A 19-year-old from Poland has become the first young person to be presented with an award recognising voluntary work on Teesside.

Stockton Borough Voluntary Development Agency wants to recruit young people aged 16 to 24 for a Millennium Volunteers Project.

Marcin Zyczkowski, has received a Millennium Award, signed by Education Secretary David Blunkett, for 200 hours' voluntary work at Billingham.

Father David Taylor is parish priest at St John's Church, Billingham, and chaplain to the Apostleship of the Sea and met Marcin's father, a sailor, on his visits to Teesport.

On a two-month long visit to Teesside, Marcin has spent hours painting the church shop, replacing and fitting shelves, carrying out repairs and delivering furniture in the parish. He also accompanied Fr Taylor to meet ships' crews docking at Teesport.

Carolynne Withers, volunteer development officer with the Stockton agency, said: "We are just beginning the project, but we want to start a recruiting campaign, aimed at 16 to 24-year-olds for voluntary work in Stockton.

"We thought it was very fitting to sign Marcin up for this.''

For details of the project, call (01642) 355292