50,000 John Muir Awards in Cumbria

A moment to celebrate: 26 years of connecting with, enjoying and caring for wild places.

This month we celebrate a milestone for the John Muir Trust and our partners in Cumbria as we passed 50,000 John Muir Awards achieved in a partnership with the Lake District National Park. Each John Muir Award matters to the individual who achieved it and the wild places they connected to! From those first young people who gained their John Muir Award at Outward Bound Ullswater in 1997 to those today getting involved in ever greater numbers.

What did they do?

They all connected with wild places. They found what was wild in many and varied ways, from Currock Youth Group pulling up flagstones to allow nature to go wild in their backyard in Carlisle, to those ‘outward bounders’ clearing footpath drains on the high fells or removing non-native invasives along the rivers to allow nature to thrive across the Lake District.

What does it mean?

50,000 people spent 4 days (200,000 ‘person days’, that’s 547 years!), finding a way to enjoy, connect with and care for nature and wild places. Each individual’s story will be different. For some it provides the spark to launch into a lifetime of engaging with nature, bringing an awareness of wild places.  For others it’s the chance to move away from a life of health problems, addiction or crime.

Here in Cumbria it’s helped people see what’s special about the Lake District National Park, allowed them to get a taste of volunteering and contribute to initiatives such as Fix the Fells, active travel and woodland restoration. It means wild places and people have benefitted together.

Who are they?

As you might expect many are young people at school, with youth groups or visiting outdoor centres so both residents and visitors get involved. But the Award has also been an opportunity for those who thrive outside the classroom approach to education, those recovering from substance misuse and even some who have found themselves in prison. Around a quarter of those who achieve the John Muir Award came from a position of disadvantage in terms of accessing and benefiting from wild places.

None of this would have happened without a whole host of partners. The Outward Bound Trust have been with us as a Provider of the Award from the start and continue to be influential in supporting the Award. They have been followed by around 150 Providers across Cumbria – outdoor centres large and small looking to care for the outdoors as their workplace, dedicated school teachers and supportive Heads, community leaders and environmental organisations.

The Lake District has long been a place both to seek adventure and to learn about the environment and our relationship with it. In a world of diverse challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and physical inactivity, it has never been more important to inspire young people to be adventurous, to have hands-on real life experiences of our world in order that they understand and care for it. I’d encourage every school Governor and Head Teacher to support school residential visits to National Parks.

Richard Leafe, CEO, Lake District National Park Authority.

Another essential ingredient is funding. The John Muir Award is free for the participants helping to remove barriers to getting involved. In Cumbria we’re massively grateful to the Lake District National Park Authority (LDNP). They were on the Steering Group which helped Cumbria Youth Alliance and the John Muir Trust secure National Lottery Heritage Fund support for the first Cumbria Award manager. LDNP then continued to match fund through their Sustainable Development Fund until they stepped up to fully fund and host a LDNP – John Muir Trust partnership from April 2011 to July 2023.

What next?

Exciting times lie ahead! The John Muir Award remains a vital component of our engagement work, creating partnerships, connections and reach. For many it is the first introduction to the concept of wild places and the start of a vital connection with nature.

Following a review of our engagement work and the development of our new strategy, we wish to ensure that the John Muir Award has a bright future in a rapidly changing world. You can read more about our John Muir Award redesign and how you can get involved here.