The small cast of ive saw three of Cubitt’s top actors take all three male roles – allowing for a true showcase of Cubitt’s acting talent. Tommy Lyster, an already hugely experienced actor, was tested with the dif icult task of becoming Pastor Manders, a test that he passed with lying colours. Jon Old ield took the lead male role of Oswald Alving and portrayed the ill man with worrying realism. Finally, Barnaby Findlay, as Joseph Engstrand, showed himself to be inherently dark and manipulative - in a part that could almost be considered the antagonist of the play – and inished his acting career on the Cranleigh stage on a high. All in all, it was a memorable production, with all three thespians continuing to contribute their theatrical talent next term – Tommy and Jon taking the lead roles for “The Producers” and Barnaby going on to direct the highly anticipated Cubitt play. Lunchtime Concerts; C. La Fosse Friday Lunchtime concerts always promise to be a lustrous showcase of musical talent, and this Michaelmas term was no exception. I am pleased to report that there was a fine brace of Cubittian gracing the stage.
veterans reeling in their seats at his inimitable stage presence. A performance of undeniable soulfulness and power, Oli flaunted the clout and richness of his piece to widespread cheer. That leaves us with Peter Westcott, the grandfather of Cubitt lunchtime concerts, and a pupil considered to be firmly at the helm of the galleon of Cranleigh french horns. In true Peter style, our illustrious brass ambassador graced the Friday lunchtime stage not once, but twice during the Michaelmas term, and on both occasions left the unruly mob imploring him for another colourful flurry of trills and flourishes. Well done to all! Public Speaking: H. Moxey This year Cubitt fielded a well dressed team to represent them in the house public speaking. However, hopes that their oratory skills would meet up to their attire were not particularly high with the competition looming. This was perhaps characterised by the team’s attempts to tie a bow tie on to one of the junior members ten minutes before starting, which failed miserably. The team consisted of Will Slynn, Angus McConnellWood and Hugo Moxey. The event started with Will Slynn introducing the team’s chosen subject, ‘why the British Empire should be reinstated’, and giving a brief description about the speaker. This part of the competition appeared to descend in a list of past achievements, some fallacious others bordering on reality. Claims as varied as past experiences as a Formula One driver to having family relations fighting alongside Nelson at Trafalgar. The vote of thanks was conducted by Angus McConnell-Wood. Sadly we didn’t win or come a close second but a big thanks to all the chaps and hope it goes better next year.
Renowned brass extraordinaire Noah Frett enticed the ladies with sumptuous, suggestive melodies from his trumpet, whilst his strong rhythmicality ensured the sagest music critics nodded their heads in warm approval. The effervescent Luke Halls, world famous for his groovy bass slapping, took to the stage with his six-string, flinging intricate musical passages into the dazed crowd with his nimble plucking, whilst softly layering smooth, bossa nova-esque textures with his expressive strumming. Meanwhile resident cherub Oli Parker decided to shatter the Friday lunchtime peace, taking the Music School by storm with a trumpet-based tour de force, sending even the most grizzled, hardened Friday concert Zambia/Charity: J. Pearson At half term Henry Thomas and I, along with fourteen others from Cranleigh, travelled to Kawama School in Zambia with the School Charity ‘Beyond Ourselves’. We were scheduled to finish off refurbishing the brand new classrooms that had been built over the summer; this mainly involved plastering and painting. We were also involved in teaching some of the kids in their old classroom: an old mud brick room with a few rows of benches, some of which had desks taped/ nailed/glued to them. Despite being briefed, we were all inspired by the excitement the kids showed as they swarmed the bus on our arrival, some of whom had never even seen muzungu (foreigners) before! The week flew by and at the end of our time we had transformed the concrete rooms into effective learning environments.
Several new Cubitt Charity initiative are aimed at supporting Kawama; • • •
‘Coppers for the Copperbelt’; collecting coppers to be donated to Beyond Ourselves Ice Cream Sales; at both Cubitt House music evening and next term’s play Recycling old mobile phones
The money that we raise will go to pay for healthcare, food and teaching for the kids in Zambia. For just £12.50 a month we can provide all of the above services for a pupil. Cubitt’s aim is to sponsor at least three children this year. So if you have any; coppers or old phones gathering dust please bring them in to support the Cubitt Charities!
