Saltus Grammar School student Adrian Beasley has clocked more than 600 hours helping out at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital over the last three years.

But the 17-year-old will be the first to tell you it was not the quantity of service he gave as a "Pink Panther'' but its quality which earned him the Candystriper of the Year Award.

Adrian said: "I am very proud of myself for what I have accomplished. I have made an example of myself for other people to be aware of and have achieved something for myself.'' Programme supervisor Evelyn Latham added: "It's not the hours or amount of time a person puts in but the way they work as a person.'' She said youths joining the programme took an oath of confidentiality, responsibility, punctuality, proficiency and kindness.

"Adrian has excelled at every single one,'' she stressed.

Adrian told The Royal Gazette his mother Lorraine -- who is the head of the orthopaedic department at the hospital -- steered him toward the programme when he was 13 and he joined up on his 14th birthday.

Even when he leaves after the summer there will be Beasleys carrying on the good deeds with his brother Ben and sister Rachael picking up where he left off.

Adrian made it clear that he did not mind being called candystriper or pink panther. "I've been called pink everything,'' he joked.

And he said he could not choose one aspect of the job over another -- as long as people were involved in what he was doing.

"I like dealing with people in whatever it is -- the coffee shop, the wards it doesn't matter. There are some jobs which need doing that don't involve people so I especially enjoy working on the wards and the coffee shop.'' Adrian said candystriping was "a rewarding experience through which I've met lots of good people. I've made lots of friends in it and have had great experiences.'' Upon completion of the Saltus graduate year, Adrian said he hoped to be off to a university in England where he would do a law degree before returning to the Island.

He also plays the saxophone and is active in sports and drama, having been captain of his school volleyball team and the musketeer Aerobix in the recent Bermuda Pantomime Company performance of The Three Musketeers.

BRINGING A LITTLE JOY - Candystriper of the Year Adrian Beasley does what he does best -- cheer up some of the little ones staying at the hospital. With Adrian are four-year-old Kenshante Hypolite (left) and five-year-old Marcus Fox.