On a wet December evening, women from around Greater Manchester descended on Blacks on Deansgate. It’s not as sinister as it might sound, although the rain was pretty hardcore. We were there for the launch of This is my way, the new campaign from Blacks celebrating women in the outdoors. As a blogger, I have found that most are into make-up and fashion, so spending the evening with rucksack and raincoat wearing women was ace!
This is my way
It is so easy to get lost in the images of wild adventures and far away lands, which is totally fine. But what about the real adventures which we take every weekend. The outdoor activities which get us to the next adventure and let’s face it the reason we get outside in the first place. No matter what your sport/activity/passion might be, the This is My Way campaign is designed to celebrate the individual women and their individual ways of enjoying time outdoors.
The main campaign focuses on seven incredible, yet still normal like you and me, women who get outside in different ways. They share their stories, challenges and background to inspire others to try it too. The thing I loved most about it was that we all love or work in the city, yet make sure we get time outdoors, whether it be biking or walking our commutes as well as planning and taking longer adventures in our time off. It was refreshing to meet like-minded women too.
Over the coming weeks, you can follow along with the stories of the This is my way women over on the Blacks blog and social media.
Not my usual style
We were welcomed to the event with a glass of fizz, which was not my usual style, but I think it went beautifully with my soggy Rab coat from the walk over.
Settling in, we all chatted away asking how we had heard of the event and generally about the weather (of course, we are British after all). It turns out that many of us are in the Adventure Queens Facebook group or part of the Wonderful Wild Women. It is amazing really how technology brings us together. So there was a kind of familiarity between us before we even got talking.
Inspirational stories
While we nattered and drank our welcome drink, we got to fill in a competition for a personal shopping experience and a token for spin the wheel. I have to say that personal shopping experiences don’t usually fill me with delight, but when it comes to outdoor gear; that is a different story. Fingers crossed, I passed it to the team.
Unfortunately not all the ambassadors were able to attend the event, but we enjoyed a video and personal presentations from adventurer Olivia Wood and Bex Tatham from Wonderful Wild Women. I loved hearing stories of real women doing great outdoors stuff. I think anyone who thinks that the outdoors is not for them, should definitely check out the stories.
I might not have had chance to speak to the ladies, but I did enjoy e-meeting Laura Murray over on Instagram after the event. It’s that amazing technology at it again! To be honest, I met all sorts of other great people, that it felt good anyway.
Fun and games
Of course, no event would be complete without some fun and games. That token I mentioned earlier was for spin the wheel where you have numerous chances to win amazing prizes.
There were some pretty amazing prizes to be won and I was lucky enough to win a Jack Wolfskin puffed jacket. If there was one thing I didn’t expect to come home with, it was a jacket! While I was winning ace prizes, Mairi and Rebecca (both from the Adventure Queens) were having *some fun in the photo booth. *Apparently it is a bit more stressful than it looks!
After a bit of a browse feeling like the rich when you get to look around a shop after hours, we listened to s few more stories before it was time to head back into the winter rain of Manchester. (just for the record, I love the Manchester rain!)
It really is This is My Way
One of the things that stood out for me at the event was that there really were so many different women there, all with a love for something outdoorsey. It didn’t matter what age they were, where they went or how they did it, we all had a passion for fresh air and adventure. As I mentioned in my recent post about the Ordnance Survey Get Outside Day, adventure and outdoors is really for everyone. And it brings me back to my motto that you can have adventure anywhere – for curious minds and wandering feet wherever they may be.
I am really excited to see the campaign unfold and would especially love to hear your stories about what it is that you love about the outdoors (and this isn’t limited to the ladies either!) Share in the comments and perhaps I will pop it into an inspirational post for everyone to read!
Oh and I forgot to mention that we got a goodie bag…I’ll tell you more about that in another post.
To find out more about the This is My Way campaign, visit the Blacks website.
Disclosure: I was invited along to the launch to enjoy the event and to share what I thought about it. All comments, photos and opinions are honest and my own – unless otherwise stated.