William Salesbury Scholarship awarded to School of Welsh student

For the second year running, a School of Welsh joint honours student has been awarded a prestigious William Salesbury Scholarship.

Heledd Ainsworth, a Law and Welsh (LLB) student originally from Llandysul, Ceredigion will receive the 2018 scholarship from the National William Salesbury Fund (Cronfa Genedlaethol William Salesbury). The fund awards two scholarships worth £5,000 to Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol students each year with the purpose of promoting and supporting Welsh-medium Higher Education. Heledd follows in the footsteps of last year’s winner Nest Jenkins.

The Scholarships are named in honour of William Salesbury (c.1507 – c.1584), a noted scholar and the chief translator, in 1567, of the first New Testament into Welsh.

The Fund was established to give Welsh-medium Higher Education advocates the opportunity to contribute financially and support students who are studying 100% of their degree programme in Welsh, sponsored by the Coleg.

Heledd said of her achievement, “I am delighted to receive this coveted accolade. It recognises the importance of Welsh medium study to help provide a more bilingual legal and judiciary process. The scholarship will support and enhance my studies and further explore the use of minority languages within the legal system in other European countries.”

Although Heledd is in her first year at university she is already thinking ahead to the future and hopes that her degree will equip her with bilingual legal competence which will open doors to many areas within government, politics, local authorities, education and business. Whichever career she eventually chooses, Heledd’s intention is to remain in Wales.

Dr Dylan Foster Evans, Head of the School of Welsh said: “Our range of joint honours programmes provide students with the opportunity to combine the study of Welsh with another humanities subject. They leave with a thorough knowledge of Welsh language, policy and culture. They are able to employ their skills in the professional workplace, contributing to the future growth and penetration of the language in a variety of different sectors.

“The Law and Welsh programme is particularly popular and ensures Welsh-language users of legal services will be able to interact and converse in their mother tongue.”

Dr Gwenllian Lansdown Davies, Chair of the William Salesbury Trust said: “We are extremely proud of being able to support students studying law. Ensuring that talented students, like Heledd and Nest, receive support to study and develop in a bilingual legal system is an essential part of the fund’s work.”