IOL North West Summer Gathering
11th September 2015
Low Wray Camp site, Ambleside
WORKSHOP PROGRAMME (sign up on the day)
Morning Workshops 10am – 1 pm:
Using a fire for cooking
Looking at how to lay and prepare a fire for cooking, you will identify correct fire for your
needs, and practise simple cooking techniques.
- Alan Cornforth is the founder and instructor for acorn4th, Alan is over 60 years old and has
a wealth of outdoor experience to call upon, but explains you are never too old to learn
something new. He has been delivering experience-based learning for over 25 years, and
has a long and varied history of green filed camping and backwoodsmanship along with
pioneering; his inspiration is the bush-tucker man.
Rabbit Curry
Aimed at those who are confident with knife use and fire, this workshop will take attendees
through the process of preparing a rabbit for the pot whilst in the field. We will fry the offal
as a snack and then proceed to remove the meat from the bone and make a rabbit korma
for lunch.
- Simon Harding has been an instructor in survival skills since joining the RAF in 1989. In
2005 he set up his own Forest Schools and bushcaft business at Broomheath Plantation near
Northwich. He is a member of the IOL bushcraft SIG and is passionate about sharing his skills
with others.
Field Studies to help enrich your adventurous activities
We hope that this session will enable and entice you to add fieldwork elements to your
mainstream outdoor learning activities. We will look at how some background knowledge is
important, as well as an enquiring mind and an empathy with the location in which you are
working. Some specific fieldwork techniques will then be looked at - which may cover
location using OS maps; rocks & erosional processes; the resultant soils/vegetation and
studying flora & fauna; the various forms of water on the site and their value to the wider
picture; and how have people responded to this area with an appreciation of the current
landscape.
- Chas Matthews is the Chairman of IOL Field Studies [NAFSO] Special Interest Group.
- David Elphick is Education Team Leader at FSC Castle Head Centre.
Ice breakers, warm ups, group games and circus skills
Do you ever have 10 minutes to kill with a group and you're not quite sure what to do? Do
you ever find yourself with minimal resources to hand, but need to engage your
clients? This workshop will help you to fill those gaps and to have some fun with new ways
to break the ice and put a smile on everyone's face. An introduction to circus skills will give
you the basics of juggling, diablo, plate spinning and devil stick, will give you further options
to expand your opportunities for engagement with your groups.
- Chris Brain has been working with groups for over 12 years now delivering a range of
personal development programmes and outdoor pursuits activities. He runs his own
business delivering outdoor pursuits coaching and training and also group work
sessions. Chris has a passion for icebreakers and group games and loves to share his
enthusiasm for circus skills with everyone too!
Surviving or Thriving? Developing useful toughness through
outdoor learning
This workshop looks at the concept of resilience within outdoor learning. It's a term which is
becoming more prevalent within the education sphere generally as well as increasingly
being sold as an explicit outcome by outdoor providers. But, do all courses actually develop
this, regardless of activity choice, overall structure or facilitator style and knowledge?
Positive psychology has much to offer outdoor practitioners in terms of our understanding
of resilience and crucially how it is developed. This workshop explores both the theory and
practice of this when applied to outdoor programmes.
- Kate O'Brien has worked in outdoor education for over 10 years, working with a variety of
outdoor organisations. She has recently completed an MSc in Applied Positive Psychology
which has sparked a greater interest in the application of psychology within outdoor
personal development.
Campfire Gadgets
This is a bushcraft session looking at making a variety of campfire gadgets which could
include pot hangers and tables, string making and so on. You will be able to practise your
knife skills and make feather sticks or wooden flowers.
- Dave Watson LPIOL, been in full time business teaching Bushcraft and related subjects for
since 1995. He instigated the Bushcraft Special Interest Group in 2007 and spends a large
proportion of his time training outdoor professionals in a wide variety of traditional and
ancient skills either at his wood on the Leics/Derbys border or at various locations around
the country.
