If you didn’t catch the daily reports on ITV London Tonight, I have it on good knowledge from Sgt Spear’s mum that they are also on www.itvlocal.com/london
Type “cadets” into the search box to view all of the bulletins.
Thank you Mrs Spear!
A big sorry from the Jubilee Eagle “technical team” for not posting these last four blogs sooner. As you can imagine (and some of you have seen on TV!) it has all been very hectic and I have not been able to update the site. At the moment I am sitting on the beach at the Coconut Grove Hotel with some free time and a portable internet connection. The hotel also has the internet but this connection is quicker!
These are the blogs we currently have written up. The rest are on paper and I should be able to get them on the site sometime tomorrow.
With regard to your comments, I had it set up so that they had to be moderated before they appeared on the blog which is why you haven’t been able to see them until now. This was to avoid spam and abuse. I’ve now changed it so your comments appear straight away.
Enjoy!
A real buzz of excitement was in the air this morning as the cadets got ready for another long day of the school project.
They were up at 5:30 and ready to start soon after. The locals once again turned up in their masses to help and just before breakfast the Chief turned up with another offering of soft drinks for everyone.
Gillian Norris MBE, the lady in charge of the charity ‘Ghana Education Project’ put in perspective exactly how many hours work the Ghanaians would have to have done to cover the cost of the offering “….approximately two and a half weeks of hard labour.”
Breakfast was then served and everyone got back to work. The weather was cooler than yesterday which made the work feel less taxing. However the team worked harder and faster than ever before, as the project had to be finished in time for the handover early the following morning.
Sgt Sara Gaule had the chance to learn some plastering techniques with the locals as they built the new urinals, whilst Flt Sgt Unsa Chaudri worked alongside the carpenter making shutters and doors for the main building.
With all that was going on resources were running out fast, so more paint was needed quickly and a team set off in search for extras so that the project could be completed.
As night drew closer and with it the loss of light, dinner was prepared. All staff, cadets and locals continued working. At this stage the doors and shutters were being fitted, Bob, Gillian’s main advisor, drew the Jubilee Eagle crest on the end of one of the main buildings and the local carpenter worked long into the night.
Tomorrow was again to be an early start for everyone.
An early rise this morning for all as they prepared to begin on the renovation of a school in Krontang, Nkwanta – a massive task lay ahead of them.
First they had to meet the Chief of the village in his palace, an extremely modest abode, to get his permission to start work in their home. Here he would bless the team and present them with a ram.
This ceremony carried on back at the school as a few of the staff took part in the libation – a religious act which involves calling on the ancestors to bless the work party and to keep them safe.
After this A/Sgt Jan Nyeki, the staff member in charge of running the project briefed the team to prepare them for the two days of hard labour ahead.
The cadets were eager to crack on with the work and each of them set off to their allocated buildings, where they had to carry out a number of tasks including sanding, sweeping, painting many layers and not forgetting making new windows, building urinals and much much more!!
It was a very long day and the team worked extremely hard, dealing with the intense heat and humidity that almost drained all of the energy out of some of them. However against all the odds, the team managed to complete a great deal of the work that needed to be done and as nightfall set in the team assisted the locals with the preparation for dinner and the team rested.
Speed was the key this morning as the expedition started their 9-hour journey to Krontang, Nkwanta where they were to carry out the huge community project they had been tasked with.
To stagger out what was a very hot and sweaty journey, it had been decided to visit a couple of locations along the way…
Baboons were to be the first stop, where a couple of cadets climbed out of the buses and headed towards the trees with a bag of bananas. Fortunately they managed to see four. However the baboons cautiously stayed away, managing to resist the temptation of the bananas being frantically waved in front of them!! Afterwards and many photos later, the team climbed back on board and the journey continued.
The cadets had been told about some infamous fish ladies by the bridge, Akin Sombo and at around 1400hrs they had arrived and were eagerly getting off the bus ready to try the delights that were on offer. Some tried handfuls of miniature fish, while others tried the sweet maize. This was to also be where the team bought provisions for lunch, to get them through the final leg of their long journey.
The first sign for the teams destination had been spotted at around 1500hrs, little did the team know that two and a half hours later they would still not have reached the desired location!!
At 1900hrs they finally arrived in Krontang after their epic journey, hot, sweaty and lethargic. They set up camp, cooked dinner with the locals and went to bed as early as possible. The next two days would be tough as the community project was to launch into action.
Well today was hectic and full of hiccups!!! We got up at 0600hrs to pack for the the things we needed for the Jungle Warfare School (JWS) and the bag that would meet us for the Project in the Community in Nkwanta. There was a lot of confusion over what kit went in which bag etc. but we eventually sorted everything out.
After the Ghanaians arrived we set off for the JWS. On the way we picked up food which was devoured VERY quickly. Then it was time to refuel… except we had a little trouble getting the right fuel in the diesel bus. The tank was filled with petrol which caused a lot of time to be taken up siphoning it from the tank; the man at the fuel station got the siphon going by almost swallowing a mouthful of petrol!
After this setback we set off once again to the JWS. It was about two hours in the buses - I was lucky enough to be in the air-conditioned bus! We arrived at the JWS about an hour before sunset because of these hiccups and were welcomed by the acting Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) and Adjutant of the school before setting up camp in a clearing in the jungle.
It took a while to get everyone’s hammock systems up as there was a lack of suitable trees and the Ghanaian cadets had never used the hammocks before. Just as most people had managed to erect something resembling our efforts at the Kaboa training weekend in Wales we were told that because we arrived at the JWS late and had not been sufficiently briefed regarding health and safety, we could not sleep in our hammocks that night. A mad rush to pack up ensued following instructions from the RSM that if we were not ready in five minutes the “enemy” would get us!
We were then transferred to an accommodation block. We relaxed for a little bit as firewood was collected so that we could cook our evening meal. We were given potatoes, onions and beef to cook in our three flights. The cadets took it in turns to cook and tend the fires until the food was ready. After the food disappeared and the pots were washed there was a staff meeting followed by flight briefings to explain the plans for tomorrow… and then it was time for bed.
After only two hours sleep the team were up, dressed and ready to start the first full day of the expedition. Their flight from Gatwick was supposed to have left at 11:30 Friday morning, but instead ended up leaving at 20:45 to arrive in the capital – Accra six and a half hours later!!
Crrrrazy Dancing was the first thing on the agenda this morning, when the cadets and staff from both the UK and Ghana attended a local church service at the Royal House Chapel. To the surprise of many, all of the cadets on the expedition felt compelled to join in the celebrations on stage. After this, expedition leader Flt Lt Tanner presented an expedition plaque to the Head of the Church, whilst outside, three schools from the National Cadet Corps Ghana held a parade in honour of the expedition.
With no rest, the team moved on to their next location which was to be the Accra Commonwealth War Graves where they held a short memorial service and laid a wreath in the presence of the British High Commission.
The last trip of the day was to be to the Independence Arch, an area of great relevance to the expedition, where the team were given the opportunity to climb to the top and look in awe out to sea, where many of them hoped to be closer to, as temperatures had reached over 35° that day!!
After a late lunch, the team returned to their accommodation where they proceeded to have a couple of hours rest before attempting another trip out, this time in search of dinner. However, the weather was to take a turn for the worse and the team couldn’t escape as a menacing storm set in.
Food finally arrived, the expedition had their briefing for the following morning and all members went to bed, eager to get ready for the day ahead – the Jungle Warfare School!!
Hello! And welcome to the Expedition Jubilee Eagle Blog. This blog (or “web log”) will provide up-to-the-minute news on the expedition’s progress during the week up to the departure of the expedition and, dependent on the access to the internet in Ghana, whilst we’re out there too.
We’ll be looking to add a daily report of Ghanaian happenings here, and to make this as interesting as possible we’ll try to get as many different people to post as possible.
Keep checking back for stories, pictures, news, links and possibly more!
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