NORTHERN IRELAND CADETS WIN SOUTH AFRICA PRIZE

Two cadets from Northern Ireland have reached the final of the CVQO Duke of Westminster competition and have won an amazing trip to South Africa.

After a rigorous pre-selection, Gareth Hampton (Dundonald Sea Cadet Corps) and Dempsey Brown (2nd Northern Ireland Bn ACF) competed against 25 others at a four-day selection event in Somerset and were chosen as two of the nine national finalists.

The nine national finalists have won a place on an educational two-week expedition to South Africa in July and one will be crowned the overall CVQO Duke of Westminster Award winner for 2015 at the House of Lords ceremony on 30 June.

Gareth, 17, of Armagh, was nominated due to his involvement with his church youth fellowship, who organised a series of care home visits. He has also assisted with some coaching at a yacht club.

Dempsey, 17, of Belfast, Co. Antrim, was recognised for her work as an Outdoor Pursuits / Activities Instructor with Pathways and attends community events and residential camps throughout Northern Ireland, many of which involve supervising up to 200 children and young adults.

Though all have demonstrated their abilities within their youth groups, the candidates have all been nominated in recognition of their altruistic spirit – to help those around them, overcome personal challenges or provide help to their communities.

On the agenda for the four-day event in the heart of the Quantock Hills were physical team-building tasks, challenging group debates, strategy tests and interviews. All of these were designed to test the young people’s leadership and management skills in a variety of situations.

Additionally, as part of the four-day event, the cadets gained an ILM (Institute of Leadership and Management) Level 3 in Leadership and Management, allowing them to demonstrate their skills to employers and higher education institutions.

Guy Horridge, chief executive of CVQO, said: “We expect that the young people taking part in the Duke of Westminster Award are already great cadets.

“What the Award is really about is recognising their altruistic character traits. For example, what have they done for other people? Are they involved in their local community? Have they had to overcome a personal challenge?

“We are looking for those young people who are working hard to achieve their aspirations, overcoming whatever life has thrown at them, building a resilience and determination to succeed.

“As always, the standard was very high and this year we were thrilled to have had representation from the Fire, Police, Army, Air and Sea Cadets. It was extremely difficult to choose nine finalists at the end of the week.”

Congratulations to Dempsey and Gareth and we look forward to hearing about their fantastic trip to South Africa.