Rotary In Godalming Young Citizen Award 2024

Our late member Malcolm Keene worked tirelessly inspiring the young in Godalming. In his memory the Rotary Clubs in Godalming, in conjunction with and supported by Malcolm's wife Barbara, created this award to recognise those who have made outstanding contributions to our local community. 

Our awards evening was held at the Burton Pavilion, Milford on Friday 17th May in the presence of the Mayor of Godalming, Paul Rivers and his Consort Penny Rivers.  It was also nice to see parents, friends and teachers of the nominees present and a successful and enjoyable evening was had by everyone who attended.

Our winner of the Young Citizen Award for 2024 was Andrew Busby from Broadwater School who was nominated by Stuart Cook.

Andrew has been described as an excellent student and school prefect.  Last year he participated in the Duke of Edinburgh award during which he volunteered at the Salvation Army in Guildford.  After completing the Duke of Edinburgh award, Andrew continued his voluntary work at the Salvation Army often spending more than his assigned 3 hours each Saturday helping in their shop, warehouse and undertaking deliveries and collections.  In addition to his volunteering Andrew is also an Army cadet.  

As the winner of this year’s Rotary Young Citizen Award, Andrew received a certificate, an engraved plaque and a prize of £200.  

Andrew said “I was extremely surprised to have been nominated but it is truly an honour and privilege to have won”.  Andrew used his prize money to top up his savings for a PlayStation 5.

Evie Bell and Ruby Haigh, both from Broadwater School, were nominated by Alex Collin.  Evie and Ruby have been leaders of the school's Eco Council which meets weekly to discuss important matters, brought to their attention by members of their class or the staff.  These can include improving the school environment and grounds as well as wider environment issues such as recycling and climate change.  From these meetings, various schemes are created to take actions to address the issues raised.  Through the recycling schemes that the Eco Council run they raise money for various local charities which are selected by the council members.

Cateland Flint from Rodborough School was nominated by Emily Corcoran. Cateland is a very keen footballer and is known in the community for her football and coaching skills. She coaches the under 10s and under 11s at Milford Pumas on a weekly basis on shooting and positional skills. Cateland has represented Rodborough school at football and has recently completed trials at Fulham FC as part of her college entry.

We also included two extra presentations in relation to this year’s Rotary Young Photographer competition which had a broad theme of “Rebuilding”.  

This is a national competition that starts at the local level from where the winners move to the District level competition and the winners from there move on to the national finals. 

Judging at the local level was undertaken by the Godalming Photographic Club who voted Annabel Bolton and Lyla Stacey to be the winners in their respective categories.  This resulted in their entries being passed to Rotary South for inclusion in the District level competition and I’m delighted to say that both were again winners, bringing the trophies and certificates they received this evening.  

Having won the District level, Annabel and Lyla’s entries were progressed to the National level competition however further success was not forthcoming.

Congratulations to each and every young person nominated for their excellent contributions to the community and their colleagues.  

Finally, a special thank you to Phil Kemp (phil.kemp@btinternet.com) for donating his time to take such great photos of the event.

It is a fabulous idea to recognise the exceptional achievements and services to our local community by all the young people so we will do it all again next year!!