In July 2023 KES CCF Royal Naval Section ran a three-day expedition to Pembrokeshire targeted at the Year 11 cadets who are staying with the Section into Sixth Form and will be our future young leaders. These 12 cadets have been with the Section for two years, but have been absent from CCF since Easter owing to public GCSE exams.
The expedition had several aims:
- To re-integrate the cadets into the spirit and ethos of the Royal Naval Section;
- To challenge them as individuals to push their own boundaries and as a team to support each other;
- To build a team ethos and spirit which will help them meet the challenge of working together to plan and run training events for younger cadets;
- To develop their relationship with the Section’s adult staff whom they will be supporting.
The expedition used bunkhouse accommodation at Celtic Camping near St Davids, Pembrokeshire, and adventurous activities were run by instructors from TYF in St Davids. Four adult staff accompanied the cadets and two very keen older cadets also assisted in building team spirit and encouraging resourcefulness. Activities included Surfing, Stand-up Paddleboarding, Coasteering, and leadership and teamwork challenges. We finished by taking RIBs out to Ramsey Island which added in awareness of coastal navigation and tides, as well as environmental awareness.
I am delighted to report that this was both a happy and a productive event. Cadet behaviour throughout was excellent, and activities were approached with enthusiasm – it was really pleasing how cadets who were finding activities challenging were encouraged by their peers. Two cadets who have a real problem with heights succeeded in completing the 6m jump into the sea during coasteering – one said ’I never in a million years thought I could do that, but everyone was cheering me on and I just couldn’t NOT do it’. The same teamwork and mutual support emerged in competitive paddleboarding challenges, and cadets given leadership roles were supported by the team.
The spin-off for the next year of cadet training is massive: the staff will have the support of a team of young leaders who have bonded as a group, faced challenges together, seen the staff facing the same challenges, had a lot of laughs, and learned to work together. This team ethos can be fed downwards during the year, and no doubt a few of these lads will want to step up and help with a similar training event next year.
Discussing the event with one cadet, I was told ‘I think this trip has built a team which can really drive Navy forward next year’ – that’s exactly what we wanted to do, and the cadet’s words serve as a good summary of the expedition’s impact.
We are really grateful to TYF for excellent instructors, to Celtic for accommodation which worked just right, and to Ulysses Trust for helping this to happen by assisting with funding and thereby taking a lot of pressure off the organisers!
Duncan Raynor – Expedition Leader
