The Tribune

ROYAL visitors Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex and Forfar, and his wife, Sophie, Countess of Wessex and Forfar, attended an awards ceremony at SuperClubs Breezes last night.

The event was the Gold Awards presentation ceremony for the Governor General’s Youth Awards.

Prince Edward is also the chair of the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Awards Foundation, which has funded five projects in The Bahamas - and the Earl and Countess will visit three of those projects during their trip.

The couple leaves The Bahamas today.

Among those to receive awards was Alexus Francis. She said she was “very proud and very excited” and said “it was a very great experience from being a student part of the award programme to now being a leader, to encourage my students to be like me, get their bronze, silver and gold award in GGYA”.

Ms Francis started her progress in the awards in 2011 at Doris Johnson Senior High School.

She urged others to join the awards because “it broadens their horizons, gives them experience in the world, and being in Inagua you want students to experience other Family Islands like I did”.

Fellow honoree Edwin Johnson said: “It is an honour going through the three different levels... it’s truly an honour to be a gold award recipient. This programme, it provides a lot of different opportunities, especially for kids in the public school system. It provides opportunities for you to travel to the wider Bahamas, to see your country before travelling to the world.”