........................................

CORPORATE CUSTOMERS' FEEDBACK & ENDORSEMENTS...

Below are a few samples of  the hundreds of unsolicited kind 
comments our MD, Iain Jennings, has received from corporate 
customers who've been pleased with the way we've looked 
after them. Quite a lot of these customers have come back 
again and again for all sorts of different assignments.  If you 
need more reassurance, more endorsements & thank you's 
are linked elsewhere on this website & the originals can be 
seen if you come and visit us at Rock Lea.
  

TRAINING CUSTOMERS' ENDORSEMENTS - SAMPLES BY ORGANISATION....

Avon Cosmetics 1 ; Avon 2 ; Robert Bosch GmbH, Stuttgart ; 
OMD TRAINING FOR LUCAS ACTUATION'S SENIOR MANAGERS 

Birmingham Cable Communications, B'ham ; Boots, Nottingham ; 
Robert Bosch, Denham ;  British Diabetic Association ; 
British Tourist Authority : BTA ; Capital One Bank, Nottingham : 
Conoco Phillips, Lincs.; Diversey Lever, Nottingham ; 
Data Connection, Enfield ; Digital Equipment SME Ltd ; 
G.E.C. Large Machines, Rugby ; Geotech Systems Ltd ; 
Heart of England Tourist Board, Worcester ; Heron Corporation, London     
I.C.I. Paints Division, Slough ; Kellogg's Manchester ; Langham Estate Management ; 
Lincolnshire Police Authority ; Lloyds Bank - Corporate Banking ; 
Lucas Industries plc Birmingham ; Lufthansa & Steigenberger ; MENCAP ;    
Multilift / Cargotec, Shrewsbury : National Health Service Supplies, Reading ; 
Norfolk County Council ; Northern Foods plc ; Novartis / Imutran ;
Pennine Foods ; Powell & Hatfield Solicitors, Sheffield ;
Powergen, Coventry ; Royal Air Force, Cranwell ; RAF DIOT ; 
RWE npower     
Solihull College of Technology, West Midlands ;
TXU - Nottinghamshire : Tameside & Glossop Health Service ; 
Union Railways, London ;  United Health Supplies Agency, Bury St. Edmunds ; 
University of London : University of Nottingham, 
High Technology Printing Team Training, Nottingham ;


  
Maintaining the highest standards of excellence and integrity in the people that we 
employ has been a firm foundation of the lasting partnerships we enjoy with our 
clients. 


Please click here to see more endorsements or click for lots of thank you comments
on other parts of this website.    We hope seeing some of these kind comments will 
encourage new customers who are considering using our services to give us a go ! 
We are by no means the cheapest provider in the Peak District but many of the individuals
you'll be working with have 25 years of solid experience working together here on offer 
and Iain and his team will not let you down if your project is important and needs to go 
right first time.


.....
     

TRAINING CLIENTS' ENDORSEMENTS - ARRANGED BY TOPICS....

OMD MANAGEMENT TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT COURSES

National Health Service Supplies, Reading ( 1992 Quality Audit Report ) ;
OMD TRAINING FOR LUCAS ACTUATION'S SENIOR MANAGERS ('91)
Birmingham Cable Communications, B'ham ;
Tameside & Glossop Health Service ; Solihull College of Technology
Multilift / Cargotec, Shrewsbury ; Digital Equipment SME Ltd ;
Barclay School INSET Course ; Avon Cosmetics 1 ; Avon 2 
Pennine Foods ; Kellogg's Manchester ;
High Technology Printing Team Training, Nottingham ;

LARGE SCALE TEAM CHALLENGES

Union Railways, London ; Robert Bosch UK, Denham ;
Lufthansa & Steigenberger ; Norfolk County Council

APPRENTICES' & CADETS' DEVELOPMENT TRAINING

Lucas Industries plc Birmingham : Lincolnshire Police Authority
G.E.C. Large Machines, Rugby ;

SAFETY & RELIABILITY

Heron Corporation, London
Novartis / Imutran ; Powell & Hatfield Solicitors, Sheffield ;
BTA ; National Health Service Supplies, Reading ; 
Geotech Systems Ltd ; Boots, Nottingham ;

SIMPLE TEAM DAYS WITH A BIG ELEMENT OF FUN...

British Tourist Authority : I.C.I. Paints Division, Slough ;
Northern Foods plc ; The University of Nottingham ;

CORPORATE MULTISPORTS WEEKENDS JUST FOR FUN !

Royal Air Force, Cranwell ; Lloyds Bank - Corporate Banking ;
European Lung Foundation

LONGER ADVENTUROUS PROGRAMMES

British Diabetic Association ; MENCAP

SIMPLE TEAM DAYS JUST FOR FUN

...some clients' endorsements & opinions

 

Dear Iain,

Yet again I'd like to reiterate the fact that it was a great weekend 
for everyone concerned. It had just the right blend of enjoyment 
and exhilaration, and the whole weekend left our American VIP's 
with some very warm fuzzy feelings towards the Peak District. 
A number of our American guests expressed a keen interest 
to return again, and I will be delighted to help them should the 
need arise.  Although we have no further needs for Management 
Training at this time, I have no hesitations in recommending 
your services to others and we will be contacting you again 
should another need arise.

Best wishes,

KHB - Managing Director,

Diversey-Lever ( now Johnson Diversey ) Nottingham.

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---

 

Dear Dr. Jennings

Thank you so much for organising the climbing and abseiling for 
me and my colleagues last Saturday. Your tutors Caroline & John 
were very helpful and most professional and made the event a very 
rewarding and enjoyable and worthwhile experience. I hope we'll 
have another opportunity to try out some more of your team building 
activities in the future.

G. Lacey -  Managing Director 
Silvertown UK Ltd ( Elastomeric Engineering, Burton.)


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Dear Iain,

Thank you for the day.  It was exactly what we wanted and needed 
and has created a real buzz amongst the team which has continued 
all week. I think we could well do something like this again next year.

