2010 NewsNews update 26 February 2010
Courses
From our last Tamarack News item dated 20 January 2010 with reference to not delivering residential courses, we have taken the decision not to carry out any courses for the foreseeable future.
The reason to stop all courses has been a tough, long and difficult decision. Over the past 10 years the team have been delivering courses, running a shop, internet business, tree contracting, training and carrying out on average 10 outdoor shows per year.
Over this period we have seen a significant slide in bookings on courses, especially over the last 3 years. We are now concentrating all our efforts on building the shop and internet business even more and giving you, our valued customers, a bigger choice of high quality clothing and equipment at great prices.
Mike has also become heavily commited to working outdoors with disadvantaged young people and increasing environmental work with them.
We are including three Bushcraft course providers on our links page, all of which are based in different parts of the country and provide various different courses. It is certainly worth taking a look at these if you are interested in attending a course.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all students that have attended our courses over the years, and thank all our customers who continually support us in our goal to be the premier specialist outdoor retailer in the UK.
Many thanks
Tamarack Team
Tamarack News 20 January 2010
After 10 years delivering courses in Bushcraft and rural skills, Tamarack are no longer running residential courses . Last season reflected the uncertain economy, and that has been carried over into this year, with numbers down on the majority of courses.
We are still running Drystone walling, Walkabout and Navigation courses, the dates and cost can be found on the website.
This will also allow Mike to pursue other interests within the business. Over the past 3 years Mike has been working closely with Wigan Youth Offending Team with ever increasing demand for his expertise in environmental work, along with working and teaching disadvantaged young people, which Mike finds unbelievably rewarding.
We would just like to say a big thank you to all who have attended one of our courses over the years, along with those who have instructed, helped out and gave us advise on the wonderful subject of Bushcraft.
Many thanks
Tamarack Team |
2008 News16 July 2008
Tamarack Team Personal Development
Over the past year the team has been furthering there skills to offer more of a range of courses to new and existing clients. Mike along with another new team member Mike Thompson carried out there Walking Group Leader training in December 2008.Mike will be being assessed in December 2009 after carrying out 67 days and nights out both solo and with groups to fill in his log book. This will then lead Tamarack to be able to run accredited navigation courses.
Ian will be attending the Wilderness First Responder course at Glenmore Lodge in November 2008.This will then give the team more flexibility and scope to spread there wings into other areas such as expedition training and ground support staff for expeditions, as well as medical support for existing courses.
For the Wilderness First Aid Training Ian will be teaming up with Dr Dave Fisher who is a qualified Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician. Mike hopes that wilderness first aid training courses will be a part of Tamaracks course itinerary in the future.
Mike carried out his British Canoe Union 3 star open boat training in November 2007.Mike will be paddling numerous rivers in Scotland, England and Sweden prior to his assessment. 4 star white water will be the next course in 2009, then onto level 1 coach. Mike hopes to be able to offer an open boat type course in the future, but is a firm believer in gaining experience in all aspects of the skills to be learnt prior to teaching others.
New courses for 2009
Origins Week
The Origins Week has been extended by one day for 2009. This is to incorporate a wilderness first aid day at the end of the course .
Walkabout
The one day Walkabout has been added to the course itinerary due to popular demand from our Origins Week. The Walkabout consists of tree identification, wild foods, fire lighting and other skills of the Bushcrafter while moving through the woodlands and moor lands of the Forest of Bowland.
Wilderness Navigation
This weekend course looks at how to navigate with map and compass, plan a route , walking on a bearing and night navigation and much more. The course stands all students in good stead if you want to carry out the National Navigation Award Scheme Bronze, Silver or Gold.
Treewise
This is a course very close to Mikes heart. The course looks at trees in a lot more detail looking at identification features, the history of our forests, woodcraft projects, primitive charcoal production, medicinal and spiritual uses of trees and much more.
Other News
Tamarack has recently applied to be a provider of training and assessment in navigation with the National Navigation Award Scheme. This will allow Tamarack to carry out navigational training with a Bushcraft angle, as well as giving the student a certificate from a governing body in navigation to Bronze, Silver or Gold awards.
