6th August 2021
Welcome to On The Outside Insights, our fortnightly round-up of what's been going on outdoors in the UK.
The stories in this letter are a real mix - some are a celebration of events and initiatives for diversity, inclusion and equity in outdoors spaces. Others are proof that we need such initiatives. I hope that all of the them are useful reads. - Fran
New survey for those working on diversity in walking and hiking
Some news directly from one of our panellists, Soraya: The Pilgrim Trust and All the Elements are working together to explore how we can tackle the lack of diversity in walking and hiking in the UK. All the Elements have been invited by The Pilgrim Trust to carry out research into what support is needed to enable grassroots organisations to tackle diversity in walking and hiking and how funding bodies can support these goals. The purpose of the report is to share ideas and recommendations on how we can create the change we all want to see in the sector by identifying what your groups actually need
Climbing lands with a bang at the Olympics!
Bassa Mawem (who we mentioned in the last newsletter) had to pull out of the final after injuring his arm and Spain's Alberto Gines Lopez won. Solvenia's Janja Garnbret has won the women's event. As I said in last week's podcast episode, we can expect a big uptake in sport climbing over the next few years - hopefully climbers won't be too disparaging about those who are new to the sport (Beta, volumes and wad are not in common language!).
It's festival season! Film festivals, climbing festivals, running festivals
Move over music festivals, there are outdoors recreation festivals all over at the moment! This weekend has the Women's Trad Festival, Adventure Uncovered Film Festival has started online, and Ani, Oge and I will be at the Salomon Running Festival tomorrow. Come say hi! We'll have a proper festival round-up soon - let us know if you've been to a good one.
Adventure Uncovered Film Festival >>
Muslim Hikers invite people to climb Ben Nevis after a white-supremacist stunt on the mountain
Muslim Hikers has urged allies to join them in an anti-racist summit of Scotland's highest mountain. A white supremacist group calling themselves Patriotic Alternative (PA) hiked up the mountain last weekend with a banner reading 'white lives matter'. This is not the first time they've done something like this. We're keeping an eye on this story and watching the response from key organisations - it's great to see that the John Muir Trust, who are caretakers of the mountain, have condemned the actions of PA. Be sure to follow
Read more >>
And in other news:
An 'Urban Garden' in Newcastle has been criticised on Twitter for its lack of eco-design. The garden uses plastic, covers a cycle lane and is sponsored by carbon-negative, but controversial, beer company BrewDog.
'The Wanderlust Women' made by our own Frit Tam and starring Amira and Aysha Patel won Best Professional Film at the BMC Women in Adventure and the Made In Sheffield award at Sheffield Adventure Film Festival back in July. You can still watch it online as part of the Sheffield Adventure Film Festival.
Jasmin Paris has set a new 24-hour Munros ultra running record. Jasmin reached 29 summits of Scottish mountains over 3,000ft in height within a 24-hour time limit. Read more >>
A significant cliff fall has taken place at Beachy Head, cutting off an access path to the Belle Tout lighthouse. Read more >>
Derry Girls actress Siobhan McSweeney (Sister Michael) will be staring in a new TV show cycling around Northern Ireland. Read more >>
The RNLI received a massive influx of donations after Nigel Farage criticised them for saving lives in the English Channel. Last year, racists were upset they saved lives in other countries too. Read more >>
A special thank you to our Support Crew sponsors, Wild For Scotland and Charlie's Supply Company. Your early sponsorship has given us enough money to pay for the RSS Feed to launch the show!! Do click through the links to check out the incredible work they are doing.