N E W S ... NEWS STORIES FROM ROCK LEA CENTRE THE SMALL, FRIENDLY OUTDOOR EXPERIENCES CENTRE IN THE VERY HEART OF DERBYSHIRE'S PEAK DISTRICT NATIONAL PARK...
| Late booking deals | NHS & Public Sector Staff Discount Scheme | Aston Martin Team Building | STOP PRESS : LAST MINUTE LATE BOOKING DEALS : Descending Garlands Pot heading deep into the Depths of the Giants Hole SATURDAY 10th December 2011 Giants Hole Round Trip Caving Excursion We have still have some places left on the Round Trip of Giants Hole with Tony Kendall on Sat 10th Dec. This is an advanced caving trip for anyone who has been caving before & wants to try some serious, more challenging potholing. It will involve climbing up and down slender "Electron" caving ladders and some quite exciting ( almost scary ) sections too. Call Iain on 01433-650345 to book places. We take VISA, Maestro & MasterCard credit and debit card payments over the phone. We have also started taking PAYPAL payments now too. Call us on 01433-650345 to book or to discuss oher late booking opportunities. See also www.iain.co.uk/deals.htm for dates & fees of other events with late availability. BIG DISCOUNTS FOR NHS & PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYEES : Do you work for the National Health Service or in the Public Sector ? A big supporter of the NHS & Public Sector workers, Iain our manager recently agreed to offer all NHS Staff some substantial 10% discounts to try to make coming here on our open courses (events open to the public ) more attractive and affordable to anyone who is employed by either the NHS or the Public Sector. If you work for the NHS & Public Sector, staff can click this link for specific offers from us. When booking please mention the scheme, and you may wish to tell your friends too. Please see the NHS & Public Sector Staff Discount scheme's general website URL at www.nhsonline.net for more details or call us here on 01433-650345 for details. News for individuals, private groups - & for our corporate clients Overlooking our centre in Hathersage is a Mecca for rock climbers from all over the UK - Stanage Edge glowing here in the wintersunshine. Above : Stanage on a sunny day. AROUND THE COMPASS THIS AUTUMN : GETTING BEST POSSIBLE VALUE FOR YOUR MONEY & TIME INVESTMENTS... Now is a great time to be contacting us to arrange individual's weekends and days away this Autumn and Winter... and it is the perfect time for group organisers to be discussing & booking events here in the accessible Peak District in the run up to the Christmas and the Festive Season. We fully appreciate how hard it is for people and some organisations to make ends meet at the moment and we are very sincerely committed to trying to help and offer oustandingly good value for money and maintain our high safety and quality standards during what is a challenging time for so many people and organisations. Whether you are looking for a good deal for a group or for a day or a weekend away for just yourself give us a call and we'll try to look after you. With offering great value for money in mind we have some great value high quality offers for groups wanting corporate days out ( e.g. a day day of fun orienteering and treasure hunting with a fabulous hot & cold buffet lunch for 20+ people now from as little as £49 per person + vat ) and some really great savings on our popular "Friendly Face" Weekends designed to appeal to single people aged from 21 to 65 ! Come on these great weekends alone or bring a friend along and pay nothing extra on any of our great "TWO FOR ONE" price busting deals. Call us on 01433-650345 to talk to us about these offers. Please click here to go to dates & prices of events such as caving and abseiling & rock climbing weekends open to the public and grab a bargain whilst places are available. Call us on 01433-650345 to book. We welcome enquiries from group organisers as well as from individuals, couples and families. We also have some terrific deals from some of our trusted accommodation suppliers. For example staying at this luxurious 4 star hotel whilst you're here with us for as little as £45 per person per night including a full English Breakafast. We can offer such deals for you if you book instruction with us and contact us soon. ( special rate is based on two people booking our instructors & sharing a twin or a double room ). Walking on Kinder Scout in the depths of winter can be most rewarding and challenging NEWS ABOUT SOME OF OUR TEAM OF INSTRUCTORS & TRAINERS : One of our local competitors recently published an attack on our using part time staff alongside our full time staff who as well as being qualified & experienced as outdoor instructors also have skills and experiences in varied fields such as medicine, education, broadcasting, aerospace, finance and IT & management. We couldn't quite see his point of view... which seemed to suggest "Weekend Warriors" - staff who just work here as enthusiastic instructors at weekends had to be second rate. On the contrary, we have always felt that our having a broad church of instructors with enthusiasm and skills in other fields can only enrich our team's depth of knowledge and the quality of the experiences we can offer here. As we have no less than four qualified geologists and Geology & Geography teachers and lecturers and two mining engineers and a Mines Inspector helping to run our caving courses, for example, we wondered if there might have just been a hint of envy in our outspoken competitor's tirade ! I have always thought that we whilst we have sometimes been copied and envied we've rarely been exceeded in terms of the quality and enthusiasm of our full -time and part time outdoor instructors and trainers. Strive for perfection in everything you do - take the very best and make it even better..... James Jennings : James is currently very happily working at Rolls Royce Aero Engines in Derby where he is a young aerospace engineer working in a design team developing and designing new jet engines for passenger aircraft. He loves working for Rolls Royce and he is enjoying living in Loughborough. He still helps out here part time sometimes & is working hard to complete his industrial M.Eng. degree. Rolls Royce have offered him a place on their graduate engineers scheme and he is looking forward to his career with such an outstandingly good company. He is still busy sailing and walking and says he is getting used to getting up really early and being at work when many of the rest of us may be fast asleep ! We wish him well. He's worked really hard to achieve what he's achieved. He always loved things that flew - even when he was a little boy ! Where does the time fly ? Our little aviator James now designs jet engines and pilots fixed wing aircraft ! Time flies like an arrow - but fruit flies like a banana ! Tony Kendall has now retired as Faculty Head of Finance at his Faculty at De Montfort University after 35 years there and he is now spending lots more time here with us in Hathersage walking and teaching people how to cave and pothole safely ! We wish him him all the best for his retirement and the future. He is still carrying on working for his trade union as an employment law advisor and consultant and expecting to continue his tireless work for Scouts and for his beloved Leicester Transportation Museum. One of the best pictures we have of Tony was on Facebook recently with him dressed up a Father Christmas driving his steam engine locomotive around his museum's railway. He had smoke and steam in his beard and looked the epitomy of pure contentment ! You can follow us on Facebook and become Facebook Friends if you wish. See Peak Activities Ltd's page - or Iain Jennings's or the Rock Lea Page on Facebook. Our other young helper Elizabeth successfully toured with her band in Salzburg in Austria this July. She plays flute and keyboards and is part of a very successful wind band. One of her highlights was a concert in the famous city centre Mirabelle Gardens which is hopefully to be confirmed shortly. She's doesn't just make teas and coffees and serve cake....the Summer she was awarded 12 GCSE's at Grade A and A-Star - and her 13th was a "B" . Clever girl eh ? She's recently been one of the cast of a very professional and successful production of "Guys & Dolls" in Bakewell. She just loves the theatre, singing and dancing and music. Iain has managed to have lost three and a half stones since Christmas following his new healthy eating plan...and continues losing weight with the help of Caroline and his NHS Tier Three Team. He's done so well he's been used by the Tier Three Service as an exemplar and has had his weight loss story published in a full page article in the Derbyshire Times which was successfully used as part of a campaign to persuade the Commissioners at the NHS to fund the Tier Three scheme permanently. It is led by a Clinical Psychologist Dr. Rachel Holt and we would recommend this very worthwhile scheme to anyone needing it. One of the side effects of losing weight is that Iain is spending a lot more time sailing up in the Lake District ....and his trousers keep falling down so we have bought him some new braces ! We're not sure if going sailing is a good thing or not - especially as his partner in crime Tony Kendall has more time to go sailing now he's retired from De Montfort Univ ! Lots of people on Lake Windermere seeing Tony on the bow of "Eisbar" head the other way - they think it's Uncle Albert from Fools & Horses heading towards them on a boat - always a big worry ! Congratulations to Dean and Helen who are expecting their third child in the Autumn. Is this part of a plan to take over Sheffield United with a younger and better team of home grown footballers Dean ? NEWS FOR INDIVIDUAL CUSTOMERS .... Have you seen Iain's fabulous latest offers on our "deals" page which lists our open courses such as caving and multisports weekends for individuals ? Choose from a wide range of beginners and advanced courses. Stag groups are always welcome ! NEWS FOR PRIVATE GROUP ORGANISERS ..... We have recently enjoyed visits from lots of private parties large and small who have chosen us to organise and run their private socials, hen group outings, stag weekends, birthday parties and other events involving activities such as caving and potholing, abseiling, rock climbing, hill walking, orienteering and mountain biking and more. We have adopted a flexible approach for people wanting to keep their costs down and we now offer a wide range of choices to suit most sensible budgets and group preferences. A wide range of local accommodation options is available to our group leaders - from local youth hostels and private hostels to B&B's , camping sites, camping barns and hotels & conference centres. There are also lots of local self catering options to choose from. Biking in Edale AROUND THE COMPASS : NEWS FOR & ABOUT OUR CORPORATE CLIENTS.... Iain is very pleased with the very kind comments endorsing our people, products and services that have been published on "Linked-in" by past clients and course participants from clients such as e.on, BP Johnson & Johnson, the NHS, Newburgh Engineering, Volvo CE - and many others. Iain reckons that one enemy or one unhappy customer is far too many - and that you can't have too many happyt customers and friends. We now have some great reviews on Trip Advisor and we also have a growing number of senior managers and execs who have left some very impressive endorsements & recommendations on Iain's Linked-in pages. If you use Linked-in and have used our products in the past and would like to join Iain's professional network, please contact Iain direct or via "Linked in" ( lookup Dr. Iain Jennings on the Linked in search facility.) or call us on 01433-6540345. AUTUMN & WINTER EVENTS FOR COMPANIES & ORGANISATIONS.... Rock Lea's staff have always welcomed private groups from commerce and manufacturing industry coming to Hathersage to take advantage of our superb team building facilities & opportunities available all year round. We were very pleased to be welcoming Aston Martin Lagonda here earlier this year for example. You can enjoy our treasure hunts and orienteering competitions - and our unique trailquests and mountain bike orienteering rides are popular too at this time of the year. Get the old hearts pumping a little harder with a brisk walk up a local mountain, an energetic and thrilling rock climb or walking gently along a lovely river spotting the Dippers and Kingfishers. Caving and potholing are as popular as ever at this time of the year. Local accommodation options as cheap now as they were over 5 years ago - and our customers can grab some great bargains right now for individual and group accommodation. Nicky at The Kenwood Hall Hotel continues to offer our corporate clients some fabulous