AT Blog 2 December 2008

Last week we had the enjoyable company of Warwickshire Association of Youth Clubs staying with an international group of young people from; Russia, Estonia, Denmark, Belarus, Norway, Turkey and Greece. The purpose of the week was in part to see how we use outdoor activities for personal and social development and use youth work techniques as part of our programmes when working with young people. The week was a success and ended with a pleasant social evening before everyone departed home.

We again have a full weekend ahead of us with a visit from Westminster Police and all our lodges are occupied as well. We do however still have some free lodges for Christmas if anyone out there who wanted to arrange a families and friends get together over the Christmas Period, the large lodges are great for this. For more information on Avon Tyrrell and what great facilities we offer please view our website http://www.avontyrrell.org.uk/ or for more information email your questions to info@ukyouth.org or call us on 01425 672347.

Last week some of the staff attended a one day internal first aid course run by our very own Mike, and everyone enjoyed the course. If anyone out there is interested in attending a one or four day first aid course in a fantastic setting made for learning please call us on 01425 672347 or email info@ukyouth.org

We have again moved the Straw Bale Classroom build on with the completion of one external end being bordered and today the outside lime rendering begins. We should complete the boarding of the other end panel this week as well. Then it is the final push to get the outside balcony built. Also we have started work on improving the interior of our Chalet to make it more comfortable for our groups and at £25 to £30 a day, use of this building is cheap….

And finally did you work out who our mystery chef was? Yes it was Leo the Head Chef, seen here with one of our other chefs, Colin.

Enjoy your week

AT Blog 21 November 2008

This week we have had the pleasure of Northfleet Technology College in the main house and despite the jovial pranks played between staff and students it was great to have them stay.

We now have a full weekend ahead of us with a visit from Hampton Youth Project and our lodges are occupied as well. For more information on Avon Tyrrell and what great facilities we offer please view our website http://www.avontyrrell.org.uk/ or for more information email your questions to info@ukyouth.org or call us on 01425 672347.

We have said a fond farewell to Christine who has been with us over the past couple of years as a General Assistant. Having worked in almost all departments she will be sadly missed as she is off to New Zealand to catch up with her sister who is away travelling. Christine took a voluntary plunge into our lake to say bye bye to staff, mad girl……

Site projects include the continued work on the straw bale classroom which is nearly completed internally and the re-instigation of our Reed Bed to support our sewage plant. Any world experts on sewage plants who would like to give the charity some free assistance with this project would be more than welcome, please contact David on 01425 672347 or email info@ukyouth.org

Finally for all those who have visited us over the years and met this chap, can you remember his name? He sometimes says Cooool in a very funny way! Answers next week.

Have a good week all

AT Blog 11 November 2008

Well what about the weather yesterday, certainly if you were a duck you may have appreciated the wind and rain. Despite the weather we welcomed Ropley C.E. Primary School and the weather just did not seem to stop them enjoying themselves and having fun. It is good to know whatever is happening outside, inside there is lots of fun and laughter to be had - the spirit of children cannot be broken.

Last week we had Cupernham Junior School visiting; they had a good week and left us the artistic work shown below. it is nice to see the natural materials from our grounds fuelling their imagination.

This time of year we cannot guarantee the weather which is why we reduce our prices, but many schools find that the children have just as much fun and the price reduction means that they can make their residential more inclusive and bring more of their class/year group to enjoy and develop from their stay. We have even introduced the Junior Achievement Awards to help occupy the children in the darkening evenings and provide them with a portfolio diary of their stay, evidencing their achievements and making sure that almost everyone goes home with a certificate. For more information on this and Avon Tyrrell please view our website http://www.avontyrrell.org.uk/ or email info@ukyouth.org or call 01425 672347.

The maintenance team have begun their winter programme of upkeep for Avon Tyrrell and have started decorating the bedrooms. They have also kept on working on the straw bale classroom and last week with the help of Rob and his staff from DCRS the second coat of lime render went on the internal walls. Our staff also began boxing in the remaining internal walls. Progress continues and we hope to have a completed building by Christmas.

