CYP Now - ADVENTURE ACTIVITIES: The Great Outdoors - The outdoor activitybreak is a staple of traditional youth work

Tim Burke braves the elements and discovers that adventure activities continue to prosper, even in the face of increasing red tape and concerns about safety.

For Jane Town, groups adviser at the Youth Hostels Association (YHA), there has been an overreaction to past incidents: "No-one's saying that it's okay to have the odd accident, but incidents get blown out of all proportion. Thousands of young people go on these holidays every year. Then there's one accident and it gets massive publicity."

The sector has been boosted by Government support for summer activity programmes, including the Get REAL pilots launched this month to give 1,000 young people a week of outdoor adventure. But rocketing insurance and a risk-averse culture led the YHA to launch its Young People and Outdoor Adventure campaign in Parliament last November to emphasise the importance of travel away from home.

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