Joseph Tennant memorial award presented to Stourbridge student musician
A young musician is the first person to receive an award from Stourbridge College set up in memory of a former student. Liam Cook was presented with the Joseph Tennant Award for outstanding achievement.
The award recognised Liam’s exceptional progress on his music performance course. The 18-year-old guitarist has learned to play a variety of popular music with others and has grown in confidence as a performer.
“Liam was the ideal person for the award,” said Gill Coldicott, Head of Stourbridge College. “He’s been completely dedicated to his studies and used his love and appreciation of all kinds of music to fully develop as an artist.”
Joe (Joseph) Tennant studied music performance at Stourbridge College. In November 2015, four months after completing his course, he was killed in a car accident in Bristol.
“The College were truly saddened to hear of Joe’s passing,” Gill Coldicott continued. “His parents reached out to us and explained that family and friends had raised money for a memorial to keep Joe’s legacy alive. Naturally the college wanted to get behind this.
“Music was a big part of Joe’s life and it seemed fitting for us to pay tribute to him in this way. The award will be presented to one of our students every year as a way of inspiring others and supporting them with their career ambitions.”
Claire Tennant, Joe’s mother, added: “We wanted to celebrate Joe’s life and find some way of showing how outgoing and passionate he was about music, both recording and performing it. He had just started studying music at the BIMM Institute in Bristol. His dream was to make it as a producer of electronic music and DJ around the world.
“Hopefully everyone that hears about the award will be encouraged to work hard towards following their dreams and to enjoy everything they do.
“Congratulations to Liam for being the first person to be given the award.”
Liam from Dudley finishes his course in July and plans to continue his studies at university.
“I’ve always wanted a career in music,” he said. “I’ve been playing guitar since I was nine.”
He continued: “It’s a huge honour to win this award. I’ve absolutely loved college. I’ve made lifelong friends and couldn’t have asked for better teachers to help me achieve.”
Liam was presented with the award and a £100 music shop voucher at a ceremony held at The Copthorne Hotel in Merry Hill. The Regulars, the band Joe Tennant played drums with, performed at the event.
33 Stourbridge College students were also presented with awards for academic achievement and personal progress.