Education Officer: Dave Gurnett

Dave Gurnett joined the National Park Authority in 1989 after teaching in schools in Bridgwater and London, while at the same time trying to play rugby to the highest standard that he could. He actually played for the London Welsh, which seems to suggest that he got the hang of it!

Returning to Exmoor, where his family live, and getting what he describes as “such a great job” was a question of being in the right place at the right time – with the right qualifications. Dave is often asked how to get a job in the environmental field and he suggests getting as many qualifications as you can, doing some volunteering and anything else that may provide the right experience.

Dave says: “I am a strong advocate of experiential teaching, having taken thousands of youngsters on ‘wildlife safaris’ and will do all I can to help students and teachers to visit our fantastic countryside.”

Head of Pinkery Centre: Alan Bailey

According to Alan, he was "inherited along with Pinkery" as he already worked at the centre when the National Park Authority took over its management in 1994. He actually joined Pinkery as Head of Centre in 1987.

Alan's specialist skills are ideally suited for running an environmental education centre as before joining Pinkery he was a teacher and is also an experienced climber and trekker, mountain biker and caver. Alan's idea of a holiday is to go to the Himalayas and climb a mountain - but he also enjoys the more peaceful pastimes of music, water colour painting, bird watching, computing, photography and building restoration.

His favourite parts of Exmoor are the Pinkery Pond near the centre, The Chains and Valley of Rocks. For Alan, some of the highlights of his time on Exmoor have been watching 5 buzzards riding thermals above Pinkery one summer evening and helping thousands of young people tackling their first abseil. Amongst Alan's relevant qualifications are a Mountain Leader Certificate, European Mountain Leader, British Schools Cycling Assn off-road Leader Award and Local Caving Award.