Antarctic Explorer
Thursday, March 04, 2010
On Saturday 27 February Felicity Aston, freelance travel writer and adventurer, delivered a sensational speech to the girls in Year 9. She told us about her time in Antarctica when she was a meteorologist and how she had led a group of seven women in an expedition to the South Pole. It was amazing to hear from someone who had been to Antarctica where there is no human life. You might think that Britain is cold but it could never compete with Antarctica’s climate because of its humidity.
The living conditions for Felicity and her colleagues were extremely basic on the Expedition: no showers, no proper lavatories, eating dehydrated food and living in a tent for 38 days. The weather made Felicity’s job extremely challenging and she showed us many pictures including photos of snow falling in the building in which she lived.. She also explained how she had to work through six months of darkness.
Felicity and her six fellow travellers skied for 90 minutes with their sledges then took a rest for seven minutes. It was during this rest time that they would have something to eat and something to drink. However the food or drink would often be frozen so they would have to keep it under their arms in order to defrost it. Felicity led a group of eight women to the South Pole but on the way they lost two of their women because of frost bite and malaria. A woman from Derbyshire took the place of one of the women but there wasn’t a replacement for the other lady, so in the end Felicity led six other women, making the team a group of seven. By going on the expedition Felicity dispelled the myth that the Antarctic isn’t a place for women and showed that women are capable of overcoming the challenges of this hostile environment.
I would love to hear the talk again because Felicity is so inspiring. If you are ever given the opportunity to listen to Felicity speak, I would strongly recommend that you take up the offer.
Bisi Adejumo, LC3
RS CONFERENCE
Friday, February 26, 2010
On Wednesday 3rd February, Cheltenham Ladies’ College held an RS Conference in the Princess Hall. It was based on ethics and morality, a key topic within both the IB philosophy and A-Level RS courses.
Around 400 Sixth Form students from schools across Gloucestershire and the South West attended the conference to listen to three speakers all of whom were passionate about the academic study of ethics and renowned in their fields. At 9.30am all fell silent to hear our first speaker Professor Julian Savulescu, from the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at Oxford University. He spoke on bio-medical ethics, arguing, controversially, that humans should make use of the enhancement potential of genetic engineering. He illuminated us about fascinating brand new scientific breakthroughs such as a liger - a cross between a tiger and a lion - and even the possibility of a glow-in-the-dark embryo. Our next speaker, the Reverend Jeremy Caddick from Emmanuel College, Cambridge took the discussion in a different direction by examining in a most informative and interesting manner the role religion and the Church have in ethical decision-making. The final speaker, Dr Toby Ord from the Faculty of Philosophy at Oxford University, showed us the incredible effects that charity can have on the world, impressing upon us how giving to the right charity can make your aid go further and explaining the philosophy behind his own huge commitment to charity-giving.
After a short lunch break we returned to the hall to hear the speakers in a debate after which the floor was invited to question them. The discussion brought out many ethical issues that we should all question such as ‘Should euthanasia be legal?’ and ‘When should you be allowed to abort a baby?’ which led into a heated discussion on ‘what makes a human being?’.
It was an incredibly interesting day and we continue to discuss many of the issues raised in our classes and it’s not just in the RS classes. We all thoroughly enjoyed the talks and our minds have been opened to some very important and intellectually challenging issues.
Lucinda Harrison, SFC1
Evensong at Coventry Cathedral
Friday, February 26, 2010
On a chilly Saturday in February the College Choir embarked upon a trip to sing Evensong at Coventry Cathedral. Most of us were expecting a traditional English mediaeval building but were met with an unusual but spectacular concrete construction, juxtaposed with the remains of the original cathedral destroyed by air raids in 1940. For many in the choir this was their first experience of singing an Evensong and the music involved included anthems, a hymn and a Psalm setting. We were also thrilled to be performing Mr Whitehead’s Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis composed especially for the occasion. The cathedral has astounding acoustics, which meant that singing was a wonderful experience. Miss Upton conducted, the Revd Merry lead the responses and Mr Whitehead and Trina-Jo Mah played the organ. We all felt the afternoon was a great success and would like to thank the above staff for organising the trip.
