I did my Duke of Edinburgh Bronze and Silver awards in Hong Kong in the 1980s. Unfortunately it was not yet possible to do the Gold Award in Hong Kong at that time and I have always regretted not being able to do all three awards. My school was a wonderful multicultural school and we had people from America, Korea, Britain and Hong Kong in my group alone. All of the sections were great fun but especially the expeditions where we went deep into the country parks. It was an incredible experience and one we all remember as being incredibly happy. I especially loved sitting round a campfire telling ghost stories late into the night. Now two of my three children (the two old enough) are doing their DofE awards. My oldest son has started his Gold award and my middle son his Silver Award. They are probably most proud of raising money for the LINC (Leukaemia and Intensive Chemotherapy) Charity in Cheltenham, but both enjoyed the expeditions the most.
We would have loved to meet the Duke of Edinburgh and would have liked to have been able to thank him for setting up the award scheme which is a brilliant way to challenge yourself and try new activities and help others with the volunteering sections. We all hope many future generations will have as much fun doing the awards as we have all had.