August Training Weekend

Our final team training walk before the big event:

May Training Day

Great to see everyone yesterday and what amazing weather!

Here are some of the photos I took during the day. Flickr appears to have scrambled them so they are all completely out of order:

Dartmoor Ordnance Survey Maps

There's no getting away from the fact that you'll need to know how to read and map and be able to navigate on this year's ShelterBox Dartmoor Challenge.

The event this year will be based at the River Dart Country Park near Ashburton so if you'd like to start familiarising yourself with the location and terrain, purchasing an OS map of the area would be a good start.

The main map that covers the area is OL28 and can be bought in two versions from the Ordnance Survey website:

Dartmoor Ordnance Survey Explorer Map £7.99

Dartmoor Ordnance Survey Explorer Map - Active (waterproof version) - £13.99

Next Event - Sunday 23rd May 2010

Nik and Rob have organised the route for Sunday’s walk – see below for details.

We’re all looking forward to it. The main focus for the day is Leadership and you should have all received some information about Leadership for you to read and think about before Sunday. We decided that this was the best way to do the theory input as this will save time on the day and will allow you all to put it into practice in your teams.

You will need to decide who the team leader is for the Challenge itself, but what we want you to do on Sunday is take it in turns. We would like you to change your team leader every hour to give everyone the experience of leading a small team in that environment. We will be on hand to act as mentors and to answer any questions about leadership that arise during the day.

Could you also please let me know whether or not you will be attending.

Starting at 10am, we will be walking around the southernmost tip of Dartmoor (Ugborough Moor and Harford Moor) taking in at least one tor, lots of cairns and a couple of Beacons. We’ll be walking from Harford Moor Gate which is just north of Ivybridge.

It’s easily accessible from the A38 and there is a small car park at Harford Moor Gate which should be able to accommodate us. However if people could car share as much as possible that would definitely help.

This should be a good introduction to Dartmoor for everyone. There are plenty of paths, a few interesting navigational features and some amazing views down across the South Hams to the coast (if the sun’s out!)

You will need a packed lunch and drinks (and waterproofs!). You may also like to wear long trousers as there is Lyme’s disease on the moors which carried by ticks that attach themselves to unwary legs.

Google Map Location
OS Reference – SX643595

Directions from the Tamar Bridge
1. From Tamar Bridge follow A38 to Ivybridge (A38)
2. Leave A38 at Ivybridge. Merge onto the B3213 (signposted Ivybridge) (B3213)
3. At roundabout take the 3rd exit onto Western Road - B3213 (signposted Ivybridge, Bittaford, Ugborough) (B3213)
4. At roundabout take the 1st exit onto Marjorie Kelly Way - B3213 (signposted Bittaford, Station) (B3213)
5. At roundabout take the 2nd exit onto Leonards Road - B3213 (signposted Bittaford, Ugborough, Station) (B3213)
6. At roundabout take the 2nd exit onto Exeter Road - (B3213)
7. At roundabout take the 1st exit onto Harford Road (Harford Road)
8. Follow road for a couple of miles to Harford. At church follow road up the hill to the car park

Can we please meet at 9:30 for a 10:0am start?

Team-Building Day on the Raleigh Estate

Our intrepid ShelterBox volunteers headed for the great outdoors on a team-building day on the Raleigh Estate near Dartmouth on Saturday April 24th.

After an early start and (for some) a long drive up to South Devon we met next to the River Dart in Dittisham.

With the sun shining we hiked into the Raleigh Estate via the Dart Valley Trail for a session of team building activities. This was followed by a hike back to Dittisham following a different section of the Dart Valley Trail.

Latest Update from Fiona

Hello all

I know that you have been eagerly awaiting information about your teams – I am so sorry this took a while but some people have dropped out, others have asked to join at the eleventh hour and some forms were delayed – and I really didn’t want to do the logistics twice!!

We originally said that we would put 5 teams in but we have very nearly enough people for 10 – Shelterbox have swallowed hard and said yes to 10 (it affects their logistics too but then they remembered the money!) which means that we will raise –as an absolute minimum - £10,000 for Shelterbox.

This means 20 boxes – or more importantly 200 people provided with shelter and a means to cook during a disaster – I think that is amazing and I know that with a bit of effort we can really top that figure. One person has already raised in excess of £800 so the gauntlet has been well and truly thrown down.

It also means that we need to recruit more facilitators but we’re onto it.

The teams are:

Team 1 (Martin to facilitate) - Michele Perks, Antje Pinkney & Rik Bennett

Team 2 (James to facilitate) - Jess Bartlett, Sarah Howard & Nigel Barker

Team 3 (Fiona to facilitate) - Sarah Trethowan, Sally Heard & Nicola Moule

Team 4 (Facilitator TBA) - Stafford Sumner, Joss Price, plus one other TBA

Team 5 (Facilitator TBA) - Melissa Meade, Caroline Williams plus one other TBA

Teams 6 & 7 Derriford x2 (Nik & Rob to facilitate) - Andy McMinn, Andrew Gordon, Chris Stevens, Donna Pavey, Aaron Boylan & Luke (? No form yet).

Team 8 Atkins Ferrie (no facilitator) - Jenny Bickerstaff, Joanna Wilkinson-Horton, Maria Lee-Small & Kate Hutchins.

Team 9 Grow Cornwall (no facilitator) - Laurence MacRory, Andrew Farmer & Andrew Finley (plus one other TBC).

Team 10 Harry’s Team (no facilitator) - Harry Hart, Graham Donaldson, Simon Bealey & Matthew Buchan.

Any problems with this please let us know and we will try to resolve them. You can get an email address for the people in your team from the group above but please do not use this information for any other purpose without permission. If you are using your work email address please make sure no one ends up on your general database without agreeing first.

On a separate note, as well as fundraising evolution are donating 24 days of time to this endeavour and you are each receiving free leadership and team development for which we normally charge a nice shiny fee. On that basis please could you make sure that you mention evolution as well as Shelterbox in all your fundraising and publicity materials / social media groups etc. Thank you.

Martin and I have set up a joint Just Giving page if you want to take a look – www.justgiving.com/martin-crump and the official evolution/Shelterbox Facebook Page will appear soon.

Details about the next walk will appear in the next day or two. Please try really hard to turn up to these events – this first one is where you will work and bond with your team mates so it is important.

Finally, Martin and I are off to Peru for a couple of weeks from 1st April to 19th so will be out of touch. If there is anything urgent please contact one of the other facilitators – failing that we’ll collect emails on our return.

I, for one, am really looking forward to getting out in the fresh air with you all. See you on 24th April.

Fiona x

Blacks Outdoor Gear Offer

If anyone is looking for new outdoor gear you may want to check out the Blacks website. They are currently offering 20% off footwear and jackets if you order online.

Plus you can save an extra £10 when you spend over £50. Simply enter 'Over50' at the checkout. Offer valid to Wednesday 31st March 2010

Click on the banner below to visit the Blacks website: