Last updated at 15:38, Friday, 09 November 2012

A guide leader has received the Queen’s Guide Award for her international efforts.

Baroness Jan Royall and Girl Guiding UK’s Chief Guide Gill Slocombe present Helen Pearson with her award

Helen Pearson, a young leader with Scotby Guides, scooped the top award for a Fairtrade food project, a four-day trek in the Lake District and a trip on an international camp to Denmark.

She was one of 20 young women who received the award at a special ceremony in the House of Lords.

“Guiding has given me confidence in myself and has made me more capable to deal with challenging situations,” the 20-year-old said.

“Part of my Queen’s Guide Award involved a Fairtrade food project which was really interesting as I found out a lot that I didn’t know, and the highlight of the award for me was the trip to Denmark. We spent 10 days at Blasommer camp, during which we met people from all over the world, went hiking and ate loads of different foods.”

The Queen’s Guide Award is the most prestigious guiding award open to members between the ages of 16 and 25. Other recipients were honoured for working with the homeless and raising money for national charities.

The award was presented to Helen by Baroness Jan Royall and Girlguiding UK’s Chief Guide Gill Slocombe.

Gill said: “Over the years the Queen’s Guide Award has given many young women an amazing sense of empowerment and confidence. I hope they will serve as an inspiration to many more young women all over the country who are thinking about getting involved in guiding.

“I’m sure the experience of the presentation itself will be just one of the happy memories they will look back on in years to come.”

First published at 14:59, Friday, 09 November 2012
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk