Woodlore Anniversary

25 Year Celebration

25 YEARS OF BUSHCRAFT
1983-2008

Twenty five years. Yikes, that's a quarter of a century! Back in 1983 when Woodlore was in its infancy, I never would have believed I'd be sitting here writing these words. Back then nobody in the UK knew what I meant by the term “wilderness bushcraft”. Sure there were a couple of survival schools, and pretty good ones at that, but there was no one offering the more in-depth nature based knowledge of bushcraft. For me, learning how to live with nature had been a passion from early childhood but it was a difficult subject to explore back in those days. Before the internet research involved wearing out shoe leather in museums and blagging entrance to academic libraries before practising skills in quiet corners of the countryside. But in some strange way those obstacles were the spur to my study. One thing is certain though, I never thought I would end up teaching the subject. It is funny how things work out. It was a pignut root that really kicked Woodlore into gear as a company but that is another story...

Over the past twenty five years I have had the excitement of steering Woodlore on a voyage of discovery literally around the world running courses in some of our planets remotest corners, living alongside some of the oldest cultures and tracking some of the most dangerous and fascinating wildlife. Guiding my hand on the helm are several principles; a commitment to honest professionalism, willingness to take the difficult path, reliability, and the belief that humour can dispel adversity.

Today Woodlore continues to advance, leading the field which it pioneered. A small team of dedicated professionals work hard to provide the highest standard of tuition and leadership in wilderness bushcraft whilst striving to extend our sum knowledge and understanding of this wonderful subject. In addition to training, Woodlore now also provides some of the finest outdoors equipment, carefully selected on the basis of our extensive experience. This was not a commercial choice but arose after a student attended an arctic course having been mis-sold a summer sleeping bag as an arctic bag and represents our philosophy of wherever possible making the wilderness experience accessible safely to all.

As Woodlore celebrates its first quarter century we are very much looking to the future with new courses, equipment and projects that have long been in planning. I want also to extend my thanks to all of the many students, 'Woodloreans', who have sat around our campfire over the past twenty five years. Your passion, enthusiasm and willingness to push beyond known boundaries has been the greatest inspiration and continues to work its magic today on a new generation of instructors.

Best wishes,

Ray Mears
Founder of Woodlore



To start the celebrations for the 25th Anniversary of Woodlore, we are pleased to include the following very special items on our new website:

Kit

• 25th Anniversary Woodlore Knife
  A limited edition of 250 knives, traditionally hand forged and produced in Sweden by Julius Pettersson, who appeared in the Ray Mears Bushcraft series. Each knife is uniquely numbered and comes with a hand stitched belt sheath and a special anniversary presentation box.
  
  
• 25th Anniversary Organic T-Shirts
  These organic cotton T-Shirts are available in Olive and in Black and contain the Woodlore logo on the front and the Ray Mears Bushcraft logo on the back.
  
  
• 25th Anniversary Woodlore Badge
  An antiques nickel finish badge with brooch attachment of the Woodlore logo. The badge measures 30mm x 30mm and all sale proceeds are going to Macmillan Cancer Support.

Courses

For the past 25 years Woodlore has run courses and expeditions all over the world. Drawing heavily on this experience, we are very pleased to introduce two new courses - effectively 25 years in the making - that will further equip you to make real wilderness journeys:

• Woodlore First Aid Course
  There are many things we can improvise in the wild. Knowledge of First Aid is not one of them. Woodlore have teamed up with Fusion Medical Ltd to develop what is set to be the most comprehensive, scenario-based outdoor First Aid course in the country.
  
  
• Woodlore Wilderness Navigation Course
  Good map and compass work promotes self-reliance and is most rewarding. As Ray says: "The compass is the key to wilderness." The Woodlore Wilderness Navigation course provides a thorough, no-nonsense grounding in all aspects of map and compass, equipping you with the skills to traverse open country or dense forest, day or night, in all weathers.

There will be plenty more exciting new kit items and special courses being released during this momentous year. It really will be a year to remember!