SURVIVAL SCHOOL IS ALL ABOUT YOU - NOT US!

Survival School was set up in 1997 by Jonny Crockett, to demonstrate survival skills and to provide opportunities to learn and practice those skills.  For the five years before that, Jonny had been teaching at schools, to cadets and working with the military.  Things have changed since those small beginnings and in 2009 we saw 748 participants on open courses (738 in 2008) and 499 participants on private courses (482 in 2008) working with our instructors, who have decade upon decade of bushcraft and survival teaching experience between them with knowledge from the Arctic to the jungle and many environments in between.  Add to that the groups who attended presentations and lectures and you have almost 2000 people a year involved with our schools.  Add to that the thousands of customers at our shop and that makes Survival School a market leader! All our instructors are 1st Aid Trained in Remote Emergency Care / Mountain & Outdoor First Aid, have been Criminal Records Bureau checked, are Food Safety and Hygiene Certified to Level 2 and hold the Institute for Outdoor Learning Foundational Bushcraft Competency Certificate.

 
Preparing Pigeon without a Knife

Our instructors are in such demand that their services are requested by other organisations and schools in the UK.  Praise indeed for Survival School and the quality of its instructors!

Survival School wants you to have fun learning what few people in the 21st Century will learn. Anything is possible with the right blend of knowledge, skill and experience. The missing ingredients for our courses are you and your enthusiasm.

The best way to learn is for you to get a hands on experience. That's guaranteed at Survival School!

The subject of survival has many levels and Survival School aims to initiate beginners and encourage them to continue to broaden their knowledge. The instructors have varied backgrounds, but they all have the same goals. 

 
Axe and Knife Sharpening

Jonny went on his first survival course when he was 14 years old and has been learning ever since.  He has frequently been invited to work with the Royal Marines, the Royal Navy, the Army and the Royal Air Force.  However, his style is not military and he teaches with a common sense, logic and down to earth style that is not found in most Survival Schools in the UK.  A lot of his techniques he has learnt from around the world where the skills are still used as a way of life.  Jonny is a broadcaster, columnist for magazines and author, as well as appearing on television on a regular basis.

 
Jonny Crockett in Scotland

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Karen

Karen adds a different facet to the team.  Her calm temperament lends itself to teaching wilderness bushcraft and her teaching technique ensures everyone understands how and why results are achieved.  She is also a qualified massage therapist and personal fitness instructor and so is uniquely placed to prepare everyone attending courses and expeditions.  As a child she spent a lot of her time horse riding in the countryside around her home in Hampshire and has been a life long enthusiast of how nature shapes and moulds itself to its environment.

 
Making cordage out of inner Lime bark

 
John Kelly

John Kelly joined us in 2004 and has brought with him vast experience of hill walking in the United Kingdom and Africa.  His favourite areas are the Torridons, Cairngorms and Glen Shiel.  He brings together the worlds of hill walking and bushcraft.  His love for the outdoors is obvious and he excels in teaching navigation and combining that with bushcraft.

JK in Staffordshire

 
Alain Wright

They say Alain was born with a fishing rod in his hand and this maybe true and may explain his passion for being outdoors. His passion for fishing especially fly fishing has meant he has developed a vast knowledge of the wildlife around him, having spent 30 years on the river bank. Being introduced at an early age to the wilder places of this country by his mother and father he became fascinated with every aspect of the natural world around him. His play ground was the Borders of Scotland with its rolling hills and high moors, and armed with a first copy of Food for Free he was let loose to explore the land around him.

His holidays as a boy were spent working on farms and with gamekeepers, at every given opportunity he was outdoors honing his skills with traps and snares which led onto an interest in shooting and stalking and this has encouraged him to travel to places around the world hunting and tracking in places like Zimbabwe, Spain, France, Belgium and Canada. To this day Alain spends some of his spare time on local estates helping as a Ghillie on the river and as a deer stalker on Highland estates.

Alain's knowledge of animal / fish behaviour, their preparation, usage apart from food and tracking skills are exceptional and he is never put out by passing on these skills and tips. Skills and tips he himself has learned from the native and professional people from the places he has visited.

A natural talker, some say a professional in the art of talking the hind legs off a donkey, Alain can keep those around him amused with a great sense of humour and is always ready with a one liner.

