ReachOut has a strong emphasis on developing young people,
whether it be academic or character based. A young person’s on-going
development often consists of very subtle sometimes undetectable steps, but
sometimes a young person will make clearly visible mammoth steps towards
reaching a goal. ReachOut’s annual Junior Mentor outward bound trip is an
opportunity for our young people to push themselves out of their comfort zones
and to make those clear and ostensive strides towards overcoming fears,
reaching physical and mental goals, and fulfilling ambitions.
As someone who works with the young people day-to-day, it was
incredibly gratifying to see them tackle such big challenges. Each and every one of them can be proud of the way they pushed themselves
in the activities and their achievement in completing the weekend. This blog
post will (hopefully) give you a taste of just how tough some of the weekend
was and just how much strength, willpower and general pluckiness they
demonstrated to overcome the challenges that were thrown down.It was Friday morning and outside small snowflakes were fluttering in icy cold wisps. It was already cold and we were in a heated van barely out of greater Manchester. The traffic news was blowing up with reports of closed roads and weather warnings. Aberdovey seemed a long way off.
In Snowdonia the Welsh Mountains were snow-capped brutes. The ground was covered in a 2 foot pillow of white. The thought of sleeping out in the wilderness that night had started to sink in. This was likely to be a bigger challenge than we were anticipating.
Wearing several layers of thick clothing and each straddled by a large hiking bag laden with essentials, we traipsed up the mountain under the patter of rain. Half way up the rain had turned to sleet. Yet further and the sleet had turned into a snow that the wind picked up and whipped into our faces. Up we went, the snow falling heavier the higher we climbed, our head torches lighting the way.
After nearly two hours of hiking, a dim silhouette rose out
of the black. It was our home for the night. The instructors set the wood stove
burning while the boys unpacked their sleeping bags and ground mats. We supped
on hot chocolate and tea and settled in for the night. Needless to say it was a
bit chilly!
The next morning we walked back down basking in the
achievement of conquering the Welsh countryside on the coldest night of the
year (not before making a snowman). Bear Grylls watch your back!
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This is just a taste of the activities that the weekend was
filled with. The mentee’s climbed walls, negotiated pitch black abandoned mines,
and tackled all manner of team based activities. Here is what one of our mentee's Jack had
to say about one of the team building exercises:
‘Mick and Will took us to do a
team based climbing exercise after lunch. The activity tested our communication
and team work skills, because all 11 of us had to help each other get over a 10
foot high wall. We all did it and succeeded but on our first attempt we had a
fairly average time of 4 minutes. We all talked about how we could improve it.
After the talk we did it again and absolutely smashed 4 minutes, clocking a
time of 2 minutes 14 seconds.’
One of our other mentee’s had this to say about what she
learned about herself on the weekend:
‘What did I learn about myself?
That I’m good at rock climbing, encouraging people, giving instructions and
listening to others.’
We can’t wait to do it all again next year!
Luke Shelbourn, Project Manager
Manchester
Luke Shelbourn, Project Manager
Manchester
The morning descent.
Halfway there!
Woops!
ReachOut
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