Climbing for kids
We love this. This was written by one young member of our climbing club during the frustratingly long months of lockdown. What a lovely and touching way for them to express their enthusiasm for going climbing each week. It’s reassuring to know that that the kids enjoy the session as much as the instructors do!
Roll on the 12 April!
During the three lockdowns of 2020-21, our diligent kids’ club manager, Larner, produced a series of informative newsletters, helping keep parents and kids up to date and in touch. The latest copy, produced for the spring, has just been produced. Hopefully, if the vaccination rollout and the government’s roadmap both go to plan, we’ll be returning to some kind of normal soon and the latest issue will also be the last.
We shall see!
For those of you who missed out on any of the issues, here they all are:
I think we all saw it coming, even before the details began to leak out late on Friday night. Influential voices from the worlds of science and politics had been clamouring for a temporary lockdown, a ‘circuit beak’, since well before the half-term holidays.
So, here we are again. Let’s hope that it’s not too little too late.
I can confirm that both The Castle Climbing Centre itself and therefore Geckos Climbing Ltd will be closed from Thursday 5 November to Wednesday 2 December 2020. If you have a session booked with Geckos between those dates we will shortly be in contact with you to rearrange it after the reopening or, if you prefer, issue a full refund.
The Prime Minister insisted that the lockdown will end on 2 December, though Michael Gove has already suggested it may need to go on longer. We shall see. In the meantime, I’d like to thank everyone for their continued support. We all very much look forward to resuming all our kids’ climbing activities just as soon as we can.
If you’d like to get in touch, please use our contact form.
In the spring, as climbing centres closed in line with the initial lockdown, rumours abounded that climbers’ chalk could be a source of transmitting particles of the virus, fomites, to use the jargon.
However, more recent research would suggest that these early fears were misguided. Investigations by a team at De Montfort University suggests that, on the contrary, chalk may actually help to prevent transmission. A statement has been issued by the Association of British Climbing Walls (ABC):
A model coronavirus for SARS-CoV-2, human coronavirus OC43, was used for the experiments. The presence of infectious virus on a plastic surface dusted with chalk was monitored over the course of one hour. The results indicated that the amount of infectious virus was reduced by around 99% immediately upon contact with the chalky surfaces. By comparison, the control test where no chalk dust was present, showed only a slight decline in infectious virus over these time periods.
Traditional liquid climbing chalk chalk contains less than 70% alcohol, so it is below the minimum level required to kill Coronavirus. New forms of liquid chalk have a higher percentage, but the latest research suggests that it is no more effective. A chemist charged to investigate the issue concluded that:
[Liquid chalk] is completely ineffective in killing any potential viruses on the climber’s hands, and more importantly, on the holds on the wall.
Read the full report on liquid chalk and Covid-19
While powder chalk may help to limit transmission, it is important to stick to the three things that we know to be effective:
As of Saturday 17 October 2020, London is to be moved from Tier 1 into Tier 2, a response to the recent rise in infections in the capital. Parents of children who climb with our regular kids’ club and prospective customers may be concerned at the impact of the myriad new rules and guidelines. However, for the moment, we can continue to provide climbing activities to children and young people.
The stipulations, as they appear on the government’s website, are as follows:
In line with guidelines from national sporting bodies, you can take part in sport and physical activity outdoors.
Organised indoor exercise classes are only permitted if it is possible for people to avoid mixing in with people you do not live with or share a support bubble with. There are exceptions to enable disability and youth sport and physical activity indoors, in any number.
If you would like to know more, the Association of British Climbing Walls has a FAQ page.
Obviously, to minimise the risk to the children in our care and to our staff, we will continue to follow The Castle’s social distancing and hygiene policies set out in an earlier blogpost.
Rachel climbed with Geckos for two intervals: the first as a 9 year old, the second as a teenager. She now works as the Comment and Features Editor of a London newspaper and appears regularly on television discussing the media (and cats). Here is her beautifully written and inspirational account of climbing with us and what she got out of it.
I started rock climbing age six. It was inevitable really – I’d been attempting to climb things (boulders, trees, walls) since I could stand, and as my parents hadn’t been able to stop me, they figured I should probably be taught to do it properly. I never stopped. From the week Geckos was founded (I was one of the original class) until today, rock climbing has been a constant in my life. It has taken me all over from the world – from the slabs of Burbage North in the Peak District, to the sheer faces of the Swiss Alps, to the cliffs of Cat Ba Island in Vietnam.
It’s been over a decade since I was officially a Gecko, but the years I spent training with Richard Baxell and his group of instructors instilled in me the skills and confidence that have enabled me to sling on a belay harness and start scrambling wherever I am in the world. No tree or boulder is safe. People think of rock climbing as a solitary sport, exercise for people who don’t like teams. The opposite is true. In what other sport are you trusting your teammates not just with winning, but with your life? From day one I was taught that belaying was far more important than climbing, and that safety was paramount. From before I could read or write, I was learning about trust, responsibility, and discipline. Those are lessons any parent should want to instil in their child from an early age.
As an adult, rock climbing has never been just about fitness – it’s an exercise in problem solving, in confidence, and in resilience. There is no opponent, just you and the rock and your own assessment of what you can do. Of all the sports I’ve ever tried, it’s the only one which engages my brain as much as my body, and the exhilaration at reaching the top of a rock face that looked utterly insurmountable is an adrenaline rush like no other. There is no feeling like gazing down at the ground from 1,000 feet and knowing that you got up there with just your own two feet and ten fingers. What other workout enables you to see the world from an entirely new perspective?
