I've been away so much over the last few months, that I haven't been around my local area to do any birthday parties for a while now. So it was nice to be invited to help James and his friends enjoy his special day with a canoe party in Ellesmere. His parents had opted for a late afternoon session, to be followed with a party tea … Read More »
All posts by Martin Digby
Paddlesport Weekend with Oswestry School
This was the first of Oswestry School's Adventure Education weekends of the new academic year. The idea is to introduce students to new activities and then develop their skills, understanding and independence for those that catch the bug. This weekend, we had a couple of climbers that have developed over the last few years to the point that they are now leading multi pitch routes, a … Read More »
Basic Rock Climbing Course
I seem to be having a season of climbing at the moment, and this week saw me running a basic rock climbing course based out of Lancaster. The course was run through CCAT (Cadet Centre for Adventurous Training), which offers courses for cadets and for adult volunteers within the cadet forces. There were 12 participants on the course in all. We soon realised that there was a … Read More »
Rock Climbing Course
I've had the pleasure of spending the last week working on a basic rock climbing course with a group of 10 young men that all share the aspiration of joining the British Army as officers. The course was using Halton Training Camp as it's base, as were other groups undertaking courses in canoeing, kayaking, hill walking and caving. Monday The first day of a rock climbing course … Read More »
A Week on the Climbing Tower
I've spent the last week or so running the climbing tower for the cadets of Norfolk ACF. The adult instructors brought just short of 300 cadets across to Shropshire for a little over a week for their annual camp. With a total of 8 days training, 3 days were given to field craft, 3 days to skill at arms training, and 2 days for adventurous training … Read More »
Canoeing with the Titans
The Ellesmere Titans swimming team have been on a three week training camp in preparation for the national competition over the next few weeks. Obviously, swimming has been the focus, both in terms of tweaking technique and reaching new levels of fitness in preparation for the big event. Clearly, swimming all day every day would be too much for anyone and so they look to break … Read More »
Kayak Sessions with Cadets
Having been on camp with my own cadets at Wathgill last week, I stayed up for another week to run the cadet kayak sessions that made up part of the adventurous training day. The other instructors had already done 2 weeks worth of sessions before I arrived, so a routine had already been established for me to slot into - it was just a matter of … Read More »
Cadets on Camp with CCF
After 4 days of being on exercise with Ellesmere College cadets last week, I spent this week with them on camp at Wathgill, near Catterick in Yorkshire. Camp usually starts on the Sunday, after travelling on the Saturday. This year was delayed a day due to the Tour de France, which made some of the travel arrangements interesting and longer than usual. However, we all got … Read More »
Welsh 3000s with Ellesmere College
Last year, Ellesmere College resurrected their traditional attempt at the Welsh 3000s (or 15 Peaks). It's a challenge that involves standing on all 15 of Wales' 3000ft mountains within a 24 hour period and, due to the geography of it all, it's all done on your own two feet. This year's group was made up of two boys that had been in the College team last … Read More »
Gold DofE Canoe Training
I've been really privileged this week to work with a fantastic group in preparation for a Gold DofE canoe expedition. Some had done a fair bit of paddling before (one had done his 2 star award with me a couple of weeks ago), while others were completely new to it. On Monday, we took a short trip to the Shropshire Union Canal at the Lion Quays … Read More »
