2013 Rotary Young Citizen Awards

of the awards. Hello and welcome. We are here for

the young citizen a words 2013, being presented as part of rotary's

annual conference, coming this year from the Harrogate International

Centre. It is the 7th year of these are words, honouring the

achievements of a very special group of young people, who have all

done something extraordinary, either excelling in the face of it

bursary or going out of the way to help others. Rotary clubs across

Great Britain and Northern Ireland at nominating. Over the next half-

hour, you would hear some truly inspirational stories. Our first a

word goes to 15-year-old Grace O'Malley from Lancashire, who has

used her soprano voice to raise tens of thousands of bounds for

charity. She was nominated by her local Rotary Club. Here is her

story. Every song she sings has a special significance for 15-year-

old Grace O'Malley. She started singing lessons at the age of six

and is determined to use her vocal talent for the benefit of others.

Here she is rehearsing for an ex servicemen's then her taking place

later this month. Grace has raised more than �50,000 for various

charities, including the Royal British Legion, of which she has

She is a lovely singer and a great asset to the British Legion. It is

a beautiful CD - absolutely beautiful. She has recorded a CD to

raise funds for a hospice in Burnley, which has so far raised

It made me cry! It did. Such a big boys from such a little girl. She

is marvellous. What do we want to raise at this one? She is also

helping the charity - as they get a charity for childhood -- she is

also helping a charity for child had cancer. I attended a

remembrance service locally. She sang abide With Me. You can tell it

affects me deeply. Since then we have become great friends. She has

even adopted me as a grandad. I am very grateful for that. She has

given me a new lease of life. You Grace O'Malley is here with me now.

You have got the stunning voice. You are going to sing for us later.

There were not be a drier it in- house. It is beautiful. When did

you realise you could sing like that -- at a dry eye in the house.

Whitey want to use your talent to help others? I love the raising

money for charity. I love singing. -- I love raising money. Putting

them together, I really enjoyed doing it. All these charities, I

love raising money for them because they're so worthwhile. I would

raise money for any charity. what was your reaction of being

made an honorary member of the Royal British Legion? I am really

honoured am proud. Tummy about the song she saying? -- Tamayo. Either

people ask me to sing the songs and I love singing them. It is for a

different charity or person to dedicate it to. You can see how

affected people are by you seeing as Charles Ted is welling up. How

do people react? I do feel proud and also it I feel sad sometimes

when I see people cry. I did not want to make you cry but it is

happy tears. You have other ambitions, don't you? I have

ambitions in the future. I always want to raise money for charity. I

will never stop doing that. Performing at the Albert Hall?

would love to do that. I am sure it will happen. Congratulations on

your reward. Thank you for speaking Our next aboard when they just

missed out on representing Great Britain and the London 2012

Paralympic Games. -- award winner. Lauren Jones won her award for

being an inspiration to many young people. She has overcome adversity

to become ranked world number one in junior girls will chair - is

that a wheelchair tennis. 17-year- old junior wheelchair tennis

champion Laurent Jones has come a long way since an accident left her

paralysed from the waist down. She broke her back when she fell 25 ft

from a tree in June, 2009. I fell from a tree and hit a branch on the

way down. It snapped my spine in half about halfway down my back. I

was rushed to hospital. I was told a would never walk again when I

became conscious. -- I would never walk again. I was put on a spinal

rehabilitation unit to get my independence. I was selected for

having some talent like some athletic ability, as I picked up a

lot of the wheelchair skills quite quickly. Now ranked number one in

the world in junior girls a wheelchair tennis. Her story is

fantastic. She had not played Test before her accident and had not

been in a wheelchair either. -- played tennis. She had to learn

tennis and also will chair skills as well. To get where she is is

very impressive. How many times have you fallen out of the

wheelchair when you started? Quite a few times. Lawrence visits local

schools to talk about disability sports and aims to inspire

gangsters to take up sport. story is inspirational. -- inspire

youngsters. She has managed to cope with the situation really well.

did not really know about the Paralympics and that people could

do sport. Nine-hour day can and they are really good at it.

narrowly missed out on being selected for the 2012 Paralympics.

She is on the Rio development programme and is busy training for

the next Games in 2016. She is here with us now. Congratulations on

your board. It is an incredible story. It was two weeks at real

40th birthday get you found out you are not going to walk again. --

before your 14th birthday. It did not really feel that real. I was on

a lot of drugs I do not really remember that time. It happened so

I make the best out of it. Your achievements have been phenomenal.

