Abingdon News No.59

Donor ‘Thank You’ drinks reception We were delighted to host the much-anticipated annual ‘Thank You’ reception at Abingdon on 4 November in the Charles Maude Room. Everyone attending had made their first donation to Abingdon in 2020 or 2021. Mike Windsor thanked guests and confirmed his vision for widening access to an Abingdon education through our growing bursary programme. Guests enjoyed catching up with each other in person and meeting members of staff. We look forward to being back in the beautiful garden of Lacies Court next summer to host this popular event. Abingdon Development 1563 Society Our last two society gatherings, Afternoon Tea in 2020 and the Fine Wine Tasting in 2021, were remote so we are looking forward to welcoming our legacy society members to lunch at Abingdon on 18 June 2022. If you would like to find out more about the legacy society please contact Harriet Alderman at [email protected] SUS donations Thank you to the Second-hand Uniform Shop team, led by former parent Marilyn Moore, who have made a generous donation to support two upcoming pupil-led projects. The Edinburgh Fringe Festival tour and F1 in schools are two new pupil- centred projects for 2022. We look forward to sharing further news on these later in the year. We launched our new bursary campaign ‘Seven years to change a life’ at the start of October 2021 to raise awareness of bursaries at Abingdon and to seek support from our community. We have set the ambitious target of raising sufficient funds to support 110 boys with a means-tested bursary by 2026 and are already closer to making this a reality. At the time of writing we can report that there are already 21 members of Abingdon’s 110 Club, set up to recognise and thank those committing to support a bursary at the level of 10% of fees or higher. The Chairman of Governors, Professor Mike Stevens (OA 1968), looks forward to welcoming all 110 Club members to Abingdon for a celebration lunch in May 2022. If you would like more information about how you can support our ‘Seven years to change a life’ campaign please contact Alexa Broad or Harriet Alderman in the Development Office - [email protected] or [email protected] or do call us on 01235 849107. If you would like to make a donation online this is easy to do via our ‘Support Us’ pages at: www.abingdon.org.uk/support-us/donate-online Seven years to change a life - our vision for bursaries at Abing don 26