After nearly three years in the planning, including a confirmatory recce to the Caribbean, and despite the challenges presented by Covid-19, nothing could have prepared Cumbria ACF for the eye-watering news received 11 days before departure. EXERCISE ATLANTIC VENTURE, Cumbria ACF’s inaugural Cadet Exchange with the Turks and Caicos Islands Cadet Force, is cancelled for operational reasons!
On conveying the news to the thirteen affected Cadets, their parents, and the three Adult Volunteers travelling with me, the zoom call to announce the cancellation was received with open-mouthed silence. Don’t let anyone tell you that virtual calls ‘lack emotion and presence’! The party had spent the previous 6 months being carefully selected, had undergone rigorous swim tests at all sorts of odd and inconvenient times for parents and supervisors.
I think, looking back, that the parents were more visibly upset than the Cadets, particularly as I was unable to explain the ‘regrettable’ language used by government departments! The first question asked of me, not unreasonably, was ‘can we have our money back?’ as the Cadets and their families had all made significant contributions to the exercise, had fund-raised, bag-packed, done sponsored runs, donated and done everything they could to get to the Caribbean! Worse was to come: our travel insurance to cover the £14,000 spent on flights was only valid if the FCO Travel Advice advised travellers not to go – needless to say, the travel advice did not change so not only were we facing the ignominious prospect of not being able to fly, but we were also looking at losing our money!
Whilst tenacity is not currently listed amongst the Cadets’ core Values and Standards, Cumbria ACF firmly believe that it should be considered, as they spent the following 11 days from notice of cancellation, scouring the options to try and salvage something from the looming disaster! The late Field Marshal Bill Slim would have been proud of the planning team, as the first thing they did was to meet for a cup of tea and pour over a very large map!
In the time available, our options were severely limited but there was one option which stood out amongst the other alternatives. The British Airways tickets we had bought was for a journey which made just one stopover enroute – V.C Bird International in Antigua and Barbuda. Following two hours of research, we had ascertained and ticked the following: Antigua has a flourishing Cadet Force, it has a Defence Force, the country is safe and secure, Antiguan Cadets have attended RMA Sandhurst and the Dartmouth Naval College, our own CDS had hosted a Caribbean Conference in Antigua in July this year, HMS MEDWAY, the UK (N) Patrol Ship during the hurricane season was alongside, and finally it is Antigua and Barbuda’s Independence day on 1 November, when we might be there! It seemed the stars might be in alignment with good fortune!
The remainder of the week was spent engaging with the UK Defence Attache in Kingston, Jamaica, the Resident British Commissioner in Antigua, Chief of Defence Staff Antigua and Barbuda, British Airways and our Cadet chain of command. The key question was this: can we please still travel but get off in Antigua and conduct 10 days of adventure and exploration with the Cadets of Antigua and Barbuda. With two days to go until we departed for Gatwick, we got the answer we wanted; EXERCISE ANTIGUAN VENTURE was authorised!
Our Cadet group of four female Cadets and seven male Cadets, all aged 16 or 17 years old, were about to embark on a trip of a lifetime, and it proved to be a ‘First’ for a British Army Cadet Force travelling to Antigua and Barbuda to begin what we hope will be an enduring Cadet Exchange programme with the Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force (ABDF).
The group travelled through the night by coach to Gatwick to board the BA flight to Antigua which arrived in St John’s mid-afternoon. We were welcomed by not just 28 degrees of Caribbean sunshine but the OC of ABDF Cadets, Major Alando Michael and his Administrative Officer, Lt Valerie Costa, who whisked us through Antigua’s customs and passport control and to our home for the next 11 days, the FAS or Former Air Station. Hastily built by the Americans in 1962 following the Cuban Missile Crisis, the camp has long been the home of the ABDF, and we were generously provided with food and accommodation by our hosts. The Cadets shared air-conditioned rooms and once unpacked, made a dash to Dickenson Bay beach, one of Antigua’s 365 beaches (one for every day of the year!), for a late afternoon swim in the Caribbean Sea. After 18 hours of travelling, it was the very least the Cadets deserved!
