Young people recounted their outdoor adventures as they celebrated gaining their Duke of Edinburgh Awards (DofE).
Bolton School held its DofE Celebration Evening recently, with 96 boys and girls achieving their silver award and 29 achieving their gold award.
Guest speaker was John McCarthy, an outdoor enthusiast and expedition leader.
Pupils shared their experiences and the life-skills that they had learnt taking part in the scheme.
Silver Award recipient Olivia Melling recalled ‘paddling for three days on a canal’ for her practice expedition and how one of her group ended up falling in.
She volunteered as a netball coach for Year 7 girls and became involved with Young Enterprise and developed her physical fitness through netball.
Charlotte Harris, also a Silver Award recipient, spoke of her adventures canoeing on the River Ouse and how this inspired her to take up kayaking, which she has since enjoyed in North Wales, the Lake District and on the River Irwell.
The third Silver Award speaker, Veer Patel, told how he had found the DofE experience to be ‘incredibly rewarding’.
He told the audience how he had developed his resilience and perseverance during an arduous expedition in the Lakes, volunteered as a Troop Leader at Scouts, played hockey as his physical challenge and an instrument in order to pass his skill section.
Gold Award recipient Arian Pomian spoke about the five days and four nights on expedition and about how much he enjoyed his residential in Oxfordshire working for Mencap.
He told how the qualification is hard work but well worth it, as it is so highly valued by universities and employers.
Mr McCarthy occasionally works with groups from Bolton School’s adventure learning centre, Patterdale Hall.
He reflected on how being an instructor is the best job in the world.
Mr McCarthy admitted to not always making the most sensible decisions and told how as a young man, having hitchhiked to Acapulco, he dived off the 100 foot cliffs in an attempt to emulate Elvis in one of his movies.
He concluded: “If you find something you like doing, then do it to the best of your ability and practise until others will pay you to do it.”
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