Following her untimely death, her family and her boyfriend, Ben, decided to set up The Helen Foundation as a new charitable trust to support the aspirations of young people in the arts who live in Teignbridge, the part of Devon where Helen grew up and that she loved so much.

​About Helen

Helen was an actor and performed under the stage names of Helen Owen-Taylor and Helen Hezel.  Throughout her life, she loved acting and was passionately committed to the power of the arts to make a real difference to young people’s lives. Her theatre-in-education (TIE) work in the UK and abroad showed her first-hand how important it is to stimulate children’s imaginations and sensibilities and how arts activities of all kinds are uniquely able to do that.

Helen benefited greatly from the dedication and encouragement of those teachers and coaches in the schools, colleges, and drama groups she attended – Shaldon School, Teignmouth Community College, Exeter College, Shaldon Theatre Company, Tykes, The Teignmouth Players, the Dawlish-based Acting Up and Devon Youth Theatre amongst others.

Click on the highlighted text to find out more about The Helen Foundation.

The Helen Foundation's Ella Philp Fund 

This year, we are delighted to be receiving a donation from the above fund for our end-of-year production of Matilda.