Sedgefield Cycle and Walking Group

The snow has begun to melt but its still not possible to cycle, but the Sedgefield Group are keeping active in Hardwick Park.  Enjoying the wonderful views.......

Cycle Maintenence Continues

Thrills and Skills for Life continues to progress with the cycle maintenence and now, more bikes than ever are back on line for the NHS cycle groups.

Sedgefield Cycle Group, walking!

The Sedgefield Cycle Group couldn't cycle due to the snow, so, a walk round the winter wonderland of Hardwick park was just the ticket.  They finished off by a warming tea in the well designed and welcoming cafe.

Fighting through the snow

Here at Thrills and Skills for Life we help run a cycling and walking group in Sedgefield for the National Health Service, Community Health Services.  Today they have been walking round Hardwick Park.

Edwards Hall Primary School

Recently we have been working at Edwards Hall Primary School and Wickford Grange Primary School, both in Essex.  We conducted Team Building and Leadership training and it was a huge success.  The children gained a lot from it and really learnt a lot about themselves and each other.

Cycle Maintenence Contract

At Thrills and Skills for Life we continue to expand and diversify and we haven't let the snow beat us either!  We have just won a contract to maintain bikes throughout County Durham and Darlington.  We can maintain one bike to 100 bikes and our mobile, professional and fully qualified, experienced team can travel to you to repair your bike. 

Thrills and Skills for Life in Vancouvour

Thrills and Skills for Life continue to travel round the world providing holidays and adventures for people of all ages.  Here they are in China Town Vancovour

Winter Wonderland

Thrills and Skills for Life often take people walking on behalf of the County Durham and Darlington NHS Community Health Services.  Today we took a group walking in Hardwick Park in Sedgefield, County Durham.  The park looked wonderful in the snow

Thanks from Customers

Dear Chris,

Thank you.

Yasmin had a wonderful time and she and I both appreciate the time and effort that was put into
organising such an excellent trip to Hawaii and the care that was taken while they were away.
Again many thanks.

Kind regards,

Hazel

Pearl Harbour, Shopping and Beach BBQ

Today, the girls watched sunrise on the beach and enjoyed bacon or egg rolls and juice and then we visited Pearl Harbour and viewed the USS ARIZONA memorial which was very moving and beautifully designed and placed. The girls respectfully took time to study the site and then enjoyed an informative DVD on the bombing and its place in the American collective mind and the effect it had on the war.Once the visit was complete we had lunch in a park and then went to the shopping centre to get yet more shopping! Then a farewell BBQ took place on the beach.

Welcome to the last and final blog of the holiday. The holiday has been both action packed for the girls and relaxing too. They have climbed volcanos and relaxed by the pool. They have swam with turtles and watched sunset to music at a film festival. Shopped till they dropped and watched sunrise on a beach. They have walked the length of world famous ridges and visited Pearl Harbour. Their food has been suited to the activity and bag meals have always been provided when we were out and about.

Finally, if you want to see your daughter on a live webcam then wait for her text on when to log on and go to www.honolulu.gov/multimed/waikiki.aspand watch for her infront of the big brass surfer!

Thanks for reading the blog,your girls are a privledge to work with, and remember to bear Thrills and Skills for Life in mind when you next want Adventure, First Aid Training or Leadership/Bushcraft training.

Swimming with Fish and Turtles

 

 

Today was for many the best day. They visited Hainame cove, about 45 minutes up the coast from the hotel. The girls had the chance to swim with wild fish and turtles in a natural coral filled cove. The water is very shallow and warm and the coral provides food for the fish, so, with the added advantage of fishing being banned, fish flock to the cove.

The girls wore face masks and watched the fish swim close by and really did have a wonderful time. A lifegaurd was on duty in the cove.

The girls had breakfast by the pool of cereal and pastries then a packed lunch which they ate at the cove and then Honolulu sasages and mash for dinner.

Today, Breakfast will be on the beach and then we visit Pearl Habour war cemetry, before finishing with a BBQ to say farewell, to what is, a very fun filled holiday.

Ridge Walking, Adventure Making, Shopping!

 

Dear All,

The girls have had a particularly adventurous day. We climbed and then walked along the ridge of a mountain range north of Honolulu. It had dense forest on either side which was a mixture of pine and palm. The views were spectacular and the walking was really interesting for the girls. Later, the girls had free time in town to shop and relax before reporting back to the hotel for a safety check (Staff cover was in town with them).

If i may i will point out some admin:

I cannot display any pictures which ID your child as it is against HM Govt and St Augustine's guidelines.

