Ewellian Email Bulletin Content
Ewellian Email Bulletin Content
With only two weeks before the end of the School Autumn Term, the Christmas Tree is up and decorated but there's still a lot for pupils and staff to do, before we can prepare for the holidays. The Sixth Form have a MUN (Model United Nations) debate and a film night, some of the GCSE mock exams have started and next week we will enjoy the traditional Christmas lunch of roast turkey followed by Christmas pudding.
School Social Media
If you want to keep up with School news why not follow us on social media: Twitter is @EwellCastleUK Instagram is ewellcastleschool and Facebook is @EwellCastleSchool. You can also read the End of Term Reviews on the website, they provide a snapshot into the activities of that term. The Prep and Senior School Reviews will be available to download by clicking HERE from the School website from the 16th December.
Carol Service
Due to Covid-19, the usual Carol Service will not be taking place this year. The good news however, is that Chapel Choir have recorded a special Carol Concert, and this will be available to watch via the School's YouTube channel from 14:10 GMT on the 10th December. OEs can however watch a trailer by clicking HERE.
Finally, hoping all our OEs and their loved ones stay safe. Wishing you all a merry Christmas and festive Season. Best wishes.
OEs can buy tickets for the PTA (Parent Teacher Association) raffle which will be drawn at 12noon on Friday 4th December 2020. Tickets are just £1.00 each with no limit and there are some fabulous prizes including: a Fortnum & Mason Hamper, Afternoon Tea for Two at The Savoy Hotel and a Dashcam and cloud storage amongst other prizes. Prizes would need to be collected from School, or postage would need to be paid for additionally by the winner, with the exception of vouchers, which can be posted. Tickets must be paid by bank transfer into the Ewell Castle PTA account number 70357979, sort code 20-29-90. Include your initials & the word RAFFLE.
Join the PTA 100 Club
Another way to support the School and our pupils is by joining the PTA 100 Club.
The 100 Club works like a raffle and is an important element of our fund-raising. It is a simple and small way you can help us buy the 'extras' which the PTA provides for pupils' enjoyment - and you have the chance of winning a cash prize in the monthly draw.
The subscription for a year (twelve calendar months) is £12.00. This buys you a 'number' (the PTA allocate the number/s to you) which is entered into the prize draw every month. you can buy as many numbers as you like at £12.00 each for the year and every number has the same chance of winning. A draw will be held each month with the exception of July and August. Instead one 'Super Draw' is held for these months.
The actual value of the prize/s depends on the overall number of subscriptions to the Club. In total, 50% of the subscriptions will be returned in prize money throughout the year. If you would like to join the 100 Club, please complete the form below to buy your 'number'. Please note, numbers are automatically allocated.
Closing dates to purchase tickets for the PTA 100 Club for 2021 -is 18th January. Money should be transferred to the PTA account, details below. The first draw of 2021 will be on the 1st February 2021 and winners will be notified by email shortly after so please ensure you email oldewellians@ewellcastle.co.uk letting Carol know how many numbers you have purchased. We will then share your email address with the PTA so they can liaise with you directly. Account number 70357979 Sort Code 20-29-90 Include your initials plus the word 100Club in the reference.
Help create our very own OE List of Top Christmas Films. Email Carol @ oldewellians@ewellcastle.co.uk your top 3 from the list below to enter the prize draw. The winner will be picked at random from entries received at midday GMT 11-12-20 and will be emailed £30 (or equivalent amount) Amazon voucher.
Check these suggestsions out - It's a Wonderful Life (1946), Elf (2003), Die Hard (1988), Bad Santa (2003), Gremlins (1984), Home Alone (1990), Edward Scissorhands (1990), The Snowman (1982), A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), Scrooged (1998), Miracle on 34th Street (1947), The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Brigette Jones's Diary (2001), You've Got Mail (1998), Arthur Christmas (2011), Meet Me in St Louis (1944), White Christmas (1954), Love Actually (2003), The Polar Express (2004), Last Christmas (2019), The Holiday (2006), The Santa Clause (1994).
Terms and conditions: no current staff or pupils may apply, only former pupils and former staff. The top 3 films will be posted on the OE section of the School website and will be included in the next OE bulletin.
OEs Volunteer
My name is Joshua Miller and I left Ewell Castle in 2017, after completing A-Levels in IT, Business Studies and Drama. I am currently a Construction Site Manager on a £130million project based in Wembley. Alongside my job I am studying, part time at the University of Greenwich for a Degree in Construction Management. If I get any spare time, I enjoy volunteering with St John Ambulance as a First Aider, and District New Volunteers Officer. Normally you would find St John Ambulance supporting International sport stadiums, local community events (including Ewell Castle Sports events and Fireworks!) or providing life saving skills to the general public. However, like many things this year, Covid 19 has changed the way in which we are able to operate. Since the first lockdown, myself and the other volunteers have been working for the NHS to allow vital services to continue running. This has included caring for patients in Emergency Departments, staffing front line ambulances and mobile treatment centres around the country, helping at test sites and moving equipment and supplies between different NHS trusts. Most recently, it has been announced that St John will be leading the Vaccination programme. I am proud of all the volunteers who have been going above and beyond, while still upholding day jobs to help fight this virus when the country is at a time of need. The biggest threat the charity is currently facing is the huge financial pressures St John are under. Usually, the charity is funded through the training classes and multitude of events covered by volunteers. The lack of such events means services could terminate, supplies could run out and there have been discussion on the charity closing for good. The charity is now relying heavily on donations from companies and members of the public to ensure St John’s life saving work and training can continue. We still have so much vital work to do, if you would like to find out more about the incredible work done by the Charity & its members, or are able to make a small contribution please visit https://www.sja.org.uk/
Laptop Christmas Appeal
Did you know almost 15% of school children in Surrey do not have a computer at home, for their education? Ewell Castle School pupils, parents and staff are supporting this appeal and are inviting OEs to do so also.