Many thanks

David    ( Group Organiser from University of Nottingham, 2006 )

Dear Iain,

Just a short letter of thanks to you and all your team for an
excellent activity day that was even better than last year's 
event with you.  Put a note in the diary for the same time 
again next year please and we'll be back again !

Thanks for all your personal efforts - not just for the simple
activity days - but right across all the training events that 
Pennine Foods and other parts of our group have run with 
you.  Hope one day you make a million!

See you again soon.

PAUL OLD - TRAINING MANAGER, PENNINE FOODS.


Several articles on the success of this programme for people who were fairly
new to the idea of outdoor development training were published by the clients,
including the following general interest story in the Northern Foods Newsletter
which prompted Peak Activities to run more courses for other parts of the NF
Group including Rawmarsh Foods, Fenland Foods, Pork Farms, Gunstones and
the Dairy. Paul later left the Rotherham Factory to be a General Manager of 
another food manufacturing business making biscuits in Luton.

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Dear Iain,

Following the recent visit to Rock Lea by the enthusiastic 
sportsmen and women of the British Tourist Authority, 
can I say thank you for making a very memorable day.  

It is only a shame we did not have more time to enjoy 
some of the many other activities you have on the menu 
- next time hopefully !   You certainly have an excellent 
operation running there - and I can only wish you continued 
success in he future. Could you also pass on our thanks 
to all the many instructors concerned, both in the air and 
on the ground. 

With best wishes,

Carol Wardle

Regional Liaison Manager, BTA, London.

---

Heart of England Tourist Board, Worcester

Dear Iain,

I hope you will pass on all our thanks to all your team 
for their time, commitment and inputs to our current drive 
for greater Team Growth and better communications.

Beverley A Nielson 
CHIEF EXECUTIVE


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CapitalOne Bank, Nottingham.

Hi Iain,

Caroline and her team were great hostesses and we had a fantastic day. 
The event was very worthwhile and we had many comic moments. 

I have already mentioned how good the day was to several other teams 
here and I will continue to recommend it highly. I will also log you on our 
bank's intranet system as a good team building option. 

Please pass on our thanks to Caroline et alia. Hope you have a busy and 
enjoyable Summer.

Olwen - Group Organiser.

---

TXU Power Station, Trent

Dear Andrew and Iain,

Thank you for an absolutely fantastic day out yesterday.

Sara Beevers, TXU-Europe.

 

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---

 

Hello Iain & Caroline,

I just wanted to drop you a note to say a huge
thank you to you both for yesterday's event for
our 32 colleagues.

We've had some great feedback from everyone
involved - so thanks for all your hard work in planning
and organising our event for us within such short
timescales.

We look forward to booking future events with
Peak Activities again.

Sally Morton

RWE Npower plc : Leeds

Hi Caroline and Iain,

Thank you for a brilliant team building event over
two days. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves
and got a lot from the event.

Jo J.

Business Support Administrator - RWE Npower plc

---

 

MANAGEMENT TEAM DEVELOPMENT COURSES

...some corporate clients' endorsements & reflections

 




NHS SUPPLIES AUTHORITY

A REVIEW OF WORKING WITH  DR. IAIN JENNINGS & HIS 
TEAM AT ROCK LEA ACTIVITY CENTRE, HATHERSAGE.

6th Feb 1992

The NHS Supplies Authority has run three serious 
team building events with Peak Activities Ltd in 1991.

All events have had very satisfactory outcomes which is 
in large part due to Iain's personal level of commitment to 
ensuring that the training and development process at 
Rock Lea is of the very highest quality.  For example, in 
being very clear about the objectives and in evaluating 
outcomes.

The events' content has been very responsive to our 
needs using both established and proven training tasks 
and many very innovative, unique tailored made exercises.

the team at Rock Lea work very well together - which I am 
sure reflects a first class staff briefing system before each 
event.  I have found Iain to be very reliable in meeting 
all commitments, flexible in adapting events whilst up 
and running to respond to evolving needs and open in 
his views concerning improvements and CI.

The simple accommodation provided is basic but adequate
and the upgrading arrangements with various local hotels 
works very well.

I would be happy to speak to any prospective clients 
concerning the above.

Sincerely,

Chris Uden 
NATIONAL DIRECTOR of HUMAN RESOURCES

NHS Supplies Authority, Reading

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"A CLEARER PICTURE OF QUALITY CARE"

THE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT INITIATIVE
NHS TAMESIDE & GOSSOP HEALTH SERVICE

Dear Iain,

Many thanks for all the hard work you and all your colleagues
put in to our recent "team building" sessions at Rock Lea.
As you know, I arrived with a Resource Management "Team"
of eight very skeptical individuals who were by no means 
convinced that anyone could meet our needs, and wary of using the
outdoors for serious training. The idea of using outdoor and indoor
training in combination was wholly foreign territory to most of us.

Thanks to your very carefully considered initial briefings and the 
very relevant and instructive debriefings at the end of each training
session, so that by the end of the first day and resistance was very
successfully worn away. From that point on we were convinced we
were all having fun - so the objective of accelerating our learning
about each other and about our collective performance as a team
and our strengths and weaknesses  became easily achievable.

We have since  looked back on our experiences at Rock Lea with
great affection and, more  importantly, with insight.  Whilst we still 
have some fine-tuning to do, taking time out at Rock Lea to attend to 
our  senior management team's needs has quickly enabled us to
tackle the really daunting heavy schedule and workloads we had 
to face. We've done it very intelligently and using our combined team's
resources to the full. Furthermore the RM project team is now
perceived as such in all respects by those whom we wish to illustrate
the benefits of "serious teambuilding" and team working.

