The hall at Ditcham Park School near Petersfield was filled to capacity last Wednesday as young achievers from across East Hampshire turned up to be presented with their Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE) certificates in front of an audience of leaders and parents.

Invited guests included Petersfield mayor James Deane, chairman of the DofE Award scheme in Hampshire Martin King, and Charley Mills, Hampshire Council Council’s DofE manager.

The guest of honour was Sandra Berry-Bowers, an ultra runner who trains with a team of Siberian huskies. Ultra running is anything beyond a marathon and includes 100km distance and 24-hour events.

Sandra is a multiple national champion and has represented Britain in various events at European, commonwealth and world level. She presented the certificates with obvious enjoyment and went on to give an inspiring address to the young people, describing how she overcame a serious ankle injury to return from a wheelchair to running at international level.

She told her young audience that “all challenges should be faced positively and tackled with courage and determination” – equally true for DofE participants, particularly during their expeditions which are a prerequisite for a DofE Award.

There was entertainment too. During the evening, Emma Harris played guitar and sang, and there was a humorous video presentation by an expedition team who went by the name of ‘Nowhere’. These interludes, as well as the reading of the citations, were undertaken by DofE participants from Ditcham Park School.

David Allan, chairman of DofE in East Hampshire, said: “The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is a nationally-renowned development programme for young people which challenges them in many ways. It is being enthusiastically taken up by an ever-increasing number of young people right across East Hampshire, with hundreds of awards now being gained in the district every year.”

Everyone doing DofE has to take up a skill, undertake a physical activity, and spend time as a volunteer.

Mr Allan said: “Those receiving their awards last Wednesday had selected a wide range of skills, including topics as diverse as computer building and cookery, as well as the more usual skills of art and music. Physical achievements covered almost all available sports.

“And whether they volunteered by coaching youngsters in a sport, acting as a young leader in a uniformed youth organisation, working in a crèche, assisting in a hospice, helping in church, fundraising for a charity or working as a conservation volunteer, every one of them had put significant amounts of time and effort into making their community a better place. Indeed, their total input of voluntary time amounts to more than 3,000 hours.”

And he added: “Expeditions are perhaps the best-enjoyed part of DofE, involving travel in a group in unfamiliar terrain. Most of the bronze expeditions were in the New Forest or the Sussex Downs, while at silver level groups tend to travel further afield, for example to Derbyshire or the Shropshire Hills. At gold level, participants are required to go into ‘wild country’ – areas which are usually remote and rather hilly.”

On the list for the evening there were 114 bBronze DofE award achievers, along with 22 silvers and seven golds. Additionally, a large number of young people had qualified through Bohunt School, Churcher’s College and Lord Wandsworth College, each of which organises its own independent presentation.

As is often the case, several of the silver and gold award winners were away at college or university. Nevertheless, two gold award winners were present – Victoria Scott and Charlie Murrell, who had undertaken DofE through Alton Boys’ Brigade and had tackled an expedition in a remote area of Scotland, meeting absolutely no-one in the hills in four days. Their achievement will be formally recognised at a reception at St James’s Palace, when The Duke of Edinburgh or The Earl of Wessex will present their certificates.

At the end of the evening, Mr Allan congratulated the award winners on their achievement, thanked parents and leaders for their support, and complimented Ditcham Park School on the willing assistance of their young people and the efficient organisation by their leaders.

He told the young people: “DofE is one of the most worthwhile things you can do. I do hope that you will all choose to ‘go for gold’.”