Developing an outdoor activity programme for local young people
Fairburn Memorial Hall in Marybank is owned by the community and run by local volunteers. There is normally a range of regular user groups, and the hall is also used for meetings and functions. Post pandemic the trustees were looking for ways to encourage people to get active again, to engage in more outdoor activities and to use the hall for a wider range of activities in the longer term.
Covid-19 severely impacted the potential for social contact for children and adults. It has also highlighted the need for people to make the most of their local environment when travel restrictions were in place. More generally, for children in rural areas, there is often a lack of opportunity to experience specialist outdoor activities locally due to a lack of services or issues with costs and/or travel.
This project aimed to build on the opportunity of the fantastic local environment in Strathconon as well as the presence of local outdoor enthusiasts and professionals to create fun, safe and exciting activities for local children over the summer months. An outdoor instructor had recently joined the Hall committee and led on this project as a volunteer.
A need was also identified to increase Hall use again by identifying new activities which would appeal to adult residents and offering a series of taster sessions with a view to more groups being established in the longer term.
In March 2021, Fairburn Memorial Hall received an award of £3,800 from the EDF Corriemoillie Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund (Marybank, Scatwell & Strathconon) to deliver twelve full-day outdoor activity sessions for kids and eight evening sessions for adults.
A steering group consisting of Hall committee members was set up to plan and deliver the project. They initially carried out a survey to find out what sort of activities would be popular with children and adults and used the feedback to plan the activity programme.
Children in the local area were offered places on a choice of twelve full-day sessions. The sessions were held during the summer holidays, with a maximum of eight children attending each one. Activities included kayaking, cycling and climbing in the local area. Children could sign up for their preferred activities then places were allocated on a fair basis. A small fee of £10 per day was charged for those who could pay and this went towards refreshments and additional equipment etc. Activity providers were sourced locally, and the group ensured that all necessary safeguarding policies and Covid-19 procedures were in place.
“It was a great success! Local kids who could not normally access these activities due to transport and cost were able to take part in multiple activities over the holidays – all were full and some over-subscribed. We worked in partnership with Fairburn Activity Centre who were amazing and really went above and beyond, giving kids the chance to try canoeing, archery, climbing, raft building and mountain biking in the local area.”
Willie McLeod, Fairburn Memorial Hall Committee Member
Overall, the project was very successful in getting young people to take part in outdoor activities on their doorstep and encouraging adults to try new activities and get back out in the community.