PXR For Ex Northern Jacobite Venturer 2022, UT ID 2830.
Preamble:
Our now annual Scottish exploit is in it’s 14th year but due to COVID has had to reset its ambitions to year 1 of a four year development programme. Our long serving local instructors now have an expectation of great training weather and this year lived up to reputation with the Giggleswick High providing blue skies, a light breeze and only a touch of overnight frost.
Exercise Northern Jacobite Venturer is an ambitious expedition week designed to give cadets from Giggleswick School the opportunity to produce a tangible outcome to the adventure training elements of their cadet experience by exceeding the expedition requirements of their Silver and Gold DofE Awards. From this experience it is hoped that at least some will go on to satisfy their spirit of adventure in more distant and culturally diverse locations. Expeditioning in March and April in wild areas of Scotland certainly exceeds the requirements of the DofE Awards and cadet syllabus and is made possible by the use of highly qualified and experienced instructors who can only be afforded through the generosity of the Ulysses trust.
Cadets follow either a Silver (SMP) or, when the four year course achieves its third year, Gold (WMP) training platform. The land cleared area available for these courses covers an area larger than Hong Kong and allows the course to establish a cadet’s confidence in their expedition skill in the hope that they will return the following year with ambitions to follow a more challenging course.
This year:
Due to two years of COVID we have been fortunate to deliver the course out of Giggleswick School’s grounds and immediate surrounding area. However, it was recognised in the planning phase that our normal classroom preparation time, candidate fitness and resilience to extended training outdoors had been severely impacted by COVID. As a result, lower level routes and a leaning towards forestry tracks was selected, but wild camping remained a theme. We also chose to gear test one man tents in an attempt to better provide for the needs of a post-COVID training environment.
Getting children outside, away from an enforced reliance on electronic devices and able to extend their life experience to remote areas where one can realign perceptions of comfort, more closely consider the impact of their lifestyle and learn to work in teams they have not selected is a huge benefit of expeditioning. “Sir, I’ve seen deer, a golden eagle, seals and possibly a sea otter, all from two days of walking!”. “Can we camp more next time please?”.
- 20 cadets successfully completed an SMF platform in preparation for their Silver Assessment
- 10 cadets successfully completed an SMF platform in preparation fore their Gold Assessment
- 3 adults successfully gained update and best practice training.
Lt Col Darren Richmond
