Sedbergh School
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| Sedbergh School | |
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| Dura Virum Nutrix (Latin: "A Stern Nurse of Men") |
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| Established | 1525 |
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| School type | Public (originally a Chantry School) |
| Headmaster | Christopher Hirst |
| Location | Sedbergh, Cumbria, England |
| Colours | Brown |
| Website | School Website |
Sedbergh School is a co-educational boarding school in Sedbergh, Cumbria for boys and girls between the ages of 13 and 18 inclusive. A succesful public school nestled in the Howgill Fells, it is renowned for strong sporting sides, especially its Rugby Union 1st XV.
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[edit] Background
The school was founded in 1525 by Roger Lupton, Provost of Eton College.
Until 2001, when girls were admitted, the school was single-sex which is reflected in the school motto Dura Virum Nutrix (A Stern Nurse of Men)). Since then the number of girls attending has grown dramatically.
The school is structured into a system of eight 'houses': Hart, Evans, Winder, School, Sedgwick and Powell (boys' houses), Lupton and Robertson (girls' houses). The students eat and sleep in their boarding houses and house pride is encouraged.
The school song, Winder, is named after the hill which dominates the skyline to the North. It is rarely sung, mainly at the end of a term, but is an important tradition none the less.
The school is particularly proud of its cloisters, one of the few officially listed War memorials located in schools. Every known name of an old boy that died during the first and second world wars is recorded on its walls.
With the aid of the Robertson Foundation the school has been able to give many scholarships to less well-off pupils. The school maintains a strong sporting rivalry with Ampleforth College and (to a lesser extent) with Stonyhurst College.
[edit] The Wilson Run
One of the unique aspects of the school is the Wilson Run, also known as the "Ten Mile". The race distance is just over 10 miles (10 miles 385 yards), about 7 miles of which crosses over the surrounding fells with the rest going along roads. Pupils however must now qualify to take part in the race over an 11 mile training route which covers most of the race route. The race is the longest, hardest and most gruelling school run in the country and has been a tradition for well over 100 years. The run has been cancelled only three times, due to epidemic (1936), snow (1947) and the Foot and Mouth epidemic. The record time for the race stood unbroken at 1 hour, 10 mins and 16 seconds for almost a hundred years until it was dramatically broken by Charles "Chuck" Sykes in 1993 with a time of 1 hour, 8 minutes and 4.1 seconds. His record still stands today.
The Wilson Run holds a great mystique for Sedbergh's pupils. Pupils generally run in all types of weather, be it torrential rains and mud baths, or even bright, sunny clear days. The day of the race is a major event in the calendar and is commemorated by a large and often emotional concert on the evening of the race day. A special song, "The Long Run", is dedicated to the race and is traditionally sung only on this occasion.
[edit] Anti-Assassins Rugby Club
The Anti-Assassins Rugby Club (A-As) was founded in 1950 when Sedbergh Old Boys’, Stewart Faulds, Geoff and Arthur Kenyon were invited to pick a Northern team to play against the masters and Old Boys (The Assassins) of Sedbergh school. Today, 2007, this invitational team plays as SpoonAAs, raising funds for the Wooden Spoon charity.
[edit] Notable Old Sedberghians
- John Arden, dramatist
- Thomas Bingham, Baron Bingham of Cornhill, Senior Law Lord and former Master of the Rolls and Lord Chief Justice
- Sir Christopher Bland, Chairman of B.T. Group, businessman and former Chairman of the BBC
- John Charles Campbell, VC, a commander of the 7th Armoured Division
- Kenneth Campbell VC
- Robert Swan, OBE, Polar explorer, the first man in history to walk to both the North and South Poles
- Logie Bruce Lockhart, rugby union: Scotland
- Will Carling, OBE, rugby union: England Captain
- Will Greenwood, MBE, rugby union: England
- James Simpson-Daniel rugby union: England
- Wavell Wakefield, 1st Baron Wakefield of Kendal rugby union: England
- Adam Sedgwick, Founder of modern geology.
- Brendan Bracken, 1st Viscount Bracken, Politician, businessman and associate of Winston Churchill.
- John Dawson, Surgeon and mathematician.
- Sir Jock Slater, GCB, LVO, DL, First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff.
- Sir Giles Shaw, Politician.
- Michael Shaw, Baron Shaw of Northstead, Politician.
- Simon Beaufoy, Screenwriter, (The Full Monty).
- Adam Rickitt, Actor, singer, model and aspiring Conservative M.P.
- David Waddington, Baron Waddington, British Home Secretary, Lord Privy Seal, Leader of the House of Lords, Governor of Bermuda.
- Edward John Eyre, Explorer and Governor of Jamaica.
- Thomas Russell Fairgrieve, politician
- James Wilby, Actor
- William George Clark, English classical and Shakespearean scholar.
- John Hammersley, British mathematician.
- Edward Max Nicholson, Founder of the World Wildlife Fund.
- Tom Wright (theologian), Bishop of Durham and a leading British New Testament scholar.
- Frank Duxbury, Founder of Sedbergh School, Québec, Canada [1].
- Brian McConnell, Baron McConnell, Northern Ireland politician and member of the House of Lords.
- Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, Baron Bruce-Lockhart,OBE, Chairman of The Local Government Association
- Freddie Tait, golfer
- Robert Rhodes James, politician
- F. A. Ridley, historian and Marxist
- Mandy Mitchell-Innes, cricketer
- Robin Ashton, Wikipedian, university drop-out and all round excellent chap
- Robert James Thomas Digby-Jones, awarded the Victoria Cross
- George Ward Gunn, awarded the Victoria Cross
- Henry Lowther Clarke, first Archbishop of Melbourne
- Colin Blakely, British character actor
- Henry Colin Gray Matthew, historian and the first editor of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- John Cranke, mathematician and mentor
[edit] External Links
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