Fundraising, and then awarding funds, time or facilities to worthy causes, is at the heart of charity work. The pontoon at Loch Eck is likely to cost in excess of £10k, so we have a lot of fundraising to do. An opportunity to try some orienteering courses on 1st and 2nd June at Dunoon Castle Gardens and Benmore Outdoor Centre is one small fundraising step. We will also be applying to some Trust Funds for significant parts of the funds needed but every contribution is valuable and in total can make big difference.
Outdoor and environmental education, like that delivered at Benmore for pupils and young people and built upon the back of exciting outdoor adventures, provides experience first-hand of overcoming challenges, solving problems, working together as a team, contributing to day-to-day living as a community at the Centre and generally building self-confidence. Much of what is taught at Benmore is curriculum-related but it also encourages personal and social development. It is something that is looked back upon as an experience of a lifetime.
Outdoor education has taken on an extra dimension in recent years in view of climate change, its environmental implications and how we are to promote sustainable development across the planet in the context of these changes. To take education outdoors gives children and young people an opportunity to come face-to-face with some environmental issues, such as loss of biodiversity through changing habitat, loss of food sources and the growth of urban areas into the countryside. Over the next ten, twenty, thirty years there will be an increasing number of ‘green jobs’ for which pupils and young people educated in the outdoors will be uniquely well qualified.
