Talbot's House

We had a fantastic Christmas dinner on the final night of term.

90 of the Talbot's family; boys, staff and parents, descended on the school's cafe bar for the Talbot's dinner this year. As ever Mr Grieve and the staff had done an amazing job, no wonder they are national award winners. Everyone also looked great in their black tie outfits and enjoyed the food and drink, especially the wine from Tizian's parents' vineyard.

During the dinner, Sam Pudylyk stood first, representing St Peter's and talked about our success in house competitions this year and the continuing tightness between the day and boarding sides of the house. It was great to have him there, along with his deputies Chris and Jayan. He was followed by Charlie who firstly gave some excellent and heartfelt thanks to Linda, Lynda, Julie and Shirley for all of their efforts cleaning and then gave his personal reflections on each of the matrons; one imagines Mrs Trigger may want to find a way to return his words next term! Charlie then added some questionable jokes about the upper sixth and some ridiculous chat about Mr Gracie's appearance. Charlie also created  some unofficial house awards of his own which hopefully won't become a tradition as he hoped, though it was excellent to see Mr Finch come close to lad colours! he and the options also chose a top bloke for the term which quite rightly went to Samuel for his warmth and willingness to get invovled and be a friend to everyone.

Mr Gracie then gave a summary of the term in numbers and handed out the term's awards which are listed below this. This paved the way for this year's guest of honour Dr Nick Hart. Not only was he head of Talbot's in 1974, he is also the father of our current head of house. It was fascinating to hear how some things have changed an awful lot and others very little. Dr Hart talked about the changes in what discipline can be carried out by boys, he was at the end of the caning era, and noted the similarities in jobs done by the boys in the house. He also recalled some of his amusing antics as a boy at the school adding that he was not, as Charlie widely reports, expelled! His taking the time to talk to us was really appreciated and an enlightening experience. His noting of greater parental involvement in the life of the house was also something Mr and Mrs G were pleased about as we are so lucky to have amazing support and involvement from so many of our parents.

The dinner was followed by the customary karaoke party and some more drinks back at the house which was a lot of fun as ever, though there were a lot of tired boys who headed to bed fairly quickly!

Awards for the Xmas term:

Star Bakers: Benno and Harun
King of Merits: Tizian
Man of the term: Harun

Alikhan in action

Thursday night saw the annual St Cecilia's concert. As ever, it was of an excellent standard and was enjoyed by all who attended. From amongst the men of Talbot's, Ben.W, Adrian and Alvin played in the second orchestra whilst Alex.S and Alikhan played in the school band. You can re-listen the whole thing from the live stream below:

This evening saw a return to Bounce with a mixture of fourth, remove and lower sixth boys. it was teenagers night would you believe which meant the lights were out and the music was pumping. There were also members of the wider house family in the form of teams Whiteman and Gracie which made for the occasional hazard as our men sped across the trampolines. Particular highlights were Curtis' flips and the hurricane simulator which gathered a lot of attention. As ever the flips into the foam pit and competitions to see who could do the biggest slam dunks were also prominent. As ever, a great night out and an excellent change of scene for everyone at a busy point in the year.

Last weekend we were celebrating the amazing efforts of Ben, Tizian and Samuel in the choir's trip to sing at the royal Albert hall. If you haven't seen it yet, they come on after about one hour and twenty minutes in the programme which you can find on iplayer HERE.

This week has also seen the main school production for the term; Journey's End. See our other blog post for the inputs of Lennart, John, Benno and Danny to this.

The weeks fly by when you're busy and having fun. this week has seen the house wine, made from the grapes in our orchard, get bottled up in demijohns to finish fermenting until it is ready early next year. Benno, Harun, Duncan and Luke have been to the fore in this.

Luke also represented the school in the senior team Maths challenge; quite an achievement.

This week saw the culmination of the marathon event that is the house fives. St Peter's fought hard to claim overall victory by one point, gaining some valuable house points in the process. This is a great joint house team effort but Nihat and Dom.K have featured heavily throughout so well done them.

In Rugby matches against Radley this weekend, the following are playing:

U14: Brady continues to be the rock in this season's successful D team while Dan.R will boss things from 9 in the B's
U15: Dan.S is a cornerstone for the D team whilst Lennart looks to make an impact in the Cs and Leon will try to overturn last year's A team loss to Radley
U16: The D team have our most representatives this week with J.Lo, Adrian, Samuel and Big Frank in the side, the C team includes Dom, the B's call on George and Sasha.P in the pack and George.S looks for tries in the A team.
In the seniors, Kighty and Charlie will hope for performances that may allow them to push for places in the 1st team squad in time for the national final while John captains the unbeaten 3rd XV which includes Ed at centre. The 4th team still has Nihat and Alex in it for some reason (wake up Mr Huddlestone) and Matthew 'the Rugby legend' plays for the fifths alongside Duncan.

