Building Student’s Royal thumbs up

The 19-year-old was invited to attend a recent garden party at Buckingham Palace, hosted by The Earl of Wessex Prince Edward.

Isabelle took mum Anne-Marie along for the event, which saw around 3,000 Gold Award winners from across the country treated to a star-studded afternoon complete with appearances from Strictly Come Dancing’s Johannes Radebe, TV explorer Ben Fogle, DofE alumna and actor Nina Wadia, and The Apprentice’s Tim Campbell.

The Gold DofE programme is a demanding, non-competitive personal challenge, open to all young people, which takes a minimum of 12 months to complete. Young people build their own programmes with activities in five sections – Physical, Skills, Volunteering, a five-day Residential and a four-day expedition.

To achieve her DofE, Isabelle undertook a series of challenges over two years. For her physical and skills challenges, Isabelle worked towards achieving her Grade 6 in ballet, and taught her school’s baby class as her volunteer challenge.

Her residential also had a strong voluntary element, as Isabelle travelled to the famous pilgrimage site of Lourdes in the French Pyrenees for nine days. There she assisted people visiting the town to drink from or bathe in the fabled healing waters.

Isabelle said: “I loved the Lourdes trip, helping people in wheelchairs get around and being part of a really supportive group of volunteers was an amazing experience. Everything I’ve done for the DofE has been brilliant and I’ve a real sense of achievement now it is complete.

“I started the DofE while still at Liverpool’s Bluecoat School and completed it just before starting with Russell WBHO, but Covid meant the celebration was delayed. I never thought I’ve be invited to Buckingham Palace to meet royalty, that was quite an experience. Prince Edward was really nice, just a regular guy, but it was fantastic to be there and my mum was so proud.”

Set to complete her second year of in-house training and lectures at the University of Salford this summer, Isabelle is currently enjoying her time with the Russell WBHO pre-construction / design department. Prior to that she was with the Health and Safety Team, and has also spent time with the quantity surveying, estimating, engineering and project management teams, working primarily on site at Municipal Buildings in Liverpool.

Russell WBHO supervisor Stephen Worrall said: “We’re really proud of Isabelle achieving her Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award, it requires a lot of commitment to see it through to the end, especially with the challenges of Covid, so the Garden Party celebration was a fitting acknowledgement of her hard work and dedication.

“Isabelle is a great addition to our team and demonstrates those same qualities every day in her approach to her studies and her work on our live construction. She is an exemplary Building Student trainee and no doubt go on to be a valued part of the Russell WBHO team.”

Visit our website for more information on the Russell WBHO Building Student training programme.