Help Outward Bound tackle this ‘crisis of a generation’ - Mark Beaumont

Mark Beaumont is an athlete, broadcaster and author. He holds the record for cycling round the world. He is also an ambassador for the charity The Outward Bound Trust.

The outdoors played a huge part in my childhood. There was something about the sense of freedom and being able to explore that helped me dream of bigger adventures, adventures that ultimately took me around the world.

We might not have been able to travel much in the past 12 months, but time spent outside has felt even more precious. Perhaps for two reasons; firstly, when something you love is restricted you appreciate it even more; and secondly, a growing awareness of the inequalities to access this free resource that exist in our society. The stark realisation that more than two million families across the UK didn’t have access to a garden during lockdown. And that in Scotland one in four children live in poverty, four in five don’t get enough daily exercise and one in two report feeling anxious or stressed.

Covid-19 has taken a lot away from our young people. The freedom to be outside and just hang out with friends, as well as the more structured opportunities that come from being in school or at youth groups. There is a real risk we’ll look back in years to come and coin this year as a ‘crisis of a generation’. Thankfully many people and organisations are working hard to support young people. One of these being The Outward Bound Trust.