After 10 months of hard work and training weekends Mr Pether and myself are now BELA (Basic Expedition Leader Award) qualified. Last weekend we both traveled to the Peak District with several other staff members from Essex Wing for our final assessment.
On day 1 we walked an expedition route from Edale covering part of the Pennine Way. This was similar to a silver DofE route carrying all the kit we would need for a weekend. On the way round we were given various tests including triangulation, aiming off, hand railing, questions on the country code and a first aid scenario. Each member of the group had to lead the team on a section of the route and ensure everyone's needs were taken care of.
Day 2 focused on a shorter day walk on a route from Edale, walking up to Hollins Cross then back round and down to the campsite. Further navigation and group leadership tests were given on route to really test us on all the learning outcomes. The walk came to a close at 13:00 when we were given individual feedback on our results and were very please to be told we had both passed with flying colours! After sharing round a celebratory bottle of champaign talk soon started on how we intend to use our new qualification.
The BELA will allow us to lead groups in non-mountainous and non-remote areas of the countryside. This provides our squadron with even greater flexibility to run adventure training activities and more DofE expeditions. Mr Pether and I are very keen to run training navigation weekends, practice and actual DofE expeditions in areas such as the South Downs, Peak District and Snowdon National Park once the adventure training season begins in March / April 2013. This will be a great opportunity for us to put our skills to good use and for the cadets to learn from us in an environment they are not familiar with.
There are a couple of groups of people we would like to thank who made it possible of us to complete this award. Firstly, thanks to Essex Wing ATC and their team of tutors and assessors for their instruction and guidance throughout the course, without which none of this would have taken place. Finally, thanks to our Civilian Welfare Committee for funding this for us meaning we avoided any personal financial cost.
R Davis
SGT (ATC)
Adjutant 2393 Squadron
