Who We've Helped
These pages will give you some idea of the wide range of young people that we have helped in higher education, their successes and achievements.
Just some of our success stories...
An EBSF beneficiary who studied at the Universities of Sheffield and Leicester, archeologist Dr Clare Burke BSc MSc MA PhD has returned to Britain after nearly 6 years working for the Institute of Oriental and European Archaeology and the Austrian Archeological Institute in Vienna.
During this time Clare worked on ancient pottery from across the world including Turkey, Greece and Serbia, even having the opportunity to place her fingers into the preserved prints of potters from 7,000 years ago, and to investigate pottery from one of Europe’s oldest gold mines in Bulgaria. In the UK she has excavated the mosaic floors of Roman houses and walked along preserved roads which have lay hidden and unused for 1,000 years.
Presenting her work all over the world, and widely published, Clare has now won funding for a two-year research project at the University of York, studying North Macedonian pottery, to find out what it can tell us about the culture of the Early Neolithic people who introduced farming to Europe.
Marie Fall BSc MSc was in care from the age of 13, first in foster care and then in a children’s home. Following a degree in medical science, she wanted to read for an MA in social work at London’s South Bank. She was unable to get a postgraduate loan, so EBSF paid her fees. Marie is now working in a referral and assessment team in the children and families’ directorate of Southwark Council.
She is chair of the Association of Care Experienced Social Workers, and produced a book called Insiders Outsiders: The Hidden Narratives of Care-Experienced Social Workers.
Marie followed up the book by putting together a webinar for Social Work England.
Luke Fielding BA MA was in foster care from the age of five. He did his first degree at the Birmingham City University Institute of Art and Design. EBSF supported him through a postgraduate course in Writing at Birmingham City University.
Luke has exhibited digital art and paintings, designed album covers, book covers, logos and self-published a book of short stories. He has designed three Christmas cards for EBSF.
Luke is now teaching English and Art at Tudor Grange Treetops, which provides education for autistic children. He has begun a course to qualify as a Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator, and has a young son.
Kerry Littleford BA MA went into foster care at the age of 14, and read history at Sheffield University. While at Sheffield she joined the Green Party and campaigned successfully for a ban on plastic bags in the students’ union.
The Eve Brook Scholarship Fund supported Kerry’s studies for an MA in Environment and Development at King’s College, London, studying the relationship between development problems and environmental issues, particularly in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Kerry was appointed as a Public Health Practitioner at the London Borough of Hackney, and has volunteered as a Young Persons’ Mentor for Chance UK. She writes, speaks and broadcasts about her childhood and how university transformed her life. She is now training to be a public health consultant.
Born in England and educated in India and here, Samraj Singh BA MA lost both his parents in his teens, returned to his home country and went into foster care.
He was involved both in the setting up of Birmingham’s corporate parenting pledge and the Young People’s Parliament – for which he designed the logo.
The Fund supported him through a two-year MA in Social Work at the University of Sheffield. He was employed as a social worker in Birmingham and Solihull, but is now working (again, as a social worker) in Vancouver, Canada.
To show his appreciation of the Fund’s help, Samraj climbed Wales’s highest mountain, Snowdon, in July, raising £515 for the fund. He’s particularly keen to give credit for his academic achievement to EBSF’s former Treasurer, John Rouse
Nathanael Williams BA MA lost both his parents in his childhood, and was fostered in his late teens. He studied at Essex University and EBSF supported him through his an MA in Cultural and Creative Industries at King’s College London. Playing with the band Lyves, he supported Coldplay on their summer tour, including dates at the Cardiff Millennium Stadium and ending in Paris at the Stade De France.
Nathaniel is now a musical promoter and Director of the Colour Factory, an arts and music venue in East London.