Alain Wright

Richard Mason

Richard Mason currently lives on the North Wales coast with his family.  His love of the outdoors started at an early age and continued through his teens and school life through involvement with Army Cadets and D of Es always preferring a bivvy bag in favour of a tent, leading to his Cert Ed in Physical Education, majoring in mountaineering, he gained plenty of mountain experience, including Norway, the Alps, and all of the major British ranges.

Leaving his work in mental health, he retrained as a sports therapist and moved from Snowdonia to Wiltshire where he worked as Programme Manager for Nutrition in a company specialising in military resettlement.  His expertise now covers sports massage, sports therapy and personal training as well as nutrition. Richard moved back to North Wales four years ago to renovate a rambling farm complex and joined the team at Survival School when he completed the Instructors course in less than a year.

He has a passion for all aspects of Survival and Bushcraft and has a particular interest in wild food and nutrition.

Adam on the water!

Adam was born and grew up in rural Nottinghamshire, with Sherwood Forest close at hand where he spent much of his childhood developing a keen interest in wildlife and outdoor activities.

With the peak district close by he pursued camping, climbing and kayaking whenever possible. At fifteen he began learning about living from the land so that he could spend more time outdoors without spending money on expensive equipment, developing his skills and knowledge along the way.

Following school he applied to St. Martins College in the Lakes to take a course in Outdoor studies. During his time at college every opportunity was taken to pursue bushcraft skills, taking them beyond a hobby and into a real passion for a subject he wished to spend the rest of his life studying.

He is a keen climber and winter mountaineer having climbed in Scotland, Wales, the Peak and Lake Districts, Spain, French Alps and Central Norway. He is also a very keen water-ice climber visiting Norway once a year.

Overseas bushcraft experience: Norway (summer/winter), Spain (Picos mountains, summer) and Sweden (Canoe, summer).

He currently lives in Grizedale forest working for GoApe! And spending all his free time developing his bushcraft skills, with wild foods and green wood working being of particular interest.

Adam Logan

Sadie began her career by teaching environmental education to school groups who visited an environmental centre in Berkshire, during my work experience for my National Diploma. Since then she has taught in a wildlife park and environmental centre in Devon and done further work experience in Dorset. Finally she moved to Somerset to work as a School’s Liaison Officer at a falconry centre. At the same time she was offered the chance to train as an assistant Falconer and this was a turning point of her life. She discovered her passion for Birds of Prey. During the next two years she flew, trained and hunted with a number of hawks, buzzards, falcons and owls.

Having received an excellent grounding in falconry, she decided to broaden her horizons and went to South Africa, where she volunteered at ‘African Dawn’ - a bird of prey and wildlife rescue centre. Here she was fortunate enough to work with Black Eagles and many birds of prey native to South Africa. She would have loved to stay but was offered a permanent position with one of the best falcon breeders in the UK and returned during 2006.

She loves sharing her knowledge of falconry with others and demonstrating the unique bond between hawk and human to people who may never have had an opportunity to get so close to these amazing birds.

Sadie, holding Tom.

Brett Selby

Brett was lucky enough to grow up in an area which was semi rural and so he spent most of his spare time in the woods or down by the river searching for signs and sightings of the local wildlife. This is what gave him the bug for being "away from it all" and building things from wood.   He can still be found walking in the woodlands and on the moors up in Yorkshire, often with no other reason than to get out there and not waste a good day by being inside.

He has climbed extensively in the UK, France, Germany and the US and made his first proper abseil at Malham Cove.  He is a qualified Industrial Climber (pylons, radio masts, etc) and has done a Rescue Course for Industrial Climbing.  He is also a keen mechanic and has undertaken many an off road driving courses.  He has canoed all over the UK, particularly in Scotland and has also done winter survival and wilderness cookery courses.  Brett is a keen knife maker and has built his own forge, set up with a hand cranked blower from the 1940's.

As Brett says, “The different bushcraft and wilderness living skills never seem to come to a conclusion.  The apparently separate parts eventually come together seamlessly as one thing.  I'm sure that it's the same for a lot of people, but when I am in the woods, I feel back in touch with a lot that I had forgotten about.”

