Words: Del Read

Photos: Del Read

Del Read

https://delkayaks.co.uk
@del_likes_kayaking
tom clare @tomclaremedia

Having fun on the water at Jam Park 2024

For UK and Irish paddlers, October brings an exciting couple of weeks as the Park Jam events series runs. Pyranha Kayaks and Palm Equipment organise park Jam to bring people together for fun on the water. The Park Jam tour aims to inspire the next generation of paddlers across the UK. It’s a chance for kids to paddle with and be inspired by the Palm and Pyranha teams and hear from them about their latest adventures.

Three weeks of fun on the water
Over three weeks, team paddlers from Pyranha and Palm tour white water courses across England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Paddlers are encouraged to come and join them for some fun on the water, with the opportunity to then hear from and meet those paddlers afterwards.

I was involved with some of the Park Jam dates in 2023 and was thrilled to get involved again in 2024. Life has been a little busy lately, but I managed to join for four out of nine of the dates and had a great time during those events. I am sure there will be blog posts from team paddlers in the coming weeks to share a more official account, but here is mine if you want to read it!

Northampton Active
The first day I joined was event two of the Park Jam series at Northampton Active (the Nene). Park Jam had kicked off with a bang at Lee Valley in London the night before. My husband Tom was a photographer for the weekend, so I’d already seen lots of photos that morning of all the happy paddlers!

We arrived at midday and grabbed lunch from the cafe, allowing us to chat with a couple of the staff members. I’ve only been to the Nene a couple of times, but the staff there are just always the most lovely people! Tom and I had both been involved in running one of the Youth Freestyle League events there a couple of months ago, so there were lots of familiar faces.

Once we’d finished lunch, we headed out to get ready, and the rest of the team began to arrive. Banners were put up, and paddlers were geared up. It was a beautifully sunny and warm day, so many people had even opted for shorts!

Little Luke Bermingham came over for a chat as I was finishing getting ready. At 13 years old, Luke is the youngest team member involved in the park jam. He and his two brothers recently joined the Pyranha team, and you only need to spend a little time with Luke to see why!

Luke is an absolute ball of enthusiasm, incredibly determined in his kayaking, and, above all, he is super friendly and encouraging to everyone he meets. It was great to see him leading the fun on the water. Luke is certainly a paddler, and I think you’ll see more of him in the future. He was also, like me, paddling a small Ozone, so obviously, he has good taste too!

If you’ve never paddled at the Nene before, it is a cool little course! It’s set out in a loop, so when you get to the bottom, it’s not that far to get back up to the top, so that you can get plenty of laps in! I proceeded to have a lovely couple of hours paddling and talking with people. So many cool things were happening, and it was great to see people having fun! I loved seeing how inventive everyone was.

Shout out to a kid named Hamish, who was nailing his stern stalls at every opportunity, and to the Nene staff for their various shenanigans, including the use of canoes, duo kayaks, and SUPs! Seven-year-old Theo making his way down the course in both a duo and then his own kayak was pretty cool! A big well done to everyone who went for a surf in the pour-over or tried some fun moves! It was very impressive to see so much creativity!

I met a lovely couple, Patrick and Anja, with whom I spent much time. Patrick had a bright yellow Firecracker, the same colour scheme as my Ozone, which started our conversation. Anja joined me for a couple of laps of fun in the sun. Anja had been a little nervous beforehand, but she smashed her laps and was getting stuck in with surfing and all sorts by the end! I really enjoyed our paddle together, so thanks for that, Anja!

Once off the water, everyone changed and headed upstairs for the talks. Each event swaps around which team paddlers are giving the talks. This event featured a talk by Andy’ Chips’ Kettlewell and Oli Cooper about their trip to Iceland. Sal Montgomery gave a more general talk about lessons learned and her adventures. Adrian Mattern gave a talk about his journey to where he is now. Each talk was very different, and I thought they all spoke well. It’s not always easy to talk in front of a crowd, but they smashed it!

Adrian showed a SEND video at the start of his talk to show their group’s adventures. There were, of course, lots of clips of Bren, who sadly passed away in May this year. Both Adrian and Andy mentioned Bren in their talks, and numerous paddlers mentioned his name many times over the day. Many paddlers who attended the Park Jam event had also participated the year before and had met Bren then.

Whenever his name came up, there was always a feeling of sadness, but there was also a feeling that his legacy was being honoured. So many paddlers were brought together to share a good time on the water. Bren might not have been with us at Park Jam this year but he was very much there with us in spirit­.

After the talks, there was an opportunity for people to meet any of the Team Paddlers that they wanted to, get posters signed and collect prizes for being spotted by one of the Team for having a great time on the water! It’s a lovely way to end the day, and a huge thank you to the Nene staff for accommodating this and getting everyone sorted. Once the last poster had been signed and the banners taken back down, we headed to the pub for some dinner. It was nice to get a chance to catch up with friends after a fantastic but busy day.

