Regiment visits prospective soldiers
Tue 5th August 2014
Students with ambitions to join the armed forces were put through their paces by soldiers from the Coldstream Guards at East Riding College.
Learners on public services courses at the Beverley and Bridlington campuses were visited by guardsmen from what is the regular army’s oldest regiment. They were also joined by students on sport, foundation and engineering courses.
Following a short presentation, they took part in a range of command tasks, activities which are designed to develop team working and communication skills.
They were then put into teams to complete a version of a race called “The Gun Run” which has origins as far back as the Boer War and the battle of Ladysmith in the 1890s.
Each team had to carry items that represented parts of a field gun 100m, clamber under a camouflage net to the end, then return as a team and collect the next item. This was then repeated until the “gun” had been re-assembled at the finishing line.
Participants had to haul a log, two truck tyres, ammunition boxes filled with sand, a barrel and two car tyres over a distance of 1.5km in total.
Tutor Vince Brennan said: “Everyone who took part should be very proud of what they have done over these two days at both sites. It was a tremendous effort by each and every individual learner.
”This was also echoed by the guardsmen who felt the efforts they witnessed were by far one of the best they had seen in the past few weeks whilst visiting colleges and schools.”
Public services courses at East Riding College are designed to prepare students for a career in the armed forces and uniformed services, such as the police and fire service, and to progress to university.
They cover a broad range of theory topics, such as government, command and control and major incidents, as well as having a focus on physical fitness.
The Coldstream Guards were formed in Scotland on the permission of Oliver Cromwell in 1650. They can be seen with other Guards Division regiments outside Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, guarding the royal family.
East Riding College is now accepting applications to public services and other courses starting in September. For more information, go to www.eastridingcollege.ac.uk or call 0845 120 0037.
