Out of the virtual world

Remember when you played outdoors climbing trees and making camp fires in the days before electronic games made children coach potatoes? Sophie Bignall reports...

Anyone over the age of 30 will remember those hazy summer days of playing outside, building camps and climbing trees, a childhood which is almost completely alien to youngsters growing up in the 21st century.

And today, even with the fabulous Shropshire hills on their doorstep, children across the county often prefer to stay in with their X-boxes, Wiis and Nintendos.

But Bishop's Castle-based Mark Willis aims to change all that with his new organisation, The Great Escape Company.

He says the outward-bound activities company is on a mission to get kids out of their virtual lives and back into the "real" world by offering youngsters up to the age of 14, residential two-day adventures and day camps where they can learn more about outdoor life while having plenty of fun into the bargain.

The idea is to return to a bygone era, when young people really were trusted to do it for themselves: to build fires and make camp, bridge rivers and raft lakes and truly go on adventures!

But, insists, Mark, The Great Escape Company, which offers the sessions set deep in the heart of the Clun countryside, is also very much rooted in the best of today's values, where the differences between people are celebrated, and a valued and rewarding place is found for everyone.

Mark, a tennis coach by profession, has been working with children for a number of years.

He says: "I saw nothing in the outdoor market which I thought catered for children. This has the right balance between fun and learning in terms of command tasks and groups."

Mark spent nearly a year talking to parents, friends and young people to make sure he had the right mix of educational methods and plenty of fun. The end result was that he dreamt up the idea of offering the facility after organising a number of birthday party-style activity days for younger children last summer.

"These turned out to be such a success that the idea of the Great Escape Company was born. "The birthday parties we organised were a massive success in terms of lots of children and I think camping out and building fires creates a huge learning curve for youngsters who are just used to staying indoors all the time. "They tend to find out all the interesting stuff around them. I am a great believer in offering expert supervision while still allowing them to explore the outside world."

He explained that he is particularly keen to involve older children up to the age of 14.

"We have no problem filling places on the course for younger children but it seems more difficult to gain the interest of young people in their early teens. My older camp is not anywhere so full but the younger ones are pretty keen."

Mark comes from a military background and as his father was in the Brigade of Gurkhas, he spent many years in Nepal, where he had experience trekking and camping in the Himalayas, fishing and rafting many of the great rivers.

Recently he returned to Nepal where he rekindled his love of trekking and the outdoors.

And it is with this love and early education of the great outdoors that has helped Mark gain a true understanding of what young people miss out on if they never experience outward bound activities and team work.

He says: "We would go on fortnight-long treks in Nepal, my father was a welfare officer for the Brigade of Gurkhas so we spent much of our time outdoors. I never really watched television or played video games.

"It had a huge bearing on my life. We did not have a television. I did not grow up with a computer or anything."

Together with an expert team, he aims to offer educational camping and activities plus lots of fun in an entirely supervised and secure environment.

"It is a balancing act to allow children their freedom to experience the world outdoors while ensuring that they are safe at all times. I hope the outward bound courses will strike a happy medium.

"And we have two ladies who will be on hand to make sure everyone is fed and well looked after. We will also make sure that there is always one lady on duty during overnight stays. I think that is very important for us to have, especially for the younger age group."

During their stay at the camp, children will experience orienteering, raft and bridge building, archery and various command tasks.

Mark adds: "Unlike any other outward bound centres, The Great Escape Company will be putting the children into three houses - Shackleton, Scott and Raleigh.

"Each house, with a member of staff as a team leader, will learn various tasks on day one and be scored accordingly.

"Day two will see the teams dropped off at a secret location away from the camp with their adult team leader and, using skills learnt on day one, will find their way back to camp.

"Day two will end with a barbecue and a tug of war. Over the two days teams will be scored and the day will finish with prize giving."

But, Mark insists, it is not a 'boot camp'. "Of course, we want children to have fun and learn that real life is far more exciting than any computer game and that they can survive with all the latest technology."

The Great Escape Company is offering its first two-day courses over the half term holidays followed by a series of sessions for youngsters of various ages throughout the summer.

Mark and the team also provide one-day sessions for birthday parties and other private functions.

For more information visit www.thegreatescapecompany.co.uk or call 07974 242841