OUR STORY
It all started with the first Paralympic Winter Games
The inaugural Paralympic Winter Games held in Sweden in 1976 was a fairly modest affair with around 200 athletes from 16 countries competing in Alpine and Nordic competition plus Ice Sledge racing demonstration. Great Britain's small team of 6 skiers attracted media attention and after seeing a television news item about three cross country skiers with visual impairments Peggy Hounslow and Noel Vincent of Waymark Holidays wanted to help people with visual impairments take part in cross country skiing so asked Rosemary Crosbie (a Waymark cross country holiday leader and qualified instructor) for advice. Rosemary contacted Colonel John Moore at the British Ski Federation, he was head of the Army Physical Training School at Aldershot and the three skiers - Pete Young, Graham Salmon and Mike Brace - were invited to use the facilities at the school which included ski equipment, instructors and home-made ski track. In January 1977 Waymark generously provided a free ski holiday at Kvitåvatn in Norway for Graham Salmon and Pete Young with Rosemary and her son John as their guides.
Sporting achievements
Pete, Graham and Mike took every opportunity to practise and went on to race successfully at many levels. Pete won bronze medals at the Winter Paralympic Games in Innsbruck (1984) and Lillehammer (1994) as well as gold medals at the 1990 World Championships and 1991 European Championships.
The start of organised holidays
The word got around and more people with visual impairments became interested in the opportunity of going on ski holidays. British Ski Club for the Disabled with the support of its founder Hubert Sturges started organising holidays with the help of Waymark. Initially three Skiers accompanied by three Guides enjoyed free holidays at Kvitåvatn each year - flights donated by Waymark and accommodation by Kvitåvatn's owner, Rod Tuck.
Waymark Holidays and their clients' contributions
As demand for the holidays grew it soon became impractical to provide free holidays and from 1980-81 onwards Waymark included as an appeal in the winter brochure for donations to assist in making holidays affordable. Waymark continued to include an appeal for donations and guides in their winter brochure until the 2004-05 season, and during the company’s existence almost £40,000 was raised in total for skiers with disabilities. Rosemary Crosbie became the administrator for the scheme and was deeply involved in the organisation of holidays for many years - a commitment recognised by the English Ski Council (now Snowsport England) when she was awarded the Robert Hovey Trophy in 1995 for her "substantial contribution to the sport of cross-country skiing in England".
The Guide Dog years
By 1984 the focus moved from elite training and competition to holidays and in 1993 organising the holidays was taken over by Guide Dog Holidays (later known as Guide Dog Adventure Group). The charity arranged a wide range of holidays for visually impaired and sighted people. There were now 2 holidays each year, arranged through Waymark, this increased to 3 in 1996 and 4 in 1999. Popular destinations were Dobbiaco in Italy, Mösern or Pertisau in Austria, and Geilo, Hallingen or Sjusjøen in Norway.
In 2002 the relationship with Guide Dogs ended and Winged Fellowship Trust (later Vitalise Holidays) took over organising the holidays. Skiers and Guides continued to enjoy holidays and were able to explore some new areas, including Saariselkä, Levi and Ylläs in Finland. Vitalise Holidays ceased operation in January 2013 and, sadly, we had no holiday that year.
A new start
Skiers and Guides kept in contact and explored other options. We were unable to find any organisation or company offering similar holidays, but we didn't give up. In January 2014 we were in Seefeld after Linda Gaitskill arranged our first independent holiday as a group of friends with the skiing led by Pam Curwen. The following year we were in Ylläs in Finland for a great holiday this time organised by Lyn Street with Pam leading the skiing again. We liked it so much that we keep going back to stay in Äkäslompolo to ski in the Ylläs track system.
Who knows what's next... Watch this space... Maybe you'll be part of it...
The first part of this account was adapted from "The Waymark Story. The history of WAYMARK HOLIDAYS 1973-2007" (pp.32-36, 120-121, 134-139) with the generous permission of its author, Colin Saunders. You can read the full story at http://www.colinsaunders.org.uk/WebRoot/BT3/Shops/BT4783/MediaGallery/pdf/WaymarkStory2ndEd.pdf
(click on the button below)
The Waymark story
We have endeavoured to get all the facts and dates right, apologies for any mistakes - please let us know and we'll put them right. If you have any pictures from the early days for inclusion on this page, please contact us.
