Thames Valley Early Music Forum
Bursaries
The David Fletcher Bursary Fund The David Fletcher Bursary Fund was set up in memory of the Thames Valley Early Music Forum’s late Chairman, David Fletcher, who died in 2021. The bursary fund is ring fenced in the TVEMF accounts so that it can only be used to fund bursaries for a residential music course. At the moment that course is the Beauchamp Early Music Summer School which David enjoyed attending for many years, but it could be used elsewhere if the Beauchamp course ceased to exist or became unsuitable for any reason.
There is a subcommittee to decide who is awarded a bursary, consisting of the TVEMF Chair (Victoria Helby) and Treasurer (Ivan Viehoff), Jane Rothery who used to be Administrator of the Beauchamp course, and David Allinson who is one of the directors of the course.
Money in the bursary fund comes from donations around the time of the David Fletcher Celebration workshop in 2023, from donations coming directly from people who attend the Beauchamp course, a growing sum from cancelled TVEMF workshop fees given to the fund in place of a refund, instrument sales, and the profits from the Beauchamp 2024 bar takings.
This year there is an incentive scheme to encourage people who book for Beauchamp to be generous with their donations. TVEMF will match fund any bursary donations which come via bookings for the Beauchamp course, up to £500, from the Baker legacy. All these donations can go directly out again as bursaries, plus a percentage of the David Fletcher Bursary Fund (which will include the match funding). The first bursary was awarded in 2024 to Natalie Summers, a cornett student of Gawain Glenton, and it is hoped that it will be possible to award at least two in 2025.
The David Fletcher Bursary Fund is not only for students, but is aimed at anyone who finds the course fees difficult to afford, perhaps because they have retired or are unemployed. All applications will of course be treated in confidence. It is not a condition of receiving a bursary, but we hope recipients will give a little help at the course, perhaps by helping to set up the evening sessions, and will write a short account of their time on the course for the TVEMF newsletter, Tamesis. They can, if they prefer, remain anonymous.
You can see more about David Fletcher here: https://www.tvemf.org.uk/davidspage
If you would like to apply for a bursary here is the application form