Blog

  • Wentworth Woodhouse

    The Radcliffe Trust is very proud to collaborate with The Leche Trust to fund the first Wentworth Woodhouse Heritage Apprentice for his three year training programme.

    Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust

    Wentworth Woodhouse is one of the largest houses in Europe, it is a Grade I listed country house in the village of Wentworth, South Yorkshire. It was built between 1725 and 1750 and is currently owned by Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust, who aim to use the restoration as a catalyst for positive change in South Yorkshire.

    Dan Nicholson secured his apprenticeship in May 2022 and has been amazed at the variety of centuries-old skills which need to be used and preserved. Dan is learning about the huge demands of the entire site from Julie Readman, the Trust’s Facilities and Maintenance Manager, and is gaining additional knowledge alongside heritage tradesmen and contractors who come to work at the house. 

    The in-work heritage skills and apprenticeship scheme was launched with Historic England last year to tackle long-standing shortages in heritage skills such as carpentry, bricklaying and joinery, painting and decorating, plastering, roofing and stonemasonry. Dan’s apprenticeship provides a local young person with the opportunity to begin a career in the heritage sector.

    CEO Sarah McLeod said: “The National Apprenticeship Scheme is a very successful way of bringing young talent into our team. We are very grateful to The Radcliffe Trust and the Leche Trust for granting us funds to train Dan, who is off to a great start as our first Heritage Skills Apprentice.”

    This second apprentice ‘Oliver’ was very successful; and over the course of the three years of the apprenticeship he attended training onsite and online.  The grant supported his salary, training, tools, travel and PPE.

    Oliver has gone through a generic heritage programme, it has firmed his commitment to a career in heritage and has led to him gaining a full time role within the organisation.  Wentworth Woodhouse project lead reported – ‘Oliver is a local young man who was unsure of his future career choices. He is from a low income family and left school with minimal qualifications. He is now employed as the Facilities Lead. This project has taught him how to care for heritage buildings, different techniques in maintaining and restoring historic buildings and most importantly the obligations we all have in protecting historic buildings when we are working in them. He simply could not have secured the role he now has without having gained the knowledge this project has given him.’

    The Radcliffe Trust is delighted that this project was so successful and the Heritage and Craft skills learned along the way will be passed on.

  • Reuben’s Retreat

    Reuben’s Retreat offers a sanctuary, providing emotional and practical support to families who have experienced the loss of a child or have children with complex needs.

    The Radcliffe Trust’s support for Reuben’s Retreat enabled the charity to provide professional music therapy for children with complex needs. ‘Rhythm at Reubens’ offered engaged, structured sessions tailored to the needs of individuals. Sessions cultivated space for children’s self-expression and encouraged emotional and social well-being. Music therapy involved the participation of families and provided them with the opportunity to meaningfully reconnect.

    Our aims were to relieve social isolation for families who often struggle to find activities they can enjoy together due to accessibility or financial barriers. We also hoped to increase emotional wellbeing. We wanted to bring together families walking a similar path, create precious memories at a time when many are facing an uncertain future. – Reuben’s Retreat

    Parents reported that their children slept better after attending sessions. They were also calmer following music therapy and their overall sense of well-being improved. Families also expressed how they enjoyed connecting with other families in similar situations. Music therapy sessions helped reduce social isolation. Families were able to spend time together in accessible environments and appreciated the opportunity to create positive memories.

    Music therapy provides more than entertainment; it offers emotional connection, shared joy, and meaningful family interaction. – Gemma Fletcher, Children and young people’s champion

    Professional music therapy supported by funds from The Radcliffe Trust facilitated high-quality sessions that increased repeat attendance and empowered families to access nurturing, inclusive and fun activities.

  • The National Theatre

    The Radcliffe Trust proudly supports the National Theatre (NT) as it trains apprentices in Scenic Art. Apprentices are learning craft skills from specialist Scenic Artists and gaining a professional qualification while earning a living wage.

    Apprentices Lily Cleaver and Jade Boycott joined the National Theatre’s Scenic Art Team in May 2025, in their backstage workshops on the South Bank. Their course is a mixture of on-the-job learning and development at the NT and week-long training periods at RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art).

    Lily said “Working on the job whilst learning and gaining a qualification has been fantastic and being surrounded by industry professionals, I have learnt so much! Just from working within a workshop environment has improved my skills tremendously, making me a professional and trained future employee. The biggest way my apprenticeship has opened career pathways is the people! You have the opportunity to meet so many lovely people from so many different departments, with an extraordinary range of knowledge. Understanding these individuals’ roles and how each team works together has not only made me even more appreciative of the industry I get to work in, but a more well-rounded employee.”