If you have an old or un-used laptop or tablet device at home, that you could donate to Epsom & Ewell Foodbank to their 'Donate a Laptop Campaign'? please click on the link below for more details. There are minimum technical specifications for donated laptops and tablets. Click on Click Hereto access the specifications. Thank you.
Although I moved to the United States over 50 years ago it wasn’t until 2009 that my wife and I settled in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Most English visitors probably wouldn’t come to Bethlehem, although in recent years it has become quite a destination for tourists, especially music lovers. The city of 75,000 people sits on the Lehigh River about 75 miles west of New York City and 50 miles north of Philadelphia. It was founded in 1741 by the Moravians, a German-speaking Protestant religious sect that originated in what is now the Czech Republic. In the 19th Century iron making became important in the valley and in about 1870 Bethlehem Iron was founded, later to become Bethlehem Steel.
Bethlehem developed into a major steel producer, becoming vitally important in World War One and even more so in World War Two. It was part of President Roosevelt’s “Arsenal of Democracy.” The company went broke in the 1990s and the four hulking Bessemer blast furnaces still loom over the Lehigh River. The works have been converted into an entertainment centre, with a cinema, a restaurant, museums, and an outdoor entertainment stage.
With the loss of Bethlehem Steel, the valley created a new role for itself and today the main employers are health care (two major hospitals), road haulage, and manufacturing. Its favourable income and property tax situation is attracting employers and residents from the nearby high-tax states of New York and New Jersey.
The town is decidedly Victorian in appearance, with many fine brick houses and beautifully treed streets. The charming Main Street is lined with shops and restaurants, some of which have provision for outdoor dining. We live in a house built of brick in 1880 and we often think of the many people who have lived in it and their very different way of life. Since cars didn’t exist when the houses were built, the city has a parking problem. Our house, like many here, had a coach house at the end of the garden which is now our garage.
We have found that most people here have lived in the city all their lives. This is different from other places we have lived in the U.S., where most people are usually transient. The weather in Bethlehem is a bit more extreme than in England, with summer temperatures in the 80s and 90s and wintertime temperatures in the 15s to 30s. If you are visiting New York or Philadelphia, you might do well to make a side trip to Bethlehem.
By Roger Smith
We love the stories that our regular contributors from the US and Australia share with us, however we'd love some additional contributors from other areas in the world. If you have a flare with words and would like to submit the occational or even regular article, get in touch.
We'd also like to create an online collection (on the website) of OE Life Stories to include highlights of what OEs have done in their professional lives, interesting experiences they have had and places they have travelled to since leaving the Castle and any life lessons they have for our current Sixth Form. Send yours to Carol at oldewellians@ewellcastle.co.uk
“Bushfires, floods and coronavirus, protests and lockdowns: as 2020 unfolded the seemingly unremarkable among us have been the most remarkable, pulling us through it all with hard graft, decency and good humour.”
Hello again from Sydney. This extract from an article in today’s “Sydney Morning Herald” (yes, I still have a newspaper delivered, though I also have online access to that newspaper, the Australian edition of “The Guardian” and to the ABC, our equivalent to the BBC) seemed an appropriate way to open my third bulletin.
As COVID-19 19 has rocked, and continues to dictate the world’s agenda, throughout Australia its impact has been, when compared to many other parts of the world, relatively “light”. Of course, the upheaval to the daily lives of so very many - careers, schooling, family relationships, and health, both physical and mental - has been enormous. And the economy, too, has been dealt blows not seen for several decades. But a combination of fast and severe lockdown action, and of rigorous testing, has seemingly tamed the beast. Though it is far from defeated and lurks nearby. The coming summer will challenge us to maintain social distancing and continue the other the hard grafting that led to the current position.
You will have seen and read about the calamitous bushfires that raged for almost four months earlier in the year, destroying countless hectares of bush and paddocks, hundreds of buildings and also wildlife – estimated at over one billion. Thankfully, few lives were lost – though one is too many. I recently drove through some of the burnt out and desolate landscape. Seven months on the bush is regenerating, as it has for centuries after fire, but it doesn’t require too much imagination to conjure up the sheer horror of being surrounded by fire storms consuming all before them. There is no adequate way to describe the courage of our firefighters, men and women.
