Today sees the continuation of our series on the In2venture community – this week I have bitten the bullet and it is my turn.

Graham Simpson

My name is Graham Simpson and I am the operations manager of In2venture.

Although I am a proud North Easterner I currently live in a village on the outskirts of Carlisle with my wife, two kids and our german shepherd/husky cross.

My links with In2venture go back 16 years to when I used to be involved with an activity club that was linked to the charity at the time. Professionally I have now been working for In2venture for over 10 years in a number of different roles including instructor, senior instructor and now operations manager.

I took over as manager in the early part of 2014 shortly after I had an unfortunate climbing accident which left me with a broken leg and an operation to fit a metal plate to correct the damage. Due to both my injury and the fact that In2venture was going through some major changes when I took over, most of this year for me has been about consolidating what we have and ensuring that the groups who use us are safe in the knowledge that they can still expect the same level of service under my charge.

The next year will be very exciting for me as it will allow me a chance to put my vision into action now that the charity has had chance to settle after a year of changes. My hope for the charity is that we can continue providing activity sessions to groups and schools, both residential and non-residential as we currently do, whilst pushing out into other related areas.

My passion is for spreading the gospel through outdoor sports and my plan is that this year we can start to work more with the local community – not just providing sessions but in encouraging people to come on board and turn their own passion into action. My hope is to provide a system that allows both young and adult to get along side each other through outdoor sports and give them the skills and knowledge to go out and do the same.

Physically I am still not back to where I was before my accident and it is going to take some time, but I hope to be getting out there a lot more this winter and the coming year. I have thus far managed to get in some surfing (would take more than a broken leg to keep me away from that), and I am currently pushing myself in road biking to try and regain my fitness. I am also just about to start heading out again into the mountains and back under ground into the mines, however it may be a while before I climb again.

Prayer Points

Please pray for us as we try and connect with the young people in our area, and that they would feel encouraged and enabled by us to seek new experiences in both faith and outdoor adventure.

– Graham