About us

History of giving

Cranleigh is blessed with a history of philanthropic support from within and beyond our community. We are enormously grateful to all our past supporters for the invaluable contributions they have made and the life-changing opportunities they help us to provide.

You can trace how Cranleigh has been shaped by gifts from past generous benefactors on this timeline.

If you would like to support us today, please give here.

Figures in brackets show the value of the gift in today’s money. This has been calculated with the National Archives currency converter. However, today’s cost for building equivalent buildings, e.g. the Chapel, would be much more than today’s equivalent amount of what was spent in 1869.

1800s

1862

Pledge made to fund Surrey County School

The founding committee of 16 men pledges over £800 (equivalent in today’s money to £47,303) for the founding of the School, Surrey County School, later re-named Cranleigh School. The School is ‘for the sons of farmers and others engaged in commercial pursuits’. The document is a draft of the original letter about the School written in 1864.

1863

MP donates land for new school in Cranleigh

George Cubitt MP donates an eight-acre site just outside Cranleigh to the School. The founding committee raises £3,500 (£206,952) for the school by the summer. 200,000 bricks are ordered for the building of the School.

1865

Public donations fund new Cranleigh School

At the School’s opening HM Joseph Merriman says: ‘This is a public school in the very widest sense. It had a public origin. It has been brought to its present state by public appeals’.

1869

Benefactor funds building of school chapel

The Chapel is built with a donation by Sir Henry Peek (in memory of his mother, Elizabeth) at a cost of £5,500 (£344,349). The Chapel benefits from gifts, often of stained-glass windows, which are donated between 1869-91.

1874

School receives gift of clock for clock tower

Sir Cuthbert Peek donates a clock for clock tower at a cost of £82 (£6,134).

1879

MP pays for sanatorium at School

The Sanatorium is gifted by George Cubitt MP.

1880

A new science laboratory is funded by a benefactor

DD Heath, a ‘considerable benfactor of the School’, funds new and fully-equipped science laboratory.

1900s

1900

Cranleigh receives an endowment

A school on the coast run by Sir Henry Peek’s brother closes and the endowment of £2,000 (£156,344) is switched to Cranleigh.

1902

Oak seating donated for the chapel

John Williams (1&4 South 1876) donates new oak seating for the Chapel, replacing the original deal seats

1906

Old Cranleighans club together to fund the Merriman block

The Merriman Block – originally called the New Block – is opened with the help of funds from Old Cranleighans (OCs).

1912

More laboratories and land given to Cranleigh School

The Chemistry and Physics laboratories at the top of the golf course are opened, a gift from Sir Charles Chadwyck-Healey; the North Field, leased since 1896, is presented to the School by Henry Cubitt.

1913

Cranleigh Prep School open

The Prep School, known as New House, opens 1913.

1913

Old Cranleighans give land to the school

14 acres are presented to the School by OCs to commemorate the School’s Golden Jubilee.

1921

War memorial fund launched

A war memorial fund is set up to erect cenotaph in front of School.

1924

Old Cranleighans fund cricket pavilion to commemorate those who died in the war

The cricket pavilion, a memorial to OCs who died in the war, is funded by OCs and opened on Jubilee.

1928

Children take part in pageant to raise money for new chapel organ

The Pageant, involving hundreds of boys as well as girls from St Catherine’s, raises £200 (£8,211) towards the £2,000 (£82,117) cost of a new organ for the Chapel.

1928

Governors launch scholarship scheme

Governors launch a scholarship scheme costing £290 (£13,278) per year, the top scholarship being worth just under half the fees.

1929

Library and reading room funded by benefactor

OC John Wheeler Williams funds the re-modelling of classrooms on either side of the main entrance to create the Library and Reading Room.

1929

Lord Devonport funds building of Speech Hall

The Connaught block, Devonport Speech Hall and Headmaster’s House are opened. Lord Devonport pays all the costs of the Speech Hall.

1929

Devonport Speech Hall opens

1929

New gates funded

Earl of Midleton funds new entrance gates to replace the rather agricultural ones then in position.

