On a hot summers Saturday in late June, hundred compettitve, enthusiasitic and sporty dentists hovered around Whitechapel road and boarded on a coach to take them to Chislehursts sports ground.

On arrival, the sun beamed down on the pitch and the mercury on the thermometer climbed to 26⁰C.  Everyone got into their coloured team kits and began to warm up for the day’s events.

First up, was the girl’s football match. Team ‘Acid Etch’ (third year dentists) v the second years. Handshakes were exchanged and then the match began. Acid etch took an early lead in the first half and then the second years leveled late on in the game with the final score 1-1. Injuries however played a part with a bruised eye involved but all was played in good spirit and the girls mutually opted for no penalty shoot outs and therefore everyone was a winner.

Next up were the boy’s matches. Looks were exchanged, team spirit was high and there were a flurry of spectacular goals. Sultan’s team played the winners of the students in a thrilling finale, which could have gone either way, but with the latter getting the better of the staff and going home with the victory trophy.

After a breathtaking morning of play, the games were on hold for a five star barbecue created by the dentsoc team. Vaishali and Jason delivered mouth-watering burgers to all the hungry sports participants and spectators.

In the afternoon the men in white including Adele and Dr Friel battled it out on the cricket ground. Runs were scurried through, catches were held and the stumps were hit in a scintillating match with the highlight being Rahul’s catch and Divian’s match winning stroke play.

Alongside the competitive sports play, there were those who preferred  to  soak up the sun and get a tan, have a bounce on the bouncing castle or brush up on their rounder’s skills.

The climax of the day was with the leaving speech of Judith Walker, who will be greatly and deeply missed by us all. There was a cake in her honour and it was cut and shared amongst us.

This year’s sports day was a great success and had the highest attendance ever! We eagerly await the next one!!

Fehmida Merali