Town Close House

The Under 13 Girls Hockey Team enjoyed a successful day at the inaugural Bedford Modern Hockey Tournament, finishing as Runners Up.

In their group matches they began with a fine 5-1 win against Ipswich School, but started their second game very slowly against a strong Swanbourne House side. After five minutes they were 3-0 down and despite an encouraging comeback, eventually lost 2-3.

They won their last two group matches against Wisbech Grammar School (2-1) and Bancroft’s School (5-0) to finish second in the group.

This set up a semi final against Felsted School, who had easily won their group scoring over 20 goals in the process.

However, Town Close rose to the challenge and produced their best performance of the day to win the match 2-1.

In the final they came up against Swanbourne House again and at the end of full time and extra time the score was locked at 0-0. Eventually Town Close lost on penalties, but the girls had played extremely well throughout the day and used the tournament as great preparation for the IAPS regional finals this Friday.

Town Close Athletics Stars Shine bright at the National Prep Schools Athletics Finals at Birmingham.

Ben Dugdale, Tom Huckerby and Abby Gooderham all represented the East Area in the National Athletics Finals at the Alexander Stadium, Birmingham. Abby Gooderham is National Champion in the Under 12 girls Javelin with a winning throw of 20m 78cms. Thomas Huckerby is Under 12 National Long Jump Champion with a personal best of 4m 55cm. Ben Dugdale came 9th in the 100m sprint with a very strong 14.52 secs. Tom Huckerby finished in 6th place in the 1500m recording a personal best of 5 mins.03 secs.

All three were superb all day and we are all extremely proud of their efforts and achievements.

Four girls represented Town Close at the U.13 annual tennis festival at Brandeston Hall on Thursday 23rd June and the standard of tennis was extremely high.

The team was Maria Andrews, Abby Gooderham, Joy Andrews and Victoria Howell.

It was a knock out tournament and the girls had to play singles. Our first match was against Culford who won the tournament last year. Town Close won convincingly 4-0. They then played Brandeston Hall and won 3-1. That meant we were through to the final against Amberfield and we drew 2 -2. The two matches lost were extremely close and only lost in the final set after a tie break. Joy Andrews won her match despite losing to the same girl last year. This was a draw which meant there had to be a play off to decide a winning team. Two girls played singles and two played doubles and it was our choice as to who played what. We kept Maria as our number 1 singles and Victoria played no 2 singles. Joy and Abby played together in the doubles. Maria won her singles comfortably playing the number 2 seed from Amberfield. Victoria had a much tougher match and lost to their number 3 seed. This meant it was still a tie and depended on the doubles result. They had to play a tie break to 10 points and at one stage we were 7-9 down match point to Amberfield!! It was a nail biting finish and spectators were on the edge of their seats as we then won the next two points making the score 9-9! The girls then played brilliantly and finished winning 11-9 making Town Close overall winners of the competition. Organisers of the competition said it was the closest finish they had ever had in the 8 years the tournament has been running and the standard was the best ever too.

Well done to the girls, they were a credit to the School and thoroughly deserved to win the trophy.

The Town Close House 1st XI cricket team have reached the quarter-finals of the National JET Cup competition following an impressive seven wicket victory over Holmwood house from Essex. Coached by former Norfolk captain, Mr Paul Newman, the team have enjoyed an unbeaten run of matches since the start of the season, including victories over Norwich School, Beeston Hall and Langley. Congratulations to the 1st XI, and we wish them luck in their quarter-final match, due to be played after half term.

The Under 13 Boys Mini Hockey team travelled to Millfield School in Somerset on Tuesday for the IAPS National finals and did superbly well to come away with medals, having reached the Plate Final.

They began the day with group matches against Bromsgrove and Culford, the two schools which later in the day contested the National Final and narrowly lost both games 0-1. The boys were unfortunate to lose both of these, but showed a good quality of play. In their next match against Hazlegrove, they played with great determination and scored early on when James Hastings latched onto a pin point cross and placed the ball into the corner of the net. Hazlegrove equalised early into the second half, but Town close were not to be thwarted and after a determined tackle by captain William Hunt, they launched a fast counter attack and Joe Hill scored the winner as the seconds were counting down for the end of the match, sealing a 2-1 win. The last group match was lost 0-3 to Parkside, which meant that Town Close had come 4th in the group and qualified for the Plate Competition.

