TYF – A Well Overdue Catch-Up
It’s safe to say we’ve been a bit quiet on the old blog front for quite some time now. So it feels like the right moment to catch you up on what’s happened over the last few years — the good, the bad, and the ugly (not necessarily in that order).
The bad.
Like many organisations, TYF was affected by Covid — though perhaps not in the way you might expect. TYF benefited from the post-Covid bubble in UK tourism, which saw record numbers of new adventurers coming through the doors. But, as with most bubbles, it eventually burst. Having expanded rapidly during that period, TYF found itself unable to sustain its own growth when demand began to fall.
The ugly.
Despite best efforts, towards the end of 2023 TYF faced liquidation. The thought of losing everything the organisation stood for felt wrong — not just because TYF is a well-known and respected name in the outdoor world, but because of the many children and young people who stood to lose the opportunity to experience real adventure.
What was needed was someone willing to take on that challenge — to create a TYF that refocused on using real adventure, in real places, to help people grow.
Step up, Richard Carpenter.
Originally joining TYF to take on the Head of Centre role, it quickly became clear to Andy Middleton that he had found someone with the passion and commitment to carry TYF forward. I still remember ringing Rich at the end of his first day and asking, “How was your day?” What I wasn’t expecting was the reply: “Erm… okay. How would you like to buy a business together?”
The good.
TYF wasn’t something we set out to buy — it was something we stepped in to protect. When Rich was asked to carry TYF forward, it became an opportunity to create TYF 2.0: adventure education done properly, without box-ticking or half-arsed, man-made challenges.
Between us, we’ve worked in plenty of outdoor centres to know what doesn’t work. At TYF, the focus is firmly on people, the environment, and the learning that comes from doing genuinely challenging and exciting things in the wild.
It’s been a whirlwind first couple of years, with some very steep learning curves along the way, but we’re here to stay — and so is TYF.
