ashdown – Bushcraft Days

June 6, 2018June 6, 2018

2017 – From BEL to LEL – Becoming an Expedition Leader

you are either good enough or you are not…….

Way back in 2010 our Sea Cadet Adventure Training team in London decided to get a licence to train and assess our instructors to become nationally recognised Expedition Leaders – this was through Sports Leaders UK and was titled the Basic Expedition Leader (BEL). Bar one year since then we have been training and assessing our instructors to become Expedition Leaders.

Due to changes in the industry wanting to make these qualifications more descriptive to their role the title has been changed to the Lowland Expedition Leader (LEL) award – fair one as far as I am concerned – so this post is dedicated to our last seven BEL students to be assessed last year: Nina, Donnah, Matt, Scott, Tony, Sharon and Gary.

The assessment weekend happened in November 2017 in and around Ashdown Forest. The students were assessed on their navigation skills, group management, knowledge on kit & equipment and their levels of nature awareness.

Along the way everyone had to give 5 minute ‘on the hoof’ presentations as well as running classes back at base. Over the previous 10 months we had worked closely with all the students and had seen them working with cadets in the outdoors so were confident of their abilities.

We do not assess the students on our own as we have to bring in an independent assessor and a representative from Sports Leader UK to oversee everything on the weekend – there is no skimping on this assessment – you are either good enough or you are not.

It is not all stressful – we do have fun along the way – well mostly the Area staff do I suppose 🙂

As well as having all this work and play I am always on the lookout for those little shots to make the day more interesting. The autumn colours brightened up the overcast skies and we managed to fit in a pub lunch along the way.

The assessment is over a weekend so we were back out on the Sunday morning testing their map and compass skills again with the odd scenario thrown in.

We move on now to the LEL award but it is with a fond heart (this has got nothing to do with all the admin by the way) that I look back on the BEL.

It has all made possible by my colleagues Perry, Graham, Jacques, Dave, Ben, John, Jen, Duncan, Alan and our very own Cliff – all who have been involved as instructors (and some as students as well) over the years – apologies if I have missed anyone here.

The 2018 students are already under training for the LEL award – so more on them later.

Cheers

George

December 27, 2017

The Bushcraft Days 2018 Calendar Shots

“dedicated to my wife Alison”

For the last few years my wife Alison has compiled a calendar from my photography to give out as presents to our close family. Alison is both a Publisher and an author and she inspires me each year to get out there and photograph life around me – so this blog post is dedicated to my wife Alison .

Looking at the pictures in the calendar they have brought back some great memories of the last year.

January 18

We spent a day visiting our friend Molly from the Field Farm Project earlier this year where I spotted Henrietta the Hen (no idea if this is her name) wandering amongst the Daffodils.

February 18

Anther trip was to Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove (went twice in 2017). As the sea was so calm on the first trip I had to get really down low to get any sort of wave action in Lulworth Cove.

March 18

I took lots of wild flower pictures this year however I decided to see what the underside of a Snowdrop looked like – I was pleasantly surprised at the green stripes and the shear number of petals.

April 18

On a trip to Chesil Beach to meet my friends Fraser (Coastal Survival) and Dougie (an ex army buddy of mine) we spent time as a family building a Beach Henge. We came across one of these structures years ago on Chesil so decided to build our own.

May 18

This year I got myself a new phone – a Samsung S7 and I decided to test out its zoom abilities. The Stitchwort flower below was probably only a centimetre in diameter so you could say I was happy with the phone.

June 18

Throughout the year we take time to head out into the woods as a family. This shot was in our local woods at Pamber Forest – I must admit to emphasising the blues a bit but I did like the effect this had on the trees.

July 18

July found me in Ashdown Forest with the Sea Cadets. In between classes I found time to stalk a herd of wild ponies, Using my phone I managed to get this cracker of a skyline as the sun was setting.

August 18

August was holiday time and every couple of years we spend time in Brittany with our friend Rick. There are great beaches on the Breton coastline however we did find time to do a bit scrambling at Pénestin.

September 18

September is a busy time for me with the Cadets and although this picture was not taken in that month it does epitomise to me the adventures we have. I was working as a Mountain Leader Safety Officer with the Royal Marines Cadets on the Brecon Beacons earlier in the year doing a mountain night nav when I managed to snap this shot as the sun was setting. It was a long night on the mountains but everyone came off safely and had a great time.

October 18

My son Finlay is 9 years old now and had expressed interest in getting out into the hills a bit more. In October I took him along with me on a Gold DofE Expedition in the Peak District. Needless to say Finlay showed no fear of heights while exploring Kinder Scout.

