A spectacular evening at the Octagon Theatre (Yeovil) saw 135 young people receive Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards from adventurer and explorer Felicity Aston. The awards – a mixture of Bronze, Silver and Gold – were only part of the total 225 awards completed by young people in South Somerset during the last year.
To receive their awards, the young people – aged between 14 and 25 – spent time volunteering in their community, learning a new skill and undertaking a physical activity, as well as training and planning for practice and qualifying expeditions.
Collectively they have given a staggering 3,652 hours of volunteering in their local community and spent 5,736 hours on the skills and physical sections of the awards.
Felicity Aston who presented the awards, became the first person to traverse Antarctica alone in 2012 having previously led a Commonwealth Team of eight women to the South Pole in 2009. It was this Commonwealth Team expedition that Felicity based her talk around. She told the audience that her thirst for adventure started with her own Bronze Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, saying:
“It can change the direction that a young person might take in their life and set them on an entirely unexpected course.”
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards evening was hosted at the Octagon Theatre by South Somerset District Council and funded through the work programme of SSDC’s Young Peoples Officer.