Six members of All Saints East Cowton youth group have been recognised for their community spirit, commitment and hard work at the North Yorkshire Police Lifestyle Awards held at York Racecourse.
The awards recognised and rewarded youngsters who gave up their own time over the summer holiday to carry out community projects to benefit the area where they live.
The East Cowton young people, Annie, Lorna, Poppy, Emma, Charlotte and Daniel, created the Superbugs team to carry out local community projects and were overall winners, receiving the Safer Hambleton and Safer Richmondshire Community Safety Award.
Pictured are the young people, Emma Kirby, Charlotte Bainbridge, Poppy Stokes, Lorna Kirby, Annie Smithson and. in front. Daniel Smithson receiving the award.
The Superbugs team consulted with members of the community in East Cowton to ask them what they would like to see carried out as a project. This identified improvements to the Millennium Wood, which was neglected and overgrown and they secured £50 of funding from the Parish Council.
The team cleared the woods, the bench, created new signs, built a bug hotel, and organised a games and activity afternoon. This raised £230.44 for Hambleton Community Action and Pendragon Multisensory Centre.
As a result the wood is now safer, more accessible and more enjoyable, with the long term benefits of bringing the community together and encouraging people to take more exercise.
Sergeant Neil Northend, of North Yorkshire Police’s Partnership Hub, said: “It was a pleasure to meet the … young people and their adult supporters who put in such a lot of work for this year’s Lifestyle Challenge. Their community spirit is an inspiration to all of us, and they richly deserve their awards.
“On behalf of my colleague PC Suzanne Asquith, who has been instrumental in organising this project, and everyone at North Yorkshire Police, I would once again like to pay tribute to all the participants. I would also like to thank staff at the Racecourse, Energi York for supplying the gift cards and our generous sponsors Hiscox, the Shepherd Group, Safer Hambleton and Safer Richmondshire for supporting and judging this year’s challenge.”