Blairvadich Outdoor Centre Closing

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ctva

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For those around the Glasgow area, it is a shame to hear that Blairvadich is closing. It is a Council run centre where many kids over the last 45 years have found a love of the outdoors. One wonders when the powers that be will realise (like they did in 70’s) that experiencing the outdoors can often be life changing for kids and young adults.

Jobs at risk in Blairvadach closure - The Lochside Press
 
We in Dumfries and Galloway lost our last remaining council-run outdoor education centre, Carlingwark in Castle Douglas, last summer. The council is now proposing 30% more cuts in education over the next three years. It's going to get nasty.
 
dunedin said:
That’s a huge shame. A huge number of people have benefitted from attending courses there. Hope they manage somehow to avert this.

Sadly probably Cumbrae next.
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I think that Cumbrae is closed this winter. So probably.
 
bikedaft said:
Petition here Save Blairvadach Outdoor Education Centre

I'll admit i know at least 5 folk who work there - but i feel strongly that kids who otherwise do not get exposed to the outdoors should have an opportunity via school.
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Brother in law works there. Latest talk is of re - deployment.
I went there when it first opened with the Glasgow School's Sailing Club (Brassbounders).

I've signed the petition.

Donald
 
Motor_Sailor said:
Wolverhampton Council want to close The Towers in Snowdonia as well.
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And many have been “privatised” as outdoor activities centres which then close as no longer viable. Schools in England dare not spend money on such courses when their conscripts (supposedly pupils) are instructed for tests designed by the government to be used as league tables. Education, in its true sense, has been abandoned.
We shall suffer as the skills of creativity and ability to think outside the box disappear.
 
I worked there for two seasons teaching dinghy sailing in the 80’s, did my CC and DS there as well. It’s inevitable that it will close, all the others in the area have and the fact of the matter is that councils are strapped for cash. I have signed and forwarded on the petition, hopefully I am wrong and it can be saved.
 
Kurrawong_Kid said:
And many have been “privatised” as outdoor activities centres which then close as no longer viable. Schools in England dare not spend money on such courses when their conscripts (supposedly pupils) are instructed for tests designed by the government to be used as league tables. Education, in its true sense, has been abandoned.
We shall suffer as the skills of creativity and ability to think outside the box disappear.
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Not just the rounded education but also the opportunity to bring new blood into water sports that we all need.
 
BlowingOldBoots said:
I worked there for two seasons teaching dinghy sailing in the 80’s, did my CC and DS there as well. It’s inevitable that it will close, all the others in the area have and the fact of the matter is that councils are strapped for cash. I have signed and forwarded on the petition, hopefully I am wrong and it can be saved.
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Many years working with a County Council Social Services Department, suffering increasingly swingeing cutbacks as money got tighter by umpteen millions each year convinces me that its only a matter of time before Centrally funded services of this kind will largely be lost.

Its a money game, nothing more nor less. I agree with Blowing Old Boots. These closures, and many more are inevitable. Quality of life, even life expectancy, has already suffered as support services across the board are cut back. Our welfare state has grossly over-reached itself, and like the NHS has grown way beyond the financial means of either central or regional Government. I speak with personal experience of having to apply these cut-backs to what were regarded as 'essential services' and I have been retired 10 years now. Even 10 years ago, trying to squeeze money out of a dwindling fund to provide essential extra care for people whose condition was deteriorating, or who were dying, was a nightmare. It broke my Wifes heart, and her health, as a Home Care Manager whose main task in the 3 years before she retired was to tell dependent elderly people they would no longer receive Council funded support. That was 15 years ago. Its quite something that Blairvadach has survived this long in this environment!

The bottom line is that if we want these facilities to continue, we have to find ways of funding them privately. The only way Blairvadach could be saved is for someone to buy it as a going concern and run it on a self funding basis, bearing in mind that the 'customers' themselves can make very little financial contribution, and the 'product', 'improved quality of life', is not in a marketable commodity. It would need very astute business minds to even get that one off the ground, with no prospect of return on the substantial investment of the sponsors - except 'helping the younger generation'. That finds no place on a balance sheet! Which is why it is closing.
 
These guys do it , the problem is that council run facilities are always getting chopped and sport , and education outdoors etc are always on the firing line for budget cuts , but it can be done professionally , with many companies seeking outdoor adventures for their staff , and scout /guide groups etc, and running courses , then it can be a profitable business , it is up to who ever buys it as an ongoing business to allow those in deprived areas to enjoy the outdoors at minimal cost, maybe through sponsorship and good will , lets hope some one does it ,
Scottish Outdoor Education Centres | Our Centres
 
The land at Balirvadach will be worth a small fortune as it is in a desirable area with limited opportunities to build on, and fronts the Gare Loch. The base did have a couple of houses on it for the Warden but they could have been sold off by now, Still, as Google Earth shows, that's a lot of land, south facing, direct access to the water, access is off the main road by a the old coast road (dead end). It is surrounded by very nice mansions and has good access to Glasgow by road and rail. I imagine the release of the asset would attract considerable interest as a multi-home development.

