Cornwall’s bright young talent awarded at Truro High School by Colonel Edward Bolitho OBE, Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall

Young & Talented Cornwall, The Lord Lieutenant’s Fund, provides grants to Cornwall’s next generation of superstars, helping them to achieve their potential across a wide range of skill areas, from sport and performing arts to music and science. The most recent round of grants awarded a total of £23,500.00 to 17 bright young talents.

Five of those, including a Paralympic Games hopeful, a junior skeet champion and an extremely talented pool player, were at Truro High School to be presented with awards by Colonel Edward Bolitho OBE, Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall.

At the presentation evening was Fabio Zamparelli (from Truro) who is a 2021 gold medalist in discus and shotput in the National Junior Championships. Fabio will use his grant to help towards expenses while he attends the England Athletics Youth Talent Programme. His peer, Matthew Ryall (from Egloskerry near Launceston), meanwhile has his sights set on becoming a professional pool player and, as part of the England Junior Squad, is representing England at the European and World Championships.

Denzil Grose (from Bugle) who has recently become British Champion of Junior Men’s Skeet is also using his grant to help with expenses as he trains for his Olympic dreams which are shared by Samuel Jose (from Marazion) who is training with the British Athletics Paralympic Development Academy.

Alec West (from Devoran) was also at the awards presentation having taken a break from training at The Royal Ballet School, one of the world’s greatest centres of classical ballet. Described as having ‘exceptional talent’, the grant is helping Alex fulfil his dream of becoming professional ballet dancer.

Colonel Bolitho heads up Young & Talented Cornwall and says: “For Cornwall’s young people to have the talent, ambition and drive to be future leaders in their fields, only to be held back by the means to get there is a crying shame. Young & Talented Cornwall is here to bridge that gap and to ensure potential doesn’t go to waste. Corporate sponsorship is vital in making it happen and I am truly thankful, as are the deserving recipients, to Truro High School. We need others to follow in their footsteps and come on board to help make the dreams of our talented youngsters a reality.”

Sarah Matthews, Headmistress at Truro High School, adds: “At Truro High we are utterly committed to doing all we can to ensure young people from all walks of life receive the help and support they need to develop and progress in their chosen field. We are proud to support Young & Talented Cornwall and will also provide its prospects with whatever opportunities we can in school from the chance to join our Engineering programme to the opportunity for musicians to gain performance experience in our Gallery.”

For information, visit Young and Talented Cornwall.