Have you made your will?

Does this seem a depressing subject to you? Or just a boring one? It's very difficult to get excited about the world of wills and codicils unless you're a lawyer (or maybe a surprise beneficiary), isn't it? And when you say, 'Yes, I have made a will' only to be trumped with, 'Ah, yes, but is it up-to-date?' that's really not fair. I know that I need to have a look at mine, as it's 15 years since I wrote it, and my children were teenagers then.

Here in the Development Office we think about wills quite a lot. This week we received a surprise legacy gift from the estate of a gentleman who died a couple of years ago. It's worth about £12,000 to us, and is a very welcome addition to our Bursary Fund. In the past ten years we must have benefited from about 75 wills, 2 of them worth over a million pounds each. Clearly the donors believed in the value of giving clever boys a chance, with the support of a great secondary education, and we will look after their money well as we build an endowment fund to last for ever. And the donors' names will live for ever on our honours boards. By using the investment income from the fund we can currently provide about 240 means-tested bursaries - a good number, but not enough to satisfy demand. One day we hope to be able to afford a needs-blind entry system.

So if you are looking at making or revising a will, please consider including MGS as one of the charities you choose. All bequests to charities escape inheritance tax. Click here for further details.