After 2 years of extremely restricted cadet activity Bristol ACF was finally able to deploy its cadets and a few adult instructors on Adventure Training Activities during the summer of 2022. The County has not deployed on its annual camp for 2 years and there has been a marked drop in morale for its personnel despite the best efforts of the staff to conduct as many activities as they were allowed to do under the Covid restrictions.
A series of activity days were organised in the local area to Bristol and during the Counties Annual Camp at Castlemartin in South Wales. These consisted of a mix of water and land based adventure training activities such as Coasteering, Rock Climbing, Paddle Boarding, Raft Building, Archery and Bush Craft. The cadets and their supervisory adults were taken to specific locations where they were then handed over to the activity provider who conducted the actual activities.
The aim of the days was to increase the morale of the cadets and the instructors, increase bonding between the cadets, help the cadets to make new friends and re-affirm old friendships, build confidence and teamwork and to allow individuals to try activities they had not done in the past. A secondary result of the activity days would be to qualify some of the cadets for the Adventure Training section of their Cadet Star Level awards program.
A problem that we experienced was with the initial uptake of the opportunity from the cadets, after such a long period of stagnation of activities there seemed to be a reluctance to take part from some of the cadets. However once the first day had been completed and word got around this reluctance evaporated and we had requests from cadets for more similar days to be organised.
The first day saw a group of junior cadets and instructors travel from Bristol to Lake 32 in the Cotswold Water Park for a day of mixed activities. These cadets were those not attending the Counties Annual Camp and for the most part had only been in the ACF for less than 6 months. The weather was fantastic; the lake was extremely inviting especially after the extreme temperatures we had experienced during the previous weeks. The participants were well looked after by the centre staff and all got stuck in with all the activities.
There was a mix of experience across the group, some had taken part in the activities prior to this mainly with their family’s; others were undertaking them for the first time. Those individuals who had done the activities previously were soon able to use their experience to help other cadets, thereby increasing team working skills and bonding, but ultimately helping everyone to enjoy the day. By the end of the day every cadet and some of the instructors had been able to take part in 4 activities, the last activity was raft building and then raft racing with the objective to build the raft in order to rescue a casualty (Dummy) from a point in the lake. Upon the completion of the activities all the cadets were ‘buzzing’ with what they had done and achieved, several who were weak swimmers were particularly happy to have been able to take part in activities that they would normally have shunned due to their lack confidence in water.
The County deployed on its annual camp during the period 13 to 21 Aug this included 3 fully dedicated Adventure Training Days for the cadets. The unit requested and received assistance for these activities from a local company called Morfa Bay Activities, they organised 3 fantastic days of Coasteering and Rock Climbing for the participants. Coasteering is an activity that involves a group climbing over the rocks along a shoreline/bottom of sea cliffs, sections involve swimming from rock group to rock group, jumping off rocks into deeper water, investigating caves along the way. It is both physically and mentally challenging but exhilarating at the same time.
It did not matter what level the individual could perform at; the activities were geared towards and individual’s skill level. Therefore, there were cadets who would only jump in the sea during Coasteering off low heights whilst others were going off ones a great deal higher but it all added up to a fantastic experience for them all.
The cadets were split in age and experience related groups with the youngest and more junior cadets taking part on day 1 and 3, with the older cadets on day 2. There was a distinct difference in the bravado levels and willingness to try more difficult aspects of the activities between the younger groups and the older ones. The younger cadets tended to be more reserved to start with whilst the older ones just ‘went for it’ straight from the start.
A similar theme was found at the Rock Climbing location with the younger cadets being a bit more reluctant to ‘go over the edge’ during the abseiling phase and were more reserved when pushed to go higher on the fixed rope climbing pitch. There were a few who were scared of heights and they couldn’t take full part in the activity but the providers ensured that they were able to experience the activity by having them climb sideways along a low level face where they could step off onto the ground whenever they had too. Many of the cadets who had been fairly scared at the top of the rock face were openly overjoyed to have completed the abseil and the climb. It was extremely pleasing from the organisers and my own point of view to also see so many of the cadets actively assisting their friends with verbal encouragement and physically helping them with their equipment. It was one of the main aims in getting them working together as teams and friends.
There were several comedy moments during the activity days, mainly centred around the lack of verbal understanding between the Welsh Instructors and some of the Cadets from the more Inner City areas of Bristol. Both sides have very deep local accents and their own play on ‘slang’ words and at times neither could work out what the others were saying. This was very evident during the equipment issue phase after the Instructors had explained how to put on a wetsuit (zip to the rear, make sure the graphics were on the outside etc) and several of the cadets came back with the zips to the front and the suit inside out.
Many of the cadets expressed concerns about the activities, water, climbing, abseiling etc but by the end of each period even those who had shown great reluctance to take part had done so and really enjoyed what they had done.
One cadet who could not swim very well at all, had to be coaxed into the water for the Coasteering by his friend but would not go in above his waist (scared he wouldn’t float) the instructor took over and talked him into the water further and onto his back (wearing a buoyancy aid proved invaluable) he confirmed that the cadet would not sink and the cadet slowly made his way across the harbour to the start point for the activity proper. The instructor instilled so much confidence in the cadet that within 30mins he was jumping in to the sea off rocks up to 5 feet above the sea level. I spoke to him afterwards and he was overjoyed because he had ‘smashed it’ and was no longer afraid of the sea, as long as there was a buoyancy aid to hand.
Two other cadets who were very weak swimmers pulled out of the Coasteering after about 20 minutes because the waves were a bit too much for them, it was more choppy than it had been the 2 previous days. However, they were more concerned that they had wasted peoples time than that they had not completed the task. They were both assured that nothing mattered more than that they had given it a go, that they come out before they got into trouble and were safe. It was recognised by them that to continue would have potentially put others in danger so they pulled out early, this in its self-showed maturity and presence of thought for people of such a young age.
Overall the series of events that the Trust has helped to enable has had a very positive effect on the County and the cadets, there has been a notable increase in morale amongst the cadets and those adults who took part. It is often missed by many in youth organisations especially uniformed ones that not every experience or activity has to be from the book, days like these are extremely good for the unit, its personnel and recruitment for the future. Most of those who took part will go away talking to their friends about their experiences, experiences that will stay with them forever.
On behalf of Bristol ACF and those members who took part; I would like to thank the trust for its support in making these activity days so successful.
