On Thursday 5th September 1974, The Right Honourable Lord Provost Sir William Gray. J.P.B.L opened Blairvadach Sailing and Outdoor Centre.
Since the opening the facility has welcomed over 150,000 of Glasgow’s young people on courses varying from single days to 7-day residential experiences. The facility has evolved over the years to become a leading provider of curriculum based adventurous outdoor education.
In 2024 the centre will be marking its 50th Anniversary through a series of celebrations, competitions and connections with past, current and future stakeholders. Details of 4 projects you can get involved in are below:
Stories from across the ages - Win an adventure weekend!
We are looking for interesting stories from across the ages from people who have experienced a course at Blairvadach. For example, you might have multi-generational household members who have visited the centre, experiences that changed your life or gave rise to newfound hobbies and interests. Share with us what the visit meant to you through words, pictures or sounds.
A team of Blairvadach Instructors will judge the stories, the authors of the winning stories will win a weekend of adventure at Blairvadach Outdoor Centre for up to 8 of their friends and family.
The Adventure weekend will be Saturday 3rd to Sunday 4th August 2024
- Submission deadline for your stories is 15th June 2024 - Closed for Entry
- Winners will be notified by 22nd June 2024
- You can share your stories through video, audio files and pictures : My Blairvadach Story
- You can share your stories by text: My Blairvadach Story
- More information can be found here: My Blairvadach Story Flyer
Small print
- Each winner will be given up to 8 places on the winning weekend. Places can be filled with family and household members. We require a minimum of one adults (over 18 years) with 4 young people (U18 years). Minimum age 8 years old.
- The free weekend consists of two days and one night, 3-4th August 2024. Arrival at Blairvadach from 0930am on Saturday 3rd August and Departure no later than 1630 on 4th August.
- Each winning groups will be accommodated in their own corridor of rooms. Not all rooms are ensuite, but each winning group will be allocated their own bathroom areas.
- The winning weekend is full board and includes a selection of instructed adventurous activities on each day.
- The centre is alcohol free and there is a designated smoking area close by.
- With your permission, we would like to share the stories in whatever format with our community. Where required we can anonymise the stories.
Link with Blairvadach Celebration
The aim of the ‘Link to Blairvadach Celebration’ project is to share the 50-year celebrations of Blairvadach Outdoor Education Centre with as many schools as possible. The project hopes to inspire schools to get outside and enjoy some outdoor learning while sharing what Blairvadach Outdoor Experiences mean to them.
Your school will have received through the post your ' Link to Blairvadach Kit'. This kits contains a ‘metal karabiner’ (piece of climbing equipment that ‘links’ items together) with a special Blairvadach 50-year logo attached.
Once you have your ‘Link to Blairvadach and Logo’, we would like you to celebrate your connection with Blairvadach Outdoor Education Centre by delivering on the following two calls to action:
- Take your learning outdoors and share your experiences on Twitter through pictures and video of pupils undertaking some outdoor learning with the ‘Blairvadach Link and Logo’ using the #BV50Years and including @blairvadachoec . You can also share why you value the Blairvadach residential experiences in the text. If you do not use Twitter you can send in your pictures and quotes to admin@blairvadach.org.uk and we will post them for you.
- Using your imaginations, create some form of artwork that can include your ‘Blairvadach Link and Logo’ and school name or badge. Take a picture of your artwork and send it to admin@blairvadach.org.uk - we will use these pictures to create a giant 50-year celebratory collage. Your artwork can be anything you want as long as it contains the ‘Blairvadach Link and Logo’ and your schools name or badge.
Blairvadach Alumni
Have you been to Blairvadach and want to share your experiences. Feel free to join the Alumni group on Facebook. You can also tag us on social media via the hashtag #IWentToBlairvadach
We would love to hear stories and memories from our former residents far and wide.
The idea of this group is to allow people to share their experiences and memories of their time at Blairvadach. With the doors being opened almost 50 years ago we want to hear from you.
What are your memories? When did you visit? What does Blairvadach mean to you?
Please feel free to share this group with other friends and family members who also have memories to share from their time at Blairvadach. We are very proud that so many people have had the chance to say "I went to Blairvadach"
#IWentToBlairvadach
The Big Celebration
On Thursday 5th September 2024, 50 years to the day of centre opening, Blairvadach will celebrate its birthday with special guests, staff, pupils and teachers.
The day will be a celebration of the past, present and future of the residential centre and give guests the opportunity to observe young people undertaking an outdoor education experience and also get involved.
The day will include a celebratory lunch, VIP presentations and the unveiling of the ‘Linked to Blairvadach’ project finale.
A full itinerary for the day can be found here.