Development Office

The Development Office

The American roots of “A Better Chance” Bursaries

In 1957 I arrived at Mill Hill School – coming straight from South Africa to school in England was a big deal! One of the first new boys I met in Ridgeway House was Graham Drake.

Ridgeway and Mill Hill School was a big change for him as well as he was a so-called “Middlesex Pupil” (at that time a round a third of pupils were bursary recipients as part of the Middlesex Scheme).

Graham was from Wembley where his family lived in an apartment above a newsagent’s. I remember meeting his Mum and Dad one weekend and his father was a big, warm and lovely man. He was so proud that Graham had been accepted at the School.

I have lived for most of my career in Darien, Connecticut, a suburban commuter town for New York City which ran a famous program, giving five to eight girls from the City a free High School education for four years. Darien had some fantastic schools; the girls were selected from poor areas of New York Boroughs and lived in a provided house during the week (returning home on weekends). Many of the girls were from ethnic minorities, and went on to Ivy League Colleges such as Yale, Harvard or Cornell. A neighbouring town, New Canaan, offered a similar program for boys called ‘ABC’ (A Better Chance).

The ending of the Middlesex Scheme in 2002 and its successor the Assisted Places Scheme, was a sad day as Mill Hill had provided an outstanding education for many boys. It was a great loss of opportunity for the recipients and also Mill Hill School itself, which was enriched by the welcome diversity and life these students brought. So many Old Millhillians from the era made lifelong friends out of Middlesex pupils.

The 2007 arrival of Dominic Luckett as Headmaster gave a new lease of life to bursaries at Mill Hill. This was a man who, along with Director of Development Nick Priestnall, had a bold vision of the School having a new, co-educational bursary scheme to replace the old Middlesex one. I shared their belief that Old Millhillians should work harder to enrich the School by helping to create bursary places. After discussions with Graham, Nick and Dominic about how to go about this new venture, Graham and I decided to fund a student for five years as a test – and so the ABC (A Better Chance Bursary) was born!

The School selected the very first student from North London and he arrived in 2008. Graham and I kept in touch with him during those years and visited him many times – we were thrilled to see him complete school, play 1st XV rugby and go on to study at university.

More than a decade on, the enormous sum of £5 million has been has been donated towards the A Better Chance bursaries fund and more than 45 pupils have won places as a result (with countless individual success stories among them).

All applicants are rigorously means-tested, with recipients meeting high academic standards (and often being talented in another field such as sport, music, art or drama).

We are thrilled that the idea has caught on and is now so well supported by alumni, parents and friends of the School. The entire Mill Hill community is benefitting greatly from what began with one student and is now a central part of life here. Mine and Graham’s dream remains for more and more pupils to benefit over the coming years.

The success of the ABC Bursary scheme relies on the incredibly generous support of Old Millhillians around the world. If you are in a position to help with a gift however big or small, or have any ideas at all, we would be incredibly grateful. For more information on the scheme or how you may be able to get involved please contact the Development Office.

Robin D Mills (57-62) development@millhill.org.uk 020 8906 7962

Forget not Mee & My Garden

Peter Collinson wrote these words to his Maryland friend George Robins in 1721 urging him to send to England anything which might be of interest. The Peter Collinson Heritage Garden at Mill Hill School is flourishing after a year’s growth and the regular encouragement of Russell Cowan and others to ensure that it is well tended. It is highly appropriate that the man whose brainchild the Heritage Garden was, Roddy Braithwaite, chose these words to go on a bench he generously provided for the Garden.

It was lovely that Sheila Hume, widow of distinguished local artist Peter Hume, generously dedicated a bench in his honour. This is also in the Heritage Garden. Mrs Sanchez hosted a lovely reception to welcome Sheila and unveil the bench. Mrs Hume’s extended family were invited and are pictured around her that evening. Her daughters both married OMs, three grandchildren are OMs (one of whom has an OM girlfriend). Sheila is also an artist in her right and author of ‘The Dissenters of Mill Hill’ which includes this lovely print, seen at the top of previous page.

In 2019 the Garden had the first two of the regular ‘open days’ Mrs Sanchez plans; they were hosted by Nick Priestnall. The first was specifically for members of the Mill Hill Preservation Society who were at School for their Annual tea party. The second happened in early October and saw visitors from the MHPS and Mill Hill Historical Association amongst others. (By coincidence the first person to arrive was the mother of two OMs who are well known to many!)

It will be lovely to see the Garden develop and it is excellent that the School has committed to provide access a few times each year to visitors; this was always part of the original vision.

Sports Hall Update

While the ABC Bursary campaign continued throughout the year the main capital project in the Foundation was the new Sports Hall at Belmont. The fundraising was brilliantly supported by parents and OBs and the target of £1m was reached at the beginning of November 2019.

The building was finished at Christmas 2019 and in use by the pupils from January 2020. A key element in the success of the campaign was the Ball for a Wall. This was held at Allianz Park with MC for the evening David Flatman. Highlights of the entertainment were current pupils Amma Ris and Zoe Simon who performed brilliant solos. The auction contributed an amazing £60,000 to the campaign.

Another significant donation was made by Old Belmontians. When the Old Belmontian Association was dissolved the funds which remained in its bank account were ring-fenced for use on a project for the School.

It was brilliant that the OB representatives on the OMC Management Committee decided to make a generous donation to the Belmont Sports Hall; this gift has funded both the electronic scoreboard and the indoor cricket nets. It is planned to bring back Old Belmontian and Old Millhillian cricket professionals Sophia Dunkley and Adam Rossington (Captain of Northamptonshire CCC and in the Lord’s-based Hundred XI) to try them out!

Presidents Recognition of Nick Priestnall

10 Past Presidents plus current President Richard Llewellyn and President Elect, Gordon Mizner, decided to express their thanks to Nick Priestnall on his retirement from the role of Development Director by entertaining him to a surprise lunch at Floor 32, One Blackfriars.

Since joining the Foundation, Nick has raised over £10m from OMs and parents to support Bursaries and new and improved facilities at the school. In addition, he has helped to build up an enlarged database of OMs whom we hope to engage in the future.

The Club is grateful to him for his hard work and commitment and look forward to staying in touch with him through Alford House. We wish him well in his retirement. OM President attendees were:

2007-08 Ronny Cohn 2008-09 Alan Toulson 2009-10 David Short 2010-11 Mike Corby 2012-13 Andy Mortimer 2013-14 Peter Wakeham 2014-15 Dr Russell Cowan 2015-16 Tim Corbett 2016-17 Ronnie Boon 2017-18 David A B Brown 2018-19 Richard Llewellyn 2019-20 Gordon Mizner Regrets were sent from Chris Maunder-Taylor (2011-12) with a last minute illness preventing him from attending.