In merits this week, the following have been awarded:
1:Dan, Adrian, Frank, Luke, Dom, Ben.M, Benno
2: Igor, Henry, Duncan, Hodges
3:Tizian, Samuel
8 and king of merits by miles is Harun!

There are two rooms of the week this week which are: Henderson and 17 well done to Jonny, Sasha.P, George.C, Dom.B, Samuel and Adrian.


Top bloke is Sasha.K for organising the house competitions and fetching the new playstation!

Man of the week is John for his incredible set which demonstrates all of the house values amazingly!

Lennart in action

As with many of the great things at the school, the current school play has some men of Talbot's right at the heart of it.

Lennart is cast as the German army officer and apparently has a very effective accent....

Benno and Danny have been involved in hosting at the front of house too.

These have been slightly overshadowed this time though by John's work with the set. As part of his EPQ he has designed and overseen the building of the entire set which has many intricate pieces that make it true to real trench life and reflect some of the best innovations in stage techniques. He gave a presentation on Wednesday prior to the opening night that impressed all (including 20 men of Talbot's) who were there to hear it.

This evening there is a live broadcast of the play so those of you who have not been able to make it can see Lennart and John's set in action. you can watch it in the window below:

It was hard to believe we had only been back to school for 5 days as we all met together. Everyone is back into the swing of things quickly and as ever, the lads are keeping very busy and achieving much.

There were two major achievements to be celebrated:

Firstly, Tom was called up to the England U18 Hockey squad for the second year in a row afetr leading his regional team to victory in the trials the weekend before.

Secondly, Sam, Ben.W and Tizian were all part of the choir preparing to perform at the royal Albert hall for the British Legion remembrance service.

Aside from that, Leon represented the house in the the junior badminto competition where we came third and Jonny, Fuga and Sasha.K were part of the ever improving water polo team's game against BMS.

The following were all selected for Rugby matches against Warwick:
U14 B Brady, U14B Dan, U15D Dan, U15C Lennart, U15A Leon. In the U16s the C team included J.Lo, Dom, Gulli and Sam (though he couldn't play of course!). George, Teepee and Sasha were in the B team with Sasha reminding the house he was starting this week! George.S was selected on the wing for the As. Alex.S made it into the 4ths with John and Ed part of the 3rd team's quest for an unbeaten season. Ben.K was picked for his first game of the season in the seconds alongside Harty boy.

The following merits were gained since the last Friday celebration:

1: Benno, Dan, Alikhan, Harun, Ben.K, 
2:Jonny, Ben.W, Edwin, Sam
3: Jonas, Duncan
4:Alvin
5: Stephen, Simon
7: Oscar
11 and King of merits was Luke!

This week's room of the week went to henry and Frank - great effort lads.

Top Bloke, chosen by the house options, was Tizian for his ongoing emrit accumualtions and being part of the choir for the big performance on TV.

Man of the week was Tom, not for his international callup, but the way he handles such things with humility and grace, still helps others and had been particularly charitable!

There's just a few hours left before we (hopefully) win house singing!!

For those of you who were unable to get tickets, you can watch the live stream on Bedford Schools YouTube channel.

Wish us luck!!

Apologies to all for our delay in producing blog entries over the past couple of weeks. They will be added posthumously, especially the epic karting trip.

This has been an epic week in the house, as they all are, as house singing rehearsals ramped up with our first practise in the great hall itself led by the main man - Jonny. Stephen's willingness to step in on the piano two or three times this week, no mean feat for anyone let alone a Remove former, meant he was named the options' top bloke.

We also celebrated the fact that 9 of the 16 men in the charity wheelchair racing this Sunday will be men of Talbot's.

We will have 20 of our men in Rugby matches this weekend. We are proud of them all but special mention goes to Edwin who hopes to make his debut for the school in the U15D team game. In other teams there are:
3rd - Charlie, Ed and John as captain, 4th - Alex, 5th - Matthew.
U16A - George, B - George and Sasha, C- Dom.B and Gulli, D - (our most represented team) Justin, Frank, Sam and Adrian
U15A - Leon, C - Lennart, D - Dan and Edwin
In the U14s there is Dan in the Bs and Brady in the Ds.

In merits this week, Tizian was king with 4 but there were plenty of others awarded, as below. Tizian also took on the hosue in a countries and capitals quiz. Only Nikita was able to stump him!