13 April 2008 Swazi Announcement
Due to current exchange rates, Swazi have imposed a significant increase in the prices we currently pay to import the range from New Zealand. As a result this will make the brand far too expensive to retail in the UK, requiring at least a 40% increase on current prices. As such when current stock has sold out we are not replacing the items, eventually phasing the brand from our range entirely. We have updated the website today to reflect the sizes and colours we currently have in stock. This comes with regret, but we do feel the remainder of our brands still offer a vast choice of clothing .This will give us the opportunity to increase the holdings in the UK we have of the other brands we sell and introduce new brands in the coming months.
April 2008
We have now added rite in the rain to our range of brands, providing a full selection of waterproof paper products and accessories.
December 2007 New Newsletter Launched
In December we added a new Newsletter facility to the website to allow all customers to subscribe to gain regular updates on courses, new products and exclusive offers every month.
2007
This year saw a record number of clients through the Bushcraft and Rural Skills Courses and already a high number of bookings on the 2008 programme of events. This has prompted us for 2008 to look at how we can offer better deals, different courses and locations in particular for our returning customers.
Mike Says " I am very pleased with the turnout of customers on the courses for 2007, we have forged many a good relationship with old and new customers that I hope will last for a long time. A big thank you to all who attended and I hope to see you in the future".
New Bushcraft Site
In May 2007 We were highly delighted to get the go ahead for our new site in Littledale, North Lancashire. The Site consists of old Oak coppice woodland, Hazel, Birch, Ash, Rowan, Gean, Sycamore and a vast array of wild plants. There is also an area of Sitka Spruce and European Larch which is a great bonus. There are also open fields, hedgerows and walls and a bristling beck that is teaming with trout. The Views are some of the best in Lancashire, to the North West the Cumbrian fells, to the north and east Yorkshire Dales and to the south the untouched solitary hills of the Forest of Bowland.
The Site also gives us many access areas to the Bowland fells by foot which is an advantage for future new courses.
Institute of Outdoor Learning - Special Interest Group (IOL SIG)
The middle of 2007 Saw Tamarack being invited to the inaugural meeting of the IOL SIG Bushcraft and Survival. The aim of the group is to :
A) To create universally working procedures for the running of Basic Bushcraft sessions in order to establish good/best practice , especially in the subjects of wild food, safe shelter construction and tool safety.
B) To help safeguard the growing industry in use of Bushcraft skills, recognising that it can easily be misused due to lack of clear boundary's.
C) To establish good, appropriate, cost effective training for anyone using related skills.
D) To suggest clarity of training/experience that should be obtained in order to run various types of ventures.
At a recent meeting on 5th September 2007 Mike was nominated an executive officer , pending voting for full appointment for the group along with Anne Humberstone, Jason Ingamels, Kevan Palmer, Dave Watson, John Ryder, Neil Feist
Mike Says "Within the group there is a vast amount of knowledge from many areas within the outdoor industry. It is very exciting to be involved from an early stage and I am looking forward to developing the group further in the future".
Tamaracks New Premises
In June 2007 Tamarack Moved Premises from Great Eccleston to Barnacre near Garstang, Lancashire. The New Premises provides a larger area for displaying all the products that we sell, better office facilities and a large storage area.
Tony Says "We are very pleased with the new shop premises and we feel that we have taken several steps forward in providing our clients with more choice within the vast range of quality outdoor products that we sell".
Mike Says "Onwards and upwards"
Bushcraft Reunion Weekend
We will be holding our second reunion event 16 to 18 May 2008. The weekend is open to all who have previously been on a Bushcraft course with any organisation in the UK
The weekend is not a formal course more of a get together and camp out so you can practice your skills further. You can light fires and cook over them, practice wood carving and stalking, fish on the river and generally chill out. It is also a good time to practice wild plant identification with all the spring greens available at this time. The Tamarack team will be on hand to offer any guidance if needed. There will also be an opportunity to peruse all products and equipment at Tamaracks New Premises. A woodland and wild food barbeque will be held on the Saturday evening.
The weekend starts at 7pm on Friday the 11 May 2007, and we will break camp on Sunday 13 May 2007 around 4pm.The location of the weekend is at our Lancashire site at Littledale. Apart from the barbeque on the Saturday, all other meals will be self catering. Hot and cold refreshment are available within the cost.
