The South West’s farmers of the future, new generation gardeners and countryside careerists have a chance to gain financial support while they study through an innovative Student Support Fund.
But they need to hurry as the closing date is end of this month.
The brainchild of Gillingham and Shaftesbury Agricultural Society, organisers of the Gillingham & Shaftesbury Show, this fund, only in its second year, is specifically set up to support students entering into agricultural, horticultural, countryside and land-based industries.
It offers help with costs towards college or university course fees, books and equipment or even to help meet transport costs of getting to a place of study from a rural location.
Matthew Price, who was part of the team that launched the initiative, said: “From my previous work in the NFU and roles as a governor of a land-based school and college, I know it’s frequently the case that financial restraints create barriers to students accessing and fulfilling education and training.
“The Student Support Fund
sets out to ease those financial pressures by offering modest but worthwhile grants up to a maximum of £1,500.”
Last year, the fund gave out £6,000 in grants ranging from money for hard-cap boots and safety helmets to helping fund course tuition fees.
The easy-to-complete applications must be submitted by May 31 via
gillinghamandshaftesbury show.co.uk/student-support-fund.