Healthy competition between the four Houses is at the heart of our school, whether it is on the track and field at Sports Day, in the weekly battle to raise the flag for most House Points, or the termly tally of most Head’s Commendations. The Houses also compete to raise the most money for charity each year, with the final totals on the inside cover of each edition of the Yearbook. This year, we support three local charities and one global one: Rockinghorse, Rise, Off The Fence, and the WWF.
This week, I would like to focus on one of them, Rockinghorse. We were due to have a visit from them this week, but this has had to be postponed, so instead I will share some of the information that Drake Badgers have researched and prepared about their chosen charity. Rockinghorse has been Drake’s charity for many years now, simply for the reason that they have so many reasons to be thankful for it. As I am sure you are aware, Rockinghorse supports The Royal Alex Children’s hospital, a stone’s throw from Brighton College. In the first House Meeting of this year, Drake House Captain Robert asked how many people in the room had ever had to visit the Royal Alex. Nearly three quarters of the hands in the room went up, including many of the adults. This statistic does not change from year to year, as children pass through our school, hence why it has remained one of our charities for so long.
When they did a survey on why their House members had visited the hospital, Drake Badgers got answers that ranged from “an operation on my ear”, to “an x-ray on my arm”, to “I broke my finger”, to “I was allergic to bees”, to “I had a problem with my heart”, to “my asthma was bad”, to “I swallowed a coin”. One member of Drake Badgers recalled her older brother needing a Barbie shoe extracting from a nostril! The shortest stay at the Royal Alex was a few hours, and the longest was nearly three months.
An integral part of the Royal Alex is the Trevor Mann Baby Unit, which looks after premature babies and supports their parents through difficulttimes. Every year when we ask “Are there any people in the House who were early babies?” lots of hands go up again.
From vital medical equipment to books to read, to toys to play with, to artwork on the wall, Rockinghorse do so much to make local children’s experiences of hospital as comfortable and reassuring as possible, and that is why Drake Badgers are so proud to support them.
Ms Elizabeth Lyle, Head