February 09

Charity hits the road in green new cars

A leading charity is hitting the road after investing in a new fleet of greener, cleaner cars.

The Outward Bound Trust, an experiential outdoor learning charity with headquarters at Penrith, has invested in more efficient motors, purchasing six newly branded Ford Fiestas for their mobile customer services team. 

Nick Barrett, CEO of The Outward Bound Trust, said: "The work that The Outward Bound Trust does is absolutely grounded in the outdoors, so it seems appropriate that we use cars that are less harmful to the environment.

"We work hard at the Trust to reduce our carbon emissions, so this was one way that we could instantly improve our energy efficiency.  It is, however, just a small part of the work we are doing across all of our centres in the UK, to reduce our carbon footprint."

The cars, which are part of Ford’s new Eco range, are branded with The Trust’s logo and corporate design, and will be used by the customer services team to commute to meetings across the country.

ENDS

For more information contact 01931 74000.

Notes to Editors:

• The Outward Bound Trust is an educational charity, established more than 65 years ago to boost personal learning and development through a programme of challenging activities in the outdoors. The Outward Bound Trust is the original and leading facilitator of experiential learning in the outdoors.
• The charity runs courses and expeditions in the UK for young people aged 10-24. Courses last from 3 days to three weeks www.outwardbound.org.uk
• Outward Bound® for young people is delivered at four residential centres across the UK – Ullswater and Howtown in The English Lake District, Loch Eil in Scotland and Aberdovey in Wales – and through the Metro project (urban) in Glasgow and Scotland’s Central Belt www.the outwardboundtrust.org.uk/education/downloads.
• The Outward Bound Trust also facilitates Apprentice Development and currently works with some of the UK’s largest companies on their apprentice programmes.
• In 2007, 28,000 young people benefited from an Outward Bound® experience. Almost a third of these participants were financially supported by bursaries raised by The Outward Bound Trust through private donations and in conjunction with its corporate partners, as part of the Patron’s Company scheme.
• The charity also works with volunteer groups across the UK called Outward Bound® Associations, whose members have mostly experienced Outward Bound®, and they source participants from local schools in their areas and help fundraise for their courses. These volunteers include Youth Reps, fresh from their Outward Bound® experience, who provide advice and support for other youngsters (see www.myspace.com/outwardbounduk).
• The organisation runs a professional development centre for adults at Eskdale in The Lake District, called Outward Bound® Professional.