RYLA 2023 Post-Event Report

RYLA North East 2023 was a truly invigorating event, providing even more opportunities to develop the 28 young people who took part. We cherry-picked highlights from our previous programmes and added loads of new features to offer the best RYLA yet, as the pics show.

Ever tried charging 4 mobile phones simultaneously from a car battery? It works. Or what about putting up your tent in the rain? It was tough but we did it in week 2. Ever tried hauling a loaded Shelterbox up a cliff on a zip wire? Yes, we did that for the first time in week 1.

We asked the candidates to tell us about their experiences – one said, “this was the best week of my life”. That was our aim – to give them new experiences and challenge their preconceptions. “I couldn’t swim when I came, but last night we all swam across the reservoir together” was another comment from this year’s event.

RYLA 2023 was located on a farm in Baldersdale, alongside the Pennine Way, Hannah’s Meadow and the Blackton and Hury reservoirs. It is a private and secluded “off-grid” woodland site offering a stunning location for our camp, brand new for 2023.

The campsite included sleeping accommodation in luxury, separate gender, canvas bell tents. The tents had camp beds, lighting, water-resistant ground sheets and super-comfortable sleeping bags. Toilets and hot showers were on-site and communal working areas were covered by an assortment of stunning canvas structures, including the Jurt (with its central fire pit for marshmallow roasting after a day’s activities). The camp chef provided cooked breakfasts and evening meals, including his own special recipe penne Bolognese as well as the essential camp barbeques. Washing up afterwards, though not always popular, was a team event, too.

We took the long-running Rotary-themed team challenges and made them even better this year. The Polio Vaccine transport challenge involved raft building and transporting a box of fresh eggs (the fragile vaccine) across the reservoir, which required lots of planning and teamwork.

In the Clean Water challenge, the candidates made water purification filters using only naturally occurring materials (including making their own wood-charcoal). They also had the opportunity to see Rotary’s Aquafilter in action, turning very dirty water into a clearly drinkable cupful.

The ShelterBox challenge for 2023 included transporting the ShelterBox to the top of a cliff and setting up the ShelterBox tent itself to provide some of their accommodation for the night. We hope that this has inspired the young people to learn even more about the initiative.

During each camp, there were several opportunities for group wild swimming in the reservoir – with wetsuits and buoyancy aids of course.  This was a wonderful, immersive introduction to the RYLA programme! Adding in gorge walking, stand-up paddle boarding, and a day trip to Ullswater for more water sports and a little souvenir shopping, made this a RYLA to remember.