Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Thursday evening I had the pleasure of presenting awards to some fantastic young people at the Association for the Blind of WA-Guide Dogs WA 2010 awards ceremony in Victoria Park. I must thank Dr Margaret Crowley for the invite and also make a special thanks to Justin Cox and his mother, Sue Green, who met me at the front entrance when I arrived.

I was invited to speak to the audience about the importance of believing in yourself and how vital it is to set big goals and refuse to accept limitations. It was humbling and inspiring to see that so many in the audience had already achieved those goals. Ryan Honschooten was the MC and the audience enjoyed hearing from Ann Barton, the daughter of Angus Stewart, whom several of the awards are named after.

Two of my constituents received awards, and I want to make a special mention of them. Kelsey Allen of Victoria Park was runner-up in the Angus Stewart Achievement Award and was awarded the Ida Lloyd Fellowship. Kelsey received the awards because of her achievements in the academic and musical arenas. The awards will assist her with music lessons at the University of WA. I was also pleased to present Sagar Verma of Cannington with the Fred and Lorna Craggs Award. This award will allow Sagar to attend Central TAFE and help equip him with vocational skills. Congratulations to all the award winners—they are worthy recipients. They are: Monika Volpoi, Kylie Forth, Thanth Tu, Rachel Savage, Davinia Lefroy, Claire McGew, Fletcher Boyd, Jayde Abbott, Luke Scott, Nick Hosking, Savannah Boyd and Justin Cox. It would be a great honour to be able to attend this ceremony again in two years. (Time expired)