A GROUP of talented rowers have been awarded a new scholarship to help them seek Olympic glory.

Christchurch Rowing Club members Harrison Lawton-Hurst, 17, Beth Bailey, 16, and Charley Wedderburn, 17, will receive support from the Michael Lanning Sports Scholarship, which was founded by Gill Lanning in memory of her son who died two years ago.

Michael, a wheelchair user, was a great sport enthusiast and his mother wanted to provide a talented sportsman/woman from the Christchurch area with the opportunity to further their development.

Gill set up the scheme with help from the John Thornton Young Achievers Foundation, which also recently handed out awards to Dorset's young musicians.

"My son was a complete sport nut," she said.

"He left some money to me when he died and I wanted to do something sporty with it in his name.

"We were looking for one person to receive the scholarship, but then along came these three rowers who were all obviously exceptionally talented and we decided to give them £500 each."

The charity's secretary Linda Thornton said: "It was a real privilege for us to be there when Gill made the awards to the youngsters to give them the support they need to take their careers to the next level."

The sports scholarship will provide the trio with funding for training and equipment which will help them move closer to achieving their ambition of rowing for Great Britain in the Olympics.

Harrison and Beth have both already been selected for the GB Start Programme, while Charley was picked for the Junior Girls GB Rowing Team last year.

Meanwhile eight musicians from the Dorset Music Service county ensembles were presented with John Thornton Music Awards and bursaries last month by the charity's chairman Pete Thornton.

"We have been giving out these awards for at least six years now to a lot of really deserving young people, and we are really thrilled to keep up our partnership with the Dorset Music Service," said Mrs Thornton.

The winners were Austin Carroll of the Dorset Youth Jazz Orchestra, twice, alongside Rosina Little of the same ensemble, string musicians Noah Cheeseman and Eleanor Lawson, brass musician Natasha Fisher-Pearson, woodwind musicians Grace Dawson and Madeleine Johnson and percussionist Zoe Gorton.