THE first ever Okehampton Rotary Youth Development Course has been successfully run with 31 Year 7 students from Okehampton College participating in an action packed fun week.

The course was initiated following discussions with the Okehampton College principal, who had identified that some students in the year group had found themselves at a loss during the summer break. Okehampton Rotary Club agreed to organise the course with the costs being met by Okehampton United Charities.

The activities were arranged with Adventure Okehampton which specialise in leadership and adventurous activities.

It also gave the students the opportunity to enjoy activities not normally available to them. The students worked in three teams and the activities included high ropes, mountain biking, rock climbing, gorge scrambling, kayaking, raft building, survival skills and a team challenge.

The mayor of Okehampton presented certificates to all participants at the end of the course.

Course organiser Richard Jennings said: ‘Okehampton Rotary Club were delighted to be able to organise the event and we are particularly grateful to Okehampton United Charities who funded the opportunity for local youngsters to do something different and learn new skills in an adventurous environment.

‘The feedback from the students and parents has been extremely positive and we will hopefully be able to run similar courses in the future.’