All The Elements

🌳 Timber Festival 2024! 🌳

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us in the All The Elements area of Timber Festival.

It was a weekend filled with connections, important conversations, inspiring talks, learning and celebrating the work our community does.

We're so grateful to our incredible facilitators from across the weekend, to all the community who joined us in the space and to everyone who took part in a session with openness and curiosity.

We have so much more to share about the festival - keep your eyes peeled for more content coming soon - but in the meantime thank you all for being there with us and sharing your energy, experience and knowledge.

This space was run in partnership with Timber Festival, and kindly supported by Patagonia. With huge thanks to them both for supporting us to make it happen.

Timber Festival , Patagonia Wild Rumpus

🌱 The Summit 2024 🌱

Swipe through for a few photo highlights from the weekend. With...

🌱 A nature connection walk led by Evie, Chantelle and Isabella,
🌱 An elevation hike led by Sameed and Mahroof,
🌱 A 5k trail run led by Trina and Tasha,
🌱 Early morning yoga led by Sian,
🌱 & mountain biking, which was led by Tokunbo & Dulce.

The Summit is a residential weekend of workshops, providing outdoor community leaders focused on POC audiences the opportunity to share their knowledge, lived experience and their outdoor activities with others.

The weekend is jam-packed full of activities, important conversations & amazing stories. We’ll be sharing deeper reflections from the weekend soon, but in the meantime please enjoy this photo snapshot by Les Latchman

The Summit is organised by All The Elements founder Soraya Abdel-Hadi and Phil Young, and supported by Patagonia europe and HF Holidays

📣 Last chance to apply for the ClimbOut Outdoor Qualification Scheme!

Deadline to apply is the 14th of June! ⬇️ Apply here
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf0mBZ94t8IXdtlS3bJH0SU1IoFlZHqOWBTbDrbAr-qiTx3MA/viewform

🌱 The Lake District Foundation have 5 grants available for groups working with underrepresented communities to share their experiences of the Lake District National Park.

The fund is up to £2000 per group, which can be used to cover the cost of travel, accommodation, activities and even equipment.

Open to community groups who are underrepresented in the outdoors industry, the grant will be prioritising groups where the Lake District is their nearest national park.

They've shared ⬇
"You’re invited to visit the National Park and enjoy everything it has to offer. But with a critical eye, we’d like you to share your experience and how it could be improved. What is the region doing well and what is it getting wrong, when it comes to making sure everyone feels welcome here?

Tell us and show us, in whatever way works for you: photos, vlogs, words: you decide. "

Deadline to apply is the 14 Jun 5pm 2024 🔗 Full Details here:
https://www.lakedistrictfoundation.org/ld4e-grant-fund/

🌱 Using Community to Tackle Racism in the Outdoors: an ESEA Perspective

Andrew Wang (He/Him) founder of ESEA Outdoors will be joining us at Timber Festival 2024 hosting a panel discussion exploring why we need representation and community to tackle racism in the outdoors from an East and Southeast Asian perspective.

Joined by panelists: Janice Tan (she/her), Ingrina Shieh (she/her) and Frit Tam (he/him), the panel will bring their knowledge, lived experience and insight into this much needed conversation.

Introducing the panel:
📍 Andrew Wang is a fell-runner, data scientist and activist based in the Scottish Borders and founder of ESEA Outdoors UK, a grassroots community tackling racism by celebrating the representation of East & Southeast Asian people in the outdoors.

📍Janice Tan grew up in Singapore and lived there until 2006 when she moved to Stockholm, Sweden and moved to London in 2015. She started climbing in 1989 in Singapore and has been enjoying it ever since.

📍Ingrina Shieh loves being active outdoors, whether it's running in parks or on trails, hiking, camping, and walking from point-to-point for many days. She is currently working towards a UK Mountain Leader Qualification, leads monthly group walks for London National Park City and founded Wayword Treks to promote diversity in and increase access to multi-day and thru-hiking.

📍Frit Tam is a speaker, somatic healer and award-winning adventure documentary filmmaker whose films solely share stories from underrepresented communities in the outdoors. He is now exploring how imagination can support our activism work, specifically in access to the outdoors.

