Our Bronze Duke of Edinburgh’s qualifing expedition was our biggest DofE undertaking yet. Mr Taylor, our DofE manager, can tell us more..

The Peak District ~ Bronze Qualifying Expedition 9th & 10th July 2019

The last expedition of the year, the Bronze qualifier had four groups in total. Three of the groups would travel along the Dovedale and Manifold Valleys and explore Thor’s Cave and the other caverns, whilst the fourth group would travel along the Manifold Valley and then visit Poole’s Cavern, a more accessible cave in Buxton the following day. Each group would be independent, passing other groups as they travelled in different directions.

The day began with a mixed forecast, ‘warm with rainy spells’. The weather didn’t disappoint. A dry start was followed quite quickly by steadily increasing rain..

The rain began in earnest just as the tents were being put up at the camp. Fortunately our acquisition of an emergency gazebo during the soggy Gold expedition (click here if you missed that particular ordeal!) gave some shelter during the worst of the downfall..

Fortunately that was it for the evening as far as the rain was concerned, so it was back to work, finishing the tents and then preparing food.

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A good sleep followed and an early start to day two. This was another tiring day with students walking and carrying their equipment to journey’s end through some of the most picturesque areas in the Peak District.

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The students demonstrated some outstanding individual skills/teamwork and all contributed to making this a positive, memorable experience and a successful expedition. Well done everyone!

Also could I thank all the incredibly talented and supportive staff who have contributed to the expeditions throughout the year. You have done an amazing job in some very challenging situations and not only did you make this possible, you also made it very special for each of our young people.

Gavin Taylor
DofE Manager

Congratulations everyone on successful completing your Bronze expedition!! We would like to echo Mr Taylor and thank our fantastic staff for supporting and encouraging our young people and making the expedition not only possible but also such a positive experience for our young people.

You can view all the pictures of the expedition in our Facebook album here and you can find out more about the DofE Award Scheme at New Bridge here and read about all our other previous expeditions.