This summer two of our cadets were able to attend an Outward Bound Trust expeditIon after successful funding bids to the Army Cadet Charitable Trust (ACCT) and the Matthew Bacon Bursary Fund. Cadet Lance Corporal Fruganti, one of the successful applicants writes about her experience:
"The funding allowed me to apply for the Outward Bound’s Summit Adventure course.
The Summit Adventure course was 14 days long, and included 5 nights away on an expedition. The course allowed me to become more assured and resilient in my approach to outdoor and fieldcraft activities, whilst making lasting friendships with people from all around the world.
It also helped me become more independent and confident in different roles as part of a team (we took turns leading the group and doing certain tasks like collecting water to make our food). We were able to perform two 3 day expeditions (the first being instructor led, whilst on the second we had to do everything ourselves). This helped strengthen my ability to map read and navigate an unfamiliar area whilst working effectively with my team to make sure that everyone was alright, and taking breaks when needed.
Through the Outward Bound Trust, I have also learned some new skills, such as climbing, canoeing, gorge walking, and scrambling, which I hope to do again.
My favourite activity was possibly gorge walking, as it included aspects of scrambling (which I also loved). Gorge walking also helped build my teamwork skills, as the rocks in the river were quite sloppy and we had to rely on each other for help and support when crossing a particularly sloppy area.
My favourite memory from the whole adventure was the first expedition. I think the first expedition helped me build closer bonds with my team whilst out on the field. On the second day of the expedition we decided to climb Mount Snowdon at 2am.
Although it was challenging (as we were all tired, and had to climb with all of our equipment), I think it was one of the most rewarding things we did on the course. We went slowly, so we got to the summit at around 7am to have breakfast at the top. We had also stopped for about an hour on the way up to watch the sunrise"