🌱 Timber festival is on from the 5th-7th July, if you’ve not yet registered to join us you can find out more (Including discounted tickets!) here:
https://www.alltheelements.co/news/ate-programme-timber-festival

🌱 Are you a disability campaigner working in the outdoors?

We'd like to invite you to join us on 12th June 2024 at 7pm for our Disability Campaigners' Social!

This social is for anyone who identifies as disabled or chronically ill, or if you're working on disability inclusion. This includes (but is not limited to): physical, sensory, neurological, medical, psychological, visible & invisible disabilities.

Led by Anisah Barber, host of

It's free to join us, but you do need to register here:

https://www.alltheelements.co/events/disability-campaigners-online-social-4

🌱 Our full programme for Timber Festival is now online!

Take a peek at the incredible community members joining us to talk, sing, create and share over the weekend ⬇️

https://www.alltheelements.co/news/ate-programme-timber-festival

We’re excited to be running this space in partnership with Timber Festival, and kindly supported by Patagonia.

📍 Our last (general) online social before summer!

And as always it was such a beautiful opportunity to connect with others working in the space. We always leave our online socials with so much energy and so excited about the work that everyone is doing.

Our Virtual Assistant Dawn joined us for the evening and shared this with us about the event ⬇

“It was my first time joining the general social and it was so lovely to hear about different people’s stories! As I'm usually working in the background, it was also lovely to see how All The Elements helps and why what we are doing is so important”

Thank you to everyone who joined us! Please do drop your handles in the comments with a little description of what you do so that more people can find you!

Don't worry if you missed it, our next online social is in September and you can already register here: https://www.alltheelements.co/events

🌱🌱 We've had three new team members join us this spring and we're delighted to welcome them all to the team!

Francesca, Patsy and Sabrina we're so grateful to have you join us!

A huge shout out and thank you to all our team, we wouldn’t be able to do the work we do without you.

You can read all about the incredible people in these photos through our website https://www.alltheelements.co/about

🌱 Could you join us?

We are always looking for volunteers to build our resource library, write online content, run events and generally help us support our community. Drop us an email to get in touch letting us know what you’re interested in.

🌱 Growing our team has been made possible with funding from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.

🌱 Recent updates to the All The Elements Directory and Online Resources!

Did you know that on our website you can find:
➡️ Over 250 different community groups?
➡️ Research, dating back to 2005 and with the latest published pieces in 2024
➡️ Written Press, sharing thought pieces and community interviews
➡️ Podcasts, books, film and video all centred around diversity in the UK outdoors.

Have something you'd like us to add? You'll find a form on the bottom of our resource pages. If you've submitted something recently please know we're working through the list with updates happening all the time!

Here are some of the latest updates featuring:
Bendrigg Trust
ESEA Outdoors UK
Every Body Outdoors
Sporting Equals

Find them and more through our website www.alltheelements.co

🌱 Are you joining our next online social?

Our socials are a great way to learn more about the All The Elements community and to connect to others working on diversity, access and representation in the UK outdoors.

Join us on the 20th May to hear what others are working on, connect with like minded individuals and share your work.

Open to everyone, our community covers all diversity areas, all outdoor activities, nature connection, conservation and all outdoor sector roles - all we ask is for you to join us with an open and collaborative attitude!

It's free to join us but you do need to register here ⬇

https://www.alltheelements.co/events

🌱 On Belonging, Art and Identity...

We're so delighted to have Becky Lyon Becky Lyon joining us at Timber festival.

Becky Lyon is an English-Jamaican artist working at the intersection of art and ecology. Her practice dwells in the sticky places between sensing bodies, tactile processes & the touchy-feely, earthly curriculums, power relations, word-world building, softness & slippery edges as rebel strategies, concrete-ologies and ecology as a "sourcebook" for co-flourishing.

She makes installations, rituals, objects and moving images. She is founder of Ground Provisions - an artist-led, schooled-by-the-forest for grown ups and the Squishy Sessions research collective.

