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Sheilah Winn (nee Hannah) CBE – Inducted 2016
Friday, 28 October 2016
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Marsden Years: 1928 – 1933 (equivalent to Year 7-12) This posthumous award recognizes Sheilah Winn as a supporter and patron of the arts, through philanthropy and a passion for the theatre. With Celia and Cecil Manson she founded the Katherine Mansfield Fellowship which funds a writer of note to spend time in Menton where Katherine Mansfield had done much of her own writing. Her other interests included the Katherine Mansfield Birthplace, Women’s Writers Association and the Globe Theatre Hangings. However, it is the Sheilah Winn Shakespeare in Schools Festival for which she is best known. The festival began in 1992, with 47 schools and about 750 students involved; in 2016 there were 270 schools and over 6,000 students competing with flair and energy. This festival has achieved Sheilah’s aim – to give young people a springboard to show their talent, and bring new and innovative approaches to Shakespeare. She was generous in supporting individuals and schools. Sheilah said she would have loved to be a performer, but found being a donor and a member of the audience a satisfying substitute for theatrical ambition[i] [i] Evening Post. July 2001 |