Mary Fagan, the lord lieutenant of Hampshire, presented 10 Queen's Scout Award certificates and four Chief Scout's Awards at the Methodist Church in Chandler's Ford.

Scout District Commissioner, Carolyn Darbyshire, welcomed guests who included Margaret Snaith and Jean Hammerton, vice-chairman of Hampshire County Council and deputy mayor of Winchester respectively.

Richard Merefield, Hampshire Scout County Commissioner and his wife, Sue, together with two previous county commissioners, Roy Farmers and Mike Everett, were also present as was Dr John May, Scout Headquarters' chairman of the programme and development sub-committee.

The comperes for the evening were two previous recipients of the Queen's Scout Award, Miranda Carreras and Dave King. They explained the challenges put to those working for their Chief Scout Awards.

Planning skills, communications, taking responsibility for themselves and others, community service, improving their physical prowess and a surviving challenging expedition were some of the qualities expected of the 14 to 15-year-olds.

Being a member of the Jamboree contingent that went to Thailand for the World Scout Jamboree had been a highlight for some; helping out at a street shelter and orphanage in South Africa, building a raft that would safely carry Scouts and their leaders and taking part in a sailing expedition on TS Royalist were highlights for others.

Those who received their Chief Scout's Award from Mrs Fagan, who is president of Hampshire County Scout Council, were: Rhain Cox, 1st Southampton West Scout Group; David Gibbons, Basingstoke East Air Scout Group; Neil Green, 13th Itchen North Scout Group; Luke Orchard, 4th New Forest North Sea Scout Group.

After the presentations, Michele Sopowski, who gained the Queen's Scout Award, gave a lively talk on "What the Queen's Scout Award has meant to me".

Her message was: 'Don't stop challenging yourself - you know you can do it!'

The 10 winners of the Queen's Scout certificate had needed to complete an onerous expedition. Many still helped as assistant leaders in their Scout groups and some assisted with special-needs children or disabled and elderly people.

Mrs Fagan listened carefully as each citation was read out then talked about their achievements with each of the young people.

After thanking the leaders and parents for the support given to the Scouts, Mrs Fagan said how proud the county was of Scouting in Hampshire.

The Scouts who received their Queen's Scout Award certificate were: Ian Aherne, Basingstoke West Scout District; Graham Bloxham, Blackwater Scout District; Richard Bustin, Rotherfield Scout District; Emma Colborne, Itchen South Scout District; Hannah Coutts, Waterlooville Scout District; Robert Dicks, Basingstoke East Scout District; Joanne Keen, Central Portsmouth Scout District; Jamie Kelly, Basingstoke East Scout District; Sara Redrup, Blackwater Valley Scout District and Gary Seymour, Gosport Scout District.