DofE at 70: John’s story of being one of the first DofE participants

My name is John Green, and I was one of ten boys to receive the first DofE Gold Award in 1958.

I was born in Silvertown in the East London in 1940 and the war had just started, I had a good upbringing and a happy childhood but we didn’t have any money. I belonged to the Fairbairn House Boys club and I initially went there for boxing until one day the Youth leader, Lou Sladen, asked if I wanted to do The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award which is where it all started.

My DofE Leader, Lou was one of my heroes, he was a fighter pilot in the war and he would stop at nothing to push you and get you going. He was just a down to earth guy.

After the war the Silvertown area was very poor, there was no future and we weren’t encouraged to do anything other than go to school and come home, so DofE was the very thing I was looking for. For the Physical section I ran the 800 yards and threw the discus, I’d never been into athletics before and after awhile I became quite good, I thought to myself “can I really do that? That’s amazing!”

The most exciting part about DofE was the Expedition, I thought it sounded really fun For many months we used to go to the Brecon Beacons most weekends, at that time as the first group to do DofE, we were part of a trial run and twice HRH Prince Philip and Sir John Hunt came out to see us – they were both such great guys and really lovely. They asked us whether we finding it difficult and they were both so very encouraging, at the time I couldn’t believe we were standing there talking to Prince Philip!

We were presented with our Gold Award on Wednesday 4 June, 1958. Going to Buckingham Palace was amazing, whoever thought that I would go! I felt so proud for my mum and dad to be there as well, I wasn’t sure what to wear so I ended up borrowing my elder brother’s suit and my mum tucked the trousers up! It was unimaginable driving through the gates of Buckingham Palace and they had red carpets in there, it was absolutely beautiful. In Silvertown our group were celebrities and receiving the invitation was such a proud moment for me and my group.

“It’s a very difficult world, when I was young we didn’t have anything or any money to spend but we were thrown a lifeline – The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is more relevant today than it was in my day. It’s still a difficult world for today’s young people with phones and the cost of everyday things, DofE is amazing and I’m so glad it’s still going.”