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Atlantic Whale Foundation.
Hey! Wondering if anyones volunteered for The Atlantic Whale Foundation http://www.whalenation.org/index.asp?page=volunteering_opportunities as it seems popular and has a large following. Its a cheap volunteering oppertunity and you get to give boat trips to tourists, reasearch sea mammels and habitats and various things on the side like film making and photography.
Im planning on going in about 2 weeks, just need to book it up and the flights, bit nervous as it will be my first time travelling alone. Would love some reviews on it if anyones been. Or if anyone would like to come with me lol, im being serious.
Im planning on going in about 2 weeks, just need to book it up and the flights, bit nervous as it will be my first time travelling alone. Would love some reviews on it if anyones been. Or if anyone would like to come with me lol, im being serious.
That sounds great! When are you going, maybe I join you?
sun-is-shining
That sounds great! When are you going, maybe I join you?
kool, im not sure, I was planning going in about 2 weeks but somethings come up so I might have to wait a week or two. Definatly going soon though!
i read your thread with great interest. My son is there and must have overlapped with you. His feedback is exactly the same and AWF seems to have over-stated the experience participants will obtain and the skills that will be picked up. It seems that the co-ordinator of the marine habitat survey has no relevant experience to instruct any of the participants. The whole thing seems to lack organisation. Food is an issue also with only a very small amount budgeted for each participant. Food quality is an issue and the AWF does not even provide lunches for 8 h boat trips for diving. I find it quite extraordinary. The organiser has a laisser-faire attitude to things it seems, and was not bothered about organising as taxi to pick up my 16-yr old son from the airport with a name board on this his first trip abroad on his own.
Your son clearly got the same treatment and wasted time and money and got frustrated too. My friends and I have made more investigation into the AWF which seems to reveal the "charity" makes little or no scientific contribution of worth to its subject area - Whales and Dolphins, (confirmed by the Whale and Dolphin Trust communications we have had), and further, its assertions of European Funding seem remote and pretty unrelated to any ongoing EU funded operation (what is the specific grant number ? this always had to be shown in publicity but we can't find it). The office of 
AWF is one that is occupied in Covent Garden by a whole lot of other rather shady outfits - all offering volunteering opportunities at considerable cost to the volunteer (lack of answers to phone calls suggests the "office" is just a postal address). Charity Commissioners have been alerted and will be acting to placate substantial complaints by many former volunteers . Check out the Charities Yearbook and the ACCOUNTS and see how the money that is paid over to the Charity or Foundation as it calls itself is actually declared..... almost nothing - yet scores of people have paid over large sums - received nothing - so where does all the money go???? and in Spain too.......! So don't be persuaded to volunteer for this organisation, and pay up front. Offer to pay later - once you have had the experience! If you want to volunteer and do exciting things, then there are far better organised and scientifically valuable setups to give your time and money to. A real charity would not act like this one does, it would answer inquiries and insist on proper safety and transparency...... Neither would responses be so aggressive and unhelpful.
AWF is one that is occupied in Covent Garden by a whole lot of other rather shady outfits - all offering volunteering opportunities at considerable cost to the volunteer (lack of answers to phone calls suggests the "office" is just a postal address). Charity Commissioners have been alerted and will be acting to placate substantial complaints by many former volunteers . Check out the Charities Yearbook and the ACCOUNTS and see how the money that is paid over to the Charity or Foundation as it calls itself is actually declared..... almost nothing - yet scores of people have paid over large sums - received nothing - so where does all the money go???? and in Spain too.......! So don't be persuaded to volunteer for this organisation, and pay up front. Offer to pay later - once you have had the experience! If you want to volunteer and do exciting things, then there are far better organised and scientifically valuable setups to give your time and money to. A real charity would not act like this one does, it would answer inquiries and insist on proper safety and transparency...... Neither would responses be so aggressive and unhelpful.(edited 10 years ago)
Several volunteers and I recently volunteered with AWF. (Big mistake!)
