Ben Coombes

Ben has been raising money for the British armed forces since December 2009. He won the British Legion Friends of the Forces junior award in 2010 receiving the award from Prince Harry. He has continued to raise money since then which has been used to help fund the Colchester Barracks rehabilitation centre which is due to open next year. Ben also gives his time to both the Rochford District Youth Council and the Essex Youth Assembly, focusing on important issues such as bullying. Ben is passionate about the local community and has shown dedication and maturity beyond his years to make such an impact at such a young age. I believe Ben deserves to be a torch carrier as he sets an excellent example to other children of his age and has been in the local press many times with people passing comments around how nice it is to hear positive things said about children rather than the focus on knife or gun crime that is generally reported.