EVERYONE’S WELCOME DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

In The Outdoors

THE ‘EVERYONE’S WELCOME’ PROGRAMME PROVIDES OPPORTUNITY FOR A DIVERSE GROUP OF YOUNG PEOPLE TO EXPERIENCE THE OUTDOORS IN NEW WAYS, WHILST CHAMPIONING PATHWAYS IN THE INDUSTRY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE OF COLOUR. READ ROB (TELFORD AND WREKIN COUNCIL INCLUSION OFFICER) AND ELLA’S (PARTICIPANT AND ARTHOG AMBASSADOR) STORY OF THE PROGRAMME.

AUTHOR Ellalouise

Hi my name is Ellalouise, but most people just call me Ella :) I have five siblings and one of them has only just been born! I love music and writing, so I hope you enjoy my article.

Rob (Telford and Wrekin Council Inclusion Officer)

‘Everyone’s Welcome’ is a project based on the work by Gina McCabe, Sarah Wilkes and Stuart Fraser and is supported by Telford and Wrekin Council. The challenge isn’t just to be inclusive, but to be really good. The project took energy from the 60th Birthday celebrations of Arthog Outdoor Education Centre and, hopefully, is just beginning. Telford and Wrekin Council prides itself on Arthog, an outdoor activity centre based in the picturesque Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park overlooking the sea. Arthog offers young people and adults opportunities in team building, gorge walking, canoeing, mountain walking, rock climbing and much more.

Following on from a recent training course around equality in education, Jo Barnett (IOL CEO) and I agreed that we would like to do something special for Arthog’s 60th anniversary, working towards and leaving a legacy for the next 60 years and beyond. We agreed on an idea: a project entitled ‘Everyone’s Welcome’, which gives a diverse group of young people an opportunity to become Arthog Ambassadors.

The aim would be to use Arthog’s facilities to challenge them and help them to help pave the way for other young people who ordinarily find this type of experience beyond their reach. Everyone’s Welcome – Arthog Ambassadors would have three aims:

AUTHOR Rob Wilson

Rob Wilson currently works as Equality, diversity and inclusion officer for Telford & Wrekin Council. He has worked with young people and families in Telford for almost 20 years, from coaching football, working in the youth criminal justice system, homelessness, education, employment and training, which have given him a better understanding of people.

1. To champion other diverse young people (aged 13 - 25) in accessing, enjoying and benefiting from the outdoor opportunities offered by Telford & Wrekin Council.

2. To champion future employment and/or education opportunities by diverse young people leading to career pathways in the outdoors.

3. To promote diverse young people taking part in the outdoor activities that they are currently underrepresented in.

We worked closely with several of our local secondary schools who were able to put forward a number of their students. Word quickly spread and several other students showed a desire to join the project – the delight on their faces as we discussed the project with them told me all I needed to know!

Ella (Participant and Arthog Ambassador)

Hey! My name is Ellalouise, but you can call me Ella. I’m here to tell you about the Everyone is Welcome project, which is a project seeking to enhance the representation of Black and Asian young people in the outdoor community - a mouthful, isn’t it?

It all started when my youth worker told me about the Everyone is Welcome project. I had a meeting explaining what the project was about and I was asked whether I wanted to become an Ambassador. I needed to fill in the letter and explain why I want to take on the role and of course I filled it out! Now, I’m glad to say I’m officially an Arthog Ambassador.

A few weeks after that meeting it was coming closer to the day that we left for Arthog and to say I was nervous would be an understatement. I felt sick just thinking about it, but it didn’t mean I was not happy for the opportunity because I absolutely was!

I’ve always wanted to be a part of something like this, almost to prove myself to everyone else. As someone who has both white and black heritage, I never felt black, despite the fact that I identify more with my black heritage. Winter makes me paler, which I knew for a few years but still refused to go outside because I didn’t really appreciate my skin. This caused my skin to go paler. I wish this never happened, because it has caused me to be insecure and rethink who I really am, but we come in all different shades, and it doesn’t make me any less black. I learned that being at Arthog.

The day I was due to leave for Arthog came around quick! My friend Tiana and I convinced ourselves not to go – we were way too nervous. But I kept thinking to myself, this is what I’ve always wanted and I’m just giving it away just like that because I’m scared? I knew I needed to go, and I managed to convince my friend to go as well. My friendship with Tiana came out of this project – I was introduced to her at the original meeting, and we got along straight away and I’m so glad I met her. My stepdad took us, and we arrived around 10pm. I nearly got thrown onto the floor as my two friends hugged me, but I appreciated it because it made me feel a lot better.

