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10 January 2018 Abingdon News The first years studied Roman theatre in their Latin lessons and designed masks inspired by characters from a play by Plautus. Ben Kane visits Abingdon The Classics department welcomed best-selling novelist and expert on Roman warfare, Ben Kane, to Abingdon. Ben has written several books set in the ancient world, including a series about Hannibal. Ben talked to the Lower School about what life was like for a Roman soldier and then to middle school ancient historians on the Punic Wars, explaining to the latter how he has recently cycled the route through the Alps possibly followed by Hannibal and his elephants! The theme for this year’s Big Draw Festival was ‘Living Lines’ and the collaborative artwork at the Senior and Prep Schools was a Living Lines Tree. Pupils, parents and staff created whatever they wanted on an individual luggage tag, these were then collated to float around on a tree, extending the idea of ‘living lines’, referencing ‘wish trees’. There were some stunning individual pieces and we thank the over 400 artists who took part. Young Enterprise looks promising This year’s teams are off to a flying start with products selling out at some trade fairs. Sales turnover has been high, thanks to good preparation and engaging sales talk. Products include stress balls, up- cycled hockey sticks as coat hangers, notebooks, cookbooks, snoods and hats. The Big Draw 2017