Lancashire Cadet of the Year
St John Ambulance recently held their
County Cadet of the Year competition for young
members of the charity from across Lancashire. The two-day
competition, held at the Holiday Inn in Burnley, saw six of the
very best of the Cadets from all over the county take part in some
very tough tasks.
Lancashire’s St John Ambulance Cadets are aged 10 to 17 and
besides first aid they learn a huge range of other important life
skills as they work towards their Grand Prior
award – the highest award a Cadet can achieve.
Subjects range from cookery and animal welfare to sports and
photography. Older Cadets can put their first aid and other
communication skills into practice by providing first aid to the
public at events or teaching first aid to other young people and
adults.
Designed to stretch the Cadets abilities, the Cadet of
the Year competition includes a wide range of subjects such as
communication, team work, presentation, the media and social
skills. With hundreds of Cadets across Lancashire, the six
competitors in the weekend’s contest had already shown a high
degree of excellence and the competition for the coveted title was
fierce.
Winner showed outstanding effort
The winner of the competition and crowned Cadet of the Year in
the county was 16 year old Edward O’Brien from
Accrington Cadets and Edward will now go on to compete in
the national competition early in the new year. Thrilled
with his win Edward said, ‘It feels amazing to win this title.
There were so many great Cadets in the competition I just can’t
believe I’m the Cadet of the Year. I’m really looking forward to
the year ahead.’
Edward’s deputy for 2012 will be Joseph
Ayathattam, 16, from Preston Cadets. Joseph said, ‘The
competition was really tough and all the Cadets
who took part have worked really hard this weekend; I’m really
looking forward to representing Lancashire in the year ahead and am
very proud to be Deputy Cadet of the Year.’
Edward and Joseph will represent St John Ambulance regionally
and nationally during the busy year ahead.
Beryl Brighouse, Commissioner Youth in
Lancashire said; ‘Our Cadets have shown again this weekend what an
outstanding credit they are to the organisation,
their families and the local community. It is a great achievement
to be nominated to take part in this competition, let alone win it.
Edward has demonstrated tremendous dedication and enthusiasm over
the course of the competition and we are all delighted that he is
our County Cadet of the Year. The hard work starts here for Edward
and Joseph and I know that they will be great
ambassadors for St John Ambulance Lancashire.’
St John Ambulance has over 26,000 youth members in the
UK and believes that every young person should have the
opportunity to make a real difference in their
community, to speak out on what matters to them and to
help others in need of support and development. There are St John
Ambulance Units across Lancashire and anyone is welcome to join. If
you would like to know more about St John Ambulance or would like
to join, please call 01772 252239