Inaugural Enrichment Award 

Winning duo 

Helena Fox & Amberlilly Ewbank

Congratulations to both Helena and Amberlilly on becoming the worthy winners of inaurgural Enrichment Award. They have been nominated by their peers, who were inspired by the duo during their time at school and continue to be inspired by theirtalent, passion and drive.  Since leaving Tormead Helena (former academic scholar) achieved a Starred Double First Class degree from Cambridge, alongside taking part in forty theatre productions while at university and serving on her college SU as an LGBT+ officer.  She also inspired many school students hosting LGBT+ and drag workshops. 

Since leaving Tormead, Amberlilly (former Art scholar) has achieved a First Class degree from the prestigious Goldsmiths, which included a First Classdissertation exploring how the creation of the magician's assistant in the Victorian Era problematically established a gender-based power dynamic, which ultimately lead to large scale historical instances of female suppression, such as the witch trials and medical diagnosis of hysteria. It was the first study of its kind. 

However, it is for their work and love of the theatre, a notoriously tough industry to break into, and arguably one of the hardest hit by the Covid pandemic, that crowns them as worthy winners of The Enrichment Award!

Both Helena and Amberlilly have demonstrated a commitment to working in the sector and quickly achieved individual and joint successes. Amberlilly has had her work exhibited and hung in several exhibitions, including for schools on a voluntary basis, and has produced and displayed various installation works of art, covering crucial themes of today such as the toxicity of the news cycle and gender. 

Helena created and co-wrote the original musical Rust which won the Derek award for best musical at the Edinburgh fringe; she came second in Man Up! 2019 (the world's largest Drag King competition); she was selected from anonymous student nominations as one of the twelve most influential women at Cambridge in 2020; and she has completed numerous professional writing and performance gigs since graduating, being shortlisted for multiple awards and schemes. Both produced and starred in a professional commission show at Chelsea Theatre, “Tectonic Plates'', about time at school, which explored important themes including queerness and mental health. 

The theatre company this funding would go to will be called “Write the River”, and will be focussed on the themes of womanhood, water and story-telling. As Write the River, Helena and Amberlilly have already attained recognition, being shortlisted for Barrel Organ/NSDF development programme, shortlisted for Theatre Deli residency and mentorship, and have been shortlisted for the Farnham Maltings 'Our Towns' commission. However, with the theatre industry still reeling in the wake of Covid, funding is difficult to attain even with such strong track records and experience. The first show will be the immersive “Queen of Magic”, which is planned to be staged in rural pubs, and will explore the life of Adelaide Hermann, a famous but since over-looked musician. Therefore in addition to supporting two accomplished Tormead alumni in a challenging field, the funding would help bring attention to a remarkable female magician, history has since forgotten!!!

Congratulations!!!