A BOURNEMOUTH schoolgirl is on her way to Malawi to work with orphaned children after winning the Peter Bath Award.

Hayley Wilson, 18, of Bournemouth School for Girls, is the second recipient of the £1,000 grant, which was set up by Bournemouth Rotary to recognise the outstanding contribution made by Peter Bath MBE to the club, the local community and to the development of communities worldwide.

Sixth form pupils from Bournemouth School, Bournemouth School for Girls, Talbot Heath School, St Peter’s School and the Collegiate School were invited to apply for the award.

They had to produce full details of a project that would benefit the Butterfly Lodge in Malawi, including timescales, costs and the resources required.

A key part of the competition was to open a dialogue with the Butterfly Lodge and establish with them the importance of the project to the local community and the overall benefit it would be to that community.

Following a stringent interview procedure the award went to Hayley who will spend six weeks at the Butterfly Lodge as part of her gap year.

On her return, she will be invited to Bournemouth Rotary to present her project.

She said: “It’s a great honour to be the recipient of the Peter Bath Award and I am very excited at the prospect of spending six weeks working with underprivileged children in a remote part of the country.

“I am told the conditions there are very basic and that many of the children are suffering from malnutrition.”