Objects of Substance- The Burrell Cup

Significant winners are interesting to trace. In 1932 IV Form won the Burrell Cup as an aggregate trophy. In the following two years, V and VI Form won the trophy. This writer was fascinated to see if the same girls were in the forms. It appears there were three IV Forms in 1932 which combined into a significant V Form and nearly identical VI Form. It comes as no surprise that the successful forms carried school swimmers and, in 1934, VI Form boasted four School representative swimmers, including Barbara Parkinson, the School swimming captain and champion swimmer. Since the presenting of all three cups in 1964, The Burrell Cup, The Lilley Cup, and the Lt-Col Plant Cup, seven houses have won all three cups outright. England has won the “clean sweep” four times followed by Hirschfeld and Gibson, three times each.

1934 Swimming Team

Back row: Frances Cossins, Joan Clowes, Joyce Chapman, Dora Krummel Seated: Joyce Partridge, Barbara Parkinson (captain), Shirley Anlezark Front: Marjorie Messervy, Alison Whiting, Margaret Pedler, Joyce Parkyn. In 1987, the Burrell Cup was fully engraved, and it was decided that rather than place the original cup on a wooden pedestal to create more room for engraving, that a new trophy be purchased. Subsequently, in 1988, the new Burrell Cup replaced Mrs Hilda Burrell’s silver trophy as the Interhouse Swimming Relay Cup.