During the last week of term five of our distinguished cadets joined St Paul’s School for Girls and Birmingham Air Training Corps Cadets for their annual summer camp. Etone College has been proud to host their cadet troop for the past 5 years with each academic year bringing more cadets and enriching opportunities. The Combined Cadet Force is a youth organisation sponsored by the Ministry of Defence and through the Cadet Expansion Programme provides opportunities for Cadet Force training to nearly 500 schools and colleges. With over 43,000 cadets currently on the programme there is a wide variety of pupils that our cadet’s get the chance to interact with.
The camp started with our contingent travelling to the National Air Cadet Training Centre at Fairbourne where they had the opportunity to explore the first class training facilities.
After settling in our cadets visit Bounce Below at Zip World, performing acrobatics in a setting like no other, a trampoline park inside a massive slate cavern. Following this highlights of the camp included swim tests and bike-ability assessments, which all of our cadets passed and building rafts before the teams raced across Bala Lake. Whilst some rafts floated others drifted apart before the finish line.
Another big event came in the middle of the week sailing session. With cadets pairing up, one person took the sail and the other controlled the rudder. Everyone took to it very well and sailed far and wide across Bala Lake channelling their inner Ben Ainslie.
Finally with a visit to Coed Y Brenin Mountain Bike Centre got the chance to put their new bike skills to the test by riding blue and green routes as well as rock climbing.
Outside of the activities our cadets also took part in the usual activities including inspections, parade drills problem-solving tasks. The week was both fantastic and challenging for our cadets who have grown in confidence and leadership qualities as they maintained the welfare of their fellow peers throughout the week.
If you would like to find out more about our Cadet Troop check them out here: https://www.etonecollege.co.uk/ccf/
