once again thanks must go to Mr Falconer and Dr Jackson.

Jon Spence - 13CH

JULIUS CAESAR

On Thursday 30th April we welcomed a visit by the Shakespearean Young People's Theatre Company to perform a shortened version of Julius Caesar to members of Year 9 and the GCSE Drama group. The company consisted of four male and two female actors with a stage manager/director. The Hall was transformed into a theatre in the round setting with a simple backstage area created by portable flats. The performance was strong and fast moving with excellent portrayals of Anthony and Cassius in particular. Boys were made aware of the energy of Shakespeare's text, and of the level of commitment necessary to producing a really professional performance. The visit was much appreciated even thought the concentration of some members of the audience may have weakened towards the end as the performance carried on past the bus times.

This was the last event of the English Department 'Bookweek' which took place last term, and means that all members of Year 9 have now had the opportunity to see a live performance of their Shakespeare play studied for KS3 tests.

Mr M Thomas

MUSIC

The very end of the Easter Term saw two musical events involving the School's Jazz musicians. The first was the Jazz Workshop held on the evening of Tuesday 31st March in the School Hall. This provided the members of the DGSB Big Band an opportunity to work alongside Canterbury based The Strayhorns Big Band and allowed our musicians to pick up several handy tips in the interpretation of Swing repertoire.

Just two days later the Big Band was in action again, this time appearing as guest performers in Dover Music Centre's Spring Concert which took place in the Town Hall on the evening of Thursday 2nd April.

Looking to events this month, on Saturday 30th May at 7.30 pm the School's Director of Music, Mr Richard Davies, will be giving an Organ Recital at St Clement's Church, Sandwich. His programme will include several popular and well known organ works. The instrument at Sandwich dates from 1995 and is widely regarded as one of the very finest in East Kent. This concert has been arranged by the Parish of Sandwich rather than the School but those interested are very welcome to attend. There will be an admission charge and refreshments will be served in the interval. Proceeds from the recital series at St Clements go towards the Church's restoration appeal fund.

Choral Concert - Please note that one event provisionally projected for the Summer Term has been rescheduled. The Choral Concert for 1998 will now take place in the first half of the Autumn Term on a date to be announced rather than in June as provisionally advertised.

Mr R Davies

LIBRARY

Tesco Voucher Update - I am thrilled to report that your response and support has been so good that I hope to be in the position later this month of ordering the upgraded PC and hopefully a printer too. Although vouchers are no longer being issued the school is still collecting. Those not used this year will be banked to form a platform for next year's appeal. Rest assured they will not go to waste. Please have one last search in bags, pockets, purses and cars for any that have got away, they can still help us.

A special appeal to Year 10 pupils who have just returned from Work Experience and not been in school since Easter. Are there any more vouchers out there?!!

Total vouchers to date stands at 17,760.

Thank you once again for all your help. The final total and the equipment ordered will be reported in the next First Thursday.

Mrs L George

LENTEN APPEAL

The total to date is £2,416 and still rising. If you still have sponsorship money at home please send it in as the school would like to raise £2,500.

APPOINTMENT OF PREFECTS 1998-99

The following members of Year 12 have been appointed Prefects with immediate effect:

Chris Bailey
Chris Birmingham
Chris Buckden
David Burkimsher
Jonathan Denniss
Gavin Devereux
Mark Doel
James Durrant
Donald Gilliland
Max Hayward
Christopher Hughes
Oliver Lansley
Andrew Lewis
Neil McDonald
Kevin McMullen
Nicholas O'Brien
Christopher Odell
Russell Oliver
Ben Parkin
Steven Perkins
Tom Scrivener
Ryan Stockdale
Russell Trewartha
Stuart Whitewood

The choice of Head and Deputy Head Prefect will be finalised after seeing the new Prefects at work for a while.

GOVERNORS

The next main Governing Body meeting will be held at the School on Monday 11th May at 7.00 pm

PFA

The PFA would like to hear from anyone who is willing to help serve refreshments on Sports Day - 1st July. If you can spare a couple of hours or more please ring Sandra on Dover 820709.

We hold a good stock of secondhand uniform which is for sale at very reasonable prices. If you are interested please contact Sandra on the above number.

The PFA will not be meeting again until September but will be helping at several events before we break up in July.

200 Club

The lucky prize winners of the April 200 Club are as follows:

1st: Mrs G C Garrett £25 (65), 2nd: Mrs T Ward £15 (24) and 3rd: Mr L Delduca £10 (56).

CCF

Adventurous Training, Okehampton, Dartmoor - Easter 1998

At the end of a long journey on Easter Saturday we were all pleased to see the beautiful, if somewhat overcast, scenery of Dartmoor and the relative comfort of Okehampton Training Camp.

Although when we arrived the weather was somewhat dismal it soon cleared to bright sunshine with the odd snow shower. Temperatures were kept down, however, due to the chilling winds.

