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Jonty Gillingham’s Gap Year – OSA travel scholarship

In August 2016 I travelled to Kenya to volunteer in the PE and Games department of Braeburn School, Nairobi. The Braeburn School franchise stretches across East Africa, from Kenya to Tanzania. The primary school where I spent the majority of my time has 850 pupils, so it’s bigger than Scarborough, but very similar in other ways. Braeburn has great staff in the PE department and a fantastic senior team devoted to taking the school forward. Its students are keen and committed to learning.

Beyond Braeburn school, I also volunteered in Upendo orphanage in the local slum, Kawangware. Upendo means ‘love’ in Swahili and describes the orphanage perfectly. The Upendo children live in awful conditions; sometimes they have nothing to eat and drink. However, they are some of the most cheerful and loving children I’ve met. All they really want is the opportunity to go to school and learn.

Kenya is absolutely beautiful, with so many fantastic places to visit across the country: from the hustle and bustle of Nairobi to the Maasai Mara. My personal favourites were Diani and Watamu on the coast.

Taking a gap year was one of the best decisions I have ever made. If anyone reading this is debating whether or not to take a gap year and go abroad, my advice is: do it. Whether it’s abroad or closer to home you won’t regret it.

Massive thanks to the Old Scardeburgians’  Association for the generous grant which allowed me to have one of the most rewarding years in my life. I will never forget it.

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Joe Barker – Hockey Success

Joe Barker was captain of the Scarborough College Boys’ Hockey 1st XI and now plays for the Scottish U21 men’s hockey squad. He’s been selected for the European Championships in July and won sponsorship from Grays Hockey.

Joe’s been training with the Scotland squad at the national hockey centres in Glasgow and Edinburgh since September 2015. He made his debut for the Scottish U21 squad with a comfortable 7-0 win against Cyprus 1st XI in April 2017. Meanwhile, he’s completed the second year of his scholarship programme in Sports Coaching and Physical Education at the University of Worcester, where he is vice-captain of the University men’s hockey 1st XI and head coach for the University Ladies’ 2nd XI. Joe also plays for Worcester City Men’s 1st XI in the Midland Premiership on weekends.

Recently, Joe was selected for the English Universities squad and appointed to its ‘Leadership Group’. Just one week after his international debut for Scotland’s U21 team, Joe played for English Universities against the Scottish and Welsh Universities teams.

Joe has been nominated for University of Worcester’s Male Athlete of the Year award 2016/17.

Unfortunately he can’t attend the ceremony if he wins because he’s collecting his Gold Duke of Edinburgh award at Buckingham Palace the same day.

Many congratulations Joe!

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The OSA School Shop & Archives

Thanks to Mrs Pippa Harker, OSA Secretary, the School Shop and OSA Archives has now been running for a school year

To any OSA members who are passing, please let us know and we will gladly arrange for you to visit the shop and archives. Our fantastic team are working hard to get the archives up to date and stored digitally. Listings so far can be accessed via the new OSA website www.scarboroughcollegeosa.co.uk – click on the Archives tab.

We need your photos, magazines, and memories to make sure we never lose the ‘good old days’. Don’t throw it away, please send it our way! We’d love to look after your old blazers, ties, badges and caps, production posters, programmes, hymn books and Blue Books. Please send them in. Let us make a home for your memories and preserve them for future generations.

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From Hong Kong to Scarborough

Venus Law came to Willersley from Hong Kong aged just 11 in 2000, with very little English, and left  in 2007 returning to Hong Kong to attend University . She now teaches English in Hong Kong. Jacky Ng, who is now her fiancé and husband to be was a boarder at Weaponness from 2000 until 2005. He attended Bradford University studying Economics and now works for HSBC in Investments Marketing, in Hong Kong. Both have very fond memories of their time at College. They spoke very warmly of their time at School in particular their teachers – especially Mrs More, Mrs Sleightholme and Mrs Mack.

They had returned to Scarborough to take their engagement photographs in a variety of locations. Jacky stated and Venus nodded in agreement that they would like to return to live in Scarborough when they retire! They are getting married in Hong Kong in December.

