Plasteurope.com is a business information platform for the European plastics industry It is part of KI Kunststoff Information and PIE Plastics Information Europe one of the leading content providers for the European plastics industry We offer daily updated business news and reports polymer prices and other services for the international plastics industry News | Polymer Prices | Suppliers Guide | Jobs | Register | Advertising This summer was a historic one for the Bermuda chapter of the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme Following an intensive training schedule between January and July 27 Gold Award participants packed their bags and headed east to Baden-Württemberg one of Germany’s 16 states in the southwestern part of the country.The group consisted of young people from Saltus Grammar School Warwick Academy and De Navigators at the Community Centre on Angle Street and two working young adults They were under the supervision of two leaders Jahkhari Woods and Silita Thomas.They settled in the little town of Osterburken which housed their base camp for the two-week period at the beginning of August and was the headquarters of their counterparts The German Award (Alte Bahnmeisterei).They started with a local tour of a Roman museum and Roman fortress where they learned about the ancient history of Osterburken once a Roman casern situated directly on the border of the Roman Empire and Germania This tour also provided some of the participants with ideas for their qualifying venture.Over the ensuing days the group undertook some mini-hikes and had their first chance to try their navigation and orientation skills in the unfamiliar German countryside Following the mini-hikes they started to plan for their practice hike They were able to pull the practice hike off successfully and after much more work and final tweaking they managed to complete their routes for their qualifying venture.In between all this they were given time to support the local economy through the clothing industry and local cuisine They travelled by train to the town of Neckarsteinach and then on a ferry along the River Neckar to the popular town of Heidelberg where they met town officials at Universitätsplatz (university square) participated in a scavenger hunt and visited the Castle of Heidelberg.The Bermuda contingent had been broken up into four smaller groups (Pandora and once the plans for their qualifying ventures were assessed by a panel of international assessors they set out to navigate their way through the many forested areas of Baden-Württemberg.During their venture they showed their true mettle As one of the participants stated after all had successfully completed their Gold Expedition “A walk around Harrington Sound should be considered nothing more than a walk in the park now.”The Residential Project part of the expedition consisted of participants completing daily roster duties which included planning menus cooking breakfast and lunch and serving it to their peers on china with real silver cutlery they were then charged with cleaning the kitchen and dining areas including the dirty dishes base camp grounds and bathroom and shower areas.The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in Bermuda continues to enrich the lives of hundreds of young people each year and looks forward to challenging even more Bermuda is a full member of the International Award Association and currently has 12 active Approved Award Centres with over 600 active participants.l For more information on The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in Bermuda contact the National Director Tina Nash at 537-4868 or e-mail dofe[AT]theaward.bm or visit the website www.theaward.bm Which of the Throne Speech promises is the Government best equipped to deliver on View Results A group of nine Bermudian students have overcome adversity blisters and a German heatwave to complete their Duke of Edinburgh Gold Expedition The teenagers travelled to the town of Osterburken at the end of last month to take on the notoriously challenging adventure All nine of them successfully completed the four-day expedition that saw them camp out for three nights and walk about 100 kilometres (62 miles) “It was a very successful trip and the groups did exceptionally well,” said Brendan Millet “With us having travelled around 20 hours through Miami to get to Germany it was a bit of a culture shock arriving in Europe “But the students soon acclimatised and got down to the business of finalising their routes for the expedition and after a couple of days in Germany set off on their adventures ‘The whole process is a journey and a learning experience and the groups overcame plenty of adversity and challenges along the way.” the Duke of Edinburgh participants were able to achieve the five-day residential project component of the award by maintaining This is the third time that Duke of Edinburgh participants from Bermuda have travelled to Germany to complete the Gold Expedition the students went to St Vincent in the Caribbean Mr Millet said: “We experienced a bit of a heatwave while we were in Germany “At times during the day the temperatures peaked at 102ºF while at night they went right down to 55ºF so the students had to deal with some tough conditions “There were plenty of blisters and within the groups individuals showed great character throughout.” The students returned to Bermuda on Sunday having completed their expedition The nine-strong Bermuda contingent comprised Keevon Minors