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THE ALLEYNIAN 709
CCF
This year has been particularly difficult and challenging, writes Edward Brilliant (Year 13), however it has been a challenge that the CCF has risen to and dealt with in the best way possible
Last year’s CCF events calendar was cut short as we were thrown into a national lockdown with cadets missing out on the opportunity to go on camps, such as Summer Camp and Self-Reliance, while other cadets missed out on the opportunity to battle for a gold medal in the prestigious Cambrian Patrol. The lockdown, however, did not stop the Dulwich College CCF from overcoming these challenges and working around the situation. Each week the contingent came together for a virtual parade along with other virtual activities, which included first aid and learning the phonetic alphabet. During these weekly Zoom meetings, the senior NCOs and officers came up with step challenges to keep the contingent fit and motivated. One of these step challenges was for us to walk a total of 7.5 million steps, which we are proud to say we smashed! With all of the step challenges totalled up, the DCCCF managed to track a total of 11,340,146 steps – an unbelievable achievement. During this time, the contingent also took part in the weekly ‘Clap for the NHS’ initiative. Each week, we proudly wore our CCF uniform and saluted the NHS during the clap, showing our support and appreciation for all the work they have done and continue to do. Along with the salute, the DCCCF also showed our appreciation for the NHS by raising a total of £636 for the NHS Charities Together while we undertook our step challenge. This great generosity from the contingent continued throughout the summer holidays with five separate charity events run by our cadets and officers. These events included two 100km walks, a 24-hour continuous row, a barefoot walk, a 50km walk through London and a Three Peaks Challenge. In total, we raised a total of £18,994.35. This is something our contingent can be truly proud of! The new school year got off to a good start with a fresh batch of Year 9s joining the ranks while the other years were eager to find out what was in store for them in the weeks ahead. Once again, Covid-19 restrictions presented some interesting challenges to our weekly parades, but we tackled them head on and thought up some good responses. As we were all placed into year group ‘bubbles’ we could not continue with our normal way of doing things, whereby the older cadets take the lead and teach the younger cadets face-to-face. Instead we decided to allow the staff to take the Year 9s
TAKING IT IN OUR
under their wing and teach them the ways of the cadets, while the Year 10s were taught via Zoom by the older years doing practical and engaging tasks, such as section attacks, rope work, and command tasks. It was not only our Tuesday training sessions that were affected but also the Remembrance Parade, an event which normally brings out the entire school to stand around the War Memorial to remember those OAs and all the other young men and women who lost their lives protecting our country. Due to the importance of this event we knew that we could not just sit back and do nothing, and thus we were delighted when Year 13 cadets were given the opportunity to line the pavement leading to the War Memorial while Flt Sgt Bertrand played the Last Post and Reveille, which was live-streamed across the school and across London with just under 1,000 watching the service. Thirteen members of the DCCCF then took part and adapted a school-wide run raising money for King’s College Hospital Charity. Instead of doing the 12-hour run, they decided to push themselves and instead do a 24-hour continuous run in local parks so as to maintain social distancing. Along with the rest of the College we managed to raise a total of £8,958 for the charity, which is an amazing achievement. As I write this article we have just entered into our third national lockdown, but the contingent has taken it in our stride and, without a gap in training, have moved back onto Zoom. We continue to train while undertaking yet another fitness challenge to keep our cadets active along with an ‘achievement’ challenge, where the cadets are challenged to, once a week, do something out of their ordinary, such as learning to throw a playing card or do a headstand. We look forward to the other challenges we will come across this year, with hopes that we can be back teaching face-to- face after Easter.
COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS PRESENTED SOME INTERESTING CHALLENGES TO OUR WEEKLY PARADES
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