A SOLIHULL teenager went to Buckingham Palace for a festival-style celebration of his Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s (DofE) Award achievement.
Lawrie Humby met Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh, at one of four celebrations recognising over 9,000 young people who have shown extraordinary perseverance, creativity and resilience to complete their Gold DofE in schools, community organisations, youth groups and workplaces.
The Arden Academy pupil was one of just a handful of young people to personally speak to The Duke at the event.
During the exchange, Lawrie told The Duke: “I started volunteering for my DofE at an animal department and I’ve carried that on since I’ve finished. I’ve loved every minute of it so I’m hoping to study Zoology at university next year.”
To which The Duke replied: “Fantastic!”
Lawrie gave his time to the animal care department at Solihull College and University Centre during all three of his DofE Awards and Lawrie credits the DofE Volunteering section for its positive impact on his mental health and sparking his interest in his future career.
Lawrie describes the department as his “happy place”.
The 18-year-old said: “The unique opportunity to take responsibility for the welfare of a wide variety of species from a young age has given me a practical outlet to balance academic life.
“The experience has reinforced my interest in the natural world and driven my ambition to study Zoology at university and work as a wildlife conservationist, protecting natural habitats for some of the exotic animals I have cared for.
“My favourite memories from my DofE experience include flying Kiwi the parrot to exercise her and being up close to characters like the meerkats, Bananas, a yellow albino python and Jack the sulcata tortoise.”
For the Gold Award celebration event, the Buckingham Palace Garden had been transformed into a festival-style celebration for young people and their loved ones, with giant deckchairs, bunting, and activities – including some very special touches in recognition of the DofE charity’s 70th anniversary.
Attendees heard from TV chef and author, Jon Watts, and picked up career advice from presenter and podcaster Sam Thompson, actress Corinna Brown, F1 Academy driver Chloe Chong, musician and presenter Gareth Malone and sports presenter Hayley McQueen, at stages throughout the garden.
A Gold DofE Award is a major achievement – young people spend at least 12 months honing new skills and talents, planning and completing an expedition and residential, and volunteering for a cause they are passionate about.
To mark 40 years of being a Gold DofE Award holder himself, The Duke posted in the DofE’s 70th anniversary digital scrapbook, giving a humorous account of when his father, Prince Philip, presented him with his Gold Award at St James’s Palace, in 1986.
In his post, which is accompanied by a photograph from The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award archive, The Duke said: “Usually, my father would give the bunch of Award certificates to a presenter to distribute, but this time he talked to our group, gave me my certificate and then said, ‘Well, since I’ve given you that one, I’ll give you the rest’ and handed the whole lot to me to hand out.”
Since its conception in 1956, the DofE has reached over 15.5million young people globally, with more than 8.8million young people having started a DofE Award in the UK.
In the last year alone, over 345,000 young people in the UK started their DofE – the highest annual starts in our 70-year history – giving over six-million volunteering hours in their communities.
As the charity celebrates 70 years of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, it’s recognising DofE participants past and present and the incredible volunteers who make their journey possible — anyone with a connection to the DofE is invited to join The Duke of Edinburgh and celebrate by sharing their memories in DofE’s digital scrapbook here.
