Once again we had some splendid entries for our Young Photographer competition ably organised by Jeff Pimblett assisted by John Farmer. Many thanks to them.

The 7-10 age group was won by Poppy Howe of Vicarage Park School. Connie Dobson (Cartmel Priory) won the 11-13 class and Jed Armitage (QES Kirkby Lonsdale) was the winner in the 14-17 class.

The Youth Opportunities Committee administers a fund to help young sports people. The awards funded by the 3 Counties Challenge event in 2011 have recently been announced. Thanks to a generous donation in memory of past member Robin Brown, we were able this year to increase the money available for sporting excellence to £2,400.

We interviewed seven young sporting enthusiasts with particular talent and have been able to offer each one a different share of the pot according to our sense of their individual requirements. At the time of writing we have received thanks from some of them: which we include in the following announcement of the awards. The recipients are listed alphabetically by surname.

Young Sportsperson Scholarship fund report

Please find below a summary of my tennis achievements and experiences in 2011, my most successful year ever of playing tennis... so far!

• Number 1 ranked U-14 boy in Cumbria for 52 consecutive weeks in 2011.
• Currently ranked number 82 U-14 boy in the UK out of 5500 players (and aiming for top 50 by end of March 2012).
• Played for both Cumbria U-18 and U-14 county cup teams in national competition in Glasgow and Sheffield respectively (youngest ever player for U-18s at age of 13).
• Won Cumbria 'HSBC Road to Wimbledon' competition to qualify for the National Finals on the grass courts of the All England Club in August. I had an amazing experience and reached the semifinals of the consolation draw beating 3 top 50 players on route. Got to hit with Tim Henman on finals day!
• Achieved the 'triple crown' at county closed championships in Carlisle in August, winning the U-14 boys singles, doubles and mixed doubles titles.
• Played on the European tour for the first time in May at a U-14 Tennis Europe event on red clay in Copenhagen. (This trip was partly funded by Kendal Rotary Club's sporting grant).
• Awarded the Junior Boy Player of the year at Cumbria L TA's awards evening in October in Penrith. My award was presented by Roger Draper, Chief Executive of the Lawn Tennis Associa

I would like to express my thanks to Kendal Rotary Club for your support and interest in my progress during the year.

Sam

Young Sportsperson Scholarship fund report

I have built on earlier water polo successes with more goals and tournament wins. First up was the British Gas ASA National Finals held at the Manchester Aquatics pool.

The Lancaster girls were both playing for the Liverpool Youth team against arch rivals, Manchester. In a tense final the team work and strength in dept of the Liverpool team paid off and they won by 9 to 7 to take the gold medals. I ended up top scorer with 13 goals in total over the whole competition.

With only an hour rest I was back in the water, with several other Youth members, moving up age groups to play Manchester Juniors in the second final. In an closer match the Liverpool team were piped in the last half of extra time with only a minutes left on the clock, losing 4 to 3, to take the silver medals.

I was straight back to competitive matches with the Liverpool Juniors team this time in the annual Spring Cup open age knock out competition, with this finals held at Walsall pool. After several qualifying round the girls made it through to the finals against the more experienced and older Liverpool Lizards team. However, this time the younger Junior players came out on top winning the match 7 to 4.

Straight after the match I jumped into the car for a three day training camp with the GB Juniors and Development Squads at Marlborough College, Swindon. I was allowed a day off before flying to Nantes, France for a three day international tournament where the GB team played France (won 14 to 6), Germany (won 16 to 6) and Russia, last years European champions (lost 7 to 19). My next reward was three GCSE exams on the day after my return, a big reality check!

Beth