Page 13 - Old Malvernian Newsletter - Issue 43 - 2020

DEVELOPMENT IMPACT REPORT
Cricket Nets
Malvern College has a distinguished record in cricket. PG Wodehouse wrote:
‘Cricket is the great game at Malvern and has attained that enviable position when anyone who has been a member of the first XI finds a reputation ready-made on leaving school. ‘He must be pretty good. He was in the Malvern team,’ is the sort of thing one constantly hears.’
This year we will install new netting over ten grass practice wickets and over four renovated artificial practice wickets. Investment in the new Sports Complex has provided indoor coaching facilities of high quality. The phenomenon that is girls’ cricket has further enriched Malvern’s reputation as a crucible of cricketing talent. ‘The Cricketer’ magazine included Malvern College in its ‘Good Schools Guide 2019, featuring the top 100 schools; one of the criteria for the award is to have ‘outstanding facilities’. Of course, to stay in the top flight, we need constantly to improve these facilities.
Observatory
Everyone has heard of Stephen Hawking. A very clever man, as we all agree. But who taught him? Well, his PhD supervisor was an OM, Dennis Sciama (SH.39-44). Recognised as the father of modern cosmology, it is his name that we would like to honour with this project.
We already have a good telescope; however, because it has no ‘home’, setting it up i.e. aligning with the stars and dismantling it take a good hour each. So we use the telescope only infrequently. With an observatory we could set up the telescope once and leave it in place, allowing the pupils to use it much more frequently. Astronomy is introduced in the Foundation Year, and is part of the IGCSE syllabus for the Hundred. There is an astronomy option in the IB syllabus, so the facility might be used by over 200 Malvern pupils every year.
We will commission Durantcricket to install their industry-leading ‘Dream Netting System’, to provide four new practice nets. This will enhance Malvern’s profile as a school that invests in pupil success, attracting the most talented cricketers, and consolidating further Malvern’s reputation for promoting opportunities equally for boys and girls.
1895 ASSOCIATION LUNCH
The recent 1895 Association lunch, held in November, was the first 1895 event hosted by Headmaster Keith Metcalfe and his wife, Clare, at the Headmaster’s house. After lunch, legators toured the College to see some of the most recent developments, such as the Rogers Theatre, but also
looked in on Main Building and our fine old chapel. The event was a perfect opportunity to thank our legators and their partners in a relaxed and social setting whilst catching up with news about old friends, as well as several current family members at the College.
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