Finnish Youth Centres: November 2012

Piispala is one of the 10 centres supported by the Finnish Ministry of Education. One of the main goals of the centre is to maintain the development of the local, national and international youth work and to serve as a multi-sided centre of sport activities and education. The centre is well-equipped for practicing various kinds of sports and handcrafts.

Nature, sports and travel youth centre Piispala is an amazing place to organize camps for groups of children and youth in the middle of the beautiful region of Central Finland (Kannonkoski) at the lake Kivijärvi. The centre was established in 1982 and since then it has been a favorite destination for youth camps, including international camps.

Our facilities:

· Dining hall

Cafeteria

· 2 big lecture halls

· 12 meeting rooms/classrooms of a different size

· Sports hall for practicing indoor sports ( can be arranged as a conference hall etc.)

· Several small sports halls for indoor sports (gymnastic, archery, shooting etc.)

· Heated football hall with an artificial turf, 90m x 62 m x 18m covered field for Finnish baseball, outdoor games etc

Beach

· Ice hall with 4 (to 8) changing room, PA system, video, big screen etc equipments for ice hockey, figure skating, curling etc. around the year

· Blademill and ShootOut simulator

· Swimming hall with 4 lanes 25m each, 3 m diving tower, jacuzzi and a pool for small children

· Bowling room with 4 lanes

· Weight lifting room for athletes and gym hall with different sports equipment for aerobics.

· Indoor climbing wall (6m high+5 routes and 3m x 9m bouldering). Smaller climbing area for children

Conference hall

· Outdoor climbing tower 13m. Climbing, abseiling and ice climbing (winter)

· 2 rooms for making stone amulets(jewels and soap stone)

· Half pipe and small slope for snowboarding (ski lift) with separate slope for sledges

· 2 tennis courts

Swimming pool

· Grilling places kota and laavu

· Stunt track

· Traditional sauna with a fisherman’s lodge

· Lakeside sauna with a gathering room (fireplace)

· Lighted cross country skiing trails / hiking routes 2km, 3km and 5 km. Piispala is located at the lake Kivijärvi. Beach area has a diving tower (3m, 5m).

Lakeside sauna

· Accommodation for 232 (basic) and about for 400 with extra beds in different cottages and in raw houses. All accommodation facilities are well equipped. Each room has own bathroom, toilet, refrigerator and microwave oven, kettle, coffeemaker.

· Equipment for conferences, meetings, classroom activities and discos

Bowling

Our activities:

- Various children and youth groups: school camps, leisure and sports camps

- A vast number of activities varying from handcrafts to sports activities and sessions for young people (e.g. Nuotta groups)

- Life in Europe 24h project (14.-28.11.2012) gives an opportunity for several international young people to share own culture, experiences in own countries with Finnish Nuotta groups and raise awareness among the Finnish young people about different youth issues internationally.

Football court

Number of staff: 50 +

Number of (regular) volunteers: 2

We also have important partnerships within Finland:

Local, regional and national partners, schools and youth organisations, a number of organisations involved in different national projects for supporting youth development.

Churchboat

Ice ring

For more information please visit our website here!

Youth Centre Anjala is one of the ten youth centres in Finland supported and supervised by our ministry of education and culture. Youth Centre Anjala is located in the city of Kouvola. We are situated in the beautiful and historical area of Ankkapurha by the river Kymi. We are just over one hour’s drive away from the Helsinki region.

Paddling in the Kymi River

Our main purpose is to serve children and youth as well as support the work of teachers and trainers. Our main operation is to provide camp school services.

Our facilities:

Restaurant with room for 130 people

Catering for events and celebrations

Accommodation for 101 people in apartments of 12-15 people

4 classrooms

Sports hall

Accommodation building

Sauna

Outdoor game arena

Place for relaxing

Classroom

Anjala park

Activities

We have a strong expertise on using experiential and action-based pedagogy, as well as adventure education. Our activities emphasize on group work, and improving one’s social skills by using the methods of adventure education, not forgetting the environment either.