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Apprenticeship opportunities – Phoenix Software Ltd

Phoenix Software Ltd are currently in the process of looking for apprentices to join their technical areas. The positions are:

Technical Support Apprentice – based in the Service Desk specialising in Cloud/365

Testing Apprentice – aligned to the Systems Development team in a testing capacity

Are you aware of or do you know of any school leavers that would be interested in entering a formal technical apprentice scheme?

Phoenix understand the kind of good quality, well rounded students that Scarborough College produces especially as the Managing Director, Mrs Sam Mudd, is herself an OS, along with a number of other OSs who also work at Phoenix Software Ltd.

If you would like more information, please download the job specifications and contact:

Trevor Hutchinson | Administration Manager | Phoenix Software Ltd | Blenheim House | York Road | Pocklington | York | YO42 1NS

DDi: (+44) 1904 562293 | Main: (+44) 1904 562200 | Fax: (+44) 1904 562266 | e: trevor-hutchinson@phoenixs.co.uk | w: www.phoenixs.co.uk

Phoenix Software specialises in end-to-end IT infrastructure solutions including hardware and devices, managed services, cloud services, data storage, data centre infrastructure management, end user computing, enterprise software, servers, network security, unified communications and virtualisation.

Fehler: Greg (1966 – 1969)

I was a boarder in College House, initially in the large dorm above the Library – with no heating! I clearly remember icicles on the inner window ledges, and running the ‘gauntlet’ whilst being hit with anything from pillows to coat hangers ( it really depended on whether you were liked or not). I was then moved to a smaller room above the Headmaster’s house near the sick bay; I shared this with 3 or 4 others. One memory of this small dorm was having a pillow fight and my pillow went out of the window into the Head’s garden. Retrieving it at night was quite dramatic exercise for a 15 year old, particularly as the Head was having a dinner party and the pillow was beneath a bay window.

We were encouraged to take part in Orienteering which I thoroughly enjoyed and this lead to taking part in the Lyke Wake Walk which on one occasion resulted in falling asleep in a stream after 17 hours of walking through the night to Ravenscar! It was at Scarborough College that I developed a fondness for running (something which I have only given up in the last 10 years ) this liking was accelerated by the fact that rugby was the alternative! My times there didn’t result in great exam results but definitely helped me mature as a person and budget especially after having spent all my ‘pocket money‘ by half term.

Having failed all my O Levels at Scarborough (but having had a great time!) my father moved me back nearer home as a day boy where I got 6 O Levels the following year and decide that catering was to be my career path (after failing Maths 4 times )

Went to Huddersfield Polytechnic where I passed an Ordinary National Diploma in Hotel Management. Joined THF as a management trainee moving around the country in various Post Houses , followed by a return to Scarborough at the memorable Grand Hotel for a year – a great Summer in 1976 .

Various roles within the hotel industry with Grand Metropolitan , Queens Moat Houses , Marston Hotels and Menzies Hotels including a short spell in the Caribbean have resulted in me now working in Devon as Resort Director at the 5 Star Bovey Castle whilst living in the Cotswolds where I hope to retire one day.

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Mount Snowdon in a Wheelchair – message from Jason Liversidge

“Just over two weeks I achieved what many people thought foolhardy, crazy or even impossible. I became the first person to reach the summit of Mount Snowdon in an electric wheelchair and I have Motor Neurone Disease! It was tough, really tough but still in comparison to the MND journey, a walk in the park. Having an amazing team behind me, lead by my amazing wife made it possible. Not to mention the inspiration given to me by Lilly and Poppy who were busy telling everyone back home that ‘Daddy’s climbing a mountain’. We would like to thank every single donor and person who has helped us raise currently £5901 of our £5k target, we are still collecting funds, so the final total is yet to be announced. We will of course publish the final figure as soon as we get it.”

More pictures and videos are available at www.makingmemories.life along with a blog update. You can still make a donation to this worthy cause.

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Dragon Boat – fund raising update

The College Dragon Boat teams (students, staff, & OSA) were fund raising, collectively, for The Rainbow Centre, The Woodlands Academy and the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

The School has strong and long term links with both the Rainbow Centre and The Woodlands Academy with staff and pupils regularly involved and supporting both places.  Many of our OSA members are keen supporters with some having benefited from the Yorkshire Air Ambulance services or who have family or friends who have in the past – you never know when you may need their help.

Many thanks to everyone involved; the total raised £795, but including Gift Aid £843.75.