Once we arrived at the project we were horrified to discover that the so called 'volunteer project' wasn't actually up and running and we, as volunteers were expected to pay more money over and above what we had already paid to 'help set it up'. There were no qualified or knowledgable leaders or co-ordinators, safety precautions were non existent and the hygiene and food was disgusting.
My advice - NEVER volunteer with AWF - the man who 'runs' it, seems to have no interest in actually collecting reliable data or indeed helping the community or wildlife... although the projects are generally cheap- this seems to be how he lures in his volunteers - not cheap once you realise that you don't get anything that you paid for (as advertised on his websites).
There are numerous projects that the man 'in charge' has set up all over the world - I have heard the same story about his other projects.... If you really want to make an impact on wildlife and community abroad as a volunteer - go on a real project - not the AWF.
Volunteers have asked for refunds, and despite the booking conditions in small print on the booking form - he refuses to give us a refund.
Once we arrived at the project we were horrified to discover that the so called 'volunteer project' wasn't actually up and running and we, as volunteers were expected to pay more money over and above what we had already paid to 'help set it up'. There were no qualified or knowledgable leaders or co-ordinators, safety precautions were non existent and the hygiene and food was disgusting.
My advice - NEVER volunteer with AWF - the man who 'runs' it, seems to have no interest in actually collecting reliable data or indeed helping the community or wildlife... although the projects are generally cheap- this seems to be how he lures in his volunteers - not cheap once you realise that you don't get anything that you paid for (as advertised on his websites).
There are numerous projects that the man 'in charge' has set up all over the world - I have heard the same story about his other projects.... If you really want to make an impact on wildlife and community abroad as a volunteer - go on a real project - not the AWF.
Volunteers have asked for refunds, and despite the booking conditions in small print on the booking form - he refuses to give us a refund.
(edited 10 years ago)
My name is Ed Bentham, the person slandered in the above emails. I have given the best part of forty years to providing low cost opportunities to tens of thousands of young people enabling them to gain extraordinary experience volunteering abroad on projects all over the world. I have done this on a purely voluntary basis alongside my teaching work.
The four people above were never on an AWF volunteer project but, rather, on a newly formed Marine Habitat Survey programme designed to give students with an interest in marine conservation/ biology a low cost access to quality dive training and experience. As part of the programme they were able to join the whale and dolphin research programme for the four weeks (£500 inclusive accommodation and food), undertake professional dive courses and dives (£750) and contribute to the cost of ongoing research into threatened habitats (£250 of an annual bill of several thousands of pounds). Each, for their own individual issues did not take up the amazing opportunities presented to them- two spoilt brats, one individual practically social dysfunctional and the fourth in need of serious psychological support, although reading through her mother’s various rantings it is not hard to see where her problems come from.
They have not a moral let alone legal leg to stand upon between them and have each been advised to further their claims through the small claims court- a simple and cheap way to affect legal redress. They have decided instead to mount a vicious and co-ordinated campaign of slander and abuse presumably to try and embarrass the Foundation into reimbursing them. We will not kotow to this kind of low, disgraceful behaviour- no matter what the cost.
When I left school at the end of the 60’s, I had in mind like so many working class kids a job in a factory or perhaps a shop. As it was I ended up in an accounting firm, book-keeping- I could add up columns of pounds, shillings and pence in rows of three just by glancing down the page BUT I was so bored. I still have nightmares of the second hand of the office clock ticking down excruciatingly slowly to 5.00pm. The then Labour government gave me and millions of other working class kids free university education – I was paid to go down to London and came top in everything that I did. It changed my life and that of my children and it changed our country. What is happening now in higher education is a tragedy.
