This weekend we co-hosted the Dartmoor New Perspectives Future Leaders course with our charity ally, Campaign for National Parks. It was an action packed weekend which offered twenty young people the chance to network and develop their public speaking and campaigning skills. Everyone who took part had completed an application process, where they shared their enthusiasm for issues around conservation, access and land management. The aim of the course, which continues online after this residential weekend, is to really empower those who attended to go out into the world and make their voices heard on the issues that matter to them and their communities.
The residential at Postbridge YHA began on Friday and ran until Sunday afternoon, when many of the participants went on to join the rally for wild camping at Hound Tor. This was an excellent opportunity for the future leaders from the course to see a big campaign in action and share their views, alongside many other individuals and groups, including The Stars are for Everyone and Right to Roam.
During the course, participants took part in workshops which included creating vision boards to explore campaign ideas, building avatars to support self expression and group work which culminated in pitching their campaigns to a board. The board was made up of influential figures in conservation and wild spaces: Kate Ashbrook (Open Spaces Society), Kevin Bishop, Tom Usher, Tom Palmer, Nick Bruce-White, Carolyn Cadman, and Will Dracup.
Building up to this pitch, the young people on the course were inspired by talks and discussions. Community Engagement Ranger Kats Koster-Shadbolt talked about the challenges and rewards of working with teenagers with complex needs, many of whom had not built any kind of relationship with nature when she first met them. She also talked though the recent 3Ps Leave No Trace campaign, which she has been delivering in collaboration with the DPA. Kevin Bishop spoke about the reality of change making and progress in Dartmoor National Park, with emphasis on building relationships with communities and the constant pressure of finding funds and a dwindling budget. Lewis Winks, from The Stars are For Everyone, shared a fascinating insight into campaigning in the here and now, including the use of social media, public gatherings and visual storytelling.
On the Saturday evening, the group joined Hannah Durdin, of Moorland Guides, for a bat-detecting night walk and a open discussion around the practicalities of running a business within Dartmoor National Park. Participants considered the broad variety of needs and expectations of foreign schools, local people, big businesses and groups from cruise ships. Qualifications and what should be considered a fair daily wage were discussed, as well as the responsibility of educating visitors to the national park in how to care for, and respect it, during their stay.
This residential aspect of the Future Leaders course felt like a powerful and transformative experience, which will act as an excellent foundation to propel the participants on to manifest their campaign plans in the real world, and make the difference they have spoken so passionately about. A huge thank you to @heritagefunduk for funding the project, @animoleaders and @ocean_city_media for their support.