City of Liverpool Sea Cadets hosted an Adventure Training week at Holyhead Sea Cadet Unit, TS Prince of Wales, Anglesey from 17.07.23-21.07.23which was attended by 10 CAVS and 16 Cadets from various North West Area Sea Cadet Units and was organised and run by former Royal Marine, C/Sgt Ian Wooldridge. Preparation for this one-week Adventure Training residential camp commenced in 2022 with the liaison with Holyhead Sea Cadet Unit Commanding Officer, booking of accommodation, AT instructors/equipment and completion of the relevant documentation. A visit to 202 Squadron, RAF, RAF Valley was booked for the Wednesday morning followed by a visit from MON Search and Rescue Team in the afternoon. North West Area Sea Cadets had recently purchased a number of top of the range Marin Mountain Bikes. These were booked for the week and would be utilised on the Coed-Y-Brennin, Minotaur Trail. The week’s training was supported by water sports instructors from Holyhead Unit and WO2 Paul Gillespie, Staff Officer Royal Marines. Paul is a former regular Royal Marine and is now the staff officer for all Royal Marines Cadet Units in the UK.
Aim: The Adventure Training package was conducted from TS Prince of Wales Unit, Holyhead, Holy Island, Anglesey. The week incorporated Adventure Training activities in Holyhead Harbour and on the Coed-Y- Brennin Mountain Bike Trail located near Dolgellau.
The aim of this exercise was to teach the Cadets Mountain Bike riding skills in order for the cadets to ride the Minotaur (Blue Trail), Sailing, Power Boating, Rowing and Kayaking in “Sheltered Waters”.
Cadets from the Merseyside West District spend the summer months learning various boating skills at the Water sports Centre, Crosby Marina, Merseyside. Sea Cadets Crosby Boat Station is a multi-function water sports training facility for the North West and for Units from across the UK.
On arrival at the summer camp at Holyhead they already had a sound knowledge and had mastered basic and more advanced skills of Power Boating, Sailing and Paddling. Participation in Water sports involves being exposed to inherent risk in order to develop personal skills.
The Expedition’s challenges and benefits: The Training Aim was to provide Royal Marine and Sea Cadets from the North west Area with the opportunity to conduct Adventure Training in the arduous Maritime environment of Holy Island, Anglesey and the Coed-Y-Brennin. The cadets experienced various elements of personal challenge in the activities that the training team delivered. Operating in and experiencing different Wilderness and Marine Environments, working as part of a team, Problem Solving and learning/putting ‘Life Skills’ into practice. The adventure training activities that were conducted were safe, well-structured and led by qualified Royal Marines Cadet/Sea Cadet Instructors.
Training Programme: The cadets were split into three groups and during the week rotated through the following activities:
Power Boating, Sailing and Rowing
Paddle Sports – Kayaking
Mountain Biking
Holyhead Sea Cadet Unit is ideally located in Holyhead, opposite Newry Beach and the sheltered waters of the harbour provide a safe training area. In addition to the main unit there is an accommodation block that can accommodate 25 personnel, kitchen/mess area and a seating area with a TV.
Kayaks can be launched directly off the beach and Power Boats and Sailing Boats from the slipway at Holyhead Marina. TS Prince of Wales have various power boats (RIBs and Rigi flex) and the Quest Sailing Boats provided ideal vessels for teaching Cadets various sailing skills.
Once launched the cadets had a large area of “sheltered water” to practice boating skills and drills.
The RYA Level 2 Powerboat syllabus was covered by the Power Boat Instructors, skills such as stemming a boy, man overboard drills, coming along side, anchoring etc.
The Paddle sport instructor covered skills such as capsize, high/low brace, forward/reverse paddling and a tour of the harbour.
The Sailing Instructor covered the RYA practical skills afloat, Level 1 Start Sailing and Level 2 Basic skills.
During the evenings the following presentations/ practical training and Lectures were delivered by the instructors.
