About Sam Sykes
Over 50 years delivering DofE expeditions globally
For more than 50 years, the Sykes family has been transforming the lives of young people through the Duke of Edinburgh Award. The family legacy in leading expeditions is unmatched and known for delivering outstanding DofE expeditions on nearly every continent on Earth.
Expertly crafted expeditions challenge and inspire participants, while ensuring their safety every step of the way. Operating from our HQ in the stunning Lake District, we provide tailored adventures that leave a lasting benefit.
Sam has been involved with DofE from the moment he was born
Sams’ knowledge of & dedication to the DofE is unmatched in delivering outstanding expeditions. Sam himself has achieved remarkable things, both personally and professionally in the great outdoors, climbing his first mountain at only three years of age, before going on to Europe’s largest mountain by the time he was 18 entirely self-supported.
Setting up Sam Sykes Expeditions in 2009, Sam aimed to create the world’s best DofE expedition company and now, a few years later, we work with multiple leading schools and organisations across the globe to provide outstanding expeditions for thousands of young people.
With a firm focus on ensuring all participants are safe while enjoying the most exciting adventures, the company can now claim that Sam has made good on his aim when he started.
His dedication is reflected throughout the organisation he created and has led Sykes Expeditions to be a world-leading provider of DofE expeditions.
Sam’s dad - Stuart Sykes MBE
Stuart Sykes MBE has dedicated over 50 years to volunteering with the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, significantly impacting young people’s lives. His extensive commitment earned him an MBE in 2002 for services to young people. This legacy of dedication and expertise is a cornerstone of Sam Sykes Expeditions, influencing its approach to delivering exceptional and safe DofE expeditions worldwide.
Let me tell you a story…
On my way to meet another school who wanted to do DofE expeditions with me, I popped into a Costa, and when I was ordering a large coffee to perk me up after a long drive two young men who were in their early twenties came straight up to me and said: “Sam, we did our DofE with you in the Lakes…Do you remember?” I did, they looked a little older and had filled out a bit more than the seventeen-year-olds I remember, but it was them. My memory flashed to a moment at a checkpoint on the summit of Helvellyn in glorious sunshine; I remember the group like it was yesterday and the pride-filled smiles as I took a picture for them with the Lake District mountains as a backdrop.
I shook their hands and asked how they were doing, and they told me all about uni and getting their first jobs. We talked about the DofE expedition and they smiled from ear to ear whilst reminiscing.
They told me about how they were asked about their DofE in job interviews and that they had been out on adventurous trips during breaks from university to the Alps and Morocco. They told me how much they loved it, and how the expedition in the Lakes was so good they wish they could do it again – their enthusiasm was infectious. I was smiling like a Cheshire cat as well. Ultimately they told me that it had helped them, and one told me his younger sister was doing her Gold DofE expedition later that year with me – and to make sure I didn’t cut her any slack! The guys thanked me for the expedition again and I wished them the best of luck with their new jobs and said goodbye.
As I walked back to my car I couldn’t stop smiling. I had made a difference to those young men, and everything I have been working towards and the reason why I do it had just been justified by an idle chat in a Costa coffee.
That wasn’t the first time this sort of thing has happened and it fortunately hasn’t been the last, but when I wake up in the morning I know that doing what I do makes a difference for the better and, most importantly, I know why I set out to build the best expedition company in the world.
I believe that if you want to do something well in life you need to know why you do it.
“I know that doing what I do makes a difference for the better and, most importantly, I know why I set out to build the best expedition company in the world.”
Sam Sykes