The purpose of the hike was to investigate disused mine shafts whilst following old rail lines. The hike was long and tiring, but it did offer some fun and good laughs.

Cadet Chris Reynolds aka “Two Pac” due to the fact that he brought two backpacks of equipment with him, found it very difficult to cut through the heather without constantly falling in ditches. Also, Cadet Robert Espie was somewhat attracted to the marsh, falling knee deep at every opportunity.

At approximately 7pm, the group reached Garvock Farm, which would serve as home for the night. The next few hours consisted of setting up the tents, unpacking and making dinner. During this time CWO Callan decided to make a fire, which, due to her excellent camp craft skills resembled more of a bonfire on Guy Fawkes!

The night ended by toasting marshmallows and sitting around CWO Callan’s bonfire. Once everyone had gone to bed, CWO Hastie decided to walk on the hot embers, unfortunately, the embers had cooled somewhat and she ended up with blackened feet from the ash!

Day Two was a little easier as the route was shorter. However, there were a lot of casualties suffering from blisters, bumps and cuts.

At 2 pm the hike was completed and the cadets relaxed in the minibus as they were taken to McDonalds. Forgetting, of course, that they will have to do it all over again next month for their qualifier! 

On the 13th of July the seven-team members from the squadron joined up with the rest of the team at Maryhill squadron. From there, we had a ten-mile journey to England before taking the Stena Seacat over to Holland.

When we arrived at camp Heumensoord in Nijmegen, we could barely move for the mud. We then spent the first two days in the town. The march began on the Tuesday with the route taking us through Bemmet, Merm and over the River Waal. Day one was the best of the four days as we enjoyed having the residents of the towns cheering us on and the children running up asking for autographs and souvenirs. On day two we learned that the weather in Holland never knew what it wanted to do. One minute it was raining and the next it was blinding sunlight and burning heat. This made the day harder and less enjoyable. Day three was the worst of the four days. Halfway through the walk Cadet Collins accidentally overbalanced whilst stepping onto a kerb, causing his foot to point one way, and his leg the other. This resulted in a major injury and he had no choice but to pull out. This caused a delay of one hour and meant that we had to finish the third day as quickly as we could to make up for lost time.

Day three also brought the worst of the weather but day four was the hardest because of the hills that earned the day the name, “The Day of the Seven Hills”.
 

On the final day we agreed that no one else would be allowed to drop out, we would drag him or her to the finish if necessary. We decided to get an early start that day so we got up at 2am to get breakfast, pack our lunches, fill up on water and then head out. As we approached the start, several teams lined the sides of the roads to cheer us on. The rest of the day was then spent in pain as we tried to complete the march. Some of us discussed with other teams what we would like to do to the now annoying children asking for souvenirs.  The best part of the day was crossing the bridge that had been built specially for the marches. It was hard to walk on and it was made of a couple of floating boats joined together. The final stretch from the rest camp to the end was the hardest and also the longest.

When we finally reached the end our legs completely gave up on us but we still mustered the strength to receive our medals. That night we packed our bags and went into the town to celebrate. We left the camp at around one in the morning, sleeping on the bus and then taking the Seacat out of Holland and back to Great Britain. 

On the 23rd August the squadron followed up last years success with an even greater number of medals. The squadron won four medals and “Best on Show” and made up more than 50% of the total entries. Cdt Campbell won a gold medal for his diorama with assistance from Pro Smith. Cdt Neil Surgenor won a gold medal in the miscellaneous section with Cdt Neil Morrison and Cpl Robert Hastie taking second and third place respectively.  This was a fantastic coup for the squadron and we hope to go back next year and do even better. 

RAF Gibraltar

Bigger explosions on his way back from the super market. Other sections visits included a small walk through some of the thirty-five miles of tunnels that have been made in the Rock over the last few hundred years. This was accompanied by commentary of the Rocks uses, especially during the war between Britain and Spain in the 1700's, and interesting facts about the many guns installed in the Rock by the British in those times. We climbed the Rock, using footpaths, and visited St. Michael's Cave, a stunning natural beauty where stalagmites and stalactites have created unimaginable Rock formations on the floor, roof, and walls of the cave, it's very popular with the tourists.

After leaving Gibraltar, and the great friends I made there, I realised that there will never be a camp like it again for me; however, the cadets who go next year will probably say the same thing. I would recommend this camp to anyone; it was the best camp of my life. I can't wait for the reunion. 

SQUADRON SAVES ABANDONED PIDGEON

The cadets and staff arrived at the squadron on the 10th of August to find a young pigeon abandoned on the path leading to the main building. Concerned for the bird, which was unable to fly, CI Steven Sim contacted the local RSPCA who arrived to take the bird to their centre for lost and injured animals. 

CADETS’ MESS REDECORATION

After last year's successful refurbishment of the main hall and surrounding rooms, C.I. Sim and C.W.O. Callan again took responsibility of the operation. To this end the squadron was opened during the day, every day that week, for cadets to come down and contribute to the exercise. Initially many cadets came down to help out, however soon they were whittled down to a dedicated few that for the next week and a half would show their commitment to the squadron with the re-decoration.

The refurbishment began with an initial clearing of the mess plus a scrub down of the walls in preparation for the painting. Next, we taped down the edges of the skirting board and other surfaces that were close to the edges of the walls. One coat of gloss on the skirting board and windowsills was accompanied by the painting of the roof, for the taller cadets only. This was done in both messes, taking care not to go over the walls with gloss, or the lights with emulsion.

The next job was to try and paint the walls; the trouble was that the walls of the mess were half navy blue and half white. This meant that if we covered the mess walls in the one solid colour that was planned ("Blue Babe") we would permanently have half the mess darker than the other half, which would look strange. Surprisingly, the staff came up with a brilliant idea to solve this problem. We still had some white emulsion left over from the roofs so we covered the dark, navy blue with the white so that when we painted the walls in our colour of choice it would even out and look the same. This spark of genius paid off and the walls dried in to look superb, and the mess was nearly complete. The final task was to scrub the floor spotless for the cadets to return to an immaculate mess.

The coat hooks were put back up on the walls, along with a notice board for each mess, a brand new floor mat (colour coded for the flights). Plus, to be kind to the cadets, new staircases were fitted to replace the dangerously dodgy last set and the messes were complete, ready for another few years of torture under the feet of the cadets. However, having been one of the cadets who put in the effort and time to help restore the mess, if I catch any abusive cadets in that mess there will be trouble!!! 

On The 19th August 2001 the squadron took its place in the organisation for the Great Scottish Run. This event is a half marathon extending 13 miles through the city of Glasgow. The cadets assisted the local traffic police in the manning of traffic gates on the day. This is vital to ensure the smooth flow of traffic and runners through the city.  Last year we received a plaque from Glasgow City Council in appreciation of our “valued contribution” to the event, which we will be attending again next year.