MORE than 60 young people from the Wee County were celebrated with awards for their volunteering efforts at an event that was trending across the globe.

Saltire Awards were handed out to pupils from Lornshill Academy last week for their collective 800 hours of volunteering at last November's TEDx Conference in the school.

The event itself, which saw a variety of speakers tackle issues around resilience and much more, was the 15th most trending subject on social media platform Twitter across the globe for several hours on the day.

At a ceremony last Thursday, March 12, the young people who volunteered their time to greet visitors, co-ordinate workshops, provided catering and generally assisted to make sure everything ran smooth.

Giving out certificate was Alice Wadkin from Clackmannanshire Third Sector Interface (CTSi), who highlighted the 800 combined hours was worth more than £6,000 if calculated at the living wage.

And indeed, that time would have been enough to watch all of the classic TV series Friends more than nine times, she mused.

Richard Burrell, head of social subjects at Lornshill, was feeling an "immense sense of pride" for the young people when the Saltire Awards were handed over.

He said: "I'm absolutely delighted that our young people have got recognition for the amount of time and effort they invested in Lornshill Academy and the wider community.

"They worked tirelessly on the Wednesday before the event to make sure that everything was ready and on the day itself they were worth their weight in gold, they were absolutely fantastic in terms of how they welcomed our guests, in terms of how they presented themselves on the day and made everybody feel really welcome."

And the volunteering for the TEDx event was only one part of their achievements as they have been involved in numerous other activities too, including walking shelter dogs, organising and taking forward community clean-up campaigns, assisting local youth clubs and much more.

CTSi figures show a positive trend in that there has been a 48 per cent increase in sustained youth volunteering locally over the past couple of years.

The local charity support organisation will be celebrating the achievements of individuals and groups at the annual awards ceremony, Wee County, Big Heroes: CTSi Third Sector Awards - visit bit.ly/2wsIPB8, email admin@ctsi.org.uk or call 01259 213 840 to nominate.