Bramble Badenach-Nicolson UC4 & Leonora Chance SFC2
Please use the below player to listen to a portion of the event
Sound File
Notre Voyage à Paris
Monday, February 22, 2010
Early on Thursday 4th February a group of SFC2 French students set off from Cheltenham for a long weekend in Paris. On arrival in Paris we settled into our hotel which was located in the 13ème arrondissement, a perfect starting point for seeing all the wonderful sights that Paris has to offer. We set off early the next morning to visit Montmartre, the traditional haunt of artists and writers in Paris, which is dominated by the beautiful ‘Basilique du Sacré-Cœur’. It is in Montmartre that the popular film Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain was filmed and we discovered some of the filming locations and finished with hot chocolates in the café in which Amélie works. We spent the afternoon having a guided visit in French of France’s most famous university – ‘La Sorbonne’ before experiencing the Theatre of the Absurd with the play ‘La Cantatrice Chauve’ by Ionesco. We finished our busy day at a wonderful restaurant where we sampled ‘la fondue savoyarde’ and finished with fruit dipped in chocolate.
On Saturday we left early for the “Your Future in Europe” Conference at the Palais des Congrès. We learnt a lot from speakers such as Peter Luff, Kate Hoey, Vince Cable, Shami Chakrabarti and Caroline Flint on issues concerning Europe today. We also found out more about the Erasmus programme and the marketing involved in the campaign for London 2012. The day ended with a Question Time session which was as hotly contested as the BBC’s version. We finished our day by watching the fantastic and imaginatively narrated film Gainsbourg: Vie Héroïque which was interspersed with many of his famous songs.
On our last day we took a Bateau Mouche down the Seine, and took in the Tour Eiffel, Notre Dame and the Place de la Concorde. This provided numerous photo opportunities, and was a great way to end such a memorable weekend. We would like to thank Mlle Souilhac and Mlle Ferré for all their hard work that went into the weekend and for giving us the opportunity to immerse ourselves in this beautiful city of French culture.
Celia Underhill and Heather Cameron Watt SFC2
British Schoolgirl Ski Races
Friday, February 05, 2010
Many congratulations to the College Ski Team who achieved great results at the British Schoolgirl Ski Races in Flaine, France at the end of January. The A and B Teams won 1st and 2nd places in both the Giant Slalom and the Combined whilst Annabel Lawrence won first 1st place in the Individual Slalom (Child 1 Age Group). Around 142 girls, in 46 teams, competed at the Races, with 28 teams in the British based non-registered skiers category in which the College ski teams competed.
On 22nd January two teams and one reserve, consisting of Daphne Parayre, Ophelia Taylor, Rebecca Walker, Isabella Robinson, Amabel Clark, Annabel Lawrence and Emily Parker set off to Flaine in France for the British Schoolgirls’ Races. This year we were very fortunate to be accompanied by Mrs Poll and our coach from Gloucester dry slope, Chantelle Goddard-Jones, who also coaches the slalom team at Gloucester. We arrived in Flaine at about 6pm and settled in to the two apartments which we would occupy for the next week.
Our first two days were taken up by rigorous training in order to prepare for the races in the coming days. Chantelle was brilliant; her expertise was greatly welcomed by all of us. We had the opportunity to practise both slalom and giant slalom on the race hills and, although exhausting, we made huge progress and began to feel much more confident for the races.
On Monday we woke up at a painful hour in order to be out for a course inspection at 8am. Feeling apprehensive about the race, we set off behind Chantelle, who assured us that we would have no problems, having tackled much tougher courses previously. In no time at all, it was race time, and one by one we blitzed the course to record some very decent times, most of which were beaten by even more impressive second runs, an excellent start to the racing. That afternoon was the parallel slalom, by far our favourite race as it involves the whole team participating in a relay knockout competition. The first round saw both the A and B teams put through to the next round after some fantastic skiing. Unfortunately, we were then pooled against the Aiglon A and B teams, a school based in Switzerland who train and race almost every day. However, as six very competitive skiers, we welcomed the challenge. Both teams put in gutsy performances and our potential as a school came off when we very narrowly lost by the length of a ski boot in both races - a nail biting finish.
