BBC News
By Alice Evans
image copyrightDave Kirton
image captionFriends Nathan (left) and James were often in trouble with police before they signed up to do their bronze award
What does the Duke of Edinburgh s Award mean to you? For many it will conjure memories of hauling a badly-packed rucksack across rainy British countryside in the hope of adding some sparkle to their CV. Yet for some of the millions of young people who have taken on the self-improvement challenge, it has brought truly life-changing opportunities.
Without the award, James says he d probably be in jail . At the age of 15, James and his friend Nathan, then 16, had had more run-ins with the police than they care to remember. As bored mates growing up in Darlington, north-east England, they felt they had nothing else to do but to cause mischief.
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