The Lions Club of Falmouth and Penryn has held its annual Youth Evening at the Falmouth Beach Resort Hotel. The main purpose of the evening was to select one of four candidates to go forward to represent Falmouth and Penryn in the national Lions Youth Award Scheme.

The scheme aims to identify and pay tribute to young people up to the age of 18 for their involvement in the local community and it is sponsored by Forte plc, Reuters plc and Lloyds TSB plc.

The representative chosen on the evening will go forward to a regional final and if successful there, will receive £500 towards their chosen charity and stands the chance of going on to a national final with a top prize of £1,500 for the charity of their choice, holding the Sir Charles Forte Rose Bowl for one year, being presented with a replica of the rose bowl and being invited to the national Lions Club Convention and International Youth Day.

The judges, David Charles, a retired accountant who is very active in the local community, Janet Hobson, zone chairman of the Lions Club and Geoff Buffham, treasurer of the Falmouth and Penryn Club had a very difficult job in selecting one candidate for the best contribution to the local community. Janet Hobson, speaking on behalf of the judges, told the audience that they were all wonderful guys and they were all winners.

Whilst judging was taking place, the audience of parents and others active in youth activities in the area were told of other schemes being run by the Lions Club, including the international Peace Poster competition for 11-13 year olds, the Tacade drug and alcohol education system that is sponsored by the local Lions Club and is being introduced into Falmouth and Penryn schools very shortly and they were shown a video of the many Lions activities world-wide.

Lisa Coston, the Youth Affairs Officer for Falmouth Police told the group of the many actions being taken by the police to help the youth of the area.

After much deliberation, the judges awarded the Inter-School Citizenship Shield, donated by Steve Kimberley, to Ellen Clarke who received it from the winner of the 2001 competition, Emma Phillips, and the candidate who will go forward to the next round of the competition was Sharon Offord who was presented with a cheque for £100 payable to Operation Christmas Child, her chosen charity.

Kirk Davies and Matthew Henderson, the other two candidates were both complimented on their wonderful contribution to the local community by both the judges and Richard Mitchell, president of the Lions Club of Falmouth and Penryn. All candidates received book tokens and a certificate.

The event was organised by Charlie Watkins, youth officer for the club.