A TWEEDDALE Youth worker has scooped an award for his efforts in educating young people about climate change.

Dave Hodson, manager of Tweeddale Action Group, bagged the title of 'Climate Change Champion' at the National Youth Worker Awards in Glasgow last week.

Dave and his team were congratulated on their 'Bike Punks' and 'Food Punks' projects, which have been running for the past year, and inspired young people to get involved with climate change by teaching them how to reduce carbon emissions and food waste.

They were encouraged to reduce their carbon footprint by cycling more and depending less on cars. They learned practical skills such as how to repair and maintain their bikes.

In Innerleithen, the group opened a bike recycling workshop where they recycled a number of old bikes that would have went to landfill, and worked with the youths to do them up and make them usable again; showing them that not everything has to be thrown away just because it's broken.

The youths also learned about local fresh produce and were taught basic cookery skills, as well as how to cut down on food waste with a range of events and practical sessions at the youth club.

David was thrilled to receive the award: “It's amazing to have won the award and it's really a team effort. We couldn't believe that we'd even made the finals, so when we were announced the winners we were just over the moon. Absolutely delighted.

“It's great to have your work recognised and have you feel like you're doing something right.”

The group is made up on 25 volunteers and seven paid staff who work tirelessly to help youths across Tweeddale better their lives.

“It was a mammoth effort from the team; they're on fire,” said David. “They're so dedicated to their work and are so passionate about engaging young people in important issues such as climate change. They always do their best to come up with innovative, fun projects to get them interested.

"Without the commitment and hard work from everybody involved we wouldn't have managed to make our Food and Bike Punks projects the success they have been.

"We're delighted that we've been able to reach hundreds of young people throughout Tweeddale on the need to address climate change and we are now seeing fruits of our work.

"The most important thing is that they are taking an interest in the world around them, and have made new lifestyle choices with food and transport.

"With our Small Steps Big Changes project, we wanted to engage young people who maybe weren't too fussed about the environment by developing a project that was fun, to make them see that it's easy to look after the environment if you just make a few small changes."

Tweeddale Youth Action's funding ends at the end of this month, so they have reapplied to have the projects financed for another year. David hopes that in the case that they aren't funded, the projects will leave a legacy around Tweeddale and will have a resonance in the community for a long time.

But because the initiatives have proved so successful, as seen by the gong, David hopes the funding will come through and that each scheme can be kept going.