CHELTENHAM FESTIVALS

"Support for Cheltenham Festivals from the Summerfield Charitable Trust has had a profound and lasting effect, transforming what we have been able to achieve for culture in Gloucestershire."
DONNA RENNEY, Chief Executive Cheltenham Festivals, 2009

The Summerfield Trust has been a supporter of Cheltenham Festivals for many years and was instrumental in funding the development of their far-reaching education programme, and also the establishment of what is now regarded as one of the world's leading Science Festivals.

CHELTENHAM LITERATURE FESTIVAL: THE SUMMERFIELD LECTURE

We have supported an annual lecture on important spiritual, moral or ethical issues at the Cheltenham Literature Festival since 1994.  Providing audiences with rich topics for discussion and debate, the lectures are given by thought-provoking speakers who are leaders in their field.  Setting the standard in 1994 for all future Summerfield Lectures was Will Hutton talking on his seminal work, "The State We're In". Other Summerfield lecturers include Julia Neuberger, Simon Jenkins, David Jenkins, Stanley Wells, Onora O'Neill, Jeremy Bowen, Andrew Roberts, Chris Patten, Henry Porter, A.C. Grayling, Susan Greenfield and Nicholas Stern.  In 2009 we sponsored an event in which Oleg Gordievsky, the highest ranking KGB officer ever known to defect to the West, discussed his life and career.

The Trustees request that a proportion of our grant to the Literature Festival be used to provide sixth form students in the county with free tickets to the Summerfield events.

CHELTENHAM FESTIVALS - EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

Cheltenham Festivals Education Programme sponsored by The Summerfield Trust

The Summerfield Charitable Trust has a long-standing history of supporting Cheltenham Festivals’ Education work. The Education Department was established with initial funding from the Trust, and has since built a strong reputation for their comprehensive education programme. 

The Trust has supported a range of projects through which the Festivals have inspired communities across Gloucestershire in the arts and science. The Festivals education work now engages around 25,000 children, young people and adults every year with high quality events and free activities.

In 2012 the Trust funded the appointment of an education consultant to review Cheltenham Festivals education provision which has enabled them to set new strategic objectives and to create a long term plan for the future  growth of their work.

CHELTENHAM SCIENCE FESTIVAL

The genesis of the Science Festival was, in fact, in the Summerfield Annual Lectures at the Literature Festival. Two lectures given by leading scientists, Lewis Wolpert and Susan Greenfield, entitled "Is Science Dangerous?" and "The Wiring of our Brains" respectively, became two of the hottest tickets at the Literature Festival. This convinced Jeremy Tyndall, then Head of Festivals, that there was sufficient public interest to take setting up a Science Festival seriously. The Summerfield Trust provided the vital seed-corn funding for the first Festival held in 2002.

The Summerfield Charitable Trust now sponsors a lecture at the annual Festival.  Click here to read Trustee James Millar's review of this year's Summerfield Lecture by Martin Rees.

Trustee James Millar introducing Martin Rees at the 2013 Science Festival Summerfield Lecture.