Duke of Edinburgh
Report 2011
I start this year’s report in exactly the same way as last years. It could be word for word apart from the amounts involved. The cost of enrolling in the D of E has risen again, from the 1st April 2011, it will cost £14.00 for Bronze and Silver and £20.00 for Gold. As I have said many times before this cost is beyond the control of Girlguiding so we will have to just grin and bear it. This follows on from the increase in cost of using a D of E accredited assessor for expeditions which commenced on the 5th January. We shall see how this impacts on our numbers throughout the year.
We still, however, continue to have our successes.
Rainhill Rangers – Bronze Award
Laura Archer and Anna Devlin
Rainhill Rangers – Silver Award
Ruth Nevitt and Eleanor Stubbs.
Rainhill Rangers – Gold Award
Elena Basley, Gemma Murdoch, Jade Murdoch, Kate Atherton, Eleanor Stubbs, Megan Ashby and Sunaya Mehta.
We hope to get to Edinburgh this year with all those girls from 2009.
202nd Liverpool Rangers – Gold Award
Charlotte Makin. We hope to squeeze her into Edinburgh this year. My congratulations to them all.
To celebrate the success of these girls and those who completed other Guiding achievements we held for the first time a presentation evening on the 29th March at the newly refurbished Rainhill Guide House. Photographs in the gallery on the County website (www.girlguidingmerseyside.com). Depending on numbers of successful participants we may repeat this next year. This was a great success, both with the girls and their parents, so maybe the start of a new annual event!!!!!
We continued with our successful completion of awards:-
202nd Liverpool Ranger Unit – Bronze Award
Hollie Marsden, Annabel Peel-Balmforth, Erin Gillespie and Bethany Fox.
202nd Liverpool Ranger Unit – Silver Award
Charlotte Maclellan
Well done to them.
Rainhill Rangers – Gold Award
Charlotte Cashman and Ruth Nevitt. Congratulations. We also managed to squeeze them into this year’s Edinburgh presentation.
The Gold Award Presentation took place this year on Monday 4th July. We had a grand total of 15 girls representing Merseyside this year and we were lucky enough to be able to arrange invitations for Pat Dickinson, our County Commissioner, together with Chris and Martin Ring the ex-Region D of E Advisers. Irene and I attended as Marshals for our group and with Alison and Ann in attendance together with Diane Roberts from St. Helens, the County was well represented. All the girls looked great in their Uniforms and were noticed by His Royal Highness who took time to speak with them. A good day was had by all and this was greatly helped by the sunshine. Photographs are available to view on the County website. (Details above). Unfortunately I was unable to get the information placed on the Region website but it did appear on the D of E home page.
We, as a County, are also helping ourselves by getting more people through as Accredited expedition assessors. As I write this bit in May we have three more completed supported assessments. We then completed two more during the summer expedition season. This means we are well and truly self sufficient.
After the summer lull we have continued with more participants finishing their Awards. Sophie Madigan from the 202nd Liverpool Rangers completed her Bronze and Emma Alice Segar from the Rainhill Rangers completed her Gold, as did Rosemary Daley from the 202nd. Liverpool Rangers. They will be attending a presentation in Edinburgh next year.
We also had our first participants go through the eDofE process and congratulations go to Hannah Creamer, Lauren Bradley, Caitlin Bradley, Eleanor McEgan, Imogen Eales. Megan Dykes-Swindell, Sophie Rooney and Bethany Donaghy from Rainhill Rangers for finishing their Bronze.
It appears that I am going to finish this report like I have done for the past couple of years with news of another increase in costs. As from the 1st. April 2012, the cost of expedition assessors provided by the D of E will increase to £45.00 for Bronze, £65.00 for Silver and £85.00 for Gold per group for expeditions. To date I am not aware of any increase in the cost of enrolling in the scheme but would not be surprised if this occurs in the New Year.
Peter Aspinwall
County D of E Adviser
Report 2010
Again I start this years report on the vexed subject of money. The cost of enrolling in the Award scheme has risen and it is now costing girls £12 for Bronze and Silver and £18 for Gold. If this continues I dread the thought that some girls are going to be priced out of joining. That would be a shame but this is one cost beyond the control of Girlguiding. Another cost beyond our control is that being levied by the D of E for providing expedition assessors. From the beginning of this year that cost has been set at £30 for Bronze, £45 for Silver and £60 for Gold. This to be paid by each of the groups and is an extra expense, especially if it has to be divided by a group of four. It also applies per group and not per expedition so if we have two groups of four then two fees are applicable. As I begin writing this report in January I have yet to ascertain how and when this payment is to be made. As you know we, as a County, have been getting our own trained and accredited assessors so hopefully this charge can be avoided or at least reduced if we can provide our own assessors. Each group will have to think carefully of where and when they go on their expeditions in an attempt to keep the costs down. We now have assessors accredited at all three levels of the Award.
We are also having to go down the eDofE route now as all the record books within the Region have been sold and no more books are being printed. The exact implications of this system have yet to be ascertained as all records are now going to be online. How those participants who are not on the internet and have not got an e-mail address are going to cope, we will have to wait and see. This may be an obstacle for some girls. We have made a start as I have managed to input information for some of the groups and their leaders, and have now started enrolling girls.
We are also expanding with regards to the number of groups joining the D of E through the County. The 184th Liverpool and 280th Liverpool have both enrolled girls at Bronze. We hope to get them through that level this year and then onwards and upwards.
