Meet the Beldam Bursary Winners

© NGO E.T. 2018 Registered Charity Number: 1076923 Page 1 of 4

Each year Mrs. Sharon Beldam and her family generously provide a bursary to students at Sparsholt and Newton Rigg colleges to help them fund courses in gamekeeping and wildlife management, qualifications which will be of great benefit to them when they leave college and look for employment in the gamekeeping profession. Both colleges and students feel an immense debt of gratitude towards Mrs. Beldam for providing such a generous boost to their employment prospects. Have you ever wondered who the recipients of the bursary are? Now we have an opportunity to tell their stories as they look forward to continuing their quest in the world of keepering and wildlife management. From Sparsholt College the recipients were: Doug Wheeler, Tom Sellar, Alfie Betchley who each receive the Bursary of £500 towards additional qualifications from college. Doug Wheeler I started beating on my local pheasant shoot about 30 years ago, and it all escalated from there, I got involved with helping with anything I could that involved the shoot and the countryside, and so I helped with the rearing, feeding, predator control and general shoot maintenance. Fifteen years ago, I was asked if I would be interested in assisting with the deer management, and escorting clients as I knew the ground well. I applied for my FAC and all things deer quickly escalated from a hobby, in to a passion, and now hopefully my future. Three years ago, after much soul searching my very understanding wife sat down with me to discuss my ailing health and happiness, or lack of it, and the decision was made for me to leave the job that was destroying me, and chase my dream of becoming a gamekeeper/deer manager. I enrolled at Sparsholt to work towards my Level 3 extended diploma in Game and Wildlife Management, and I started taking other deer related qualifications, and was successful in passing Lantra qualifications in Advanced Deer management, Humane Animal Dispatch, and Live Capture, Immobilisation and Large Animal Handling. I also took my DSC1, and gained some hands-on experience with a deer management company. Attending Sparsholt reignited my interest in gamebirds, and so I look forward to pursuing a mixed career where gamebird and deer management complement one another. The Rufus Beldam Bursary not only helps me by allowing me to further my education and employability by obtaining further industry qualifications, but it helps my family by removing a little financial burden from finding the money for crucial courses needed to succeed in this career. With this money from the Bursary I have decided to take the NGO Loaders course, the NGO Wild Game Meat hygiene course, The GWCT Snaring course, CS30 cross cutting chainsaw qualification, and use the remaining funds to pay for the required three assessed stalks needed for my DSC2.

Meet the Beldam Bursary Winners

© NGO E.T. 2018 Registered Charity Number: 1076923 Page 2 of 4

Tom Sellar I am currently 17 years old and in my second year at Sparsholt College. Since the age of 13, I have assisted on shoots on several estates, ranging from 14,000 to 2,500 acres, gaining a broad experience in game keeping with partridge and pheasant. My ambition is to become a Head Keeper on a renowned shooting Estate, therefore I am always keen to improve my skills and versatility for future employment. I am very grateful to have been awarded the Rufus Beldam bursary. This will help fund some additional qualifications to go with my Extended Diploma in Game & Wildlife, which I complete later this year. The qualifications I would be looking to gain, with the bursary, would be: Chainsaw Certificates; Fox snaring and Game Meat Hygiene. I would like to thank the Beldam Family for this great opportunity.

Alfie Bletchley

My name is Alfie Betchley, I am 17, I live in the surrey hills in a small village called Ockley and studying Level 3 Game and wildlife management at Sparsholt College. I am due to finish my second year of the course in June. I have been involved with gamekeeping since I was 12, I started off just beating on the local estate and then in evenings and school breaks I would be out helping the gamekeeper. Since I started, my passion for the job and lifestyle has been constantly growing. Once I have finished my course at Sparsholt I aim to go into an underkeeper’s job for a few years and slowly progress from there. I want to end on getting a head keepers job on an estate. At some stage I would quite like to have a go on the grouse moors but I mainly want to stay with lowland keepering as that’s how I started and it’s what I enjoy the most. I am extremely grateful to be receiving the Rufus Beldam Bursary as this is going to be a huge help for me to get my ATV, CS30 and my Game meat hygiene, but this is going to be an even bigger help for me to pass my driving test.

Meet the Beldam Bursary Winners

© NGO E.T. 2018 Registered Charity Number: 1076923 Page 3 of 4

From Newton Rigg College the recipients were: Adam Kidd who receives the full Bursary of £500 & Samuel Kilduff & Lewis Westall who share the Bursary so each will receive £250 towards additional qualifications from college. Adam Kidd The bursary I have received is greatly appreciated, it will allow me fund additional qualifications such as DSC1, Game meat hygiene, Fox snaring and Chainsaws which I hope will enable me to follow my chosen career path in gamekeeping. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Beldam Family and the bursary organisers for selecting me as a worthy recipient. Lewis Westall I cannot thank the NGO Educational Trust and the Beldam Family enough for awarding me the Rufus Bedlam bursary. I intend to use the bursary to fund courses such as DSC1 and game meat hygiene. I feel incredibly privileged to have been awarded the bursary. Sam Kilduff I am extremely grateful to be receiving the Rufus Beldam Bursary. This will help me achieve additional qualifications such as my ATV course which will contribute towards my employability as a gamekeeper in the future. The bursary is a huge help, being a full time gamekeeping student I would not have been able to afford this on my own, so I would like to thank the Beldam family, Sarah Read of the NGO and everyone at the Educational Trust

Meet the Beldam Bursary Winners

© NGO E.T. 2018 Registered Charity Number: 1076923 Page 4 of 4

The Rufus Beldam Bursary also provides funding towards a snaring course for the year’s students. 1st Year Apprentices doing their Snaring Certification with GWCT at Newton Rigg College