Funds to Cambridge's Sporting Students
Thursday 28 April 2011
Funds award £36,000 to Cambridge’s sporting students
The Managers of three funds have made awards totalling more than £36,000 to individual sportspeople studying at The University of Cambridge. The Funds, which make awards to current students on an annual basis, received applications for support in greater numbers than recent years and had significant difficulty in narrowing down the applicants in order to make awards, highlighting the depth of sporting talent within the University.
The Eric Evans Trust Fund is managed by The University’s Department of Physical Education, represented by Dr John Little (St. Catharine’s) and Dr Joan Lasenby (Trinity), Senior Treasurers of the Men’s and Women’s Blues Committees respectively, along with Simon Cornish, the University’s Physical Education Officer. The Fund was also set up in 1996 following a benefaction from the friends and colleagues of the late Eric Evans, a graduate of St. Catharine’s College who gained a Full Blue playing for the University against Oxford in 1975 and 1976. The fund is intended to support students who wish to improve their sporting performance beyond University level, as well as support students who wish to gain coaching or officiating qualifications. This year, the Managers were able to award a total of £3,650 to sporting students, including Cross Country Skier Fiona Hughes (Queens’), who competed in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, and another 27 individuals from a total of 16 different sports, many of whom are already competing at National and International level.
The Hawks’ Charitable Trust was established in January 1996 with a legacy from Dr David Jennens, this endowment capital later supplemented by donations from other members of the Hawks’ Club to provide grants to current students of the University whose sports activities were being inhibited by financial constraints. The Trust is the single largest charity devoted to funding sport in The University. Among the 107 grants awarded by the Trustees are four named after principal benefactors: the Jennens award to Harry Leitch (Fitzwilliam, Squash), the Barber award to Louis Persent (St John’s, Athletics), the Cadbury award to Edward Dickson (Trinity Hall, Shooting) and the Marshall award to Tom March (Fitzwilliam, Riding).
In addition to the £19,700 granted from the Fund, the Trustees were also able to award an additional £10,000 that had been received from an anonymous donor to help support sports people who were hoping to compete at the upcoming 2012 Olympic Games in London. Those benefitting from the from the additional fund were Anthony Crutchett (Downing, Fencing), Rosamund Bradbury (Jesus, Rowing), Louis Persent (St John’s, Athletics), Ben Carne (Churchill, Athletics) and Samantha Cutts (Emmanuel, Riding).
Chairman of the Hawks’ Charitable Trust, Mr Christopher Pratt, said “I am delighted that, thanks to our generous and far-sighted benefactors, we have been able this pre-Olympic year to support sport in and beyond Cambridge to a record extent. Those we have supported in the past have gone on to collect an impressive haul of medals and other national and international achievements across a very wide range of sports, and we wish the new award holders equal success.”
On March 17th 2011, the Ospreys held their annual awards ceremony. The Ospreys is the society for sportswomen at Cambridge, who were pleased to award £3000 worth of individual bursaries to Cambridge’s current crop of accomplished sportswomen. From a huge number of applicants, those who were selected competed over and above university level and often were highly involved in the logistics of Cambridge sports. The selection was an exceptionally agonising process indicating the high standard and depth of Cambridge’s sportswomen, often in the face of extremely challenging budgets and facilities. This was all made possible courtesy of the Ospreys sponsors this year – JP Morgan, Barclays Capital, Bank of America and Merrill Lynch and OC&C, they also sponsored this years termly award ceremonies, massage sessions, free kit and the charity ball. The Ospreys’ President, Charlotte Roach (Trinity) would like to thank RBS for their support of the Ospreys Boat Race Event. Charlott was also honoured with the Osprey of The Year Award for 2010/11.
Profiles of a number of the sportspeople who have benefitted from the Funds feature in the University’s Sports Yearbook, with the 2011 edition to be released this month.
