The Old Oakhamian Magazine Issue 117

NICK PRIESTNALL (’69) President of the Archdeacon Johnson Legacy Society

Nick Priestnall (’69) is the inaugural President of the Archdeacon Johnson Legacy Society, having very kindly agreed to lend his experience as a fundraiser to the Foundation’s Legacy drive. Nick is the former Director of Development at Berkhamsted Collegiate School and Mill Hill School, having set up their fundraising operations to great success before semi-retiring in 2019. He now works as a fundraising consultant and volunteers as Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Alford House Youth Club.

Nick came to Oakham School in the Winter Term of 1967 for his A-levels, joining Chapmans House, having never had any intention of going to boarding school. His father, a parish priest, was swapping his parish outside Derby for Rockingham. In order not to disrupt his Sixth Form years, Nick came to Oakham in advance of their move, with the intention of boarding for only one term before becoming a day boy.

“My first term at Oakham was not a very happy one. That first term was all about rugby – but I wasn’t allowed to play rugby as I’d had a head injury.” And he didn’t quite fit in with his new classmates, having kept his “short-clipped Mod haircut and sideburns”, popular amongst his old friends but not so at Oakham.

But towards the end of the first term, Nick had begun to settle, having received some good academic reports, and he convinced his parents to let him continue boarding in Chapmans (with some fee assistance from a great uncle). By the second term, he was playing Fives, having done so at his previous school, and joined the indoor cricket net sessions, where it became clear he was destined for the 1st XI.

In his second year, Nick joined the potential Oxbridge candidates in College House under the tutelage of Ben Jones, Teacher of History and Housemaster of College House, and later the first Housemaster of Round House. That final year was a formative one.

“Ben Jones was very inspirational as a teacher; in addition to his role as a Teacher of History, he believed his job in College House was to make it a stimulating and interesting place. Every half-term, he would bring a friend over he knew from university or elsewhere. We would have to dress formally for dinner, have a glass of sherry, a glass of wine and a glass of port, and conduct a proper conversation with this man. Ben Jones took the view that one of his jobs was to teach young gentlemen how to dine in public, which has held me in enormously good stead, particularly at innumerable alumni and formal dinners in the years since.”

Nick went on to read History at UCL, before becoming a teacher. “The only thing I knew when I left Oakham was that I didn’t want to teach. So, of course, the first thing I did after university was teach.”

This was inspired in part by a desire to travel, and teaching offered Nick the chance to do so. His first posting was in the Solomon Islands, then the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, where he taught History for two and a half years, fell in love with teaching and made lifelong friends. Nick also taught in New Zealand and Fiji on his meandering return home to England, where he went to Cambridge to do his teacher training to try to get a cricket Blue. Nick got his PGCE but not his Blue!

Three years at Cranleigh School in Surrey followed, where he was a Resident Tutor, 2nd XV rugby coach and assistant coach with the 1st XI Cricket team. After a disappointment in being passed up to run the cricket programme following the coach’s departure, he decided to find pastures new and moved to London. Nick moved into the drinks trade, followed thereafter by a move into Sports Marketing, where he built a successful career for two decades, before being recruited as Development Director of Berkhamsted Collegiate School.

“I often thought I would go back to working in a school, as I had enjoyed it so much. Development provided the opportunity to combine my marketing and communications expertise with my knowledge of schools. In those days, in the UK there were fewer than 100 schools with a Development Office and many school alumni were sceptical about fundraising.”

Nick’s success at Berkhamsted led to his appointment at Mill Hill School to set up their Development Office, where he oversaw a campaign that raised over £10 million during his tenure. At both schools there was some initial resistance and plenty of doubt, particularly amongst the alumni, but they were won over eventually. “Some at the Old Millhillians Club feared that by having me at their dinners, they wouldn’t be safe to go without being asked for money, and I worked very hard at both places to allay those fears. Ten years later, I was being asked to speak at all the dinners and tell people what we were doing fundraising-wise, because they had begun to accept it as an integral part.”

After leaving Mill Hill, Nick has continued to work as a consultant for schools and other non-profit organisations looking for fundraising help. The last few years have certainly not been the easiest time to fundraise for schools, as people’s philanthropic endeavours have naturally gone towards helping pandemicrelated causes, such as the NHS. But he believes that’s where the value in a legacy drive and legacy society lies. “Most legacy decisions are made from the heart, regardless of current finances, but rather what someone might like to do in the future Way, way in the future we hope!”

And Nick’s own decision to leave a legacy certainly stems from a love of his old school. “There are lots of people who benefited hugely from an Oakham education. The School was founded by a gift, and there are many people who have donated in the past.

I’m very keen to ensure the School flourishes, and that as many people as possible can access it through bursaries in the future. That’s why I’m committing a legacy; come join me.”