St Edward's 150 Years - by Nicola Hunter

St Edward’s: 150 Years

Chapter 7 / Sport and Outdoors

Below: Pre-dawn at Mequinenza, Spain, 2008. Right: Henley, 2013. Below right: The 1st Girls VIII at National Schools’ Regatta, 2013.

Right: Girls’trainingon Fisher Field. Below: Zoe Shipperley playing intheNational finals in 2007. Bottom: Patrick Nagle breaks through vs Bradfield.

Behind the scenes, the Boatmen are a crucial part of the operation. Phil Colborne has been the man at the wheel since 2000 following father and son dynasty of Horace and Geoff Beesley. Another unsung hero is Tony Snell who arrived at Teddies in 1965 just after the centenary and formed an association with the Boat Club that is still as strong as ever today, nearly 50 years later. In this time Tony has, amongst many things, been in support of GB athletes at trials as well as running the J14 squad but moreover he has given time to those who need it. He has an eye for those who love the river and for the slow developer who often makes good. Tom Middleton for one singled out Tony when he spoke at the Boat Club dinner in 2001 after his appearance at the Sydney Olympics. His Skiff expeditions are legendary and there could be a book devoted entirely to him. JohnWiggins Master in Charge of Rowing

Though the Special Race for Schools (introduced when the A Level examinations were timetabled into the week of the regatta) was won on a number of occasions (1977, 1983 and 1986, with three other finals appearances), the PE was not again won until 1984. This crew included Hugh Pelham, the son of Mike Pelham, Captain of Boats in the winning 1958 crew. They also shared the distinction of rowing in winning Oxford Boat Race crews. Girls’ rowing has been part of the Boat Club since the first arrivals in the Sixth Form and numbers have grown steadily. For over ten years we have boated crews at all the major heads and regattas including the Schools’ Head and NSR. Teddies girls have also represented Great Britain following crew medals at NSR; most notably by Atlanta St John (gold in the coxed four in 2003) and Emma Cadoux-Hudson (silver in both the four and pair, 2010). Our J14 Octuple reached the final in 2010 and in 2013 we had eights in both the J15 and Championship events. Entries at Women’s Henley are frequent, our top result being the semi-final for the 2003 gold medallists.

HOCKEY Although School records mention that hockey was being played recreationally at St Edward’s as early as 1886, it was not until 1930 that the first inter-school fixture was played against local rivals Magdelen College School. In the early years hockey was very much the second Spring term sport, behind rowing. It is only since 1956 that St Edward’s has been playing competitive hockey as one of its major sports. Apart from 1977, when the 1st XI remained unbeaten, success was patchy and remained so up until the early 1990s, when the School finally put down its first Astroturf pitch. From that moment onwards a gradual improvement started, and hockey began to become a well-established and successful sport, alongside rugby, rowing and cricket. Throughout the 1990s success started to be had, first at County level then at Divisional level, and in the late 1990s our first side made it to the National quarter and semi-final stages of

the then RAF Cup. The installation of a second pitch in 2002 coincided with the School’s most successful period of boys’ hockey, 2000–5, including two unbeaten years in 2000 and 2005. St Edward’s now regularly fields 11 boys’ teams and ten girls’ sides. The School’s hockey philosophy is one of promoting individual development alongside team values and success. With the main aim being for pupils to play at the highest level, they can succeed both at School and beyond. We regularly provide both County and Divisional players, and in recent years have had National success, with 2007 girls’ captain Zoe Shipperley having represented England at U16, U18 and U21 level. Her brother, 2011 Boys’ Captain Rupert Shipperley, represented Great Britain at U20 in the 2013 Youth Olympics and OSE Peter Swainson currently represents Wales at senior level. Though girls’ hockey only began at St Edward’s in 1987, the improvement has been steady, greatly helped by the School

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