Page 45 - Cadet Review Summer 2023

JUNIOR CAMP 2023
By Captain Hollie Troughton
Over the Easter holiday period HSY ACF delivered two 4 day Junior Camps for over 180 one star training cadets from across the county. The aim of our Junior Camp is to give our cadets an exciting and challenging training experience to work towards achieving their star level, while introducing them
to the wider cadet experience and longer periods of time away from home. This prepares them for future Army Cadet activities by giving them a solid foundation to their training.
Across the four days the cadets participated in activities including Skill at Arms, Shooting, First Aid and Drill and Turnout. The highlight of the week for many of the cadets was the Adventurous Training package which took place at Welton Waters, where the cadets enjoyed a multi-activity training day including raft building, paddleboarding, team games, rafted canoeing, and topper racing. Other activities included the Field Gun Run, Tag Archery, Laser Shot Gun, Command Tasks and a STEM challenge. In the STEM challenge the cadets had to work as a team
to build a catapult, which they could use to ‘splat
a volunteer’ if they were successful in building a working machine.
For many of the cadets attending, this was the longest period of time they have stayed away from their homes without those who usually care for them. This poses unique challenges to both the cadets and the adult volunteers, who support the cadets to build their confidence and resilience. The cadets showed incredible support to each, demonstrating daily the core values and standards of the ACF.
With over 700 individual subject passes, it could be said that Junior Camp 23 was a huge success. However, the impact the experience has upon our cadets is always the biggest achievement. Feedback from cadets, parents and carers demonstrates this, with parents commenting ‘my son really enjoyed his time there, he feels a lot more confident in himself and the staff were fab’ and ‘My son had a blast and voluntarily told us all about it when we got home’.
It was amazing to see efforts of everyone come together so the cadets could have this brilliant experience
As always, this event could not have happened if we didn’t have skilled, motivated and caring adult volunteers who plan and deliver the training. There was a real mixture of talented volunteers who gave up their time to give our Junior cadets this great experience.
Captain Hollie Troughton, Training Officer Junior Camp 23, stated “I am so proud of the team and all of the cadets who have attended Junior Camp across the two-week period. Both the adult volunteers and the cadets worked extremely hard to achieve what we did over the two camps, and it was amazing to see efforts of everyone come together so the cadets could have this brilliant experience”.
Over the two weeks awards were made on final parades to our cadets and adult volunteers.
CADET REVIEW SUMMER 2023 45