Company: PGL
Job: Adventure Instructor
Location: UK

Parents Get Lost. That's what we, the staff, used to tell the kids that PGL stands for. In fact, it stands for "Peter Gordon Lawrence", who set up the company way back in 1957. For those of you who have somehow managed to miss the phenomena, PGL was one of the original adventure holiday companies, now offering all sorts of outdoor activities for children, school groups and families all over the UK and parts of Europe.

I applied to PGL as a "multi-activity instructor" one very, very cold January in the 1990s. I had applied to a number of outdoor adventure companies, but most of them, although offering me a job, offered a position on a trial basis. With hindsight, this was fair enough, but wanting security, I accepted a position with PGL - who had not even met me face-to-face, and took me purely on the strength of being young and enthusiastic, with around four years' experience of climbing and abseiling. I think things have changed a bit now though.

I spent two weeks training with other young hopefuls at PGL's main centre at Boreatton (pronounced "brat-en") Park in North Wales. This was fairly intensive, with long hours, and only one day's break, but was absolutely essential for the work to come. As well as the sport with which I was already familiar, I was introduced to archery, air rifles, orienteering, fencing and such delights as raft building and obstacle courses through ice and snow blizzards. We also learnt how to control and teach fairly large groups of children, while keeping the emphasis on fun.

What I didn't realise at the time, also, was that we were all being carefully assessed as to our suitability to work at a PGL centre. I would say that the most important attribute our trainers were looking for was enthusiasm, stamina and an ability to keep smiling! At the end of the two weeks, we were assigned to our centres, and I got a centre for younger age groups in the well-known mountainous region of…Oxfordshire. I was slightly disappointed about this, but it turned out that I had the opportunity to travel around some of the other centres through the year, and I decided that we had it quite comfortable.

I shared a room at the centre with one other girl, although there were also some larger staff dormitories. You basically got paid your room and board, plus a small amount of "pocket money", in exchange for working six days and most evenings a week. Nowadays, I believe that PGL has had to restructure how they pay their staff to meet the national minimum wage, so you are nominally paid more, but are expected to pay for your room and board.

So, what do the visitors get out of PGL? The centre that I worked at, in common with most PGL centres, took school groups on week-long holidays from Saturday to Saturday, and during the summer holidays, individual children ("indys") came on either 3 or 4 day breaks. The activities that the children did on their holiday were determined in advance by their teachers or parents, and as well as the core outdoor pursuits, we offered problem-solving initiative exercises, arts and crafts, quad-biking (not good with a hangover) and even roller-skating.

The children were split into groups of around 10 to 12 in number, and were often quite surprised to find that, whatever the weather, we would be out there doing it! As well as the instructors, there were a number of Group Leaders, or "Groupies" to look after the children, depending on the activity. These Groupies also looked after the children between sessions, and made sure that they found their way to the canteen, and their dormitories \ shower rooms at the appropriate time.

The teachers were also welcome to join any group activity, although to be honest, we found that their enthusiasm varied from school to school. Many would just head straight for the pub, although we loved the ones who would join in. Especially the after-hours drinking in the manager's caravan. But that's another story. After a day of two or three different activities, we would run games after dinner, before winding the children down for bed.

These games were often what the children remembered most from their holidays, judging by the "fan mail" we proudly stuck on the staff room notice board. These were time-honoured favourites such as the "postie" game, played in teams, where the children had to find, in order, the member of staff playing the letter-giver, the stamp, and the postbox - while trying not to be caught by the dog, who would rip up their letters! And of course, on Friday nights, there was the all-important final-night disco in the barn - with various "party-pieces" from the instructors.

On Saturday change-over day, we would wave off one tired-but-happy group, before having to rush round cleaning the centre and checking over the equipment before the next influx. As a consumer, I expect that the most important aspect of booking this type of holiday for your child is safety. I have to say that every activity that we undertook at the centre was extremely safe.

Each activity was operated in a set pattern, and the senior instructor carefully assessed every member of staff, on an on-going basis, to make sure that they were carefully adhering to "the bible". In addition, we had various staff-training sessions where we would take it in turns to play "naughty children" and try to throw the unexpected at our poor colleagues. (These were invaluable, I must say, as I did not even bat an eyelid when one poor girl deposited runny diarrhoea down my leg as I inched her down the abseil tower sitting on my knee).

The staff varied from people taking a gap year, to recent graduates such as myself, to more "typical" outdoor ex-army types. Most of what we instructed was at a very basic, introductory level, with the possible exception of canoeing; the entire centre canoed together at a local lake, with a member of staff in each canoe, but two very qualified and experienced senior canoe instructors took overall charge and responsibility.

The only thing that I might wonder about, now that I am a parent myself, is whether all staff are police-checked or not - I don't remember being asked to undergo such a check. However, we were all very aware about never being alone with a child - all the pastoral duties being undertaken in pairs. (After the children are put to bed, two members of staff patrol the corridors, making sure that there are no "wanderers").

Some of the other centres take older children, up to age 18, and undertake more adventurous activities and "themed" holidays including horse riding, watersports or motorsports. Many of them provide accommodation in tents or chalets rather than dormitories, but there is often a choice at the larger centres - basically you get what you pay for. The tents are quite big, with proper beds and concrete bases, but can be pretty chilly!

Having worked for PGL, you wouldn't really expect me to do anything other than recommend them, but I really do think that every child can get a lot out of this type of experience, even if it is just learning to survive away from home for a few days.

Children typically leave having grown in confidence and self-esteem. We usually found that even the shiest child would find something that they were good at (we would make sure of it), and often the loud-mouthed bully would learn a thing or two too about teamwork and cooperation. They certainly learnt that instructors were a bit different to teachers ;-)

The staff may be quite young, but honestly, you don't do this sort of thing unless you really love it - there are certainly easier ways to earn a living - and all the staff are really committed to making sure that everyone has a good, safe time.

More Information: www.pgl.co.uk

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