Once again thanks to you, Phil and Caroline and your other staff in
getting our RM Team off to a flying start. So far we show no signs of 
crash landing and you have some keen fans over here for the 
excellent work you do !

Yours sincerely,

Jane Ball
Resource Management Training Co-ordinator


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---

A REVIEW OF OMD MATRIX MANAGEMENT TRAINING 
FOR LUCAS ACTUATION'S SENIOR MANAGERS ('1991)

 

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Providing expert, cost effective and impartial professional advice and not letting 
down our clients by planning things well whilst remaining flexible and open-minded
is what Peak Activities' staff have built our reputation upon over the last 25 years. 
It's simple but it seems to work very well.

 

......Powergen, Coventry

 

Dear Iain,

Many thanks for providing us with such a very successful
Generation Team Development Residential. I am pleased to
report that we are all present and correct this morning albeit 
a little stiff !

The team found the days away very worthwhile and the training
activities you designed and planned for us were spot on.

Thanks for bearing with us. The feedback session proved 
very helpful to all concerned - and several of the group have 
commented they would like to it again going forward.

On behalf of the Generation Business Management Team,
 thanks again to Peter, Caroline and your team for providing 
us with such an enjoyable few days. Please stay in touch for 
the future.

                                EAGM - Human Resources Manager.



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Birmingham Cable Communications & Telewest


Dear Iain,

Can I take this opportunity, on behalf of everybody attending 
the development training week in Hathersage, to thank you 
and your staff at Rock Lea for an excellent week's staff
Development Training and Team Building course.

Our 7 days with you in Hathersage provided the chance to 
view Management Development in a way not possible in the 
work place. The course you tailored for us allowed each
member of the group, whilst working as a group, to also
concentrate on Individual Management Development skills
that he/ she may have wanted to develop. The week also
gave us enough time to allow ten individuals to get to 
each other much better ( there's nothing like being 
blindfolded making funny noises in a field full of sheep
to hidden a group's hidden potential ! )

Thank you once again for a positive rewarding and 
most enjoyable week away.  Our training specialists
thought it was one of the best courses they've ever 
attended.

Kind regards

Neil Hunt 

-  for and on behalf of all the group including 
Stephen Shergold, Director of Customer Services.


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.......................Avon Cosmetics, Northampton.

Iain,

On behalf of all the team I would like to express our sincere thanks 
for a very well organised event and extremely enjoyable training 
and development event over the weekend.  From the feedback I've 
received from the team I am more than convinced this was a good 
investment in team dynamics and development.

TOM G.     
Senior Manager.


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UNITED HEALTH SUPPLIES AGENCY

Mr Peter Wells - Chief Executive wrote :

Ref : Top Teams Event - NHS Supplies

Dear Iain,

Now that I have recovered sufficiently to engage the brain again and
rest my aching bones, I felt I must write to you and express my sincere
thanks on behalf of my team and myself for the really excellent three
days that we spent with you at your centre in the beautiful Peak District.
I know from discussions with my colleagues how much they appreciated
the atmosphere, the environment and the great efforts you put in to making
our "Top Teams" Event a really safe & successful event.

We were all very impressed by the way you made every effort to identify
with and understand the environment within which we all work- and I think
that those efforts paid off enormously by the way the event flowed and 
was so well received.

Please pass on our thanks to Phil and Judith and express our thanks 
for their  hard work.  

Best wishes to you, your little centre and your staff and success 
in your worthy mission to help teams become more efficient.

With kind regards,
Yours sincerely,

                                           Peter Wells - Chief Exec.



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Nottingham High Technology Printing Team Training

 

Hi Iain,

I just wanted to thank you and your team for an excellent weekend
a couple of weeks ago. After to speaking to all of the CSR team after their 
return, the feedback from every single one of them has been very positive.
They all felt the training weekend achieved the objectives set out in the 
pre-event briefings - and was a success from their point of view.   It has 
helped them to apply a little more understanding to "other" peoples'
positions and perspectives. I expect with a little more work things will
show considerable improvement soon.

I thought the weekend was great fun and very informative it helped 
me to see that some members of the team need a lot more personal 
development training than I thought - and several require less.
I especially appreciated the extra time Peter Daughtrey spent with us.
His understanding of our business situation and the suggested action
points / requirements he elicited from the team were excellent.

All the events you lined up for us were well organised down the very 
smallest detail - even our usually hard-to-impress MD was very impressed !
The analysis after each training element was good - I think the staff all now 
understand that it is not always easy to lead.

The group have all said  they would all like to come back for some more 
( you couldn't have worked them hard enough ! ) and whether we come 
back for a corporate or a  private staff trip we'll have to see.

Once again, thanks for all the experiences and for all the tea  !

Kind regards,  
                                      STEVE






 ............. Digital Equipment SME Ltd.


Dear All at Rock Lea,

Thank you for ensuring that our recent course with 
you was BRILLIANT !   We appreciated all the hard 
work that went into researching planning and running 
it - even though we are all receiving group therapy for 
post traumatic shock caused by abseiling and getting 
so much work done in such a short period of time !

Your hospitality was excellent and special thanks 
to Caroline for her terrific food !  Marion reckons 
the lasagna there is the best she's ever tasted.

Once again thanks - even for those miles of mountain
biking with Mark ! We still haven't stopped talking
about how great our trip to Hathersage was - and 
we are already talking of a return match if we can
implement our proposed continuous improvements !

Kind regards,

Signed by everyone in the 
Personnel & Development Team
Digital Equipment SME Limited

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Dear Iain,

I wanted to thank you for handling our Management Development Weekend 
so admirably. Two circumstances could have resulted in the event being something
of a disaster - the last minute cry off by our leader _____ & the consequent eleventh 
-hour rescheduling of the whole timetable - and secondly the time of year we chose 
( ironically chosen so our MD could attend ) and the really inclement weather we
experienced as a result.