The quarter final was against Felsted School and the boys began the match at a fast pace, scoring 3 easrly goals. Felsted then began to fight back and eventually levelled the scores with three minutes to go. Town Close went on the attack and earned a short corner in the last minute. William Hunt stepped up and smashed the ball into the corner of the net for an excellent 4-3 win.

In the semi final against Forres Sandle Manor School from Hampshire, it was again a tight affair and after extra time the teams were locked at one goal each. The match then went to penalties. After three penalties each it was 3-3, which meant that it went to sudden death. Lyam Thorpe in goal made a vital save and then Alex Levinson fired the ball into the corner to seal the win and a place in the final.

Millfield were the opposition and again the match went to extra time with the score at 1-1 at the end of normal time. The play went from one end to the other, with both sides having chances to win the match, but it was Millfield who scored the winning goal with one minute of play remaining.

Despite losing, the boys were not disheartened and were delighted to receive their runners up medals. A great overall performance from all the team, who showed that they can compete with some of the best prep schools in the country. Well done to everyone.

Squad: Lyam Thorpe, Alex Levinson, Ben Carding, James Hastings, William Garson, William Hunt (capt), Cameron Greenhall, Sam Paterson, Joe Hill and Eddie Martin.

Last Sunday, the Colts travelled to Bristol for the IAPS Hockey Finals. After an overnight stay, the boys were fresh and ready for a long day of hockey against some strong schools. In our opening match, we lost 0-1 to eventual semi-finalists Dean Close. We then beat S. Anselm’s from Derbyshire 2-0 and drew with Royal Russell, Croydon, 0-0. Our final pool match was against a strong-looking St George’s, Weybridge. We were leading 2-1 with a few minutes remaining, but defensive errors allowed St George’s to score two late goals and win by 3-2.

We finished fourth in the group and qualified to play Brandeston Hall in the plate quarter final. We gave a fancied Brandeston team a scare when we took a 2-1 lead, but eventually lost 2-3, with Ben Dugdale having a goal disallowed on the final whistle. We had two further play-off matches to end the day; a 3-0 win over Foremarke and a tired-looking performance which ended in a 0-3 defeat to St Martin’s.

The boys should be very proud of their efforts in qualifying for the National Finals and for their performances on Monday at Clifton College. Their behaviour was exemplary throughout the trip and they were a real credit to the School. Well done.

The squad was as follows: Luke Trafford, Nathan Sharpe, Cameron Woodcock, Ben Watson, James Hewett, Joe Flatt, Daniel Phillips, Harry Paterson, Joshua Bailey and Ben Dugdale.

Following the IAPS tournament and the last match of the season, Colts Colours have been awarded to Ben Watson and James Hewett.

Our girls and boys enjoyed great success on a sunny Sunday at Framlingham College when they competed against runners from 25 schools located throughout the East of England.

Our girls ran brilliantly, both individually and as a team, to win the event overall. This is a quite outstanding achievement given the quality of the opposition. Our boys were placed outside the top teams but when their score was combined with that of our girls, we found that we had been placed second overall!

Well done everybody!

The standard of gymnastics was exceptionally high throughout the afternoon but, in the end, Filby House triumphed! The title of Outstanding Gymnast 2011 went to Tally Watt of Barton House. Well done, everyone!

The U9 'A' boys and girls played very well to finish as runners-up in the Felsted Hockey Tournament on Thursday 3rd March. The girls were particularly unlucky not to clinch first place, losing out narrowly to a 'golden goal' in the Final against Kingshott. Two days earlier, the Under 9 boys 'B' team had won the Beeston Hall tournament, beating both the hosts and Gresham's with some skilful hockey.

The Under 11 boys travelled to Bishop's Stortford College for the IAPS East Regional Finals on Friday 4th March. They qualified for the knock-out stages, having remained unbeaten in their six pool matches. Wins over The Abbey, Bishop’s Stortford College and Chigwell helped them through their group to face Gresham’s in the quarter finals. In a closely-fought encounter, the match was eventually decided on penalty strokes, with Town Close holding their nerve thanks to an excellent save by Luke Trafford and two successful shots by Ben Watson and Harry Paterson. We then came across Beeston Hall for the second time in the day in the semi-final. Ben Watson scored an excellent goal mid-way through the first half, following some skilful approach play from Daniel Phillips. Stout defensive work, led by the outstanding Nathan Sharpe, kept Beeston at bay, and Town Close moved forward to face Brandeston Hall in the Final. Despite losing the match 3-0, Town Close had qualified to play in the National Finals at Clifton College on March 21st. This was an outstanding team effort from all of the players and they should be very proud of their achievement.

