On Monday 24th of March 2014, Bromley celebrated some of the youth of Bromley’s achievements at the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Annual Presentation Evening in the Bromley Civic Centre. There were some big names there, with the Worshipful the Mayor of Bromley, Councillor Ernest Noad, the Mayoress, Mrs Diane Noad, Councillor Mrs Anne Manning, Bromley Duke of Edinburgh Award Support Committee Chairman and Mr Roger French, Duke of Edinburgh Award Regional Ambassador who has been part of the DofE for over 40 years!  There were many schools and youth organisations participating such as Babington House, Beaverwood School for Girls, Bishop Justus CE School, Bromley High School, Bromley Youth Support Programme Phoenix Open Award Group, Bullers Wood School, Charles Darwin School, Coopers Technology College, Darrick Wood School, Farringtons School, Girl Guides- 4th Chislehurst Rangers, Hayes School, Kemnal Technology College, Kingswood Centre, Langley Park School for Boys, Langley Park School for Girls, Newstead Wood School for Girls and Ravens Wood School.

The evening started off with a speech from Mr Rod Potter the Bromley Duke of Edinburgh Award Operations Officer followed by a very entertaining and excellent performance by the Hayes School Jazz Band.  There were then two speeches from Mayor and from Mr French who was the guest speaker for the night and then following this came the special moment of the certificate giving to every boy and girl who had completed one of the stages of the DofE Award.

For those who don’t know about the Award, it is for girls and boys between the ages of 14 and 25 and whilst it can be done through schools or other organisations it is not an academic qualification. There are 4 sections to each of the 3 stages, Bronze, Silver and Gold.  The sections all have to be completed for an increasing amount of time or distance and cover Volunteering, Physical, Skills and an Expedition. As Mr French said, those who complete Bronze should aim for Silver, those who complete Silver should aim for Gold and those who complete Gold should think about volunteering themselves!  Although there are thousands of young people working towards their awards and the numbers in Bromley are increasing, this is still only a small fraction of the youth population.  However, employers rate the qualification as really important and, after academic achievements, one of the most highly rated qualification they look for, together with work experience.

At the Award presentation evening, first came the presentation of the Gold certificates, then Silver and then Bronze. There was also a short Bromley Youth Support Programme Open Award Centre film called ‘DofE for dummmies’ about a Silver DofE group who taught you how to do DofE (hence the title of the film) which the audience clearly found very entertaining and funny. Finally there was a special presentation by the Mayor and the closing address by Mr Rod Potter. It was a fantastic celebration of the achievements of the youth in Bromley.