Merits:
1: Oscar, Jonas, Nihat, Alikhan, Harun, Simon, Jonny an Ed
2: Dan, Lennart, justin, Hodges, Ben.M
3: Luke, Fuga

This week's room of the week is Morely; well done Ben.K and Hodges

This week's man of the week is someone who cleaned the kitchen himself without being asked to and also went out of his way to help with a prep school Rugby practise, again without prompting. That man is Danny!

Last week saw us go karting in Milton Keynes. as ever the competition was fierce and we were very well looked after by the team at daytona.

The drivers aged under 16 were in a team endurance race for a full 2 hours. Everyone had half an hour on the track with varying degrees of success. The small track made for some hairy overtaking and the tyre walls were well used. The fastest drivers were Nikita, George.S and Lennart. In the end the winning team was Dom, Leon and Lennart. Teepee, Samuel, and the Georges came in second in their heavier car, followed by Sasha, Igor and Alvin.

The senior lads took part in a full grand prix. A 10 minute qualifying session saw everyone take their place on the grid. As the lights went red, Ed (backed from the beginning to win by MRG) went out in front and led to the end. Behind him there were some epic battles though. Tom fluctuated like Chelsea in the premier league before eventually coming second and the rain and Talbot's competitiveness saw a number of disqualifications which allowed Matthew to finish third.

All the lads said it was a hit doing the racing in this format and most importantly, everyone left knowing a bit more about each other and feeling more a part of the house than at the start of the night.

This week saw Ben.W play his second concert

Rugby matches tomorrow-
Playing away for the 2nd team against Oakham is Charlie.
John is captain for the 3rd's against Oakham, again playing away, along with ed.
Playing against Oakham away for the the fourth team are Nihat and Alex S.
Matthew is playing for the sixth team against Uppingham at home.
Playing for the U16C team are Alex G. and Sam.
Leon is playing for the U15A team at home against Oakham.
For the U15C's Dan S. and Lennart are playing at home against Oakham.
Brady is playing for the U14D team away against St. Albans.
For the U14E team Ben W. will be playing away against Merchant Taylor's-unfortunately Tizian is unable to play due to injury.

Room of the week goes to Room 4, well done Tom.

Man of the week goes to Ben.W for his all round contributions and playing his second concert though Justin's all around efforts earned him a strong commendation.


Merits this week were numerous as we had a double game week from before Exeat. Samuel led the way with 9; a great effort!

Yet another week has flown by here at Talbots. House singing rehearsals have begun under the supervision and expertise of Mr Finch. This week we have hosted two young men in Talbots, one from Chile who is touring with his rugby team and also Ollie, one of our day boys has spent the week with us.

Although many boys in the house this week have been suffering with awful colds they have braved school everyday with plenty of olbas oils!

Ben.W played his first cocnert which was a pleasure to see.

Brady's mum, Theresa popped into the house on Thursday evening with two big boxes of delicious home-made chocolate cookies which were shared and very much enjoyed by the boys. Thank you Theresa they really were yummy!

Tomorrow brings rugby-

For the 2nd team Charlie will be playing Stamford at home, a great promotion for him.
John will be captain for the 3rd's along with Ed at home against Stamford
For the 4th team Nihat and Alex S. are playing Stamford at home, another promotion for Nihat.
Playing for the U18E team are Duncan and Matthew at home against Merchant Taylor's
George.S is sub for the U16A away at Stamford as he returns from an ankle injury
For the U16C's are Alex G. and Teepee away against Stamford
Adrian, Frank, Sam, Jonas and Justin are all playing for the U16D team at home against Merchant Taylor's
U15A's, Leon is playing away at Stamford. Lennart is in the U15C along with Dan.S
Brady is playing for the U14D team at home against Merchant Taylor's
And last but not least Tizian and Ben.W make their debuts for the school playing for the U14E's at home against Merchant Taylor's.

Man of the week this week goes to Brady for trying a new sport, getting into the gym, making a great effort all round and sharing his cookies!

Top bloke of the week is Samuel for his tidying the kitchen to keep it open for everyone.

This weeks merits go to:

1: Brady, henry, Duncan, Charlie, Fuga
2: Curtis, Igor, Luke
3. Dan.R, Oscar
4: Tizian, Alvin, Lennart
5 - and King of Merits - Stephen

Room of the week is Hepworth-well done to Dom B. George C. Adrian, Sasha P. and Sam.

