News, events and schools' information for families across Bath and West Wiltshire

Students from Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Bristol and Berkshire are being invited to apply for the Cotswold Airport Aviation Scholarship to help the successful applicant embark on a career in aviation.

The scholarship is available to applicants who must be 14 to 18 years of age on 6th August 2018. Twenty successful applicants will be invited to the interview stage of the application process on Saturday 21st April. Following the interviews, the 10 final scholars will be selected for the programme, which runs from Monday 6th to Friday 17th August (weekdays only).

Applications can be submitted online at www.cotswoldairport.com.

This unique industry scholarship programme has changed the lives of many young people over its ten-year history, seeing scholars embarking on fantastic careers in the world of aviation, from engineering to commercial flying. The programme was founded by Cotswold Airport owner, Ronan Harvey, an ex-RAF engineer, aviation expert and successful entrepreneur, who wanted to open up the broad and exciting world of aviation career opportunities to young people from the local area.

The scholarship programme has been significantly enhanced, with the generous addition of a sponsorship package from Gulf Aviation. 2018 marks the second consecutive year that Gulf Aviation has supported this initiative, enabling the organisers to include additional aviation industry site visits such as Bristol International Airport; an increased number of loggable flying hours; and drone tuition with on-site UAV Academy.

2018 marks the eleventh year of the Cotswold Airport Aviation Scholarship and has resonance and importance given 2018 also marks the 100th year of the founding of the RAF and the centenary of the end of WWI. In celebration of these two historic anniversaries, the best performer of next year’s scholarship will be fully trained for their PPL (Private Pilot’s Licence) at Cotswold Airport, funded by the scholarship programme.

Suzannah Harvey, CEO of Cotswold Airport, said, “We are thrilled to be running our Aviation Scholarship programme in what is going to be a very special and significant year in the history of aviation and the military. The generous sponsorship from Gulf Aviation will make it possible to continue to enhance the programme for all of the youngsters who take part. I would encourage any young person with an interest in a career in aviation to apply for a place; not only is it a fantastic experience but it really helps the students take their first steps towards what can be a very rewarding career in aviation, whilst allowing them to build contacts and make new friends at the same time.”

The Cotswold Airport Aviation Scholarship programme runs over two weeks and is packed with informative and educational site visits to companies such as Rolls Royce and RAF Cosford; and flying in fixed wing, aerobatic and jet aircraft, gliding and helicopters. An opportunity not to be missed out on…!

www.cotswoldairport.com