Four New Grants
At their recent meeting the Trustees of the Test Valley Arts Foundation agreed to award four grants for the arts in Test Valley. The Foundation is an independent grant giving charity established in 1991 and was the brainchild of the late Michael Colvin MP who was its first chairman and continued in that post up to his tragic and untimely death in 2000.

The Test Valley Arts Foundation awards portfolio includes an Open Access Award for groups and individuals, with no age limit, the Colvin Young Artists Award for artists at the outset of their careers, aged between 20 and 26, and the Morrison Music Award.

A Morrison Music Award of £800 went to Jonathan Goodwin from Andover towards the purchase of a new trombone. Jonathan, who is 13, impressed on the Trustees as a first class musician and a caring and deserving young man who is heavily involved in the local community. What also impressed was his loyalty to Test Valley Brass Youth Band, the band he started with as an 8-year old, and his ambition, having set his sights on attending one of the Royal Colleges of Music.

An Open Access Award of £150 was awarded to the Weyhill Sewing Group to help this community group of artistic ladies to cover costs of materials towards completion of a project to make six cushion covers for the re-decorated reception area of a centre for the disabled at Enham.

A further two Open Access Awards went to the Romsey area:

£450 was provided for the Romsey Companions Club, members of Club Hampshire, for the recording of ‘The Soundtrack to our Lives’ project. The bid was for a facilitator, the access to music and recording equipment.

And £100 went to Braishfield Primary School towards producing a wall hanging for the school entrance area to which every child will contribute.