Although our insurance allows us to walk with up to 30 people in a group, we made the decision to limit our walks to no more than 15.

Our goal is to make sure that as many people are able to get outside as much as possible for both their mental and physical well-being and to do this we are recruiting volunteer walk leaders to help.

This is a 4-hour workshop, which is a mix of slides, discussion and a physical walk.

WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME? (you may ask).

Well, apart from knowing that you will be doing your bit to keep the club going, there are a few other benefits of being a walk leader for AG:-

• Pre-book events before they have been made public.
• Some free and discounted “orange” adventures (you have early bird access to adventures)
• You will have a voice in how the club is run. Many of the new features of the club are generated via our walk leaders.
• You will have a portfolio on the website. (here) – see photos at the bottom of this event for some of our current walk leaders. (Friendly bunch!).
• We have a loyalty points system for walk leaders. There will be a maximum of 12 points available every month – points can be redeemed from 12 onwards (for things such as a funny pair of hiking socks, or save up to 24 points for a pair of waterproof socks). I have a whole array of walking and hiking-related gifts and gadgets as well as giveaways and vouchers for Adventures and weekends away.

WHAT COMMITMENT IS NEEDED?

To keep your walk leader privileges, all we ask is that you lead one walk every four months (that is just three times a year). That’s it. No other commitment.

WHAT WILL YOU LEARN?

1. Understand the responsibilities of an Adventure Geek walk leader, including group management, risk assessments, weather responsibilities, footwear limitations, rules for walking with dogs, walking skills, twitching, stile and road crossing, trip hazard awareness.

2. Event management of attendees.

3. Understanding navigation and how to follow a walk and how to re-route a walk whilst leading a group if needed.

4. We teach you how to give the statistics to the group at the end of the walk. (Note, we only allow walk leaders to lead walks that they know and are familiar with).

5. Equipment – understanding your walk leaders pack, allocating the first aider for each walk, communication skills with your tail walker, whistle and when to use it, hi-vis/reflective gear, torches, allocating a tail walker for each event.

6. What the process is for an emergency and managing risk. Also, the accident reporting process.

7. Risk assessments for each walk, exit strategies etc.

8. New walker briefing – how to identify a new walker and our process for making people feel welcome. We will also go through the health & safety briefing that needs to be given for each new starter.

8. Splitting the group into two if we have more than 15 attendees.

9. How we organise the monthly walks and how to volunteer for a walk.

10. How to get everyone grouped into a circle for the walk briefing and introductions.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED.

Before you attend this workshop we will ask you to download a variety of applications to your phone. This will include emergency first aid, navigation tools and event management tools.

WHO CAN APPLY?

* You must be an AG existing club member.

* You will have excellent communication skills.

* A good, basic understanding of navigation.

* Ideally you will have a first aid certificate (not essential)

* Ideally, you will be good with technology and apps.

ASSESSMENT:

The assessment will include a physical walk, where each walk leader will be asked to lead a section of the trail, plus answering a quick quiz to demonstrate that you understand all areas of responsibility of an AG walk leader.

Thank you.

Julia