Google Maps
 
I'm very sorry - and not a little angry - to hear of these closures.

I attended the excellent West Sussex version at Cobnor in Chichester Harbour for week long residential courses three years in a row, they were organised through my school - I was already into sailing and had my little Caricraft 10 gunter rig dinghy, but I learned a huge amount from the skilled and devoted staff like the late lovely Jenny Boone - my classmates all benefitted hugely even if they didn't go on to sailing, it was terrific fun and we learned to act as crews together.

I don't know if the school still offers such courses but Cobnor Activity Centre is still going, my sailing club holds annual camping trips there for the dinghy section, these are very popular and well attended.

The place was originally made availiable by the late Martin Beale, the then local lord of the manor ( or something like that ! ).

This is one cause I'd happily chip some money towards if I could be sure it went to the right place - a good example of how effective such enterprises are is / was the Ocean Youth Club - when I was an apprentice at Hawkers' Kingston on Thames I discovered quite a few of the lads had been saved from a likely life of petty crime by trips afloat.

Closing such places is yet another example of accountants knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing.
 
I do not know if it apply s to Balirvadach, but have been told that a massive increase in the annual public insurance costs are closing down a lot of these outdoor centres.
 
Kola said:
I do not know if it apply s to Balirvadach, but have been told that a massive increase in the annual public insurance costs are closing down a lot of these outdoor centres.
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At the OEC I book every year, the instructors are all freelance. I wonder if they or the centre arrange insurance? Memo to self: ask.
 
JumbleDuck said:
At the OEC I book every year, the instructors are all freelance. I wonder if they or the centre arrange insurance? Memo to self: ask.
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For RYA recognised centres, teaching RYA courses, it is a condition of recognition that all instructors are insured by the centre.

I work as an instructor at an RYA Recognised Training Centre. Do I need my own insurance?
Whether you are employed by the Centre or self-employed, it is a condition of RYA
Recognition that a Centre insures all of its instructors against the risk of an instructor causing damage to a yacht used by the Centre and the risk of liability arising from personal injury or property damage caused by an instructor to a third party.
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For non RYA work, it depends.

https://www.rya.org.uk/SiteCollecti...DANCE FOR FREELANCE PROFESSIONAL SKIPPERS.pdf
 
Kola said:
I do not know if it apply s to Balirvadach, but have been told that a massive increase in the annual public insurance costs are closing down a lot of these outdoor centres.
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I don't know if that's a major cause of increased costs, but a huge drop in funds available to councils for non-essential services is caused by their pension crisis. A third of council tax goes on funding their final salary pension now, while virtually no private sector employees get that benefit any more...

Third of council tax 'will be spent on staff pensions'

Criticising bean counters, as some are wont to do, is missing the point.
 
Angus' description "non-essential services" is of course correct - in one way. Defining services as 'non-essential' or 'essential' needs vision.

Way back in the late 1990's I was a senior police officer and we learnt that Brixton Council were planning to stop all funding of "non-essential services" for youth and children activities. We were alarmed that these would be stopped in such an area and we were already concerned about serious crime which was predominently caused by young men. I asked a number of young detectives to go into Brixton Prison to talk to (not 'interview') young men who were serving long prison sentences to find out how their career lives started. And they were allowed to record the conversations. The young detectives were not very keen, thinking it wasn't very relevant to them and the prisoners would not want to talk. The result? Every single one prisoner talked openly and frankly. To a one, each of the young detectives found the process fascinating, interesting and so much to say. They immediately sent me a very clear message that crime could be reduced by some attention to children well before they ever came into the criminal justice system. I have the PowerPoint somewhere still but I don't recall each of the primary issues. But it all went wrong when the fellows were about 12 years of age: the criminal justice system, education, social services, parenting, policing etc . We had asked the Council for a meeting and I and some colleagues went. I ran the PowerPoint and used extracts of the recordings to let the message come through clearly in the prisoners' own words. At the end of the meeting, the Councillors to a one, said words to the effect "we don't know how to balance the budget at the moment but not one penny will be reduced for the funding for non-essential services for youth and children".

The trouble is when an essential service is defined only by evidence of a directly received provable product, it is so difficult to do anything except decline. Please, someone send the message to Blairvdich.
 
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