THE STORY OF
THE CHRIS HORNBY
BURSARY
Chris Hornby's story began far from the bright lights of the West End, in a loving working-class family in Southport. Money was tight, but Chris grew up happy, supported by a family who gave him everything they could - just not the kind of money it takes to break into the performing arts, where the training, the fees, and the years of unpaid graft can put a career out of reach before it's even begun.
But Chris was awarded a bursary to study at ArtsEd (The Arts Educational School) in Chiswick, one of the UK's top performing arts schools, and that single chance changed everything. Without it, he would never have received the training that launched his career - and the West End would have lost one of its own before it ever had the chance to find him.
What followed was a remarkable journey from that hard start to real success. Chris worked his way up through the industry as a choreographer, dance captain and actor, before going on to become a director - ultimately serving as Resident Director for Disney's The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre, having previously held the same role for Cameron Mackintosh's production of Oliver! at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
It was while working on Me and My Girl that Chris met Tim English - the man who would become his husband and life partner, and who stood beside him from that moment until the very end. Alongside his career, Chris became known and loved throughout the industry not just for his talent, but for the generosity he showed to others, pouring himself into nurturing the young, upcoming performers coming up behind him, just as someone had once done for him.
Chris was fit and healthy, a marathon runner in the prime of his career, when he died suddenly and unexpectedly in 2014, at the age of just 43.
It was a devastating, shattering loss - to Tim, to his family and friends, and to an industry that adored him - one that came without warning, cutting short a life that still had so much more to give.
Out of that loss, Tim made a choice: to turn grief into something lasting. The Chris Hornby Bursary Fund exists because of Tim's determination to keep Chris's memory alive, and it is Tim - alongside the countless friends, colleagues and loved ones whose lives Chris touched - who remains the driving force behind the impact the fund makes today.
Set up in Chris's memory, the fund offers a bursary at ArtsEd - the same school, the same kind of life-changing opportunity, that gave Chris his start. It's an opportunity that matters more than ever: working-class representation in the UK's creative industries has been in steady decline for decades, and bursaries like this one are often the only route in for a talented young performer without the means to pay their own way.
Because Chris knew first-hand what that chance meant, we're giving it to someone else. Every scholar the fund supports - currently six young performers training at ArtsEd - carries a piece of his story forward: a working-class boy from Southport who got his chance, and spent the rest of his life making sure others could get theirs too.