E-YARD Tutor Training Weekend 2018

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Sep 17, 2018
3 min read

E-YARD's annual Tutor Training Weekend took place over the weekend of 14-17 September.

The group met at Beverley for breakfast and briefing, and was made up of Alwyn Tolson, Dave Hardwick, Andy Trevor, Ivan Smy, Mark Kelk, Denise Rose and Chris Hood (not pictured).

Rosie had been ill but still made it to the weekend. The rest if the team thought it would be a nice gesture to get her some potted flowers to make her feel better.

The ideal gift when riding a motorcycle...

The format for the first exercise was to split into pairs and take turns to be 'Tutor' and 'Associate', starting from POWDER checks through to on road assessment and debrief.

Each 'team' chose their own route to the Farm Shop Cafe at Beadlam where Chris and Rosie conducted a team debrief....over coffee of course!

Partners swapped, the exercise was repeated before lunch at Hawes and the chance ofr a team photo under the iconic Creamary Sign!

There was, also the opportunity to taste the wares... a recurring theme!

After lunch a further brief was discussed regarding en-masse convoy riding and the rest of the day was spent practicing and perfecting this. Dumfries was the destination where the group relaxed after a hard days work.

The following morning E-YARD were met by members of RoSPA Advanced Drivers and Riders - North Cumbria and South West Scotland, John Forrester, their Chair, Colin and Charis.

E-YARD members completed a written knowledge exam after breakfast.

In the meantime Chris and John discussed cross group training and development.

In the spirit of this, John and Colin joined the practical training as the E-YARD riders split into pairs to repeat the previous day exercise. John and Colin observed how feedback was delivered and assessed both this and riding standards.

Some very positive comments were forthcoming about the high standards displayed by E-YARD.

Fantastic roads were covered before lunch at Eskdalemuir and mixed group de-briefs!

The team then split into two groups for some social riding, but first attended Samye Ling Tibetan Buddhist Monastery - an unexpected Jewel in the greenery of Dumfries and Galloway (which is of course beautiful in it's own right)

At the end of another great day of training (and in the case of Mark and Andy qualification as tutors!) E-YARD were hosted by Cumbria and Scotland group on a 'cultural' evening in Dumfries....

An easier, more social day was arranged for Sunday with John escorting E-YARD on a guided tour of the Borders area, including Solway Airfield .... and it's Cafe!

On a serious note though, this gave everyone the opportunity to relax and review what had been achieved and 'swap notes'.

Before John left to go home, the group visited the shell of the Hartside Cafe atop the summit of the Pass

More disciplined convoy riding took the team to Gretna Green before returning for a final night and final review of the whole course.

The weekend finished on Monday with a great run back and forth over the Scottish Borders before heading to Kielder Water and Helmsley before the goodbyes!

A great weekend altogether, interesting to exchange techniques and training methods with another group, even better to develop a relationship with them.

A big plus came with the opportunity to have E-YARD analysed and scrutinised by an independent group, both E-YARD's Tutors and methods of training/qualification.

Ivan, who is currently an associate, attended and had some of the most intense Tutoring he could possibly receive.

In view of the benefits this presented, it is likely that future training weekends will include an invite to associates as well as Tutors and trainee tutors.

He was a happy chappy!