They were, left to right, Adrian Gregory, of Headington, John Mahoney, of Kidlington, and Terry Lester, of Littlemore.
Mr Symonds presented them with badges before they headed to Buckingham Palace to receive their awards from the Duke of Edinburgh in 1975.
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Since the scheme was launched, 95 apprentices at the Cowley factory had qualified for gold awards and 175 for silver awards.
In 1954, Prince Philip considered the idea of a national programme to help young people develop. In 1956, the DofE was launched for boys.
Then in 1958 the DofE for girls was piloted.
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