Ascension Day

For Shiplake College’s Upper Sixth early morning Ascension Day prayers, on Maidensgrove Common, have become a rite of passage. It is rare for teenagers to rise before 6.30 am but every year there is a queue for the two mini-buses departing for one of Oxfordshire’s most idyllic natural beauty spots.

After prayers Reverend Stephen Cousins invited pupils to blow bubbles, ‘Put anything in the bubble that you want to blow away, to forget from your schooldays. Maybe you want to celebrate some of your happy memories and blow them away joyously.’

In the traditional rounders battle between the Head Chapel Warden’s team, captained by Paul Vanner, and the Deputy Chapel Warden’s team, led by Louis Miller-Bains it was Paul Vanner’s team whose team had the best tales to tell over a breakfast of fruit, croissants, sausages and pastries.