Our award winner playing tinman in her local pantomime

A young music student has written to thank the JTYAF after receiving funding for singing lessons, which have helped her develop her vocal skills, improve her confidence and make strong progress towards her Music GCSE.

The lessons have made a clear difference to her school singing assessments. She explained that the support enabled her to achieve a much better grade than would have been possible without the extra tuition. Her music teacher has also noticed significant improvement, particularly in her breath control and intonation.

As her skills have grown, so too have her opportunities. She has enjoyed using her developing singing ability to take on better roles in a local pantomime and in her school production, experiences she feels would not have been possible without the lessons funded through the Foundation.

Looking ahead, she hopes to continue singing lessons next year to further build her technique, understanding and confidence. She is also keen to audition for more roles with local dramatic societies, including Ringwood Music and Dramatic Society when she is old enough to apply, while continuing to work towards a strong GCSE singing assessment result.

Her message to everyone who supports the JTYAF was: “Thank you so much. I am so grateful. It hadn’t even occurred to me that I might be eligible for a grant, yet here I am a year on with so many new skills learnt. Thank you so much for your generosity.”