'Chance of a lifetime' (From Witney Gazette)

'Chance of a lifetime'

2:18pm Thursday 23rd August 2007 in Witney By David Horne

FORMER Oxford High schoolgirl Harriet Brown, pictured, has had 'the chance of a lifetime' to study theatre across Europe.

The 24-year-old, from Shipton Road, Woodstock, spent seven weeks on a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship in Luxembourg, Germany, and France.

"I've seen a huge variety of projects for young people working with target groups. Most impressive were the sensitive social issues which the youth groups presented on stage," said Harriet.

She is back home for a short while, before returning to Germany to teach English.

She was awarded the fellowship, set up in memory of the former Prime Minister to help a wide variety of people pursue their passion or interests in overseas countries.

About 100 are given annually on the basis of the chance of a lifetime, particularly for people under 25.

Harriet, who still remembers her shortlist interview with Oxford running hero Sir Roger Bannister on the panel, started her interest in theatre at York University, and developed it while working as a volunteer teacher on an HIV/Aids project with young orphans in South Africa.

"About one in four of children in the township were orphans, and I found the most effective lessons were those using drama. It really helped the children," she said.

During her fellowship, she visited theatre projects which, she says, naturally extended her theatre interest.

They included a youth scheme for disabled young people, bringing together 60 people from five European countries to produce and perform a musical within just ten days.

And in Metz, eastern France, she worked with the Compagnie du chat Pitre on a drama of children's emotional growth after their parents' separation.

Harriet, who started school at Woodstock Primary, added: "The Churchill fellowship has given me a broader outlook to theatre, which I will be able to use in my future career."

The Memorial Trust has also supported a dry-stone waller to visit Norway and India, and a blind man to develop his skills as a disabled water skier with training in Australia and the USA, and become world champion.

Further details can be found on the trust's website www.wcmt.org.uk