Village News - Ipplepen Team
Duke of Edinburgh 2021 by Harry Rideout
I would like to share my experience of the Duke of Edinburgh Award with the villagers of Ipplepen to highlight how important it is to today’s youth in self-improvement, mental well-being and in building confidence. The Duke of Edinburgh Award is a youth awards programme founded in the United Kingdom by the late Prince Philip (Duke of Edinburgh) in 1956, and is now established in secondary schools across the country.
My experience:
Over a very wet weekend at the end of May along with a group of students from my school, I finally managed to complete my Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Expedition which I began working towards over a year ago, and which should have been completed in September 2020! Although we weren’t able to camp due to COVID restrictions, over two days we walked about 27 Kilometres covering Newton Abbot, Stover, Dartmoor and Chudleigh. We had a good pace and finished the course early on both days. Our group did not need many stops or breaks except for a chance for us all to eat our lunch – while trying not to get too drenched! We kept fairly in line with our check-point timings and were able to navigate our route on both days with relative ease, using our Dartmoor maps, route card and compass to help.
The first day started with good morale and the weather started off on our side but by the end of the first day the dry weather had gone and it was non-stop showers. The high point of the first day was exploring the woods and looking at all the nature.
Going into the second day the mood had been dampened by the weather and sore legs. Regardless we carried on our route at the same pace as the first day. The rain poured all day but luckily stopped long enough for us to eat our lunch! The high point of the second day was reaching the library in Chudleigh and knowing we could all finally go home to get dry!
I’m really glad I had the chance to take part this year in what was a great challenge and a fun new experience.
Harry Rideout, Year 10 Student
