Oakwood Outdoor Centre

The instructors waving goodbye to the children of Manor Park.

Staff training and fun

Mellissa
Nathan
Greg
Darrel

(Thanks Sarah for the photos)

We are thrilled to be hosting a comedy night here at Oakwood to raise money for our bursary fund! Tickets will be £2 per person and £5 for a family (up to 5 people) and can be purchased from our website by following link below:

https://www.oakwoodclimbingcentre.com/steve-legg-event-2/

The evening will be hosted by Christian comedian and entertainer Steve Legg, who is embarking on his ‘First’ Farewell Tour, having been diagnosed with terminal cancer last April, and being given only months to live.
One year on and still very much alive, he is determined to make the choice to ‘get busy living’. Join us for an evening of entertainment for all ages and an answer to where he gets the source of his hope, in the face of a life ending illness.

All money raised from ticket sales and donations will go to the Oakwood Bursary fund.
We believe that climbing and outdoor activities can have a transformative effect on young people and that finances shouldn’t be a barrier to this! This is why we have created the Oakwood Bursary Fund.
We work alongside schools and other charities, using this fund to ensure that financial assistance is there for those who need it, and that everyone can enjoy our amazing facilities.

Here, we have one of our instructors untangling the tracer lines.

Sometimes, life may offer us a situation / challenge that needs untangling. And the only fix is to meticulously untie it.

Tangle Prayer:
Lord, when life presents a tangle: a situation or problem that needs to be untangled,
Please give me the patience to persevere, the creativity and perspective to look at it in a new way, and the tenacity to press on.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.

We are extremely grateful for all the local businesses who have dropped off bark chips for us.
With the immense rain we've had over these last few weeks, we've been able to make little pathways preventing our guests from having to trudge through mud.

Thank you for your kind donations.

Last week we welcomed Basildon CE Primary School and Nursery for our first school residential of the year! It was great to have them staying with us and we look forward to hosting many more school residential trips this year!

And that’s a wrap! Last night we laid on a pizza and pancake night to thank our incredible instructors who have worked tirelessly to inspire and motivate 1700 year seven pupils from 8 local schools on their team building sessions.
These sessions have been running at Oakwood from October through till yesterday and we have been able to provide them free of charge as part of our charitable giving, alongside generous support from Wellington College. Thank you again to our team for their dedication to always going above and beyond!

One of the biggest compliments we get is when customers arrive and ask us ‘is this new?’. Our centre isn’t new (it’s 20 years old!) but we’re constantly refurbishing parts of it so that it always looks its best. Last week we had some brand-new wooden doors fitted to our bedrooms – here they are looking lovely and ready for all our new and returning customers!

Excited to have students trying out our tents in the winter.
We've made them nice and cosy!

Have a lovely weekend with us here at Oakwood

This week we’ve had at Oakwood working on our high ropes course and leap of faith! We’re getting excited for the busy season ahead!

Mark our amazing decorator has been busy getting the residential site ready for the a very full season ahead . All bedrooms painted and now the Octagon . This is one of the reasons why we get so many compliments on the high standards of our facilities. Fresh coat of paint every year 😍

We're hiring freelance outdoor instructors and assistant instructors!

To apply email: [email protected]

Freelance outdoor instructor job description: https://oakwoodyouth.co.uk/work-with-us/jobs/

2023 was a great year for us! Here are some figures that give you a snapshot of what we’ve been up to in our busiest year so far!
We’re looking forward to welcoming even more groups in 2024!

We hope you've enjoyed this little advent journey.

Which quote have you liked the most?
Or which one resonated with you?

My prayer with this little advent tree was that someone, even just one person, would have paused by the tree, read a quote - and that God would have used those words for that person to think about deeper things.

The magic and truth of Christmas, for me (Darrel), is that every year, every Christmas:

1. Someone else will get it. They will come to faith. They will have a moment of clarity and understanding and will want to explore the Christian faith.

2. Even better still, they would feel the touch of Jesus in such a real way. A divine moment they can't explain, but they know it happened.

Thank you to all the climbers, guests and staff to for the collection of warm tops, beanies, gloves, etc for

We gathered up three large bags!

And what a blessing The Cowshed are to the local community. Thank you for all you do.

Some of our instructors had a busy day doing a litter pick. On Waterloo Road and Old Wokingham Road.

We gathered about 16 bags of rubbish!! And a mattress.

Things we can do to help:
1. Carry a carrier bag with you on your dog walks. Pick up the little you see.
2. Call out your friends and family when you see them littering.
3. Make a concerted effort to pick up rubbish each day.

"Jack of all trades."

Thanks to all the outdoor instructors who were involved with breaking down the old outside boulder and put the pieces in the skip.

A few weeks ago, two of our instructors led an assembly at St Margarets Clitherow primary school where they spoke about listening to the voice of bravery, instead of the voice of fear. This is something we are passionate about enabling young people to do- by pushing yourself out of your comfort zone you are able to build resilience and learn that you can find courage in the face of fear and do more than you ever thought yourself capable of.
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. – Isaiah 41:10

Yay, its the 1st Dec.
Advent is upon us.

Scroll through the images to learn what Advent is about. 🙏

We've put up this tree with daily quotes to help people / climbers / visitors to Oakwood focus and think about deeper things as we approach Christmas.

“Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” Matthew 2:2

Its cold and frosty outside today here at Oakwood, but we're keeping our groups nice and warm with our outdoor heaters!

It’s so lovely to have positive comments about the work that we do! Here are some photos and feedback from a few weeks ago when . Crispin's School joined us for their year 7 team building days. It was great to have you with us and to play a part in helping your new students to get to know each other and settle into their new school!

Please could you spare a moment to nominate us to win a £5000 prize draw to support the charity work we do? Nominating us will take you less than 30 seconds and the draw closes on the 10th of November, so there’s only 2 days left. We would really appreciate your support to enable us to growing, challenge and nurture more young people in our community!

To nominate us, please follow this link: https://youth.movementforgood.com/

Chief Instructor, Wokingham - Oakwood Youth Challenge We have an exciting opportunity for a Chief Instructor at Oakwood Youth Challenge in Wokingham, Berkshire. Salary: £28,000 - £32,000 pa depending on qualifications & experience.

Are you ready for the next step or are you looking to expand on your experience in a new setting? We would love to hear from you so get in touch for more information or an informal chat.

Chief Instructor, Wokingham - Oakwood Youth Challenge We have an exciting opportunity for a Chief Instructor at Oakwood Youth Challenge in Wokingham, Berkshire. Salary: £28,000 - £32,000 pa depending on qualifications & experience.

We are recruiting for a Chief Instructor to help us lead and manage our outdoor department. Interested to find out more, then click this link or drop us an email with any questions you have

Chief Instructor, Berkshire

Activity days at Oakwood!

What another great summer!

Due to a cancellation, we now have a rare free weekend for a group booking at Oakwood Residential ( minimum x35 people) :

Date: Fri 29th Sept - Sunday 1st October 2023.

Contact us on: [email protected]

Or phone: 0118 979 2253 to book .

What a difference in 12 hours!

Pic one - yesterday afternoon

Pic two - this morning.

As the well-known outdoor industry adage goes: "There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing." 👍😉

A great day for Shelter building.

The young people we had join us for our build shelters and then had their afternoon snack inside.