Isles Cadets return from successful two week cadet camp

The cadets, from 1st Battalion the Highlanders, took part in the Battalion’s annual camp, held this year at Barry Buddon near Dundee, alongside 270 cadets from across the Highlands and Islands.

The majority of the fortnight saw the cadets from the battalion’s five companies and guests from Orkney ACF be placed into training cadres where cadets trained towards the next level of the cadet training syllabus level alongside fellow cadets from other companies at the same level.

During the evenings there were competitions between the companies and Orkney to encourage friendly rivalry between everyone. Some of the competitions required skills taught from the syllabus, such as drill and turnout, shooting and fieldcraft, while others were just to encourage some friendly rivalry such as football and cross country.

However it was not all training while at camp, the cadets had some non-training days which everyone – including the adult instructors – got the chance to take part in paintballing, Rock Climbing and even Clay Pigeon Shooting.

The final day of camp ended with the prize giving, which saw each company win trophies.

Although Western Isles Company did not win the over ‘Champion Company’ trophy, their cadets did return home with some silverware. Cadet Hannah Mayers (14), from West Lewis Detachment, won the Junior Girls Cross Country and also came 1st in the 800m during the Inter-Company Athletics Competition, alongside Cadet Amber MacVicar (15), of Benbecula Detachment who came 1st in the 200m race.

In the Inter-Company Swimming the company came home with two medals, both won by Cadet George Greenstock (13), of Back Detachment, who came 1st in the Butterfly and Freestyle events.

After a well-deserved summer break the Western Isles cadets will be returning this week to their detachments across the islands.