CHARITABLE organisation Royston Round Table recognised the work of those that have been helped by its donations at an awards ceremony last week.

The eight local beneficiaries gave speeches on how they have used money, their achievements and their future plans in front of an audience of 130 people at Greneway School on Saturday 15 January.

Those honoured included Nicky Dunklin of Friends of Chernobyl’s Children, an organisation which takes in children from the disaster-hit Belarusian town once a year, and treats them to days out.

The Time-trackers of Royston Museum, which is a group for people aged between eight and 14 who explore the history of the local area, and Phoebe Dunklin of Royston and District Scouts, were also acknowledged after being given donations.

Money was given to Squadron 2484 of the Bassingbourn Air Cadets, who undertook a two week trip to Borneo last Easter to complete their gold Duke of Edinburgh Award.

Nineteen-year-old Alice Phillips was praised for her work in Gambia in as part of the Lisa Kent Memorial Trust, for which she received a donation. Lisa died in a car accident at the age of 19, and the trust aims to improve the education of children in Gambia.

The Friends of the River Shep, including Jenny Ravenhill, Rob Mungovan and Jamie Clarke, were singled out for helping to improve parts of the river, while Matt Fellingham, Ann Smith, Sam Tobiss and Christine Knight of Royston Tennis Club also benefitted from Round Table donations.

Thirty-five dancers from the Stephanie Prior School of Dancing, were given the once in a lifetime chance to appear at a special dance at Disneyland Paris in August. The Round Table helped with the funding for the outfits.

Darren Lane, community services officer and event organiser said: “We collect money through our Santa’s Sleigh rounds during December and redistribute these funds to the local community after reviewing requests for donations periodically through the following year.

“We wanted to give the presenters a platform to celebrate their achievements in a formal way and the guys in the Table were also keen to hear how the donations had been used and what wider benefits had resulted.

“There was a fantastic variety of presentations on show and each group had really worked hard to make the presentation as informative as possible.

“The Tablers really enjoyed evening and judging by the response of the audience and fellow presenters I think a good time was had by all.”

Mr Lane expressed his thanks to the people of Royston and the surrounding villages for their generosity. For more information, visit www.roystonroundtable.co.uk.