The Duke of Edinburgh visits Ullswater

Supporters, staff and young Outward Bound® course participants were delighted to meet The Trust’s Patron, His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, during his visit to the Ullswater centre on Thursday 11th August.

Duke of Edinburgh visits Ullswater

The Duke had a tour of the nearly completed £3 million development which has been designed to improve facilities for young people who attend residential learning programmes at the centre. He was also joined by supporters of The Trust whose generous donations have made the investment possible.

The Trust's Chief Executive, Nick Barrett tells us:"We were delighted to have our Patron HRH The Duke of Edinburgh at our Ullswater centre today to help us celebrate the progress on our development. The investment will make a huge difference to the thousands of young people who come to this centre every year."

The Trust's Ullswater centre has been running at maximum capacity for a long time, the new development will make the facilities much more efficient and will make a greater impact to the young people visiting the centre. The development includes a new purpose built accommodation block, workshop and equipment stores, together with ten learning and review rooms located throughout the woods. The development also includes an environmentally friendly biomass boiler that will supply the majority of our heating and hot water.

"The aim is to increase the learning and impact of our courses. From the moment participants step onto centre grounds and see their accommodation, to accessing modern, well-equipped stores to aid quick preparation for their adventures. Our review rooms will also be dotted around the tree line, behind the glade, and will be perfectly suited for group discussions and learning. Participants will encounter all of these positive stepping stones before heading out into the wild environment and experiencing the unique learning atmosphere our instructors create with their groups." Martin Cooper, Head of Centre, Ullswater

The Ullswater development project is due for completion by the end of August 2016.