They were heady times- student riots in Paris, anti (Vietnam) war and CND protests, young people chained to the railings outside of the South African embassy demanding the release of some bloke called Nelson Mandella; the music of Joan Baez, Edwin Star, Johnny Cash and Bob Dillon- listen to Dillon’s ‘Blowing in the Wind’ after watching Mississippi Burning – young white kids being brutally murdered for daring to stand shoulder to shoulder with black people marching for their freedom- understand the meaning of the words and feel the passion of the times.
The AWF offers low cost volunteering opportunities because I feel a debt to the country that gave me such an amazing opportunity all those years ago. Does the above slander affect my cause? No! there are always one or two imbeciles every year who whinge and complain, it’s the way of the world. If you are reading this then you have a choice- either go to the dark side and get sucked into the mire or come into the light. The AWF offers low cost opportunities to give of yourselves for the common good on great projects all over the world; the dive programme alluded to by the above is simply fabulous- in conception, design and delivery. If you want further information please contact me on [Removed]
The four people above were never on an AWF volunteer project but, rather, on a newly formed Marine Habitat Survey programme designed to give students with an interest in marine conservation/ biology a low cost access to quality dive training and experience. As part of the programme they were able to join the whale and dolphin research programme for the four weeks (£500 inclusive accommodation and food), undertake professional dive courses and dives (£750) and contribute to the cost of ongoing research into threatened habitats (£250 of an annual bill of several thousands of pounds). Each, for their own individual issues did not take up the amazing opportunities presented to them- two spoilt brats, one individual practically social dysfunctional and the fourth in need of serious psychological support, although reading through her mother’s various rantings it is not hard to see where her problems come from.
They have not a moral let alone legal leg to stand upon between them and have each been advised to further their claims through the small claims court- a simple and cheap way to affect legal redress. They have decided instead to mount a vicious and co-ordinated campaign of slander and abuse presumably to try and embarrass the Foundation into reimbursing them. We will not kotow to this kind of low, disgraceful behaviour- no matter what the cost.
When I left school at the end of the 60’s, I had in mind like so many working class kids a job in a factory or perhaps a shop. As it was I ended up in an accounting firm, book-keeping- I could add up columns of pounds, shillings and pence in rows of three just by glancing down the page BUT I was so bored. I still have nightmares of the second hand of the office clock ticking down excruciatingly slowly to 5.00pm. The then Labour government gave me and millions of other working class kids free university education – I was paid to go down to London and came top in everything that I did. It changed my life and that of my children and it changed our country. What is happening now in higher education is a tragedy.
They were heady times- student riots in Paris, anti (Vietnam) war and CND protests, young people chained to the railings outside of the South African embassy demanding the release of some bloke called Nelson Mandella; the music of Joan Baez, Edwin Star, Johnny Cash and Bob Dillon- listen to Dillon’s ‘Blowing in the Wind’ after watching Mississippi Burning – young white kids being brutally murdered for daring to stand shoulder to shoulder with black people marching for their freedom- understand the meaning of the words and feel the passion of the times.
The AWF offers low cost volunteering opportunities because I feel a debt to the country that gave me such an amazing opportunity all those years ago. Does the above slander affect my cause? No! there are always one or two imbeciles every year who whinge and complain, it’s the way of the world. If you are reading this then you have a choice- either go to the dark side and get sucked into the mire or come into the light. The AWF offers low cost opportunities to give of yourselves for the common good on great projects all over the world; the dive programme alluded to by the above is simply fabulous- in conception, design and delivery. If you want further information please contact me on [Removed]
Today the sun is shining here at AWF in Arona, the temp is a lazy 21 degrees as I sit outside the house eating chorizo and olives for lunch. We have 8 people out working on the whale and dolphin watch boats today. Four on the Mustcat sailing out of Las Galletas and 2 teams of 2 sailing out of Puerto Colon. How could anyone even consider this work, it is paradise. We have a team currently in the study centre compiling the weeks data and adding to the 20 year year old databases. Tonight for dinner we are having Rancho Canaria a superb local stew. Later about 8:00 we will be having our weekly Spanish lesson which is great fun and is really helping me to talk to the local people and get access to one of the most fascinating cultures of Europe. This weekend carnival begins in Santa Cruz. Culminating in one huge street party in about Six weeks time. Why not come and join us at The Atlantic Whale Foundation. Hope to see you soon!
