A CEREMONY celebrating the achievements of almost 200 young people was held last week as the annual Duke of Edinburgh awards presentation got underway.

Young people aged 14 to 24 from across North Ayrshire gathered at St Matthew’s Academy Thursday, March 29 to receive either their bronze, silver or gold Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) award.

Participants from open award groups based in Irvine, Arran and the Three Towns, as well as school groups from Greenwood, Irvine Royal, Kilwinning, Largs, Ardrossan, Garnock and Auchenharvie academies gathered to collect their certificates for successfully completing one of the DofE programmes.

Depute Provost Robert Barr, who presented the gold participants with their award, said: “It’s fantastic that during the official Year of Young People, we have so many young people successfully completing the Duke of Edinburgh awards programme.

“It’s no surprise to us how determined, committed and focused our young people are here in North Ayrshire, but this DofE event shows the scale of their success.

“Going forward, I’m sure our DofE award holders will reap the benefits of this highly regarded programme both in their personal life and professional.

Gold Awards: Kieran Fletcher, Matthew Gaw, Jodie Guthrie, Rebecca Hale, Lewis Henry, Shaun Hill, Ryan Hodgson, Ross Kerr, Paul Marshall, Craig McLellan, Susanna Mowatt, Alison Provan, Jordan Robertson, James Simmons, Johnnie Souttar, Fraser Wallace, Stephen Weston, Artur Zillich.

Silver Awards: Kiera Addies, Ashley Aitken, Tom Anderson, Beth Bicket, Katie Boyd, Natalie Dewar, Harry Eagleson, Iona Faulkner, Annie Ferguson, Lauren Fife, Kieran Fletcher, Lucy Gaw, Ethan Gilmour, Luca Giusti, Murray Grayston, Jodie Guthrie, Rachel Houston, Heather Howatt, James Jack, Dagmara Jaszcz, Jack Kean, Paul Kelso, Cameron Lee, Connor Love, Erin MacAskill, Megan MacAskill, Paul Marshall, Erin McAllister, Abigayle McCallum, Christine McCurdie, Harry McDonald, James McGlone, Joseph McIlory, Craig McLellan, Luke Moore, Katie Murphy, Tommy Newall, Cameron Norwood, Andrew Parker, Rhiannon Paterson, Rebekah Patterson, Luke Rea, David Reid, Kieran Reid, Morgan Roy, James Simmons, Linzi Smith, Johnnie Soutter, Rachel Telfer, Stephen Wallace, Stephen Weston, Rebecca Wyper, Artur Zillich.

Bronze Awards: Craig Allan, Anya Anderson, Megan Armstrong, Rhys Arneill, Lewis Austin, Iona Barclay, Josh Bark, Ellie Barlow, Jordan Barr, Tonie Beets, Eve Beenie, Aaron Berryman, Katie Bilham, Hannah Brown, Regan Brown, Scott Bryant, Daan Buis, Tamzin Cairns, Erin Caldwell, Kara Campbell, Hannah Carling, Molly Carroll, Lauren Colquhoun, James Corbett, Jack Cousar, Darren Croll, Lauren Cummings, Ian Dickie, Shaun Docherty, Chelsea Dodgson, Nikki Donnelly, Paige Donnelly, Courtney Dougall, Nathan Dunbar, Sean Duncan, Harry Eagleson, Holly Falconer, Rhian Finnigan, Aidan Fitzsimmons, Lucy Flinn, Robbie Frew, Natalie Frost, Rachel Gallacher, Iona Galloway, Kyra Geals, Ross Gentleman, Ross Gibb, Rory Gillespie, Lauren Gilmour, Kieran Goff, Sarah Green, Kerrie Grier, Jenna Haddow, Ross Hagan, Ian Hall, Lewis Hamilton, Angel Hancock– Laponder, Sophie Hawkshaw, Brogan Hay, Logan Henderson, Mirren Hobson, Jessica Hodgart, Kayla Hood, Jack Kean, Isla Kolankaya, Ryan Lai, Luis Laird, Casey Lang, Denisa Levai, Jamie Love, Erin MacAskill, Megan MacAskill, Alistair MacDonald, Angus MacDonald, Brodi MacLeod, Jack Marshall, Jack Masson, Erin McAllister, Emma McCabe, Laurence McCarthy, Logan McDowall, Daniel McFafyean, Lauren McGowan, Ayli McInnes, Scott McKee, Kayleigh McKinnon, Christopher McLean, Scott McLelland, Ben McMahon, Aimee McMullan, Ewan Middleton, Nina Mitchell, Luke Moore, Nathan Mullen, Leah Mullin, Emily Nix, Jamie Nix, Alexander Orderley, Amy Park, Liam Paterson, Erin Porter, Ross Porter, Laura Prentice, Jodie Quirk, Aidan Rae, Georgie Renfrew, Christopher Ribbeck, Lewis Roberts, Elodie Schofield, Lauren Scott, Niamh Scott, Eilidh Scott, Jay Scott, Ellie Shearer, Aeryn Simmonds, Lauren Smart, Olivia Smith, Georgia Spence, Carolann Steven, Brendan Stevenson, Mhairi Stewart, Lara Stewart, Jack Swanson, Naomi Taylor, Gillian Thorpe, Vanessa To, Ross Travers, Luke Walker, Ben Wallace, Sophie Wardell, Beth Warner, Katelyn Watterson, Aimee Whitecross, Andrew Williams, Jaimie Wilson, Luke Wilson, Dillion Young, Aileen Berry, Tianna Burnett, Dillon Charles, Ryan Dickson, John Paul Hannah, Adam Howell, Jack Leyden, Tony Maxwell, Amy McCallum.