Your daughter or son has been accepted onto the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) course for 2008 and will be attending from Sunday 27th July to Friday 1st August 2008 or Sunday 3rd August 2008 to Friday 8th August 2008.  They have been selected by your local Rotary Club following nomination by their school or similar body, a written application and an interview by a panel of Rotarians. The nomination was made because they are thought to have leadership potential.  This has been evidenced in their involvement in the school, voluntary organisation or by their general attitude towards teamwork, personal development and helping others.

 The course is designed to allow them to experience, at first hand, the challenge of leadership.  For the five days of the course they will be a member of a team of 8 like minded young people and will undertake a series of exercises that will place them in charge of the group on a rotational basis. The exercises we use are based on outdoor activities but I cannot stress enough that the course is NOT an adventure holiday or a period of instruction in the skills needed to undertake this type of activity.  We use the outdoors as a tool to highlight the personal development and learning points.  I have forwarded to them a booklet that gives details of the course and the equipment/clothing they will need.  If you get the opportunity to read it, it will give you a good insight into the aims of the Course. Please ask them NOT to bring mobile phones; there is no signal so they are of no use.  They will need a watch. 

The staff are made up of a team of professional instructors, who supervise the activities and offer feedback to the awardees on their performance, and Rotarians from around the Yorkshire area.  The Rotarians are attached to a team of 8 and are with them on all exercises.  Their role is to act as a mentor to the individual in helping them to gain the most from the course and assist in their personal development goals.  All Rotarians and staff are subjected to relevant vetting procedures in line with current education authority requirements.

 The course is hard work, both physically and mentally, but there is nothing in the programme that your daughter or son cannot do.  Past awardees constantly tell us of the changes that the course made to their lives and how much they appreciate it.  Please do not be surprised if you do not hear from them,  the course programme is VERY full and they do not have much time on their hands.

 As part of their sponsorship the Rotary Club are required to provide transport to and from the site, keep in touch with their candidate on the run up to the course and invite them back to the club to give a presentation on their experiences.  Please encourage your daughter or son to keep in contact with their sponsoring Rotary Club. That link is vital to ensure the continued success of the programme.

In the event of an emergency and you need to contact the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards venue you should note that there is no mobile phone signal.  There is no public phone but the Centre can be contacted on 01422 843180, and a member of staff will answer it.

Rotary has been running these courses in this area for 18 years and have helped over 1000 young adults develop their personal skills as a leader.  We number Doctors, Dentists, and Officers in the Armed Forces, senior Police Officers, business owners and many more amongst our past awardees.  A high number of our ‘graduates’ have attended Oxford, Cambridge and other noted universities. Rotary is proud of our assistance to the leaders of tomorrow and look forward to meeting, and working with, your daughter or son.

If you have any concerns still, then please feel free to contact us...just click on the envelope to send the RYLA Team an email: