Penarth Woodcraft win £5k Award for All

Penarth Woodcraft Folk have received a grant of £5,000 to support outdoor activities and training for young people from the lottery-funded programme “Awards for All Wales”.

The successful bid was entitled “Promoting Bushcraft Skills for Young People”. Bushcraft, fast growing in popularity, is about feeling comfortable and confident in the outdoors, working with natural products while respecting the environment, in short: surviving and thriving in the natural environment.

The award will enable the Penarth Woodcraft Folk to purchase an expedition style tipi tent to take on camps and weekend trips. It will also fund training opportunities for adult leaders in bushcraft and survival skills, and finance two camping trips for the children next year. These trips will feature fully qualified bushcraft instructors and will offer hands-on survival training for young people.

Marc Buehner, a leader of the Penarth Woodcraft folk, was thrilled when he heard that the bid was successful. He said: “This money will make a real difference to the children here in Penarth. Teaching young people to care for and respect our environment is one of the core aims of Woodcraft Folk. With this award, we can make this fun and interesting, while at the same time helping our kids to learn new skills and grow into confident and self-sufficient people. ”

Penarth based Assembly member Lorraine Barrett presented the group with a check over £5,000 last week. The children enjoyed recounting for Lorraine their recent activities in the Woodcraft folk, which included rallying support for the successful Sustrans Connect2 bid to build a pedestrian and cycle bridge between Penarth and Cardiff, and winning the competition to name the bridge “Pont y Werin” (Gwerin y Coed is the Welsh name for Woodcraft Folk). Ms Barrett in turn told the youngsters about her work in the assembly.

"It was such a pleasure to meet everyone at Penarth Woodcraft Folk. I am a huge supporter of this movement which helps children and young people develop self confidence and activity in society, with the aim of building a world based on equality, friendship, peace and co-operation.”, she said.

“The children I met were obviously learning so much about themselves and others and particularly about our environment. They were learning about working and playing together in a non-competitive way whilst enjoying themselves immensely. I was very impressed with the contribution of the parents who give so much time to running this group for children from Penarth and the surrounding areas. I know they will gain so much more from the grant they have been awarded", she added.

The Woodcraft Folk is an educational movement for children and young people, which aims to develop self confidence and activity in society, with the aim of building a world based on equality, friendship, peace and co-operation.

The Penarth group currently caters for:

Elfins (6-9 years)
Pioneers (10-12 years)
Venturers (13-15 years)

Our meetings are on Tuesday evenings.