Highland Events To Celebrate 50 Years Of The Duke Of Edinburgh’s Award
2006 is an important year for The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. It is the 50th Anniversary of the Award’s creation, and to mark the occasion a range of events are planned for the Highlands including a reunion dinner.
To celebrate the Award’s 50th anniversary, The Scottish Award Office, Highland Award Project and The Highland Council are taking the opportunity to organise a range of events to celebrate achievements over the previous 50 years and to thank all the supporters, volunteers and participants associated with the award.
Events will include a Reunion Dinner and Ceilidh to be held in Inverness on 19th May, for which tickets are now available. The evening will see previous and present leaders, participants and friends of the award come together to celebrate their achievements and reminisce about past events.
Director of The Highland Council’s Education, Culture and Sport Service and Chair of The Scottish Advisory Committee, Bruce Robertson said: "The Council, through its Education, Culture and Sport Service, has a long history of offering the Award through schools and youth groups. We are working hard to develop the range and number of young people who have access to the Award. Within the Highlands area in the period of 2004/2005, 3119 young people took part and we hope that the celebrations of the 50th anniversary will see an even greater increase in numbers of young people enrolling.
"Young people have to complete four sections to gain an Award: Service, Skills, Recreation and Expedition. The Award is open to all 14-25 year olds, regardless of gender, background or ability in over 100 countries world-wide. There are three levels – Bronze, Silver and Gold – which the young people work through as they get older. The Gold Award also requires participants to complete a Residential project where they must be away from home for over 5 days.
"Our goal for the future is to strengthen the Award by continuing to broaden and extend its reach to the many communities that comprise contemporary Scotland. We are lucky in the Highlands as we have a dedicated group of volunteers, without whom we could not operate. Part of the 50th celebrations is to thank those who support the Award and encourage others to support as many Highland youngsters to achieve."
For more information about the 50th Anniversary celebrations in the Highlands and for tickets to the reunion dinner, please contact Sharon Sylvester on (01463) 229209 or e-mail Sharon.sylvester@highland .gov.uk.
Notes to editors:
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award:
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award 50th Anniversary celebrations are kindly sponsored by Bank of Scotland Corporate. Bank of Scotland Corporate is part of HBOS plc, the UK's largest mortgage and savings provider. The bank works with businesses of over £1 million turnover across a wide range of banking and finance areas and has one of the most knowledgeable and experienced teams in the industry.
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award charity was launched in 1956 under the patronage of HRH the Duke of Edinburgh, to encourage and support the personal development of millions of 14 to 25-year-olds, regardless of their gender, background, ethnicity or ability.
Over 500,000 participants are involved in working towards an Award at any one time, with over 225,000 of these in the UK (25,000 in Scotland).
There were over 145,000 new entrants last year in the UK (over 11,000 in Scotland), and over 58,000 (nearly 5,000 in Scotland) achieved their Bronze, Silver or Gold Award.
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is a registered charity run with the support of over 50,000 volunteers and 10,000 partner organisations. (There are 62 Operating Authorities currently operating the Award in Scotland, including all 32 Councils, many of the Voluntary Youth Organisations and a large number of Independent Schools.)
Since 1956, over 3.5 million young people have participated in the UK Award. Currently almost seven per cent of 14 to 17-year-olds in the UK are taking part through Award Groups in schools, youth clubs, voluntary organisations, Open Award Centres, colleges, young offender institutes and businesses.
In 1988, The International Award Association was established to co-ordinate and develop the Award worldwide and since 1956, over 5 million young people in over 100 countries have taken up the challenge. (Exchanges take place each year between participants from Scotland and a number of these countries. In particular there is an on going partnership with The President’s Award in The Gambia, which has been running for over 20 years.)
The Award was founded by the Patron, HRH the Duke of Edinburgh. TRH the Duke of Edinburgh and The Earl of Wessex continue to be involved with the organisation to this date.
The organisation’s roster of famous alumni boasts an impressive number of world-famous names including Dame Kelly Holmes, David Hempleman-Adams, Katherine Jenkins, Alice Beer, Ben Fogle, Steve Blacknell, and Kevin Keegan.
This year the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is encouraging all participants to log the hours that they have given to the community and are hoping to reach a grand total of 1 million hours in 1 year.