Biblical rain, meagre food rations and – in one particularly notable case – a frozen, dead sheep. The Duke of Edinburgh’s award (DofE) prides itself on offering teenagers experiences that a classroom cannot replicate – and the charity has recently said more people are signing up than ever before.
More than 342,000 young people took on tasks to achieve their bronze, silver or gold award last year, according to the DofE. For people who shared their abiding memories of the scheme with the Guardian, many involved getting very wet somewhere deep in the UK countryside.
