For many people, a bucket list is full of faraway dreams. You might say you’d love to try skydiving in New Zealand, or sipping cocktails halfway around the world. But Gedling man Dan Davison has set himself a challenge that proves that you don’t need to travel the world to change your life.
Back in December 2023, Dan wrote down one hundred things that he wanted to do, and gave himself just four years to complete all of them.
Now 44 challenges into Project Bucket List, he has climbed glaciers, seen the Northern Lights, and ridden through Monument Valley on horseback. And yet, Dan insists that the heart of the project lies much closer to home, right here in Gedling.
“Gedling has been my lab,” Davison said.
“It’s where all the ideas happen, and I’ve been able to test that the whole project works. You don’t need big life changing stunts to change your life. A bucket list done right, makes you more capable, curious, and connected – and Gedling has given me all of that.”
“There are nights when I want to lie on the sofa and do nothing”
You might imagine that a bucket list should be full of adrenaline-fuelled adventures. Dan admits that he’s done those – riding a motorcycle, climbing a glacier, holding a tarantula in Arizona, but he argues that the smaller, practical goals are the ones that matter most.
Local to Gedling, he’s planted 100 trees with the Friends of Colwick Woods, in a project to restore parts of the woods with saplings. He’s picked up a bow at the Robin Hood festival and tried his hand at archery, and learnt first aid in a local course, walking out knowing that he could help save a life if needed. He even rolled up his sleeves to repair his car window himself for £19, after he was quoted £760 by a garage.
“Some of these aren’t big glamorous challenges,” he says, “but they’re the ones that are really shaping me as a person. People talk to me a lot about them, because anyone can do them.
“A Bucket List doesn’t have to be about escaping to somewhere warm and exotic, I think it’s mostly about building confidence and resilience.”
He’s also donated blood – an item on his list that needed no adventure gear, no travel, and no expense. “It was simple, and I know that it’s had an impact in helping someone,” he reflects. “A good list should mix the big with the small. Plus, they gave me biscuits afterwards.”
Some of Dan’s favourite challenges have been the ones that connect him to larger causes or spark curiosity in everyday life.
Through a citizen science project, he has been able to record plants around Gedling and contribute the data to national biodiversity surveys.
“A walk through Colwick or Mapperley can become part of something bigger,” he explains. “I think that a good list doesn’t just change your life – it gives something back. You have to live spherically, in all directions.”
Other items have stretched his curiosity in more skill-based ways. Dan sat down to learn how to draw people at the University of Nottingham, producing awkward sketches at first but relishing the process of getting better. He took a navigation course through Inspire Learning, and didn’t get lost. In his kitchen, he perfected homemade pasta – a simple skill, but one that he’d put off for years.
“Some of my best memories of the last year are sitting at a table covered in flour, or filling a sketchbook with bad drawings,” he says.
With 56 challenges still ahead before his December 2027 deadline, Dan’s attention is turning to goals he can tackle close to home.
He plans to try falconry in November, a skill steeped in history that he hopes will bring him closer to the natural world. A cooking class is high on the list too, though with so many options on world cuisine locally, it’s a hard choice. He’s also keen to get involved in a conservation project, contributing directly to the protection of Nottinghamshire’s green spaces.
“They’re not headline-grabbers,” he says, “but they’re real, and they’ve changed my life. Many of the things on the list are actions that anyone in Gedling could take on tomorrow.”
Of course, big-ticket items remain. Learning to fly, climbing the UK’s three highest peaks, writing and recording a song. But Davison stresses that it’s the blend of lofty and local that keeps the project alive.
“The big ones are exciting,” he admits,
“but without the everyday ones, they’d never happen. It’s the local challenges that build the momentum for adventures.”
Dan’s advice for anyone thinking of starting their own list is to keep it simple. “Write down five things you’ve always wanted to do,” he suggests.
“Give yourself a deadline. Then start right here at home. Go and take an archery lesson, donate blood, join a local class, or contribute to citizen science with your phone. Getting started matters more than anything.”
It’s that focus on momentum that has carried him this far. “There are nights when I want to lie on the sofa and do nothing,” he admits. “But I can always look at the list and ask: what’s one small step I can take today?”
For him, the message is clear: sometimes the first step isn’t halfway across the world. It’s right outside your front door in Gedling.
Dan Davison is 44 challenges into his four-year mission to complete 100 bucket list goals. He is currently writing a book about the project. Read more at dan-davison.com/project-bucket-list
