23 Cadets and 11 Staff from Thames Valley Wing organised and attended the 2014 Wing AT Camp at NACATC Llanbedr at the end of May.
After some careful planning and paperwork the week started with a journey to North Wales on a coach, after settling into the camp and receiving various briefs the Cadets and Staff were split into 3 groups. We archived our aim of delivering a jammed packed and varied programme giving the Cadets a taster in each of the core AT activities.
Each group had 2 days of Rock Climbing, Wild walking/Camping and Paddle Sport.
Climbing started with a day’s indoor climbing at Indefatigable, Llanfairpwllgwyngyll. This allowed the Cadets to cover the basics of climbing movements, equipment, belaying, abseiling etc… The following day a trip to the Upper Tier at Tremadog, after a short but steep walk up to the Tier everyone got to climb various routes and put their recently learnt skills to good use.
Walking, after preparing rucksacks and equipment the Cadets went for a day’s walking and wild camping learning map reading skills, camp craft and about the environment.
Paddle sport, the Cadets spent a day in Open Canoes and a day in Kayaks on Llyn Padarn and Llyn Gwynant. They covered the BCU 1* syllabus resulting in a number of Certificates being issued. One of the groups went on an overnight expedition carrying equipment and camping out on a rather rainy night!
After a very busy week of activities, great home cooked food and Safe Enjoyable Learning it was time to clean the centre and hop onto the coach home.
Flt Lt Simon Cragg of Wallingford Squadron who was Camp Commander said “it was a very successful jammed packed week for Staff and Cadet, everyone went home with a big smile having challenged themselves in many ways. I’d like to extend my thanks to the Staff for running the activities and making the week run smoothly. Look out for the next TVW AT Camp at NACATC Windermere on the 25th October to 1st November 2014”.
