The Lord-Lieutenants Award for Young People 2009

All Shortlisted Nominees with Lady Gretton

The Category Winners with Lady Gretton

The Lord-Lieutenant’s Young Person of the Year 2009, Daniel Eady

Young people’s achievements were celebrated at a special ‘Oscars’ style awards night hosted by Leicestershire’s Lord-Lieutenant, Jennifer, Lady Gretton. This is the third year that these awards have been held. The event took place on 31st March at County Hall in Glenfield.

The event saw young people from both Leicester and Leicestershire being rewarded for some of the most remarkable examples of dedication, service to others and outstanding personal achievements. The award, which is open to young people aged 13-19, is the first of its kind to be initiated by a Lord-Lieutenant. Lady Grettton wanted to identify and reward the best examples of achievement amongst our young people.

Lady Gretton, said: “As Lord-Lieutenant I have had the pleasure of meeting lots of remarkable young people who at times despite disadvantage or obstacles placed before them have shown great courage and dedication.”

Over 70 people were identified by members of the public, teachers and youth workers as potential candidates for the awards. The awards are divided into five categories each with three short-listed candidates, with one winner for each section and one overall winner. The runners-up in each category all receive ipod nano’s.  Each category winner is awarded a prize worth £500.

Leicestershire County Council, Leicester City Council, Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service, Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce, Leicestershire Constabulary, Crimebeat, Leicestershire & Rutland Masonic Charity Association, Leicestershire Constabulary, The Everard Foundation, William Davis Ltd., and  Willmott Dixon Construction Ltd

Many of the sponsors attended the awards Evening and are pictured below:

Back row L – R : Terry Higgins, William Davis; Richard Everard, The Everard Foundation; David webb, Chief Fire Officer; Ruth Ingman, President, Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce; Alan Godber, Crimebeat/Warning Zone; Chris Eyre, Deputy Chief Constable

Front row L – R : Cllr Manjula Sood, Lord Mayor of Leicester; Daniel Eady; Lady Gretton, Lord-Lieutenant; Tony Kershaw, Chairman of the County Council

Tendai Chidomwbe-Wilcox, who is 19, from Heather, and attends Stevenson College was viciously attacked by a group of youths for no reason. He was punched and knocked to the ground and repeatedly kicked as he was trying to prevent one of his friends from being attacked. Tendai, who has special educational needs, was left with a fractured skull after he fell to the ground and hit his head on the paving slabs. Tendai had stood between the attackers and his friend, when they turned on him.

After the attack Tendai was taken to the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham where he was kept under heavy sedation to allow time for the swelling in his brain to reduce. Following two  major operations he finally woke after six days and was later moved to a special brain injuries unit at Leicester General Hospital where he stayed for five weeks.

After six months of recovery Tendai was able to return to college with the support of staff at Stevenson College, whom his parents described as brilliant. A 17 year old youth was convicted of committing grievous bodily harm and given a 12 month detention training order.

Tendai is patient, considerate and is an excellent role model and good citizen. He is cheerful and is driven to pursue the thing he likes most despite the odds. He has recently taken up contact football and is training hard with his team – the Leicestershire & Rutland Inclusive Football Partnership – as he prepares to participate in the Special Olympics in July.  

Tendai deserves to know that he is appreciated because he gives so much of himself to others.   

Daniel Eady, who is 18, from Sharnford, stepped in to stop a man who was attacking his wife in a shop. Daniel had just finished work at 9.00 p.m. and called into the shop in Burbage on his way home. The attacker was shouting and screaming at the victim, his wife. He had pinned her against a wall and had smashed a bottle of milk on the floor.  He then threw her to the ground and was hitting her. The attacker had threatened the shopkeeper not to call the police and there were other adults in the shop, but no one had intervened.

As others looked on Daniel overcame his initial hesitancy and leapt onto the man’s back as he continued to punch the women, and tried to drag him off, but the attacker was much bigger than Daniel. The attacker then turned on Daniel punching him in the head before fleeing. He was later found by the police and arrested.

