Our Music Department share the Christmas joy

Holkham Candelight Musical Tour & Concert

The Music Department was delighted to take part in a fundraising evening on Thursday 1st December, to launch the Christmas Candlelight Tours around Holkham Hall. Planning began several weeks ago, to provide music for some of the beautifully decorated state rooms as well as programming a special concert in the Marble Hall. Musicians from Alderman Peel High School in Wells joined our musicians, with singers and instrumentalists playing in the Saloon and the Marble Hall during the tours before they too took part in the main concert.

The concert in the Marble Hall was programmed as two distinctive halves. Given the standard of our singers, the department was able to stage an abridged version of Schubert’s ‘Winterreise’ (Winter journey). This song cycle is a challenge for a professional singer and it was a proud moment to watch Ruby S, Johnny D, Tamsin S and Julius R not just perform, but really master with such aplomb this piece. Schola joined them in the first half and Elgar’s ‘The Snow’, with violin accompaniment from Ilana B and Isadora A was a stand out moment.

After interval drinks in the Saloon, Brass Ensemble opened a lighter second half. ‘White Christmas’, ‘Jingle Bells’ and ‘All I want for Christmas is You’ got everyone’s feet tapping, with some excellent jingle bell action from a certain trumpeter! Two Ukrainian pupils from APHS treated the audience to an emotional first verse of ‘Carol of the Bells’ sung in Ukranian, and Gresham’s Strings players joined in accompanying the APHS choir in Gjeilo’s ‘The Rose’. Further Christmas pieces from Schola concluded with Chilcott’s ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’, a version with many unexpected twists and turns and surprises, which is always a refreshing change from the well-known traditional version!

The audience showed their appreciation with extended applause and the proceeds of the evening will greatly help the two benefactors, St Withburga’s Church and Gresham’s charity, the Holt Youth Project.

Messiah

This event is always a favourite with our wider community and for those that know Handel’s work well, a chance to dust down a loved-score and come along on the day and sing an abridged version of this great work. For our pupils, it provides the experience of getting to grips with some beautiful arias and performing with an orchestra – a mix of peripatetic staff, invited professionals and our own instrumentalists. This year was no exception and although it was a very cold and frosty night, those who braved the wintery temperatures were treated to a rousing performance of Messiah, with notable solo performances. The School Chaplain, Rev Branford ran a wonderful bar in the interval, offering the chance to have a glass of something festive whilst raising money for the School Charity, The Holt Youth Project.

Our Choral Society next term is a chance to sing Mendelssohn’s ‘Elijah‘. Rehearsals commence on Thursday 12th January. Contact Fiona Ross [email protected] for further information and to be added to our mailing list to hear about future events.  

Choir to Fishmongers’ Hall

The end of the Michaelmas Term is a busy one for all choir members, and for Schola Cantorum it means two visits to Fishmongers’ Hall in London to sing at the Livery Dinner. Our Heads of School attend this formal dinner which takes place in the Banqueting Hall, and the choir sing on the very impressive double staircase whilst guests arrive and later entertain during courses. The Carol Service in St Magnus the Martyr Church a few days later, is a chance to see the Fishmongers in their finery and enjoy another trip to London.

Gresham’s flagship ensembles share Christmas music

All of Gresham’s flagship ensembles have shared Christmas music with the school. On Monday, Concert Band performed a foot-tapping rendition of ‘Feliz Navidad’ alongside the Christmas hits ‘Sleigh Ride’ and ‘Fairytale of New York’ to an appreciative audience in the Chapel. 

During Chapel last week, pupils were treated to a preview of the latest Gresham’s Girls single. This was followed by String Ensemble playing ‘Let It Snow’ and ‘It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas’ and Brass Ensemble performing ‘Carol Fantasy’. The Chapel concluded with Gresham’s Guys 2022. 

It’s not just pupils who have been sharing the Christmas cheer – the staff choir have also been rehearsing for a performance this term.

This has been a wonderful way for Gresham’s musicians to showcase all their hard work in ensemble rehearsals this term, and a great way to spread Christmas cheer through the School!

Well done to pupils who have taken LAMDA exams recently

Well done to pupils who have recently taken LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art) exams. Spike C took his Grade 7 (silver medal) in Solo Acting, Yssy D took her Grade 5 in Solo Acting, Seb W & Luca H both took their Grade 6 (silver medal) in Duologue Acting and Freddie L took his Grade 5 in Solo Acting.

There is now a period of time to wait until the New Year for the exam results but all pupils seemed happy and confident with their performances. These medal grade exams also achieve valuable additional UCAS points for pupils.