The first of these handicaps you overcame by showing exceptional adaptability
and responsiveness to change, not to mention patience. The second, the weather,
obviously limited the outdoor options severely, but in the circumstances you filled 
the activity slots well with really meaningful and relevant training exercises that kept 
everyone happy and smiling in the snow and pouring rain !

You certainly demonstrated well to us the potential and versatility of you and your 
staff and your ability to run all types of training and development exercises. I will be
passing on a copy of this endorsement letter and my personal recommendations to 
Andrew Richart  our Senior Training Officer, in the hope that he may be able to point 
some more people to you with general management development training requirements.

Best wishes to you and Caroline and all at Rock Lea...and thanks again for what proved
to be a most enjoyable meaningful and safe weekend in Derbyshire.

Yours sincerely,

           Roger Kelly - Senior Manager, Kelloggs, Manchester.

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THE BARCLAY SCHOOL - HERTFORDSHIRE

Dear Iain & Caroline and Colleagues,

We all arrived home safe and sound after our journey home
yesterday. I am sure the return journey home passed much more
quickly because of everyone's excited discussion about how much 
they had enjoyed and benefited from your training course, a feeling
which was carried over at work today as our fellow education
professionals called upon us to relate the proceedings.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the kindness
and consideration shown throughout our stay. All 15 of us felt very 
warmly welcomed and looked after and your hospitality was greatly
commented upon and very much appreciated.  Everyone in the party
thought they had benefited from the course in a number of ways and
felt determined that they will apply some of the methods and the
psychology you taught us in their future team working situations.

A course using outdoor experiential learning methods such as this
inevitably compel individuals to look at themselves in a more
objective light and from different perspectives. This is a process
which can be difficult for some.  I felt, however, that at Rock Lea,
this type of examination was introduced and handled in a very
sensitive and sincere and professional manner and with great
awareness of the individuals' specific needs.  I am sure that in
consequence that we have all come away from Rock Lea with a
better view of ourselves as individuals and with a much clearer
appreciation of our roles working successfully in teams.

Many thanks for all your efforts, particularly in planning the
event so carefully in the light of our training needs as a bunch 
of teachers.  We learnt a great deal and had loads of fun in the
process !

Yours sincerely,     

STEVE LATOWSKI

( On behalf of the Barclay Secondary School Teachers 
Personal and Team Development OMD Residential INSET Party )

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               AVON COSMETICS ( 2 )

Dear Iain,

I'd just like to thank you and your staff for a really great team building 
and staff development course.   My whole group seemed to get something 
out of it and you / we have certainly created a team atmosphere that wasn't 
quite there before.  The critical point is whether with your help all the good 
intentions we set out can be maintained over a longer period of time.  
I'm confident they will be.

We are very keen to do a post event follow up and evaluation session
with you and are also keen to look at charity fund raising possibilities too.
Thanks again for all your help.

Yours sincerely,

Nigel Mould
Product Management Manager - Europe

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 PENNINE FOODS

Dear Iain,

Your approach to our training needs is first class.
All the feedback from our Supervisors who attended 
your development training course is only that of praise
for both the learning exercises and the care and the 
attention all your team showed us.

The event was planned excellently Iain - with exercises
very relevant to examples within our business. The site
visits and interviews you made before the event helped 
to make the event really spot on.

I look forward to lots more business between Rock Lea
and Pennine Foods and other parts of the Northern Foods
Group. Again a very big thank you.

Paul Old

FACTORY TRAINING MANAGER



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Solihull College of Technology

Dear Iain,

Apologies for not writing sooner to thank you for your warm hospitality
extended to myself and the group during our residential in December.
As you'll see from the evaluation sheets enclosed the whole group not
only found their stay enjoyable, but more importantly they also found it
stimulating, thought provoking and very relevant, not only to their current
job / environment, but also to their own personal development.

Having some time to reflect myself , I would like to just outline and share
with others my own personal views : -

* From our very first contact you went out of your way to try and help and 
accommodate Solihull College, this was reflected in your trust we'd pay our
bills on timer( a rare occurrence when some LEA's often don't ! ) and also by 
turning down more lucrative work from other customers in favour of us once 
you'd promised you'd help us out.

* I was particularly impressed Iain with the amount and quality of forward
planning and attention to detail displayed prior to the weekend we attended.

* This attention to careful planning was also evident throughout our stay,
particularly in you and your colleagues' ability to tweak the programme
in consultation with us half way through to make sure we made the most 
of the time here and to help us achieve our objectives.

* The counselling of our team leaders, the team briefings, time outs and the
quality of the feedback sessions after each training exercise were excellent
and in most cases they had the desired effect.

On behalf of myself and the group I would like to express our thanks to yourself,
Caroline and all your team of helpers and instructors. I trust this will be the start
of a very long and fruitful relationship.

Have a good Christmas,

Mike Gibson,
Course Tutor, Business Studies Programme.



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COMMENTS FROM CLIENTS USING OUR 
SERVICES TO ASSIST THEIR APPRENTICES' 
TRAINING & FOR CADET TRAINING....

Dear Iain,

May I thank you on behalf of Robert Bosch for the very professional
service you provided designing and facilitating the 15 days outdoor
development training programme for our 14 visiting Bosch Apprentices.

At the joint seminar between Robert Bosch GmbH and Lucas Industries'
senior directors at the University of Birmingham, held to review the
exchange of apprentices, the following comments were made : -

"We did many things for the first time."
"Iain's team were always very helpful and very safe."
"Every single day was different and very well organised."
"We hope next year's exchange students are given the 
  same opportunities to go to Iain's centre."
"Iain himself was always friendly and approachable  
  but he tells some terrible old music hall jokes in German ! "

The senior directors from both companies attending there were all
delighted with the outcome of the 1987 exchange to which you and
your staff made a very significant and much appreciated major 
contribution.

