HMS Bristol, Whale Island. General Cadet Training Course
The week began on the Monday morning with a dress inspection, but it was still
better than a week at school! This - thank
god - was not too long and thankfully the lieutenant did not pay too much
attention to our badly ironed creases on our "One's". We had breakfast, filled
in
this strange form about why we joined the sea cadets and what we want to be
when we grow up. We had a quick stand easy, and then piled into the minibus
and went off to the Fleet Photographic Unit. We had a tour of the buildings,
a quick brief on what the unit is about. We took a photo with me looking
very disturbing in it. We marched off to the MoD shooting range where we ate
our healthy lunch of cheese and onion sandwiches, crisps and an apple. We
then had around an hour of shooting .22 rifles before catching a minibus
back to HMS Bristol. We did evening colours and then had dinner in the
canteen.
Once we were back on HMS Bristol, our accommodation, we had a few hours to mess about and do nothing in particular. At half past ten we were sent to our mess decks and we spent hours messing about and playing stupid games. Finally, we went to sleep just after midnight.
On Tuesday after colours and breakfast we had morning prayers. They were only 20 minutes but felt like at least an hour. After, we marched off into the PT department where we spent an hour playing about on all the pieces of gym equipment. After we had a boat safety lesson and then marched off to the canteen for lunch. After, we went to Portsmouth fire station. It was really interesting to see the fire trucks and see the ladder, which goes 400 feet up into the air. We went to the swimming pool afterwards for a fun swimming session. There was a wave machine and 2 big slides.
We were power boating all of Wednesday morning. It was a bit cold but was fun to go around the harbour in a Champ. After a quick lunch, we were off in the minibus to HMS Victory. We had a guided tour of the ship and saw the exact spot where he died. Afterwards we went to HMS Temeraire and completed our RN swimming test.
On Thursday we went for a tour of the harbour. We saw lots of interesting boats and Royal Navy warships. We had a guided tour of HMS Manchester and stopped for lunch. We watched the RN do damage control.
We went on a tour of the other half of HMS Bristol that we had not already seen on Friday morning. We were presented with our course certificate and driven to the station. I said my goodbyes and caught the train home.
Tom Oakley November 2004