Arran Outdoor Education Centre at risk of closure, again

It is just under two years ago that, after a huge community campaign, the Arran Outdoor Education Centre was saved from council budget cuts. Now under threat again, and with the NAC’s online budget engagement closing to responses last week, Voice Reporter sent in this reflection:

Astonishing that North Ayrshire Council are once again considering closing the Arran Outdoor Education Centre in Lamlash. Can they have so quickly forgotten the vociferous protests that came not only from Arran but all over Ayrshire, that rightly stilled their hand the last time?

Don’t they remember either, that quite apart from catering to the largely low income or urban children from all over Ayrshire who come here and who never forget the experience, that this facility has proved its worth twice now as a crisis centre during the snowmaggedon outage, and later throughout Covid? That it can be crucial to our RNLI and Arran Mountain Rescue Team and other similar helpful local organisations?

Are we to be in a state of permanent protest to try to maintain North Ayrshire’s own promises for them, those made to other businesses and organisations, that these facilities would remain and that they could use them to mutual benefit?

What about the heartfelt open letter, written in just February 2023, from Jim Hughes, a headteacher working all his life in the most deprived schools in Ayrshire, pleading for the life of this centre for his students. Have you even read it? If not, Here it is, once again, here…

Are the jobs at the centre to be lost after all, along with the school patrols and libraries that we are told are under similar threat on the mainland?
Seems counter intuitive to say the least, in an age where dragging our children away from tech to touch grass is getting harder and harder. What about all those promises to invest in our children’s future and that of the planet?

Cutting all that respect and joy from our children’s lives won’t even start to fix this council’s self made 16 million pound problem. Maybe they could look at their own top heavy, wasteful system instead.

As a wise-and-worthy-well-kent-face said to me the other day, “It’s a lot cheaper to provide an outdoor centre for kids when they are at the most crucial period of their lives than support them in prisons.”

And another commented on Facebook, “I no longer live on Arran but as a young person growing up on Arran, this place is so helpful for the young people. The school and the youth cabin (AYF) both use this place to help lots of children. This has held mental health retreats, it has given young people work experience (which is near impossible on Arran). We’ve had to fight for this building too many times. Hopefully this is the last time we have to save this very helpful place!”

For more information and to keep up to date with developments see the Arran Outdoor For All webpage here,  for info on what you can do to help see here  and for more many inspiring school experiences and the multiple reasons why the Centre should remain open, see the Arran Outdoor For all Facebook here

All image credits: Arran Outdoor For All