All girls are eating well and all particular needs and requirements reference diet are covered.

Shopping, Beaches and BBQ's

 

Today the girls visited the Ala Mona Shopping centre and spent many happy hours buying a variety of different goods. On completion they were taken to a lifegaurded beach and took time to swim and relax. Later a BBQ was enjoyed and traditional Honolulu food such as Lau Lau (Pork wrapped in leaves) and freshly caught fish were eaten. After a busy but relaxing day, the girls are ready to walk in a country park tomorrow and then visit a turtle and sea life cove, managed by the Honolulu government.

Elsewhere, in China, we are visiting the Great Wall

Diamond Head Volcano, Sunset and Music

Today the girls climbed up Diamond Head Volcano. An extinct volcano to the south of Waikiki. The steep climb was rewarded by the excellent views. The views stretched all over the west side of the island and the girls enjoyed lunch and the views before descending to the beach and the film festival where they watched the bands play while the sun set and a film was shown, while they enjoyed dinner.

Pictures of trip so far

Honolulu used to be very closely aligned with the UK, This influence can be seen in the military buildings. However a very strong polynesian theme runs right through the islands.

Exploring, Beach and Promenade

Dear All

Today the girls had a lay in after the flight and were served breakfast to their rooms! Then a tour around the local area and a pleasant couple of hours shopping. In the afternoon the girls were taken to the beach and had a couple of hours enjoying the beautifully clear water and golden sands. The area they swam in was covered and controlled by lifeguards.

A return to the pool after the day out and a relaxing time before pizza for dinner. Over the evening we all walked along the promenade and enjoyed the varied street markets and entertainers.

Tomorrow we head up an extinct volcano called Diamond Head, to enjoy the views and walk inside a volcano! Then we head down to the finale of the Honolulu film festival which incorporates sunset over the pacific to music!

The girls are all safe and all well, although a little tired from the day.

Arrival at Maile Sky Court Hotel

Dear All,

St Augustine's Priory arrived at the Maile Sky Court Hotel at 2200 local time and are now all asleep! They are all going to have a late rise of 1000 local and then have breakfast. After breakfast we are going to conduct an orientation walk around the local area and go to the beach for the afternoon. There is a film festival taking place on the Waikiki beach over this weekend, with many activities and events and we will attend this evening.

On Sunday, the girls are walking up Diamond Head volcano and having lunch overlooking the pacific, before later relaxing over pizza at the pool.

As we take some photos today i will post them tonight.

All is well and all girls are safe and happy.

Yours Chris Hall

Nurserys and Reception class doing team building

Thrills and Skills for Life, have been breaking new ground. We visited Fishburn Primary, Reception and Nursery and ran a team building day for them, using soft obstacles and mini assault courses and it was hugely popular. The School were very satisfied.

Sedgefield Cycle Tours

Today we took an older generation cycle group on a cross country tour of the countryside surrounding Sedgefield. They really did well and and even when we were trail finding and crossing rivers they remained positive and enjoyed themselves. One member of the group was over 70! Well done them!

Hamsterley Forest

Thrills and Skills for Life have been running and helping to run walking events in Hamsterley Forest for the National Health Service Get Active team. It was an excellent turn out with over 60 people attending a walk through the forest.

Team Building for Fishburn Primary, Durham

Thrills and Skills for Life, have been working with Fishburn Primary, with all years to promote, mentor and build team spirit and Leadership. The children really threw themselves into the two day event and it was a huge success. The pupils undertook chariot building and racing, Castle building and crossing of swamps. Children took it in turns to be leader and team member.

It was a success and we have been booked for to run more training in the future.

Northern Bushcraft

Most recently we have run a Bushcraft, Survival and Tracking course in a beautiful valley near Sedgefield. It has a river running through it and trees growing up the valley on either side. Rabbits live in safety and foxs and badgers have st up home. The river has a plentiful array of fish and it has beaches along its length as it runs through the forest. If we say it ourselves its perfect.

We have just run our forst Bush Craft course there and our customers were in their words

"Buzzing with excitement and awe"

Wye Valley Canoe Trip for Group from Essex

The Wye Valley continues to be popular with our customers and we ran another canoe trip this weekend. We launched from Preston on Wye, a truely beautiful village and paddled to Hereford where we camped. The next day we paddled to Hoarwithy stopping off on the way for a barbaque. That night we visited the village of Muddiford. A perfect weekend!

