Meet the staff at GO Outdoors
GO Outdoors staff whether from head office or in store are into many different aspects of the outdoors. Whether they’re avid bikers, dedicated campers, intrepid climbers etc, the outdoors is a big part of their spare time. In this blog series we’ll be telling the stories of some of our staff that help make up GO Outdoors.
Matt is 22 and is a final year biomedical science student, when not studying he works within GO Outdoors Newcastle store as part of the store team. Matt showed an interest in the outdoors from an early age, the way many do – via his parents own interests.
This later lead to a stint with the Scouts, and it was during his time with the scouts that Matt found the area of the outdoors that he enjoyed the most – kayaking. These days Matt is the liason and welfare officer of Kayak Northumbria having joined the society in 2011.
A little about Kayak Northumbria:
Kayak Northumbria is a fully affiliated senior Canoe England club. (They are 100% independent of Northumbria University), This allows non-students to join the club as well as students in the area.
From their website (www.kayaknorthumbria.com):
‘Kayak Northumbria was founded in 2011 which is a friendly canoe club based in Newcastle made up of young enthusiastic kayakers! We meet regularly, about once a week, either for a training session in a pool, a trip down a river, a surf at the beach or a pint in the pub. Now and again, we travel further afield on weekend trips away, as well as the odd yearly trip abroad.
You can join the club no matter what, if any, past experience you may have in kayaking and canoeing. We aim to help every new paddler up to Paddle-Sport 2 star standard (in kayaking, subject to pool sessions) within 3 months of joining. As well as sheltered water/pool training, all new members can attend an introduction to white water course at a local river before undertaking any club trips.
All club coaching is free, provided by BCU (British Canoe Union) qualified kayak coaches; We have also some very experienced river leads who are BCU White Water Safety & Rescue qualified to keep you safe on a river. We can provide all of the necessary equipment if required – buoyancy aids, helmets, waterproof cags, wet-suits, spraydecks, a paddle and most importantly, a kayak.’
You can check out a little more about Kayak Northumbria from their video below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x94Ezf4nxrg
If you’re in the area and you’re looking to take up kayaking, pop in to store and have a word with Matt about Kayak Northumbria.
