DofE Award specialists delivering DofE expeditions worldwide

Sam Sykes™ Ltd was created in the belief that the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme should be accessible to as many young people as possible. The team of qualified and experienced expedition specialists was assembled with the shared goal of delivering the DofE experience, safely and enjoyably, in an environment where personal effort is encouraged and rewarded.

Founder and namesake Sam Sykes has been involved in outdoor pursuits all his life. At five months old, he travelled up his first mountain; at three years of age, he was equipped with crampons and an ice axe. His long-standing passion for outdoor exploration has led him on expeditions all over the world, from Peru and Canada to Norway, Hungary, the Czech Republic and north Africa to name but a few of the destinations he now knows intimately.

The DofE scheme runs in Sam's veins: his father Stuart runs a DofE group and has received an MBE for the work he has accomplished with young people. Sam's lifelong involvement with the scheme has enabled him to see the positive difference it can make to people's lives, and it was this that inspired him to deliver the awards expeditions professionally. The DofE is a worthwhile life experience for every participant; Sam has seen many young people whose lives have been transformed.

The family's thirty-year experience in delivering the awards experience means that health and safety procedures are at their peak. Health and safety are paramount to the company, and Sam and the team are experts at minimising the risk without reducing the challenge.

Sam is supremely qualified to deliver the DofE experience, as he holds a degree in Outdoor Studies and extensive experience in running facilities and designing and implementing Health and Safety systems. Having climbed Europe's highest mountain at the age of 18, and achieved the unofficial world record for paddling the length of all the lakes in England's Lake District in the fastest time, he has the drive and determination to make every expedition a success.