Our Affiliations
In addition to our schools, almshouses and charities, The Skinners’ Company is proud to have affiliations across other educational, charitable and military institutions.
Educational
Christ’s Hospital is unlike any other independent school in the UK. The school provides free and reduced cost places to over 630 of their 900 students each year. Students come from every possible ethnic and socio-economic background, bringing a social and cultural diversity that enriches the school community.
The Skinners’ Company shares the School’s charitable ethos, with links dating back to the 17th Century. Christ’s Hospital is one of the famous Royal Hospitals of London, whose foundation marked the beginning of the social services in Tudor England. Inspired by a sermon by Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London, the young King Edward VI instructed the Lord Mayor, Sir Richard Dobbs (a Skinner), to appoint a committee of leading citizens to consider remedies and relief for the City’s homeless and poor.
Their work, and subsequently their philanthropy, led to the founding of the five great Hospitals all supporting different needs.
The Skinners’ Company Presentees
The Skinners’ Company has ‘presentation’ rights for four pupils at any one time – meaning they select and support a pupil for the duration of their studies. All pupils are means tested for bursaries, with the average bursary currently at 86% of fees. The Company selects a new Skinners’ Company Presentee (pupil) in most academic years who wear the Company badge whilst they study and maintain a link with the Company via our nominated governor.
Aston Award
The Aston Award is presented annually to a Christ’s Hospital student with the best proposal for an adventure – be it physical, creative, artistic, social or intellectual – that will offer a development opportunity for the young person. The Award is presented by the Master at Corpus Christi each year.
City & Guilds
The Royal College of Art
Charitable
City & Guilds of London Art School
The Skinners’ Company supports the school primarily through a grant awarded by the Skinners’ Charity Foundation. This award is funding bursary places at the school for disadvantaged undergraduates in pursuit of their vocational aims in artistry.
We also award the annual Philip Connard Travel Prize which enables one student to travel to paint in a particular country or study an artist’s work in situ, providing new experiences and inspirations to develop their work.
Treloar College
Treloar Trust offers outstanding teaching, learning, professional care, therapy, advice and guidance so that every individual can achieve and work towards a future that is as independent as possible. Treloar School and Treloar College offer around 170 students, aged 4 to 25 years, a specialist environment where learning takes place alongside therapy and care. Students are physically disabled with complex needs. Mainstream schools and colleges cannot provide the support they need to achieve their goals.
The ‘Billesdon Officer’ is jointly funded by The Skinners Company and The Merchant Taylors, to support the needs of young people once they leave Treloar. This role supports alumni post-study progression routes, whether into employment, volunteering, or more broadly in support of intendent living.
City, University
The Skinners’ Company funds City to allocate bursaries to their undergraduate school of nursing. This is enabling students there, from disadvantaged backgrounds, to study in this field and enter the workplace in this vocation.
Guildhall School of Music and Drama
The Skinners’ Charity Foundation is funding GSMD to award bursaries to its students from low-income backgrounds. It is supporting undergraduates across a range of subjects, including music, acting, and theatre management – to progress into careers in these fields.
Military
39th Signal Regiment
The Regiment was adopted by the Company in 1954 and is a Territorial Army Communications Unit based in Bristol. The Regiment’s role is in providing secure communications for the government and various government agencies predominantly within the UK. It also supports the government in times of crises, by providing and maintaining the crucial emergency communications infrastructure.
The Honorary Colonel of the Regiment is a member of the Court, and the Master and Wardens visit annually and donate awards for the best male and female soldiers.
299 Squadron Royal Signals
The Squadron was adopted by the Company in 2013 and is based at Bletchley. It provides Independent Communication Support (ICS) to specified Other Government Departments (OGD) in the UK and worldwide and facilitates the collection and dissemination of national Information. The Squadron is a specialist volunteer unit and the only Special Communications (SC) unit in the British Army.
207 Squadron RAF
Number 207 Squadron RAF is an Operational Conversion Unit and has been based at RAF Marham since July 2019, where it is responsible for the operational readiness of aircrew manning the Lockheed Martin F-35B. This aircraft operates from both RAF stations and the UK’s new carriers and became the first UK unit in a decade to operate jets in home waters from a British carrier by flying from HMS Queen Elizabeth. Squadron command alternates between the RN and RAF.