group training and corporate hospitality deals. If you're wanting some worthwhile and enjoyable team building events organising for your business call us on 01433-650345 and see if you can snap up a bargain from me, Iain, or from Caroline or John. We can offer serious sophisticated tailored team building events designed to develop Continuous Improvement and other initiatives amongst teams and their leaders - or more lighthearted events designed mainly to reward staff and have fun and recreation time together. Please call us on 07774-112204 if the main 01433-6540345 office number is busy. We promise we won't let you down if you trust us to run your event here. Just get out there ! Make the most of the great Summer weather ! If you use "Linked-in" to keep in touch with your professional work and business contacts, please see the numerous recommendations and endorsements from past customers on Dr Iain Jennings' public Linked-in file. For many more client recommendations please see our comments pages and our endorsements page. Some comments from Iain - our manager : "After what seems to me to have been a very long tough Winter, Spring is at last here ! If you haven't been so active so far this year, now's the perfect time to be getting out and about and enjoying the outdoor life here in the accessible Peak District National Park." "This is the start of our 25th Season at Rock Lea and we're really excited that we have a full range of outdoor activities on offer this season AND in addition we are once again going to offering simple Bed & Breakfast accommodation for customers here at Rock Lea in a month or two. We'll initially be offering up to 8 beds in simple single and twin rooms. However, if they prefer to stay elsewhere all of our Open Courses customers can still opt to stay in local hotels, inns, self catering camping barns and cottages or in B&B guest houses, camping sites and local YHA's of course. However, there have been many people asking if they could stay here all under the same roof here in the very centre of the village of Hathersage...and Caroline agreed we could offer private hostel style accommodation here at Rock Lea once again once some decorating and refurbushment has been completed. More news about that later ! " "On a personal note, I've managed to lose a stone in weight in the last 6 weeks and I am hoping to lose a lot more and get fitter in the coming months - thanks are due to everyone in the excellent team that has been helping & encouraging me to downsize ! I am feeling much better and I am grateful to everyone who sent their best wishes when I was ill recently." Please call Iain on 01433-650345 to discuss any specific requirements you may have. We welcome enquiries from groups and individuals. Please click here for our last 8-page .pdf NEWSLETTER offering some unbelievably good deals for individuals and small parties visiting our base in the Peak District, plus the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales. The Spring months are often a perfect time here in Derbyshire for groups to be running informal post-Christmas team outings and day visits - often in spectacular scenery - and it's a great time of year for people to be considering booking weekends away on their own or with friends and family. The next few months can be really lovely and warm or can be pretty cold and wet - all part of the joys of the climate this part of the world enjoys. However, If you take care to wrap up warm and head down, say, a nicely pre-heated cave ( the caves are always a comfortable 9 degrees all year long ) then that's hardly a big issue. We welcome people coming on their own or with family & friends on our public winter "open" weekends .... and you can also book instruction for private, exclusive bookings such as stag groups & hen parties. Close personal 1:1 tuition and private tuition for small parties can be booked through our guiding service for cavers, climbers, potholers and abseilers too. This service allows smaller groups to move and learn at their own pace...and in an exclusive relaxed atmosphere. Don't forget we can supply our guests with everything needed to keep warm and dry and comfortable - so you don't need to spend a fortune buying technical clothing or equipment ( unless you like shopping and want to ! ). Other NEWS stories on this news page include : - NEW ! LOW COST WALKING WEEKENDS in the Peak District National Park now available for individuals - listed on our OPEN WEEKENDS PAGE. Sunday Times Travel Publishes another complimentary article about Rock Lea's "Open" courses. Health & Safety Executive's AALA Inspection Service awards Rock Lea another 3-year license. Dutch Firefighters enjoy their Team Building Event in Hathersage. French Power Company's First Aiders Team Building & Training Residential. Polish team members join Avon's UK Colleagues for team build in Derbyshire. Telegraph's travel section reports on a family caving trip using our Guiding Service. BBC tv crew filming at Rock Lea for Ian Wright's TV show with Mohammed Ali. Prestigious National Award presented to our Director Tony Kendall at the House of Commons Our crossword challenge - Only if you think you're hard enough ? James, our youngest instructor, attains his European Flying License Pudsey Bear visits Rock Lea for charity abseiling event. News from Austria Name changes at one of our favourite Sheffield 4 star hotels A fall of snow OLDER STORIES / ARCHIVED.... AALA INSPECTION SERVICE AWARDS US ANOTHER 3 YR LICENSE We are pleased to report that early in 2010 we were routinely inspected by the AALA inspection services and we were given a clean bill of health and recommended we will be issued with another 3 year licence by the Licensing Authority. An AALA License is required to take students and young people under-18 yrs on adventurous activities in remote places when they are not accompanied by their parents or legal guardians /carers. For example when Police Cadets or apprentices from Volvo or Babcocks have been here it has been necessary for us to hold a valid AALA License for the activities involved. Peak Activities t/a Rock Lea Activity Centre and T/A Iain Jennings Associates is licensed to take out youngsters undertaking rock climbing, abseiling, caving, potholing, mine exploration, ice-climbing, coasteering orienteering, trekking and mountain biking in remote areas. Click here for more details. click on logo for more information on the AALA scheme SPRING CROSSWORD CHALLENGE : Our tough 2010 Competition for all our website readers & customers is a nice little teamwork task. We doubt if many people will complete it working alone. IS YOUR TEAM UP TO COMPLETING OUR TOUGH 2010 CROSSWORD COMPETITION ? EVERY SINGLE CORRECT ENTRY WE RECEIVE BEFORE THE END OF NEXT MONTH WILL WIN A £100 VOUCHER ! Click here please for full set of details, clues, & your crossword challenge team entry form... More dates released listing this year's public weekend courses : Now is the time when our open courses are being offered at up to 50% off their normal RRP - so it's the ideal time to be booking some great value weekends for the Spring, Summer and Autumn. Click here for dates & prices of Days and Weekends on offer this year... We are again offering weekend courses such as "Beginners Caving & Potholing", "Abseiling & Rock Climbing", and our very popular "Multisports" multi-activity weekends for individual adults, couples and small parties. In addition there are now some mid-week dates on offer, which if demand is sufficient, will be run throughout 2010 and 2011. We have a great set of deals on offer in 2010 with firms supplying really great value local accommodation. For example for many dates in 2010 a couple can share a four star en suite Twin Room at the Kenwood Hall Hotel for as little as £25 per night each for 2 night stays...including lavish full English Breakfasts designed for outdoor appetites ! HENS & STAGS WEEKENDS & AWAY DAYS Hen Party Members after a caving session Stag Groups and Hen Group Visits in 2010 : We already have a number of private group bookings for 2010 & 2011, including a number of hen parties and stag groups coming to our outdoor base in Hathersage for half days, full days and two & three -day programmes of outdoor sports and outdoor pursuits in the lovely Peak National Park. Prices of sessions for groups of 12 or more people vary from £69 to £199 per person, including VAT. Please call our office on 01433-650345 for more informastion or to firm up a booking. We take Visa, Maestro, Solo and MasterCard payments over the phone. Free places can be arranged for the group organisers. Tom's jolly Stag Party prior to setting off on a caving trip ! Click here for lots more information for Stag Group Organisers. Click here for lots more information for Hen Group Organisers. We can cater for hen and stag groups large or small, fit or unfit ! No prior experience and no special equipment is needed to join us ! Enjoy a choice of half day activities such as rock climbing, abseiling, orienteering, easy caving, tough potholing or treasure hunts on foot or on bikes or in minibuses. Talk to us to see what combination of activities at Rock Lea will suit your budget, mood and group size. Click to see wide range of more activities available to private groups. Call Iain & Caroline on 01433-650345 to discuss your needs & interests. Charity Fund Raising Events this year : Our company directors have renewed their commitment to helping people who want to have fun raising funds for good causes - and we are particularly keen to help folks who are wanting to organise sponsored abseiling or caving events to support the work of charities working on disaster relief in Haiti such as Medecins Sans Frontieres, Oxfam, UNICEF, Save the Children Fund and the DEC. Click here for more info. on how we can help you have fun charity fund raising on your own or with friends. News from Austria : Our dear friend and associate Ingrid is having a great season over in Tyrol. However, she has been affected by the UK£ : Euro exchange rate this year and for once she is not fully booked up - so she has some rooms free if anyone wants to book skiing or snowboarding over there this season. For last minute bargain ski holidays e-mail Ingrid and please mention Iain & Caroline at Rock Lea. www.hotel-hochfilzer.com/en/contact-us.html Click here to explore skiing possibilities with Ingrid's team... Older new stories from Austria ( staff visits & filming ) Weddings in Ellmau ! Employment opportunities with Peak Activities Ltd. :-( We regret that we do not have any paid employment vacancies at the present time, so please do not sent us any unsolicited CV's or job application letters or e-mails. A lot of other centres must have made some of their key staff redundant recently - we seem to be getting loys of employment requests which we haven't asked for - and all too often the people who have been working elsewhere don't even have the basic qualifications and experience that our volunteers working here at Rock Lea have achieved. N W + E S
| Late booking deals | NHS & Public Sector Staff Discount Scheme | Aston Martin Team Building |
STOP PRESS : LAST MINUTE LATE BOOKING DEALS : Descending Garlands Pot heading deep into the Depths of the Giants Hole SATURDAY 10th December 2011 Giants Hole Round Trip Caving Excursion We have still have some places left on the Round Trip of Giants Hole with Tony Kendall on Sat 10th Dec. This is an advanced caving trip for anyone who has been caving before & wants to try some serious, more challenging potholing. It will involve climbing up and down slender "Electron" caving ladders and some quite exciting ( almost scary ) sections too. Call Iain on 01433-650345 to book places. We take VISA, Maestro & MasterCard credit and debit card payments over the phone. We have also started taking PAYPAL payments now too. Call us on 01433-650345 to book or to discuss oher late booking opportunities. See also www.iain.co.uk/deals.htm for dates & fees of other events with late availability. BIG DISCOUNTS FOR NHS & PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYEES : Do you work for the National Health Service or in the Public Sector ? A big supporter of the NHS & Public Sector workers, Iain our manager recently agreed to offer all NHS Staff some substantial 10% discounts to try to make coming here on our open courses (events open to the public ) more attractive and affordable to anyone who is employed by either the NHS or the Public Sector. If you work for the NHS & Public Sector, staff can click this link for specific offers from us. When booking please mention the scheme, and you may wish to tell your friends too. Please see the NHS & Public Sector Staff Discount scheme's general website URL at www.nhsonline.net for more details or call us here on 01433-650345 for details.