Daniel was subsequently awarded a Police Commendation for outstanding community service for his brave and selfless actions. When presenting the Award a police spokesperson said that Daniel was a tremendously brave young man who, with great heart, chose to take action when bystander apathy had set in. Without Daniel’s quick thinking the victim could have suffered grievous injuries.

The attacker was given a two-month prison sentence suspended for two years and was ordered to attend a domestic abuse programme.

Kerry Kindleysides, who is 19, and from Beaumont Leys, left home at an early age and found herself living on the streets before eventually getting a place in a hostel.  She had been cut off from her family and had to make her own way in life. In Kerry's eyes, she was way too young to have deal with this.  Kerry had no aspirations as she felt she had nothing to offer.  She had lived in three hostels and it was the last hostel where she heard about the Prince's Trust Personal Development Programme, delivered by Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service.

Once on the programme the support she had from the Prince's Trust gave Kerry a huge boost in confidence allowing her to be herself for once.  At the same time she was finally given her own accommodation. Things were looking up.

Kerry has applied to become a Young Ambassador for the Prince's Trust and through this she will speak about her experience of the Prince's Trust to other community groups. She has also been accepted on a Prince's Trust Youth Steps Programme and to get her volunteering hours, she is volunteering with one of the current Prince's Trust Team programmes.

Kerry has overcome many barriers to move on with her life and is now keen to "put something back" and to use her experience positively for the benefit of others. She is working towards becoming a youth worker. She shows a great sense of caring for others and has helped another team member with severe learning difficulties to complete her work and to be actively involved at all times.

Kerry’s team leader said that Kerry is one of the most remarkable young people she has ever met.  She never lets things get to her and when life went wrong she picked herself straight back up.  Knowing what Kerry has been through it is hard to understand how she has such a lively and positive attitude.  She is an extraordinary young person.

Gemma Charlesworth, who is 18, from Barrow upon Soar, and attends Quorn Rawlins College, is a member of the Amazon Young Women's Project based at Mountfields Lodge Youth Centre and is currently Loughborough Lions Young Ambassador of the 21st Century.  She was part of a group from the Amazon Project who went on a residential experience to the Gambia and became totally focused on supporting the children of Madiana School and Hart House – a home for disabled children from all over the Gambia.  

Her natural ability to care for people transcended any language barriers as she played with the children and took part in lessons at the school.  She was not surprised at the level of absolute poverty but came back determined to make a difference and become fully involved in organising fund raising events to raise money for the two schools.  

Gemma is a natural leader in the Amazon project and is part of a small team who welcomes and supports new members to the Amazon group – and ensures that they don't feel overwhelmed.  Gemma has also been involved in the fundraising day for Rainbows Hospice and taken part in the Race for Life and will be leading this year's Race for Life team from the Amazons in July.

Gemma’s qualities were spotted by Loughborough Lions when they chose her from a host of potential candidates to act as a young ambassador.  She is sensitive, caring and supportive and she always thinks of the needs of other people before her own. She is also a young carer – supporting her younger brother who has a disability and her mother.  

Gemma has made a huge difference to the members of the Amazon project by providing support and encouragement to both new and old members.  She is always highlighting new issues and areas that the Amazons should think about raising public awareness – or campaigning on. She has also been involved in a peer group support structure at Rawlins Community College where she is studying for her ‘A’ levels.

She is always cheerful and supportive and works hard to ensure that she is able to motivate and encourage Amazon members to take up new challenges.  The members of the Amazon group are exceedingly proud of Gemma and she is very well respected by her peers.

Romy Hills, who is 17, from Barwell, and attends North Warwickshire and Hinckley College gives her time freely always putting others before herself.  She helps a number of community groups without realising how kind, caring and selfless she is.

In 2003 Romy’s mother had cancer and this was a very difficult time for the family as they had just started a business.  Not only did Romy look after her mum, dad and two brothers, she also took over assisting at the Beaver Group in Market Bosworth.  This was the start of her community work and helping others, which she does tirelessly.  

