Foundation Office

Foundation Office & Lancing Society

It seems almost unbelievable that this time last year I wrote that the first person in the UK had just received their vaccine and here we are, a year on, with most of us now in a slightly surreal state of double and booster vaccination. The success of the vaccine rollout has enabled us to hold events again and to achieve two fundraising targets for the Chapel and the Foundationers Campaign. Considering the circumstances, it is a remarkable achievement and a reason for the whole Lancing community to join in and share the celebrations.

I hope you can take the time to read about some of the special events that we have held this Advent Term; against all odds we have managed to host 12 events for OLs and parents in the last 12 weeks. We have been delighted to see the Lancing community coming together physically again on a variety of different occasions, showing the College at its best and reminding us all why it remains so dear to us.

In the pages overleaf, you can read more about the results of our Giving Week for the Foundationers Campaign and why our work in this area is so important to us. You can see how Lancing has inspired and, in return, been inspired by the 22 young people so far in the programme. We realise only too well that there are significant benefits for the whole Lancing community with a student body that more accurately reflects a world in which we all live and a world which they will be part of when they leave. It is both shocking and shameful that in 2021 a lack of educational opportunity in our society is still one of the biggest social challenges of our time. We are determined that Lancing will be a leading voice in helping to resolve this situation.

My heartfelt thanks to you all for your generosity, support and advice in the last year, and most particularly for the numerous kind messages we receive about our work in the Foundation Office, they are really appreciated.

Festive and joyful greetings to all,

CATHERINE REEVE Foundation Director

New Foundation Council Chair

We are delighted to welcome Dr Harry Brünjes as our new Chair of Lancing’s Foundation Council. Many of you will remember that Harry was Chair of the Governing Body at Lancing from 2009–2019. During this decade he gave years of generous service as a relentless defender of Lancing’s interests, and he was an impassioned advocate of the College, not just in Sussex and the UK but all around the globe. Lancing grew under his care, not just in pupil numbers but as a family of schools: Lancing Prep Worthing, now firmly established, was brought into the fold under his direction. Likewise, the purchase of the Sussex Pad, another element of stabilising expansion, enabled the rolling refurbishment of the Boarding and Day Houses, and is now flourishing as Little Lancing, our Day Nursery and Forest School.

Harry has been Chair of the English National Opera and The London Coliseum since 2015 and a Council member of Southwark Cathedral Development Trust. These roles have given him a valuable insight into the skills required for successful philanthropy and how charities have had to adapt and respond in order to flourish in the face of continual external challenges.

Harry is also Chair of Kuro Health, Vice-President of the College of Medicine, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh and a Fellow of the Woodard Corporation.

You will also recall Harry’s wife, Jacquie, who both directed and choreographed musicals for the College and its prep schools over the years. The Jacqueline Storey Dance Studio is named after her. Their four children Emma, Harry, Eric and Ralph are all OLs, as are their nephew and niece, Hugh and Alexandra.

‘I am delighted to have taken on the role of Chair of the Lancing Foundation in its fourth year of the Foundationers’ Campaign. My connection with the College spans over 20 years as a parent, as a governor and as Chair. My dedication to the Lancing cause continues wholeheartedly today. I am very grateful to Hugh Scott-Barrett for his sterling chairmanship since 2017 and have been impressed to see what has been achieved in this time. I am excited to have this opportunity to spearhead the campaign into its next phase and am fully committed to achieving the target of another 40 places for young people to have a Lancing education.’ Dr Harry Brünjes