By 1965 the School numbers were up to an impressive 184. In the Summer term, the new Cricket Pavilion was opened by Lord Cobham and celebrated with a special match, The Headmaster's XI vs B. H. Valentine's XI. An account of the day was reported in the 1965 issue of The Court:
The new Cricket Pavilion was opened with a special match on May 23rd. Light rain was falling as the Headmaster introduced Lord Cobham to a sizeable crowd of parents and friends of the School. As a former Governor General of New Zealand, former President of M.C.C. and an ex-County Captain, Lord Cobham was ideally suited to open the building. He declared that he liked the style of the building considerably more than the architecture of many of the seventy odd buildings he had opened in recent years. In addition he was heartily bound to approve its purpose. A joke about cricketers and the rain served to drive away the clouds and Lord Cobham promptly declared the building open so that play could start forthwith.
Having won the toss the Headmaster's XI made a brisk start. Their progress was halted by the left arm slow bowling of D. B. Carr, assistant secretary of M.C.C. He took wickets regularly on a drying pitch. By mid afternoon the sun shone strongly and the gloom of the morning was forgotten. Three wickets fell quickly at the start of the innings of Valentine's side and they never fully recovered. Although the later batsmen played steadily after Carr had held the fort early on, the innings closed for 105, 58 runs short of the target. Two former Captains of the School, A. H. Slatter and N. C. Fawkes, held their own in distinguished company, as did the 1965 Captain and Vice-Captain. We have waited for a pavilion for a long time and are most grateful to the many people who made the opening match a success. We are lucky to have an attractive ground and it was most pleasing to see a number of well known cricketers playing here. A special word of thanks must go to the Bursar and his staff for what was done to complete the project before term began.
Can you identify any members of this 1965 cricket team?
There are some lovely photos from the drama production of Rope of the Belt. 1965 was also the year that permission was granted for the first time by the Ministry of Defence for Shiplake to form a contingent of the C.C.F. A Naval section of 30 and an Army Section of 70 was established and an assault course was built in the quarry for the CCF boys to use for training.
We love this aerial map of the school; it is interesting to compare it with the College Map we use today, to see just how much we have expanded.
