In the early 70's I attended high school on a rough/tough sprawling and infamous housing estate called Easterhouse located in the East side of Glasgow.
The DofE took me albeit for brief periods away from the poverty, the hard school of knocks and domestic violence which was prevalent in our house.
The weekends away hiking & camping in the glorious Trossachs will forever be engraved on my memory. I was given the opportunity to immerse myself in an activity that I seemed to excel, where leadership seemed to come naturally, where DofE leaders saw something in me which they fostered.
Those glorious days (mostly in the rain) I will cherish and forever be grateful, they changed me for the better, they gave me a route out of the grinding unhappiness that existed in my life, especially in school, where unlike the DofE the school teachers only saw a dunce who was a hopeless case.
My son and daughter followed in my footsteps and enjoyed enormously there DofE experiences.
A huge thank you to the Duke of Edinburgh, he has left a legacy that will continue to help youngsters across the world and for that I am personally indebted to you.