Prince Philip’s 100th birthday: Fundraiser launched to mark the date - but how can you take part?

The Duke of Edinburgh would have turned 100 on Thursday 10 June

(Getty Images)

A new fundraising challenge is being launched to mark what would have been the Duke of Edinburgh’s 100th birthday.

Starting on Thursday 10 June, the Do It 4 Youth initiative will encourage people around the UK to take part in a four-week physical challenge.

Its aim is similar to the Duke of Edinburgh award that Prince Philip set up in 1956, which has been undertaken by people around the world.

Money raised from the event will go towards helping young people from tough backgrounds.

What is involved in the Do It 4 Youth challenge?

The four-week challenge is composed of four different elements that champion different elements of development.

The four elements are called Get Up, Skill Up, Free Up and Hand Up.

Get Up sees people doing a challenge that’s physical; Skill Up focuses on learning a new skill; Free Up involves people giving up something they enjoy, like junk food; and Hand Up encourages people to help their community in some way.

Taking on one challenge per week, over the four weeks participants should have completed a Get Up, Skill Up, Free Up and Hand Up task.

To log which challenges you’ve completed so far, and to give details about what you did, you can log in to your account used to sign up and navigate to the ‘My Challenges’ page of the site.

How can I take part?

You don’t need any prior Duke of Edinburgh Award experience to take part in the Do It 4 Youth challenge. It is open to people of all ages and all you need to do is sign up.

Participants can choose to complete the four-week challenge any time from 10 June, but it must be completed by 30 September 2021.

If you raise over £25 you will be entitled to a free t-shirt and those who raise over £100 will receive a limited-edition pin.

The initiative has been backed by many celebrities who are “team captains”. They will work alongside a Duke of Edinburgh Award holder to encourage as many people as possible to take part.

Celebrity faces include Strictly Come Dancing star JJ Chalmers, Paralympian Hannah Cockroft, guitarist from The Vamps James McVey, George Weasley from Harry Potter actor Oliver Phelps, and many more.

Chalmers said the initiative is a great way to give back to our communities after a difficult year.

He explained: “Over the past year and a bit we’ve really come to appreciate what is important and who we need to look after. That’s what the beauty of this challenge is. It’s quite simple, it’s to do something for yourself and do something for others.

“When we talk about getting back to normal after this pandemic, I don’t want that stuff to stop. I’m happy to stop the Zoom meetings but the really nice stuff, appreciating the people around you and helping one another, that should stay.”

What will the money be used for?

The money raised from the fundraising challenge will go towards helping young people from difficult backgrounds enrich their lives through the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme.

The Do It 4 Youth website explains: “Every pound you raise will go towards helping young people from the toughest backgrounds across the UK to build life-long belief in themselves through DofE.

“Record unemployment. Rising mental health issues. Missing out on education. Deepening inequalities. The COVID pandemic has left the UK’s youth facing crisis on top of crisis.

“But time and again, we’ve seen that when we help young people build belief in themselves, there are no limits to what they can overcome.”