Thanks, Northampton Active, for a great day!

Holme Pierrepont
Day four of the Park Jam was held at my local white water course, Holme Pierrepont (HPP), here in Nottingham. Most of the paddlers had been to Cardiff, but I had not been with them, so it was nice to see everyone again and hear about the Cardiff event. By complete coincidence, I had been at HPP all day already as I had been there with students from my school, helping the PE department assess them kayaking for their CNAT sports qualification. I have always loved it when the different areas of my life come together this way.

Once one set of teenagers had left me, the next set arrived as the Palm Groms (Jools, Charlotte, Ask, Cam, and honorary Grom Ewan) parked up. Palm Grows is a programme set up by Palm to help develop and mentor young kayakers. In my opinion, it is one of the most wholesome things a brand has done for a long time. The current Groms are all lovely, and it was great to hear about their adventures down on the Dart over the last couple of days.

The rest of the team arrived just in time for the 18:00 event start. We only had a little daylight left, but luckily, HPP has floodlights allowing for evening paddling. There was a good turn, and seeing so many of the local kids showing us their moves was fantastic. There was a lot of party surfing and fun times. When I told them to ‘do something cool for the camera!’, I shouted out to Ted and Henry, who went for a party surf and paddle swap. Another youngster, James, also stood out as enthusiastic, giving everything a go. I decided to give him a shout-out later on for one of the spot prizes and, through that, found out that he was Oli’s cousin!

Once everyone had had a good time on the water, it was time for the talks. There isn’t a function room at HPP’s white water course, but manager Matt did an excellent job setting up an outdoor screening area! Heidi, Huw and Adrian all gave a talk, which was again followed by some spot prizes and a chance for people to meet and greet with the team. I love seeing how excited everyone (kids and adults) was to get their posters signed and photos taken. It’s such a wholesome atmosphere!

The pub dinner afterwards was very appreciated, as everyone was pretty hungry by this point. We reflected on what a great community there is here in Nottingham. It really is special, and I was pleased that the team got to see that. Thank you, HPP, for a lovely evening!

Mile End Mill
We headed to Llangollen in North Wales and arrived in beautiful sunshine! We didn’t arrive with enough time to join the morning Dee lap, but we did arrive with enough time for a hot drink and a catch-up with some friends, which was lovely. Banners went up, and it was time to paddle!

I met a lovely little group in the carpark, including 13-year-old Dylan and his dad, Nigel. Dylan hadn’t paddled in a while but was keen to get back into it today. We started with a couple of laps from the top of the mile end mill to the bottom as a warm-up before moving onto some ferry gliding practice and then some surfing! Dylan was absolutely smashing out his surfs by the end of the session!

We bumped into lots of other happy paddlers on the water, including another Dylan and some keen slalom teenagers who’d also come for Park Jam – Lara, Rose and Alex were nailing their surfs on bottom wave. There was a University group that was lovely too – Surrey, I think they said! (If any of those University students are reading this, please add a comment to correct me if I’ve misremembered!) It was nice to bump into lots of friendly faces on the water of locals and those who’d come from further afield.

On my final walk back up to the top, I stopped and watched some impressive seal launches off the big rock. Kayakers were launching themselves off the rock into the river below in various ways, making for great entertainment.

After the river came the talks with Aaron Kendall, who was going first. Aaron works locally as a raft guide and has been one of the driving forces behind Dee Valley Clean Up, which organises river cleans on the Dee. He spoke about this and about how others can get involved in helping to clean up their rivers.

Next, Charlotte and Cam discussed how they got involved with Palm Groms and their experiences so far. Finally, Adrian showed us his latest film, documenting the SEND trip to Gabon. This short film will be released in a couple of weeks, so I won’t go into details here. But I will say that when it comes out, go watch it if you can.

Poster signing and photos followed before dinner out. Thank you to the team at Mile End Mill for a fantastic Park Jam!

Tees Barrage
We drove up to Tees Barrage early on Sunday morning, ready to set up banners and get on the water for 10.30. Quite a few of the team hadn’t paddled at the Barrage before and so were intrigued by the layout of the course – it is an interesting one for sure! I once saw a seal there many years ago (it’s tidal), and when I told Charlotte about it, she was very excited that she might see one too! Spoiler – neither of us saw a seal that day, but Tom did, and we were very jealous!

As I was helping to set up, a man approached me to say hello and to say that his son Patrick was here for the Park Jam. Patrick is a keen young paddler who attended the GB freestyle academy camp over the Summer, which I helped to run. It was great to see him again and how enthusiastic he was for the day ahead! It was still quite chilly when we got on, and Patrick went for a warm-up swim before getting in his boat! I did not join him in the water but instead stayed snug in my kayak!

