Legacy of 7/7 Bombings victim lives on in scholarship fund

Two school pupils from Dumfries and Galloway have received financial awards to help them with their university costs as recipients of the Helen Jones Scholarship Fund.

Two school pupils from Dumfries and Galloway have received financial awards to help them with their university costs as recipients of the Helen Jones Scholarship Fund.

Josephine Chan from Annan Academy and Thomas Barr from Moffat Academy have been awarded a grant of £1,200 a year, for each year of their university courses.

The scholarship commemorates Helen Jones, a Chartered Accountant whose life and career was cut tragically short in the London bombings in July 2005.  Helen was aged just 28.

In her memory Helen’s parents, with support from family and friends and ICAS, established the Helen Jones Appeal Fund in 2005, in order to support an annual scholarship in her name.

The Fund is administered by SATER, The Scottish Accountancy Trust for Education and Research, and assisted by ICAS.

Helen was educated at Lockerbie Academy before going to the University of Aberdeen to study divinity.   After university, Helen decided that she would like to work in another field before entering the ministry and she qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Glasgow.   Afterwards Helen moved to London, working with KPMG and then in the City with Phoenix Equity Partners.

Josephine and Thomas both 18 years-old are the 7th and 8th beneficiaries of the fund since it began.  The first winner Emma Halliday achieved an MA with honours in accounting and finance.  She is currently working with RSM Tenon and studying for her Chartered Accountant qualification.

Neil Menzies, a Trustee of SATER, explained that this year they decided to have two winners instead of one because “the calibre of entrants was so high”.

Thomas, whose motto is “Aim high”, will begin his degree in Accountancy at Dundee University this year with a view to working in investment management.  He impressed ICAS and SATER with his interest and passion towards “ethics” and “risk”.

Josephine is going to the University of Strathclyde to study Maths, Statistics and Accountancy.  Upon accepting her award she said “I know to achieve things in life you have to show dedication and hard work”.

Both said the scholarship would “greatly help towards the costs of studying and enable them to focus their energy on their studies”.

ICAS President Sir David Tweedie, who was in London on the day of the bombings, said at the award ceremony that the fund is “very personal” to him.  He was saddened that “Helen’s full ambition was unfulfilled but encouraged that her legacy allowed others to fulfil their potential.”

Liz Staffell, Helen Jones’ mother, said that Josephine and Thomas “embody the spirit and ambition of Helen.”  Liz and her husband David Gould keep in touch with all the previous winners of the Helen Jones Scholarship Fund and are “delighted with the success that their hard work is bringing”.