Am I right in thinking you did not play tennis before Andy ticket up

latterly? I played football with ambitions for playing for England.

Or my aims were about football so it was a bit of a shock. You and

add the youngest highest ranked player in the world in women's

wheelchair tennis. -- you are the youngest was but that is such an

unbelievable achievement in such a short space of time. How do you do

it? A lot of hard training. That is getting harder the more I get. I

want to get to the top. As we heard in the report, you had to master

two skills - will chair and tennis have. It must be incredibly

challenging. You change a lot. wanted to get on and get out of

hospital as quick as possible. That was what a picked up in hospital.

It was Lenin had to develop my skills and use them for 10 S. -- it

was learning how to develop my skills and use them for tennis.

do you think it is important to change attitudes? I was not the way

she could get high in sport 20 a disabled. It is about trying to get

awareness and get others in my position to help them to achieve.

Here is to Rio. You are going to do it. We believe in you. At Bankia

they match -- thank you very much. It is estimated there are 700,000

young carers in the UK. CJ and Becky are among those and were

nominated by the Rotary Club of Cardiff East. They received their

joint aboard a local community radio to give support to 600 other

youngsters who are in a similar situation in the area. We have a

jam-packed share. This will be tight. Christopher-John Nation and

Becki Holder take to the airwaves were their weekly show on Radio

Cardiff. Those present a young carers showed during carers Week in

June. Their aim is to raise awareness about the situation young

carers find themselves in. How much time do spend a day on Twitter?

a lot. CJ became a young carer at the age of six. It has been really

difficult. No one wants to have their child looking after them. I

like to think it is like being a parent. It comes with a lot of

response are billeted. It is a big responsibility. -- a lot of

responsibility. We are in a situation which makes us more

grown-up than average people our age. Everything my mum would think

about. Everything she is under pressure with his in the back of my

mind as well. 14-year-old Becki Holder cares for her brother, he is

autistic. It is difficult sometimes. I can go mad but I can only go so

far in case I have to come back to hope. -- go out. It is hard at

times but it is worth it. I love him to pieces. He is adorable.

CJ and Becki Holder are members of the Cardiff and Vale Young Carers

Interact Club. It supports more than 600 young carers in the local

area. CJ and Becky hope that others will listen to their message so

there is more understanding and they can improve the lives of other

young carers. They are here with me now. Congratulations to both of you.

Let's talk about life as a young carer. How difficult is that

reality? Every young care has a different situation to deal with. I

cannot speak for anyone else. I had been in my situation since it was

really young. I'm getting used to it. The most difficult part of

being a young carer is the transition. It can be very

difficult changing from being what you think is normal. A charge with

no responsibilities to a chart with loads of responsibilities. -- ate a

child. Does it take a toll on your life? It does in some senses. Ethan

is my brother. It is normal. It can restrict where ago. If I want to go

out, I will only go so far in case I have to come back. It is about

being a pair before you are ready. Awareness is really key. -- at a

parent. I need to keep Ethan safe. It must be quite isolating. That is

where you have done really good work. The radio show has helped to

raise awareness. The Interact club is the place where young carers

gather to socialise with each other. We get along better and can

socialise more easily. It is about a bit young people meeting others

in that situation and realising it is OK to feel like this and feel

fed up. If you talk to your friends that are not young carers, it is

like they do not understand. It is about knowing they are there and

they understand. What do you want to do moving forward from here? Is

there more good work to be done? want to keep up what I'm doing.

Would like to have a pee and carers doing the same thing. -- I would

like to help other young carers are doing the same thing. What message

which you had to others who are finding it tough going? I would say,

keep up the good work. I do not know really. Try not to feel that

you are alone. It deals with isolation as well. It helped us a

Our next winner was called an excellent role model by her

Roderick up all coaster for the. It is one of the many reasons billy

Milton is receiving this award, after she had involvement in

Ecuador's epic project. She has managed to turn her life around

after difficulty. She has developed and blossomed remarkably. She keen

ear when she was 10. Her mother had just been diagnosed with breast

cancer and then sadly died soon after that. Our dad got lost in

drug addiction and ended up in prison, so she was really on her

own. The family split up and went off to live with different

relatives. We were a great support to her and that is why she has put

so much into the project, because it she recognised how much it did

for her. I was in the project since my mum died. I was quite a violent

person. I did not make friends a lot, because I was really angry all

the time, but here, it was a safe environment to make friends and try

and be like everyone else, rather than excluding myself. I now feel

confident to stand up with everyone else and say, Harlow, how are you?

