Company History

How we Started

The organisation was founded over 80 years ago in 1924 by Joseph Allnatt, a visionary and entrepreneur. He bought a dis-used aerodrome in St Mary's Bay, Kent and converted it into a Residential Centre for Schools during the summer and ran it as a Turkey farm during the winter!

St Mary's Bay Holiday Camp
The Camp was huge, accommodating over a thousand children per week engaged in a vast programme of outdoor activities, in the extensive grounds and visits into the surrounding countryside. A highlight of the week was the Campfire and Sing Song attended on occasions by the Duke of York. Later Royalty included the Princess Royal and the Crown Prince of Norway, who with heavy bodyguard presence, managed to complete a Geography Field Trip each!

By the 1950s the organisation had become a Limited Company, Joseph Allnatt Centres Limited, and it was time to move on. The Camp was sold and over the next ten years six smaller Centres were opened around the country in accommodation ranging from Hotels to Mansion Houses to a Grammar School.

School trips were well established and teachers happily ran their own programmes of study, with regular coach trips to local places of interest. The Centres provided budget accommodation as a base for the schools who arrived on a Friday and departed the following Friday. Each day a fleet of coaches would arrive outside each Centre to transport the children to a variety of venues before returning them for a swim in the Centre Pool before the Evening Meal.

In the 1980s circumstances occurred which changed the direction of the Company. By now Joseph Allnatt had died and the Company was headed by his son-in-law, Dennis Martin, who wished to preserve both the ethos and the success of the organisation. However, it was at this time that teachers began to look at their workloads and felt that they were being taken for granted for all the extra time they put in to after school clubs and weekend and holiday times.

There were even strikes as teachers felt so strongly. The result for the organisation was that almost overnight the usual length of stay at the Centres dropped from seven nights to four nights as schools no longer wanted to stay over the weekend and half terms and the summer holidays were left with empty beds.

At this time Denea Wright joined the Company as a seasonal instructor. With a teaching background in Geography and Physical Education the opportunities were inspiring. Within a year she had become the Manager of the Chatsworth Centre in Swanage.

Soon the Chatsworth began to offer a range of Teaching Programmes run by Centre Staff, in order that visiting teachers could concentrate on pastoral care rather than having to lead every session. It was clearly the way forward and very fulfilling for the energetic and committed Centre Staff as they quickly took off. Many innovative ideas were introduced and the Company became one of the founder members of the British Activity Holidays Association (BAHA) set up to establish a Code of Practice, for commercial centres.

The Adventure Activity Licensing Authority (AALA) was set up to inspect Centres which offered certain activities before they could be licensed.
At this point the work of the British Activity Holiday Association became even more important as Member Centres were inspected on all the activities they offered; Allnatt Centres were very focused on both obtaining a License for Rock Climbing and Abseiling, which they offer at the very popular Dancing Ledge Site in Dorset, and having all their Centres fully inspected and approved for all their activities.

In May 1996, Denea Wright was appointed as Managing Director and Matt Piper was appointed as Financial Director. Over the next 10 years programmes and services were streamlined, with a concentration on years 5 & 6 Outdoor Adventure, and Geography GCSE & A Level programmes.

In April 2005, Denea and Matt negotiated a Management Buy-out, together with Heather Tainsh who entered the Board as Operations Director for the Chatsworth Centre.

Where we are today

NEW DIRECTIONS, NEW OPPORTUNITIES!

The company owns two centres – the Chatsworth Centre in Swanage and East Dene on the Isle of Wight – two of the most popular destinations for school visits. The last two years have seen a consolidation and streamlining of the services offered to schools, whilst the nature of the Isle of Wight site has enabled it to diversify into a range of additional services which dovetail in.

The Schools Programmes have all been reviewed and developed in line with the document produced by the Outdoor Education Advisors Panel: High Quality Outdoor Education.

Our goals are to help young people to:

• Adopt a positive attitude to challenge and adventure.
• Gain confidence and self esteem through taking on a challenge.
• Develop self awareness and social skills.
• Understand the importance of conservation and sustainable development.
• Acquire and develop a range of skills in outdoor activities.
• Demonstrate increased initiative, responsibility and commitment.
• Develop key skills of communication, problem solving, leadership and teamwork.
• Learn to appreciate the benefits of physical fitness.
• Display increased motivation.
• Become open to a wider range of opportunities.

We have developed partnerships with our schools, building up a long term relationship and ensuring that their outdoor programme fully complements the curricular work done in the school, thus adding best value.

After ten years service, Denea has recently stood down as Chair of the Southern Region of the Institute for Outdoor Learning but will continue as a committee member, as well as an executive of the British Activities Holiday Association. Still as passionate as ever about the value of Outdoor Learning, she continues to be generous and open in sharing skills and expertise. It also ensures that the Company is kept at the forefront of the outdoor industry.