Duke of Edinburgh award

[Gandahar]

Ideal for getting kids off screens and actually those two things that walk, however

What you need.





Imagine some inner London kid trying to get all that malarky. Crazy.

It's completely off-putting and would cost a fortune.

I'm sending my sprog through it. On the cheap, she already did the ice skating part of it and then junked it in just after I bought her some £70 ice skating boots. Go figure ( not skating)

I remember hiking with a kagoule and some Kendal mint cake .....

[popegregory]

I'm the DofE centre manager at my school in one of the most deprived areas of the country. It's absolutely brilliant, the DofE. Most of that list they already own, the rest is optional, and failing either of those, either the school has it to lend, or their mates do and they can share.

[Fozziebear]

Invest in good boots and waterproofs, the rest is cheap at decathlon or tkmax. It's worth doing as it really does work their bodies and brains

[mybrainhurts]

If all this is a bit too physical, there's the lesser known DoE Half Award Scheme.

It's more of an intellectual thing, in two parts...

(1)...Devising original, imaginative and tasteful insults for people from distant lands

(2)...Dubbing films of the DoE in amusing and imaginative ways

Like this recent winner -----> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o60W286cm-E

Sound might be considered not safe for work

[TheChampers]

popegregory said:

I'm the DofE centre manager at my school in one of the most deprived areas of the country. It's absolutely brilliant, the DofE. Most of that list they already own, the rest is optional, and failing either of those, either the school has it to lend, or their mates do and they can share.

Getting my Gold DofE was a proud moment for me in 1983.

Most of my kit was borrowed from friends or from the Boys Brigade, through whom I was introduced to the scheme, south Birmingham late 70's early 80's not exactly posh.

[numtumfutunch]

Proud father here of teenage dirtbag who spends every spare minute on her phone but managed the Bronze expedition last year

After examining the kit list we nipped down to the local outward bound shop and spent the grand total of £40

It would have been less if the missus hadnt insisted that bin liners were not satisfactory substitutes for official rucksack liners and odd kid wanted to be chief meths pimp for favours within the group and chucked an industrial quantity of cooking fuel into our basket
(I own a vintage Trangia although just like your kit list our school provided them)

Everything else on the list was readily available at home - albeit not necessarily with an Armani label
Her 1981 Karrimor Jaguar IV has probably done more miles than most peoples cars, but is fit for purpose and would have otherwise been an ebay bargain

Cheers

[Gareth79]

Fozziebear said:

Invest in good boots and waterproofs, the rest is cheap at decathlon or tkmax. It's worth doing as it really does work their bodies and brains

Agreed, they name a few high-end brands on there so I assume the group is in a well-off school/area where the parents can drop £££ without thinking.

I have seen some decent walking boots at good prices in TK Maxx though, it's worth visiting a few to see what they have. eBay is good for clearance/end-of-line items too, especially in odd sizes.

[Fozziebear]

Gareth79 said:

Fozziebear said:

Invest in good boots and waterproofs, the rest is cheap at decathlon or tkmax. It's worth doing as it really does work their bodies and brains

Agreed, they name a few high-end brands on there so I assume the group is in a well-off school/area where the parents can drop £££ without thinking.

I have seen some decent walking boots at good prices in TK Maxx though, it's worth visiting a few to see what they have. eBay is good for clearance/end-of-line items too, especially in odd sizes.

DofE always list big brand names, they have some backhanded link to them. My old scout troop and cadets had the same big brand names, I told the parents to concentrate on footwear and a decent waterproof jacket, everyone of the kids passed bronze hike with zero issues. You also have to remember if they are doing the practice hikes in summer a bladder pack and good map skills is above a trangier burner that could never be used

[Pieman68]

Still proud to this day of achieving both Silver and Gold. The invite with my parents to a garden party at Buckingham Palace (to receive my Gold award) was very much the cherry on the cake.

As said above - it's all about the boots. We were very lucky other than that as we had CCF at the school, and so had vast amounts of equipment to borrow courtesy of the MoD.

I used existing interests (cricket and music) for skills and did some community service through a local special school/summer playscheme for kids with learning difficulties. Expeditions all done in the Dales/Lake District (and still love visiting them to this day)

[Patch1875]

My daughter is currently doing hers she's in a private school but we got virtually all the kit from the schools thrift shop.

[shed driver]

The cadet Forces also offer the DofE scheme - sometimes a lot cheaper than schools. The amount of kit that can be borrowed is also likely to be greater than at some schools.

I'm a DofE assessor and Army Cadet Instructor - pm if you need any advice.

SD.