Brady gets the coveted golden stag as M.O.W

The big trip to Ickwell, on the second Sunday of the first term. Everyone from Talbot’s house enjoyed themselves and had a great time. We played a lot of fun sports, like football, rugby etc and also a lot of games, like four way chess. We also had a fire, made amazing spears, tried trapping crayfish and melting marshmallows, and, you guessed it, lots of them burned. We also had competitions like the steak cooking competition. Tizian, our German friend, won by his awesome ribeye steak, although Harun was very close to victory.
At the end of our trip, we went to collect the traps, but unfortunately we did not catch any crayfish. Obviously, cleaning up after us is what every human being should do, so we made sure that the area is extra clean and green. We also made sure that the fire was completely out and there is no way that it can be relit accidentally. We packed all or things and left Ickwell. On the bus, lots of boys were tired and fell asleep, this was a fun day.

Danny and Igor

Our first full week is over at Talbot's and everyone in the house is getting to know each other. We have some fantastic new boys in the house, all with smiles, joining in and learning about our community. They have all worked out where the biscuits are in Matrons room!

Mrs Hills-Jones and her tutor group went out for a meal on Wednesday and had a great evening.

The rugby season is upon us again and this Saturday brings the following matches-

Playing for the third team at Uppingham are Charlie as vice captain and Ed.
For the fourth team Alex S. is also playing away against Uppingham.
Nihat, Matthew, Duncan and Simon are playing away at Uppingham for the U18E team.
U16B's are playing at home against Uppingham-George C. Sasha P. and Teepee.
U16C's are playing at home against Uppingham and Alex G. is playing.
U16D's again are home and playing for them are Adrian, Justin, Frank and newcomers Jonas and Samuel.
U15C's are home and Dan S. and Lennart will be taking Uppingham on.
Leon will be looking for his usual epic performance in the U15A team too.

Good luck to you all!

Room of the week this week goes to room 21-excellent work Alex C.

Man of the week goes to Alex.S for being really helpful, getting us merits, going hard in rugby and bailing Mr G out by writing the house Ousel article.

Top bloke of the week is Jonas for his reading in chapel and getting stuck into the house community so well.

This weeks merits- gaining one merit are Jonny, Dom K., Ed, Matthew, Edwin, Tizian and Dan R.
Charlie and Alex S. have 2 merits and we have 3 King of merits this week, each gaining 3 merits- George C. Tom and Luke.

Alex.S has just penned the below for this year's school magazine, The Ousel, so we thought we'd give you all an advanced preview!

This weekend has been a whirlwind of activities and fun. Everyone was tired tonight but that is normally a good sign and we are certainly going into the first full week as a community that is starting to look coherent and is plenty of fun!

On Saturday Edwin and Igor and others prepared 3 incredible crumbles at baking club for our suppers which were very well received! this was followed up by everyone going out for meals in Bedford ranging from Subway to the all you can eat Chinese and Italian.

Sunday has been frenetic. We started off as the duty house for chapel where Matthew and Luke provided the ushers and Ben.W and Jonas read superbly. The fact that there are now 3 men of Talbot's in the choir (Tizian, Ben and Sam) made it a strong morning for us!

The fourth and Remove formers then joined the new fourth form from St Peter's and 3 other houses for an afternoon of paintball. Everyone got stuck in and had a lovely afternoon in the sun (though there may be a few bruises) and there were smiles all around afterwards as we hosted the St Peters for some joint house bonding over pizza, playstation and the normal garden soccer game. Unsurprisingly the St peter's teams also competed heroically against the other houses and one of ours were the winners. You'd expect nothing less from the reigning house champions.

The fifth and sixth formers took it more easy with a sociable Football tournament with Mr Finch back at the house organised by Fuga and Jonny.

It is now an established tradition that the first weekend of the term sees us have a BBQ and American Football game. Today's was a classic with Harun's team quickly taking the lead 3-0 through epic plays from Sam at QB, Alex.S and Fuga. Edwin lead the return charge for George.S's team from QB and some dubious touchdowns from Mrs Gracie, Duncan and Sasha.K meant it may have been a draw but no one is quite sure! As ever there was high levels of enthusiasm and banter and a mixed standard of skill. You can see Duncan's touchdown including a play which involves one of the trees and him spiking the ball over the wall into the Drs Surgery in celebration on Instagram here!

The start of the term has gone really well and there are lots of impressed house members at how friendly and involved our newer members have been.
On Wednesday night we all met each other and had plenty of rough and tumbling on the football pitch. On Thursday we had a big fire in the firepit and played outdoor games along with roasting marshmallows of course!
No night in Talbot's quite compares to Fridays though and this week's BBQ celebration night had the usual mix of banter and appreciation.
This week it ahs been amazing to hear great comments from teachers about Curtis, Alvin, Edwin, Stephen and Oscar as well as Sam and Ben.W getting stuck into the choir.

