Our team of highly experienced professionals are here to ensure that the Urban Pursuit programs give students an exceptionally high quality experience that will challenge them and develop them whilst keeping them safe at all times.
Neil Dennison (Chief Executive)
Neil has over twenty years of youth work experience, with 15 of those as a teacher in secondary schools and was Assistant Head at Ansford School in Somerset for six years before giving up his career and setting up Urban Pursuit. His mission is to see the lives of vulnerable young people transformed for the better.
He has a strong passion for adrenaline and adventure activities. Neil is a qualified Mountain Leader, Climbing Instructor and Mountain Bike Leader and also loves snowboarding, BMX, off-road driving, wilderness adventures and various watersports.
Karen Dennison (Education Director – On Maternity Leave)
Anna Pasco (Education Lead & Designated Safeguarding Lead)
Anna has been a part of the Urban Pursuit team since September 2018, joining us from a local special educational needs school. Anna is a trained teacher with extensive experience working with vulnerable young people, especially those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Anna is a keen climber and can often be found at one of the climbing walls around Bristol developing her skills.
Bex Baillie (Student Progress Coordinator)
Bex joined us in November 2018 and is a recently qualified youth worker. She works closely with Anna to keep a track of our student’s progress and keeping in touch with past students. She is brilliant at relating to our young people and she always puts a smile on their faces! She is an all-around adventurer who is enjoying learning new sports and adventure activities.
Andrew Stansbury (Business Manager)
Andrew has been part of the team since 2015 and helps to make sure the business side of Urban Pursuit is all taken care of as well as taking care of the finances. Andrew has 4 years of youth work experience and enjoys learning new sports, skills and tricks, especially when taught by the students!
Dan Potter (Development Lead)
Dan is the newest member of the Urban Pursuit family. He’s a qualified teacher with over 10 years youth work experience. Dan is working to expand our mentoring programme, maintain our equipment and vehicles as well as oversee staff training. He’s got a pretty full on beard, positive mindset and has thrown himself fully into working with us.
Tim Crow (Adventure Leader & Youth Worker)
Tim has been with Urban Pursuit since October 2016. Tim is a trained teacher and brings a huge amount of energy and expertise to the team and has been involved in youth work for over 10 years. Tim also spent 8 years in Uganda developing a youth sports club and managed a local youth football team that now play in the national league!
Sam Hardy (Adventure Leader & Youth Worker)
Sam’s been a part of the team since 2016 and has a frustrating ability to be good at any sport he tries. Not only has he played basketball for the Wales youth team in the past, he currently holds the record for the longest staff wheelie, often walks around on his hands and has the fastest time on a local climbing wall! Fortunately for the rest of us mere mortals, his humour is average. Sam has extensive experience in working with young people, both from running a youth club and also from running his own guitar teaching business.
Elliot Mocharraffie (Adventure Leader & Youth Worker)
Elliot has been with us since October 2018 and works for us alongside two other youth work projects. He has competed in Judo, Boxing and Kickboxing competitions in the past and also enjoys running, cycling and slack-lining.
Leah Apostolou (Adventure Leader & Youth Worker)
Leah has been with Urban Pursuit since June 2019 and has a rich history and qualifications in adventure activities and working with young people. She brings a huge amount of experience to the team and does so with a big smile and an incredible work ethic.