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| Adventure Dolphin - History of Voyageurs |
| Voyageurs | Ice Cap | Lapp Trek | Artic Way |
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1984 to 2002
The concept of the Voyageur Youth Group was first discussed before the Ice-Cap expedition in 1983/84 by Keith Treacher (Newbury District Officer), Chris Blakey, (then Head of Adventure Dolphin), Roger and Meg Layfield, Trevor Covey, Paula Cockerton (Ice-Cap staff) and Eric Blake. The idea was to provide continuity and further outdoor adventure training after the expedition was completed. The Voyageurs were set up, but not the original staff. The club was organised by Chris Blakey together with Roger Street (who later became DofE Officer for Berkshire). The 'blurb' on the Voyageurs application form in 1984 says that the club is "aimed at Youth above beginners in the standard of outdoor activities". The requirements for joining were that you had to have achieved 4 out of 7 of the follow:- "2 red/ 3 orange orienteering courses, 500m swim, 15m underwater swim, 2* kayak/open canoe, 7 days self-contained travel, 20 nights light-weight camping, 20 hours service 9 unspecified!!". The remaining requirements had to be met within 6 months!!! This was fine for all the original Ice-Cappers because their training would have brought most of them near these levels but for newcomers they must have been a bit daunting and may have contributed to the quite rapid decline of the club by 1986/87 as old members moved on and new members were hard to recruit. Over the first 2 years the group went surfing to the Gower, camping and climbing in Cornwall, kayaking on the Yat, walking and camping in North Wales, skiing and Summer walking in France. Many of the trips, away from the Centre, were organised and run by Chris Blakey and Roger Street. The service record of the original group was impressive:- rebuilding the Baycraft Barge took a huge amount of time, mending a children's terrapin in Newbury, fund-raising at Christmas this concept was built in as part of the ethos behind the Voyageurs. Self help was another strand:- eg. helping people to learn to swim so that they could meet the club requirements. Orienteering events were popular, visits to talks, helping with the Henley raft race all these and the social events were run by the young people's committee and members. The early Voyageurs were set up with their own bank account and based at the barge in Henley. Of the original members some names are still familiar:- Matthew Barker, Howard Crook, Liz Viney, Penny Webb(Gerard's sister). Changes:- The new Lapptrek group loosened up the intake rules. They also(in retrospect) concentrated more on the training/social side than on the service. The post 1987 Voyageurs did some work on the barge and they also fundraised for the building of a school in Nepal which they eventually visited when the school opened in 1991. Training methods had changed too. As the Centre has grown bigger it is expected that many of the training needs will be met by the Adventure Dolphin programme as will the trips abroad. The niche left for Voyageurs in training was mainly in land-based activities such as climbing, caving and mountaineering. The second phase of the Voyageurs has continued for a long time (Meg Layfield run it down finally for a while at the end of 1999 through lack of time during the run up to the Project 2000 expeditions). In the 13/14 years that it continued the age of the members went in cycles as everyone got older and were then replaced every so often by a younger intake. This was reflected by the activities that were undertaken. This was reflected by the activities that were undertaken. For instance, the year after the Lapptrek expedition, members were going abroad on their own for expeditions to the Pyrenees and the Alps. (Rob and Stu climbed the Matterhorn for instance). Similarly the trip to Nepal took in an expedition to Mardi Himal peak. Working at this level was really outside the remit of the Berkshire Outdoor Hazardous Activities regulations and although we were encouraged by Berkshire, these were completely private trips. Meanwhile, within the working remit we held numerous mountain/climbing/caving weekends all over Britain. In 1994 we also ran a 10 year reunion in Norway for old and new members of the Voyageurs. The focus was a memorable service held high up on a glacier where in 1984 the original Voyageurs had placed a plaque to commemorate one of their members who had been killed before he could go on the Ice-Cap expedition. Between 1999 and 2000 many Adventure Dolphin staff were engaged in running the many expeditions and projects that made up our celebrations for the year 2000. This time Stuart Quentin was the project leader of an expedition to New Zealand. About 100 young people took part in Project 2000. Each of the Project 2000 "expeditions" spent a great deal of time in training and in forging teams of young people. It was hoped that the long term friendship, and the overall impact of these expeditions on the young people, would mean that after the expeditions were over there will be a huge need for something to replace them which could be fulfilled by the Voyageurs 2000 style!!! Throughout 2001 attempts were made to involve young people from Project 2000. A new co-ordinator, Bryn Saunders was appointed and some superb programmes put together by interested members. We found, in fact, that Project 2000 members had moved on and that the core of our members were the young people who had come through the system via the Duke of Edinburgh Award programme. The tradition of expeditions to far off places was continued this Christmas (2001/2002) with a four-girl expedition to Killimanjaro. Our latest members are a group of young people who have already stayed together for several years through their Bronze and Silver Duke of Edinburgh awards and are now moving on to Gold level. Meg Layfield, Youth Activity Worker. |
| Latest: |
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27 June 2010 Oxford Backwaters 3 July 2010 Day Paddle 4 July 2010 Weir Bash 11 July 2010 Youth Regatta 18 July 2010 Surf the Waves 23-1 August 2010 Durance Expedition 2-6 August 2010 Multi Activity Camp Week 1-6 August 2010 Sea Trip / Roller Skiing Week 7 August 2010 Local Day Paddle 9-13 August 2010 Explore Week 14 August 2010 Local Day Paddle 14 August 2010 3* Trg Moving Water 16-20 August 2010 Club Memebrs Week 23-26 August 2010 Local Activity Day Camp 20-29 August 2010 Ardeche Expedition 4 September 2010 Girls only Paddle Day |
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