(edited 10 years ago)
I am an ex-volunteer at the AWF, and I think Ed's message sums it up perfectly...
... Not that the AWF is a good place to be, but his attitude towards people. From my experience in Tenerife I found it was incredibly unprofessional, disorganised, and most importantly UNSAFE. The house its self is a joke and many volunteer have tripped, slipped and cut/bruise themselves. It is an accident waiting to happen.
Ed also ENCOURAGES the law to be broken. He tells you, not asks, to climb Teide at night so you don't have to buy a permit. This is illegal and pushes people to climb rough terrain in the dark. If you trip and break your leg that is a mountain rescue job. And at winter when it is in the negative temperatures.... again an accident is waiting to happen.
The data collected also has little to none scientific basis. It is collected by volunteers who get a minimal induction and most of whom don't take it seriously. Hey, its a weeks holiday for these people, they don't care what happens after they leave. If the AWF ever has a peer reviewed scientific paper I will be shocked. If they want to give it a go then I wish them the best, and I can even recommend a lot of citizen science papers your authors should read.
The charity commission is also involved with the AWF.
To sum up my post, if you want to go for a holiday and see some whales cheaply, then the AWF is the place to go. If you want to contribute to scientific research, or have a meaningful gap year which will look good on a CV, then I'd suggest elsewhere.
EDIT: I reread Eds post and am shocked... "two spoilt brats, one individual practically social dysfunctional and the fourth in need of serious psychological support" .... this is coming from a man who claims to support autistic children. What gives Ed the right to verbally abuse his previous volunteers? I retract my previous statment. Never go near the AWF.
... Not that the AWF is a good place to be, but his attitude towards people. From my experience in Tenerife I found it was incredibly unprofessional, disorganised, and most importantly UNSAFE. The house its self is a joke and many volunteer have tripped, slipped and cut/bruise themselves. It is an accident waiting to happen.
Ed also ENCOURAGES the law to be broken. He tells you, not asks, to climb Teide at night so you don't have to buy a permit. This is illegal and pushes people to climb rough terrain in the dark. If you trip and break your leg that is a mountain rescue job. And at winter when it is in the negative temperatures.... again an accident is waiting to happen.
The data collected also has little to none scientific basis. It is collected by volunteers who get a minimal induction and most of whom don't take it seriously. Hey, its a weeks holiday for these people, they don't care what happens after they leave. If the AWF ever has a peer reviewed scientific paper I will be shocked. If they want to give it a go then I wish them the best, and I can even recommend a lot of citizen science papers your authors should read.
The charity commission is also involved with the AWF.
To sum up my post, if you want to go for a holiday and see some whales cheaply, then the AWF is the place to go. If you want to contribute to scientific research, or have a meaningful gap year which will look good on a CV, then I'd suggest elsewhere.
EDIT: I reread Eds post and am shocked... "two spoilt brats, one individual practically social dysfunctional and the fourth in need of serious psychological support" .... this is coming from a man who claims to support autistic children. What gives Ed the right to verbally abuse his previous volunteers? I retract my previous statment. Never go near the AWF.
(edited 10 years ago)
Could not agree more with the above reviews. The house is unsafe, the food budget minimal and the work unprofessional. The founding trustee's attitude towards the volunteers that have paid for the experience is poor - as seen above, any negative remarks about the organisation, no matter how constructive, are met with hostility and in many cases outright abuse. I find Ed Bentham's comments about his previous volunteers disgusting:
"Each, for their own individual issues did not take up the amazing opportunities presented to them- two spoilt brats, one individual practically social [sic] dysfunctional and the fourth in need of serious psychological support, although reading through her mother’s various rantings it is not hard to see where her problems come from."
