Anne Hooper (neé Day)
I heard about Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme at school in 1964 and I went along to the Dewsbury Adventure Club who ran the scheme to find out more.
My parents, the Adventure Club and the Award Scheme shaped my life and certainly made me the person I am today, the choices I made and the directions I followed.
The Award Scheme gave me the chance to try things I had never had access to and develop as a person in a great variety of areas. I went through the whole programme and received my Gold Award along with two friends from Prince Philip in 1968 in the State Ballroom of Buckingham Palace. A very proud moment and memorable experience especially for our mothers.
I wanted to be a P.E. Teacher and applied to I.M. Marsh CPE in Liverpool. I was a good average at most sports and had the required academic qualifications but the competition for places was high.
Physical, medical and skills tests and an interview!
My interview was dominated by questions about The Award Scheme, what it involved and what I had done to achieve the Gold Award.
I believe in that animated description of my experience showed them my enthusiasm, adaptability, drive, resourcefulness and resilience and with the determination to see tasks through to the end. I got a place!
I qualified in 1971 and retired still, teaching PE, in 2012.
The Award Scheme, through the Dewsbury Adventure Club and Camp Windermere in the Lake District, has given me the love of the outdoors which has been with me all my life and passed on to my children and them to theirs.
I married a Gold Award holder who had a very different journey to the same goal as me and still continues his involvement as an Assessor.
We returned with our family to share our experiences back with the Adventure Club and my school friends and their families at Camp Windermere all thanks to HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and the amazing Award Scheme.
RIP HRH The Duke of Edinburgh
My parents, the Adventure Club and the Award Scheme shaped my life and certainly made me the person I am today, the choices I made and the directions I followed.
The Award Scheme gave me the chance to try things I had never had access to and develop as a person in a great variety of areas. I went through the whole programme and received my Gold Award along with two friends from Prince Philip in 1968 in the State Ballroom of Buckingham Palace. A very proud moment and memorable experience especially for our mothers.
I wanted to be a P.E. Teacher and applied to I.M. Marsh CPE in Liverpool. I was a good average at most sports and had the required academic qualifications but the competition for places was high.
Physical, medical and skills tests and an interview!
My interview was dominated by questions about The Award Scheme, what it involved and what I had done to achieve the Gold Award.
I believe in that animated description of my experience showed them my enthusiasm, adaptability, drive, resourcefulness and resilience and with the determination to see tasks through to the end. I got a place!
I qualified in 1971 and retired still, teaching PE, in 2012.
The Award Scheme, through the Dewsbury Adventure Club and Camp Windermere in the Lake District, has given me the love of the outdoors which has been with me all my life and passed on to my children and them to theirs.
I married a Gold Award holder who had a very different journey to the same goal as me and still continues his involvement as an Assessor.
We returned with our family to share our experiences back with the Adventure Club and my school friends and their families at Camp Windermere all thanks to HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and the amazing Award Scheme.
RIP HRH The Duke of Edinburgh
