The Adventure Activities Licensing Authority (AALA) is the licensing authority for outdoor activity centres for young people in Great Britain. Since 2007 it has been part of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the government body charged with overseeing health and safety in all workplaces. AALA inspect and issue licences to providers. These licences give an assurance that, so far as is reasonably practicable, participants and employees can be 'safe'. [1]
The AALA was created following the Lyme Bay canoeing tragedy in March, 1993 which involved a commercial organisation assuming responsibility for children's safety. A group of eight pupils and their teacher were accompanied by two instructors from an outdoor centre on the south coast of England. As a result of a series of errors, four of the teenagers drowned. The subsequent trial resulted in the prosecution of the parent company and the centre manager. The government initially resisted changing legislation until David Jamieson, the Member of Parliament for Plymouth Devonport, who represented the parents of the children who died, introduced a Private Member's Bill which in January 1995 became the Activity Centres (Young Persons’ Safety) Act 1995. [2] In January 1995 an independent licensing authority, the AALA, was created to bring the act into reality.
The activities within the scope of the licensing scheme are: [3]
On 15 October 2012, Lord Young of Graffham, recommended that the AALA be abolished and the existing statutory licensing regime be replaced by a code of practice. [4]
The January 2016 update from the AALA reported that "... responsibility for the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority (AALA) is likely to move from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) ..." [5]
Abseiling, also known as rappelling, is the controlled descent of a steep slope, such as a rock face, by moving down a rope. When abseiling, the person descending controls his own movement down a static or fixed rope, in contrast to lowering off, in which the rope attached to the person descending is paid out by his belayer.
David Charles Jamieson is a British politician who served as the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner from 2014 to 2021. A member of the Labour Party, he was previously the Member of Parliament (MP) for Plymouth Devonport from 1992 to 2005 and a Solihull Metropolitan Borough Councillor from 2010 to 2014.
Adventure travel is a type of tourism, involving exploration or travel with a certain degree of risk, and which may require special skills and physical exertion. In the United States, adventure tourism has grown in recent decades as tourists seek out-of-the-ordinary or "roads less traveled" vacations, but lack of a clear operational definition has hampered measurement of market size and growth. According to the U.S.-based Adventure Travel Trade Association, adventure travel may be any tourist activity that includes physical activity, a cultural exchange, and connection with outdoor activities and nature.
Coasteering is movement along the intertidal zone of a rocky coastline on foot or by swimming, without the aid of boats, surf boards or other craft.
The Licensing Act 2003 is an act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The act establishes a single integrated scheme for licensing premises in England and Wales used to sell or supply of alcohol, provide regulated entertainment, or provide late night refreshment. It allows some or all of these licensable activities to be contained in a single licence—the premises licence—that replaced other schemes. Responsibility for issuing licences is given to local authorities, specifically London boroughs, metropolitan boroughs, unitary authorities, and district councils, who took over this power from the justices of the peace under a system of licensing committees. It came into effect midnight, 24 November 2005.
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the economic and safety regulation of Britain's railways, and the economic monitoring of National Highways.
John Angelo Jackson was an English mountaineer, explorer and educationalist.
The Jerantut District is a district in north-eastern Pahang, Malaysia. Jerantut is home to the National Park.
The Lyme Bay canoeing disaster occurred in Lyme Bay, southern England on 22 March 1993. Four teenagers died after getting into difficulty while on a sea kayaking trip from Lyme Regis to Charmouth. The incident led to reforms in the way in which activity centres were accredited in the United Kingdom and the passage of The Activity Centres Act 1995.
Scout Adventures are a network of activity centres run by The Scout Association. They offer outdoor facilities, adventurous activities and experiences for members of the Scout Association, other youth organisations and school groups. The centres typically have capacity for hundreds of Scouts simultaneously, often including indoor accommodation in addition to camping. Staffed by qualified instructors, they offer adventurous activities and training for adult volunteers and young people following the badges of the Scout programme.
Outward Bound Singapore is part of the network of Outward Bound centres worldwide. Established in 1967 as Outward Bound School of Singapore (OBSS), OBS has a campus located on the island of Pulau Ubin.
High adventure is a type of outdoor experience. It typically is meant to include activities like backpacking, hiking, kayaking or canoeing. It may also include mountaineering, rock climbing, mountain biking, orienteering, hang gliding, paragliding and hot air ballooning.
Scouting in West Midlands provides an overview of Scouting activities in the governmental region of the West Midlands. The largest number of Scouts and volunteer leaders in the region is linked to the Scout Association of the United Kingdom, while there is also a presence of traditional Scouting groups, such as the Baden-Powell Scouts' Association. The Scout Association administers the region through 8 Scout Counties, overseen by a regional commissioner, which follow the boundaries of the ceremonial counties they exist within. There are also a number of Scouting clubs within Universities in the region which are affiliated to the Student Scout and Guide Organisation.
Scouting in South West England is about Scouting activities in the governmental region of South West England. The largest number of Scouts, volunteer leaders and groups are members of the Scout Association of the United Kingdom while there are some traditional Scouting groups such as the Baden-Powell Scouts' Association. The Scout Association administers the region through 7 Scout Counties, overseen by a regional commissioner, which follow the boundaries of the ceremonial counties they exist within. There are six active student associations at various universities in the region, each of which is affiliated to the Student Scout and Guide Organisation (SSAGO).
Rock UK is a national UK Christian charity that provides outdoor residential stays and day visit for groups including primary and secondary schools, colleges, youth groups, uniformed groups, Christian retreats as well as families, individuals and corporate team building.
Outdoor recreation or outdoor activity refers to recreation done outside, most commonly in natural settings. The activities that encompass outdoor recreation vary depending on the physical environment they are being carried out in. These activities can include fishing, hunting, backpacking, walking and horseback riding — and can be completed individually or collectively. Outdoor recreation is a broad concept that encompasses a varying range of activities and landscapes.
High Adventure Bases of the Boy Scouts of America are outdoor recreation facilities located in several locales in North America operated by the Boy Scouts of America at the organization's national level. Each facility offers wilderness programs and training that could include wilderness canoeing, wilderness backpacking trips, or sailing, and provide opportunities for Scouts to earn the 50-Miler Award. These bases are administered by the High Adventure Division of the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America.
Southway Community College was a comprehensive school for ages 11–18 in Southway, Plymouth, England. It was opened in 1962 as Southway Comprehensive School, becoming a community college offering additional adult education in 1994. Its feeder primary schools included Langley Junior School, Mary Dean's CE Primary School, Southway Primary School and Tamerton Vale Primary School. The school closed in July 2001, largely as a result of falling student numbers. This was a decision that was opposed by many students, teachers and parents. It later became the site of Beechwood Primary School. In 1993, four students from the school were killed in a kayaking accident during a school trip to an adventure centre in Lyme Regis, Dorset.
Tilgate Lake is the biggest of three lakes at Tilgate Park, and remains a popular water activity centre and tourist attraction in Crawley, West Sussex.Tilgate Lake has a wide variety of outdoor activities open to the general public, such as archery, canoeing, fishing, kayaking, mountain biking, raft building, rowing, running, sailing, standup paddleboarding, Open water swimming, team building, navigational challenges, tree climbing and zip trekking.