Vital Life Lessons
EVERY reader in Scotland over a certain age will, I’m sure, remember spending a week at an outdoor centre as a child. I was 14 years old when I went to Blairvadach, near Rhu. It was a hugely formative experience. As well as getting to try activities like climbing and caving and learn skills such as navigation, we also learned about teamwork, resilience and how to behave in the natural world.
These are vital life lessons and it’s a shame that funding cuts and closures mean fewer children get the chance for such trips. Blairvadach almost closed last year until a public outcry forced Glasgow City Council into a U-turn.
Near my home is Dounans, above, run by the Scottish Outdoor Education Centres charity. Jamie Miller, the organisation’s chief operations manager, also manages the centre. In our feature starting on page 67, he explains how resources like Dounans are more important than ever as young people seek to come to terms with the mental effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The restorative benefits of time spent in nature shouldn’t be underestimated and it’s sobering to think that Dounans also almost closed its doors in 2020 – until emergency funding secured a short-term respite.
In his article defending our world-class access laws (page 102), columnist Cameron Mcneish also touches on the importance of outdoor education centres.
Because of concerns about Covid and international travel restrictions, more of us have holidayed at home this year. This has brought unprecedented pressure to bear on our most scenic spots. Sadly, a small minority indulge in anti-social behaviours like “dirty” camping – setting fires, chopping down trees and leaving mountains of waste.
Cameron argues that perhaps it’s not that people don’t care – but rather they don’t know any better. They’ve been failed by a lack of outdoor education.
As we, hopefully, enter a post-pandemic world there’s a bitter irony in that our outdoor centres are needed now like never before, yet the precarious state of public funding means the existence of such centres has never been more uncertain.