Twenty three pupils visited Cobnor Monday to Wednesday. On their first day they did some problem solving, Pico sailing and canoeing. Day two involved a day sail around Chichester Harbour, where the children gained more of an opportunity to focus on their sailing skills.

On the third day 23 more pupils arrived and joined their school mates. All the children enjoyed a fun-packed day of mountain biking skills, climbing, archery and low ropes. At the end of Wednesday the first group of pupils returned home and the second group to arrive stayed at Cobnor for the rest of the week, receiving the same outdoor education as the group that attended Monday and Tuesday.

It seems that the children from Swiss Gardens Primary had a wonderful time at Cobnor Activities Centre this year and they sent us lots of lovely letters to show their appreciation. Here is a small selection for you to see:

Dear Amy, Mike, Paul, Andy, Adam, Ollie, Bryn, Brian, Nick, Jackie, Roy, Beverly and Toby,

Thank you for giving me a fantastic time. It was hilarious when we were on the low ropes and the mountain biking. It was fun at Cobnor; I’ll come again with my family.

Yours Sincerely,

Robbie William Hatcher

Dear Cobnor Instructors,

I’m from Swiss Gardens Primary School and I loved my three enjoyable days at Cobnor. At first I was a bit worried of capsizing and some of the sailing but once I jumped in the water it was actually the best bit. I just wanted to say thank you to Amy, Mike, Paul, Andy, Ollie, Nick and Toby.

Love Claudia

Dear Paul,

Thanks you for our spiffing three days. Thanks for guiding us on the big sail. We sailed through some fierce waves and we almost went vertical! The way back was a little bit calmer at least; we got back quicker. Cobnor has helped me improve my maturity and it’s helped me have fun!

Love from Will xxx

Dear Mike,

Thank you for doing the big sail with me, and thank you for doing some big waves on the normal sail. And thank you for everything else like the low ropes and every other thing. Thank you very much Mike.

Yours Sincerely,

Reece Way-Hooker

Dear Cobnor Instructors,

Thank you very much for making our trip worthwhile.  After the first night we got up at 5.00 am in the morning in my room, we were so excited. If we stuck all of you together you would be a superhero! Saving the world from boredom! I think Cobnor man would look like this (See image below).

Thanks again,

Rosie xxx

P.S. please thank Jackie for the food, it was yum.

Dear Cobnor instructors,

Thank you for showing us how to do things like archery, mountain biking, low ropes, the spider web, human knot, sailing and much more. Thanks for feeding us Jackie.

I would also like to give a special thanks to Nick because our coach was late so he entertained us and played games with us for a whole hour.

Love from Molly

Dear Instructors,

Thank you for inviting us to Cobnor and Jackie I really love the food and I love cottage pie that was lovely. I love doing sailing and you teaching us how to do sailing.

Thank you for the lovely room. The bed was comfy. Thank you for all the activities and I want to stay there forever.

My favourite bit was sailing and rock climbing, low ropes, archery and canoeing.

Yours sincerely

Seran

Dear Andy,

You may not remember me. I was only there for the day. Wednesday was amazing. I’m writing to you because you helped me get to the top of the rock climbing wall. I’ve never got to the top of a rock climbing wall before. I can’t put it in to words how I felt when I looked down from the top.

THANK YOU

From Charlotte

This annual event is organised to raise money for Cobnor Activities Centre, Christian Youth Enterprises and the Racecourse Sanctuary. Combining live music with outdoor activities, Cobstock has taken place at Cobnor for the past three years and has proved a great fundraising success as well as a huge hit with guests.

The action began on Friday afternoon as campers arrived and set up ready for the weekend ahead. After booking places on the activities they most wanted to experience, from both land-based and water-based, Friday evening offered a range of music from local bands and a fantastic festival vibe. Guests had the choice of staying on the campsite, staying in Cobnor Activities Centre’s log cabins or staying on CYE’s T.S Resolute.