The inaugural Paralympic Winter Games held in Sweden in 1976 was a fairly modest affair with around 200 athletes from 16 countries competing in Alpine and Nordic competition plus Ice Sledge racing demonstration. Great Britain's small team of 6 skiers attracted media attention and after seeing a television news item about three cross country skiers with visual impairments Peggy Hounslow and Noel Vincent of Waymark Holidays wanted to help people with visual impairments take part in cross country skiing so asked Rosemary Crosbie (a Waymark cross country holiday leader and qualified instructor) for advice. Rosemary contacted Colonel John Moore at the British Ski Federation, he was head of the Army Physical Training School at Aldershot and the three skiers - Pete Young, Graham Salmon and Mike Brace - were invited to use the facilities at the school which included ski equipment, instructors and home-made ski track. In January 1977 Waymark generously provided a free ski holiday at Kvitåvatn in Norway for Graham Salmon and Pete Young with Rosemary and her son John as their guides.
Sporting achievements
Pete, Graham and Mike took every opportunity to practise and went on to race successfully at many levels. Pete won bronze medals at the Winter Paralympic Games in Innsbruck (1984) and Lillehammer (1994) as well as gold medals at the 1990 World Championships and 1991 European Championships.
The start of organised holidays
The word got around and more people with visual impairments became interested in the opportunity of going on ski holidays. British Ski Club for the Disabled with the support of its founder Hubert Sturges started organising holidays with the help of Waymark. Initially three Skiers accompanied by three Guides enjoyed free holidays at Kvitåvatn each year - flights donated by Waymark and accommodation by Kvitåvatn's owner, Rod Tuck.
Waymark Holidays and their clients' contributions
As demand for the holidays grew it soon became impractical to provide free holidays and from 1980-81 onwards Waymark included as an appeal in the winter brochure for donations to assist in making holidays affordable. Waymark continued to include an appeal for donations and guides in their winter brochure until the 2004-05 season, and during the company’s existence almost £40,000 was raised in total for skiers with disabilities. Rosemary Crosbie became the administrator for the scheme and was deeply involved in the organisation of holidays for many years - a commitment recognised by the English Ski Council (now Snowsport England) when she was awarded the Robert Hovey Trophy in 1995 for her "substantial contribution to the sport of cross-country skiing in England".
The Guide Dog years
By 1984 the focus moved from elite training and competition to holidays and in 1993 organising the holidays was taken over by Guide Dog Holidays (later known as Guide Dog Adventure Group). The charity arranged a wide range of holidays for visually impaired and sighted people. There were now 2 holidays each year, arranged through Waymark, this increased to 3 in 1996 and 4 in 1999. Popular destinations were Dobbiaco in Italy, Mösern or Pertisau in Austria, and Geilo, Hallingen or Sjusjøen in Norway.
In 2002 the relationship with Guide Dogs ended and Winged Fellowship Trust (later Vitalise Holidays) took over organising the holidays. Skiers and Guides continued to enjoy holidays and were able to explore some new areas, including Saariselkä, Levi and Ylläs in Finland. Vitalise Holidays ceased operation in January 2013 and, sadly, we had no holiday that year.
A new start
Skiers and Guides kept in contact and explored other options. We were unable to find any organisation or company offering similar holidays, but we didn't give up. In January 2014 we were in Seefeld after Linda Gaitskill arranged our first independent holiday as a group of friends with the skiing led by Pam Curwen. The following year we were in Ylläs in Finland for a great holiday this time organised by Lyn Street with Pam leading the skiing again. We liked it so much that we keep going back to stay in Äkäslompolo to ski in the Ylläs track system.
Who knows what's next... Watch this space... Maybe you'll be part of it...
The first part of this account was adapted from "The Waymark Story. The history of WAYMARK HOLIDAYS 1973-2007" (pp.32-36, 120-121, 134-139) with the generous permission of its author, Colin Saunders. You can read the full story at http://www.colinsaunders.org.uk/WebRoot/BT3/Shops/BT4783/MediaGallery/pdf/WaymarkStory2ndEd.pdf
(click on the button below)
The Waymark story
We have endeavoured to get all the facts and dates right, apologies for any mistakes - please let us know and we'll put them right. If you have any pictures from the early days for inclusion on this page, please contact us.