Gold award students’ right royal palace visit

TALENTED youngsters shone in the spotlight and raised thousands of pounds for local good causes.

The Kids Got Talent show was organised by Marsh-based party venue Popkidz.

The event raised just over £2,000, which will be split between Rawthorpe Amateur Boxing Club and helping fund nine-year-old Cristiano Sousa’s cancer treatment.

The little boy, from Marsh, is battling a rare aggressive cancer and a fundraising campaign is under way for him to have pioneering treatment at the Burzynski Clinic in Houston. Around 20 kids got through to the finals of the contest at Bowers Mill in Barkisland.

They loved being on stage and showcased a variety of talents. The youngest child taking part was three-year-old Lilly Mai, who impressed with her confident dance and song routine.

The rest of the performers were aged six to 14 and they wowed the crowd with their various singing and dancing for their gold award presentations.

They were joined by Strictly Come Dancing and Call the Midwife star Helen George.

Helen told them about her experience of doing the bronze award and how she learned a valuable lesson not to leave hiking boots outside your tent in torrential rain!

Former students Katie Lockwood, styles. One boy played the guitar while singers performed in solos, couples and trios - with one huge group of 14 kids taking to the stage.

Other performances came from a magician and street dance crew.

All of the children received a trophy for taking part.

Popkiz is now looking forward to staging the talent show again next year and hopes to raise even more money for charity. Bethany Halligan, Heather Crossley, Jodie Simpson-Pearce, Daisy Stout and Grace Evans went to the palace.

They were each accompanied by one of their parents to the presentation, led by the Duke of Edinburgh himself. This was Prince Philip’s last presentation as patron of the award.

He was joined by Prince Edward, who will be assuming the mantle of patron in the future, and his wife Sophie. She also spoke to the former students, who formed part of the West Yorkshire Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award group, about their experience.

Sophie was particularly interested in Bethany’s account of her residential experience in Japan.

The visit ended with a group photo, a proud memento of a very special day at the palace.