Four new agricultural students have joined a cohort of young people supported by a charity with more than six centuries of farming experience.
The Spence Agricultural Scholars are all studying undergraduate degrees and will benefit from £5,000 a year for the duration of their study, as well as practical support and enrichment opportunities, all provided by the Rochester Bridge Trust.
James Miller, Education Officer (Bursaries & Scholarships) at the Trust, said: “We’re pleased to welcome these four new students to our agricultural scholarship programme. They cover a diverse selection of agricultural specialisms and all show a lot of promise in their chosen field.”
Three of the students are at Harper Adams. Rebecca Goulding, from West Yorkshire, is studying agriculture with livestock production; Archie Harrison, from Lincolnshire, is taking a degree in agriculture with crop management; and Cambridgeshire resident Connor Jackson is doing agriculture with placement year. The fourth student, Sophie Bellamy from Kent, is working towards a degree in agriculture with business management at the University of Nottingham. The students’ home counties all represent the geographical reach of the Trust’s agricultural holdings.
Originally launched at the University of Nottingham, in 2024 the scholarship was extended to cover seven English and Welsh universities offering agricultural courses” Aberystwyth University, Anglia Ruskin University, Harper Adams University, Newcastle University, University of Nottingham, University of Reading, or Royal Agricultural University. It was named in honour of John Spence, a long-serving member of the Court of Wardens and Assistants of the Rochester Bridge Trust.
For more information about the scholarship and others to have benefitted, visit: https://rbt.org.uk/grants/spence-agricultural-scholarship/