Lunch time sessions
Recognising and encouraging good practice in Outdoor Learning
Looking at IOL Individual Accreditation – RPIOL, APIOL, LPIOL and IOL Course Accreditation aimed at all interested.
- Neal Anderson is IOL Professional Standards Manager and a psychology consultant
working with instructors, elite athletes, managers, leaders and teams. His has lead centre
management teams and is an active practitioner, trainer and coach.
Free marketing hints and tips
Lucy Harrison offers to talk through free marketing opportunities for your business.
Available at lunch time, Lucy runs national marketing campaigns for IOL lucy.h@outdoorlearning.org
Afternoon Workshops 2pm – 5pm:
Myths, Mystery and Language - Stories from our Native Islands
The British Isles has a rich heritage from the Celtic/Gaelic and Norse/Anglo Saxon cultures but how much do we know about these largely oral story traditions and how much has got
lost in the urbanisation of our culture?
This session will allow you to delve into our own shared native Celtic and Norse traditions
and add to the richness of your knowledge of the environments in which you work.
We will look at the folklore of trees, plants, seasons and places in our culture and trace what
was sacred to our ancestors about the landscape and the natural world. We can see
evidence of what was important to the ancient peoples in carved scripts like Ogham and
Runes and in their stories and superstitions.
- Elspeth Mason is the editor of the Institute for Outdoor Learning’s Horizons Magazine and
director of JEM Training and Mere Mountains activity company, based near Newby Bridge.
She started work in the outdoors as someone who loved playing in the woods, 30 years on
she seems to have come full circle and once again plays in the woods, and occasionally on
the fells and lakes. Hoorah!
Rabbits inside and out – basic preparation in the field
Looking at fire and knife safety as well as hygiene, we will take attendees through the
process of preparing a rabbit for the pot whilst in the field. We will fry the offal as a snack
and finish with the 5 restaurant cuts for attendees to take away.
- Simon Harding has been an instructor in survival skills since joining the RAF in 1989. In
2005 he set up his own Forest Schools and bushcaft business at Broomheath Plantation near
Northwich. He is a member of the IOL bushcraft SIG and is passionate about sharing his skills
with others.
Ice breakers, warm ups, group games and circus skills
Do you ever have 10 minutes to kill with a group and you're not quite sure what to do? Do
you ever find yourself with minimal resources to hand, but need to engage your
clients? This workshop will help you to fill those gaps and to have some fun with new ways
to break the ice and put a smile on everyone's face. An introduction to circus skills will give
you the basics of juggling, diablo, plate spinning and devil stick, will give you further options
to expand your opportunities for engagement with your groups.
- Chris Brain has been working with groups for over 12 years now delivering a range of
personal development programmes and outdoor pursuits activities. He runs his own
business delivering outdoor pursuits coaching and training and also group work
sessions. Chris has a passion for icebreakers and group games and loves to share his
enthusiasm for circus skills with everyone too!
Friction Fire - the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ of the ancient method of fire
lighting
This session will enable you to practice this ancient skill and how to adapt and run a session
for groups. You will also start to think about how to gather materials to make your own
equipment.
- Dave Watson LPIOL, been in full time business teaching Bushcraft and related subjects for
since 1995. He instigated the Bushcraft Special Interest Group in 2007 and spends a large
proportion of his time training outdoor professionals in a wide variety of traditional and
ancient skills either at his wood on the Leics/Derbys border or at various locations around
the country.
Using smart technology to enhance outdoor learning
This workshop will focus on using apps to collect environmental data such as land cover,
indicator species and riverbank conditions to enhance you sessions – be they centre or
expedition based. This work has been successfully pioneered at Outward Bound.
- James Hodges is a Senior Instructor at the Outward Bound Trust’s Aberdovey Centre.
James is recognised for his creative and innovative techniques in blending expedition work
with new technology for developing young people in and outside of mainstream education.