Photo – Alumna, Bryony (BGS 2020)
For the first time since 2019, Duke of Edinburgh's (DofE) Award Gold participants, who completed all five sections of the Gold Award, were invited to Buckingham Palace for a formal ceremony on Friday 20th May.
Set in the beautiful gardens at Buckingham Palace, BGS alumnae and their families heard from famous DofE Award holders and international adventurers and explorers, picked up career advice from business leaders and entrepreneurs, and even had the opportunity to join in fun garden games and activities.
Many of the former students visited Buckingham Palace last Friday (20th) to collect their Awards. Alumna, Bryony Fleming (BGS 2020) reflected on the occasion: “I was in the afternoon session which officially began at 3pm. You were able to walk around the gardens and take photos. Around the garden there were satellite stages with speakers including Alice Beer, Karthi Gnanasegaram, Mike Bannister, Nick Hewer, Sally Orange and Pip Stewart, who all gave short talks and held Q&A sessions. You were also able to visit the tea tent for a cupcake and cup of tea. Throughout this time there were two military bands playing on the lawn.
"At 4pm we were addressed by HRH The Earl of Wessex from the West Terrace congratulating everyone and then the Phelps brothers spoke. Whilst they didn’t participate in DofE at school, due to filming Harry Potter, they did successfully complete the DofE diamond challenge. They spoke about filming and producing a travel show they are currently working on, Fantastic Friends (working title), and the resilience and the importance of keeping at it when at first you don’t succeed; as they had been turned down by many companies before being able to make their dream a reality.
"Once these speeches were over the satellite stages and bands continued for another hour.
"It was lovely to be able to visit Buckingham Palace Gardens for an in-person awards ceremony. It was also inspiring to hear the stories of people who have gone on from Gold DofE to have so many exciting adventures.”
Many congratulations to the following alumnae who have recently been awarded the prestigious Gold DofE Award - Priya Shah (2013), Johanna Rawlings (2014), Gabriela Samuels (2014), Zayneb Farhoud (2014), Flora Charatan (2015), Aarti Bhogaita (2016), Isabelle Gurney (2017), Francesca Lynn (2017), Charley Spriggs (2017), Olivia Swain (2017), Amy Lammin (2018), Olivia Allen (2019), Kaia Sweatman (2019), Olivia Benjamin (2020), Bryony Fleming (2020), and Sophie Parry (2020).
