George Larke, Dan Lewis, Kade Smith and Jessica Lapworth have each received Inspire Awards from local charity the Joe Humphries Memorial Trust (JHMT) to help them reach their goals in music, sport and creative arts.

The JHMT set up the scheme in memory of Joe Humphries, 14, who sadly never got to achieve his goals.

Joe died of sudden arrhythmic death syndrome (SADS) in October 2012, while out jogging near his Rothley home. This group of genetic heart conditions can strike without any warning, in seemingly fit and healthy children and young adults.

Since Joe's death, his family and friends formed the JHMT to campaign tirelessly for better understanding and awareness of SADS, more CPR training and defibrillators, and they set up the Inspire Awards.

George Larke, aged 14, is a student at Wreake Valley Academy in Syston. His passion is art – especially painting portraits – and he hopes make a career out of it, after reading art at university.

George has been given £300 from the Inspire Awards to help him pursue his dream.

"At the moment I am very keen to develop my skills in digital art using a drawing tablet and the JHMT Inspire Awards grant will help me to fund this," says George.

"My art teacher at Wreake Valley nominated me for the 2018 Lord Lieutenant's Young Artist of the Year Award and I was very privileged to be invited to the awards ceremony, where I was one of the finalists.

"I am really looking forward to creating my first digital portrait using a drawing tablet and learning all the new skills that will be available to me."

Dan Lewis, aged 15, from Lutterworth, has received a £350 Inspire Award to help him pursue a passion in sound recording.

Dan, who gains experience with local film company Badshoes Films, worked on an award-winning local film called 'Girl A', directed by Jess O'Brien.

"This is an area I'm considering going into for my career, but I didn't have access to any kit to develop my skills or take part in more film productions," Dan says.

"My £350 Inspire Award means I can now have the professional kit I need – including a microphone, field recorder, headphones and an SD card – so that I can capture excellent audio for films."

Seventeen-year-old Kade Smith, from Eyres Monsell, has overcome major personal barriers to pursue his love of, and talent for, music and theatre.

Kade, who has ADHD, found school difficult and learning challenging, but as soon as he joined the Young Curve theatre company, when he was 14, he shone. He has been in many productions and projects, including the successful community production of Bugsy Malone.

Kade also writes his own raps and in January 2018 he got through the audition rounds of ITV's The Voice, with four judges turning their chairs round to hear more from him.

He's praised for his support of his fellow theatre company members, and has been awarded £500 from Inspire to help him build a studio in his garden.

"This grant helps me so much," says Kade. "It means I can buy musical equipment and a camera because I do my own editing, write songs and make videos."

Seventeen-year-old Jessica Lapworth, from Huncote, is a cricketer who has been selected to play for England in the Junior World Series 2018 for indoor cricket, which takes place in Christchurch, New Zealand, this month (Oct). Indoor cricket, while affiliated to the England & Wales Cricket Board, is an amateur sport, for which there is no funding. As a result, Jess needs to raise the £3,500 travel, accommodation, food and training costs herself.

She has been given an Inspire Award of £500 to help her compete in New Zealand.

Jess says: "I am so proud and honoured to have been asked to play for England. I will work really hard at the sport and endeavour to do my country proud.

"I want to do my best to be a great ambassador for the Joe Humphries Trust. In fact, I recently did a coaching course for 'Girls Active Sport' and the philosophy was that 'this girl can'. It was all about inspiring girls to participate in sport in a fun and relaxing way. I would like to show that 'this girl did!'. I am 5ft 2ins and what I lack in stature I make up for in enthusiasm. I want people to look at me and say if she can, then so can I!"

Jess has also been so inspired by the work of the JHMT that she has decided to apply for university courses in cardiac physiology. "I'm very proud to be a heartsafe cricket ambassador for the Trust," she says.

Simon Taylor, Inspire Awards lead for the JHMT, said: "These young people are simply amazing. They display fantastic talents, overcome adversity and never give up on pursuing their goals. It's incredibly rewarding to see them go on to achieve thanks to the help the Inspire Awards can provide."

This week (1-5 Oct) is SADS Awareness Week, an annual campaign where the JHMT undertakes awareness-raising work, provides training for medics, holds events and community activities across the city and county to highlight the shocking statistic that 12 young people aged 12-35 in Britain die each week from SADS.

Steve Humphries, chair of the JHMT, said: "SADS Awareness Week is all about putting sudden heart deaths on the agenda and educating people that these deaths are not inevitable, they're preventable. If more people are aware of the symptoms, are CPR trained and more defibrillators are made available in public places, we can have a positive impact on that shocking statistic. In this way, more young people will go on to fulfill their ambitions and inspire others without having their lives cut so tragically short, as our precious son Joe's was in 2012."

To find out more about the JHMT and the Inspire Awards, visit www.jhmt.org.uk