The Spencer Family Choral Fellowship was launched in November 2021. It will assist first year students of Kingston College who have an interest in becoming choristers in addition to supporting the choir’s operating budget.
The choristers selected for the fellowship will be known as Spencer Family Choral Fellows. Each recipient will receive an annual amount valued at 25% of the tuition for their first two years.
Four incoming freshmen and two senior classmen will be the recipients for the 2022 fall academic school year.
A total of eighteen fellowships will be available over the three-year period.
In the 2023 school year six fellowships will be available in addition to the six from 2022. Each fellowship will be good for two years.
In the year 2024, a total of 18 fellowships will be available for our incoming class of students.
In addition to the fellowships, the majority of the allocated funds (70%) will be used for the choir’s operating expenses.
The family hopes that the fellowships will impact the sustainability of the choir, since the pandemic has caused a disruption in recruitment of trebles.
In 2019, there were approximately forty plus members of the choir including sixteen trebles. At the beginning of 2022, the number of trebles available for activities is two and at most four. Therefore, there is a significant depletion of available trebles, and if there is not an improvement and increase in members of the treble ranks the KC Choir maybe struggling to be an integral part of the Jamaican community and Kingston College.
Noel Spencer has begun to reach out to former members of the Choir for help in this important initiative. Noel said; “My family immediately agreed that this is something our parents would easily support”.
The fellowship has received full funding for the 2022, 2023, and 2024 academic years.
At the conclusion of the second year, the fellowship will be evaluated.
Egbert Spencer passed away on August 22nd, 2021 and Gwen Spencer predeceased her husband on August 20th, 2015. Both are the parents of KC old boy the Hon. Noel Spencer.
The Spencer’s appreciated the performances of the Kingston College Chapel Choir. During the Christmas Concert season, these retired civil servants would venture to the University of the West Indies Chapel to be entertained by the KCCC.
Mr. & Mrs. Spencer’s wish was to leave part of the cash assets in their estate to the KC Choir.
The surviving members of the family include: Dr. Althea Miller-Spencer (daughter), Commissioner Wayne Spencer (son), Dr. Patricia Miller-Spencer (wife of Hon. Noel Spencer), Nellie Spencer-Ebanks (sister), Phillipa Spencer-Jagla (granddaughter), and Leighton Spencer (grandson).
The benefits for students participating in the fellowship include teamwork, music management as career paths, seminars with old boys who have been successful in different aspects of the music world and the entrepreneurial businesses, plus finance and budgeting.