A RESERVIST ADVENTURE TRAINING WEEKEND - BY LCPL HOSKINS (243 SQUADRON)

On the weekend of 7- 9 March, 243 (Coventry) HQ Sqn set off on an adventure to the Island of Angelsey.  A convoy of three vehicles packed with passengers and adventure training equipment made their way  to the Joint Service Mountain Training Centre to begin a weekend packed of excitement, adrenaline fuelled and challenging fun, all for a cost of just £15.00.  As each vehicle ‘De-bussed’ the troops were met my SSgt Khan (the Regular Permanent Staff Instructor) who gave each individual the good news that there was free Wi- Fi in the rooms - luxury in Army terms!  After receiving the arrival brief, with beds made and kit packed away, we got some sleep before the weekend began on Saturday.

  A sunny Saturday morning greeted us as we rose from our beds with rolling hills and sheep grazing, which is presumably the same as what they had done the day before, and the day before that and the day before that.  After a bit of breakfast and plenty of flask filling we made our way to the Nuffield Training Centre in Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwll- llantysiliogogogochuchaf on the banks of the Menai Straits on the island of Anglesey in North Wales.  No, I did not type loads of words, this is the name of the local area. I dare you to try and pronounce it.  For those interested it means ‘St. Mary's Church in the hollow of the white hazel near to the rapid whirlpool of Llantysilio of the red cave’.  

We were split into two groups and were each given an instructor who took us through a series of stands which included low wire activities, high wire activities, zip wiring and a trapeze jump.  The low wire was quite exciting, it really tested your balance and co-ordination skills but as we progressed on to the high wire at a soaring 65 feet it definitely was enough to make the knees wobble and lip wibble!  On each of the wires we had to make a steady climb up the side of a tree as it swayed from side to side in the wind and then believe that we could let go and walk across a plank whilst being supported only by a wire that was being held down by your mate on the ground.  We were tasked with completing a full 360 degree turn and then a star jump before stepping off the platform to be lowered to the ground, some of us faster than others.

 Next we moved onto the zip wire.  We were to clip ourselves onto the rope and then stand at the edge before our instructor kindly pushed us off.  The only way we were going to stop was to either have our mates at the other end of the wire hold a wooden wedge down using a rope, or crash into the fast approaching tree. The method worked well with the wooden wedge until Cpl Wright had jumped off unexpectedly with those of us who were supposed to stop him just carried on watching as he flew towards us.  Luckily, LCpl Scrimshaw and myself picked up the supporting rope just in time or he’d of carried out a really good impression of George in the Jungle.

 Moving on through the activities we got to the Trapeze Jump.  As with the other activities we had to steadily climb up the side of a tree until we reached the summit where a horizontal bar presented itself to us.  At 65 feet in the air with a tree swishing from side to side it takes a lot of nerve to have trust in yourself and your mate who is stopping you from falling to the ground, beneath you, to jump reaching out for the bar… And missing!  All of a sudden you feel like you are falling to certain death, the adrenaline rushes up to your head, heart beating faster and then you realize you’re not going anywhere at which point your legs turn to jelly. For SSgt Coley (237 Squadron) this was particularly challenging.  It took what seemed like an eternity for him to jump, but up there, I bet it felt like a lifetime for him.  After some strong words of encouragement he made the leap of faith and flew to the bottom.  A big well done to you. 

After this, we needed a break so we walked over the grass back to the training centre; something that none of us felt entirely comfy with as it goes against everything you’ve been disciplined in.  Our last activity for Saturday was a race between the two teams to build a raft and work our way through a course designed by our instructors.  After a tie between both teams and an allegation of cheating there was a forfeit. The first team with all members to jump into the lagoon won.  As soon as were informed of this, with a few exceptions, all of us ran and got wet as our rafts naturally never sank.  Getting wet however was not great when you didn’t have spare change of clothes… Ahem.  At this point I should also point out that both instructors were incredibly knowledgeable and it was a pleasure to be with them both.  Saturday concluded with a night out where all of us got together and made friends with the locals.

 Sunday was the end to a great weekend.  The sun was shining again as we packed up our lives back into our bags and made our way to the Indoor Rock Climbing School, Indy.  It’s Anglesey’s best rock climbing centre which is just outside of camp. It has beginner walls right through to the more advanced walls for real life spidermen.  We spent two hours here and split into two groups ‘those that have’ and ‘those that haven’t’ which soon transpired into ‘those that can’ and ‘those that can’t’. By the end of the two hours I think it was fair to say that we all ended up into the category of ‘those that can’. 

The whole weekend was a steal, at £15 per person for travel, accommodation, food and equipment hire you can’t complain and it was good to see the squadron do things together as friends, things that are fun and things that we will talk about for a while.  Of course the added bonus was that those that attended we getting paid to do these things too, something that others can only dream about.  I’d certainly recommend Adventure Training to anyone.  It’s something all the squadron should do together, after all, it’s not all work and no play is it?  On behalf of all the Soldiers that attended, I’d also like to thank SSgt Khan for working extremely hard in organising this whole weekend.  As a witness to endless work on the way down I can say that his phone did not stop ringing.  Well done to all those that attended too, I think we smashed it and I believe the next AT weekend will be just as good, if not better.