Walking the Tightrope: Awards
Just the thought of Middle Daughter on the loose in the wilds of the countryside is enough to have the sheep, never mind her mum Sally Codman, reaching for the tranquillisers.
Another weekend of waiting, worrying and ensuring a mobile phone is constantly with us is finally over and the Codman family has breathed a collective sigh of relief - with the exception of Only Son, who wasn't holding his breath anyway.
What, you are supposed to ask, was the cause of this anxiety? Had a family member chosen to stand in the local elections? Has Codman Castle suffered another 'hole in the roof' emergency? Had we been photographed by the well-hidden new speed camera recently erected in Huddersfield Road, Mirfield, just past the Cricket Club bend?
No, you'll be relieved to know that the Codman Clan have suffered from none of the above disasters (although the latter would have been a distinct possibility if I hadn't spotted workmen erecting this particular camera, as the rear of it's top box is obscured almost completely by a tree)
The cause of our weekend of worry was the absence of Middle Daughter on her Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme Expedition. Just the thought of her loose in the wilds of the countryside was enough to have the sheep, never mind me, reaching for the tranquillisers.
Mr C and I (along with many other parents no doubt) spent the weekend on red alert, unable to relax, switch off the phone, or even have a few drinks, in case we got the call to say our adventurous offspring had; broken her leg, been mauled by an angry bull, got lost on the moors or decided to throw in the towel.
We made up for lost time with a few drinks on Sunday evening after she'd finally returned home, safe and sound. Her group completed their expedition adventure rather later than scheduled and middle daughter arrived home tired, hungry, showing off a blister the size of a 10p coin, sunburnt but successful.
Call us 'worry wimps' if you like, but we've had a few past experiences, and heard about other people's, to know that expeditions aren't always a piece of cake. Middle Daughter's practise expedition ended with a few 'navigational map-reading errors' - or to put it bluntly, they got lost.
Eldest Daughter's Duke of Edinburgh's Award Expeditions didn't go all that smoothly, either. Her practise expedition was undertaken during a weekend of constant heavy rain when everything was drenched. When we went to collect her she, and her exhausted groups of fellow adventurers, they looked as if they'd been swimming in a river fully clothed. It took us weeks to get rid of all the mud.
Her real Expedition was a real 'mind over matter' struggle to cope with the stomach bug she was suffering from that weekend and stagger on to the end.
Then there was the friend whose daughter was lost on the moors in the mist and a search party of frantic parents was hastily formed (they were found safe and well and completed the course.) And the friend whose son ended up carrying a girl who'd broken her ankle, and the guy who told me how they'd all ended up lost in the middle of an army shooting range on the North Yorkshire Moors.
Happy days!
Don't get me wrong, I'm, not anti the Duke of Edinburgh's Awards scheme, far from it. In fact I'd go so far as to say they're the best thing that the Duke, better know for his dangerous carriage-driving and verbal faux-pas, has ever done.
The different sections, aimed at encouraging young people to get involved in community service, foster a spirit of adventure and discovery, get physically active and learn new skills, are a brilliant way of reminding young people that there's more to life than endless tests, exams and academic excellence.
Anyone who earns one can be proud of themselves and their fellow Award winners. In fact I'd be tempted to participate myself, if only I wasn't too old and could get round the small problem of not being able to stagger further than the length of our hall with the huge backpacks these kids have to carry.
Character building? You bet, but good fun as well. (When was the last time you shared a two-man tent with six other people and a dog from the neighbour's tent?)
* To find out more about the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme, simply type the name into any internet search engine and you'll access a wealth of general information, plus detailed info and links to Scheme organisers throughout the country.
