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Mrs Jan Graffius, the Curator of Stonyhurst College, began this year's season of Friday Presentations with a talk about the History of  Hodder and St. Mary's Hall.  This year is one of significant anniversaries for SMH.  As Mrs Graffius informed us, it is 200 years since the first pupil arrived at Hodder Place in August 1806 and it is 60 years since SMH was first used as a preparatory school.  SMH and Hodder can claim, therefore, to be the oldest surviving preparatory school in the country.

Mrs Jan Graffius with some of her delighted audience.

Mrs Graffius thrilled us with other details and the audience were amazed to hear that the boys at Hodder had at one time kept an ocelot as part of their menagerie of animals.  We were also pleased to have our present order of the day, as our 19th century old boys had to rise at 5.30 am!  They were allowed half a pint of beer later in the day, however, as you can see from the screen in the photograph above.

The Inter-Line Trivia Quiz

SMH assembled for an inter-Line head-to-head in the form of a trivia quiz and the atmosphere was tense ... as it is with all Line Matches!  The format was simple: each Line was given a maximum of three questions for their turn and the Line Captains had the responsibility of choosing an easier question (5 points) or a more challenging one (10).  Once the question was read out, they consulted with their Line in the hope of finding the correct answer.  It was nip and tuck all the way and the lead changed hands several times.  When time was up, Campion were the winners and hauled away the mighty prize of 30 line points.  Weld took 15 line points for their worthy second place.  Well done, everyone!

Mr Tony Leonard came to SMH to tell us all about his work as a Detective Chief Inspector.  He thrilled us about all the details of crime investigation and how his department go about tracking down and arresting horrible villains.  There was a lively question and answer session to follow.  

Mr Leonard with potential recruits for the local constabulary. Or, are they under arrest?