How do I get to go on my wing camp to Cyprus or Gibraltar?
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Overseas camps are run at Corps level. The spaces are advertised early in the year with each Wing being given an allocation.
To be eligible you need to have first done a week long annual Camp (or Equivalent) in the UK. I also think that their is an age limit but I canāt remember what it is.
I know in my wing and many other overseas camps at Gucci places are held back from the general cadet population and given by Wg Cdrs as consolation prizes for cadets who do not get an IACE place. Normally wings will only get one or two places on these camps.
So to answer your question on how to get on one of these camps, be the best cadet in your wing.
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These go out for tender on our Wing and normally those that can afford it put themselves forward, including staff. We had a well off cadet (only child) who went to Germany, Cyprus and Gib, although good she was never an outstanding cadet. We have too many parents who struggle with the Ā£50ish for annual camp, weāve subbed a lot more cadets in recent years.
When I think back to when our kids were at school, trips costing more than Ā£100, were generally advised a good year in advance and biggies up to 2 years and a suggested payment plan. But the ATC seems to do them with a few weeks to pay it all and mostly for these as an example around Christmas (a good time Jimmy or Jane to ask to go on a holiday costing Ā£400 - Ā£600), although they sometimes forget and panic around Easter with payment, forms etc by return.
Overseas camps arenāt that expensive, Ā£250 in advance for air fare, then camp costs and spending money comparable to a UK camp.
Overseas camps are expensive enough when you have 3 kids, and your local school has no problems asking for Ā£300+ for uniforms every year, 3 or 4 day school activities trips cost Ā£350 a shot, and for some reason the headmaster thinks it appropriate to run a week long āeducationā trip to New York in year 11.
For a sum just short of Ā£1200. And thatās without spending moneyā¦
Overseas camps are simply not something the ACO does anymore. It may send a tiny fraction of people abroad, but for 99% of cadets the issue will never even drive down their road, let alone knock on their door.
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without meaning to state the obvious or even sound rudeā¦this is what a CWC is for
At a former unit we often subsidised all Cadets irrespective of their familyās wealth. Ā£50 here or Ā£200 there, depending on the camp, the costs and of course the familyās situation.
Even ābasicā costs like JL were helped withā¦
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As Angus says when schools have trips and other things costing several hundred pounds outside activities, while we can use Sqn funds for this, fundraising is a full time task. Something that Wings etc donāt IMO fully realise as they are able to syphon subs, which would be better all staying with sqns. Grants arenāt as plentiful as they once were and the application processes are long winded and take a lot of time and if you donāt get it, itās back to the drawing board.
I would sooner part fund several cadets to go to UK camps than one to a foreign camp. We have paid quite few to go to UK camps over the years and they have loved it, but getting parents to accept this help is a real struggle.
The problem with ACO overseas camps down to 3Ps, if they said that next year overseas camps were at this time and will cost Ā£??? it gives parents the option, like schools do, to pay over an extended period, thus making it more accessible, rather than as seems to happen announced in a rush with short lead times. But to avoid this we need someone on a salary to do something positive for the cadets and staff, as this would benefit staff as well. There are a number of Wings that run overseas camps and have a reasonable lead time, so why we canāt have this for ATC camps is a mystery.
We knew that in Yr10 and 11 there would be certain compulsory course trips and made provision for them. Schools have money they can use for disadvantaged kids given to them by the govt, we donāt.
As Steve says thatās why we have a CWC my Squadron part funds all manner of things for all of our cadets regardless of their financial state. So far this year we have part funded 2 weekend camps and a Canoeing Course.
Iāve never failed to get at least 1 Cadet a place on an overseas camp in every year I have been an OC, on several I have had 5 or 6 go overseas.
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Itās certainly what the Sqn CWCās, and the corps more widely, should be focusing on - sadly however in my area, a primarily farming and tourism economy with average incomes well below the national average and a very long way from pretty much everywhere, CWC funds have to concentrate on real bread and butter stuff like rucksacks, sleeping bags, boots and subsidising pretty much everything the Sqn does on a week-in, week-out basis.
