News from the Scout's Tawd Vale adventure centre:

'We're delighted to announce that, with the support of the Daneway Foundation, managed by Community Foundation for Merseyside, we're investing in Tawd Vale Adventure Centre to increase our impact.

Merseyside Scouts has over 10,000 members and covers Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St. Helens and Wirral.

We own and operate the Tawd Vale Adventure Centre near Parbold that's used by Scouts and many other organisations including schools, Duke of Edinburgh Awards groups and National Citizen Service delivery teams from across the UK.

We provide young people with skills for life, through outdoor education and adventure at Tawd Vale by providing opportunities for young people to:

• experience outdoor activities which powerfully impact on their intellectual, physical, spiritual, social and moral development
• experience active learning through outdoor activities; offering excitement, fun and adventure within a safe environment
• develop and sustain effective relationships built on trust and teamwork
• learn the importance of physical activity, within their ability, and the importance of this in life
• develop into fully active citizens who possess the adaptability to cope with a rapidly changing world and the responsibility to be an effective member of a community
• develop a positive attitude towards learning

The bottom line is we’re transforming young people in to do-ers and a give it a go-ers! We help them to question, listen and have a wide-open mind. Our work helps young people to think on their feet, see the big picture, ignore the butterflies and go for it. We help them to jump in and succeed, get back up and try again, think about what’s next, give back and get set.

Today, at Tawd Vale Adventure Centre, we have:

• 80 acres of woodland, full of life changing potential with a range of activities and more in the future
• Limited indoor facilities, with the potential to build new facilities to educate more young people
• An established team of volunteers running the Centre all year round
• An established governance model, as part of the UK’s largest co-educational youth organisation
• Established partnerships with a wide range of youth organisations and schools

Over the last 12 months, our Centre has been put to good use with:

• 14,241 camper nights, of which 46% are members of Merseyside Scouts
• 1,968 day visits, of which 63% are members of Merseyside Scouts
• 1,376 evening visits, of which 15% are members of Merseyside Scouts
• Our accommodation building has been used for 153 nights.
• Sycamore Lodge, our ‘back to basics’ facility, has been used for 90 nights
• 924 sessions of activities with the most popular being archery

We have set out a strategic development plan through which we're investing in:

• Access: provide safe and attractive accessibility for all young people including those with specific needs
• Activities: develop new adventurous activity provision to attract young people and build skills for life
• Accommodation: build residential accommodation to support all-year-round use and broaden the age ranges and types of organisations which can benefit

Our first step is to improve access to the Centre. Our main thoroughfare, Noble Way, is the main artery through which the Adventure Centre pulses. It is our main road and is the only route in and out of the Centre. It runs 600 metres in length from the main road entrance on the A5209, through to the Centre reception area.

The Daneway Foundation, managed by Community Foundation for Merseyside, has generously supported us, as our main partner, providing funds to enable significant access improvement works to be undertaken; which will enable even more young people to benefit from the development of skills for life at the Centre.

Work's already started and will be completed over the next 4-6 weeks, and we're excited about continuing to deliver further improvement to the Centre in the coming months!'

Great video ending this press release:

https://www.tawdvale.org.uk/blogs/ne...-and-adventure