THE Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme marks its 40th anniversary in Bermuda this year with a special celebration at the Berkeley Institute.

Since it was introduced here, the Duke of Edinburgh programme has grown to an annual participation of about 375 young men and women, and in the past ten years 1,300 awards have been earned.

Chairman Kenneth Bartram (pictured) said the Award was an exciting self-development programme open to anyone aged 14 to 24, equipping them with life skills which not only made a difference to them but also their communities.

"This is achieved by a variety of voluntary and challenging activities that they undertake over an 18-month period. They pick what activities they want to participate in, depending on their skills, interests and resources," he said.

The Award was introduced in Bermuda only ten years after it was founded in the United Kingdom. At that time, youth services in Bermuda consisted mostly of voluntary efforts by community-minded people and organisations.

National co-ordination of this effort fell under the mantle of the Social Welfare Board, under the guidance of the Youth Adviser Reginald Ming.

Mr. Bartram said Mr. Ming researched the Award and in 1965 the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce undertook to introduce the Award under the leadership of the late Alan Brown, who went on to become the first chairman.

The programme was officially launched in 1967 when the first participants signed up.

"Within a year more than 50 young people were involved across the island," he said.

Mr. Bartram said in 1969 the first Bronze and Silver Awards were presented and in 1973 Bermuda's first Gold Award participants received their awards at Buckingham Palace, including the current local Expedition co-ordinator, Norman Pogson.

While the uniformed youth movement was the first to offer the Award in Bermuda, the programme saw significant growth after being adopted by the school system ¿ the first being Northlands, Saltus and Whitney Institute in the 1970s.

Two other milestones were the introduction in 1988 of the programme at the Angle Street Youth Centre ¿ of which Mr. Bartram is the Award leader of the De-Navigators group ¿ and the Ferry Reach Correctional Facility in 1997.

Mr. Bartram felt that more youngsters could benefit from participating in the programme and this year aimed to get the majority of public schools involved.

But, he warned, the programme was tough as it challenged the individual on various levels and required persistence, determination and dedication.

"Participants do not have to be good at anything to get an Award, they simply need to set personally challenging targets for improvement and then strive to reach these targests."

He estimated there were currently more than 500,000 young people participating in the Programme in more than 120 countries and many had gone on to achieve great successes in their careers.

Mr. Bartram can be contacted at 537-4868, or by e-mail to chairmanthe award.bm.