Annual Foundation Appeal

In 1815 the first Annual Foundation Appeal was made to the City to fund the London Orphan Asylum (the original name of Reed’s School) and aroused the interest of the Royal Family and the Duke of Wellington, amongst others. Under the auspices of an Annual Appeal President, fundraising dinners were held and eminent guest speakers, such as Charles Dickens, heard.

Past Appeal Presidents have included: The Duke of Wellington, the Duke of Devonshire, Timothy Guinness, Lionel de Rothschild and several Royal Highnesses, The Princes of Wales (HM King Edward VII, HM King George V and HM King George VI).  The Appeal has been held every year since, making it one of the oldest appeals of its kind in the country.

List-of-Presidents-of-Annual-Foundation-Appeal.docx

LINDA CAMPBELL & GRAHAM PRAIN

APPEAL PRESIDENTS 2024-2025

Linda Campbell

Linda’s  father, Charles Brownrigg, was headmaster of Fernden School, Haslemere, for 40 years. It was founded in 1907 by her grandfather, and closed in 1986.

Linda worked in London as PA to Mark Birley for 4 years when Annabel’s first opened in 1963. She married Michael Campbell, Chairman of the Ellis Campbell Group, in 1967. Linda has been on the Central London Committee of the RNLI since 1980, following Michael’s experiences in the 1979 Fastnet Race, and has been involved in running events such as the Ball, an annual Tennis Tournament for 20 years, and 2 fundraising dinners at the Hurlingham Club. Linda is also the Trust Secretary of the Ellis Campbell Group.

Both Michael and Linda are extremely proud of their 3 children, and eight grandchildren. The family all enjoy spending time together in the summer holidays sailing, playing golf and escaping to their estate in Scotland.

Graham Prain

Graham was educated at Cheltenham College and University College, Oxford, where he read Law and graduated in 1962. He then Joined Coopers & Lybrand in London and trained as a Chartered Accountant. He spent twelve years with the firm, culminating in a period as a Partner in the Lagos Office in Nigeria. On returning from West Africa, he went into the construction industry with Sir Robert McAlpine and spent the rest of his career with that company, mainly on the  property and finance side, and serving as secretary to the group holding company.      

Graham's connection with Reed's School arose through his role with the Fernden Foundation, a charity formed after the closure in the 1980s of Fernden School, a prep school in Haslemere. The Fernden Foundation has for many years supported a student with an annual bursary for their two A Level years at Reed's, but has now decided that the assets of the charity should be transferred over to the Andrew Reed Foundation to support Foundationers at Reed's for the future.