Saturday Cobstockers rose early to make the most of the day’s activities. This year guests of all ages and abilities could choose from the following:

• Bosun sailing
• Wayfarer sailing
• Archery
• Rock climbing and abseiling
• Kayaking
• Open canoeing
• Chichester Harbour tour on the Cobnor Chairboat

Outdoor activities ran throughout Saturday, despite the somewhat blustery conditions. The wind meant that the sailing instructors, kayaking instructors and safety boat team had to work harder than usual and they sought out sheltered parts of the harbour to make it easier on guests where possible. The conditions certainly made things that little bit more interesting out on the water and even lead to an exciting capsize rescue mission – don’t fear, no one was harmed, it was all taken in the stride of our brave adventurers!

The live music began at 13.00 and played until midnight and the bar was open this whole time, offering adults such delights as Chucklehead Cider. The kids didn’t miss out though as they could indulge in locally made organic ice cream from Caroline’s Dairy, offering delicious flavours such as lemon meringue, mint choc chip and rhubarb – yum!

Here’s what just one happy Cobstocker had to say: “Fantastic activities, so well planned and executed can’t wait for next year.” Nicola Gouldstone, St Margaret’s, Twickenham.  

Have you got anything you’d like to say about the live music and outdoor activities at this year’s Cobstock 3? Please leave a comment below, we love to hear your feedback.

Cobnor Activities Centre would like to say a big thank you to all involved in organising Cobstock 3, to all those volunteers that made sure the weekend ran smoothly and to all of you that bought tickets! 

Cheddar Gorge in the Mendip Hills, near Cheddar, Somerset is where climber Chris Bonington was the first to scale the Coronation Street route in 1965. There are around 350 officially graded climbing routes on the 27 cliffs that make up Cheddar Gorge. The climbing routes are open to climbers between 1 October and 15 March each year (so sadly Pete couldn’t don his climbing gear this time) and each is named and included in the British Mountaineering Council guidebook.

While the majority of the climbs are “trad” or “traditional”, which means that the leader places protection as they ascend, there are also some “sport” routes where bolts are left in place. There is a plaque to mark the route that Chris took and named after the popular television soap.

Interested in climbing and abseiling?

You could start out by practicing on the climbing wall at Cobnor Activities Centre, which is due to be resurfaced and upgraded with an overhang later this year. Cobnor’s climbing wall is ideal for climbers of all levels looking to further their rock climbing and abseiling skills. Our qualified instructor will fit you out with a harness and hat. He will then show how to belay – this is where a climber is attached to a rope and their partner on the ground lets their rope in and out enabling them to climb safely.

Do you want to tackle the climbing wall at Cobnor?

This is just one of the outdoor activities included in our Multi-Activity Weeks for 8-13 year olds that take place each summer. Find out dates and other info here.

Here are some photos of a climber just to the right of Cheddar Gorge’s Coronation Street:

Cobnor Activities Centre is in the middle of a major building and re-furbishment project which will include ‘green energy’ solar heating for all the hot water and a ground source heat pump for space heating the new building. 

The project will transform Cobnor Activities Centre, which is used primarily by children and young people in our community for a whole variety of outdoor activities, including sailing, canoeing, mountain biking, rock climbing, orienteering, camping,  to name but a few.

We need now to equip the dormitories and the new multi-functional classroom for when Cobnor Activities Centre re-opens in April 2010.

We need 15 sets of bunk beds @ £182 each, 54 mattresses @ £48.50 each, 10 classroom tables @ £96 each, 40/50 classroom chairs @ £11.50 each, 20/30 laptop computers @ £350 each and a variety of curtains and blinds for the dormitories costing  about £5/6,000.

Please can you sponsor us by offering to fund the purchase of an item of equipment?

You can send your donation to: Barry Colgate at Flood Cottage, Bosham Lane, Bosham, West Sussex PO18 8HY. If you would like any further information please contact him on 01243 576750 or barry@colgates.biz . If you are a tax payer you can increase the value of your donation by completing and returning the Gift Aid form.