ROTARY CLUB OF MANSFIELD PRESENTS THE 30th COURAGE AWARDS Tuesday 2nd March 2021, via Zoom Sponsored by Welcome to Mansfield Rotary Club’s Courage Awards Mansfield Rotary Club is one of more than 34,000 clubs in more than 200 countries, which form Rotary International, the largest Service organisation in the world. Our motto is ‘Service Above Self’. Through our Community Service committee we have made a big contribution to Help for the Homeless, supporting six charities dedicated to this and helping to get a number of rough sleepers off the streets, particularly at Christmas. Additionally we have supported the Alzheimer’s Society and contributed to a Memory Cafe as well as helping a number of individuals with their personal needs. The International Committee has supplied aqua boxes, which turn polluted and dirty water into safe drinking water, and shelter boxes that, as the name suggests, provides a tent, bedding and home essentials for The first national mutual families made homeless in natural disasters, which unfortunately these days are happening all too frequently. One of our own special projects is collecting used artificial limbs from for staff absence hospitals in our region and shipping them to a centre in East Africa, where they are serviced and fitted to limbless survivors of landmines. Rotary International’s own charity, the Rotary Foundation, supports protection. humanitarian projects, large and small, throughout the world. The current major project, in partnership with the World Health Organisation and the Bill Gates Foundation, is to eradicate polio throughout the world. We are By schools, for schools. nearly there! Our Youth Services committee has selected Young Chefs from our area to proceed to Rotary’s regional and national events and also supported a youth football club towards a national final. We haven’t won either yet, but we will! Every year we stage our very successful Junior Showtime, which enables young people to demonstrate their talents and to get a feeling for performing in public. The wealth of talent in the Mansfield area is immense and we should be very proud of them. Some have gone on to wider fame and we wish them all continuing success. It is a privilege for Mansfield Rotary Club to present the Courage Awards, which reflect our own motto of Service Above Self. www.educationmutual.co.uk We hope you all enjoy the event, despite the changed circumstances and that you are impressed with these young people and are moved by their stories. We doubt there will be a dry eye on screen. Kate Allsop, President, Mansfield Rotary Club LEONI BRAGG (Meden School) Brave Leoni has shown admirable resilience and determination as she copes with undergoing chemotherapy as well as the isolating pressures of the coronavirus pandemic. Leoni, 14, of Mansfield Woodhouse, is a student at the Meden School, Warsop. She hopes to one day move into a career in criminal law — and be healthy! Charlotte Wild, Leoni’s head of year at the school, explained: “Leoni is currently undergoing chemotherapy, but her resilience and determination throughout has been admirable. “Not only is she having to deal with the pressures of the current pandemic, but she is also battling with her health. It is a worrying and isolating time for Leoni but, as I say, her resilience and braveness has shone through. “She loves music, listening to and following her favourite artist, Billie Eillish. “She’s a great artist and loves freehand drawing (on her iPad and paper) and recreating drawings of people in various genres. “She also loves doing make-up. It is mostly on herself these days, to take pictures of for social media or just experimenting etc.” Leoni, whose favourite song is Copycat, by Billie Eilish, says the subject she enjoys most at school is English “because there’s more freedom with answers to things, you can interpret things in your own way and are able to use imagination and more in-depth thought in what you’re saying.” Rotary Club of Mansfield Mansfield, Ashfield and Warsop Phone: 01623 706540 www. the original GOOD news local paper Email: [email protected] news- Web: www.mansfieldrotary.org.uk Facebook: www.facebook.com/RotaryClubofMansfield Don’t miss out... journal Twitter: @MansfieldRotary Read the latest edition on our website now .co.uk ANNABELLE PYE (West Nottinghamshire College) Annabelle has overcome deafness and an operation to be fitted with cochlear implants to thrive in her cookery studies at West Nottinghamshire College — and now has an ambition to own a baking business. Tutors say the 17-year-old, of Forest Town, has never let her hearing impairment become a barrier to learning and she is on track to successfully complete her NVQ Level 3 Diploma in Professional Cookery. Through Annabelle’s determination and confidence, her support workers at the college have now taken more of a reduced