She left Beavers and joined the 1st Market Bosworth Guide group when she heard a local girl with special needs was hoping to move from Brownies to Guides and needed one-to-one support.  They both had a wonderful time and when the girl left, Romy carried on as a young leader.  Romy loves rugby and played for Market Bosworth.  When she turned thirteen she was no longer allowed to play with the boys.  Instead of joining a girl's team she started to help with coaching the twice a week. She has also found time fundraise for Breast Cancer Care.  

During the summer holidays of 2006, Romy attended a babysitting course run by Leicestershire County Council for which she received a Certificate of Achievement.  She has found this course invaluable for her community work but rarely has time to use it for paid babysitting work.  Romy would dearly love to be a Paramedic and this led her to give her time to the Leicestershire First Aid Team, which sees her sat in muddy fields all over the County waiting to help if needed.  

Romy is Dyslexic which she is quite open about.  When at Guides she is sometimes asked to take the register or read instructions, and both of these activities she stumbles through pronouncing names and words incorrectly, which she finds funny and laughs off.  This shows the girls that learning difficulties are part of life and nothing to be ashamed of.

All the children love her and the adult leaders of the groups she helps with say she is sensitive, caring, and mature beyond her years.

Shabina Rahman, who is 16, from Leicester, and attends Moat Community College is a proficient signer for her deaf mother and takes major responsibility in the household for helping her mum with day to day activities.  As her father is unable to sign, Shabina has to accompany her mother to most activities outside the home.

Shabina's father has spent the last year in and out of hospital and this has placed an extra burden on her as she has spent a lot of time in hospital accompanying her mother on visits, despite having her Year 11 coursework and exams to cope with.

Shabina is always cheerful and willing to take on extra roles in school.  She has been an extremely reliable member of the School Council for several years and is also a College Assistant.  She has a 100% attendance record. She gave up time in the evening last year to train as a peer mentor and has given up lunchtimes this year to put this training into practice with the more vulnerable Year 7's.

Staff have commented on Shabina's determination to do well and the fact that she regularly attends all after school classes. Shabina is very good at encouraging other students to take advantage of school opportunities – "a bit of a nagger" she says.  As a member of the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth, she has pushed other students to take part and recently came second when her group entered a national Dragon's Den type competition.  She is also a member of an organisation called GOAL, which provides support for underachieving groups of children – in Leicester this has involved Bangladeshi girls. Shabina has been instrumental in persuading two very reluctant girls to join in, and indeed to go on a GOAL residential event.

In School Council, staff can rely on Shabina for her perceptive comments and her ability to fulfil her role to the best of her ability.  She is not afraid to voice her opinion and is an excellent role model to her peers.

Interestingly, it was Shabina's younger brother who initially suggested nominating her for this Award, as he was full of admiration for the amount of time she spends at home doing housework and helping her parents.

Shabaana Kidy, who is 18, from Oadby, and attends Beauchamp College goes beyond the everyday expectations of a student and, because of this, and the effect her actions have had on the local community, she deserves to be nominated for this award.

Shabaana, without being prompted, felt compelled to arrange an event that would improve community cohesion and give people the chance to come together and freely express themselves regardless of race, religion or culture.  Shabaana saw an opportunity in One World Week and came up with the idea of holding Beauchamp College's first One World Fair.  This event celebrated a range of religions with information and activities and a focus on fair trade products.  Not only in arranging this event did Shabaana show a tremendous amount of initiative, she also demonstrated enthusiasm, energy and determination to make the event a success.

This project took up a vast amount of time and roughly 6 months of planning.  Shabaana got in touch with local faith leaders and put to them the idea of the One World Week Fair.  Shabaana then chaired and arranged all the meetings and arranged advertising. Organising the event showed great time management skills considering she was maintaining grade 'A' standard in her A Levels at the same time.

In addition to this project Shabaana was elected as Beauchamp College's International Student representative, and she has been involved in numerous volunteering activities such as the Right to Read Scheme, where students go to local primary schools to help young people with their reading.  

Her latest project involves trying to get a multi-faith room at Beauchamp, as she feels that the different faiths and religions don’t have a regular base for worship, meetings and discussion.  

Shabaana gets involved in the community of the school and her neighbourhood. She has a strong desire to see young people encouraged to take up positions of leadership both within their school and the local community in order to bring about positive change.

