CELEBRATING TALENTED TEENAGERS IN CAMBRIDGESHIRE
News Release
21st September 2011
Waldeck has been helping to celebrate the achievements of teenagers in Cambridgeshire at Young People of the Year (YOPEY) awards, which were held for the first time ever in Peterborough Cathedral.
The multidisciplinary firm of consulting engineers, which has nine offices across the UK including one in Peterborough, has sponsored the Northamptonshire YOPEYs two years running and was delighted this year to be invited to sponsor the Cambridgeshire competition too.
Ten youngsters got through to the finals of the sixth Cambridgeshire YOPEYs.
“Young people are often portrayed negatively in the media so it’s inspiring to see so many who have made a valuable contribution to society by helping others or raising money for charity,” said Waldeck Director Andrew Dent.
“All the finalists were winners and like all successful people they have got a positive and can-do attitude. That is also the ethos of Waldeck - positive and can-do – and it is good to see young people sharing those values and making a real difference to the communities in which they live.”
On the night the prestigious Young Person of the Year title was awarded to 18-year-old John Morris of St Ives who overcame a difficult childhood by managing to find another family in the scouts.
Now an adult scout leader, John plans and runs meetings for beavers, cubs and scouts in St Ives and nearby Houghton. He was also part of a group that went to The Gambia and helped build teachers’ accommodation in blistering heat, and he will lead a group there in December.
The judges described John, who is now studying politics at Keele University, as “overcoming adversity and giving on a phenomenal scale” .
He received first prize of £800, half of which he is putting towards the trip to The Gambia.
In second place was Sally Bridgewater, who also had African connections having twice helped youngsters in KwaZulu Natal, one of the most deprived parts of South Africa, and in third place was Gambian-born Musa Kamara.
Musa fell out with his parents and left behind his so-called friends in East London when he saw they could drag him into a life of crime.
After arriving in Cambridge he went on to lead an England team of homeless people at an international football tournament in Brazil.
Musa is giving all of his £200 prize money to the YMCA, where he was staying at the time and who put him forward for the England trials.
Junior winner was Callum Fairhurst (14) from Soham, who has raised an impressive £40,000 for cancer charity CLIC Sargent following the death of his bother Liam who was himself the junior winner of the YOPEYs in 2007.
Like Liam, Callum has also received a Diana Award for inspirational children and will give half of his £200 winnings to them.
The other finalists all received a surprise £50 towards good causes of their choice.
About Waldeck
- Waldeck works in a wide range of sectors including social and private housing, care homes, education, energy, sport and leisure, pharmaceuticals, food processing and distribution, retail and commercial, MOD, conservation and historic buildings and automotive.
- Its services include structural engineering, civil engineering, sustainable design, Code for Sustainable Homes assessments, pre-planning and pre-acquisition, flood risk assessments, drainage design, transport planning, alternative bid design, construction supervision, BREEAM assessments, ground modelling, structural surveying, energy assessments, precast concrete and mechanical and electrical engineering.
- Waldeck has offices in London, Lincoln, Hull, Grimsby, Sheffield, Nottingham, Northampton, Peterborough and Sleaford.
- For more information please visit www.waldeck-engineering.com or follow us on Twitter: @waldeck_eng
Kate Strawson
Shooting Star PR
01522 528540
kate@shootingstar-pr.co.uk
@shootingstarpr
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