Sighted Guides

Volunteers Required as Sighted Guides on a Residential Course for Visually Impaired Adults

Are you free between July 12th—16th 2010? Are you interested in wildlife and the outdoors? Do you enjoy meeting new people? Come and join us in the Lake District as a volunteer sighted guide on Lurking in the Lakes

ABOUT BEING A SIGHTED GUIDE

This year AddVenture in Learning is holding a five-day residential outdoors course in the Lake District for visually impaired people of all ages. Sighted people are needed to act as guides/mobility aids for the students. No experience is necessary, as training in guiding techniques will be provided.

The programme for each course will include talks, discussions and visits. Each visually impaired student has their own guide who is expected to accompany them for the duration of the week, including evening lectures. Students (and guides!) are of all ages, from 25 to 75+. Guides must be physically fit for visits. There will be lectures or other events each evening.

The course will be based at Sedbergh School in Sedbergh, Cumbria. Each student will have their own room (twin rooms for couples), but washrooms and toilets are in communal areas with private cubicles. Some sighted guides may have to share rooms.

WHAT DO I DO AS A GUIDE?

Your role as a guide is to assist your student at mealtimes and with general mobility on the daily visits to the National Park. On visits, you will be invaluable to making sure that your student is safe and has the opportunity to see everything of interest. During lectures you may be asked to help with practical activities, pass objects round and you will be able to listen to the range of experts contributing to the course. Ideally you will have an interest in nature and wildlife, but you are not expected to be an expert.

ABOUT THIS COURSE

The course will focus on the Lake District National Park and will explore its geology, landscape, history and wildlife. We will be staying very close to the Park and will visit it daily. Local speakers will explain how this beautiful part of England, with its lakes and fells, came into being, through the interaction of nature and humans. We will also consider the issues that are affecting its conservation and future.

The course will be intellectually stimulating as well as enjoyable and is totally accessible to visually impaired adults. No expert knowledge is required: all you need is enthusiasm for the subject and a desire to learn. All course materials are available in accessible formats and each student will have a sighted guide to help them get the most out of the course. Guide dogs are welcome.

Field trips will involve moderate walks over rough ground so walking boots and waterproofs are essential. We will be out for most of each day with picnic lunches eaten in the coach in the event of wet weather. The course will begin with a buffet lunch from 12:30 on Monday July 12th, with the first talk starting at 14:00, and finishing after lunch on Friday 16th July. We will organise transport to and from Oxenholme station, which is on the west coast main line and is about 10 miles from Sedbergh.

The tutor, Karen Colebourn, led the first ever AddVenture course in South Devon in 2007 and in 2009 took us foraging in the New Forest.

THE COST

Guides are asked to make a donation of a minimum of £130. If you cancel your booking with more than 4 weeks notice, your deposit will be refunded, less an administration charge of £30. If you cancel with less than 4 weeks notice before the start, a charge will be made unless we can fill the place. Joining instructions and further information will be sent before the week.

To Apply:

If you would like to volunteer, please download and fill in the attached application form. We will let you know if we can use you as a guide as soon as possible. If you have any questions or wish to discuss any aspects of guiding, please contact Claire Wickham, Tel: 07964 727 322 or email claire.wickham@blueyonder.co.uk.