OUTDOOR CAREERS AND RURAL SKILLS

SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON OUTDOOR CAREERS AND RURAL SKILLS

On Tuesday 23rd September 2025, over 200 young people, teachers, partners and employers gathered at Crawick Multiverse near Sanquhar to provide secondary school pupils from both Dumfries and Galloway and Ayrshire with an insight into outdoor careers and rural skills.

A first for the region, this unique event was organised by DYW Dumfries and Galloway and DYW Ayrshire in partnership with Crawick Multiverse, with 12 organisations attending on the day to provide short interactive workshops covering everything from agriculture and food to energy, rural skills, conservation and forestry.

Workshops were provided by Tarff Valley, Dumfries & Galloway and Ayrshire Climate Hubs, BayWa r.e., Jones Bros Civil Engineering, Countryside Learning Scotland, Forestry and Land Scotland, the National Farmers Union (NFU), Freelance Ranger and D&G Outdoor and Woodland Learning (DG OWL), CWP Energy, Natural Power, The Kings Foundation and Quality Meat Scotland.

Pupils from Dumfries Academy, Dalbeattie High School, Castle Douglas High School, Wallace Hall Academy, Sanquhar Academy in Dumfries and Galloway and from Doon Academy and Loudon Academy in Ayrshire benefited from the experience.

Graeme Galloway, Programme Director of Developing the Young Workforce Dumfries & Galloway (DYW D&G) and chair of the organising committee said:

“This unique event was designed to highlight to young people the breadth of careers that are predominately undertaken in the outdoors.  Pupils were encouraged to take part in a range of practical workshops and activities which included everything from surveying land, bridge building, fire lighting, digger operating and even learning what badger poo smells like!  They gained valuable insights into careers in agriculture, energy, food production, conservation, civil engineering, and rural entrepreneurship and we are grateful to the schools, employers, partners and sponsors for supporting this event.”

Gillian Khosla, Chair of The Crawick Multiverse Trust said:

“As an outdoor venue and visitor attraction, we value and understand the importance of inspiring young people to enjoy outdoor pursuits and careers.
Situated in Dumfries and Galloway near its border with Ayrshire, we were ideally located to host this partnership event, made possible by the generosity and commitment of DYW, and with support from Shaw Contract in Sanquhar.  It was a pleasure to see skilled teams of employers giving up their time to inspire their future workforce and to witness such enthusiasm from the pupils, who also made full use of the Multiverse on what was a fabulous day.”

This was a new venture, but organisers were delighted with the feedback received from employers, young people and teachers, with young people describing their experience as fun, interesting, informative, inspiring and amazing! They particularly enjoyed the practical activities, the opportunity to chat and listen to employers about a variety of different outdoor careers, and the freedom to explore Crawick Multiverse too.

Find out more:

With thanks to DYW and the following schools and employers for supporting this event.

Thanks also to Shaw Contract in Sanquhar for their support and to Knockenhair Hospitality for lunch.

Photos by Mike Bolam