On 30th November 2010 The Prince’s Trust held its 1st awards ceremony at the Leicester Tigers’ Stadium to recognise the outstanding achievement made by young people in the East Midlands.
The young people who were given awards had all experienced a difficult past but had managed to turn their lives around and achieve their goals with the help of The Prince’s Trust.
The awards ceremony was presented by Jay Singh-Sohal who was himself helped by The Prince’s Trust and is now a successful TV Journalist. He introduced the event by saying, “This afternoon you will hear the stories of young people with broken lives that have been pulled together by The Prince’s Trust.”
A video was played of His Royal Highness Prince Charles, founder of the trust. He described the people receiving the awards as, “role models for thousands of people across the UK.” He added they are, “truly amazing young people who have changed their lives.”
All of the finalists who were mentioned at the awards ceremony showed amazing resilience in turning their lives around. All of them had suffered as children or young adults but had achieved more than they could have imagined. These success stories showed the hard work and determination of the young people involved and also the help they received from The Prince’s Trust to get their lives back on track.
The fifth award was presented by Leicester businessman Vic Sethi who is British Asian. He received the ‘Businessman of the Year’ award this year which was presented to him by David Miliband. Mr Sethi told Pukaar News in an interview, “I’m the only British Asian businessman from Leicester involved with The Prince’s Trust and sat on the board. I have been supporting it for the last 3 to 4 years and would like to see more like minded British Asian Businessmen get involved. This can only be possible with the support of Media partners such as Romail Gulzar of Pukaar News, Rajan Singh of Star TV, Mr Bal of Sikh channel and other groups alike.”
He continued on to say, “The trust also helps British Asian children both domestically and abroad, a fact that not many of us are aware of. We need to bring in more successful British Asian businesses to support and contribute back to the Trust. The children of today are the future of tomorrow, they are our real wealth and the Trust helps and supports them ensuring that they achieve their full potential.”
The final award of the day was presented by Leicester Tigers Player Rory Underwood. This award was for someone who has achieved the most this year in turning their life around and helping others do the same. The award went to Laura Nuttell who tried to take her own life at 18. She was hospitalised for three years but The Prince’s Trust helped her turn her life around and she is now studying Mental Health and Social Work and aims to use her experiences and knowledge to help other young people.
Rory Underwood finished the day’s event by saying, “I’m very humble about what these young people achieve. You are all inspirational. I wish you all the best. I look up to you as role models.”
Laura Nuttell, the final award winner, added, “It’s meant so much to me to achieve what I have but to be honoured for it means so much. Thank you.”
