St Edmund's Society Summer Gathering

Date: Saturday 17 May 2008

Every summer term, certainly over the last 36 years to my knowledge, members of the St Edmund's Society make their pilgrimage to Canterbury, to revisit their School, and to sample what it now has on offer. This year's gathering was a novelty in that it returned to a weekend format, with members warmly invited to attend the Friday concert, then to attend the Saturday events, before taking the opportunity to say farewell to John and Irene Cox at Sunday's commemorative service.

The 'Saturday events' contained the Society's AGM - many congratulations to Shaun Barrett on his election as President for 2009 - a lunch, shared with this year's school leavers as their introduction to the Society, the traditional sports' fixtures, before 'Sundowners'. Sadly there was no sun to go down on one of the wettest Society Saturdays I can remember.

Despite the cold and damp, the boys' tennis and cricket matches started, and, against the odds, finished. The School won the tennis 5 - 4, with Tom Hulme and Greg Moulsdale, an honorary leavers' pair winning the decisive ninth rubber.

On the cricket field, a match which started in light rain was played through its full 50 overs in increasingly heavy and penetrating rain to a win for the School with just a ball to spare. The Old Boys reached 147 - 8 in 25 overs. Copestake raced to 46 before Draper bowled him. David Penn, picking up a bat for the first time in two years scored a cultured 34, but with Clarke taking 2 - 15, Draper 2 - 22, and Callaway weighing in with 3 - 28 at the death, the Old Boys total looked a little light. Easter (37) and Pape put the School on the road to victory with a stand of 73, before the Old Boys 'man of the match' Ashley Gerrard pinned the boys down with a spell of 2 - 23, highly commendable on a day when no bowler could easily control the ball, let alone a spinner. Van Rooyen chipped in with 14, before Pape (66*) and Clarke (20*) saw the School home with just one ball to spare. A win by 8 wickets, against a decent Old Boys' side, was well deserved on the day.

Players and umpires shook hands, and fled to the sanctuary of warm, dry dressing rooms to thaw out and regain some feeling in their extremities! There is a 'rule' in cricket - no game should start in the rain. This did, and continued in the rain, and finished in the rain - with no complaints, and, fortunately, no injuries.