Police Cadets visit Belgium

By Trevor Spinlove

31 members of the Suffolk Volunteer Police Cadets, six leaders and 25 cadets from seven of the eight units, headed off to Belgium for the annual activity trip earlier this summer.

This would be a chance for the units to bond, as there are limited opportunities throughout the year for the units to work together, whilst also building on their teamwork. All cadets attending would have the opportunity to experience new countries and culture, whilst ultimately having fun.

Following a very early 6am start, which must have been interesting for those cadets travelling from the furthest reaches of the east and west of the county, we left Landmark House via 2 minibuses, a crew van, and a people carrier, headed for the Eurotunnel at Folkestone.

This was a new experience for some of the cadets who had never left the UK before. Despite some minor issues and delays (two trains getting stuck in the tunnel) which led to the group being separated, we arrived at our campsite, Camping Les Neufs Pres – Grand Halleux, which is in the Ardennes area of Belgium. This was situated in a valley, with a small river running alongside, and provided all the required amenities, including swimming pool, tennis courts, fire pit etc. Fortunately, the weather was good, and so the tents and gazebos went up reasonably quickly. A big thank you must go to the former High Sheriff, Mark Pendlington, for purchasing some new 4 and 8-man tents for the cadets. Once done, it was time to relax and prepare food. As per previous trips, this task was given to the cadets who duly prepared a very edible meal of pasta, sausage, sauce, and cheese.

The following morning, Monday 26 August, the cadets were up and about at approx. 7.30am, and after breakfast of croissants/brioche/cereals, it was time to head to Coo Village and Coo Adventures for a day of activities on the River Ambleve. The first part of the day involved a 2 hour, 5 mile kayak along the river. Although the river wasn’t particularly deep or fast flowing, this did cause some minor issues in itself due to rocks, and there were a number of cadets that ended up in the water having misjudged the route through. What was great for the leaders to see was the teamwork between the cadets, whatever unit they were from, assisting each other through these sections, or helping them get back into the kayak if they had capsized. It was a very tiring route, though all the cadets, whether they had capsized or not, had fun and took something from the activity.

Part two of the day involved the cadets building a raft, and then rowing this to a second location where they had to conduct a quiz challenge that included a 4 mile hike through the woods and over some rather steep hills. Again, the cadets were seen to be working well as a team when building the rafts, and all were suitably tired when they had completed the activity.

Once all activities were completed, it was back to the campsite for tea, which involved the cadets cooking a rice and chicken meal with cakes and cream for dessert.

Day three and the cadets were awoken at a similar time as the previous day (a hard task for some), to allow for breakfast and today’s activities which would involve a fair amount of driving, and cultural sightseeing. To start off, we drove into Luxembourg for a short spell of shopping, before then heading to a point on the Northeast of the country where Luxembourg/Germany/Belgium all meet. Once here, it was a chance for a photo opportunity where we could capture cadets in all 3 countries at the same time. The point where the countries meet is in the river, directly under the middle of the bridge.

Next stop was the town of Aachen in Germany for lunch where the linguistic skills of one of the cadets was put to the test. Fortunately, this cadet, Lucas, is part German so has a good understanding of the language. After lunch it was a trip to the Lindt chocolate factory, where all of the group, leaders included, partook of significant amounts of chocolate.

The trip back to the campsite included a minor detour through Holland so that we could say the cadets had visited 4 countries in one day. Tonight’s meal was very much a simple one, with some rice, salad, ham and baguettes, but again the cadets were involved in the preparation and then the cleanup afterwards.

Day four, we were off to Adventure Valley in Durbuy. This location is similar to Go Ape in that it involved treetop activities, ziplines, a Via Ferrata (climb involving wires and pegs hammered into the side of a quarry), and unknown to us at the time, some caving. On route, we wanted to gather one more group photo so we decided to stop off near Coo to take a photo outside the December 44 museum. This commemorates the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes Forest during World War 2 and the photo was taken beside a German King Tiger tank that was abandoned by the German Army during their defeat.

