Private School News

Sports Dinner at Wycliffe College

The annual Sports Dinner, held on Wednesday 24th June, proved yet again to be an excellent event enjoyed by all. The evening sun shone as members of all the senior teams arrived to be greeted by a chilled glass of cava before taking their seats in Wycliffe Hall. After the introduction by the Director of Sport, Mr Andrew Naish, diners tucked into a delicious meal prepared by the Catering Manager , Mrs Judith Johnson and her team.

After the meal, speeches were made by each captain who took the opportunity to acknowledge the impact of certain players, but also to pay tribute to the skill and devotion of the coaching staff.

Prizes were then awarded to the Outstanding Sportswoman of the Year (Sarah Barnes), the Outstanding Sportsman (Ben Rodgers), the Outstanding Junior Sportswoman (Sammy Blundell ) and the Outstanding Junior Sportsman (Jos Chillingworth). The ‘team of the year’ was the rugby 1st XV which reached the 4th round of the Daily Mail Cup and competed so successfully on their tour to South Africa.

Prizes were presented by our special guest speaker, Alastair Hignell CBE. Alastair captivated the audience with his tales of playing rugby for England and cricket for Gloucestershire whilst holding down a full time job as a school master. He then went on to describe his time as a BBC journalist and, most movingly, his determination to continue to live life to the full despite being struck down with Multiple Sclerosis.

It is here that Wycliffe Sport intends to lend a helping hand: Next year, all sporting charity events will raise money for ‘Higgy’s Heroes’ – a charity set up by Alastair to fund further research into this disease. To kick off, in October, several members of the Wycliffe staff and, hopefully, some students will be running the Stroud half marathon in aid of Higgy’s Heroes.