Training Courses

[Womble]

Hello to anyone out there!

I'm looking for information about companies that can do bushcraft training courses. I know about Woodlore, having attended their Tracking course and narrowly missing getting on the Essential Bushcraft course that starts next week; and there's mention of one in the Lake District elsewhere on this site.

What companies are there out there, and what do they offer? Any information will be gratefully accepted.

Womble

 

[Stuart]

hi

the one in the lake district is called woodsmoke

See: www.woodsmoke.uk.com

its run by Ben Mcnutt and lisa (if you have been on a woodlore course you may have met them, Ben used to be a head instructor there)

in my opinion they are one of the best schools around

Hope that helps

Stuart

 

[Womble]

Thanks Stuart, I am looking at the site now.

John

 

[Ed]

Also see :

http://www.woodsmoke.uk.com/homepage.htm
http://www.bisonbushcraft.co.uk/
http://www.survivalschool.co.uk/main1.htm

All run some very good courses in some stunning locations.

Have fun.... there are loads more... try doing a search at http://google.co.uk you may even find something in your area

Ed

 

[ESpy]

I'm off on a Bison course this weekend - they're probably about as much in John's area as mine.

 

[Ed]

ooops... that first link should have been http://www.woodcraft-school.co.uk/ the woodsmoke link has already been posted. :roll:

Ed

 

[Womble]

Thanks to all who have responded - and may yet respond - here. I've still a lot to learn (and then pass on to others), and all these people willing to teach me...

I've got some fun choices to make!

 

[Tony]

There's also Woodlore, well worth a look

 

[acw_akkermans]

And Wild-Live for people in Northern ireland...

(hahaha, a bit cheekey to put forward your own school)

http://www.wild-liveschool.com.

I teach bushcraft from the Tom brown Jr. direction. (http://www.trackerschool.com)

 

[Tony]

Mate, your the only one in NI so no problem!

 

[Paulmac]

Hi Guys
I'm thinking about signing up for the UK Survival School Jungle course/expedition 2004 - just wandering what the experts think?
Has anyone done this trip before?
They have invited me down to meet them for a day next week so looking forward to that.
Check it out:
www.uksurvivalschool.co.uk/borneo.htm
www.uksurvivalschool.co.uk/news.htm
www.uksurvivalschool.co.uk/pictures/gallerypgp.htm

Regards
Paul :-D

 

[tomtom]

i have done two courses with http://www.wildwise.co.uk/index.html
that are really good, and i lurnt a lot, one was on dartmoor which was grate and the other was at Bridge Farm near Chulmleigh, Devon its a really grate spot, and Chris and the other instructors are grate too, i would defo recomend it!!

 

[Paulmac]

Hi all, The Woodcraft winter course as mentioned on the main news page says "first course of it's kind " - do they mean the first time they have done this or that no other school has done it?
Forgive me, but on my recent research I came across at least three schools where this type of course is already available and tried and tested with the pics to prove it, and in Scotland.
Regards :-?
Paul Mac

 

[Paulmac]

Oh and forgot to add;
If you check their webpage to this course it has a picture of the Matterhorn on it - since when was this in Scotland?
I would also only accept being taught crampon and ice axe use by a minimum qualified mic or mia person - those things are lethel used wrongly.
I find the whole presentation a bit misleading but nevermind
Check it out www.woodcraft-school.co.uk/winter-skills.
Regards
Paul :-? (still confused)

 

[Caron Buckingham]

In regard to the comments made about our Winter Skills course I feel compelled to reply. At Woodcraft School we believe that the formula for the running of our courses i.e. blending outdoor living with an understanding of the natural world places uniqueness on all of our courses and the Winter Skills is no exception.

Maybe the name of our course is misleading but it is neither a traditional mountaineering skills course nor a pure survival course and from this point of view it is, we believe unique and new. We have no intention of moving into the realms of such traditional outdoor pursuits because if one wants to learn mountaineering skills there are a number of very capable companies out there.

As far as the photo on our website is concerned, we make no secret of the fact that we haven’t run this course before and so declined to fake pictures of imaginary students on imaginary courses. The picture is indeed of the Matterhorn which we placed up there partly for the reason already mentioned and partly to demonstrate the range of experience our instructional staff possess.

Concerning our clients safety, when putting any course together our first consideration is risk assessment and insurance. We draw on instructors from all disciplines including mountaineering; first aid, canoeing and 4x4 driving to complement our expertise in bushcraft and nature awareness, to ensure our clients are given the very best education delivered in a framework of safety. On another level if we did otherwise our insurance would be invalid. The ice axe and crampon work which, incidentally, is only a small part of the course will be taught by staff qualified to the correct standard. Only WML and MICS are qualified to teach such equipment use as a safety feature. To correct paulmacs comment, I believe I am correct in saying that an MIA is only qualified to teach multipitch rock climbing and SUMMER mountaineering only?

I hope this clarifies what is on offer -feel free to contact us if you wish to know more.

