Mountain Training England

Mountain Training England has delivered leadership qualifications in mountaineering and climbing since 1964.

The main purposes of Mountain Training England are to register and advise candidates for the qualifications and training schemes it delivers; approve and manage suitably qualified and experienced providers for its courses and to ensure the quality of delivery of training and assessment courses.

The qualifications administered by Mountain Training England are:

• Camping Leader
• Lowland Leader
• Hill and Moorland Leader
• Mountain Leader
• Indoor Climbing Assistant
• Climbing Wall Instructor
• Climbing Wall Development Instructor
• Rock Climbing Instructor
• Rock Climbing Development Instructor

The skills schemes administered by Mountain Training England are:

• Hill & Mountain Skills
• Rock Skills

Peter Stacey

Peter is a Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor and also holds the Winter Mountain Leader and International Mountain Leader Awards. He was until 2019 a course provider for many of the Mountain Training award climbing and walking award schemes. Before retiring in 2022 Pete was self-employed and worked as a Technical Adviser for a range of activity providers, including activity centres, ropes courses and climbing walls. He also was employed as the Chief Officer for the British Activity Providers Association.

His outdoor career started in the late 1970’s at a small activity centre in the Lake District. Roles at YMCA Lakeside and Outward Bound Wales then led him to move sideways into working with young people at risk including young offender work and later managing the fostering and residential services in Telford.

Then a ten-year spell followed working for the national charity Fairbridge as the West Midlands Regional Manager. Since 2005, Pete has been self-employed as a Mountaineering Instructor and International Mountain Leader leading treks in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, the Pyrenees and India.

Pete is a past Chair of both Mountain Training UK&I and of the Association of Mountaineering Instructors. He enjoys days in any mountains and has explored many mountains in the USA including the Wind Rivers and Sawtooth ranges as well as many days in Colorado’s Rockies.

Sue Manns

Sue is a Chartered Town Planner and was President of the Royal Town Planning Institute in 2020. She was awarded a MBE in the New Years Honours List 2022 for her work promoting equality, diversity and inclusivity both within the profession and in how it engages with local communities. She also has postgraduate qualifications in Education and Professional Development, and Personal and Business Coaching.

Aside from her work as a planner, Sue enjoys sharing her passion for the outdoors with others. She is a Hillwalking Terrain 2 (summer) assessor for Scouts, a DofE Gold expedition assessor and was Regional Co-ordinator for the MTA West Midlands between 2014 and 2017. She is a volunteer leader with HF Holidays, leading trips in the UK and Europe. She holds the HML and ML(s) qualifications and is a member of the Midlands Association of Mountaineers.

Neil Adshead

Neil brings nearly 30 years of experience as a chartered accountant. He qualified with one of the 'big 4' accountancy firms in the early 1990s and then worked in various management roles in accountancy practices and industry including significant experience in advising to the charity sector and liaison with the Charity Commission. Since 2000 he has been working in a senior role in the public sector providing technical accounting advice in the large and medium sized business sectors and working on strategic projects, including the recent introduction of new accounting standards in the UK.

Neil is a keen participant in a variety of outdoor activities. He has climbed a number of 'classic' routes in Snowdonia and the Lake District and enjoys mountain walks and scrambles in those areas, as well as in Scotland. He has had an article published in 'Trail' magazine describing his traverse of the Cuillin ridge on the isle of Rhum. He is an active member and auditor of his local athletic club in Southport, gaining county and regional medals for cross country. He has also won medals competing in national Civil Service races. He is a member of the Fell Runners Association, competing in a number of fell races every year. During summer weekends he can often be found kayaking around the coast of Anglesey!

Jan Doyle

I have worked in the health and education sectors before moving to sport and physical activity in 2000. My present role is Head of Development and Strategic programme Manager at Snowsport England the national governing body for skiing and snowboarding.

I am passionate about sport and physical activity and what people can achieve from it at every level and form of engagement, both as a participant and volunteer. I sit on several national forums to share knowledge and experience to shape the strategy for sport and physical activity in the UK.

 As a family we love the great outdoors and in any spare time we have can be found walking, mountaineering and cycling in this country and in the Alps on our holidays, where we also ski.

My work in an organisation receiving investment from Sport England has meant implementing and being compliant with the Code for Sport Governance. I hope with this knowledge and experience gained I can provide an independent oversight to the MTE Board.

Jo Corris Wright

Jo started her career in sport with the Organising Committee for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. She joined the British Paralympic Association in 2014 and has been a part of Paralympics GB for Rio 2016, PyeongChang 2018 and the postponed Tokyo 2020(1) Games. 

During Jo’s time at BPA she has worked across the Sport, Performance and Operations teams and during Games time, has experience in both the preparation environment and the athletes’ Village.

Jo was raised on camping holidays around the UK which sparked her love for exploring outdoors, and this is how she spends much of her free time.

Kelvyn James

Kelvyn is an International Mountain Leader and Rock Climbing Instructor; he specifically cites climbing and getting out into nature as giving him the resilience and confidence to survive a challenging childhood. His 20's were spent combining a career in senior management (team building, governance and problem solving) with climbing competitions and expeditions. In his 30's he built his own large successful manufacturing business and in his 40's he sold it to return to where it all began - the Great Outdoors - you can find him out walking in the hills on a crag or in a lake most days.

Kelvyn is now a provider of Mountain Training courses and specialises in the mental health sector where he sits on several advisory committees to promote engagement with the natural world as a therapeutic benefit. Having held several roles in the outdoor sector Kelvyn says, " I'd like to give something back to a sector that has given me so much - I'm very pleased to join MTE and look forward to supporting the work they do."

Sharon Kennedy

Sharon works for the Environment Agency where she is the Area Environment Manager for Cumbria, her teams assess compliance with environmental regulations across all activities which impact on air, land and water. She also oversees a large number of environmental, habitat, river and upland restoration projects.

On her days off Sharon works as a freelance outdoor instructor, holding the Mountain Leader and Rock Climbing Instructor qualifications, working on Mountain Leader and Hill and Moorland Leader courses.

She has recently become a Tutor for Hill Skills and Mountain Skills courses. She is a trainee Rock Climbing Development Instructor. Her hobbies include walking, climbing and running, anything which gets her into the mountains. Sharon is also a member of her local Mountain Rescue Team.

“My personal passions are the outdoors, the environment and teaching others to love and respect these. I am really keen all three are accessible to all.”

Sharon lives in the Lake District with her partner and their dogs.