STOP PRESS : LAST MINUTE LATE BOOKING DEALS :
Descending Garlands Pot heading deep into the Depths of the Giants Hole SATURDAY 10th December 2011 Giants Hole Round Trip Caving Excursion We have still have some places left on the Round Trip of Giants Hole with Tony Kendall on Sat 10th Dec. This is an advanced caving trip for anyone who has been caving before & wants to try some serious, more challenging potholing. It will involve climbing up and down slender "Electron" caving ladders and some quite exciting ( almost scary ) sections too. Call Iain on 01433-650345 to book places. We take VISA, Maestro & MasterCard credit and debit card payments over the phone. We have also started taking PAYPAL payments now too. Call us on 01433-650345 to book or to discuss oher late booking opportunities. See also www.iain.co.uk/deals.htm for dates & fees of other events with late availability.
BIG DISCOUNTS FOR NHS & PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYEES : Do you work for the National Health Service or in the Public Sector ? A big supporter of the NHS & Public Sector workers, Iain our manager recently agreed to offer all NHS Staff some substantial 10% discounts to try to make coming here on our open courses (events open to the public ) more attractive and affordable to anyone who is employed by either the NHS or the Public Sector. If you work for the NHS & Public Sector, staff can click this link for specific offers from us. When booking please mention the scheme, and you may wish to tell your friends too. Please see the NHS & Public Sector Staff Discount scheme's general website URL at www.nhsonline.net for more details or call us here on 01433-650345 for details.
News for individuals, private groups - & for our corporate clients Overlooking our centre in Hathersage is a Mecca for rock climbers from all over the UK - Stanage Edge glowing here in the wintersunshine. Above : Stanage on a sunny day. AROUND THE COMPASS THIS AUTUMN : GETTING BEST POSSIBLE VALUE FOR YOUR MONEY & TIME INVESTMENTS... Now is a great time to be contacting us to arrange individual's weekends and days away this Autumn and Winter... and it is the perfect time for group organisers to be discussing & booking events here in the accessible Peak District in the run up to the Christmas and the Festive Season. We fully appreciate how hard it is for people and some organisations to make ends meet at the moment and we are very sincerely committed to trying to help and offer oustandingly good value for money and maintain our high safety and quality standards during what is a challenging time for so many people and organisations. Whether you are looking for a good deal for a group or for a day or a weekend away for just yourself give us a call and we'll try to look after you. With offering great value for money in mind we have some great value high quality offers for groups wanting corporate days out ( e.g. a day day of fun orienteering and treasure hunting with a fabulous hot & cold buffet lunch for 20+ people now from as little as £49 per person + vat ) and some really great savings on our popular "Friendly Face" Weekends designed to appeal to single people aged from 21 to 65 ! Come on these great weekends alone or bring a friend along and pay nothing extra on any of our great "TWO FOR ONE" price busting deals. Call us on 01433-650345 to talk to us about these offers. Please click here to go to dates & prices of events such as caving and abseiling & rock climbing weekends open to the public and grab a bargain whilst places are available. Call us on 01433-650345 to book. We welcome enquiries from group organisers as well as from individuals, couples and families. We also have some terrific deals from some of our trusted accommodation suppliers. For example staying at this luxurious 4 star hotel whilst you're here with us for as little as £45 per person per night including a full English Breakafast. We can offer such deals for you if you book instruction with us and contact us soon. ( special rate is based on two people booking our instructors & sharing a twin or a double room ). Walking on Kinder Scout in the depths of winter can be most rewarding and challenging NEWS ABOUT SOME OF OUR TEAM OF INSTRUCTORS & TRAINERS : One of our local competitors recently published an attack on our using part time staff alongside our full time staff who as well as being qualified & experienced as outdoor instructors also have skills and experiences in varied fields such as medicine, education, broadcasting, aerospace, finance and IT & management. We couldn't quite see his point of view... which seemed to suggest "Weekend Warriors" - staff who just work here as enthusiastic instructors at weekends had to be second rate. On the contrary, we have always felt that our having a broad church of instructors with enthusiasm and skills in other fields can only enrich our team's depth of knowledge and the quality of the experiences we can offer here. As we have no less than four qualified geologists and Geology & Geography teachers and lecturers and two mining engineers and a Mines Inspector helping to run our caving courses, for example, we wondered if there might have just been a hint of envy in our outspoken competitor's tirade ! I have always thought that we whilst we have sometimes been copied and envied we've rarely been exceeded in terms of the quality and enthusiasm of our full -time and part time outdoor instructors and trainers. Strive for perfection in everything you do - take the very best and make it even better..... James Jennings : James is currently very happily working at Rolls Royce Aero Engines in Derby where he is a young aerospace engineer working in a design team developing and designing new jet engines for passenger aircraft. He loves working for Rolls Royce and he is enjoying living in Loughborough. He still helps out here part time sometimes & is working hard to complete his industrial M.Eng. degree. Rolls Royce have offered him a place on their graduate engineers scheme and he is looking forward to his career with such an outstandingly good company. He is still busy sailing and walking and says he is getting used to getting up really early and being at work when many of the rest of us may be fast asleep ! We wish him well. He's worked really hard to achieve what he's achieved. He always loved things that flew - even when he was a little boy ! Where does the time fly ? Our little aviator James now designs jet engines and pilots fixed wing aircraft ! Time flies like an arrow - but fruit flies like a banana ! Tony Kendall has now retired as Faculty Head of Finance at his Faculty at De Montfort University after 35 years there and he is now spending lots more time here with us in Hathersage walking and teaching people how to cave and pothole safely ! We wish him him all the best for his retirement and the future. He is still carrying on working for his trade union as an employment law advisor and consultant and expecting to continue his tireless work for Scouts and for his beloved Leicester Transportation Museum. One of the best pictures we have of Tony was on Facebook recently with him dressed up a Father Christmas driving his steam engine locomotive around his museum's railway. He had smoke and steam in his beard and looked the epitomy of pure contentment ! You can follow us on Facebook and become Facebook Friends if you wish. See Peak Activities Ltd's page - or Iain Jennings's or the Rock Lea Page on Facebook. Our other young helper Elizabeth successfully toured with her band in Salzburg in Austria this July. She plays flute and keyboards and is part of a very successful wind band. One of her highlights was a concert in the famous city centre Mirabelle Gardens which is hopefully to be confirmed shortly. She's doesn't just make teas and coffees and serve cake....the Summer she was awarded 12 GCSE's at Grade A and A-Star - and her 13th was a "B" . Clever girl eh ? She's recently been one of the cast of a very professional and successful production of "Guys & Dolls" in Bakewell. She just loves the theatre, singing and dancing and music. Iain has managed to have lost three and a half stones since Christmas following his new healthy eating plan...and continues losing weight with the help of Caroline and his NHS Tier Three Team. He's done so well he's been used by the Tier Three Service as an exemplar and has had his weight loss story published in a full page article in the Derbyshire Times which was successfully used as part of a campaign to persuade the Commissioners at the NHS to fund the Tier Three scheme permanently. It is led by a Clinical Psychologist Dr. Rachel Holt and we would recommend this very worthwhile scheme to anyone needing it. One of the side effects of losing weight is that Iain is spending a lot more time sailing up in the Lake District ....and his trousers keep falling down so we have bought him some new braces ! We're not sure if going sailing is a good thing or not - especially as his partner in crime Tony Kendall has more time to go sailing now he's retired from De Montfort Univ ! Lots of people on Lake Windermere seeing Tony on the bow of "Eisbar" head the other way - they think it's Uncle Albert from Fools & Horses heading towards them on a boat - always a big worry ! Congratulations to Dean and Helen who are expecting their third child in the Autumn. Is this part of a plan to take over Sheffield United with a younger and better team of home grown footballers Dean ? NEWS FOR INDIVIDUAL CUSTOMERS .... Have you seen Iain's fabulous latest offers on our "deals" page which lists our open courses such as caving and multisports weekends for individuals ? Choose from a wide range of beginners and advanced courses.
