A new Ranger Guide unit was opening and the leaders suggested we began our DofE, then with a different programme for girls. The childcare element was a waste of time coming 16 years before I had my own children, and being taught how to apply makeup in the style of our mothers was equally useless. However, I had to find a new interest so took up knitting. I went on to knit many clothes for myself, then my own children and now my grandchild. A genuine lifelong skill. We had ‘1-in-5’ talks – how to survive a nuclear attack. It taught me that survival was highly unlikely therefore a better strategy was to encourage cooperation and compromise rather than conflict – something which my career as a geography teacher made relevant and appropriate. The expedition then was very tame by today’s standards but although my family walked a lot this was the first real adventure that I remember where we had planned where to go and had no adults with us. This was just one of the experiences which led me into a life of hillwalking and other outdoor adventures, and ultimately to being a DofE leader myself both in schools and Girlguiding.