HRH The Duke of Edinburgh officially opens Carole Nash House
HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, visited leading educational charity The Outward Bound Trust’s Aberdovey Centre on Friday 13 November, to officially open the new Carole Nash House.
Carole Nash House is a new accommodation building which provides 28 new beds, and completes phase one of a rolling £4.8m programme of works at the Aberdovey Centre. This represents the biggest re-development at the site for almost 20 years, and will allow the charity to offer its programme of experiential outdoor learning to many more young people aged 9-25.
The Duke of Edinburgh, Patron of The Outward Bound Trust, used his visit to personally thank the benefactor, Carole Nash, a successful motorcycle insurance entrepreneur, for her support, as well as to meet with some children attending an Outward Bound course and hear about key life skills they had learnt and how they would use them in the future.
Nick Barrett, Chief Executive of The Outward Bound Trust, said: "If we had more bed spaces, more young people would benefit from the kind of unique and enduring learning experience that Outward Bound offers. That is why Carole and Fred Nash’s wonderful contribution to the centre is so important. As a result of their generosity, the number of participants able to attend Aberdovey next year will grow from 7,500 to over 9,000, which is just fantastic".
The opening day also gave Prince Philip and over 60 guests an insight into the continuing rejuvenation of the charity’s founding centre in Aberdovey and was an opportunity for The Outward Bound Trust to offer thanks to existing supporters, and to inspire new friends to get involved in supporting the charity’s life-changing work.
As well as guests of honour, Carole and Fred Nash, other guests included Sir Jeremy Chance, who attended the first-ever Outward Bound course, which was held at Aberdovey in 1941. The Duke of Edinburgh presented Sir Jeremy with a book to mark the event. Bee Gees legend, Robin Gibb was also in attendance in his role as ambassador for The Outward Bound Trust.
