Late governor's bequest raises £750,000 for school

It was the main beneficiary of Bradford textile magnate Graham Watson, who died in November leaving the contents of his Heaton Rise home to the school.

The sale of the Graham Watson Collection, at Bonhams in Leeds, attracted a large number of Yorkshire buyers, including many old boys of the independent school.

Among the highlights of the 630 lots were 70 watercolour paintings by Threshfield artist Arthur Reginald Smith.

The paintings were collected over 60 years and included some of the best work by the artist who drowned in 1934, aged 63, while painting beside the River Wharfe at bolton Abbey.

Collectively the paintings had been expected to fetch around £30,000, but they sold for a total of £100,862.

Almost all the Smith works, many of them Craven views, exceeded pre-sale valuations, the most expensive being "Coniston Bridge, on the approach to Coniston Village", which fetched £5,266 against an estimate of £600 to £800.

Fine examples of furniture made by Lancaster firm Gillows, Burmantofts pottery, silver and glassware and jewellery also went under the hammer.

A George III library chair with needlework-covered upholstery sold for £41,850, which was more than twice the pre-sale estimate. Mr Watson had bought the chair in Harrogate in 1969 for £950.

The money will be used by Giggleswick School to accelerate its development plans.

Its scholarship system is also under review and in line with Mr Watson's wishes some of the money, together with a bequest from his brother, David, will be used to fund places at the school.

"We are not a well-endowed school in spite of popular myth, and the money puts us in a position to be able to move our development programme a couple of steps ahead," said headmaster Geoffrey boult.

"The sale was very exciting and there was a huge interest from people in Yorkshire.

"There were a lot of old boys there, some of them buying Graham Watson things which they said would come back to the school in the fullness of time, which makes a wonderful sense of continuation."

The school, which is Settle's largest employer with 204 staff on the payroll, is to redevelop its science and art provision in the first phase of its development programme.

Nine new science labs will be created within the school grounds, building into the hillside behind.

The current medical centre will be redeveloped into a modern, light and spacious art complex with specialist studios for ceramics, screen printing, painting, drawing and sculpture.

The next phases, which are currently under discussion with Giggleswick Parish Council, include building a new sports hall on the site of the current art department and turning the existing sports hall into a theatre.

"More than 20 local organisations use our floodlit astro turf and hopefully the new sports hall would have more public use," said Mr Boult.

"Mr Watson's generosity will enable us to continue to invest to provide pupils with the first class facilities expected of one of the best co-educational boarding schools in the country. We are investing to maintain the school for the future.

"The baton is with us at the moment and we want to pass it on as a prime educational establishment," Mr Boult told the Herald.

The school has kept six of Mr Watson's Smith paintings and some of his favourite pieces of furniture.

Mr Watson, who died last November aged 94, was a governor at Giggleswick School for 51 years, including 11 years as chairman.

He was the fourth generation of his family to become the managing director of Lister and Co based at Manningham Mills, Bradford - reputedly the world's largest silk mill factory. He retired in 1959.

He was very interested in music and loved Giggleswick School's famous chapel.

He and his brother paid for the chapel's lighting to be restored in memory of their father who was an old boy and a former governor.

Mr Watson also left 5,200 acres of land in Yorkshire to the National Trust and a collection of books and bookcases to his old college, Emmanuel in Cambridge.