Meet our Outdoor Technical Lead: Mark Allen

Hi Mark, thanks for taking the time out of your very busy day for a chat! Actually, what does a typical day looks like for you?

No two days are the same... that’s why I’m still here! Every morning, I start with a task list that invariably gets hijacked by more pressing matters, so flexibility and being comfortable with constant change is key in this role. Boredom isn’t an option.

Some days, I’m leading our tech team, or delivering activities, or helping to plan and develop events with clients and Course Directors. Other days I might be doing less exciting, but equally important stuff like dealing with health and safety for our outdoor activities, organising training, making sure we are compliant with our statutory responsibilities and budgeting for all the equipment we use. In the last 23 years I’ve overseen close to £1million in equipment spending.

This is just a some of the many things I do in my role. As well as the delivery teams, I work alongside all the different departments at Brathay including Programme Support, Guest Services and Estates to make the ‘near impossible’ happen. Big shout out to them all, you are all superheroes.

You’ve been part of the Brathay team since 2001. How have you seen the charity evolve over that time and what has stayed reassuringly the same?

Brathay has changed in so many ways over the years. I’ve seen many staff come and go, worked under 15 line managers, and witnessed major government funding shifts that cause CYP work to wax and wane over the years. The growth and development of our community work is the biggest and most positive transformation for Brathay after decades of delivering only from Ambleside. This key work is instrumental in our endeavours to positively impact even more young people and their families.

For all the changes, some things remain constant. Our values and our beliefs — the consistent desire empower people, no matter their backgrounds, to become their best selves. We still do some of the same activities we did in the 1950s—like barrel and plank exercises on the lawn and our wooden rowing boats (whalers) on the lake. Change with the times, but there no need to fix something that’s not broken or change for changes sake is what I take from this.

Finally, working with the tech team. They are an amazing bunch of people who display a totally selfless attitude to work. They are the epitome of what the 'can do' ethic is. They also have an amazing array of skills and qualities that are far beyond their job descriptions, and they deploy these attributes on a regular basis.

When you’re not busy keeping everyone safe and ensuring activities run smoothly, how do you unwind outside of work?

Mostly by spending time outdoors with family and friends—though I’m at a bit of a crossroads.

My children have nearly fledged and are ready to fly. I’ve done my best over the last 17 years to give them a love for life, the outdoors and adventure. They’ve got the skills to thrive, survive, and make their own decisions. I’m now finally past the point where I’m constantly scared silly for them, no matter what hairbrained activity they are getting into!

I’ve also grown out the desire to scare myself silly too, although I still have a lasting niggle to pull off a back flip on skis, much to both my sons amusement. They think that this is just not a possibility for their old man...I’ll surprise them one day. So, I find myself in a place where I need to find something new for myself, that’s not death defying, but still exciting and adventurous, and kinder to my aging frame. Any ideas? Not open water swimming… that’s just silly!

With 23 years of memories at Brathay, you must have some favourites. Can you share a standout moment that stuck with you?

There are too many to choose just one, so here are a few highlights:

• The time we accidentally became golf course fugitives. Our training equipment got stuck in customs, so we had to source it all locally. We stayed in a 5-star hotel were issued with golf buggies to get around. Naturally, some high jinks got us into trouble, including one of our buggies getting stuck in a sand bunker.
• Putting out marathon signage at 3am. Paddling voyageur canoes along Ullswater at 5am. Finding a lost cyclist on the 262 event at 2am. Doing a ‘Windermere double’ overnight trip in whalers, in a thunderstorm with 20 young people. There is a theme here — lots of very early and very late shifts.
• The exploding tin of beans. On a camping trip along the River Spey, with a group of young people who aimed to be resourceful and independent by cooking a sealed catering-sized tin of beans over an open fire! They learned some valuable life skills and basic physics that night.
• Working through floods, financial crises, storms, and pandemics. The challenges keep coming, but we manage to endure.

And finally, if you were deserted on an island, what one thing would you absolutely want with you?

The tech planner, I can’t live without it! I love colouring in and it has controlled a lot of my life for the last two decades.

Or an extensive library with a CD collection in a comfy snug with sofas,  solar powered HiFi system and coffee station with a Gaggia expresso machine.

Yeah, the second one I think.

If you want to know more about working at Brathay, visit www.brathay.org.uk/about/vacancies.