THE latest round of Blair Mayne Bursaries has been announced, with all three winners using their £500 awards towards the costs of travel to fulfil their ambitions.
Gillian Mallagh, from Newtownards, has received the Bursary for Academic Study.
The medical student will be travelling to Peru in the summer to work with a charity, CERT International, which sends teams of doctors, nurses and dentists across the world to underprivileged areas and disaster zones. Helping to deliver vital healthcare, Gillian will spend two weeks travelling by canoe along the tributaries of the Amazon, visiting river villages to provide medical and dental clinics, before moving to the city of Cusco and working there to provide healthcare to the area’s poor.
The winner of the Bursary for Adventure Training will also be travelling.
Grace Gallagher, a 16-year student from Portaferry, will be joining a Habitat for Humanity project in Malawi, South East Africa. In the course of her 3 week stay, Grace will work with a team to build and maintain homes in a small village, including facilities for running water, cooking and eating. She has been fundraising to meet her travel and accommodation costs, with sponsored runs, coffee mornings and events.
Taekwon-do black belt, Louise Dickson has received the Bursary for Sport.
The 14-year old from Portavogie, has a string of gold medals to her name after competing in local, regional and international competitions and will be travelling to Minsk, Belarus in April with the Northern Ireland team to compete in the European Championships. Success there would allow her to compete in the World Championships in 2015 and take her a step nearer her dream of selection for the Olympics.
Chairman of the Bursary Committee, Alderman Ronnie Ferguson, said: “We had a large number of high quality applicants this year and faced a difficult decision in making the awards. However, it would be hard to find three more worthy recipients, who will all use their awards to best effect, travelling not only to improve their own skills and talents, but using their experiences to the benefit of others and that is what the bursary is all about”.
The Blair Mayne Bursary was established in memory of Lt Col Blair Mayne, and offers bursaries to young people from the Ards Borough who aspire to excellence in the categories of Academic Study, Adventure Training and Sport. Anyone who would like further information about the Bursary should contact Ursula Mezza at Ards Borough Council, Tel: 028 9182 4021.
