With only 6 days gone in the New Year:

The Daily Mail has worked at length with Survival School to bring people the best advice about how to cope with the Arctic Blast of cold weather.

Survival School was also featured in the Daily Telegraph's list of Top 50 Experiences.  Thank you to those who helped with that.

Radio City 96.7 interviewed Jonny about the cold weather conditions on its Breakfast Show with Phil and Kim.  Here are the top tips that Jonny gave them:

1.    Don’t touch metal objects without wearing gloves.

2.    Do not spill/work near any fuel without gloves (instant frostbite).

3.    When working hard, take layers off to prevent sweating as it’ll freeze later

4.    If you are sweating you are dehydrating as well.

5.    Also your clothing will loose its insulation properties and actually cool you down quicker.

6.    Make sure you eat and drink enough.

7.    Last thing at night go to the toilet and eat a hot meal before you go to sleep as the calories being burnt will keep you warm whilst you are not moving.

8.    Wear lots of layers rather than one thick layer.

9.    When cutting, remember that the hands go numb very quickly, making accidents more likely.

10.   A cut takes longer to heal due to the fact that the blood does not clot as quickly.

11.   A huge percentage of heat is lost through the head – wear a hat.

12.   Also excessive heat loss makes the brain work/think slower .

13.   Treat frostnip as a forecast for frostbite.

14.   Do not eat snow to re-hydrate as it will cool you down faster and can damage blood cells in your mouth.

15.   Melt ice instead of snow it has a greater yield of water.

16.   Wear sunglasses even in low sunlight as the symptoms for snowblindness take at least 8 hours to develop.

In May 2008 Survival School joined forces with The Famous Grouse whisky company to provide a true wilderness experience for their customers.  There is a strong link between The Famous Grouse whisky and the wild and it was felt that there was no better Survival School or Bushcraft School to show their customers the wilds of the Scottish highlands than us.

We took 30 customers (and even more staff) up from their distillery on to hills and into the forests.  They learnt to track, light fire by friction, prepare local game and forage through the woodlands.  When you blend this experience with The Famous Grouse whisky tasting (pun intended), you are left with another Survival School success.  We would like to thank The Famous Grouse for the opportunity to work with them.

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During 2008 Survival School ran over 40 courses and took part in 3 expeditions.  We saw well over 700 people on our courses and several thousand customers from our shop.

The number of repeat customers has increased by over 20% this year.

We have worked with more high profile companies than ever before including Google, The Famous Grouse, John Lewis and many more.

We have worked alongside the Institite for Outdoor Learning to establish the Bushcraft and Survival Skills Special Interest Group.

Again we have worked with various television companies up and down the country and around the world.

We have contributed to magazines and books, radio programmes and recordings.

The instructor's course has seen the development of more practitioners and trainers than in previous years and we would like to congratulate all those who have completed the instructors course.  You have kept the standard extremely high.  There is only one judgement that matters and it's the judgement of your peers.  You are all spoken of very highly.  That is a credit to you all.

Year after year I am amazed and full of admiration and respect for everyone who attends our courses, from one day courses, through to the weekend courses and on to the week long courses and expeditions.  Your grasp of a subject so vast and in some case extremely wet and cold is wonderful to witness.  Thank you all for your inspiration.

We would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Dry New Year.

Jonny Crockett

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Knife Law Presentation by Jonny Crockett and Greg Power of Survival School, click here.

On 22nd - 1st March 2009 Survival School will be going on another Expedition. This time we're off to Sweden for a Husky, Snowmobile and Bushcraft trip. This is a trip of a life time. If you are doing anything else- cancel it!  Click here for full details

Jonny and Greg give a presentation on Knife Law at the Wilderness Gathering 2008.

Yet again we've been in the news.  Jonny was interviewed on the Today programme on Radio 4 for his views about bushcraft and survival training for children.