MONTHS of hard work and dedication from 25 young people in Thornbury have come to fruition as they received their Duke of Edinburgh awards.

The group from Thornbury’s Open Award Centre were presented of their bronze, silver and gold awards by Thornbury mayor Cllr Helen Harrison during the awards evening on Thursday, January 4, who congratulated the group on their successes over the past 12-18 months.

Those who achieve a Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) Award volunteer, learn a skill, get fit, and plan and undertake an expedition.

Widely acknowledged as the world’s leading achievement award for young people, DofE programmes enable any young person, aged 14 to 24-years-old, to develop key skills for life and work, such as confidence, commitment and team working.

David Matthews, DofE leader at Thornbury Open Award Centre, said: “Every one of our young people have shown their resilience and perseverance in overcoming personal challenges.

“They’ve learnt to work together as part of a team, developed confidence in their own abilities by pushing themselves to do new things and realised how much more they can achieve than they thought was possible.

“The skills they have learnt will be of benefit to future employers and many have already found the award has given them the edge when making job, college or university applications.

“The local community benefit from the volunteering that our young people do which has included work with young children, charities and the elderly.”

Ellie Hunter, who completed her gold award, said that taking part in DofE helped to increase her self-confidence and inspired her to do things that I wouldn’t otherwise have tried.

“As part of my residential week I had an amazing experience working with a charity helping to teach children in Uganda,” she said. “I have found the experiences gained with DofE have helped me cope with other new experiences and also given me plenty to talk about in job and university interviews.”

Thornbury Open Award Centre runs the DofE Award scheme starting at bronze for year 9 children, meeting every Thursday evening at the Chantry, with new entrants starting every autumn.

To find out more, visit www.dofe.org or contact the Open Award Centre at toacdofe@gmail.com.