Avon Tyrrell - December 11

The end of year draws near and we are now preparing the Avon Tyrrell House for the festive season. The Housekeeping team will undoubtedly decorate the House amazingly and with our beautiful Christmas trees the House will look very festive.

We will have a Christmas Fayre starting at 4pm on the 7^th December and then at the weekend we will be hosting a family Christmas weekend with activities supported by HCC that will enable children and young people with disabilities and/or additional needs to experience and participate in a host of outdoor and arts and crafts activities as well as evening fun activities. We also have it on really good authority that Father Christmas will make both events, yippee…..

Wildlife Watch Group have recently visited and there was a really good turnout for the volunteer group with some new faces and some old. The group carried on clearing the bracken at the Avon Tyrrell SINC site and clearing the ground back to bare soil. The area is really starting to take shape and the group made a fire to burn all of the bracken and to keep warm. The group were still a little cold so they had a competition to warm them up! This involved using a Kelly Kettle to boil water so they could all enjoy a hot chocolate. After initial difficulties getting the kettles started they were soon blazing. The hot drink was very much appreciated by all. Finally to wrap the day up the group made bird feeders using Pine Cones, seeds and peanut butter. It was a fun day and everyone enjoyed themselves. 

We have now established an Activity Instructor post to Coordinate Inclusive Activities for all visitors to Avon Tyrrell.

As part of Alex Robert’s 2011 NVQ 3 apprenticeship at Avon Tyrrell, Alex chose to work with groups and individuals with disabilities, working towards making their even more accessible and inclusive time whether participating in adventurous activities or not.  Based on the success of his work and the great feedback he was receiving from groups, Alex was able to demonstrate how important having someone with these skills is to those who visit us.

His time required him to manage residential short breaks for families who have someone with a disability, and create an experience that is assessable to the whole family by coordinating an adventurous and non-adventurous residential programme for up to 150 people.  He also worked with specialist groups gathering information before they arrive, liaising with them during their visit, working with them as the lead instructor and seeking feedback post visit to ensure that the entire centre is growing and learning with each and every group that visits.

Groups have commented on how useful it is to have someone passionate and skilled enough to work directly with the groups to guarantee every part of their visit has the required attention.  Groups have also observed how much Avon Tyrrell is developing over time with the accommodation and access becoming more accessible providing positive feedback on the “Can do” attitude the entire Centre has when aiming to meet the needs of all groups that visit the centre.

We have some very excited groups looking forward to their next visit here at Avon Tyrrell and we are very excited to see these develop with particular interest in looking forward to the next inspirational residential in two weeks' time.

We have also had an enjoyable visit from a group of young people from Ringwood Sheiling School.  Earlier in the year they had created some lovely flowers that are currently brightening up the Field Studies Avon Tyrrell Garden having participated in a competition with other local schools to design something for our Garden.  As a thank you for their lovely craft work we provided them with a tour of our site, a chance to re- look around the Garden that now displays some of their work and take part in some fun activities such as making rainbow cards and spotting some animal tracks. We had a lovely day with the young people and hope to see them again soon.

You are most welcome to visit and see what we are up to or to find out more about Avon Tyrrell Outdoor Activity Centre and the many varied opportunities we offer please contact us on Tel; 01425 672347 or email info@ukyouth.org or view our website www.avontyrrell.org.uk

Remember… experience – learn – develop 

Avon Tyrrell Update - 4th November 2011

Well another week draws to a close and despite the heavy rain at time in the week the schools using the site have had an excellent time.  The picture below certainly shows how beautiful the different trees make Avon Tyrrell so interesting.

We continue to invite school teachers and group leaders  to come and visit and have lunch with us and see why Avon Tyrrell is such a unique and enjoyable outdoor Centre to use and stay at.  If you represent a school or group and have never been here and are interested in coming to visit us, please call Sharon on 01425 672347 to arrange a time to suit you.  Please note we cannot do Mondays and Fridays as these are our normal changeover days.

Halloween Evening at Avon Tyrrell certainly was scary for a few and what an enjoyable experience those who came had.  Two of our apprentice instructors, Jess and Jamie put on a magnificent event that everyone enjoyed, see the feedback and the scary pictures of our ghouls…. We even provided a meal for the children from our witches kitchen and no it did not include frog legs and rat tails!  Maybe you will be brave enough to attend next year?  An to top it off the evening raised £500 towards our tractor appeal, fantastic:

Thanks for the fab Halloween night, the kids loved it and I'm still having nightmares about the mummy arising from the coffin, fantastic work from everyone involved.

The best outdoor center going :-)

nowhere is better than this place

You are most welcome to visit and see what we are up to or to find out more about Avon Tyrrell Outdoor Activity Centre and the many varied opportunities we offer please contact us on Tel; 01425 672347 or email info@ukyouth.org or view our website www.avontyrrell.org.uk

Remember… experience – learn – develop

J

Avon Tyrrell October 2011

Avon Tyrrell Update

Winter is on its way and although a little chillier we still have enjoyed some good weather.  Avon Tyrrell remains busy with residential and day visits from schools and young people groups as well as families and friends.  We have now had our main sports court surface upgraded with a rubberized surface and this will make it a great surface for groups to use.  We have also managed to replace two of our settees in our 6 berth lodges for the comfort and enjoyment of visitors, so we hope you like them if you are using these lodges.

We have recently had a visit from Nat West employees who volunteered to help for a day and they continued the work on our heathland area.  The team did a great days work and cleared a great amount of vegetation which included revealing the views across The new Forest, which have not been seen for many years from this area.

