About us
Wayne Jones
Wayne is the founder of Forest Knights. Having grown up in the Sussex countryside, his love of the outdoors turned into a passion, which turned into a career!
Having spent many years climbing and mountaineering in the UK and Europe, Wayne then travelled widely learning new skills and experiencing new environments from Arctic Sweden to Japan. He has also spent the last 20 years learning and then teaching the martial arts and self-protection, so all in all is a handy man to have about!
All this experience turned into a dream from which Forest Knights was born. As Wayne’s formal education was in Mechanical Engineering, the finer points of running a business and managing a multi-skilled team were not alien to him, however, as with all those who hold a true passion, the business focus never overtakes the fun aspect and Wayne is never happier than when sharing with others his knowledge and skills built up over the years.
Wayne successfully completed his Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician training at Glenmore Lodge in November as is looking forward to taking part in more expeditions as a Wilderness Medic.
Garrick Rahal
Garrick lived in Africa as a young boy, from which his fascination with culture and climate has grown. Returning to England, encouraged by his mothers love of plants and gardening he developed a keen interest in the local flora and fauna and started learning about bush crafts. His love of the subject grew nearly as quickly as his skills and knowledge and now he takes great pleasure from sharing these with others, then sitting back around a fire in a well made camp and enjoying the fruits of his labour.
Garrick is especially keen on passing on his outdoor skills to the younger generations, working with the youth services to blend education and enjoyment with his unique teaching style and encouraging others to take up his interests including Yew trees, Fungi and badgers!
Bryn Thomas
Bryn has an unrivalled knowledge of plants and animals. Bryn enjoys all wildlife wherever it can be found from his native Birmingham to the forests of Poland. Bryn has a natural teaching style that shows his love of the environment and helps remove some of the mystique surrounding bushcraft. Bryn has a natural flair for fire by friction having truly mastered the magic of fire.
Peter Wadsworth
Peter is an experienced water sports instructor with nearly 14 years of boating experience, Peter is a qualified instructor in Kayaking, Power boating and is in the process of qualifying as a dinghy sailing instructor. Peter is an accomplished White water Kayaker, Regularly paddling in Wales, Scotland, and the French Alps. Peter is also an accomplished yachtsman having competed in the tall ships race 3 times, including across the north Atlantic in 2000. Peter has passed the MCA/DoT Coastal Skippers Examination which is why Peter is the perfect man when you are looking for water based activities in the great outdoors.
David Sinfield
David starting making bows and arrows at the age of 5. He had a 30 year break from bow making until a broken leg kept him off work for 6 months. From his first plank of hickory he bought 12 years ago he hasn't looked back. He makes bows and arrows for fun and on commission. He has expanded his interests into all kinds of projectile weapons . He is a member of the Society for the Promotion of Traditional archery and the National Field Archery Society shooting in all the wooden arrow classes.
Ben Grief.
A proud Norfolk boy who has spent his 33 years accumulating unnecessary amounts of information on living things. Holding a degree and Masters in Zoology and a couple of published papers. 8 years experience in conservation, environmental education and ecotourism from Borneo, Mauritius, Australia, NZ and Israel to the Norfolk broads and isles of Scilly. Currently involved in rare plant conservation in Mauritius and teaching secondary science in UK. Keen wood carver and artist and has dabbled in most things bushcraft with particular experience in the tropics. Strengths are natural history/science, tracking and identification. I also excel at being an idiot and making people laugh. I love sharing what I know and helping others to discover the natural world. See bushcraft as a conduit to get close to wildlife and fully experience the wilderness. Most likely to be found rooting about in the jungle, if you find me, make me a cup of tea! Also like raising broken and orphaned animals, from Wallabys and fruit bats to dogs and cats.
Guest Instructors.
Forest Knights believe life is a journey of continuous learning and growth. Therefore for some of our more unusual courses we invite professional specialists to lead these courses. More detailed information about each course leader can be found with the course information.