Well done to David, this initiative recognises the importance of academic support to our students and seeks to celebrate the work of the University's dedicated network of Senior and Personal Tutors. We will keep our fingers crossed for you!

David Coates has been awarded £2000 impact/ pump-priming money from the Humanities Research Fund for his project exploring the tangible and mythical legacies of the Shelley family in Bournemouth and Boscombe. He has a public-facing event at the Shelley Theatre in Boscombe on 29 February 2020 which includes presentations from Dr Stephen Hebron (curator of the Shelley collection at the Bodleian) and Lord Abinger (the current Shelley title and estate holder). There’ll also be hands-on transcription and research activities, with the day culminating with a staged reading of a play by Percy Florence Shelley, son of Mary and Percy Bysshe Shelley, performed by members of Bournemouth Little Theatre. It’ll be the first time that the play has been heard in over 150 years – and what a treat that it’ll take place in Percy Florence Shelley’s former private theatre, for which the play was originally intended!

Congratulations to Dr David Coates, who has received £1000 from the Public Engagement Fund to run a Heritage Open Day at the Shelley Theatre in Boscombe, Dorset. This venue was originally built as a private theatre in the home of Sir Percy Florence Shelley, the son of Percy Bysshe Shelley, the poet, and the Mary Shelley, the novelist. The event is being run to pump-prime a larger project titled ‘The Legacies and Cultural Heritage of the Shelley family in Dorset’, which he hopes will be supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The Open day will include three expert-led interactive workshops on the Shelley family’s legacies, a rehearsed reading of two manuscript playlets written by Sir Percy Florence Shelley, and an introduction to the proposed two-year project.

Andy Lavender, David Coates and Sarah Penny along with current students Jack Bailey and Caitlin Tracey, and our alumni Alexandra Rutter (founder of Whole Hog Theatre and Resident Director of Nelke Planning, Tokyo) and Emma Martin (freelance Arts Marketing consultant) participated in a Taster Evening at Warwick in London yesterday. This was the first in a series of events in Warwick’s excellent facilities in London to connect with London schools and was a friendly and convivial event.