The Outward Bound Trust’s Mark Scott Leadership for Life Award

Hi - just a wee reminder to jump onto Mark Scott Award for future posts as this page will be mothballed soon! Thank you!!

Nominations now open for National Youth Work Awards! | YouthLink Scotland National Youth Work Awards nominations are now open! Celebrate excellence by nominating your youth work heroes today.

Please take a moment to read the post below if you have been a recipient of a Mark Scott Leadership for Life Award - thanks!!

Oh, and Happy New Year!!!!

Nominations now open for National Youth Work Awards! | YouthLink Scotland National Youth Work Awards nominations are now open! Celebrate excellence by nominating your youth work heroes today.

As minds are turning toward Christmas (or the Holiday at least for some) it's been great over the last few weeks to hear about how our teams are intending to help people in their communities - and some of the groups starting in August are able to do this around the Christmas holiday for those who don't look forward to this time of year.

We've had 3 of the 4 Project forums so far this year, and while there are threads running through them in some cases, there are a number of themes the projects always encapsulate and this year is no exception:

- Recognising others' needs
- Passing on to others
- Enhancing lives
- Being brave
- Learning about others' lives and what affects them
- Making a difference when no one else has

We're really proud of our participants and their (and our) legacy not just using the work we have done with them, but importantly (and often lost in the 'education speak' around the Award) of how they have positively affected their communities and those in them.

Once again there will be 25 community projects to report on this year - a 26th year of bumper community service.

Just a few days now until the first of this year's four residential training courses starts- It's getting close!

Come monday we'll be well underway with the first group, and this years' ball will be properly rolling (Indiana Jones style) through to the end of March 2014 - It's a whirlwind.

Really looking forward again to the transformations in the participants. We've already met many of them, and they are all super enthusiastic and ready to go to The Outward Bound Trust UK Loch Eil centre.

Many of the transformations are quite amazing, many are smaller, and occasionally:

Not a bad weekend’s work for one of the teams this weekend - all their own work.

Their idea
Their design
They convinced the council to give them permission
They ran competitions in local primaries for the pattern designs
They raised the money for the paint
They bought the paint
They recruited volunteer painters to help
They managed their volunteers
They spent 3 days painting this
For their community

The Outward Bound Trust UK Cumbernauld News & Kilsyth Chronicle Elena Whitham MSP Cumbernauld Academy Parent Council Kilsyth Academy Greenfaulds High School

Here’s a few pictures from one of the 26 community projects underway being run by our groups across the central belt.

This group found the Forth Valley Sensory Centre in Camelon, Falkirk needed a new sensory sign for their garden which could be read by people with reduced sight, or felt by those with profound sight loss.

They approached the centre, convinced them of their intent, planned for the project, got support from local companies to give them supplies, and finally spent 3 days creating this fantastic sign - finished in the dark!

Our job is to set them up on the training course able to work successfully together, and then to support them in creating and delivering their own project, while looking for teachable moments throughout, and saving observations for the final review. And to teach them how to drill and saw and paint and grout, and………..

Forth Valley Sensory Centre
The Outward Bound Trust UK