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In a bid to become less reliant on funding grants and charitable donations, local youth charity, Outfit Moray, have been busy creating a programme of events for both adults and young people alike.

Using the skills of their highly trained outdoor instructors, they are able to deliver a number of activities which can benefit members of their local community and beyond, whilst helping sustain their charity.

Outfit Moray’s CEO, Tony Brown, explains: “Securing funds from trust and grant making charities is becoming more and more difficult; there’s less money to go around and more new charities putting in funding requests.

“We have a great deal of experience in providing outdoor learning and adventure activities for vulnerable and disadvantaged young people, as well as all the necessary qualifications to deliver them, so it makes sense to use those skills to help us bring in a regular income to sustain the charity and ensure we are able to support the next generation of young people in Moray.”

During the first two weeks of April, Outfit Moray will be running their very popular school holiday programme, with activities including mountain biking, coasteering, gorge swimming, kayaking and canoeing. These adventure days cost just £30 per person and there’s no restriction on how many activities can be booked for each young person.

Doing what they are best at, Outfit Moray are able to provide some fantastic outdoor adventure challenges for families, adults and young people alike, including a 5-day Great Glen Way or River Spey paddle descent. They can lead groups up any Scottish mountains, including Ben Nevis and our more local Ben Rinnes, or there’s the option of paddlesports in Lossiemouth’s river estuary or local lochs, or a led mountain bike ride around local trails. They have all the equipment needed, including the canoes and bikes, so all you need to take is your sense of adventure! If you would prefer to be able to do these sort of activities yourself, Outfit Moray can even teach you to rock climb or paddle!

As well as their outdoor experience, Outfit Moray’s staff and volunteers are all trained first aiders and can provide first aid cover for events ranging from duathlons to football tournaments. They also have qualified first aid trainers who can deliver Worksafe approved first aid courses on location, including Emergency First Aid at Work and the more intensive 3-day First Aid at Work course. Other courses range from a half day of AED (defibrillator) training to specific pediatric and outdoor first aid courses, as well as basic first aid.

Outfit Moray’s Community and Corporate Fundraiser, Karen Cox says: “There are around 530 charities in Moray, all of various sizes, and we are all fighting for the same pound locally. Using our unique skills to bring in an income, means we become less dependent on community fundraising and can hopefully build ourselves a more financially secure future. As the only charity providing this type of support in Moray, it’s absolutely vital that we are able to continue to deliver our programme of activities which are so heavily relied upon by schools, vulnerable groups and other local charities.”

The charity’s community project, Bike Revolution, plays a huge part in providing Outfit Moray with hugely important unrestricted funds, with all their bike sales’ and servicing income being reinvested into the charity, along with the income from their bike maintenance classes and mountain bike rental facilities.

Karen adds: “Full details of what we are able to provide is available on our website, but what we love best is people getting in touch asking us to build a bespoke adventure based on their ideas and requirements. Of course, the best bit about all this is that every pound spent with us goes towards providing life-changing outdoor learning and adventure activities for vulnerable and disadvantaged young people in Moray”.

Full details of all Outfit Moray’s activities can be found online at www.outfitmoray.com as well as on Facebook and Twitter.