The Under 11 and Under 13 Boys played in the Norfolk County Finals at Gresham’s on Sunday 6th March. The Under 11 team added to their success at the IAPS Regional tournament two days earlier by finishing as runners-up. The Under 13 team gained qualification for the East Finals by coming second following excellent wins over Beeston Hall (3-2), Taverham Hall (5-0) and Norwich School (4-1), and move forward to represent Norfolk at Redbridge Hockey Club on March 16th.

Thirty two of our pupils enjoyed tremendous success in a cross-country event hosted by Norwich School. Eight schools competed and Town Close teams finished in the top three in all of the age group races. In the team events we were able to celebrate four first places, two second places and two third places, which meant that all of our runners were medallists! All of our girls and boys showed a great deal of determination and thoroughly deserved their success. Their behaviour and sportsmanship were exemplary!

Under 8 Girls	Under 8 Boys
Olivia Birch Molly Carroll Poppy Wharton Victoria Garson	Tom Bailey Harry Vincent Isaac Allen Charlie Creasy
Under 9 Girls	Under 9 Boys
Aditi Naik Rachael Phillips Nadia Sharpe Lorna Gauvain	Harry Williams Max Warde-Aldam Raunaq Rai Ben Huckerby
Under 10 Girls	Under 10 Boys
Nieve Gauvain India Bussey Isabella Stephens Sarah Costello	Henry Wilson Harry Patterson James Hollinger Daniel Phillips
Under 11 Girls	Under 11 Boys
Phoebe York Matilda Warde-Aldam Abby Gooderham Victoria Findlay	Tom Huckerby Harry Shaw Leo Solloway John Mackintosh

Under 8 Girls – 3rd Team (Molly Carroll – 3rd Individual, Olivia Birch – 2nd)

Under 9 Girls – Winners Team (Aditi Naik -1st Individual, Nadia Sharpe – 3rd Individual)

Under 10 Girls – Winners Team (Sarah Costello – 1st Individual, Nieve Gauvain- 2nd Individual)

Under 11 Girls – Winners Team (Matilda Warde-Aldam – 1st individual Abby Gooderham -2nd Individual, Phoebe York – 3rd Individual)

This has been a busy term of rugby which came to rather an abrupt end when the snow and freezing temperatures arrived three weeks ago. At that point, the Under 9 teams had just recorded two excellent victories over Norwich School to continue their excellent run of form this year. Both the U9A and B teams were unbeaten. Well done to all of the boys in Year 4 for putting in so much effort into the training sessions.

The Colts have continued to win a very high percentage of their matches, with a large number of boys in Years 5 and 6 representing the School. Mr Smith mixed and matched boys in the C and D teams, and still maintained an excellent record, highlighted by tremendous wins against Gresham’s, Culford and Holmwood House. The Colts B were also very strong this year, and, on occasions, found themselves matched up against other School’s ‘A’ teams. They played some excellent rugby and a number of Year 5 boys will be looking for A team places next season. Mr Greenhall enjoyed another successful year with the Colts A team. Only two matches were lost, with notable wins against Gresham’s, Holmwood House and Brandeston Hall. An excellent team effort, and well done to all of the Colts.

The 2nd XV battled through a tough series of matches, finishing on a high note with three consecutive victories over Holmwood House, Beeston Hall and Barnardiston. Mr Kendrick was very pleased with the all-round efforts of the squad.

The 1st XV experienced a similar season, starting with a tough series of matches against some strong boarding schools. The team played with plenty of character and determination, but were often out-muscled in the forward pack. Nevertheless, we played some good rugby in the victories over Taverham Hall and South Lee. We finished the season with a well-earned win against a very physical Barnardiston Hall side.

The House matches were, as usual, very closely contested. The results were as follows:

Finally, we are very grateful to the groundsmen and catering staff at Town Close for their help in making match days run so smoothly. Thank you to all the coaches for taking the teams to various parts of East Anglia, and well done to all of the boys who have represented the School at rugby this term.

