The 16th of April brought with it our annual Old Edwardian Cross Country, held for the second time on the school property. The route runs across the school buildings both Prep and High and out the main entrance of the high school and down towards the hostels. However I don't believe that the boys were paying too much attention to the autumn scenery as they ran through Upper Houghton.

The event was held in great spirit as all the grade 7 boys had done their best to ensure their houses stood out. There was much enthusiasm in the all of the events as up to 80 boys per grade set off for the run.

Overall the event was a great success and tremendously well supported by our parents. Anderson were the overall winners followed by Robinson, Grimmer and Hofmeyr.

Winners of the events were as follows:

Chess is often described as a game of mind, but in fact, I am arguing the fact that it is a sport which involves effort, dedication and hours of work. This year our team achieved a bronze medal in the Southern Gauteng Championship Chess League.

Midyear our team experienced a change of educators. Miss C Anderson emigrated to New Zealand (I hope their chess is better than their rugby!!!!) and we were lucky enough to get Ms N Kruger. Ms Kruger was quite nonplussed when she was told that she was in charge of chess at the school, as she has never played at a competitive level before. We coaxed her along, and spent hours at the boards, sipping cokes and explaining the more complicated moves. We are thrilled to have her on board.

Many of our boys achieved excellence. Dino Nizetich, Nicholas Burke, Lwandle Tshabalala, Shaun Joliffe and Stephen Burke were awarded their Gauteng South Chess Colours and they will be attending the National Chess Tournament in Cape Town on the 13th December 2009. We are proud to have reached this level, and special commendation must be given to the two 'babies' of the team, Stephen and Shaun, in Grade 3 and 4 respectively.

Special mention must be made of Nicholas Burke who was chosen for the South African Schools Regional Team.

Dino Nizetich and Lwandle Tshabalala were awarded the following awards at the Gauteng South Schools Team Prize Giving, 'Best Under 14 Player' for Dino and 'The Thinker' for Lwandle.

School colours were awarded to Dino Nizetich, Lwandle Tshabalala, Erik Koekemoer and Nicholas Burke. We will all wear our colours with great pride.

We would like to thank Ms Kruger for all the time, effort and patience she has invested in us over the past few months. Thanks also to Mr Burke for his guidance and support over the last year.

Gary Kasparov said, 'Chess is 20% talent and 80% hard work'. We are definitely a winning team.

Dino Nizetich

The 2011 Cross Country team at their last meeting at St Benedicts school on Thursday 4th August 2011. Well done to all the boys for their fine achievements and commitment to Cross Country. Sincere thanks to Mr Carrolus and Miss Murphy for organising the events and training the boys.

Not only did January start with plenty of enthusiasm and hoards of young cricketers swarming around the nets. We were blessed or in cricketing circles taunted by one of the wettest seasons in a number of years.

We did however manage to maintain a large number of teams and once the rain had departed we kicked off with a series of fixtures producing some very exciting cricket. Our 1st XI achieved some great results with massive contributions from David Quinn with the bat, scoring 110 and a 90 back to back. More exciting was the bowling talent coming through the ranks with large numbers of boys starting to understand that getting the ball in the right areas. Bowlers like Koekemoer and Wadeley taking large numbers of wickets for very few runs, Wadeley taking three 5 wicket hauls and Koekemoer one.

We have been granted use of and are currently using the indoor centre extensively, where we constantly have gentleman working on our batsmen, under the watchful eye of Jimmy Cook who cant help but to get involved and help our lads out when the chance arrives. Mr Foote can be found in the indoor centre on a daily basis as he has taken a keen interest in ensuring the quality if our bowlers.

The close of the season was the D.P.H.S centenary festival where our first team enjoyed some success, winning one losing one and enjoying the super 8 tournament where many a big hit was seen. More importantly the boys develop friendships with lads from other schools who they will go on to play against for years to come across the country.

The 2009 football season will one to be remembered for a few years to come. Our boys showed up in hordes at trials, we were able to put out more teams than we have in many years. The season kicked off with the various festivals held around Jo’burg and enthusiastic young footballers determined to make an impression.

Through the season the teams achieved good results all round, highlights apart from results were weekends like our St Peter's fixture, where we bussed boys through over the course of three days to ensure all boys were able to play. The 1st XI found themselves wound up in some tight battles against tough opposition, where a well balanced and focussed approach gave them the edge, which resulted in some fantastic results.

The Knock Out Cup was a success and had many exciting moments. Some good results early on saw us with all our A sides set up to play quarter finals at Marks Park. Our Under 9 A's were our first side to depart being knocked out in the quarters. They were to be followed by our 11A's who after a great season were unable to find the net and were knocked out during extra time during the Semis.

Cup final night....

With three teams in the finals we were well represented and up against Crawford Sandton in all three games. The 10A's put on a brave fight late in the afternoon, loosing closely and picking up their second silver in two years. The tension built as the 12A's took to the field, a solid performance in the mid- field allowed the boys many attacking opportunities, many a goal scoring opportunity and some fine finishing. The 1st XI, went in as under dogs to a side that had knocked them out 5-1 the year before. A fast, hard game of football followed, allowing our expansive midfield to spread the ball and create some great attacking areas, some good running upfront helped the boys edge into a 2-0 lead by the second half. Special mention must be made of the back four who took control of a fast attacking Crawford side, standing their ground and clearing their lines with sheer determination. A hard fought tussle resulting in a 2-1 win.

Congratulations to the following boys who made area sides, Aquilas Masuko, Rizwaan Dharsey, Zamo Keswa, Sicelo Champion and making the Southern Gauteng A side, Rashard Fuller.

Thank to all of the coaches for their efforts during the course of the season.

Mr. M Demartinis