    Lily Cleaver (apprentice), Gavin Gibson Head of Scenic Art, Jade Boycott (apprentice)

    Jade said “I believe this apprenticeship will be crucial in opening career pathways that would have been much more uncertain without it. My lifelong dream of working at Pinewood Studios now feels far more achievable, thanks to the practical skills, industry knowledge, and professional connections I will gain through this apprenticeship.”

    Across their first year as apprentices, they have developed skills to create a variety of effects for stage sets and scenery. Scenic painting requires working on a huge scale, creating depth and the illusion that a set is lived-in and real. The techniques needed for the set of each production vary, and Lily and Jade have learned skills from poly-carving to portraiture, sign writing and creating faux stained glass and worked on sets from a life-size recreation of a North London terraced house in End to a dilapidated gothic manor for The Authenticator.

    Both apprentices enjoyed painting a 30-metre backdrop for the National Theatre’s Autumn 2025 production of Hamlet. This huge mural was stretched across the entire set of Hamlet’s palace at Elsinore, depicting battle scenes, a manor house and a forest – with the figures of past Hamlets at the National Theatre hidden amongst the figures.

    “The Radcliffe Trust’s support for our Scenic Artist Apprenticeship has enabled this training to take place, supporting routes into craft careers for these amazing young people.”

    – National Theatre

  • ellenor

    ellenor hospice respects patients’ dignity and independence, providing quality care and supporting patients and families to live with life limiting illness at home or in the hospice.


    The Music grant from The Radcliffe Trust was used to fund the delivery of ellenor’s Music Therapy service for children and young people. The service supports children up to the age of 18 in North Kent and the London Borough of Bexley with life-limiting conditions. This includes those at the end of life, and with Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties (PMLD). Also supported are children who have lost or are facing the loss of a sibling or parent. ellenor’s Music Therapist encourages the children to take part in music-making however they are able: using voices, instruments, and movements as a way of connecting with other people, communicating their emotions, and coming to terms with loss.


    Individual sessions use the medium of music to address a goal identified in the referral process. The child or young person is always the focus: “In Music Therapy, the person has to be at the centre of everything.

    Group sessions within the Music Therapy service are beneficial, creating a sense of familiarity and community within a peer group of children who are experiencing similar, difficult circumstances. Since January 2024, a total of 81 Music Therapy sessions were delivered this figure accounts for young people accessing the service from age 4 years to 17.

  • Music Theatre Wales

    With a grant from The Radcliffe Trust, Future Directions in Rhondda Cynon Taff brought together a group of neurodiverse young people to work with music, theatre and film professionals to create a digital opera in their own voices.
    The project began in September 2024 with taster workshops across the community. These offered young people the opportunity to learn more about the project and meet the lead creative facilitators.

    From these workshops, Music Theatre Wales gathered a group of six young creatives, plus a trainee workshop facilitator, all of whom were neurodiverse. The young people worked with a professional team to develop a digital opera.
    Trouble in Treorchy follows the journey of a young man who feels out of place in the modern world and chooses to see life through the eyes of a film-noir detective, Edward Greyson. Over the course of the film, Greyson begins to question the mask he wears before he finally breaks free.
    Feedback from the young people involved in the project demonstrates how they gained technical and creative skills, confidence in the value of their own ideas, and experience of working collaboratively. Participants were proud of their work.
    • “I feel more confident using my creative skills in a group.”
    • “I understand more about how things work, such as the cameras and sound.”
    • “I really enjoyed how we were encouraged to take part in co production, where we could each use our strengths to create the piece while also challenging ourselves to try new things.”
    • “The whole environment was well supported, and we were encouraged to take breaks if we needed to. Everyone was kind and accepting of each other.”
    • “Future Directions gives me the opportunity to work within a setting (music, theatre, opera, film) that isn’t always the most accessible for people with disabilities and neurodivergence.”
    The full digital opera can be viewed here:
    https://musictheatre.wales/trouble-in-treorchy/

  • Longborough Festival Opera

    Founded in 1991 by Martin and Lizzie Graham, Longborough Festival Opera is a family run opera company in the Cotswolds that presents an annual summer festival. It is committed to supporting new talent through an Emerging Artist education programme, which helps performers and other arts professionals pursue their careers.
    Many talented artists struggle to gain the high-profile exposure they need to advance. Longborough Festival Opera’s programme attracts artists from all backgrounds through its open access audition process.
    “Our work with emerging artists is crucial to Longborough’s ethos, building on our experience to provide first-class productions for the benefit of artists and audiences, and to offer essential tiered learning experiences. We have been able to support a very talented group of emerging artists — some performing on a professional stage for the first time, others taking on their first mainstage roles. All were able to develop their craft and careers. None of this would be possible without the generous support of trusts, foundations and individuals.” Longborough Festival Opera

    Longborough Festival Opera’s Emerging Artist production of Dido and Aeneas in 2025 featured Barokksolistene performing the orchestral score from memory. The production, led and conducted by Bjarte Eike — one of the world’s foremost figures in Baroque fiddle playing — was directed by celebrated Norwegian stage director and choreographer Erlend Samnøen.

