Traveller girl wins place at Cambridge

Zoe Hedges-Stocks grew up in a family of travelling showmen and had only ever heard of Cambridge University having worked at the Cambridge May Ball with her mother. She has never completed a full year of school and spent summers and entire school terms selling candy floss and toffee apples from a food van with her mum.

Despite this, Zoe is now a proud student of Murray-Edwards College at Cambridge where she is pursuing a degree in history. Inspired by her grandfather’s stories of traveller folklore, Zoe dreamt of studying history at university. She had been offered a place on condition of her obtaining 3 A’s at A-Level, but was accepted despite getting 2 A’s and a B. She noted how she pleaded with the school to let her in, and her pleas did not fall on deaf ears.In an interview with the Daily Mail,she said: ‘It was the most nerve-racking 24 hours of my life. When they called to say I got a place I cried.’

According to Miss Hedges-Stocks, her background has greatly influenced her choice of degree. She noted: ‘Some of my favourite childhood memories are sitting on my grandad’s knee and listening to him telling stories. There’s a lot of sense of heritage and tradition in our community and that certainly influenced me.’

Zoe is the first member of her family to apply to university and hopes to pursue a career in journalism on completion of her studies.