AUTUMN 2022 UPDATE

Autumn is here and the Virginia Creepers on the Garden Rm and Main Centre Building are showing their wonderful colours

 Our big news of the season was celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Centre on 9th September 2022.

We had children from several school attending and after a buffet lunch showcased a variety of activities that we do at the Centre. The following video features the Centre Manager's speech and many images from the day and from over the years: Deanfield 50th Anniversary Celebration Day, 09/09/22 - YouTube

A commemorative standing stone and new activity were unveiled by Richard Hanks, the Director of Education & Skills at Bristol CC 

The sign on the other side of the standing stone lets people know where the Garden Room is!

We have also been getting on with the usual maintenance tasks such as painting the fire staircase.

And of course, we keep doing what we are here to do and run outdoor learning courses for young people. Below we had a large group of Yr 7's arrive for a day visit focussing on getting to know one another a lot better through challenges and teamwork. These Yr 7 induction days are really worthwhile when the students first start their secondary education.

We are now fully booked with residential courses until Christmas

Summer 2022 Update

 

We've now hosted a few wedding receptions at Deanfield.

For the latest one the wedding couple chose to have a ceremony around our campfire circle area. Instead of a fire they had a planted flower display created by a Chelsea Flower Show gardener.

They left the flowers which are now planted by the end of our zipwire

We have landscaped the end of the zipwire to now be level with a padded landing mat underneath the astro-turf for increased safety

Our roundhouse has had a little make-over with new cedar soffit boards

Last year in one of the storms we had record high levels of water in the local river that flows through the village and past our grounds. Our sluice gate was breached and water poured over the top and flooded the centre grounds.

We have now installed a new sluice gate and also increased the height by a course of blocks

No worries out flooding this week and we are in a drought. With temperature forecast for 34 degrees C today we have put up a gazebo on the archery shooting line to keep students shaded and have also got a garden hose on mist for them to go under to cool down

In the house we have done a complete refurbishment of the ensuite for staff room No. 15 - complete new bathroom suite and tiling 

We have a new activity which is due to be unveiled at our 50th Anniversary Celebration on the 9th Sept.

It's presently under wraps and just teased below!...

Autumn 2021 Update

It's been great having groups back at the Centre. In fact the Summer and Autumn this year have been one of our busiest ever. Schools had certainly missed enjoying their residential courses over the first period of the pandemic and were very keen to get back to them. The students certainly made the most of the opportunity to be outside in nature with their friends rather than sat at a desk with an online lesson.

Low Ropes Course Video

A new activity session at Deanfield is our Low Ropes Course. This has been cleverly designed to maximise teamwork. As well as students trying out the individual rope challenges they also have to work collectively as a team to get around the course helping one another as well as transporting 2 buckets of water. They then use the water to power a bucket, tube and rope system to raise a sign out of a box. The video above is a briefing film that the students watch beforehand and it gives a good overview of what the session involves.

Meanwhile we continue to feed our students well! In fact with five back to back 5 star food hygiene awards our lovely cooks have now been awarded Elite status!

They are cooking the first of a series of Christmas dinners tonight in our 3 week run up to Christmas with our residential groups.  

 

We have a new Logo for the Centre to add to our badges of accreditations etc. when providing publicity etc. See top left above. It reflects the excitement and achievement of young people and the fact that we are based in a forest.

Above is our latest You Tube film with Ian Healey, the Centre Manager, explaining about the courses we are presently offering during the pandemic. Whilst schools are in operation we can deliver day visits at the Centre and in schools themselves.

Despite cold weather as this is written, the first signs of Spring around the corner are already with us and the garden already has some flowers. Over the Autumn we have planted 90m of hedging + some new fruit trees and bushes - cherry, apple, blueberry and Tayberry. 

We have also been upgrading many of our activities including the ever popular 'Island Crossing' team challenge that we have now renamed 'Crocodile Swamp'

We have plenty more exciting new developments to share with you in the Spring, including news about our new Low Ropes Course presently in development.

 

AUTUMN 2020 UPDATE

It's been a while since our last post and certainly a lot has happened to the world and Deanfield in the last few months. Presently we are preparing for a series of school day visits but we have not been idle during lockdown and have been preparing the Centre for a much brighter future.

Our self catering kitchen has had a complete refurbishment and is now suitable for catering for up to 50 people. It is well equipped with range cooker and all the required large group utensils and has a fast four minute commercial dishwasher to get the plates clean afterwards.

Staff have been working very hard to make the Centre better than ever and turning their hand to new work roles. Here are 3 of our cleaners putting decking oil on the ballustrades of our deck to preserve the wood and make it look good.

Paint brushes have been out in force and all the jobs there has not normally been time for are getting done. E.g. preparing and painting over 50 metres of sofits around the Games Room building.

We've also erected over 60m of safety fencing alongside the stream in an area of our Centre Grounds where we are going to be building our new Low Ropes Course - more information to come about this soon.

There have even been a few changes just outside the Centre in the village. Here is a new Goods Wagon on display with the Centre building behind.

AUTUMN 2019 UPDATE

We were so busy over the Summer that we missed our Summer update and Autumn is already passing on. The photo above of the Virginia Creeper on the Centre was taken last week whilst it was still in its Autumn glory. Most of the leaves have now fallen. The seasons move on and so does the Centre. We are very proud to announce the news below:

We have just been inspected for and awarded the AHOEC Gold Standard. This is the highest accreditation for our sector and is the Outdoor Centre equivalent of an OFSTED Very Good to Outstanding. We were assessed in 9 areas such as Learning & Development, Safety Management and Customer Care. All 59 criteria had to average at a least very good standard to get this accreditation.
It is the result of a tremendous team effort from all the staff at Deanfield to make the Centre a great place to visit.

Deanfield is very much about the outdoors and we have even tried to bring a bit of it to our dining room! A new 'living wall' reflects the forest we are surrounded by and is enjoyed by all who dine with us. New paint on the walls, new curtains and plants complete the theme.

As well as our dining room we have also given our lounge a complete refurb. A complete redecoration including new carpet, curtains and chairs that hopefully creates a warm homely feel for relaxing in or using as a meeting room.

Deanfield is always developing and improving (as this Blog shows) and there are several more developments in the pipeline that we look forward to telling you about in our Winter update.

DFSC Spring 2019 Update

The Bluebells are at their peak at the moment, soon to be gone for another year.

This is the scene from our nest box yesterday. Mum and Dad are busy feeding 9 Blue Tit chicks that hatched over the weekend. The live feed goes to a TV in our field studies lab where groups base themselves for our stream study.

The forest sheep have been regular visitors outside the Centre through the Spring, grazing on the grass in the village.

Steam trains are also again regular visitors to the village with their seasonal timetable in operation several days a week.

The end of an era...we recently wished Lyn a happy retirement after 27 years working at the Centre as a cleaner!  Lyn was our longest serving member of staff and we gave her a good send off with a surprise staff gathering where we presented her with a long service award and retirement gifts.

We have also been busy over the last few months doing some bathroom refurbishment. Below is one of two showers on the first floor that have been given a new look with fresh tiles and fittings and are now operational