Investing In Young People

The Duchy continues to encourage new entrants into farming and support traditional skills training with annual bursaries to a number of leading colleges and universities.

Each year, the Duchy awards bursaries to Harper Adams University in Shropshire, Moulton College in Northamptonshire, Lancaster University and Myerscough College in Lancashire. Recipients generally apply at the start of their second student year and those shortlisted are then interviewed by the relevant academic and/or pastoral staff before their names are passed to the Duchy and the awards presented.

This year’s recipients have included Deabhla Connell from Oxfordshire who is studying Agriculture and Farm Business and Grace Gardiner from Essex who is studying Rural Enterprise and Land Management. Both are students at Harper Adams. Scholars awarded bursaries at Moulton College this year are Clive Redley and Hannah Kendall, both of whom are studying stonemasonry.

All four students have been selected on the basis of their hard work and academic achievement during the first year of study.

Commenting on the breadth of skills demonstrated by this year’s bursary recipients, Duchy Head of Project Management Graeme Chalk said: “We are always keen to celebrate excellence and to see traditional skills and career paths being embraced by a new generation. All four of these ‘Duchy Scholars’ have put in impressive applications and deserve to be supported in their choice of career. We congratulate them all and will be watching their future development with interest.”

The students have said that their awards will be put to a variety of uses this year, from professional memberships and subscriptions to industry magazines to drone pilot training and the freedom to accept unpaid internships.

Founded in the 13^th century, the Duchy of Lancaster is an ancient inheritance of land and property assets held in trust for the Sovereign. The Duchy invests around £30,000 each year in financial awards as well as providing study placements, work experience and post-graduate advice to students of agriculture, land and estate management, agri-business and traditional construction skills.