The options awarded top bloke to Harun who has made an imemdiate impression with his friendliness, confidence and excellent Basketball skills.

In teams this week we have:
3rd: John as captain and Ed
4th: Nihat and Alex.S
5th: Matthew
U16B: Sasha.P, George.C
U16D: Alex.G, Justin, Frank.L
U15A: Leon
U15 C: Dan and Lennart
U14: Everyone in trial matches!!!

The room of the week this week was McKendrick for a very impressive start, especially from a dorm!

This weeks Man of the week was someone who has had two teachers contact Mr G to say how well he ahst started and was also the only man to get a merit in his first few days. He is: Alvin!

All the summer and autumn fruits are starting to come through over the holidays in the orchard. These should make for some great eating (and maybe drinking...) when everyone comes back!!!

Last night saw Adrian, Alex and Ben play in the sumemr concert series, a day after Leon had entertained with an excellent sonnet on creative arts night. For those of you who couldn't make it, the video of the concert from the live broadcast is below:

Tom has heard this week that he is selected for the England U18 boys squad for this summer's European championships in Santander, Spain. We know how hard he works and his dedication to the sport (and what a legend he is) and we are so proud of him!!

This week saw the grand opening of the school's new theatre, The Quarry at St Luke's. The play chosen for the occasion was Henry V which is no small ask. To take on the performing of Shakespeare with a cast of mostly fourth and Remove formers for the biggest theatre night in the school there will be for quite a while is a daunting task. Therefore when 5 men of Talbot's put themselves forward and were chosen to be in the cast we were immensely proud. To then see them perform on Thursday and hear how well the gala opening went is even better; they did a teriffic job, every one of them. We are so proud of the lads for their hard work and the courage it took them to put on such a big show. Congratulations therefore must go to Charles, Dom, Charlie, Dan.S and Lennart!!!

Below are some photos from the play and the video taken live on gala night:

This week has been a quiet week in Talbots with many boys leaving for their much deserved summer break. We have a few lower sixth boys with us as the rest are relaxing in the sunshine or chilling at home.

We won the junior house cricket this week-well done to Dom B!

Tonight is the opening night of the production of Shakespeare's Henry V in the new school theatre. Good luck to Dom B, Charlie, Charles, Lennart and Dan S. Some members of the house went and supported last nights performance and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Dom K, Tom and Benno went to Brighton this week to take part in the National Schools Volleyball competition-unfortunately we didn't win but did very well.

Philpotts visited us last night for a friendly volleyball match-we won-of course!! (this statement may or may not be true for every match)

We look forward to the end of year BBQ on Sunday. As usual we have a delicious hog roast to look forward to and inflatable fun. Here's hoping to good weather this year!

Jordie one of our OB's visited this week-it was great to see him and hear how his first year at uni has gone.

Man of the week goes to Gulli Wulli for his epic helpfulness.

Top bloke of the week goes to Dom.B for his epic performances in the house cricket victory and his efforts in the play.

King of merits is Henry

Room of the week is Fitt well done to Frankie and Sasha K.

Jordie, Justus and Rufus back in action!

Last night was the final duty in the house for Mr Chance. He has been an amazing tutor in Talbot's for the last 9 years and will be missed by us all.
Charlie led a special house meeting to thank him for his efforts and noted that he was one of the kindest and nicest people you will ever meet as well as a very good tutor. His tutor group had clubbed together to get him a framed photo of them all and a very nice bottle of whisky to go with a card from all of the boys in the house.

From all in the house we say thank you and farewell.

As we well know Friday celebration is about making a big noise about the great things the men of Talbot's do. As I write though the greatest thing is happening - 2 big games of football and volleyball with mixed ages, nationalities and year groups all having a great time and building friendship! Thats what makes the hosue great.

It was also a privilege to welcome Ben and Brady who are visiting the house tonight before joining us from Kingshott school next term.

The other great thing is BBQs! Thanks especially to Leon, Duncan, Alex.S, Hodges, Simon and Jun for cooking for us tonight.

In cricket matches this week are Dom. B (U15B), George (U15c) and John (2nds).

In tennis are Dan.S and Alex.G and also Kevin who is playing his last ever match for the school - we sih him and everyone else all the ebst.

Lennart is rowing at Marlow tomorrow and seems really excited about it despite the impending 6am start!

In awards this week, Henry, Simon, Dom.K and Benno were all joint kings.

Room of the week was Bobby and Tom in Morely.

This week's top bloke for his sterling efforts with gardening was Nikita and Man of the week for his next England call up was Tom

Charlie delivers the good news

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Quality football on show???

Top Bloke