History

The concept of a small, staff friendly company was spawned in 1994 by Peter Harvey while in the Alps mountaineering with a friend. He was in his second year at University.

The motivation came from several directions, not least his experience in Botswana, in Canada working at an outdoor education centre, Strathcona Park Lodge and with Outward Bound in Wales. However the driving force was to see if his idea of a staff-focused business would keep the team enthused and pay the salaries. The concept was that good staff who are well motivated increase the amount of repeat buinsess. This would enable marketing costs to be kept low and therefore the saving here could be invested in staff salaries.

Having worked for several large centres Peter felt that mismanagement within outdoor companies was solvable despite the tight margins in which the industry operated. Therefore the primary ethos was to support staff and ensure that everyone remained motivated. Motivated staff would mean that customers were happy, staff felt valued and rewarded and would be keen to continue to work with us.

The ethos of the company has stayed constant throughout the years. We have remained staff focused and continue to work closely with clients designing bespoke quality programmes to meet their needs. We have grown beyond expectations in four core business fields, youth development in the UK, world-wide youth development expeditions, corporate training and medical training.

From the intial start up in Southampton in 1995 we have been able to control growth and an element of sanity. The organic growth has kept financial pressures away and the company moved to Wellington College in December 1996 and then to our own dedicated premises in Bramley, Hampshire, in December 2010.

The company has evolved and expanded over the years. We can look back over the last 17 years at decisions that could have been better made! However we are well placed for the future and continue to learn and grow.