• Tide Tables, Surf/Swell reports, obtaining and interpreting Maritime Weather reports from various media.
• Water Awareness/ Water Safety/Swift/Moving Water Rescue- These skills were put into practice on the adjacent Newry Beach. One of the instructors volunteered to enter the harbour and play casualty. Cadets practiced Throw Line Techniques and used the nationally recognised Water Rescue procedure – Shout, Reach, Throw, Row Go!
• Mountain Bike pre use, ‘M’ Check and basic maintenance, Personal Safety Equipment, this was delivered by MIAS qualified instructors.
• Medical Emergency on land and sea – delivered by a qualified Nurse/Offshore Medic.
Working with external Rescue agencies: On the Wednesday morning there was a visit to 202 Squadron at RAF Valley. 202 Squadron is the Maritime and Mountains training element of the No.1 Flying Training School, operating the Airbus Helicopters H145 Jupiter. One of the primary roles is to train RAF Air Crew in Winch techniques etc; for Search and Rescue Operations.
The cadets were given a presentation by the RAF crewmen on the role of the squadron; on completion of this a question and answer session ensued. They were given a guided tour of the Helicopter hangars and had an opportunity to sit in the aircraft and take photographs.
On return to Holy Head Sea Cadet Unit, there was a visit by Anglesey’s (MON) SAR Team (Search and Rescue). They split the cadets into three teams which rotated through various stances including Search Operations, Casualty care/ evacuation and equipment familiarisation. One of the stances involved use of a Basket Stretcher to extract a casualty. The casualty was in fact a bucket of water and the test was to lift, move forward and place down without spilling the water!
Impact of the expedition on the unit and the participants: City of Liverpool Unit is located in the Kirkdale/Everton areas of Liverpool which are amongst some of the most socially deprived areas in the United Kingdom with high crime rates, drug use and drug related crime. (The unit has been broken into a number of times and the unit mini bus stolen).
The opportunity for Cadets from this unit to spend a week on Anglesey taking part in various adventurous activities has many benefits to the individual. Removing them from street gang culture, including providing an opportunity to see sea and mountains for those who may not have had the opportunity to travel out of the city.
The Ulysees funding for the expedition provided additional monies which was used to support the training.
Quote from Alfie Dawson, Royal Marines Cadets regarding his participation in Ex ‘Rip Curl’: I am from the City of Liverpool Sea cadet unit. My thoughts on the AT camp were overall, good; the accommodation was of a high standard and I enjoyed the kayaking and learnt new skills and practised existing skills. I enjoyed the mountain biking and wish that I could have done more. I also enjoyed listening to the visitors that came to see us from MON Search and Rescue Team. I enjoyed spending time with my friends. The training was good, and I was able to understand and learn from the lectures that were provided. I would love to go again and have more opportunity to do more mountain biking and learn more skills.
Quote from a Military Veteran who attended the Exercise: My name is Ian Wooldridge, I organised this exercise and have recently completed 12 years as a Royal Marines Cadet instructor. After a career in the Royal Marines Reserve/Royal Marines spanning nearly 29 years I felt it was time to “Give something back”.
I have a vast experience of life, Military Service and also 26 years in the Fire and Rescue Service and a genuine interest in Youth Development. Volunteering at a Sea Cadet Unit located in one of the most socially deprived areas in the UK. It is rewarding to organise an Adventure Training a package such as this and provide the Cadets with the opportunity to experience challenging activities.
Unlike the ACF, ATC and CCF, the Sea Cadet Organisation is a registered charity and does not receive any financial support. Monies for activities such as this camp are raised through bag packing, car washes etc.
Additional funding from organisations such as the Ulysees Trust are essential to organisations such as the Sea Cadets. The Sea Cadets and Royal Marines Cadets are all very grateful to the Ulysses Trust and our other donors for their support which helped to make this expedition possible.
