Wakefield boy receives top Scout award for cancer bravery
The family of a nine-year-old boy who is being treated for brain cancer have said that being a Cub Scout allows him to be "normal again".Harry, from Wakefield, has medulloblastoma and has undergone chemotherapy and radiotherapy.The Scout Association has awarded him the Cornwell Badge in recognition of his "extraordinary strength, resilience and determination".Harry will now get to meet a member of the Royal Family - an experience he said he was "really excited" about.
Harry returned to his Cub Scout pack, 25th Wakefield (St John's), last summer after nine months of hospital treatment."I didn't know as many people as I knew [before surgery]," he said."It was tough but I met loads of new people and I didn't give up on what we were learning about."
Harry's parents, Owain and Lisa Evans, are both medics - his father is a children's orthopaedic surgeon and his mother is a neonatal consultant.Dr Evans said her son had to "relearn everything" after his treatment."To begin with, he was quite nervous, but he's been taken such good care of that now he just loves Cubs," she added.Mr Evans added: "He's been on some pretty good adventures that we didn't think he'd be able to do 18 months ago."
Charlie Boyes, Harry's Cub leader, said: "He is the most resilient kid I've ever met."She said leaders had worked hard to ensure Harry could take part in activities and camps, as he "doesn't want to be any different to his peers".The Scout group's lead volunteer, Laura Stephenson, said she cried when their award nomination was approved."I actually put him in for a different award, but the panel came to the unanimous conclusion that the Cornwell Badge was better," she said.
Harry also received a video message from the Chief Scout, television presenter and polar explorer Dwayne Fields, who said his strength and courage were "an inspiration"."Your positivity, your resilience and that great Scouting spirit you've got has inspired everyone around you," he added.Harry's family will be guests at the Scout Association's achievement event at Windsor Castle in April.
The Cornwell Badge
The Cornwell Badge was inspired by the actions of a Scout in 1916 and is still awarded today for courage and devotion to duty.Jack Cornwell was a Scout in an east London troop, which was dissolved when World War One began and its leaders joined the armed forces. Jack had left school and was working as a delivery boy.At the age of 15 Jack was accepted into the Royal Navy. He ended up serving in the crucial Battle of Jutland aboard HMS Chester.His role was to set the sights of the gun he manned so it could be fired accurately. After several direct hits, Jack was one of the few men left standing to operate the weapon. He was seriously injured but remained alone at his post awaiting orders.He died of his wounds at a hospital in Grimsby and his body was returned to London for burial. His mother, Lily, did not realise that the Navy would have paid for his funeral, and he was instead interred in a shared grave.Jack's bravery captured the public imagination, and he had been mentioned in reports of the battle. He was seen as an ordinary boy who had become a national hero, and he was later reburied with full military honours. Hundreds of Scouts lined the route for the procession.Jack was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry, which his mother received from King George V.The Scouts set up a memorial fund named after Jack and the Cornwell Badge was launched later in 1916.The first Scout to receive it was Arthur Shepherd, who was 15 and part of a troop in Middlesbrough. He on a Coastguard patrol in Whitby when the hospital ship Rohilla sank nearby. The Scouts helped to rescue victims and recover bodies.Arthur had to walk across narrow cliff ledges to deliver messages in a gale while being lashed by waves. The rules have changed over time and now all 6-25-year-olds who are members of any Scout section are eligible.
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