The cost of the reunion is £75 plus VAT per person. If you would like to reserve a place please contact us on 01995 601011 or e-mail info@tamarackgroup.co.uk. Alternatively you can book using the Origins weekend link
Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme
The year started with a Duke of Edinburgh course. The course was specifically designed to tackle the skills section on both Bronze and Silver Awards. The team worked closely with Wyre Open Award centre to achieve a programme of events.
The programme started with an initial weekend, teaching the students aged 11 - 16 many skills such as knife use and maintenance, shelter construction, fire lighting and cooking a meal from raw ingredients. The weekend went well and was an opportunity for all to meet and get to know each other.
The programme progressed with 4 evening sessions tackling more advanced skills such as flint knapping, char cloth production, natural cordage and wild game preparation along with a wild food walk and cook out.
The culmination of the programme was a test weekend in July 2007 putting all the new found skills to test. The weekend was very wet but all carried out their tasks exceptionally. Wyre Open Awards centre head of operations Julie Parkinson was very pleased with all the students considering the weather.
Tamarack are now designing new programmes for all awards (Bronze, Silver and Gold) as well as long and short term conservation work for Gold Award students. This will include dry stone walling, hedge laying , woodland work as well as litter picking and construction of stiles and seats within the Forest of Bowland.
Tamarack would like to thank all Wyre Open Awards Centre Staff and all the students involved.
Paying Monthly
We are now able to offer the facility of a regular payment via standing order to help spread the course costs over several months rather than paying all in one go. If this is something that would interest you please contact us by email to info@tamarackgroup.co.uk and we will provide some further information
Tamarack Win Award
Tamarack Group have received the B A corporate events provider award for 2006 from London & Thames today Newspaper. The Award is recognised both locally and nationally and is not necessarily given to the largest company but rather the criteria in this case was that the recipient was prepared to " go that extra mile" to ensure the client achieves maximum benefits from the corporate programme provided.
Tamarack achieve Lancashire County Council Approved Centre Status
In March 2006 Tamarack had a moderation visit by Chris Ensol technical advisor for approved centres school and youth groups in Lancashire. The moderation visit went well and Tamarack achieved approved centre status on 24th March 2006.
Chris wrote in his report
"Mike Rushton is to be commended for an excellent course with clear safety briefings and inspiring demonstrations of technique. The rest of the staff seemed risk aware and were firm but friendly in their approach to young people."
This now allows Tamarack to visit schools and youth groups giving talks and demonstrations on Bushcraft skills and the environment county wide.
Mike says
"I am very pleased with the outcome of Chris's visit. There was a lot of groundwork to do before hand, but this has now paid off. It was very important to us to achieve this status as I firmly believe young adults need steering in the right direction from an early age. Onwards and upwards."
Tress for Life
Tamarack now support the trees for life campaign to regenerate the Caledonian Forest. The Caledonian Forest once covered over 1.5 million hectares but now only 1% remains of this remarkable ancient woodland. If you would like to volunteer or carry out conservation and woodland work please contact www.treesforlife.org.uk for further details.
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 Navigation Course
WILDERNESS NAVIGATION 20 to 22 February 2009
The Wilderness Navigation course started shortly after the Walkabout. All students met at Tamarack Head Quarters and had a wander around the store and a coffee. We all introduced ourselves and bundled our equipment into off road vehicles, ready for the drive to the classroom. The classroom we would be based at for the weekend is a little known shooting hut 6 Km off the road into the middle of Bowland. The hut is equipped with benches and tables and an open fire on the gable end. The kettle was put on, all students were shown where things were, especially the earth toilet and they busied themselves erecting their tents and hammocks etc. After a short run through of the itinerary for the coming weekend, everyone got to know each other and some lively banter was had.
The next morning we set off the course after breakfast looking at the map. We identified many features such as spot heights, trig points, points of historical and archaeological interest, boundary stones etc. Then we looked at taking grid references from 4 figure to as accurate as 8 figure using Romer cards. This section culminated in the students being given 12 8 figure grid references and identifying what was at that location. After coffee we moved onto the compass explaining the many parts and what each of these parts do. We took many bearings from the map and applied these to the ground and visa versa, as well as back bearings, triangulation and navigating around obstacles. This took us to lunch.
At the start of the afternoon we paced 100meter stretch to see how many paces this took, a very important skill when walking on a bearing. For the rest of the afternoon there was a mock route card, where students were given 12 8 figure grid references that form a circular walk. All the points were identified, a magnetic bearing taken and a measurement applied that had to be converted into paces. After this Mike gave a short lecture on access rights and how to best avoid ground nesting birds, along with a brief history of the Forest of Bowland.
