Over the Bank Holiday weekend of 28 Apr to 01 May over 80 cadets and staff from across Derbyshire Sector RAFAC (Trent Wing) descended upon Barn Farm campsite near Birchover for the Sector DofE Expedition weekend for 2023, fully supported by the Ulysses Trust and RAF Charitable Trust. The teams were a mix of Silver Assessed (who had completed their practice at the beginning of April), one Silver Practice and seven Bronze Assessed teams. Prior to the activity the team had done some Sqn based training and devised route plans and menus for the weekend. The supervision and assessing team were supported by a dedicated team looking after first aid and staff catering leaving the instructing team to concentrate on a mammoth task of keep all the cadets on track.
Following a mass briefing on the Friday evening and an opportunity to meet their supervisors and assessors the cadets were encouraged to have an early night despite the presence of a quite lively school group in same field making that difficult. For the Silver assessed teams it was straight down to business being bused out to their start points in Monyash with one group taking the Lathkill River route and the other going over the moor through the same Nature Reserve – there was lots of history to be had on the mining industry, mainly for lead, found in the seams in the limestone. Meanwhile the Bronzes did a skill day looking at refining pre-learning on tents, rucksack packing and stove use before undertaking some navigation training in the local area, away from their routes for the rest of the weekend.
On the Saturday evening there was a torrential downpour lasting a couple of hours, fortunately after the teams had got tents and most food done, but some cadets learned a valuable lesson in zipping the tents up resulting a few frantic calls to parents to bring extra dry supplies of clothing ready for the assessment start (Bronze) on the Sunday morning.
Over the Sunday and Monday all groups were out on trek on the paths in the idyllic White Peak area around Birchover, carrying everything they had with them, again some of them learning the valuable lesson of packing light, but thankfully the rain mostly held off and the cadets showed the benefit of the training they had to tackle the routes and navigation with enthusiasm and mostly good navigation, as always a few got temporarily displaced from their prescribed routes.
Everyone made it to their designated finish points on time to be collected by excited parents and no doubt had been challenged over the weekend by factors including kit, weather, navigation and fitness, but without doubt all had a great time and took away some great memories. In total 15 cadets completed Silver Assessed, 6 Silver Practice and 42 cadets Bronze Assessed successfully and are looking to move on to the next level, six Bronzes Awards having been gained within days as a result. Last year Derbyshire Sector was the best performing Sector for DofE in Trent Wing, and as a result Trents Wing best performing Wing in Central & East Sector so a big well done to all.
That said these weekends are not just about the cadets – they are a great networking opportunity for staff across the Sector to meet and organize events together and since last year the motivation to be self-sufficient has seen 5 staff from the sector qualify as Lowland Leaders, 10 staff gain a Camping Leader Award and 7 new DofE assessors, which will only benefit the cadets moving forward.
“I really enjoyed shadowing a staff team this year, especially the assessing side. I have always enjoyed walking in the outdoors and am now more determined to get my Lowland Leader in time for next year, to add to the Camping Leader Module I already have gained.”
Adult Sgt Slack 1401 Sqn
“I love the DofE weekends, it’s a great chance for us to mix across Sqns and after Covid it definitely made summer camps last year better knowing other cadets from DofE and Multi-activities camp before we went – I just find it really sad its over for another year.”
Cpl Binney 1890“I did my previous DofE with School as cadets wasn’t doing it really at that time but doing Silver with the rest of the NCO team was a great bonding experience and we are keen to keep the team together for Gold – I have to say the cadet routes are harder though!!”
Cpl Wilbourne 2326
The Ulysses Trust also wish to thank the generosity of the Royal Air Force Charitable Trust for supporting this expedition. www.rafct.com
