A grand total of 125 Upper Fourth and Lower Sixth pupils and accompanying staff attended the annual CCF camp from Monday to Wednesday this week. The pupils undertook a variety of exercises and drills, testing their initiative, communication, discipline and teamwork.
RAF
Over the three days of CCF Summer camp, cadets from the RAF section completed a series of physical, mental, and leadership-based tasks.
At times, the pupils were based at the College undertaking tasks in the Confidence Course and learning and undertaking lessons on radio communication and navigation.
They also spent time in the RAF Museum in London, which celebrates and commemorates the Royal Air Force. The three new galleries explore the first 100 years of the RAF and its role today.
By Ben MacDowel
This week the RAF cadets were involved in various physical, educational, and team-building tasks as part of their Summer Camp activities. Our cadets completed the exciting Tree Top Challenge and various team-building exercises including ski walk and 30/30 at Go Ape followed by Navigation and Radio Communication tasks in College. Our outdoor sessions involved physical challenges of obstacle course followed by tug of war and Frisby challenge in the evening. On the third day, our cadets visited the RAF London museum where they had a chance to visit all hangars and explore the history, equipment and innovations that keep the RAF at the leading edge of Air and Space power.
By Vikram Singh
The Lower Sixth Leadership Cadre
The Lower Sixth Leadership Cadre were able to make the most of Monday and Tuesday by undertaking the practical component of their final BTEC unit, which assesses ‘Personal Development through Adventurous Activities’.
On Monday, our instructors – Dan and Rob – took everyone through a number of climbing challenges at the K2 centre in Crawley, and had the group scaling 14-metre high climbing walls (the pictures do some justice to this being far higher than it sounds!) and belaying for each other before we knew it.
Head-to-head speed-climbing was the natural progression, as the more competitive individuals saw the opportunity to challenge themselves, and each other, quite literally face-to-face through a clear perspex wall. Jamie Taylor (P) emerged as the fastest up a 10-metre vertical face, clocking in at an impressive 4.29 seconds. This day presented personal challenges for everyone involved, and was met with universal enthusiasm and determination to succeed.
Tuesday had us welcoming the break in the weather as we reconvened in Tonbridge to turn our hand to canoeing. Dan and Rob are Team GB rafters in their spare time, so had included a white-water element for us in the form of canoe chutes along the Medway.
These became increasingly steep up to the final Level 3 chute that managed to flip one out of our seven boats, much to the occupants’ frustration, whilst several others had a good dousing in the process. The rest of the 13km route provided opportunities for gunnel-bouncing practice, as well as developing paddling skills, lane discipline, and teamwork and communication, whether it be a game of polo or keeping the boats all in sight of one another through winding stretches of river. The group finished the day tired, soggy, and satisfied, with a palpable sense of achievement.
By Clare Jeens
Royal Navy – Upper Fourth and Lower Sixth
Owing to the temporary closure of all Royal Navy assets to CCF Royal Navy cadets as a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic, we hosted Royal Navy staff at Epsom College for our three-day field trip.
On day one, all cadets took and passed their first aid qualification with CPO Voller, a RN non-commissioned officer (NCO) with plenty of real-world first aid experience gleaned from her former career as a police officer; she kept her audience enraptured regaling them about some of the crime scenes she attended during her tenure with the police force. Later that day, all cadets were acquainted with the ship simulator and virtual battlespace by CPO Bilbe; the College is now in possession of a warship bridge simulator, which will allow for a range of imaginative war games to be simulated in College for future generations of cadets.
On day two, all cadets were involved in intensive field gun training with both CPO Bilbe and CPO Voller, the former of whom introduced field gun-running to the CCF. The Royal Navy record is 1 minute 17 seconds; after a morning and afternoon of drills, the CCF RN Section posted a very respectable 2 minutes and 28 seconds (hopefully good enough to take home the silverware at next year’s Annual General Inspection).
On day three, the College was visited by CPO Marsay and his STEM team; cadets engaged in robotic programming, building the pneumatic circuit for the landing gear of a F17, building a radio, and building an explosive device (less the explosives, fortunately). The cadets were led by the CCF RN Section’s own team of cadet NCOs, CPO Kitcatt, PO Tanguy, PO Von Eisenhart-Goodwin, and PO Wang; aside from me, they were supervised by SLt Saul (cc) and SLt Smith (cc), without whose invaluable support on the field trip and throughout the year nothing in the Section would have been possible.
By George Greenbury
Army – Upper Fourth
For three days, deep in the woodlands of Oxfordshire, 43 U4 Army Cadets undertook a series of Bushcraft activities, that included building shelters and a number of exercises including a night-time navigation and an escape and evasion task. All the pupils experienced a real outdoor adventure and was the ideal opportunity to put technology to one side. They made lifelong memories and no doubt became inspired by living in the woods without their mobile phones.
