ENTERPRISING young people have received awards for organising activities in their communities.

More than 100 awards were given out at a presentation evening organised by Durham County Council's Education in the Community initiative recently.

Among those to receive awards were the Rural Research Group, a team of youngsters who recently received a £15,000 grant to learn and pass on new skills to younger children in the Kelloe and Quarrington Hill area, near Durham.

They have organised two arts and craft nights, a sports fun day and a pool tournament and are planning Christmas activities for children and elderly people in the area.

Also honoured was the Area Task Group, which consists of young people from youth clubs in the Durham City area. They completed two residential weekends looking at team-building and issues affecting young people's activities.

Now the group is applying for grants to organise activities with a health theme for other young people, such as healthy eating projects, sports activity days and drama and music weekends.

The Area Fishing Group, also from the Durham area, took part in a course with a specialist instructor to learn about angling, while the Connexions Special Needs Group took part in a week's activity programme to learn new skills. The group has just applied for a grant to organise activities for young people with special needs.

Education in the Community worker Keely Fingleton said: "The team is very proud of all the young people and wanted to honour them all.

"They have not only learned new skills, but also want to give others the chance to do the same. They have given up a lot of their leisure time to take part in these projects."

The Education in the Community awards were piloted in the Durham area to encourage young people to take part in new activities and are now in place all over the county.