Welcome:
charles sinclair
W
Centaurea Cyanus.
Corn Blue Bottle.
Flora Londinensis Vol. II
by William Curtis
The earliest reference to the school's
association with the cornflower is in The
Wykehamist, 1890. They were worn for
Eton Match and adopted for button holes,
to match the school's cricket colours.
I
t is a privilege, as Quondam Custos, to
welcome you once again to the Wykeham
Journal, now starting its second decade of
providing a kaleidoscopic picture of the life
of Winchester College.
The school is remarkably long-lived, probably
the oldest continuously operating school in Britain,
using many of its ancient buildings for their original
purpose; the land we occupy has been preserved
and nurtured; the ethos of the school has
been resilient in a world of constant change.
‘Sustainability’, a theme of this WJ, is barely an
adequate word to attach to Winchester College.
What have we been doing these last few
years to support this sustainability?
2 The Wykeham Journal 2019
We have been gifted an enviable environment,
buildings ancient and modern, which have been
cared for, protected, adapted; beautiful sports
grounds, and an incomparable riverscape. New Hall
was restored with an added renewable energy plant;
the Warden’s Stables became Treasury, a brilliant
small museum of great aesthetic and educational
value; the KP Project, after long gestation, will
transform indoor sports, and will be powered
in part by solar panels. In addition the generosity
of two families has greatly enhanced pupils’ vital
understanding of our own natural world, through
a Fellowship and an Outdoor Classroom.
Academic prowess and results are Win Coll’s
hard currency. We prepare pupils for premium
tertiary education. But it is not the only currency:
we instil a habit of curiosity, an interest in a wide
curriculum beyond examination, and a confidence
to exploit mistakes. Dr Hands is hardening our
currency, building on and investing in the legacy
of Dr Townsend, a great stabilising Headmaster.
Our waiting lists confirm a widespread appreciation
of what we are and do.
Institutions are rarely sustainable unless they
have an inner strength and operate in an accepting
environment. This school’s inner strength is
derived from its relatively small size, its boarding
houses where pupils of all years can work together,
and dons nearby creating a powerful nexus.
Dr Hands has additionally driven the participation
of the school in the local community, both by
imaginative involvement of pupils in a wider
Winchester society, and by attracting interest
in the school as part of that society.
You will read in this WJ of the effort of the
College to sustain William of Wykeham’s vision
of educating pupils who need financial support,
so willingly given when required and available.
That willingness is being magnificently
supported in turn by the generosity of parents
and alumni, and Wykeham’s own endowment.
Readers of the WJ over past years will
realise the Governing Body inherited a full
agenda from Warden Clementi: much has been
accomplished. We would have failed if we had
not done the same in welcoming Warden Stagg.
Onwards!
.
Charles Sinclair
(B, 1961-66; Fellow, 2010; Warden 2014-19)