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or phone Lisa on 01479 810676Recent press items on Jules Fincham:
Sunday Herald 18 September 2005
Fanning the flames
Richard Moore meets a man on a mission to stir up more passion for
adventure sports
JULES Fincham spent last weekend at the Mountain Bike World Cup in Fort
William, enjoying the spectacle and mingling in crowds that nudged 20,000.
When he saw all these people, though, he did not just see mountain bikers;
instead, he saw in that vast throng thousands of potential rock climbers,
kayakers, skiers and winter mountaineers.
This week he hopes some of them will attend a new roadshow he’s
touring throughout Scotland, kicking off in Inverness on Tuesday. The
aim of the workshops, which continue in Aberdeen, Dundee, then Edinburgh,
Stirling and Glasgow the following week, is to provide people with “a
way in” to a new activity.
“Need a hobby?” is the question posed on the flyer, and
the message is that it isn’t as difficult as people might think
to take up – or at least to try – a new adventure sport.
The key, though, is to get off to a good start; to develop the correct
habits, skills or techniques at the outset. It is here that Fincham,
a qualified instructor in just about every outdoors activity you can
think of, brings some of his own experience to bear.
When he was younger he was introduced to skiing by some “enthusiastic
friends”. It was great, he says, and it did lead eventually to
him working as a ski instructor, but only after a few wrong turnings.
“If you start something by yourself, or with friends, you can
pick up bad habits; you can be pointed in the wrong direction,”
he says. “It can lead to injuries and that was the case for me
with skiing, because I really didn’t know what I was trying to
do.
“But with climbing it was totally different. The first climbing
I ever did was on a course in Wales and I got really good instruction.
I still remember some of the safety tips and the things I was told in
that first week. That meant I could go away and practice and improve
on my own, doing things properly and safely.”
In this sense, then, the ideal candidate for Fincham’s workshops
might be the complete beginner; if somebody wants to become a kayaker,
it may be an advantage never to have previously picked up a paddle.
Fincham, however, is keen to stress they are not aimed exclusively at
such people.
“The workshops are suitable for total beginners,” he says,
“but equally they’ll be for people who are involved in one
sport and fancy trying something different: guys who say, ‘I’ve
hill-walked, but I’ve seen these people fly past on mountain bikes…’
or mountain bikers who’ve always wanted to paddle. There are a
lot of people out there like that.”
The roadshow is touring the country thanks to the support of three organisations:
Tiso, the outdoors store which is hosting all six workshops, sportscotland
and Glenmore Lodge, the outdoor centre where Fincham has worked for
several years. The idea is to instil inspiration and enthusiasm in people,
and then equip them with the information and contacts they need to take
up a range of activities .
Fincham is undoubtedly the perfect person to guide you through those
first, tentative steps. He is an enthusiast and his passion for the
outdoors comes across when he speaks. And he acknowledges he likes to
talk. He is, in short, a good communicator; and surely as well qualified,
in a range of activities, as just about anybody working in Scotland.
Now 45, Fincham’s first taste of the outdoors was in the unlikely
setting of Chelmsford, Essex, where he grew up. The inspiration, though,
came from elsewhere. “When I was 11 I saw a show about one of
the first descents by kayak of the Colorado River,” he recalls.
“It inspired me, and then my dad saw that you could hire a mould
for a weekend and build a fibreglass boat. So we did that and lowered
it out the window once we’d built it.
“There was a river opposite the house, and that’s how I
got into kayaking. Then, when I was 18 I was drunk in a bar and a mate
said he was going on a rock-climbing course in Wales, and invited me
along. I went, and I’ve never been so scared, before or since.
I was terrified. I never thought I’d do it again. But it was a
good course: it set me off on the right track.”
Fincham became an outdoors instructor in 1987, and has lived in Strathspey
for 15 years after a period ski instructing in the Alps. He says “the
desire to learn more about off-piste skiing and mountaineering drew
me to Scotland, where I achieved the British Mountain Instructor Award”.
At Glenmore he masterminded the new mountain trail that’s been
designed for teaching basic skills as well as the Scottish Mountain
Bike Leader Scheme. It’s even been named “The JFT”
(Jules Fincham Trail) in his honour.
Now comes the roadshow, and Fincham is excited at the prospect of introducing
more to the range of adventure sports in Scotland. “It’s
important to get off to the right start,” he reiterates. “I’m
into the idea of spending just a day with a good instructor –
and not just because I’m in the industry and it’s good to
get the work.
“I’m hoping with these workshops – which will include
video and slide presentations as well as me talking – it’ll
be a bit like me watching some guys paddling in Colorado and thinking,
God, I really want to do that… I want people to think, having
not ever done a particular sport, that they’d like to give it
a go. And there’s so much. We can deliver a smorgasbord of opportunities.”
The workshops are being held in Tiso stores at 7.30pm in Inverness (Tues),
Aberdeen (Wed), Dundee (Sept 22), Edinburgh (Sept 27), Stirling (Sept
28), Glasgow (Sept 29). Tickets: £2, with proceeds going to mountain
rescue teams.
Grampian Television cover opening of the Jules Fincham Trail at Glenmore
Lodge
It was a very sun-shiny day at Glenmore Lodge in the heart of Cairngorms
National Park, perfect weather for showcasing what proved to be a fantastic
event for Scottish Cycling and Scottish mountain biking.
The new skills track, which was demoed by a local TCL group and Scottish
Youth Squad riders, is awesome and drew lots of ooohs and aaahs from
the sizeable crowd attending the launch. The trail has fittingly been
named in honour of Julian Fincham ('The JFT') who helped to mastermind
its construction, with sportscotland funding, in a record-breaking six
months.
Grampian TV were on hand to capture some of the action, and comments
from Jules Fincham, which were shown on an item on their evening news
programme.
[source: Glenmore Lodge website]
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