On Wednesday 4th April, volunteer Jack Welch and Project Worker, Lorna Johnson, had the great privilege of interviewing the two first young women awarded a Duke of Edinburgh Gold award by Dorset County Council in 1965. Jean Slade (now Coulter) had intrigued many young volunteers from the Dorset Young Remembers project because of numerous newspaper stories during her time at Dorset Youth Association (DYA) in the
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| From left: Anna Mayckock, Jean Coulter and Mary Shaw |
early 1960s. Jean was joined by fellow DofE recipient, Mary Shaw and Anna Maycock. Jean has not seen her one-time friend Mary in over forty years and the celebration continued as long-standing DYA trustee, Wally Gundry, joined in the informal chat over many cups of tea, delectable slices of coffee cake and a plentiful supply of biscuits. The event was also followed by journalists from local radio station, Wessex FM and local newspaper, Dorset Echo. All three women happily reflected on the past and present of the scheme which they all participated in and talked about many of the benefits that joining the DofE award can have for young people across the country. Mary reflected at one point that “I think you get a lot of insight into different things otherwise wouldn’t have had the opportunity to.” All of those present were briefly interviewed by the Wessex FM representative, who despite being a young work experience figure, managed to overcome many of the technological mishaps caused by her digital recorder. Anna enjoyed viewing and took receipt of photos and clippings and the Gold certificate so that the project can display them at the upcoming Dorset County Museum exhibition. She was especially enthusiastic and willingly borrowed many priceless possessions of her elders, in order to show some of those at youth clubs she worked for, the continuing value of youth service and boundless possibility when taking part in the activities offered. She commented that “it’s amazing to meet them and to see their pictures and what they did for their skills and physical recreations as well.”
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| Jean and Mary interviewed by Wessex FM |
After some hours of nostalgic discussions of what the women remembered of their time in participating in the DofE, Jack and Lorna were able to get down to the main event of the afternoon and, for the first time in archival history, questioned Jean on her fondest memories of her youth and the later life she led abroad with her husband as far as remote islands such as Papa New Guinea. Talking about one particularly unconventional memory of her mother during the war, she recalled “the women who were trained to do first aid were given guns with bullets”, fortunately unused. Both interviewers were inspired by her many stories including her extraordinary adventures in Poland, where she was one of the few volunteers chosen to visit climb the Tartra mountains with John Hunt’s National Youth Association party and visit the Auschwitz Concentration Camp museum. Thinking about what young people could gain from following experiences such as hers, she suggested “you need common sense rather than just relying on technology.” After the end of a long, but satisfying day, Lorna and Jack thanked Jean for her travelling in coming to speak to Dorset Young Remembers and were happy now that one piece of important archival history will now be available for future generations to come.
