A HIGH-FLYING former Ysgol y Berwyn student is encouraging pupils from across Dwyfor and Meirionnydd to push themselves and apply for the UK’s top universities.

Fflur Jones, a partner at a Welsh commercial law firm, is the latest alumni ambassador to add their support to a campaign to inspire Wales’ brightest pupils to access the best higher education institutions in the country.

Fflur, 40, who is originally from Llanuwchllyn near Bala, graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1997 with a degree in History and is now a partner at Darwin Gray Solicitors in Cardiff.

Fflur has signed up to be an alumni ambassador for The Seren Network — a series of regional partnership hubs that was established last year to combat the decline in the number of Welsh pupils applying to redbrick universities.

First language Welsh speaker Fflur had always excelled at school but only considered applying to Cambridge when her careers adviser at Ysgol y Berwyn encouraged her to give it a go.

“When it was time to fill out our UCAS application forms, my careers teacher assumed that I would want to apply for a Welsh university and so handed me the Welsh language version of the form to fill in,” the lawyer said.

“He was surprised when I asked for the English form instead as I had been keen to go to Liverpool University but when he knew I was willing to study away from home, he persuaded me to try for Cambridge.

“He had studied there himself so was very supportive and really inspired me to give it my best shot.”

Fflur admits that she found it hard to move from a small North Wales village where she had known everyone and only ever spoke Welsh, to adjust to her new life in Cambridge.

“Looking back, I do remember finding the first term at Cambridge pretty tough,” she concedes.

“At 18, I had never really met people with a different background from me and I did find it hard to settle in, particularly as English wasn’t my first language - no one could even pronounce my name!

“Ironically, I adapted well to the part that I had been worried about – the academic work – but I found it difficult to fit in and find my way around the city, and hadn’t expected all the old traditions, like having to dress up smart for the formal dinners.

“It didn’t take long to fit in and find people who I had plenty in common with though.

“There was a really active and vibrant Welsh society at Cambridge, which I joined and made friends there who I still see regularly today.”

See the full story in this week’s Meirionnydd edition of the Cambrian News