Shabaana encourages her peers to get involved and they appreciate the time and effort she puts into organising these well-supported events.

Grace Macphee, who is 13, from Castle Donington, and attends the Kegworth Youth and Community Centre has shown an outstanding commitment to her quest to improve the housing estate and village in which she lives, and has inspired other young people between the ages of 9 and 17 to join her. Her willingness to support, help, and to improve the lives of others around her, together with her mature, happy attitude, is a pleasure to observe.

Grace played the lead role among her peers in setting up a local Youth Action Group who call themselves ''The Bozzy Road Crew'.  In spite of her young age and situation, she has overcome the barriers of other people's apathy and prejudice in a way rarely seen in young people today.  Grace has been instrumental in leading her peers to identify local environmental issues of concern and then addressing them in a pragmatic way.

She has led her group to meet with key adults and organisations in order to raise awareness of local issues. She has made presentations to full Parish Council meetings and has led and supported her younger peers to apply for money to improve her community.  They have raised in the region of £8,000 already from several sources in only a few months.  Her group has presented new goal posts to the Parish Council for installation on a local recreation ground and150 wind-up environmentally friendly torches were also obtained to improve the safety of young people travelling to and from activities in the dark.  

Grace has led her peers to undertake several litter picking days and led a litter awareness campaign on her estate.  During the autumn she picked wild fruit, and made jam and she then led a coffee morning for elderly people in the village, where scones and homemade jam were served.  This was so successful that her group ran a second one at Christmas with homemade mince pies and a Christmas carol singing.

Grace is always inspiring and bursting with ideas and solutions to resolve community issues.  It is often necessary to hold meetings on the streets of her estate and at her friends' homes, but with support from the youth service and the Environment Street Officer, more formal meetings are now held at the local sports pavilion, where Grace has chaired her meetings in a most impressive manner.  

Grace is a very kind young person is quiet and unassuming, but underneath is a highly respected, inspirational and motivated leader of people.

Paige Pratt, who is 16, from Leicester, has been a member at the Northfields Play Barn for the last 10 years.  Over this time Paige has been involved in a number of different projects including an Arts Project where she led most of the sessions with the staff team. Paige gets young people to take part in the activities, making and creating designs for the whole group, and then displaying the finished designs.  With Paige's input to this project the whole of the Youth Room got re-decorated and all the young people's hard work is now displayed on the wall of the barn.  

Paige has also helped to organise the Barcelona residential project.  Without Paige's involvement this project would never have happened.  Paige was involved in getting the group £10,568 to fund the residential; she undertook fund-raising, and carried out risk assessments. This project was a sport based programme for males and females and Paige took the lead to plan all the fun activities during the soccer school.  As well as all this work, Paige is also half way through her Youth Achievement Award and in a full-time College course.

Paige is a hard working young person who is always looking out for other young people and the Centre.  She has an awareness way beyond her years.  She can also bring herself down to even the youngest child's level.  She is approachable and always willing to help. Paige is an excellent role model who has helped others to build confidence, raise their self esteem and has given them a belief in their own abilities.

Paige's commitment throughout the year has been fantastic.  She volunteers her support five days a week and she has also taken an active role in the Community Cohesion Project that has recently been formed in the Northfields area.

Paige is well-known in her community and because she is so popular, people are taking an interest in what she is doing and are willing her to succeed.  It is hoped that the knock-on effect of this will be other parents seeing that their own children can succeed in something like this.

Becca Barrow, who is 17, of Leicester, and attends the Watershed Youth Centre represents Leicester as a member of the U.K. Youth Parliament, she sits on Leicester City Young People's Council, and is a member of Area Forums 1 and 4. She is a member of both the Youth Opportunity Fund and Youth Capital Board and Young Researchers.  Becca sits on the Children and Young People’s Service Scrutiny Committee for the City - where she engages with local Councillors and speaks on behalf of other young people. She is also on a Transport Task Group where she is fighting to get free public transport for all young people in the City.

