HEALTH & WELLBEING
“I’ve Climbed Helvellyn,
Have You?” Featuring Josh Booth
With recent evidence from the ‘National Trust’s Natural Childhood Report’ highlighting the growing and concerning gap between young people and nature it has never been more important to encourage this generation of youngsters to embrace the outdoors.
T
he report indicated that less than 1 in 10 children regularly play in wild spaces now, a worrying statistic
which The Annington Trust and The Outward Bound Trust is hoping to rectify by offering children of Armed Forces families the chance to take part in the Annington Challenge; an eight day Outward Bound Serious
Adventure programme, in Summer 2013.
The Outward Bound Trust provides exciting, outdoor adventures in some of the most breathtakingly beautiful wilderness environments in the UK, from their centres in the Lake District, Scottish Highlands and Snowdonia.
Josh Booth, aged 14, from RAF Benson has
a parent in the RAF and took part in the 2012 Annington Challenge at Ullswater in the Lake District, having been successful in his application for one of the 43 places on the programme.
The Annington Trust sponsors children of Armed Forces families to take part in the Annington Challenge, which gives the youngsters the opportunity to meet people from all different backgrounds, whilst developing invaluable life skills.
Josh said: “When I took part in the Annington Challenge I had an amazing time and met some great people. Like many Forces families we have moved around quite a bit and this was a good opportunity to meet other people whilst having a lot of fun.”
Whilst on the Annington Challenge Josh was given the opportunity to experience new wilderness environments and try new activities such as rock climbing, hill navigation and gorge -scrambling. Josh elaborates: “During the week we did lots of activities which included canoeing and gorge scrambling, where I climbed up a waterfall, traversed along a rock face and then jumped into the lake!”
These experiences help participants, like Josh, learn from the adventure to develop
32 Envoy Winter 2012
www.raf-ff.org.uk
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