Liz Balmford Sing Speak Be Award
The Liz Balmford Sing Speak Be Award was introduced in 2024 in memory of Liz Balmford following generous donations to HYF by her family & friends. We are offering a bursary to a school each year to use for a workshop, masterclass or training session. Liz herself was an amazing performer and encouraged young singers and performers to develop their skills so we think this is a fitting way to pay tribute.
Liz’s mum, Mary Dickinson, shared the following with us showing how passionate Liz was about performing, theatre and helping people to be their best.
Liz presented a student concert once a year to encourage her students to perform. She always explained her reasons for this on the programme. A couple of paragraphs from this I quote below.
"I am passionate about quality theatre. I believe it can be magical, moving, inspiring and life enhancing for performers and audiences....and I am on a one-woman mission to transform performers into their best version of themselves to achieve this.
I also work as a life coach, helping people unlock their potential and help them create the life of their dreams. I started working with performers and have now seen fantastic results from people from all walks of life."
Last year, the first bursary was awarded to Valley Road School where Liz was once a pupil. The school choir have been enthusiastic and committed participants in HYF and we felt were very deserving of the bursary. Following a consultation with the school, musician and animateur Joe Cummings spent a day at the school running a workshop for the choir and their leader and also delivered singing workshops for the whole school. The day culminated in a sharing assembly when the children performed what they had learnt. The day was a huge success with lots of positive feedback from teachers and pupils!
After last year’s successful workshops, Joe Cummings will be returning to work with Peppard Primary School for the day to deliver further singing activities.
If you are interested in finding out more about the Sing Speak Be award for your school please contact hyfinfo@gmail.com