This has been a very successful term for all the hockey teams, despite being cut short by the bad weather. In all, 62 matches were played with 34 of them being won. More importantly, all the girls in Years 5 to 8 have had the opportunity to represent the school at hockey.

At Under 9 level the girls have gained valuable experience and played some attacking hockey, scoring 19 goals in their four wins. The House Competition proved to be a close run event, but was finally won by Ranworth.

In the Under 11 age group, the A and B teams enjoyed very successful terms and scored a grand total of 75 goals in their 17 matches. Abby Gooderham scored 9 of these on her own in one match. The C, D, E and F squads have worked hard in the practice sessions and have all enjoyed wins in their inter school matches. Again the House Competition was keenly contested, with Upton being victorious.

The senior teams have had a mixed season, but have played with energy and enthusiasm and recorded some excellent results. Wins against the High School in arctic conditions, and Norwich School were the most pleasing. The House competition was won convincingly by Barton who swept all before them. This result meant that the final positions for the House Competition this year were

Without doubt the highlights of the term were the performances of the girls in their Regional IAPS tournaments. The Under 13 team, in a very tough group, recorded 1 win, 2 draws and 2 losses, but improved tremendously as the day progressed.

The Under 11 team continued their good form and convincingly won their group, which meant that they successfully qualified for the National Finals coming 3rd overall in the south Region.

Pride of place, however, went to the Under 12 girls, who successfully qualified from their group to then win their semi final against a strong Marlborough team 2-0. In the Regional final they came up against rivals Gresham’s and in a tight match they came out on top to win 1-0 and become the South Champions.

Unfortunately, the bad weather meant that the National Finals could not be played, denying the girls the opportunity to compete against some of the best Prep Schools in the country.

The Under 12 Girls Hockey team went to Queenswood to play in the South and East of England Regional Prep Schools Tournament on Tuesday.

There was a terrific sense of purpose and determination. Grace Rider dominated the middle of the pitch, preventing the opposition from getting near the ball. With Flo Allen making fantastic runs up the right wing and finishing with accurate crosses to allow the forwards to finish with shots in front of goal.

As runners up they then had to play the winners of the other section in a semi-final which was against Edgeborough. The girls played their best hockey of the day and beat them convincingly 2-0.

Greshams also won their semi-final which meant we had to play them again in the final. Even though the Town Close team had extremely tired legs the girls stepped up to the mark and beat Greshams 1-0. What an achievement to be the best U12 Prep School Hockey Champions of the South and East Area. The girls will now go on to represent the region in the National Finals on Thursday.

Mr Parker and Mrs Wilcox would also like to thank the girls for their exemplary behaviour and sportsmanship throughout the whole day.

On Wednesday 24th November the U11 Girls Hockey squad travelled to Bishop’s Stortford College for the East Region IAPS Hockey Championships.

An early start and long journey contributed to a rather sluggish start to the Tournament with a 1-2 defeat to Danes Hill. This was soon rectified by a much more fluent performance in their second match beating Alleyns 1 – 0. With the wheels of victory in motion they went on to beat Forest Park 6 – 0 , Bedford Girls 1 – 0, Beeston Hall 3 – 0, and South Lee 3 – 0, to finish top of their group and qualify for the quarter Finals.

Here they faced Orwell Park and the team produced a gutsy and determined performance to win 2 -0 and qualify for the National Finals.

The Semi final against old rivals Greshams was an end to end game which resulted in a 1-3 defeat, placing us 3rd overall.

The girls played some fantastic hockey throughout this very long and cold day, and they were an absolute credit both to themselves and the school.

We wish them lots of luck for the National Finals on Wednesday and huge congratulations to the whole squad :

Jorgyella Thorpe, Alice Beckett, Jemima Fennell, Anna Tighe, Abby Gooderham, Matilda Warde- Adlam, Victoria Findlay, Evie Wills and Harriet Watts.

Town Close hosted their first tournament in the new Sports Hall when five teams played in an Under 13 boys Indoor Hockey Competition. The teams competing were Beeston Hall, Gresham’s, Taverham Hall, Town Close ‘A’ and Town Close ‘B’.

The competition was run on a round robin basis, with each team playing each other. Gresham’s came out on top at the end of the day, despite being held to a 3-3 draw by the Town Close B team.

A high standard of play was watched by a numerous parents and supporters and the whole occasion was a huge success.