Although the cost may seem attractive, there are so many cases where you get what you pay for. For this particular one, you'll get even less. Look for opportunities elsewhere.
"Each, for their own individual issues did not take up the amazing opportunities presented to them- two spoilt brats, one individual practically social [sic] dysfunctional and the fourth in need of serious psychological support, although reading through her mother’s various rantings it is not hard to see where her problems come from."
Although the cost may seem attractive, there are so many cases where you get what you pay for. For this particular one, you'll get even less. Look for opportunities elsewhere.
(edited 10 years ago)
Many thanks for your renewed comments. My only response can be that many hundreds of volunteers will again pass through the AWFs programmes in Tenerife this year- they will learn masses about conservation in general and cetaceans in particular, they will have the amazing opportunity of research- guiding on the whale watching boats, most will go diving and almost all will have the thrill of climbing Teide at night to catch the sunrise over the Canaries- one of the best experiences ever (not illegal as the summit is only blocked to tourists during the day- climbers, of which there are thousands every year from all over Europe, go up at night when they have the place to themselves and can avoid the heat of the sun. They will also enjoy the company of other young volunteers from all over the world. The only down side will be the odd neg here or there but that, I am afraid, is life ED
Original post by I<3Whales
I am an ex-volunteer at the AWF, and I think Ed's message sums it up perfectly...
... Not that the AWF is a good place to be, but his attitude towards people. From my experience in Tenerife I found it was incredibly unprofessional, disorganised, and most importantly UNSAFE. The house its self is a joke and many volunteer have tripped, slipped and cut/bruise themselves. It is an accident waiting to happen.
Ed also ENCOURAGES the law to be broken. He tells you, not asks, to climb Teide at night so you don't have to buy a permit. This is illegal and pushes people to climb rough terrain in the dark. If you trip and break your leg that is a mountain rescue job. And at winter when it is in the negative temperatures.... again an accident is waiting to happen.
The data collected also has little to none scientific basis. It is collected by volunteers who get a minimal induction and most of whom don't take it seriously. Hey, its a weeks holiday for these people, they don't care what happens after they leave. If the AWF ever has a peer reviewed scientific paper I will be shocked. If they want to give it a go then I wish them the best, and I can even recommend a lot of citizen science papers your authors should read.
The charity commission is also involved with the AWF.
To sum up my post, if you want to go for a holiday and see some whales cheaply, then the AWF is the place to go. If you want to contribute to scientific research, or have a meaningful gap year which will look good on a CV, then I'd suggest elsewhere.
EDIT: I reread Eds post and am shocked... "two spoilt brats, one individual practically social dysfunctional and the fourth in need of serious psychological support" .... this is coming from a man who claims to support autistic children. What gives Ed the right to verbally abuse his previous volunteers? I retract my previous statment. Never go near the AWF.
... Not that the AWF is a good place to be, but his attitude towards people. From my experience in Tenerife I found it was incredibly unprofessional, disorganised, and most importantly UNSAFE. The house its self is a joke and many volunteer have tripped, slipped and cut/bruise themselves. It is an accident waiting to happen.
Ed also ENCOURAGES the law to be broken. He tells you, not asks, to climb Teide at night so you don't have to buy a permit. This is illegal and pushes people to climb rough terrain in the dark. If you trip and break your leg that is a mountain rescue job. And at winter when it is in the negative temperatures.... again an accident is waiting to happen.
The data collected also has little to none scientific basis. It is collected by volunteers who get a minimal induction and most of whom don't take it seriously. Hey, its a weeks holiday for these people, they don't care what happens after they leave. If the AWF ever has a peer reviewed scientific paper I will be shocked. If they want to give it a go then I wish them the best, and I can even recommend a lot of citizen science papers your authors should read.
The charity commission is also involved with the AWF.
