Sailing, Multi, 'Summer Camp', Edinburgh., Aug 2011, ID 1169

Severn District Sea Cadets

Our summer camp did not get off to a very good start with regards to the weather: as we crossed the border to Scotland the rain started. This continued for the rest of the day with severe weather warnings on the roads.

Monday morning the weather was fine and the cadets went off in their two groups to their different activities. The first group went off to the sailing centre, which was a totally different experience for all of them. The ones that had had some experience in sailing had never been on tidal water or even such an expanse of water before. After lunch they were all sailing on their own, without instructors in the boats.

Tuesday morning the weather was fair and the same group went for a day sail up the river, went ashore for lunch, then sailed back.

Sadly due to the weather, this group were the only ones to go sailing, however listening to them talking to the other group in the evening, it was clear to all, that they had thoroughly enjoyed their experiences and that they could not wait until they could go again.

The second group went to Fordell Firs Activity Centre. This gave the cadets the chance to try new activities, building up their own personal attributes such as confidence, motivation and teamwork while at the same time becoming competitive.

Their first challenge was to scale the wooden rock climbing face. Cadet Jordan on the Aerial Swing, something that he has never tried before, his one word comment was “awesome”. The final part of the day was the assault course, this showed how well the cadets had quickly come together as a group and how they had managed to bond together as one.

Tuesday for the second group was sports and swimming. Here there was a lot of competitiveness and team spirit throughout the day, inside when weather was bad and outside between the storms. Simple, but very effective for all.

Wednesday and Thursday were a complete wash out and had to be rearranged to indoor activities. These included more swimming, a trip to Deep Sea World which was very educational and a brief visit to Edinburgh City Centre to see some of the fringe acts that were performing in the streets despite the weather. To the younger cadets, this was an adventure on its own, never having been to a large city before and seeing the acts as well.

Feedback for the week, in the Cadets own words were “Brilliant”, “Awesome”, “can we go again?” and “Why do we have to wait till next year??”.

My conclusion is that we brought back a group of cadets that had grown in confidence, bonded with a lot of new friends and lived together in close quarters for a week without any problems. My thanks to the Ulysses Trust for making this possible with their kind donation towards our travel expenses.

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