The Outdoor Partnership works with clubs, schools, individuals, and cross-sector partners to strengthen the conditions that enable people in Coastal Cumbria to achieve their potential through outdoor activities, participation, volunteering, training, and education.
Molly is our Outdoor Activities Development Officer in Coastal Cumbria.
If you’d like to know more or are an outdoor activity club that would like to get involved, please contact Molly on 07516 507357 or molly.campion@outdoorpartnership.co.uk.
You can also keep up to date by following Coastal Cumbria’s social media accounts:
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The Outdoor Partnership has been bringing people and organisations together across Coastal Cumbria to create more opportunities and lasting impact. Here’s a quick look at what we’ve achieved lately…
This Girls’ Adventure was created to help women and girls build confidence, develop skills and enjoy outdoor activities in a welcoming, supportive environment led by inspiring female instructors. Following the project’s success, additional funding was secured in 2024 to expand the programme and create even more opportunities for women and girls to get involved.
The programme includes:
- Monthly Hill Skills walking days
- Open water swimming skills sessions
- Learning to Sail opportunities
- Paddle development sessions, including Kayak, Canoe and SUP
- Coach education and volunteer development support
Beyond the activities themselves, This Girls’ Adventure is helping address long-standing inequalities faced by women and girls in the outdoor sector. Drawing on learning from successful programmes developed by The Outdoor Partnership in Wales, the project works with clubs, providers and community organisations to create more inclusive environments, increase female representation and develop local female leaders, coaches and volunteers.
By strengthening networks and building confidence across both participants and organisations, the programme is helping create lasting opportunities for women and girls to take part, lead and thrive in the outdoors long after the project has ended.
The Outdoor Partnership have been funded through Sellafield sports grant to kick start a women’s climbing club at West Lakes Academy delivered by Esther Foster Climbing. https://www.estherfoster.co.uk
The course offers beginner sessions as well as an opportunity to develop your skills, participate in coach education with the ambition to develop a climbing club for women in West Cumbria.
Through funding from the Cumbria Community Foundation, The Outdoor Partnership worked with the Millom school and the Kepplewary Centre to create mountain biking opportunities as an extra curricula activity.
the school have been able to make this club sustainable through buying bikes through active travel funding & training volunteers in Mountain biking level 2.
A community club has been formed and affiliated with British Cycling to offer community rides with volunteers undertaking training and assessment to ensure mountain biking is accessible to everyone in the community.
To find out more, click here: https://www.facebook.com/veloclubmillom
We support local activity clubs with coach education for their volunteers because we know that we would be lost without the hard work and dedication so many people give by volunteering their time and energy each week. To develop their clubs in the community and improve grass route participation sport.
So far, we have supported amazing volunteers from paddling to orienteering to gain First Aid and discipline-specific coach education qualifications.
If you are a female volunteer we currently have specific funding to support your training requirements so please get in touch with Molly Campion – 07516507357
To find out more, visit our Club Guidance page here:
We support families to discover the outdoors on their doorstep in Coastal Cumbria creating events that are welcoming and suitable for a range of abilities. So far activities have included Family Forest School, water safety days and guided walks.
We have been delighted to be working with Tails Trails who have created 8 kid friendly maps based around the Cumbrian coast.
Tale Trails are local 1-2 hour family walks based around a fun story and a hand drawn map for kids. So, download a copy of the map and have an adventure. There are 8 great walks along Copeland coast to choose from.
Following this success Workington town also has a map linking all their green spaces.
And the project isn’t just up here, there has been a map created in northern Ireland & head to their page to check it out.
Our health and wellbeing programme aims to increase physical activity level and improve mental health through participation in activities in a supported environment.
We have teamed up with Black Dog Outdoors, to offer free monthly walks right from the heart of Whitehaven with a minibus pick up and fully qualified and professional mountain leaders.
To book you place follow the link, https://www.blackdogoutdoors.co.uk/events/
Pathways To Employment is a core program of The Outdoor Partnership, the Coastal Cumbria course has now finished and we are actively looking for partners to work alongside and funding to support this program.
If you would like to be involved in this program please contact Molly.
Wellbeing in Nature was a 12 month programme of nature connection activities for green social prescribing.
Activities included Forest bathing Forest school (adult and children) Basic bush crafting Mindful photography Nature on your doorstep
The project has now come to an end, if you would like more information on how this came about and what the impact it had please read our report below.
