Club Leadership Programme
Following on from the success of our Club Leadership Programme in 2021 and 2022 which saw approximately over 1,100 club leaders trained from 91 different hillwalking clubs in total, Mountaineering Ireland is delighted to announce that we will be offering all clubs the opportunity to avail of this programme again in 2023.
This programme is fully subsidised by Mountaineering Ireland as we believe there is still a significant need to provide further training to clubs to encourage more members to come forward and lead walks. Additionally, current walk leaders across all our clubs, will benefit from refreshing their skills, helping ensure they have both the ability and the confidence to continue leading walks.
Picture: Some members from the Bogtrotters Hillwalking Club at last year's Club Leadership Programme in Dublin.
Training Purpose: provide informal training for club leaders tailored to the club’s needs with a focus on building members’ skills and confidence to lead and encouraging more leaders within clubs. The key objectives are; to increase the number of leaders available to our clubs, to support clubs to encourage more members to step up and lead, to refresh the skills of current club leaders and to assist leaders to share knowledge on hillwalking and enjoying the outdoors responsibly with participants on walks.
Clubs will be assigned to their instructor who will be providing you with the training for the day soon. You will then be able to liaise directly with your trainer to confirm what dates, location and time suits you both best. You can also discuss the club leadership training needs of your club with the instructor who will try and accommodate your needs as much as possible in line with the objectives set out for this informal training.
Picture: Dunmanway Hillwalking Club leaders building their confidence in Cork during the Club Leadership Programme 2022
Happy Hiking Programme
Due to demand our Happy Hiking – Hill Skills Days are back for 2023. This year as part of our Happy Hiking campaign we will be running a number of skills days throughout the summer and autumn months aimed at novices and people new to the hills. The programme will be open to individual members and club participants (non-leaders) and non-members of Mountaineering Ireland to avail of basic skills to go hillwalking. This will be open to parents, individual members and club members (not aimed at leaders).
Picture: Happy Hikers upskilling with Maureen O Brien in Tipperary
The program will run in key locations across the country to be confirmed. Dates will be announced on the events page of our website in the coming weeks. Watch this space!! #happyhiking.
Please contact Ruth Whelan Hillwalking Development Officer: [email protected] or 01 625 1115 for any questions on either programmes.