To sum up my post, if you want to go for a holiday and see some whales cheaply, then the AWF is the place to go. If you want to contribute to scientific research, or have a meaningful gap year which will look good on a CV, then I'd suggest elsewhere.
EDIT: I reread Eds post and am shocked... "two spoilt brats, one individual practically social dysfunctional and the fourth in need of serious psychological support" .... this is coming from a man who claims to support autistic children. What gives Ed the right to verbally abuse his previous volunteers? I retract my previous statment. Never go near the AWF.
My last reply here as the AWF is not worth any more of my time... Unless Ed replies with something else I disagree with then I will see if I can find the time to reply.
But as Ed says:
"My only response can be that many hundreds of volunteers will again pass through the AWFs programmes in Tenerife this year- they will learn masses about conservation in general and cetaceans in particular, they will have the amazing opportunity of research"
Sure, hundreds of volunteers will be passing through Tenerife again. Most of them would have just finished their A-levels and be on holiday. Not a research program. As Ed is a money grabbing "businessman", he doesn't survey the quality of the volunteers. Because of this it makes his whole data set useless as there is no way to standardise, removing all scientific basis.
If you can put up with Ed, his vile attitude and the risks he puts on volunteers then go ahead. But as soon as you pay him, you'll rarely get an email response out of him so any further questions will be unanswered. He doesn't pass on information to Tenerife so if you have arranged for a air piort pick up you may be waiting a while. In the summer there are not enough beds (and he has recently removed more), but will over book the accommodation so you will be sleeping on the floor - not what your paying for. When I was there he seemed to give the same food budget for 20 people as for 40, so expect a lot of tinned tomatoes and pasta. Nothing else. If your vegetarian don't even both going as you will go hungry.
It is my impression that going up Teide is illegal without a permit. If not it still doesn't explain why he thinks it's a good idea to send them up at night. I went up, and no one else was climbing it at night. IT IS DANGEROUS. He paid for 4 A level student to come out as part of a "Volunteer Credit" scheme he wants to get running... After those four students left the school wanted nothing to do with the AWF. What does that say about the safety and organisational skills of the AWF and Ed?
And Ed hasn't even apologised for any of the people here who has had a bad experience. Or for his disgusting remarks in his first post. As a supposed business man, his techniques are shocking. His response of "They have not a moral let alone legal leg to stand upon between them and have each been advised to further their claims through the small claims court- a simple and cheap way to affect legal redress..... We will not kotow to this kind of low, disgraceful behaviour- no matter what the cost." I am sorry Ed, but when has complaining you didn't receive the service you paid wrong? Is the bad publicity the AWF is getting from this post alone worth it? Searching for "Atlantic Whale Foundation" this thread is the second or third hit. From your response you have brought a lot of attention to this post. Is this another one of your cases where you have written a reply without thinking through the consequences? Like so many of the rude emails you have sent me and other volunteers?
Also, Ed will happily talk to you personally. Either he is a liar or is delusional. Half of what he has told us in the past did not match up to the current situation.
To conclude, Ed is a bully, a bad business man and a liar. No one should go any of his projects. Unless you just want a cheap week in Tenerife getting pissed. But don't expect to learn any of the skills he advertises on his website. To potential volunteers, I urge you to find else where.
But as Ed says:
"My only response can be that many hundreds of volunteers will again pass through the AWFs programmes in Tenerife this year- they will learn masses about conservation in general and cetaceans in particular, they will have the amazing opportunity of research"
Sure, hundreds of volunteers will be passing through Tenerife again. Most of them would have just finished their A-levels and be on holiday. Not a research program. As Ed is a money grabbing "businessman", he doesn't survey the quality of the volunteers. Because of this it makes his whole data set useless as there is no way to standardise, removing all scientific basis.
