Jul 20 - Duke Of Edinburgh Award Group Head For The French Hills This Weekend
A group of young Gibraltarians from the Open Award Centre leave on Saturday 22nd July to travel to the French hills to complete their qualifying Gold Adventurous Journey (AJ).
The 19 participants, whose ages range from 17 to 18, will be based in the Mont Lozère area, which encompasses the Parc National de Cevénnes. They will be there until the 29th July to complete the AJ, which for most participants is the most arduous part of the Award Programme.
The AJ entails travelling a minimum of 80 kilometres by foot over four days with three nights spent under canvas. The participants will carry all their food, tents, stoves, fuel and other equipment in their rucksacks for these four days as they are expected to be self sufficient during the venture.
As if that wasn’t enough, they are expected to do this in unfamiliar wild country and do so by navigating their way along a pre-planned route, hopefully without deviating too much and definitely without getting lost! But, that's not all, the Award requires that participants undertake "a journey with a purpose" and to this end they will need to produce a written report of the venture. The topic is of their choosing and needs to be relevant to the area they are visiting.
At base camp the participants will spend the first two days route planning, sorting out all their food and equipment and also brushing up on their map reading skills. They will also need to become familiar with the local conditions regarding hiking in the region as well as brushing up on their French, just in case they need to ask for assistance.
Following the initial familiarisation period the participants will then start the adventurous journey proper. During this period they will be monitored by independent Assessors, Alison and Brian Evans, who will determine if the participants are observing the correct Country Code procedures, correctly navigating across the various parts of the country and meeting the conditions for a qualifying venture.
Over the last twelve months, the local participants have been busy carrying out practice camps in the south of Spain, fund raising and completing their various examinations. The cost of the trip, in the region of £12,000, is being met from a variety of sources including monies raised by the participants through personal and parental contributions, the Government’s youth grant and the Award itself. The Award and participants would like to thank all the following for their financial and in kind support:
Bland Group
H.M Government of Gibraltar Youth Grants
The participants are accompanied by adult leaders, Carolina Penner and Paul Lyon who are acting as supervisors and, as such, will be responsible for the general safety and well being of the participants whilst away from the Rock. The Award and the participants wish to thank them, and all those other leaders, for all the time they have spent over the year in getting the participants ready for the qualifying adventurous journey and for accompanying them on this venture.
For more information about the AJ please contact Paul Lyon on 54027052.
For more information about the Award please contact the Director, Michael Pizzarello on 20051971 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The Award is an exciting youth development programme open to young people between the ages of 14 and 24. Check them out on Twitter “IntAward Gibraltar” or at www.thedukes.gi
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