Owner

Lauren has been running The Outdoor Education Company since 2014 and likes to stay firmly involved in attending schools, events and running activities. Her favourite activities are climbing, skateboarding and laser tag.

She isn’t the biggest fan of admin but loves working with customers to find the best activities and packages for them.

You’ll meet Lauren on events, and via email/phone.

Office Manager

Karen refers to herself as a bit of a numpty and a technophobe but is always willing to give anything a go. She has recently changed careers after decades of working in management within the NHS and care. She now works part time for ourselves as-well as working as an assistant manager in a charity shop and continues to volunteer for Football Against Dementia.

How did we manage to recruit somebody as awesome as this? Well..she’s also Lauren’s Mum.

Operations Manager

Steve first joined us in 2022 as a freelance instructor. His skills as driver, instructor, problem solver and all around good guy mean that he now works with us throughout the summer months as operations manager, taking the lead on events and much of the behind the scenes stuff that goes with it.

Steve has plenty of outdoor qualifications and also leads walks and DofE expeditions.

Lead instructor

Phill is a keen climber, but is always happy to get stuck in with other activities. His favourite colour is orange. Most of his clothing and belongings are orange so it’s pretty nice that he will wear green for us.

Phill also has a special talent for being ok at admin, which is rare in an outdoor instructor. Phill will be leading events this year! Yay!

Instructor

We first met Georgie at the Bendrigg Trust’s learning disability climbing festival where they were volunteering alongside Lauren and John. When we found out they were based just a few miles from our base we invited them to work with us.

Georgie has plenty of experience and has recently qualified as a climbing instructor. They have a keen interest in working with people with additional needs and disabilities.

Climbing Instructor

John is passionate about climbing and you would probably say he’s pretty good at it too. He spent 7 years representing his country as a member of the GB paraclimbing team and was the first blind person to summit the Eiger and Rinjani.

John primarily delivers climbing sessions but is an expert at setting up all of our activities and enjoys playing tactile Tetris when loading the van and the end of the day.

Instructor

Matthew is passionate about the outdoors, he has worked as a professional in the outdoor industry for over 30 years, he has been a part of our team for over 2 years and can run most of our activities.

He brings lots of creativity and fresh ideas to his sessions, he is amazing at getting the best out of the young people he works with.

Instructor/Driver

Affectionately known as Target Rob by his team mates, Rob specialises in running target sports like archery. Rob has worked for us for 6+ years and fits us in around his own business, Active Aardvark. He’s one of the only instructors we know that can take a nap on a school field during lunch time!

Instructor

Dev has worked with us off and on for many years. He started with us quite early on in the business and left to get a degree in outdoor leadership and PGCE.

He has since returned and it’s been great to have him back.

Skateboarding is an activity that he encouraged us to introduce and it’s been a real success. Thanks Dev!