Wirral’s youth heroes for 2012 announced at glitzy ceremony hosted Coronation Street actor Andrew Lancel

Feb 29 2012 Heswall News

YOUNGSTERS across Wirral were celebrated at an awards evening.

Around 300 people flocked to the first-ever Wirral Youth Heroes awards held last Friday at Thornton Hall Hotel.

The event was hosted by Coronation Street actor Andrew Lancel who said he was thrilled to be there and “very humbled”.

He kept the audience entertained and gave a brief overview of the 24 finalists’ stories.

There were nine categories and the winners were Georgia Price, Benjamin Caveen, Peter Millar, Erin Nolan, Rob Muir, Christopher Gavin, Karl Thompson, Hannah Brown and Josh Rotherham, who picked up the overall prize too. The 19-year-old won an iPad2.

The event was organised by Wirral organisation Youth for Christ (YFC), following the riots last summer, to honour Wirral’s inspirational young people who deserve recognition.

Martin Dickson from Wirral’s YFC, told the News: “I am absolutely delighted with the whole event and my team at Wirral YFC are overjoyed by the incredible feedback we have received.

“The room looked stunning, the venue was packed with over 300 guests and the ceremony itself was inspirational.

“For me though, the best part of the night was meeting the young people whose incredible stories I had read with the judging panel a few weeks earlier. Every story was deeply moving even when they were just on paper and so to meet these young heroes on the night was a huge privilege.

“One of the desires for the Youth Heroes Awards was to encourage and inspire other young people to do something special for their community.

“It was all about our belief that with the right nurturing and encouragement every young person can make a difference. The judges’ decision to choose Josh Rotherham as the overall winner epitomised this and I think they made a great choice.

“Josh was a young person at risk and was heavily involved with gangs but with the support of those around him Josh escaped the gang culture and now supports young people with disabilities, self-esteem issues and low confidence. For this reason Josh is the perfect Wirral Youth Hero of 2012.”

Civic dignitaries leant their support and took to the stage to announce the winners.

This included Mayor of Wirral councillor Moira McLaughlin, deputy chief fire officer Phil Garrigan, Merseyside Police chief superintendent John Martin, along with local MPs Esther McVey and Frank Field MP.

Young musical sensation Megana Heart sang her heart out on stage.

All the finalists were a given a goodie bag supplied by the Birkenhead Soroptimists.