About Bear Dog Outdoor

Ruth Hubbard

Bear Dog Outdoor is my business, and I am very proud of it. From an early age I was fascinated by the natural world, roaming the valley and fells in our corner of Westmorland: I wanted to be David Attenborough, not an astronaut.

This outdoorsiness naturally lead to me volunteering as a leader with Beavers and Scouts for ten years. Beavers was, for me, particular fun as it allowed me and the team to invent weird and wonderful games and adventures. These are now at the heart of Bear Dog and the events for the younger age groups.

Scouts was the perfect training ground for running bushcraft camps and canoeing expeditions to the very highest standards; it was a source of great satisfaction to see teenagers trying so hard to learn outdoor skills and to develop as young people.

I believe my forte is taking a client’s vision and then investing time in creative-thinking and planning. Preparation is all! The result is a completely unique occasion or programme, tailored to the client’s needs and delivered in a way which people of all ages and abilities find accessible, challenging and fun. Visual learning, innovative teaching methods, top-quality teaching aids and energetic, educational games are central to what I do. I firmly believe that any subject can be taught outdoors, to anyone.

Jed is a committed outdoorsman whose trademarks are unfailing professionalism and seemingly boundless enthusiasm, which always inspires and enlivens those around him. He has worked in forestry, in the National Park as a Ranger and has travelled extensively during a long military career.

Jed is a keen and hugely experienced outdoorsman and wilderness canoeist with his own business, True North Outdoor. He is one of the country’s top canoe coaches and has led and taken part in expeditions in Canada, America, Europe and S E Asia. Some of Jed’s most rewarding and fun trips have been on week-long expeditions in the UK exploring the rivers, lakes, and lochs. He has been on adventures with groups of all ages, and particularly enjoys working with enthusiastic youngsters.

The abiding theme on these adventures is Jed’s love of the outdoors; a fascination for the natural world; and an avid enthusiasm for traditional ‘low tech’ skills, canoeing, wilderness living, bushcraft and survival.

Benjamin Broadbent

Benjamin has always enjoyed being outdoors. He started Beavers when dinosaurs walked the Earth and Ruth was a Beaver leader. After moving on to Cubs, and an enforced banishment to find his independence, he came back to help weekly. By ten (four years under age) he had become a capable, if unofficial, Young Leader and by twelve was planning and preparing evenings with minimal adult in-put. Given outdoor and technical/science evenings were very much his forte, his evening of maypole dancing, complete with full-size maypole, was an unexpected triumph. Once old enough Benjamin officially became a Young Leader with Cubs and he’s now a Scout leader with two groups, both locally and whilst away at university, regularly helping with weekly meetings as well as camps and expeditions.

Outside of scouting, Benjamin has completed Bronze, Silver and Gold DofE with the expeditions taking him to the Peak District, Brecon Beacons, Lake District and Snowdonia. He is a senior sailing instructor and coaches kayaking, paddling white-water rivers all over the UK. He is an accomplished player of canoe polo and was selected to play canoe for GB at an international tournament, alas cancelled by COVID.Benjamin can melt granite with his enthusiasm and loves being outside. Encouraging more people to get outdoors is what he loves doing most.

Simon has always had a passion for the outdoors. As Under Officer at Pangbourne College he ran adventure training, including annual expeditions to the wildest corners of the UK and an expedition to the Alps. He has organised and led overland expeditions through Africa which included a two week canoe safari down the Zambezi, an expedition to the Okavango Delta and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.

As part of his officer training at Sandhurst, Simon completed mountain leader training and led an expedition to France kayaking the Gorges du Verdon.  This naturally led to him running adventure training for both serving troops and new recruits as part of his military career.

Now a serving Police Officer, Simon still competes in various triathlons and long distance runs, though he is proudest of motivating his two oldest children to climb various Munroes; they conquered their first at only seven years old.  Simon loves working with children, is completely unflappable and delights in the madcap antics of Bear Dog adventures.

Mark's promising early career as a school teacher was cut short when he realised that being in a classroom made him miserable. Fortunately, he had more success with young people who didn't much want to be in school either. Mark ran a hostel for homeless young people for several years and then moved on to develop a variety of projects for young folk on the margins of society, including those excluded from school, young offenders and homeless groups.
As a canoe and kayak coach, Mark has continued to specialise in projects for vulnerable and, to be honest, challenging, youngsters. Alongside this, however, he has discovered the joys of working with motivated groups and individuals who are hardly grumpy at all! Coaching and supporting adults and young people to achieve personal and group goals provides a new and exciting focus.

Besides canoe coaching for the sheer joy and beauty of the thing, Mark is particularly interested in outdoor living and expeditions. He is a Forest School leader and is developing a range of outdoor courses combining woodland and river skills.

Miles’ passion for the outdoors started at a young age; growing up in South Oxfordshire he was always in the woods building dens, messing around in boats on the Thames or learning about animal husbandry on his parents’ smallholding. After college he swapped the mud for a life at sea and was commissioned into the Royal Navy as a Navigating Officer, travelling the world to exotic locations from America to the Far East, although he would not recommend some of the places he visited as holiday destinations. After leaving the Navy, working in an office was not an option, so he became a tree surgeon. He says that at fifty feet above the ground one gets a different perspective on the environment and claims he is always willing to lend anyone a rope and harness to experience it for themselves; his ‘profile picture’ amply demonstrates his wry and irreverent sense of humour.

Miles’ passion for the outdoors and keenness to pass on his experiences to others has not diminished over the years, as evidenced by the collection of outdoor equipment in his garage. He believes it is essential every child learns outdoor skills, and feels many are too reliant on technology and home comforts; unsurprisingly, this has meant Miles has been involved with Scouting for years.

Lou is one of those capable people you really want on your team and, despite being a harassed mother of four, is relentlessly upbeat. Her no-nonsense cheeriness makes her impervious to all weather conditions and brings a smile to those lucky enough to work alongside her. Lou has always had an interest in the outdoors, from riding horses to climbing mountains, and is a firm believer that fresh air and being outdoors is essential for a healthy and happy life. She is known throughout the village as being the mother who literally runs to school with four children and a dog in tow, whatever the weather.