Bike ride funds

23 March 2015

In 2014 a team of Hertford cyclists powered their way from Hertford’s Bridge of Sighs to its Venetian namesake in the Bridge to Bridge bike ride, raising £344,000 to boost student access to Oxford.

All monies raised were channelled into a special fund for student support. Here’s what we’re doing with it:

• Bursaries – £50,000 has gone into our bursaries fund, which will support 50 students this academic year
• Hardship grants – we’ve doubled the funds available for hardship grants, to support students who find themselves unexpectedly in financial difficulty for reasons beyond their control
• Scholarships – in conjunction with investment from the college, and taking advantage of matched funding, we’re now able to offer 12 extra scholarships over the next two years to support further study
• Outreach – we’ve doubled the funds available for outreach activities, meaning we can now reach more students by arranging additional outreach trips to schools, particularly those in our assigned areas of Essex, Kent and the London borough of Camden. We’re also able to hold more ‘taster days’ for gifted pupils to visit Oxford and host a special STEM day: we’ll be holding a special day in June 2015 for female students interested in studying and working in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths

Thank you to everyone who supported us along the way; it was truly a team effort and your encouragement made all the difference.

We continue working to support student access, and will be holding another bike ride on 10-12 July from Morecambe to Robin Hood Bay to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Tanner initative that paved the way for the college’s commitment to fairness and opportunity.