Page 43 - Cadet Review Spring 2022

CEY Wing ATC
2434 SQUADRON TAKE
TO THE WATER
By Civilian Instructor John Pownall
On Saturday 2nd October Air Cadets from 2434 (Church Fenton) Squadron took to the water at Ripley Castle near Harrogate.
The day started by meeting up at the Live For Today Activity Centre at Ripley Castle. We were greeted
by the instructors Dan and Laura from the Activity Centre and given a full safety brief. The cadets were then issued with the relevant water sports attire for the activity and led down to the waterside.
The planned activity for the morning was raft building but due to windy conditions it was decided to change the activity to canoe rafting.
The cadets received instructions on how to adapt two canoes into a 4-person vessel by the instructors and were then split into two teams of four.
Each team had 2 canoes, 1 wooden pole, rope and nylon straps to build their vessel. It was great to see everyone communicating and working together in their teams to make the vessel as secure as possible. It wasn’t a race but Civilian Instructor Alison
Pownall and myself could see the determination and competitiveness increasing between the two teams throughout this exercise.
The two teams finished their build within minutes of each other. They were then asked to inspect each
It was great to see everyone communicating and working together in their teams
Raft preparation
CADET REVIEW SPRING 2022 43
The National
Navigation Award
Scheme
By Flight Lieutenant Jo Tucker
We assembled at Pudsey squadron and were introduced to the National Navigation Award Scheme (NNAS). The morning itself was really informative, not only did it give us insight into the actual course and it also gave us ideas of how we can teach the syllabus in a creative, inventive way. It was quite an eye opener to
be put into the boots of a new cadet learning about map reading for the first time and has definitely influenced the way I'll teach navigation in the future.
After lunch, we made the short trip to Bramley Fall Park for the practical aspect of the course. To emphasise the point of learning from the cadets' point of view we used an orienteering map of the area. Getting to grips with new symbols and a new scale was a bit of a learning process and definitely one to work on!
Thanks to Flying Officer Sam Booth for giving up his time to entertain and educate us in the ways of teaching navigation.