THE WYKEHAM JOURNAL 2021 more than the targeted 3.5 % return, and the prospects for improved philanthropic giving are also bright. As Chairman of the Development Committee and a member of the Investment Committee he has overseen these returns, to the tune of £ 12m last year alone that went into the bursary endowment. He himself was the recipient of a bursary, as the son of a Navy officer. But doesn’ t Winchester have to do more to justify the huge privileges it enjoys— not least the significant tax break from charitable status, something incidentally that the Labour party currently wants to reverse. Is it enough?
Ferguson is a former Chairman of the Courtauld Institute and knows the charitable status tax break covers more than just educational establishments, including a charitable foundation he runs with his wife, but he still believes the bursary programme is fit for the job:‘ If we were just going to be a school of millionaires you wouldn’ t need any bursaries … so the whole intention is to make sure that people from a wider background can come, because that’ s healthy for the school.’
Cook’ s House photo 1966
Cook’ s House photo 1962
Or as he puts it, the school’ s high fees can currently price out children of‘ doctors, country solicitors and lots of others’.
Getting the new boarding houses up and running will be a mammoth task over the next couple of years—‘ I’ ve seen the architect’ s drawings and they are stunning’— but what of his own personal ambitions? I’ m asking all my interviewees what their own personal Everest is for 2022.
Continuing to strengthen the bursary fund is one, but also:‘ I have a family— three children who are themselves married with children in Tehran, San Francisco, and Houston, and seeing them has been difficult. So my one ambition is to get around and spend lots of time with all.’
Written by JAMIE ANGUS
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