On Tuesday, we woke up a little later for our final, and toughest, day of racing. Once again the course inspection for the slalom proved successful and despite a few too many verticales, we were confident of our ability to complete it. The practice had definitely paid off with every member of the two teams speeding to complete the first run in under a minute; a very impressive achievement and a good set up for the second run. Unfortunately, we suffered a disqualification in the B team, and a quick hike up the hill in the A team in the second run but this did little damage to our results as a team and there were a number of very notable performances.
The awards ceremony concluded our spectacular results with Annabel Lawrence finishing as first Children 1 skier in the non-club, unregistered skiers category, winning a weeks’ training with the DHO, a famous ski club, in half term. The A team got onto the podium, winning a silver medal for the combined unregistered team, a first for College. Daphne missed out on a podium place by three tenths of a second in the slalom, a fantastic accomplishment.
We enjoyed celebratory crepes and an ice skating session in the evening, together with two hours of hilariously unsuccessful snowboarding in the morning to finish off an incredible week, and the best collective set of results we have ever had.
Rebecca Walker SFC2
As a result of their successes at the Races, Daphne has been invited by the English Schools’ Ski Association (Esskia) to attend a training camp in Geilo, Norway and Annabel has been given a week of training with the DHO (Downhill Only) during half term.
Alternative Energy Competition
Friday, February 05, 2010
Mrs Annette Johnston, a former pupil of CLC, very generously donated a prize fund for a newly created alternative energy speaking competition: The Stella Award. On Saturday 23rd January, we were very privileged to welcome to College Sir John Beddington, Chief Scientific Advisor to the Government, in attendance to judge the finalists’ presentations.
Stephanie Payne, SFC1 and one of the three finalists, said, “The competition was a fantastic learning opportunity, allowing me to incorporate my passion for sport with challenging modern ideas, without simply having to think within the lines of a subject syllabus. I thought that it might be an idea to look at the concept of generating electricity via exercise, using our own power to fuel our energy consumption rather than guzzling up the world’s resources. When it came to the final, it was nerve-racking but a brilliant experience and a real confidence booster. It was great to see other girls’ interpretations of the alternative energy topic; Rachel Ngobi gave a thought-provoking speech about the international and political side of all our energy problems and Emily Stacey gave a fantastic talk on ‘the dark side’ of solar panels. The encouraging staff and supportive sponsors made it an exciting and worthwhile experience and I hope that many girls get involved next year.”
All three finalists produced fabulously interesting presentations and the winner was judged to be Emily Stacey for her talk about ‘the Dark Side of Solar Energy’.
The SFC1 and SFC2 girls were then treated to a lecture from Professor Beddington, in which he clearly outlined the many issues that we face in the next twenty years, from rising population to increased risk of tropical diseases. His talk was thought-provoking and, at times, concerning. The girls asked him some tough questions at the end of the session and all agreed that something positive must be done if we are to cope with the many challenges of the next two decades.
Mr J Lawford, Head of Geography and Dr D Gamblin, Head of Chemistry
Jessica will represent Australia
Monday, February 01, 2010
In January 2010, I was so excited to learn that I had been given permission by the Australian Equestrian Federation to represent Australia at international dressage competitions in Junior Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) tests.
To ride in Junior International Dressage competitions, you must be 18 years or under, and at the age of 13, I am the youngest ever Australian to be selected to represent my country. I am also the only junior rider Australia now has on the International Tour. It makes me very proud to know that I have opened the door for other Australian juniors to do the same as me in the future.
I have been riding since I was three years old and have always dreamt of riding internationally but never imagined it would happen so soon in my life. My mum, Thekla Blackmore, competed at National FEI level dressage in Australia for many years, and trained me from the time I started riding until we moved to England. I now train at the Talland School of Equitation with Pammy Hutton, Justine Sole and Richard Preston.
