Endowed in 1913 by Miss Alice Margaret Dalrymple Prendergast in memory of her Brother Arthur, who had been an Honorary Freeman of the Company. The Prendergast Apprenticeship Fund was originally set up to obtain apprenticeships for Choir Boys of the Parish Churches of the City of London. It was set up at a difficult time as there were limited apprenticeship opportunities during the War years that followed and fully paid work in munitions factories was financially favoured by the boys at this time. Only one recipient is noted during the early years as having been awarded the proposed assistance, Richard John Tarrant in 1918.

Consequently, the fund was invested and effectively left to one side in the expectation that once it had grown sufficiently, it could be put more efficiently to its intended purpose. It was felt the fund had achieved a sufficient size just before the Second World War, but again it was put on hold due to situation and of course after the War there were very few Choir Boys available.

In a meeting on 18th April 1950 the Court decided that the fund would be renamed and used to provide an annual sum for the assistance of a student at the Royal Academy of Music (click the images right to see an extract from the Court Minutes, which refer). The fund is now used to assists with the fees of short training courses for choristers at the Royal School of Church Music.

 

Past Winners:

1951/2 - Rita Wingrave

1953 - Thomas Rolston

1954 - Peter Sermon

1955 - Judith G Fraser

1956 - Rodney McLeod

1957 - Jeffrey Taylor

1958 - Judith Louis

1959 - Laurence Neely

1960 - Marjorie Biggar

1961 - Shelley Gunning

1962 - Martin Ronchetti

1963 - Sheila Armstrong

1964 - Andrew Wickens

1965 - Gene West

1966 - Peter Wonall

1967 - Yen Chin Soh

1968 - Joy Roberts

1969 - Gareth Roberts

1970 - Robert Secret

1971 - Elizabeth Edwards

1972 - John Blakley

1973 - Award not minuted

1974 - Rosemary Furness

1975 - David Curtis

1976 - Sara Monsley

1977 - Anne Mason

1978 - Christine Taylor

1979 - Award not minuted

1980 - Christine Gott

1981 - Chinere Nwanoku

1982 - Philip Ball

1983 - Nicholas Bloomfield

1984 - Nicola Holland

1985 - Robert Max

1986 - Catherine Chanot

1987 - Sian Bell

1988 - Paul Brunner

1989 - James Horan

1990 - Matthew Trusler

1991 - Paul Kellett

1992 - Esther Geldard

1993 - Adrian Bending

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