ABEL celebrates East Lothian's young people at special awards ceremony

12.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 2nd Jun 2009

Youth Champion - Cllr Ruth Currie

n Friday 29 May 2009, twenty-one very special young people will be receiving awards from ABEL, celebrating their personal achievement and the contributions they make to their school and community. The ceremony will be held at 2pm at Musselburgh Grammar School.

On Friday 29 May 2009, twenty-one very special young people will be receiving awards from ABEL, celebrating their personal achievement and the contributions they make to their school and community. The ceremony will be held at 2pm at Musselburgh Grammar School. East Lothian Young People's Champion and Treasurer of ABEL Councillor Ruth Currie and ABEL Chairperson Mrs Janette Buchanan will present the awards.

Ryan Mackinnon, who is just completing his first year at Musselburgh Grammar, is being awarded with the ABEL Quaich. This award is for a pupil or pupils in an East Lothian secondary school, who have stepped forward in a leadership role to honour, uphold and improve the development of the positive ethos in their school.

A year and a half a go, Ryan began fundraising in the memory of his schoolmate, Caitlyn Anderson, who died of Huntington's aged nine, early in 2008. Ryan, his schoolmates at Pinkie St Peters, and his friends and family arranged a week of events last June that raised over £3,000, which was split between the Scottish Huntington's Association and CHAS. Ryan, a Young Scot of the Year finalist, has set about raising even more this year, with a week of events starting on the 20th June. The events include:

•a Hibs Select v Pinkie at Pinkie St Peters Primary Kids tournament at Pinkie

•a golf tournament at the old course in Musselburgh - there is still a chance for anyone who's interested to sponsor a hole

•an auction disco raffle night venue.

For more information about how to take part, contact educationenquiries@eastlothian.gov.uk and your details will be passed on to the organisers.

The runners up in the Quaich Awards are:

•Cammy Johnstone from Preston Lodge, for being proactive in the Lifeskills class - he leads by example; is keen and eager; asks relevant questions; shows a keen interest with all activities, and motivates others in the group.

•The Preston Lodge ECO group (Ashton Ritchie, Emma Ferrier, Holly Harrison, Ryan Simpson, Courtney Ritchie, Rosie Allan, Eilidh Alexander and Lesley Anne Hamilton) who have combined an awareness raising campaign in school with a range of eco activities including litter pick-ups and recycling initiatives

•Tom Cunningham, Ross High School, who has been honoured for his part in the school's community commitment programme in 6th year, and for his work in supporting new pupils to settle into school and make friends

•Emma Edwards, Laura Campbell, Calum-Iain Campbell, Fiona Milne, Kate Miller and Charlie Yates from North Berwick High School, who help with homework clubs, ran a Christmas Fair and raised funds for various charities, including Sue Ryder and Sponsor a Child.

Each of these young people will receive a medal celebrating their achievement.

Four primary school pupils - David Mcneish (Prestonpans Primary), Sam MacKay (King's Meadow Primary), Liam Currie (Prestonpans Primary) and Abby Mitchell (Gullane Primary) - will receive individual ABEL awards for their tremendous achievement while participating in ABEL projects.

East Lothian Young People's Champion Councillor Ruth Currie says:

'I found being involved in the judging for these ABEL awards to be a really heartening experience and one that has made me very optimistic for East Lothian's future. We often forget how many of our young people work so hard raising money for charity at home and abroad, and contributing to projects that enrich their schools and local communities. So, I'd like to congratulate all our ABEL award winners here today and all those unsung heroes out there too, doing their bit to make things better locally and further afield.'