Buckingham Palace Celebrations for Gold DofE Awards

17 May 2022

The College’s Duke of Edinburgh Lead and IT teacher, Paul Moore, travelled to the Palace to celebrate alongside our former students who completed their Gold D of E Awards this year – and got to rub shoulders with royalty in the process:

Paul:

I had the honour and privilege to be invited to share in celebrating the achievement of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold Award this week as a special guest of the North of England region. Taking place in Buckingham Palace Gardens (the Queen’s back garden!), young people and their guests were able to enjoy a tea party with Royal tea and Royal cake. Nine of our former students were invited to attend the first in-person celebration since the pandemic, including Oliver Davies-Wilson, Harrison Moreton and Sam and Joe Klemperer, all of whom I was able to catch up with and congratulate personally.

The celebration allowed guests to arrive through gates at the front of the palace before entering the gardens. Military bands played traditional and modern pieces at either end of the lawn and guest speakers had been arranged for various stages around the gardens. Famous faces spotted included Levi Roots (of Reggae Reggae Sauce fame), Matt Tebbutt (TV chef), Nina Wadia (actor), Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson (former Paralympic athlete) and of course Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex.

Speeches given by Prince Edward, Baroness Grey-Thompson and Youth Ambassador Felix Daglish on the Western Terrace commended the young people for their efforts before Prince Edward took a walk to speak to some of the brand new Gold D of E Award winners.

The celebration was a lovely way to reward so many young people for the hard work, effort, resilience and determination they put into achieving their Gold Awards.

On completing the Gold Award, participants are invited to ceremonies to celebrate their achievements at Royal residences including Buckingham Palace Gardens, Holyrood and St James’ Palace.

If you would like to complete your Gold Awards, sign up at the start of the new academic year or find out more about the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award at www.dofe.org.