I joined the D of E award scheme when I was 13 as I wanted to have fun and meet new people. Never did I think it would be as amazing as it was. I was lucky enough to have two amazing leaders..... Lyn and Judy at the Penryn and Falmouth Open Award Centre. I met some fabulous people - some of whom are my closest friends to this day. Living in Cornwall we were blessed with the South West Coast Path where a lot of our practice expeditions took place. We regularly camped on Bodmin Moor and West Penwith, some really beautiful parts of Cornwall. One extremely memorable trip was to the Knoydart peninsular in Scotland. Only accessible by boat, we had a residential there and took in turns to camp outside in the cold, February weather! The night it was my turn, our tent blew down in a blizzard so we tried putting it back up but ended up sneaking back inside to the main cottage next to the roaring fire as we were close to getting frostbite! D of E provided me with so many amazing skills and memories. I got my bronze, silver and Gold awards and had the pleasure to be invited to Buckingham Palace to receive my Gold award. What an honour! To this day, I look back at all the fun times we had and cannot thank the D of E enough for the opportunity to take part in this wonderful scheme. I will be ensuring the legacy lives on in my two children as I will be encouraging them both to do the same. RIP Sir