5th March 2023
Hi folks, I'm back! And thank you for waiting whilst I rested. The last few months have been a time of consolidation, hard work followed by resting, family... and bit of forward planning. The return to regular content for On The Outside is a part of that forward plan (for the moment, at least!) and I hope you've enjoyed a few of the 'AS WE REST' episodes on the main feed. This newsletter marks the return of - surprisingly - sharing news stories! If you prefer to listen to this, I've also shared the stories in a minisode out today. From now on, these mini news round-ups will always be published as audio at the same time the newsletter is sent. I hope you find value in these stories! - Fran
🎧 In case you missed it:
We're up to episode 22 🙌
And this one has been in the cutting room for a while... The Kendal Mountain Festival national tour began last week and I thought the start of the tour would be a good chance for me to catch up on our Kendal coverage. I could not make it to Kendal in November myself, but I managed to convince a panellist you know quite well to represent the podcast. Ani Barber asked festival-goers there questions: Have you been to Kendal before? What’s been your favourite part? What would you like to see improved or done differently? Listen to the responses from people including adventurer and broadcaster Ed Jackson, friend of the podcast Frankie Dewar, and Ammara from Bonnie Boots/Boots and Beards, and more!
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The Sheffield Adventure Film Festival took place this weekend
The Sheffield Adventure Film Festival (ShAFF) took place between 3rd-5th March in Sheffield, in the UK. With more than 100 films about adventure, travel and extreme sports, plus speakers - including previous panellist for On The Outside, Frit Tam - ShAFF has a reputation for being a friendly festival, welcoming everyone whether you're an outdoors enthusiast or an armchair adventurer who just loves a good story. The city of Sheffield re-branded itself a few years ago as The Outdoor City, and more than 1/3 of Sheffield lies within the Peak District National Park. ShAFF is part of a weekend of outdoor events, which also include the Climbing Works International Festival (one of the biggest bouldering competitions in the world), The Magnificent 7 (a road cycling race), and The Howard Street Dual (mountain bikes race through Sheffield City Centre).
Climb Out is a new queer outdoor climbing festival in the UK
A new outdoor climbing festival for LGBTQ+ climbers has been announced. Climb Out will be the UK’s first Queer Outdoor Climbing festival, and will combine trad climbing, sport climbing, and bouldering with queer joy outdoors. There will also be a series of masterclasses, speakers and Q&A sessions in the evenings. The festival will take place from 19th-21st May in the Peak District, and tickets go on sale on 10th March.
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Thousands sleep under the stars on International Bivvybag Day 2023
The 25th February was International Bivvybag Day, a global movement with people from over 30 countries sleeping under the stars on to fundraise for the UK homelessness charity, Crisis. Created by Russ Moorhouse, International Bivvybag Day has events in America, Sweden, Canada, Slovakia, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. This year's campaign had a special focus on supporting #savedartmoor @right.2roam and @thestarsareours.uk and more a more than 2000 people bivvied around the world.
We Are Cycling UK is encouraging people to give up driving for Lent
We Are Cycling UK is encouraging people to avoid car travel for journeys of less than five miles for the period of lent. According to a Sustrans survey, 68% of journeys made in the UK are under five miles. Transport is the biggest source for both air and noise pollution in the UK, and the Welsh Government's recent National Transport Deliver Plan 2022 -2027 suggest that "If every adult in Wales with access to a car chose to only replace one car journey each week with a sustainable journey, we would exceed our modal shift targets for this plan period." In Christian tradition Lent begins that day after Pancake days, and is time for self-reflection and often giving up a luxury for the following 40 day until Easter celebrations.
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There are talks from our panellists in London and Manchester this month
The 'Creating Spaces' event by Patagonia takes place in Manchester on Wednesday, 8th March and is a female-powered panel on the intersectional outdoors for International Women's Day. Facilitated by Kendal Mountain Festival's Emily Davis, the panel consists of Ani Barber and swimmer Eden Elgeti, as well as downhill mountain bike world champion Manon Carpenter and Great Britain paraclimber Lea Volpe On Thursday, the Royal Geographical Society Microlectures take place in London. Hosted by anthropologist and broadcaster Mary-Ann Ochota, Geographical journeys: microlectures is an annual event organised by the Society’s Younger Members' Committee. Seven speakers will have just 10 minutes each to share their geographical journeys in an illustrated talk. There are two speakers podcast listeners will know well - Ani Barber is "Helvellyn: chronic illness in the mountains" and Frankie Dewar is "Stories for my younger self: a 3,000km cycle journey around the UK"
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'Boy In The Tent' goes indoors after 3 years
Teenager Max Woosey [NOT shown above] has spent the last three years sleeping in a tent that was gifted to him by family friend Rick Abbott, who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Max began his campout in 2020, raising money for North Devon Hospice who cared for Rick and enabled him to live in his own home until he passed away. His fundraising has raised over £700,000 and directly paid for 15 full-time nurses for the hospice. We mentioned Max way back in our second episode, when he reached his 500th night sleeping outside.
READ MORE >>
We are on Patreon! If you find value in On The Outside, please consider supporting our work by heading over to patreon.com/ontheoutsidepodcast. The Tremula Network is a signatory of the Equality In Audio Pact, which means we pay all freelancers for their work on our productions. OTO gets no external funding and Fran is currently self-funding production costs. We're currently getting around £30 a month from Patreon, and funds accrued are offered first to the panellists for their time. Find a full breakdown of what the show costs to make in this newsletter >> Thank you x
And in other news:
The group Peaks of Colour released a political manifesto called 'Revolution Ecology' last month. Described as "the first of hopefully many political pamphlets" the manifesto proudly demands racial, gendered and land justice. You can read the PDF on their website, and they hope to have physical copies of the manifesto soon. Read more >>
LMFF Festival Director Greg Hackett has written a short essay reflecting Adventure, Freedom and Mountain Film Festivals. In it, Greg states that "the use of the word 'Mountain' in our brand was potentially misleading and perhaps something I would need to explain to our small audience." Read now >>
The National Outdoor Expo Birmingham takes places later this month. The show is one of the biggest outdoor community meet-ups of the year. Speakers this year include the record-breaking Antarctica explorer Preet Chandi, Founder of Wanderlust Women Amira Patel, a voice from our last episode Darren Edwards, and Frit Tam is doing the rounds! The event runs from 18th-19th March. Read more >>
And finally, a chef who lives outdoors is opening a shop in Herefordshire. Hugh Sawyer has spent the last six years living outside and cooking over fires, and is now turning his passion for outdoor cooking into a business. The shop will sell food and other barbecue essentials for people to create amazing barbecue meals in the comfort of their own homes. Read more >>
News from the Tremula Network Wild For Scotland is KILLING it at the moment. As well as winning a commendation in the Climate Creatives Challenge, the episode 'Creature of the Sea' was shared on an American podcast that has been a huge influence on us, She Explores. This episode was a joy to make and hopefully an example of a few projects on the horizon... The Everyday Adventure Podcast is back for Season 5 - with some beautiful new artwork sharing the Tremula Network logo. Listen to the first episode of the season for a reflection on why it's important to step out of your comfort zone, and an interview with survival consultant, expedition leader, producer and author, Megan Hine.
I want YOUR views!
What do you think of On The Outside? Let us know your views and you could hear yourself on a future episode of the show. Please either: Send a video or voice recording to me via email ontheoutsidepod@gmail.com Reply to this email and I can read your thoughts out Drop me a voice message on Whatsapp +447883905336 - Fran