Before I tell you what happened when we woke up, I want to tell you more about my anxiety and how it affects me, so you can understand what it’s like to be in my body. I’ve been dealing with anxiety for years. There are not enough bad words to describe what it’s like, it’s something that keeps me up at night, it makes my body shake violently because I feel like I’m in danger. It makes me stay in the house and never want to go out. It has control of me. To describe anxiety, it’s like the man behind the curtain when you watch a puppet show, it holds its claws tightly around your strings as it pulls you to your bed where you wish you won’t get up the next day. It’s something that watches you at night, waiting for its next moment to pounce.

With this in mind, I’ll return to my story as an Arthog Ambassador. The next day we woke up and were told that we were going gorge walking. I had heard of it because of my parents so I was pretty nervous, but excited. We got geared up and entered the minibus, by now I was feeling overwhelmed and my anxiety was all over the place. I knew I was going to throw up, but I was trying hard to stop it from happening, but my attempts were unsuccessful and, after getting cleaned up, I had completely lost hope of me being able to do the walk. As we made it to the site, we went and looked at the rock pools and saw a baby crab that I was lucky enough to hold. We ended up doing the gorge walk and I was really proud of myself - I was climbing those rocks like Spider-Man climbed up buildings! When we arrived back at Arthog I started to feel like I was at home.

After resting a bit, we were told we were going canoeing, now I had no idea how this was going to go, but I felt like a car that needed fuel; I drank as much water as I could. I was still feeling sick and I decided I wasn’t going to go, but after thinking on it for a while I decided that I needed to do this - not just for me, but for everyone else too. After partnering up we got into our canoes - I was with Jo and Tiana and two of the boys. We put all our strength into beating Rob in a race and of course we won! I didn’t do all of those workouts for nothing!

I took some beautiful photos and did some sand art because it’s one of my favourite things to do and I set myself a challenge to pull a canoe myself as we were putting the canoes back. I grabbed onto the string and wrapped it around my wrist and pulled as hard as I could, I felt like Dwayne The Rock Johnson. I pulled until my hands were red and sweat was rolling down my face like in those movies! I completed my challenge and was completely out of breath, but I did it. We arrived back cold but proud and cleaned ourselves up. We did some talking and then Jo decided for us to have a meeting on how we could move the project further forward. I’ve never been prouder of a group of people in my life, they were all so well spoken and smart and I loved hearing what they had to say and I’m so glad I was with people who I can relate to and identify with. After finishing up our meeting, Jo took us on some night activities. Me and my friend Tiana were wondering whether or not we were about to be kidnapped as we had blindfolds! But it all made sense once Jo explained… first, we had to all get onto this wooden plank and we had to order ourselves from tallest to shortest without falling off. All of us were thinking one thing and one thing only, “there’s no way we’re going to do this”. We all thought for a few seconds before coming up with a plan - soon we were all working together getting everyone in the right place. I have never held hands with so many people in my lifetime and in the same moment I realised I was the second shortest person.

After finishing up we all went back and I made a delicious hot chocolate while talking to some of the girls; of course, we were talking about hot chocolate! Me and Tiana went outside and talked for a while before playing what I call “night football” - the best way of playing! We played for around 30 minutes and decided to go into our rooms where we talked about funny stories that had happened to us…we talked for ages, thank God we were the only ones in the room!

Rob

The students are already asking about next year’s events and having more time to spend at Arthog. I would like to say a huge thank you to our secondary schools Madeley academy, Charlton and Telford Prior for their hard work in choosing a diverse and dynamic group for us. Thanks to the Arthog staff for their knowledge and expertise, our volunteers and to the students for kick-starting what now feels like a summer of fun (we all definitely deserve it). Watch this space for more information and contact me robert.wilson@telford.gov.uk if you would like your child or their school to get involved in the Everyone’s Welcome Arthog Ambassadors project 2023.

Ella

I can’t put into words how much this project means to me and what it’s done for me. I learned a lot about the people I was with, and it has made me appreciate people so much more. I will forever be grateful for this experience. Thank you for reading my experience and I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing it p

IMAGES

All images have been supplied by the authors. Authors retains copyright.