'For the first time ever, I saw something I could join in with'

20-YEAR-OLD BEVERLEY WOMAN SHARES HER DUKE OF EDINBURGH'S AWARD STORY AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE

- By DEBORAH HALL

A YOUNG woman from Beverley, joined the Duke of Edinburgh and presenter Alex Scott to give a speech to thousands of young people and their loved ones at Buckingham Palace on Friday, May 9, as they celebrated achieving their Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Awards (DofE).

Poppy Bough, 20, who was also celebrating achieving her own Gold Award, took to the Palace's West Terrace to share her inspiring DofE story with around 2,000 other young Award holders and their guests.

Poppy, who did her DofE through Beverley High School, was joined for the special day by her mum Kirsty and school staff member Tracey Watson, who encouraged Poppy to get involved with the DofE and supported her throughout.

She said: "Before I began my DofE, I had never spent a night away from home and I had no friends to do it with. At the first meeting, I stood there petrified - but, for the first time ever, I saw something I could join in with.

"Thanks to the Duke of Edinburgh's Award I have pushed myself further than I thought possible. I became an NHS cadet, I completed my first-aid qualification and learned sign language, I trained to run a 10k and I became an expert at cooking a curry from scratch and even took spices and coconut milk on my expedition.