    This ambitious production showcased 12 of Longborough’s Emerging Artists, who performed all the solo roles, with the Longborough Youth Chorus appearing in major chorus scenes as Queen Dido’s courtiers and as Trojan sailors. As a coda to the performance, after the applause, Barokksolistene led a wake for the Queen of Carthage, involving Emerging Artists, the Youth Chorus and even some audience participation.

    Audiences were overwhelmed:
    • “One of the best nights of my life.”
    • “The music and singing were superb and greatly enjoyed by the whole party.”
    • “Dido & Aeneas was one of the best things we’ve seen since our first visit in 2013.”
    • “This performance was exceptional and so engaging. The production was full of life, the instrumentalists brilliant, and the soloists and chorus outstanding.”

    The 2025 Emerging Artist production of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas will provide mainstage public performance opportunities for artists at the beginning of their careers, alongside members of Longborough’s Youth Chorus, through Longborough Festival Opera’s learning programme.

  • Edward Barnsley Educational Trust

    The Radcliffe Trust are proud to support organisations that preserve and promote traditional craftsmanship. One such organisation is the Edward Barnsley’s Trust, the Edward Barnsley historic Arts and Crafts workshops are a cornerstone of British furniture-making since its founding in 1923.

    With a legacy rooted in excellence and design, the workshop continues to pass on decades of accumulated knowledge to a new generation of aspiring makers.

    Edward Barnsley’s workshop has long been a place of inspiration, welcoming visitors through open days and organised tours. These guests include both craft enthusiasts and future furniture-makers, drawn by the workshop’s reputation for quality and its commitment to training.

    Transforming Lives Through Apprenticeships

    Central to the workshop’s mission is its apprenticeship programme, which has had a transformative impact on the lives of its trainees. Since the establishment of the Edward Barnsley Educational Trust in 1980, sixty-eight individuals have received training — many of whom have gone on to build successful careers in the craft.

    Several now hold positions where they mentor others, continuing the cycle of skill-sharing and craftsmanship.

    Our Grant in Action

    Our most recent grant to the workshop has had a direct and meaningful impact on its current cohort of apprentices. It has enabled the organisation to enhance the experience of four trainees and provided the financial stability needed to confidently recruit new apprentices.

    As a result, two new individuals will begin their journey at the workshop this September.

    Among the current apprentices is Jacob Janoff, who is entering his third year of training. Jacob’s development has been impressive. He began by crafting his first pieces entirely by hand — starting with the traditional octagonal oak breadboard, a project designed to teach precision and tool sharpening.

    Since then, he has produced increasingly complex pieces, including boxes, lamps, stools, a corner cabinet, and a storage stand for a local church. Most recently, Jacob completed a set of library steps for a client’s Manhattan apartment.

    Jacob’s journey reflects the ethos of Edward Barnsley’s workshop: dedication, craftsmanship, and continuous learning. As he prepares for the next step in his career, we are proud to have played a part in supporting his growth.

    Why Our Support Matters

    “The grant to us from the Radcliffe Trust has enabled us to provide life-changing training to aspiring furniture-makers. Without grants we simply could not afford to train apprentices as we do. Our organisation would probably be forced to charge fees to our trainees, thereby making the skills training we offer accessible only to those with some money behind them. We want to provide training that is accessible to anyone, providing they have some natural ability and the determination needed to establish a career making high quality furniture.”
    — Edward Barnsley’s Workshop

    We at The Radcliffe Trust are deeply committed to ensuring that traditional skills remain accessible to all — not just those with financial means. Supporting Edward Barnsley’s workshop aligns perfectly with our mission to foster excellence in the arts and heritage.

    We are honoured to contribute to a programme that not only preserves craftsmanship but also transforms lives.

  • The Fruitmarket Gallery   

    The Fruitmarket Gallery is one of Scotland’s leading contemporary art venues; open seven days a week and completely free to visit. Artists and audiences are enabled to create and experience extraordinary work across art-forms through a diverse, international programme of artistically excellent exhibitions, public commissions, and an annual festival of new music commissions and live performances.

    In 2021, The Fruitmarket Gallery expanded their cultural footprint, launching a new venue for live music in Edinburgh; the Fruitmarket Warehouse. The Fruitmarket Warehouse has transformed the cultural landscape of the city, supporting musicians to develop and present new work, and enabling audiences of 144,000 people to experience extraordinary live work for free.

    Music is a major part of The Fruitmarket Gallery’s annual programme and has garnered a reputation for supporting Scottish musicians early and at mid-career.

