Cairngorms visit sealed with help of John Muir Trust funding
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A group from Greater Manchester will get the opportunity to seek out life-changing experiences in the Cairngorms thanks to a John Muir Trust administered grant.
Successful applicant Rehna Yaseen will lead the group of 15 young people from Ashton-under-Lyne on the winter mountaineering course next February.
The funding support has come from the Des Rubens and Bill Wallace Grant.
It was set up in honour of Bill Wallace, who died of heart failure in February 2007 while skiing in the Alps at the age of 73 with two artificial hips, and Des Rubens, a popular
teacher at Craigroyston High School in Edinburgh who was killed in June 2016 in an Alpine climbing accident at the age of 63.
Rehna, (27), a youth and community worker, submitted the application on behalf of young people from her own community in Ashton under Lyne, for support towards an annual trip to the Cairngorms.
She said it can create moments when young people get hooked on the outdoors for life.
On receiving the grant offer, Rehna said: "This is really fantastic news at a time when young people have missed out on so many opportunities and adventures.
"We had this great news during the week when we should have been in Scotland this year.
"We’re so excited about going to the Cairngorms in 2022 and this grant will make it one step closer to making it possible for us.”
John Muir Trust spokeswoman Rosie Simpson said: “Rehna’s application was on behalf of a group of young people who, like Rehna before them, would not get to explore the Cairngorms if it wasn’t for an organised group trip provided by The Lindley Educational Trust.
"We’re delighted to support young people to experience wild places, to test their resilience and learn from nature and we were particularly impressed by Rehna’s ability to speak from her own experiences in her application.”
Rehna is one of six successful applicants to the Des Rubens and Bill Wallace Grant.
This grant was established to give people the opportunity to seek out life-changing experiences in wild places in ways which will benefit both the person, and the wild places themselves.
Since the grant was established in 2007, initially in honour of Bill Wallace, it has supported almost 60 people from all walks of life, from students to scientists, from grandmothers to gardeners, take part in life-changing adventures of educational or scientific value in some of the wildest places in the world.
Grants of £200 to £2000 are awarded annually on merit.
