For 4 years I had the wonderful pleasure of running the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award within the business I worked for. Over that period we saw a large number of Apprentices and young employees through the programme which had an amazing impact on their lives both in work and out of work.
The charitable work they did, from personal mentoring through to house renovation projects was unbelievable. The expeditions varied from walks in the Lake District to canoeing in Scotland and Germany were, for some, a once in a lifetime opportunity and an amazing experience. The change in the participants, the camaraderie and friendships that were built were priceless and the smiles and some proud tears from family and friends as they recounted there journey at an awards evening is something that will stay with me and them for a long time.
The most special part of this was the award ceremonies at St James’s Palace and Holyrood, taking the group and their family member or friend to receive their awards and meet the Duke.
Never have I been more nervous in meeting someone especially as I had to introduce the group to HRH but I was well prepared by the support from the DofE team and he was extremely pleasant to everyone and the enthusiasm for the development and giving young people these opportunities came shining through.
We were even fortunate enough to be invited to his last Awards presentation at Holyrood.
An amazing experience and a programme that I would recommend to everyone. I will certainly never forget the opportunity I was given to run this programme and the lives that it changed.