Gillingham House Report:1983 1983 has been a year of both achievement and change for Gillingham. Five boys earned their colourst,hree their honours; we produced the captains of seven senior teams and the chairmen of six clubs or societies. During the year we enjoyed the services of three matrons and a new assist ant master! In January we welcomed both Mrs Michelle Strydom and Mr K. Garrett to Gillingham, hoping that their associ ation with the house would be a long and happy one. However, Mr Garrett leaves us at the end of this year to get married, so we wish him success and happiness in his new venture! Our matron of five years standing, Mrs P. Bourke, left at the end of the first term and was followed for one term only by Mrs L. Reid, who, in turn, was succeeded by Mrs H. Fiddler at the beginning of September.We wish her a long and happy stay at Gillingham, and thank Mrs N. Townshend for standing in so ably for the month of August. We knew our Housemaster, Mr R. Townshend, was getting on a bit (witness the grey hairs!) but on Speech Day we were amazed to discover that he had been at Kearsney for 25 years! Congratulations. We started the year with a bang, having Anton Maybery made Head Boy as well as captain of cricket. He has filled both these positions with distinction and we congratulate him on his highly successful year. Alan du Toit as captain of the 2nd XI and Mark Boyd for the first century in the 1st XI must also be congratulated. John Wannenburgh stood as the 2nd XI umpire. Once again our aquatic aspirations were sunk by Pembroke and Finningley and we ended up a spirited third! However, Dicks made quite a splash as U15 waterpolo captain,and Kruger and I. Dunlop played for the first team. During the winter terms I. Dunlop, A. Maybery and A. Sutton played 1st XV while M. Boyd captained the 2nd team. L. Swanepoel was touch-judge for the 1st term. The hockey scene was rosier with C. Muirhead, K. Robinson, D. Simpson, C. Ellis-Cole, G. Hooper and B. Hulett all play ing 1st XI. C. Ellis-Cole played for both the D & D U15 and open teams. In the same game, but on wheels, 8. Louw played for the Natal mens' Roller Hockey team. M. Nazar captained the school 2nd XI. On Sports Day the Gillingham team did very well indeed. B. Hulett was awarded colours for his excellent perform ance and other up-and-coming athletes to catch the eye were: Hanbury-King, Jordan, Theunissen, Tromp and Graham M. who ran the U14 1500m for Natal. Guy Bennett the Kearsney cross-country captain was again awarded his colours and ran for the Natal "B"team. D. Meaker seemed to have his eye firmly fixed to a lens this year as vice-captain of the shooting team and chairman of the photographic society. A. Veen shot himself into the position of Junior Champion this year! A. Davidson (form 4) excelled himself to become senior tennis champion. On the cultural side, Gillingham boys were well repre sented. Bruce Hulett chaired both the Mountain Club and Wildlife Society. Anton Maybery was chairman of the Senior Scientific Society and Prime Minister in the Kearsney Parliament while J. Bennett besides being chair man of the Mathematics Society, was also captain of both the Chess and Bridge Clubs. Guy Brokensha did a good job as secretary of the Wildlife Society. Paul Senior represented the school at the J.H. Hofmeyr Speech competition. Blankertz and Wannenburgh talked their way into second m m 9 mm Gillingham House place in the inter-house speech contest. L. Swanepoel who produced "School for Witches" during the first term succeeded remarkably well in trying to get the entire house involved in a stage production .. . who knows what talent will emerge next year as a result? Malcolm Hilton took the title role in "Tom Sawyer" and other main parts went to Sean Blankertz, Andrew Murphie, Rowan Thompson,John Wannenburgh and Craig Lowe. In the third term Rowan pompson excelled as the lead in Terrance Rattigan's "Adventure Story". Paul Senior, Alistair Walters, John Wannenburgh, Ivan Dunlop and Mark Erikson also took part in this production. On Friday nights our Bible Study gathering in the Senior Reading room proved very popular indeed, attracting boys from all over the school. M.J. Glutz, G. Karlson and G. Stanek were responsible for running the Haley House guild and did a lot of good work there. Some of our fellows achieved highly in the academic field. Guy Bennett and Jeremy Bennett reached the top 100 in the Science and Maths Olympiads respectively. In the inter-school Mini-Maths Olympiad Jeremy Bennett, Luc Swanepoel and Paul Senior won the competition for Kearsney. Alan du Toit, Kenneth Mercer and Jack Wieland were awarded their academic colours. Swanepoel (Dux of school), Bennett J., and Senior received their academic honours awards on Speech Day and together walked off with ten out of the thirteen prizes awarded. Well done! We are proud of you. Finally, we would like to wish next year's prefects and the whole House as successful and enjoyable a year as ours. P.S.: From the Housemaster: I would like to thank the prefects Peter Botes(Head), Guy Bennett, Mark Boyd, Ivan Dunlop and Luc Swanepoel for all the hard work they put in this year; Paul Senior and John Wannenburgh for their efforts in the compiling of this report and especially all the members of Gillingham, from youngest to oldest, who made this such a rewarding and happy year. & m i, Hi im-i ! il: t> After tuneft, Gillingftam dinirig hall 14
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