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H5 Adventure – Member Profile

Our Member profiles focus on individual Members and what they offer.  We cover a wide variety of activity providers from various sectors and as our Membership continues to grow this gives us an opportunity to learn from each other, and share ideas especially in a landscape where diversifying the offering is vital to ensure survival.    We caught up with Paul Webb from H5 Adventure who told us what’s happening in their world.

What do you/your organisation do?

H5 Adventure deliver outdoor activities to the Education Sector, Groups & Corporates. All across the south of England & Wales, from Dartmoor, to The Brecon Beacons, the M4 Corridor The peak District and as far East to London and it’s surrounding area. We offer Team building Days, Multi Activity Residentials and The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Expeditions and have over 30 years of experience in the sector, drawn from the Charity, Local Educational Authority and Commercial Sectors

How long have you been an AIM Member?

We have been an AIM Member since 2013 and fully appreciate the support they have offered throughout the years.  AIM offer support and guidance with a variety of aspects of our business. We enjoy attending their annual conference and learning from guest speakers on these events too.

What’s the best part of your job?

One of the best parts of our job is successfully delivering outdoor activities to all of our clients. Seeing how young people develop when working with us on courses. Especially when delivering The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and how teams of young people develop over an expedition.

What issues do you think the industry faces this year?

We feel you always have to be willing to adapt in business and that was notable with The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Expeditions adapting the expeditions, we also adapt our programs so we could deliver Residential in School grounds. We feel with the lack of growth and downturn in the economy there is likely to be less customers in the near future, so diversifying or increasing your client base is likely to be a challenge

What exciting projects do you have lined up for the future?

From 2022 we have created 2 new Full-time roles within our office team who are Client Managers and oversea a variety of admin roles within the business too. We are really excited to see how these positions grow over the coming years and how it will help us deliver a better-quality product to all of our clients. We will also be developing our venue, The Lake, a 33-acre site set in rural countryside, around a stunningly landscaped lake, yet just 10 minutes out of suburbia and the M4.

What’s your favourite activity and is there anything on your bucket list for 2023?

It’s simply, one that the client is enjoying themselves. That could be a 7-year-old, for the first time using a flint & steal, or one of SEN School groups trekking in the countryside, excited about seeing sheep, for the first time.

Thanks to Paul Webb from H5 Adventure for sharing his thoughts and support for the Mutual. 

 

Outdoor Expeditions – New Member Profile

Outdoor Expeditions

Thank you to our members who took the time to complete our membership survey for 2016. We received responses from over 30% of our AIM members.

Those who completed our survey were automatically entered into a prize draw to win an IPad Air 2, and our lucky winner was Russell Smith of Outdoor Expeditions Ltd in Suffolk. Bradley Mott and Kirsty Savidge, of the AIM team were able to deliver the IPad in person and speak with Russell about his experience in the industry and his newly established business, Outdoor Expeditions Ltd.

Outdoor Expeditions Ltd

After working as a teacher for over 10 years Russell decided a change was in order and in October of last year set up Outdoor Expeditions. Outdoor Expeditions Ltd is a Duke of Edinburgh’s Award approved activity provider that works with schools, organisations and individuals to run or provide access to high quality activities for all. They provide full packages which include training, practice and assessed expeditions.

Russell commented on why he choose AIM:-

“I chose AIM because I felt as a new business it was important to get the right cover and I felt after the research I had done AIM offered the best, this was because they appeared to understand the needs of my business better than anyone else. I originally came across AIM through the Institute of Outdoor Learning (IOL) of which I am a member, I had also read some good feedback on a couple of outdoor Facebook groups I’m a member of.  More importantly the thing that appealed the most to me was the fact that AIM was a mutual. I have always been fascinated by the whole mutual/cooperative business model, admiring companies such as John Lewis and my local Co-op – East of England Co-op, and when I started my business I tried to explore how I could work with mutuals and cooperatives. This is why I arranged my cover through AIM and why I bank with my local credit union Eastern Savings and Loans”

AIM was very pleased to welcome Outdoor Expeditions to the Mutual and wish Outdoor Expeditions the best of luck for the future.