17th September 2015
A student from Carlisle has received support from a Cumbrian author as he enters the world of further education.
Administered through Cumbria Community Foundation, the Hunter Davies Fund provides financial assistance to students starting university to be used for course related costs such as fees, books, fieldtrips, equipment or transport.
Simon Boothroyd, 18 attended Trinity School and was nominated by his Head Teacher for showing academic achievement, despite his personal circumstances. Both his parents passed away when he was young and was taken into foster care. However, he excelled at school, became Head Boy and now starts Nottingham University next week to study veterinary medicine.
Simon said: “Receiving the bursary has helped me feel more at ease entering my first year of university. My biggest worry was how I could afford all of the fees and extras you have to buy but this has been a great help.”
Hunter Davies said: “I like the idea of helping someone the way I was unexpectedly helped. In 1954, the Minister of the Church my family attended in Carlisle knocked at the front door of our council house in Carlisle – and I hid, never really liking him or his church. But he had come to give me £10 – thanks to a gift from a member of the church to be given to someone in the congregation who had got into a university. It mattered hugely to me as we had so little money and my father had been disabled almost all my life. I was so surprised, thrilled and grateful.”
Annalee Holliday, Grants & Donor Services Officer at the Foundation said: “The bursaries provide an opportunity for young people in Cumbria to receive a helping hand as they pursue further education. The Fund demonstrates how people can make a real difference to an issue they care about by creating a fund with the Foundation”.
Simon also received £2,000 from the Cumbria Young People’s Fund and £500 from the Edmond Castle Educational Trust.