Doing DofE was a no brainer to me, I knew I wanted to complete Bronze, Silver and Gold as soon as I started my Bronze DofE. I am so grateful for the opportunities I was given when doing my DofE, I don't think I would have ever gone hiking if it wasn't part of the DofE programme, and now hiking is one of my favourite hobbies!

One of my favourite memories was my DofE residential for my Gold Award, when I travelled up to Scotland to participate in a week learning about wildlife in Scotland. We got up really early one morning to travel to the official reintroduction site for European beavers and we actually saw a wild beaver swimming down the lake! On another day we went to a wildlife hide late in the evening to try and see some wild badgers and pine martens, this was something I'd never seen before so seeing them in the wild was such an amazing experience.

Overall, the DofE programme has given me so much in such a short space of time and I'm sure I will continue to benefit from this many years into the future. Not only does the programme provide you with physical skills such as hiking, but it also supports you in developing social skills and friendships with people that you may not have spoken to without doing DofE. Thank you to the Duke of Edinburgh for introducing the awards, I'm sure they will support young people for many years to come!