Senior pupils participated in the inaugural Inter-House target sprint competition

The inaugural Gresham’s School Inter-House target sprint competition took place at the end of January.  Each of the seven Houses entered a Junior team (Year 9 & Year 10) of five competitors and a Senior team (Year 11, Year 12 & Year 13), also containing five competitors. The event was adapted slightly, in order to make it very spectator friendly and also to allow those that had not done very much shooting the opportunity to be competitive. Each competitor was required to run 200 meters before coming into the air rifle range and shooting down five targets. Once the five targets had been knocked down then the next runner set off around the track. The event was made slightly more exciting as it was run under floodlight, at 8 o’clock in the evening. Both the track and the range were floodlit to create a wonderful atmosphere.

A huge congratulations, and thank you, must go to all those that took part and that were involved in the event. Particularly well done to Howson’s for winning the Junior trophy and to Oakeley for winning the Senior trophy. Oakeley also won the overall trophy, so very well done to them.

Field Days October 2022

CCF RAF

The CCF RAF section spent the first Field Day … in the field! The Year 10 and 12 cadets were ‘lifted’ in minibuses to the grounds of the Muckleburgh Military Collection where they deployed their orienteering, team work and research skills.  These activities produced some highlight moments.  One was watching the Year 10 cadets metaphorically ‘super glue’ their hands to a rope and work as a team to tie a knot between each cadet holding the rope.  Another was watching George M take command and rescue his fellow Year 12 cadets on a ‘desert island’ (aka. a circle of rope) with the tide encroaching.  The cadets also had the opportunity to visit the museum and see first-hand some of the incredible items in the military collection.  To encourage their engagement with the museum exhibits, the cadets were divided into teams and tasked with researching a quiz for an opposing team, who were then sent back into the museum to find the answers – under timed conditions.  The conclusion of the first day was that Year 12s can tie knots, the Year 10s can research quizzes!

The second Field Day was spent back on Gresham’s home soil. In the morning, Flying Officer Williams led drill and deportment exercises; he nobly tackled messy feet, sloppy arms, and lazy knees in preparation for the upcoming Remembrance Parade in November. In the afternoon, whilst the Year 13 cadets led a team in preparation for the national Air Squadron Trophy, the Year 11 cadets were in the swimming pool, simulating life raft rescues. 

Well done to all those cadets who earned badges over the course of the two days; now get them sewn on to your brassards!

CCF Navy enjoyed some time afloat at Hickling, and had a great couple of days on the water!

Services and Silver DofE

180 students and a large number of staff were off-site so as to volunteer in the local community during the school Field days. The school has established close links with Holt Youth Project, Thornage Hall, the Treehouse Community Café, St Andrew’s church in Holt, Glaven Care, Lloyd Court, Age Concern in Sheringham and local conservation sites such as Holt Lowes. Gresham’s students had the opportunity to experience first-hand some of these amazing social enterprises and charities which bring people together across the community. A proportion of the volunteering work was outdoors: clearing and mowing, pollarding willows, picking apples for winter storage, creating raised beds for vegetable and salad growing and habitat management by cutting back invasive species such as gorse. These initiatives were spread across at least six different sites and included a certain level of expertise. Field day also allowed for a number of pupils to complete their Silver DofE expedition in the Peak District.

At Holt Youth project the principal aim was to help clear storage areas and the allotment. The project is now operating a clothes bank and there was a huge pile of donations to sort through and get ready for display in their new shop. There were also visits to Glaven Care and Age Concern in Sheringham. Students chatted and played board games and Bingo with the elderly. It makes a positive difference to people’s lives to come into contact with young people and to share experiences and stories. A group based in school worked together to create Art kits for young people at the Holt Youth project. Each kit was tailormade and carefully designed so as offer a high quality resource for those who might not have much opportunity to make art.

It was a brilliant two days of volunteering and we were lucky with the good weather and sunshine.

Year 9 History Trip to Ypres

Our Year 9 pupils visited Belgium on their History Department World War One Battlefields Tour. After a long drive, they just had time to familiarise themselves with the trench system around Ypres before heading for supper at the hotel to complete the first day.

Day two of the trip was a fantastic and busy day in glorious weather. The highlights were remembering Farfield OG John Wright at Bard Cottage Cemetery at Boezinge, Show and Tell activities at Passchendaele, and visiting the Menin Gate to commemorate Woodlands OG Cuthbert Shaw. It was a great day, capped by some enthusiastic chocolate.

The trip concluded with visits to the Ferme-Olivier Cemetery to see the graves of Marc Noble and OG David Carnegie, Talbot House Poperinge and Tyne Cot Cemetery, where pupils held a short service of remembrance for the 113 former pupils and 3 staff known to have been killed in the conflict.