Surrey Heath Duke of Edinburgh Awards - Twenty Golds Awarded This Year!

On Wednesday (14th September) evening, I went along to the Surrey Heath Duke of Edinburgh Forum's Annual Presentation Awards Evening at Lakeside Country Club.  2011 has been another successful year with nearly 200 awards being gained and pupils from Collingwood College, Tomlinscote and Kings International were among those receiving awards.

The awards were presented by The Queen's Representative, The Lord-Lieutenant of Surrey Mrs Sarah Goad JP; The Chairman of Surrey County Council Mrs Lavinia Sealy; The Worshipful Mayor of Surrey Heath Cllr Tim Dodds and the Chairman of Surrey Heath Forum Dean Stokes.

Gold Awards were presented to Peter Jones from Collingwood College; Andrew Peters, Katherine Gray and Rachel Kulsdom from Tomlinscote School;  Mark Bird and Rachael Curtin from the Surrey Heath Open Awards Centre.  There were also 14 Gold Awards for pupils at Gordon's School in West End - Tom Betham, Irisa Chiu, Joe Clemmow, Georgia Grundy, Joseph Hounsham, Henry Hughes, Rebecca Lomax, Michael Lusty, Gabrielle May, Marrigje Nell, Mark Porter, Emily Ruddick, Lucy Thorpe and Cameron Young.

Silver Awards were presented to pupils from Collingwood College, Tomlinscote School, the Marist Senior School and Gordon's School as well as to participants from Bisley Youth Centre and the Surrey Heath Open Award Centre.

Bronze Awards were presented to pupils from Collingwood College, Tomlinscote School, the Marist Senior School and Gordon's School.  Kings International College has also now started running a DofE programme and this year two pupils gained the Bronze Award.

The presentation evening provided an opportunity for the young people, their parents and the staff who have supported them, to see their achievements publicly recognised and to be presented with their certificates.  The Duke of Edinburgh Awards scheme continues to grow within Surrey Heath and nationally the number of Awards has grown every year since the awards started in 1956.  It has been calculated that the value of young people's volunteering activities is worth over £21 million.

The Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme is for young people aged between 14 and 24 and is  a "real adventure from beginning to end."   There are three levels - Bronze, Silver and Gold  and to complete each level each participant must complete a personal programme of activities.  At the Bronze and Silver levels participants must undertake four sections - Volunteering, Physical, Skills and an Expedition.  To achieve the Gold Award participants must also take part in a Residential activity.  Those doing the awards choose what they want to do to complete the sections, so they can pick activities and projects that challenge them and they are interested in! 

The popularity of the DofE continues to grow within Surrey Heath and anyone interested in joining an award scheme should contact their local school or contact the Surrey Heath Chairman Dean Stokes (dean.stokes@ntlworld.com)