Stag groups are always welcome ! NEWS FOR PRIVATE GROUP ORGANISERS ..... We have recently enjoyed visits from lots of private parties large and small who have chosen us to organise and run their private socials, hen group outings, stag weekends, birthday parties and other events involving activities such as caving and potholing, abseiling, rock climbing, hill walking, orienteering and mountain biking and more. We have adopted a flexible approach for people wanting to keep their costs down and we now offer a wide range of choices to suit most sensible budgets and group preferences. A wide range of local accommodation options is available to our group leaders - from local youth hostels and private hostels to B&B's , camping sites, camping barns and hotels & conference centres. There are also lots of local self catering options to choose from. Biking in Edale
AROUND THE COMPASS :
NEWS FOR & ABOUT OUR CORPORATE CLIENTS.... Iain is very pleased with the very kind comments endorsing our people, products and services that have been published on "Linked-in" by past clients and course participants from clients such as e.on, BP Johnson & Johnson, the NHS, Newburgh Engineering, Volvo CE - and many others. Iain reckons that one enemy or one unhappy customer is far too many - and that you can't have too many happyt customers and friends. We now have some great reviews on Trip Advisor and we also have a growing number of senior managers and execs who have left some very impressive endorsements & recommendations on Iain's Linked-in pages. If you use Linked-in and have used our products in the past and would like to join Iain's professional network, please contact Iain direct or via "Linked in" ( lookup Dr. Iain Jennings on the Linked in search facility.) or call us on 01433-6540345. AUTUMN & WINTER EVENTS FOR COMPANIES & ORGANISATIONS.... Rock Lea's staff have always welcomed private groups from commerce and manufacturing industry coming to Hathersage to take advantage of our superb team building facilities & opportunities available all year round. We were very pleased to be welcoming Aston Martin Lagonda here earlier this year for example. You can enjoy our treasure hunts and orienteering competitions - and our unique trailquests and mountain bike orienteering rides are popular too at this time of the year. Get the old hearts pumping a little harder with a brisk walk up a local mountain, an energetic and thrilling rock climb or walking gently along a lovely river spotting the Dippers and Kingfishers. Caving and potholing are as popular as ever at this time of the year. Local accommodation options as cheap now as they were over 5 years ago - and our customers can grab some great bargains right now for individual and group accommodation. Nicky at The Kenwood Hall Hotel continues to offer our corporate clients some fabulous group training and corporate hospitality deals. If you're wanting some worthwhile and enjoyable team building events organising for your business call us on 01433-650345 and see if you can snap up a bargain from me, Iain, or from Caroline or John. We can offer serious sophisticated tailored team building events designed to develop Continuous Improvement and other initiatives amongst teams and their leaders - or more lighthearted events designed mainly to reward staff and have fun and recreation time together. Please call us on 07774-112204 if the main 01433-6540345 office number is busy. We promise we won't let you down if you trust us to run your event here. Just get out there ! Make the most of the great Summer weather ! If you use "Linked-in" to keep in touch with your professional work and business contacts, please see the numerous recommendations and endorsements from past customers on Dr Iain Jennings' public Linked-in file. For many more client recommendations please see our comments pages and our endorsements page. Some comments from Iain - our manager : "After what seems to me to have been a very long tough Winter, Spring is at last here ! If you haven't been so active so far this year, now's the perfect time to be getting out and about and enjoying the outdoor life here in the accessible Peak District National Park." "This is the start of our 25th Season at Rock Lea and we're really excited that we have a full range of outdoor activities on offer this season AND in addition we are once again going to offering simple Bed & Breakfast accommodation for customers here at Rock Lea in a month or two. We'll initially be offering up to 8 beds in simple single and twin rooms. However, if they prefer to stay elsewhere all of our Open Courses customers can still opt to stay in local hotels, inns, self catering camping barns and cottages or in B&B guest houses, camping sites and local YHA's of course. However, there have been many people asking if they could stay here all under the same roof here in the very centre of the village of Hathersage...and Caroline agreed we could offer private hostel style accommodation here at Rock Lea once again once some decorating and refurbushment has been completed. More news about that later ! " "On a personal note, I've managed to lose a stone in weight in the last 6 weeks and I am hoping to lose a lot more and get fitter in the coming months - thanks are due to everyone in the excellent team that has been helping & encouraging me to downsize ! I am feeling much better and I am grateful to everyone who sent their best wishes when I was ill recently." Please call Iain on 01433-650345 to discuss any specific requirements you may have. We welcome enquiries from groups and individuals. Please click here for our last 8-page .pdf NEWSLETTER offering some unbelievably good deals for individuals and small parties visiting our base in the Peak District, plus the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales. The Spring months are often a perfect time here in Derbyshire for groups to be running informal post-Christmas team outings and day visits - often in spectacular scenery - and it's a great time of year for people to be considering booking weekends away on their own or with friends and family. The next few months can be really lovely and warm or can be pretty cold and wet - all part of the joys of the climate this part of the world enjoys. However, If you take care to wrap up warm and head down, say, a nicely pre-heated cave ( the caves are always a comfortable 9 degrees all year long ) then that's hardly a big issue. We welcome people coming on their own or with family & friends on our public winter "open" weekends .... and you can also book instruction for private, exclusive bookings such as stag groups & hen parties. Close personal 1:1 tuition and private tuition for small parties can be booked through our guiding service for cavers, climbers, potholers and abseilers too. This service allows smaller groups to move and learn at their own pace...and in an exclusive relaxed atmosphere. Don't forget we can supply our guests with everything needed to keep warm and dry and comfortable - so you don't need to spend a fortune buying technical clothing or equipment ( unless you like shopping and want to ! ).
Other NEWS stories on this news page include : - NEW ! LOW COST WALKING WEEKENDS in the Peak District National Park now available for individuals - listed on our OPEN WEEKENDS PAGE. Sunday Times Travel Publishes another complimentary article about Rock Lea's "Open" courses. Health & Safety Executive's AALA Inspection Service awards Rock Lea another 3-year license. Dutch Firefighters enjoy their Team Building Event in Hathersage. French Power Company's First Aiders Team Building & Training Residential. Polish team members join Avon's UK Colleagues for team build in Derbyshire. Telegraph's travel section reports on a family caving trip using our Guiding Service. BBC tv crew filming at Rock Lea for Ian Wright's TV show with Mohammed Ali. Prestigious National Award presented to our Director Tony Kendall at the House of Commons Our crossword challenge - Only if you think you're hard enough ? James, our youngest instructor, attains his European Flying License Pudsey Bear visits Rock Lea for charity abseiling event. News from Austria Name changes at one of our favourite Sheffield 4 star hotels A fall of snow OLDER STORIES / ARCHIVED....
AALA INSPECTION SERVICE AWARDS US ANOTHER 3 YR LICENSE We are pleased to report that early in 2010 we were routinely inspected by the AALA inspection services and we were given a clean bill of health and recommended we will be issued with another 3 year licence by the Licensing Authority. An AALA License is required to take students and young people under-18 yrs on adventurous activities in remote places when they are not accompanied by their parents or legal guardians /carers. For example when Police Cadets or apprentices from Volvo or Babcocks have been here it has been necessary for us to hold a valid AALA License for the activities involved. Peak Activities t/a Rock Lea Activity Centre and T/A Iain Jennings Associates is licensed to take out youngsters undertaking rock climbing, abseiling, caving, potholing, mine exploration, ice-climbing, coasteering orienteering, trekking and mountain biking in remote areas. Click here for more details. click on logo for more information on the AALA scheme SPRING CROSSWORD CHALLENGE : Our tough 2010 Competition for all our website readers & customers is a nice little teamwork task. We doubt if many people will complete it working alone. IS YOUR TEAM UP TO COMPLETING OUR TOUGH 2010 CROSSWORD COMPETITION ? EVERY SINGLE CORRECT ENTRY WE RECEIVE BEFORE THE END OF NEXT MONTH WILL WIN A £100 VOUCHER ! Click here please for full set of details, clues, & your crossword challenge team entry form...
More dates released listing this year's public weekend courses : Now is the time when our open courses are being offered at up to 50% off their normal RRP - so it's the ideal time to be booking some great value weekends for the Spring, Summer and Autumn. Click here for dates & prices of Days and Weekends on offer this year... We are again offering weekend courses such as "Beginners Caving & Potholing", "Abseiling & Rock Climbing", and our very popular "Multisports" multi-activity weekends for individual adults, couples and small parties. In addition there are now some mid-week dates on offer, which if demand is sufficient, will be run throughout 2010 and 2011. We have a great set of deals on offer in 2010 with firms supplying really great value local accommodation. For example for many dates in 2010 a couple can share a four star en suite Twin Room at the Kenwood Hall Hotel for as little as £25 per night each for 2 night stays...including lavish full English Breakfasts designed for outdoor appetites ! HENS & STAGS WEEKENDS & AWAY DAYS Hen Party Members after a caving session Stag Groups and Hen Group Visits in 2010 : We already have a number of private group bookings for 2010 & 2011, including a number of hen parties and stag groups coming to our outdoor base in Hathersage for half days, full days and two & three -day programmes of outdoor sports and outdoor pursuits in the lovely Peak National Park. Prices of sessions for groups of 12 or more people vary from £69 to £199 per person, including VAT. Please call our office on 01433-650345 for more informastion or to firm up a booking. We take Visa, Maestro, Solo and MasterCard payments over the phone. Free places can be arranged for the group organisers. Tom's jolly Stag Party prior to setting off on a caving trip ! Click here for lots more information for Stag Group Organisers. Click here for lots more information for Hen Group Organisers. We can cater for hen and stag groups large or small, fit or unfit ! No prior experience and no special equipment is needed to join us ! Enjoy a choice of half day activities such as rock climbing, abseiling, orienteering, easy caving, tough potholing or treasure hunts on foot or on bikes or in minibuses. Talk to us to see what combination of activities at Rock Lea will suit your budget, mood and group size. Click to see wide range of more activities available to private groups. Call Iain & Caroline on 01433-650345 to discuss your needs & interests. Charity Fund Raising Events this year : Our company directors have renewed their commitment to helping people who want to have fun raising funds for good causes - and we are particularly keen to help folks who are wanting to organise sponsored abseiling or caving events to support the work of charities working on disaster relief in Haiti such as Medecins Sans Frontieres, Oxfam, UNICEF, Save the Children Fund and the DEC. Click here for more info. on how we can help you have fun charity fund raising on your own or with friends. News from Austria : Our dear friend and associate Ingrid is having a great season over in Tyrol. However, she has been affected by the UK£ : Euro exchange rate this year and for once she is not fully booked up - so she has some rooms free if anyone wants to book skiing or snowboarding over there this season. For last minute bargain ski holidays e-mail Ingrid and please mention Iain & Caroline at Rock Lea. www.hotel-hochfilzer.com/en/contact-us.html Click here to explore skiing possibilities with Ingrid's team... Older new stories from Austria ( staff visits & filming ) Weddings in Ellmau ! Employment opportunities with Peak Activities Ltd. :-( We regret that we do not have any paid employment vacancies at the present time, so please do not sent us any unsolicited CV's or job application letters or e-mails. A lot of other centres must have made some of their key staff redundant recently - we seem to be getting loys of employment requests which we haven't asked for - and all too often the people who have been working elsewhere don't even have the basic qualifications and experience that our volunteers working here at Rock Lea have achieved. N
More dates released listing this year's public weekend courses : Now is the time when our open courses are being offered at up to 50% off their normal RRP - so it's the ideal time to be booking some great value weekends for the Spring, Summer and Autumn.
Click here for dates & prices of Days and Weekends on offer this year... We are again offering weekend courses such as "Beginners Caving & Potholing", "Abseiling & Rock Climbing", and our very popular "Multisports" multi-activity weekends for individual adults, couples and small parties. In addition there are now some mid-week dates on offer, which if demand is sufficient, will be run throughout 2010 and 2011. We have a great set of deals on offer in 2010 with firms supplying really great value local accommodation. For example for many dates in 2010 a couple can share a four star en suite Twin Room at the Kenwood Hall Hotel for as little as £25 per night each for 2 night stays...including lavish full English Breakfasts designed for outdoor appetites !
HENS & STAGS WEEKENDS & AWAY DAYS
Hen Party Members after a caving session Stag Groups and Hen Group Visits in 2010 : We already have a number of private group bookings for 2010 & 2011, including a number of hen parties and stag groups coming to our outdoor base in Hathersage for half days, full days and two & three -day programmes of outdoor sports and outdoor pursuits in the lovely Peak National Park. Prices of sessions for groups of 12 or more people vary from £69 to £199 per person, including VAT. Please call our office on 01433-650345 for more informastion or to firm up a booking. We take Visa, Maestro, Solo and MasterCard payments over the phone. Free places can be arranged for the group organisers.