Cubi Newsle er Michaelmas 2011 House masters comments It was wonderful to see how quickly and easily the new 4th form (and new tutors) settled in at the start of term and this is once again testament to the open, warm and supportive atmosphere that exists throughout the house. This strong sense of camaraderie is what helps define Cubitt and it has been evident in many ways this term, not least at the memorable House Music evening a few weeks ago. A key feature was the support that the seniors gave the juniors and it reinforced how lucky we are to have such a strong, caring and committed U6 year group this year. The boys are also very lucky to have such a dedicated and caring team of cleaners, matrons and tutors looking after them and it was pleasing to see the boys show their gratitude to them at House Prayers. I hope you enjoy the new-style newsletter and many thanks to Sam Cooke for all his hardwork and expertise in producing it and to the boys for their well-written and entertaining articles! A very merry Christmas to everyone! View from the top: H. Thomas
The term began with new arrivals to Cubitt; the new IVth form, Ben Peers joined the LVth, Ash Sran and Horatio Cox in the LVIth as well as Mr Cooke as the new Deputy Housemaster. Planning immediately began for a victorious campaign for House Performance night. The responsibility of the IVth form dance was placed in the very capable hands of Marc Sadler and Jack Hall, and the Cubitt part song was spearheaded by Ben Cox and Jon Oldfield. There was partial success in our campaign, with a victory in the part-song, however we came second in the dance accompanied by a resounding ‘we was robbed!’ from all members of the house. Cubitt’s term of sport went by with success too; fantastically organised by Jonny Pullar and Andrew Justin. The term began with yet another victory on the cross-country front. The IVth form earned their place as true Cubittians by winning their inter-house race by a convincing margin with Seb Leman winning the overall race. The Cubitt House Music Evening took place at the end of this term and was a huge suc-
cess. And particular congratulations must go to Oscar Reeve and Ben Cox for their impeccable organization of the show, both justly receiving their House ties as a result. On the horizon is the Cubitt House Play, an adapted version of Lorca’s ‘The Shoemaker’s Incredible Wife’. The play will feature a range of Cubitt thespian talent; from Angus McConnell-Wood (LVth) who has recently emerged from the fame of the school play, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, to Henry Crinage (LVIth) who has yet to grace the stage with his majestic presence or for that matter embrace the concept of acting. Good luck to Barnaby Findlay who will deal with this flock of actors as their director. A new view of Cubitt: B. Howorth We arrived at Cranleigh School in September, nervous and frightened of what was to come. We arrived two days before the rest of the school, bar some 6th formers, which was lucky. We had a lot to learn, such as vocab like ‘moab’ or kitchen to most of the normal world. Once the rest of the school arrived, we had a very welcoming start to the term. The first weekend consisted of bowling on Saturday night and a Sunday of team building activates. The term has been packed full of all sorts of actives. The house competitions have been great fun and very well supported by the house; a real example of Cubitt House spirit. First of all we had the House Dance and the Part Song. These were awesome! We were victorious in the part-song which was fantastic. Then we have had House squash, House basketball, House fives and IVth Cross Country. We had a great result in House cross country with Seb Leman winning. The most recent house event was the best; the Cubitt House Music Evening. Everyone was able to show off their musical and dancing talents including the whole house being on stage for the House song. Overall, I am extremely pleased that I chose Cubitt because of the great people in the house, the fun that we have together and the fact that we all support and help each other.
