Sunday 11 November 2018 marks the centenary of the end of World War I. Of the 800,246 soldiers who lost their lives in that war, 490 of them were Paulines; many of them had just turned 18, on the cusp of extraordinary futures. As our community commemorates this date, students have collaborated in making 490 ceramic crosses, in a project led by Mr Seel, Head of the Faculty Humanities, Mr Grant, Director of Art and ceramic artist Mr Williams. Each one of these hand-made crosses bears the name of a Pauline who fell in the Great War.

We, as the current Thomas Gresham Committee, are requesting donations of £50 or more to support our bursary appeal. The first 490 donations made will be given a pupil-made cross that recognises those Paulines who made the ultimate sacrifice. We are a wholly pupil-led bursary fund, and therefore we are honoured to be a part of this commemoration spearheaded by our fellow students.

All pupils from the Senior and Junior Schools have been helping to plant these crosses around the school's war memorial to create a living reminder of the supreme sacrifice made by our lost Pauline generation. This will be the focus of the school's Remembrance Service on Friday 9 November.

As a group we have taken over the mantle for the Gresham fund, our desire is to make our mark on the history of philanthropy at St Paul's. We are fundraising to provide a 100% bursary to the highest performing boy at 11+ who is in need of financial support. If all 490 crosses are sold for £50 we will raise just shy of £25,000 enough to cover a year's fees. We really hope to build on our recent success from our quiz night, when we raised two years' worth of fees.

Thank you for your support,

Adam, Albert, Ariff, Ben, and Tom
2018/19 Thomas Gresham Committee

All crosses will be available to collect from the Senior School Reception from Monday 26 November. Please do contact us at sxb@stpaulsschool.org.uk for any more information.