Western Isles Cadets success at camp event

A total of 26 cadets from 1st Battalion the Highlanders’ Western Isles Company took part in the Battalion’s annual camp, held this year at Warcop in Cumbria, alongside almost 280 cadets from across the Highlands, Moray, Orkney and Shetland.

The majority of the fortnight saw the cadets from the battalion’s Companies and Battery be placed into training cadres where cadets trained towards the next level of the cadet training syllabus level alongside fellow cadets from other companies.

During the evenings there were competitions between the cadets to encourage friendly rivalry between everyone.

Some of the competitions required skills taught from the syllabus, such as Drill & Turnout, Shooting and Fieldcraft, while others were just to encourage some friendly rivalry such as Football and Swimming.

The final day of camp ended with the prize giving and although Western Isles Company did not win the ‘Champion Company’ Trophy the cadets of the Isles did make it very difficult in this year’s competition by taking home quite a few of the Major Trophies that contributed towards the overall Champion Company competition, with the Company finishing 3rd overall.

The cadets of the Western Isles did especially well in the swimming, with the company winning the Inter-Company Swimming Competition.

Cadet Alasdair Langley (13) from Harris Detachment came 1st in the Junior Boys Back Stroke, while Cadet Lance Corporal George Greenstock (15) from Back Detachment came 1st in the Junior Boys Butterfly and Freestyle events, with George also being the overall Junior Boys Class Champion.

In the senior races, Cadet Corporal Asher Kuzma (15), from Benbecula Detachment, came 1st in the Freestyle as well as the company winning the Boys Relay race.

It was not all training, testing and competition, each cadet had ‘non-training days’ while at camp, from a day of Rock Climbing and Abseiling for the Junior cadets and also a visit to ITC Catterick in Yorkshire for the senior cadets.