The increase in rural poverty in the last 7 years has been frightening to watch - in 2010, when I joined, the number of kids on a 45-strong Sqn who could only afford subs and nothing else was a couple, now itās 10 or so, and perhaps only 35% of the Sqn can afford the full price for things like annual and Sqn camps.
If one of our cadets were selected for a Ā£250 quid camp like Cyprus weād stump up, but something else would take a hit that year - that kind of money is the CWC contribution for local weekend camp for the whole Sqnā¦
Wing committees should be taking a greater hand in subsiding things, in L&SER for example IACE is now free, with Wings paying half and Region paying the rest.
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While that looks good on paper and when they kow tow to the high and mighty, however it would be much better to offer free / heavily subsidised places for annual / local camps so that more cadets benefit. After all a large chunk of Wing / Region income comes from the subs that the disadvantaged will pay.
But then thatās not high profile like IACE so not as media worthy.
Almost all cadets can afford a Ā£50 annual Camp/be supported by their CWC but very few can afford/get sufficient support from CWC for a Ā£900 trip to Canada. So this prevents something very expensive being the property of the rich cadets and make sure it available to all.
I honestly think that Region could pay for every annual Camp space 100% and you would still whinge that the camp was inte wrong place or the wrong week of the school holidays.
With the number of annual camp places available this year region paying for then shouldnāt cost to much.
Location is irrelevant having travelled the length and breadth of the UK for camps on trains and coaches. Timing is always an issue as given by the time camps are notified many staff and families have already got their holidays booked. I have too many cadets that go on holiday with each parent for a couple of weeks over the summer holidays.
The problem with Region paying for everything is that regions only get the vast majority of their money from subs which all cadets pay in and then for any number of reasons they canāt go and effectively sub everyone else.
Letās not kid ourselves the majority of expensive annual camp places are and always have been taken up by kids with PT jobs and those whose parents can afford it in a short turn round, right or wrong it has always been that way and will remain so, until it becomes Corpsā policy to announce camps costing more than Ā£150 (all in) a year in advance or at the least in the September preceding the following summer ie after May Ā½ term. In schools trips are or were invariably announced a long time in advance, the school our kids went to they do trips abroad costing Ā£1000 to Ā£2500, which are announced 18 to 24 months in advance. The problem with a sign up to a cadet camp more than a couple of months in advance is they have stay in the Corps. In the past Iāve had cadets sign up for annual camp in the Feb and they leave between then and the camp.
that is both a shame and surprise. We have our dates typically by February/March certainly in good time before Easter to be considering the summer hols
Whatās a shame/surprise, that people book holidays in advance and arenāt waiting for HQAC to offer some scraps?
In reckon in the last 25 years, there have been 6 years where the week given for annual camp (which Iāve gone to) hasnāt been when Iām on holiday, this year included. We always book our holidays in Sep/Oct, so that I can get the time I want at work. If I tried leaving it until Feb/Mar it wouldnāt happen.
The situation that as I say increasingly affects uptake is kids going on hols with mum and dad. which seems to mean they are away 4/5 weeks. In our borough the vast majority of schools take 2 weeks for the October Ā½ term, spread over a period of 3 weeks, which makes planning things nigh on impossible. Iām considering cutting parade nights over that period (and may even stand down for a week) like we have during the summer holidays for several years.
I missed a wing camp the first year I was a cadet as we had a family holiday booked for that week (1st of the summer) that had been booked 2 years before.
I stopped going on Family holidays and did the camp instead following years as it was always that week (FT & Shooting).
There was 1 year I did 3 weeks of camp over the summer holidays.
Probably where I differ, family holidays are that one period you get to spend quality time and just do things with each other, in a relaxed environment. I wouldnāt have been allowed to forgo a family holiday, not that I would have wanted to as I enjoyed them.
From the age of 13 I was barely seen on a family holiday as I was too busy with cadets. Didnāt go and collect my GCSE results as I was on a Gold DofE, had to send a family member.