An anonymous writer, who has benefitted from several Arvon courses. would like to enable others to have the same experience. The donor will provide a yearly amount which will enable one person working in the voluntary sector to attend an Arvon writing course for a greatly reduced fee. To apply you must currently volunteer either full or part time within a charity or voluntary organisation. Applications will not be accepted from professional writers or those already making a living from writing.
The next Voluntary Workers Grant will be awarded in 2011. Details of how to apply will be posted on this page. Sign up for Arvon's email newsletters to make sure you hear when applications open.
If you missed out on the 2010 Voluntary Workers Grant, you can still apply for the general Arvon grant.
The recipient of the 2010 Voluntary Workers Grant is Caroline Fish. Caroline volunteers for the mental health charity SANE. Here’s her report:
'I was the delighted recipient of a voluntary worker’s grant and attended a Life Writing course at Lumb Bank in June 2010. Our hosts were all so welcoming and helpful and all the participants seemed to get on very well as a group. It was such a beautiful and restful setting to learn in with my room door opening onto a view of the steep, richly wooded bank across the valley.
Our tutors for the course were Carole Angier and Carole Seymour Jones, both very experienced biographers with a number of published biographies to their name. If it was more difficult for Carole Seymour Jones, who had stepped in at very short notice because of the illness of the original tutor, we would never have known – it seemed as though she had done this for years. Both tutors were extremely patient and in my case encouraged me to write about a personal viewpoint of mental health problems, a task which I had previously found very difficult. They seemed to get the best out of everyone and on our final evening when we read out the pieces that we had been working on, it was amazing to see what we had achieved and how we had progressed over the week.
We had a good balance of group work and one to ones with the tutors as well as time to write on our own. Each evening we cooked in groups of four, which was fun and we ate very well.
I volunteer at SANE, a leading mental health charity and part of that role is providing information about mental illness and details of support available to those affected by mental health problems. This may be an individual affected or friends and family who want to help. I would like to have the opportunity to use some of the skills I have learned at Arvon to write for SANE in whatever area they might find useful.
My heartfelt thanks to the kind person that made my attendance at this course possible.'
2008 grant recipient Andrew Kenny talks about his experience of an Arvon week after being awarded this special grant.
'It was with great excitement that I headed towards the Hurst, the John Osborne Arvon Centre at Clunton in Shropshire. It was my first time on an Arvon course. My wife had been to one previously and had informed me that there was a special grant available for one lucky person who was working in the voluntary sector. Even though I didn't think I had much chance of getting it, I did apply and to my delight, got a letter stating that I was successful.
So from 1-6th December I took part in the Creative Writing course ably tutored by the charismatic Ian Marchant and equally gifted Richard Beard. Through the exercises and tutorials given at the course, I was able to gain confidence to write about the many interesting, as well as heart rending stories of teaching English to asylum seekers, and running a youth club in inner city Belfast. Peter Salmon and Kerry Watson were our hosts during the week and they proved to be most friendly and helpful. When it was the turn of my team to make dinner I even learnt how to make bread and butter pudding! Apart from my pudding the meals throughout the week were excellent and were often washed down with a glass or two of red or white wine. I would recommend the course to all writers whether they are just beginners (like myself) or published. I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to the anonymous writer who kindly made available the special grant from which I was able to benefit.'
