'Tent boy' encouraging children across Wales to have their own adventure

Max Woosey, known as 'The Boy in the Tent' has headed to Wales to launch a new campaign encouraging children and young people to become adventurers!

The Pride of Britain winner has teamed up with intrepid adventurer Chris Brown at Devil's Bridge, Ceredigion - the mission, to walk to the geographical centre of Wales and he says "it's great to be back outdoors."

Max is no stranger to small adventures, he became famous during the first lockdown, and spent three years camping in his garden raising, £750k for charity.

The secondary school pupil says many of his friends spend their days gaming and he thinks they are missing out on so much fun. He said: "We want to try and encourage people to go outdoors and explore".

He added: "There is nothing wrong with staying at home and playing on an X-box or watching TV, but also get out a bit.

"I think it’s just important that all kids (and adults too), go outside and have adventures. I’ve got friends that would rather stay inside and not go outside – that's ok, but you need to go and have some adventures once in a while.

"Go and explore maybe a part of your village or a different country or anywhere you can really."

Max's average day involves catching the school bus at 7.30am and back home by 6.00pm - he tries to fit in rugby as much as he can too. So, any spare time is spent walking along the coastline or countryside and he's loving his time in Aberystwyth.

"It’s just brilliant to be back outside especially somewhere like Wales , which is such a beautiful country," Max said

"I think we are just showing it doesn’t have to be far away to have an adventure.

"It can be quite local. We live in England so of course Wales is quite close to us – the whole point of this, is to have an adventure wherever you want."

Max was inspired to get outdoors by a family friend who died of cancer. Before his passing, Rick Abbott gave him a tent, and told him to "go have an adventure".

Over the past three years, Max has received a British Empire Medal as well as awards from Spirit of Adventure and the Bear Grylls Chief Scout Unsung Hero.

“It’s great working with Chris on this campaign” says Max, “As I have shown, an adventure can start in your back garden."

Max's whole family has got involved in his adventures too. Mum, Rachael said: “In the three years that Max camped out, we actually had some negative comments about how dangerous it was camping in the garden, which was ridiculous.

"If there was ever any adverse weather or conditions, his Dad would be with him to mitigate any risks. And not forgetting he had his faithful companion, Digby.

"Max has also had physical challenges to overcome, he was born with hypermobility and struggled to run around and keep up with friends at school, and had years of physio”.

Marketing tycoon Chris also teams up with his son on missions - earlier this year successfully completing a journey to the South Pole’s point of inaccessibility with Mika, after a failed attempt the previous year.

Europe and Asia have so far proved elusive due to the war in Ukraine and issues around getting into China.

He said: “You can access the points of inaccessibility from a well-defined border.  

“You could find one in your own garden because you know the borders of your garden, there might be a fence or you know where nextdoor’s property starts".

He added: “You try and find the point in your garden that's furthest from the fence to the house. You can use a tape measure to do that. Then just pace it out with your footsteps. 

 "You can even try and find the point of inaccessibility for your own house. You don't have to be in Africa and you don't need to involve helicopters to do it.”

The wealthy entrepreneur hit the headlines in mid June amid the search for the doomed Titan tourist submersible, which vanished off radar on its way to visit the wreck of the Titanic.

The intrepid explorer, came forward to reveal he paid a deposit for a seat on the sub during its development stage, but later pulled out amid safety concerns.

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know…