a TALENTED young man from West Devon who has been treading the boards since the age of four has been offered a place to study musical theatre at a prestigious US drama school.

Ashton Jones, 20, from Yelverton, needs to raise £60,000 to allow him to study on the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre course at AMDA (the American Musical and Dramatic Academy) for two years.

He has already secured £25,000 in sponsorship for the course, which will see him spend one year in New York and one year in Los Angeles. Ashton and his mum Kirsty, a single parent who works as a ‘postie’ with a rural round around Burrator and Sheepstor, are working hard now to raise the money.

Ashton said: ‘The total cost of tuition and accommodation is £92,000. I was incredibly lucky to be given a partial scholarship of £25,000 and I plan on working incredibly hard to raise as much as I can, but raising the entire remaining amount alone is not possible.

‘My mum has raised me by herself as a single parent and has worked incredibly hard on multiple jobs for me just to be able to go to drama classes. And I cannot appreciate her more. These classes have got me to this successful audition and this would be the most incredible opportunity if I could go.

‘The course would be split between New York and LA and I can’t explain how hard I have worked to help get myself here. We haven’t got a lot of money, so we can’t do it by ourselves. Please make a donation of any amount, there is no donation too small or that I wouldn’t appreciate.’

Kirsty said she had always known Ashton would pursue a career on the stage.

‘He’s been doing drama since he was four years old. He was at Tavistock Children’s Theatre from the age of six or seven, up to the age of 19. He was also at the Italia Conti stage school in Plymouth. That was something I couldn’t really afford as a single parent, but they have a charity for children.

‘He goes there on Saturdays from 9 to 6. He absolutely loves it. He is very talented. I’m his mum so of course I am biased, but he won ‘most promising under 30’ at a performing arts festival in Plymouth, so he is a very talented boy.

‘He went up for an audition for the place for the AMDA course at the Italia Conti in Woking and he was the only person to be offered a place on the spot.

‘We know £60,000 is a lot to raise and it is an extremely long shot, but we are looking at what grants there are. We not going to give up without trying every avenue. This is everything he has worked for. If it doesn’t happen it doesn’t happen, but at least he will have given it a go.’

To sponsor Ashton, go to https://gofund.me/c7b8400d