Head of House
Alex Carpenter

 

Deputies
Sophie de Haast and Philly Townley

Alex Carpenter; Sophie Cartwright; Jess Coleman; Lucy Cronin; Sophie de Haast; Lucy Ellingham; Bev Elliott; Becky Fryatt; Jess Hardy; Lucy Haynes; Alice Heinrich; Choi Jackson; Pippa Mitchell; Georgie Moffat; Lucy Moore; Katie Nordgreen; Emily Palmer; Vicky Sheridan and Philly Townley.

(A few more ‘gaps’ roaming the world this year…)

Izzy Markwick; VP (off to teach at Notre Dame, Lingfield)

 

CN (with Finn, the only male who has ever been free to roam the corridors of West House) is off to live in Cubitt and VJB and LEP are off to South…hmmm!

HD as Deputy Housemistress; Miss Rachel Nicholson (IV^th Form Tutor); Dr Sue Kemp (LVth Tutor); Mrs Anne Cooke; Mrs Olivia Hodgkinson.

 

To all of them we wish the very best of luck.

 

I thought about starting this report with a quotation from someone famous but in the end I decided that my own words were probably more apt. Parents may have seen them written on their daughter’s report, and West girls have certainly heard me say them more times than they might wish to remember, but it is true that ‘the busiest people at Cranleigh are the happiest people’. Many girls in West have been extremely busy during this last year and they have been extremely happy and fulfilled as a result. I hope that the following gives a flavour of their achievements and will encourage others to get involved in the coming year.

 

The Michaelmas term started for our fresh-faced IVth Formers with rehearsals for the dreaded House Performance! Looking back I am sure they will remember it more fondly than they thought of it at the time and of course congratulations to the West/North girls for being part of the spectacular winning dance. On the same evening West/Loveday girls helped to lift the title in the part-song competition and this was in no small way down to Joss Waller who arranged the song and directed the singers. West/North girls helped North to take the House Performance cup.

 

The week following this we staged our West House Plays, a real testament to the dedication of all the girls (and boys) involved, as well as the directors of the three pieces; ODM, AW and GJNN.   Pippa Mitchell gave a lovely performance in ‘The Proposal’, her first ever theatrical venture.  Lucy Moore, Georgie Moffat and Lucy Haynes delighted the audiences in the farcical and comical ‘Sganarelle’ and we were reminded of what boarding school life used to be like by the cast of ‘Daisy Pulls it Off’, with particularly memorable moments from Shaunagh Duncan, Sara Williams, Hilary Cronin and Bev Elliott, who looked as though she could be as frightening as me in her portrayal of the austere Headmistress!

 

Other highlights included Shaunagh Duncan and Alice Bryant getting through to the Regional Finals of the ESU Public Speaking Competition; between them the junior girls gaining a total of 105 recorded credits (more than any other House); Frankie Denney winning the IVth Form Cross-Country race and leading us to victory over South; winning the House hockey challenge, West/Loveday and West/North sharing the honours in the senior House hockey and winning the House hockey league; several West girls being involved in music competitions and doing very well and Lucy Hollister being awarded the Paterson Plate (the House Captain’s Award) in recognition of her cheery determination to overcome all the obstacles thrown her way.

 

The Lent term matched this in every respect and the House was just as busy and just as frantic at times! We had not previously been known for our prowess over the hilly, (very) muddy terrain of the School cross-country course, despite the gallant efforts of the Townley sisters over the last seven years, but finally we managed a victory in the House competition! This was in no small part due to the brave running of some of the IVth Form girls, particularly Frankie Denney (junior girls’ winner), Emily Stovold, Ellie Erhardt and Kelly Hughes and our VIth Formers, Philly Townley (Senior Girls’ Winner), Alys Morgan and Steph Watson. We drew 4-4 with South in the netball House challenge and the West/North girls won the House netball competition.

 

Our strength in the House debating competition led us all the way to the final again, but in a very close-run war of words with Loveday we had to be satisfied with runner-up spot this year. Thanks here to Joss Waller for leading our team, not only with her own powerful speaking but in helping to prepare the younger team members, Shaunagh Duncan and Nicola Hardwick.

 

Two outstanding musical moments from West girls were a highlight of this term: Lucy Cronin singing her ‘Peter Pan’ songs with the Merriman Orchestra and Joss Wallers’s virtuosic performance of Chaminade’s ‘Automne’ to win the Dashwood piano competition.

 

Katje van der Zalm was our credit queen for this term with over 15 to her name!

 

And finally to the Summer term, marked as much by the vagaries of the weather as by the achievements of West girls. There was certainly plenty of hard work going on in preparation for public exams but also by the IVth and LVth who again gained almost twice as many credits between them than any other House!

 

The girls’ senior House tennis was won by West, the juniors drew with South, we recorded victory in the senior House rounders and we won two of the three age groups in the House athletics to secure victory here too. (Swimmers next year perhaps…we have yet to score a victory here!)  A whole host of girls found themselves involved in the summer House leagues, enjoying not only tennis but mixed hockey and mixed Qwik cricket. The scores at the end of the term put North and West/North girls in 2nd place.

 

Many of the girls took part in the Charity Walk and congratulations to all of them, and most particularly to Hannah Golding who raised a staggering £350!

 

We ended the term with our traditional House BBQs and the resourcefulness of West House staff was really put to the test as we had to find some way of being able to BBQ in the rain. A couple of bits of tarpaulin, lots of bailing twine and years of childhood Girl-Guiding between them, however, gave us a shelter that any Boy Scout would have been proud of. Admittedly the charcoal took a little while to get going (although I gather not as long as Cubitt’s!) and had we wanted to cook at midnight it would have been perfect, but no-one complained about the slight wait and there was certainly plenty to go round. Next year we will light the BBQs two hours earlier and order half the amount of food. HD will also remember that it is not a good idea to stand directly under the edge of the tarpaulin as you are trying to get rid of a water pool that has formed in it!!

 

As ever it was lovely to see the leaving UVIth girls dressed up for the Leavers’ Service and Ball and I hope that as they read this they will remember fondly not only this final School occasion but also the years (however many) they spent in West.

 

MCA