Having been back at school for only one day, 18 girls in Year 12 set off to complete their postponed Silver Qualifying Expedition. The girls were in high spirits as they made their way up to Gisburn, to meet up with the DofE support and assessor team. Each group had planned their routes during the Practice Expedition at the start of the summer holiday, so, having checked these with the assessor and set their maps correctly, they were all on their way.

Each group followed a slightly different route, but all successfully made it to Whitehough Outdoor Centre which was to be our base for the next three days. Although the girls were in their Year group ‘bubble’ and therefore allowed some proximity to one another, they all slept in individual tents and we were the only group at the centre, so had the run of the washing and outdoor cooking facilities.

Although the wind was bitterly cold, the rain showers were infrequent and overall the weather was kind to the groups. On day two, each group had a very long walk starting by climbing to the top of Pendle Hill and down again, followed by a long hike anticlockwise around the hill and back to the Centre. On day three, having packed up all the tents and cooking equipment for the journey home, the groups all trekked around Pendle and across to the Ribble Way and down to Clitheroe where they were collected by their parents. Throughout the three-day expedition the girls remained positive and showed excellent team spirit. It was a pleasure to accompany them.

As always, I am grateful to Tim Deighton and his team of mountain leaders and to Ms Kusznir who accompanied us.

Sue Madden, Assistant Head