Ullswater Canoe Trip

Thrills and Skills for Life recently took a group Canoeing on Ullswater Lake in the Lake District, Cumbria. The predicted terrible weather never materialised and the day was spent circumnavigating the top half of the lake from Pooley Bridge down to Howtown and back up again. We stopped for lunch on a secluded bank and had a barbaque that night. Every body really enjoyed themselves and felt the trip had been a huge success!

Outdoor First Aid

What if there was no help immediatly available? What if an ambulance cant get to you? What if its snowing and your team are starting to get colder and wetter?

If you regularly work outdoors in small groups, you need to be prepared

Thats exactly why Northern Archelogical associates chose Thrills and Skills for Life to teach them Outdoor Emergency First Aid at work.
As well as The First Aid Skills taught on a course,they were taught, helicopter drills including how to marshal a helicopter. How to make stretchers, map reading and how to control a group and use emergency shelters. The team were pleased they had attended the course and felt well placed to "fight to win" in any incident or medical scenario.

Northern Bushcraft

Thrills and Skills for Life continues to expand, we run Bushcraft Courses in The South West, The South East and now we run them in the North of England! The area has been compleatly surveyed and checked for safety and we have a detailed and comprehensive safety plan and Risk Assesment completed.

We ran our first course in the North East 06 - 08 of August for a group of young children as a birthday treat bought for them by their Grandmother. It was a huge success and every one of them really enjoyed themselves. Building shelters, hunting for wild food, looking for sources of water and how to use wild water and clean it to a drinkable level. They dined on Nettle stew with a hawthorn sauce!

Berwick Upon Tweed Canoe Trip

Thrills and Skills continue to develop their canoing tours and fresh from the Wye Valley we did a trip down the Tweed from Newton St Boswell to Kelso. The group were novices so we spent time training them up first and practicing some safety procedures. Once the group were ready we went down river and stopped at the village of Roxburgh Newtown for lunch. It was paticularly interesting to canoe across the Scottish, English Border and we flew the union jack as we crossed! The whole day went really well and Chris got the group to give the day marks out of ten. Everybody gave the day a minumum of 8 out of 10!

Wye Valley Canoing

Early July saw Thrills and Skills for Life running two back to back week long canoe trips for girls from West London. The first one was for 12 - 15 year old girls and the second for 16 to 19 year olds. Both weeks were a huge success and Chris and the team lead the canoing ensuring it was adventurous, exciting and above all safe! Thrills and Skills for life conducted all the catering and the meals throughout the week were tailored to the girls needs, although we still kept it healthy!

The girls enjoyed it so much that we are doing it again next year but, we will do a week trip in the lake district.

Durham Dales Valley First Aid

First Aid Training for Crook, Tow Law and Stanhope Community Centres in County Durham

This e mail to the County Durham Council Customer explains it all!!!

Dear Claire,

The 3 courses are now completed and you asked for some feedback on how the courses ran. All three courses ran really well and were well attended by all the participants. I only lost 2 participants out of all the courses. One was due to illness and the other was childcare issues i believe. The students were keen and always on time. It was clear at the beginning of each lesson they had read their notes and their knowledge was increasing. All three groups were a joy to teach as they interacted with me and asked frequent sensible questions which often promoted discussion which in turn promoted learning. For the assessment most were a little nervous, but, this makes me believe they cared about the assessment and becoming First Aiders. All bar 1 person passed the assessment and several people had to have 2 attempts, but passed on the second time. One lady cried with happiness on passing as it really did mean a lot to her to pass. I am quite a passionate person about First Aid and i felt genuinely proud of all the students and proud that Durham and the United Kingdom now has sensible, levelheaded, Emergency First Aid at Work people that have been well trained. I teach a lot up and down the length of the UK and i can genuinely say the calibre of people attending the course was high. This was due to their commitment, ability to listen and learn and willingness to be First Aiders. Claire, you have done extremely well organising such a series of training sessions, often against difficult odds. You should be proud of yourself.

I look forward to working with you in the future Yours,

Chris Hall

Leadership, Management and Survival course

Thrills and Skills for Life continue to run Leadership, Management and Survival courses. These courses continue to evolve and develop. Most recently we ran a course on our training grounds in Gloucester for a group of school girls from London. The week involved wild food preparation from mackerel to cockerels and living off the land, cooking with wild garlic and nettles. The girls lived in our tepees and the weather was wonderful all week. The girls made shelters in the woods and spent time navigating through the grounds to find wild food. We have also set up a mock disaster struck village now where the teams go in and have to use all their management, communication and leadership skills to rescue the victims. Set up feeding stations and conduct rebuilding projects. It is a real team test!