Yours sincerely,

    Derek Jones FITD * - Group Training Manager.

* Website Editor's note : Without doubt the late Derek Jones was one of the most 
powerful positive influences over Iain Jennings and our styles of training in our 
earlier days when we really only had a handful of corporate clients. As a leading 
client he was always willing to share his expertise and insights and was generous
in going out of his way to set up meetings for us with the most senior Foundation
Directors of organisations such as Robert Bosch GmbH in Stuttgart and Schillerhohe
...as well as recommending us to many Lucas training staff - for whom we ended up
working in cities as far apart as Leeds, Wolverhampton, Hemel London and Stuttgart.  
Groups even travelled over here from Boston in the USA on Derek's personal
recommendations that it was worth coming here for some "Hearts and Minds" training.
Derek's very highest standards of professionalism - coupled with his great dry sense 
of humour, approachability and endless generosity rubbed off onto everybody at 
Rock Lea who knew him.  He was considered by many as a man of great integrity
and his introductions to fellow training professionals such as Alan Gruar MBE and his
reviews ofd our work led, eventually, to us working regulalry right up to Board Level
in parts of Lucas such as Lucas Actuation. 

When he retired from Lucas his wife, Jean, mentioned he'd expressed an interest 
in working with us as a training consultant and we jumped at the chance of getting 
Derek to join our team & share his vast knowledge of training. He worked here as 
a popular part time guest lecturer, speaker and training coach alongside Iain and 
Peter et alia until he sadly passed away very suddenly. He was a great friend and 
supporter of our work here who over the years became a great friend who is still 
very sadly missed by a lot of people.  Iain, Caroline, Peter and Tony owe Derek a 
great debt of gratitude which we can never repay.

....LINCOLNSHIRE POLICE AUTHORITY

Dear Iain, Caroline, Dave, Simon, and Andy,

Just a note to thank you all for the brilliant residential
training week you designed and ran for our party of police
cadets. As usual, the feedback from this, the third year's 
event with you and the reports from  all the cadets attending 
were more than positive ( comments like "12 out of 10" and 
"why can't we stay there longer next time ?" ).   

We hope to be there again soon.  Thanks again.

Best wishes,

P.C. V. Mawer   -   2006.



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Lucas Group Industries plc. Birmingham.

Dear Iain,

I am most pleased to be repeating once again the booking for this year's
two weeks of development training activities for the Bosch-Lucas exchange
scheme's Technical Apprentices. This year's programme which you designed
and ran for us in Hathersage was again an outstanding success in every way. 
expressed in glowing terms by the apprentices' during the final seminar 
presentation to the senior directors from Bosch in Germany and from our 
senior directors from Lucas here in Birmingham. 

Thank you once again.

Derek Jones - Group Training Manager, Birmingham.

---

 

 ........
GEC Large Machines, Rugby

Dear Iain,

 I am writing to you on behalf of all the GEC Electrical Projects 
and Industrial Control technician apprentices who attended your  
excellent management skills course from 27th Feb to March 3rd.
The week was exciting and great fun throughout and we learned 
so much about teamwork, leadership skills and how to keep up 
morale - especially during the final exercises working underground
when we didn't get so much sleep and we needed to keep on going 
to finish the task and succeed.

I now feel I have learned so much about how recognizing people's
strengths and weaknesses and working with people instead of 
against them can enable us to achieve such great things if we set our 
minds to to doing so.  We have also learned so much about the need to
be organized when trying to get things done.  We were well organized
for the final presentations to management when we got back to work
and the presentations went very well indeed.

Please will you thank all your staff and your wife for making us all feel 
so welcome and for looking after us so well in Hathersage ?  Thanks 
again to you for helping us all to understand how to work efficiently 
with other people and helping us to boost our confidence and seeing 
how we can work well together.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Pinks - Technician Apprentice
GEC Large Machines - Rugby.

Lucas Actuation Division Wolverhampton

Dear Iain,

I have just returned form speaking to my lads who I sent up to you
for their personal development training course. Words like "Brilliant,
"Exciting" and "Fantastic" kept getting in the way throughout what I'd 
planned to be a calm and objective assessment of the cost effectiveness 
of the event ! They are buzzing !  However, I did gather between their bouts 
of euphoria and discussions of their new good intentions that you and 
your team have once again planned and delivered for me another 
powerful tailored package to stretch both mind and body with a very 
high level of enjoyment and a degree of inspiration. Many thanks !

From both the technical apprentices and my supervisors and myself 
please would you send our thanks to your staff for their tremendous
efforts and inputs..and thanks to you for your hospitality and for
pitching  the course at just the right level for my lads.  I understand
you're planning a sophisticated management skills development 
programme soon for our senior managers and board and I am sure 
they too are going to come back suitably recharged and ready to go !


Thank you once again.

KB - Apprentices Training Manager,

Stafford Road Site, Fordhouses, Wolverhampton.

---

MULTILIFT
Dear Iain,

A short note to say thank you and your team for a splendid
OMD training course you laid on for us. It was a great first step 
on what is probably going to be a long hard road towards 
introducing continuous improvement processes throughout
the company.  

Best wishes, 

Jeremy Farrow
Marketing Director, 
Government Operations, MULTILIFT.


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---

RELIABILITY & SAFETY

Heron Property Corporation Ltd., London.

Dear Iain,

Just a short note to thank you for organising the 
Heron Management Team's Weekend Away.
It went extremely well and was greatly enjoyed by all.

As you may be aware,  this was the fourth separate 
Heron group's visit to your centre and whilst in recent
visits we have focussed on activities such as rock climbing
we have been very impressed by the wide range of other
challenging and training activities you can offer - and by the
very high quality of your instructors.

The principal reason for our continuing visits to your centre 
is your emphasis on safety which in view of the activities 
involved is, of course, paramount.