Tom's jolly Stag Party prior to setting off on a caving trip !
Click here for lots more information for Stag Group Organisers. Click here for lots more information for Hen Group Organisers. We can cater for hen and stag groups large or small, fit or unfit ! No prior experience and no special equipment is needed to join us ! Enjoy a choice of half day activities such as rock climbing, abseiling, orienteering, easy caving, tough potholing or treasure hunts on foot or on bikes or in minibuses. Talk to us to see what combination of activities at Rock Lea will suit your budget, mood and group size. Click to see wide range of more activities available to private groups. Call Iain & Caroline on 01433-650345 to discuss your needs & interests.
Charity Fund Raising Events this year : Our company directors have renewed their commitment to helping people who want to have fun raising funds for good causes - and we are particularly keen to help folks who are wanting to organise sponsored abseiling or caving events to support the work of charities working on disaster relief in Haiti such as Medecins Sans Frontieres, Oxfam, UNICEF, Save the Children Fund and the DEC. Click here for more info. on how we can help you have fun charity fund raising on your own or with friends. News from Austria : Our dear friend and associate Ingrid is having a great season over in Tyrol. However, she has been affected by the UK£ : Euro exchange rate this year and for once she is not fully booked up - so she has some rooms free if anyone wants to book skiing or snowboarding over there this season. For last minute bargain ski holidays e-mail Ingrid and please mention Iain & Caroline at Rock Lea. www.hotel-hochfilzer.com/en/contact-us.html Click here to explore skiing possibilities with Ingrid's team... Older new stories from Austria ( staff visits & filming ) Weddings in Ellmau ! Employment opportunities with Peak Activities Ltd. :-( We regret that we do not have any paid employment vacancies at the present time, so please do not sent us any unsolicited CV's or job application letters or e-mails. A lot of other centres must have made some of their key staff redundant recently - we seem to be getting loys of employment requests which we haven't asked for - and all too often the people who have been working elsewhere don't even have the basic qualifications and experience that our volunteers working here at Rock Lea have achieved. N
W + E S
N. E. W. S. STORIES FROM ALL AROUND THE COMPASS !
OLDER STORIES FROM ROCK LEA | Dutch Firefighters get into some tight spots ! | King of the Air ! | | Visitors from Switzerland fill their lungs with fresh Derbyshire Air | | Low cost four star hotel rooms for Rock Lea's groups | | Booking Weekends & Days | Back in the National Travel News again ! |
DUTCH FIREFIGHTERS GET THEMSELVES INTO A PARTICULARLY TIGHT SPOT... Members of Frigwillige Brandweer, Gemeente Baarle-Nassau, Netherlands caving during their team building event and social gathering in Derbyshire with caving staff from Peak Activities Ltd. TEAM BUILDING UNDERGROUND WITH DUTCH & BELGIAN FIREFIGHTERS.... Recently we enjoyed running a busy weekend looking after a very jolly party of 28 men and women Volunteer Firefighters from the Dutch Fire Service ( Frigwillige Brandweer ) who are stationed close to the Belgian-Netherlands border. They came across to Hathersage with a coach on the excellent overnight ferry from Zeebrugges to Hull. They then spent a full day caving and potholing in three working syndicates of 9 or 10 people under the aegis of three of our Sports Division's experienced caving leaders & several caving safety assistants. The gathering followed a pre-trip planning meeting at our offices at Rock Lea held a couple of months before with their Brandweer Kommandant, Heer Jac Haagen. Iain Jennings our centre manager said " Although this assignment could have been arranged over the phone, it was great to meet Jac and show him the many options on offer using video and other resources." Iain added " I think it was useful for Jac to come and visit us for a pre-event meeting to put faces and names together and for reassurance that we could handle his specific needs in a bespoke manner. We often say that time invested on such visits is seldom wasted." The Diutch Firefighters approaching the entrance of one of the three caves being explored. This the deepest in England - but sadly the group did not have time to get all the way around. Maybe next time ? A lady firefighter showing the boys how to wriggle out of a tight spot ! Don't forget they'd asked for some really tough tight bits..and to be fair they seemed to really enjoy this trip ! It takes all sorts ! The Dutch group came here to have some fun and expressed a keen interest when booking to get used to working in tight, very confined spaces. The women in the party were extremely fit and agile & our staff reported they had a job keeping up with some of them when exploring some fairly low passages in caves such as Giants, Carlswark and Devonshire Cavern. Where the tough get going ! Having fun and working as a team exploring the secrets of the Derbyshire underworld... The firefighters climb up the electron ladder up the waterfall in Garland's Pot, with our experienced Caving Director Tony Kendall looking after the safety line. This is a pothole with a strong vertical element. You are glad when you have a tight safety line on this section of the trip. Iain Jennings added "A lot of people from the Netherlands are coming to see us in the Peak District at the moment - making the most of the very favourable Euro - Pound exchange rate." Several of the firefighters said it was their first time in England - but said they hoped they'd be back soon. We hope they enjoyed themselves sampling the delights deep beneath this lovely upland area. We even managed to arrange for one our friends in the village's fire fighting team to kindly show some of the firefighters around our retained ( volunteer ) fire station in Hathersage. They were very intrigued to learn that most English fire engines are called "Dennis" ! Danke Welle ! Bedankt !
DUTCH FIREFIGHTERS GET THEMSELVES INTO A PARTICULARLY TIGHT SPOT...
Members of Frigwillige Brandweer, Gemeente Baarle-Nassau, Netherlands caving during their team building event and social gathering in Derbyshire with caving staff from Peak Activities Ltd. TEAM BUILDING UNDERGROUND WITH DUTCH & BELGIAN FIREFIGHTERS....
Recently we enjoyed running a busy weekend looking after a very jolly party of 28 men and women Volunteer Firefighters from the Dutch Fire Service ( Frigwillige Brandweer ) who are stationed close to the Belgian-Netherlands border. They came across to Hathersage with a coach on the excellent overnight ferry from Zeebrugges to Hull. They then spent a full day caving and potholing in three working syndicates of 9 or 10 people under the aegis of three of our Sports Division's experienced caving leaders & several caving safety assistants. The gathering followed a pre-trip planning meeting at our offices at Rock Lea held a couple of months before with their Brandweer Kommandant, Heer Jac Haagen. Iain Jennings our centre manager said " Although this assignment could have been arranged over the phone, it was great to meet Jac and show him the many options on offer using video and other resources." Iain added " I think it was useful for Jac to come and visit us for a pre-event meeting to put faces and names together and for reassurance that we could handle his specific needs in a bespoke manner. We often say that time invested on such visits is seldom wasted." The Diutch Firefighters approaching the entrance of one of the three caves being explored. This the deepest in England - but sadly the group did not have time to get all the way around. Maybe next time ? A lady firefighter showing the boys how to wriggle out of a tight spot ! Don't forget they'd asked for some really tough tight bits..and to be fair they seemed to really enjoy this trip ! It takes all sorts ! The Dutch group came here to have some fun and expressed a keen interest when booking to get used to working in tight, very confined spaces. The women in the party were extremely fit and agile & our staff reported they had a job keeping up with some of them when exploring some fairly low passages in caves such as Giants, Carlswark and Devonshire Cavern. Where the tough get going ! Having fun and working as a team exploring the secrets of the Derbyshire underworld... The firefighters climb up the electron ladder up the waterfall in Garland's Pot, with our experienced Caving Director Tony Kendall looking after the safety line. This is a pothole with a strong vertical element. You are glad when you have a tight safety line on this section of the trip. Iain Jennings added "A lot of people from the Netherlands are coming to see us in the Peak District at the moment - making the most of the very favourable Euro - Pound exchange rate." Several of the firefighters said it was their first time in England - but said they hoped they'd be back soon. We hope they enjoyed themselves sampling the delights deep beneath this lovely upland area. We even managed to arrange for one our friends in the village's fire fighting team to kindly show some of the firefighters around our retained ( volunteer ) fire station in Hathersage. They were very intrigued to learn that most English fire engines are called "Dennis" ! Danke Welle ! Bedankt !
Photos in this article were kindly provided by Frigwillige Branweer, Gemeente Baarle-Nassau, Netherlands. Sign up for our e-mail news-letter Back in the Nation's Travel News again ! THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH LIKES OUR GUIDING SERVICES Bella & Sebastion : Picture by Offical Telegraph Photographer RII SCHROER
Our guiding service and the activities which we organise at Rock Lea for families from time to time such as caving and climbing and abseiling were highly acclaimed in the Sunday Telegraph earlier this season. The newspaper sent us a very young family and a reporter and accompanying photographer who went off for a day of various activities under the safe aegis of senior instructor Dr. Andy McLean. They seemed to enjoy a good time - we certainly enjoyed a good write up by Gary King, who concluded that even young children can enjoy caving if sensitively led. We were one of the very first firms in the Peak District to offer our guiding services for small groups - largely because we only had several small 6-passenger minibuses in our fleet at the time - which lended themselves to such a service. Nowadays all sorts of firms that have just arrived on the local scene are claiming to be the innovators of guiding. We're not bothered as long as people who write for the Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Times keep writing that we're the best ! See www.telegraph.co.uk/outdoors Sign up for our e-mail news-letter
Our own king of the Air !
