50 years on

4 July 2010

50 years on

On Sunday 4 July LGS Parents' Association celebrated its 50th Anniversary with a reception and garden party in the Headmaster's garden before the annual Al Fresco music festival. Nine past Presidents and over 200 people attended, including Mr Ivor Walker, the first President of the Association, who along with Mrs Jane Cole, the current President, cut a commemorative cake. Musicians from the Music School entertained the guests with a varied selection of piano pieces. We wish the PA all the very best for the next 50 years and pass on our gratitude for all the magnificent work they do for the benefit of the boys at Loughborough Grammar School.

Joe de Bono

30 June 2010

Junior Prize Giving

Junior Prize Giving saw one of school's best chemists return 17 years after he left. Dr Joe de Bono is Senior Fellow and Consultant in electro-physiology at the Heart Hospital, London and John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford specialising in heart rhythm management, effectively 'rewiring' peoples' hearts. He used his 'bed side manner' to good effect as he talked with the prize-winners and looked at a selection of their work for over an hour. One thing that really impressed him was the standard of handwriting and presentation - when he was a boy at the school, his was awful!

Sir Garfield Sobers

29 June 2010

Hit for six, six, six, six,six, six

One of the world's greatest cricketers, Sir Garfield Sobers, visited the school to talk with the School's cricketers. After detailing the structure and purpose of his tournament for schools in Barbados he answered questions on a wide variety of topics ranging from his schoolboy experience to the role of T20 in test cricket. Inevitably he was asked about his six 6's where he explained that he never set out to achieve that feat but after hitting the first five balls for six he was determined to be successful with the 6th. Afterwards he spent 15 minutes signing boys' bats

Cream Teas

25 June 2010

Cream Teas

This year's VSU Summer Outing was to Sudbury Hall and The Museum of Childhood, one of the National Trust properties in Derbyshire. We took 33 local senior citizens, some of whom had previously worked at the school and a group of Year 12 boys. Our guests enjoyed sharing memories of their childhood, and some were involved in a Victorian lesson. The excellent afternoon ended with the traditional cream tea for the guests and their helpers.

A Steamy Affair

15 June 2010

Cuckoos in the Nest

The traditional themed lunch to mark the launch of the annual Whole School Book saw the dining hall ladies re-creating the 1950s with their aprons, headscarves and rollers, serving up the typical food of the day – spam fritters, corned beef hash, tinned peaches and trifle. The chosen book, Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham, was published in the Fifties, and tells the story of alien children born into a sleepy English village. Sinister events and tragic deaths are a daily occurrence, but can anyone get rid of the "cuckoos"?

Sri Lanka

25 May 2010

Facelift

Our school in Sri Lanka at Batukanaththa has assumed a new identity under its brilliant facelift. A local Sri Lankan artist offered his services and what an amazing job he did. The outside of the building has been transformed with quotations, flags and other cultural symbols, as well as number puzzles, games and other elements to keep the children amused. This is only part of our ongoing commitment which, thanks to the generosity of the boys, along with help from the High School and Fairfield, continues to provide books and equipment, uniforms, shoes and food for the children and their families. A truly heart-warming story!

High Standard

19 May 2010

On Parade

The CCF's annual Review and parade was highly praised by the inspecting officer Lady Gretton, Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire. She was greatly impressed by the turn out of the cadets, and after inspecting the massed ranks, she enjoyed the gun run (won for the fourth year running by the Navy Section) and the demonstrations of the activities such as climbing, sailing and engineering.

Crowds gather for the result

6 May 2010

It's a Green Day

The LES alternative General Election 2010 results have been anounced. After a very close run election the result hung on just a couple of votes. The returning officer announced the result in front of a large crowd of pupils and staff from both the High School and Grammar School. The popular choice proved to be the Green Party with 30.1% of the overall vote, see below for the full result.

Green Party 377 Votes 30.1%

Conservatives 375 Votes 30%

Liberal Democrats 240 Votes 19.2%

Labour 149 Votes 11.9%

UKIP 97 Votes 7.7%

Today's the Day

6 May 2010

Today's the Day

At 11.15am sharp the polling stations at LES opened with the Orangery proving to be the station of choice for many of the electorate who were seen rushing to cast their hard fought for vote. Several of the candidates were seen amongst the throng perhaps gathering a few undecideds into their fold at the last minute – signs of desperation or simply a popular candidate thanking his followers? Early signs are that it is too close to call at this stage, but all will be revealed at around 11.15am tomorrow – watch this space!

