WINNING a top award from the Royal Horticultural Society for a garden he helped to create, has left Aaron Kershaw wanting to do more.
Aaron, a Year 11 student from Haslingden High School was one of a team from Rossendale Youth Zone in Rawtenstall who helped to create a stunning garden at the centre on Burnley Road.
The garden received a Level 5 Outstanding award in the North West It’s Your Neighbourhood Awards and also a judge’s discretionary award for Gardening With Young People.
The Zone garden was also a part of the Rossendale Civic Pride Rawtenstall Britain in Bloom submission for the Large Town category which won Gold.
Aaron attended the ceremony at Bolton Wanderers Stadium, when he met lots of people from all over the North West.
Youth Worker Lisa Spencer said: “It was a great day and the Young People celebrated winning two awards – ‘Gardening with Young People’ and a Level 5 Outstanding’ which we are all thrilled about.
“Aaron was amazing on the day, his ability to converse with adults is fabulous and his confidence has really grown throughout this project. We are super proud of him.”
Aaron said: “We had no idea that we would do so well. Last year we got a Level 3 Developing, so we thought we may go one better, then they had read out all the Level 4s and we had not been mentioned.
“When we go the Level 5 it was like all the hard work that we had put in had paid off. It was a bit overwhelming and I got to go on the stage to collect the award.
“We also won one for involving young people and we didn’t know anything about that award. It was a massive bonus for the youth workers as they had put a lot of effort in and it was a credit to them as well.”
Although this is Aaron’s GCSE year, he is still hoping to help The Youth Zone to compete again, once they know the theme.
He said: “This year I mostly helped with the decoration but next year I might get more involved with the gardening.
“At the awards, it was great to see such a large community of people and it was really interesting to find out what others had done.
“Although we were there as young people, it was nice to see people from every generation getting involved.”