We are still continuing to have our successes within the County at all three levels.
Bronze Award
Lauren McKay Prescot & Rainhill Rangers
Rebecca Seeley 280th Liverpool
Abbie O’Leary 280th Liverpool
Louise Taylor 202nd Liverpool Ranger Unit
Charlotte Henry Carnall 202nd Liverpool Ranger Unit
Silver Award
Lyndsey Downing 202nd Liverpool Ranger Unit
Emma Downing 202nd Liverpool Ranger Unit
Charlotte Aitchison 202nd Liverpool Ranger Unit
Kathryn Smith 3rd Roby
Jennifer Page 3rd Roby
Stephanie Page 3rd Roby
Felicity Dixon Prescot & Rainhill Rangers
Rebecca Phillips Prescot & Rainhill Rangers
Emma Alice Segar Prescot & Rainhill Rangers
Gold Award – Presentation at Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh next year
Phoebe Hebden 202nd Liverpool Ranger Unit
Anna Macphie 202nd Liverpool Ranger Unit
Victoria Maher 202nd Liverpool Ranger Unit
Amy Macpherson
Helen Greenway St Helens Division
Gold Award – Presentation at St James’ Palace, London
Emily Sonnex
Natalie Broughton St Helens Division
Danielle Brown St Helens Division
Emily Rebecca Green St Helens Division
Emily Pennington St Helens Division
Sarah Rose Fox St Helens Division
Hannah Elizabeth Ross St Helens Division
Rebecca Jane Webster St Helens Division
Gemma Griffiths St Helens Division
Also from St Helens Anna Powell & Bethan Powell both completed their Gold Award and wish to attend a presentation in London. Hopefully all the girls can go together making a very good show for Girlguiding Merseyside.
My congratulations to them all and my thanks for all the support given from within this County, which continues to be one of the most successful, both regionally and nationally, as can be seen from the number of successes we have had this year.
I was just proof reading this report before sending it off for publishing on the County website (www.girlguidingmerseyside.com) when I looked at the latest D of E newsletter and the very vexed subject of money arose again. As from the 5th January 2011, the cost for D of E supplied Assessors has risen again. It will now cost £40 for Bronze, £60 for Silver and £80 for Gold expedition groups.
Peter Aspinwall County D of E Adviser
Outline Details of Award
The Award is divided into three levels, Bronze, Silver and Gold. The starting ages for each are 14 years, 15 years and 16 years respectively. You have until your 25th birthday to complete any of the Awards, see below for time limits.
The Award is also divided into different sections for Volunteering, Skills, Physical, Recreation and Expedition/Exploration for all levels and for Gold only, a Residential section.
Each of these sections has a large variety of choices to suit what each participant either wishes to try or already enjoys.
- Volunteering - If you are a Young Leader with a Unit then this can be used for this section.
- Skills - Playing a musical instrument or any other hobby, even cooking, is acceptable.
- Physical Recreation - If you attend a dance class or a gym then this will be suitable.
Participation in these sections must be carried out in your own time and cannot be part of a school activity. A full list of choices can be obtained from the D of E Adviser, or by looking in the relevant sections on the Duke of Edinburgh Award web site www.dofe.org
The Expedition section involves going out into the countryside where you will camp and journey for a Duke of Edinburgh number of hours with an intended aim in mind. For Bronze this is six hours per day, Silver seven hours and Gold eight hours of which no more than half can be used towards your aim. If you are on your own, we will ensure you get the correct training and place you with a group. A Guiding event, such as Pack Holiday or Camp, if long enough, will count for your Gold Residential.
Contents below taken from the Award website:
It is a four-Section Programme with three progressive levels:
- Bronze (for those aged 14 and over)
- Silver (for those aged 15 and over) and
- Gold (for those aged 16 and over).
The Sections involve:
- Volunteering (helping other people in the local community)
- Expeditions (training for, planning and completing a journey on foot or horseback, by boat or cycle)
- Skills (covering almost any hobby, skill or interest)
- Physical Recreation (sport, dance and fitness)
- Residential Project (Gold Award only) (a purposeful enterprise with people not previously known to the participant)
You have until your 25th birthday to complete any of the Awards but it takes at least 6 months at Bronze, 12 months at Silver and 18 months at Gold for Direct Entrants.
TIMESCALES:
Bronze Award (14+ Years)
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Volunteering
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Skills
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Physical Recreation
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Expeditions
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3 Months
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3 Months
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3 Months
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Plan prepare and undertake a 2 day, 1 night venture
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All participants must undertake a further 3 months in the Volunteering, Skills or Physical Recreation Section.
Silver Award (15+ Years)
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Volunteering
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Skills
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Physical Recreation
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Expeditions
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6 Months
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One Section for 6 months and the other Section for 3 months
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Plan prepare and undertake a 3 day, 2 night venture
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Participants who do not hold their Bronze Award must undertake a further 6 months in either the Volunteering or the longer of the Skills / Physical Recreation Section.
Gold Award (16+ Years)
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Volunteering
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Skills
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Physical Recreation
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Expeditions
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Residential Section
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12 Months
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One Section for 12months and the other Section for 6 months
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Plan prepare and undertake a 4 day, 3night venture
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Undertake a shared activity in a residential setting away from home for 5 days and 4 nights
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Participants who do not hold their Silver Award must undertake a further 6 months in either the Volunteering or the longer of the Skills / Physical Recreation Section.
Enrolment Form and Leader Application Form available to download in Booking Forms on Calendar page.
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