OLD AZURIANS

At the School Speech day in 1929 Bishop Southwell made the original suggestion that a fund be set up to augment scholarships awarded to boys from the School. Offers of assistance in this venture were not long in coming and a committee which included the Headmaster and the Mayor and Mayoress of Worthing was formed to set up the fund.

 

A public meeting was to be held to launch an appeal for £1000 in the first instance. Rudyard Kipling, Sir James Barrie and John Galsworthy, were all invited to speak in support of the fund, but as none of them could attend Lord Winterton made the plea instead. An initial £775 was raised and was invested in Worthing Corporation stock paying 4.5 % and this income was devoted to grants not exceeding £50 per annum to augment any other scholarship already obtained by the applicant.

 

Only scholars from Worthing High School for Boys were eligible for such a grant. Grants were made on the recommendation of the Headmaster, the Chairman of the Board of Governors, and the Secretary of the West Sussex Education Committee. The Headmaster was allowed to accept donations to the fund from other sources not coming in the purview of the Fund Committee.

 

Once the groundwork had been done the Fund Committee was increased in size to seven members all of whom had to be rate-payers in West Sussex or members of the School Governing Body. There was provision for increasing the size of the committee should the need arise.

 

In July 1930 the need for such a fund was highlighted in a letter to the Worthing Herald written by Councillor F R Cripps. He pointed out that, whereas the percentage of pupils leaving school that went on to university was 5% over the country as a whole, the figure was only 1% for West Sussex. He likened the amount spent by the County Education Committee on providing financial assistance to university students to “candle ends and cheese parings” compared to the amount spent on “salvage” (social) services.

 

Over the years that followed regular fund-raising events were organised to increase the capital invested so as to provide sufficient income to award grants to the increasing number of eligible pupils going on to university. The general principle behind the awards being that no scholar of real ability should be prevented from fully benefiting from a university education because of lack of funding. The main fund-raising events were the School Bazaar, and performances by members of the School Dramatic Society.

 

The School Bazaar was an annual event in which there were stalls selling items, games, and demonstrations, usually in the physics, chemistry and biology laboratories; in 1939 there was a demonstration by senior pupils on how to extinguish an incendiary bomb. Members of staff were very much involved in behind-the-scenes organisation, running stalls and activities and, in some instances, providing a main attraction, as the art master Mr Dickinson did when making lightning sketches of visitors.

 

Gymnastic displays were a popular and frequent feature and, in later years, the School Orchestra (renamed The Palm Court Orchestra for the occasion) would play in the old dining room while afternoon tea was being served. One year a talented trumpet player received so much applause and so many calls for encores after his superb rendition of “Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White” that Mr Waugh, the Orchestra Director, had to interrupt this virtuoso performance so that the orchestra could continue with its programme.

 

Milestones

The fund reached £1000 after the Bazaar held in July 1932.

In 1935 the fund stood at over £1400 even after scholarship grants had been made to seven boys.

1951 a new County Scholarship Scheme in grant form was introduced, replacing a compulsory loan scheme. Cost for 135 students expected to be £28,000

55 grants from the School Scholarship Endowment Fund had been made up to 1955.