A local group has issued its annual bursary to students from the area to assist them with their new studies at university.

The Abergavenny Local History Society presents an annual bursary of £250 to a student from Abergavenny or the surrounding villages who is going on to read history at University. The group was so impressed with the quality of applications that this year that the Society awarded two bursaries. The deserving recipients are Mair Davies of King Henry VIII 3-19 School and Tabitha Myatt of Crickhowell High School. Mair will be going on to read history at Bristol University, while Tabitha will read history and English at the University of Southampton.

While at school, both students were members of the Holocaust Educational Trust's ambassador programme which entailed visiting the concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Tabitha is especially intrigued by the inter-relationships between history, literature and politics and Mair has a particular interest in the Catholic recusant history of Abergavenny. Both recipients submitted outstanding applications and the Society wishes them well at their chosen universities.

Membership to Abergavenny Local History Society remains open and costs £20 per year, but students and children can join the group for free and its newest book of children’s stories, ‘Abergavenny Tales and Trails’, is now available to purchase from abergavennylocalhistorysociety.org.uk.

The monthly YoungALHS page is also out, and this month features ‘Abergavenny’s Town Wall’.

The journey of the local history society began in the 1950s when a small group joined forces to save the crumbling Castle House, which was built in the early 1800s on the keep in Abergavenny Castle. A museum was established there in 1959 and remains there to this day. The Friends of the Museum missed the activity that came with running the museum when it was taken over by Abergavenny Council, so they suggested the first meeting of the Abergavenny Local History Society in 1977.

To learn more about the Abergavenny Local History Society and how to apply for the bursary for next year, head to their website.