Page 55 - The Gazette Autumn 2023

different experiences which made everything taught on the course and training ward make sense. In his first emergency experience, a patient needed CPR. This was scary at first. He got to carry out different physiological measurements get very good at them.
SSgt Fiddy arranged an opportunity for us to attend the ceremony of Florence Nightingale in the St Paul cathedral in London, a real honour to be part of. Pte Moore one of our fellow trainees on the course, got the amazing opportunity to carry the nursing roll of honour down St Pauls cathedral along with the chiefs of nursing for all three services following behind her, as she is currently the youngest QA.
Another interesting aspect of our course is the Physical Training (PT) sessions which happened four times in a week. This involved cardio, strength and conditioning, flexibility, endurance and many more. SSgt Fiddy and Wilde joined us on PT and constantly encouraged us to try harder or remember to breathe, we are grateful to have had such an amazing team who has our fitness in their best interest. We also had a great PT staff especially Leading Physical Trainer (LPT) Yates and Cpl Callaghan, who were always on every session and made sure we did every exercise correctly to avoid injuries.
Towards the end of the course, we had a team building day out, where we visited the arboretum in Lichfield. We were divided into groups and had to choose a memorial to give a presentation on. Our team chose to talk about the QARANC. For our end of course day out we went bowling; I ended up scoring over 200 points overall and my team won.
During our time, the staff members were caring but also ensured that discipline was maintained. Captain Sheppard was dedicated and passionate throughout this course, he shared his knowledge with us and went above and beyond to ensure that we were successful. He has an extremely kind and calming
The staff members were caring but also ensured that discipline was maintained.
nature and always made us laugh.
SSgt Fiddy, who started her career as an HCA,
shared her vast knowledge with the course and catered to everyone’s academic needs. Her lessons were informative, and she organised revision sessions before both of our exams.
SSgt Wilde is a very friendly and approachable. He encouraged us to speak to him if we had any welfare issues and helped us with some of our practical exams.
The course in general has helped us acquire knowledge, confidence, and skills towards our new role. Being on this course enabled us to meet people from various backgrounds and we are all looking forward to our new experiences and careers within the QARANC.
The Gazette QARANC Association 55