November 18

My daughter Catherine has not expressed that same wish for roaming the hills however she is extremely happy roaming the woods. I loved the colours of this winter shot in our local woods near The Vyne National Trust property.

December is winter time and although I was wishing for snow in Southern England there was not much to be had. This shot was taken earlier in the year on the side of Pen Y Fan in the Brecon Beacons. We were there to celebrate the Dining Out Weekend for our friends Perry and Graham.

Cover Picture

This was a tough one for me but Alison decided on this shot of a Swan taking off from the River Thames. I was delivering a course at my friend John Kelly’s Sea Cadet Unit – TS Black Swan and decided to spend a half hour seeing what life was going on on the Thames – a good half hour I think.

Cover 2 — Cover Picture – A Thames Evening

Thanks Alison for taking the time to putting this Calendar together – without you I know it would never happen.

Cheers

George

February 24, 2017

‘Mark 1’ eyeball, map and compass

Where have the last few months gone? – life and work have been hectic recently so I am only now catching up on my trips from late last year.

November last year found me in the Ashdown Forest here in the UK with the Sea Cadets assessing our latest group of expedition leaders. These Sea Cadet and Royal Marines Cadet instructor/students had a busy year preparing for their assessment but it was worth all the effort. The qualification they were looking to gain was their Basic Expedition Leaders Award (Level 3). This is a nationally recognised qualification from Sports Leaders UK.

Assessment - A bit serious and a bit fun — Assessment weekend – Serious but fun (bottom right picture courtesy of Jacob Leverett)

I was joined by my colleagues Perry Symes, Dave Lewis, John Kelly, Ben McDonald and Alan Lewis for the weekend.

We were soon split into a couple of teams and out on the heathland and in the woodland testing their skills. Some of these students started the course with very little knowledge so it was good to see them putting all their new found skills to the test.

As well as observing their group management skills as they navigated they all had to give ‘short on the hoof’ presentations to the others. These could be given under the relaxed canopy of a tree or under a windswept bothy bag 🙂

Assessed on navigation skills and group leadership (middle picture courtesy of John Kelly)

One of the most crucial skills any expedition leader should have in my opinion is to be able navigate to a high standard. The students were not only expected to be able to use a map and compass without thinking about it but also to be able to teach the skill to others as well.

Modern navigational aids are looked at on the course however it is the use of the ‘Mark 1’ eyeball, map and compass that are assessed. We spent the whole of the Saturday out and about doing this (hard work some may say).

Crucial Skills (top 3 pictures courtesy of Jacob Leverett)

Sunday was a day mostly of testing knowledge and each of the students had to run a class. Subjects covered included expedition food, kit and the theory of navigation.

While some of the assessors were observing the classes the rest of us were busy catching up on all the admin that Sports Leaders UK need us to complete to run our centre- admin as many of my friends know is not something I enjoy 🙂

Kit Knowledge ((top right picture courtesy of Jacob Leverett)

One of the things I like about helping to run this course is that I keep on finding new ideas for classes from the students like using this mine tape to highlight contours.

Having fun while in class – indoors and outdoors

Everyone who was assessed on the weekend came up to the standards to be an expedition leader so it was great to receive the certificates and to help award them.

We have been running this award in the Sea Cadets since 2010 now (I think we have missed one year) and I have worked with every group. We have a great team that is growing all the time and other Sea Cadet areas are now sending students to us or looking to emulate us.

By the way can you spot the difference below? 🙂

The 2017 group has already started so that one will be up on the blog sometime soon – so loads more trips planned.

Cheers

George

January 5, 2017

A Boys Own Weekend – More Time to Relax

OK – when I say we had a ‘Boys Own Weekend’ it was not through choice – sometimes it just happens that way and no girls had booked on the course.

Last October I spent an excellent weekend with my friend Dave Lewis teaching some Sea Cadets more advanced navigation techniques. They had all completed their basic campcraft skills and so the focus was on the use of the map and compass.

We were based in the Ashdown Forest here in the UK (Winnie the Pooh land) and really tested the lads out with their navigation. We had access to Pippingford Park training area so we were not continually bumping into people as you would do in the open access areas of the forest.

Pippingford Park has a wide variety of habitats from heathland, woodland and wetlands. The park also has many deer and wild horses roaming its interior making it a special place to visit.

We camped in the park on the Saturday evening and soon had a good fire going. Even though it rained a lot we got the marshmallows out and I started to spot loads of fire faces in the flames.

The colours were quite beautiful that weekend with all the fungi out and the leaves on the ground. Every time the sun came out so did my camera as that is when the colours came alive.

It is weekends like these where there are only a few of us that I really enjoy teaching. More focus can be given on the advanced skills and more time can be given to the instructors to relax 🙂

Cheers

George