due to a lack of experience, narrowly lost. This did not matter as Will Slynn and Rob Zorab won, IVth Form Cross Country: S. Leman as well as James Gall and James Thompson walkThe IVth Form kicked off Cubitt’s Cross Country ing over their opponents. They then faced a qualseason with an incredible start! Everyone in the ity East team and it came down to the final game year took part, with Cubitt coming out eventual where Cubitt pinned their hopes on the broad winners. The boys lined up on the starting line, a shoulders of Jonny Pullar and Luke Chitty. Unspeed bump, Mr McConnell-Wood blew the fortunately, they lost. whistle, and they were off! The group immediately started to spread out along the drive, and there The Juniors had a strong team that overcame East was a good spread of houses up at the front. with some convincing wins from the team of Jake James Bennett took an early lead for Loveday, Storey, Matt Foster, Jamie Pudge, Callum Osand James Beggs was upholding the North name, bourne, Toby Bazin and Dan Chitty. Ben Clarke while Seb Leman was there for Cubitt! . The boys filled in for Matt Foster in the final against North were not seen again, having taken a quick tour of as he and Callum Osborn produced the only Cumost of Cranleigh, until the leader came back bitt win as we fell short at the last hurdle, again. into view up the main school drive. A Cubitt vest led the way! It turned out to be Seb, who had Basketball: B. Wilson been leading the way for most of the race. Seb House Basketball saw a strong performance won the race with a remarkable time of 12.26! all round from the three teams that took part. The Special mention must go to; Charlie Firth finish- new IVth form showed particular effort, especialing 6th, Gregor McIntyre, Alistair Loedolff, and ly as many of them had not played before. They lost their first match narrowly by a couple of Alistair Johnston, who came 9th, 15th, and 17th points and a very strong performance from Toby respectively Theo Golden, and Cameron Scheijde, who managed to complete the race, and Bazin ensured a comfortable win over a cowering North team in the third/fourth playoff. to all of Cubitt, whose encouragement and sup-
Sports Reports
port was much appreciated! Well done to all involved, on a very successful day for Cubitt.
The Vth Form team led the way by winning the competition. In the semi-final against East, the scores were level at the final whistle and Ben Castle-Gibb showed great composure to slot in House Squash: J. Pullar the deciding basket and take Cubitt through to the House squash was a big success at both Junior Final. After two intense halves of skilful play it and Senior level. The Junior team; Conor McCor- was down to Will Calnan to net a three pointer in mack, Jordan Bedford, Matt Foster, Gregor McIn- the last 20 seconds to grasp victory from the jaws tyre and Dan Plewman faced North in their first of defeat. Cubitt were crowned champions by just match, winning comfortably won 4-1. In the final a single point! against Loveday, Zac La Costa replaced Dan Plewman, and we overcame with panache and The VI Form basketball showed some signs of style 4-1, not even needing the final game! excellence; defeating a physical East team to earn The Senior team were equally successful. The first round was against North, with Max Hemming withdrawing at the last minute, Ed De Blaby courageously stepped up to the plate (having never played squash before!) to join the team of; Ben Wilson, Alex Foster, Barney Findlay, and Jonny Pullar. The team won 4-1, unfortunately squash is not one of Ed’s natural talents... This meant that all that remained between us and an unbeaten house squash tournament was Loveday’s Senior team. Our team remained the same, this time Max did play. It was an exceptional performance, Cubitt winning 4-1, and thus winning all the trophies on offer for House squash. Well done to everyone who won; and to those who didn’t, you did okay as well!
a place in the final, against Loveday. It was a close affair and for most of the game Cubitt were ahead. Ash Sran, the new recruitment, scored every point and dominated the court with his towering figure. Unfortunately we could not sustain our performance and we eventually lost to a strong Loveday team.
