A YOUNG woman is jetting off to work with orphans in Malawi – with the help of a grant made in memory of travel industry legend Peter Bath.

Emma Norris, 18, formerly a student at St Peter’s School, will work with nursery school children, many of whom are malnourished.

She was the first winner of the Peter Bath Award, an annual prize set up by Bournemouth Rotary in memory of the boss of Bath Travel and its tour operating arm Palmair.

The award recognises the contribution made by Mr Bath, a long-serving Rotarian, to the local area and to the development of communities worldwide.

Emma was due to leave today to spend two months at the Butterfly Lodge in Malawi as part of her gap year.

She will be invited to present her project to Bournemouth Rotary afterwards.

She said: “It’s a great honour to be the first recipient of the Peter Bath Award and I am very excited at the prospect of spending two months 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, so I hope to spend as much time as possible with them.”

Upper sixth form students from four Bournemouth schools were invited to take part in the competition – Bournemouth School, Bournemouth School for Girls, Talbot Heath and St Peter’s.

Students had to produce an outline plan for their selected project, with timescales, costs and resources identified.

A key part of the competition was to open a dialogue with the Butterfly Lodge and establish the importance of bringing the project to its local community.

There are several projects under way at Butterfly Lodge, most of them undertaken by volunteers, and Emma chose to become involved with children attending nursery school.