Why does it seem that whenever I run a multi day rock climbing course, the weather plays havoc with the week’s program?! However, at the end of the day there aren’t many people that get to enjoy working outdoors in such stunning places. I’ve spent this week working for CCAT (Cadet Centre for Adventurous Training) [...]

I work regularly with Ellesmere College CCF, predominantly with the ‘Advanced Infantry’ which is made up of Year 11 cadets who have already had several years of cadet experience. Once a term, Ellesmere College puts timetabled lessons to one side to enable all it’s pupils to experience something different. This term, three days were put [...]

After my solo day in the Carneddau last week, it didn’t take much to persuade me to head back into the mountains. This time I had the company of Adam, who is looking to get in additional mountain days for his log book and his Mountain Leader assessment which he is hoping to complete in [...]

After several recent sessions running the climbing wall at Concord College with their Lower Sixth form pupils, I got to spend the afternoon with a dozen students, mainly from the Upper Sixth. We had originally planned to visit a real crag a fortnight ago, but the weather forecast was so poor that it seemed pointless [...]

It’s not very often these days that I get the opportunity to head out into the mountains purely for my own enjoyment, rather than in a work context. I had hoped to get in a full on mountain day but, after doing a spot of shopping in Betws-y-Coed for some new climbing kit, I hadn’t [...]

The last two days have seen over 100 students from Harper Adams University College come through the gates at the Adventure Rope Course. With a large number of foreign students joining them for the third year of their studies, the staff have brought them to the Rope Course near the beginning of the academic year [...]

It was a busy day at the Adventure Rope Course with just short of 90 pupils from St George’s Junior School and over a dozen staff and parents lending a hand. The kids were split into 8 groups, with a couple of adults in each, for the course of the day. The 8 instructors stayed [...]

Both yesterday and today, I got to spend a couple of hours canoeing on the Mere after school with some of the pupils from Ellesmere Primary School. The funding for these sessions came from money given to the school to spend on pupils that receive free school dinners and we planned both sessions to be [...]

I’ve been working with Oswestry School for a couple of years now, but had little to do with the military training of the CCF (Combined Cadet Force). This has been due to my regular commitment to another CCF unit that happens on the same afternoon of each week in term time. However, yesterday afternoon I [...]