It is no exaggeration for me to say that as a direct result of 
the weekends with you at Rock Lea the Heron team has become
much more cohesive and and more aware of each others strengths
and weaknesses.

I am looking forward to more visits in the near future.

Yours sincerely,

Martin Wellsman ARICS

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY MANAGER

Heron Property Management Corporation Limited., London.
A Heron International Company

Dear Iain,

Thank you so much for a wonderful morning on Saturday.
I enjoyed it all immensely - especially in retrospect ! At the
time I was a bit timid about putting my out of condition body
through a string of unaccustomed routines !

Please will you thank all your colleagues who combined to 
give us such a good and very safe time.

Catherine Althous - Press Officer, 



British Tourist Authority & English Tourist Board.




Dear Iain,

I did want to write to you upon my return to the office
to thank you for the arrangements you made for us last week.
It was a great thrill ( literally ! ) to have a "taste" of all the good
things that Rock Lea has to offer. It certainly  does bring out
the team spirit in a group - as I found out when I was half way
up a rock face !

Please would you thank all the instructors who  made us 
feel so safe and put us through our paces with such great 
encouragement...and also thank Caroline for her delicious 
food upon our return from the activities.

Yours sincerely,

Fiona Turnbull

Marketing Manager 
BTA NETHERLANDS



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Dear Iain,

Just a short note to say thank you very much for 
a wonderful ( and exhausting ) training weekend.

We all had a great safe time and everyone has come 
back raving about the various activities & exercises.
I think the caving tasks left the deepest impression
on everyone !

Please extend our thanks to all who were involved.
I'm sure you'll find we'll be back again and again !

Yours sincerely,

Samantha Cliss - PA to Phil McC.

P.S. Some of our staff may want to come up on some of 
your "open weekends" - please can you send me details.



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...............IMUTRAN


Dear Iain,

Thank you, Caroline and all the Peak Activities 
gang for giving us a great few days in the Peaks.

The event was more successful than I had dared 
hoped for and I can honestly say that I haven't heard 
a single negative comment.  I was in our Cambridge 
offices  yesterday and everyone was still buzzing 
with the excitement of the days before - which was 
really great.

I think I can say "mission accomplished" and I really 
appreciated your help and all the extra time you took 
to make sure everything went smoothly.  The hotels 
and pubs we used were all excellent venues & added 
a lot to the success of the event.

YOU LIVED UP TO YOUR PROMISE 
NOT TO LET ME DOWN - Thank you Iain.


Kind Regards

Anne Pilling
COMPANY DIRECTOR
Imutran Pharmaceuticals.

 

Conoco Phillips, Lincs.

" Dear Iain,

We had a great time with you and all the guys have asked
me to say thank you for the excellent planning and energy
you, Caroline and Andy put into making our event such a
big success.   We hope to join you again in the future."

AP : TGT SAFETY ADMINISTRATOR

Powell & Hatfield Solicitors, Sheffield. 


Dear Iain & Caroline,

Just a short note to say thank so much indeed for a very pleasant and
interesting time.  Much to my amazement  I actually enjoyed grovelling
and thrutching my way through the caves, but I suspect that I did so
because I felt I was in very capable, safe, expert hands.   Please convey 
my thanks to your colleagues Iain. The psychology worked wonderfully
with my girls who were insistent that they will be writing privately to thank 
you too.  Many thanks.

Kind regards,  Yours sincerely,

 James Powell  LLB   -   Partner.

.......Working with Boots, Nottingham and some of their suppliers...

The following comments are from the Project Manager in charge of the multi-million 
pound refurbishment and extension of one of Boots top flagship retail sites in the UK 
at Meadowhall Shopping Mall in 2005, following a team build event at Rock Lea which 
Iain and his team organised to help get people from the different firms involved to
start off as they meant to go on - in a spirit of true inter company co-operation. 
The event in Hathersage involved designers and architects, QA's, shop fitters, carpet
fitters, fire engineers, structural engineers, retail management and staff from the shop 
itself including people from the Opticians Department and, of course the clients from
Boots' Head Office, It was an informal event designed to get folks from very different 
companies to get to know each other a little better and have a few laughs together at 
the start of this  critical and sizeable inter-company collaboration. The intention was to
help diffuse and avoid any major conflicts before they  started so the project could go 
ahead with minimal disruption to the stores as it continued to operate throughout
the refurbishment - and to help make sure the project went ahead and finished on time
and within the budget.

Dear Iain,

Looking back along the craggy, winding path upon which the team set 
out some five fearless months ago,  back to the time we all spent as your 
guests,  our appreciation of  your input has  I think grown as time has passed.  

We really were in safe hands and well looked after by all of your team and 
everyone was impressed at the amount of planning you had injected into 
the proceedings at short notice,  whilst at the same time remaining flexible 
and good-humoured to such a mixed group. 

Did the event generate tangible benefits related to the refurbishment project 
at Meadowhall ?  The complete offer is now all on one trading floor,  our largest 
single trading store in the company.  We've refurbished the shopfronts,  remixed 
all the space and totally refurbished internally.   The biggest challenge for the team 
was our decision to raise the ceiling height to suit the enlarged footprint:  we may 
ourselves have enjoyed caving with you in Derbyshire but we didn't want our 
customers to share that experience!  So we raised the ceiling by half a meter and a
lifted up all the services in the store to suit.   That made phasing all the works even more 
of a challenge. Due to the nature of the project, we spent a little more than initially
thought but less than we had budgeted.  And we managed to achieve completion 
ahead of the half term holiday,  when Meadowhall's Christmas trading traditionally 
begins to build which was a key objective.