Jaguar/Landrover apprentice staff also kindly organised a digger for half a day to do some work on the heathland and this made a good start on the work and we hope to get a digger in to do some more work in the near future.

We have also launched our tractor appeal, as with 65 acres of grounds to manage and maintain we are in desperate needs to get a decent tractor to ensure we can maintain and develop the grounds for the benefit and enjoyment of our visitors.  We are hoping to raise £35,000 and would appreciate any help in reaching this total.

You are most welcome to visit and see what we are up to or to find out more about Avon Tyrrell Outdoor Activity Centre and the many varied opportunities we offer please contact us on Tel; 01425 672347 or email info@ukyouth.org or view our website www.avontyrrell.org.uk

Remember… experience – learn – develop

Avon Tyrrell October 2011

Avon Tyrrell Update

So much happening again that we want to tell you about, from visits from Blue Peter to having British Peddle Car Champions in our midst and the great efforts from B&Q volunteers in completing clearing the vegetation around our main lake.  And whilst all this goes on we are enjoying a visit from Scholing College and Robert Piggott Junior School.  And wow what great weather we have had which has ensured our outdoor pool has been used right into early October.

Last weekend we had a visit from Blue Peter who were filming families from the  Children’s Chronic Arthritis Association Charity, who visit Avon Tyrrell annually and enjoy a weekend of activities and support meetings for families.  Barney was here all day with the families and the feedback we received was a huge thank you to all the team for such a fantastic day that ran so smoothly. The families all had an amazing time, and so did the film crew! You can watch the visit on Blue Peter Monday 10^th October, BBC1 at 4.30pm.

In late September, 3 members of Avon Tyrrell’s past and present staff – Christine Blackburn, Amy Blackburn and Steph Mills went to Curborough race circuit to enter the 7th and final race of the British Pedal Car Racing season. This was a 7 hour endurance relay race, which starts in daylight and finishes in darkness.  28 cars entered the starting grid and they finished 16th competing against men’s teams, mixed teams and junior teams most of which had 4 team members.  The team won the ladies trophy and for their efforts over the season they also won the British Pedal Car Championship ladies trophy too.  Excellent Peddling Ladies and we hope to see you racing again next season.

The B&Q volunteering teams have continued their excellent work around our main lake, with more hard work and great team spirit.  On two separate days the Compliance Team and then the Finance Team finally completed clearing the vegetation from the overgrown pathways around the main lake and the lake pathways are now fully accessible.  We now want to improve the quality of the paths so everyone can enjoy walking around the lake.  A magnificent effort from B&Q staff and we are so very grateful.  And not content with clearing around the large lake, a small team from the B&Q Training Team also did some fantastic work helping start work around our ornamental pond and overgrown garden beds by the Queens tree.

 

You are most welcome to visit and see what we are up to or to find out more about Avon Tyrrell Outdoor Activity Centre and the many varied opportunities we offer please contact us on Tel; 01425 672347 or email info@ukyouth.org or view our website www.avontyrrell.org.uk

Remember… experience – learn – develop

Avon Tyrell 25 September 2011

Avon Tyrrell Update

My ‘O’ My, we continue to work hard on trying to make Avon Tyrrell a wonderful outdoor centre for everyone to use, but ensuring what we do is very much focused on young people.  This last week we have enjoyed the company of Hampton Primary School and a Princes Trust Group from Newham College as well as other group’s including some with disabilities, and from the feedback we received all had an excellent experience and learning opportunities.

We have also trialled tree climbing at Avon Tyrrell as an activity for 2012 and first impressions we believe this will be an enjoyable new activity that will give young people a unique experience, learning opportunities and superb views of the forest and surrounding areas, and most importantly, safely.  We still have some work to do and fundraising to buy the equipment but we are confident you will see this activity in 2012 at Avon Tyrrell and we hope will be used by many groups.

   
Yet again we have had help in our grounds in making improvements.  Firstly the B&Q Retail Finance, Value Chain & Strategy Team worked on the pathways and vegetation clearance around the South of our lakes helping to open the pathways and accessibility and consolidating work already completed by other B&Q teams.  An very good days work was completed, and we were very appreciative of the work.

We also were joined by Jaguar Landrover Apprentices for the weekend and sponsored by their apprentice are MAD charity, they spent all day Saturday helping clear the vegetation form our SINC site to te North West of the site and reclaiming land that we can return to heathland and utilise for our Field Study sessions.  The apprentices and the charity supporters that came with them worked astonishingly hard and completed a huge amount of work.  It was also very rewarding to have young people giving up their time at a weekend to help improve Avon Tyrrell site for other young people and we are very grateful to the apprentices and the supporters for arranging the work.  The apprentices have also very kindly agreed to raise funds for a minibus for the Avon Tyrrell Centre to be used for young people using the Centre and it will be configured so it can be used by those with a disability.  The apprentices also enjoyed some Activities on Sunday as a thank you from us for their magnificent work.

Our charity UK Youth feel very lucky and privileged that so many people freely give their time so we can provide more for young people, and it would be good if just occasionally the media reported the positives that happen as we are sure it would then encourage more people to do good things to help others.  J

To find out more about Avon Tyrrell Outdoor Activity Centre and the many varied opportunities we offer please contact us on Tel; 01425 672347 or email info@ukyouth.org or view our website www.avontyrrell.org.uk

Remember… experience – learn – develop