Vote! Vote! Vote!

5 May 2010

Vote! Vote! Vote!

With the televised debates over, and the General election looming, the LES mock election debate took place in Friday's assembly. In this crucial political litmus test into the voting sympathies of all LGS and LHS pupils, our five sixth form Politics student-candidates - Dom Leverment (Year 12, Lib Dems), Talal Husseini (Year 13, Greens), Will Orson (Year 12, Con), Alex Blackhall (Year 13, UKIP) and Shyam Thakrar (Year 13, Lab) - faced questions ranging from national defence, immigration, education to the worth of leadership debates in modern elections. All conducted convincing arguments based upon actual party manifestos in what was concluded to be still an open-ended race and a great day for democracy in the Endowed Schools.

Money Makers

1 May 2010

Money Makers

The LGS team of Chiraag Thakrar, Vishal Dhutia, Raminder Poonian, and Ravi Khiroya was one of 10,000 who entered the Student Investor Challenge. After early rounds which involved investing virtual money on the Stock Exchange, and a quiz in the Regional Final, our boys reached the National Final, held in London last week. After a Business Challenge – organising a charity event and a presentation - our team was awarded 3rd place overall, winning £1000 for the school, and £100 each for themselves.

Election Fever

29 April 2010

Election Fever

On Wednesday, the Endowed Schools' Politics Society played host to three of the candidates for the Loughborough Constituency for next week's General Election. We were pleased to welcome, from left to right on the photograph, Mr Andy Reed (Labour), Mr Mick Willis (Liberal) and Ms Nicky Morgan (Conservative), seen here with Mr Mike Dawkins, Head of Politics at LGS. We are extremely grateful that the three candidates were prepared to give us some of their very valuable time at what is clearly a very busy time for them in answering questions posed by an audience of some 180 students from the Grammar and High Schools.

Quad Trees

24 February 2010

Facelift for the Quad

The time has come, sadly, to say goodbye to the cherry trees that have graced the Quad for so many years producing their wonderful display of vibrant colours in April and May. Unfortunately, over the past few years, many of them have succumbed to disease and several have already had to be removed. All is not lost, however, and replacements have been carefully nurtured and are at this minute being planted so that in a few years time the Quad will once again burst into blossom to welcome the Summer Term.

Helping Haiti

12 February 2010

Helping Haiti

The response to the disaster in Haiti has been tremendous. Boys at LGS have come up with countless ideas for fundraising, including Cake Sales, Football tournaments, Sponsored silences (the teachers' favourite) and many more. The money is still being counted, but it is expected to run into several thousands of pounds. For more pictures of the events, click

Denton Reunion

10 February 2010

Denton Days

Sixty former staff and boarders celebrated Denton House's 50th Birthday, with a nostalgic wander through the Denton dorms before dinner and a 'Denton Quiz'.

A Warm Welcome

7 January 2010

A Warm Welcome.......

..... to our new gap year students from Down Under. Pictured here are Kristian Hopwood (on the left) from Alexandra College, Hamilton, Victoria, and Alex McCowan from Southport School, Southport, Queensland. The snowy greeting took them by surprise, considering it was 35 degrees centigrade in Australia when they left.

LES carols

16 December 2009

Christmas Inspiration

The LES Carol Service filled the impressive and atmospheric church of St. Margaret’s in Leicester with the songs, carols and music of Christmas, performed brilliantly by the musicians of the three Endowed Schools and the sell-out audience.

Toot a Flute

2 December 2009

Toot a Flute

Year 7 boy, Christopher Hill, played his flute for charity last week. He performed at the Patchings Art Centre in Nottingham, where he raised £170 in aid of the Christmas party fund for children in the Gastro-Entrology ward at the Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham.

HM in HK

23 November 2009

HM in HK

On Monday 9th November the first Hong Kong OLA Dinner was held in the Lusitano Club on Hong Kong Island. The Headmaster and his wife were present as were three members of the OLA, former parents and their guests. Mr Keith West (Old Loughburian 1950-1958) was responsible for much of the co-ordination and organisation for the evening and younger OLs Clifford Wan (1996-2002) and Matthew Yuen (1994-2001) will be assisting him in building on this splendid start. We expect that an OLA Hong Kong dinner will be a regular part of the Loughborough calendar and would ask all Hong Kong based OLs to click here for contact details ……

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Fair Fans

22 November 2009

Fair Fans

The LES fanfare of trumpets helped to open the annual Loughborough Fair.

