TWO young SES cadets were honoured when they received community service awards from the Margaret River CWA on Thursday.
Managed by Margaret River Senior High School, the cadets meet every Thursday and participate in activities similar to the Scouts. The awards are given every year to the cadets who show the most community-based help.
Year 10 students John Busby and Tiana Carboni were delighted to win this year’s awards for their helpful roles in 2012 events such as the ANZAC, the Fun Run and the Margaret River show.
John, who has participated in the SES cadet program since year 8, said he enjoyed helping the community.
Tiana said she valued the chance to “socialise with all ages” during these events.
“ Without the students, they (the CWA) wouldn’t have survived,” Cadets Unit Leader Wendy Coffey said.
She referred to events such as the Margaret River Fun Run in which the CWA was responsible for all the water stations. The cadets helped them run these across the 10km course.
Wendy said that John and Tiana were two of the most humble cadets they could have picked for the awards.
CWA secretary and treasurer Lynn Jones presented the awards for a special reason. 31 years ago, she was a Cub Scout leader at First Leaderville Scout Group and had Tiana’s uncle as a cub, while Tiana’s father was in the scouts with Lynn’s son. Lynn said this was a nice bit of history to reflect on.
The awards were started years ago by teacher and CWA member Bernice Miles, who wanted to bridge the age gap between the young and elderly citizens.
Janette said.
“It’s funny because when the kids first came to the (CWA) gate, they looked at the elderly people and went ‘Oh my god, what are we in for?’”
She said the awards are a great way to bring together young and elderly people even if it is just once a year. As well as organising the awards for the SES cadets, the CWA supports the First Margaret River Scout Group by giving them a hall to use free of hire.