We're delighted to report that James Jennings (19) our youngest instructor at Rock Lea has just passed his final flying skills exam & his emergency procedures tests at Leicester Aero Club and has now been awarded his JAA European pilots licence for a single engined piston aircraft flying under VFR. James is pictured with one of the eight Cessna 152 aircraft that he has been flying in recent weeks to hone and practise his cross country flying skills. James started to fly in a 152 at the age of 10 as a birthday present... and later went on to log many hours flying larger and more powerful Piper Cherokees out of Llandwrog at the seaside near Caernarfon, where he flew solo at the age of 16. Sadly, numerous sessions of waiting for weather to clear at Caernarfon and the long driving distances involved in getting to Wales meant that getting sufficient hours at Caernarfon became a slow, long term project. Accordingly James and his dad joined Leicester Aero Club a few weeks ago in the hope the weather there would be more chances to fly there ...and they were right. Under the aegis of two qualified flying instructresses Joe and Jessa, James has made rapid progress. We're very grateful to Joe and Jessa and their senior colleagues Paul and John for getting James through his training & skills tests. James said "The sky's your limit ! " "It's simply amazing what you can achieve with just a bit of the right sort of help and encouragement ! " Above, left : About 15 years ago a very keen little four year old James explored the controls of the helicopter his dad had just been flying around in during a R-22 helicopter flying experience Caroline had purchased for Iain. James' keen interest in aereoplanes and things that fly meant that it was no surprise that within a few years, James first flew solo at Caernarfon Airfield in Piper Cherokees "Hotel Mike" ( pictured ) and "Charlie Alpha". James' cross country solo flights included trips from Leicester to visit aerodromes as far away as Nottingham, Cambridge, Peterborough, Marwell and Northampton. His next target is to have some fun enjoying more basic flying and then to study for an instrument flight rating and also to learn to fly a larger Cessna 172 high lift "Skyhawk" so he can fly off with his dad. Fellow instructors Tony, Glenn, John and Peter Daughtrey have all said they'd love to get airborne with James as soon as possible for him to fly with passengers. We wish James a long, safe and successful career flying. If anybody fancies learning to fly we strongly recommend Leicester Aero Club. Their staff are excellent. It 's a really friendly and professional, long established & well equipped flying centre. James is a student studying for an MSc in Aeronautical Engineering at the Department of Aerospace and Motor Engineering at the University of Loughborough. He worked at Rock Lea again all through the Summer months now he has passed his PPL exams. James is a Black Belt Second Dan in Tae Kwon Do and his growing string of qualifications includes a Wilderness Outdoor Pursuits Instructors First Aid Certificate. James is currently looking for one or more sponsors who may wish to help him fund his further training in the air. He wants to learn to fly fast multi-engined aircrsaft using avionics instruments. Please
call Iain on 01433-650345 if you can assist James.
OTHER NEWS STORIES.... Sign up for our e-mail news-letter
Visitors from as far afield as Sheffield and Switzerland come to Hathersage to enjoy getting fresh air into their lungs ! Message from our Centre Manager... Iain Jennings Open Weekend Beginners' Caving Group Safety Briefing at Rock Lea If you are looking for a great bargain which won't break the bank - now really is the perfect time to be booking group and individual events with us if you can afford it. You'll be warmly welcomed and you should be in line for some generous offers. Our friends and suppliers such as The Kenwood Hall, for example, are currently offering our customers some great exclusive deals. We can arrange Bed & Breakfast rates in an executive 4 star hotel room at the Kenwood Hall ( complete with gymn and a swimming pool ) for just £75 mid week and for as little as £29 per person for Friday to Sunday stays. Two or three years ago clients staying at the Kenwood Hall would be paying £150 each per overnight stay....so we feel we are offering our customers some really good reliable deals at the moment. Click for a pdf file on the services offered by the Kenwood Hall Click for pdf file on what sort of outdoor activities we can offer Kenwood Hall's visitors. Some of the stag groups we have been looking after recently have been staying at places such as the Kenwood Hall at very low prices. This is how I see we can work smartly during what is a recession to actually improve our brand and our reputation for offering good deals. However, it requires close working relationship with partner organisations and we're lucky we've built up such good offices over the years.
Visitors from as far afield as Sheffield and Switzerland come to Hathersage to enjoy getting fresh air into their lungs ! Message from our Centre Manager...
Iain Jennings Open Weekend Beginners' Caving Group Safety Briefing at Rock Lea If you are looking for a great bargain which won't break the bank - now really is the perfect time to be booking group and individual events with us if you can afford it. You'll be warmly welcomed and you should be in line for some generous offers. Our friends and suppliers such as The Kenwood Hall, for example, are currently offering our customers some great exclusive deals. We can arrange Bed & Breakfast rates in an executive 4 star hotel room at the Kenwood Hall ( complete with gymn and a swimming pool ) for just £75 mid week and for as little as £29 per person for Friday to Sunday stays. Two or three years ago clients staying at the Kenwood Hall would be paying £150 each per overnight stay....so we feel we are offering our customers some really good reliable deals at the moment. Click for a pdf file on the services offered by the Kenwood Hall Click for pdf file on what sort of outdoor activities we can offer Kenwood Hall's visitors. Some of the stag groups we have been looking after recently have been staying at places such as the Kenwood Hall at very low prices. This is how I see we can work smartly during what is a recession to actually improve our brand and our reputation for offering good deals. However, it requires close working relationship with partner organisations and we're lucky we've built up such good offices over the years.
Kenwood Hall Hotel
Why not try one of our popular open weekends such as caving weekends for beginners ....or maybe book an abseiling & roped scrambling weekend ? Typically these groups comprise 12 people who have come alone or with a friend or partner. No special gear or experience is needed ! Some weekends offer two days of tuition for as little as £99 per person. Prices range from £89 to £199 per person per weekend. Click for detailed dates and prices of events open to the public...
If you've been to Rock Lea before - ask about our follow up weekends including intermediate and advanced skills weekend courses. Having fun cimbing up a potholing ladder with safety rope during one of our popular Beginners' Open Caving Weekends at Rock Lea.
OPEN EVENTS FOR INDIVIDUALS & COUPLES WANTING REALLY SAFE, RELIABLE & ENJOYABLE OUTDOOR EXPERIENCES IN THE ACCESSIBLE PEAK DISTRICT NATIONAL PARK ! The dates of Peak Activities popular "open courses " for this year are published elsewhere on our website and these weekends are open to individuals and couples. Please click here to go to our dates and prices page and grab yourselves some bargains ! Group leaders wanting other dates or group deals on the weekends or mid week dates of their choice should call us on 01433-650345 please to check group prices and dates availability.
OPEN EVENTS FOR INDIVIDUALS & COUPLES WANTING REALLY SAFE, RELIABLE & ENJOYABLE OUTDOOR EXPERIENCES IN THE ACCESSIBLE PEAK DISTRICT NATIONAL PARK ! The dates of Peak Activities popular "open courses " for this year are published elsewhere on our website and these weekends are open to individuals and couples. Please click here to go to our dates and prices page and grab yourselves some bargains !
Group leaders wanting other dates or group deals on the weekends or mid week dates of their choice should call us on 01433-650345 please to check group prices and dates availability.
Adventure Racing Page now open on www.iain.co.uk A team from Robert Bosch GmbH. We have often run Adventure Racing events in the past few years as part of tailored, made to measure events for Charity Fund Raising Purposes. However, for this year we have decided to widen the scope of these increasingly popular events to include two day events with overnight camps and much more. You can choose to arrange your adventure race in the Peak District or in the Wilderkaisergebirge Mountains of the Austrian Alps. Group Organisers wanting a more challenging and strenuous team building event for fairly fit and motivated people may well find our Adventure Racing possibilities interesting ! Please click here for more details of Adventure Racing organised by Peak Activities in the Peak District. Not for the faint hearted ! Combine an orienteering competition, a night hike, a high level moorland trek, a kayaking race, problem- -solving experiences, freefall abseiling experience and a potholing challenge with an overnight camp and lots more ! Prices on application.
Carry on Camping : Union Pub Story : Open Course Dates for 2008 : Older Stories : Pudsey Bear's Sponsored Abseiling Visit : Tae Kwon Do Black Belt for James :
CHARITY FUND RAISING AT ROCK LEA The staff at Rock Lea are committed to raising even more money for worthy charities in 2010. Below are examples of previous charity events we have been involved with planning and running for two registered charities. ALZHEIMER'S SOCIETY SPONSORED ABSEILING EVENT...
.... Three plucky ladies Debbie, Debbie and Helen pictured above raised lots of money for the Alzheimer's Society during Alzheimers Awareness Week. They'd asked us to arrange a sponsored abseiling session with James and Andy ( right ) from Rock Lea Centre. Alzheimer’s Awareness Week aimed to reach out and make contact with all those thousands of carers and people with dementia who need our support and who are not in touch with the Alzheimer's Society. Please click on the Alzheimer's Logo ( above ) to and learn more about this charity's excellent work. For more information about organising charity events with Peak Activities please click here or visit www.iain.co.uk/charity.htm PUDSEY BEAR ABSEILS IN FOR CHARITY... .. PUDSEY BEAR DROPS IN TO ROCK LEA TO SUPPORT HIS CHARITY ABSEIL !
Staff from our clients Castle Estates pictured above at Rock Lea with BBC Children in Need's "Pudsey" - all working together on a team project to raise funds for Pudsey's Charity. If you are interested in working with our staff to raise funds for your organisation's chosen good cause please see our special charity fund raising page. We can run charity fund raising events for groups or for individuals.
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This year we've had lots more bookings for our"Open Events" than we'd expected.
WEEKENDS for INDIVIDUAL ... Click here to see dates and prices of our wide choice of weekend events open to the public. There are some great bargains to be had including 2 full days of qualified friendly instruction for under £100 eachin the low season ! These are our adults events that have often been featured on national radio and TV and much higher prices, so grab a bargain while they're still on offer.
Phone Iain or Caroline on 01433-650345 for details !
...... BBC Sports Presenter Damion Johnson abseiling with Peak Activities Ltd's staff during one of our "Breakaway" open weekend featured on Damion's BBC2 television's "Breakout" holiday programme.
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BBC Sports Presenter Damion Johnson abseiling with Peak Activities Ltd's staff during one of our "Breakaway" open weekend featured on Damion's BBC2 television's "Breakout" holiday programme.
Congratulations to James on flying solo ! Those of you who have been following his progress in learning to fly will be pleased to read that our junior instructor James Jennings (above) very successfully flew solo at Caernarfon Air Parc in early August in his favourite Piper Cherokee aircraft G-CGHM "Hotel Mike" ( left ) after approx. 11 hours flying tuition from his excellent flying instructor Paul. James now has lots more flying practise hours to do in "Hotel Mike" and "Charlie Alpha" ( right ). In July James took two weeks over at Caernarfon and passed no less than 6 PPL exams. These included the JAA Air Navigation, Air Law, Human Factors in Flight Safety, Engine & Power Management Systems plus Navigation and "Meteorology" which are all needed to gain a PPL licence. James is paying for his lessons by working at Rock Lea doing all sorts of jobs including washing helmets and cleaning up minibuses & caving suits and helping out as a qualified first aider on events such as our charity abseils. He is now looking around for sponsors and cadetships. If you would like more information on flying as part of a small group experience in North Wales ( with more qualified pilots like Kristina who has over 25,000 hours in her log book - please click here or call Iain on 01433-650345. Here at our outdoor activities & training centre in Hathersage we're looking forward to another busy Winter Season. Right now's an ideal time for you to be talking to Caroline in our bookings office if you want to book events for individuals or groups of people for this year. We are offering past customers and new clients some very good deals for return trips this season. Check out dates of our open weekends.
