The Hallifordian - 2016-2017

88 Russell House Report by Tom Foley, House Captain I can’t believe that I have only been Head of Russell for two years. It feels like longer, but in a very good way. The boys continue to go from strength to strength, doing things every day that make me extremely proud. Below is a brief sum- mary of all the fantastic achievements done this year by Russell students. This year’s leavers will be sorely missed. Sam Cheah, Beau Easby-Keating, Tom Foley, Ethan Job, Jake Nelson, and Tom Snape have been su- perb examples of everything it means to be in Rus- sell House. They have got involved in all aspects of school life, and have conducted themselves with great humility, always managing to find the funny side in everything they did. Under the leadership of Tom Foley, they have led from the front and their contributions in sport and music will be sorely missed. On behalf of Russell and would like to wish them all the best for the future. In November we tried to defend the House Music Competition. This year’s format saw the Houses performing only one song, and we chose ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered’ by Stevie Wonder. The soloists this year were Cameron Collie, Oliver Hack- land-Crowther, Tom Foley, Matthew Lea, Sebastian Maud, and Rob Pleasance. They were backed up by all of Years 7 and 12. Jake Nelson played the key- board, Beau Easby-Keating was on drums, Jonathan Maud was on guitar, and Max Pillinger was on the Bass. After their wonderful backing singing work last year, Sam Cheah, Ethan Job, and Tom Snape, this year joined by Jan Chechovic, took on a new challenge and they stole the show with their perfor- mance on the triangle. This year the competition was extremely close, with the other Houses upping their game from last year. Finally the judges’ decision was an- nounced, and for the second year in a row Russell were the winners. Once again Tom Foley and Jake Nelson put in a huge amount of effort getting eve- rything ready for the performance, and to win the competition twice in their final two years is a just reward for all that they have contributed to Music at Halliford during their time here. This year Russell had four entrants into the Halliford young Musician Competition. In the Jun- ior Section Rob Pleasance sang ‘Hey Soul Sister’ by Train, and also accompanied himself on the Baritone Ukulele, and Jonathan Maud played ‘Enter Sand- man’ by Metallica on Electric Guitar. In the Senior Section Oliver Hackland-Crowther sang ‘I Want to Make Magic’ by Steve Margoshes, and Tom Foley sang ‘Just The Two of Us’ by Bill Withers. The boys performed outstandingly well in what was a very en- joyable evening for those who attended. At the end of the Summer Term the Music Department put on an evening concert in the court- yard, playing songs from the movies. Russell was very well represented with Tom Foley, Jonathan Maud, Oliver Hackland-Crowther, Max Pillinger, and Robert Pleasance putting in some superb vocal and instrumental performances. It was a truly fan- tastic evening. Russell had good representation in the school play this year. Jed Aldridge, Gallagher Dil- lon, and Seb Kelly were helping out backstage. Cor- mac Evans was helping with the technical side. Oli- ver Fisk was very convincing in his role as one of the twins. Jonny Davies looked far too convincing in his dress. Rob Pleasance’s accent was very realistic. Tom Snape was superb as Mr Tom, fully convey- ing the emotion of the play. One senior member of the House was seen with a tear in his eye at the end of what was a truly fantastic performance from cast and crew alike. In the Senior Public Speaking Jake Nelson spoke very well about Artificial Intelligence and Cameron Gildersleve amused the audience with his ‘speech for all occasions’. Tom Foley and Billy Bourne did a good job with their vote of thanks, and Tom Snape and Harrison McCormack chaired pro- ceedings with great authority. In the Junior Competition the Year 7 team was made up of Chairman: Will Jackson; Main Speaker: Luke Ingles; Vote of Thanks: Ivo Evans. They spoke about how terrorism has affected the people of the world. The Year 8 team of Chairman: Max Connelley; Main Speaker: Cameron Collie; Vote of Thanks: Cormac Evans spoke about the ef- fect of violence in video games. The Year 9 team of Chairman: Jonathan Davies; Main Speaker: Louis Mercer; Vote of Thanks: Robert Pleasance spoke about the development of terrorism over the years. All the boys performed very well in what was a very tight competition. Overall the boys finished third, with Robert Pleasance deservedly being awarded best Vote of Thanks. Russell performed very well on the rugby