21 Educators providing Courses

WanderWomen Scotland

wanderwomen scotland

5.0(77)

Hi, I am Anna. I set up WanderWomen Scotland Ltd in November 2018, in order to encourage women into the Outdoors, and to enable them to have their space the male-dominated Adventure world. Nature has been my happy place ever since growing up in East Germany, a locked-down country. Getting away from propaganda, Stasi spies and political control, getting outdoors meant freedom and truth, even if that meant holidaying in really basic huts, without electricity or flowing water, skinny dipping in all kinds of bodies of water and cooking over fire. After spending my 20s in London, turning my back on nature a little, yet still cycling everywhere, having my own children made me appreciate the outdoors again, I re-familiarised myself with the feeling of content that the seasons brought, or the reassurance of the cycles of growth in the garden, or the cycles of the moon. Disagreeing with the early school starting age in the UK, I flexi-schooled my 2 boys throughout their Primary School years, working with local rangers, counting bumble bees and orchids and doing other conservation tasks, built mandala sculptures, bug hotels, community gardens and a willow play village at a local park and set up an outdoor learning group for pre-school children. Once it was not cool enough for them anymore, spending their Mondays climbing trees and making fires with Mama, I decided I wanted to keep sharing the benefits of nature, as well as my survival skills – and with the help of a vision board, and support from family and friends, WanderWomen was born: Offering Outdoor events in a mix of mindfulness and adventure. Wild Swimming is my Meditation, Solo Camping is Selfcare, Yoga is being playful, Silence is where my Creativity gets birthed, and Walking is thinking & problem-solving. Cycling is getting me from A to B, and my competitive side manifests itself in going slower. I love the smell of fire and the sound of rain on canvas. Plant connection is strong, and I forage, appreciate and lay mandalas to practice mindfulness.

Urban Bees

urban bees

London

Urban Bees helps bees in towns and cities by working with communities, charities and corporates to educate people about the importance of bees and improving forage and habitat in urban areas. We provide ‘bee makeovers’; practical steps for transforming our environment and our thinking to help bees and other pollinators – from planting trees and flowers that offer year-round food, to making and installing homes for wild bees. Urban Bees was set up a few years ago by Brian McCallum and Alison Benjamin. They wanted to share their passion for their new beekeeping hobby with other city dwellers and to make the urban environment more bee-friendly. Their first training apiary was in Battersea, south London. With funding from the Co-op Plan Bee, they set up a teaching apiary in Camley Street Nature Reserve in King’s Cross and a community apiary in Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park. They now produce Regents Park honey from their apiary in the royal park, maintain hives and bee-friendly planters for a number of corporate clients, and advise and educate through books, newsletters, talks and consultancy about how to help wild bees. ""Brian McCallum Brian runs Urban Bees. He is a qualified teacher and worked for nine years as a part-time seasonal bee inspector for the government. He is a member of the Bee Farmer’s Association and the co-author of four books on bees, Keeping Bees and Making Honey, A World without Bees, Bees in the City, and The Good Bee: A Celebration of Bees and How to Save Them. Brian provides 'meet the bees' sessions for a number of corporate clients and other organisations. He created the 'hive talking' bee map to match existing and aspiring beekeepers and people who want to host hives. He educates children, young people and adults about bees, writes blogs. He tweets @Beesinthecity. Alison Benjamin Alison co-founded Urban Bees. She is a journalist, author, educator and bee-friendly plant expert. She co-authored Keeping Bees and Making Honey, A World without Bees, Bees in the City, an urban beekeepers’ handbook; and The Good Bee: A Celebration of Bees and How to Save Them. She was part of the team that designed the award-winning King’s Cross Bee Trail App. And she created a solitary bee garden at the 2018 RHS Chelsea Flower Show with River of Flowers which won a silver medal. After a 20 year career at The Guardian, Alison is now pursuing her passion for wild bees, by doing bee makeovers, creating and maintaining bee-friendly planters, writing newsletters, giving talks and developing partnerships to improve forage and habitat for bees and pollinators in towns and cities.

Urban Botanical

urban botanical

Dundee

Urban Botanical is a Botanical Design Service based in Dundee. Our bespoke service offers beautiful, romantic, naturally styled botanicals for your wedding or event. I established in 2016 Urban Botanical, my intention was to approach floristry from a fresh perspective, one not bound by rules or code. My background is in Fine Art having graduated with a BA Hons in Fine Art from Duncan of Jordanstone then continuing on to gain a Master’s degree in Art History from St Andrews University. After University I worked as a freelance Arts Educator running workshops in DCA and McManus Galleries for a few years prior to working in floristry. By 2015 I was working in a local florist, my second florist job but my urge to push the forbidden boundaries and explore the ‘frowned’ upon often caused disagreement. My background in Fine Art influences my approach to floristry, often problem-solving in a different manner from the ‘old fashioned’ or ‘traditional methods’ of floristry. The floristry that excited me was different, it was modern..… arty.. I decided then I had to find my own group of like-minded artist type florists. Through ‘The Glasgow Flower School’ I came to meet Jay Archer – Multi-award-winning florist Jay is known for championing British-grown, sustainable and seasonal flowers, and is widely respected within the wedding and floral industry. Jay talked about largely being self-taught, her work was beautiful, I was in love.. I finally found the definition of ‘floristry’ that I fitted into. My confidence started to grow and I started to really believe in myself but also I realised that just like Art, Floristry is subjective and not everyone will like what I like. During my final year at Art School, we learned the basics of being a ‘self-employed’ artist, learning things like how to quote and price a particular job based on materials, design, and execution which has obviously helped me a lot, also things like Brand Identity, bookkeeping, and accounts. Brand identity or brand ethos for me is something of a journey, constantly defining the things that are important to me, for what I want Urban Botanical to look like, what it represents. Whilst Urban Botanical is my career it is also my lifestyle. Country forage walks with my children is just normal for us, as is collecting ‘pretty weeds’ and wildflowers. Throughout the spring and summer, my ethos is to mainly use locally grown flowers, greenery, and herbs some of which produce the most delicate flowers as well as scent which is an important factor in my bridal work. Scent can evoke memories which is where my love for flowers started as a little girl picking flowers in my parent’s garden, making perfume, and potions. Do I like my job? YES – I love my job, working with nature, and the seasons is something I never realised I would love so much.