On Friday the 13th of April I headed down to Bournemouth on an extremely long journey in the car! Regardless of the date I felt very lucky to have such a great opportunity to be awarded with the Rotary International of Great Britain and Ireland Young Citizen of the Year award for 2012. A very long title indeed. And a prestigious one at that! After a 6 hour journey and many pit stops for the odd Krispy Kreme dohnut and Costa Coffee (no product placement honest!). If it was I would have called off for a refreshing Coca-Cola! We arrived in Bournemouth at The Ramada Hotel.
Unaware of what the night entailed except for a rehearsal for the award ceremony tomorrow we regrettably walked it from the hotel to the BIC, Bournemouth International Centre. On arrival we were very kindly greeted by many Rotarians and met up with the other inspiring award holders. Shipped on to stage for positioning for the event, this was when the marathon sit-a-thon took place! All award holders aligned on the right hand of the stage for camera shots and a run through of interviews we where sat down for at least an hour! Luckily there were so many inspiring stories to hear from all the award holders the time flew by!
Once the rehearsal was over everyone felt a lot more confident with what was going to entail tomorrow live on BBC News!
Off out for dinner then back to the hotel to get some much needed beauty sleep! Which by the looks of my face on BBC News didn’t work!
Back down to the BIC in the morning, by Taxi this time! We visited some stalls and exhibitions set up by Rotary Clubs from across GB and Ireland. It was fair to say what we saw was out of this world! From water purifiers to houses in a box the works that Rotary Clubs do really hit home. I was overwhelmed with the impact that these extremely passionate and generous people all had on others less fortunate than ourselves. It really was a sight to behold.
It was now ShowTime! Lined up in our seats, all award holders where ready for the Live BBC News broadcast, not to mention the 2000+ people in the audience!
All winners had there video shown on the big screen and then answered a few questions with the ever so nice Ellie Crissell. Unfortunately the awards are no longer on BBC iPlayer but a full press release can be viewed from the link below.
http://www.rotaryonline.org.uk/rotaryonline/2012/04/leigh-teen-scoops-national-r otary-prize-for-work-with-disabled-youngsters.html
After getting a ridiculous and unprovoked plug for Coca-Cola I was expecting a slap on the wrist from BBC and a lifetime supply of Coke from Coca-Cola. Neither came.
Once the show had finished all award holders took up a seat in the audience and welcomes on Mr Eurovision and Children In Need... himself Sir Terry Wogan. After cracking some Irish jokes he was soon pulling at all our heart strings and showcasing the amazing work BBC's Children in Need does.
A truly remarkable two does meeting some truly remarkable young people!
I would like to say a massive thanks to The Rotary Club of Astley for their support and nomination.
Cameron :)
