DofE Pupils Celebrate Gold Award at Buckingham Palace

On Friday 19 May, 13 current and old Farnborough Hill girls were privileged to have a mini reunion at Buckingham Palace of all places, as they went to celebrate achieving their Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award with the newly titled Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Edward. 

The morning consisted of garden games, tea and cake, and a speech from England Lioness, Jill Scott, who told them all about her journey to the World Cup.  The atmosphere of the day was very vibrant with brass bands in each corner of the gardens and young people bringing a family member to celebrate.  There was smaller tents where you could stop and listen to speakers such as Sally Orange and Dwayne Fields.  Both of these people are mental health ambassadors, Sally is an ex-Army medic and Dwayne was the first person of colour in England to go to Antarctica.  Listening to these speeches gave the group much inspiration and encouragement that anything is possible if you put your mind to it.

The morning ended with Prince Edward chatting to groups of young people along the walkway made through the gardens.  The Prince gave them all encouragement for the future and expressed his great admiration for their achievement.  A few of the girls were lucky to chat with him, and he was impressed that so many of them had achieved their Awards from just one school.  While the girls were there, they met up with Old Girls as well as Mrs Georgina Brocklehurst and Mr David Earls, who supported them throughout all Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards.