FIVE Swindon women were celebrating after achieving their gold level Duke of Edinburgh awards.

Jennifer Gray, Emma Greenwood, Sabrina Sheikh, Stephanie McNicoll and Joanne Kilburn took the prestigious awards at a special ceremony at the headquarters of the Nationwide Building Society in Pipers Way on Thursday evening.

They were joined by around 20 other young people who achieved other sections of the award including the bronze and silver certificates.

Jennifer Gray, 25, lives in Old Town and now works for English Heritage.

She said: "I am feeling a variety of things. I am just so pleased to have got to the gold Duke of Edinburgh level. It has been a real challenge but it has been a real aid helping to me to get into university."

Joanne Kilburn, 17, who did her Duke of Edinburgh Award at St Joseph's School said: "I am proud that all the hard work is now over and has paid off. I am hopeful that it will help me get into university so I can become a teacher."

During her expedition, Joanne and her group walked 80 kilometres over four days on her expedition in the Lake District.

Stephanie McNicoll, 20, from Shrivenham, who is currently studying at the University of Nottingham, had completed most of the award when she lived in Scotland. But she had to wait another three years before completing the expedition phase of the award. She said: "I had been looking forward to receiving the award. It was so frustrating that I could not complete it at the time, but I am pleased that it is all over."

There are three levels of the Duke of Edinburgh award gold, silver and bronze.

Each level takes a different amount of time bronze takes six months, silver is 12 months and gold is 18 months.

During that time participants are expected to carry out different tasks including community service, learning a new skill and some sort of physical recreation. They also go on expeditions, to test their teamwork abilities.

To find out more about the award, visit the website at www.theaward.org.