Before dinner other navigation techniques were taught such as, aiming off, use of tick features and handrails, use of backstops as well as night navigation. Around 2100 we set off on our night navigation exercise with the weather turning it started to rain quite heavily. A couple of hours later everyone was back in the classroom, having successfully carried out the night navigation.
Day 2 of the navigation course is all about putting the previous days training into practice. We left the training room and drove to the base of Clougha Pike. The students were then given an 8 figure grid reference of there location, and a grid reference they had to navigate to. The day consisted of 28 grid references, some that could be navigated to without the aid of a compass. On the top of the moor the mist came down as the points to navigate too got progressively harder throughout the day. All students had the opportunity to try out the triangulation, along with navigating around obstacles one of which was a moorland tarn. The course culminated on the Trig point of Clougha Pike, and we all descended back to the vehicles.
The feed back we have received from the course is very encouraging, and Mike is interested in extending the navigation course to include woodland and moorland camping in a wanderer course.
Mike Rushton
Principal Instructor
Tamarack
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 Walkabout CourseWALKABOUT 20 February 2009
Well, the first Walkabout Tamarack have carried out as a separate entity away from our Campcraft Week (link).The day started with all students meeting at Tamarack Headquarters. After a brief introductions and a peruse around the store we loaded up and headed off to the start point. Once parked we put on our packs carrying all we needed for the day and set off. The weather was fine in the valleys, but a thick mist shrouded the top of Clougha Pike, our destination for the first part of the day.
The ascent to the top of Clougha is a steady one, passing through woodland which gave us a great opportunity to look at various tree and plant species in their winter shroud. Identifying trees and plants this time of year can be challenging, but with a few pointers and using the prominent identification features it is made easier. We carried on our ascent into the mist and onto the Heather clad moor, with its changing environment and different wildlife. A cock Pheasant burst from cover and felt a little out of place in this tree less landscape, giving way to the abundant Red Grouse and the occasional zig zag flight of the Snipe.
Just off the top of Clougha we stopped at what the Tamarack team call Big Stone Café. This is a large Limestone rock formation which gives great protection from the elements, and a great look out point to observe the Red Grouse which are now pairing up for mating season.
The weather cleared as we descended down a little known sheep trail, putting up another Snipe. We had a break at Conder Head Stream, and we talked about water filtration and purification. Using the never fail item of the Milbank bag and the new technology of the Steripen all water bottles were replenished.
At this point the sun decided to show, which tempted us of the coming spring. Then the flint knapping gear was produced with a couple of small nodules of flint. The students were shown how to knapp a flint blade using the Red deer antler hammer, producing very quickly razor sharp implements. Mike had carried two Rainbow Trout in his pack, and the students were shown how to gut and fillet the fish, washing then down after the job was done. The students had a go, and the fish were placed back in the pack, as we saddled up to carry on our descent into Littledale Valley.
Then it was the students turn to navigate to Potts Wood, where we would stop and light a fire, cook the fish and make Billy tea. As we approached Potts Wood, we took the last 50 meters very slow and peered into the wood to spot any wildlife. The wood is teaming with wildlife such as Roe deer, Short Eared Owl, Hares, the occasional Osprey sighting and over 40 species of song bird. Alas no deer were spotted and we entered the wood.
The students on the Walkabout had previously been on Tamarack or attended other Bushcraft schools courses, so they were tasked to light a fire in an open glade area. The fire was soon in good heart, a pot hander was over the fire with the Billy onto boil. One fish was pegged to a piece of Spruce and cooked by the hot coals at the bottom of the fire, the other being cooked using the ponassing method over the fire. Just a short wait and the Billy was at a boil and the fish was turning a golden brown and dinner was served.
After dinner the fire had burned to ash and was extinguished using stream water. A very important task is to ensure all coals and the fire hearth are fully saturated before covering the area with leaf litter and try our best to leave the area as or better than we found it. As on all courses time was pressing on, and the students navigated there way back to the vehicle.
In essence I found the day most enjoyable, and am looking forward to running the next one in the future.
Mike Rushton
Principal Instructor
Tamarack |
