News

POSTED ON:

Ten Years of Dangoor Next Generation

By Caroline Hodges,
Head of Expeditions and Strategic Operations

 

British Exploring Society has been working hard to implement changes in recent years to grow and celebrate a diverse, inclusive community of young people with the skills, resilience and determination to make lasting positive decisions in their own lives, and to deliver community benefit and positive environmental change. One expedition programme, in particular, has had a profound impact on underpinning and achieving that change. 

Ten years ago, with the generous support of the Dangoor family through the Exilarch Foundation, British Exploring Society and youth charity Catch22 came together to create the Dangoor Next Generation Programme. The programme was designed to be our most accessible and supported pathway to expeditionary learning and actively recruited, and continues to recruit, young people who are facing challenges in their lives or who might otherwise not have opportunities for expeditionary learning. 

At the time, the model was totally different from the other expeditions on offer. Dangoor Next Generation is free for young people to participate, including all the clothing and equipment they might need, and involves training events and activities in the UK before the final expedition phase. Additionally, all Fires (Fire is the British Exploring Society word for a team of around 12 people – the perfect number of people that can fit around a campfire) on expeditions are joined by a Social Leader or youth worker whose primary role is to provide extra support for young people as they step miles out of their own comfort zones. 

Ten years on, a lot of the features that made Dangoor Next Generation distinct at the time are commonplace across all our expeditions. Dangoor Next Generation has become the blueprint for how we support an increasingly diverse group of young people. And so, in honour of its tenth year, we’ve made a short film about the programme that has meant so much to so many of us, featuring some of the courageous young people who joined us on our first ever Dangoor Next Generation expedition way back in 2011.

With special thanks to:

  • Jon Maguire for making this and many other DNG films
  • Neil Laughton
  • Michael Baggs
  • David Fox-Pitt and Wild Fox Events
  • Chris Wright FBES
  • Chloe Moul
  • All the staff at Catch22 who have supported the programme over the years
  • Caroline Hodges FBES
  • Gudrun Trygavdottir FBES and her family
  • Will Taunton-Burnett
  • Jackie Kerr
  • Peter Pearson FBES
  • Community Links
  • Tall Ships Youth Trust
  • All the volunteer Leaders who have supported the programme over the years
  • All the Young Explorers who have been brave enough to join the adventure
  • All the organisations involved in the delivery of the My Generation and Next Generation programmes which ran from 2007 – 2010 and on whose foundation DNG has been building

And our donors:

  • The Exilarch Foundation and the Dangoor Family
  • Lavinia Wallop and the Band Trust
  • The Rank Foundation
  • The Sir John Cass Foundation
  • The Tanner Trust
  • The Leathersellers
  • The Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys
  • The Drapers
  • Sylvia Adams
  • Norton Rose Fullbright Foundation
  • Florence Shaw Trust
  • Anton Jurgens
  • Fulcrum
  • Bernard Sunley
  • Tim Kirk
  • SEM Charitable Trust
  • Foyle Foundation
  • Erach and Roshan Sadri Foundation

Share

View more updates