THREE pupils along with members of staff from a South Lakeland school were given a royal welcome when they went to collect their Duke of Edinburgh awards.

Mary Gray, Liz Atkinson and Michael Rhodes from The Queen Katherine School, Kendal, enjoyed a visit to St James’ Palace to receive their gold awards from HRH The Duke of Wessex, Prince Edward.

As an additional recognition of the school's continuing contribution to the DofE scheme, both locally and nationally, several members of staff who have made the scheme so successful were also invited to the palace.

They were given a tour of the palace and met HRH The Duke of Wessex in the Throne Room at St James’ Palace.

Deputy head Jane Brierley, who has been involved in the DofE programme for 25 years and is herself a gold award recipient, was invited to talk to Prince Edward. She was thanked for her commitment after helping run the award in three different schools in Cumbria.

“DofE is the perfect award to push yourself and try new opportunities in several different areas," she said. "It requires determination and commitment to succeed both as a group and independently at each level.

"It is very exciting to be able to offer the award now to all students in Year 9 at bronze level and we hope that many of these students will also go on to achieve silver and gold in the future.

"It is an honour as a participant to receive your gold award at the palace and a real privilege to be invited back again on behalf of all the staff at QKS, that give so much of their time to support students and without whom running the scheme would not be possible. It was a special day for all involved."