Rhubarb October 2022

CO-ED HOCKEY TOUR TO australia 1999

It is 23 years since the first Teddies co-ed hockey tour of Australia. Here we catch up with OSE who were lucky enough to go.

FEATURE

We asked the following questions:

What have you been up to since leaving Teddies? What is your fondest memory of your time at Teddies?

What was it like being at Teddies around the time it went fully co-ed? What do you remember about the tour to Australia?

Peter Swainson (Tilly’s, 1995-2000) I had a brilliant time at Teddies. I was lucky enough to be in a year group with lots of talented sportsmen and in an era

overlooking Sydney Harbour under the guidance of Mr Lush – aka CJL or ‘Larry Lush’. On a personal level, I fondly recall Mr Lush informing the whole squad after a training session early in the tour that I had been invited to attend England U18 Hockey trials on our return to the UK.

when the School was very strong across most sports. I have particularly fond memories of being part of the highly successful 1998 1st XV and the unbeaten 2000 1st XI hockey team. I loved being in Tilly’s where we were given pretty free rein by Clive Dytor, enjoyed the majority of my lessons and made many friends for life! My memories of the Australia tour start with our first fixture against the prestigious Scotch College in Perth, which much to our shock we had to play on grass – something none of us had done since we were in the Shells! We lost the game (possibly by a single goal – I can’t recall the exact score line), which hadn’t happened to us for a very long time and I’m pretty sure I got sent off! We didn’t lose another fixture all tour (nor play on grass). I remember the majority of us dying our hair peroxide blonde (my mother is convinced my scalp never recovered, which is why I started losing my hair at 19!); everyone buying (and religiously wearing) various different AFL shirts; the variety of food available in the ‘food courts’ situated in shopping centres in every city we went to; staying in the very large and old fashioned dorms at Geelong Grammar School; training in a public park

After Teddies, I studied History at the University of Exeter and then trained and qualified as a solicitor, working for a firm in the City for four years. I subsequently worked in a commercial role for a digital sports media company before moving in to teaching in 2014. I’ve taught History at Trinity School in Croydon, Epsom College and, since 2017, back at Teddies where I am now also Assistant Director of Sport. During much of this time I continued playing competitive hockey – ultimately winning over 100 caps for Wales, culminating in playing in the XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014. My fondest memories of Teddies are of playing highly competitive rugby, hockey and cricket matches with many of my best mates against generally larger boarding schools (like Radley, Marlborough and Cheltenham) and generally beating them!

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