Brentwoodian 2019

91 HOUGH A year in house It is the end of my first year as Housemaster at Hough House. My wife Sue and I moved in last summer in the midst of major refurbishment to the boys’ kitchen and upstairs showers. When the first boy arrived for the start of term, the paint was still drying! Since day one, it has been nothing but a pleasure to be part of the boarding community. It is, in comparison to the rest of the School, a very small part, but it has always been and remains integral to the life of Brentwood School. It is humbling to see, back on that first day, boys of all ages turning up (often alone) having travelled thousands of miles, to a place many have only seen on a website. These boys arrive, unpack, are ferried to the School Shop, to the SAN, given a swimming test, taken on a whistle-stop tour of Brentwood High Street and its surrounding environs, yet they just take it in their stride. They have jet lag, there can often be language and cultural barriers, but they just get on with it. The boys of Hough House are resilient. They are adaptable. They are without doubt the most brilliant human beings. Within a few days of them being here, I tell them, quite casually: “There is this small competition coming up... it is called House Music... you just need to sing a song or two and play a bit of music, no big deal.” Then I show them the rehearsal schedule and the song lyrics, lock the musicians in a room, throw a music score at them and shut the door. And, they get on with it! Our Unison effort this year was the well-known ditty from Grease: Summer Nights . I have to say that on the night, what we lacked in musicality we made up for in enthusiasm and volume. What a comparison to the gentle, harmonious and understated PartSong led by a beautiful singer in the guise of Rocky Li. As we watched them all singing, Sue turned to me and whispered, “I am so proud of them.” We were and we still are. We have had a busy year. We went to see Thriller Live! We’ve been to Thorpe Park, Paint-balling, Broadstone Warren, Go-Karting, Christmas Shopping and we have celebrated Chinese New Year with some amazing displays of individual talent. Friday night continues to be football/ basketball and take-away night and it is lovely to see day students joining us for these evenings – Philippos Manuelides is now an honorary member of Hough House! By half-term it is impossible to differentiate between the old and new boarders. This may sound cheesy (I don’t care): we are family! A very big family, a multicultural family, a family of polyglots, a family of individuals, and a family which looks out and cares for one another. This family comes in all shapes and sizes. We have boys who are studious, sporty, practical, mathematical, artistic, athletic, gymnastic, academic, quiet, loud, smelly, untidy, picky, easy-going and demanding. We have introverts, extroverts, singers, dancers, musicians, early-risers, late-sleepers, parkour-ers, swimmers, scrummers, forwards, defenders and goal-keepers. There are cooks and cleaners, mess- makers and eaters, shouters, smilers, gamers and card-players. To coin a phrase: All of human life is here. Every family needs caring and nurturing parents and these boys are lucky to have quite a few. Jane, our Matron and House Elf, Sarah our other House Elf, Paul who can fix anything and everything, our House Tutors: Mr Giles, Mr Gray, Mr Wignall, and Mr Jenkins who between them offer the boys such a range of expertise, experience and guidance. There is also the extended family in the staff who cook for the boys every day and the maintenance team who keep the heaters running and the water flowing. The gardeners who keep the outside looking so nice, the porters who ferry parcels back and forth and are always on hand to help. And last but by no means least, I have to mention Darren. Thirty-five boys produce a lot of rubbish, and thanks to Darren, our bins are always empty. Of course, what nobody tells you though, and what nobody can prepare you for, is saying goodbye. Next year, Devan Mistry and Chenghao Qian will leave us to become day pupils. Dixon Leong will begin his Sixth Form at an international college in Oxford. Our Leavers’ Assembly at the end of term was tough. I looked around at the faces of those boys, who, in a few weeks would walk out of the door, and never return. Seeing them all together: Chinese, French, English, Spanish, Russian, Romanian, Ukrainian, Latvian and Indonesian – all of them who were once strangers to each other but who are now friends for life. I have to be positive: they are about to start the next chapter of their lives, some are off to university (Warwick, Kings, Manchester, Imperial, Leeds, and Loughborough). Jack Brown has been scouted by Lincoln City FC (what an achievement for him), and Simon Botbol is off to study Medicine in Boston. Yes, all of that is positive. But like any family, when one of our own, or in this case many, leave the nest, a small piece of my heart goes with them. When the time came for them to leave the House for the last time and Sue and I said our goodbyes, I am not ashamed to say we shed one or two tears. So, to Simon, Jack, Maksim, Dickson, Rocky, Terrence, Amir, Harry, Ryan, and Alex – Godspeed. A common question Sue and I get asked is “Do you have children?” We used to say “No, just cats!” Now we say something very different. “Children? Yes, actually, we do. Thirty-five of them. And every one is a boy.” By Mr Taylor School Charity Little Edi Foundation