Duke of Edinburgh Award 2020 training and expeditions announced
The District Duke of Edinburgh Advisor has now fixed the dates for DofE and Chief Scout’s Platinum/Diamond Award 
expeditions programme for 2020. They are:
– Initial training session: Saturday 1 February, 10am to 4pm, at Kerswell Hall, Whitton
– Navigation training day: Sunday 9 February, 10am to 4pm, on Wimbledon Common
– Final training session and practice expedition planning: Sunday 15 March, 10am to 4pm, at Kerswell Hall, Whitton
– Bronze/CSPA practice expedition: Thursday 9 and Friday 10 April
– Silver/CSDA practice expedition: Thursday 9 to Saturday 11 April
– Practice debrief and qualifying expedition planning: Saturday 13 June, 10am to 4pm, Kerswell Hall, Whitton
– Bronze/CSPA qualifying expedition: Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 July
– Silver/CSDA qualifying expedition: Saturday 29 to Monday 31 August
The plan at the moment is that the practice expeditions will be in the Ashdown Forest and the qualifying expeditions on the Surrey Hills (Bronze/Platinum) and in the Chiltern Hills (Silver/Diamond). Costs will depend on numbers and venues, and so will be confirmed to participants, but should be in the region of £25-£35 for each of the Bronze expeditions and £50-£70 for each of the Silver expeditions. There is no charge for the training itself.
These expeditions are for Explorer Scouts wishing to undertake their expeditions by foot. If any Explorer Scouts are interested in doing their expeditions by boat, please email the District Advisor: Dave Wright.
It is critical that any Explorer Scout wishing to take part in these expeditions is available for both the practice and qualifying expeditions, and ideally they would attend all the training sessions. I appreciate that the dates may not work for everyone (especially with exams) and so if anyone has issues with any particular date they should please contact Dave to see what can be made to work. Depending on which one it is, missing one training or planning session may not be an issue.
Please also remember that Explorer Scouts wishing to undertake their DofE expeditions must be registered with the DofE for the relevant award. Registration for Silver is not automatic following the completion of Bronze; they must register themselves for the next award. Any Explorer Scout who is not registered for DofE should do so as soon as they are able; the form can be downloaded from the County website. Note that there is a registration fee, which is not included in the cost of the expeditions.
Explorer Scouts are welcome to join us even if they are undertaking the rest of their award through school, cadets or another organisation. Our expeditions offer substantially better value for money than expeditions run by most schools and, because Explorer Scouts tend to have a higher base level of ability and competence, the quality of the expedition experience that we offer is better than many schools can match, too.
Explorer Scouts who are interested should ask a parent or guardian to email Dave to let him know if their son/daughter is planning to take part (and also to let him know which Explorer Unit they are from). Details will be confirmed and communicated by email to parents, with relevant leaders copied in.
If anyone, leader, parent or Explorer Scout, has any questions, please do contact Dave by e-mail here: dave.wright@richmondscouts.
