Herts-Bucks Wing Adventure Training Group

Herts & Bucks Wing

Adventure Training Group

Click on photos to zoom, then Back to return to text

Stop Press!

	BELA is coming to this Wing, with the first course provisionally scheduled to start in January 2005. Click the link on the left for preliminary details, or email here to register an interest in the first course
	To celebrate more than 30 years of HBWATG, the group is planning an exciting overseas expedition for the summer of 2006. After going to Nepal in 1991 and Canada in 2000, we are planning a trek and climb in the Andes. More details here soon, but if you want to be involved now, email here to request more details
	The next group staff meeting will be on Wednesday 8th December 2004. New members always welcome.

What is HBWATG?

30 years ago, staff from a number of Squadrons got together to provide adventure training opportunities that would be open to every cadet in the Wing. This group came to be known as the Herts & Bucks Wing Adventure Training group - HBWATG

Since then, the group has introduced many hundreds of cadets to adventure training. The main activities are walking and climbing in Britain's mountains and kayaking on rivers and lakes but we also offer mountain biking, open canoeing and other activities on certain courses. The group also provides training and support for Gold expeditions in the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme (DEAS)

On all courses cadets are encouraged to develop and apply personal leadership skills that can be applied in many areas of life. We don't aim to turn everyone into expert mountaineers or paddlers, although we are always delighted to help anyone who wants to go that way

Any adventurous activity involving young people demands the highest standards of leadership and operating practices, to the extent that many schools and youth organisations now find it difficult to offer adventure training, even at a local level. HBWATG is an established centre of competence within the Wing with a vital role in developing the next generation of leaders and instructors

We are always pleased to welcome new staff to the group, but we are also keen to help staff at squadron level to develop the skills and experience that they need to run activities at a local level. We have been working to set up a Basic Expedition Training Award (BELA) scheme within the Wing, and we now have the information and resources to run the first course - provisionally scheduled for the Autumn

Finally, the group is known for some ambitious overseas expeditions, including a self-sufficient canoe journey through Canadian wilderness, and the ascent of a 6,000metre Himalayan mountain - the picture above shows members of the group crossing a glacier just before they climbed the ice cliff to the summit ridge

This site provides information about the group and its activities - past, present and future, and will be of interest to anyone involved with adventure training in the Air Training Corps, or in other youth organisations

For information on the Air Cadet Organisation (ACO) click here to access the official website.

For information about the Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire Wing, click here.

Web site by: Flt Lt Geoff Bowles RAFVR(T), ML(S), SPA This page last updated on 22 June 2004