Becca is a lively character who is probably one of the busiest young people it is possible to know.  She represents other young people both locally, regionally and nationally.  She has been a key player in many projects including Takeover Leicester – she was part of the planning group that enabled over 100 young people to engage in the running of the City, and she was also the Compere for the Takeover Leicester Conference.

Becca’s passion in unwavering and she is able to articulate it maturely and with confidence.  She engages with decision makers and local politicians with ease.  She is never afraid to stand up for what she believes in and is fully committed.

She has sat on numerous interview panels that have enabled the voice of young people to be heard when appointing key staff, and she represents the voice of young people nationally. She has attended the Annual Sitting to help develop the national UK Youth Parliament manifesto.

Becca is well respected and liked.  She is confident and looked upon as a leader who mentors less able young people. She is very passionate , demonstrates commitment, is utterly dependable, and is very funny and lively.  

Abbie Granger, who is 16, from Coalville, and attends King Edward VII College impresses with how much she does above what she is required to do.  Most young people are very busy with school work as it is, but Abbie always seems to find the time to volunteer for almost any project.

Abbie was one of the leading figures in getting a school based radio station up and running.  She was one of the key figures who put together a bid to the Youth Opportunity Fund for something in the region of £70,000 for the radio station.  For that sum of money a comprehensive project plan had to be presented to the board, who were so impressed that the answer was an unequivocal, yes.  Not content with that, Abz, as she likes to be called, became one of the lead producers of the radio station running shows and dealing with issues such as broadcasting licensing.  

Abz also volunteers with the award winning Jitty website where she has been an invaluable contributor to the site, recently helping to set up a page for the "Vinspired" team, interviewing bands such as New Found Glory.  As well as fitting in these commitments around her schoolwork, she also helps look after her disabled brother and has been a member of the school council as well.

The radio station has allowed a number of young people to try their hand at radio presenting, sound engineering and so on, and in some cases this has been the foundation upon which some young people have gone on to further education at Universities.  The station is run by young people for young people in the truest sense.  Her work on the Jitty has paved the way for other young people to interview bands, improving their English, self confidence, and organisational and research skills.  

Abz is an extraordinary young girl who is admired by her peers.  Every time people ask her what she has been up to, they shake their head in astonishment.

Mu-Hamid Pathan, who is 16, from Leicester, and attends Watershed Youth Centre is Secretary for Leicester City Young People's Council and represents Area 2 Forum.  He represents the East Midlands on the English Secondary Schools Association and he is also a core member for the Young Researchers and is a Board Member on the Youth Opportunities Fund.  He does all jobs expected of him with a quiet confidence, diligence and maturity.  

He has played a key role in a number of projects over the past 12 months.  He was part of the Takeover Leicester planning group and was central to enabling 100 young people in the City to engage with professionals and decision makers in a way that the City has never seen before.  He was the keynote speaker at the Takeover Leicester Conference, and was able to set the tone for the conference and draw in all adults to his level.  He represents the City regionally and has engaged in events at a national level also.

Mu-Hamid is a gentle young man who respects unconditionally all the people he meets.  He has a maturity beyond his years and an intelligence level to match.  He never responds in anger even when challenged.  His commitment to his various roles never flounders and he embraces all challenges placed in front of him with enthusiasm.  He is fully committed to the active involvement of young people in Leicester.

Mu-Hamid has also been a core member of the re-launch of the Your Space report, where he has evaluated it and brought it up to date. He will make a presentation to all key decision makers of the City to enable a safer city for all young people, where young people can access quality youth provision and truly have their voices heard.

Mu-Hamid is well respected and liked.  He shows great commitment and dedication and is incredibly endearing.  

Jess Boonham, who is 19, and from Wigston, has been instrumental in the creation of The Jitty website’s poetry book 'Have you not heard?' which was designed to give young people an outlet for dealing with difficult personal issues through creative writing.  She has contributed a number of poems and photographs and submitted many more poems to the poetry section on the Jitty's chat forum, and has inspired others to capture and refine their own experiences.

