dw - Head of Avon Tyrrell Blog: September 2011

Sunday, 25 September 2011

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

Friday, 16 September 2011

Avon Tyrrell Update 15th September 2011

Interesting week at Avon Tyrrell, with plenty happening. Starting with the grand opening of our Centenary Garden which has been built by participants in our EcoHealth Project. We have had materials donated to help build the garden from a number of supporters and in particular the B&Q at Castlepoint in Bournemouth have been very helpful. The garden is an oasis of peace and tranquility and everyone is welcome to visit it and enjoy. You will find it located next to the Avon Tyrrell training room.

The official opening on Wednesday was attended by current and past EcoHealth participants as well as members of staff and invited guests who have supported the project. Despite the poor weather everyone enjoyed themselves and after a short opening speech from Louis Bonney, who was responsible for raising funds for the project, Roger unveiled a commemorative plaque.

Our Forest School was busy over the summer. Aiming to improve social, physical and emotional development through the interaction with the natural environment and through self led play. The young people are given ideas and knowledge from the Forest School Practitioners and were set up to achieve the tasks which they took part in.

Over the 6 week program the young people got to take part in a variety of activities; from shelter building to fire lighting to having a monkey party. The children had the opportunity to take part in group activities or to go off by themselves to play or explore.

Over the 6 sessions the group really began to bond. They came together and worked really well as a team and learnt when to give each other space. Watching the children grow in confidence each week was great, especially as they started to push the boundaries and come up with new ideas.

On the final week we had a cookout and all of the young people enjoyed collecting and sorting the fuel for the fire, lighting the fire and preparing the food to cook. They made a pizza and cooked hotdogs. For desert we enjoyed some rather yummy (if a little messy) smores.

Some of the parents gave us some wonderful feedback in the change of their child over the programme, how they had grown in confidence and couldn’t wait to come back each week and how they had begun to deal with their emotions in a more acceptable way. A very worthwhile programme which we hope to run again in the future.

And Finally since May this year we have had a number of B&Q groups have been clearing the vegetation to the South of our lakes with our maintenance team so we can return the grounds to their heritage and open the pathway up around the lake so all visitors have full accessibility. Well this week we have had the digger in and pulled out all the roots so the hard work done remains permanent. Wow what a difference, we have returned the grounds to close to their origins and created a nice spot to enjoy the lakes from and for the fisherman to fish from. Why not visit Avon Tyrrell and see what a difference has been made.

From here to here J

Remember… experience – learn – develop

Friday, 9 September 2011

Avon Tyrrell Sept 9 2011

Avon Tyrrell Update

Well next time you visit see if you can spot the kind donation from B&Q of the ‘Green Pig’…. It really is not hard to miss and hopefully will make you smile.

We have enjoyed the company of Sutton Veny Primary School this week and it was pleasurable to see the children appreciating their stay in our lodges whilst utilising our dining facilities in the main house. The school did a good selection of activities learning from their experiences.

On Tuesday a group of Volunteers from the B&Q KITS Team continued the work in clearing the vegetation to the South of our lakes with our maintenance team. Our aim is to return the grounds to their heritage and open the pathway up around the lake so all visitors have full accessibility. We now have a digger coming in to get the roots out of all the unwanted vegetation so the hard work done by B&Q will be lasting. Another great days work and a big thank you to the KITS Team.

Now no one can say we do not have many characters at Avon Tyrrell but ‘Smurfs’ well that has to be unique to our Centre. If you are visiting and spot them please let us know as pictures are very rare indeed!

Friday, 2 September 2011

Avon Tyrrell Update September 2011

Hi all, we hope you are enjoying the Summer?

Gosh what a night Wednesday was.... A strange overpowering smell from our cellar resulted in the turnout from our local fire brigade backed up by their hazmat team to see what the problem was. Once the team investigated the strange smell was identified as a fridge that was leaking gasses and not as some of the staff thought, the maintenance teams sandwiches! The fridge was removed and is now in the process of being disposed of. We would like to extend our appreciative thanks to the local fire brigade for their prompt turnout and investigation and identification of what the problem was.

In the last couple of weeks those very nice people from B&Q have been back to work on the project to the South of our lakes with our maintenace staff. The teams from HR Shared Services and Finance have seen the major accomplishment of the bulk of the vegetation that was required to be removed being completed. We now have to get a digger in to remove the roots and landscape the area back to as close to the original Grade II landscape as possible. We will also now work on improving the access path and providing seating places and extra fishing platforms. Still plenty to do but what a fantastic job B&Q volunteers have done. We are very grateful. And if anyone has a spare £80k we would like to build in this area a continual rail high ropes facility for use by the local community and all our visitors, we can dream....!

And finally do you know who this is.... She has a special birthday next week and whilst we would not like to tell you how old other than it is between 39 and 41 J we would all like to say Happy Birthday Kath have a wonderful day.

Remember… experience – learn – develop