Young people are often accused of taking the easy option and shying away from hard work. That is true only of some young people. Others are made of sterner stuff.

Ben Wolfenden and Marie Thompson are cases in point. Ben, from Eldwick, has suffered for all his 16 years with cystic fibrosis, a condition requiring constant attention. He had to take a year off school with it, but despite that has achieved five A stars, three grade As and one B in his GCSEs.

Marie, from Yeadon, has battled against leukaemia and underwent debilitating chemotherapy treatment for it while studying for her examinations. With a little help from her friends, who organised "revision parties" to help her to catch up, she achieved nine Grade C GCSEs.

These are remarkable achievements by any standards. It is tough enough getting through the GCSE course work for pupils who are fully fit. Yet despite being burdened by serious physical conditions these two have achieved excellent results.

They are splendid examples of courage and commitment - as is, in a very different way, Bradfordian Tony Hindle who, when turned down for the police force because he was half an inch too short, joined the Specials instead.

Over 22 years he has faced a lot of dangers and helped many people in the course of his unpaid spare-time work on top of his "day job" as a company director. With 15 commendations already to his name, he has now been awarded a Certificate of Merit for his part in the rescue of ten children from a burning building. Mr Hindle is special in more ways than one.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.