PRIDE, PLEASURE... and no short amount of plaudits... were the order of the day for an annual awards ceremony.

A packed cathedral, in Bury St Edmunds, was the venue for the annual West Suffolk College Prizegiving Ceremony which celebrated the success of a raft of talented students, some whom have bravely battled against adversity to achieve success. In all 50 awards were handed out to students on Monday night across a broad sweep of subjects.

Among those who had fought against all the odds was Bury teenager Fiona Taylor.

The 19-year-old, who lives on the Moreton Hall estate, suffers from Zellweger variant syndrome, which has left her partially sighted, severely deaf and with moderate learning difficulties, but it has not prevented her from completing her two-year Life Skills course.

Fiona, who had her mother Julie and grandmother Marian Morrison giving her moral support at the ceremony, was presented with the Individual Achievement Awards by Honorary Freeman Sheila Wormleighton, MBE.

She said: “Winning something like this is wonderful and is something I have always wanted to do and I’m really proud to have got the award.”

The former Priory and Westgate Primary school pupil volunteers two mornings a week at Tinkerbells Nursery, in Thurston, and says she wants to work with children. She has also helped to raise money for Guide Dogs for the Blind.

The East Anglian Daily Times orize for the Business and Tourism student of the year was presented to Annie Deane, 18, from Woolpit. The teenager, a former Culford School pupil, said she was “thrilled” to have gained the accolade and is now planning to study Tourism Management at Exeter University .

She had shown commitment and enthusiasm throughout the Level 3 Extended Diploma in Travel and Tourism and exceeded her target grade on the Extended Diploma, gaining an overall Distinction star and also completed Airline Cabin Crew and First Aid qualifications. Annie successfully balanced her studies with part-time work in the travel and retail industries in addition to many other outside activities, including working as a volunteer on a school project in Malawi, Africa.