ABOUT 100 young people gathered at Bolton Town Hall to reap their rewards after many months of hard work to gain Duke of Edinburgh Gold, Silver and Bronze awards.

Bolton is one of the leading boroughs in the whole of Britain for fostering the award scheme among its youth. And a Lancaster Suite packed with recipients and their families more than proved the point.

To gain their various awards, all the recipients had to do some kind of service to the community, an expedition challenge, master a skill - and they ranged from balloon sculpture to boat building - and undertake some form of physical recreation.

The awards were presented by the Mayor and Mayoress of Bolton, Cllr Peter Finch and Mrs Rita Fairhurst, watched by education and youth service officials and the DofE regional officer Christiane Schlichting.

GOLD AWARDSILVER AWARD

Tim Baines, Victoria Bayley, Adam Christopher Birley, Matthew Hartley, James Isherwood, Wei Chuan Kwok, Alex McLoughlin, Lauren Mercado.

BRONZE AWARD

Rhiannon Allport, Aminah Atcha, Amy Barker, Simon Baxter, Carolyn Bayley, Christopher Bayley, Adam James Berry, David Geoffrey Bonfield, Ravi Bhatiani, Lyndsey Brooks, Stacey Buckley, John Paul Carlin, Michael Cope, Paul Crank, Helen Christopherson, Nicola Cooper, Angela Cottam, Isla Crawford, Helen Crawforth.

Nicola Daniels, John Dare, Alison Delaney, Abishek Das, Joseph Thomas Derby.

Christian Eckersley, Christopher Martin Evans, Michael Faulkner, Caroline Foster, Peter Fryatt, Kathryn Glassbrook, Caroline Jayne Goodwin, Damien Gareth Grailey, Dawn Graham, Rachel Claire Rothwell Groves.

Naguib Hajiani, John Hardman, Austin Harris, Peter Hartley, Kate Heaton, Lucy Hodgson, Carrie Ann Howarth, Louise Hurst, Caroline Johnson, Holly Jones,

Claire Keat, Ghangez Khan, Greg Kilshaw, Simon Knight.

Helen Lawman, Christopher Long, Katie Lydon, Karen Lyon, Fiona Maria McConigley, Suhanthini Mahadevan, Ruth Elizabeth Massingham, Kopal Matanhelia, Christopher Matthews, Marianne Mehta, Sarah Louise Meredith, Joanne Mills, Robin David Myers.

Sarah Newton, Vishal Nosib, Stephanie Perplus, Joanna Lalitha Ratnasingham, Alex Rawsthorn, Gail Helen Ross, James Rothwell, Rachel Sailes, Julia Sarginson, Suzanne Shaw, Amy Shepherd, Phillippa Shorrock, Nina Stones.

Hannah Taylor, John Paul Taylor, Ben Thornley, Georgia Tomlinson, Peter Tonge, Hayley Wilkinson, Lisa Wolstenholme, Emma Zukowski.

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