My DofE award gave me the opportunity to take my Gran to Buckingham Palace Gardens! Not something I thought I would say when I signed up to my silver award 10 years ago. I was privileged enough to be part of the last ceremony HRH Prince Philip did before he stepped down from his duties, which made my award even more special! It was a lovely way to celebrate the award I had worked hard at getting!

I also have so many good memories of my expeditions that I did across the North of England. I did my practice expedition in pouring rain and my final expedition in the middle of heatwave. They were both difficult but equally rewarding as a team we sang songs, played games and all kept the morale high when our feet started hurting and we got inevitably got lost.

I am now a teacher and help with the DofE provision at my school. I now see a different magic to the award that I hadn't seen completing it. I get to watch the students develop into confident young adults who have the employability skills needed in the 21st century. It is one of my favourite parts of my job!