Becky will be joining us for two sessions firstly exploring how coming into relationship with the soils, waters, skies of the British Isles on your own terms and through your own sensing body can be a practice for circumventing unwelcoming and harmful power structures and narrating your own sense of ‘belonging’.

As well as for a panel conversation exploring the role of art in making change.

We'd love to see you there! Find out more through our link in bio! Including requesting discounted tickets.

We’re excited to be running this space in partnership with , and kindly supported by

🎉 A HUGE congratulations to Trekkers who celebrated their 1st Birthday last Sunday with a celebration meet up at The Roaches, Peak District. 🎉

We caught up with founder Mon, to hear more about their first year together ⬇⬇

🥾 To start with, can you share a little more about what you do?
"We bring the cityside, to the countryside! Grounded in the 5 ways to wellness, our mission is to nurture the mental, physical and social wellbeing of Black and other ethnic groups in the countryside and through outdoor adventures.

We are also on a mission to promote diversity & inclusivity in the great outdoors and be the change we want to see. We run monthly group hikes to various National Trust parks and AONB. Our motto is We Stride🥾 We Vibe🤎 We Diversify👊🏾"

🥾 The first birthday is such a big one! What are you most proud of achieving over the last 12 months?
"I am so proud that the Trekkers Tribe is growing daily and we are only just getting started! We have facilitated 10 guided hikes over the past year and there is no better feeling than being able to support your own community to access the great outdoors and have loads of fun whilst doing it. The vibes the Trekkers Tribe bring on each hike is just amazing, the laughter, the love, the unity! The ops team work effortlessly to ensure that our hikes run smoothly (Shout out & Trekkin' Ty) and I'm proud that the vision is coming to fruition as it wouldn't be possible without them."

🥾 If you could go back in time and give yourself one piece of advice at the start what would it be?
"Everyday is a learning curve but I would say trust in the building process, be patient, it takes time but keep doing what you enjoy, keep showing up as your most authentic self and naturally the community will find you."

🥾 Where do you see the next 12 months taking you?
"Our Trekkin' toes will hopefully be taking us on more hikes, more adventures, maybe a Trekkers weekender in the lakes or even a group trek abroad! Who knows? All I know is that great things are coming. Watch this space 😆"

Find out more about Trekkers and follow their work here: Trekkers UK

🌱 We're so excited to announce that Joss is going to be joining us at Timber Festival 2024!

Facilitating two sessions over the weekend. Joss will be inviting us to make friends with nettles! In a hands on session to try making nettle string, and find out how nettles are an important, versatile and delicious plant.

Joss will also be inviting you to join us for a celebration of nature through poetry. Bring your favourite nature inspired poem, or your own nature inspired piece to share, or just listen and enjoy.

Those of you in the All The Elements community might recognise Joss from our previous events or posts. She runs Peace of Green CIC along with her colleague Evelyn. Working across the East Midlands but based primarily in Leicester and Leicestershire, they offer outdoor wellbeing and nature connection with a unique blend of bushcraft, Forest School, mindfulness, campfire cooking, arts and craft, designed to improve mental health and wellbeing.

It's not too late to join us! 📍Find out more about Timber Festival, including All The Elements discounted tickets here:

https://www.alltheelements.co/news/timber-festival-2024

We’re excited to be running this space in partnership with Timber Festival, and kindly supported by Patagonia Europe

🌱 Can the plants rooted in our landscapes help us to reconnect post Brexit?

Join us at Timber Festival 2024 for an intimate conversation cafe, punctuated by songs and herbal teas, where you'll be invited to explore the interconnected stories of our lineage, land and home.

Hosted by Hiranya, a singer, mother and adventurer. Hiranya was born to Sri Lankan parents in rural England. In 2018, she solo hiked the Welsh Coastal Path. Her experience of race post-Brexit broke down her sense of self, and of country.

She moved from England, through Wales, to Scotland and back. She journeyed through grief to love; finding healing in the land.

Her debut album, Frangipani and Daisy Chains, was released in June 2023. Part personal nostalgia, part history lesson. The songs all explore identity, belonging and colonialism through the herbs (of England) and spices (of Sri Lanka).