Brett enjoys teaching a great deal- setting the scene, passing over the information in a succinct and logical fashion, whilst making it as fun and as enjoyable as possible for those he is teaching.  He is a modest man and would never sing his own praises, but we are lucky to have him at Survival School.

A favourite night in is maintaining his knives and axes on the kitchen table- always goes down well with his partner Jane.

Brett Selby

 
Scott Murray

Scott’s love of the great outdoors began at a young age, with his family’s annual holiday on the North West coast of Scotland, a place he still visits regularly. Although originally a Londoner, he now lives in rural Exmoor with his Wife and two young Sons.
Scott holds qualifications in; Summer and Winter mountain walking, open canoeing, tracking and bushcraft.

Work and play have led him to some interesting spots around the world such as wild camping in India and Africa, travelling in Canada and a Jungle Survival course in Borneo.
His time in the Reserve Forces eventually led him into instructing Army Cadets, and he now runs an Army Cadet Detachment. He regularly organises and teaches on Bushcraft courses for the Cadet Forces. He is also involved in training teams for Duke of Edinburgh Award expeditions, and the Ten Tors Competition.
His areas of special interest are primitive technology, and wood carving.

Scott Murray

 
Dan Burdus

Dan was born a ‘Man of Kent’, with the North Kent Downs on his doorstep. He spent most of his teenage years roaming the ancient chalk downs and patchwork woodland with a bunch of likeminded friends, enjoying the adventures of youth. Set firmly on the idea of an outdoor life, Dan joined the British Army in 1986 and travelled the world, including Europe, Central America, South East Asia, Middle East and the Mediterranean. He has recently retired after enjoying a full career.

Dan has plenty of experience when it comes to teaching. He has been responsible for planning and delivering training since 1994 and gets no greater pleasure than seeing the fruits of his efforts in the smiles of success and understanding from his students. He has had a lifelong passion with Bushcraft, nature and the great outdoors; comfortable with his own company on a remote hilltop or enjoying passing on his skills and knowledge to family and friends. Notwithstanding his vocational experience and skill sets, he has completed courses on tracking, friction fire lighting and wilderness cookery, together with temperate and sub arctic survival training in Sweden.

An accomplished field sportsman and athlete, he is currently attempting to win the ‘worst one liner’ championship at Survival School, where in the face of such stiff competition, a sharp wit is as essential as a sharp knife…

Stacey Allsopp

Coming from a military family, Stacey's youth was spent mostley outdoors, wild camping all over the U.K. during the school holidays learning backwoods cooking techniques and other bushcraft skills from his parents.

 
As soon as he could he joined the army cadets where his thirst for knowledge on survival skills really took off. Eventually he joined the British Army serving in many environments both at home and abroad.

Now living in Cornwall with his young family, who are also keen bushcrafters, Stacey says you'd have a hard job finding them most of the time.  If he is not teaching with Survival School then they're out in the canoe, tucked away in the woods or holed up on Dartmoor.

Staceys special interest is in the vast array of wild, edible, medicinal and poisonous plants.  His methodical and disciplined approach to identification is perfect for passing on this knowledge.
Above all of this though Stacey says what ever you'rre doing if your not having loads of fun, you're doing it wrong.

Stacey Allsopp

Ian Moran

Ian grew up in Perthshire, where he would spend his school holidays in the hills of Blair Atholl and Crieff.  His love of the outdoors lead him to the army where he was posted both at home and abroad.  After leaving the army, Ian worked for the British Military Government in Berlin, until German Reunification.

He then spent a couple of years travelling around Europe, often living from a rucksack.  This is where he developed a great respect for Bushcraft and Survival skills, trying where ever possible, to live from the land.  After realising all rabbit tasted the same, he returned home to Perth, where he now lives with his wife and young son.

Over the last 10 years, Ian has tried just about every adventure sport, including caving, abseiling, climbing and canoeing.  He is keen on natural navigation and foraging and has also completed courses on friction fire lighting and map reading.  He has just finished a course on wild food.

Ian also has a passion for winter camping and can be found in the woods around Perth most weekends when the mercury plummets.  As he has said, if you can master bushcraft during the winter months in Scotland, you can do it pretty much anywhere.  Ian is always keen to learn new skills to pass on to others.  He gets great enjoyment here at Survival School seeing others achieving things for the first time.

Ian Moran