Peter Kirk Memorial Fund & Travel Scholarship
If ever you visit the UK Office of the European Parliament, you can ask to see the published reports, photographic journals, diaries and from later this year for the first time, DVDs produced by the winners of the Peter Kirk Travel Scholarship. And if you do spend an hour or so browsing these records, you will find something unique and worthy of what the fund set out to do in memory of Peter Kirk.
Sir Peter Kirk MP (1928 – 1977) was a Conservative politician and leader of the first British team in the European Parliament. His commitment to the cause of a unified Europe began early. As a schoolboy during the Second World War, taught by refugees from the Nazis, and afterwards as an undergraduate, he came to believe that only a Europe united by consent, rather than by force, could survive external pressures and dangers.
He was a student at Zurich University in the summer of 1946 and was in the audience to hear Winston Churchill deliver his momentous call for a United States of Europe. When he entered parliament in 1955, the then baby of the House, he was soon appointed to the British delegation to the Council of Europe. His experience and profound knowledge of Europeans and their thinking were key attributes which made him ideal for the role.
He died in April 1977, aged only 48. His many friends agreed that Peter Kirk would want any memorial to his name to help young people towards an understanding of other Europeans and European affairs. The scholarship fund was launched in April 1978. It was set up with donations from people from across the political spectrum including U Thant and Margaret Thatcher. Wisely invested most recently in charitable funds, it continues to yield sufficient resources annually to allow 10 - 12 scholarships to help young people increase their understanding of modern Europe by undertaking an independent study project abroad.
The leaflet advertising the scholarships says:
A chance to do a study project on any aspect of modern European life which interests you,
visiting at least one other country for six weeks to three months.
You should be aged between 18 and 26. Academic qualifications are less important than enthusiasm and your ability to carry through a project on your own.
Applications are sifted and finalists are invited to interview. The competition is open to all Europeans, not just UK nationals.
Current and recent projects are diverse. Examples include:
- The experience of pilgrims following the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain
- Loggerhead turtle conservation in Kefalonia
- The café culture of Italian cities
- The Spanish Healthcare system versus the British NHS
- An exploration of European cabaret culture in the 21st century
- A photographic documentation of Bosnia’s war widows and their struggles with unemployment and poverty
The testaments of past recipients reflect how influential the time spent on these projects and in presenting them in words and pictures, analysing and communicating their experiences is for later life. The 30th anniversary of the Fund in 2008 saw Gilly King, current administrator setting up a Facebook group I travelled in Europe on a Peter Kirk Scholarship and encouraging older alumni to act as mentors for younger alumni.
Talking about what makes a candidate stand out in interview Gilly confirms just how important passion is to securing a scholarship.
Over the years themes and subject matter have changed to reflect political, social and cultural currents. The style of presentation too has developed with changes in technology. The early years produced hand-typed scripts with lots of words. Today there are far more images with photography becoming increasingly popular. Beautiful book-binding makes the individual projects even more of a pleasure to read. The first DVD - on Truffle farming - is due this year.
Reading through two of the recent winners however different they are in their subject matter or the medium chosen for presentation, what comes through most clearly is how the space to think, the opportunity to compare, the possibility of meeting people from other cultures on their home ground are things which begins a process and do not in any way complete it. As you read, you feel the authors expanding, beginning to think in new ways, question and wonder. Some bits of the writing-up of the project, the assembling of the materials and evidence are clearly easier to do than others. It is not surprising to learn that many of the winners since 1978 decided to become photo-journalists, or that a high percentage now live and work abroad.
Girl Friday disappears – the café culture of Italian cities by Ruth Martin, then a school leaver. With tiny brushstrokes in words and ink drawings she conjures up exactly what arriving in a new country is like. She observes the sights, sounds and smells, the casual meetings, the comparisons with home, the particular and the generalisation, the weather in all its Spring moods.
At one stage she hires a bike to ride around the park of the Villa Borghese in Rome and says: “If I were at home, would I take my bike and ride round and round a park for an hour or so? Maybe, maybe not. But being away from home brings a certain freedom. There is no history to one’s existence. “
European Pride versus Communist Nostalgia by Philip James Proudfoot combines extraordinary photography with very lucid and honest political commentary, as he sees it, of modern-day Budapest, Berlin and Paris.
What he captures comes largely through serendipity - being at a certain place at a certain time “– a diary of thoughts, feelings and speculation about people, places and identity. This emerges naturally with a prolonged residence in alien spaces which slowly become home” How do people protest? What are they willing to put up with? How do diverse people from diverse backgrounds relate to one another in the close quarters of a city? How does a city cohere and grow? How do people fit in? How do their experiences of the personal fit with the wider social developments and political changes - easy and unthinking nostalgia compared with something deeper?
His words blend the personal with the historical and the more factual. The photos which have an almost painted look of heightened reality, make you feel as if you are there and yet also somehow create a distance allowing you to stand back and observe.
To find out more:
- www.kirkfund.org.uk
- Facebook group - I travelled in Europe on a Peter Kirk Scholarship