The David Attwooll Memorial Fund consists of two parts: the David Attwooll Award; and the Jam.

The first part is the David Attwooll Award, which is granted annually to enable diverse, young, disadvantaged poets to participate in the Arvon Foundation’s five-day residential poetry courses. As a family we gave one of these courses at Lumb Bank to David for his 60th birthday, and this led to a rekindling of his passion and talent for poetry and the subsequent publication of five critically acclaimed books, the inclusion of many of his poems in national anthologies, and the achievement of multiple poetry prizes.

The Arvon Foundation is a charity that believes creative writing can change lives for the better. They celebrate over fifty years of providing creative writing courses, events, and retreats led by leading authors and highly acclaimed writers. They are committed to making their courses as accessible as possible. The Arvon Foundation administers around 130 grants each year to those on low incomes and 49% of these are granted to people under 35 years old. Anyone is welcome to apply for a grant and everyone who crosses their doors is considered a writer. A fundraising campaign headed by Mark Haddon launched in 2017 listed the David Attwooll Award as a supporter and sought to promote the Arvon Grants Scheme which over the years has helped many many talented writers begin their career as an author.

David was an inspirational cheerleader for young people and those that suffered from inequality. He had a talent for seeing and encouraging potential, and this had a great impact on so many more than he ever knew. We wanted to echo these values in the way the Memorial Fund touches the world.

 The criteria for the David Attwooll Award are: a commitment to writing; a low income background; and <30 years young. The Award is administered and reported on by the Arvon Grants Scheme at the Arvon Foundation. The David Attwooll Award has been running successfully for 5 years now, entering our sixth year in 2022. We plan for this Award to run for 10 years in total.

The second part of the David Attwooll Memorial Fund is called the Jam. The David Attwooll Memorial Fund also supports collaborations between and with poets, writers, musicians, and artists of all description. We recognise that the economic and social impacts of COVID-19 have been particularly devastating for artists. At the fifth anniversary of the launch of the Fund we seek to support, connect, and empower communities of artists to come together and create in new and interesting ways. Grants applications will be considered anonymously by a diverse panel and selected based on clear criteria in 2022.

We have recently received further donations so that the projects above may be extended. Thank you so much to all our amazing donors who made this possible!