Members of Canford’s CCF are celebrating coming runner up in this year’s Rifles Cup, held over two days at the Swynnerton Training Camp, Stafford, from 22-23 September.
The competition itself saw the Canford team pitted against CCF teams from across the country, all competing through a series of stands run by members of the regular Army. Lead cadet Charlie, who plans a career in the Army having been awarded a prestigious Army scholarship through university, takes up the story:
“On Wednesday afternoon ten Canford cadets plus Major Coward and Lieutenant Naish travelled to Swynnerton training area near Stafford for The Rifles Cup competition. After an early morning and a hearty breakfast, the team and I got stuck straight into the training laid on by the Regulars and Reservists of The Rifles. This included a CQB lane with paintballs, camouflage, first-aid and a number of other stands lasting all day. After the activities we returned to our quarters for a short rest before supper. After this, we were lucky enough to be shown the weaponry and equipment used by the Infantry including sniper rifles, anti-tank missiles, a mortar, a machine gun and finally (and I think most impressively) a Warrior Armoured Fighting Vehicle. Tired after a long day of training we had a quick briefing and planning session for the assessment element of the trip before getting an early night.
Once again we woke up early the next day to start prepping ourselves and our equipment for the morning of the competition. Here we were given the situation and told to plan how to go about clearing the enemy from our area of operations. After 'camming' ourselves up we stepped off and started patrolling. We were soon stopped and questioned on some of what we had learnt the previous night, which proved to be little problem as all the answers came easily to us. After this, we continued with our mission until we met with a liaison who showed us where we were to observe the enemy and make notes on their activity. Following this, we continued our patrol until we reached an area those we were following had come through and we had to look for signs of activity and ascertain a number of facts about them. Another successful test down we continued eventually reaching the scene of a burnt-out caravan with a number of casualties which had to be dealt with safely and swiftly. On this stand, after completion, we were given a debrief which was all hugely positive and really showed the benefits of the practice we'd done for such an event. Finally, the assessment portion of the trip ended with a short patrol to our headquarters where we were all given a much-needed cup of tea.
Once the other teams had arrived the award ceremony kicked off and Canford did incredibly well placing second overall - a great result! The whole team put in huge amount of effort both in the training and in the competition itself. Particular thanks must go to Major Coward and Lieutenant Naish for all their help and time they have put into preparing us so diligently. It was a great event which we all took a lot from both in our CCF training and skills we can use across Canford life in general.”
Many congratulations to the Canford team of:
Upper Sixth - Charlie, Mia and Sam
Lower Sixth - Abi and Frederick
Fifth Form - Sophia, Rory, Leo, Jake and Jack
Canford has a thriving CCF which was rated the ‘Best of the Best’ among UK independent schools by The Week in their awards in 2020. Visit the CCF pages on the Canford website to find out more.