Blair Mayne Bursary Awards Ceremony

​Local teenagers receive bursay awards

Local teenagers Jamie Moffatt, Rebekah Murdock and Ben Henning each received a £500 bursary at Ards and North Down Borough Council's Blair Mayne Bursary Awards ceremony on Friday 15 March. The award will help them with their respective endeavours in sport, academic study and adventure training.

The Bursary Awards were originally created in 1997 after a public appeal to raise funds for commissioning a bronze memorial statue of Colonel Mayne. Monies raised exceeded the amount required for the statue, which was subsequently installed in Newtownards' Conway Square, so the Council opted to use the surplus funds to establish the Blair Mayne Bursary.

This year's ceremony was hosted at Ards Arts Centre in Conway Square and featured guest speaker, Rhys McClenaghan BEM, who took time out of his busy training schedule ahead of the Olympics to inspire and encourage the award winners. He was joined by Lt Col Simon Nichols MBE, Chairman of the Blair Mayne Bursary Committee, as well as two previous winners of the award, Noah Leeman and Toby McKelvey.

The Mayor of Ards and North Down, Councillor Jennifer Gilmour, said:

"The Blair Mayne Bursary Award Scheme was created to support individuals aged 25 or under to aspire to excellence in sport, academic study and adventure training. Congratulations must go to this year's three very worthy recipients, Jamie Moffatt, Rebekah Murdock and Ben Henning. The calibre of applications is always exceedingly high and they are very deserving recipients."

The Blair Mayne Bursary Subcommittee, which consists of four elected members and three external representatives, had a challenging job to select the winners after a total of 33 applications were received.

Winner: Jamie Moffatt (Sport)

Bangor's Jamie Moffatt is a sprint athlete who has battled through adversity to reach elite level. He suffered a pars fracture of his spine shortly after starting secondary school but such is his determination and outlook on life, he used that experience and subsequent recovery to build his knowledge of sports science. 

He developed a fascination of how the body works and has since gained a lot more knowledge and understanding about the body and biomechanics, helped along by his subject choices at Bangor Grammar. Now studying A Level Biology and Physical Education, Jamie is targeting a future career in sport and has already completed his UKA coaching assistant qualification.

He is a very talented athlete too. Three years ago, he joined North Down Athletics Club and started sprint training. 2023 transpired to be a defining year as he became the Irish U18 60m champion and set a new championship record in the process. He also became the Ulster Schools 100m Senior Champion, the Irish U18 100m champion, and represented Northern Ireland at the Trinbago Youth Commonwealth Games in Trinidad.

Jamie is pictured here with Rhys McClenaghan BEM and Mayor of Ards and North Down, Councillor Jennifer Gilmour.

Winner: Ben Henning (Adventure Training)

Bangor's Ben Henning is a member of the Urban Saints youth club in Newtownards. He is setting out to raise £2,200 to enable him to travel to Johannesburg in July where he will be taking part in Rebuild South Africa - a programme to build houses for homeless families in the township of Botleng. 

Ben will work alongside local craftsmen to help build a house, with a particular focus on plastering. He will also learn about the local culture and way of life for families less fortunate, and will work with local children in the area by organising games and sporting competitions to help develop a sense of teamwork and foster community spirit.

It will be hard work under challenging circumstances that include the environment, limited power and water, the use of manual tools, not to mention living without the comforts afforded to him at home. He will stay in a local campsite, using bucket showers and simple outhouse bathrooms, providing him with a taste of the hardship that the locals face every day.

Ben is pictured here with Rhys McClenaghan BEM and Mayor of Ards and North Down, Councillor Jennifer Gilmour.

Winner: Rebekah Murdock (Academic Study)

Newtownards' Rebekah Murdock is a highland dancer and is currently studying for her associate exam with the intention of becoming a qualified highland dancing teacher. Dancing has always been her passion and she started dancing when she was just two years old. She has since worked her way through the ranks and has gone on to compete as a championship premier dancer. 

As she strives towards becoming a teacher, she very much enjoys the theory side of highland dance too and has already completed several theory exams, receiving an 'honours' award in all of them - the highest grade possible.

She also holds several records. She was the first person from Northern Ireland to win an Open Championship title and is the first person from the country to hold multiple championship titles. She is also the first person from Northern Ireland to place at the Cowal World Highland Dancing Championship where she brought home multiple world championship medals.

Rebekah was unable to attend the Awards ceremony and the award was collected on her behalf.