Feature: One Year On
09/04/2003

If you have ever wondered, “What has S-A achieved in its first year of existence?” Then read this quick fire summary of the birth of this organisation and its first ground breaking steps during 2002 and the first quarter of 2003.

Snowdonia-Active/ Eryri-Bywiol was created with Welsh Development Agency (WDA) sponsorship in December 2001 with the present committee structure, name, aims and objectives following in early 2002.

The committee was made up of 10 – 12 key motivated members of the local outdoor sector from manufacture and retail to training and instruction. They were all head hunted by the WDA (Keith Robertson) as people with a similar vision for the future of the outdoor activity sector within Snowdonia.

The present committee picked up the reins for an agreement already in existence between the WDA and Matrix 10 (a local web design company) to create an outdoor portal web site for Snowdonia.

The management of this agreement and the creation of the formal structure was the main focus of the group for the first six months of 2002. The group became a company limited by guarantee on the 20th of June 2002.

Funding to enable the group to continue and expand its work was forthcoming in Sept/Oct 2002. This (and income earned through consulting) allowed the group to take on two of its members two days a week each and for the group to begin its present run of trade show and conference presence.

The main duties so far of the part time staff has been to manage the website content (news, trade info etc), to process membership applications and to begin the work of networking within and around the sector.

Where are we now?

The Snowdonia-Active committee have been extremely busy, working on behalf of the sector. The considerable volume of ongoing activities and widespread networking has lead to a substantial rise in the profile and influence of the group.


Achievements so far:


- Creation of a ‘first of a kind’ website, driven by the needs of the sector.

- An influential response to the Snowdonia Green Key in defence of the sector.

- Research into the link between activities and parking within the park as part of the above.

- Research into the needs of the sector for ACK Tourism/Wales Tourist Board as part of their “Time for Action” strategy paper.

- Partner in the Tourism Partnership North Wales joint marketing proposal.

- Guest speaker at the Wales Tourist Board “Time for Action” Activity Tourism Conference, Feb 2003.

- Production of our 'Destination Adventure' promotion leaflet for Snowdonia.

- The only Welsh exhibitor at the Adventure Travel Show, London in Jan 2003.

- Exhibitor at the recent Outdoors Show in Birmingham on behalf of providers and businesses within the sector.


Ongoing Projects:


- Dinorwig and Glyn Rhonwy Quarry mountain biking project. (NB. this is part of a grand scheme to rejuvenate the valley and create a world renowned resource. Check out 'One Big Vision' in the features archive for more details)

- Production of 42 “where to” and “what to” leaflets aimed at giving Activity Tourism information to the visiting public, and raising the awareness of the S-A website amongst the visiting public. (funded by an Adfwyio grant)

- Restoration plan for the Vivian quarry abseil site, a key site for the activity mix within the Llanberis Valley currently out of use due to structural problems in a wall above.

- Sponsor of the translation work for the first bilingual climbing guide to North Wales. (The soon to be published North Wales Bouldering/ Bowldro Gogledd Cymru guide.)

- Ongoing web site development and marketing to increase functionality, usability and traffic levels; consequently increasing the value of the site to the sector.

- Expansion of the committee to include a broader geographical and interest group base. We are in the process of establishing a number of regional representatives to ensure that members have equal opportunity for representation irrespective of their geographical location.

- The creation of an upper Directors Board from the “great and the good” to oversee and influence the group’s activities and direction.

- Lobbying of MPs, AMs and local Government re the escalating costs of insurance within the sector.

- We are currently working with a consultant to produce a proposal document to launch a major piece of research in 2003 into the true value of the outdoor sector to the local economy.

- We are exploring the possibility of creating a specialist Tourist Information Centres for outdoor/ adventure tourism to give high quality information direct to the public.

- We are in the process of organising a collective response to the Northern Snowdonia CROW maps in collaboration with the BMC. We have a committee member on the Local Access Forum for Northern Snowdonia.

- We are planning a conference with similar groups that are starting up in Pembroke and Brecon.

- We are exploring further mountain biking trail possibilities with Dafydd Davis of Forest Enterprise. (eg. A major new trail is in the pipeline for a site close to Penmachno.)

- We are in regular contact with a whole host of organisations and agencies with remits that affect the outdoor sector in North Wales, including the Welsh Development Agency, Gwynedd, Ynys Mon and Conwy Councils, Wales Tourist Board, Tourism Partnership for North Wales and Mid Wales, North Wales Tourism, Welsh Canoeing Association, Mountain Leader Training Wales, British Mountaineering Council, Snowdonia National Park Authority, Countryside Council for Wales.

- We are networking within the sector, talking to freelancers, LEA centres and private ventures, canvassing for new ideas and emerging issues facing the sector.

- Our membership base has increased steadily, at the Outdoor Show in March we signed up 27 new member businesses. We confidently expect to break the 200 figure shortly.

Following the success of our recent funding bids we are now able to expand and consolidate the Snowdonia Active operation with, a new project manager and increased working hours for the two existing part time officers.
We will be moving into a new office facility and taking on a new administrative worker in May 2003.

These are exciting times for Snowdonia-Active and the outdoor Sector in North Wales. Never before has the sector recieved this level of support and backing, and never before has the potential of the area been so widely understood.

If you care about Snowdonia and want to safeguard the future of your business, then make sure you get involved.

If you're not a member, then join today.

Financial support for the 2003/4 operational costs has again come from the WDA and from the Business Connect scheme run by the WDA in collaboration with Gwynedd Council.

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