The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall meet Young and Talented Grant recipients during Falmouth visit

The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall officially made their first joint visit to the Duchy since assuming the titles last year. During a visit to the National Maritime Museum, Falmouth, to celebrate its 20th birthday, the royal couple met five young people who have recently received grant funding from Young & Talented Cornwall (Y&TC).

Y&TC was launched in 2005 as The Lord Lieutenant’s FundA sum of money made available for grant making, often with specific criteria/conditions. for Youth (LLFFY), by the then Lord Lieutenant Lady Mary Holborow and Vice Lord Lieutenant Michael Galsworthy, aiming to inspire and support exceptional ability in Cornwall’s young. The fund is now known as Young & Talented Cornwall and is headed by Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall Colonel Edward Bolitho OBE. It helps young individuals who have demonstrated outstanding talent in a particular field – such as sport, the arts, science, voluntary service and enterprise – but are struggling to achieve their ambition or progress in their chosen career because of hardship or disability.

Past Young & Talented Cornwall grant recipientsThe projects or organisations that are receiving funding. include two-times Olympic Champion rower Helen Glover, pole vaulter Molly Caudrey (2022 Commonwealth Games GB silver medallist), England rugby player Luke Cowan-Dickie and swimmer Calum Jarvis (2020 GB Olympic gold medallist).

Daisy Hassell: Daisy is a gifted pentathlete and received funding from Young & Talented Cornwall on two occasions in 2022.  Aged 14, she has been selected in her age group for the Pentathlon GB Talent Pathway and hopes to be selected for the U17 triathlon for Pentathlon GB and represent Great Britain in the European Triathlon Championships in Poland. Daisy is working towards being nominated for the Youth Olympics in 2026 and the Olympics in 2028.

Evie DuCros: Evie is a skilful rower who received funding from Young & Talented Cornwall in both 2019 and 2022. This funding has supported her in progressing from indoor to outdoor rowing.  She is now one of 12 rowers who have been selected for the Hartpury Rowing Academy Programme.  Aimed at identifying and developing the next generation of rowers, this is a joint initiative between Hartpury College, the GB Rowing Team Start programme and Gloucester Rowing Club. This two-year programme will assist her in achieving her long-term ambition of becoming an Olympic rower.

Fabio Zamparelli: Fabio is a paralympic athlete who received funding from Young & Talented Cornwall in both 2019 and 2021. He excels in two particular athletic disciplines, throwing the discus and putting the shot. The UK’s number one Under-20 Para Athlete Shot Put Thrower and Discus Thrower in the F20 (intellectual impairment) class, Fabio was a gold medalist in both disciplines in the 2021 National Junior Championships in Manchester. He has been selected as a Team England Future’s Athlete, a two year elite athletic pathway. His long term goal is to represent his country at the Paralympic Games.

Imogen Dowse: Imogen is a skilled musician and received funding from Young & Talented Cornwall in 2020 and 2022. She attends Truro School on a bursary and scholarship basis and considers cello as her principal talent. She is currently a Music and Senior Prefect as well as Head Chorister at Truro Cathedral. She leads the cello section of Cornwall Youth Orchestra and Truro Youth String Orchestra, as well as all school ensembles. She frequently plays in concerts in Cornwall and has most recently played at the Royal Albert Hall (with Cornwall County Youth Choir).

Poppy Luxton: Poppy is a talented dinghy sailor who received funding from Young & Talented Cornwall in 2022. She is currently studying for her A-levels at Truro College. Over the past six years Poppy has received coaching at Restronguet and Mylor sailing clubs and, more recently, she has taken part in coaching courses and competitive sailing at the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy.. Recently she participated in a selection competition at the National Sailing Academy in respect of ILCA 4, the junior single-handed class in the British Youth sailing programme. From 30 candidates in the Under-17 category, she was one of three selected for further training for national and international competitions.

Colonel Edward Bolitho OBE, Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall and Chair of Cornwall Young & Talented said, “What an honour for some of Cornwall’s exceptional young talent to meet the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall today. Geography, financial hardship and personal circumstance can often seem like insurmountable hurdles and over the last 18 years Young & Talented Cornwall has granted in excess of £330,000 to Cornwall’s brightest prospects. The Duke and Duchess were I am sure hugely impressed and inspired by these shining examples of the skill, dedication, persistence and potential of Cornwall’s youth. It was a very proud moment.”