Page 20 - Southwell School Chronicle December 2018

20
THE CHRONICLE
SOUTHWELL SCHOOL FOUNDATION
MELANIE O’NEILL
SOUTHWELL SCHOOL LFOUNDATION CHAIRMAN
ast week I had the privilege of attending Founder’s Day. It was Southwell’s 107th birthday, a day focused on Southwell’s children. The Fellows of Southwell always
attend Founder’s Day.
During the day they hold their AGM. As Foundation Chairman, I am required
to present a report to the Fellows at their meeting, as is the Chairman of the Old Boys’ and Girls’ Association, the Southwell School Association,
the Southwell Trust Board and the Headmaster, Jason Speedy.
In his report, Jason thanked each chair for their individual contribution, choosing some speci c words to describe each one of us. It is not often one has an opportunity to listen to a description of one’s self. Most discussions of another, whether positive or negative take place in
a private conversation out of the particular individual’s earshot.
The descriptive word that I was given by Jason was purposeful. I was thanked for my purposeful approach. Purpose is an interesting word. We all live our lives with a sense of purpose, to a greater or lesser extent.
My husband would tell you that my sense of purpose can be excessive. I have a tendency to create a list each weekend for him, as well as myself, for completion. He tells me it is not necessary to rate the success and enjoyment of a weekend according to how many things on those lists that have been achieved!
Purposeful is, I think, an accurate description to give to me, and is also a necessary attribute, I believe, for my fellow Trustees. As Trustees of the Foundation, our objectives are spelt out in our governing Trust Deed. We are required to:
1. Raise funds and establish an
endowment fund from which the income can be used to assist
2. 3.
4.
5.
Southwell School and Southwell School’s students, prospective students and teachers; Co-ordinate fund-raising and raise funds for capital projects which bene t Southwell School’s students and teachers;
Provide specialist equipment, facilities, land, buildings, resources and materials for use by both teachers and pupils of Southwell School;
Provide assistance to teachers
of Southwell School to enable them to advance their education, including the sponsoring of overseas educational courses and experiences; and
Maintain a database of the Southwell School community (past, present and future).
5. Held the fth Chairman’s Dinner in the School Dining Room which was transformed for the event;
6. Committed funds for the ongoing School database project in the form of a staff member’s salary and payment of resources.
Our donors this year have been many and various. We have received three signi cant donations this year from Mr and Mrs Murray and Ann Day and Mrs Rita Davies. Our donations from past and current students carry a wide span of years, the oldest from a man now in his 90s, the youngest from a Southwell student, aged 5.
All donations, whether they be
large or small, are appreciated and acknowledged. All donors share some commonality, a love of Southwell and a desire to give money, either towards Southwell’s continuation for future students, or some assistance to students, who without a scholarship, would be not able to attend.
With The Chronicle due to be released at the end of term, I would like to
take this opportunity to wish all the Year 8 leavers every success for their lives ahead. To the staff, I wish you a well-earned break, and to the parents, caregivers and the wider Southwell community, I wish you all a Happy Christmas and summer holidays.
My purpose over the summer holiday is to forget about my to-do lists and to live in, and enjoy, the moment.
Per aspera ad Astrum.
This year, all Foundation Trustees have worked hard to achieve these objectives. I record here my thanks to each Trustee for their contribution and dedication to the Foundation this year. This year, the Foundation Trustees:
1. Have grown the endowment and
scholarship funds to just under
$1.6 million;
2. Have assisted the staff exchange
to Punahou in Hawaii by paying the
costs of the ights;
3. Contributed at the discretion and
request of the Headmaster to
scholarships;
4. On 31 December 2018, we will be
forgiving a loan of $120,000 which was advanced by the Foundation to the School back in 1992, improving the school’s balance sheet as a result;
Southwell Fellow, Mark de Lisle, and Foundation Chairman, Melanie O’Neill