News & Events
New Changes
After 6 years as centre manager, Mark Youd has left us and moved up to his native Wirral to run a much bigger outdoor centre. During his time with us Mark had made significant improvements to help us develop into the centre we are today. We all wish Mark the very best in his new role. He has promised to keep in touch and will be paying a few visits down to Leicester over the next few months.
After a successful selection process Mark’s place is to be taken by Ed Sibson who starts in post towards the end of February. Ed’s main outdoor sporting activity is sailing which he has done since boyhood. Four years at Leeds University where he became captain of the University Sailing Club and left with an MSc in Engineering.
Ed has been working at a local authority Outdoor education centre at Grafham Water, Cambridgeshire where he took on partnership work with local schools and sports colleges. He is an Accredited Practitioner of the Institute for Outdoor Learning. Ed’s main focus will be to continue the work of previous centre managers and to further develop the range and quality of centre activities such that more people can participate and enjoy them.
Prior to Mark leaving we had created a new post, that of deputy manager. Chris Murnin has successfully taken on this role and has been also acting as stand in manager until Ed takes his post. Chris’s role will be to mainly focus on the delivery of daily activities.
We also lost Laura Bridges. Laura has moved on to manage a nursery organisation as a full time job but will be coming back at holiday times to work on our holiday schemes. Our best wishes go to Laura with this move. She made substantial improvements to our Activate activities. Her place has be taken by Clair Mitchell who has worked for us for some time now.
The long illness and early death of Angie Hampton left us with a big hole in the organisation. Katy Groom has stepped into these big shoes and has taken on the bookings organisational role.
To further support the administrative activities I am pleased to see Cheryl Sheldon join us. Cheryl has worked as both a seasonal , sessional and volunteer staff member for a number of years and brings with her much skill and experience across a wide range of activities.
All of the above are supported by our very capable core staff team of Dave, Steve, Bhav, and Chris O’.
Keith Tonks, Chair of Trustees
BBC Thrill Seeker
BBC Learning is joining forces with BBC One and a range of external partners to deliver a brand new, action-packed adventure campaign: DropZone. The idea behind it is to help thousands of individuals and families across the UK experience an adventure activity, with a particular focus on people trying such activities for the first time.To ensure, by campaign end, more people are confident and knowledgeable enough to progress their interest and engage in adventure on an ongoing basis. LOPC is happy to be a partner in this as we believe everyone should have a chance to experience a bit of adventure. Watch the website for activities that will be happening throughout the Spring.
Britains Biggest Loser
In March 2009 LOPC was chosen by Shine TV Productions as the venue for Britain’s Biggest Loser which was broadcast on ITV. LOPC hosted 2 teams of contestants who competed against each other in Climbing and Crate Stack Challenge. Presented by Kate Garroway, the day proved a great success for the competitors, film crew and LOPC alike.
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CLIMBING – The idea of the competition involved each team selecting one member to climb to the top of the tower to retrieve a flag before being lowered to the ground. A time limit was set and the climber had to get as many flags as possible. Each flag gave them extra time on the Crate Stack Challenge. Kevin, the Britain’s Biggest Loser’s overall winner, shown great stamina and strength to be the winner in this section.
CRATE STACK – The battle between the teams concluded on a cold afternoon on the Crate Stack Challenge. Both teams tied the event by each building tower to the same height. A rematch was arranged with the Black Team pipping the Blue Team to the post and being crowned the day’s winning side.
DHL “Working Together in our Community”
LOPC was chosen by DHL as a “Working Together in our Community” project for 2009. Between 15th and 19th June 2009 over 20 employees of the DHL express delivery service arrived at LOPC to undertake a much needed redecorating and general maintenance project of the main building and surrounding site.
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As such their employees came from across the UK including Scotland to take part in the project. Over the 5 days, DHL supplied all materials and labour to repair and repaint the main building exterior and also laid flag stones for the new picnic area.
DHL also enjoyed a lengthy evening cricket match on the Thursday evening before bedding down to camping over night.
LOPC has received many positive comments about the improvement it has made to the centre and we would like to give a huge “thankyou” to DHL for choosing us for their “Working Together in our Community” programme.
