I was invited to spend this weekend working with a group of pupils from Oswestry School. Several times a year, the Adventure Education department organises a weekend trip to North Wales, taking advantage of the fact that they have such a fantastic area just an hour and a half away. These weekends are aimed at both introducing the pupils to adventure activities, and developing the … Read More »
Category Archives: Featured
NNAS Navigation Around Church Stretton
I was running a NNAS (National Navigation Award Scheme) Bronze Award course last week, but one of the participants had to pull out a few days before. A job interview understandably took priority, so we arranged to repeat the course a week later. Due to the short notice, there wasn't really any additional interest when I tried to advertise the new dates. So it has … Read More »
NNAS Bronze Award in Shropshire
I always enjoy working in the outdoors, but there is something a bit special about working on courses that are designed to develop skills and teach new techniques to those that really want to learn. It's a great privilege to be involved in people's development and watch them grow in confidence and understanding. I've spent that last 2 days with Sles and Julie whohave both been … Read More »
Abseiling and Orienteering with Concord College
In the last few weeks, I have had the pleasure of running several sessions for a group of pupils from Concord College. As part of their Mountain Sports club, we spent time rock climbing and canoeing before half term. Today we met at Nesscliffe Hill Country Park for an afternoon of abseiling and orienteering. Nesscliffe has a large abseil (about 40m) which attracts people from quite … Read More »
Great Escape with Packwood Haugh
Today, I got to spend the day with 30 boys from Packwood Haugh School at The Great Escape. They actually arrived last night and spent the evening playing various games before spending the night in 10 man tents. By the time I arrived, they were warming themselves by the camp fire after a chilly night under a cloudless sky. The recent heat wave over the … Read More »
A Scramble Up Tryfan with Oswestry School
Yesterday, the six pupils on Oswestry School's Adventure Education weekend split themselves between three different activities in three different places - canoeing, scrambling and hill walking. Today, we all used the same overall venue. Two of the group hooked up with an instructor each (Ali and Paul), who took them rock climbing on one of the big multi-pitch routes on the east face of Tryfan. … Read More »
Y Garn with Oswestry School
Today saw me working with three pupils from Oswestry School as part of an Adventure Education weekend. Six members of the CCF (Combined Cadet Force), were able to take advantage of their military connections and are based at Capel Curig Training Camp, giving them easy access to the mountains and rivers of Snowdonia. Today, one member of the party had a 3 Star Open Canoe Assessment, … Read More »
Canoeing with Pegasus Planning Group
This morning I had the pleasure of spending some time with the staff from the Birmingham branch of the Pegasus Planning Group, based in Sutton Coldfield. Today was their chance to get out of the office and let their hair down with an 'jolly'. When they originally contacted me, the plan was to spend the morning on the River Severn, probably doing the trip from Shrewsbury … Read More »
Bronze DofE Assessments with Shrewsbury School
For the last few years I have helped out with the provision of Bronze DofE expedition training and assessments. Due to the numbers of participants involved, a number of instructors are needed to supervise and assess the various groups over the course of 6 days. Over recent years, a core team has developed, making it a bit of an annual reunion for instructors as well … Read More »
Bronze DofE Practice with Oswestry School
A fortnight ago, I was working with pupils from Oswestry School on their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award expedition training. This weekend it was their opportunity to put everything into practice by completing a 2 day expedition with significantly less input from the instructors. It was also their first time carrying expedition rucksacks on their backs for an extended period of time. We actually started the expedition … Read More »