As soon as we paddled down, Patrick was off! It’s only been a few months since I saw him in a kayak, but wow, had he improved! Patrick’s dad informed me that he had a real kayaking bug at the moment and just wanted to get out on the water as much as possible. His hard work really showed, and it was great to see how much progress he had made since we last saw each other. Many of the team commented throughout the day about his great attitude and determination. Huw beat us to it when it came to nominating people for the spot prizes later on, but I know many of us would have put his name forward otherwise. Well done, Patrick!

I paddled down my first lap to remind myself of the course – I haven’t paddled much at Tees Barrage and couldn’t quite remember the features. Depending on the tides, I had vague memories of the bottom hole being quite changeable. Sometimes, there is nothing there, and other times, the hole is quite sticky. As I dropped down and immediately got back looped in my Ozone, I decided it was quite sticky today! A couple of rolls in the holes later, I caught my tail, and it spat me out. I rolled up to see 2 of the locals smiling at me – I’m sure they see quite a few beat downs in that feature! It delighted me when I heard that quite a few of the team had had a similar experience on at least one of their laps. I love a bit of carnage-based fun!

I spent more time at the top of the course on my next laps and had so many lovely chats with people.

A cool dad and son duo called Dan and James were enjoying their paddle. It was nice to bump into another father and son, Scott and George, who are Midlands locals. George was smashing his paddle, and Palm Grom’s paddler, Charlotte, was having a great time on the water paddling with him. Shout out to Durham University, who were there rocking some really cool playboats and having a great time. Also, it was great to see Connor Proud, a local legend, showing us his best moves, as usual. We see Connor a lot at HPP, where he comes to train regularly in freestyle, but it’s lovely to see him on his home run!

As the session went on, the carnage ramped up! The younger of the team paddlers started to get creative with their fun. Little Dan brought out his inflatable Orca, and for the first time in my life, I called out to a paddler on the wave, ‘Watch out for the incoming Orca!’. Ewan Murray and Oli Cooper started a group of paddlers launching themselves off the concrete wall in various forms. What was really impressive is both Ewan and Oli had a spectacular faceplant off that wall (which I imagine hurt quite a lot) but went straight back up to go for it again! Some might say that shows real strength and determination. Others might say a high level of stupidity. I’m not sure what the final answer is, but all I can say is that it was very impressive!

When the paddle had come to an end, everyone changed and headed over for the talks. Ewan and Dan started us off by talking about their Summer paddling trip to Norway. Huw and Chips shared their expedition paddle in Kyrgyzstan, which sounded like quite an adventure! The final talk was, of course, from Adrian, who spoke about his adventures. While I have seen Adrian talk at every Park Jam event, it is always an incredible experience. He is a great public speaker and has so many brilliant adventures to share.

Once the talks and spot prizes were over, there was the opportunity for poster signing and photos. Northampton Active gets everyone who attends the Park Jam to sign a poster for them each year to put on the wall. I thought this was a great idea, and so did the same! It’s a nice memento to pop up on the wall at home. We had our last group meal together, and Tom and I left for home. There are three more days of Park Jam – one up in Scotland and two in Ireland, but this was the last date we could attend, so it was time to say goodbye.

Thanks for having us, Tees Barrage!

Final thoughts
Park Jam this year was always going to be different. Bren has always been a huge part of Park Jam, so his not being there this year would always mean that it felt very different. Yet Park Jam 2024 was still incredibly special in its own way. Throughout the four events I attended, the vibes were always fun, and there were so many happy paddlers who were being brought together on the water. Memories and friends were made throughout the event; whilst Bren’s name often came up, people generally shared nice memories of him or previous Park Jams. He was such a driving force behind the Park Jam series (it used to be called Bren’s Park Jam until he asked it to be changed) that it was nice to honour him by continuing to have the best time ever at these events.

All of the team paddlers who joined to help run the event made it such a welcoming atmosphere and so inclusive. I think this might be the highest number of team paddlers ever involved. Some paddlers could attend one or two events whilst others are attending every single one. The constant enthusiasm and good energy from everyone were amazing.

I saw so many wonderful interactions between team paddlers with each other and paddlers attending the events over the last two weeks. One of the Tees paddlers said, ‘Adrian Mattern just came over to me and said, “Hi, I’m Adrian’ – can you believe it!” The interaction stoked this paddler. People across the events have just been so nice, and it makes such a difference. It really has been a couple of weeks of good vibes and happy memories. Shout out to all the great Palm and Pyranha paddlers who were involved this year and helped to make that happen.

There have been some bumps along the way, but the events have gone so smoothly, which is massive thanks to the people behind the scenes. Special shout-outs to Mat from Pyranha and Janice/Chips from Palm, who were the driving forces behind making these events happen. A lot of work goes on behind the scenes, and that isn’t always known. Thank you, guys, for your incredible hard work in making this happen.

Thanks for letting me be involved, everyone!