A new Duke of Edinburgh Award centre is to open in a church in Timperley.
Holy Cross Church, on Park Road, is setting up a facility to serve the Altrincham, Timperley and Sale area. It will provide training for the Bronze and Silver awards on Thursday evenings at its parish hall.
The DofE is the world’s leading youth achievement award and next year celebrates its jubilee year.
Timperley will be basing its centre on the successful group set up at Bowdon Church.
Bowdon DofE is in its fourth year of operation and has grown from 40 to over 100 participants.
The centre is being established by Andy Allan and his wife Kirsty, who were part of the team who founded the group at Bowdon.
Andy said: “It has been tremendously rewarding to see so many people completing their expeditions and going on to receive awards. A number of volunteers have already come forward to help us set up the new centre and this has given us the confidence to launch at both Bronze and Silver level.”
The new centre has the backing of the church, who have been looking for ways to reach out to more young people in the local community.
The Vicar of Timperley, Rev Jim Bridgman, said: “The Duke of Edinburgh award is a great way to encourage and help young people to gain self-confidence as they become young adults.
“Its holistic approach chimes with the mission of the church, which also wants to see people develop and grow into rounded human beings, mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually, whatever their age.”
A meeting for young people interested in participating and their parents will be held at 7.30pm on Friday 20th November at Holy Cross Church Hall, Park Road, Timperley.
For more information on the Timperley DofE Awards Centre contact Andy Allan at dofetimperley@gmail.com or via Facebook.
Top picture: Andy Allan (second left) with Rev Jim Bridgman and an award participator
