Page 38 - RAPTC Year of 2019
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Ihave been posted to Northwood HQ since Jan 2018 and once again it has been a very busy year with various events and activities taking place. The first event on the Northwood
calendar was the Unit Health Fair, due to it being the first event back from Christmas leave the theme was called ‘New Year New You’. It was a huge success, with various stands including Healthy Food, Mental Health and a local nutritionist to speak to personnel.
Next up in the Northwood calendar was the unit’s family’s day, this is to give all the local families on site an opportunity to enjoy a BBQ and drinks with various kid’s activities from bouncy castles, pony rides and movies.
There were a couple of Charity events organised this year. The first one was a 24-hr row set up in the gymnasium, this was for the Royal Navy Royal Marine Charity, next up was a 15-hour cycle for the Royal British Legion. Both events were a success, raising a large amount of money towards the chosen charities.
The CO’s cup continued to be a huge success this year with numerous events including Dodgeball, Volleyball, Basketball and a general knowledge quiz. culminating with the always popular Christmas It’s a Knockout. This also gave departments the opportunity to bring in selection boxes which we then took to the children’s ward at Watford General Hospital for them to enjoy over Christmas.
The biggest challenge this year was to implement the new Soldier Conditioning Review (SCR) to all the Army personnel in station. Northwood is a tri service unit and majority of the personnel here work on shift patterns so it was very difficult to get the numbers in the gym to conduct the test. To get around this I decided to change the timing of the test to the afternoon, and to conduct them twice a month. We also conduct long week fitness testing once every term. I can happily say this is now a success and I am getting a good number of personnel conducting the test.
One of the aims this year is to keep pushing the Soldier Conditioning Review and get as many personnel passed. We have 12 personnel taking part in the 104th Nijmegan International four-day March in Holland. This prestigious event consists of approximately 40km over different routes on each of the 4 consecutive marching days. There are also personnel taking part in a Coast to Coast bike ride from Whitehaven to Scarborough for the Childhood Eye Cancer (CHECT) Charity.
To conclude, we have had another fantastic year at Northwood HQ, with some great challenges and I am looking forward to the events as they unfold in 2020.
HQ LONDIST
NORTHWOOD HEADQUARTERS
Sgt (SI) M Bloom RAPTC
15-hour row