At British Exploring Society we have had a hugely successful summer in achieving our primary aim, seeing significant positive impact on the young people who joined us on expedition.
We have also had some big challenges. This is primarily because of the reduction in funding available for youth programmes but, more acutely, as a result of the impact of deteriorating youth mental health and increasing anxiety. These contributed to an unusually high number of young people not feeling able to join their expedition with us, with a knock-on impact on our finances.
We know you are as passionate as we are about the benefit our programmes can have on the mental well-being, confidence, and positive outcomes for young people. The testimonies of those who completed their expedition journey this year reinforce this; we encourage you to watch this year’s outcomes video below to get a sense of this.
EXPEDITION HIGHLIGHTS VIDEO 2024
But we can only help those who join us, and see the process through.
So, we need to make strategic changes in how we recruit and introduce young people from underrepresented and disadvantaged backgrounds to the life-defining value of expeditions against a backdrop of heightened anxiety. We have been seeking advice widely, and working against the clock to achieve that paradigm shift. We now have a plan, called A New Kind of Adventure and we need to share it with you all.
There will be difficult, short-term pain as a result of the decisions we’ve made, because of our current financial position, and our immediate need to reduce central costs. This will result in changes and a likely reduction in the British Exploring Society staff team. We are grateful that our wider community will be considerate of this and can support us through a tough process. Recent changes to the Board also help ensure that everyone is fully behind the way forward, and able to support the team through a challenging time.
You can read more about A New Kind of Adventure, our response to a national crisis in mental health, using the button below.
THE CRISIS in numbers
Understanding how to help unlock self-belief has never been more critical.
4000
There are 4000 referrals per week reported by the NHS for young people with anxiety and mental health issues (data; The Guardian)
+20%
Persistent absence in England’s schools is now at 20% - rising to over 30% in secondary schools serving disadvantaged communities (data; Oasis Community Learning)
-70%
There has been a drop of over 70% in funding for youth provision in the last 20 years (Data; YMCA)
HELP MORE YOUNG PEOPLE UNLOCK THEIR SELF-BELIEF TODAY
DONATEFREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
General Questions
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Why is British Exploring Society making this change to its programmes in 2025?
As a charity, we are here to serve young people and support them in the development of resilience and confidence for positive adult lives. As society changes, the way we deliver our mission also to change. The new programmes we are launching in 2025 reflect evidence of heightened anxiety and disengagement in young people. We wanted to respond to that and make it less daunting for young people to join us.
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How are you different from Duke of Edinburgh Award or other providers? Doesn’t A New Kind of Adventure mean British Exploring Society is just the same as everyone else?
There are many amazing outdoor organisations you might want to try – and we encourage young people to take on adventures as soon as they feel ready. Our work focuses on some specific ideas, based on nearly 100 years of experience.
We get out of buildings, into tents and out into wild places in the UK and overseas as soon as we can – and as soon as you are ready – and we stay there as long as we can. By the time you tackle an Adventure Week with us, you’ll already be on a real expedition.
- We work hard to make our programmes genuinely accessible. There are many barriers to accessing the outdoors. You may worry that you cannot afford it, don’t have the right clothes, or that specific clothes you need to wear won’t work in the outdoors, or that your health or other needs will stop you. Our job is to make it possible for young people who can benefit from what we do to join us in wild places.
- So – we work with very high ratios of amazingly skilled professional volunteer leaders (about 3:1) from a huge variety of sectors and who focus on knowledge, personal development, skills and adventure on all our programmes.
- Everyone contributes. We give young people the chance to make choices and decisions for themselves- and we expect everyone to play their part. This is a chance for everyone to shine.
- If you complete an Ready to Explore programme/expedition with us, you are invited to become a Member of British Exploring Society for life.
Young People, Families and Partners
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If a young person takes part in an Adventure Weekend, can they also take part in an Adventure Week in the same year? Can they take part in more than 1 Adventure Week in the same year?
We’ll be encouraging you to take part in progressive challenges as you get the hang of adventure. That’s why they have names which suggest progress – Finding Your Feet, Hitting Your Stride, and so on. Currently, you may not repeat the same Adventure in the same year.
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If a young person has taken part in an Adventure Weekend or Week, does it ‘count towards’ an expedition following year, or do they have to take part in all the training for that programme?
