Staff Development Day – 28 July 2017

It’s not often The Outdoors Group get together as a team – we’re scattered in woods across the county, working with different groups and on a variety of projects. So, our Staff Days are always a bit special.

Each year the team grows. This year it’s pretty much doubled so it was a good opportunity to get to know everybody a little bit better.

We also had some exciting new developments to discuss. Not sure if you’ve noticed but we’ve lost the ‘South West’ from our name and are now called The Outdoors Group. Although our roots are firmly in the West Country, people from across the country come to train with us now. Our reputation is growing and we wanted to reflect that in our name.

We’re also delighted to announce Okehampton Forest School will be opening in September.*

During the day we all got the chance to create our own five year plans for The Outdoors Group, feeding in ideas to shape the company’s future. (Loving the Forest School festival idea, Hannah!)

Directors Shev and Tom deserve an award for their stellar performances in the first aid section of the day.

Special thanks to Tom for supplying special effects make up.

It was a bit gloomy and damp in the forest, but luckily we were in good company – the team cooked up a storm on the fire.

We finished the day with some team building games.

The Blindfold Challenge, demonstrated here by Melinda, was much harder than it looks.

Arwen and Fab all tied-up-in-knots. Very clever challenge from tutor Bubs, which teaches collaboration, tolerance and patience!

Toughest of all, the Balancing Act. The challenge was to get one of your team to the furthest tree – no easy feat. Super impressed by Chris and Katie who succeeded (with spotting by Tom).