Caron Buckingham

 

[Paulmac]

Hi Caron
Thankyou for taking the time to try to clear up the issues i mentioned previously, please check the following www.ami.org.uk which points out the differant mountain instructor qualifications and scope of teaching/training they are permitted to deliver.
In short you are right about the MIA ( MOUNTAIN INSTRUCTOR AWARD)as a summer instructors level but you are wrong that WML( WINTER MOUNTAIN LEADER) is qaulified to teach winter technical skills such as crampon and ice axe use, so that leaves only the MIC (MOUNTAIN INSTRUCTOR CERTIFICATE) holder falling into the category of who i would learn the skills from - but i'm only the general public who would expect companies delivering this training to know this.
A list of qualified persons to do this are found on www.bmg.org.uk, i learnt the above skills at Glenmore lodge about 10 yaers ago and the instructors were this level and excellent, they teach WML's.
On your presentation it states:
"...you will also be working with ice axe, crampons...." together with a lovely mountain picture, to mention such equipment with such a presentation says to me you will be using it in a mountain environment in the winter and so therfore A WML HOLDER STILL DOES NOT MAKE THE GRADE THEY ARE ONLY QAULIFIED TO LEAD. NOT TEACH - 2 DIFFERANT THINGS
As for the explanation to the picture, why not use the pic of Scotland that you dislpay on another page in its place or does that not create such a good focal point - don't forget some people may think your Matterhorn pic is actually the location they are going to,if having never been to either.
You are obvouisly passionate about what you do but having researched at least a dozen companies in the last months i feel you are not unique as most are teaching with the same outlook and aims that you mention but like all business everyone is trying to be differant but from an outsider there are obvious similarities between the companiesand training courses.
I noticed on another of your pages (INSTRUCTORS COURSE) you state ".. this course aims to produce the first wave of properly trained instructors of this very large and diverse subject..." - does this mean everyone else who is working in the industry is not worth the public spending money on, funny how the Plumpton College version of this is much differant and doesn't take such a 'cheap' swipe at the other companies in this manner.
I think on this occasion you have been caught out playing with words (and pictures) and the paying public.
Many thanks
Regards
Paul Mac

 

[Caron Buckingham]

Dear Paulmac

I don’t wish to dwell too much on what, for reasons best known to you is turning into an attack on our company. Firstly we have been assured by the instructors we are using for the ice axe/crampon part of the course that they are qualified to teach the aspects of this course we are using them for.

Regarding the instructors course and (my, you have been busy with your research), there is a growing wave of people wanting to enter the industry as instructors. Many bushcraft/survival schools are concerned to keep high standards and it is with many of these we have very good working relationships (and surprise, surprise- mutual respect). They have earned their spurs under other instructors/schools or through the military or in some other usually arduous way and are very, very capable.
In short they have already gained their experience and ability to instruct and this is a great way into the industry because then they have an obvious pedigree for the public to see. The Plumpton course is another; it gives a recognised outdoor leadership qualification, a recognised qualification in woodcraft skills and a college certificate for bushcraft instruction.

Don’t you think if you can’t get a job with another school or haven’t come from the military this would be a reasonable starting point? As far as we are aware, outside the military there is currently no other qualification of this type. But and I must emphasise this-IT DOESN'T REPLACE EXPERIENCE AND ABILITY GAINED ELSEWHERE and to imply that it does is just a very naïve and ridiculous statement to make.

You are right in saying that I am passionate about what we do but at the same time it is our livelihood so to imply we have deceived anyone is quite frankly damaging. The public is quite capable of making up their own mind about what school they want to attend (or re-attend in our case).

You also seem very upset for some reason about our choice of picture and state the text is confusing. We also mention in our course description that we will be exploring the uses of fire. Do you think this means we will be trying to light fires on the top of the Matterhorn? Perhaps, and only if qualified to do so, by rubbing ice axes together?

To put your mind at rest and despite the photo’s, I can assure you with hand on heart that all our clients already booked on the course have definitely got flights to Scotland and not Europe!

Regards
Caron

 

[Paulmac]

Hi Caron, There was never any attack on your company,if you delve further at my posts on this site your not the only company/course i'm trying to get the best info on, but your correct, the public do make up their own mind and all i'm trying to acheive is some answers from a forum that accomadates the topic i would like to learn about, you'll find some much more contraversial issues in this forum without people responding in a facetious manner.
You seem to be trying to justify some issues i never even raised and with that, some points remain unanswered - how do you handle difficult self minded people on the courses.
Someone on this site somewhere pointed out that "as we're the ones spending our hard earned money..." It is hard earned and i for one don't want to waste it, i feel to find out about things is to question the facts that people offer - lets face it, the companies presenting testimonials about themselves are not going to print a letter of complaint from a client . Theres no need to be upset or to be so threatening just because someone reads between the lines of how you present something and asks or points out what appears a bit misleading, we do have the right to ask and seeing that this course is featured on this main site (i thought it was a neutral site)
that is all i'm doing, but thanks for taking the time to respond, it proves this site works in some ways, my main concern is us two "saddos" throwing hand bags at each other on a saturday night.
Regards,
Paul "meticulous " Mac

 

[johnboy]

From the BMC web site.

Winter Mountain Leader Award - ML(W)
This scheme trains and assesses people in the skills required for the leadership of hillwalking parties in winter conditions. The Scottish Mountain Leader Training Board administers this award although it is valid throughout the UK and Ireland.



Mountain Instructor Certificate - MIC
This scheme trains and assesses people in the skills required for the instruction of mountaineering, both summer and winter, including snow, rock and ice climbing. This award is valid throughout the UK and Ireland.


Both are difficult qualifictions to achieve but if some one was going to teach me the correct use of crampons and an Ice Axe I'd want it to be an MIC qualified instructor.

But.....

Hey lets not argue.

Woodcraft: Nice website!
Paulmac: Hope you find your course!

Cheers

John

 

[Paulmac]

"common sense and courtesy prevails"

Thanks John - I'm getting there.

Paul :-D