WHITEHAVEN Army Cadets have been presented with two prestigious awards at the Annual Reunion of the Kells Royal British Legion.

 The first award was the Linda Johnston Trophy, which was presented to the town’s cadet force which managed to collect the most for the poppy appeal during the Saturday collection prior to Remembrance Sunday in November.

 The cadets collected a total of £1,998.50 on that Saturday alone as well as £1,307.83 from door-to-door collections leading up to it.

 This meant the Army Cadets collected a grand total of £3,306.33 over the collection period.

 This is the 13th time in 16 years that the Whitehaven Army Cadets have won this award. The president of Kells Royal British Legion, Frank Flinn, also thanked the Whitehaven Air Cadets and St Bees Combined Cadet Force for their efforts with the collections.

 The second award was the Legion’s Lonsdale Trophy for Youth Endeavour. This was presented by the area national council member Eddy Dixon.

 Each year, nominations are put forward from all areas of the Legion’s Cumberland and Westmorland branch.

 And this year the Whitehaven Army Cadets were chosen by the committee as the winner of this prestigious award.

 Staff Sergeant Nathan Major, the detachment commander at Whitehaven, was invited as a guest to be presented with both the awards on behalf of the Cadets and adult instructors of his detachment.

 He said: “All the cadets and staff are grateful of both these awards. It just goes to show that all their hard work throughout the year and their voluntary assistance with the poppy appeal pays.

 “However, the remembrance parade and the poppy appeal is very close to the hearts of all the cadet forces and I am 100 per cent confident that the army cadets, along with the air cadets and St Bees School cadets, would continue to support the poppy appeal even without these awards.”