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UNION PUBS MANAGERS' VISIT
A very jolly party of managers from The Union Pub Company pictured having a very good time at our base in Hathersage Rock Lea. They were out enjoying an "Away Day" team building event including easy caving and orienteering with our instructors Caroline, John and Andy. This year Peak Activities Ltd. have welcomed more groups than ever before enjoying the excellent weather for such informal and enjoyable opportunities to relax and chill out together in a fun-filled way. RELIABLE, TOP QUALITY EVENTS for QUALITY CONSCIOUS CLIENTS..... Group Organisers considering events based in the Peak District National Park and who want the BEST rather than second best should please call us today on 01433-650345 to discuss their specific needs and requirements. If you would like to organise a safe, reliable low cost, fun-filled away day for your own private group we'll be pleased to hear from you. Individuals should look our open fixtures listed on our special "deals" page. This details events ( mainly weekends ) which we hold for individuals and couples. NEW - MOVIE CLIPS INTRODUCED TO WEBSITE Click here to see a short movie clip with commentary... ( it's a 5 megabyte file - sorry ! ...suitable for broadband users only ). P...... NEW GROUP OFFERS ON OUR NEW WEB SITE FROM OUR SPORTS DIVISION... The New Year saw the launch of a new web site at www.peak-activities.co.uk with special offers listed there for people who have brought groups of people here before. See http://www.peak-activities.co.uk/g_offers.html This web site is under development with Eclipse but is expected to have lots of cine films and interesting movies and lots more when it's developed. ......
A very jolly party of managers from The Union Pub Company pictured having a very good time at our base in Hathersage Rock Lea. They were out enjoying an "Away Day" team building event including easy caving and orienteering with our instructors Caroline, John and Andy. This year Peak Activities Ltd. have welcomed more groups than ever before enjoying the excellent weather for such informal and enjoyable opportunities to relax and chill out together in a fun-filled way. RELIABLE, TOP QUALITY EVENTS for QUALITY CONSCIOUS CLIENTS..... Group Organisers considering events based in the Peak District National Park and who want the BEST rather than second best should please call us today on 01433-650345 to discuss their specific needs and requirements. If you would like to organise a safe, reliable low cost, fun-filled away day for your own private group we'll be pleased to hear from you. Individuals should look our open fixtures listed on our special "deals" page. This details events ( mainly weekends ) which we hold for individuals and couples.
NEW - MOVIE CLIPS INTRODUCED TO WEBSITE Click here to see a short movie clip with commentary... ( it's a 5 megabyte file - sorry ! ...suitable for broadband users only ). P......
NEW GROUP OFFERS ON OUR NEW WEB SITE FROM OUR SPORTS DIVISION... The New Year saw the launch of a new web site at www.peak-activities.co.uk with special offers listed there for people who have brought groups of people here before. See http://www.peak-activities.co.uk/g_offers.html This web site is under development with Eclipse but is expected to have lots of cine films and interesting movies and lots more when it's developed.
NEW Fun Mixed Ability Corporate Challenges... .. New for this year we're offering to visiting groups some exciting new mixed-ability trailquests involving ligh hearted physical and mental challenges. If you are up to the challenge & want to book something that's a bit different, sporty and packed with fun for all ages & all abilities - then please call us on 01433-650345 for more details. Everybody's a winner but there's champagne & chocolates all round for the winning team too ! Click to return to top of this NEWS page N W + E S N. E. W. S. STORIES FROM ALL AROUND THE COMPASS ! Poles travel all the way over to Rock Lea for a teambuilding weekend their UK colleagues ! Lucasz, Ewa, Tom, Stephen, Neil and Hania get ready to go caving with Andy. People often travel a very long way to enjoy our activities and events in the Peak National Park but by anybody's standards flying in from Garwolin near Warsaw for the weekend to visit Peak Activities Ltd's base in Hathersage is a pretty impressive journey ! Pictured above are procurement experts from Avon Cosmetics - three of whom travelled all the way from their new manufacturing plant in Poland just for a fun filled 3-day weekend of informal team building with their UK colleagues from Northampton. The party enjoyed some abseiling and orienteering and some scrambling and some pretty impressive pub games and some serious socialising ! This jolly group stayed in a traditional local inn on the edge of Hathersage sharing the delights of top quality Peak District food and hospitality. The visitors also entertained us with their excellent guitar, accordian & concertina music.
NEW Fun Mixed Ability Corporate Challenges... ..
New for this year we're offering to visiting groups some exciting new mixed-ability trailquests involving ligh hearted physical and mental challenges. If you are up to the challenge & want to book something that's a bit different, sporty and packed with fun for all ages & all abilities - then please call us on 01433-650345 for more details. Everybody's a winner but there's champagne & chocolates all round for the winning team too ! Click to return to top of this NEWS page
N W + E S
N. E. W. S. STORIES FROM ALL AROUND THE COMPASS ! Poles travel all the way over to Rock Lea for a teambuilding weekend their UK colleagues !
Lucasz, Ewa, Tom, Stephen, Neil and Hania get ready to go caving with Andy. People often travel a very long way to enjoy our activities and events in the Peak National Park but by anybody's standards flying in from Garwolin near Warsaw for the weekend to visit Peak Activities Ltd's base in Hathersage is a pretty impressive journey ! Pictured above are procurement experts from Avon Cosmetics - three of whom travelled all the way from their new manufacturing plant in Poland just for a fun filled 3-day weekend of informal team building with their UK colleagues from Northampton. The party enjoyed some abseiling and orienteering and some scrambling and some pretty impressive pub games and some serious socialising ! This jolly group stayed in a traditional local inn on the edge of Hathersage sharing the delights of top quality Peak District food and hospitality. The visitors also entertained us with their excellent guitar, accordian & concertina music.
....... A man destined for higher things...Lucasz scored 9.8 for this abseil attempt AND we now know he can sing perfectly all of the verses to "Auld Langs Syne" too !
Click here to see some kind endorsements from Tom and other team leaders from Avon who have been here over the years. Because the weather was fairly changeable during their three days we were glad Tom trusted our tutors to pick out activities on the day that would best make the most of the team's time out here with us. The other kind of walking where we supply the Poles for you is our new Nordic Walking activity option ! Click to return to top of this NEWS page
Click here to see some kind endorsements from Tom and other team leaders from Avon who have been here over the years. Because the weather was fairly changeable during their three days we were glad Tom trusted our tutors to pick out activities on the day that would best make the most of the team's time out here with us.
The other kind of walking where we supply the Poles for you is our new Nordic Walking activity option ! Click to return to top of this NEWS page
The other kind of walking where we supply the Poles for you is our new Nordic Walking activity option !
Peak Activities' director TONY KENDALL receives a prestigious National Community Award at the House of Commons for his work setting up & running an inclusive Cub Pack in inner city Leicester...
.. Tony working in our caving lamp store. Our busy Director Tony Kendall is the co-Founder of a Cub Scout Pack held on a Saturday so Muslim children can be included and attend has just received another prestigious award "Investors in the Community Award" held at a ceremony at the House of Commons recently. Tony's pack is part of the 12th/74th group in Mere Road, Leicester, was set up to help replace failing youth clubs in the inner city of Leicester a couple of years ago. They wanted to help provide the youngsters of the Highfields area with something worthwhile to do. The pack is run by Tony and Alam Navsa and Bill Trewick. A Scout Leader of many years standing, Tony said the group was mixed and set up to run on Saturdays rather than mid week to enable kids of all faiths to take part. Tony, who holds both the Scouts Medal of Merit and the Silver Acorn Awards said "This highlights the fact that Scouts welcome members of all faiths, colours and nationalities. We wanted our group to be as inclusive as possible."
Peak Activities Ltd's Company Directors Tony, Caroline and Iain have always been keen to help people of all ages, nationalities and creeds get out and about and enjoy the Great Outdoors. We have recently been working on a new range of activities for people of all ages and levels of fitnesses to enjoy activities with us in the Peak District ..and we now have a range of new activities which can be enjoyed by folks in wheelchairs and other people with limited mobility ... including some new "wheelchair friendly" mixed fitness, radio controlled orienteering sessions, caving trips, kite flying, treasure hunts, trail quests, quizzes & lots more.
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A modest fall of snow occurred...... a snow story from Nov 2010. Centre Manager Caroline used her tape measure to record a blanket covering of 14 inches of fresh snow over the night of 30th Nov. and into the early morning of 1st Dec. 2010. This is almost an Alpine fall and all trains and buses stopped on evening of Nov 30th. Some roads are just passable by 4x4's others are blocked, so you may need to walk if travelling to accommodation off steep side roads or some farm tracks. Sadly much of this snow is unlikely to melt until the very low daytime temperatures we have been experiencing start to rise above freezing again. It snowed a lot more here at Rock Lea after this picture was taken. Such heavy falls of snow are very rare - and have only occurred once or twice in the past 25 years we've been watching the weather here. Winter now seems to have arrived at last. Throughout S. Yorkshire and N. Derbyshire major roads and the M1 and M18 have been very badly affected by the snow and there was traffic chaos for days. Of course the places higher than Rock Lea ( and that's most of the land hereabouts ) are more badly affected because of the increased altitude. The snow in our car park was above some of the cars' wheels ! Sadly some damage occurred when the heavy fall of snow caved in and wrecked Iain's beloved yard awning. Police have advised people to keep off the local roads unless absoluetly necessary whilst tye snow is like this. Even the railway was stopped for a while, which is quite unprecedented. Schools were closed by the snow. Anybody travelling to the Peak District is advised to carefully check the roads conditions, note any road blockages or conjestion and take heed of any Police Warnings. Get an accurate weather forecast and make sure your car is well kitted out with food, warm clothing, sleeping bag, non-slip mats, and chains if you have them and can use them. Also ensure your antifreeze is nice and concentrated or your block could freeze and crack open. Ensure you have loads of almost neat de-icer /screenwash so it won't freeze in the container. Check you have your RAC / AA details to hand and that your mobile phone is well charged up and ready to use in an emergency.. Below -10 degrees road salt/grit doesn't work very well. If you find yourself on white roads drive slowly and smoothly and use 2nd or 3rd gears very gently to start on hills with minimal; toque - and hence minimum risk of your differential gears slipping! Customers who are booked in for events over the next few days are reminded it would be a good idea to check if you are covered by any cancellation insurance you may have taken out for claims against having to cancel your event by virtue of your local roads or motorways or trains being ususable or being deemed to be too dangerous to use. Sadly we cannot underwrite any losses arising from such national and regional traffic problems. Peak Activities Ltd.will be open over the next few days ( staff are sleeping here so we know they can be here unless we get more power cuts) and a modified programme is being implemented which takes the road conditions into account. We trust clients will appreciate we are doing our best to keep things going even though it is very difficult when the county's roads are so badly affected by ice and snow. KEEP SMILING RIGHT UP TO CHRISTMAS ! In my 30+ years experience as an outdoor tutor, December is often a month when everyone feels they'd like a "boost" or a change from routine. However, this month can be overlooked or simply dismissed as being "too cold" by so many people, especially when a load of snow falls on you ! Nonetheless, in spite of the snow and ice - the month of December affords brilliant opportunities for a break from routine and some serious enjoyment - it's a really great month to explore and enjoy the many delights of places like the lovely Peak District National Park with folks like the
friendly and experienced staff here at Rock Lea Centre.
