Young unsung heroes from Gloucestershire are to be recognised with an award.

Nominations are now open for the annual Nairac Awards which are run by the Gloucestershire branch of the Royal Society of St George.

The awards are named in honour of Captain Robert Nairac of the Second Battalion the Coldstream Guards who disappeared during an anti-terrorist operation in Northern Ireland in 1977.

Nominees must be 21 years of age or younger and living in Gloucestershire and have demonstrated determination, courage, or selflessness in supporting others or their community.

There are two awards, one for individuals and one for groups, with the receiveing a silver salver to hold for a year and a framed certificate to keep.

In addition a donation will be made on behalf of the winner of each award to a charity nominated by them.

The awards will be presented during the society’s St. George’s Day Service by. Edward Gillespie, the Lord-Lieutenant of Gloucestershire and the branch’s patron.

The service will take place in St. Barnabas Church, Gloucester, on Wednesday,,April 23 at 7pm.

Nominations for the awards, with reasons, together with the names, ages and contact information for the nominees, by March 8 to secretary Mrs Margaret Fuller, Woodborough, Mopla Road, Tutshill, NP16 7PS or email: [email protected]

Captain Nairac, from Standish, joined the army in January 1973.

During his second tour of duty in Northern Ireland in 1977 he was passing himself off in Armagh as an Irish republican to infiltrate terrorist strongholds when he disappeared. He was 28-years-old.

In February 1979 he was awarded a posthumous George Cross, the highest honour for gallantry in peacetime,

Last August, a new search for his remains began on farmland near Dundalk in the Irish Republic but the search proved fruitless and t