On Sunday 17th March, under glorious Spring skies, we enjoyed a fantastic Old Bloxhamist Day 2019.
The day started with the OB Society AGM where the committee met in the Egerton Library to review and report on the last year. Following this the 200 Club met for their bi-annual lunch.
At midday, Father Michael led a memorial for OB Paddy Kellett (Wn 05-10) which was attended by Paddy’s family, OBs, friends of the school and current and former members of staff.
The ladies netball took centre stage at The Dewey at 1pm, where an experienced OB side captained by Izzy Yates (Ry 10-18) ‘took on a school VII team, captained by Upper Sixth student Molly D. The Dewey Studio was busy with parents and OBs cheering each side on. The game started at a fast pace and continued this way through the four quarters right to the final whistle. The final result was 27-24 to the OBs. Each side awarded a Players’ Player for the opposition and trophies were awarded to Fifth Form student Millie P and OB Izzy Yates.
Lisa Manning and Jenny Edwards kindly umpired the game, and it was fantastic to welcome Joani Adkins, the school’s first Head of Netball, back for the afternoon. Joani kindly presented the awards to the girls and commented: ‘It’s been wonderful to see such high standards of play on both sides; it really could have gone either way. Congratulations to all the players!’
A superb hockey tournament, played in memory of Paddy Kellett, then followed on the Astro. We were particularly pleased to be joined by so many members of the Kellett family, including the next generation of the family, Will Kellett’s (Wn 03-08) son, who duly posed with a mini hockey stick. Before the start of the tournament, the hockey and netball teams lined up together, in front of a packed studio of supporters, to observe a minute’s silence.
We welcomed six teams to this year’s 7-a-side tournament; three OB teams; captained by OB Steve O’Connor (Cr 02-09), one Bloxham School team, captained by Freddie S and two teams from Banbury Hockey Club. Playing in two pools, each team played passionately and every goal was fiercely fought. We were fortunate to have fantastic umpires David Best and Luke Hansford.
Will Kellett presented the trophy to OB Jonny Stirrup (Sy 08-15) for Player of the Tournament and Jacky Kellett presented George Brooker from Banbury Hockey Club with the Winner of the Tournament Cup. Simon Batten concluded the afternoon by thanking the Kellett family, players, umpires, OBs, parents and spectators for their support. The hockey tournament finishing order was:
1st Banbury HC 1
2nd Banbury HC 2
3rd Old Bloxhamists 1
4th Old Bloxhamists 2
5th Old Bloxhamists 3
6th Bloxham School
Thank you to everyone who took part in the day and to all the fantastic players, supporters and umpires! To view more photos on our Flickr page, please click here.