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Professional Development Events

Teamwork & Teamplay 30th June 08

You are invited to join author and teambuilding expert Dr. Jim Cain for a full day of activities specifically designed to build unity, community, connection and teamwork with the audiences you serve.  Jim will present dozens of simple to apply, portable activities including many from his two newest books, A Teachable Moment and Teambuilding Puzzles, and some classics from Teamwork & Teamplay and The Book on Raccoon Circles (all available from the IOL bookshop).  Explore multiple intelligence learning styles, activities with minimal props, processing and debriefing techniques and team activities that work from the classroom to the boardroom.

£15 per person including refreshments!!

Working with Young People on the Edge 19-20th Nov 08

An experiential, residential workshop for outdoor professionals, managers and others, who work with young people who have challenging behaviour, delivered by Colin Imrie of Aquila Alternatives rapidly becoming the nationally recognised experts this field. A mix of theory and practice designed to explore ideas and equip workers to work more safely and effectively with the most challenging young people. 

£ to be finalised (with the intent to make it widely available)

Lindley Festival of Outdoor Learning 28th Feb-1st March 09

The feedback was very positive from this years festival so here are the dates for your diary for next year

Back Tor

After what seems a very long process the building is finally in use. Hollowford capacity is now increased up to 128. We have also gained extra flexibility to house different groups in the centre at the same time. Accessibility is also greatly improved with 2 rooms set up for use by those in wheelchairs.

See Photo Gallery

Watch 5 months of work in 20 seconds (1.1MB windows media player)

Minibeasts and Pond dipping

We are now offering new sessions on minibeast discovery and pond dipping to complement the experience young people have of discovering the outdoor environment through adventurous activities. These options offer exciting and eye opening experiences of the natural world around us, the discovery of wildlife and plant life we may not always notice and to encourage in young people, a desire to protect and conserve these things by promoting awareness of how they are central to the environment they are enjoying, when they are out experiencing activities such as walking, climbing and canoeing.

John Muir Award

How about coming away from a residential at Hollowford with, not only memories of an enjoyable time, shared experiences and new learning, but with a nationally accredited award?  You can do this by incorporating the John Muir Award into your programme. Suitable for all ages and abilities the award complements the outdoor experience to increase awareness, understanding and respect for our wild places. 

More information            John Muir website

Shining Cliff

This fantastic venue is set in the heart of 100 acres of ancient woodland.

The venue will suit many groups that are looking to keep costs under control to make access to courses available to the widest group of young people. We have experience in working with a wide range of groups including Youth Inclusion Projects (YIP), Junior Schools, Positive Activities for Young People (PAYP) and Youth Service’s from a number of local authorities and this venue is great for these groups. A structured bespoke programme to meet the group requirements is what we would advise, but self-programmed groups are welcome. We are also putting together some long-term programmes for small groups that would like to be involved in maintenance and management of the woodland, and a Forest Schools programme for local schools.

Some of the activities available on site include abseiling, rock climbing, map work, team challenges, environmental awareness, Bushcraft, swimming in our open water, Forest Schools, John Muir Award, an evening campfire.

It is self-catering only, with 20 beds (two four and two six bunk-bedded rooms).

Location: Grid Reference - SK 335523

Photos of the area from geograph.org.uk

Shining Cliff is located mid-way between Derby and Matlock, just one and a half miles off the A6. The hostel can only be approached by foot from a woodland track. Parking for vehicles is approximately 500m away.

Please contact us if you would like to be kept up to date on the developments and opening date for Shining Cliff.

Canoeing Course

Bushcanoe – Combining the wilderness expertise of Paul Booker and the Bushcraft knowledge of Dave Watson this week long wilderness trip combines the excitement of canoeing around beautiful tidal lochs and the adventure of using the natural resources in order to fend for yourself. Set in one of the most outstandingly beautiful areas in Scotland this trip is suitable for those with little to moderate experience of wilderness living. 13th-19th October £485 per person.

Aconcagua

This was Chris's second time on the mountain having failed 2 years ago a few hours short of the summit due to high winds and very cold temperatures. Although techincally on holiday Chris was actually leading a group of 9 adults on the trip and managed to get 3 of them to the top. The following is the summit day extract from his report.

As planned Nils (local guide) and I met at 0430 to decide whether the following day was to be our summit attempt. The wind had started gusting - not ideal, but skies were perfectly clear and it wasn’t cold. We delayed our decision but in the end the clear skies plus everyone’s high motivation meant we had a good chance so we’d “have a look”. Pete and Ken felt it wasn’t their time and elected to stay in camp but everyone else left at 0600. Almost straight away we were out of the wind and progressed slowly upwards. By “brown rocks” things were pretty cold, -18oC, but dawn was almost upon us. The cold climb to Independencia (6,377m) had the group spread out. Pip having found the morning hard and with cold toes decided she’d had enough and turned back (6,250m) with guide Nacho. At the rest at Independencia (halfway to top) Gwenda and Julie also opted to head back having gone higher than before, leaving with 3rd guide Patchu

After putting on crampons the rest of the team continued. The “traverse” turned out to be a long, surprisingly steep in places climb in the cold shadow of the summit. Reaching the base of the Canelata the sunshine was a very welcome break and a place to leave bags before continuing up the steep scree / boulders above. With the route to the top clearly visible the final rising traverse seemed to take such a long time to complete. Finally, it was a great pleasure to ask Bill, on his 3rd attempt, to lead the way up to the summit and the metal cross shown in all the pictures, nearly 9 hours after setting off.

Full Report

Norway

Having had a request from a management team for "something a bit different" we came up with heading to Norway for some proper winter.

Based at Sirdal in Southern Norway we put something together that was certainly memorable and challenging. The activities included dog sleds, snow shoeing and ski-ing.

The after activity reviews were certainly very fruitful and included strategy planning sat in a hot tub during a snow storm.