Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme executive director Erica Smith was pleased to announce a new partnership with the Bermuda Sea Cadet Association, providing the Award with a home base in the office of the Sea Cadets at the Mariners' Club on Richmond Road, Pembroke. Reinitiating a bond that once existed, and that Ms Smith described as "a natural fit", she noted that having a permanent office space allowed the Award to have a formal, central presence on the Island to act as a resource for the Award leaders throughout Bermuda.

The Award, an exciting self-development programme, is flexible and can be done by anyone aged 14 to 25 years of age in his or her own time. The programme consists of four sections to encourage physical activity, mental challenge, individual perseverance and teamwork and interaction with others. This programme allows individuals to follow their own interests, but encourages a breadth of experiences to develop well-rounded persons who can make a difference to themselves, their community and their world.

For the Sea Cadets, the Award provides a framework and supplements the good work already being done to develop well-rounded adults. Anthony Lightbourne, Commander of the Bermuda Sea Cadets, noted that some elements of the Award's programme, such as the expeditions, matched the expeditionary learning the three local Sea Cadet units offered already.

Explaining the appeal of the Sea Cadet programme, Mr. Lightbourne, noted that young people could go to the movies or meet members of the opposite sex anytime, but the Sea Cadets offered real adventure. Locally, the weekly programme open to boys and girls nine and a half years to 18 years of age, offered water-based activities, ceremonial training for public events like the Remembrance Day parade, small arms training and leadership training. Annual competitions like the boating regatta and drill competitions allowed cadets to display their skills.

There were also opportunities to travel overseas through an annual exchange with cadets in the US, UK and Canada and biennially with Japan. The training and sense of pride in oneself, one's unit and one's country prepared young people for the adult world in general, but often for a maritime career in particular. Mr. Lightbourne noted that a number of employees currently following successful careers at Marine and Ports had once been Sea Cadets.

The Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme has had, and continues to have, relationships with other youth development organisations, including the Church Girls Brigade, Girl Guides, Bermuda Regiment Cadets and Boy Scouts, and partnerships can be made with other youth development organisations who have key people willing to take on the role of Award leader. For those interested in learning more about either the Award or the Bermuda Sea Cadet Association, information is available on the Internet: www.theaward.bm and www.seacadets.bm.