Musgrave House
Musgrave House Report 2007-2008

Musgrave House has always been known for its friendliness, dedication and enthusiasm, and these qualities shone through again this year in all aspects of house life.

We began Mrs Harris’ first year as house mistress of Musgrave with a wonderfully varied display for the House Art, that encompassed the talents of every year group in ceramics, art and textiles. Awards were won in both the senior and middle school categories by Amani Saridar and Jennifer Salvage respectively.
The Autumn term continued with rehearsals for the House play, written over the summer holidays by Amy Rolfe, Leah Waterhouse and their supportive prefect team. Inspired by the theme of famous women it told the story of the life of Marie Lloyd, a celebrated music hall singer of the 19th century. The lead role was ably undertaken by Katie Thomas, supported by the numerous acting and musical talents of the Musgrave girls, including Miffy Nash as Marie’s best friend Teddy, and Kirsty Hart and Lucy Courage as two of her husbands. Hannah Gill proved a motivational director and their engaging script was highly commended by the adjudicator.
On the sporting side of events, the House squash was a great success with both teams playing very well. A special commendation goes to Lucy Courage and Lucie Walbridge, who both volunteered to step in at the last minute without ever having picked up a racket before. Greater triumphs were to follow on St Catherine’s day, when our Middle school team won the House lacrosse. This was an incredibly proud moment for the older girls, who had not seen Musgrave win such an exalted title for many years, and for the younger girls it has become a starting point which they hope to build upon. The dedication of the House also shone through in the House netball competition with enthusiastic players drawn from every year group.
We did well once again in the Public Speaking competition; although we did not win overall, Fay Lomas retained her title as best questioner and Emmeline Plews was awarded best speaker for her enlightening talk on the dangers of technology.
Preparation for the events of the Spring term began well in advance with the selection of the two songs for the House singing. Amy and Leah picked the Mary Poppins’ classic “Chim Chim Cheree”, whilst our chosen song was the Queen anthem, “Somebody to Love”. The latter is an extremely challenging song with some sections split into four part harmony, but it was duly undertaken with spirit and vivacity by the whole House. Sarah David and Katie Thomas stepped into the shoes of Freddie Mercury singing the solos in “Somebody to Love” the group for “Chim Chim Cheree” provided haunting harmonies as an accompaniment to Aisha Pegley and Olivia Cox’s individual performances. Conducted by Amy Rolfe and Katie Lee (despite a broken ankle) the singing was a great success and ,although we did not win, the praise we received from friends, family and even members of other Houses convinced us that our performance had been excellent.

The broken ankle unfortunately prevented Katie Lee from performing her challenging routine for the House Gym but in true Musgrave style, Millie Alston stepped in with only a week to go until the competition, displaying the courage and generosity that characterises Musgrave girls. The extremely short Spring term added the extra challenge of time constraints to the proceedings, but Musgrave continued regardless and managed to display some very polished and professional routines, especially in the case of the aerobics in which we were awarded first place. Directed and led by Mimi Whitehouse and Alex Courage it utilised our music theme (‘The Jungle Book’) to its full extent and a mention of the girls commitment is essential.

A packed term was complemented by the more reflective nature of our House Communion, based on the theme of an ‘Attitude of gratitude’. Many girls from throughout the House contributed to the service, and the choir, led by Katie Lee and accompanied by Evelyn Tinker, sang beautifully. Hattie Large and Frankie Mitchell both read poems, whilst the collection was in aid of the Garden Route Trust, the charity established by Mrs Fleming, an ex-teacher whose daughters were in Musgrave.

The excellent weather of the first few weeks of the Summer term meant that the rounders and tennis competitions could both be fully enjoyed by all. The senior competition took place before the girls left on study leave and proved that Musgrave is still a formidable presence on the tennis courts, with our team coming second to Stoner. Although our success was not matched in the rounders we still had a great time and everyone took part or supported to the best of their ability. In the middle school, however, after an exciting few weeks of competition, we found ourselves not only in the final of the tennis but of the rounders as well. Here we triumphed, coming first in the tennis and losing the rounders by only half a rounder! Congratulations to the Middle school for continuing their winning streak which was started with the lacrosse and may it long continue.

Musgrave also continues to support a variety of charities with some interesting events throughout the year. We raised the magnificent total of £1335 for a variety of different charities. One of our most successful and widely attended was the Easter egg hunt arranged by the U5 in aid of the Wateraid Appeal, a charity set up by Annabel Cox of the Upper 6. It saw large numbers of the school running around the lacrosse pitches like headless chickens in search of paper eggs! Our baking skills were put to the test by no less than three cake sales: two of brownies, one for Burma and one for the Garden Route Trust and Valentines Day cakes for Afghan Connection.

Musgrave’s brilliant year came to a triumphant end with successes not only in our tradition domain of the House quiz, but in the never-before-reached height of the House Athletics!! This was a huge achievement, especially as we did not come last in a single event and completely dominated the relays. In the House Quiz the middle school team performed very well but in the end it was the senior school team led by Ems Plews and Fay Lomas and their knowledge of the Cabinet that enabled us to walk off with the first prize. And last but definitely not least, we did well again in the House Swimming, even setting a record in the process and winning the senior freestyle relay for the second year running.

Many thanks are due to Mrs Harris, our wonderful housemistress and Mrs Jamieson and Miss Verdon, our form tutors, whom we said goodbye to this year with a ‘Pink Party’ held in the new sports pavilion. They have been hugely supportive and have spurred the house on to new heights. We will miss them greatly but we look forward to a new year with new members of Musgrave and hopefully repeated success!

Alex Courage and Evelyn Tinker
House Captains

Staff
School Housemistress - Mrs P. Harris L4 + U4 Tutor - Mrs C.Frost U3 Tutor - Miss L. Grizzelle

Musgrave House Prefects 2007 - 2008
House Captains - Leah Waterhouse and Amy Rolfe Games Captains - Alex James and Henny Slater Public Speaking - Lizzy Adams Quiz - Annabel Cox Charity and Website - Nicola Richman Drama - Hannah Gill Music - Katie Lee and Lizzy Adams Art - Amani Saridar and Jasamine Huang Costumes and Backstage - Alice Osborn Junior Games Captains - Georgina Disney-May, Izzy Stevens-Harris

Year Group Prefects
U3 - Leah Waterhouse, Amy Rolfe and Amani Saridar L4 - Annabel Cox, Jasamine Huang and Ally Osborn U4 - Henny Slater and Lizzy Adams L5 - Nicola Richman and Alex James U5 - Katie Lee and Hannah Gill