Bring a mug and share a cup of tea together ☕ as we reconnect to each other and the land through conversations and song. we can't wait to see you there!

We’re excited to be running this space in partnership with Timber Festival , and kindly supported by Patagonia europe

📍Find out more about Timber Festival, including All The Elements discounted tickets here:

https://www.alltheelements.co/news/timber-festival-2024

📍 Joining us at Timber Festival 2024!

Allie Mason is an autistic author and microadventurer with her first book, The Autistic Guide to Adventure, published in 2023.

To date, Allie's work has been featured by National Parks UK, Kendal Mountain Festival, The Guardian, and many more.

The purpose of her writing is to give neurodivergent young people a place where they recognise themselves and feel that they belong.

Allie is going to be joining us at Timber Festival to run an interactive panel discussion on neurodiversity in the outdoors. We couldn't be more excited to have her joining us!

In the meantime you can find out more about her work on www.alliewrote.com

📍AND we still have some All The Elements discounted tickets to Timber Festival remaining. Request a discounted ticket through our website here ⬇
https://www.alltheelements.co/news/timber-festival-2024

We’re excited to be running this space in partnership with Timber Festival , and kindly supported by Patagonia europe

🌱 Joining us at Timber Festival 2024!

We're so excited to begin sharing some of the incredible people who will be joining us to run sessions and share their knowledge at Timber Festival. We couldn't think of a better person to start with than Dr Sheree Mack.

Sheree describes herself by sharing:
"I’m a Creatrix with a practice which manifests through poetry, storytelling, image and the unfolding histories of black people. I engage audiences around black women’s voices and bodies, black feminism, ecology and memory, nature, grief and healing .

I advocate for black women’s voices, facilitating national and international creative workshops and retreats in the landscape, encouraging and supporting women on their journey of remembrance back to their bodies and authentic selves."

Sheree will be joining us to run a session on Exploring Palimpsest: delving within the layers of nature, creativity and ourselves.

You can follow Sheree and find out more about her work on Instagram and the Podcast.

📍Find out more about Timber Festival, including All The Elements discounted tickets here:

https://www.alltheelements.co/news/timber-festival-2024

We’re excited to be running this space in partnership with , and kindly supported by

📍 Awareness Days in April for your diary!

With so many different Awareness Days relevant to the All The Elements community we want to take a moment at the start of each month to highlight what's coming up. If there is an Awareness Day that is important to you that we've not shared please let us know and we'll add it to the list!

All Month - Stress Awareness Month
All Month - World Autism Month
2nd April - World Autism Awareness Day
6th April - International Asexuality Day (IAD)
11th April - World Parkinson's Day
22nd April - Stephen Lawrence Day
22nd - 28th April - Le***an Visibility Week

Will you be celebrating or joining any of these? Share in the comments so we can support your plans.

🎉 A HUGE congratulations to The Bicycle Adventure Club, part of our community, who are celebrating their 5th Birthday this month!

The Bicycle Adventure Club is LGBTQ+, Women and XXL led. They describe themselves by saying “We might not wear lycra or have the best gear but we have a passion for creating a friendly, safe & supportive environment where adventurers of all backgrounds & abilities can move beyond their comfort zone to experience the mental & physical benefits of connecting with their bicycle, the landscape & people through led rides, workshops and social spaces.”

We caught up with co-founder Sarah about the club turning 5 ⬇️⬇️

🚲 5 years is a huge milestone! What are you most proud of over that time?

I’m proud of the community we have built. We have created a place where there is no snobbery, no judgement, fun and camaraderie. It has been a joy to watch the friendships that have formed because of the group, and all because we decided to make some YouTube videos of us having a laugh on our bikes.

🚲 If you could go back in time and give yourself one piece of advice at the start what would it be?

My advice would be to trust your voice. Society may have been stacked against you but trust that your unique perspective has value. The audience will find you and let you know that you are on the right path, so listen to them.

🚲 Where do you see the next 5 years taking you?

