We have grown and developed in response to the changing needs of young people and the challenges of modern society. Today, our focus is as much on literacy, academic development and health as it is on outdoor challenge, and we’re helping our young people negotiate the digital world as well as the physical. However, the core needs of young people and our approach remain as current and relevant as ever.
What remains constant are the values that run through the heart of the organisation and that unique voluntary spirit and passion that our founder, Dick Allcock OBE, inspired more than 65 years ago.
Dick believed passionately in the emotional, mental and spiritual benefits of living and working outdoors, developed through his early years in farming, through early residential programmes and later through his expeditions to different parts of the world. He and the other founding members believed in supporting people to meet their potential.
By facing challenges, people learn to discover their full potential and use it to help themselves, others and society.
Dick Allcock OBE, Founding Member

In the Beginning: The 1950's
In 1955 our founder Dick Allcock ran the first Operation Endeavour under the auspices of the National Association of Youth Clubs. He wanted to shake up traditional youth work, using outdoor activity and new methods of personal challenge to motivate disadvantaged and deprived young people.
Young people require stimulation and encouragement to achieve in all areas – Physical, Mental and Emotional.
Dick Allcock OBE, Founding Member
Shortly afterwards he met Sir John Hunt, leader of the famous 1953 expedition that achieved the first successful ascent of Mount Everest, and subsequently founder director of the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme.
Recognising each other as kindred spirits the two men, although from widely differing backgrounds, formed an enduring friendship which was to last until the death of Lord Hunt in 1998, a friendship that saw Lord Hunt give Dick an ice axe which was used on the Everest expedition and is now on display at Endeavour HQ.

John Hunt, Edmund Hillary, Tenzig, An Nyima, Gregory and George Lowe during the famous British Mount Everest conquest in 1953
The 1960's
1960 saw an expedition to the Scoresby Land region of Greenland, led by Sir John Hunt and Dick Allcock. This was considered innovative at the time, as it combined the knowledge, expertise and leadership of mountaineers, scientists and educationalists with the enthusiasm and energy of the young people.
The next expedition took Endeavour to the Pindus Mountains of Greece in 1963 – again led by Sir John Hunt and Dick Allcock – where the group would be joined by Greek alpinists and schoolboys, combining mountaineering with working with the local populace.
Building on the two previous expeditions an even more ambitious one was undertaken in 1965, to the Tatra Mountains of Poland and Czechoslovakia, for the first time including girls in the group.
And in 1969, another expedition to Czechoslovakia was led by Dick Allcock, smaller in scale than the 1965 expedition but still with the intention of introducing young people to other cultures.
The 1970's
The 1970s saw the expansion of local groups across the country, which led to the increase in the number of expeditions: the major ones continued through the decade along with a number of smaller ones organised by the local groups.
The first major expedition of the decade took place in 1972, to the Simien Mountains of Ethiopia, led by Lt. Col. Tony Streather. The group were granted an audience by Emperor Haile Selassie, who allowed them to bring back to the UK a Walia ibex horn found during the expedition. The horn is now on display at Endeavour’s HQ.

This was followed by smaller scale expeditions to Macedonia in 1973, Andorra and Iceland in 1975, Morocco and Yugoslavia in 1976, South West Ireland in 1977 and Morocco and Norway in 1979. 1978 saw a major expedition to the Solo Khumbu region of the Himalayas to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the 1953 ascent of Everest.
The 1980's
1980 was Endeavour’s silver jubilee year and, through the support of Lord Hunt, the organisation was able to obtain the support of the Duke of Kent as patron. The Duke is an enthusiastic supporter of Endeavour’s work and has attended many formal and informal occasions and presentations in the ensuing years.

Further expeditions were organised, to Mont Blanc in 1982, Morocco in 1983, Norway in 1984 and 1985, Egypt in 1985 and Morocco in 1987, with the decade ending with another major expedition to Jamaica in 1989.
The 1990's
Endeavour itself began to grow during this period. Having been based in Chesterfield since 1977, with a satellite office in Sheffield, the late 1980s and early 1990s saw expansion into Norfolk and the North-East of England, a process that would eventually develop into other projects in Derby, Leicester, Nottingham, Grimsby, Solihull, Lincolnshire and London.
Expeditions further afield continued with a joint JHEG / DofE expedition to India in 1992, a JHEG expedition to the Picos region of Spain in 1994 and expeditions by the West Midlands Projecteers group to Germany in 1994 and the Czech Republic in 1998, with further small scale expeditions undertaken in 2001 to Palestine and the Normandy coast.
1995 was Endeavour’s 40th anniversary year: this saw a major expedition to Poland in August, which included a visit to Auschwitz, the German prison camp, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.
Into the new Millennium
This was a time of change and new challenges for Endeavour. Changing financial times meant reduced opportunities for commercial courses so Endeavour had to refocus its priorities. The main funding streams would now come via grants from government, local authorities and other statutory bodies, as well as lottery funded programmes and so, returning to its roots, Endeavour became more heavily involved in working with schools, targeting pupils who were at risk of exclusion and using Endeavour principles to reengage them in mainstream education, as well as working with the young unemployed who became known as NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training).
2005 was a year of sadness and celebration. Dick Allcock died at the beginning of Endeavour’s 50th year, so what was planned to be a programme of activities marking the golden jubilee instead focussed around two events: a memorial service for Dick and a presentation by groups from across the regional projects at the Freemasons Hall in London, in recognition of those fifty years.
In partnership with UK Youth, in 2010 Endeavour set up the first of two Youth Achievement Foundations in Sheffield, an alternative curriculum programme aimed at young people who are without a school place or are at risk of being, or have been excluded from school. In 2011 the YAF relocated to new premises in Sheffield, now the national headquarters for Endeavour.
The Future
Endeavour has changed immeasurably since the first Operation Endeavour, having adapted its methods without compromising its principles, and looks forward to building on its proud past whilst embracing the future with the enthusiasm and determination that has sustained it over its first sixty five years.