AN ACTIVITY worker from Swindon’s leading homeless charity has been honoured as a guest at Buckingham Palace for her work with the Duke of Edinburgh's Award.

Donna Harris, 47, has been a Positive Activities Worker with Threshold for two years – she runs the award programme as well as organising physical activities, cooking classes, college courses and the Prince’s Trust scheme.

Last week, Donna was invited to Buckingham Palace for a special 60th anniversary event alongside gold award winners and other delivery organisations.

“It was an amazing day, it was a much bigger event than I had originally realised it was going to be,” said Donna.

“We were hosted in the gardens of the Palace, we heard from inspirational celebrity guest speakers and each group met with a member of the royal family – ours was Sophie, Countess of Wessex.

“All the licensed organisations that deliver the scheme, like Threshold, received a wall plaque from her to recognise our work.

Threshold Housing Link is an independent charity, they provide emergency, short, medium and long term accommodation to single homeless people in Swindon but in addition, they also provide more holistic developmental support.

Their involvement with the Duke of Edinburgh's Award started two years ago when Donna joined their team.

She said: “We’re quite unique because we’re delivering the award to vulnerable people rather than schools who might be delivering it to students in the more normal way.

“Most of our residents are older men so they don’t meet the criteria for the award, but we do have a small number of 16 to 24 year olds who we support.

“I work with those young people, often doing the Prince’s Trust scheme initially, and I identify the ones who show an interest and who I think would be suitable for the Duke of Edinburgh's Award.

“So far we’ve had one girl go through and achieve her bronze and another two residents are working towards theirs now.

“It’s not just about the qualification, it’s about building confidence, teamwork and self-belief.

“Achieving this award over a full year is a big commitment for our residents – when you are a vulnerable person a week is a long time in your life let alone a year.”

The award programme involves learning new skills, carrying out some sort of physical activity, completing a required number of hours of volunteer work and taking part in a camping expedition.

Participants also have to keep track of their achievements in an online diary which helps to develop organisational and IT skills.

A representative from Threshold said: “We are so proud of Donna and all of the hard work that she does.

“We were delighted that she was invited to Buckingham Palace and that her efforts have been recognised.

“The work that she does has a really positive impact on the lives of our client group.”