We have just become a Community Interest Company so I hope to spread the good Bicycle Adventure Club word by continuing to create fun, inspiring content & rides. Hopefully we can grow to have Bicycle Adventure Club Chapters all over the world!

A huge congratulations from all of us!

Find out more about Bicycle Adventure Club and follow their work here
https://bicycleadventureclub.co.uk/

📣 Reminder 📣 Would you like to join us and run a session as part of our community-led programming at Timber Festival?

We've been busy behind the scenes working on our programme and bringing together some incredible community members to share their knowledge. There are still a few spaces left if you'd like to be part of it!

Timber Festival takes place in the National Forest from the 5th-7th July! This year we're delighted to be partnering with the festival to curate an area supported by Patagonia.

We will have a community-run space within the All The Elements area where YOU are in charge of the programming and have the opportunity to showcase what is unique and special about your work in the outdoors.

This could be anything from a kit try on to a mini meet up, a dance session to a campfire conversation or so much more.

If you have an idea of an event you’d like to run we’d love to hear from you and help you to make it a reality!

This is your last chance to apply before the programming is confirmed 📍 Find full details about the festival & how to apply to run a session through our website.

https://www.alltheelements.co/news/timber-festival-2024

AND If you'd like to join us but don't have a session in mind we also have discounted tickets available!

Timber Festival

Could you support the strategic development of All The Elements over the coming years? We're looking for Non-Exec Directors to join us as we continue to grow our team and our work.

We are particularly keen to attract candidates who have skills or experience in one or more of the following areas:

🌱 Financials, particularly developing and diversifying income streams
🌱 Developing membership organisations
🌱 Innovative governance - ensuring community needs are at the centre of our work
🌱 Impact and reporting
🌱 Other open NED roles - we don’t have a fixed idea of what our board will look like, so if you think your skills would benefit our organisation, please reach out too!

This role is a remote, voluntary position, approximately 1 to 1.5 days per quarter.

We are accepting applications on a rolling basis until the positions are filled.

Find full details and how to apply through our website here:
https://www.alltheelements.co/news/recruiting-non-exec-directors

🎉🎉 Our final post celebrating Neurodiversity Week!

This week we have been celebrating some of the incredible people within our network and highlighting the work they do! For our final post in this series...

📍 Meet Vedangi!

Vedangi is a 25 year old adventurer, endurance athlete, writer/storyteller and entrepreneur. In November 2021, she organised UK’s first downhill Mtb race for adaptive mountain bikers and has a business called ‘The Adventure Shed’ helping people plan, manage and lead adventures and expeditions.

She describes her personal adventures by saying “I love being outside and on the move, be it cycling long distances, mountain biking, hiking, mountaineering, climbing, skiing or swimming. My shortest adventure was a 5 minute ice swim and the longest one saw me cycling around the world”

We asked Vedangi what her Neurodivergence brings to her work and this is what she shared:

“My ADHD brings me the ability to find order in chaos. Don’t get me wrong, some days, it’s all too overwhelming and I’m forgetting important things, but more often than not, I’m able to focus when things get challenging and can stay calm in stressful situations.

On the other hand, my rejection sensitivity means that I can have a tough time dealing with failure sometimes. But as with everything, the at intense feeling passes with time!”

You can give Vedangi a follow and read more about her work on Instagram

❄️❄️ Celebrating Neurodiversity Week

This week we wanted to take the opportunity to celebrate some of the incredible people within our network and highlight the work they do!

📍Meet Amira!

Amira is the founder of The Wanderlust women - an initiative born out of the need to normalise Muslim women exploring and being visible in the great outdoors. They are a hiking and adventure group that provides like-minded women with the space, knowledge, and skills to traverse green spaces with confidence.

Talking about the community Amira has shared “We have found that the profound impact that being part of this wonderful sisterhood has had on our attendees can often not be described in words. It’s a community, a safe space, and a place where we can all connect back to our roots, being God-centred as well as healing from past experiences-all through nature.”

