Our decision to focus our search on the Brecon Beacons is about our need to bring together three core elements that make us unique. And most importantly, the three elements that deepen the impact of our work with young people.
Access to wild and remote places is absolutely critical to enable us to transform the lives of young people. Our focus is on delivering authentic outdoor adventures like no other. Where the natural environment provides challenge and a change from urban life.
The Brecon Beacons has landscapes that will enable us to create challenging journeys where young people can camp, climb, hike, paddle and bike. Pushing themselves to their limits and discovering what they are capable of achieving.
We work closely with our partners, be that schools, employers or donors to bring young people in need to the outdoors.
Over 80% of our work with young people is via schools. We know schools are facing ever increasing challenges to their budgets. Both travel cost and time impact on their ability to bring those young people who will benefit most from Outward Bound. To work with more young people we need a location that can provide authentic outdoor experiences that is close enough to larger cities and areas where their is a need.
A centre in the Brecon Beacons will reduce travel time to within 3.5hrs for young people in South Wales, Bristol and Birmingham. This also equates to working with an additional 100+ schools within these areas. We currently only work with a small number of schools in these areas due to travel time to our existing centres being to great, so there is the potential for us to find these schools.
Our instructors are fundamental to what we do. We need experienced educators who are highly qualified outdoor professionals. It is vital that our centres are located in an area that will attract people and enable them to settle and live there.
A combination of stunning landscapes, in a National Park that provides a opportunity for our instructors to follow their own outdoors passions and easy access to larger towns to live is a crucial element to ensuring the long lasting sustainability of a new centre.
