Climbing, canoeing, cycling, all these activities take a lot of energy. Luckily our catering team are on hand providing home cooked meals and tasty treats. I asked Helen to divulge her Vanilla Tiffin recipe, be aware though, it is a very sweet treat indeed!

This recipe makes enough for 72 pieces so you may want to adjust the quantities accordingly!
Ingredients:
1.5 lbs Margarine
12 Tablespoons of Syrup
1 lb 2 oz of Caster Sugar
1 lb 2 oz of Dried Mixed Fruit
1 Dessert spoon of Vanilla Essence
2 lbs Crushed Digestive Biscuits
Sufficient White Cooking Chocolate for the Topping.
Method:
Gently melt the margarine and syrup together.
In a mixing bowl add and mix together all of the dried ingredients.
Pour the melted margarine and syrup into the mixing bowl of dried ingredients.
Add the vanilla essence.
Stir the mixture together.
Add the mixture to greased baking trays, pressing the mixture down smoothly.
Melt the white cooking chocolate and pour onto the trays and smooth over the tiffin.
Chill in a fridge for an hour or so before marking into slices and cutting.
Enjoy.

A tray of tiffin ready to be taken out on activities.
Thurston OEC has recently taken delivery of a fleet of new Sit on Top Kayaks. A welcome addition to our water equipment, the Sit on Tops are fun and easy to paddle.
The instructional team took them out onto Coniston Water for a staff training session. Here they are, hard at work.

More photos can be seen on our Facebook page.
The last few days have seen snow falling here in the Lake District. Fortunately the roads have remained opened and this week and next sees us welcoming pupils from South Shields Community School here at Thurston.
Having wrapped up warmly the snow offers the opportunity to experience new activities such as snow-hole building. Once the days activities are over it is back to the warm and welcoming centre and time to tuck into the hearty meals our Catering Team provide.

On the 2 – 3 November 2010, Thurston OEC welcomed the South Tyneside Leadership Academy to the centre for a 2-day Management Training Course.

This week sees the annual Coniston Power Boat Records Week being held on the lake.
Congratulations to our trainee Oli Harding on passing his Summer Mountain Leader Assessment.


Climbing South Gully on Wetherlam
The fells have been covered with snow since the week before christmas. So time for the staff to get out and enjoy before its back to work.
150 small whips of silver birch, oak and rowan have been planted around the estate.
Also around the house and local fields 64 specimen trees.
2009 has seen a number of groups taking advantage of the newly established Thurston Campsite.
015394 41218
andy.stubbs@southtyneside.gov.uk