AT Blog 3rd November 2008

Well the shorter days are now with us but this has not stopped our visitors enjoying themselves and making the most of our site and activities in the daytime and utilising our facilities in the evening, be it in the main Grade 1 listed Avon Tyrrell House or our well equipped lodges. Recent visitors have included Shoaling College of Technology who had a split week with 2 x 100 children visiting us and having a thoroughly great time. Both groups also left us with a lovely fruit cake which the staff enjoyed with their morning coffee. Do not forget for more information on Avon Tyrrell please view our website http://www.avontyrrell.org.uk/ or email info@ukyouth.org or call 01425 672347.

In the last 10 days Scottish and Southern Electric have finally switched us over to an underground supply of electricity and removed our over head power supply. We are very grateful that this work has been completed as it undoubtedly makes our site safer.

The straw bale classroom has moved on fantastically well in recent weeks with the support of Rob Buckley. The internal floor is now in and the roof has been covered and planted with sedum plugs and the lime plastering has started. The setting of this building down by our small lake makes it such an idyllic spot for our visitors to enjoy in the future. Whilst there is still plenty to do we can finally see the end in site.

Avon Tyrrell 13th October 2008

Profuse apologies to all you readers out there that the Blog has not been updated for a while. We continue to have lots happening here at Avon Tyrrell and we have had some wonderful groups staying over the last few months. Only yesterday I was fortunate enough to listen to a concert outside on the Terrace by the Eastleigh Area Orchestra who were staying and had spent all weekend in workshops developing their skills before finishing with a concert for families and friends. All agreed Avon Tyrrell was a great place to come and practice their skills.

We have also recently started the Junior Achievement Awards and our first primary school was Wendell Park Primary School who pupils successfully completed the award in their weeks stay and agreed it added value to their stay as well as occupied the children in the darkening evenings. For more information on this and Avon Tyrrell please view our website http://www.avontyrrell.org.uk/ or email info@ukyouth.org or call 01425 672347.

We are desperately trying to complete the straw bale classroom before winter sets in. We have been extremely unlucky with the rain this year and this has hampered work, plus we unfortunately never got the volunteer support we anticipated. However as you can see from the photo’s thing have progressed and we hope to lime render the internal walls in the not to distant future. If there are any enthusiasts out there who would like to help with lime rendering or building a veranda, and have some spare time on your hands please contact us at info@ukyouth.org or call Claire or David on 01425 672 347.

Avon Tyrrell 31 July 2008

Hello all,

This week we welcomed B&Q who undertook a community development initiatives with 111 Volunteers from B&Q’s Marketing Department. The volunteers did their own ‘DIY’ on a number of tasks around our 65 acre site. They aim of the day was to help build and maintain vital resources used by the young people who visit Avon Tyrrell Activity & Residential Centre, many of whom are from disadvantaged backgrounds and may never previously have been to the countryside. The voluntary task force undertook the following:

• Build Zip Wire Shelter + path for woodland environmental survival area
• Open Path around Main Lake
• Build Problem Solving Base
• Improve Bike Track
• Restore Environmental Garden + Build Shop Garden
• Continue work on our Straw Bale Classroom roof

The day was also about Team Building for B&Q and we think this format is an extremely successful way of doing this, especially at Avon Tyrrell, as we try to host volunteers as well as we can by feeding them well, and allowing use of our adventure activities throughout the day as well as giving tasks to groups that are achievable so a result is seen at the end of the day. We believe this creates a good atmosphere to work in and helps with the Team Building in a manner that is not obtrusive. The day itself saw an immense amount of effort from the B&Q gang who worked hard all day and they completed a huge amount of work, see photo’s below. We are very grateful indeed for the work undertaken and we know our visitors will also be appreciative of the work completed. We hope it will not be too long before B&Q visit again. Thank You B&Q.

If any of you readers out there are interested in a volunteer day for your company, please contact David, at info@ukyouth.org or call 01425 672 347.

B&Q Gang + Guest Appearance from Village People...

Breakfast, someone was hungry......

Shop Garden, mmm... how will we do this & yes we have done it

Getting the support beams and posts in for the Straw bale classroom roof, and Path building

Clearing around the lake

Building a Problem building base and the zip wire shelter

The Environment Garden, Working on the Bike Track and Lunch

Fun on the Activities