Scotland Celebrates 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 lots of events are being planned across the country to celebrate, and there is a lot to celebrate too, as the Award is more successful today than it ever has been before.

Over the past 5 years, the number of young people taking part has risen by about 30%, with now over 225,000 young people working towards Awards at any one time. Over 6 million people have gained an Award worldwide – an impressive statistic considering the whole idea for the scheme came out of one boarding school in the Highlands.

Under a committee headed by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, the Award was born and although little details may have changed over the half century, the Award is essentially the same today as it was back then.

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 of the Award – 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.

To mark the Award’s 50th Anniversary we are taking the opportunity to organise a range of events to celebrate our achievements over the previous 50 years and to thank all the supporters, volunteers and participants associated with the Award.

On 1st April, rather than fooling around as the date would traditionally suggest thousands of Duke of Edinburgh’s Award participants will take part in The National Celebration of Service Day to raise awareness of the Service section of the Award.

The Service section provides opportunities for the young people to make a personal contribution to their communities by fundraising, taking part in environmental services, working with the emergency or rescue services, providing safety training or working with the community on projects such as working with children with special needs.

The National Celebration of Service Day will see as many participants as possible volunteer for some sort of service, with the hours being recorded collectively. Around 2 million hours of voluntary service are usually undertaken in a year by participants, so The National Celebration of Service Day will push that figure up considerably.

Also, there are going to be 5 Reunion Dances and Ceilidhs throughout April and May, in Glasgow, Dundee, Inverness, Aberdeen and Edinburgh where previous leaders, participants and friends of the Award come together to celebrate their achievements and reminisce of past events.

There are many other events going on throughout Scotland over the year including a tri-charity concert between the National Trust for Scotland, The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and the Scottish Youth Hostel Association at Culzean Castle, a small ships race, a golfathon, the Union and Forth/Clyde Canal Challenge, and celebrity chefs helping participants too put on fundraising dinners.

As well as all this, the Award is creating a Jubilee Trust Fund of £10 million for the development of the Award to create even more opportunities for increasing numbers of young people. The participants themselves will be fundraising over the year to help keep the Award running, and, with all the effort and celebration going into the 50th Anniversary, it seems the Award will be around for many anniversaries to come.

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

For more information about The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and the 50th Anniversary celebrations, or information about the Reunion Dances and Ceilidhs, contact the Scottish Award Office on (0131) 556 9097, or e mail scotland@theaward.org.