A TEENAGER from the North-East is hoping to become a role model for other young members of a voluntary organisation that provides first aid.

Rebecca Scott, 15, is the youngest contestant in this year’s St John Ambulance National Cadet of the Year competition.

The event, from February 11 to 13, takes the cream of the first aid organisation’s most promising young members and puts them through a rigorous series of assessments.

The aim is to select a young ambassador for St John Ambulance who will represent the organisation at events across the country.

Rebecca, a pupil at Lord Lawson of Beamish School, in Birtley, near Chesterle- Street, attends the St John’s Gateshead unit.

She said: “Just getting this far is a big achievement and I am really delighted.

I’ve been practising hard and everyone at the unit has been helping me, asking me questions, so that I can rehearse interview techniques. It’s a tough weekend and there is a lot to cover.”

Rebecca beat off stiff competition to qualify by winning the St John Ambulance Northumbria county cadet of the year competition at the end of last year, and is a veteran of many first aid contests.

In her thoughts constantly as she prepares for the challenge is her father, John, a former member of St John Ambulance, in Gateshead, who died when she was eight.

She added: “St John Ambulance was like his family. He loved it and always used to talk about it to us. I joined after he died because it was so important to him.”