In This Issue

Falcon Weekly News

Week 8 First Term 2006

First Adventure Race a Thrilling experience for the Boys
- new event in our calendar

Form One Adventure Course - a Unique Experience 

Falcon College Promotional visit to Lilfordia Three Wood Cross-Country

Old Boys well-presented at the Junior Cricket Festival 
- Gordon met 10 Old Boys at the Inaugural Event and filed  this report.

The Adventure Race, a new event in our calendar, turned out to be a very thrilling experience for the boys.  

Each house had to field 4 competitors, one each from the age groups: Forms 1 & 2, Forms 3 & 4 and Sixth Form. The fourth competitor could be from any of these three age groups. Twenty-minute time slots were allowed for each stage of the race. The race started at 0620 am at the Main Gate in pleasant weather.  Boys run down the Sacred Heart Road to the Sacred Heart bridge over the Lunga River.  Competitors had a Multiple Choice First Aid test to do before proceeding to the next stage.  In the next stage the competitors had to stay the course in the river up to the Ncema Bridge.  Here they were given 20 minutes to climb out of the river using a rope and a ladder.  Once the entire team was out of the river, one member had to get a bicycle and race back to the Main gate to order a vehicle to go and pick up others.  Then one member had to swim, one had to do mapwork while two had to do some horse-riding and then climb the wall behind the Turner Hall.  

 On the right a competitor shows his skills at the ropes as he advances upwards from the River to the top of the Ncema bridge.

When a team had finished all this they had to go to Mbonisi  Weir at Quiet Waters. Here each team was given a boat and a canoe and the entire team had to navigate their way round an Island on the weir without using any paddles. Left: Chubb team members used shoes and bare hands to paddle round the Island......


On the right: The Hervey team had the same idea.

When that was done the team had to go to the Old Boys Study Centre and make a cup of tea! What a warm way to end an exciting series of events!

The Founders Team making their tea at the Old Boys' Study Centre.

Oates house won the event. In Second place was Chubb and Hervey were Third.

Form One Adventure Course
This year the Form One adventure Course was held from the morning of Wednesday 15th March up to the morning of Friday 17th March.  All the Form ones were involved in this popular annual event.

Left: A group of Form One students, all ready with their kit, keenly awaiting transport to take them to Quiet Waters at the start of the Adventure Course. The boys sleep under the stars at Quiet waters during the entire course.

A large variety of events were laid out for the Form Ones.  Bridget Randle and Craig Mirams were kept busy orienteering the boys while Mr Tony Bancroft taught the boys the tricks with ropes.  Mr. Don, the Assistant Caterer trained the boys on the intricacies of killing and dressing a chicken. The San Sisters taught the boys basic First Aid Skills.
 
One of the events during the Adventure Course was the Assault Course.  This course, though very demanding on the boys is always popular.

Under the watchful eye of  Mr. Graham Armstrong, a young lad sets off on a slide down the wires during the Assault Course.
Mr. Armstrong also taught the boys basic bushcraft skills.

One of the skills the Form Ones learn on their adventure course is how to cook a meal, since that is what they have to do on one of their nights out. Gordon Macdonald runs this section and on the Wednesday of the course he had 6 sessions of imparting bush cooking skills! Each House came to his home and they learned to make a savoury mince dish, full of vegetables, in a three legged pot. One of the Quiet Waters workers, Mr Million Sibanda, taught the boys how to make sadza (the local dish), and the proper way to eat it. At the end of each session the food was sampled by the boys who deemed it to be delicious. It is not known if their meals were similarly delicious, but they probably were devoured with great gusto after a long, hard day of bush life!

One of the exciting events during the Adventure Course involved boys swimming across the pool to collect, one at a time a total of 14 times which had to be used to erect a flag!

A campfire Quiz marked the last night of the Adventure Course.

Falcon College Promotional Visit to Lilfordia - 3 Woods Cross Country

Pete and Jacqui Stewart were thrilled to attend a premier event on the Primary Schools Cross-country calendar - The Three Woods – as it presented an ideal opportunity to promote Falcon and inform prospective parents of the exciting developments at the College. 600 youngsters competed in the various races and most of their parents, grandparents and supporters took time out to have a cup of tea in the hall and enjoy the Falcon DVD. Many questions were asked and an invitation was extended to interested parties to attend a more formal presentation in Harare the following evening at a private home.

Start of the 3 km race. Children from 24 Junior Schools participated.

Due to excessive rain two nights before, this gully was carved out of the narrow tar slip road that cuts through to Lilfordia from the Norton side. Having been told the road was “fine”, you can imagine the surprise when confronted with this. Just as well the water had drained out! Pete Stewart watches the gully in amazement!

Old Boys well-presented at the Inaugural Junior Cricket festival
At the very successful inaugural Junior Schools Cricket Festival held at Falcon in mid-February 2006 there was a good turn-out of Old Boys - mostly fathers of cricketers.  Gordon Macdonald met the Old Boys and gives us a brief sketch of each one.

• Des van Jaarsveldt (Hervey 1966 - 1971) with his wife, Kiew, were there to watch their son play for the Victoria Falls Primary School side.  Des married Kiew early last year and they live in Victoria Falls, where Des owns and runs a Safari company.

• Simon Rodgers (George Grey 1975 - 1980) lives in Bulawayo and is still in the hunting industry.  His son was playing for the Whitestone side.

• Mark Butler (Founders 1979 - 1983) and his wife were supporting their son who was playing for Ruzawi.

• Craig Dankwerts (Oates 1973-1978) who is still farming on the family farm near Harare was pleased to see his old school looking as good.  His son was the captain of the victorious Ruzawi side.

• Gaaham Young (Hervey 1985-1990) and his wife live in and work in Harare.  Their son was in the St. Johns side. Mike Mckenzie (Hervey 1969-1972), the Headmaster of St John Primary School unfortunately could not be at the festival

Other Old Boys at the Festival were:

• Andy Laing (Tredgold 1964 - 1968) and his son, Mark (Tredgold 1994-1999) and Alastair Coulson (*Founders 1964-1968)

• Stephen Pearl (Founders 1984-1987) lives in Victoria Falls and owns a series of butcheries.  His son was in the Victoria falls side - following in his father's footsteps, as a cricketer!

We expect an even greater turnout of Old Boys at next year's Junior Cricket Festival.  Many schools, including those from across our borders have expressed their interest to attend the Festival.