If you can put up with Ed, his vile attitude and the risks he puts on volunteers then go ahead. But as soon as you pay him, you'll rarely get an email response out of him so any further questions will be unanswered. He doesn't pass on information to Tenerife so if you have arranged for a air piort pick up you may be waiting a while. In the summer there are not enough beds (and he has recently removed more), but will over book the accommodation so you will be sleeping on the floor - not what your paying for. When I was there he seemed to give the same food budget for 20 people as for 40, so expect a lot of tinned tomatoes and pasta. Nothing else. If your vegetarian don't even both going as you will go hungry.
It is my impression that going up Teide is illegal without a permit. If not it still doesn't explain why he thinks it's a good idea to send them up at night. I went up, and no one else was climbing it at night. IT IS DANGEROUS. He paid for 4 A level student to come out as part of a "Volunteer Credit" scheme he wants to get running... After those four students left the school wanted nothing to do with the AWF. What does that say about the safety and organisational skills of the AWF and Ed?
And Ed hasn't even apologised for any of the people here who has had a bad experience. Or for his disgusting remarks in his first post. As a supposed business man, his techniques are shocking. His response of "They have not a moral let alone legal leg to stand upon between them and have each been advised to further their claims through the small claims court- a simple and cheap way to affect legal redress..... We will not kotow to this kind of low, disgraceful behaviour- no matter what the cost." I am sorry Ed, but when has complaining you didn't receive the service you paid wrong? Is the bad publicity the AWF is getting from this post alone worth it? Searching for "Atlantic Whale Foundation" this thread is the second or third hit. From your response you have brought a lot of attention to this post. Is this another one of your cases where you have written a reply without thinking through the consequences? Like so many of the rude emails you have sent me and other volunteers?
Also, Ed will happily talk to you personally. Either he is a liar or is delusional. Half of what he has told us in the past did not match up to the current situation.
To conclude, Ed is a bully, a bad business man and a liar. No one should go any of his projects. Unless you just want a cheap week in Tenerife getting pissed. But don't expect to learn any of the skills he advertises on his website. To potential volunteers, I urge you to find else where.
I'm not sure if Ed, you realise that this is now very high on the search list if you type into Google 'Atlantic Whale Foundation review'.
If I were a prospective volunteer, the first thing I would do is look up people's view on where I wanted to go and Ed, your treatment of comments on past volunteers and failure to address there complaints would put me off, immediately.
If I were a prospective volunteer, the first thing I would do is look up people's view on where I wanted to go and Ed, your treatment of comments on past volunteers and failure to address there complaints would put me off, immediately.
My name is Ed Bentham, the person slandered in the above emails. I have given the best part of forty years to providing low cost opportunities to tens of thousands of young people enabling them to gain extraordinary experience volunteering abroad on projects all over the world. I have done this on a purely voluntary basis alongside my teaching work.
The four people above were never on an AWF volunteer project but, rather, on a newly formed Marine Habitat Survey programme designed to give students with an interest in marine conservation/ biology a low cost access to quality dive training and experience. As part of the programme they were able to join the whale and dolphin research programme for the four weeks (£500 inclusive accommodation and food), undertake professional dive courses and dives (£750) and contribute to the cost of ongoing research into threatened habitats (£250 of an annual bill of several thousands of pounds). Each, for their own individual issues did not take up the amazing opportunities presented to them- two spoilt brats, one individual practically social dysfunctional and the fourth in need of serious psychological support, although reading through her mother’s various rantings it is not hard to see where her problems come from.
They have not a moral let alone legal leg to stand upon between them and have each been advised to further their claims through the small claims court- a simple and cheap way to affect legal redress. They have decided instead to mount a vicious and co-ordinated campaign of slander and abuse presumably to try and embarrass the Foundation into reimbursing them. We will not kotow to this kind of low, disgraceful behaviour- no matter what the cost.
