In September 2003 James Oakden took over from James Beatty as Raleigh House master and together with Mel Clark they decided that the House would sponsor an African Rhino. ‘Kilmanjui’ was very quickly adopted as the House mascot and as we’d been sent a wonderful cuddly rhino toy as part of the sponsorship package we decided to start awarding it on a weekly basis to a child who had stood out for something special. This might have been an act of kindness, a particularly good captaincy of a house team, or a perhaps a vast improvement in their attitude towards their academic work.

Recipients keep the rhino for a week making sure that he is ‘fed and watered’ and then return him for the following house meeting so he can be awarded once again. Over the years several rhinos have heard the call of the wild and have gone walk about. One even went walk about in Lidl, never to be seen again! Consequently the size and colour of the mascots have changed from time to time but 15 years later the children still eagerly await the news of who the next recipient will be. These days the children also receive a small rhino badge to keep as a reminder of their reward. Hopefully this tradition will continue for many years to come. Do you remember winning the Raleigh rhino award when you were here?