Nature-Zoe Scott-Smith

Access to Nature: A day in the Peaks

We’d like to share the great work going on in the Outdoor Education Department with you. Access to Nature is a fantastic programme for helping participants onto the next stage of education/training/employment. We’re grateful for the opportunity given to us by our funders – the government’s Green Recovery Challenge Fund, and The National Lottery Heritage Fund in partnership with Natural England, the Environment Agency, and the Forestry Commission.

This is the third of six blogs recounting their adventures: 

During the third week of the Access to Nature program, members embarked on a long minibus journey into the Peak District. Many games of I Spy later, the group donned their helmets and harnesses and made their way to the waiting crags of Burbage North, learning about the geology of the area, the formation and significance of gritstone, and how the Peak District came to be. After demonstrating their knowledge by filling out activity sheets in their development logs, the group worked on improving soft skills they had identified as personal goals that morning. An exhausting day of climbing later, in which members applied the climbing skills they’d learned the previous week, the group wrote their entries into the development logs, describing what they had achieved that day as well as anything they wanted to work on the following week.

If you feel these activities would benefit the young people in your school or group, please don’t hesitate to get in touch by emailing jack.flemming@ymcarhg.org