Dawn Egging and Red Arrows Team Leader present Lincolnshire Blue Skies awards

Our Blue Skies graduation for Lincolnshire was held at Priory Witham School, Lincoln on 27th May 2016. The graduation event was the culmination of 4 months of sessions in partnership with various RAF bases across the region. Students from the school aged between 12 and 15 learnt about leadership, teamwork and met inspirational role models as part of our Blue Skies programme. Today saw the students stand up in front of an audience, which included The Red Arrows and Royal Air Force personnel. The students presented what they learnt on the course, and were awarded their graduation certificates by Dawn Egging (Jon’s mother and one of our Trustees) and Squadron Leader David Montenegro, Team Leader of the Red Arrows.

Speaking after the event, Dawn said: “As Jon’s mother I would like to say how incredibly proud I was to attend on behalf of Emma at these awards. Our Blue Skies programme aims to inspire young people to be the best they can be, but I feel that these young people are an inspiration in themselves. I know that Jon would be so proud of what has been done in his name, but more importantly he would be proud of our students. One of Jon’s passions besides flying was to work alongside young people in whatever capacity he could to help them feel valued and important. He would seek to instil in them the self- belief to be able to achieve when otherwise they may never have aspired to do so.”

One parent said of their child “She has so much more confidence now”.

Here are just a few quotes from some of our students about what being part of Blue Skies means to them and how it has helped them.

“Being part of the Jon Egging Trust is a lot of fun to be in and it built my confidence a lot being in this group”.

“I have seen how I can use my strong personality to give others courage to face their own fears through leadership”.

“Being part of Blue Skies helps me overcome my struggles”.

“I have learnt that trust is very important in leadership as you are following them in whatever direction they take you, and you are trusting them to take you in the right direction”.

We’d like to say again congratulations to all of our students and to thank everyone for their support in helping to deliver the Blue Skies programme in Lincolnshire.