June Newsletter: Summer’s ‘Ere
This is the June edition of a newsletter that everyone on the Adventure Oban mailing list receives at the start of every month. Fill in the very simple form at this link to sign up to get Adventure Oban news, updates and future plans straight to your inbox!
Hello Summer!
Laura and Jane, two of our directors, at our AGM in April
So THIS is what it’s like to have daylight at 10pm! - it never fails to amaze us just how different living in our part of the world is in summer compared to winter (for the record: we do love both). We’ve been embracing the warmer climes as much as possible, which has made for a busy old spell since last we spoke.
Read on to find out what we’ve been busy with and what’s coming up as we head further into the Summer:
Spring Water Safety Meet
We had a lovely evening in the setting sun for the Spring edition of our Water Safety series in late April. This was the latest in a series of events that are a great chance to share knowledge and experience whilst also enjoying good social times together! This time around we concentrated on paddlesports, hearing from Ally Cerexe of RNLI Oban Lifeboat about some of the key things to bear in mind when interacting with the water around our part of the world. We then heard from local paddler Tony Hammock who shared some of his considerable knowledge about what makes the Oban waters particularly interesting, challenging and fun.
We’re enjoying the way our Water Safety series is bedding in as a community resource and we’re always on the lookout for improvements and changes. Over the last few weeks we’ve continued our dialogue with parents and families about how to tailor the water safety message towards young people in particular. As such, we’re exploring the possibility of school assemblies with Oban High School to help get the message to our young water users. Just one example of how hearing directly from you helps us meet local need - so, keep the suggestions coming!
Coming Up:
Cockleshell Endeavour
Way back in April, we introduced you to some new friends of ours. We first met Mick Dawson and Steve Sparkes during their stop-off in Oban on an epic journey south. The guys started paddling from Spean Bridge headed for Portsmouth as part of the 40th anniversary of the Falklands conflict. We’re delighted to say they’ve now made it! - an astonishing achievement in just over 70 days. It was an absolute privilege to be a small part of the latest of the pair’s epic undertakings (check out cockleshellendeavour.com to find out some of the other mad achievements they’ve already ticked off). Congratulations guys!
Oban Sportive
The Oban Sportive returned to the North Argyll roads back in May - and what a day we had! We really were spoilt with a beautiful morning and a superb turnout. Riders from all across the country joined the local Oban contingent and took in the views and roads of what has to be argued as one of the most picturesque sportives out there! Once again we helped the event committee and North Argyll Cycle Club by providing volunteer marshals for the day to make sure everyone was pointed in the right direction and received a great big encouragement as they headed round the course. Here’s to next year!
Our first AGM!
Since we last wrote we’ve also had our very first Annual General Meeting! What’s more, for most of us, it was our very first outdoors AGM too! AGMs are an important part of a charity’s annual obligations. Yes, there is the constitutional aspect that is important to honour but they also offer a chance to stop and take stock of the year that’s gone before and to get excited about what’s coming up. Crucially, they also provide the chance for members to check in on the life of the organisation, ask questions and make suggestions. Don’t forget you can keep up to speed with Adventure Oban and participate in shaping our activities by becoming a lifetime member for a one-off payment of £5 - hit this link to find out more: https://www.adventureoban.org/get-involved
Coming Up:
£2 a litre?! - have your say on Active Travel in Oban!
We’ve teamed up with Planning Aid Scotland, ACT Now and Argyll and Bute Council to help engage the Oban community on an active travel plan for Oban. Building on the work done in 2019’s Place Standard exercise, we want to find out how to improve our town to encourage more folk to leave the car at home and walk, cycle and wheel where possible.
So, we’re running an interactive online session at 7pm on the 29th June. It’s completely free to attend and you can find out more as well as registering to receive the Zoom link on Eventbrite here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/2-a-litre-have-your-say-on-active-travel-in-oban-tickets-362949310157
If you can’t make this event but would like to input, write to us and we will invite you to one of the follow-up sessions.
One Million Miles | Top Tips
Here’s a few handy hints to help you when heading out to log activity for One Million Miles:
1. Log your Strava miles. We’ve realised not everyone knew that the Strava group doesn’t automatically update your miles! You need to log them separately at adventureoban.org/onemillionmiles.
2. Add One Million Miles to your phone’s home screen. Click the 3 dots on your phone browser of choice and choose ‘add to home screen’ to create a shortcut that makes it even easier to log your miles!
3. Take Miltean on an adventure. If you’d like to take Miltean on an adventure send an email to hello@adventureoban.org or DM us on Facebook or Instagram.
As ever, we’ve got lots going on each week, so keep in touch via this website and all the Adventure Oban social media channels.
Happy Adventuring!