Did I realise at the time completing my Silver and Gold awards at Mayflower DofE club with an amazing leader, Tony Gray, the impact it would have? No, I did not! Do I have great memories? By the truck load! Amazing friends who I'm still in contact with 35 years on, shared adventures, increased confidence to tackle life, resilience and opportunities to give back. For a while I was called BigBird due to my bright yellow mac- I wasn't getting lost anywhere and it's quite hard to hide behind a bush in that!! And yes, somewhere in my attic is my gold log, my rock collection and award books. Singling out a best memory, tricky, was it the relief when finishing our gold trek on The West Highland Way and swearing I'd never walk again- I do, I have always possessed walking boots, or Tony getting stuck in a pothole, or chips in Abergavenny when hauling into the Brecons after a 4-5 hour drive, or maybe the effort involved over the summer term to complete the physical tasks and improve your scores 800m and standing long jump come to mind! Collecting my gold award was the final reward, so I thought.
When something gives you so much at some point it goes around, I had somehow taken up the advisor role for my Guiding County!! I have been able to see girls completing across all levels. When my older two were in Air Cadets I started leading DofE there for a few years too, more fun for me and they both gained gold. My oldest chatted with the Duke on how google translate helped on her residential in Canada whilst the next spoke to Prince Edward, who also spotted my brooch and spoke to me.