Our UK Adventure Weekend and Week are rewarding and developmental experiences in their own right and can be seen as a significant achievement. They have their own goals, and are not part of the specific training for an expedition. If a young person signs up for an expedition (a Ready to Explore programme), they will need to take part in every section of the training for that expedition to be ready to take part.
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Does a Young Person have to take part in a UK Adventure before they can apply for a Ready to Explore programme/expedition?
No, not at all. But the Young People team will want to be happy that you are understand and are Ready to Explore, and that we can support you on the journey. We don’t want anyone to leave the programme along the way because they don’t feel prepared. We will continue to welcome applications from Young People as well as partner organisations in future – so the first thing to do is get in touch if you are interested, at explorers@britishexploring.org
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Is the Adventure Weekend the same as the Wildestan Weekend?
For 2025, they will run at the same time and cover the same kind of outdoor adventures – so effectively, yes.
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If I have applied for an expedition in 2025 and want to defer to 2026, do I go to the top of the list to get a place?
We place existing applicants first and create waiting lists if we have too many applications. We cannot reserve places for those who have not fully completed an application with us.
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If I defer, and exceed the age range of the programme I want to take part in, in 2026, what happens?
If there is an Ready to Explore/expedition programme for your age group available to you, you will be offered a place on that programme. Although we will try to find places for everyone who is still interested in exploring with us, we may not be able to provide you with an expedition experience. But talk to us – contact the Young People team at explorers@britishexploring.org as a first step.
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Do all British Exploring Society programmes include wild camping? What is wild camping?
Our first Adventure, Finding Your Feet, involves camping around an outdoor centre, with some access to buildings and indoor facilities. Anything longer than that is based around wild camping, which is where we are happiest. Wild camping involves camping away from buildings and gives the chance for the whole team to be entirely self-sufficient. You cook outdoors, find safe water to drink, carry everything you need with you: a proper expedition.
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Does an Adventure Week qualify for a Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award?
We have just launched this programme and are investigating whether we can take part in the DofE programme with UK Adventures.
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British Exploring Society currently asks all young people to meet means-tested fundraising targets. Will that change or stay the same?
There are no plans to change this now, as it is the fairest way to give all young people equal access to adventure. We’ll keep looking at in future, though.
Leaders and Partners
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What impact will a smaller team have on safety and programme design?
Our programme has been designed with the team we know we will have in mind. It has been approved by our Operations SubCommittee and main board as safe, and we are also running a risk register alongside the new programme to keep a close eye on standards and safety as we go. We have also appointed 2 new Technical Advisors to help ensure high standards.
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I have applied to be a Leader in 2025. What will happen to my application?
You should have already received an email explaining your options to you. We hope you find at least one of these options appealing. Please email us at expeditions@britishexploring.org if you don’t think you have received this communication from us yet.
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Does A New Kind of Adventure mean that British exploring Society isn’t going to lead overseas expeditions any more?
Expeditions in wild places are core to what we do. A New Kind of Adventure aims to help more young people on a pathway to a full expedition – part of our Ready to Explore programme. We’ll be launching our 2026 Ready to Explore/Expedition programme in 2025, and this will include opportunities to explore in Europe and further afield.
Donors, Volunteers, Community Members
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I want to make a donation to British Exploring Society– how do I do that?
It’s really simple, just click on ‘Donate’ on the top right of the page and you’ll be taken through to our donation page where you can make a one-off donation and/or set up a regular monthly donation. Alternatively, if you’d like to discuss making a donation, please send an email to development@britishexploring.org and the team will be happy to speak to you. Thank you.
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I cannot make a donation, but I want to help. What can I do?
A quick and easy way to help is to follow us on our social media channels and share/like our posts:
By supporting us this way you’ll be helping to raise our profile, share our messages, and introduce new people to British Exploring Society.
If you have a specific way you’d like to get involved, then please send an email to info@britishexploring.org giving details on how you might be able to help us. Please note that we are a small team with limited resources, so we may not be able to fully utilise your help immediately, but we wholeheartedly appreciate your willingness to contribute to our mission and will do the best we can.
We will keep adding to these FAQs over time. If you can’t find what you need here, please contact us at info@britishexploring.org and we’ll do our best to help you.