ONE of them was always doomed... it was just a question of which.

Five members of staff at Nettlebed Community School agreed to be put up for election to be “gunged” at the school’s summer fete.

It was up to the pupils and parents to decide who should “win” by placing donations in a jar for their favoured candidate.

The volunteers were Philip Day, chairman of the governors, teachers Tom Last, Gillian Roberts and Sarah Lonsdale and school secretary Tracey Sedwell.

Mr Day produced an election poster as a represetative of the “Choose Anybody But Me Party”, urging the voters not to choose him and listing reasons to select one of the others.


He claimed his wife would be cross that his clothes would need washing, his eldest daughter would be embarrassed and he was only a “simple farmer” who might be allergic to gunge and could be made ill by it.

Mr Last, on the other hand, was the youngest and would enjoy being gunged and it would be character-building for the new teacher, said Mr Day. Mrs Lonsdale was the eldest and had a secret wish to be gunged while French teacher Ms Roberts was such a talented linguist, dancer, athlete and singer that she made others feel inadequate and her family had probably paid good money to see her gunged.

Mr Day said the children should choose to gunge Mrs Sedwell because she “intimidated” them over unpaid dinner money, the competition was her idea and “because you can”.

By 4pm, when the gunging was to take place, there was a clear winner — Mrs Sedwell.

The secretary had a bucket of gloop poured over her, splattering some of the other four sitting next to her as they feared the worst.

Mrs Sedwell said: “The gunging was the star of the fete and all the children and parents were chanting at the end. I don’t know why I was chosen — it was probably because I campaigned against Mr Last as he is the youngest but I like to think they all thought it was fun. I came first with £44, Tom came second with £32 and the rest raised about £10 each.”

Other attractions at the fete included a coconut shy, bouncy castle, football, balloon release and welly-wanging challenges.

More than £2,000 was raised which will go towards developing a wildlife and pond area and a new maze in the playground.

Published 04/06/12