The Canada football tour was probably the most memorable and enjoyable school trip any of us have been on. Although we played some of the best football of the whole season, the focus was on fun rather than serious competition. The memories ranged from playing in front of a packed all seater stadium and loafing in five star hotels to celebrating Ed Reilly's and the twins Zorpad and Tripod's birthdays in suitable style.
The tour consisted of a lst XI squad, an Under 15 team and the teachers. Our first stop was Toronto. We stayed in and ate most of our meals at the University which meant due to its central location and the freedom we were given we could really get a feel for the city. During the day we trained on a pitch, cleverly disguised as a field full of weeds, except on match days where we could do what we wanted. We were told it was a good idea to go swimming in the local YMCA for $15, however being Westminster boys we managed to fool the whole of the staff of the Four Seasons that we were staying in their hotel and were the U19 Arsenal team and so we managed to take full advantage of all their luxury facilities.
The teams we played against in Canada were generally of a much higher standard than those we play over here because they were representing their district. However both teams faired much better than they did in England. The three most memorable games for the lstXI was our first games in Toronto, which resulted in an epic 2-1 victory, our game in Niagara that we won 8-0 and our game in front of thousands of adoring fans (the Roy and Weinstein-Linder families) at a stadium in Montreal. Both teams performed extremely well throughout, but special mentions must go to Cyrus Alamouti, Dave Taylor, Jamie Lewis and the 'bionic man' himself David Weinstein-Linder.
Congrutulations to Bart Shaw for doing his amazing impression of Jaap Stam in defence, Robbie Kirk, Jon Choo (Ted: sharing a room with him was an experience, for instance singing to the Jackson Five in the early hours of the morning), Di Alamouti (captain fantastic) Cowper and of course Ted Roy, and James Jones with his outstanding left foot!
During the trip the Underl5's and senior boys got on better and better. Many of them found twin brothers in the other years. Tony Doeh and Chris Abell and Alex Malamatinas and David Weinstein- Linder were all overjoyed in finding their long lost brother. Not forgetting Jez (Mr.Kemball) and Jez junior the baboon, who has since mysteriously disappeared. Throughout the tour they were inseparable, Jez senior even insisted on taking him to bed at night.
Thanks must go to everyone involved in organising the trip: Mr Kemball, Mr Kershan, Val, Ian, Mr Hinze and all the Ward-Smiths especially. They made sure we never had a dull moment, taking us to the beach, a theme park and turning a blind eye when bumping into us in seedy bars late at night. They will deny this of course...
James Jones BB
Ted Roy AH
Fencing station goes from strength to strength. The promise of the Lower Shell, on which we commented last year, has been mirrored in a large and equally talented Fifth Form intake.
The season was ushered in with a series of "open" and "age-group" competitions at which Westminster was represented, where we all gained valuable experience, and, in some cases National Ranking Points (including the first ones registered by some members of the Lower Shell). These were interspersed with regular inter-school matches throughout the Play and Lent terms, where sufficient numbers and overall levels of skill meant that, for the first time, we were able to field a B-team, which won all its foil matches and suffered only one multi-weapon defeat. However, the other development in the station should soon rectify that: following the arrival of Mr Kennedy at Westminster, we have a dedicated epée group training in the school gym.
The year's main fixtures took place in the final weeks of the Lent Term. First was the National Schools' Team Competition, at which our junior first team, consisting of Matthias Williams (DD), Robert Shaw (GG) and Roland Jones (MM), defeated King's Canterbury convincingly 45-21, to secure first place, while the junior second team finished third. This success was followed by the Public School's Championship - probably the oldest and certainly the most prestigious of the school's tournaments - which, due to the number of entries, takes place over three days. On the first day, the junior foilists won the Christie Trophy by the largest recorded margin, defeating our long term rivals Brentwood. At the close of day two and the senior foil event, Westminster had taken first place in that category and we remained in pole position for the overall champoinships after the epée results were announced. Sadly, since our sabre coach returned to Hungary last year, we decided not to enter that event, with the result that we were beaten into second place on the final tableau.
There have been a number of very strong individual performances throughout the year. Highlights that we would like to mention are the phenomenal success of beginners Andrew Holgate (DD) and Dominic O'Mahoney (QS) who beat far more experienced competitors to win medals in the Mount Hayes Junior Foil; and Matthias Williams, who won the Ashton Leon Paul U15. The Macfarlane Trophy for best Fifth Form fencer also went to Dominic and Petit Pierre prizes were awarded recently to some of the most promising members of the station, including Patrick Agar (DD), Thomas Pickup (MM), Jesse Marre (BB), Nikolai Japp (HH) and Christopher Namih (DD).
As ever, on behalf of the station we would like to thank all those involved in Westminster fencing. Also, laying down our foils at the end of the second year in these posts, personal thanks go to our tireless mentor and Master-in-Charge, Russell Dudley-Smith; latest addition to the station's staff, epée guru, Tom Kennnedy; long-suffering supervisor John Witney; and to the dedicated coaches.
Edward Rugman GG and Ollie Marre BB