Bear Grylls Adventure at the NEC in Birmingham is known for its exciting activities, including high ropes, indoor skydiving, axe throwing and, of course, archery.
And now it has joined our growing list of Archery Activity Partners (AAP), a group of organisations that sit outside of our traditional club membership, but play a vital role in introducing people to archery, which is often their first experience of the sport. Our AAP programme will help us establish a better and closer relationship with community organisations that offer archery activities for the benefit of their customers, members or visitors.
An AAP could be a sole trader, an activity or holiday company, a Local Authority Education Centre, an outdoor adventure centre, a youth or community organisation, a sports/leisure centre, or a commercial/not-for-profit centre.
Gayle Pink, Archery GB's Head of Participation, said: "We know that across the industry there are thousands of people trying archery every day within a community environment. Some people will progress to becoming Archery GB members, because of the positive engagement and enthusiasm that they have received from a qualified Archery GB Instructor, within one of these community sessions.
"We are absolutely thrilled to have such a high profile organisation such as Bear Grylls join our AAP programme. Part of the criteria to become an AAP is that staff have up-to-date Archery GB qualifications (Instructor or Coach). As a first step, we therefore worked with Bear Grylls to deliver an Archery GB Instructor Award for all staff. Jamila Bi, our Legacy Co-ordinator delivered a bespoke course at Bear Grylls, focusing on inclusion and how to adapt activities to cater for young people and people with a variety of disabilities."
“Becoming an official Archery Activity Partner with Archery GB is really exciting for the whole team here at Bear Grylls Adventure. It’s important to us that the experiences we deliver are as authentic and exciting as possible, and what’s more exciting than being shown what to do by professionally trained instructors? It’s really going to enhance the experience for guests and hopefully they’ll leave feeling like they’ve really learnt a cool new skill,” said Natalie Mercer, Bear Grylls Adventure Marketing Manager.
Visitors can participate in 30-minute archery sessions with one of 10 fully trained Archery GB Instructors, who have all been through and passed a training course allowing them deliver fun and safe introductory archery sessions for beginners attending the Adventure. Once visitors get to grips with the bow and aiming, they will be put through their paces with games and challenges designed to bring out their competitive side.
Across the rest of the summer Bear Grylls Adventure will be running special archery sessions for the youngest adventurers aged 5-7 years, at selected times on Saturdays and Sundays. Guests will get focused, expert guidance from their archery instructors, preparing them for future archery adventures! Find out more about these mini-adventures on the Bear Grylls Adventure website.
To find out more about becoming an Archery Activity Partner, click on the link below:
