ETA 2021 - Winners Put Funds to Good Use

Musician and singer Paige Reynolds, Class of 2012, used her grant to help part-fund the post-production on her second album, which is called Goodbye, Then!.  It’s released at the end of November.

Paige, who works under the name of Paige Bea, has just quit her full-time job as a journalist to concentrate on her musical career.  She says: “This EP is really important to me as an artist - it’s my dreaded “second album” moment - where I’ve had my fun with my debut and I’ve now got to follow it up.”

She has already had some great reviews for the first two tracks to be released and is working hard on promoting the album.  She says: “I’m super thankful that LEH - a school where I have so many fond musical memories - could support me in doing this.”

You can get a sneak peak of the EP on Paige's Spotify page here and you can get tickets to her latest gig on Thursday November 10th at The Lexington here. 

Client Portfolio Manager Meena Santhosh put her ETA towards creating a new Junior Chess Club for under-18s across Surrey.  She says: “The Emerging Alumnae award has been instrumental in setting up our Chess club for success. We managed to fund our chess equipment and venue for the initial months which meant we had the bandwidth to offer free membership.”

The Club has already enjoyed great success in competitions and has recently taken on two more coaches to help. Meena hopes to host a Junior Chess Tournament at LEH later this year.  She adds: “I am immensely thankful for LEH, for providing the support we needed to achieve this but for advocating the benefits of chess at the school itself, laying down the foundation for the girls to be successful in their futures.”

Cellist and composer Joy Lisney used her ETA to help add a new string to her bow by purchasing specialist software to help her compose for the screen for the first time.  She says: “I will never leave pen and paper behind entirely, but now I am able to synthesise new sounds using Logic Pro on a powerful desktop computer, as well as prepare my scores for printing at a professional level - concert hall ready!”

She is already producing music online for e-cards by Jacquie Lawson and hopes to move into the film and television industry soon.  The premiere of her latest piece, Petrichor, which will take place at the Wigmore Hall on 9th January and also be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.

To read the full reports from our ETA 2021 recipients, please click here.