CHARNEY HALL Challenge Cups
Like the string of photographs (more mug shots of previous inmates) which graced the top of the dado moulding encircling the School Dining Room I continue to wonder what ever happened to all those beautiful silver cups which were awarded annually after School Sports Week.
Fame and prestige were a fleeting affair as no sooner had the trophy been awarded it was taken away and returned to its rightful position in the Dining Room. No camera recorded the event, no evidence was left for posterity except perchance a mention by Maxwell Duncan in the Charney Hall Notes of that particular year. But if a boy dared to inspect the cup some days later, he would have noticed that another name had been engraved on the long list of previous champions.
The value of silver has steadily declined since the school’s demise in 1972 so it’s not whose pocket the ill-gotten gains ended up in that trouble me, or even who took them (and where) to be weighed in and melted down - though I do wonder…but the loss of all those lists of boys whose supreme efforts were rewarded with their names engraved on the silver plaqued plinths - an intrinsic part of the history of the school.
Many old boys have expressed their sadness of the school’s closure through the blog, to this I would like to add the loss of the photographs and the cups!
We have had a bumper number of hits on the blog this month - 1231 as at 22.50pm as February turns to March. Can someone explain why? Last month it was 166 and the highest score ever recorded was a mind-blowing 1600 early in 2022. There have been 17909 hits since first publication - the graph has a striking similarity to that showing the rise and fall of bitcoin…hope that no one placed any bets…
This seems an opportune moment to ask if anyone can recognise those cups featured on a much improved section of an old photograph shown above, name them and remind me what sporting achievement or other great sacrifice they celebrated.
Comment received with many thanks and well worth publishing! Now all we need is names to numbers! Unknown commented on "Charney Hall Silver Cups"
1 The Hampsfell Cup - A fell race from the Hospice to the School Cricket Field.
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4 The Deakin Cricket Challenge Cup - see post CH Cricket Challenge Cup & Netherwood.
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Was there a Currer Briggs* Cup? a Hannam** Cup? an Esther Hirst Cup? a cup for tennis? for swimming, for shooting, for that general knowledge test or even for just being a good boy, outstanding prefect or Head of School? - I just cannot remember.
* There was a Donald H. and a R. Martin Currer Briggs who both attended Charney in 1903. Martin left in 1905 and Donald was Head of School in 1906 - at least at half term. They were at the school at the same time as Rabagliati (our James Bond) and Baerlein (see relevant posts). Perhaps they were good at sport or their parents just grateful to the school for taking the boys off their hands for most of the year. Was the Currer Briggs Cup no. 8? I seem to remember that this large and very impressive cup was adorned with silver shields spaced around the plinth.
** At least 5 Hannams attended Charney Hall between the years 1897 and 1932. These dates are approximate due to the absence of certain years of the school lists : C D Hannam (1897-?), A M Hannam (1900, -01,-03, -04), J P Hannam (1911, -12, -13), C M Hannam (1927-?) and H D Hannam (1931, -32). C M and H D Hannam were most probably the second generation of that family to attend. A large cup would have been a fitting gesture to commemorate their patronage.
A personal note: My only claim to fame at Charney Hall was not one of scholarship. Learning the dates of the kings and queens of England by rote with John McCullagh was not my strong point - I had no short term memory, no intellectual prowess, but like Forest Gump in later years I could run and run. I won every race in the four summers of school sports I attended, save one fateful 100 yards sprint in my final year when Nigel Hargreaves pipped me at the post as we crashed into the coconut mat which was hung vertically over metal railings to prevent injury at the finish line. I won the Hampsfell Race three times in three consecutive years which was perhaps a first for this dubious achievement. What happened after Charney I hear you say…? I never won another race!
Comments
Best wishes, Keith S
"Hubert Podmore Cup, Currer Briggs Cup, Sullivan Cricket Cup, Rhodes Fielding Cup, Thompson Sixes Cup, Watkins Football Cup, Gordon Sports Cup (senior), Hannam Sports Cup (junior), Esther Hirst Sports Cup (under eleven), Green Swimming Cup, Alnond Shooting Cup, Wells Entomological Cup.