Raising funds to support bursaries at Freemen's

At the end of last year, I was asked by Rhian Curtis, covering as Director of External Relations this year, to consider doing something to draw attention to our Freemen’s Fellowship 170 bursary fundraising programme, which ambitiously aims to raise £170,000 for bursary places in the school. I think secretly she was hoping that I would jump out of a plane for reasons unknown (!) but sadly, that’s not going to happen (dodgy back).

I have committed to completing The Pilgrims Way (Southwark Cathedral to Canterbury Cathedral) this Lent, a 90-mile wander, which I am hoping to complete in six days towards the end of March.

As many of you will know, I am an English teacher by vocation and have often had the pleasure of teaching Chaucer so this experience will enable me to connect once again with the tales that I have been studying since the age of 15 and one of the highlights will certainly be joining my L6 class remotely from the journey to do some revision on The Merchant’s Prologue and Tale with them.

I am grateful in advance to anyone who is able to contribute to sponsoring me. As you will no doubt know, funding bursary places is something very close to my heart as someone who directly benefitted from that support myself. Funding places for children from disadvantaged backgrounds is central to Freemen’s founding ethos as well as to our mission today. Every pound will be significant, not least as our relationship with The City of London Corporation means that every pound raised for the bursary fund will be match-funded and effectively doubled; if you are able to add Gift Aid to your donation, that means that a £5 donation equates to £11.25 for the bursary fund so donations small or large will be meaningful.

Thank you in advance for any support you are able to offer.

I hope to keep you posted of progress en-route. And thank you to my Board of Governors for allowing me to work creatively and remotely for some of this challenge!