MERTENS
This year in Mertens has been as jam-packed as ever and, through all the many highs and a few lows, we’ve had a really amazing year. We began well with all the new boys settling well into House life, and we were delighted to welcome Mr Devlin as Assistant Housemaster after Miss Marshal left to become Housemistress of Toynbee. Mr Devlin has already made a massive impact in terms of getting people stuck in; with everything from football quizzes to top quality newsletters.
This year has also come with an abundance of great socials, from Octoberfest in the Autum to Casino nights, inflatable course socials and lots of BBQs. This year we encouraged the younger years to have more of a say in what they wanted to see in their socials which has prompted them to get become even more engaged and enjoy them to their fullest.
This year has also been an important year for Mertens in terms of charity fund-raising. We once more completed the 24-hour bike ride, with students from all years participating, and some Upper Sixth students returning to help us raise money. This will be important for some of the Mertens boys who will being going to Kenya this summer to volunteer at the Langalanga Trust Schools, which we have donated to for many years now. Many Mertens boys will also be going off to the Galagos to do equally important charity work; this is another sign of how much Mertens Houses values charity and giving back, a theme which has become even more important this year.
Mertens also celebrated a hugely important WIN in the House Song Competition, with our performance of “Just the Way You Are” by Bruno Mars! With this being our second House Song win in just three years, we were extremely proud of the whole House. This was all orchestrated by Reeve who conducted the House Song and came up with actions. Many thanks also to the amazing Miss Gilmour Bailey, who played a big part in our success and to Mertens Tutor Mr Pozzuto, who sadly had to leave us at the end of Lent term but ended his time here on a high note with this fantastic Mertens victory.
It would also not be an end of year summary without thanking our fantastic Housemaster, Mr King, who is leaving Mertens after eight amazing years here. Mr King has always been an inspiring light to all of the boys in House and has been the most influential person in hundreds of boys’ lives who have been fortunate to have been part of Mertens. We are also sadly losing our amazing Matron at the end of this year; she has been equally fantastic for the House and been the bedrock without which none of our socials or so much of House life would be possible. Despite these departures, Mertens has had another great year with House and individual successes which lived up to the superb standard of Mr King and Matron. We hope you all have a great summer and can’t wait to see you in September!
Humphrey Scott and Reeve Johnston House Captains