While the weather this summer may be wretched, Speech Day/OC Day was blessed by the warmest day of the year so far and a large number of Old Cranleighans came down to the School.
The parents were entertained by Cranleigh Foundation Director Jim Turley (2 North 1985) who was the Guest of Honour and there were also excellent speeches from the Senior Prefects Emily Robinson and Will Yeeles, Emily describing Cranleigh as “much more than just a school”, and a place which leaves a lasting imprint on each pupil with its sense of community.
The official part of OC Day, overseen, as ever, by former and long-serving member of Common Room Mike Payne and his wife (and former Cranleigh parent) Veronica, began with a reception and Chapel Service during which the Chapel Choir under Marcus Pashley sang Parry’s sublime Milton setting, ‘Blest Pair of Sirens’. It was a special pleasure, also, to have the voluntary played on the Mander organ by UVIth leaver, Terri Yoon.
This year there was special focus on leavers from 1953, 1963, 1983, 1993 and 2003 but the OCs present on this lovely summer’s day spanned around eighty years of intakes.
The rest of the day blended its two titles with something of interest for all ages, from bouncy castles to a Hog Roast. The pupils’ creative talents were displayed in the Art and Design Exhibitions; and the School’s exploratory and charitable enterprises were showcased by the 2014 China expedition and the ongoing Zambian link.
Four sports were showcased in five games with the most attention around Jubilee where the School beat a young Old Cranleighan Cricket Club side by 41 runs in a Twenty20 match, the pink ball something of a surprise to the purists but one which most agreed was welcome as it made it easier to see. On the Lowers the more serious game saw the OCCC beat Stowe in the second round of the Cricketer Cup and a good crowd moved across the road from Jubilee for the last rites.
The Old Cranleighan Hockey Club won the (mislaid) Roger Loveland Bowl on aggregate score. The men’s side beat the School 4-2 while the ladies lost 0-1. The OC Netball Club, led by Helen Merry who joins the staff in September, lost to the School 9-19.