I was fortunate enough to be invited to two events with royal presence in early May, mainly thanks to my involvement in the Royal Air Force Air Cadets. First of all, I was invited to the King's Coronation, where I was selected as just 1 of 0.01% of uniformed youth in the country, to represent the RAF at the historic event.

We were privileged enough to receive a premium viewing point next to Admiralty Arch, where the procession and major military presence was found, I was in awe of all the different countries and organisations massed together at such an occasion.

There would be further experiences though, where we were selected to get special viewing points just on the edge of the Buckingham Palace gates just in time for the King and Queen to arrive on the balcony for the famous wave in front of millions of people, and had a great viewing point into the flypast, a very memorable moment on a very memorable occasion. I was able to get some clear photos that some people would only dream of in their camera roll!

I was even fortunate enough to get on TV (even if I was looking the wrong way!) A long, but very special day.

However, that was not the end of my special events this month when just over a week later, I was invited to the gardens of Buckingham Palace to celebrate achieving my Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award, which I had completed a year ago in the summer of 2021. The expedition was extremely hot at that time, especially near the Kent coast, and doing almost 7 straight days of walking was unbelievably challenging in the heat and sometimes rain. Due to the surrounding circumstances of my expedition, both my practice and actual expeditions were done consecutively back to back, but through sheer determination and will to get it complete, the miles flew by, and I will never forget the feeling of crossing the 'finish line' to reflect on the experience I had.

This, compiled with my other four sections of the award, meant that I was able to visit the Palace, with figures such as Prince Edward and former footballer/TV presenter, Jermaine Jenas, who were present to celebrate the moment with us. I was very fortunate to experience the luxury of Buckingham Palace - and their very fancy cakes!

Danny commemorating the moment with his proud father

I was also there with a few members of my team, and we reminisced the memories that had got us to this point in a day which really highlighted the achievement we had completed. I was immensely proud to be invited to both occasions, both through the RAF Air Cadets, which has given me some life-long experiences that I will likely never have again. 

I enjoyed my time at school. I joined the RAF Air Cadets whilst I was in Year 8, and stuck with it ever since, experiences included paid flying scholarships, trips abroad and other ceremonial events such as the Coronation. I saw the RAF Air Cadets as a side hobby from my school life, and the skills I learned through the organisation helped me with my school life - such as teaching me discipline and determination.

I'm currently in my gap year, where I have been able to get some experience in a business environment, which will help towards my goals of attending the University of Sussex next year (to do business studies) with future aspirations to create and run my own business.

Please scroll down for a full album of Danny's very special occasions which we are so thrilled he shared with us ( you need to be an online member of TWGSB Connect to view albums). 

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