Nine electricity apprentices who tested their teamwork during expeditions, have received Gold Duke of Edinburgh Awards at Buckingham Palace.
The apprentices all work for UK Power Networks and keep the power flowing to homes and businesses across London, the East and South East. The group had the honour of being given their awards by the Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh.
UK Power Networks apprentices complete the Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award programme during their training as it helps develop the skills and qualities needed in their working life. Training expeditions in Dartmoor and Exmoor were followed by a final expedition hiking 50 kilometres across the Peak District over five days.
Cameron Stafford, 23, said; “When you start the scheme you never really think you will get there, it’s quite challenging. But it was really worthwhile. If you have a tough day at work you can relate it to the DofE expedition when everyone helped each other get through.”
Cameron from Peacehaven, is based in Brighton and has now qualified as an overhead linesperson. As well as a five day hike across the Peak District with a day full of walking and then camping overnight, he also volunteered by taking his neighbour’s dog for walks. The dog walks led him to lose weight, get fitter, and then take up running which helped him through lockdown.
Engineering trainees team leader, Lee Woods, said: “The DofE scheme develops the positive characteristics we look for in our employees such as teamwork, responsibility and resilience. That’s why we joined forces with the charity to give our young apprentices the best start to their careers with us. Already more than 100 apprentices have been through the scheme and I would like to congratulate this group on passing both the apprenticeship and the Gold Award.”
Ruth Marvel, DofE CEO said that the Gold Award recipients had to overcome the challenges of lockdown to achieve their results, which added to their achievement and they deserve to be recognised for their passion, resilience and creativity.
The recipients are:
Edward Moffat from Purfleet, Bradley Symonds from Polegate, Luka Radojevic from Canterbury, Joshua McDade from Canterbury, Cameron Stafford from Brighton, Lewis Edwards from Hastings, Ross Wilcox from Stansted, Dan Murrell from Tunbridge Wells and James Ip from Chatham.
Factfile: Group achievements:
13,500 hours learning new skills
1,000 hours physical activities
1,000 hours residential activities
792 miles walked
360 hours on volunteer work
