A programme in development
The workshop, kitchen, outdoor programme, training space and shared spaces aren’t separate facilities. They’re different tools serving one idea, that people build confidence by doing things that give them evidence of their own capability.
Explore how the spaces connect, and how taking part can lead to skills, responsibility and a new direction.
How the programme works
Personal goals, practical learning, fitness and shared responsibilities connect the experience to what comes next.
The wider community
The national community is being built to connect veterans, service leavers and their families through activities, opportunities and ways to contribute. You don’t have to be in crisis to belong. Come for a walk, a surf, a meal, a workshop or a skill, and take on more responsibility when you’re ready.
The residential programme
Being designed for veterans who are ready to progress and need a stable place, a purposeful routine and the right opportunities around them, in a psychologically informed environment with good food, natural light, nature and quieter space.
Residential applications aren’t open yet.
Education, apprenticeships, work and move-on planning are part of the intended route, built with education providers, employers and specialist partners.
Capability + Contribution
Practical skills turn confidence into evidence.
The workshop is planned as a place where people repair bikes, work with timber, learn practical trades, build projects and develop skills that carry on well beyond Steady Ground. It’s for everyone, women and men, complete beginners and people with a trade to pass on.
The objective is never busywork. It’s competence, responsibility and the satisfaction of finishing something that works, and being able to look at it and say, I did that.
LearnFixBuildPass it on
Learning a skill properly gives you practical confidence. Fixing the things people rely on, from the community’s bikes to its tools and furniture, teaches responsibility. Building something from scratch and seeing it through brings real pride, and teaching it to someone new is how the skill carries on.
Agency + Resilience
Challenge, achievement and enjoyment, starting from where you are.
It can begin with a walk, a ride, a first surf or going somewhere unfamiliar with other people, then build towards navigation, sea kayaking, coasteering, mountain days and longer expeditions across Gower, the coast and the Brecon Beacons.
Every trip is a chance to plan, navigate, work out the logistics, keep people safe and lead. With the right partners, it can also count towards recognised outdoor, watersports and instructor qualifications, and in time open routes into instructing and paid work. We want this to grow into a real adventure-training arm, with qualified instructors, veteran-led expeditions and adventure days open to the public that help fund Steady Ground’s work.
Progressive training, coaching and challenge, from an achievable starting point towards the goals you choose. Strength training, general fitness, mobility, coached sessions and preparation for the next expedition.
Turn upPractiseRecoverImprove
Training gives people honest feedback. And when the weather turns, you keep going, together.
Instructors, surf schools, paddlesport clubs, coaches and outdoor organisations can lead sessions and open qualification routes. Bikes, boards, kayaks, outdoor kit, gym equipment and transport help people take part.
Help shape the outdoor programmeContribution + Belonging
Food creates an unusually simple route from participation to contribution.
Everyone needs to eat, and giving someone a good meal is one of the greatest gifts there is. That’s why a big communal kitchen is planned for the heart of the base. We believe anyone can become a confident cook. There are many ways to take part, and sometimes being here is enough.
Feeding people doesn’t have to stop at our door. As the kitchen grows, we plan to add a mobile food van, so we can take hot meals to wherever they’re needed most.
And where there’s a kitchen full of cooks, a little friendly rivalry is never far away. We have a few ideas about where that could lead, so watch this space.
A shared meal does several jobs at once. It creates routine, gives people a reason to contribute, makes conversation easier and offers somewhere to be present without needing to explain yourself. Taking part can be as simple as chopping vegetables, passing bread or washing up.
A garden is part of the design, with raised beds, herbs, vegetables and a greenhouse. Growing food rewards patience, routine and responsibility, and what’s grown goes straight to the kitchen for many to enjoy.
GrowCookShare
Belonging + Purpose
Reflection is part of the programme too.
Reading groups, philosophy and journalling give people room to think through where they’ve been and where they’re going. Quieter participation is as legitimate as the gym or the workshop. For some people, simply returning regularly is the first meaningful step.
Good judgement, which means weighing things up, thinking before acting and making choices you can stand behind. We believe it grows through reading, reflection and honest conversation with people who have faced similar choices.
Doing what you said you’d do, being honest and treating people well. It’s what makes someone trusted with responsibility, and it runs through how everyone at Steady Ground treats one another.
Facilitators, universities, libraries and specialist organisations can help shape reading, discussion and reflective practice. Talk to us.
Belonging + Contribution
Steady Ground isn’t planned as an inward-looking club. It’s meant as a place to spend relaxed time together, with spaces that create value for the wider community too.
Regular coffee clubs, walk-and-talks and beach days. Live music and shows, friendly competitions, sporting and fundraising events, family days and shared meals that bring veterans, families and neighbours together, with planned events open to the public.
Members will help set them up, run them and welcome people in, at the Swansea base once it opens and, as the community grows, in more places.
Community benefit
Every space planned for Steady Ground is designed to give something back to the community around it, with members leading the way.
Contribution + Purpose
Progress means moving towards the life you want, through a new skill, a qualification, work, more confidence or stronger relationships. Steady Ground also gives you the chance to stay involved and give back, whenever it’s right for you.
Over time we plan to open real routes into responsibility, from helping maintain the site and supporting new members to peer mentoring, running activities and, where appropriate, paid roles. Your experience becomes something another person can build on.
Contribution is an opportunity, never a debt. Nobody owes anything for the help they receive.
GrowCookShare
Produce from the garden goes to the kitchen. Meals go to the table, and beyond it.
LearnFixBuildPass it on
Skills learned in the workshop keep the community’s bikes and tools running and build things that last, then get passed on to the next person.
Turn upPractiseImproveLead
Training and outdoor challenge build consistency. In time, experienced members lead the next walk or surf session.
A good programme creates more than a good afternoon.
Practical skills should lead somewhere, to qualifications, apprenticeships and work. The exact path is different for each person, but the principle is the same. Progress should become visible.
Education, an apprenticeship or a new job can change your role in Steady Ground without ending your place in it. You can stay connected, return when you want to, or share what you’ve learned. Permanent belonging. Changing roles.
Help create routes from practical skills into qualifications, apprenticeships and work.
Open a route into learning
Help build it
Every space here needs people, funding, equipment and expertise behind it, and every partner opens another route forward for someone. The first step is a conversation.