For students matriculating before 1960, applying for a place to study at Oxford meant staying on at sixth form for a seventh term to prepare for an Oxford exam. 

Very few state school students could afford the time or the tutoring to do this.

Neil Tanner (who became Tutor for Admissions in 1965) and his colleagues implemented a scheme to level the playing field, giving state-schooled students a realistic chance of an Oxford education. 

This was revolutionary in Oxford, and not all colleges agreed with the scheme. But over the years that followed it led to a complete overhaul of the access system in Oxford.

Neil's vision and foresight created a legacy that enabled me to go to Oxford in 1987 but in today's brutally difficult funding environment, many state school students are still denied the opportunity to maximise their full potential.

The donations you raise will help to broaden Hertford's outreach activities, offer financial security to students by way of bursaries and hardship grants, and attract the most able students to Oxford University, regardless of their background, with scholarships.