I was blessed to be part of this wonderful scheme as not many schools in my area did it.
I loved going every week & made many new friends. We had great fun doing the sports, going away weekends for the expeditions. We had a great week doing forestry building paths & making bird boxes. We learnt about the Police & they took us in the cells & courtroom.
I was awarded the best D of E participant for our school one year which I'm very proud of.
When we went to St James Palace, June 1989 there were only 12 of us from our area & The Duke of Edinburgh spoke to me about our expedition.
The leader who inspired me was Madeline Richards who was our deputy head teacher at the time & she made it amazing. A lot of the friends I joined with dropped out after their Bronze but Mrs Richards inspired me to keep on going & I'm so glad she did.
I haven't done much in my life, & not too clever but telling people I achieved my Gold D of E is something I am very proud of.