Personally, I was pleased with the way the team reacted to the inevitable challenges 
of designing and delivering a complex refurbishment within one of the country's 
most intense trading environments.  And there were challenges every week.  
I did get a sense that some useful connections had been made during the short 
time we all spent at Hathersage:  ...the shared experiences of the event did I think 
provide us all with an opportunity to express trust between colleagues in a 
business-risk-free environment,  and I am certain this had a positive impact 
on the project. 

Thanks again, Iain and please pass on our thanks to your team. 
Kind regards, 

        G.A.  - Buildings Project Manager, Boots the Chemists - Nottingham,

Dear Iain, Caroline and James,

Once again, I'm writing to say thank you very much
for another wonderful day of team activities which
you organised for our company.  We appreciated the
way you looked after us and thanks for the great care
you take to keep us all safe.

Sheila P. - Event Organiser



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ROYAL AIR FORCE COLLEGE - CRANWELL


Dear Dr. Iain Jennings,

On behalf of all the members of No 142 Initial Officer Training Course
who attended your centre last week, we would like to thank you for a 
well organised and thoroughly enjoyable event. Despite experiencing 
emotions from smug satisfaction to abject terror every member of the 
party expressed their enjoyment and pleasure.

We were very impressed by the three instructors who looked after us
so well. They were extremely patient and helpful and made us feel very
safe even when we were being lowered over cliffs on stretchers held
on ropes being controlled by our fellow groups members !

We will not hesitate to recommend your centre to anyone interested
in the activities or training you offer - and we will, hopefully, return
ourselves to try some more activities with you.

Your sincerely,

A. Mk-ORR - Student Officer



for Director, Department of Initial Officer Training, Cranwell. 

GTS GEOTECH SYSTEMS LTD...


Dear Iain,

Having got back into the office after my operation 
last week ( yes they did have the technology to 
re-build me ! ) I would like to thank you, and I am 
speaking on behalf of everyone here from Geotech 
who attended,  for the fantastic time we had on 
our recent team day in the Peaks with you.

I don't think I will live down getting stuck briefly 
in the pothole.  I blame it all on that small piece of 
paper I had in my breast pocket for preventing me 
for sliding through effortlessly ! 

I have been told by the troops that the atmosphere 
in the office was so much better last week, however, 
this may have been because I was away !

Thank you all once again for looking after us so well
and for keeping us safe.

Gareth.


GTS GEOTECH SYSTEMS LTD. Guildford, Surrey. England.
The largest independent supplier of geotechnical support 
services and systems to the world's oil & gas industry.








Dear Iain,

How can I start to thank you for such a fulfilling visit
last week ? Your hospitality I'm sure is becoming
legendary in our organisation as your treat everyone
in the same way.  It's just like being one of the family 
staying with you guys in Hathersage isn't it ?

With the many facilities and venues that you have there
at your disposal I can see that true team building courses
and team development programmes can be exciting and
enjoyable as well as cost-effective.

My colleague Trevor ( with MS ) was most impressed by
your facilities and approach to safety and I was impressed 
by the way he was included in the group's activities in spite 
of his mobility problems.  I know that him, the ability to get
around with the team with Lynne's help was a greater
achievement than the abseiling he managed with you.

Many thanks for a great time up in Derbyshire.

Keith Botten
Senior Training Officer, 

Lucas Aerospace Actuation Systems
Wolverhampton.



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LARGE SCALE INTER-TEAM EVENTS

Robert Bosch Original Equipment, Denham, UK.

Dear Iain,

Just a word to thank you all very much indeed for a FABULOUS weekend.
Everyone from Denham had a really enjoyable time in the Top Team Challenge 
including me, the travelling reserve for the Bosch Team. I felt quite guilty about
not taking part in some of the activities ( but the feeling soon passed !! ).

The lads and the ladies were thrilled that our team managed third place and we
are very proud of the trophy presented to us by you and His Grace the Duke of
Devonshire.  The awards lunch you organised at Chatsworth House for us was
quite magnificent.  We will not forget the occasion for a very long time, and it really
was marvellous to be able to include our partners and for everyone to feel that
His Grace had such a personal interest in the charity event you  had planned and 
organised for us.   You deserve many congratulations on that part of the 
organisation and planning of this event Iain, as on the whole weekend.

I will be contacting you soon to let you have a final figure on how much we
managed to raise over the weekend for the Imperial Cancer Research Fund.

Once again, thank you so much to you and everyone in your team who 
was involved in the weekend. You all made it a very happy and enjoyable 
and worthwhile experience for us all and we are grateful you invited us to 
attend along with so many of your other corporate clients.


Kind regards,

Peter Loweth

HEAD OF PUBLIC RELATIONS,  
Robert Bosch GmbH

"Dear Iain & Caroline,

CTRL TEAM CHALLENGE WEEKEND FOR OUR KEY SUB-CONTRACTORS 

We wish to take the opportunity of thanking you for organising & providing your
services for our Team Challenge Weekend.  The weekend was very successful
and all our corporate objectives were achieved.

All of your instructors were very considerate and enabled a strong bonding 
within our many teams. Your overall management and organisation was first class.

We shall remember our event weekend with Peak Activities Ltd with great enjoyment.
We look forward to printing all our photographs and publishing a full report on the
event for our Chairman.   

Thanks you for once again, we shall use your services again in the near future.

DB - EVENT DIRECTOR, Union Railways, London.

Dear Iain,

Just a quick note to say many thanks to
you and your guys and gals at Rock Lea 
for a busy and very entertaining weekend.
My appetite for more of the excursions has 
certainly been whetted now...especially for
some more mountain bike trailquests around
the reservoirs.

Iain Nunn - Team Leader
Channel Tunnel Rail Link

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 .... 
 Lufthansa German Airlines & Steigenberger Hotel Group


Dear Iain,

On behalf of my colleagues from Steigenberger Hotels 
and myself, may I personally thank you and all your team 
for the excellent fun day that you organised for us during 
our event which you arranged at Chatsworth House.  

