THE WINNER of the Individual Nairac Award has been chosen due to her devoted attitude to helping others.

Katherine Frusher, 16, is a Young Leader with the 3rd Rodborough Brownies working towards becoming a fully qualified adult leader and despite the sudden death of her best friend and fellow Young Leader two years ago, she continued to commit to her Brownie unit, not missing one meeting or event.

The youngster received the award of a silver salver to keep for a year, a framed certificate and a cheque for a charity of Katherine’s choice.

Dame Janet Trotter, Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant for Gloucestershire and Patron of the Gloucestershire Branch of The Royal Society of St George presented the award during their 36th St George’s Day Service in Gloucester Cathedral on Wednesday, April 23.

Katherine, from Rodborough, volunteers on the staff team at Malvern Challenge, a huge Scout and Guide camp held annually on Cleeve Hill, where last year she helped marshal car parking for 3,000 participants and their parents.

At school Katherine supports a younger girl with Asperger’s but is currently coaching a replacement as she will leave the school in July.

Since recently qualifying as a GB Level 1 Coach in Archery she has also qualified as an ‘Arrows’ archery coach and takes adapted archery equipment to groups in Stroud, Dursley and Gloucester, encouraging girls aged 5 – 10 to try a new sport.

The all-rounder travels from Stroud to Gloucester each week by train to help coach a variety of young people with different levels of special needs at the inclusion club at GL1 Leisure Centre.

Katherine has chosen to share the Award cheque between Asthma UK and Deer Park Archers, her archery club which is fundraising to buy land.

The annual Awards are named in memory of Captain Nairac from Standish, who joined the Second Battalion Grenadier Guards in January 1973 In 1977, at the age of 28 and during his second tour of duty in Northern Ireland, he disappeared however it later transpired that he had been abducted, tortured and murdered by Irish terrorists.

In February 1979 it was announced that Her Majesty The Queen had approved the posthumous award of the George Cross, the highest honour for gallantry in peacetime, to Captain Nairac, whose body has not yet been found.