60 Stories for 60 Years: The Haberdashers Company (Partner)

We are grateful to The Haberdashers’ Company, long-standing supporters of The Smallpeice Trust and champions of STEM education through their sponsorship of Arkwright Scholarships. Reflecting on more than 25 years of partnership, they share the impact of supporting talented young people with a passion for engineering, innovation, and making a difference in their communities. Here’s their story.

What inspired your organisation to support The Smallpeice Trust and STEM education? 

Of course, the Haberdashers’ Company has been focused on education and charity for centuries, but our support of Smallpeice, via sponsoring Arkwright Scholarships, has been going on for around 25 years. Smallpeice provides the perfect opportunity for us to offer additional enrichment support to young people who are particularly gifted in the STEM space. We love seeing how talented our Scholars are on the academic side, but also in their breadth of outlook and desire to make a change in the world through STEM. 

What impact have you seen from your partnership with us – on your people, your organisation, or the wider community? 

A key characteristic of our Scholars is they all find a way of giving back to their communities. During the pandemic, several were making masks for local medical staff. Others volunteer to be mentors and/or tutors for younger pupils. Many go very far with Duke of Edinburgh awards. All are conscious of their role in society and the importance of passing on their skills and talents. It has helped raise the profile of engineering and STEM within the Company, and we are very pleased that several Scholars go on to be members of the Haberdashers’ Company too. 

What’s been the most rewarding or memorable moment of our collaboration so far? 

Keeping in touch with our Scholars has been an important thread for many years, and Era Shah – The Smallpeice Trust’s newest Trustee – is just one of our super-talented alumni. Seeing our current and former Scholars every year at a reception for them, is a great display of the continuity of our support and the hallmark of quality that an Arkwright Scholarship verifies. 

We are so grateful to The Haberdashers’ Company for their ongoing support and look forward to working with them in future years to build a better, brighter future for our young STEM enthusiasts. 

Inspired by this story? Now read ours.