LEGACY GIVING Putting their money where their heart is! Posted - 17/02/2020

James McMillan was a journalist, an historian, an author and a regular public speaker. He also had a long and close relationship with Reed’s School. Two of his sons (Alistair and Roy) were pupils in the 1970s and he himself was a governor for two decades. Even one of his books, ‘Faith is the Spur’, was written about our founder, Andrew Reed.

James was a brilliant speaker. Witty, informed, impassioned, funny, compelling and capable of improvising on a topic with almost no notice. When he died, the family wanted to memorialise his name at Reed’s through a prize and so it was agreed that the ‘James McMillan Debating Cup’ would be perfect.  The timing of this meant that the cup could be awarded in his name at the 2019 Prize Day, just a few months after his death.  It was wonderful that Alistair and Roy were able to be there.

The final, and perhaps most fitting element of this, is that the inaugural winner was Asfand Khan who, apart from being a bright, generous-hearted young man (and clearly a good debater!), was a Foundation pupil, the area of the School’s work James was most dedicated to and to which the family have also given a donation from his Will.