MORE NEWS HEADLINES
UK STAFF TRY OUT OUR NEW AUSTRIAN OPERATION FOR THEMSELVES SUNDAY TIMES TRAVEL EDITOR SINGS OUR PRAISES (AGAIN ) ! POOLSIDE MAYHEM ! OUR TAILORED FIRST AID COURSES GET THE THUMBS UP FROM ELECTRICITY DE FRANCE BBC1 TV CREW & IAN WRIGHT FILM & BROADCAST AT ROCK LEA. SEASONAL OFFERS - ALL ENCOMPASSING ORIENTEERING SESSIONS ! LIABILITY INSURANCE PREMIUMS SKY-ROCKET & CAUSE PRICE INCREASES ! UK ASSOCIATES UNIFORMS ON THE TELLY ! SEASONAL TREASURE HUNTS FOR MIXED ABILITY GROUPS.
Ian Wright with Caroline during filming at our base in Hathersage - Rock Lea Centre. N W + E S N. E. W. S. STORIES FROM ALL AROUND THE COMPASS ! " Ein Prosit, ein Prosit - der Gemutlichkeit ! " BLUE SKY STAFF DISCUSSIONS IN TYROL... Numerous directors, staff and volunteers and family members recently flew out to Salzberg and enjoyed a fabulous residential discussing and trying out some of our new products and experiencing first hand the delights of the Wilderkaisergebirge.... our new "home from home". It was tough out there slaving over all those new concepts but somebody had to do it ! We also took the opportunity whilst we were there in such glorious weather to start making our new promotional video. Pictured above are tutors John T., Tony Kendall, Caroline, Iain, Steve Charles and Elizabeth. Although she's our youngest apprentice ski instructor, Elizabeth is now skiing down black runs and leaving all the rest of us behind ! ....Pete Brookes Caroline, our Finance Director, over in our base in Ellmau enjoying the scenery & apres ski. We will be publishing fairly soon some new itineries involving skiing, snow shoe walking (above ) and lots more in the fabulous mountain of Tirol ! Click to return to top of this NEWS page EDF DELEGATES' PRAISE ON THE SUCCESS OF PEAK ACTIVITIES LTD's BESPOKE RESCUE TRAINING TAILORED FOR EDF ( Electricitee de France ). Some very complimentary feedback notes on the success of the decision making & leadership and teamwork training events Iain's team arranged for the Health & Safety experts at Cottam Power Station were published a while ago by EDF. One of their reports is reproduced in full below as two .jpg's below in the hope it may be of interest to anybody interested in the effectiveness of carefully designed and planned outdoor training exercises with Peak Activities Ltd's Development Training experts.
Ian Wright with Caroline during filming at our base in Hathersage - Rock Lea Centre.
N W + E S N. E. W. S. STORIES FROM ALL AROUND THE COMPASS !
" Ein Prosit, ein Prosit - der Gemutlichkeit ! " BLUE SKY STAFF DISCUSSIONS IN TYROL... Numerous directors, staff and volunteers and family members recently flew out to Salzberg and enjoyed a fabulous residential discussing and trying out some of our new products and experiencing first hand the delights of the Wilderkaisergebirge.... our new "home from home". It was tough out there slaving over all those new concepts but somebody had to do it ! We also took the opportunity whilst we were there in such glorious weather to start making our new promotional video. Pictured above are tutors John T., Tony Kendall, Caroline, Iain, Steve Charles and Elizabeth. Although she's our youngest apprentice ski instructor, Elizabeth is now skiing down black runs and leaving all the rest of us behind ! ....Pete Brookes Caroline, our Finance Director, over in our base in Ellmau enjoying the scenery & apres ski. We will be publishing fairly soon some new itineries involving skiing, snow shoe walking (above ) and lots more in the fabulous mountain of Tirol ! Click to return to top of this NEWS page
EDF DELEGATES' PRAISE ON THE SUCCESS OF PEAK ACTIVITIES LTD's BESPOKE RESCUE TRAINING TAILORED FOR EDF ( Electricitee de France ). Some very complimentary feedback notes on the success of the decision making & leadership and teamwork training events Iain's team arranged for the Health & Safety experts at Cottam Power Station were published a while ago by EDF. One of their reports is reproduced in full below as two .jpg's below in the hope it may be of interest to anybody interested in the effectiveness of carefully designed and planned outdoor training exercises with Peak Activities Ltd's Development Training experts.
Click to return to top of this NEWS page PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED STORIES AT FOOT OF THIS PAGE : - Tony now holds both the Medal of Merit & Silver Acorn. Training Case Study - TXU's CEO's Team & Management Development Event Heart of England Tourist Board's Chief Exec's Residential Team Build with Peak Activities Ltd.
PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED STORIES AT FOOT OF THIS PAGE : - Tony now holds both the Medal of Merit & Silver Acorn. Training Case Study - TXU's CEO's Team & Management Development Event Heart of England Tourist Board's Chief Exec's Residential Team Build with Peak Activities Ltd.
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MORE NEWS BBC TV films at Rock Lea again... BBC Television Presenter & former England international footballer Ian Wright pictured with our centre's director Caroline during a BBC tv film shoot for first of Ian's series of top Saturday evening BBC1 television show "I'D DO ANYTHING ". This filming asignment was a special three day contract featuring our popular potholing & caving underground treasure hunt & challenge activities. NEWS + NEWS + NEWS + NEWS ..........
This latest of a series of successful filming projects with the BBC involved a large film crew working very closely in local caves with our senior instructors Caroline, John Thomas, Andy McLean and Iain Jennings. Peak Activities Ltd senior associates were all responsible for selection of suitable filming locations and the Health & Safety of the crew working in various tricky situations to get unusual points of view shots. Caroline and Andy also had special responsibility for looking after a rather nervous first-time novice lady who was undertaking the special trail quest we'd been asked to design underground in parts of England's deepest pothole. The programme was screened at 6-00 pm Saturday April 26th on BBC1 television and part of the filming was shown again a week later when the successful participant flew across to te USA to meet world champion boxer Mohammed Ali. Training and sports activities at Rock Lea have often been featured in the press and on a large number of television and radio programmes. Peak Activities Ltd welcomes enquiries from commercial film crews wanting professional help with safety assurance and filming in confined and difficult access areas. Click here for more information.
Click here to go back up to the top of this NEWS page. SUNDAY TIMES' TRAVEL MAGAZINE'S TRAVEL WRITER STEVE BLEACH ENJOYS AN ADVENTUROUS TRIP DOWN ENGLAND'S DEEPEST CAVE WITH PEAK ACTIVITIES' EXPERT INSTRUCTORS. MEDIA COVERAGE NEWS
... We have recently enjoyed another rave review in the Travel Section of the Sunday Times from their travel specialist Steve Bleach..who was out here enjoying one of our very popular "friendly-face" introductory caving weekends last month. The people who read Steve's excellent article all agreed that his writing had really captured the spirit of one of our popular "Friendly Face" weekends. These events are open to any member of the public aged 18 and over and are held monthly at our Hathersage base. In his article Steve's imagination seemed particularly taken with all the geology he'd learned about whilst he was here working alongside our enthusiastic leaders. Click here please for lots more details of these weekends (including prices and dates of our open events ) and to read Steve's very kind article including Steve's his comments on the fun of feeling like a piece of meat in a rock sandwich !tl aary enjoyr. To see lots of other kind press and media comments, including previous editorials about our caving and otrher outdoor activities in the Telegraph and Sunday Times and other media please click here. Click here to see details of other television and radio features on our events. We are always willing to offer facilities for press visits to bone fide reporters and journalists. Travel media writers should please contact our press and publicity officer via 01433-650345.
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BELOW ARE SOME HEADLINE STORIES PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED ON THIS WEB PAGE.
LET US TAKE THE CONFUSION OUT OF BOOKING A REALLY NICE FOUR STAR HOTEL FOR YOUR STAY...... After a £4 million modernisation, rebuilding and refurbishment project, the former Swallow Hotel just across the hill on the edge of Sheffield was purchased by Whitbread and then started trading as Sheffield Marriott Hotel. This is proved to be a very popular venue with our customers running training courses with us... and to add to their delight we've recently managed to negotiate some very attractive exclusive deals for groups staying there as part of packages organised by Peak Activities Ltd. The hotel was purchased two years ago by Principal-Hayley and is now trading as the Kenwood Hall Hotel. Click here to see more photos and for further information about the Kenwood Hall Hotel. Click to return to top of this NEWS page
Marriott Dining Room
Just imagine ! You can now enjoy muddy caving with us and be back in your executive suite at the Kenwood Hall Hotel within 15 mins. of leaving Rock Lea in one of our minibuses. You can combine "roughing it" with being smooth and sophisticated !
The Kenwood Hotel. ).....
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Click to return to top of this NEWS page The activities we are offering groups over the coming months include : - Treasure Hunts ; Caving & Mine Exploration, Cycling, Abseiling, Gliding, Centre Based Problem Solving Tasks, High Ropes Course
The activities we are offering groups over the coming months include : -
Treasure Hunts ; Caving & Mine Exploration, Cycling, Abseiling, Gliding, Centre Based Problem Solving Tasks, High Ropes Course
............... Rock Lea, Station Road, Hathersage, Hope Valley, Peak District National Park, Derbyshire, United Kingdom, S32 1DD. Tel. 07771-855105 Fax. 01433-650342 This is one of numerous pages on our websites http://www.iain.co.uk & http://www.peakactivities.co.uk & www.peakactivities.com