Horticultural students are thrilled after they were awarded £50,000 worth of support from a foundation set up in memory of a celebrated Suffolk plantsman.
Easton and Otley College and The Cedric Morris Foundation have entered a new partnership aimed at supporting the next generation of garden design experts.
The deal – worth £50,000 over 10 years – will support learners who are studying on horticultural degree programmes at the Otley campus of the college.
Every year for the next decade, £5,000 will be shared among students on horticulturally-related degree courses and the cash will be used to help them purchase expensive equipment such as computer programmes for design work. The bursaries will also fund organised study tours to historic gardens.
Trustee Jonathan Benson said the trustees were delighted to be making a “real difference” to horticultural degree students.
“The foundation was set up to celebrate the memory of Sir Cedric Morris - the famous artist and plantsman who made Suffolk his home. Sir Cedric founded the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing in 1937 with Arthur Lett-Haines. Lucian Freud was one of his most famous students.
“As a passionate plantsman known for his work breeding irises, Sir Cedric wanted his legacy to be used to help young people studying horticulture and to ensure they could travel to develop their skills and knowledge.”
The college’s acting principal Jane Townsend said: “We are incredibly grateful to the Sir Cedric Morris Foundation for this very generous award. The fact that the foundation has committed to supporting our students for such a period of time, allows us to plan ahead and promote the work we do for future students, and in turn allows us to train them in the skills that will make an impact on the industry they wish to serve.
“This is the ideal way to continue the ongoing legacy of Sir Cedric. Clearly he was a generous individual who was passionate about education, plants and Suffolk and I know that our students will be delighted with this news and they will, I’m sure, be determined make him proud.”
Student Keely Williams, who is on a foundation degree in landscape and garden design, said the grant would make “a huge difference”.
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