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 The benefits from taking part in the Duke
of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme
By Helen Hindley
Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme participant Helen Hindley tells The
LINC Online about how taking part in the scheme has changed her life.
“When I first got involved with the Duke of Edinburgh scheme, about four
and a half years ago, I didn’t really know what to expect from it.
However, since beginning at Bronze level and working my way through to
completing my Gold award, I think I have developed dramatically as a
person.
“The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme gave me the opportunity to be
involved in many different projects and activities, which have all been
great fun. For the physical part of my bronze award, I was given the
opportunity to take part in a rock-climbing project called ‘Aiming
High’. This was a great help in building up my confidence and self
belief as I never thought I could be any good as this, but the
instructors, other workers and people around me offered great
encouragement and support. I really enjoyed this, especially since now
I’ve managed to achieve the level of skill needed to undertake SPA
training in the hope that I will be able to provide similar experiences
for other people.
“As well as this, I have also taken part in a sign language course
through the award. This was a whole different type of learning for me,
and it opened my eyes much more to other people around me, and made me
realise that as long as you put in the effort, you can achieve almost
anything you want to. I would never have believed that I would be able
to talk to a deaf person in sign language but I was able to have a
conversation using the signing skills that I was taught.
“The further into the award I got, the more I realised just how many
different opportunities there are for young people to get involved with.
I took part in many other different activities such as learning how to
Kayak and windsurf through the ‘Wind and Wave’ project. Everyone who
took part in the activities had great fun, but it was clear that an
awful lot of hard work had gone into planning and carrying out the
events. This really made me want to try and give something back, to help
other young people enjoy some of the wonderful experiences I have had
through the award, and I am now involved in helping the running of
different activities whilst also being part of a group of young
volunteers. We put on little events in the hope of raising money so that
new projects can be put on for more young people.
“One of the biggest projects we did was a fund-raising project for a
trip to Goa in India. A couple makes a trip to Goa every few years,
taking with them an extra suitcase filled with basic every day
necessities, which they give to the orphans in the country. We decided
to organise a car boot sale in order to raise money to pay for the
excess luggage weight caused by the added suitcase. We were all up for
early and put in a long day’s work on our car boot stall, selling items
donated from different people as well as goods made by the group members
at the award centre, but it was well worth it. It was an extremely
successful day and all our hard work went to good use. The couple
brought back amazing pictures of their trip and the smiles on the
orphans faces made every single second of our hard work worthwhile.
“I think the award is a superb scheme for young people and I would
encourage absolutely everyone to become involved. There is such a wide
variety of things going on throughout the award that it is suitable for
everyone. It has been a fantastic experience for me and I will continue
to put my efforts into the award to help others wanting to get involved
used to come home so excited and lively after being out on different
projects that, after hearing my stories, my brother wants to head out
and have his own adventures and is working his way through the award.
“The only bad thing that I would have to say about the award is that it
is not advertised enough. It needs extra publicity and I hope to be
involved in resolving this issue. It is a great experience for people
and so should be shouted about!!!!
“I am really grateful to everyone who has been a part of my fantastic
experience throughout the award. The people who run the award put in a
lot of hard work, and I really don’t think they receive enough credit!
“It was with the help of these people, that a group of us were able to
enjoy a five-day residential trip at a place called Lumley Fee in the
Lake District.Here, we took part in many different activities such as
conservation walks, raft building, kayaking, climbing and ghyll walking.
We also spent a day working at an activity centre for disabled people.
This was quite physically demanding, as we spent our time working to
improve the gardens surrounding the centre, rebuilding pathways and
generally cleaning up the outside of the centre. We were all tired after
such an extremely tough day’s work, but it was worth it when we saw the
effects of our work and received lots of praise from the members of
staff at the centre.
“I have made so many good friends of all different ages, backgrounds and
lifestyles through the award. The workers on the scheme make young
people feel important and involved, talking to them at their level and
encouraging them at every opportunity, meaning making new friends
becomes incredibly easy!!
“If you’re reading this, then I hope my brilliant experiences on the
Duke of Edinburgh will encourage you to get involved too; believe me,
it’s definitely worth it!!
The Duke of Edingburgh’s Award scheme teams meet every Wednesday at
Kingsleigh Methodist Church on King Street in Leigh, and every Monday at
the YMCA in Ashton and on Penson Street in Wigan.
For more on the scheme in general, visit
www.theaward.org, or for more
about getting involved in your area, contact Karen Holland on 01942
769813.
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