A participants background was, and is, of no importance in the DofE Scheme. All that matters is commitment, determination and perseverance. A sense of humour helps! Self reliance and teamwork got us to our Gold not wealth or privilege. If you put in the work, you got the credit. It supported my natural tendency to compete against myself, improving by increments in things I found difficult as well as those which come to me easily and to find value in people I might not have chosen as companions. These are invaluable life lessons.
At my Award Ceremony
Prince Philip spoke to me at length, a big surprise!
I still have the big, red Picture Hat, and the matching gloves I wore, in which I shook his hand fifty one years ago inside Buckingham Palace.
All the “blood, sweat, toil and tears” (and laughs!)
we’re worth it. This Golden Girl can never thank our Grand Old Duke enough for his vision.
Still pushing the boundaries in my seventh decade as a perpetual student of Iconography, here I am with one of my Icons in Rome. I think this might have appealed to him!