Hesperus Muster
Praise
- A very busy weekend - well done to everyone involved in: tour guiding on Saturday, the Scholars' Dinner, Div. Hockey, Rugby 7s on Sunday, Rowing at Cheltenham and in Brugge, Judo Championships
Commendations
Hamish Farrant, Jake Lawrance x3, Tom Hird, Xan Norman x2, Charlie Riley, Seb Bearn, George Lacey, Rory Pearson, Olly Rogers, Finn Slevin, Olly Chapman
Room Inspection (Gail & Jack)
Over 3/4 of the house received 10/10 - the list is too long to type. Well done!
Uniform Inspection - carried out by Hugo Harvey
10/10 - Ed Chapman, Ed Digby, Hamish Farrant, Philip Garnier, Seth Grieve, Jack James, Josh Orton, Hamish Owen, Jamie Perring, Bertie Pugh, Nick Riley, Chris Batchelor, Ben Hart, Chris Heathwood, Tom Nash, Xan Norman
Student of the Week
Jack Earl receives the award for receiving four commendations last week. An outstanding effort for a member of the U6.
Notices
- All boarders to attend the Lent address by Henry Olonga at 19.00 on Tuesday
- Div. Table Tennis at 8.40 on Tuesday
- Pancakes at 21.00
- College Sunday this weekend - please make sure uniform is perfect
- There is a disco or film screening and Medway for the 6 Form this Saturday
- House council notes to be published on the Blog
L6 'Inspirational Person' talk - Charles Guest
Nando Parrado
72 - Days of ordeal, Nando Parrado and other
survivors of a plane crash in the Andes had to endure before being rescued.
Flying over the mountains on a Friday the 13th, the young men and their
families who boarded the charter plane joked about the unlucky day when the
plane's wing hit the slope of the mountain and crashed. On impact, 13
passengers were instantly dead while 32 others were badly wounded. Hoping to be
rescued, the survivors waited in the freezing -37C temperature, melting snow
for drinks and sleeping side by side to keep themselves warm. Food was so
scarce, everyone had to pool whatever food they can find for a rationed pool.
9 days after the crash, due to dire desperation
and hunger, the survivors called for an important meeting. One member proposed
that they eat the dead. The 2 hours meeting ended with a conclusion. If any of
them died in the Andes, the rest had the permission to use the corpse as food.
After 2 weeks, their hope of being found dashed when they found out via their
radio transistor that the rescue effort was called off.
On the 60th day after the crash, Nando Parrado
and 2 other friends decided to walk through the icy wilderness for help. By the
time they left, Nando Parrado said, the crash site was “.. an awful place,
soaked in urine, smelling of death, littered with ragged bits of human bone and
gristle”. Wearing 3 pairs of jeans and 3 sweaters over a polo shirt, he and his
friends trekked the mountains with human flesh as their ration.
Knowing that they must search for rescue, the
team endured frozen snow, exhaustion and starvation, walking and climbing for
10 days before finding their way to the bottom of the mountain. The team was
finally helped by a Chilean farmer who called the police for help. Parrado then
guided the rescue team via a helicopter to the crash site.
On the 22nd December 1972, after enduring 72
brutal days, the world found out that there were 16 survivors who cheated
death, in the mountain of Andes. 8 of the initial survivors died when an
avalanche cascaded down on them as they slept in the fuselage.
He lost half his family in the crash. He is now a
motivational speaker and inspirational figure.
We can all learn a lesson from Nando, as I know
he has certainly inspired me to stop complaining at how hard life is sometimes,
as some people have it a lot worse than most of us do, and yet he still carried
on with determination when his situation could not get any worse and his life
was at rock bottom, but when the going gets tough, the tough gets going.
