Growing up, who were your heroes? Chances are they were sportsmen or women, actors or musicians.
You probably had posters of them on your walls, watched every event or film in which they took part, or bought all of their records.
Young people need role models to look up to and provide inspiration.
The problem these days though is that to reach the peak of your profession in sport, the creative or performing arts, you also need to have lots of funding as well as lots of talent.
Not everybody has a wealthy family who can give them this financial commitment, so this is where charitie
Growing up, who were your heroes? Chances are they were sportsmen or women, actors or musicians.
You probably had posters of them on your walls, watched every event or film in which they took part, or bought all of their records.
Young people need role models to look up to and provide inspiration.
The problem these days though is that to reach the peak of your profession in sport, the creative or performing arts, you also need to have lots of funding as well as lots of talent.
Not everybody has a wealthy family who can give them this financial commitment, so this is where charities can assist youngsters from all backgrounds fulfil their dreams.
Northamptonshire-based The Travers Foundation assists young people aged between 13 and 30 living in the county, Rutland and Leicestershire by helping them with funding in sports, the creative and performing arts.
They have been supporting top British hurdler Lucy Hatton, who currently receives no other external funding.
Lucy, aged 20 and from Corby, trains at Loughborough and won a silver medal at the European Indoor Championships in Prague, achieving three personal bests. She is currently ranked 2nd in the UK, 5th in Europe and 6th in the world for senior 60m hurdles.
Her financial support from The Travers Foundation has been vital. Lucy explains:
“I’ve got big plans for 2015, but I find that travel is my biggest expenditure particularly when I go to Europe to compete.
“Another major cost is treatments such as massage therapy. It’s fantastic that The Travers Foundation can help me with these costs. This frees up my time to concentrate on important things like my performance on the track.”
For further information on the work of the Travers Foundation please visit www.travers-foundation.org.uk