Institute for Outdoor Learning / The Team

IOL Managing Director

Karen lives in Penrith and spends most of her time walking in the Lakes, Scotland and Wales. Karen is a member of Penrith Mountain Rescue. After 14 months of training, Karen Brush and her 2 year old border collie Dottie have graded as a Lake District Mountain Rescue Search Dog Team. Dottie and Karen were assessed over a period of 9 days in atrocious weather and on varied terrain including crags and steep scree slopes throughout the Lake District. They join 14 other dog teams in the Lakes who are available to assist on incidents in the Lakes and wider afield in addition to their callouts with their own mountain rescue teams.
Karen is also a qualified rugby referee and coach, having played for 10 years for premiership side Worcester and captaining the West Midlands representative side.
Contact Karen at director@outdoor-learning.org

IOL Media & Marketing Executive

Fiona lives in the Eden Valley and is a 'soft-skills' outdoor person through a love of the countryside, wildlife and gardening. She readily admits to being a fair-weather cyclist and all-the-luxuries camper. Her creative passions are film and photography, ceramics and sculpture. She has qualifications in business management, ceramics, graphics and DTP.
She shares her cottage with her partner Hector, who is helping her to learn to play guitar (which she loves) and appreciate football (which she doesn't!), Hectors' son Ross, Giacomo, a champagne ginger cat, and Tootise, a tiny grey cat. She enjoys exploring outdoors, gardening, cooking curries and music.
Fiona spends far too much time at live music events and writes arts-based reviews and articles for various newspapers, national magazines and websites.
Contact Fiona at fiona@outdoor-learning.org

Financial & Management Accountant

Lotte hails from Denmark and is a qualified accountant. She lives in a remote Cumbrian hamlet close to Kielder Forest.
She shares her home with her husband, two young daughters, a cat and a large flock of hens. She enjoys camping and berry picking.
Contact Lotte at lotte@outdoor-learning.org

APIOL Manager

Chris lives in Amsterdam with his partner Arda and two cats. He commutes to Kidderminster where he has a base in England. In Worcestershire he works with the Duke of Edinburgh Award within schools supporting groups in the hills and training teachers (BELA & WGLA).
He enjoys cycling (you have to living in Holland), hill walking, gardening, good food and wine, grandchildren (two) and travelling around the world to follow the sun.
Contact Chris at chrismillett@postmaster.co.uk

Peter lives in Dunblane, Scotland, which allows him easy access to undertake his responsibilities as IOL Scotland’s Access Education Officer. Peter has worked for the Scottish Police Service and two Universities, but has never strayed too far from his outdoor roots; he has previously worked for Outward Bound in Scotland and New Zealand, Sport Scotland and the University of Edinburgh (Firbush Point) as an instructor. He is also the co-ordinator of the APIOL scheme in Scotland.
Peter is married to Jenny and they have two children – Jamie and Emma. In his spare time, Peter combines family time with outdoor activities in boats, on the hills and on wheels. In addition, he coaches a junior football team and takes in the occasional Liverpool football match.

Living just outside Carlisle in Scotby, Steve has been in the IT industry for around 18 years, working for the Royal Mail Business Systems Group and more recently CSC Business Systems. Ltd.
He has been climbing since the age of 2 and has climbed extensively in the UK, Alps and has been on two trips to he Indian Himalaya. Steve is also volunteer member of the Penrith Mountain Rescue Team, holds both Summer and Winter ML certificates and attempts to combine family life with activities in the hills and on the rock.
Contact Steve at steve@outdoor-learning.org

Louise lives in Weardale with her son and daughter. She has worked in the Health Service, for a Building Society and most recently for Adventure Education Training. She has an Open University degree in Biology & Earth Sciences.
She has an allotment, likes walking, is a semi-retired jogger and also enjoys the odd glass of wine.
Contact Louise on: louise@outdoor-learning.org

The Team