Multiply helping body and mind with mountaineering and gym courses

Grŵp Llandrillo Menai’s Multiply department helped people exercise body and mind with mountaineering and weightlifting sessions.

Multiply helps adults improve their number confidence, with the Grŵp leading on the project in Conwy, Denbighshire, Gwynedd and Ynys Môn.

Two recent courses had people flexing their muscles as well as their maths skills, with learners developing their numeracy while also raising their fitness levels and self-confidence.

‘Advanced Navigation Skills for Confident Exploration’ saw learners develop their mountain craft in the Clwydian Range.

Following a briefing session, learners spent five to six hours navigating in the hills - mastering the use of maps, compasses, and modern navigation tools, while honing their skills in route planning and terrain interpretation.

The course was run by Multiply tutor Stephen Jones and Matthew Rothwell, co-founder of outdoor adventure company time4experience.

Learner Richard Worsley said: “Although I am a fairly experienced hill walker, I found the course extremely valuable in reaffirming some basic skills which I had neglected over the years.

“Pacing in particular was one element which I enjoyed and is now cemented in my mind. The numeracy element, which again was extremely valuable, was challenging for me, but one I gave my full attention to.

“It was a course well worth attending and hopefully further courses may come to fruition in the future.”

Another learner, Gareth Jones, said: “I felt this was an excellent course. The information was delivered in a knowledgeable, supportive and professional way. The theory was followed by practical exercises outdoors to apply the techniques we'd been shown and develop confidence. I thoroughly enjoyed the day.”

Multiply tutor Stephen Jones said: "Numeracy is all around us, and even more so when it comes to navigation.

“From interpreting the scale of the map to understanding the numbers of making up grid references, it was great to see numeracy in action helping the learners navigate the countryside safely.”

Elsewhere, Bangor University students took to the gym for ‘Make the Reps Count: An Introduction to Weight Training and Numeracy’.

The eight-week Multiply course at Colwyn Leisure Centre in Colwyn Bay developed numeracy confidence by incorporating maths into weight training and fitness.

Personal trainer Costa Yianni helped learners progress their gym skills while also measuring distances, tracking information, counting weights and measuring their heart rates.

Costa said: “It’s working with the lads at the university to improve their confidence, their mental health state, their numeracy skills - just building their confidence in the gym from foundation.

“To go from having never set foot in a gym, to being able to go there on their own, pick a bar, pick weights up, put the correct amount of weights on, and with correct technique just go for a good, tough session to improve their strength and conditioning and their confidence.”

Learner Zach Mountford said: “A lot of people, when you're in the gym, don't really understand what sort of weights you are doing and what level of weight you should be doing. And it's just a lot better to do that with other people because you understand their limits, and so it helps you better understand your limits as well.”

Joe Lloyd-Jones, Conwy County Engagement Coordinator for Multiply, said developing learners’ numeracy confidence could have a positive knock-on effect in other areas of their life.

“Numeracy, like anything else, is a skill,” he said. “Being able to develop skills often gives us confidence to be able to go on to do other things.

“So while our primary goal at Multiply is to improve people's numeracy, we find quite often that when people engage in these courses and they develop their confidence in numeracy, that branches out into being willing to go into other things and develop other skills.”

Grŵp Llandrillo Menai offers a range of sport and outdoor activities courses, from Level 1 through to Degree level. For more information, click here.