On the 16th and 21st June I spent the day with Chesterfield College's Uniformed Public Services Course. Each group spent 2.5 days camping at Barn Farm, Birchover where they did various activities such as climbing and raft building, although this was all based around expedition training. Each day that I spent with them the groups had planned a walk from Birchover to Emperor's Lake on the Chatsworth Estate and return. The total distance for each day was around 20km over varied terrain including a riverside walk along the valley bottom and getting up and down two pretty grueling hills. The groups were both of mixed ability. The picture to the left is of my group on the 16th.
The experience gave me a good insight into dealing with groups outside of the Air Cadets, at the top end of the age range that I would normally deal within the cadets. The second group that I took out was more of a challenge as two of the group had a difference of opinion part way through the second leg which meant that the situation had to be diffused in order for the walk to continue. Having said that, by the end of the walk the same two were helping each other, spurring each other on. It was nice to see a change in attitudes and to see the group coming together as a team. In total it contributed about 20 hours of volunteer work towards my award.
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