    The Radcliffe Trust grant in 2024 was used to support the commission and performance fees across the 2024 edition of Deep Time, The Fruitmarket’s pioneering Festival of New Music, which took place across four nights in November 2024.  With the Trust’s support, four new works were commissioned by radical, experimental music composers and musicians at crucial stages in their career. The commissioned artists all benefitted from the opportunity to respond to a rich theme, exploring the continuing relevance and legacy of John Cage and Jean-Michel Basquiat’s experimentation in music, composition and art, acting as a vehicle for them to research, develop and produce new work.  The grant enabled artists to present and develop their work for Scottish audiences for the first time.  It also extended the reach and the legacy of each artist’s practice with recordings of the newly commissioned works and performances at the Barbican in April 2025.

  • Whitchurch Silk Mill – George Washington

    Whitchurch Silk Mill has been open as a living museum since 1990, under the management of Whitchurch Silk Mill Trust, to ensure the survival of silk weaving using traditional machinery and methods. The mill’s collections span over 200 years and about 5,000 objects and tell the story of 200 years of silk making in Whitchurch.

    The Radcliffe Trust gave a grant to Whitchurch Silk Mill for their Heritage Weaving Program which offers a 12-month post to a graduate in textiles. Whitchurch Silk Mill aims to address the national critical craft skill shortage and provide other transferable skills to support the wider Heritage Sector.

    At the moment, the silk mill is reweaving historic threads for a jacket worn by George Washington.

    Historic Threads Rewoven: English Mill to replicate George Washington’s silk for The Morristown National Historical Park

    Whitchurch Silk Mill in Hampshire, England, is stepping back in time, more than two centuries to be exact, and is weaving the silk worn by George Washington to his first inaugural ball in 1789. The Georgian mill has been commissioned to weave an authentic replica of the original fabric as part of a remarkable project led by bespoke tailor and Associate Collections Specialist in the Ratti Textile Centre at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Philip De Paola.

    Philip De Paola with George Washington’s original suit

    De Paola, who recently finished his master’s thesis at The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, aims to create a faithful reproduction of Washington’s silk suit. The finished suit will eventually be displayed at The Morristown National Historical Park in New Jersey, the institution that holds the original.

    The original suit, once destined to go on display for the United States’ 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026, has been deemed too fragile and discoloured to exhibit. Instead, the replica will take centre stage, allowing visitors to connect with a pivotal moment in American history through a meticulously recreated symbol of leadership and legacy.

    To ensure accuracy, the original suit was studied in exceptional detail, documenting measurements, weaving structures and materials used. An exact pattern was created, and the original colour of the silk was determined by analysing unfaded sections of the garment and testing fibre samples for dye content at the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute.

    Using this information and photographs of the original fabric fragments magnified, Whitchurch Silk Mill will replicate both the weave and the distinctive colour of the original fabric. Once complete, the silk will be transformed into a completely hand-sewn recreation of Washington’s historic suit, offering museum visitors a vivid and tangible link to the founding of the United States. Thanks to the Victorian machinery still in operation today, the mill can authentically recreate historic fabric characteristics, like the signature striped selvedge; a detail a mill with modern machinery can rarely replicate.

    George Washington’s signature striped selvedge

    With a rich history of weaving for iconic brands, blockbuster films, and a recent collaboration with Jane Austen’s House, Whitchurch Silk Mill is the perfect setting for a project steeped in historical fashion and textile conservation.

  • The Shakespeare Globe

    The Radcliffe Trust awarded The Shakespeare Globe Trust a grant to support developing skills in stage craft directing.

    The photograph above is from the production of Three Sisters by Anton Chekov

    The grant was spent on funding an early career Assistant Director for a production of Chekov’s “Three Sisters”. Shakespeare’s Globe was delighted to be able to work with an early career Assistant Director on this production. As well as benefitting their professional development, this also enabled them to approach the play differently, which was useful as it provided a departure from some of their usual work. The Shakespeare Globe Trust hopes to be able to provide similar opportunities to more early career Assistant Directors on future productions.

    The Assistant Director for the production of “Three Sisters”, was Shiv Rabheru. The grant enabled Shiv to be able to work with the creative team and the cast for three weeks from 16 December 2024 – 17 January 2025 in rehearsal, working alongside director Rory Mullarkey. Shiv’s own account of the experience is below:

    “Being an assistant director at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre was a very inspiring experience and wouldn’t have been possible without The Radcliffe Trust. To support directors at this stage in their careers allows for invaluable creative development and growth. I have found myself even more sure of how I want to work as an artist and will take the tools and processes learnt from working with the Globe into my own practice. Thank you.”

    Shakespeare’s Globe reported that without the grant support from The Radcliffe Trust they would have been unable to provide this role.  The grant made a significant difference to their ambition of introducing more opportunities for early career creatives.