Finally, finally Geckos is getting back to (some kind of) normal. It’s been a difficult few months for everyone. We are now taking bookings for personal tuition and taster sessions and the kids’ club will be reopening in mid-September. Hopefully climbing parties will return soon after that.
Not surprisingly, while the pandemic is still with us, things are going to look a little different. A number of changes have been made in order to limit potential transmission between anyone in the climbing centre. While evidence suggests that the overwhelming majority of children experience few, if any, serious symptoms, we are erring on the side of caution. After all, children interact with adults at home and at school who have a greater chance of becoming seriously ill, if infected.
The Association of British Climbing Walls, who publish a regular Covid update on their website, have been taking the lead and clearly both the Centre itself and Geckos will follow their advice. Their guidelines will probably need to remain in place until there is an effective, widely-available vaccine or treatment. Key changes include the following:
In addition, all communal surfaces will continue to be cleaned regularly, particularly the rental and teaching equipment. While it’s clearly not going to be feasible to individually clean all of the thousands of climbing holds or even the ropes, antiseptic hand-gel is provided at reception and hand-washing facilities are available around the building. Efficient ventilation is also useful; fortunately The Castle Climbing Centre benefits from very high ceilings and a sophisticated aeration system.
If you have any concerns, comments or suggestions, please get in touch using the form below.
Louis Parkinson climbed with Geckos as a teenage during the 2000s. Having been a member of the GB climbing team, he regularly competes in competitions and coaches at a number of different centre. I bumped into him in early 2020 in Walthamstow’s new climbing gym, Yonder.
Hello Louis, nice to see you again. What are you up to at the moment?
I’m currently working as a professional coach, though I still train hard to enter competitions and attempt my projects outdoors.
When and why did you first take up climbing?
I first tried climbing when I was 13 years old. My younger sister was turning 11 and my parents (correctly) thought that a rock-climbing birthday party at the local climbing centre would be an exciting option. I was TERRIBLE at it … in fact, I got stuck at the top of the wall on my first attempt, and cried in front of all my little sister’s friends! Despite the less-than-ideal beginning, I was hooked immediately, and rapidly became obsessed with climbing.
What did you enjoy about climbing with Geckos and what did you get out of it? How long did you climb with Geckos?
Climbing with Geckos was critical to my development as a climber. Over the years I climbed with Geckos, I learned ALL the necessary skills to keep myself safe while at the climbing centre and rapidly developed my technical skills for movement and problem solving while on the wall. Richard Baxell was one of the kindest and most patient teachers I have had in any discipline or subject, and I feel truly lucky to have had him as a guide in my early years of climbing.
Does learning to climb (or climbing itself) have any transferable skills?
Absolutely! Climbing fosters a growth-mindset, and through it I have learned to be persistent, to have confidence, to solve problems by working with others, and to be patient in my hard work. I have slowly grown in to a well adjusted, self-confident and happy adult, and I would credit my experiences within climbing and the friends I made within the community with the majority of this development.
What advice would you give to children who are thinking of getting into climbing, or have just started?
Get started!! You’ll do things you never thought yourself capable of, you’ll become physically and mentally stronger than you thought possible, and none of it ever will feel like hard work because you’ll be having SO MUCH FUN doing it! Plus, you’ll make loads of great friends and have a reason to travel to some beautiful places around the world.
What do you enjoy about climbing?
This is a difficult question to answer as I have so much to say here! For me, climbing is so many things; it’s my community, it’s now provided me with a job I love, it keeps me in fantastic shape and is my constant source of fun and excitement. I think one of the most useful things I get from climbing is that I have a hobby which continually forces me to be incredibly mindful in my practice – almost like a form a moving meditation.
What’s next for Louis Parkinson?
I’m really excited about the years to come! To be honest though, I’ll just be doing more of the same: training, competing, coaching and travelling, but constantly aiming for bigger and better than I have in the past!
Doug joined Geckos with his best friend when they were both boisterous nine year olds. Doug’s parents had understandably been keen (desperate) to find an activity through which they could direct his exuberance and energy. That he would try to climb anything in sight probably made their decision an easy one.
Doug is now one of our most popular instructors, no doubt because he’s still over-flowing with exuberance and energy and still determined to climb anything in sight. He has been instrumental in helping provide an opportunity for some of the older Geckos (and ex-Geckos) to build on their skills, by organising summer climbing trips to northern Spain.
We have a very small number of the popular Geckos t shirts and hoodies still available. Made by Earth Positive, they come in good quality, machine-washable, organic cotton.
We have two sizes:
Only £15.00 each.
Age 9-10 only, in Light Heather or Red.
Only £27.50 each.
About
The garden is based on the principles of permaculture design. We reuse and recycle materials as much as possible, compost waste, use organic growing techniques and have created habitats to support wildlife and promote biodiversity. The fruit, vegetables and herbs grown in the garden are used in the centre’s café.
Please take some time to wander around; you can find out more about the different areas of our garden by reading the information boards.
Use of the Garden
Please be aware that other people may be using the garden to relax and enjoy some tranquillity.
Please take into consideration
There are men’s and women’s changing rooms with toilets inside the building (the women’s and an accessible toilet with baby changing facilities are on ground floor, the men’s is on the mezzanine floor).
There are water fountains in the centre.
If there is an incident or you require first aid please go to reception and they will contact the Duty Manager.