The occasion for this visit was the ‘Opening of the Big Ground’ as part of their Quatercentenary (400 year) celebrations which was an ideal opportunity for the Trust to cement contacts with the school and promote the glory days of North-East amateur football.
Our first venue for the display was in the cloisters adjoining the Music School – the cloisters commemorate those Old Carthusians who died in the Boer War under the command of Robert Baden-Powell and was where scholars first played a crude game with a ball which progressed to football as we now know it – an apt venue for a DAFT display! The Big Ground was re-opened by Sarah Hildebrand, grand-daughter of old boy, A G "Baishe" Bower, who was the last old boy to play for England Amateurs as captain as well as the last amateur to captain a full England team.
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The ground then hosted a game between Old Carthusians and the Civil Service followed by a game between the school teams who won the ISFA Cup in 2008 and 2011. Many visitors to the display had fond memories of the ‘Bishops’ in the 1950s and there was plenty of interest in the displays. After the soccer afternoon we were suited and booted for a celebration dinner in the hall along with 150 invited guests. Malcolm Bailey spoke kindly about the Trust in his speech and we were made very welcome by everyone during our stay. On the Sunday our display was moved to the Sports Hall and Charterhouse hosted a 6-a-side tournament for 32 independent schools on their 8 full-sized pitches – an indication of their fantastic facilities and a fitting end to an inspiring weekend!
You can view more photos from the trip to Charterhouse via our Flickr page.
