Rhubarb October 2022

Tim Conibear (Apsley, 1995-2000)

Richard Hegarty (Cowell’s, 1995-2000) Some of my closest friends remain people I played rugby and hockey with at Teddies. One of my fondest memories is of playing in the 1st XI Hockey side in 2000. Coached by Zak Jones, we were unbeaten and it was some of the best team sport I’ve been involved in. I also loved playing in theYearlings A and Colts A teams coached by Chris Lush. James Moss (Apsley,1995-2000) Chris Bates (Kendall, 1995-2000) W hen I started at Teddies in 1995, there were still only girls in the Sixth Form. By the time I left in 2000, the School was fully co-educational and I think when I was in the Fifth Form we were the only year in the School that had no girls. So, big changes during my five years at Teddies! The Australia tour was a fantastic experience. I have brilliant memories of the beaches of Perth, playing against the famous Geelong Grammar School in Victoria, staying at the Millennium Hotel in Sydney and then travelling up to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef. It was a truly amazing few weeks. I’m now a construction lawyer in the City and live in Beaconsfield with a young family.

I enjoyed my time at Teddies. My main memories are the incredible sporting facilities and the coaches we had access to. The hockey team had Zak Jones as Head Coach, and Cricket had Jason Mills, both with international honours and top coaching credentials. I learnt a huge amount about teamwork and Thinking about the tour to Australia, I have a fond memory of Mr Lush, our tour leader, pointing out the foreign sounds of the birds as we woke up to cries of kookaburras on the first morning, reminding us we were far from home and to stick together. It was in the days of billets and we stayed with various families as we toured the country. There were lots of great games, BBQs and it was a really good way to get to understand Australian daily life. The hockey was a challenge, but we rose well to it. After leaving St Edward’s, I moved to Cape Town in 2007, initially to work in the cellar of a local vineyard and learn the wine trade. I then took on the operations for Ticket to Ride Surf Adventures, before establishing a mental health charity called Waves for Change in 2011. I still work for Waves for Change today. The charity combines surfing with evidence-based psychosocial activities and runs programmes across South Africa and 11 other countries on the African continent. We were fortunate to win the Laureus World Sport Award in 2017 for top Sport for Good, and we’ve gone on from there. I have many memories of Teddies but the best ones I can admit to are of the away fixtures on the weekends. From the bus journey to and from the opposition, to the matches and the celebrations/ commiserations afterwards. So many of my fondest memories revolve around those fixtures. I do miss those. commitment from them both and made great friends within the teams I played for.

FEATURE

I loved my time at Teddies. It was great to do so much – in my case not always to the highest standard, but it was such fun and I made good friends. The teachers were genuinely so supportive and helped me to explore

Teddies was a great experience - supportive staff, amazing facilities and a commitment to helping everyone find their special skills and gifts. The tour was brilliant – to get to travel to Australia alongside friends and teammates, playing sport together and experiencing the Australian culture was fantastic.We also had our fair share of success against some tough opponents which was great. Overall, a wonderful time shared by all in a wonderful setting! Since leaving Teddies, I've been based in London, working in the music and food industry and for the last seven years as a fundraising manager with the housing and homelessness charity Shelter. My fondest memories of Teddies would be either the Australia Tour, evening study sessions, or summer kickabouts on the lower fields with friends during free time.

things that I didn’t think I could do. I owe a lot to them.

Going to Australia was a great trip! We were both good teams and eager to win every game. It was an extensive itinerary including Perth which I think was quite rare. All the teachers on the tour were great.We loved Chris Lush – his desire to win and help us improve. But we also ribbed him which he took in good heart.There was a time when we were in a dorm in Geelong and I was doing an impression of him to the whole room. All the usual stuff: obvious ball early, a gesture where he used to turn his arm into a hockey stick etc etc. Anyway, this was going down particularly well with my audience until I realised that Chris was behind me. Ouch! We had a great time on that tour, made lots of friends and played some good hockey, it laid the foundation for our successful season in 2000. Charlie Baggs and Geoff Boult were great and Tabitha Ryan was so kind. Boult brought so much energy, I loved that about him.We had a great laugh. I remember Chris Lush sprung a fitness session on us and Tim Conibear hid in a bush as we were all doing shuttle runs. Everywhere we went Charlie Allen somehow managed to get the bus drivers to play Jive Bunny and U2 – we had it on cassette! I also remember RevWippell appearing ex nihilo at one of our tour matches in Melbourne. I remember getting off the bus and there he was bustling up to us dressed like The Man from del Monte!

I now teach Religious Studies at Uppingham where I’m also a Housemaster.

It’s hard to say what I remember most fondly about Teddies! Lunch after Forum on aWednesday was hard to beat. I loved the atmosphere of School on a Saturday ahead of fixtures. My fondest memory is just being in Cowell’s and Segar’s and the time spent together there. Good mischief!

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