Resonance, a social impact investment company, with its headquarters in Launceston, Cornwall is delighted to announce a £150,000 investment into Cornish charity BF Adventure. This investment also marks Resonance’s first investment into a Cornish organization from its South West Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR) Fund.

Thanks to this investment, BF Adventure, an education and activities charity based near Penryn, has been able to develop its tourism and leisure sector income stream by installing a new adventure activity that works alongside other activities on the site. They have installed a Via Ferrata ―an 'Iron Stairway'― a protected climbing route, built with a steel cable rail fixed to the rock, metal steps, ladders, suspension bridges and a zip wire around and across two of the quarries on the BF Adventure site.

Via Ferrata Cornwall is operating as a social enterprise trading arm of BF Adventure, with a primary focus on generating funding to enable the expansion of its specialist provision for disadvantaged young people.

It is one of very few operating Via Ferratas in the UK, and the very first in the South West, attracting adventurers near and far to experience this ultimate high challenge. It’s a unique climbing adventure which sees adrenaline- and thrill-seekers following the twenty metres high Iron Stairway, experiencing Cornwall’s granite quarrying heritage as they ascend cliff faces, cross high wire suspension bridges and tackle high challenges – all fixed onto the quarry rock - and zip back down to ground level.

Via Ferrata Cornwall is also operating a cafe which is run in partnership with The Cornish Barista, offering work experience and training opportunities for the young people that BF Adventure supports through its charity work.

BF Adventure has been running challenging and creative programmes for thirty years, focusing on improving self-esteem, building life skills and coping strategies in young people, empowering them through a wide range of outdoor activities from archery and abseiling to coasteering and canoeing. These outdoor activities help disadvantaged young people to overcome social and educational barriers in their everyday lives supporting them on journeys of positive change.

The impact of COVID-19 brought about new challenges for BF Adventure and the young people they support. The team has worked tirelessly through this time to offer critical support to some of the county’s most disadvantaged children and young people, whose challenges have often been compounded by the knock-on effects of the pandemic.

Adrian Richards, BF Adventure’s CEO said: “We’re excited to have launched Via Ferrata Cornwall, the first ever Via Ferrata in the South West! This high adrenaline activity gives people the chance to journey across old granite quarries over twenty metres high, pushing their limits, overcoming fears and focusing their minds on an epic and unforgettable adventure. As a Community Interest Company, all profits go straight towards BF Adventure, a charity supporting local disadvantaged children and young people. Helping them on a journey of change, it uses its beautiful sixty-acre site of heathland, woodland and flooded quarries to enable them to identify their own social, emotional and physical barriers and choose their own challenges to overcome these.”

Leila Sharland, Senior Investment Manager at Resonance said: “The BF Adventure investment is an exciting opportunity to bring a new adrenalin activity to Cornwall which will provide a fresh income stream to an excellent Cornish charity - and its Social Enterprise arm - which has been supporting young people from across the county for decades. It has been great to work with a team who are so dedicated to improving lives and who have the vision to make the most out of their site. I am really looking forward to seeing the Via Feratta in action, but they may have a job convincing me to go on there as I am not very good with heights!”

The Resonance South West SITR Fund is a pioneering social impact investment fund aimed at helping to dismantle poverty in the South West by investing in local social enterprises. It takes advantage of social investment tax relief (SITR) to simultaneously lower the cost of loans for enterprises and to enable a competitive return to investors.