As we close in rapidly on the end of this academic year, it provides us with an opportunity to reflect on the achievements of the Deacon’s boys since September.

I was lucky enough to be able to share some of these reflections with the pupils, parents and staff who attended the House Feast on Saturday 15 June.

This was a fantastic evening, that started in sparkling fashion with Matthew Jones playing the flute during pre-dinner drinks, demonstrating to everyone there how worthy he was of his place in the school’s Young Musician of the Year final. The meal itself was thoroughly enjoyable; my thanks go out to the catering department for producing such fantastic fare, to the domestic team for serving us so efficiently and to Howard Smith for helping to make the Lord Riche Hall look so good.
 

Our Guest of Honour this year was Elaine Beckett, from the Essex and Herts Air Ambulance Trust, which is our chosen House charity. Her presence allowed us to give a bit of a focus to the efforts of Oli Butler, Monty Jenkins and Harry White in raising over £3000 this year. When we added in the money raised on the night from playing ‘Deacon’s Bingo’, we got to a final total for the year of £3750! 
 

This gave me pause to look back on the endeavours of Seb Dickens during ‘Movember’ and the whole house’s contribution to the ‘Beat Mo!’ challenge in September. These examples show how much time and effort is spent in completing these challenges, and I hope the boys all continue in this fashion next year. 

Mr Barny Bury
Housemaster, Deacon’s
 

Boarding at Felsted