Mountain Rescue

Mountain Rescue England and Wales (MREW) is the direct descendant of the Joint Stretcher Committee set up in 1936 to support the work of mountain rescue in general. MREW is a charity that comprises the 48 mountain rescue teams and 9 regions and acts as a coordinating body, representing the interests of mountain rescue with the statutory bodies, the Coastguard and at government level. There are 48 mountain rescue teams in total (37 in England and 11 in Wales) with over 2,000 volunteers across the teams. Mountain rescuers are unpaid volunteers, on call 24/7/365, with local family and work commitments.

A huge proportion of these are (or have been) trained and or qualified by AMI members in their past. Prospective members must complete a night navigation and hill craft assessment, similar to the skills required for the Mountain Leader micro navigation assessment. This is almost always delivered, trained and assessed by AMI individuals within the rescue teams.

Association of Heads of Outdoor Education Centres

Originally founded in 1963 as the Association of Wardens of Mountain Centres, The Association of Heads of Outdoor Education Centres (AHOEC) is an association of leaders in outdoor learning – most of these leaders hold senior positions in outdoor learning provisions across the UK. Members come from a variety of backgrounds and organisations in outdoor education, from statutory, private and charity sectors through to the wider educational community.

The AHOEC is committed to championing high quality outdoor learning at all levels, from influencing decision makers to introducing young people and their families to new outdoor activities. They strive to create and develop a healthy culture intelligently balancing education, fun, safety, risk, inclusion, challenge and adventure. AHOEC represents over 170 outdoor learning organisations, centres and providers focused on quality and learning. They work in some of the most inspirational and beautiful parts of the UK employing gifted staff who disseminate the AHOEC’s core values of quality, challenge and learning.

Association of Bristish Climbing Walls Training Trust

The Association of British Climbing Walls Training Trust (ABCTT) is a charity established in 2008 to predominantly administer the National Indoor Climbing Award Schemes (NICAS). Two schemes offer a progressive and structured introduction to roped climbing (NICAS) and bouldering (NIBAS) for young people.

Designed by climbing wall managers with Mountain Training qualifications and experience, the schemes were built on a Mountain Training model, with providers, course directors, and candidates across the climbing walls that deliver the schemes. Mountain Training qualifications are held by all the organisation’s technical staff responsible for the development of the NICAS schemes: from the Executive Officer, central technical staff and experts at each climbing centre through to the training, validation and quality assurance of climbing coaches who deliver the schemes.

NICAS provides a pathway for the young participating climbers to become coaches in the future. The aim of the ABCTT is to help develop a taste of climbing into a habit for life, for as many young people as possible. Over 120,000 young people have now taken part in its schemes, with some 13,000 new climbers being introduced to the sport every year. As well as providing a structured beginning, the schemes provide young people with the skills to safely enjoy climbing as a healthy recreation activity for the rest of their lives. There are now leading (and inspirational) competition climbers reaching the highest standards who began their journey through NICAS. None of this would be possible without the Mountain Training delivery system as adopted by the ABCTT; and the skills (and quality assurance) of deploying Mountain Training trained and qualified people at every level of the schemes and organisation.

Joint Services

The Aim of Joint Service Adventurous Training (JSAT) is to provide challenging outdoor training for service personnel in specified adventurous activities incorporating controlled exposure to risk, in order to develop: leadership; teamwork; physical fitness; moral and physical courage; as well as other personal attributes and skills that are vital to the delivery of operational capability. JSAT cascades down through all ranks to the benefit of both men and women from a range of ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.

Those 11,500 people every year gain teamwork and leadership skills, build confidence and resilience and may gain qualifications. For many, this is an introduction to activities which they may enjoy for the rest of their lives, long beyond their services career. A further 130,000 cadets take part in activities led by 28,000 adult volunteers in clubs and 275 schools across 4 cadet forces every year. In this way, the Joint Services rely on AMI qualified and trained personnel to deliver a lifelong pathway of activity.