Birkheads Wild CIO

Help us fundraise to run our Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme in 2024-5

Here at Birkheads we run a different Duke of Edinburgh's Awards Scheme - and we need your help and donations to keep it so special in 2024 and 2025.

We've planned an exciting programme of training and unique Expeditions for our Bronze, Silver and Gold groups for 2024-5 including; canoeing and hiking in the Lake District, cycling from Scotland to St Mary's Lighthouse and learning to sail a boat round the south of England!

We need your help to make it all happen though but don't worry...

Our young people and Young Leaders are doing their bit to fundraise for these amazing experiences too - in July a team of young people are tackling Challenge Northumberland's Mud Run to raise more funds for our programme! Please support their efforts by giving whatever you can here. Every £ helps us!

Background:

The Duke of Edinburgh's Award (or 'DofE' as everyone calls it) is a prestigious and well-recognised programme of leadership and outdoor skills for young people ages 14-25. Colleges, Universities and Employers all recognise and value the programme, and this has the potential to be life changing for some of our group - many of whom who struggle in a classroom or at school. 

Why our DofE programme is special:

Our DofE programme is a little different to some those which run in schools/Scouts etc as its for young people who face multiple barriers to participating in DofE in a school setting. 

This might be due to them having additional needs such as ADHD or Autism or having had Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE's) resulting in trauma.  Some of our group are also unable to attend or have been excluded from school. Some are Care Experienced or come from Refugee or Asylum Seeking families. And for a couple, their families simply would not have the spare funds to pay for their young person to do DofE in school.

Here's why our DofE programme is different:

 1.           It's more relaxed than school -  and based almost entirely outdoors here at Birkheads Wild – with a mix of young people from schools all across Gateshead, and some who don’t (or can't) attend mainstream school. We are also able to give the young people more personalised support to achieve their potential due to smaller group sizes. 

2.           ‘Pay what you can afford’ – We don’t want family finances to be a reason why our young people don’t get to do DofE. Some schools charge over £200 per person to do the Bronze DofE programme. We only ask parents/carers to make a donation if they can through this page to help towards the cost of the programme and the expeditions. There is no minimum or maximum donation. We also work hard to fundraise to support the programme. We have a kit and equipment Library too so we help out with any kit needed to ensure families aren't out of pocket on buying a huge Kit List for DofE.

3.           We aim high for unique and unusual Expeditions – we know that the Expedition is often one of the most memorable parts of ‘doing DofE’. We aim to make sure we create unforgettable expeditions for some young people who would not otherwise get this opportunity. Our Bronze group went to the Lake District last summer and several of the young people had not been outside of the North East before that. 2 out of 12 of them had never slept in a tent before! We are planning for the 2024/5 Bronze group expedition will be to the Lake District with 1 day walking and 1 day canoeing, and the 2024/5 Silver group to be Cycling a route from 'Scotland to St Mary's Lighthouse' over 3 days. We are helping raise aspirations by helping our groups to 'dream big' and have big adventures!

We have nearly 30 local young people going through our DofE programme in 2024 and 2025, please donate whatever you can afford to support them.

 Thankyou.