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National School's Athletics competitors |
| Emma Selby (left) and Lizzie Wesley (right) have just competed at the National School’s Athletics event at Birmingham. 14-year-old Emma is a high jumper and managed to be the Devon Champion with a jump of 1.25m. This was above the qualifying height which gave her automatic entry to the Nationals. 15-year-old Lizzie is an 80m Hurdler and this was her second time at the Nationals having competed last year. Lizzie has also attended a coaching school with former decathlete Daly Thompson, and hopes to build on last years’ silver medal. |
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Blundell's Devon U14 Champs |
| Following the success of the U15 team, the Blundell’s U14 s have just triumphed in the final of the Devon Schools cup. In the early rounds they had convincing wins over Clyst Vale, and Uffculme. In the quarter final they beat Exeter School by 150 runs before beating Churston Ferrers by 140 runs in the semi final. This set up a final spot versus West Buckland at Exmouth Cricket club. Despite the weather the Blundellians, led by Zach Bess, piled on the runs and scored 226-6 in their 20 overs. Top scorer was Freddie Gabbitass with 47 with Jack Lilly d’Cruz and Archie Christie both with 41. In reply West Buckland struggled against some tight bowling and excellent fielding. The pick of the bowling was Gabbitass with figures of four overs, one wicket for six runs. With wickets from Guy Caltworthy, Ned Menheneott and Will Yard the West Buckland innings collapsed to 56 all out giving the Blundellians victory. Gabbitass was made man of the match by the independent umpires. |
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Sponsored Swim |
| Pupils took part in a recent sponsored swim in aid of the Lincoln College Holiday Trust. The trust is run by students of Lincoln College Oxford in order to give summer holidays to underprivileged children from the Oxford area. Organiser John Brigden reported that the swimmers aged from six to sixty, and covered a distance equivalent to a return swim across the Channel. In doing so they raised over £700. |
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Sponsored Walk |
| Pictured are members of Year 10 from Blundell's School before they departed on their annual sponsored walk. The walk was to raise funds for Dr Barnardos and also the Tiverton Adventure Playground. The students managed to walk from Burlescombe along the Great Western Canal back to Tiverton. This is about ten miles and they hope to have raised several hundred pounds for both good causes. Headmaster Ian Davenport said he was pleased with the pupils' efforts and hoped that it would strengthen the relationship between the Tiverton community and the School. |
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Save The children Fundraising Tennis Tournament |
| Pictured the winners of the Junior section of a recent tennis tournament held at Blundell's School. The Tournament was organised by teacher Alison Frankpitt in order to raise funds for Save the Children. Despite atrocious weather the Juniors managed to raise £1000 and the Seniors raised £500. The players pictured from left to right are 13year old Sam Kingston, Charlotte Routledge, Milly Maunder and Harry Konig. The senior winners were Bruce Wheatley and Sue Norman. Mrs Frankpitt was amazed at the response and pleased that so many people battled the conditions to make the event such a success. |
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Devon Cricket Champions |
| Pictured the Blundell’s School U15 cricket squad. The boys have just completed a remarkable run in the Devon Schools Cup. In the early rounds of the tournament they despatched St Peters’ Exeter by 7 wickets and King’s Ottery by 9 wickets. This produced a quarter final versus Exeter School. On a tricky wicket the openers batted well and soon amassed a total of 50 before some big hitting from Barney Loader helped the score to 131-5. In the field they got the Exeter openers out cheaply and then took regular wickets to restrict Exeter to 95, Andrew Longstreet taking 3 wickets for 20. The semi final was then played against Plymouth College. Again the Blundellians built up a large score of 158 in twenty overs, Hugh Mc Dowell scoring 66. Tight bowling from Harry Acfield with 3 wickets and some exceptional fielding restricted Plymouth to just 94. This set up the final against Okehampton Community College played at Plympton. In humid conditions the opening pair of Hugh McDowell (131) and Matt Kvesic (58) scored an enormous total of 202 and remained at the crease for the full number of overs. In response Okehampton produced a spirited reply and due to our less than elegant fielding they reached a total of 140 for 8, but victory went to Blundell’s. |
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Hospitality Day at the Cricket |
| On Weds 6th June the Cricket Club held a hospitality day to thank those people who have generously supported school cricket this year. Many thanks must go to Mr Andrew Saunders of Ford, Gilpin Riley Architects who kindly sponsored our tour to India, Mr Nigel Gulliford of Westford Mechanicals who sponsored our ties, and to Mr Euan Roberts of ARC Taunton Ltd who sponsored our Development XI on the recent tour to Guernsey. These sponsors attended a pre-match lunch held in the Beale Centre in their honour, and are pictured here with the 1st XI just before their fixture with Devon Dumplings. This event was our way of expressing our gratitude, and saying a big 'Thank You!' |
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Cricket Sale |
| As part of our recent hospitality day Mr. Mike Burns of Bradbury and Mr. Kevin Sedgebear of Somerset County Sports held a successful clothing and equipment sale at the school. Our thanks must go to them for their continued support of cricket at the school. Pictured are some of our pupils sampling some of the equipment on offer. |
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Blundell's Blue Peter appeal |
| Gap student Jarred Swanepool and members of years 7 and 8 at Blundell’s School have been collecting footwear over the last few weeks in response to the Blue Peter Shoebiz appeal. The shoes, sandals, trainers, football boots etc are all going towards raising money for children in Malawi. So far the appeal has collected over a million pairs and the Blundellians have managed to collect over 25 bin liners of shoes to add to the pile. Chief coordinator, Eve Jardine Young, said she had been amazed at the response and hoped that they could collect even more shoes before the appeal closed. |
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Lizzie attends training course with Daly Thompson |
| Pictured, Lizzie Wessely from Ashbrittle. Fifteen year old Lizzie has just been on a training course with former Olympic Gold medallist, decathlete Daly Thompson. Lizzie is an eighty metre hurdler and has represented Devon at all ages. Last year she qualified for the National Schools event at Gateshead and in this she managed to win the silver medal in a time of 11.26 seconds. As a result she was invited to attend the course and during her time she was put through her paces and picked up many useful training techniques and advice about diet which she hopes to put into practice on the track this summer. Lizzie had the opportunity to talk to Daly about his experiences and she said it was a great opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the best athletes in the world. |
