On 16 February 2023 Calday Grange Grammar School CCF and Birkenhead CCF completed their expedition to Norway , returning back to the UK having taken part in a wide variety of winter skills.
Background
2 years in planning the expedition was to take place at Bylke, Norway – where weather conditions would challenge both staff and students in developing their expertise in areas such as ice climbing and dog handling. What started out as a small scale trip for 18 cadets soon gained so much interest the number swelled to 48.
Preparatory Ground School
The expedition had started before it had even began….with the transportation of enough equipment that I am sure the cadets could have put together their own mission to the South Pole.It is incredible the kit that each of the cadets was required to carry and inevitably it did not all make it to the destination. Whilst some students had individual experience in the activities being undertaken , there was no preparatory training before the adventure as we had been told that the groupings would take into account these different levels. There was however the standard meetings with parents and it was at this point Mr Lakey made the somewhat naive decision to create a parents Whatsapp group …..you can only imaging the quantity and variety of questions he would be asked. After numerous visits to the Loan Pool in Bicester , from our Cadet Staff , we were finally in a position to make the long journey to Bykle, Norway…or so we thought. Due to a clash of visits from other Cadet units on winter expeditions we were short of many items . There was only one thing for it and that was to ask (or plead) with the contingent commander for the purchase of the missing kit. This is where the Ulysses Grant really helped us as a unit. Not only had it meant that no student was financially unable to be part of the expedition but had we not been able to access the goggles, poles, boots and mittens then we would have had no trip. And for this the whole group of cadets are entirely grateful.
Days 1-2
The trip was a popular one in terms of participants with 48 cadets and 6 staff. To ensure that the costs were not too prohibitive we travelled from Wirral to Gatwick and then onto Norway. Whilst the journey was certainly a long one it did give the cadets time to bond and given that they were all from different year groups and sections , this was a massive positive for the start of our week away.
The journey to Oslo completed, we boarded an inter country flight and finally landed at Bylke. A journey that began at 05:00 had finally finished at 23:30 …..tired, we unpacked and went to bed.
The objectives of this adventure training week was to improve various skills that whilst were focused on Winter activities, they could be transferable to many other situations.
Waking up to the beautiful surroundings of Bylke was enough to make the cadets forget the tiredness of the previous day. After the normal start of orientation to the centre and our first breakfast it was time to get going….unless you were one of the cadets (or staff) whose bags had decided to make their way to a different country. After begging , stealing and borrowing of kit form staff , the cadets now had all that was required to begin. The first day centred about matching the skills levels to the groupings and seeing how well , or poorly in my case, the cadets could ski. For some it was the first time it had ever been done and in hindsight a trip to the indoor skiing centre , Manchester, would have been a good call. With the weather holding the groups were made and we spent 48 hours developing our techniques in preparation for the cross country trip and snow hole residential.
Days 3-4
The groups split, we rotated through a number of different activities. The intermediate and beginner groups had made their way to the location of the snow holes whilst the advanced group had been snowed in due to bad weather further inland. With no reception the staff had to take turns skiing out for 30 minutes, contacting base and skiing back until eventually their was a break in the weather.
The snow hole adventure is one that will not be forgotten by the cadets. Most of us had thought you dig down into the ground and create the rooms but in fact you build up a high level of snow and compact it together before hollowing it out. It certainly was not a night of sleep but the atmosphere was amazing and the laughing never stopped, so much so that the cold was easily forgotten.
Days 5-6
The rotation of activities continued with visits to the open air swimming pool, ice climbing but most importantly for most of us……dog sledding. The buzz around the camp when the dogs arrived was incredible and even though we were all tired, cold and hungry from the previous 4 days it was all put behind us when the dogs arrived. For all of us it was something we had only ever seen on TV and the experience again is something we will never forget.
The journey home
It is never the same travelling back from a trip, but this one felt worse than normal. The experience was one that will never be forgotten and for most of us never repeated. Yes we missed our own beds and yes we missed our families but we missed the adventure and scenery just as much.
All of the cadets had experienced so much together and in fact a few cadets had made such good friends in other sections that they have now moved sections within the CCF due to the bond created. We must of course thank everyone involved on the trip, the staff who attended , Adventure Go and the course leaders , the staff back at the school, ex Contingent Commander Major Adcock who started the paperwork and planning and Sqn Ldr Bosworth the new Contingent Commander who finished the planning . More importantly we need to thank the Ulysses Trust for its generous donation that meant the trip was not one whereby Cadets could not attend. The experience was so memorable I couldn’t imagine that financially a student could not have attended and missed out.
