On the 28th and 29th Of November 2023, Christs Hospital School in Horsham, Sussex held their first ever Giving Day. This special two-day event was introduced so that the local community would support and fundraise Christ’s Hospital to ensure it could continue to make a difference for current and future staff. Christ’s Hospital is a charity school, meaning that a majority of the students are on a party or fully paid scholarship or bursary. The bursaries and scholarships are provided  to ensure that disadvantaged students have the opportunity to have a good education and fulfilling experience of boarding school, despite any circumstances they have gone through. Over the 36-hour period the school asked students, staff, Old Blues, and the community to come together and raise or donate money so that the school can continue to support and fund the students at the school. Thankfully to the generous donations of the Old blues, Christs Hospital had thousands of pounds in challenge funding, and this has made the event very exciting. The students have been able to participate on activities throughout the day to unlock this challenge funding, which created a sense of unity and togetherness. For example, some students took on the Ch adventure race challenge in attempt to unlock £3000 worth of challenge funding. Other students joined in a marathon run around the school to raise some money too. However, the main event that proved to be the most popular and thrilling was the Static Bike challenge.

Outside the dining hall, there were six static bikes under some tents. The aim of this activity was to pedal as fast as you could, and the people who cycled the quickest and the furthest distance won the competition and had the opportunity to unlock the funding. Two representatives per each house on the avenue, and the two Grecians houses, battled against each other and pedalled on these bikes enthusiastically in aim of winning  the challenge. It was an entertaining experience, and this brought many students together, who stood and watched eagerly as they saw their peers compete. Middleton B, Grecians East and Leigh Hunt A  were later revealed as the champions of the competition. A total of £6000 was released from the challenge fund by students of all 16 houses, staff and the Head Teacher, Mr Reid for completing the challenge. This contributed heavily to the donation, and by the end of the event £155,678  was raised altogether and there were 537 donors in total! Overall, the Giving Day proved to be successful for Christs Hospital and its students- a truly memorable day.