A number of Year 10 pupils from Mary Webb School in Shropshire have been coming along to the Adventure Rope Course on a Wednesday afternoon as part of a 6 week series of sessions aiming to give the pupils the chance to learn some of the basic skills associated with rope work.

Today’s session was predominantly an assessment of their climbing skills. So we were looking at correct fitting of helmets and harnesses, tying in correctly to the rope with a rethreaded figure of eight, safe belaying techniques and lowering off. It must be said that some were a bit rusty, particularly with the rethreaded figure of eight, but everyone seemed to grow in confidence as the session went on.

The actual climbing was quite difficult due to the fact that many of the holds weren’t as tight as they would normally be. This is actually due to the weather or, more specifically, the lack of rain in recent weeks. As the wood on the Climbing Wall dries out, it contracts resulting in loose holds. A bit of a pain, but one of those things you just have to accept.

After the climbing assessment, it was time for everyone to enjoy themselves a bit with a blast on the Giant Swing. It’s actually quite hard work winching people up on the Giant Swing and instructors can often find themselves doing virtually all the work. However, these guys were fantastic at putting their backs into it which made it both easy and quick. Thank you!

Everything was so fast that I didn’t get chance to get my camera out, but a number of videos were taken by the group. All the screams and white faces resulted in a lot of laughs and mickey taking. If anyone gets round to sending me a video clip I’ll put it on to this article.