1936

Common room and Old Cranleighans fund new squash courts

Two squash courts are built with funding coming from the Common Room and OCs.

1942

School funds 18 scholarships

Cranleigh funds 18 scholarships to a total value of £1,000 (£39,346).

1946

Cranleigh receives legacies from OCS and former staff

Pilot Officer JG Pope, a master who was killed in the war, leaves a bequest of £1,000 (£35,551) and all his scientific biological books, papers, microscopic slides and instruments to the School. The widow of George Antrobus, a former master, bequeaths a house to Cranleigh and money to New College Oxford to set up a the Cranleigh Scholarship. Colonel Armstrong gives ‘a most generous sum of money’ to endow prizes for classics in memory of his son Richard, who was killed in the war. The extract from Cranleighan Magazine reports these legacies.

1947

Parents and OCS give trees to create orchard to combat post-war food rationing

Fruit trees are donated by OCs and parents to develop an orchard on the lower slope in front of the Prep School as a way to supplement the pupils’ diet with fruit during post-war rationing.

1955

OCS and friends of Cranleigh fund new facilities at Prep School

New gymnasium, kitchen and library are built for Prep School and paid for by OCs and other friends of Cranleigh as a war memorial.

1955

School receives grant for extension to science laboratories

Cranleigh receives a £6,000 (£143,192) grant from the Industrial Fund for the Advancement of Scientific Education towards the cost of an extension to the science laboratories.

1959

Centenary appeal launched

The new swimming bath and changing rooms open as a memorial to OCs killed in the war as a first stage in the building programme connected with the Centenary Appeal. By 1959, the appeal has raised £60,000 (£1,257,660).

1960

OC gives money for conversion of tuck shop

‘Ancient OC’, Revd Joseph Fenner Spink, gives £2,500 (£52,403) towards the tuck shop conversion.

1961

New classrooms funded by centenary appeal

The six-classroom Rhodes Block opens as part of the ongoing Centenary Appeal.

1962

Chapel at Prep School built with donation by OC

The new Prep School Chapel is built with a donation of £12,500 (£262,012) from Revd Joseph Fenner Spink.

1965

Centenary appeals almost reaches target

Announcement that Centenary Appeal target of £200,000 (£3,804,110) has almost been reached.

1969

‘Ancient OC’ leaves final gift to Cranleigh

The Centenary Appeal receives the final instalment of a legacy left by the Rev Joseph Fenner Spink. The total amount of the legacy was £5,845 (£82,319). Spink had been one of the most generous benefactors in the history of the School. His total gifts to the School amounted to £25,841 (£363,934).

1975

Introduction of full-fees scholarship

A full-fees scholarship is offered for the first time and other awards were up-graded and linked to fee levels.

1977

Legacy pays to replace organ and reorganisation of Chapel

A legacy of £30,000 (£228,927) enables the purchase of a new organ for the Chapel, a re-organisation of the seating and a removal of screens and organ pipes from the ambulatory.

1978

Legacy funds new pickup sports pitch

JR Pickup (1 North 1897-1902) leaves £37,000 (£144,467) to the School. This is used to construct a new redgra (now an astroturf) which is named after him.

1979

OC widow leaves legacy for bursary

The widow of an OC leaves the residue of her estate, around £42,000 (£163,989), to the School for the ‘education and maintenance at Cranleigh School of a worthy and poor boy’.

1985

Former Headmaster leaves legacy to Cranleigh

Bishop David Loveday (Headmaster, 1931-54) leaves a bequest to Cranleigh which is used to provide new mobile efficient seating for the Speech Hall.

1986

Music School benefits form an OC Widow's legacy

An OC widow leaves a bequest of £30,000 (£82,611) to the School which is used to make a series of improvements to the Music School.

1986

School receives largest legacy to date

An OC leaves a generous legacy of around £500,000 (£1,376,850) in memory of his father (also an OC).

