News
Head praises 'selfless acts' making sports hall a reality
Monday 21 July 2008
THE place of Ripon Grammar School at the heart of the community was proved by people's efforts to raise funds for its sports hall, according to the school's headmaster.
Martin Pearman made the comments when speaking to parents, staff, governors and pupils of the lower school at the junior prizegiving ceremony, on Wednesday.
He said the year had seen lots of good news for the school with various projects in the offing which will deliver new and improved facilities – a joint £2m sixth form centre with Ripon College, £500,000 of local authority money for a new music department and securing £750,000 of donations from parents, local businesses and the community to build a new sports hall.
The headmaster quipped: "The school will resemble a building site for much of the year – perhaps we should seek sponsorship from Bovis or Wimpey and issue all the students with hard hats."
The school's Adding Sporting Excellence fundraising campaign for the sports hall has been so successful – all the money was raised by May – that the target has been raised to £1m so an astroturf pitch can be built too.
generous donation
One of the reasons the campaign was able to raise its money so quickly was a generous donation of £250,000 by multi-millionaire businessman Paul Sykes and his wife, Valerie.
"The donation took my breath away and I am very grateful to them both for their incredible generosity," said Mr Pearman, before moving on to a central theme of his speech – the importance of humility.
Describing Mr Sykes' rise to the top from being a schoolboy near Barnsley, Mr Pearman also spoke of figures from history – Sir Issac Newton and French post-impressionist painter Paul Cezanne – who had acknowledged their debt to their predecessors and displayed modesty over their ground-breaking achievements.
"What links these three people together is humility," said Mr Pearman, "None of us can achieve anything without the help and support of others. We rely on one another totally."
selfless acts
The headmaster said the fundraising for the sports hall only came about because of the selfless acts of people giving their time and acting as a team.
He said: "That is what life is like.
