Swindon charity Inner Flame helps young people
9:42am Tuesday 24th March 2009 in News
David Wreathall and Glenn Bridges
TO LOOK at, David Wreathall and Glenn Bridges are an unlikely duo.
David is a 43-year-old married businessman with a son and Glenn is just 19 and took his A-levels last year.
But together they have set up charity Inner Flame, to offer young people the chance to fulfil their potential through activities that challenge them physically and psychologically.
The charity, which is based in Swindon, is about to run its first residential course for teenagers aged between 14 and 18.
“Certainly, we will offer challenging physical activities, such as high ropes, as these are great for building confidence, and we learn best through experience,” said David, who lives near Malmesbury.
“But this is about much more than that. It’s about young people understanding themselves better, deciding what’s really important to them and what they want to achieve in their lives.”
David and Glenn have already amassed a small army of volunteers willing to invest their time in developing young people, including qualified trainers and coaches, neuro linguistic programming (NLP) trainers and even a former Royal Marine - affectionately known as The Fear Master.
“I am amazed at how enthusiastic people have been about our idea, and how they want to get involved,” said David, who spent 20 years in banking before leaving two years ago.
“It makes it all the more clear that there is a need for more opportunities for young people to learn outside the formal classroom.
“During my corporate career, I went on many team-building and leadership courses for management. I took part in all sorts of challenging activities, receiving great support from coaching as well as mentoring others.
“I actually met Glenn on an NLP course and we both took part in a residential trip where we did, amongst other things, a fire walk. It was during this weekend that we got talking and I had the idea that if we could have access to all this type of experiential training then why shouldn’t teenagers too?”
Glenn, of Nythe, still lives with his family, and had been attracted to the NLP programme because of his interest in self-development “Initially, I was just helping David get the idea off the ground but I could see how it was changing David and the passion and enthusiasm he was putting into it, so I decided to get totally involved too,” said the 19-year-old.
“Now we are both full-time volunteers and are very keen to see Inner Flame succeed.”
And David and Glenn are convinced Inner Flame and its programme – called “Fire Me Up!” – will be a success.
The first course will run from Monday, April 6 to Thursday, April 9, at the Braeside Centre in Devizes.
The pair hope to raise funding to allow places to be subsidised for teenagers from socially deprived areas of Swindon and North Wiltshire. They have made applications for support to several organisations, including Swindon Borough Council.
A benefit for participants is that the residential course can count towards a Duke of Edinburgh Award.
If the first course succeeds, the aim is to run several each year and extend geographically, ultimately becoming a nationwide organisation.
