My son is currently at a camp and he text last night to say that he has very little money left. We asked him what he has spent it on and adding it up it looks as though he has lost some money. We told him to ask one of the officers, that will be on the bus home with him, to lend him £20 or we could BACs the money directly into the Officers account and he was told “no”. I am shocked that they are willing to let my son travel such a long journey home with just £10 to buy food. He is vey tall and would need two meals for the long journey home. Although I am his mum, I am also the new Chair at the Squadron, so not a person who is going to just disappear. I wondered if there was a rule in one of the ACPs that backed the fact that they could not give him a loan? Please do not suggest contacting his CO as there are separate issues going on there, and the man is less than helpful. Thank you
If it is a long journey they should have been given a packed lunch from the mess before departing. With that, £10 sounds adequate for a UK trip.
It is also possible that the staff are taking an openly hard line about money to impress upon this young man that he is in a situation of his own making, that he should act responsibly and not expect pandering or rescues. He will not be allowed to starve.
I’d be surprised if there wasn’t a refund due from the camp payments - that may have been factored in. This is all second-guessing once more from one side of a discussion so again there is little point to getting too deep into it.
Being that he is my son and still under my care, I think the hard lessons should come from me and that no officer, especially a stranger, should be trying to teach my son lessons on life. I am assuming by these answers there are no hard and fast rules out there? I doubt £10 would be sufficient for two meals home as fast foods are approximately £6.50 per deal and he would need one at each stop. He would find it hard to ask to borrow from friends as he has been shot down by this officer already. I will be saying my piece when I pick him up but I would like to know the rules. What if he had lost all of his money??? Regardless if you are an adult or child this can happen to anyone.
Hmmm. Hardly a stranger, but a person entrusted with the care of the youngsters and who has been in that position for a whole camp. A camp in a uniformed youth group that revolves around personal development in its many guises.
At the moment by gut feeling is to advise that you trust the staff a little and stop fretting so much. Put aside any baggage you are carrying.
As a Civ Com member and Chair, I think it may be prudent to put this in a pack to give to parents when their kids go to camps. My son has been a member of the Air Cadets for 4 years and I have never been given camp information about Safe Guarding, contact etc.
I am sure you can appreciate that I am a responsible parent and that my son is my no 1 priority, therefore I cannot sit back and let some stranger and yes stranger to me act for me. This must have happened before to other kids and I wish to know what rules are in place and where to find them. Thank you
Overall responsibility for safeguarding on camps rests with the Camp Commandant. In any event Wing HQ is the ultimate point of contact if you cannot get the CC for any reason.
One other solution. Does your son have a bank card? If yes you can transfer him the money directly so he can withdraw it or at least be able to use his card to buy food on the way home. That would be the quickest & safest solution in my opinion.
Having been on msny camps, cadet and money are easily separated. Either by loss (sometimes) or by spending (always). As has been said earlier a tenner is fine for a fairly long bus journey.
As camp com i would not be happy having parents phonw up demanding my bank details because their precious child could not budget for a week.
Tough love and life lesson learned. @deadlydi ypu have signed the consent form. Let the camp staff do their job.
That is pretty much what you agreed to (within the bounds of our regulations, safeguards and law) when you singed the TG21 to allow him to attend.
The baggage I referred to was your admitted dislike/distrust of your OC and the potential for similar differences in expectations that may occur as a result of this current scenario. You come across as someone with an abrasive personality and that does not lend itself to good working relationships.
Presumably he has friends he can borrow money from?
I know when I was a cadet we were constantly bailing each other out to stock up on McDonalds after activities and I still see it amongst the cadets on my squadron now.
Thank you for you feedback, but altogether useless again!
Here is a hard life lesson for you - When a person comes to you for help, try your best to help and not nock them down, you have no idea what life stuggles’ people have especially ones you do not know! I find you comment rude and unnecessary. I will always help my son or my other children for that matter regardless of their age.
Thank you, I hope he has made friends that he can trust enough to ask. There is only one other from his Squadron on this camp. I must also say he has been on loads of camps, too many to count, and this has never happened before so I would say he has lost some of his money sadly. I am 51 years old and if I was in a strange place without enough money for food to get home I would be a very worried person. I feel I have every right to be concerned for him.
and I still see it amongst the cadets on my squadron now.