[F]or the third time in six years a student from Askham Bryan College has taken a national gamekeeping award, beating off stiff competition from across the country. Jack Depledge has been named best student for 2017 by the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation, (NGO) which represents gamekeepers in England and Wales.
Jack, who is 18, took his Extended Diploma Game and Countryside Management course at the college’s Penrith centre, Newton Rigg, where his tutor has described him as a “model student.” The award included the prestigious NGO Frank Jenkins Memorial Trophy, sponsored by Musto.
Curtis Mossop, Senior Lecturer and Course Manager at Newton Rigg College: “Jack has a maturity well beyond his years, and is superb academically and practically. He takes pride in what he does, is trustworthy, dependable and eloquent in explaining to the public the benefits of gamekeeping. I would describe him as a model pupil and am proud that his hard work and dedication have led to this significant award.”
Newton Rigg College has been successfully delivering specialist gamekeeping courses for more than two decades, attracting students from across the UK and beyond. Students benefit from the extensive range of resources including a grouse moor, Purdey award-winning driven partridge shoot, deer management forest as well as rearing and larder facilities and gundog kennels.
Following the award Jack said: “I am not from a keepering family but started beating at about five years old when my Dad joined a small syndicate and led to me becoming a regular beater. I’d always wanted to go to Newton Rigg where the mix of classroom-based study and outdoor experience are perfect, the lecturers are fab and the facilities for gaining an insight into grouse, deer, pheasant and partridge are second to none.”
Tribute was paid to him by Liam Bell, Chairman of the NGO who said: “It is wonderfully reassuring to see that new entrants to our profession are of such a high calibre. It is quite clear that Jack is a special talent, with a great love and aptitude for the job. As such he is a very worthy winner.”
In addition to the trophy, Jack also received a Musto Highland Gore-Tex® Ultra Lite suit of jacket and trousers. They are already coming in useful as he has recently begun work as a trainee keeper on the Glenogil Estate in Perthshire. Jack’s family home is Settle, North Yorkshire.
