Chelmsford County High School for Girls

Trust Funds

Kate Luckin-Smith and Lilian Stock

These names will be familiar to many members as two trust funds held by OGS. From one, the Kate Luckin-Smith fund, we fund an annual drama prize for pupils and from the other, the Lilian Stock fund, we make an annual grant to an old girl in need or seeking funds to further her education. This is very often given to past pupils who are working abroad usually in a voluntary capacity.

Trust funds always sound rather grand, so to put it perspective, we only use the interest from each for the annual grants - £25 in each case. But who were Kate and Lilian?

Kate was the first pupil on the school's register on the first day of school, 6th May 1907. She set up the fund herself to benefit pupils at the school where she'd enjoyed her own school days.

Lilian was a pupil between the wars. Her father set up the fund in memory of her when she died tragically young.

Many schools, like CCHS, benefit from the generosity of past pupils. Boys' schools in particular have a long tradition of bequests and trusts. On the whole, girls' schools are less well-funded in this way. At least one reason must be that until the latter part of the 20th century relatively few women had much degree of financial independence. Their assets, if they had any, were very often controlled by their husbands. Today many of us prefer to hold our own purse strings. Of course through better education and more career options our purses, in theory at least, are better filled than were our mothers' or grandmothers'.

This takes us to a rather morbid, but realistic, train of thought. If you're thinking of making a will, have you ever considered a bequest which could help pupils and past pupils in the future.

If you'd like more details, please email oldgirls@cchs.essex.sch.uk