Summer Fair
The weather couldn’t have been more fitting for a traditional summer fair. The cloudless skies and sunshine brought families out in the droves to join in the fun of the fair, and to make this year’s one of the most successful fairs ever. The Friends had put a wonderful array of stalls, activities, old fashioned fairground rides and Chair of the Friends Susan Edwards would like to thank the whole committee and everyone else who helped out for making it such a special day. Particular thanks go to Joanne Brooks who ran the inaugural Cundall Crufts, to Paul and Lucy Evans who provided the fairground rides (to Jack and Tom Hill for their quick thinking and tractor driving skills in retrieving the fairground cavalcade from the bottom of what turned out to be a steeper slope than anticipated!) and to David and Kate Lister for providing the meats for the BBQ. Well done too to Daisy Hynd and Zoe Austin for winning the sweetie jar, and to Tilly Ruddy for correctly name Lester the teddy bear!
The AstroTurf Appeal Mega Marathon
With bleary eyes, and a barely risen sun the first two teams took to the hockey pitch at 5am for what would be the first match of a truly incredible twelve hour hockey marathon. The day would see over 200 players – mums, dads, pupils and ex-pupils– in a mind boggling array of kit, take to one of the three pitches to do their bit for Mrs Walkland’s fundraising marathon. The Old Farts v Quadreceps displayed as much sartorial innovation as they did sporting skill. Tom Dale baked in a wet suit, Grayson Maguire squeezed himself into a netball strip, and James Gordon protected himself in full cricket gear including helmet! Mr Bourne Arton played in full batman garb and Mr Turner in a rather fetching tutu! At the opposite end of the age groups Mega Men (Form 1 boys), Golden Girls (Form 1 girls) and Golden Girls (mums and Pre-Prep staff) all played each other, with the Form 1s giving the mums a run for their money and showing how fit the children are compared to their parents! What was particularly great to see was so many spectators and supporters throughout the day, and so many novice players who really rose to the occasion. So far the Office has received over £11,000 of sponsorship money from the day. You can see the current overall total on our JustGiving page (click here).
Sir Thomas and Richard step out in support of the Astroturf Appeal
Volunteer gap year teacher Richard Ingilby joined his father to help raise money for the Cundall Astroturf appeal on Sunday, when both completed the 26.2 mile Nidderdale Marathon Walk. The walk, from Pateley Bridge to Angram Reservoir and back, follows the Nidderdale Way climbs 2,000 feet across the moors on both sides of the valley, and the combination of steep hills, rough stone tracks and one of the hottest days of the year proved made it an exceptionally tough challenge. Sir Thomas and Richard were amongst the few to complete the course – a lot of people didn’t make it due to the heat and exhaustion. ‘We pushed ourselves pretty hard, particularly given the conditions. The highlight was when we sat down on a bench below Middlesmoor church to grab a quick bite to eat: the church bells broke out in a joyous peal behind us. We wondered if they were celebrating the fact that we were still upright!’ said Sir Thomas. The last hour was a real test of stamina and both were exhausted when they reached the finishing line, having completed the walk in an excellent time of nine hours, with just one 15 minute rest for lunch. ‘It was a huge effort but we have so far raised £475 for the Astroturf appeal’, said Sir Thomas. ‘My thanks go to all those who supported us, and gave us the incentive to keep walking. If anyone else wants to back us they can do so onwww.justgiving.com/sir-thomas-ingilby2.’
Thank you Charlie
Mrs Cooke would like to say a hugethank you to Charlie Banksin Form 3 for showing her support of the charity she supports, the Little Princess Trust. The Trust provides wigs and hair pieces to children who have lost their own hair through cancer treatments. All the wigs are made using real hair and the Trust relies on donations of hair from the public. Charlie was so moved by the work of the Trust that she took the very brave dedication to have her own very long and beautiful hair cut in support of the charity. Anyone else (children or parents) who would like to follow Charlie’s wonderful example should see Mrs Cooke for full details of how to go about making a donation.
Cundall Kite Festival
What a delightful morning we had on last day of the Lent term. Children, parents and staff took to the playing fields with the most creative and colourful assortment of kites. The huge majority of the kites were homemade and as such displayed a wealth of engineering and artistic talent amongst our pupil body. Despite less than perfect conditions (this was one of those rare days when we would have welcomed a strong wind) the children made a sterling effort to launch their kites into the skies, many to great effect. It really was a wonderful occasion; how lovely to see so many “children” (including those amongst our parent and teaching body!) enjoying such traditional and enchanting play. Congratulations to those who won a prize for design, decoration or flying prowess, and thank you to every single pupil who took part in the kite festival.
Easter Egg Competition
Thank you to every pupil who entered the Easter egg decorating competition at the end of last term. The range and standard of entrants really was amazing. Congratulations all the winners: “Creative” Winner: Murron O’ Neill Runner Up: Rosie Barker & Hannah Bilton “Egfort” Winner: Anna Edwards Runner Up: Oli & Ben Tomalin
Easter Concert
Congratulations and thank you to every single pupil who took part in the Easter concert on the evening of the last Thursday of last term. We have such a wealth of musical talent at Cundall and was no surprise at all that this last ‘sell out’ concert attracted such a large and enthusiastic audience. Parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles had all packed into the school gym to enjoy a wonderfully diverse programme of music making. Every single age group in the Main and Upper School, and every single category of instrument was represented, along with some beautiful solo and ensemble singing. Thank you to Mrs Ford, Mrs Reece and all the music teachers for staging such a fabulous concert.
The Boarders’ Mad Hatter’s Tea Party
The boarders’ Mad Hatter’s tea party started off calmly with a game of croquet on the front lawn and a fill the tea pot race. Afterwards they sat down to a spread worthy of the Mad Hatters table, put on by April and Linda. Then the madness began with a carousel of activities, which included- pin the grin on the Cheshire cat, playing card house building and crawl through the rabbit hole to find the tiny keys (which I think there still some left in the library, finders keepers!). The best team in the team activities were the Upper School, very suprising they could fit through the rabbit’s hole the quickest (well a polytunnel from Pre-Prep!) and the best playing card builder was Poppy Allister. The evening was finished off with decorate your own cupcake- some very psychedelic designs were being produced. A great night was had with some day pupils looking in and overheard comments from other day pupils that they wanted to start boarding.
Form 5 Production: The Sound of Music
Form 5 trod the boards recently to great acclaim with a production of The Sound Of Music at the Galtres Centre. The cast had worked tirelessly over the term with limited rehearsal time to bring together the well-known tunes of Richard Rodgers with the moving story of Maria Rainer and the plight of the von Trapp family. We have some talented performers in this school and it was fantastic to see them all shine. The chorus was excellent at providing such perfect climaxes to such numbers as “Do Re Mi” and “The Lonely Goatherd”. Many of the smaller roles were played well including the invading Berliners who decide to ruin a good party! We loved the nuns led by Sarah Sullivan’s superb singing and also the von Trapp children who were brilliant. Touching moments were provided by Niamh Watkins and Henry Calvert during their classic duet and Ben Earley was a marvellous Captain von Trapp along with Dylan Blundell as Max Detweiler. One of the most memorable performances will be Francesca Banks as Maria. She excelled in her role, conveying all the doubts, fears and hopes of Maria in her journey towards happiness. A big thank you must go to Wendy Ford for her musical direction and Stephen Weld for his set design.