Pupils from across the school spread a bit of ‘Glee’ before half term in the hotly anticipated House Singing Competition.
Every single member of each house participates in the competition, which takes place throughout the day, starting with the solo round in the Lecture Theatre at lunchtime, and the ensemble and whole house rounds in the Sports Hall.
The stakes were high. Welsh had been on a winning streak for the past few years. Would they hold onto the cup, or hit a wrong note?
It was standing room only in the packed Lecture Theatre at lunchtime. Each house entered a soloist who was put in the spotlight to sing for their respective houses. The talent was exceptional, they all had the ‘X-Factor’, according to judges Mr Howe, Rev Briggs and Mrs Brazil.
For Skipwith, Louis Holland performed a fantastic version of James Bay’s Let it Go, while playing the guitar. Next up was Johnny Miller for Orchard who performed a mesmerising rendition of Steve Wonder’s Lately, accompanied by Mrs Louise Rapple Moore. For Welsh, Bobby Howard-Jones belted out an Elton John classic, Your Song, accompanied by Charlie Thomas on the piano (who incidentally has only been playing for a year). Then, the whole audience was on their feet as Seb Crehan-Mills from Burr gave an energetic performance of Queen’s, Don’t Stop Me Now - complete with props - what stage presence! Finally, Patrick Kenny from Everett used a loop pedal to build his brilliant performance of Cold Play’s Viva La Vida.
It was a close call but the winner of the solo round was Bobby Howard-Jones for Welsh with a special Shiplake Spirit Award given to Burr’s Seb Crehan-Mills for his entertaining Queen performance.
Following this was the ensemble round. A group of pupils from each house took to the stage in front of the whole school in the Sports Hall, to perform a song chosen and rehearsed in-house. First up was Skipwith with their version of One Direction’s Steal My Girl. Next was Orchard House with Only You by Alison Moyet, followed by Welsh with James Morrison’s Broken Strings. Burr’s ensemble sung See You Again by Charlie Puth, complete with rap. Finally Everett’s singers were up with Bastille’s Pompeii.
Again, another close competition with Everett winning this round.
It was then time for the Whole House round. Every pupil in the College formed part of this round, with the Lower School performing Pharell Williams’ Happy while the judges deliberated.
With a Brit Pop theme, Skipwith performed Good Enough by Dodgy, Orchard belted out Wonderwall by Oasis, Welsh raised the roof with Sit Down by James, Burr, complete with blue house hats, were supersonic in their rendition of Don’t Look Back in Anger by Oasis, and finally Everett were electric with Alright by Supergrass.
The winner of this round was Everett again.
The three judges scored marks out of ten for each performance. So despite Everett winning two rounds, the overall winner and retaining the cup for another year was Welsh.
Bobby Howard-Jones from Welsh House, said:”House singing is one of my favorite events of the year.
“This year I had the privilege of singing the house solo and also directing the ensemble alongside Charlie Thomas.
“It was a tough competition with very high standards from all of the houses but Welsh’s tight knit community was pivotal with us winning for the third year in a row. Everyone in the house worked so well together with such great enthusiasm and I am very proud to be a part of it!”
