In 1978 Stuart Sykes, a policeman in the Lancashire Constabulary, based at Blackpool, persuaded his boss to start up a local group offering the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme to young people in the Blackpool area.

Those early beginnings offered only the "Volunteering" part of the scheme. The group grew to take in all aspects of the Duke of Edinburgh Award.

By the time of his retirement from the police service, eleven years later in 1989, hundreds of local youngsters had been through all sections of the Duke of Edinburgh Award from Bronze to Gold.