I will never forget the day my Irish Mother and I went to Buckingham Palace to receive my award. My Dad had recently been made redundant from his job as the proverbial Irish navvy, and my Mum from her waitressing job and were both at that point getting by on odd bits of cleaning work. I did not have many clothes and, certainly, I owned nothing suitable for the occasion, so I borrowed a velvet skirt-suit and a hat from my middle-class best friend. (The hat was mandatory, but this was 1977, so who had a hat?) The trip to the Palace to receive the award from the Duke himself made me realize that my achievements were significant, that I had potential; that I was worth something. My parents were so proud! Intimidated as both my Mum and I were by the award ceremony, it was a event that promised my life might hold possibilities I could never have otherwise imagined.

I’ve always been more academically inclined, so the outdoor activities on the DofE scheme were something new and challenging for me. Working to clear a ha-ha at the sublimely beautiful Plas Newydd one Spring brought Wordsworth’s ‘host of golden daffodils’ to life for me. I spent a lot of time outdoors— much more than my confined life on our housing estate allowed— went orienteering, worked with mentally-handicapped children, and wrote a biography of the Bronte sisters as I progressed through the bronze, silver, and gold levels of the DofE. I am ever grateful to my History teacher at Notre Dame Grammar in Leeds, Mrs. Corbett who initiated the scheme at my school, and, of course to the Duke of Edinburgh himself. In a very real sense, the expansive life I now live couldn't have happened without him.