00:00:01 I'm Jon Wilson, I'm the Climbing Wall Manager, so I manage all of the climbing wall, making sure that it's all - safety checks are done - and all staff - fully staffed - and anything else to do with the climbing wall really. The management of the wall's a sort of at several different levels. On the sort of the day to day it's making sure it's - it's made safe - all the safety checks are done, and all that sort of bits and pieces on it. But we also are then trying to make sure that we change the routes, all of the routes we try and get changed on a regular basis. I do a little bit of that myself, but actually most of my job these days is managing other people and trying to co-ordinate other people to come in and do that. It's an on-going process really, trying to develop it and maintain it.
00:00:46 I started rock climbing when I was at college so - in fact I rock climbed so much with the club at college that I failed my college course, so I decided this was probably the way to go instead, so that's where all that. So I've done quite a lot of walking, and bits and pieces when I was a school, which had got me interested in the outdoors generally. And in fact when I left school I went on a British Schools Exploring Society expedition to Alaska, when I was leaving - at the end of my Sixth Form - so I probably spent a bit more time in my Sixth Form on that than I - preparing for that, than I was preparing for my A-Levels.
00:01:30 So as a result I got an A level so - only one of the A levels I was expecting. So I went to college to do an HND course, or what was an HND course at that stage, in Applied Biology. Which, when I got to college, really was actually teaching how to become a Lab Technician. As I say the outdoors has always inspired me, and the climbing particularly, so at that stage I got into the outdoors, so after I left college I looked for ways I could develop that, and actually went on a twelve month training course run by an organisation in North Wales, which did a twelve month instructor training course at that stage.
00:01:57 As any other climber, I've made a list of the climbs that I want to do, and one of the main climbs that I wanted to do was a climb called Dream with White Horses, which is on the sea cliffs in Gogarth in North Wales, and I set myself the target of doing it before my fortieth birthday. I went one - two years before my fortieth birthday, with a friend to do it, and it was a horrible day, it's a very exposed - to get to the start of the climb, you have to abseil in down this very exposed cliff and we - actually turned round that day and went back. But fortunately we went back the following year, just before my birthday, and actually completed this climb before my birthday. It's a fabulous climb on a really wonderful piece of rock. You're several hundred feet above the sea roaring below you with - looking out over the Irish Sea, and it's really quite a challenging and inspiring place really.
00:02:46 Turning points in my life. I think probably the expedition that I did with the British Schools Exploring Society when I was - left school. That was a real development opportunity for myself and that - so that was real - guided me in really - I suppose that was really first thing which I thought well perhaps that's where I want to go, and certainly thoroughly inspired me in terms of going outdoors and doing things outside. I suppose when I set myself up as a freelance instructor, was a real challenge in terms of a job opportunity, and that lasted for several years, and that was a really interesting part of my life, developing that as my own little business and moving on from that.
00:03:33 I don't know whether I have a specific dream. In some ways I would like to sort of move the climbing walls on - perhaps I would like to open my own climbing wall one day, I think is a thing that I'd quite like to inspire - aspire to, is to have my own climbing wall and manage my own facility one day. But we'll see whether that happens or not.
00:03:53 ENDS
Jon Wilson
JON WILSON
I'm Jon Wilson, I'm the Climbing Wall Manager, so I manage all of the climbing wall, making sure that it's all - safety checks are done - and all staff - fully staffed - and anything else to do with the climbing wall really. The management of the wall's a sort of at several different levels. On the sort of the day to day it's making sure it's - it's made safe - all the safety checks are done, and all that sort of bits and pieces on it. But we also are then trying to make sure that we change the routes, all of the routes we try and get changed on a regular basis. I do a little bit of that myself, but actually most of my job these days is managing other people and trying to co-ordinate other people to come in and do that. It's an on-going process really, trying to develop it and maintain it.
I started rock climbing when I was at college so - in fact I rock climbed so much with the club at college that I failed my college course, so I decided this was probably the way to go instead, so that's where all that. So I've done quite a lot of walking, and bits and pieces when I was a school, which had got me interested in the outdoors generally. And in fact when I left school I went on a British Schools Exploring Society expedition to Alaska, when I was leaving - at the end of my Sixth Form - so I probably spent a bit more time in my Sixth Form on that than I - preparing for that, than I was preparing for my A-Levels.
So as a result I got an A level so - only one of the A levels I was expecting. So I went to college to do an HND course, or what was an HND course at that stage, in Applied Biology. Which, when I got to college, really was actually teaching how to become a Lab Technician. As I say the outdoors has always inspired me, and the climbing particularly, so at that stage I got into the outdoors, so after I left college I looked for ways I could develop that, and actually went on a twelve month training course run by an organisation in North Wales, which did a twelve month instructor training course at that stage.
As any other climber, I've made a list of the climbs that I want to do, and one of the main climbs that I wanted to do was a climb called Dream with White Horses, which is on the sea cliffs in Gogarth in North Wales, and I set myself the target of doing it before my fortieth birthday. I went one - two years before my fortieth birthday, with a friend to do it, and it was a horrible day, it's a very exposed - to get to the start of the climb, you have to abseil in down this very exposed cliff and we - actually turned round that day and went back. But fortunately we went back the following year, just before my birthday, and actually completed this climb before my birthday. It's a fabulous climb on a really wonderful piece of rock. You're several hundred feet above the sea roaring below you with - looking out over the Irish Sea, and it's really quite a challenging and inspiring place really.
Turning points in my life. I think probably the expedition that I did with the British Schools Exploring Society when I was - left school. That was a real development opportunity for myself and that - so that was real - guided me in really - I suppose that was really first thing which I thought well perhaps that's where I want to go, and certainly thoroughly inspired me in terms of going outdoors and doing things outside. I suppose when I set myself up as a freelance instructor, was a real challenge in terms of a job opportunity, and that lasted for several years, and that was a really interesting part of my life, developing that as my own little business and moving on from that.
I don't know whether I have a specific dream. In some ways I would like to sort of move the climbing walls on - perhaps I would like to open my own climbing wall one day, I think is a thing that I'd quite like to inspire - aspire to, is to have my own climbing wall and manage my own facility one day. But we'll see whether that happens or not.
ENDS
Leisure Centre Manager/ Outdoor Activities Instructor
Age at filming:
36-45,
Employer's name:
Calshot Activities Centre,
Job location:
Southampton
Jon Wilson is the Climbing Wall Manager at Calshot Activities Centre. He discovered his passion for rock climbing during a British Schools Exploring Society expedition to Alaska, and admits "I probably spent a bit more time in my Sixth Form on preparing for that, than I was preparing for my A-Levels". A big achievement for Jon was completing a famous climb in Wales before his 40th birthday.
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