The spring term, and our Main Foyer Gallery is brimming with artwork and sculpture so creative and wonderful that those passing by cannot help but stop to admire it. All is the proud work of boys who put their hearts and souls into creating art to tell a story or share an emotion.
It can only be our much-loved Detweiler Competition, one of the highlights of the Creative Arts calendar. Prizes are awarded in four categories: Art, Music, Drama and Creative Writing, with this year’s theme: ‘Order/Disorder’.
The competition was first introduced to the school in 1997 by Rob Campbell (Director of Art 1994-2013) and is named after the Canadian composer, author and patron of the arts, Dr Alan Detweiler, who so generously provided the prizes until his death in 2012.
We were delighted to welcome Old Bedfordian Peter Webb (54-59), art historian, author and lecturer, to school to judge this year’s competition. Peter had the difficult task of selecting the winners in all four categories.
The standard of entries was as high as ever. However, only when you speak with the boys about their art do you realise the meaning and depth they portray.
Remove Former Daniel Hudson (pictured), who wrote and performed a drama entry ‘My Disorder’, explained, “The great thing about Detweiler is that there is so much free range, and I was able to write about what I wanted and express my emotions in a piece I really enjoyed writing. Everyone has their own take on ‘Order/Disorder’; mine was on voice and how people can relate to different things in a range of ways.”
The winners were announced on Friday 24 February in front of an audience of boys, parents, staff and members of the general public, who were invited to enjoy the creative arts in all forms.
Director of Music, Joss Sanders, said of the music entries afterwards, “There were a good number of impressive compositions submitted for the competition, and it was hard to shortlist three for performance on the night of the awards evening. All three shortlisted compositions were excellent pieces of creative writing showcasing different musical instruments but, by a nudge, Angus’s composition for full orchestra, with some deft orchestration of multiple instruments, won on the day.”
You can watch the boys’ music and drama performances, see their art and read their creative writing pieces in the Detweiler 2023 booklet below.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page to view the photo gallery.
Winners are:
Artwork:
Winner 2D: Freddie McPhail
Winner 3D: Ted Ferris
Highly Commended: Merlin Toms, Oliver Phillips, Alex Hayward, Tom Godber, Jake Biffer
Drama:
Winner: Theo Cromwell
Runner up: Aryan Sohanpal
Highly Commended: Isaac Ferguson
Shortlisted: Daniel Hudson, Charlie Miller
Music:
Winner: Angus Timmins
Runner up: Alby Chan
Creative Writing:
Winner: Anton Gryaznov
Runner-up: Rocco Sarro
Highly Commended: Freddie Bowis, Frederik Simmen
