Stories
The people behind the Award.
For nearly fifty years, Windmill Youth Group has seen young people take on challenges that asked more of them than they expected. The details change. The effect is often similar: greater confidence, independence, perspective and a clearer sense of what they can do next.
This page is being built around the people who experienced the Windmill Youth Group first-hand - past participants from the archive and the new generation completing Gold with Windmill Youth Group support.
BELIEF IN MY OWN ABILITY
“WINDMILL GAVE ME A SENSE OF TRUST AND BELIEF IN MY OWN ABILITY.”
Five years after his Gold expedition, Ben can trace the confidence he built through Windmill into everything that followed — a month-long expedition in Canada, solo travel through South America and a degree apprenticeship in Aerospace Engineering. For him, the biggest legacy was learning to stay calm, adapt and trust himself when things became difficult.
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Ben completed his Gold expedition with the Windmill Youth Group in 2021, emerging from a year of Covid lockdowns and just as college and his first part-time job were about to begin.
His five-day expedition took him through the Lake District around Keswick, including Grizedale Pike, Seathwaite Fell and Great End, with wild camps beside the tarns along the way.
The conditions weren’t always kind. Ben remembers being drenched climbing Grizedale Pike, long 20km days that felt like “torture” at the time, getting lost and repeatedly being pushed outside his comfort zone. Looking back, those difficult moments became some of the most valuable.
“Being pushed outside of my comfort zone, as well as leading groups of people, gave me valuable experience that can’t be replicated in any other environment.”
The five members of his group had been adventuring together through Windmill since Ben was 12. Years of expeditions meant they already knew each other extremely well, but Gold brought them closer still. At points they were joined by a Bronze group, giving them the opportunity to mentor younger participants, adapt to a different team and — just as importantly — fit in games of ultimate frisbee and cards along the way.
The significance of those experiences became clearer in the years that followed.
Ben went on to complete a month-long expedition in Canada, travel independently through South America and secure a place on a degree apprenticeship in Aerospace Engineering.
For Ben, though, Windmill’s greatest impact isn’t a particular expedition or achievement. It’s the confidence behind them.
“The biggest thing the Windmill Youth Group gave me was a sense of trust and belief in my own ability. It allows me to stay much calmer in challenging situations and problem-solve to an appropriate solution.”
And behind those experiences was Stuart and the years he invested in Ben and countless other young people.
“I could ramble on for a whole lot longer about what Stuart did for me. I would like to thank him so much for everything.”
— Ben Maddocks, Gold Award participant
KEEP TURNING UP
“I WANTED TO KEEP THAT FEELING OF ACCOMPLISHING SOMETHING.”
Sam’s first Windmill session ended after a single 5km run. He came back the following week anyway — and kept coming back. What followed took him from lockdown training in Stanley Park to Bronze, Silver and an ambitious Gold expedition in the Lake District, building a resilience and determination that he still carries with him today.
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Sam’s journey with the Windmill Youth Group began during the Covid lockdowns, when normal training facilities were closed and Wednesday sessions had moved outdoors.
His first session was at Lawson’s Field beside Stanley Park. Stuart warned him that the opening 5km run around the De Vere paths might be harder than he expected. Young and confident, Sam thought he’d be fine.
Around an hour later, he finally arrived back exhausted.
Stuart’s response was characteristically dry: “That was the first exercise of the day, but we’ll have to end the session here.”
Once everyone else had left, Stuart asked whether he intended to come back.
Sam said yes.
He did — and the following weekend discovered Stuart waiting at the Stanley Park bandstand with heavily weighted rucksacks and a set of stairs.
“It was the first time in my life I felt like I wanted to die or go home — joking, of course. But afterwards I felt like I’d accomplished something, and I wanted to keep that feeling going.”
So he kept turning up.
As restrictions eased, training moved back to the sports centre and became harder still: running with tyres and planks, team challenges and assault-course-style sessions. Bronze and Silver followed, and gradually the young person who had struggled around that first 5km began to realise how far he’d come.
Then came Gold.
The group’s challenge was built around the Bob Graham Round in the Lake District — approximately 66 miles with around 27,000ft of ascent.
Training reflected the scale of the objective. One exercise involved an overnight journey from the Stanley Park area towards Beacon Fell, maintaining a demanding pace. There were navigation sessions, route planning and more physical training, including another return to those De Vere paths.
This time, Sam and the rest of the group completed the circuit in under 30 minutes.
For Sam, it was tangible proof of how far they had progressed.
When the Gold expedition itself arrived, the Lake District weather had other ideas. With winds of around 90–110mph forecast on the summits they intended to cross, their planned mountain journey couldn’t safely continue.
The group faced a choice: go home, clean everything and return later, or stay together and adapt.
They stayed.
Operating from a cabin that Stuart and previous generations of Windmill participants had helped build, the group waited out the conditions and found a different kind of challenge.
“Over that time we’d become a little family.”
There was even another milestone: managing to get a few laughs out of Sam Sykes, whose serious exterior had apparently convinced the group that everything needed to be done exactly right.
The minibus journey home left Sam with what he describes as a feeling of liberation. The experience had demanded physical effort, teamwork and perseverance, but its effect went much further.
“It helped make me the person I am today. I’ve been able to focus, look at situations from angles I couldn’t have imagined before and look after myself without the thought of giving up.”
For Sam, Windmill was ultimately about the people who kept challenging him to do more than he thought he could.
“I want to personally thank Stuart and Sam, and all the instructors along the way who helped us. Thank you all so very much.”
— Sam W, Gold Award participant
READY TO TAKE ON GOLD?
If you are 16-25, live in the FY postcode area and need financial support to make Gold DofE possible, apply to Windmill Youth Group.
Not ready to apply yet? Get in touch with a question first.