While working on an article about the House System at Campbell, Mr. Rodney Hall, Maths Teacher and Housemaster for Yates's House, mentioned that he has a very old Yates's cup known as the 'Egg Cup' in his office. It was passed to him for safekeeping by previous Yates's Housemaster, and Head of Physics Mr. Billy McKee. Curious to know more, Mr. Hall reached out to Mr. McKee to see what he knew of the history of the cup. 

"The history of the Eggcup as relayed to me by Ronnie Caves (REC) who was the last Housemaster of Yates’s as a Boarding House and one of the last to inhabit the role Vice Master (now Vice Principal) is as follows:

It was presented to JW Yates the first Housemaster of Yates’s House in 1908 (when the house was first created) by the then Headmaster Mr RAH MacFarland to mark its birth and as such is, in all likelihood, the oldest piece of silverware in CCB (not the most valuable in the monetary world!).

When Yates’s was a Boarding House the Eggcup took centre stage on a table, covered with a tablecloth in CCB colours, in the Housemaster’s Study, and was surrounded by the various trophies won in the inter-house competitions.

When the house was reinstated as a Day Boy House in 1991, REC presented me with the cup and asked that I took great care of it.  You will probably recall that I ensured it was presented to you when you became Housemaster of ‘The Red House’ and I am most gratified that it ‘continues to live’.

Past Housmasters who have looked after the Egg Cup include:

1908-1925    J W Yates

1925-1928    CA Bowen

1928              CS Haslam

1928-1939    H Livesey

1930-1946    JT Lewis

1946-1959    CA Bowen

1959-1972    PH Evans

1972-1987    RE Caves

1991-2002    WJ McKee

2002-2004    MW Millar

2004--2007   N Ashfield

2007-2008    J Rea

2008-             R Hall

Below, some past Yates's Housemasters and custodians of the Eggcup:

 Mr. Noel Ashfield 

Mr Billy McKee

So now we need to establish whether indeed the Yates's Egg Cup is the oldest piece of silverware in the College. Anyone with info to the contrary please contact Claire Bunting in the Development Office who would love to find out more! 

Look our for a Spotlight on the House System next month on the Hub. You will hear from Housemasters and students and also have a range of photos to view in the media gallery.