We asked Amira what her Neurodivergence brings to her work and this is what she shared:

“Adhd is my superpower, I thrive off Chaos, the unknown and living in the moment. Working in the mountains allows my free spirit to flow without feeling constricted. It’s a great environment for me to work in, there’s space, it’s open and each day is different. Having ADHD can be a challenge but nature somehow calms this and allows me to be me. In my hyper-focus state I create the most unique experiences for the Wanderlust women travelling across the globe.
To me adhd is my superpower !”

Give Amira a follow on Instagram and .Wanderlust.women

🛶🛶 Celebrating Neurodiversity Week

This week we wanted to take the opportunity to celebrate some of the incredible people within our network and highlight the work they do!

📍 Meet Stu!

Stu is a co-founder of Ethical Activities and NeuDICE.

Ethical Activities provides anyone who lives in Plymouth access to canoeing & kayaking on the water, or mountain biking up the Plym valley in the woodland. Stu shares “For me, Ethical Activities is about committing my time and expertise to be available to the widest breadth of people possible that want to access, kind of benefit from the outdoors.”

NeuDICE is a neurodivergent, inclusive community of entrepreneurs. With the aim to create a world where anyone who owns a business, works entrepreneurially, is a freelancer or self employed, can get access to the support they need to run their businesses effectively based on their needs, not on any other requirements, such as diagnosis.

NeuDICE launched in Plymouth in April 2023 and now in March 2024 NeuDICE Wales has just launched online and bilingually!

We asked Stu what their Neurodivergence brings to their work and this is what they shared:

“I think in learning how to radically accept that the way I interact and deal with the world is really quite different at times to most of the other people that I meet, and different to most of the systems, processes, ways of communication and ways of being that they use.

Really accepting that for myself has actually let me expand my patience, flexibility, and provided me with an open minded approach to just quite how differently some people need to approach the world and the support that they need.

I now approach the world in a much more unmasked, authentic way, where actually I try and just embody who Stu is. Not only does it work for neurodivergent people, but it also starts to break down many other barriers.”

You can follow Ethical Activities CIC and Neudice to find out more. Stu has shared ⬇️

“If you’re running a business and you think ‘I work a little bit differently, something isn't working for me.’ Reach out. NeuDICE inbox is always open.”

🎉 Celebrating Neurodiversity Week

This week we wanted to take the opportunity to celebrate some of the incredible people within our network and highlight the work they do!

📍 Meet Harriet!

The woman behind Navigation with Harriet, which runs mountain, navigation and rock climbing courses for women and underrepresented folks in the UK outdoors! We’ve previously partnered with Harriet to run an LGBTQIA+ mountain skills weekend and she recently joined us to run a navigation session as part of The Outdoor Connection.

We asked Harriet what her Neurodivergence brings to her work and this is what she shared:

“I love my neurodiversity, it allows me to adapt quickly, think on my feet and fully embrace new experiences. I also think outside the box which is great for being inventive and coming up with new ideas.”

⛰ Harriet has shared tips through her Instagram on both getting outdoors and running a business with ADHD. Find out more about her work and follow her here Navigation with Harriet or subscribe to her newsletter through www.navigationwithharriet.co.uk

⛰️⛰️ Celebrating Neurodiversity Week

This week we wanted to take the opportunity to celebrate some of the incredible people within our network and highlight the work they do!

📍 Meet Siddrah!

Siddrah is the founder of Climb Muz, a climbing group for Muslim women & women of colour. Started in 2021, the group aims to increase diversity at climbing walls, supporting Muslim women and women of colour to access climbing in a safe and accessible space. Promoting physical and mental wellbeing and reducing some of the financial barriers that people can face getting into climbing.

We asked Siddrah what her Neurodivergence brings to her work and this is what she shared:

“I was diagnosed with dyslexia recently in my late 30’s. What it's brought for me is an opportunity to continue to work on myself and grow, and see how I can apply that to the community I can support. Taking the time to reflect on what I need has helped me to think about how to adjust things for my community members, whether that’s supporting them on the wall, or rethinking the logistics and communications when organising trips.”

Give Siddrah a follow and find out more about the work ClimbMuz does over on .i.c