URMSTON resident Matthew Lee met royalty as he received a gold Duke of Edinburgh award.

He attended a presentation at St. James' Palace, London, where he received his award from celebrity presenter, Greg Davies, after sharing his experiences with the Duke of Edinburgh, the patron of scheme.

During the presentation, the Duke of Edinburgh took the opportunity to congratulated Matthew on his success and heard about his DofE award journey, which took 18 months of hard work and dedication.

Having already obtained bronze and silver, to achieve his gold award, Matthew had to volunteer, learn a skill, get fit, take part in a week long residential and plan and undertake an expedition in wild country.

DofE programmes enable any young person, aged 14-24, to develop key skills for life and work, such as confidence, commitment and team working.

Matthew, said: "I enjoyed my residential at the Ancient Technology Centre in Dorset the most. I helped with the construction of some Viking and Anglo Saxon buildings, medieval history is something I'm really interested in and so this was a great opportunity to get hands on experience."

Thanking Steve Berry from the Trafford DofE Centre for his support in achieving gold, Matthew thought he learnt most from his expeditions.

HE said: "While I enjoyed and learnt a lot during my volunteering in a local primary school, I learnt much more about myself on the practice and assessed expeditions. "They were in the Summer of 2015, during the heatwave, and so heatstroke was a real danger carrying all our equipment and food. "I've developed real confidence in my ability to cope with any challenge knowing how tough they were and having completed them successfully. "