Water to Wine

17 November 2009

Chemistry Fun

During the recent Chemistry Week, members of the department astounded the audiences by turning water into wine, and by demonstrating spontaneous combustion, screaming jelly babies and fiery serpents. There were quizzes, competitions and lectures to challenge the boys' knowledge and interest.

Christmas Child

17 November 2009

Christmas Child

Year 7 have donated 318 Christmas Shoeboxes to Operation Christmas Child, a Christian charity that sends shoeboxes full of small presents to under-privileged children in poor countries. This year our boxes are being sent to Romania. Michael Hutchinson (7NBK) deserves special mention because he produced a flier that he delivered to households in his village asking for donations. This resulted in Michael contributing 29 shoeboxes to the total – a magnificent effort. Other boys who did really well include Edward Snelling (7NBK) who contributed 20 boxes and Rahul Jassi who sent in 24.

Poppy Parade

11 November 2009

Poppy Parade

The school CCF contingent and the Corps of Drums led the parade through town to the Carillon in Queen's Park where the fallen of two World Wars were honoured in the annual Remembrance Day ceremony.

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Sixties Re-visited

8 November 2009

Sixties re-visited

The theme of this term's own clothes day was the Sixties and the Seventies.Hippies with long hair and flared trousers, tank tops and pointed shoes, shades and afro wigs – the boys turned the clock back and raised over £1000 for charity.

Chemistry Building

14 October 2009

Chemistry Building

The new Chemistry building was officially opened by Professor Robert Mair, Master of Jesus College and President of the Endowed Schools. The building was named after Mr Norman Walter, a former Headmaster of LGS, who in the 1960s encouraged the growth of science teaching, and had the old science block and Pullinger built. For a fuller report....

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Wasted

13 October 2009

Wasted

The "Wasted" road show came to the Hodson Hall last week – a presentation for all LES sixth formers on the dangers of reckless driving, especially amongst young people. From 1st January 2004 to the end of September 2008, there have been 86 fatal, 361 serious injury and 3,917 injury collisions involving young drivers. The presentation mixes film with a live, interactive dramatic performance and is based on a real incident which occurred in Ratby, Leicestershire in 2006. The incident resulted in the tragic death of Hannah Barnsley, aged just 15 years old, two other passengers suffered severe injuries and the driver was convicted of causing death by dangerous driving.

Everybody Needs Good Neighbours

6 October 2009

Everybody Needs Good Neighbours

For 42 Years from 1956 to 1998 Con & Dora Van der Feltz lived on the edge of the school in Friesland House. For most of that time the boarders of Red House lived next door and so there was no peace in the evenings, either, and they seemed to spend most of their time returning balls back into Red House Garden! Their son, Peter, was a boy at the school from 1951 to 1962….not too far to walk in the mornings …and with the completion of the Chemistry building in their back garden he returned to plant a tree, and dedicate a plaque, in memory of his parents.

Pig Heaven

1 October 2009

Pig Heaven

The refined setting of the Headmaster's garden is the stylish new home for the LGS Four – a quartet of young pigs who will live out their days in luxury in their newly built quarters behind No. 2. Already fattening up nicely, the piggies are enjoying life behind their electrified fence, and feasting on windfall apples. Saucy!

High Flyer

30 September 2009

High Flyer

Newly promoted to lead the world famous Red Arrows, Squadron Leader Ben Murphy returned to Loughborough Grammar School this week to present the prizes at the annual Prize-giving. He was a pupil at the school until 1993, and was Cadet Warrant Officer in the RAF section of the CCF when he won his Royal Air Force flying scholarship. He flew in Newcastle University’s air squadron before joining the RAF full time in 1997. He flew Harriers in sorties over Iraq during the Gulf War and later served on operations over Afghanistan. He has amassed over 1000 hours on Harriers and will take command of the Red Arrow Aerobatic Team in 2010, his fourth year in the famous red flying suit. In his address to the School he described his love of flying as a boyhood dream, and urged the boys to chase their own ambitions, even when obstacles get in the way.

Big Picture

16 September 2009

Big Picture

The massive job of getting the whole school to smile at the same moment all went smoothly last week when the School photo was taken on the field.