Outreach 2010 Discovery Weekend
James Gurung,
12 May 2010
On the evening of Friday 7th May, nineteen 12-14 year olds from the local community arrived at the Army Cadet Force training centre in Bicester to take part in an action-packed Outreach weekend. Activities began the moment they got out of the bus, and the first tasks were icebreakers designed to get everyone talking and involved. Even at this early stage, we could tell that the young people would be an exciting group to train with. Some initiative exercises followed, and we rounded off the day with a couple of party games including musical chairs!
We roused the participants bright and early on Saturday morning and marched them up to breakfast as a squad – their first experience of military drill. We then split into two groups for the day. Half of the cadre went kayaking on the river all morning and the other half stayed on site for field cooking, basha building, map reading and command tasks. After lunch the groups swapped over. The evening activity was a navigation exercise at Shotover Park, which challenged participants to apply their orienteering skills and work effectively in teams.
On Sunday, the participants first swept and mopped the accommodation and training rooms in the spirit of self-reliance. Training was not over, however, and they went on to tackle an obstacle course, try out some archery and learn basic first aid skills that could save someone’s life. After lunch, the buses carried nineteen very tired young people back to Oxford.
Every participant developed massively over the weekend, and they all had tremendous fun. Everyone is looking forward to the next Outreach event in July.
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Accommodation at our residential centre in Bicester
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2009
James Gurung