Creating A Legacy

The College aims to provide the highest standard of all-round education and care for its 800 undergraduate and graduate students. Places at Girton are offered entirely on merit irrespective of family background, financial circumstances, ethnicity, gender or other protected characteristic.

Alongside this commitment to its students Girton supports a world-class Fellowship and maintains first-rate facilities. Girton is achieving these aims by offering bursaries, fellowships, and hardship awards, and by carefully maintaining and expanding its estate and invaluable academic and cultural collections. The College could not do this without the generosity and forethought stemming from gifts in Wills. These gifts are transforming the College, enabling the College to transform lives.

The number of supporters who have indicated that the College is included in their Will continues to grow and, in addition, many have very kindly chosen to give an estimate of the pledge value. This totals over £15 million and this value is contributing to A Great Campaign’s targets. If you feel able to join this band of supporters in helping Girton to deliver its world-class learning, teaching and research experience, please do get in touch. The College recognises that such pledges and estimates are not legally binding, but they help us to say thank you and find out more about the aspects of the College that are important to you.

Making a Gift in your Will

You can choose to make a cash gift or donate a proportion of your estate (even 1% can make a big difference). Girton College is a registered charity (Registered Charity Number 1137541) so including the College in your Will may reduce your estate’s Inheritance Tax liability. When making a Will we suggest that you use the following wording:

‘I give to the Mistress, Fellows and Scholars of Girton College, Cambridge (Registered Charity Number 1137541) [the residue of my estate] [_____% of the residue of my estate] [the sum of _________] free of tax for the Unrestricted Permanent Endowment Capital of the College and I declare that the receipt by the Bursar or other authorised Officer of the College shall be good and sufficient discharge to my Executors.’

We recommend that you seek professional advice when making or amending a Will.

Information regarding gifts in Wills, including information on planned giving for our US-based alumni and supporters, is available on our website: www.girton.cam.ac.uk/legacy.

For a confidential conversation please contact the Development Director on +44 (0)1223 339893, d.easlick@girton.cam.ac.uk, or the Legacy Officer on +44 (0)1223 338901, e.cornwall@girton.cam.ac.uk.

DEEDS OF VARIATION

If you are a beneficiary under a Will, you can transfer all or part of your inheritance to the College under a Deed of Variation. Such transfers are usually free of Inheritance Tax and allow Girton to benefit during your lifetime.

Recognising your Generosity

Should you choose to notify the College of your intention to remember Girton in your Will, you will be invited to join the 1869 Society; members receive a purple lapel pin and are invited to special events from time to time.

By making a gift to Girton in your Will you are supporting a pioneering institution with an exciting future – thank you.

In Memory

The College is always enormously grateful to receive gifts in memory of a Girtonian. These gifts honour a life and help others at the same time. Recently two such gifts have been received and these are set to transform lives.

Margaret Tyler (née Hughes) 1934–2018

Margaret (Geography 1953) greatly enjoyed her time at Girton and Cambridge. ‘Being an only child I enjoyed the company of so many intelligent youngsters in my age group who came from all over Britain and abroad.’ After graduation Margaret went on to teach Geography and her family describe her as a vivacious person who enjoyed travelling, painting and the outdoor life. Margaret’s passion for Geography was present on every family trip and her sons, David and Richard, recall fondly her efforts to teach them about the world around them.

Margaret’s husband, Colin Tyler (they met during their undergraduate days at Cambridge), has very generously made a gift in memory of her. The gift will endow the Margaret Tyler Research Fellowship in Geography, an early-career position that will help the incumbent establish a world-class research profile and gain teaching experience to form an all-important first step of their academic career.

Margaret’s son David comments ‘Mum thoroughly enjoyed her three years studying Geography at Cambridge in the decade after the war as better opportunities opened up for women. She was always interested in geology, geographical features of the landscape, plants and the outdoor life. Dad and the family feel that it is very fitting that he has been able to set up this endowment in Girton’s 150th year. Richard and I are very proud of our parents’ achievement considering they both came from such humble, working class backgrounds.’

This exceptional gift will be gamechanging in Girton’s ability to attract and support Geography students and underwrite career development in geographical research.

Rhona Beare 1934–2018

Nancy Gregory describes her sister, Rhona (Classics 1954), as a ‘one-off’. Her talents were many: academic and artistic, including various types of needlework. Knitting enabled her to study a fragment of an ancient Roman sock and work out the type of stitches the Romans used. She could read Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, French and German. She decrypted a code used by a messenger of Queen Elizabeth I, this code requiring knowledge of the Greek alphabet and Norman French.

After Girton, and before emigrating to Australia to lecture, Rhona studied for a PhD in Classics at the University of Exeter. She also took up medieval history and while at Exeter she entered into lively correspondence with J R R Tolkien. Rhona’s greatest joy was reading books. She devoured books of all kinds but above all detective stories. She liked to visit the places mentioned by her favourite authors, once visiting the Tower of London just to see the precise turret from which some villain is said to have shot his victim. In her last months Rhona requested Dante’s Divine Comedy in the original Italian, and the New Testament in Greek, because “the text was clearer”.

To mark such an extraordinary life Nancy has made a gift in memory of Rhona to establish a graduate award in Classics. Higher degrees are a prerequisite for successful entry to many careers not just in academia. There is limited funding for postgraduate education, and every year applicants of enormous potential cannot take up their place at Girton owing to insufficient funding. This award, which will carry Rhona’s name, will enable a talented student to continue with their studies in Classics and set themselves on a pathway to a very bright future.