Welcome

Luke was enigmatic .  He was also unpretentious.  His idea of creating a bursary for fledgling writers was something he, I feel, knew would have a profound affect enabling people to be drawn together in a supportive way.  Perhaps we did not realise how quickly things would begin to grow.  It feels as if we flung a handful of seeds on to exceptionally furtile ground.   We have quickly learnt that to give creative people an opportunity they seize it, play around with it and explore what they can give in return.   We would like to share more with you about the amazing evening in London.  When we arrived the room where the awards were due to be presented had its windows wide open as it was a hot night.  We feared the roar of the traffic outside would make conversation difficult.   We need not have worried.  The room filled very quickly and the animated conversations between lively, energetic people completely obliterated any sounds of traffic.  The plan was for the judges to weave there way amonst the vibrant crowd and each try and speak to the writers on our short list.  This worked well except nobody could find Andrew Blackman.  Had he arrived, yes his name had been ticked off Lucy's list so where was he?  We decided the time had come to proceed and we just had to trust in the belief that he would appear.  Read more about Andrew and in due course the other writers who received awards on the Memorial Fund page.

 We continue to receive messages of congratulations on the success of our first presentation of this new award and things are happening that we will be sharing with you.   In the next few days we will have the opportunity to confirm the changes we hear that are being made in the attitude to mental health. We willl also share some of the complimentary messages plus offers of creative help that we have received.  Changes are being made in areas where things have stayed stuck for years.  THANK YOU to everyone that is helping make this happen. 

We are proud and excited to announce the winner of the first Luke Bitmead Writers Bursary as Andrew Blackman from North London.  Andrew receives the winners cheque of £2,500 and a contract from Legend Press to publish his novel On The Holloway Road.  None of the judging panel had managed to meet Andrew in the hour before the presentation so it was equally exciting for us to meet our winner, and find him to be such a charming man.

The finalists were announced at the award ceremony in London on the evening of Thursday 24th July in front of a large and excited crowd. The judges were so impressed by the standard of entries, and the determination and hard work in the face of advesity shown by the writers, that additional prizes were awarded to all eleven shortlisted entries: 

READ MORE ABOUT OUR Second prize winner James Higgerson from Manchester for Shot Down -  £500

AND our Third prize: Andrew Kirby from Leeds for When Elephants Walk Through The Gorbals - £400 on the Memorial Fund Page

Runners up prizes of £100 each:

DA Allan - Goodbye Tear

Tom Byam-Cook - It's all in the Title

Elly Clark - as yet un-named!

Josie Henley-Einion

Garan Holcombe - The Act of Union

Dan Jones - Dear Mrs Jones (Letters to and from Blighty)

Chris Lambert  - The English War of Independence

Peter Poole - Fear and Magic

We are so encouraged to receive so many wonderful compliments on the night about Luke's idea to have a writers bursary that we are now making plans for next year! Please continue to support us.

JUDGING PANEL

Elaine Hanson and Tiffany Orton (Luke's mother and sister) would like to say a huge thank you to their fellow judges who put so much time and effort into evaluating all the chapters and personal stories submitted: best selling authors Sam Mills and Zoe Jenny together with Tom Chalmers and Lucy Boguslawski of LEGEND PRESS.

 Further information about the Bursary is available under  the 'Luke Bitmead Memorial Fund' section.

PURCHASES: for those who wish to support the Bursary and help raise funds for next year you can purchase copies of WHITE SUMMER and HEADING SOUTH through direct links to the Legend Press website. Please click on 'Recent Publications' and the links will take you straight through.

GETTING IN TOUCH: please do leave us messages through the 'Email Me' link and we will respond.

 We are so thrilled to say that donations keep coming through - and it gives us a boost each time. Thank you so much. Luke would be amazed and delighted that you are all remembering him and doing something worthwhile in his name. We have started the journey of raising awareness to help prevent future tragedies.


DONATIONS: for those of you who wish to make a donation please send a cheque made out to the 'Luke Bitmead Memorial Fund' and post to Luke Bitmead Memorial Fund, c/o The Hanson Partnership, Brinkworth House, Brinkworth, Swindon,Wilts SN15 5DF

For further information about the Fund please click on 'Luke Bitmead Memorial Fund'.

We will continue to update this website with details of progress on the Luke Bitmead Writer's Bursary and fund raising so do please continue to log on from time to time. We have further works written by Luke. With the valued assistance of Luke's hugely supportive publisher Legend Press, we hope to be able to share these with you in the future.

We miss you Luke, you will never be forgotten.