By Joshua Robinson –

A young woman from Huddersfield joined His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh and broadcaster Vick Hope to give a speech to thousands of young people and their loved ones at Buckingham Palace – as they celebrated achieving their Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards.

Ifrah Shafiq, 19, was celebrating her achievement of the Gold Award, took to the Palace’s West Terrace on Friday 10th May to share her DofE story with around 2,000 other young Award holders. Ifrah, who did her DofE through Greenhead College in Huddersfield, was joined by her mum, Maysoon.

Ifrah’s celebration was the first of four festival-style events taking place in Buckingham Palace Garden over two days on Friday 10th and Monday 13th May, recognising over 8,000 young people who have shown extraordinary perseverance, creativity, and resilience to complete their Gold DofE in schools, community organisations, youth groups, and workplaces, across the UK.  

Ifrah Shafiq speaks on the West Terrace. Credit Ed Crispin, DofE

On Buckingham Palace’s West Terrace, Ifrah – who has always wanted to be a doctor – spoke about her DofE Volunteering with local community organisation Al Mu’minun Academy during the COVID pandemic.  She said: “Within the Pakistani community in my area, there was a lot of misinformation being spread about the coronavirus vaccine. Feeling detached from the official guidance, many turned to social media, but here we saw an increase in myths and rumours. As a result, the uptake of the vaccine was dangerously low.”

“To help address this, I delivered relatable presentations to break down the facts about the COVID vaccine, giving people an opportunity to ask questions and directly address the myths that had been circulated online. As a result, there was an increased uptake in the vaccine in my local area. ”  

“I’m happy to say that since that experience, I am now employed at West Yorkshire Ambulance Service as a health advisor, and although my job is stressful, my hands-on experience at the DofE has taught me so much.”

Ifrah also spoke about her desire to be a role model for other young Muslim women and said that she wants to inspire them to do things like the DofE, and “grab opportunities with both hands”.’ 

She added: “I used to be quite shy and in my shell. But through my DofE I’ve met people from all walks of life. It’s made me realise that I want to help and support other people as much as I can. I hope that by trying new things, I can be the role model in my community that I would have liked to have seen when I was younger.”

Buckingham Palace Garden has been transformed into a festival-style celebration for the Gold Award celebrations, with giant deckchairs, bunting, garden games, and activities. Attendees had the chance to hear from famous DofE Award holders and broadcasting legends and pick up career advice from actors, presenters, authors, and campaigners, at stages throughout the garden.

Gold DofE Award Celebrations. Credit Ian Smithers, DofE

Ifrah’s celebration was hosted by The Duke of Edinburgh – who received his own Gold Award from his father Prince Philip at nearby St James’s Palace in 1986. The Duke congratulated attendees in a speech from the Palace’s West Terrace, before meeting Award holders and hearing about the positive impact their DofE has had on them.   

Vick Hope, herself a Silver DofE Award holder, delivered an inspiring speech. Remembering her DofE practice expedition, Vick Hope said: “Our feet were blistered, and our backs were aching. My lovely grandad had lent me his sleeping bag from his Navy days, it was about 100 years old and kept neither the heat in nor the cold out, but somehow, we persisted, and had a good laugh along the way.”   

“DofE showed me that I possessed not only the resilience to overcome challenges, but the ability to find joy in them. When times are hard, I pride myself in finding the good bit. And then passing that on to the person next to me – or to the person who has just switched on their TV or radio. I ended up carving a career out of hopefully making people smile, whatever they’re going through. DofE made me resourceful with my time and skills – sleeping on the floor of the BBC from midnight to 8 am on my early reporting jobs? Light work after grandad’s sleeping bag in the Yorkshire Dales! DofE fostered confidence in me, and it played a huge part in teaching me that in challenging times we must be there for one another.”

Vick also congratulated this year’s Gold Award achievers and encouraged them to: “Think about what DofE has given you that you can pay forward. As you step into the vast and exciting wilderness of the rest of your lives my advice to you is: don’t let anyone dull your spark, hold on to your spirit of adventure, take action, if something doesn’t seem right- question it. Don’t be afraid of failure – it is an opportunity to learn and grow; keep recalibrating, you will change and change is good, your story will have many different chapters. When things get tough remember that you did this. You completed it. You could easily have not. But you did.” 

Vick Hope speaks at Gold DofE Award Celebrations. Credit Ian Smithers, DofE.

Actor Jason Watkins, Olympian and Rugby World Cup winner Heather Fisher, racing driver Billy Monger and his sister Bonny, broadcaster and travel writer Ash Bhardwaj, and Heartstopper star Tobie Donovan were also on hand with inspirational talks on careers and life skills.    

A Gold DofE Award is a major achievement – young people spend at least 12 months improving physical activity, honing new skills, planning and completing an expedition and residential, and volunteering for a cause they are passionate about.  

Ruth Marvel, CEO of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, said: “The young people here today have achieved something exceptional, and it is wonderful to see them celebrating together, sharing their experiences and hearing their aspirations for the future. DofE is all about proving to yourself just what you are capable of, and the young people here today have showed the world that their potential is limitless. I can’t wait to see what they go on to do next.” 

“As a charity, we’re working hard to give as many young people as possible the chance to have a DofE experience and we’re delighted to announce that last year 330,948 young people started a DofE Award – another record-breaking year. This growth in participation shows just how much appetite there is amongst young people for enrichment and development opportunities beyond formal education and, together with our partners, we are determined to keep extending our reach until every young person has access to these types of life-changing experiences.” 

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award has been focusing on breaking down barriers to give as many young people as possible the chance to do their DofE – working with more schools in deprived areas, further education colleges, community organisations, prisons and young offender institutions, and centres supporting young people with special educational needs and disabilities. 

The charity recently announced record-breaking annual statistics, with 545,910 young people actively taking part in 2023/24, 330,984 young people starting their Award – and participants contributing 4.7 million hours of volunteering, equivalent to over £24 million in paid working hours.   

As young people navigate the after-effects of the pandemic, access to opportunities for personal development beyond the classroom, like the DofE, are vital to help them have fun, discover new talents and passions, build their resilience and self-belief and give them skills employers value – like teamwork, problem-solving and leadership.   

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