Fastershire helps keep Ross-on-Wye and Monmouth Sea Cadets afloat

For a group of young people aged between 10 and 18 years old, the highlight of their week is getting involved in nautical training activities at their base in Homs Road, Ross-on-Wye.

When Lockdown stopped the twice-weekly sessions, the Cadets Commanding Officer, Sub-Lieutenant Alethea Bumpstead, was determined to continue providing the self-confidence and teambuilding activities for her cadets from across Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Wales.

Alethea said, ‘Many young people think of the Ross-on-Wye and Monmouth Sea Cadets as their second home, so I wanted them to continue having access to all the experiences we provide in a safe and friendly environment.’

With some help from Fastershire, the Cadets purchased a Zoom licence, which enabled them to hold their meetings online. Throughout Lockdown, Cadets continued learning about boats and ropes and participated in games, quizzes and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) lessons.

‘These online sessions helped all involved continue developing into the best version of themselves possible’ added, Alethea.

Thanks to the continuing rollout of fibre broadband across Herefordshire and Gloucestershire, the Sea Cadets have also experienced improvements in broadband speeds, giving them more reliable service and helping to alleviate the dreaded freezing of video or loss of connection during online sessions.

Thankfully the cadets are once again meeting up in real life. However, high-speed broadband is still playing a part with online training for Sea Cadets aged between 17 and 18, participating in activities to help with their transition to becoming Sea Cadet volunteers.