Last year, Mr Holtham of the Mathematics department started the juggling club. Amongst many other Runnymede students, King, a Year 13 student, was an enthusiastic member of it.
Pyrophobia is the fear of fire. Well, King doesn’t have it. Whilst other students were enjoying their peaceful and mundane lunch breaks, he was playing with fire. Runnymede life can be, at times, dreary and exam-ridden, grey and menial. Sometimes a flame is all we need to push through the dark.
Teachers, students and fellow members of the juggling club held their breath as Mr Holtham brought a lighter to King’s juggling sticks. Ms Graham stood close by and ready with a hose, Mr Chophla’s hand steady on the tap. We moved away from any forestry. All precautions were taken to ensure that if something was to go wrong, the damages would be minimised. But nothing went wrong.
Sure, when the juggling club was first introduced as a co-curricular activity at Runnymede, it did not connote grandeur nor did it hold the reputational prestige that perhaps other clubs such as MUN or Medics did. However, this event proved all the naysayers wrong. King had everything under control.
Pushing through the formidable crowd, we were able to briefly have a few words with King. ‘Have you ever felt like this before?’ we asked through uproar to which he responded, ‘First time I’ve ever done something as impressive as this.’
Mr Chophla was amazed whilst Ms Hawkins arrived seconds after the spectacle and was desperate to watch the documented video.
Mr Holtham stated ‘I’m really proud and really pleased. He has done a fantastic job’. The last time he had exposed himself to such a thrill had been 30 years ago. At 2 o’clock in the morning in a park. The police had arrived with blazing fire alarms having been notified, ‘there’s a man in the park playing with fire!
Sam P, Year 13
Sam P, Year 13