Writtle College horticulture student James Hayley has been awarded a national scholarship from a horticultural charity.

The 27-year-old, who lives near Woodbridge, is one of only six students across the country to be given the Student Scholarship from the David Colegrave Foundation (DCF).

Students from 18 colleges across the UK applied for the bursary this year. The charity said that the standard of entries was particularly high, resulting in it electing to award six student scholarships of £1,000 instead of an intended five.

James, who is in his third year of a BSc (Hons) Horticulture at the Chelmsford-based college, said: “I cannot tell you how much of a difference this will make to me.

“Thanks to the David Colegrave Foundation I shall be able to focus 100% on my studies over these next few very important months.”

Senior lecturer Sandra Nicholson said: “This is great news for James. We are very grateful for the support that the David Colegrave Foundation offers our students.”

DCF chairman Jeff Colegrave said: “We received a promising number of entries this year from students with varying interests in horticulture surrounding growing, retailing, landscaping, pathology and technology. There were a number of stand-out applications which is why we chose to award an additional Student Scholarship. As always we now look forward to following each student on their journey.”

For more details on the scholarship visit www.davidcolegravefoundation.org.uk