Despite the generosity of previous generations, which has enabled us to do so much, relatively speaking, we still lack a sufficient level of endowment resources when compared with other similar schools.

The College's present endowment consists of a Reserve Fund (£5.6m) created at the time of the land sales in the 1970s and increased since then by transfers from annual surpluses. The Reserve Fund, however, is less now than it was in 1999 as a result of market conditions and expenditure on new buildings.

In addition, we have four restricted Scholarship Funds (£2.8m) but the income from these covers little more than half of our annual expenditure on scholarships and bursaries. Whilst one way forward could be to increase fees to boost these Reserve Funds, the Council does not believe it is right to achieve from fee income the level of surplus that might be looked for in a wholly commercial organisation. It expects to continue to put aside significant sums from fee income to maintain and improve existing facilities and to contribute to new ones, but looking ahead, it is evident that the College will need to identify new sources of funding to meet its objectives.