Amazing Anglia – July 25

On Saturday, 5th July, I (Gemma Pickering) was invited, along with other members from across the region, to attend Amazing Anglia. This was a regional celebration to celebrate the following awards from 2020 to 2024

· Queens Guide Award

· Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award (DofE Gold)

· Commonwealth Award

· Young Leader Qualification (YLQ)

· Regions Youth Award

· Girlguiding Star Award

For me, I was lucky enough to be getting 3 awards: my Queen’s Guide, DofE Gold, and Commonwealth.

At the event, we were welcomed with a drink, there was a stand about inspire, and Bird and Blend were there with the new region challenge pack.

We were then given the chance to network with award participants before we had an afternoon tea and listened to guest speaker, author Philippa Leathley.

We were called up on stage individually, presented with a certificate and key ring by the regional chief guide team.

To even reach this point, to have my awards presented, is a combination of hard work, determination, and sheer stubbornness.

My journey with these awards was not the easiest or simplest of times. There was a time when not even my parents would think I would get these, let alone myself or anyone else.

The reason for this is that during my DofE and Queen’s Guide award, I had a major decline in my mental health to the point I needed to stop, take a step back and recover

for 6 months. But when I came back, my physical health was impacted to the point I was unable to walk to the local shops. Let alone do the distance required for the Gold expedition or carry my kit. So I started looking around and found an approved activity centre that did canoeing. So instead of walking, I canoed 150km and at the time the practice was the wettest Easter on record the the summer was the driest summer on record. So went from flooded rivers to rivers with no flow and hardly any water.