role in lessons, allowing her to be more independent and ‘employment-ready’. Chef tutor Mark Jones said during her first year at the college, studying Level 2 Professional Cookery, Annabelle relied on the assistance of a communication support worker for the deaf in both her theory and practical sessions, and also a Roger Pen microphone and receivers. Annabelle also suffered from intermittent ear infections that affected her hearing, wearing of her aids and her college attendance, but she always kept in touch and caught up with tasks and coursework. During the first coronavirus lockdown, Annabelle continued submitting work, though clearly affected by the move from working in college to remote learning, and went on to achieve a Merit grade in her level 2 course. Mark explained how the student hit the ground running on returning to college in September to study for her level 3 programme. With a new-found confidence and independent initiative, she broached with her support worker the subject of face masks hindering communication within the kitchen environment. This resulted in the use of see-through visors by all of her peers, allowing Annabelle to communicate independently without the need of a support worker’s intervention. She also ‘nagged’ her tutor for extra sessions to try to complete as many assessments as possible before a planned cochlear implant operation in October — a life-changing moment. During a brief period of recuperation from the major operation, she kept in contact with her group via Microsoft Teams and returned to college within weeks of the procedure. It was a new way of hearing for Annabelle and there have been difficulties and pleasant surprises along the way, added Mark. She has continued to be helped by communication support workers and had weekly one-to-one sessions to work through course-specific vocabulary with a focus on sounds Annabelle could hear with her cochlear implants. Now, thanks to the teenager’s determination, those support workers have been able to take a reduced role in lessons. Annabelle, who enjoys bike riding as well as baking and cooking, said she loves every aspect of cookery and learns lots every day on her course. COREY ROOT (A Place To Call Our Own, APTCOO) Teenager Corey has been praised for overcoming an unfair share of challenges to progress in his studies, grow in confidence and help others. Corey, 17, of Church Warsop, has been nominated by Carol Burkitt, chief executive of APTCOO, who described him as an intelligent and creative young man. “Over the last two years Corey has worked incredibly hard to overcome an unfair share of personal experiences and challenges, supported by his loving grandparents and the APTCOO environment,” she said. “Corey has made significant progress in his studies at school and in the last two academic terms achieved accreditation in maths and English, in particular his English reading comprehension examination. “Corey is a valued member of APTCOO. He has grown in confidence over the last term and has risen to volunteering tasks every Friday with enthusiasm and commitment. “Corey also demonstrates a maturity around younger learners and takes a lead role in forest school activities.” Forest school is the teenager’s favourite subject because he loves the connection with Nature and thrives being in the great outdoors. He loves singing, animal care, photography, natural studies, woodwork and playing video games. His favourite music is Heavy Metal and his favourite track is Nero Fort by Slipknot Corey said he would like to be a teacher, supporting young people — facing similar challenges to those he has experienced — to become happy and safe in their local community. Carol added: “Corey is a role model to all of us and, in particular, the young people at APTCOO, who respect, value and aspire to Corey’s trendy looks and infectious personality. “It has been a real privilege to see Corey work through his anxieties and start achieving on a scale none of us could have imagined.” RACHEL TWEEDIE (Portland College) Rachel has been at Portland College for three years and in this time she has made significant progress, not only with her studies but on a personal level also. Rachel, 22, had to isolate from March 2020 and from then she was dedicated to engaging with her college work through emails, TEAMs and phone calls. Rachel, of New Mills, worked closely with her sports tutor, Anna, and her progression tutor, Joanne Shewen–Parkes, to make sure she completed everything required for a very successful year. She worked tirelessly every week to complete all her work towards her qualifications. Joanne said: “This was not always easy for Rachel and we did have periods of time when she really struggled, not necessarily with the work but the whole situation — being at home, isolated from her friends and away from her second home of Portland.