Georgina Dalton wins £9,000 award to study law

Georgina Dalton with her grandparents David and Margaret Tierney

Georgina Dalton, a 19-year-old student from Heywood, has won a prize worth over £9,000 from The Guinness Partnership housing association to fund her second year law studies at Lancaster University, as part of their Aspire Awards.

She is the first member of her family to go to university, and was inspired to study law to help people in vulnerable situations.

Georgina said: ‘‘This award from The Guinness Partnership will mean that I do not have so much debt to pay back at the end of my course. I will have to complete a further course to qualify so I am really grateful for this support.”

The Guinness Partnership is also helping Georgina to find placements next summer to give her real life experience with lawyers.

Georgina would love to become a barrister, but is keeping her options open through her studies and plans to complete internships next summer to understand what the real life of a lawyer is like and to gain experience. She is particularly interested in health and medical negligence.

Georgina worked part-time through two terms in her first year at Lancaster University, as well as through the summer in Heywood, to save money for her course. She added: “I found it difficult to combine work and study so I saved up as much money as I could over the summer towards my course.”

Georgina, who lives with her grandparents David and Margaret Tierney, in a Guinness home in Heywood, was encouraged by them to apply for the awards and they were delighted when they found out that she had won.

Margaret said: "We are so proud of her, she works hard and she really deserves it."

Georgina’s grandparents have been supportive of her career ambitions, with Margaret taking her to Minshull Street Crown Court to see real cases.

Georgina added: “I am going to university to study law to help vulnerable people so the money will help more people than me in the long term.”

The Aspire Award was given by The Guinness Partnership to the most impressive student application for the ‘Your Degree’ category from its customers.

The ‘Your Degree’ award is available to cover undergraduate university tuition fees for a year and is judged by a panel including Guinness CEO Catriona Simons.

The award is judged on how committed the student is to their chosen degree and what kind of difference it will make to their lives.