Upper Sixth pupil Archie L., has written about the Kayaking Foundation course he participated in over the summer holidays:
At the end of the summer holidays, I had the opportunity to travel to the Halton Cadet Centre for Adventurous Training (CCAT) through the school’s CCF programme, which allowed me to carry out this course as a cadet.
Each year the UK Army Cadets designate certain dates in the school holidays for cadets to sign up, at a very discounted price, to a huge variety of sporting courses at the two Army camps they use in the UK. These are at Halton, in Lancaster, and Capel in Snowdonia. I had originally been looking at activity courses I could do as part of my DofE gold residential award. Through Major Money, I was able to look at doing one of these courses at a CCAT centre during the summer. I signed up for the Inland Kayak Foundation course, a five-day course covering the basics of kayaking, and staying at the Halton army training camp, within the Lake District. During my time there a few other courses were taking place, on and off the water, such as stand-up paddle boarding and caving, and the groups for each activity were made up of around six people, cadets and adults. What I hadn’t thought about when I got there was that the trip encapsulates everyone from around the UK, from CCF contingents, as well as the Army Cadet Force (ACF) who did their military practise out-of-school hours mid-week. Everyone who attended was really friendly and it was interesting hearing how each contingent does things differently in their counties.
The days consisted of a short drive with the boats to one of the many vast lakes nearby, with around six hours doing our activities before heading back to camp for a rest and many games of pool in the welfare room! The instructors were all really supportive and experienced which meant that even though the weather was sometimes a bit grim, we knew we were in safe hands.
If anyone is thinking about going on one of these courses, either in the UK or on one of the abroad courses, for their DofE residential or for general enjoyment then I would definitely recommend it to anyone. The UK five-day courses are at a cost of £50 with everything included except snacks, and transport to the location is covered by our unit. More details about the courses available available here: https://armycadets.com/who-we-are/cadet-centre-for-adventurous-training/ccat-activities/
N.B. All the courses will be fully booked for the rest of this year, so take a look at the courses available for next year when they are released in January.
Archie L., Upper Sixth
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