After starting at CLC when we moved from Australia to England in 2008, I manage my time with the assistance of my mother who helps me a lot by tacking up my horses for me after school, and working them for me when I am very busy so that I have plenty of time to concentrate on school work as well as riding. College also helps me by giving me field afternoons off to ride, and allowing me to take some time off for competitions. My friends are very supportive of me and are understanding about my lack of time outside of school.
I currently have two horses, Don Romeo and Ventoux-W. Romeo is 11, and is my current international horse. We have owned him since he was 5 and brought him to England from Australia about 10 months ago. I have only actually competed him twice so far, at Advanced Medium and Junior FEI level, and have won or been placed in both the competitions. Ventoux is 7 and I am currently competing him at Elementary level.
In preparation for the International Dressage Competition in April 2010, I am riding both horses every afternoon after school, and also on weekends. I also have competitions every weekend for quite a few weeks in order to improve my test riding and to get used to competing on Romeo before the international.
Jessica Blackmore LC3
InfoBuzz Talk
Friday, January 29, 2010
In one of our Saturday activities we were fortunate enough to be introduced to the charity InfoBuzz, which provides young people with the necessary information to allow a smooth transition into adulthood. The talk we attended was focused around drugs and alcohol and their effects on individuals and generally on society. This was an informative talk and at the same time casual. Everyone felt free to bring up any queries they had and Dave Rose achieved a successful balance between the information he delivered and the students’ contribution. At the beginning we gave suggestions of the areas where we had less understanding and this formed the basis of the discussion we had. Along with the many constructive statistics and ideas we discussed during the meeting, we were introduced to the relevance drug taking has in our lives and where to go if we need to seek help. Most people found that the time we spent talking about it flew by.
Madison Briggs UC5
East of the Sun, West of the Moon
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
When Miss Delaney emailed all students asking whether anyone would be interested in the technical side of school performances, I immediately volunteered. Doing Drama as a GCSE subject means I am very interested in Theatre, but over the last few years I have become equally, if not more, interested in how a performance is made more effective through the use of set, costume, sound and lighting. Therefore, when I was asked to help with the LC1 production, “East of the Sun, West of the Moon”, I was delighted.
I went to one Sunday rehearsal in the Autumn term and then to the technical and dress rehearsals a couple of weeks into the Spring term, just before the performances on the 18th and 19th January. I was allocated to lighting, and therefore Mr Dunn, the Technical Manager, led me through what was needed. I visited the new sound and lighting box in the Parabola Arts Centre, walked across the ‘grid’ over the auditorium, which was even more nerve-racking than lighting the production, and learnt about how to make the lighting cues for the show. Overall, I had a really enjoyable experience and I will definitely volunteer next year, as I am keen to learn more about the technical aspects of theatre.
Nicole Evans UC5
Principal’s Lecture Series 2009-10
Monday, January 25, 2010
The Spring Term lecture in the Principal’s Lecture Series 2009-10 will be given by Patsy Rodenburg, Director of Voice at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Her talk entitled “Voice and Power of Presence’’ will take place in the Princess Hall on Saturday 6th February at 11.20am.
The lecture will start promptly at 11.20am and will be followed with a question and answer session and light refreshments. Staff and friends are most welcome to attend. Please contact Mrs L Guy by email guyl@cheltladiescollege.org if you wish to attend.
News
Vicky Tuck – Telegraph Articles
Please see the links below for the latest Telegraph articles written by Vicky Tuck. 05 February 2010, 11 January 2010, 11 December 2009, 12 November...
Antarctic Explorer
On Saturday 27 February Felicity Aston, freelance travel writer and adventurer, delivered a sensational speech to the girls in Year 9. She told us ab...
RS CONFERENCE
On Wednesday 3rd February, Cheltenham Ladies’ College held an RS Conference in the Princess Hall. It was based on ethics and morality, a key topic wi...
Evensong at Coventry Cathedral
On a chilly Saturday in February the College Choir embarked upon a trip to sing Evensong at Coventry Cathedral. Most of us were expecting a tradition...
Notre Voyage à Paris
Early on Thursday 4th February a group of SFC2 French students set off from Cheltenham for a long weekend in Paris. On arrival in Paris we settled int...
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