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)
Anna Pasco (Education Lead & Designated Safeguarding Lead)
Anna has been a part of the Urban Pursuit team since September 2018 and is the main point of contact for all the schools who are working with us. Anna is a qualified 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-Jelf (Student Progress Coordinator)
Bex joined us in November 2018 and is a 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.
Dan Potter (Development Lead)
Dan is a qualified teacher with over 10 years’ youth work experience. Dan oversees the development of several of the ‘big picture’ elements of our organisation, as well as staff training. He also works with students on the ground. Dan’s got a pretty full on beard, positive mindset and throws himself into whatever’s in front of him – he’s the only staff member to have ever needed an ambulance at work.
George Louwers (Operations Lead)
George joined us in 2020 during an unusual time of change and disruption and he’s been an asset to the team. George has taken on the oversight of practical operations and the development of our activity curriculum. It’s easy to be envious of George’s stories from his extensive experience of instructing surfing in the UK and snowboarding in Japan.
Dom Parker (Adventure Leader & Youth Worker)
Dom has been with Urban Pursuit for long enough to see many changes over the years. Dom’s faithfulness and commitment to the company and the young people is appreciated by many. He also manages the wealth of resources we have here at Urban Pursuit. Dom has spent time living with the Maasai and continues to facilitate links between the UK and Tanzania.
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!
Ellie Eakins (Office Administrator and Neil’s PA)
Ellie joined us in 2019 in an ever-growing role helping the smooth-running of the organisation. Ellie has a background in social work and seems to be able to handle everything that’s thrown at her and more. She notices the details, makes sure everyone’s included and is generally great to have around.
Jonty Flynn (Adventure Leader & Youth Worker)
Jonty is a returner to Urban Pursuit, working part-time alongside more youth work he does elsewhere. Jonty is youth work qualified, with over 10 years’ experience. He’s a big kid at heart and looks forward to joining in the activities as much as any of the students. Jonty is a big fan of both football and cricket, watching and playing locally.
Chris Gardiner (Adventure Leader & Youth Worker)
Chris has just joined Urban Pursuit as our work expands following the national Covid lockdown. He has good experience of working with children in care and continues to mentor foster children in his spare time. He also enjoys mountain biking, cricket and good weather to fly his drone!
Tash Bailey (Adventure Leader & Youth Worker)
Tash has lots of interesting experiences from her international travels and even back in the UK shows a spirit of adventure through living on her boat! Tash is a trained teacher and, having previously worked in secondary schools, she currently teaches the Sciences to students with English as a second language.
Sophie Rees (Finance Administrator)
Soph works remotely to capably support the financial side of the organisation. As a new member of the team we’re looking forward to getting to know her better, although it may take us a while to get to grips with the strong welsh accent and fast paced chatter. Soph is often found being walked by her golden retriever on the local beach or cycling the Gower peninsula when she’s not building train tracks or digging to Australia with her son.