Pringle: Life in the House Archive

Summer Term 2007

Dads v boys Football

The Pringle Dads v Boys football match took place on the evening of 25th June on the Pringle pitch. After an early penalty miss by the boys, the dads took the lead against the run of play through Mr Docherty. The boys quickly regained control and turned the deficit into a 2-1 lead, through well-taken goals by Angus and Andrew. Just before half time, the dads' and Merchiston's very own Argentinian Wizard, Mr Palacios, rolled back the years with a mesmerising piece of skill reminiscent of Maradona at his finest, to bring the dads level at half time. The second half was slightly more mundane fare as the dads tired, though they did take the lead one more time through Mr Leavy, but they could not hold out, as a thunderbolt from the feet of Cameron ensured that the match finished in a 3-3 draw. This was an excellent game, played in really good spirit and was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Cricket tour to Yorkshire

On Saturday 2 June the 1st XI embarked on their annual Cricket Tour to Yorkshire. After a long bus drive we eventually arrived for our first match against Malsis Prep School in Cross Hills, North Yorkshire. The game was a timed one. Merchiston batted first and were scoring steadily but losing regular wickets too. Eventually we were bowled out for 106, which was another disappointing performance as a number of the batsmen got themselves out with rash shots. Angus P was the only batsman to score any runs with a great knock of 48. This score wasn't going to be enough, and in a very exciting finish, Malsis passed the total in the second to last ball of the day. Sloppy fielding was the main cause of them being able to reach our total. To cap off a super day we were given a barbecue and shown a movie in their boarding house.

Our second and final game was against Aysgarth u12 in a 30 over fixture. We won the toss and elected to bat first. Our application this time round was spot on and we put together a good score of 129/4 after 30 overs. The chief destroyers were Alex D (25 runs) and Angus S (29 not out). The bowlers bowled a much better length and applied the pressure from the first ball, which forced some key Aysgarth batsmen into making silly mistake. We ended up bowling them out for 71 with Angus S taking 3/18 and Robert D 3/15. This made the long journey home a lot more bearable. Special thanks must go to a few people, firstly all the Malsis and Aysgarth staff for making this such a super tour and for the wonderful hospitality. Secondly to Ruth Cohen who drove us there and back without a fuss. Her support on the trip was invaluable.

Pringle 1st XI v Dads Cricket Match

Please follow the link to the cricket page.

Photo left: Paul Osborne (right), some parents, and a barbeque.

Bag a book, May 2007

Bag a book week this term was a fantastic success! The Spawforth library was crammed with portable metal book shelves filled with new books just for this special occasion.

Mrs Williams was handing out these books and we were instructed to get one book each and one free book for our class library. Having no success finding a book for myself, I moved on to the class book. I gave the class the first in the Roman mysteries series, of which Cameron N and myself are very fond, and we are both currently waiting to get the 13th book!

Thank you very much to Mrs Williams for spending 100s of pounds on books just for the First Form, this will have a fantastic impact on the First Form library, which is currently getting re-arranged and improved. I had a great time and can’t wait for the next Bag a book week!

Patrick's latest cycling result

Patrick came second at the Isle of Man Youth Tour - on both points and time. This is easily the biggest youth road race in the UK, so a good result. On the longest stage (there were 4 in total) he and the winner rode off the front to create quite a dominating lead over the other riders. The Scotland team won the U14 team prize. To read more see www.scuonline.org

Euan's ski success

During the Easter holidays Euan (III- on left in photo) spent 3 weeks training and racing in France and Italy. In the races he finished with 2 bronze medals: one in the Children 1 slalom event in the British Children's Championships, and the second in the Children 1 Super G event at the English Championships.

Pringle Cricket Camp

Boys from II & III Form in the First XI came back to School before term started to spend three sessions preparing for the upcoming cricket season with new cricket coach Mr Osborne. They have fine tuned their cricket skills and Angus P, the captain, is extremely excited about the season ahead, along with all the team. The first match is next Thursday against Stewart's Melville.

Lent Term 2007:

J5 Trip to Edinburgh Castle

Yesterday J5 went to Edinburgh Castle where they attended a workshop on World War 2 and had a look around the Castle. They were able to investigate what life would have been like for people in Edinburgh during the war, and particuarly enjoyed the talk by Bob who was dressed up as the Soldier of the Home Guard and entertained them all!

Skiing and Cricket squad selections

We are delighted that Euan M (photo right) had a very successful ski training and racing camp during the holidays and as a result of his race results in France has been selected as a member of the British Children's Ski Team. He is the only Scot in the team, and will be competing with them in Slovenia in February and in Italy in March. (Click for the last ski news story.) We have had many boys in International Cricket Squads over the years, and this trend is continuing, with Angus P (photo left) now a member of the U13 Scottish cricket squad, while Donald is in the South of Scotland U11 cricket squad.

Sailing

James M is now in the East of Scotland Sailing Squad

Autumn Term 2006:

Hansel and Gretel

To see photos of the pantomime production click the link.

