Eighty two young people are to be presented with their Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards at a ceremony on Thursday 3rd September 2009 at the Convent. His Excellency The Governor, Sir Robert Fulton, as Patron of the Award in Gibraltar, will present the Bronze and Silver Awards at a ceremony which will be attended by families, Award leaders, sponsors and many others.

The young people receiving their Awards have, over the last 12 months, been involved in a wide variety of activities geared towards completing the requirements of the Award Programme.

The Award Programme gives young people aged 14-25, whether able-bodied or with special needs, an opportunity to experience challenge and adventure, to acquire new skills and to make new friends.

The Programme comprises four sections. The Service section intended to develop a sense of community and social responsibility. The Adventurous Journey aims to cultivate a spirit of adventure and discovery and an understanding of the environment. The Skills section develops, cultural, vocational and practical skills and the Physical Recreation section encourages improved performance and fitness. The Gold Award has an additional section, the Residential Project, which sees participants undertake some form of purposeful enterprise whilst living away from home for a week.

To complete the Service requirements the recipients have, amongst other things, been involved with helping the elderly at Mount Alvernia, learning about fire prevention and basic fire fighting with the Fire Brigade, training for the Sports Leadership programme and carrying out first aid training with the St. John Ambulance.

For their Skills the participants have learned about and practised drawing and painting, photography, cooking, gardening, care of horses, drama, information technology, reading and singing, you name it they have probably done it.

The participants have all completed a physically challenging hike as part of the Expedition Section’s requirements and this has seen them hike either 24 or 48 kilometres depending on which Award they are receiving. The participants have also been heavily involved in sports. For Physical Recreation there has been involvement in netball, volleyball, basketball, badminton, swimming, table tennis, 10 pin bowling, horse riding and dance.

All these varied activities require the support of a small team of dedicated volunteer Award leaders who make all the arrangements and also take the participants on their expeditions. In addition there are countless volunteers who give their time to teach, supervise and assess the young people in their chosen activities. To all of them the National Award Council owes a debt of gratitude and thanks them for their untiring efforts and support.

Naturally, without the participation of the young people there would be no Award Ceremony and therefore the Council, leaders, supporters and families wish to congratulate the following on their achievements;

Bronze

Ayesha Abrey, Charlie Abrines, Elena Mico Aldeguer, Jose Pablo Bolado Santamaria, Nicola Bosio, Hannah Brown, Nicholas Calamaro, Georgina Cassar, Rowan Charleson, Nicola Ramos Clarkson, Elizabeth Cotter, Jessica Craig, Guy A V Dumas, Colin Fabre, Elizabeth Ferrary, Marayah Galia, Alex Gardener, Doyle George Gaskin, Lilly Gomez, Lucy Gregory, Holly Greig, Ayrton Hoole-Walker, Josh Turner Hunt, Leyla Karim, Phoebe Kelly, Kasmeen Khaira, Noelle Laguea, Emma Lavarello, Marta Laver Valero, James Mervyn Leeming, Alex Licudi, George Macquisten, Chloe Maloney, Maria Antonia Mier, James Andrew Mifsud, Joshua Munday, Johann Gomez Netto, Mariana Norton, Robert O’Malley, Camille Maisey Obermann, Victor Ovchynnykov, Laura Palao, Michael Posso, Megan Ramagge, Liam Reyes, Francesca Russo, Jade Sanchez, Sebastian Saramiento, Harvey Saunders, Jake Saunders, Kristina Small, Linda Svendsen, Alexandra Triay, Amy Valverde, Carlos Toribo Vasquez, Louise Vinent, Lewis Woodall

Silver

Michael Azopardi, Grace Baker, Adon Baldachino, Joseanne Bear, Grace Culatto, Alexandra Edwards, Kirsty Ferrary, Patrick Gill, Jeremy Gomez, Jennifer Harris, Jasmine Martinez, Jordan Measey, Kathleen Murphy, Gabriella Peralta, Samantha Picardo, Thomas Ramagge, Jeroen Rodriguez, Gabriella Russo, Lucy Russo, Jamie Sanguinetti, Lisa Sciacaluga, Jonathan Roger Smith, Frida Svendsen, Alejandro Vasquez, Alexandra Vaughan

Many of the recipients have already commenced their activities towards their Silver and Gold Awards and we wish them every success for the future.

The local Award Council would like to express their thanks to His Excellency The Governor Sir Robert Fulton for allowing the Award to take over his home for the ceremony and also his staff for working towards making the event a success.