01492 640735Happy New Year to all of our users ! It’s hard to believe that we are once again in the Spring Term and soon to get extremely busy as usual. Since the start of the academic year there’s been a lot going on as always at Nant and Pentre .
Looking back ….
Our new trainee instructors across both centres have once again proved to be brilliant . They’ve been kept busy in all aspects of centre life but have also found time to get out and enjoy the stunning local areas and complete National Governing Body awards.
At Half Term we said good bye to Amlyn Parry ( Instructor ) as he left to go travelling in South America & Patagonia . We thank him for his hard work and will miss his easy-going manner with the staff and children ! Good Luck for the future .
Karen , our stand-in cook to cover Gwenda whilst away on maternity leave , has done a brilliant job ( not easy slotting into our quirky world !) and we thank her for helping us out this year . But, we also look forward to welcoming Gwenda back at the start of 2018 .
Birkenhead School have historically brought a large group to Nant BH in early September for their OAA residential trip . This has been hugely successful , so much so that this year ( 2017 ) they brought another large group to Pentre for the same week . Military style logistics required across 2 centres for staff , kit, minibuses , tents and food ….. but all went really well and we look forward to a repeat in 2018 .
A challenge in recent years has been to fill the centre at weekends . Weekend bookings for school groups have been on the decline for many years and so a change of mindset was required from us . We know only too well that we are in one of the most stunning locations in North Wales ( if not Britain !) with quick access to rivers, mountains, lakes, coast and slap bang on the Gwydyr Mawr mountain bike trail . So, a recent change has been to offer the centre for exclusive use by organised groups . This has proved both popular and successful and we look forward to many more bookings in 2018.
AALS inspection – we we’rent expecting our inspection until mid-2018 but we ended up with a last-minute one at the end of the Christmas term . It was great to see Owen Hayward back in another capacity ( senior inspector for Wales ) – and glad to report that we are “good to go” for another 2 years ! Pentre will have their inspection during January 2018 so good to get these out of the way before the busy summer period .
New for 2018 ……. January 2018 sees the return to Nant BH for a newly-married Arwel Elias after a 6 week trip to New Zealand – Llongarfarchiadau !
2018 is kicking off busy from the outset . Recent tenders to run the TRAC programmes for 11-24 year olds across north Wales counties have started to convert into contracts for the NWOES . These start next week with 6 and 9 week programmes for Conwy and Gwynedd schools . It’s looking like NWOES staff will be delivering these programmes on most days during the term .
There will be a return to Canoe expeditions once again this year . Birkenhead school are looking at forging further links with the service to provide Canoe training weekends and further expeditions on UK rivers . There’s a chance that these may well become D of E Silver and Gold expeditions in future years .
New staff required for 2018 and beyond ….. Early in 2018 we will be looking for a replacement for Amlyn to work here at Nant BH . Keep your eyes peeled for adverts that will be appearing on the IOL website shortly .
……. Next stop Easter