The Night Hike

On Saturday 7th October, the Third Form boarders with Mr Lucas and Richie Neill went on a night hike in the Pentland Hills. At first we went down a tunnel at Castlelaw Hill Fort, one at a time. We each went to the end and had to find a chocolate bar and come out. People thought that it was going to be pitch black, but only the last few steps were completely dark. Then we went on the walk and it was really dark. Mr Lucas told us some true stories of battles and murders in the Pentland hills when we stopped for rests.

About a third of the way through we met some strange people who were digging holes. We crept up on them like army commandoes so that we could see what they were doing. They tried to cover up the hole and shone the torch beam in our eyes so we couldn’t see. One man shoved Mr Lucas so we ran back up the hill and carried on with our walk. In all of this excitement, we missed a turning and got lost. We had to go a long way round before getting back on route.

We then had a brief warm from the Scouts’ abandoned campfire before sneaking through an old garden with statues. I thought it wasn’t that late but when we looked at the clock back in Pringle it was midnight. Everyone really enjoyed it!

James L

Geography Workshop

On 3rd October A set went to a Geography workshop by a lady from dynamic earth and Mr Heathcote, the Head of Geography. It started with a slide show of volcanoes. We had to look at them to work out if they were volcanoes or just hills. After that we filled in some worksheets about volcanoes and we coloured in a picture of a volcano. The lady from Dynamic Earth did an experiment with a volcano and made it erupt. Next we went on to learning about glaciers. The lady from Dynamic Earth did another experiment but this time using a gutter, porridge and some ketchup. She put the porridge into the gutter to represent the glacier and she put the ketchup on top in three lines. When she tipped up the gutter the porridge went down. The ketchup went down as well but only the middle. The sides stayed in the same place. This showed us how glaciers move. We did some writing after that and then we had our break. It was really fun and enjoyable.

Lewis N

Pringle Boarding in Weekend

On Saturday 7th October Pringle House held its first boarding in weekend of the year. I was boarding in and I was in the Den. On Saturday we watched a film called The Hangman's Curse which people said was a horror so we were all very excited. My dorm and the other dorms down the Third Form got to stay up a bit later because the Third Form were on the night hike. After the film we got into bed and went to sleep (of course). On Sunday we woke up and got ready for the Harvest Festival which was after breakfast. I was in chapel choir so I sang some songs with the choir. After the service we got split in different groups and did various activites like abseiling with Riche Neil and a ropes course with JRB and the other group got free time until they rotated.

Adam

Life in the First Form

First Form has been very different from J5. One of the differences is that we get more free time. Another difference is that our classes are taught in different rooms by different teachers. There are also more subjects, which include Mandarin, Design Tech and French.

With more freedom there are also more responsibilities. Some of which are getting to class on time and not being silly on the drive!

In First Form you also get a bigger choice of activities, such as Debating, Fives, Squash, cooking and engineering.

In First Form there are longer days than in J5, we also have to work on Saturdays! We nearly all play in the rugby team and so far we’ve played Stewart's-Melville and we drew 3 all. We have also played a festival between Clifton Hall (8-1), Fettes (4-1) and Edinburgh Academy (3-2). We also had a swimming Gala with Clifton Hall and drew 35 all!

I think everyone in First Form is finding it hard to be everywhere on time, but everyone is having fun and getting more responsible. A big thank you to Miss Vaughan for looking after us so well.

Donald

Settling in as a new Boarder

This is a note to tell you what being a boarder in Pringle is like. What really made up my mind about coming to Merchiston was my taster visit. When I came for it I was with I Form. It was really exciting for me, someone who had recently been in a school with only nine people in it. It was a big difference. The teachers were really nice and my guide was very helpful too.

On the day school started, I packed all my uniform and games kit and stocked up food. Then I was ready to go. After saying goodbyes and getting phone numbers and email addresses, I came for my first night. I arrived and had a look at where my bedroom was. I was a bit shaky during my first week. My guide Alex helped me to find my way around the school, so now on my fourth week I am starting to feel much more comfortable about the school. The meals in the school are very nice and tasty.

The things that helped me to know much more about each other was going Leuchars Air Show where I saw for the first time a Lancaster Bomber and the best bit was going round with my friends. Then it was Canty Bay, which was really good because I got to go swimming and snorkelling.

Lewis (from the Isle of Coll)

Dounans Camp 2006

On 16th September all Pringle boarders and 2nd and 3rd Form dayboys set off on the coach drive to Dounans Camp, Aberfoyle. We went because it was a great chance for Pringle to mix and make new friends. The activities that we did included the Catwalk, the Mohawk Walk, Raft building, Pole climb, Flying Fox, Problem Solving, ropes course and lastly the football tournament where the house teams competed against each other. This was great fun and it ended out that team 2 won.

The food was great. For tea we had a barbecue with burgers, Hot dogs, onions and a delicious chocolate cake. The football final took place after the barbecue, however this had to be postponed because the fans were rioting at the side of the pitch! Luckily the final was played again the following morning.

After the game there was a bonfire. We had marshmallows and sang songs and told jokes. Unfortunately near the end Mr Hall stepped on a stick which flung up at his face nearly blinding him. After that we went back to our dorms for a good night sleep (for very little people). Most people were up being noisy and upsetting Paul and Mr Lucas however they still managed to get up in time the next day and have an enjoyable time.

More pictures from Dounans...