Duke of Edinburgh
Bronze
Bronze began in September 2019 with Saturday mornings at the Oxfam shop in Billericay, around three hours a week until lockdown cut the run short in March 2020. I learned the shop end to end. Pricing donated stock and working the till. Researching donations online and helping customers on the floor.
The physical section was tennis, a weekly coached session working on singles and doubles play. For skills I continued piano, progressing through my ABRSM grades with weekly lessons covering performance and theory alike.
The expedition came later than planned because of Covid. Two days around Mid Essex in June 2021. We navigated our own route as a team and made the calls ourselves when the map disagreed with the path.
Gold
Gold started in March 2022. The sections ran for much longer. I went back to Oxfam on Billericay High Street for twelve months, helping the shop operate. That meant serving customers properly and keeping donated stock on the floor.
The physical section was golf for six months at Crowlands Golf Centre and Little Burstead Golf Club. I worked on the swing itself as well as putting on the green. Chipping and driving came in as the rest of the game started to make sense.
The skills section ran for eighteen months. Website design. I did it from home and it grew into the long build of the Tinsley & Co site. An early prototype from school and months of teaching myself turned into a live site built with modern tools. A working developer mentored the work as it went.
What it shows
The award ran alongside school and work for years. It also survived a pandemic in the middle. The real lesson is starting something long and actually finishing it.
It also made me deliberately broad. Service sat next to sport. Music sat next to finding my own way outdoors. The skills section fed straight into work I now do.
Skills demonstrated
- Long-Term Commitment
- Navigation & Route Planning
- Teamwork Outdoors
- Volunteering & Service
- Piano (ABRSM)
- Golf
- Website Design
- Self-Sufficiency