2010 has been a great year for the activity centre in Cynwyd. Bookings were good and we made some significant developments with the facilities that we offer. January started quietly with a family using the centre for their New Year celebrations then Long Buckby Scouts had a weekend and they were fortunate enough to have snow giving their weekend some exciting snowy conditions.
In February we had Reading University Canoe Club use the centre for the first time and they had such a good time we already have them booked back in for 2011. March saw the intrepid 4th Northampton Scout Group use the centre for both Cubs and Scouts and they had a great time. Mike Billingham organised their trip and then shared his activity and planning details with others to try and encourage more people to use the facilities. March also saw Pro Adventure from Llangollen make use of the centre for the first time. Pro Adventure offer specialist activities and have now made use of the centre several times with their clients. This was a positive move as most of their usage takes place during the week.
April saw the centre used for the first time by a group from abroad when Scouts from The Republic of Ireland used it for their Easter trip. They left very, very early in the morning to catch their ferry and had a days trip to get their but enjoyed both their stay and the warm welcome they received from the locals.
2010 saw more usage of the centre by families wanting somewhere to have a family celebration. Many of these now return again and again.
In April the centre staff ran a day of Adventure as part of the BBC Thrillseeker package. We offered a mountain adventure , a climbing adventure and a canoeing adventure and this was well received. We hope to offer this again in 2011. This was open to families and individuals over 18.
May was our busiest month with every weekend used by various groups and both the cottage and centre were full of people which is how we want it to be.
June had the 2nd St. Giles make their annual trip. Groups that use the centre come back again and again and we would encourage all Groups from Northampton to make use of the centre on an annual basis.
July and August were again busy with two Groups using the centre for their summer camp. One group was using it for the second year running as their young people voted to return after having such a good time in 2009. We also had a church group from Liverpool use the centre for the first time and they were so impressed individual leaders from the group have since made a booking and used the cottage with their families.
September was fairly quiet. The 4th Northampton Scout Group Leaders returned for a practice for their Coast to Coast walk in 2011. We were pleased to be able to assist them by having centre staff lead them into the mountains for a full day walk.
October was again really busy with a Group from Epping and 11th Weston Favell Scout Group being two of the Groups who used the centre. November had Lincoln University return and the 13th St. Marys Scout Group used the centre with their Group.
December has been quiet with only a family group using the centre after Christmas and into the New Year.