1991

New theatre opens thanks to donations to 1990 appeal

Vivian Cox Theatre is opened by Sir John Mills. It was built following donations of the 1990 Appeal and the generosity of OC Vivian Cox ((1 & 4 South, 1925-34).

1991

OC leaves bequest to school and OC society

An OC leaves a fifth of his estate to the School (and a fifth to the OC Society). Each share is worth around £150,000 (£310,305).

1996

Legacy establishes Eric Abbott awards

Eric Abbott (1 North 1917-1921) leaves £200,000 (£306,880) to endow the Eric Abbott Awards ‘for pupils who can contribute significantly to the life of the School’.

2000s

2002

New sports centre opened, part-funded by OCS

The Trevor Abbott Sports Centre opens, funded in part by OCs, replacing the gym which has been used since 1897.

2009

Anonymous donor funds building of lecture theatre

An anonymous donor funds the Academic Lecture Theatre in the new Emms Centre.

2009

OCS help fund renovation of Jubilee Pavilion

A £500,000 renovation of the Jubilee Pavilion takes place, part-funded by OCs with a donation of £300,000.

2009

OC Vivian Cox leaves legacy

OC Vivian Cox (1 & 4 South, 1925-34) bequeaths £655,000 (£856,489) to the School. The School’s legacy society is named in his memory.

2009

OC society gives donation to Cranleigh Foundation

The Old Cranleighan Society gives £300,000 to Cranleigh Foundation.

2009

School receives legacy

An OC bequeaths £86,885 to Cranleigh School.

2010

OC funds new mander organ

This is part of a £2 million-refurbishment of the Chapel, part-funded by OCs and parents.

2010

OCs Raise funds to create pitch in menory of OC David Bluett

OCs club together to raise money to create a pitch – Bluett’s – in memory of OC David Bluett (2 North, 1951-55).

2010

Beyond ourselves

Cranleigh enters a partnership with the charity in a commitment to support Kawama Community School (a primary school in Zambia). £175,000 is raised in first five years.

2012

Legacy helps fund chapel restoration

The School receives a £3,000 legacy from an OC bequeathed to help fund the Chapel restoration.

2013

Parents donate tress to mark Prep School's centenary DONATE TREES TO MARK PREP SCHOOL’S CENTENARY

Copse of 100 trees is donated by families is planted to mark centenary of Prep School.

2015

Sale of Old Chapel Pews raises £20,000

The oak pews, installed in 1902, are sold off to parents to make way for mobile seating and raises over £20,000.

2016

New war memorial created to mark centenary of First World War

‘Leaving’ War Memorial designed by leading sculptor, OC Nicholas Dimbleby (2 North, 1960-64), is funded, in part by donations from OCs. It is unveiled to mark centenary of the first day of the Battle of the Somme and the end of the School’s 150th year.

2016

First Foundationer pupil leaves Cranleigh

Our first Foundationer completed her education at Cranleigh. Her place had been funded in its entirety by an anonymous donor.

2017

Legacy from former member of common room completes chapel refurbishment

Physics Master, Geoffrey Donald (1968-96) leaves a bequest which complete the installation of Chapel glass doors.

2017

OC widow leaves bequest

A widow of an Old Cranleighan leaves a bequest in memory of her husband.

2018

Townsend building opens at Cranleigh Prep

Major donors, Anthony and Carolyn Townsend, open the Townsend Building at the Prep School. Mr Townsend was a long-serving Chairman of the Governors. The building houses state-of the-art facilities for design, art, sciences and food technology.

2019

OC Nick Meyer walks Cornish coastline to raise over £25,000

OC and chairman of the Trustees of the Foundation, Nick Meyer, takes on the challenge of walking 300 miles of the Cornish coast over the summer of 2019 in aid of the Cranleigh Foundation. He raises over £25,000.

2020

OC leaves legacy to Cranleigh

John Oram (East, 1936-40) leaves a legacy of £242,048 to the Cranleigh Foundation in his will.

Where next?

Cranleigh House L6th Team Building Afternoon

Ways of Giving

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