I was lucky enough to have my Gold Award presented to me at Buckingham Palace by Prince Philip. Also fortunate that both my parents were able to attend the ceremony; my mum as parent & dad as a Boys Brigade officer in the 1st Kempston company, with whom I undertook all my awards. Prince Philip asked me a question, but I couldn't think of a suitable answer! One memory of my Silver expedition in Snowdonia which will be forever etched in my mind - even the name of the place was daunting “the Devil's Kitchen” on the Glyder mountain. I have never been so scared in my life as when we got to top of the mountain & realised that the light was fading & that we had to get down to the bottom ASAP. Poor planning on our part as we really didn't consider the gradients when initially planning the route, however we sure did when we planned the Gold route a year later. We ended up scrambling, part walking and part falling it felt like with full heavy rucksacks on our backs! I don’t think I have ever been so relieved as when we safely reached that level area of grass by the lake below! When my eldest son started his Bronze Award at school about 20 years ago, I started helping in the hope of being able to give something back to the Award Scheme. On one occasion whilst shadowing a group in the Derbyshire Peaks, on the slope of a hill cattle were grazing. Suddenly seemingly from out of nowhere the ground felt like it was shaking and a huge bull came charging down the slope apparently towards the area where some of our students were walking. They each had full rucksacks on their backs; I held my breath fearing the worst and mighty relieved to see that the bull charged passed them and headed straight to the cows further down the slope, proceeding to then get extremely amorous with one of them! Now I'm an Award Verifier it's a huge pleasure to be able to confirm student's award. I feel like the Award Scheme is still benefitting me nearly 60 years since I first got involved as a teenager