During the first three days the Cadets’ feet hardly touched the floor. It started with a visit to the British warship, HMS MEDWAY and a tour of all decks and capabilities, particularly as the ship had scored notable successes against drug traffickers in the Caribbean the previous week and the Cadets had the opportunity to handle both the weaponry involved, put on fire-hazard suits as well as sit in the Captain’s chair on the bridge! The Cadets were joined by a group of 10 ABDF Cadets on board which was the first opportunity to begin making new friends. The Commandant, meanwhile, checked the party in with the British High Commissioner and with the Resident British Commissioner, H.E Lyndsy Thompson, without whose help and invaluable support the trip would not have been possible.
The Cadets wanted to share their experiences as a Cadet, as well as Sixth Formers and College students, with other Antiguan children and so visits were arranged with Princess Margaret’s School and with Antigua Grammar School. Plaques were exchanged and a short service of remembrance was held in front of the Grammar School Cenotaph to commemorate the 12 boys from the school who perished in France fighting with The British West Indies Regiment during the First World War. The Cadets had a lesson with Antiguan children to discuss some of the pressures they felt, and it was extraordinary to hear how the pressures are very similar, despite growing up in very different countries, climates and sizes of population.
The Resident British Commissioner is passionate about several enterprises in Antigua, not least The Seed Bank, a privately funded collaboration between horticulturists and keen gardeners, whose aims are notable. The Seed Bank grows, catalogues and nurtures the next generation of flowers, herbs and crops which are likely to be required following the next major hurricane to hit Antigua and Barbuda – the last one Hurricane Irma was a deadly hurricane which hit Antigua and Barbuda on the morning of 6 September 2017. The neighbouring island of Barbuda is still recovering but the Cadets spent the day clearing greenhouses, removing snails from amongst the plants as well as cataloguing and packeting seed collections for sale. It was a fantastic effort and provided true community engagement.
The next stop was a 2-day sailing course with the RYA-registered National Sailing Academy of Antigua, based at the Antigua Yacht Club. Most of the Cadets, despite living in and around the Lake District, were novices to dinghy sailing but after two days of capsizing and tacking in Falmouth Harbour many of the Cadets have vowed to sign up for sailing courses on Windermere or Bassenthwaite Lake next summer and to get the qualifications to sail larger vessels back to Antigua! Sadly, given the short notice switch to Antigua, there was little or no time to arrange snorkelling, paddleboard or canoe activities, particularly over ancient wrecks stretching back from the US Civil War, but hopefully future visits will be able to research the maritime options in more detail. Antigua’s international sailing events are globally renowned, and participants are always looking for competent crews – Cadet Zac Abernethy from Kendal was one of the interested Cadets who is very interested in returning: “I was thinking of joining the army when I got back but seeing what Antigua has to offer has made me think twice; I have absolutely loved this trip – best thing I’ve ever done!”
Towards the end of the first week, HMS MEDWAY departed for Montserrat, leaving behind its Support Troop from 56 Engineer Regiment, commanded by Capt Seb Cooke RE. The Troop very kindly gave up a day of training to work with the Cadets, doing fieldcraft and sniper stalk drills at Camp Blizzard, a training area on the northern side of Antigua. A fun day to end the week apart from the coach breakdown on the way back to camp, resulting in a 2 hour wait but the road was next to another fine Antiguan beach, so not all was lost, apart from evening meal, giving the Commandant the perfect excuse to buy seventeen takeaway pizzas!
The Cadets enjoyed a relaxing weekend of breakfast on the beach at Darkwood beach with their newfound mates from the ABDF Cadet Force whilst the Commandant and the Cadet Regimental Sergeant Major, plus Cadets Emma Wilkinson and Lewis Turner, represented the County at the Antiguan Independence Day Church Service at St John’s Cathedral, attended by the Governor General, Sir Rodney Williams and Antigua’s Prime Minister, Mr Gaston Browne. The visiting preacher, a Bishop from a neighbouring Caribbean Island, did not hold back in his sermon on crime and corruption and gave a very blunt warning to those in positions of power about the duty they have to their flock!! I could only reflect on how much we could do with some fire and brimstone in our own pulpits from time to time as industrial action threatens almost every sector in the United Kingdom!
