A FORMER teacher from Skipton joined Prince Philip and the Earl of Wessex to help launch the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme.

Derek Stansfield, of Overdale Park, represented the year 1958 - two years after the Duke started his award programme to encourage young people to undertake exciting, constructive, challenging and enjoyable activities in their free time.

Mr Stansfield flew back from America to attend the celebrations at Buckingham Palace.

"It was a bit of a surprise to find out I had been invited and I was in America at the time so I have come back just for this and then I will be going back out to the States for another two months," he said.

Mr Stansfield's Silver Award was the first to be awarded in Doncaster and he did everything for his Gold Award apart from the expedition as he was unable to find a group to travel with.

"It was this that spurred me on really. I knew I wanted to be a teacher and doing the Duke of Edinburgh's Award meant I decided to concentrate on outdoor activities. I did this by becoming a PE teacher," said Mr Stansfield.

"Since first doing the award I have had a pretty much unbroken connection with it.

"I encouraged pupils that I taught to take part in the scheme, I have been an awards officer for Leicester and I am now chairman of the Cumbrian Panel and on the board of the Yorkshire Dales Panel.

"I have also been on the National Expeditionary Advisory Panel since 1985 and I am now a tutor for the assessors who look at the expeditionary section of the award," he added.

"I did get to speak to the Duke and he was very knowledgeable about the award, as he would be given that he started it," said Mr Stansfield. "It was a great day."

Fifty people representing every year of the award - which celebrates its Golden Anniversary in 2006 - were invited to the Palace.

There will be a series of anniversary events throughout 2006 culminating in an Awards Week in July. The highlight will be a two-day concert at Windsor Great Park featuring some of the best names in British music.

The Duke of Edinburgh's Award is a voluntary, non-competitive programme of practical, cultural and adventurous activities. It is designed to support the personal and social development of young people aged 14 to 25 regardless of gender, background or ability and contains three levels - bronze, silver and gold.