I completed my bronze, silver and gold awards through Girl Guiding. I remember losing our way in Snowdonia during our Gold expedition - compass work really came in to its own on that particular day. I felt so proud receiving my gold award at St James Palace in 1997, where the Duke of Edinburgh asked me about my service abroad in Gdańsk, Poland. I was also able to share my DofE experiences by describing the challenges I had faced and the person I had become, during an interview for my first teaching PE teaching post. Achieving the gold award is most definitely one of my greatest achievements and certainly something I will be encouraging my own two children to complete on the coming years.