TWO caring youngsters from East Lancashire were given royal recognition for their work with the sick and disabled when they met Princess Anne at Buckingham Palace.

Paul Swift, 16, and Fay Seddon, 17, cadets in the St John Ambulance, met the Princess Royal, the Commander-in-Chief of the organisation, at the end of last month.

They were among 60 cadets from around the country recognised for their work.

Paul and Fay looked after terminally ill and disabled people on a spiritual trip to a shrine in France.

They provided 24-hour care for their charges' ten-day pilgrimage to the shrine of the Virgin Mary in Lourdes, in the foothills of the Pyrenees.

The pilgrimage's organisers, the Scottish charity Across, looked for volunteers through a competition in which entrants had to write a small piece explaining why they should go. When they won they had to raise as much money as possible.

Paul and Fay each gathered £150 with the help of friends and family, St John Ambulance and their schools.

Fay, of Delph Close, Blackburn, is studying for her A Levels at Blackburn College and has ambitions become a doctor.

Paul, of Birch Hall Avenue, is studying for an apprenticeship in electrical insulation at Accrington College.