Skipwith Successful in House Singing

Many House competitions take place, and loyalty is fierce; every team is fully committed to doing their best for their House and bringing glory (and bragging rights) back home. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the House Singing competition. The support for the annual school-wide contest is overwhelming, and it grows in popularity each year. The entire school gets involved, whether it’s representing the House in the solo round, the ensemble round or in the whole House round.

This year’s competition took place on Friday 26 February. Opening with the solo round, the Lecture Theatre was packed full to the rafters with supporting pupils and staff. The judging panel was made up of Music teacher Mrs Louise Rapple Moore, Director of Marketing and External Relations Mrs Katherine Green, and the Reverend Stephen Cousins. Skipwith opened the round, with Jordan Gibson giving a phenomenal performance of Anthem from the musical Chess, accompanied by Orla Brown on the piano. The audience were utterly enraptured. Robbie Rayne then took the mantel for Burr, performing traditional Scottish song Annie Laurie, bravely sung unaccompanied! Lucy Walker sang for Welsh, accompanied by Will Kidd on the piano. Lucy took on the difficult task of singing I Dream a Dream from Les Miserables, which was beautifully sung. Everett’s offering was If I Can’t Love Her, from Beauty and the Beast, sung by Patrick Kenny. A note-perfect and heart-wrenching performance, which was incredibly impressive for the youngest of the soloists! Orchard’s Maddie Chapples closed the solo round, with a pitch-perfect a capella rendition of You Raise Me Up, which was truly spine-tingling.

By the ensemble round, suspense was mounting… the judges had been deliberating and it still wasn’t known who won the solo round as the pupils packed into the Sports Hall. However, they didn’t have long to wait: Skipwith’s Jordan was triumphant in the solo round, for the second year in a row! The ensemble round then got underway, with Welsh up first singing Ain’t No Mountain. Orchard were up next, singing an upbeat and contemporary mash-up of Hozier’s Take Me To Church with Madonna’s Just Like a Prayer. Skipwith were next to the stage, singing Ellie Goulding’s Like Me Like You Do. This was followed by a toe-tapping version of Rihanna and Eminem’s Monsters, layered with Avicii’s Wake Me Up. Burr were last onstage to perform the ensemble piece, beautifully singing Birdy’s Wings.

Whilst the judges deliberated, Jordan returned to stage to perform his winning solo song for the whole school. For the whole House performance, Skipwith were up first; donning glasses, and marching around the Sports Hall to reach the stage the House threw themselves enthusiastically into singing The Proclaimer’s I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles). Burr sang One Direction’s Nobody Can Drag Me Down, with five pupils dressed up as the band members, pushing ‘Zayn Malik’ away from the rest of the group! Welsh House also sang The Proclaimer’s 500 Miles, with the audience clapping along. Everett then sang a hilarious version of Wheatus’ Teenage Dirtbag; three pupils donned costumes and acted out the entire song. Guy Pollard was a particular highlight, wearing a long blonde wig, red lipstick and leopard print coat, he strutted around, taking selfies with the judges and staff. Orchard finished the proceedings, with one last performance of 500 Miles, and then the judges had the unenviable task of deciding a winner.

Heralded by the theme to Countdown, the judges returned to the hall to announce the winners. The atmosphere was so tense that it could have been cut with a knife while the judges headed onstage to deliver the final verdict. Welsh House took first place for the ensemble performances for the second year running, with Skipwith a close second. First place for the whole House performance went to Skipwith, with Everett claiming second. This just left the coveted title of overall winner… and it was Skipwith who were victorious in this year’s competition, winning by a whisker and accepting the trophy to a deafening cacophony of cheering and applause!