I know all 90 of our VIP's had a great day out and we 
achieved all our stated joint objectives through this
very well researched, unique tailored event.

Not only on the day which one can readily reflect upon, 
but all the preparation and meetings that my co-workers 
from Lufthansa and I had with you in Hathersage for our 
joint marketing event.

I remain, 
Yours faithfully,

         Mark Spivey

UK SALES MANAGER
Steigenberger Hotels


     

 .... 
 Lufthansa German Airlines & Steigenberger Hotel Group


Dear  Dr. Jennings,

Please extend Lufthansa's official thanks to all 
your team for what proved to be a very successful 
joint event for Steigenberger Hotels and Lufthansa. 
We have only received favourable comments.  

We will of course be monitoring the anticipated 
increases in bookings and awareness of our 
products over the coming months.

Thanks for your organising this event for us.  
Yours sincerely,

Douglas George

Lufthansa - Passenger Sales Manager
Northern England & N. Ireland

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Dear Iain,

Thank you. We had a very favourable response to the recent 
seminar you kindly arranged for us.  Everyone ( 100%) felt there 
was a good mix between business and pleasure -  and the venue 
you chose was most acceptable.   From our point of view we felt 
the Business Treasure Hunt you designed for us was ideal.   

I hope we'll have a chance to come and see you in Hathersage 
again and try some more activities. Having enjoyed been out 
gliding with you anything is now possible !

Best wishes,

Malcolm Norman
Senior Corporate Manager 


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SIMPLE TEAM DAYS JUST FOR FUN...

Dear Iain,

Just a note to say thank you for a really enjoyable weekend at
Rock Lea. Everyone from here had a great time and we really 
appreciated the friendly relaxed atmosphere and the efficient 
organisation.

There's a good chance that Data Connection will use you again
in some shape or form again - and I shall engineer it so that
it involves me !

Yours sincerely,

CHRIS MAIRS - Director, Data Connection.

---

Dear Iain,

Thanks for another great fun weekend up at Rock Lea.
Everyone enjoyed the activities and I was particularly 
pleased for the chance to go gliding with you - it has
been "on my list" for some time and I would definitely
like to go again.

Best wishes,

PHIL MAY - Director, Data Connection.

 

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---

..........ICI Paints Division 

Dear Iain,

I had to write and say how much we enjoyed the two 
multi-activity weekends we've spent with you recently. 
The activities were all exhilarating, stimulating and , 
most of all, great fun !!!    Amazing what one can achieve 
given a little patient gentle persuasion !  Your instructors 
are extremely helpful and patient and the relaxed 
atmosphere at Rock Lea helped make both weekends a
tremendous success for us.

We plan to come and see you again soon - and in the 
meantime, I have sent your details over to our Training
and Development Department with my recommendation 
they consider using your skill building courses for more
of our trainees.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs Carole Wheeler, 
Assistant Estates Manager. ICI Paints Division. 

SIMPLE TEAM WEEKENDS - JUST FOR FUN...

Royal Air Force College, Cranwell.

Dear Iain,

Many thanks for a splendid weekend. 
It was a complete success and thoroughly enjoyed by all of the group.
We are all keen to come back and do some more activities with you.
Once again thanks again for a fantastic weekend and I know the 
whole group wishes you & your team every success for the future.

Yours sincerely,

                    Euan  McKenzie - RAFC / D.I.O.T.


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WEEK & LONGER PROGRAMMES...

BRITISH DIABETIC ASSOCIATION

Dear Iain,

I would like to express my thanks for such a great week long 
outdoor training programme you organised and ran for us in 
August. I  found your support and help invaluable with what 
was potentially such an unmotivated group ! Can I also thank
on behalf of all the party Caroline for all her hard work and for
her wonderful food. Also I must not leave out all of your 
instructors and other staff who were very supportive to our
adult leaders who had no experience of organising such week 
long programmes.

Yours sincerely,

Chris James

HEAD OF YOUTH DEPARTMENT


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.. .     Royal Society for Mentally Handicapped Children & Adults.

Dear Iain & Caroline,

I am writing to thank you on behalf of the small group of 
volunteers and guests who enjoyed our confidence building 
multi-activity programme with you recently.  We thoroughly 
enjoyed all the many activities you introduced us to. 

Thanks for your interest and concern in adapting these 
activities to suit our needs.

Thanks for making us all feel so safe and so welcome 
at Rock Lea.

Best wishes,     

ANTHEA  ( Mencap / RSMHCA Organiser, Harrogate )

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Norfolk County Council

Dear Iain & Caroline,

I am writing this on behalf of our staff team to say a big
thank you for a very enjoyable few days spent with you.

We all felt that the activities you organised for our large 
party were well-planned and organised and that the 
instructors were fantastic !  They were very safe and gave 
real encouragement to the young people involved - especially 
those lacking in confidence during the abseiling.

We will be contacting you again regarding other residentials 
& I will be pleased to pass your details on to other colleagues.

Once again thanks for all your support and consideration.

Regards,

Glynis Killington - Level II Youth Worker

 Norfolk Youth & Community Service

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Iain and the team are very grateful to all our corporate clients who have 
endorsed our products over the years with open letters, by writing press 
articles, and in some cases by undertaking interviews on television and 
radio programmes.  It has been a great privilege and an education to work
for and alongside such excellent  customers.

Copies of the originals of all the above endorsement letters and articles, 
plus many more fromother companies can be inspected in the Training Office 
at our base in Hathersage.  We welcome inspection visits from people with 
budgets who would like to come here for planning meetings - but strictly by 
appointment please.

.................

 Telephone Iain on 01433-650345


 Iain Jennings PhD Chartered FCIPD FRGS
Managing Director
Peak Activities Limited
Rock Lea Activity Centre
Station Road
Hathersage
Hope Valley, 
The Peak District National Park
S321DD

Fax 01433-650342.

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