PENRYN College’s Interact Club has seen off competition from 360 other clubs to be crowned the best in Britain and part of Europe.

Two of its members, Katie Hellier and Kathryn Goddard, gave a presentation on the club’s activities at the Rotary District 1290’s annual conference in Falmouth on Friday and were told at the end of the club’s success.

The club, which is geared towards 12 to 18-year-olds who want to tackle issues within their own community and much further afield, has raised thousands of pounds for charity since it was formed in 2012.

One of its key projects has been to raise cash for the Literacy in a Box Trust which has seen the youngsters hold various events, including an Apprentice-style competition. As a result, ten boxes have been sent to children in Africa.

All those involved helped pack the boxes and wrote individual letters to the young recipients of the gifts. In return, the Penryn students have received letters of thanks. Kathryn told the conference: “We feel really happy because we have helped people to get an education where it would have been hard to get without our help.”

The scheme was judged by Rotary International British Isles (RIBI) to be the best of its kind and representatives from the Penryn College Interact Club have been invited to its national conference in Birmingham next month to collect their award.

Penryn Rotarian Jim Henderson, who helped set up the Interact Club, said: “I am so proud of what they have done and all they have achieved. Next week we will be looking at starting another project.”

Penryn College’s Rachael Bastian, who is coordinator of the Interact Club, said: “It is really great to be recognised.

“The club has been running for just over a year and has done a lot of fund raising activities for a whole range of things.”