On Friday 2 May, over 130 distinguished guests gathered at Bolton School for a black-tie dinner to formally commemorate the life and legacy of William Hesketh Lever, the first Lord Leverhulme, ahead of the centenary anniversary of his death today, Wednesday 7 May.
Members of the Bolton School community including former pupils, Governors past and present, former Heads and civic dignitaries joined members of the Leverhulme family at the event. 23 former Head Girls and Captains of the School were also in attendance, representing every decade of School life from 1960 onwards up to the present day.
Guests first perused an exhibition celebrating Lord Leverhulme's lifetime achievements and enduring impact, staged in the Girls' Division Great Hall. A silver-service dinner was then enjoyed in the Boys’ Division Great Hall, where guests were seated at tables named after meaningful buildings and places from Lord Leverhulme's illustrious life, including Bolton School, which Lord Leverhulme established in its present form and location 110 years ago, in 1915; Wood Street, where Lord Leverhulme was born in 1851; Thornton Manor, the family's estate on the Wirral; Lancaster House, which Lord Leverhulme gifted to the nation in 1913; and Hall 'i'th Wood, which he gifted to the town of Bolton in 1899. The Toastmaster for the evening was Ian Wynne-Smythe
Guests were welcomed to the event by the School's Chair of Governors, Ian Riley, before hearing from George Apsion, the Great-Great-Grandson of Lord Leverhulme and a current Governor of the School. Later, during his closing address to guests, the School's Head of Foundation, Philip Britton, MBE, launched the School's Open Futures Campaign, which aims to secure the growth of the School's bursary scheme to support one in three pupils at the School.
Later this term, the School's annual benefactors' assemblies will be held for pupils of the Primary, Girls' and Boys' Divisions, during which Lord Leverhulme's life and legacy will be commemorated once again.
Photos from the evening:
-crop.jpg&command_2=resize&height_2=85 "Bolton School Launches Transformational Bursary Campaign")
