29 young people from Ryde Town Council’s Youth Service, Network Ryde, have successfully completed their Bronze and Silver Duke of Edinburgh’s (DofE) Awards.
The award ceremony took place at the George Street Centre in Ryde last Thursday (1st December) and was attended by proud parents, family, friends of Network Ryde and Ryde Town Council Councillors.
Under Sheriff of the Isle of Wight, April Newton, presented 25 Bronze and 4 Silver awards and Ryde’s Mayor, Michael Lilley, closed the evening, congratulating the young people.
This was a fantastic opportunity for the guests to see the behind-the-scenes moments of DofE, which were full of wonderful and funny memories which the young people will remember fondly for the rest of their lives.
The Duke of Edinburgh’s award is organised into different sections: Skill, Voluntary, Physical and Expedition. The young people can choose their sections and have to evidence their journey with pictures and written accounts which are uploaded to ‘eDofE’ and assessed to ensure they have met their goals.
The young people then have to plan the expedition section; they first plan a practice route, and then plan an assessed expedition to complete their award. The Bronze Award is 2 days, 1 night, and the Silver award is 3 days, 2 nights. Before the expeditions, the young people plan their walking routes, learn map reading skills, and how to put up a tent; they also learn about what food to bring and how to successfully pack a rucksack.
During the award ceremony, 3 young people shared an insight into their sections: Chloe Neale talked about dancing, which was her physical section, Emily Mackinnon talked about helping a relative, her volunteer section, and Harrison Shaer talked about the Bronze expeditions.
This has been Network Ryde’s busiest year for Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, with much of the summer holidays spent out on expeditions. Network Ryde’s Bex, Jo and Phil attended all the expeditions over the summer and even camped at the end of October.
Bex Swan, Network Ryde’s Youth Work Manager comments:
“We are so proud of all of our young people for completing their Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards at Network Ryde. As a team, we work hard to provide an inclusive youth service, and love the time we spend, out on expeditions, and supporting our young people on their DofE journey. We look forward to the next year!”
Bronze Awards were presented to Oliver Hammond, Elliot Apter, Miles Longerinas, Anna Thomas, Jessica King, Mason Hasler, Jack Wright, Brooke Dollery, Freya Dollery, Eve Fleming, Cerys Briscoe, Harrison Shaer, Douglas Daish, Theo Grimes, Chloe Neale, Emily Mackinnon, Laura Egan, Cora Monaghan, Isla Stone, Kylan Lotay, Joel Hodges, Cyrus Diamond, Peyton Drudge, Hazel Jeremiah Chalk and Finley Morris.
Silver Awards were presented to Rhys Mundell, Alex Keyse, Sian Evans and Hannah Ainsworth.
