Over the course of 2025, we saw many House charity events in addition to our Prefect Fundraising Event. The result of all these efforts is a phenomenal £25,936.93 raised in 2025 and, when combined with previous charity work from Autumn Term 2024, this number goes up to £31,830.60. As we look back on this year’s charitable giving, we want to say a massive THANK YOU to everyone who has donated so generously.
In March, Orchard House had a bake sale for Brave Mind - a charity that since 2020, have been empowering players, coaches, and supporters at all levels in rugby to spark change and make mental health conversations the norm. For their efforts, they raised £363.51.
The previously postponed Whole School Sponsored Walk also took place in March. Originally scheduled for September 2024, £13,685.36 was initially raised for GAP-Africa before we added another £7,002.36 in March to bring the total to £20,687.72. Our aim is to support the education of our sponsored children (secondary education is not free in Kenya) and also help with building developments and providing clean drinking water. Earlier this month, we received an update from Gap-Africa where a solar rig had been installed at the Nzouni campus on behalf of Shiplake.
April was a busy month with many Houses getting into the Easter spirit with their own charity initiatives. In Skipwith, the boys organised an Egg Tombola which raised £1,105.64 for The River Trust – a group of river and catchment conservation experts; a UK & Ireland charity fighting for a cleaner, healthier and wilder rivers. Welsh continued their ongoing support for Cancer Research UK with a ‘Guess the Number of Sweets’ contest which raised £450.97. And at the end of the Spring Term, our Prefects organised and ran their annual Prefect Fundraising Day which was a non-uniform day and laser tag. The day raised £1663.19 for Road Peace - the national charity for road crash victims in the UK. They provide information and support services to people bereaved or seriously injured in road crashes.
In May, Everett held a sweet sale in support for The Little Princess Trust – a charity that provides free real hair wigs to children and young people up to the age of 24, who have lost their own hair through cancer treatment or other conditions. In total, £265.14 was raised from the sale.
In Burr, £1,264.1 was raised across two events for Shooting Star Children’s Hospices – a charity that cares for babies, children and young people with life-limiting conditions, and their families, across south-west London, north-west London and Surrey. The first – a House cake sale and raffle – raised £831.74, before Burr’s end of year summer party raised a further £432.36.
And finally in the last week of term, Gilson organised a cake sale where they raised £136.66 for Great Ormond Street which funds patient, family and staff support, cutting-edge medical equipment, and the building and refurbishment of child-centred facilities.
Once again, thank you to everyone for their generous support. Whether you donated or were part of an initiative or challenge, every little part adds up to make an enormous difference and we look forward to doing even more next academic year.
.JPG/AlexanderDevineCheque(square)__500x500.JPG&command_2=resize&height_2=85 "Shiplake's £33578.81 Triumph")
