Honouring a local Community Champion:

The Duke of Edinburgh presents the first ‘Prince Philip Award’ to James Manwaring, Director of Music at The Windsor Boys School

Monday 18 November:  HRH Prince Edward, The Duke of Edinburgh presented the inaugural ‘Prince Philip Award’ to Mr James Manwaring at Cumberland Lodge in Windsor Great Park.

The Prince Philip Award was created by The Prince Philip Trust Fund to recognise an individual within the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead who has gone above and beyond their paid or voluntary role in helping others.  In addition, the Award was conceived as a way to honour the legacy of the late Prince Philip who served for 40 years as Chairman and Founder of the Prince Philip Trust Fund, which since 1977 has given over  £2.5m to thousands of local projects, charities and good causes.

The Prince Philip Award will be presented every two years and recipients are shortlisted and chosen by the Trustees of the Prince Philip Trust Fund.

James Manwaring is the Head of Music at The Windsor Boys’ School and Director of Music for the Windsor Learning Partnership, working across six local schools overall.  He runs and directs a community choir for adults and has worked as Musical Director on countless shows and performances from Carmen, Les Miserables, Guys & Dolls, Singin’ in the Rain & Beauty & The Beast to name a few.  James played a pivotal role in the local schools programme for the late Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in Windsor.  He had the vision, idea and enthusiasm to create the special song to mark the event called ‘The Long Walk’ (written by Emily Barden) which was performed by 300 school children on the Long Walk on Friday 27 May 2022.  He was an active committee member for the Jubilee celebrations and devised a full week of Jubilee activities to be enjoyed in schools across Windsor.

Chris Aitken, Secretary and Trustee for The Prince Philip Trust Fund said:

“James’s passion and seemingly indefatigable energy to help others to enjoy, learn and perform music is extraordinary.  He has enriched the lives of hundreds if not thousands of local students and adults alike.

“Given the namesake of this Award, we were looking for someone who embodied some of the qualities of our late Founder, Prince Philip; someone who is dedicated to supporting the community, an inspirational leader and one who has dedicated themselves to excellence in their given pursuit.

“The Trustees were unanimous in recognising through all his projects, productions, community work and teaching, that James has demonstrated these qualities time and time again, and we would all like to congratulate him on receiving this Award.”

James Manwaring, Director of Music at The Windsor Boys’ School said:

“Everyday I get to see first hand how music changes people, how it lifts them up and helps them to create, to be part of a team, to perform and achieve.  It’s an absolute joy for me to see this power of music in action and, in receiving this award, being recognised for doing something I love.”

The royal charity, which meets twice a year to consider applications for grant funding, recently awarded an additional £55,000 in funds to 26 local charities, projects and good causes, bringing the combined total of funds awarded in 2024 to over £110K.

Some of the local charities and community projects to benefit from this current funding round include:

  • Stand Out for Autism, to help with their refurbishment of a new mobile unit to support local children with autism;
  • Well Windsor – a new outreach project to support young people’s mental health and wellbeing;
  • Maidenhead Foodshare to help with the refit for their new premises;
  • the Kevin Cruise Foundation as they help local disadvantaged families to access the Windsor Christmas pantomime;
  • the Living Paintings Trust to support them in their work in making visual materials and books accessible to children who are blind or visually impaired;
  • All Saints Church, Dedworth in Windsor to help with the creation of the The Fig and Vine Community Cafe.

Applications for grant funding are open now for 2025 and can be made online at https://theprincephiliptrustfund.org/


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