Red Cross

Housemaster: Ian Pattison

Ian Pattison (left, below) joined the school in 1997 and was appointed Housemaster of Red Cross in August 2006. He is married to Janina (who also teaches at Hurst, in the Maths department.) and they have a son, Luke who was born in September 2008! Aside from Housemastering Ian teaches Chemistry and coaches Hockey. After 15 years of playing and 3 years coaching hockey in the National league he has now 'retired' from playing and coaching outside the school and prefers to spend his spare time cycling up very large mountains. A loyal Status Quo and New York Giants fan, he is hoping that son Luke either wins the Tour de France or Superbowl when he's older - no pressure then!

Red Cross is handily situated near both the dining hall and classrooms, running along the first floor of the west wing of the inner and outer quad. The different year groups are well integrated and there is a homely feel to the house, helped by the central location of the well frequented Housemaster's kitchen. The boys also have their own social areas and kitchens. The pool table is well used and the Sixth Form, who have their own social room with TV, are very generous in allowing access to the younger pupils, particularly for sports coverage.

The Red Cross House report 2009- 10

This was certainly a vintage year for Red Cross, and one that was characterised by enjoyment and success for all. 

We welcomed 13 new boys into the House in September and I’m pleased to say that they all quickly made their mark.

The Inter-House Competition during the Michaelmas term is dominated by House Music. Once again there was much debate as to the choice of House song. In the end we settled for “Wonderful World” by Sam Cooke. Lyrics like “Don’t know much about history” etc obviously apt and the simple melody and repetition of the lyrics meant it was hard to go wrong. To jazz things up a little, a harmony was created by Richard Hadfield and we ended up scoring the highest mark of any boys’ House for that section. In the Ensemble section we had the largest group who gelled together superbly to pull off the complicated “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder. Richard was joined by the usual suspects: Tom Taylor, Danny Ansell and Vittorio DeSantis  with Jasper Pickering on rhythm guitar and Charlie Shotton on Sax joining the ensemble for the first time. Tom Compton produced a great piece of artwork for the program. In the end we came 5th but our achievement was to be the top boys boarding House in a very close competition.

A big target of the term was victory in the Senior Rugby, something that had eluded us for the previous three years despite fielding strong teams. Victory over Star was followed by a nervy draw against Crescent, which meant it would probably come down to points’ difference. In the end we put in some stellar performances against the remaining Houses to be well clear by the end. It was a real House effort involving all the rugby players in the senior part of the House together with Patrick Sandys-Renton, Tom Prosser and Chris White who returned from St John’s to help out. Just to confirm our superiority this year we also won the senior 7s. The Juniors were not favourites but played brilliantly, came from behind to beat Star in the first round and nearly won but lost narrowly to Eagle, the overwhelming favourites in the final game. Rob White in the Shell supported the more experienced Rory Green and Harry Austin- Groome superbly.

In the House Water Polo we were helped in the juniors by Guy Sandys-Renton, who has played for both club and county. With his guidance and help from of our very strong junior swimmers we managed to win. The seniors came a creditable third with Tom Taylor captaining and strong performances from Sammy James and Alex Esson amongst others.

Our Drama contribution was not as successful as it might have been in terms of the competition, given the number of talented actors in the House. (We had 11 people in 6 different plays in the first term alone!). That said, it was enormously entertaining (particularly Harry Spencer Phillips) and cleverly written and directed by Charlies Finnamore and Charlie Shotton. Perhaps next year we will have to try something terribly earnest and dull!

Top House also takes place in the Michaelmas term . We had done the double a couple of years ago and we were among the favourites again this year. In the end we stormed to victory in the seniors, winning the final by almost 200points. Ollie Meredith was joined by three members of last year’s winning junior team: Tom Hopkinson, Benjy Mason and Harry Gilchrist. We also won the Parents and friends association quiz night and then in the summer did the treble by winning the junior Top House. Benjy and Harry joined by Lewis Barnes and either Ryan Langmead or Sam Hume-Kendle. In the juniors our toughest match was against Shield in the preliminary round (they had been runners up the year before). Once we had defeated them (but only after extra time) our path to victory was very straightforward and we strolled to the title.

To emphasise the intellectual credibility of Red Cross, we also won the House Debating Competition. Last year we won our first ever match and ended up coming third. With that experience to draw on, Ollie Meredith, Alex Bergin and Charlie Shotton narrowly beat Martlet,Woodard and Eagle (arguing against exams and for identity cards along the way). The quality of debating from all teams was very high and there was only ever a couple of points in it.

The final of the Debating Competition took place on the same day as the senior House Hockey. Both Hockey competitions were very closely fought this year. We only managed 3rd and 4th this time. It was our inability to score goals that cost us dear since in all other respects we were a fine match for every other team in the competition. A 0-0 draw against Eagle for both seniors and juniors cost us at least a place in both competitions. Charlie Hills and Freddie Crouch for the seniors and Brad Gaylor and Ed Wiltshire for the juniors worked extremely hard. Better was to come from the swimmers.  Some courageous swimming in the final relay of the seniors secured us a crucial 3rd place. Rob Noble, Sam Burrows and James Taylor joining some more established swimmers. Our Juniors had been doing some pre-competition training and were overwhelming favourites. Harry Gardiner, and Henry Dayus were the stars ably supported by Ed Cresswell.

The summer term brought House competitions to a climax. We managed 4th in the senior Tennis but beat our main rivals. Glen Bridges helped us to 3rd in the Golf in a very tight competition. The Junior Tennis team of Ollie Brown and Benjy Mason swept all before them to win. Both cricket competitions were very exciting contests that were sadly mired in controversy! Both games against Eagle were declared ties after umpiring confusions over rules! Thankfully the competition ended on happier notes as we beat the favourites Star in the final game, Tom Denman producing a fine bowling display in his only game at Hurst, and tied with Star in the juniors as Jack Cumming produced a “dot ball” with Star needing only 1 to win to claim 3rd place. Both competitions were decided in the final games with positions changing all the time as games progressed.

The Athletics brought things to a close. For the third year in a row we took the overall title! The Juniors tied for first with Eagle, the inters came second and the seniors won outright giving us a comfortable win. For the seniors Conor Walker-Simms, Charlie Hills and Harry Woolgrove were stars but Eddie Howard and Ollie Meredith were the surprise packages! For the inters Richard Hadfield won both his events and George Snow ran courageously having just returned from D of E! Jamie Gache also stepped in to pick up valuable points and in the Juniors Tom Compton won best athlete, Rupert Harrison and Charlie Oldham winning events.

 Our scores from the House competitions mentioned plus points awarded for Academic ranking each term, CCF, prizes and pints earned by individuals throughout the year were all factored into the overall House Cup competition.

This year we won!

And that was down to the hard work and talent of every member of the House, so congratulations to each and every member of Red Cross.

I would also like to add that it was great to see so many Red Cross boys involved in every aspect of School life.

My thanks also to Jon Scott, Simon Poole and Martyn May as Tutors, Sharon and Liz as Matrons, Brian for keeping the place clean and of course Mrs J for helping look after all the boys.