A Team – Toby Ellingham, Dylan Simmons, Tom Lomax, Oscar Marshall (capt), Henry Crane, Cameron Greenhall and William Hunt.

B Team – Toby Ellingham, Cameron McFadyen, Alex Moody, Charlie Easter, Lewis Gooderham (capt), Oliver Cooley, Alex Levinson and Sebastian Sanders.

Despite the weather it has been a very successful hockey term for the boys. Fourteen teams have played nearly 70 inter school matches and this excludes the various tournaments which teams have taken part in.

At the Junior end, the Under 9A team’s highlight was in coming second in the Annual Felsted Tournament. A very successful day was enjoyed by Town Close as the Girls won their competition.

At Colts level 26 out of the 42 matches played were won, with only 11 defeats. The strength in depth at this age group was identified by the most successful team which was the ‘E’ team, winning all four of their matches scoring 17 goals and only conceding 1. The ‘A’ team suffered from a lack of practice due to the weather, although they should be pleased with their efforts in the County Mini Hockey tournament, coming 3rd.

At the senior end of the school we fielded 4 teams. The 4th team played one game and won it 7-1. The 3rd XI, despite losing 3 out of 4 matches, lost three of them 1-0 in very tight matches. The 2nd XI had some good results against Woodbridge and Culford, but let themselves down in the last fixture against Beeston suffering a heavy defeat due to poor attitude and effort.

The 1st XI enjoyed a successful season, winning 5 out of their 7 matches. Again, the weather disrupted their season, but the highlight was certainly qualifying for the National Prep Schools Finals at Millfield School, by coming second in the Eastern Area finals.

This weekend both the senior boys and girls will be taking part in the Gresham’s Hockey Festival, where more silverware will be up for grabs!

Well done to all the children who have worked hard to make this season a success. Hopefully this time next year we will have our own Astroturf surface to practise and play on!

At the recent IAPS Under 13 boys Regional Mini Hockey Tournament, Town Close played exceptionally well, qualifying for the National finals at Millfield School. In their first match against South Lee, the boys started hesitantly but soon got into their stride, scoring just before half time. Despite missing a penalty in the second half they secured a 1-0 win. In the second match, against Felsted, the team played some fine attacking hockey securing a 4-2 win. The next match, against Gresham’s, was closely fought, but Town Close edged it by two goals to one. Against Culford the team gained revenge for a defeat earlier in the season, winning 3-1. The result of the next match against Beeston Hall would decide who would be East Champions. At half time the score was 2-2, but two injuries to key players knocked Town Close out of their stride and Beeston eventually triumphed 4-2. In the last match against Barnardiston, the team looked very tired and jaded, but came away with a 2-2 draw, securing runners up position.

Squad: Toby Ellingham, Oscar Marshall (capt), Tom Lomax, Dylan Simmons, William Hunt, Henry Crane, Cameron Greenhall, Charlie Easter and Oliver Cooley.

In the National Finals the team failed to reach the same standard of play which got them there, losing their four group games: 3-1 to Parkside, 3-1 to Dean Close, 2-1 to Taunton and 3-0 to Hazlegrove. In their last match against OBH they drew 2-2 despite dominating play and then lost on penalties.

Overall the boys should be very pleased with their achievement of reaching the National Final, mixed with the thought of “What if?”

The School is celebrating success in three recent hockey and netball tournaments that have brought regional and national recognition to their girls’ teams. The Under 11 netball side travelled to Roedean School in Brighton last Saturday to compete in the National Finals, having qualified earlier in the month in a regional tournament at Brandeston Hall, Framlingham.

A number of these girls, also part of the Under 11 hockey team, recently qualified for the ‘Yazoo’ National Mini-Hockey Championships at Queenswood School in Hertfordshire, having overcome Gresham’s School in the qualifying stages.

In addition to this, the Town Close Under 9 girls’ hockey team matched the success of the older age group with a fantastic day at the Mini-Hockey Tournament held at Felsted School, Essex, on 4th March. The girls won an exciting and well-fought final by a single goal against Kingshott School, Hitchin.

The Town Close boys have also played their part in this term’s sporting success. The Under 9 boys finished with the runners-up medals at the Felsted Hockey Tournament, whilst the Under 13 hockey team is due to make the long journey to Millfield School, in Somerset, to represent Norfolk in the National Finals this week.

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