Once we had arrived at Adventure Valley, we started the cadets off with the treetop activities. As previously stated, these were all climbing and zipline style challenges that were colour coded depending on their difficulty, yellow being the easiest and black the hardest. Unfortunately, the black routes were all closed, but after trying a green route to practise, some of the cadets, myself included, headed off to complete some red routes. These were physically challenging for most, particularly as some of the ziplines prevented the cadets from reaching the next stage if they were a little light in weight, meaning that they either had to pull themselves hand over to hand to the junction, or one of the leaders had to ‘drag’ them to it. 

However, by the end of the morning, every cadet had managed to challenge themselves in some way, whether overcoming a fear of heights, or pushing themselves physically, and it was great to see how the cadets were bonding by encouraging and pushing each other to try things they wouldn’t have ordinarily done. Following lunch, we broke into smaller groups, with some of the cadets returning to the treetops, whilst others headed to the Via Ferrata, caving and the SuperFly zipline. Again, it was great to see how the cadets were challenging themselves whilst also continuing to encourage each other through some of the more demanding activities.

Thursday was time to leave Belgium and head home. The cadets were awoken at 5.30am before packing up the campsite (not easily done in the dark), jumping in the vans for a 4 hour drive to the Eurotunnel, and then a zip across the Southeast of the UK back to Landmark House.

As a leader, I have to say that the trip was a great success. We have found from previous trips that bonds are formed and friendships built that are often restricted by the format of weekly meetings. This was particularly so this year due to the fact that we had cadets from 7 of the 8 units in Suffolk, and many of them would have never met each other before. The varying challenges of the week, whether it be the physical activities, the preparation and cooking of meals, the early rises, meant that each and every cadet had to use teamwork and encouragement for each other to push themselves beyond their limits. To that end, every cadet will have taken lots of memories away from the trip, and will hopfully pass on these to other cadets in their units so that we can build on the experiences for next year.

Once again, a massive thank you must be given to Matt Breeze for organising the trip, which included a recce of the locations and activities in the weeks prior to the trip – such detail Mr Breeze!!

Planning now starts for the 2025 trip!! 

Some personal testimonies from some of the Police Cadets

I really enjoyed my trip to Belgium & made many new friends. The kayaking down the river was a great experience and I loved the trip to Luxembourg, Germany, and the point where all countries meet as I got to visit more countries and see some amazing scenery. I really enjoyed adventure valley as there was a wide range of things I had never done before so I was trying new things and was out of my comfort zone which was amazing.

Our time out there was amazing. Not only did it open my eyes to the wider cadet units, but to the relationships that can be built from small things. At every stop we encountered something different. I have to say I really enjoyed the Go Ape activity park out there as we had to use teamwork and confidence to complete the activities. 

Whilst in Belgium I enjoyed helping to cook meals at the campsite as it gave a sense of independence whilst we were there. I also liked how we shared the trip with other cadet units from Suffolk as we got the opportunity to meet more like-minded people and make new friends. Furthermore, I enjoyed the variety of activities and liked the fact that the activities were local to the campsite, and therefore not too much time spent on the minibus! My favourite day was the kayaking day. Overall, I gained valuable life skills such as good communication and teamwork, made some good friends and learnt how lovely Belgium is as a country.

 The cadets Belgium trip was truly a memorable one. We all made new friends, and created new bonds on the trip, particularly with the cadets from other units. I personally enjoyed every second; from being capsized from my kayak, to climbing high in the trees, it was all amazing! We continued to learn new life skills too, such as cooking meals for more than one and learning how to look after ourselves without the aid of parents. Thank you again to all the leaders for the fun times and their support.

More on how to join the Suffolk Volunteer Police Cadets here>

Suffolk Police Cadets | Suffolk Constabulary