And then came the big day during our visit to Antigua and Barbuda – being invited to march-past in the Sir Vivian Richards National Stadium in front of 2,000 guests on Antigua’s Independence Day on 1st November. The day was a scorcher, probably a few degrees warmer still inside the stadium, and reveille was called at 0430 hrs by the RSMI, WO1 Gerry Garvey. SMIs Julie Slater and Sandra McDowell had practised their drills and medical support to the group in the days running up to the parade. The contingent was preceded by the Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force band and the parade took on a Caribbean festival atmosphere as we marched-past in slow and quick time, also appearing on Antigua’s National TV channel! The Cadets were simply fantastic – smart, resilient, inspected by the Governor General on his walk through the ranks and did UK plc proud as the only non-Antiguan group on parade and in front of our own Resident British Commissioner and other diplomats, including the US and Chinese Ambassadors.
Independence Day was also a memorable occasion for WO1 Garvey who was promoted to his newly commissioned rank of 2Lt by the Chief of Defence Staff ABDF, Colonel Telbert Benjamin. In front of our Cadets CDS made a very generous speech about the new ties between Cumbria, UK and Antigua and was hopeful that the links would continue long after the visit ended and how impressed he had been with the turnout and performance of the Cadets on parade. Whilst still basking in their success, the Cadets spent the afternoon scouring the National Food Fair in search of Caribbean delicacies, before ending the day with the ritual of a daily swim from another pristine and white-sanded beach before being in bed at a very early hour following their 0430 hrs start!
The final day in Antigua was spent sight-seeing the past and the spectacular setting of Nelson’s Dockyard and English Harbour on the south coast, where Nelson spent, by all accounts, a miserable 4 years without setting ashore in what he considered to be a ‘mosquito swamp’ in the 18th century. It is now a beautiful restoration of Georgian buildings, and the Cadets were treated to a surprise lunch in the Dockyard restaurant generously provided by the British High Commission and CDS, Colonel Benjamin. We were very touched and flattered by their kindness shown throughout our stay and the Cadets presented Antigua’s Cadet Force with two return air tickets to UK in order that a senior female and male Cadet can join Cumbria ACF at Easter Camp in 2023. This is a Cadet Exchange with the potential to change lives for the young people of Cumbria and we wish to see it develop further, with a view to returning in 2024.
The Ulysses Trust contribution to our trip was incredibly generous to our overall pot of expenditure whilst in Antigua. The aim of the exercise had been to develop our young people still further by providing the opportunities for world-wide travel, to immerse themselves in the culture and history of a remote Caribbean island some 6,487 km from Carlisle! The children, our Cadets, grasped the opportunities presented with both hands. They were, from start to finish, fantastic ambassadors for their schools, families, Cumbria and UK – the British High Commission in Antigua closed 10 years ago, much to the disappointment of Antigua’s Governor General, who very publicly said ‘welcome back UK’ – who would have thought that Cumbria ACF would be a soft power tool in the Caribbean!
But the standard of behaviour shown by our Cadets, the willingness they displayed to undertake any activity in search of something new and different, ranging from offshore sailing for the first time, attending a national parade or a national church service, climbing aboard a British warship, being feted by the Resident British Commissioner at the High Commission for a Bar-B-Q and seeing first-hand the life of a hard-working diplomat – these were all new and exciting experiences for all our Cadets and Adult Volunteers.
I had a quiet moment with all the Cadets individually on our final beach run on the last evening and whilst one Cadet missed the rain of Cumbria, everyone on the trip felt they had undertaken something very special during their 12 days in Antigua. One quote in particular sticks out from an Adult Volunteer of some 20 years standing; “Best thing I’ve ever done in Cadets. Never thought I’d say it, because I love my family, but I want to come back again.”
And I leave the final word to a Cadet who turned 18 years of age a week after he returned to Cumbria: “I don’t want to be 18 next week Sir, as it means I can’t be a Cadet any longer. This has been the best thing I’ve ever done, and I hope that all the Cadets coming up get to do what we’ve just done. It’s just been epic, and I wouldn’t change a thing – apart from my age!”
The Cadets who went to Antigua have arranged a reunion there in 5 years’ time. That’s not a bad testimony to end with and thank you to the Trustees of the Ulysses Trust for helping us to make it all possible. We are very grateful for your support.
G R Harnby
Col
Commandant/SAO Ex ANTIGUAN VENTURE
