I was one of many who did the Duke of Edinburghs Award scheme in the 70's, achieving bronze, silver and in 1977 the Gold Award. Some of the activities that I started to do as part of the Dof E scheme have stayed with me for life and have stood me in good stead. I developed a love of walking from doing this as a hobby for my Gold award, and last year walked The Coast to Coast, 190 miles despite having stage 4 breast cancer. The mental and physical benefits of walking and learning how to navigate meant that I also felt up to walking the Dales Way, alone in October 2020. The Dof E gave me my first chance of going abroad in 1976 when I headed to France to assist in the renovation of buildings to create a drug rehabilitation centre for the 'community work' & residential parts of the qualification: so exciting in those days and that 'taster' encouraged me to live in France for 12 years!
In 1977 with some a small group of school friends who'd also won the award, we went to Buckingham palace and our allotted spot in the Throne room. I remember having a mixture of excitement and nervousness when Prince Phillip entered the room and started to make his way along it, stopping to talk to people. I was taken aback when he stopped to to ask me about the activities I had carried out for the award. When I told him about going to Provence to help with the renovation of a hamlet into a drug rehabilitation centre, he quipped that he hoped I wouldn't need to go there (causing some amusement around me). It could have been described as a gaff but I've always liked to think that there was a collective relaxation around me as we laughed at his comment!

I am so grateful that I had these opportunities.