Talented young musicians at Merchants' Academy in Withywood are among the first to benefit from a new endowment fund.

The Society of Merchant Venturers, which sponsors the secondary school with Bristol University, is aiming to raise £2 million through charitable donations to help support students.

This follows the initial £2 million it put in to set up the academy.

The first £40,000 in the endowment fund has been raised through the initiative of Past Master of the Merchant Venturers Trevor Smallwood, who encouraged a dozen members to come together to run the Bristol Half Marathon in September.

Mr Smallwood said: "Myself and many of the other merchants try to keep active, so we decided that running the half marathon would be a good way to raise some funds for the academy, as well as testing our levels of fitness. It was a tough challenge but we were kept motivated by the thought that any money we raised would help the students of the academy.

"We hope that the efforts of those who raised this money will inspire others to support the fund, which I am sure will continue to grow over time."

Academy principal Stephen Kings said: "The endowment fund will be an incredibly valuable asset to the academy, and we wish to thank our sponsors for their continued support, for which we are very grateful."

The academy has spent £4,000 from the fund on individual music lessons.

Academy director for Years 8 and 9 Neil Tamlyn said: "Music is such a beneficial subject for students, as it is active and practical and strengthens their understanding of literacy and mathematics. However, it can be seen as an exclusive subject, only accessible to those who have the money to pay for lessons and this is something we really want to get away from.

"The academy has invested quite a bit of money to develop extensive music provision."