I started my DofE journey whilst I was a school pupil at the age of 14. I loved all the elements of the award and enjoyed the meetings, getting to know new people in my year group and the training for the expeditions. The skills I learnt were invaluable to me and I have also continued to use them.
Once completing my Bronze award I undertook the Silver expeditions and moved forward to the Gold award. Although I ran out of time to complete the Gold I did undertake the expedition in the highlands of Scotland (a place that I'd never been before) and had one of the greatest experiences of my life. Again, I met new people and learnt new skills, my confidence grew and I embraced new challenges when they came my way.
As a school teacher in a secondary school I have been involved with the DofE awards for a numbers of years. It's great to see how young people benefit from it and how it still changes lives.
I also feel that it has given me the skills to pass on an enthusiasm and love of camping, walking and exploring to my two young children. Since they have been born they have always spent part of their holidays under canvas, and they love it.
May the DofE awards long continue to grow and inspire young people to be all that they can in life.
What a wonderful legacy to have left behind.