Myles Farnbank presents Julie with her Sirius Leadership Award

Julie McElroy, a graduate of this summer’s Sirius Environmental Leadership Award programme has built on her learning and success from our scholarship opportunity to go on and achieve the highest level of the John Muir Award.

25-year-old Julie was born with cerebral palsy which has resulted in mobility problems, walking difficulties and speech impairment along with manual dexterity problems. She is also profoundly deaf and wears two hearing aids, but she has refused to let these disabilities stop her completing her the many challenges that have enabled her to qualify for the JMT Conserver Award, including our very own 12 mile canoe journey down Loch Shiel as part of Sirius.

Julie said: “I wanted to experience a totally new existence and challenges that are different from the ones I experience in everyday life. Being in the wild allows me to establish myself more as a person.

“I love the outdoors because it allows you to rebalance yourself as a person. I love coming up with new ideas and I wanted to lead by example.

“The buzz of the outdoors began for me when I was a child and I now want to unleash opportunities where other disabled people can climb a mountain, get involved in taking responsibility for the natural environment and most importantly enjoy the fun, adventure and exploration of the wild.”

Julie was presented with her Conserver Award by BBC Adventure Show presenter Dougie Vipond.  Wilderness Foundation UK Operations Manager Richard Corby, together with the Foundation’s Outdoors Adventure Advisor Myles Farnbank also took to the stage and formally presented Julie with her Sirius Leadership Award.   Both Richard and Myles are instrumental in delivering Sirius for the Foundation each year, working with a range of scholarship award recipients with the aim of developing informed leaders for the future who understand, and believe in, the need to find balance between the needs of humans and nature and ensure a sustainable future for ourselves and the planet.

Many congratulations to Julie on her achievements this year, and everyone else who has undertaken the challenge of Sirus and become a baecon of inspiration to us all.

Find out more about the Sirius Leadership Programme sponsored by the Tellus Mater Foundation.