Inspiration and Sliding Doors Moments

We were sad to hear of the death of the Duke of Edinburgh today. There are few other people alive who have had personal experience of the world and the people at the highest level of government as the 99 year old Prince. However, it was his impact at grassroots level that really impressed me as a 14 year old. Like many schoolchildren in the UK I took part in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme with first of all the Bronze award at school. My community service was to serve tea at the local hospice, an experience which was so valuable and I still remember some of the lovely people I met there. I'm not sure many people had wine-making as their hobby but I justified it on the basis of it being quite technical! I learnt how to plan a walk, hang wall-paper and play golf! From that small seed my experience of walking and expeditions grew and at University I joined the Duke of Edinburgh Society becoming Treasurer and Expedition Leader in my last year. I'm proud that I trained f