And now to ‘getting money out of people’. The
reports and accounts elsewhere within this Wykeham
Journal bear witness to the unbridled ambition of
the Governing Body to extend bursary provision to a
higher proportion of boys, way ahead of anything seen
since the mid 19th Century, resulting in a significant
deficit on the fee account, which, if anything, will
widen in the next few years. This, combined with plans
for major refurbishments of the School’s facilities, has
put our fundraising activities in the spotlight and Win
Coll Soc has risen to the challenge. To a complete
amateur in this field like me, the achievements of
Lorna Stoddart and Tamara Templer, with Nick
Ferguson keeping a guiding hand on the tiller, appear
extraordinary: in the 2014-15 year, against a target of
£3m, the total of cash banked or pledges received was
£3.6m. Other highlights include: the final funding for
the conversion of the Warden’s Stables into the new
Treasury (total £3.6m raised); the Parents Summer
Party (£58,000 for sporting facilities) and the 2015
Telephone Campaign (£213,000 for the Annual Fund).
quadrant between Kingsgate Street and Norman Road
– PE Centre, Mill, Works Department and Medical
Centre. For this significant multi-year project, we
will have to pull out all the stops, but are confident
that we can all rise to this rather challenging task.
Another question, I am sometimes asked – ‘At
my old school, the alumni association and the
fundraising team certainly don’t work hand in glove;
indeed, they hardly speak to each other, let alone
share a computer! How is it at Win Coll?’ After
only a year in post, it is abundantly clear to me that
our development efforts rely crucially on friend
raising – cultivating the goodwill and generosity
of OWs and parents past and present; and that
engaging at all levels with the constituent parties
under the Win Coll Soc umbrella over time yields
huge dividends for the School, apart from providing
considerable entertainment for the participants.
So it looks as if I am just going to have to let out
my belt!
With the bar now raised several notches, the current
year has heralded ambitious new targets, with the
Golf Bursary Fund, the Ralph and Cathy Townsend
Bursary Fund and the Duncan Louis Stewart
Fellowship in Natural History occupying much
of the our attention. Looming not so far under the
southerly horizon are the advanced proposals, as ever
subject to planning permission, to redevelop the
The Wykeham Journal 2015 55