Billy has been a youth volunteer with the project since she was 16.

They were selected to sing in the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic

Games, and she was one of there volunteer tutors, who help the

children feel confident and be at ease. She is determined to get used

her difficult experience as a child to help others. Just knowing from

my past how bad it is, how horrible the City reaction is, I do not want

other people to have to go through it. She is here with us now. It has

been a difficult journey it for you. How do you think you have changed?

I don't know. I am a lot more easy to get on with and I was.

mentioned anger. McMaster been difficult to process that as a

young person. I used to get into fights, it so I have been to are

again -- anger management, to help the stock lashing out, especially

at my family. But you have come so far. It was not easy to overcome

that. You must be proud of yourself. Yes, but I have done it with

everyone around me. But here are the primary reason. Tell us about

cheery young life. Obviously very difficult, you lost your mother.

Yes, my mum died when I was 10 or a couple of days before Christmas, so

it was a rubbish Christmas present. But I had my little sister. How did

the project help here at the time? I became a member and it was a safe

environment, there were people I could talk to, at place where

everyone was safe, so we could all talk to each other and make friends.

Then I joined in singing. And now you're helping others. How does

that feel? It feels good. It is a nice feeling helping others. The

children feel they can talk to me more than an adult. You have done

so much to be proud of, not least getting this our work. Thank you

for letting us top to year. -- a talk to you. Our final a word goes

to a youth forum, a group of youngsters to campaign to get their

youth centre opened again after spending cuts. They are nominated

by the Rotary Club of Wantage. love it so much. It is so rewarding,

seeing what we're doing but the young people in their area. It is

about helping young people grow through the horrible teenage years

and grow into young adults, and it's just educating people. That is

what we're here for. We're concentrating on getting the young

ones up and doing sporty activities. For concentrating on getting them

up here, so they're not making trouble elsewhere. The state and

says youth workers are here to help teenagers in any way they can.

Teenagers adhere to have fun and teacher youth workers how to do

their job. We recruit 16 teenagers every year and realistically, they

all become my ex-boss. I help set up. We have a list of things that

that you do, you might be on the coffee bar or in the hall. I did a

presentation in front of the county council. Now we're being funded by

the school and part of the council. I think everyone in Wantage knows

about us, which is good. Especially the younger people. There are a lot

of people out there and teenagers who will actively go out and try to

it improves the committee, which the media do not focus on. It is to

make it to get out and shall we are interested and we can help.

seems to be that lots of kids now want to come and join, because they

won't be able to set an example to the community. Ross of them are

very very good kids round here. Once stage, we have 13 members of

the Union ready to talk to us. Congratulations to all if it and

you see, thank you for chatting to us. Tell us about the union, why is

it important? The meat once a month and decide what will call on, what

activities they will change or at on to the rota. They have the

committee's, and Neighbourhood Action Group where we had

representatives to talk to the communities people and prove that

teenagers are not all bad. It looks a right so much fun. How does it

operate? Because you run it yourself as. Yes, we'll meet once a

month and through that, we delegate to OPs to each other. We offer

advice to young people. Tammy about the work duty in the community. --

tell me about the work you do in the community. Somebody said in

that report, nobody knows young people at like young people. That

is so true, you can reach out to the community. That is completely

true. We tell them they are not all bad and some of us had been helping

out five years. We eat a have a little buddy, who is driving it up.

They learn the ways of the Union and they help us. You wear a closed

for a short while. How did you get up and running it again? We work

close because of cuts, but we campaigned and raised a lot of

money. But thanks to it the Academy for helping us to stay open.

Congratulate shins to all of you. Thank you far talking to us. Well

Congratulations to all this year's winners. Trying us now is the

president of motor a International of Great Britain and Northern

Ireland. What he make-up what you have seen today? I think it is

fantastic. These young people are doing fabulous work. The only

challenge for us is to choose the top five. I was wondering about

that, how do they choose? Year after year, I am amazed. Howard you

pick the winners? It is one of the most difficult jobs. Does it get

heated? Sometimes. We are very grateful to the BBC for its

supporting this project. Do you think this is an important part of

the work you do in this country? The it is a very important part. Be

have the biggest non-governmental education project in the world,

from primary school level to postgraduates studies. This is

helping to form good citizens and future leaders. Acted very much.