During the week the Cadets took part in activities such as, bike riding, pony trekking (on the moors), rock climbing and abseiling, kayaking, caving at Cheddar Gorge and much time hiking on the moors. In total the Cadets completed thirteen Tors (hills). Five of the Tors hiked were out of the seven highest on North Dartmoor, all being above 600 ft. All of the activities were made more exciting by the somewhat unpredictable weather which ranged from one foot of snow on the moors to warm sunshine on other days.

On behalf of the Cadets I must give our thanks to all of the staff who attended, without them we would not have been able to go. The staff are:

Major Hoeren, Flt Lt Barnes, 2nd Lt Peall, WO Middleton (1039 ATC Gillingham), Sgt Ash Clare (7CTT) and Sgt Kathy Jones (PWRR, TA).

Sgt Ryan Parmenter - Army Section

SPORTS NEWS

Football

Congratulations to James Durrant (Year 12) who was selected for the Dover Athletic First Team Squad last Thursday (30/4) in their match at Southport in the Vauxhall Conference. James was sub and the team won 1-0.

James and Marc Garrood (Year 12) have been regular members of the successful Dover Athletic Reserve side.

Robert Cromey-Hawke (Year 10) has been attending coaching sessions with the Arsenal Under 15 squad.

Mr S Bailey

The Year 7 football team finished an excellent season with a victory against Astor in the District Cup Football Final.

Ryan Doel, Robbie Guy, Peter McCarvill, Gary Mulhearn, Paul Mulhearn and Lee Westgarth should be congratulated for also representing the district.

Mr J Duke

Basketball

This year has witnessed a major revival of Basketball with teams fielded at Years 8, 9 and 11 level. These teams have played against schools in the local area. The dedication shown by many of the boys has led to some excellent performances. Out of 30 games played the school won 20. This is an excellent result for our first full season. The Year 11 deserve a special mention for winning all 7 of their matches. The strength and depth now established in Basketball bodes well for the future.

Cricket

Dover G.S. -v- Simon Langton G.S.

Wednesday 22nd April at home

On a very warm sunny day and a soggy pitch the team's first league game did not get off to a good start.

The Simon Langton opening pair of bowlers proved to be quite quick and through a series of batting errors we were either caught or bowled all out for 39. The Langton achieved this with 9 wickets in hand, Chris Searle taking the only wicket with a catch, and dislocating a finger in the process. A lot of work is needed in the batting department.

In the various County Cup Cricket Competitions the 1st XI are drawn against Dane Court G.S., away. Year 9 play Kent College, away, this week, Year 8 play Simon Langton, away, and Year 7 have a bye in the first round.

Dover G.S. -v- Borden G.S.

Wednesday 29th April

Senior Cricket - In our second match of the season in the KSCA U19 League the team played away to Borden G.S. at Sittingbourne. Due to wet conditions the game was played on their artificial wicket.

Jamie Towe was the highest scorer with 25 runs. James Goodbun and Paul Johnson bowled very accurately as openers. Chris Birmingham took a wicket bowling and Lee Neiles, through a good piece of fielding, took a wicket as a run out. However, the Borden side proved too strong for us and we lost the game by 8 wickets. Dover scored 75 all out and Borden G.S. achieved this with only two lost wickets.

Mr M Grant

Cricket Fixtures:

Thurs. 7th 4.00 pm Yr8 XI -v- St Edmunds (H) and Yr10 XI -v- St Edmunds at The Danes. Mon. 11th 3.45 pm Yr7 Xi -v- Astor (H) and Yr10 XI -v- Astor (A). Wed. 13th 2.00 pm 1st XI -v- Queen Elizabeth (H). Thurs. 14th 4.00 pm Yr8 XI -v- St Edmunds (H) and Yr10 XI -v- St Edmunds at The Danes. Mon. 18th 3.45 pm Yr8 XI -v- Astor (A). Wed. 20th 2.00 pm 1st XI -v- Norton Knatchbull (A).

Athletics

The South East District Secondary Schools Athletics meeting at Sandwich Technology School had to be cancelled last Thursday, 30th April, due to the wet weather conditions which made the grass track dangerous for running without spikes.

Fixture:

Tues. 19th 4.00 pm Athletics -v- Astor & Harvey at Astor. Yrs 7, 8 & 9.

Table Tennis

The AGM for the Dover Table Tennis Association will be held at The Sea Angling Club, Priory Road, Dover on 20th May 1998 at 7.30 pm. All are welcome.

Brian Norton Trophy - Best Win of Season
Paul Skelton, Grammar 'A' beat Mike Howard of Whitfield 'D' to be awarded this trophy.

Police 'B' came 2nd in Doubles after calculating on legs played/legs won.

Winner of the Players' Player was Russell Williamson of Grammar 'F' gaining 15 recommendations.

Mr P Skelton - Workshop Technician

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Half Term:

Monday 25th - Friday 29th May inclusive.

School commences again on Monday 1st June.