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St Edward’s:
150 Years
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Chapter 3 / Houses
Jake Anderson and Dan Brady play rugby for Northampton
Saints Academy, Ruairi Willis (Head of House) plays cricket for
Ireland, and Freddie Simon plays cricket for Gloucestershire
as well as excelling in four musical instruments and playing
in just about every musical group in the School. These are
just a few examples that spring to mind and it is a shame that
there isn’t the space to talk about every boy in the House. It
was superb to see the House coming together in 2010 for the
‘Tilly’s Climbs Everest’ charity event. The boys ascended the
main central staircase in relay teams throughout the night,
encouraging each other up the combined height of Everest, K2
and Kangchenjunga. The event raised over £5,000 for a primary
school in Zimbabwe. The House will be coming together
for another charity event at the end of this term but, sadly,
under very different circumstances. During the 2012 Christmas
holidays we learned of the untimely and tragic death of one
of our Lower Sixth boys, Ivan Kolchanov, through leukaemia.
I was incredibly proud of how the Lower Sixth organised and
led a moving memorial service for Ivan on 1 March, and they
were equally impressive when organising a charity event in
Ivan’s memory at the end of the Summer Term.
Lewis Faulkner
Housemaster, Tilly’s (F)
Tilly’s (F)
Arthur Tilly took over what was known as ‘Set F’ in 1920
and remained Housemaster for 27 years. He was a legendary
Housemaster and in his obituary it stated that Tilly never feared
to reproach people if he thought they deserved it; he was
sparing in his praise and vigorous in his invective. In 1931, Tilly
oversaw the move into the ‘War Memorial Buildings’ which is
our current home on one of the most beautiful Quadrangles in
Oxford. I am always very proud when I take visitors around;
it is a great blend of imposing formal exterior, giving way to a
comfortable homely interior. It has seen numerous changes over
the years and we were very lucky to have further building work
in 2010 and 2011 which has given us two new flats for Tilly’s
staff, an extended entrance lobby, four new Upper Sixth studies
and a much enlarged Common Room and games room with a
purpose-built and very popular House shop, designed by the
boys. However, it is not just buildings and facilities that define
Tilly’s but the people who live here.
The fact that all the Tilly’s boys share a large central
kitchen and Common Room fosters a strong ‘House Spirit’
where all the boys know each other very well and the different
year groups mix with ease. Our much-loved House Matron,
Mrs P., keeps a watchful and motherly eye from her room next
door. I’m sure that this House spirit has helped our success in
inter-House competitions in recent years (particularly the Junior
House Rugby) and it regularly comes to the fore in events
such as the Tilly’s canoeing trip on the Thames in the summer
term. It is hard to sum up the typical Tilly’s boy as they are
seemingly united through diversity. The House motto is ‘
mens
sana in corpore sano’
and the boys certainly live up to this.
Frazer Martin achieved straight A* grades in his GCSE exams,
Below: Lewis Faulkner,
Housemaster.
Far right: Tilly’s by night.
Sammy Virji’s 16th birthday.
Below: Ruairi Willis, Head of House,
looking after his HM’s baby.
Left: Senior House
Hockey 2011.
Below: Charlie Capaldi
working on his Design
andTechnologyproject.
Below: James Coker, Frazer Martin
and Paddy Mark.