Rhubarb Issue 12: November 2023

ST EDWARD’S

An interview with PeteR swainson

This interview was carried out in August 2023

P eter Swainson was a pupil at St. Edward’s between 1995-2000

I believed that the Martyrs had an important role to play in enhancing the School’s sporting reputation, which I felt the Cricket Club wasn’t quite achieving, so we either needed to wind the Club down or run it properly. I chose the latter leading to much better results and achieved greater commitment.We beat Radley three or four years on the bounce in ‘friendlies’ and, most importantly, had much greater success in the Cricketer Cup – reaching the Quarter Finals in 2007, 2012, 2013 and 2015.

and has been an active member of the Martyrs since leaving. He returned to Teddies in September 2017 as a History teacher and Master i/c Cricket and was most recently Assistant Director of Sport (External). In 2023 he moved to Thailand with his family to join Harrow International School in Bangkok. You have been an incredibly committed and long-serving Martyr, acting as the Martyrs Cricket, Hockey and Golf representative at various points over the last 20 years, and as Vice-President of the Martyrs for over a decade now – what encouraged you to be so involved in Martyrs Sport after leaving School? I had a wonderful time as a Teddies pupil and the majority of my fondest memories are from playing sport, so the opportunity to continue representing the ‘Cup & Dagger’ by playing for the Martyrs was very appealing. In the years after leaving School, I played in the Cricketer Cup side, but after a

INTERVIEW

The victorious Martyrs squad having won the Haileybury Sixes, September 2017

I then took on the Martyrs Hockey reins – within a few years we regularly managed to turn out two Martyrs teams to take on the School’s 1st and 2nd XIs and enjoyed considerable success at the prestigious Haileybury Sixes – winning the tournament four times in the space of five years.

Give us two highlights from your time at Teddies – one highlight from your time here as a pupil, and another from your time as a teacher. Being selected for the 1st XV in 1998 (which remains one of the most successful in the School’s

Peter in the 1st XV in 1999

history) in the Lower Sixth is one of the highlights from my time as a pupil. In those days you were given a plain blue 1st XV shirt and then had to go to Shepherd & Woodward to buy the ‘Cup & Dagger’ emblem and your playing number, which you would then get your matron to sew on to the shirt.There were quite a few of us in the 1st XV in Tilly’s that season, so our matron was pretty busy! We lost (20-22) to a very strong RGS High Wycombe side in our first match, but went unbeaten for the rest of the season, including beating Wellington in front of a huge crowd on Upper 1, and a previously unbeaten Radley side on Big Side.

The ‘DDB XI’ following the David Drake-Brockman Memorial Match, June 2018

series of disappointing defeats – particularly an embarrassing 'friendly' loss to Radley Rangers in 2004, when only 8 OSE turned up to play and Charlie Goodwin (Tilly's, 1994-1999) opened the match by bowling a 16-ball over! – I decided to take an active role in running Martyrs Cricket.

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