There were plenty of smiles and rightly so - these young women had good reason to be pleased with themselves.

Nineteen Oxford girls had won gold in the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme – a record for Oxford.

To mark their achievement, they were invited to Oxford Town Hall to celebrate and toast their success with what look like glasses of wine.

READ MORE: Anger over removal of popular town centre flowers 

Some of them are pictured with the Lord Mayor, Air Vice-Marshal W F MacNeece-Foster, at a reception in the Lord Mayor’s Parlour in 1967.

Afterwards, they walked the short distance to the main hall, where 24 silver awards and 64 bronze awards were presented to girls – again a record number.

Mrs P Gordon-Spencer, national assistant director and secretary of the Girls’ Award Scheme, handed out the silver and bronze medals, but the gold winners had to wait.

Another important engagement awaited them – going to Buckingham Palace to receive their awards from the Duke of Edinburgh.

The late 1960s were a successful period for girls taking part in the award scheme in Oxford, with 15 winning gold, 30 silver and 69 bronze a year later in 1968.

READ MORE: Royal Mail postwomen run through mud

The future looked bright, too, with more than 400 girls taking part in various activities in the city and aiming to join them as award winners.

The girls’ award scheme at that time was in four sections – an occupation connected with themselves or their homes, a chosen hobby, an expedition and public service.

The Duke of Edinburgh first considered the idea of a national programme to support young people’s development in the autumn of 1954 at the request of his inspiring former headmaster, Kurt Hahn. The following year Prince Philip started a pilot scheme.

Help support trusted local news 

Sign up for a digital subscription now: oxfordmail.co.uk/subscribe 

As a digital subscriber you will get:      

          
  • Unlimited access to the Oxford Mail website   
    •       
  • Advert-light access       
    •       
  • Reader rewards       
    •       
  • Full access to our app 

About the author 

Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here. 

He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.

His Trade and Tourism newsletter is released every Saturday morning. 

You can also read his weekly Traffic and Transport newsletter.