In Lent, the Headmaster set himself the ambitious target of raising £5,000 for the School’s Bursary Fund by walking 90 miles of The Pilgrims' Way from Southwark Cathedral to Canterbury.
“Funding bursary places is something very close to my heart as someone who directly benefitted from that support myself,” he explains. “Funding places for children from disadvantaged backgrounds is central to Freemen’s founding ethos as well as to our mission today.”
The challenge took six gruelling days of trekking through mud, mud and more mud, up hills, through towns and across vast fields following the route Pilgrims took to the shrine of Thomas Becket, following his murder inside Canterbury Cathedral.
CCF Commander Captain Alex Truelove joined the Head for 17 miles on the Wednesday, for which Mr Martin was very thankful.
“Those of you who know the Cap won’t need telling that he has an infectious optimism and a willingness to get stuck in, which helped enormously to lighten the load - both physically and mentally.
Our day together was spent cresting steep hills, getting stuck in thick mud and experiencing a shared shock at our relieved response to finding a McDonald’s in the middle of nowhere when lunch options looked dire. He may have been wearing camouflage, but there was no hiding Captain Truelove’s grin!”
The Headmaster beat his target and to date has raised £7,485 for Freemen’s bursaries. The school’s relationship with The City of London Corporation means that every pound raised for the bursary fund is match-funded, meaning the amount to be donated is £14,970.
“I am so grateful to everyone who has donated, to the Governors for agreeing a workable way of us achieving this and to my colleagues for ensuring nothing changed in School. It’s been gruelling, brutal, but so worth it.
Having said all that, I won’t be rushing to do this again in a hurry... Jumping out of a plane would have been quicker!”
You can still donate to the Headmaster’s trek at www.gofundme.com/f/pilgrims-way-freemens