Jess is always accepting of others, non-judgemental, and attempts to raise their own confidence in their work through praise, and helpful and constructive criticism.  By offering open and personal insights into her work she helps to remove the stigma that often surrounds poetry and creative writing about personal subjects. In so doing she has helped other young people to realise a potential outlet for issues that affect them.  

Attempting to create a poetry book in conjunction with young people isn't an easy task – many see poetry as pointless, or are afraid that building personal experience into their writing might make them a target for others.  It often takes someone like Jess with a strong will to defeat their personal fears, to take the lead, and demonstrate to others that poetry and creative writing cannot only be helpful in dealing with problems, but can also be rewarding and character building.

In addition to the time spent writing and carrying out photoshoots, Jess is a moderator for the site and spends around an hour each day looking over the new forum posts (not just the poetry section) to make sure all of the forum users are safe, generating new topics of conversation and providing help and feedback in posts made by others.  

Jess’s involvement with the poetry book project involved attending planning meetings throughout the project and helping to make critical decisions concerning submissions, design and layout, and distribution channels.

Jess is very well respected on The Jitty as a moderator, a photographer and a writer.  There is no doubt that many of the poetry and photographic submissions would not have existed if Jess had not inspired others to join in. She is a quality moderator and an invaluable member of the Jitty site.

Felix Chan, who is 17, from Ashby de la Zouch, and who attends Ashby School, produces short animated films that have managed to bring together the many cultures of the boarders at a Leicestershire State Boarding Residence, the appreciation of the Boarding School, the local community, professionals working in Animation, and international recognition through the web and word of mouth.

Felix came to School House Boarding Residence just over two years ago.  He is a full-time student at Ashby School.  Despite his shyness and the very limited access to computer software, Felix has created and produced some wonderful animated short films.  His work has been mentioned on Radio 1, when one of the DJ's happened to be browsing U Tube.  

The interest people have shown in Felix's work has encouraged him to produce more, and to experiment with new skills.  A professional company specialising in computer animation expressed astonishment at the subtlety and quality of work done by someone of such a young age using such unsophisticated technology.

Felix is an intelligent and sensitive young man, with a natural gift for animation and film direction.  He constantly strives to improve his skills and he has a tremendous talent for finding a way to express humour and wit in film.

The school has recently invited Felix to contribute his work to Year Assemblies in order that important messages can be conveyed to students in a positive and interesting way that will ensure the information will last in their memory.

Felix is taking Film Studies at A level and intends to study computer animation at degree level and beyond.  He is a future star in the making.  His work has already been estimated as graduate level. Felix is so good that what would usually take a film studies student the better part of a term to creat, he can create within a few short weeks, from conception to creation and delivery.

Felix has every intention of making a career out of this activity and takes it very seriously.

Jordan Wojcik (or “DK Diamond Kid” to his friends) who is 16, from Leicester, and attends the New Parks Youth Centre was a young person with a very short temper.  He still has a short temper but his behaviour has dramatically improved over the last year.  He has progressed to become a confident, polite young person.  He has a unique skill in that he can MC (or Rap) and write his own lyrics to a very high standard.  

Jordan recently started attending the Youth Joint Action Group which is a multi-agency meeting where adults and young people get together to deal with issues related to crime and anti-social behaviour.  At one of the early meetings, Jordan suggested the Youth Centre buy some MC equipment and he would teach others how to use it.  Since then, he has taken on responsibility for setting up the MC sessions, from sorting out the equipment to bringing his own music to share.  It is so moving to see such a dramatic change in a young person.

Jordan’s peers look up to him and see how much he has changed for the better.  He was previously known in the neighbourhood as a trouble-maker but since his attendance and behaviour at meetings has improved, agencies like the Police, extended services, connexions, neighbourhood Management and the youth service can see that there's a lot more to this young man than we all first thought.

Jordan can be a handful at times but he is a pleasure to work with.  He is polite and generous and reasons with his peers when they are out of order.  His Youth Worker commented that on one occasion he gave her a hug and told her how much he appreciated what she does for the youth group. She added that things like that make all the bad stuff go away and he doesn’t even realise that!

Daniel Eady

Download Abbie Granger's write up about the nights event (article posted on the Jitty Website)