GROWL (Glasgow Outdoor and Woodland Learning) is all about getting people outdoors, and specifically, learning outdoors. We help Outdoor Learning practitioners in Glasgow such as Forest School Leaders and Early Years and Primary School Teachers who want to take their kids outdoors gain skills, confidence and access resources. Outdoor learning is proven to reduce stress, increase confidence, resilience and adaptability so is absolutely brilliant for people of all ages, especially children who spend less and less time outdoors so are missing out on these key lifeskills.

GROWL runs skillshares and training sessions for our 90 GROWL members around the year (including First Aid, outdoor cooking, foraging and animal tracking) and we help promote their outdoor projects through our social media sites.

We recently sent a survey to our 90 members, asking them what they want from GROWL. Almost 70% (61 members) said they want to access tools and physical kit to help them run their projects. GROWL owns a great selection of outdoor learning kit (including tents, knives, saws, a pizza oven and survival shelters) but it is currently in storage in Clydebank and not accessible to our members.

Many Outdoor Practitioners are unable to deliver the projects they want to, and see a need for in their area, because they don't have the right kit. It is very expensive for newly trained practitioners to invest in all the kit they need to run a few sessions.

We have secured a space in the grounds of the Glasgow Botanic Gardens - a safe, well-known and easily accessible location through our ongoing partnership with their Curator. They have agreed for us to place a secure metal storage unit in their grounds to store our kit and run a lending library.

We will also create special boxes for schools and community groups to hire out from the unit, such as a bug hunting kit and tree ID kits, with further resources to access online.