Let me share a recent highlight. One morning a message appeared on my phone asking was I the Richard Smart who was at Ewell Castle in the 1950s? It was signed Bill Edeson. As I recounted in one of my bulletins, it was Bill and his fellow Australian, Peter Hunter, who featured significantly in my decision to come to Sydney. Bill was captain of school a year or so before me and a renowned athlete. He went on to an exciting legal career with the UN in Rome and now lives in Brisbane, Queensland. We have exchanged many emails and phone memories and aim to catch up now that State boundaries are being lifted.
Recently Bill sent me two photographs of the entire school taken in summer 1954, a few months before I joined, and summer 1957. They are panoramas and shot on the lawn in front of the school. As a youngster I was a chorister and so the tunes of hundreds of hymns are imbedded in my mind. One of them has the verse “Time like an ever-rolling stream bears all its sons away, they fly forgotten as a dream dies at the opening day”. When I looked at the 1957 photograph the exact opposite occurred: in amongst row after row of students were the familiar faces of boys I had grown up with; far from “fly forgotten at the opening day”, memories flowed. And in the front rows were masters who had played such an important part in my young life – New Zealander Peter Wilson, an excellent teacher of English, Jack Hughes from the USA, another excellent teacher and musician, Terry Barnes teacher par excellence and Middlesex CCC connoisseur, and Geoff Coles, athlete, car enthusiast and gentle encourager of the less talented.
And so worldwide we head towards the end of 2020 with perhaps more optimism, that COVID-19 can be controlled and the vast social iniquities it has revealed be addressed. And in January 2021 the presidency of the beyond awful Donald Trump, the turkey of a President, will finally be cooked.
Here summer is around the corner and as I type the cicadas herald the end of two very hot days. A southerly change has dropped the temperature by 16 degrees in an hour. Bushfires on the outskirts of the city and it’s still only spring. The one-day international cricket series against India is underway, and guess who’s scored successive hundreds. Yes, Steve Smith – remember him…?
By Richard Smart
Treat yourselves this Christmas or ask a loved one to buy you one of our brand new OE golf-style storm umbrellas. Details: 30 inch storm proof navy and white panneled umbrella with a fibreglass shaft and thick fibreglass ribs, a rubbertised pistol grip handle and a soft feel poly pongee canopy. Open size 1300mm wide x 975mm high. Price £21 includes UK postage and packaging as well as a protective tube and signed delivery. Overseas shipping can be quoted individually. Email Carol at oldewellians@ewellcastle.co.uk to place your order. Payment via bank transfer to the Ewell Castle School bank account 30357960 and sort code 20-29-90 ref Umbrella.
As reported in our last bulletin sadly Angus passed away in October. His sudden death was a big shock and it is very sad for his wife, his children and all the OE’s who knew him well.
When his school closed Angus went to Ewell Castle (EC) to finish his education. He only attended EC for a short time but he certainly made his presence felt particularly on the football pitch.
In the 10 years after he left the Castle, Angus played over 200 games for the OE’s team, scored over 100 goals and he only stopped playing because his job took him to another part of the country. During that time he made many good friends (both on the field and socially at the Spring which in the 60/70’s was our adopted home) and many of those friendships lasted over 50 years.
One OE he met during this time was Steve Atterbury (who passed away in October 2019) who introduced Angus to his sister Felicity and they started going out together, We knew the relationship was getting serious when she came to watch him play football on some very cold and windy days. They married in September 1973 and were blessed with the birth of Sarah in September 1976 and Jeremy in August 1979.
After leaving EC Angus went to work for Courage Brewers initially in London and later on in Norwich. He particularly enjoyed his time in Norwich, but the constant late nights and their desire to spend more time with their children made them re-access their lifestyle. So after 20 years he left Courage and they acquired a Post Office and village stores in Heytesbury in Wiltshire. They ran that business until 2003 when they converted the house and successfully ran a bed and breakfast until they retired a couple of years ago.
Football was his passion throughout his life and those who either attended, or saw his funeral online, were not surprised to see a football and the mighty Spurs logo embossed on his coffin and in the Order of Service. Attendees were also reminded of his love for music during the service when we heard from The Beatles, Coldplay, Fleetwood Mac and The Rolling Stones.
Despite being 100 miles away Angus was an avid reader of our termly bulletin’s to check the latest news and he would attend at least one OE’s event each year to meet up with old friends.
In addition Angus remained very close friends with Stuart Cox, Paul Stainer, Ian Hemple and Colin Griffith who have written this tribute, and Mike Schofield who sadly passed away earlier this year.
We will always remember Angus as a loyal friend, a very sociable guy who was always up for some good hearted banter especially if you dared to support any team other than Spurs.
Angus – RIP
Get in touch if you're trying to re-connect with lost school friends & we'll try and help via the alumni database. If you know Michael Micklewright (ECS 1972-1976 & cricket captain) please ask him to contact Carol at oldewellians@ewellcastle.co.uk - we'd like to help an OE friend (now back from Hong Kong) get in touch with him. Please keep us updated if you change email address or move house so we can update the alumni database.