When I left school at the end of the 60’s, I had in mind like so many working class kids a job in a factory or perhaps a shop. As it was I ended up in an accounting firm, book-keeping- I could add up columns of pounds, shillings and pence in rows of three just by glancing down the page BUT I was so bored. I still have nightmares of the second hand of the office clock ticking down excruciatingly slowly to 5.00pm. The then Labour government gave me and millions of other working class kids free university education – I was paid to go down to London and came top in everything that I did. It changed my life and that of my children and it changed our country. What is happening now in higher education is a tragedy.
They were heady times- student riots in Paris, anti (Vietnam) war and CND protests, young people chained to the railings outside of the South African embassy demanding the release of some bloke called Nelson Mandella; the music of Joan Baez, Edwin Star, Johnny Cash and Bob Dillon- listen to Dillon’s ‘Blowing in the Wind’ after watching Mississippi Burning – young white kids being brutally murdered for daring to stand shoulder to shoulder with black people marching for their freedom- understand the meaning of the words and feel the passion of the times.
The AWF offers low cost volunteering opportunities because I feel a debt to the country that gave me such an amazing opportunity all those years ago. Does the above slander affect my cause? No! there are always one or two imbeciles every year who whinge and complain, it’s the way of the world. If you are reading this then you have a choice- either go to the dark side and get sucked into the mire or come into the light. The AWF offers low cost opportunities to give of yourselves for the common good on great projects all over the world; the dive programme alluded to by the above is simply fabulous- in conception, design and delivery. If you want further information please contact me [email address removed.]
The four people above were never on an AWF volunteer project but, rather, on a newly formed Marine Habitat Survey programme designed to give students with an interest in marine conservation/ biology a low cost access to quality dive training and experience. As part of the programme they were able to join the whale and dolphin research programme for the four weeks (£500 inclusive accommodation and food), undertake professional dive courses and dives (£750) and contribute to the cost of ongoing research into threatened habitats (£250 of an annual bill of several thousands of pounds). Each, for their own individual issues did not take up the amazing opportunities presented to them- two spoilt brats, one individual practically social dysfunctional and the fourth in need of serious psychological support, although reading through her mother’s various rantings it is not hard to see where her problems come from.
They have not a moral let alone legal leg to stand upon between them and have each been advised to further their claims through the small claims court- a simple and cheap way to affect legal redress. They have decided instead to mount a vicious and co-ordinated campaign of slander and abuse presumably to try and embarrass the Foundation into reimbursing them. We will not kotow to this kind of low, disgraceful behaviour- no matter what the cost.
When I left school at the end of the 60’s, I had in mind like so many working class kids a job in a factory or perhaps a shop. As it was I ended up in an accounting firm, book-keeping- I could add up columns of pounds, shillings and pence in rows of three just by glancing down the page BUT I was so bored. I still have nightmares of the second hand of the office clock ticking down excruciatingly slowly to 5.00pm. The then Labour government gave me and millions of other working class kids free university education – I was paid to go down to London and came top in everything that I did. It changed my life and that of my children and it changed our country. What is happening now in higher education is a tragedy.
They were heady times- student riots in Paris, anti (Vietnam) war and CND protests, young people chained to the railings outside of the South African embassy demanding the release of some bloke called Nelson Mandella; the music of Joan Baez, Edwin Star, Johnny Cash and Bob Dillon- listen to Dillon’s ‘Blowing in the Wind’ after watching Mississippi Burning – young white kids being brutally murdered for daring to stand shoulder to shoulder with black people marching for their freedom- understand the meaning of the words and feel the passion of the times.
The AWF offers low cost volunteering opportunities because I feel a debt to the country that gave me such an amazing opportunity all those years ago. Does the above slander affect my cause? No! there are always one or two imbeciles every year who whinge and complain, it’s the way of the world. If you are reading this then you have a choice- either go to the dark side and get sucked into the mire or come into the light. The AWF offers low cost opportunities to give of yourselves for the common good on great projects all over the world; the dive programme alluded to by the above is simply fabulous- in conception, design and delivery. If you want further information please contact me [email address removed.]
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