Over the past year there has been an increase in Units taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award with 20 Units currently active.
The first DofE seminar was run in March with another taking place in November on the Adult Multi Course, with another 2 planned for 2006. All units are encouraged to take part otherwise your cadets and young members of staff will miss out.
To assist Units on setting up and running the DofE successfully, all the ASOs (DofE) have been busy this year producing an easy guide manual. The manual is currently at its final stages and is hope to be out early next year to co-inside with the Duke of Edinburgh's Awards 50th Anniversary and will be issued to every Unit.
This year Eastern Area has achieved the following Awards;
Bronze 13 Silver 2 Gold 6 (just completed in September 2005)
As the DofE is on the increase with more cadets taking part, it also counts towards cadets doing their BTEC awards, even if they have not completed the full Award.
There have been some changes over the last couple of years and all Units are now required to register, so each Cadet / Staff member taking part is issued with an Identification number (bar code). If you have an old hand written ID number / book then you will need to re-register through the ASO (DofE) to ensure the Operating Authority maintains their licence and Eastern Area can produce accurate records going forward.
Waterborne Expeditions are on the increase and it's great to see the Cadets/Staff putting their qualifications to great use.
It has been a very exciting first year as the ASO (DofE) and I look forward to seeing more Units participating in the Award over the coming year, especially in the 50th Anniversary.
