The last 5 days have been spent working with a group of 6th Form pupils from Oswestry School, preparing them for their Gold Duke of Edinburgh expedition. Out of the group of seven, several were direct entrants, whilst others had quite a bit of experience already. Those new to hill walking found themselves on a [...]

Today was one of those days when you don’t get much opportunity to gather your thoughts. I had two jobs on today, both of which were with cadets, but in different places. Oswestry School CCF had their biennial inspection today, for which a high ranking officer from the regular forces comes to see how training [...]

Today involved a long drive down to Kent to work for the Adventure Rope Course at their site at Salomons near Tunbridge Wells. It was my first visit down there and, other than the 10 hours of driving, it was a fantastic day and a great opportunity to see this venue. I was part of [...]

Some call it professional development, some call it playing. Either way, this weekend was a great opportunity for me to learn some new skills in sea kayaks. The 3 star training course was held over 2 days, and based on Anglesey which is a favourite venue for sea kayakers due to the combination of its [...]

This was a 24 hour exercise for cadets from Ellesmere College CCF on the southern end of Nesscliffe Training Area in Shropshire. We have recently been teaching these cadets about orders, particularly the orders process and structure of formal orders. This exercise was designed to give the cadets the opportunity to receive orders, assess how [...]

This weekend involved a trip to North Wales with cadets from Oswestry School CCF. Taking advantage of accommodation at Capel Curig Training Camp put us right on the doorstep of some fantastic terrain in which to enjoy a couple of days’ hill walking, introducing many of the cadets to this kind of environment for the [...]

I’ve just got back from running canoe sessions in Snowdonia for the the last two days. Students from University College Birmingham headed to North Wales for a few days as part of their Outdoor and Adventurous Activities unit, counting towards their BTEC in Sport / Sport and Exercise Science. When I first arrived on Tuesday [...]

BBC learning and BBC1 have teamed up to promote a new initiate called Thrillseeker. The aim is to help thousands of people across the UK to experience adventurous activities for the first time, in the hope that more people will feel confident and knowledgeable enough to take their new interest further. I ran two canoe [...]

This morning was spent looking at different ways of setting up the big abseil at Nesscliffe. It has become one of the better known abseils for many miles due to it’s size (approximately 45m) and impressive views across to the Breidden Hills, but one which I haven’t spent much time working on in the past. [...]