House Rugby: A. Justin The rugby house matches is the main event in the sporting calendar and although Cubitt didn’t lack any ambition we lacked the quality that was necessary to take us to the final stages. Having said this special mentions must go to the Heavies B’s and the Light’s A’s who came a respectable 2nd place. In the seniors, the A team beat Loveday in the groups but were unable to produce when we met them again in the 3rd place play off. Well House Fives: R. Zorab done to all that played and a big thanks to the After last year’s victory in House Fives, Cu- supporters who stuck it out in the wet and cold! bitt had a hard task to retain the title. The seniors breezed through the opening round against Loveday, winning comfortably overall. Alex Foster and Ben Wilson put in a good performance but
Music and Drama House Performance: A. Curtis
Only a number of days after term started, attention once again turned to the annual House Performance evening. Part song rehearsals started almost immediately, whilst a changed format for rehearsals of the IVth Form dance saw it being choreographed and put together in just five hours on the Sunday before the performance. No easy task. A big thank you must go to: Marc Sadler, Jack Hall, Katie Draper and Millie Crane who arranged Fat Boys Slim ‘Right here Right now’ mixed with ‘Apologise’. A special mention must go to Cameron Scheijde, capturing the audience with his fearless solo act to kick-start the performance. However, sadly Mrs Beddison, oblivious to Cameron’s heart-melting moves and still stunned by the evening’s atmosphere, awarded us with an unfortunate 3rd place. The song chosen for the part-song was ‘Carry me through’, initially sung by Dave Barnes. Cubitt’s rendition was arranged by Ben Cox, Jon Oldfield, Liv Moxey and Rosie Peters, doubling not only as master arrangers but also organising and executing the rehearsing of 35 VIth Formers. The performances themselves went exactly as rehearsed with exquisite solos from the arrangers but also Alex Foster, Katie Batchelor and Juniors Weston Lord and Theo Golden. As a result of this Cubitt were crowned rightful winners of the part song and were placed second in the overall competition, narrowly beaten by East. Cubitt Music Evening: B. Findlay The Cubitt Music Evening was a showpiece of the House’s endless musical talent. The first half boasted an act from each and every year, with a classical edge to their performances. The interval gave time for the audience to discuss and debate the undeniable talent on show, with over five hundred pounds being raised for Tildy’s Trust and Beyond Ourselves.
sive thank you must go to all the performers and all those who made the evening so memorable. Midsummer Night’s Dream: O. Clark
The school play saw a number of Cubitt’s young thespians take to the stage under the blaze of the Speech Hall’s lights. It was the timeless classic, Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream”, that graced the stage. With a set worthy of the National Theatre, the six chosen Cubittian went forth to make Shakespeare’s dream a reality. Leading from the front was the charismatic Alex Livingstone, whose portrayal of Demetrius was enchanting and sensitive. It was not only Helena and Hermia falling head over heels for him, but most of the audience as well. The esteemed court was led masterfully by Alex Clarke (Theseus) who delivered his powerful speeches with force and authority. The liveliness and humour of George Collecott was reflected in his portrayal of Peter Quince, the comical leader of the theatrically inept mechanicals. Angus McConnellWood’s ‘Wall’ was simply superb. Not even the most wooden of actors could have delivered such a lifelessly realistic structure of brick and cement. Fin Johnston, despite not being blessed with the most prominent of parts delivered his line with aplomb; as most worthy messenger. I myself, Ollie Clark, enjoyed the role of Oberon, the King of the Fairies (a title ridiculed on some occasions, but nonetheless I accepted it with pride). Overall it was a magical production and performance from all Cubittian involved. A show to remember!
Helen Wareham : O. Parker This term there have been two Helen Wareham competitions; the woodwind and brass. In the woodwind competition we had one Cubittian playing in the senior class, Charlie La Fosse. He played his saxophone, but after a valiant effort, sadly did not make it through to the final. Then followed the brass competition in which Cubitt had five entries; Peter Westcott, Alex Curtis, A much more contemporary style accompanied Noah Frett, Theo Golden and I. Noah managed the acts in the second half with various year to receive second place in the Junior class. In the groups once again intertwining to produce the Senior class, Alex Curtis went through to the highest standard of music. Although impossible final, which takes place in the Summer term. to mention all of the acts individually, huge conAfter the New Year there will be the piano, gratulations must go to the forerunners of Cubitt strings and singing classes in which many music over the last five years; Ben Cox, Oscar Cubittians will be performing. Reeve and Jon Oldfield. As a result of the success of the evening, all three have deservedly Ghost – Sixth Form Play: J. Oldfield been awarded their Cubitt House Ties. The drama department decided to it in another play this year into an already busy academThe climax of the evening came in our House ic calendar. The play, directed by IMA, was Song, ‘Hey Jude’, being belted out by no less than one hundred Cubitt boys. This sheer number unlike the usual farcical, raucous comedies in itself fortunately drowned out a group of us to one may ind produced in the VCT but gave whom music does not come naturally. The lives the U6th actors involved the chance to parof Tommy Lyster and I, the two compères for the take in a piece of serious, naturalistic theatre. evening, were made easy as the overall standard When “Ghosts” by Henrik Ibsen was irst put on (back in 1881) it was met with a wave of of music really needed no introduction. A mas-